Doctor Who (TV Series) The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 1 (1970) User Reviews

A good start to the story.

[poolandrews · 7/10 · 7 April 2007]

Doctor Who: The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 1 starts as the Revcovery 7 mission spacecraft docks with Mars Probe 7 that hasn't had any contact with mission control back on Earth for over 7 months, controlling things from in London Professor Ralph Cornish (Ronald Allen) witnesses the astronaut aboard Recovery 7 dock with the Mars Probe 7 & open the hatches at which point a loud high pitched screeching noise is heard & then radio silence. Watching on TV the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) also hears the noise & remembers hearing it before but he's unsure when, together with his assistant Liz Shaw (Caroline John) he travels to space control where Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) & UNIT already are to help. The Doctor insists the strange noise is a message, then they hear another similar noise which the Doctor this time believes is a reply but this was coming from Earth...

This Doctor Who adventure was episode 12 from season 7 that aired here in the UK during early 1970 & was Jon Pertwee's third story as the Doctor, directed by Michael Ferguson this is classic Doctor Who with a hard edge to it. The script by David Whitaker has set itself up as a nice little mystery over this initial 25 minutes, it seems to be taking itself very seriously & it's working. The mystery surrounding the Mars Probe is a simple yet effective hook together with some sinister goings on somewhere in London. There's a pretty good action scene here as well when UNIT have a gunfight with some bad guys. Having said that Britain doesn't & never has had a space program let alone one capable of getting to Mars & back. I really like this episode & I'm interested in seeing how the story pans out as next to nothing has been revealed so far. One concern I do have have though is that The Ambassadors of Death runs for a mammoth seven episodes which worries me because very few Doctor Who stories can maintain a consistent, fresh & entertaining level over that many parts.

Technically this one looks really good & it's not far off looking like a proper film, the interior of the spacecraft are very impressive although the space control centre seems somewhat undermanned. The gunfight scenes was pretty cool as well & quite realistic looking. This is also the one with very strange opening titles as halfway through the traditional titles it cuts to a segment of the actual episode until the credits come back on & finish as normal, I think I'm right in saying this is the only example of this happening throughout Doctor Who & seems like a strange decision.

The Ambassadors of Death has had a terrific start but whether it can maintain it over another six episodes I am very doubtful, still I definitely want to see where this ones going.

Space-Age THRILLER

[profh-1 · 6/10 · 22 March 2009]

Watched THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH today-- all 7 parts of it. (But with a break between parts 5 & 6.) Only 7 months after Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, we get a story that's HEAVY with space program technical stuff. There sure is a lot of "action" in this one-- shooting, fighting, running around, helicopters, stunt-work, you name it. Of course, there's also a lot of the plot running in circles, and the bad guys continually, repeatedly being one step ahead of the goods guys-- by the time this one villain sabotages the fuel supply to the spaceship the Doctor was in, I was getting completely exasperated. UNIT's "security" seemed to totally fall apart over the course of this story!

After noting The Doctor wasn't nearly as angry and bitchy in the previous story as I remember, he walks in in full "cranky" mode this time, only to get apologetic when he realizes it's the only way to get the head of the space center to cooperate. If memory serves, David Whitaker (the show's original story editor) wrote this originally for season 6, but somehow things fell thru, and it wound up being extensively re-written and re-written. There's a few scenes where I could easily see Troughton in Pertwee's performance, but mostly, he's just too serious and even sad-looking, when at times he should be more full of wonder (or outright anger). the impression I'm getting is that Pertwee's Doctor was getting slowly MORE irritated (and irritating) the longer he was stuck on Earth.

The Doctor-Liz relationship in spots reminds me of The Doctor-Barbara friendship, while in other scenes I'm reminded he didn't have anyone who could help him on the "technical" side again until Romana showed up. That thought got me thinking about The Brigadier, and how the show had a long history of the scientist teamed with the action guy-- the latter being Ian, Steven, Ben, Jamie, and now here The Brig. (Later on, somehow, Harry Sullivan just didn't seem to cut it! Later still, Tom Baker's Doctor became his own action guy, and still later, Leela became action character and girl sidekick in one.)

This story's got a lot of familiar faces if you've seen the entirety of the series, actors who came back later on in other parts. Perhaps most notable is Michael Wisher, who supplied a voice in THE SEEDS OF DEATH, returned in TERROR OF THE AUTONS, CARNIVAL OF MONSTERS, FRONTIER IN SPACE, PLANET OF THE DALEKS, DEATH TO THE DALEKS, GENESIS OF THE DALEKS, REVENGE OF THE CYBERMEN and PLANET OF EVIL! (It's a shame he wasn't available for DESTINY OF THE DALEKS of any of its sequels...)

Ronald Allen as Cornish, the head of the space center, looked familiar, but I couldn't place him. He was one of the alien baddies in THE DOMINATORS! I addition, Robert Cawdron, who played the heavily-accented Dr. Tartalian, I've seen in episodes of THE AVENGERS and THE SAINT. Cyril Shaps, who plays the collaborating scientist Dr. Lennox, also turned up in THE TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN, PLANET OF THE SPIDERS and THE ANDROIDS OF TARA!

Then there were 2 actors who only reminded me of other actors... William Dysart, as the criminal Reegan, had me thinking of William Campbell; and John Abineri as General Carrington, I swore had returned in a similar role in THE CURSE OF FENRIC, but that was actually Alfred Lynch as Commander Millington. (Gee, even the characters' names were similar.)

Somebody said this felt like a 6-parter padded out to 7 parts, instead of feeling like a 4-parter padded out to 7. I guess that's something!

I always remember when I first saw this (back when it was still IN COLOR!), I saw Liz chased by baddies and almost fall into the river... and then I missed the next 2 or 3 in a row, finally tuning in on part 7. So the end of this story was actually the first time I saw a "finale" on one of these. More than a decade later, when Philly's Channel 12 (PBS) ran it in "movie" form, they showed the story without any breaks at all... and, abruptly, CUT IT OFF about 8 minutes before the end of the story. WHAT th'...??? The following week, they ran INFERNO (which had turned up a year or two earlier, as it was in color), and at the end, they issued an apology for the screw-up the previous week-- and then, RAN the ending. Lucky me, I was fast enough on the draw, I was able to tape the ending right onto the end of the rest of the story with a virtually-invisible edit.

In addition to not having color copies, another shame is how, after the first 4 (or was it 5?) episodes were really sharp picture quality, the last few it suddenly switches to really fuzzy FILM copies. Oy! I'm guessing this was assembled from at least 2 different sources.

Things really pick up in the last 2 episodes, but after so much padding and slow, slow build-up, it does seem to end pretty quick. I mean, The Doctor doesn't even stick around to see the aliens off, we don't get to see any resolution with the alien captain, we have no idea if they decided to avoid Earth like a plague after their experiences. Of course, given just HOW alien these aliens were, and how dangerous their very physical make-up was to humans (or just about anything else on Earth), maybe they decided it would be mutually beneficial to both species if they just went away and never came back... It would serve mankind and its armies right if ONE unhinged military commander can single-handedly bring the entire planet to the brink of destruction. (Gee, shades of DR. STRANGELOVE! And The Brig does look a lot like that English officer Peter Sellers played in there-- doesn't he?).

Despite The Lack Of Plot A Good Story

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 5 February 2010]

Things were hectic for the DOCTOR WHO production team in late 1969 . Producer Derrick Sherwin had just left and Barry Letts was in charge of the production team which meant faux pas like the previous story having the bizarre on screen title Doctor Who And The Silurians . The Ambassadors Of Death wasn't even originally written for the third Doctor , it was written for the second and Malcolm Hulke had to be drafted in to rewrite David Whittaker's script and introduce season seven elements such as UNIT to the narrative . It's something of a minor miracle that the production team managed to bring the story to screen considering the pressures they were under

Ambassadors is considered to be a weak link in season seven . The fact that it remains watchable speaks well of the season . The premise is very simple . " Astronaut makes contact with alien race on Mars where his colleague is killed by aliens touch so tries to manipulate the human race in to thinking the aliens are hostile " However there's probably not enough meat in the premise to stretch to seven episodes so there's a lot of incident but the plot doesn't really develop very well . In many ways it's the closest the show has got to a James Bond story and contains all the weaknesses of the lesser Bonds in that it's overlong

Despite the flaws it's a very watchable story full of intriguing characters crossing and double crossing each other . William Dysart makes an intimidating villain in the shape of Reegan while John Abineri is superb as General Carrington . The climatic scene where he pleads to the Brigadier to be allowed to make his broadcast is one of the most understated and haunting scenes the classic show has come up with . Michael Ferguson directs well and composer Dudley Simpson brings one of the most striking scores the series has ever heard

Very good, action packed story (Story #53, The Ambassadors of Death)

[ametaphysicalshark · 17 January 2008]

"The Ambassadors of Death" doesn't exactly have a bad reputation, just one that isn't particularly inflated. Fans go on and on and on about how great season 7 is but half the time they appear to be speaking strictly of the first two stories, and the one that follows this, "Inferno". I hold the opinion that "The Ambassadors of Death" is a bit of a forgotten gem. It looks great, it's action-packed, it's got a great concept and good writing (despite going through multiple rewrites to accommodate entirely new characters and ideas), and has a wonderful atmosphere which it manages not to lose over its seven episodes.

"The Ambassadors of Death" struck me as only slightly padded as opposed to the well-padded "The Silurians" and (God help us all) the later Pertwee seven and six-parters. In fact, this struck me as a six-parter padded to seven parts as opposed to a four-parter padded to seven parts. Anyway, much of this story only survives in black and white, which is a shame because it lends itself quite well to color. Menacing villains and good model work and, unusually for Doctor Who, a couple of shootouts and chase scenes (the fans annoyed by this are the sort of fans annoyed by the chase in the TV movie, which was also a good bit of fun) make this a fun and always, at least slightly, gripping Doctor Who story.

Oh, but the best was yet to come!

Episode Ratings:

Episode 1: 9/10 Episode 2: 8/10 Episode 3: 8/10 Episode 4: 7/10 Episode 5: 7/10 Episode 6: 7/10 Episode 7: 8/10

Overall: Average amounts to 7.7/10 but I will give this story a good, solid 8 out of 10 stars over its seven episodes

Pertwee's first season summed up

[hmens1 · 10/10 · 1 May 2013]

WOW! A brilliant story... I only saw this complete story recently on BBC DVD, and boy, I was impressed! Jon Pertwee, in his third story as the Doctor, is marvellous. To me it shows him setting the foundations for the rest of his WHO career. The plot is also brilliant, given it is the eventual work of FOUR script writers: David Whitaker, Terrance Dicks, Trevor Ray and Malcolm Hulke. The conspiracy plot and mystery of the ambassadors creates an eerie setting, sending the Doctor into deep space and Liz Shaw into trouble. What interested me when I first saw Part One was the opening titles. The splitting of the titles (music, graphics and text: DOCTOR WHO; and electronic sting, graphics and text: THE AMBASSADORS... OF DEATH, BY David WHITAKER, PART ONE) helps generate a sense that this is something big. The scene slotted between the DOCTOR WHO and THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH allows the cliffhanger from the previous episode to be replayed, creating an even bigger sense of evil. Overall, THE AMBASSADORS... OF DEATH is a brilliant, 1970s example of "Who", full of death, action fight, conspiracy and mystery. If you have not yet seen it, go and buy the DVD and enjoy. You will not be disappointed.

Something took off from Mars.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 14 October 2019]

A recovery probe is sent into space to recover a missing Mars Probe, but the recovery goes wrong, and a strange message is received on Earth.

Season seven, Jon Pertwee's first, I see as a true purple patch in the show's history, many look at Spearhead, Silurians and Inferno as out and out classics, they are, and whilst for many, Ambassadors isn't quite in that league, I'd argue it isn't that far off the pace. Pertwee needed no time at all to settle into the role, he's as good here and as much in character as he is in Planet of Spiders.

Liz is by far the most underrated companion, getting only one series, the character was considered too clever, but Caroline John was outstanding, formidable, and up to The Doctor. I loved the scenes of The Doctor and Liz hopping about in time.

It has a real sixties sci fi thriller vibe, with a mix of The Quatermass Experiment thrown in. Lots of action and gunfights, scenes that fans would get used to during Pertwee's time.

I think it's a very good start, great story, lots of action, plenty of sci fi, and most of all, lots of intrigue. 9/10

Goes nowhere, accomplishes little, but still pretty great

[TARDIS_Tech_Support · 7/10 · 26 October 2023]

Normally I have a really hard time getting through the serials that just seem to repeat the same actions for 2-7 episodes, like The Doctor getting captured, escaping, finding a single clue, the companion gets caught, escapes, finds one clue, red herrings, and a whole bunch of chase scenes to pretend there is something going on, instead of just a flurry of mindless activity. But this cast is SO GOOD despite everything that I just want to watch them do whatever they need to do to (maybe) push the plot forward. I can't believe this is so early into Jon Pertwee, Caroline John, and Nicholas Courtney's run, because they have their roles down. This is a really solid serial, despite its shortcomings.

Appearances can be deceptive.

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 9/10 · 21 September 2014]

Review of all 7 episodes:

This story begins intriguingly with UNIT and The Doctor helping to look into space missions which have run into trouble. The whole story has brilliant performances from Jon Pertwee (The Doctor), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stuart), Ronald Allen (Professor Cornish), John Abineri (General Carrington) and the rest of the cast, some good grown-up science fiction writing, realistic dialogue, plenty of thrills and intrigue plus good production values. It features some mysterious aliens, lots of action and double crossing and some good underlying moral themes to do with xenophobia and military reaction to perceived threats. That this good, solid story is the weak link in series 7 is testament to the extremely high quality of this period of the show.

The first episode is very well done with interest provided by missing astronauts, mysterious goings on, lively action and very good script and performances. The second and third episodes are less impressive. The storytelling in these two episodes feels a bit jumbled and unclear and in the second episode the Doctor inexplicably is able to make an object disappear into thin air and reappear at will - bizarre and inconsistent with anything in the series history! Episodes 4 and 5 are better although it is slightly hard to believe that UNITs security is repeatedly shown to be so poor. Episodes 6 and 7 are back to the excellent standard of the first part with the story coming to a well written, action packed and satisfying climax.

Whilst being pretty impressive for its day in presenting a space mission it does not feel entirely in keeping with its setting in the 70s or even early 80s. The ability to travel to Mars, to carry out launches and returns to Earth at great speed and a few other bits of technology shown suggest a more advanced age. This is because it was originally written to be a Second Doctor story set a bit further in the future. The original story was written by David Whitaker and would be his last credit as writer on the series. Whitaker had been the very first Doctor Who script editor, a role he carried out brilliantly, and had written such great stories as The Crusade, The Power of the Daleks and The Evil of the Daleks. His contribution to the series was huge. Sadly this final story was rewritten (uncredited) by Terrance Dicks, Malcolm Hulke and Trevor Ray and, whilst good, I believe it became less successful than it could have been. I think the rewrites lead to the little bits of jumbled plot, UNITs inept security and the Doctor's incongruous magical powers making it into the story! It is also a pity the story was used whilst the Doctor was stuck in a contemporary Earth setting as a setting in the future would have added believability.

This is a very exciting, enjoyable, well acted story but under different circumstances I think it could have been one of the real classics which it falls short of in my opinion.

Episode ratings: Episode 1 - 9/10, Episode 2 - 6.5/10, Episode 3 - 7.5/10, Episode 4 - 8/10, Episode 5 - 8/10, Episode 6 - 9/10, Episode 7 - 9/10. Average rating: 8.14/10

Mars...

[wetmars · 7/10 · 9 February 2021]

Oh, neat, a story that involves space! There is an investigation surrounding Mars Probe 7 with a crew of three. There has been no contact for seven months after they took off from Mars manually. The same problem happens to the Recovery 7 rescue mission. The model designs of the two spacecraft are nice. There is a scene that has action in it, and it's well-done. Pretty cool how the screens of Space Command slides down. I like how it shows how it can be a pain with communication in space when it comes to problems. It's rather frustrating and, you have to repeat the same command all over again. It's a real thing that happens often.

The start of Episode 2 is pretty intense. The landing procedures of the craft were realistic. The astronaut's suits are a bit slim but, I am alright with that. I assume that RTD and Moffat got inspired by the astronauts. The Doctor and the Brigadier are getting along together, at last. I didn't like their relationship in the previous story. Pretty terrifying how the astronauts can withstand gunshots. We get to see Benton again, glad to see him on screen.

Later on, we learn that the aliens are taking the astronauts hostage which explains why they weren't responding to Space Command. Shame that the recoloring is showing a bit of black and white. The villains are menacing. They can break through gates, and kill. The Brigadier can put up a good fight.

I have a few problems with this story. The plot is tricky to follow. The story didn't focus on the aliens at all. I can't think of anything else.

7/10.

Invaders From Mars?

[timdalton007 · 9/10 · 23 November 2013]

(Note: A review of the entire serial)

Doctor Who's 1970 season is perhaps better remembered for stories such as The Silurians with its moral ambiguity and Inferno's journey into a parallel universe. Yet between those two stories is a forgotten little gem dealing with astronauts, manipulation and the threat of interstellar war. A story called The Ambassadors of Death.

The story can be seen an alien invasion take on The Silurians. Both stories have similar beginnings with UNIT helping out a UK scientific establishment which brings the Doctor and Liz into a crisis. Both stories have scientists in the establishment being involved with the aliens at the heart of the crisis, the aliens in turn are not what they seem, and the Doctor finds himself caught in the middle while trying to prevent an all-out war.

What separates this story from its immediate predecessor is the action packed nature of the story. While Silurians very much limited itself to the scientific center, the caves and immediate area around it for the most part there is no such constraint on this story. Locations change frequently throughout all seven episodes, helping to give the story enough scope to make it not only stretch across them but never be boring. It also features a large number of action sequences. These include battles between UNIT personnel and the forces of the story's antagonist (in episodes one, two and seven respectively), a car chase in episode three, numerous attacks by the aliens and even the Doctor being launched into space in the one time the Doctor left Earth this season. The result is the most action packed story of the season.

The second lies in the motives of the story's antagonist. While Silurians was centered around egos and power plays by various characters which caused the situation to get worse, this story centers around one man and his perceived threat of an alien invasion. General Carrington (played by John Abineri) manipulates everyone around him ranging from the Minister of Technology, members of the British space program and indeed the space-suited ambassadors themselves by having them commit attacks to encourage the perception of an impending invasion. Carrington's motive isn't one of ego but one born of his sense of "moral duty".

All that leads to a rather surprising ending. After Carrington's plan is foiled and he is arrested, he walks over to the Doctor and tells him "I had to do what I did. It was my moral duty. You do understand don't you?" The Doctor answers back simply "Yes General. I do understand." This is especially surprising if you consider that Carrington's plan isn't too far removed from the Brigadier sealing up the caves at the end of the previous story.

In fact, this story finds the Brigadier on the Doctor's side as Carrington's intentions become more and more evident as the story progresses. Perhaps the ending suggests that both the Doctor and the Brigadier have learned that sometimes their ways aren't the best for a particular situation as illustrated by the fact that Carrington was simply doing what he thought was right as he claims.

While less remembered than the stories it's sandwiched between, The Ambassadors of Death holds up well. It's well paced across seven episodes, features plenty of action sequences, yet also looks at the dangers of a misplaced sense of duty in an ever changing world. This story then, rather than Silurians or Inferno, perhaps serves better as the template for the era that was to follow: action/adventure but dealing with bigger issues as well. Rarely would it be done better.

A real Humdinger

[ewaf58 · 9/10 · 27 November 2023]

Well the BBC certainly put its hands into its pockets for season 7 and gave Dr Who a decent budget

At times there was more action in this story than The Sweeney.

I actually lost track of the body count, but it seemed to be on par with The Wild Bunch.

And let's remember that this used to be transmitted at about 17:30 in the UK

The was much more maturity in season 7 than the the later incarnation of Dr Who, especially the latest 2023 special featuring the return of David Tennant, which I thought was dreadful, seemingly aimed at 3 year olds.

As with all the 7th season, there is a lot of believable, commited acting, to bring all the stories to life.

I wish Dr Who could return to this sort of mature story telling, but I guess there's very little chance of this happening.