Favourite Fours: Terror of the Zygons

Howdy Whovians and other such readers and welcome to Day 2 of Favourite Fours. This episode is the first of Season 13. In fact it is the first of the serials outright. The Doctor, Harry and Sarah have all returned from escaping the cold calculating claws of the Cybermen as they are summoned by U.N.I.T. Via Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart to deal with shenanigans in Scotland. Are these done because of specters or aliens? This is Terror of the Zygons.

So Ms. Cleo, that is 4.99 for the first five minutes.

Narrowly evading the clutches of the Cybermen the Doctor, Sarah and Harry have been summoned to Earth via the Space-Time telegraph, a device that can communicate with the Doctor throughout time and space but it must be used only in the direst of emergencies. The Brigadier explains to the Doctor that several oil rigs have been destroyed by a force or forces unknown and unseen. Structurally sound rigs have been demolished from something with more strength and force that a category 4 hurricane and aside from the mist rising up there have been no weather anomalies.

Sarah speaks with the landlord Angus in the village's inn, the temporary U.N.I.T. HQ and she learns of a folk legend of the land around Tulloch Moor, where a great many people have up and disappeared down through the centuries never to be seen nor heard from again. Given the sonar is not reporting of any creatures, ships or foreign powers operating in this area, the Doctor proceeds to construct a device to detect for signal jamming in the local area. Harry goes for a walk along the moor, when clearly An American Werewolf in London warns us of moors is ignored why he spots a fellow from the last oil rig Munro. Before Munro can tell Harry what happened to the rig he is shot in the back by person's unknown and Harry is shot as well.

Ahh!! the wanton destruction of scale models!!!

A phone call to HQ lets the Doctor know that Harry was found on the moor shot and is being treated for his injuries. He and Sarah try to find out what was the cause and realize he is too weak to speak. The Doctor leaves and with his impressive peepers to some wreckage with substantial holes in it, almost as it were caused by fangs. Will the Doctor solve this crisis? Is Sarah and Harry in danger? What of the secret of the Yeti? Does the Doctor know the Muffin Man?

A few bits of interest on our serial now. Over 8.5 million viewers enjoyed this serial on its original transmission. This is the first appearance of the Zygons and aside from Big Finish Audio, several novels and radio dramas, the shape-shifters are not seen for 38 years in Doctor Who's show until the 50^th Anniversary Special, The Day of the Doctor. Working titles for this particular serial were: The Secret of the Loch, The Secret of Loch Ness, The Loch Ness and the Zygons and Loch Ness.

At least you are not wearing a dickie bow or sand shoes.

The Doctor's Greatest Adventures Week: The Ice Warriors

Howdydoodlydoo readers and welcome to Day 1 of The Doctor's Greatest Adventures Week.  To start us off we will follow the second Doctor (Patrick Troughton of Hamlet, Doctor Who, The Scars of Dracula, The Omen and Knights of God) Victoria (Deborah Watling of H.G. Wells' Invisible Man, That'll Be the Day, Arthur of the Britons and Take Me High), and Jamie (Frazer Hines of Smugglers' Cove, Emergency-Ward 10, Smuggler's Bay, Coronation Street and Emmerdale)  as they make their way to a future timeline in Britain as the are attempting to fend of an alarming glacier set to blanket all of England.  But is this occurring in nature or is there a sinister power behind this, creating a platform for an impeding invasion?  This is Ice Warriors.

Go-go technicians... OF THE FUTURE!

Varga: It's spoiled.  They are free. And now, to bring them back to life.









In the far future, the Brittanicus Base is attempting to slow glaciers threatening to engulf all of Great Britain by using an ionizer cannon. An excess of carbon dioxide has created this travesty and serval citizens have been evacuated to Africa to safety.   Senior control tech Jan Garret (Wendy Gifford of The Brides of Fu Manchu, Doctor Who, Harriet's Back in Town and Nobody's House) and her staff are fighting tooth and nail to halt the glacier which seems to no avail.  With Lead scientist Clent (Peter Barkworth of Manhunt, Where Eagles Dare, Patton and Wilde) insisting they can stop this new Ice Age, Garret can barely rally her staff to staying before they must abandon the base.  

Must be a fault in the stabilizer.

Head archaeologist Arden is doing core samples of the glacier for readings and measurements when he and his team discover an enormous man embedded in the ice, set to thaw him out when an avalanche due to its instability, sweeps down slaying one of Arden's men.  The remaining expedition scoops up the ice man and head back to base.  Moments later the TARDIS lands outside the base itself and the Doctor and his companions go and investigate.  Upon arrival the Doctor assists in repair and improvement of the ionizer to give Brittanicus Base a fighting chance against the glacier.   An emergency meeting of the staff takes place as the Doctor sits in, Jamie and Victoria go and observe the ice man only to be attacked by him, knocking Jamie for a loop and abducting Victoria.

The crises compile as Jamie with the help of Arden look for Victoria and the Doctor and the scientists must find a solution to the glacier.  Can the the predicament be averted?  Who is the mysterious stranger in the ice?  What are his plans for Victoria?  How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

This is the first appearance of the Martian people known as the Ice Warriors.  A brutish, clever and warrior race that hails from Mars long before life was created on Earth.  Their latest episode hails from the current Doctor Who series Cold War episode.   The first episode in this six-parter was watched by over 6.7 million viewers in 1967.

It was very common the whole "base under siege" story arc in Troughton's era and while some younger viewers may feel it is a bit drawn out, to me it is a classic sci-fi way to go.  Controlled environment and isolation from back up, making our staff having to put their heads together and outwit the enemy.  Give me than over a space-fighter dog fight any day of the week.

I warned you two, Timelord gas is not to be taken lightly.