3 episodes (or cheerily enough, you can watch it as a 4 episode serial on the DVD)
Aired between 31st October 1964 and 14th November 1964
Written by Louis Marks
Produced by Verity Lambert
Directed by Mervyn Pinfield and Douglas Camfield (remember this name, it will be turning up a lot, later)
Synopsis
The Doctor is preparing to dematerialise the TARDIS when suddenly, a klaxon sounds and the outer doors fly open due to a very scientific imbalance of "space" pressure. Ian and Barbara manage to shut them quickly enough, and the Doctor checks the ship over with Susan, confused when nothing shows up on the fault locator.
Comforting himself in the fact that at least no one was injured and that they've landed. the Doctor switches on the scanner to see where they are. The scanner promptly answers by blowing up! With only one way of knowing what's outside, the group set forth through the TARDIS doors.
Outside they find themselves in a labyrinth of tall rocks, all held in the ground by rough cement. They split up and begin exploring. The Doctor and Barbara go one way and find a dead earth worm over six feet tall, hanging from one of the rocks. Ian and Susan go the other and likewise find strange oblong eggs that a dead giant ant was protecting.
Heading a little further, more curious things are found in both groups: a packet of night scented stock that looks more like a giant billboard, a half scorched matchstick that looks more like a fence post, and a box of matches that Ian could climb fully inside.
Ian and Barbara are quite slow on the uptake, but the Doctor and Susan quickly work out that they are on Earth, but because of the TARDIS doors opening, they have shrunk to only an inch high!
As Ian and Barbara are discussing the implications, they hear thunderous booms overhead and the sky darkens. Ian hides in the matchbox, only to be picked up by a giant man. The man walks up from the garden path and stops outside a quaint English cottage to have a cigarette. Before he can open the matchbox however, a second man arrives an offers him a light.
It becomes clear that the smoking man is from the Government (maybe he came from the basement on his way to investigate some unexplained phenomena!), His actual name is Mr Farrow.
The second man is called Forester. Farrow explains to Forester that although the plans for Foresters production of a pesticide called DN-6 looked promising in the first instance, tests have revealed that it is 100% deadly to ALL insect life. Unfortunately, some insects perform a vital role in the agricultural cycle and should not be allowed to be destroyed. On the strength of that, Farrow has decided not to give approval for the pesticides production.
Forester explains that if he cannot produce DN-6, he is ruined, and tries to convince Farrow that a fortune could be made from the product going ahead. Farrow is having none of it and begins to leave until Forester pulls a gun on him.
Meanwhile, Susan catches up with the Doctor and Barbara and tells them of Ian's abduction. The Doctor is given a lift up over the stones and can see the man on the horizon. The group begin to travel through the garden to get to him, encountering a dead fly on their way. The fly has a strong aroma about it. Barbara asks if whatever's killing the insects could be harmful to them and the Doctor agrees that it must be at their current height.
Out of nowhere a thunderous boom occurs, urging the group onwards.
Ian emerges from the matchbox and comes face to giant face with the dead Mr Farrow.
The Doctor, Barbara and Susan catch up with Ian and they begin to piece things together, deducing that Farrow has been murdered. Unable to help him however, the group turn to go back to the TARDIS, unfortunately stumbling into the path of a humongous black cat.
The group manage to avoid being eaten by staying perfectly still until the cat gets bored and wanders off. The group debate the difficulty of getting back to the TARDIS whilst the cat is prowling around, but are soon split up as they try to escape the footfalls of Forester as he returns to the scene of the crime.
Forester has brought Smithers, the scientist responsible for the invention of DN-6 with him and tries to convince him that Farrow was trying to steal the formula, so Forester had to kill him. Smithers checks the body and knows from the wound that Forester lied, forcing him to admit that he murdered him (but he doesn't explain that Farrow told him the insecticide is lethal to everything).
Smithers is distraught that his work that has taken years to perfect will be flushed away by this crime, allowing Forester to convince him to help fake Farrows death. Forester explains that Farrow was on his way to Paris after delivering his results, and he would be taking his own private boat. Forester suggests that they take the body to the boat and capsize it out in the sea, and submit an ammended report, giving DN-6 the go ahead.
The men begin to clear up the murder scene, taking Farrow's briefcase into the lab, unaware that Ian and Barbara ran inside it when the men arrived. The Doctor and Susan scale the drainpipe to get into the lab after them.
Once in the lab, Barbara and Ian begin exploring, finding a large pile of seeds. Whilst Ian is examining the rest of the place, Barbara picks up one of the seeds, discovering they are all sticky. They soon find out that the seeds are all coated in DN-6. Barbara looks worried and borrows Ian's handkerchief to wipe the poison off her skin, but doesn't say anything about it.
Ian cheerily discovers the lab's sink and comes up with a plan to make a ladder with paperclips. The pair try to open the briefcase, but Barbara soon comes face to face with a giant fly that's crawling around the lab desk. She's so shocked that she faints, and by the time Ian revives her, the fly has landed on the seeds and pretty much died there and then.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Susan have made it up the plug hole and begin calling out, using the dimensions of the sink as a great amplifier. Ian and Barbara hear them and happily begin to climb down the plug chain instead.
As they begin to climb down though, Smithers and Forester enter the lab, intending to use the sink to wash the blood from their hands.
Thinking quick, Ian and Barbara climb back up the plug chain whilst the Doctor and Susan hide back down the plug hole. Smithers washes his hands in the plugged up sink and releases the water leaving Ian and Barbara to fear the worst.
Luckily, the Doctor and Susan hide in the overflow pipe, and are safe from the draining water. Ian and Barbara get back into the sink and are reunited with the Doctor and Susan.
Now that the body has been moved out of the front garden, Forester alters the report and calls the village phone exchange to call it through to London in an effort to make their alibi more believable.
The woman at the exchange is puzzled because she thinks that the voice on the phone doesn't sound like Mr Farrow's. Despite this, the London office are fooled and give the go ahead for DN-6.
Meanwhile, the group find Smithers' notebook containing the formula.
The group decide to try and stop the criminals by using corks to lift the phone receiver and warn the woman at the village exchange. The problem is that their voices don't carry and they can't relate the information. Their effort is not all wasted however, as the exchange woman grows more concerned at the goings on at the cottage and tells her husband, Bert, about it. Bert just happens to be a Policeman.
Barbara is quite woozy from the poison, and faints once more, revealing to the group the poison on her handkerchief. It becomes imperative that the group get back to the TARDIS and return to normal size, so that the proportion of poison she's absorbed will be reduced by 70 times.
Forester tries to make another call and finds that the phone is off the hook in the lab. As he picks up the receiver, the woman at the exchange asks for Mr Farrow. Forester is forced to impersonate him once more, demonstrating to Bert the Policeman that the voice is different. He decides to pay a visit to the cottage and find out what's going on.
Against Ian's wishes, Barbara decides that the priority is not saving her life, but stopping the murderers. They come up with another plan, this time to set fire to the lab by using the gas tap and a pressurized can. The group work as a team, and set the bomb going, finding a hiding place to avoid the shrapnel.
Smithers meanwhile finally gets to look at Farrows original report and discovers that DN-6 is dangerous to all life. Forester pulls a gun on him and takes him to the lab to try and convince him that they did the right thing. The criminals discover the smoldering can but are too late to stop it exploding, showering them with bits of metal. Smithers manages to recover and grabs the gun, pointing it at Forester, but has it swiftly taken from him by Bert the Policeman who wants a few questions answered.
Barbara collapses again, and the group make their way quickly back to the TARDIS, taking one of the poisonous seeds with them as they go.
Once inside the TARDIS, the Doctor takes off, overjoyed at Ian's dumbfounded disbelief that the seed suddenly shrinks to 70 times its former size. Barbara recovers and they all laugh and joke about the criminals comeuppance.
The rest of the group go off to take a bath (hopefully not together) whilst the Doctor manages the re-materialisation, He switches on the scanner, but it's still hazy, not giving a clear picture at all. He jokes to himself that at least they will be able to wander outside and find out where they are now.
Trivia
- The original production script was scheduled to last for four episodes, but was actually edited and merged together to form three episodes. This was done because the production team felt that it would make a tighter story, and a scene that might have been too much for young children was taken out. The scene involved the cat dying due to the imbibed poison of DN-6.
- This story was actually filmed ahead of schedule so that everyone could have a seven week break. At the time of their return, the high ups at the BBC still were unsure whether to continue with the show, so just bided their time, extending its life for a further three months, knowing that big changes were afoot in the next story.
What worked
- The props on the whole are pretty good. The sound stage work with the enormous picture of Farrow dead is obvious, but when you think of how much it would have cost and the limited budget Ray Cussick had to work with, then these things all look quite impressive.
- The use of a sub-plot to get the crew interacting with all these household items is a nice touch. It just stops it being that little bit pointless.
- Forester "looks" like the criminal type
- The Doctor's secret love for pyromania turned out to be helpful in the end
What didn't work
- Erm... the setup for the story was a bit of a lame description. Space pressure indeed!
- Susan states that this is the first time the doors have opened in flight - has she forgotten what happened in the Edge of Destruction? Alright, the time rotor wasn't going up and down then, but still..
- The Doctor tells the group not to make eye contact with the cat under any circumstances, and Ian and him promptly proceed to stare directly at the cat
- Nobody wants to admit when they've done something stupid, but I just can't understand Barbara's reactions. She would clearly rather die than actually own up to touching the poison. Tsk, tsk, tsk
- The whole TARIS seems to be messed up. It doesn't "Vroop, Vroop, Vroop" when it materialises or dematerialises, and when they leave, the time rotor doesn't go up and down. The Doctor clearly has more problems than the scanner not working
- Speaking of the scanner not working, when they leave, the Doctor says that he's fixed it but how on Earth could he have found the time?
- When the seed has returned to its normal size, Ian acts like he never expected it. To make things worse, the Doctor gloats and picks it up to show off that he knew it would shrink, but turns and shows it to the camera rather than Ian!
You can tell this story was a lot of fun from the way the group interact. Picking up giant phones, being scared of giant insects and looking at blown up images on a sound stage. Because its fun for them, it's also sort of fun for us, and because it's the present day, kids can get better empathy with the characters situations and again, it's great stuff to try and mimic in the school playground.
The plot is grounded in real life events too, what with DDT in the 1950's and the clear dangers that caused even though it was government sanctioned. There's even a contemporary detective thriller in there too, and the editing down to three episodes does keep the whole thing quite tight and interesting.
So, why hasn't it scored a 10? The short answer is I don't know. Perhaps it's because the story has dated so badly what with the phone exchanges, and matchsticks. Perhaps it's the way Barbara avoids owning up for so long. Perhaps it is the mundane nature of the threats, although the historical episodes didn't bother me. Whatever it is, I can only describe it as a feeling that there's just that little spark missing, although it's by no means a bad episode in itself.
Rating
6 out of 10
Rewatchability Factor
6 out of 10
Watch this if you liked...
- Into the Dalek (Doctor Who Series 8)
- The Borrowers
- God help us... Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
- Land of the Giants
If Planet of Giants was made today, what sort of challenges would you put in for the group to deal with?
No comments:
Post a Comment