Patrick Troughton can be seen as having established the tradition that each actor to play Doctor Who endows the character with his own unique personality. His Second Doctor is very different to William Hartnell's First- kindly, rather disorganised and somewhat dishevelled. (He has been called the "Hobo Doctor"). Unfortunately, only a comparatively small number of complete serials survive from his time, the reason being the short-sighted, penny-pinching policy of the BBC during the seventies, which allowed tapes of old programmes to be erased so they could be reused. Not only did this policy deprive us of irreplaceable material of historic interest, it also meant that, in the long run, the Beeb lost out financially, as much of this material could have been exploited commercially. "The Seeds of Death" is one of the few Second Doctor serials to survive in its entirety.
The Doctor and his companions Zoe and Jamie arrive in London at some unspecified time in the future, probably during the twenty-first or twenty-second century. In the intervening period between 1969 and 2100 (or whenever), life on Earth has been revolutionised by the invention of a teleportation technology called "T-Mat" (presumably working on the same principle as the transportation beams in "Star Trek") which enable people and objects to travel instantly anywhere on Earth. The whole system is controlled by a base on the Moon. Other forms of transport have become obsolete and are only found in museums. This includes space rockets; mankind has lost interest in exploring outer space and government funding for space programmes has been brought to an end. This probably seemed like blasphemy in 1969, the year which saw, a few months after this programme was broadcast, the first manned moon landing, but its prediction proved to be very prescient; manned space exploration has indeed come to an end through lack of funding. ("That's one giant leap backwards for mankind!")
Soon after the Doctor's arrival, the entire T-Mat system breaks down because of problems at the moonbase. The cause is initially unknown, but it transpires that the base has been captured by the Ice Warriors, a race of beings from the planet Mars, who hope to use it as a stepping- stone in their attempt to conquer Earth. (Ever since the days of H G Wells, the conquest of Earth has been the dearest ambition of every self-respecting Martian). The Ice Warriors were one of several aggressive, warlike enemy races featured in the series; this was their second appearance. (The first was in the now-incomplete adventure "The Ice Warriors"). Like the Cybermen, they were invented as substitute Daleks when the producers realised they could not include the Daleks in every episode. Unlike the mechanical Daleks, the Ice Warriors are reptilian in appearance, and speak in hissing, sibilant voices rather than electronic ones, but they share some essential Dalek characteristics. They have a technologically advanced civilisation, are resourceful and inventive, are coldly logical and emotionless and are utterly ruthless and amoral in their willingness to kill anyone who gets in their way. (They would probably say "destroy" rather than "kill", just as the Daleks would say "exterminate").
"Doctor Who" has sometimes been criticised for being "sexist" on the grounds that the Doctor's young, primarily female companions have little to do except standing around looking pretty, screaming, and running away from various monsters, generally ending with their being caught and having to be rescued. This criticism, however, would not apply to "The Seeds of Death", which features two attractive young women who are also strong and active and who play at least as important a role in defeating the Ice Warriors as does the Doctor himself. (The Doctor fades out of the programme altogether in the fourth episode; the ostensible explanation is that he has been knocked unconscious, but the real reason was that Troughton was on holiday!) The first is Wendy Padbury's Zoe Herriot, whose sweet girl-next-door looks and manner hide great intelligence and technical knowledge. The other is Louise Pajo's Gia Kelly, a brilliant T-Mat scientist who does not bother to hide her intelligence and knowledge at all. Her manner towards her male colleagues is often abrasive, but that is probably because she knows more than the lot of them put together. Another memorable character is Daniel Eldred, the crusty elderly scientist who is eccentric enough to believe that rockets and space travel still have a future- and is proved right.
The series contains one massive plot-hole. The Ice Warriors' plan involves sending the seeds of a deadly fungus to Earth, but this fungus has one weakness- it can be destroyed by water. Don't the Ice Warriors realise what a damp climate we have? (A similar plot-hole occurred in the recent science-fiction film "Signs"). An attempt to overcome this by reference to a "weather control station" is not entirely convincing. This weakness apart, however, "The Seeds of Death" is a pretty good adventure. It has some strong characters and manages to maintain tension over its six episodes by rationing information- we do not learn the full details of the Ice Warriors' plan until more than halfway through- and by that traditional device of ending each episode at some cliffhanging point. We are fortunate that this is one of the Second Doctor serials to survive.
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