Douglas Camfield, “Doctor Who: The Seeds of Doom” (1976)
Inspired or heavily influenced by Howard Hawks’s 1951 film “The Thing from Another World” and two British television series “The Avengers” (specifically, “Man Eater from Surrey Green” in which John Steed and Emma Peel fight a man-eating alien plant from outer space) and “The Quatermass Experiment” among other films, this Doctor Who serial probably has no right to be as riveting as it is – and yet, for a story shoved into its production schedule at the last minute to replace another story, it is brisk and tight in action and plotting, while leaving enough space for its cast, both major and minor, to flourish as real if perhaps chilling and unpleasant characters. The narrative may not be worth remembering much but the characters and what they may represent – in particular, the plant-obsessed millionaire Harrison Chase (played by Tony Beckley) and his thuggish henchman Scorby (John Challis) – stays with viewers for a long time.
The Doctor (Tom Baker) and faithful sidekick Sarah (Elisabeth Sladen) arrive in Antarctica in the TARDIS while a science expedition there has been hit with unexpected disaster when one of its members, examining a strange seed pod, is attacked by a tendril from that pod and contracts a strange infection that starts transforming his body. Examining the man, the Doctor says that he has been infected by a Krynoid, a dangerous plant-like alien life-form with the potential to wipe out all animal life on Earth. In the meantime, back in England, millionaire Chase has heard of this pod through the news and sends out his two subordinates, Scorby and Keeler (Mark Jones), to try to obtain this pod. Of course, they arrive too late, but they are able to steal a second pod that the Doctor has found. The infected scientist grows into a plant monster and kills his fellow scientists. Scorby rigs the scientists’ camp with a bomb and he and Keeler return to England with the pod while the Doctor and Sarah are forced to make their own way out of the camp before they are blown up or before the monster gets them too. Thus ends the first and minor part (two episodes) of the story.
The major part of the story takes place on Chase’s estate with the Doctor and Sarah infiltrating the property with its lush gardens and grounds with the help of dotty artist Amelia Ducat (Sylvia Coleridge). The duo is captured by Scorby and Chase plans on using Sarah as the guinea pig for the second pod, but the Doctor (who has escaped in the meantime) literally gatecrashes in on the action to rescue Sarah and in the ensuing confusion, Keeler is infected by the pod’s tendrils. In the temperate English climate Keeler transforms rapidly into a Krynoid and Chase encourages his growth by feeding him raw meat. Soon Keeler outgrows the garden house – and Chase’s property – and the Doctor is compelled to call on his old employer UNIT for help. The creature grows too rapidly for even the harshest and most toxic pesticides to treat and the only way to deal with it is to bomb it to smithereens – it’s a pity that the Brigadier, away in Geneva, is not able to give the order.
As for the various characters in this tale, Scorby panics and tries to flee, but ends up being drowned in a pond by underwater weeds controlled by the Krynoid; and Chase tries to feed Sarah into a giant composting machine but ends up being the one to push the daisies after the Doctor rescues Sarah and (not very convincingly) tries to save Chase from the munching rollers. Not for the first time and certainly not for the last, the Doctor and Sarah escape the mansion and its grounds with a couple of minutes to spare before the property and the Krynoid are completely destroyed under relentless firebombing.
While the plot may be hackneyed, the cast of actors is remarkable in that they all shine in their individual performances. Beckley in particular plays a very convincing James Bond villain with his black gloves, blank expressions and flat voice: he works extremely well as a metaphor for fanaticism, be it religious fanaticism or, in his case, eco-fanaticism falling into violence and killing as his obsessions drive him deeper into his own existential hellhole. Keeler, torn between what he knows is right, his horror at senseless murder and the exigencies of his position working for Chase, cuts a pathetic figure. Scorby, always looking out for numero uno, is utterly convincing as a sadistic bully who turns out cowardly when the going really gets tough. Other minor characters working for Chase, like his butler Hargreaves (Seymour Green) and the corrupt civil servant Dunbar (Kenneth Gilbert), get their comeuppance from the Krynoid even as they experience second thoughts about working for him or accepting cash under the table. Even the eccentric Amelia Ducat is a delight, seemingly scatty one moment, and turning undercover spy the next.
Of course, the Doctor and Sarah have to shoulder much of the work to make this story as thrilling as can be, and Baker brings an intense performance as the Doctor, often forced to say and do things against his better judgement under duress from external actors, and displaying a greater range of emotion from affable charm to fiery temper than he has done before in the role. Sladen as Sarah provides able support for Baker’s Doctor and holds her ground against Scorby. For all their running around and getting into and out of trouble and narrow escapes from death, the Doctor and Sarah ultimately find both Krynoids beyond their control; it’s ironic perhaps, that Scorby is the one who gets rid of the first Krynoid, and UNIT without the Brigadier (in the Pertwee era of Doctor Who, the running joke was that the Brigadier would use gunfire as a first resort – and that resort always failed) actually achieve something using the Brigadier’s all-purpose method of resolving problems.
With much of the action filmed on location in Dorset, and featuring the use of videotape in filming the outdoor scenes, the entire adventure still looks fresh and not a bit dated after 50 years. The lush greenery, the quaint cottages and the stately country mansion make a huge contrast with the sadism and violence often on display. As would be expected of a children’s science fiction show on a low budget, the monsters are not very convincing, and it is to the show’s credit that they are not seen in full. If there is a complaint to be made about the violence in a family-oriented television show, surely the scene where the Doctor twists Scorby’s neck merits such criticism.
“The Seeds of Doom” demonstrates that even an overused trope of an alien infection arriving from space and transforming unlucky individual humans into giant monsters can still generate suspense if the story developed from it concentrates on delineating plausible flesh-and-blood characters capable of generating sympathy and/or on having something to say. The narrative would be used for greater horrific effect with an underlying theme of cosmic nihilism and paranoia by John Carpenter’s 1982 film remake (“The Thing”) of the aforementioned Howard Hawks film.