Full Notes: The Seeds of Death
Full Notes: The Seeds of Death
Go deeper into our commentary on The Seeds of Death with our full notes from the epsiode.
Plot Summary:
A complacent future Earth is suddenly crippled when the Ice Warriors capture the planet’s Travel-Mat system — which instantly teleports matter — and use it to cover the planet with deadly seed pods as a prelude to invasion.
Notable for:
Second appearance of the Ice Warriors. They returned in part because their costumes were so expensive and they wanted to use them again.
Terrence Dicks wrote most of the story (episodes 3-6). Brian Hayles had trouble completing the script since Frazer Hines hadn’t signed on for the story yet, and he had to write the Doctor out of episode 4.
This is the last time someone in the main cast was written out because they were on vacation. The number of episodes per season was reduced.
Commentary:
The Seeds of Death is, at times, what you might imagine a Doctor Who stage play to be. The costumes, for one, look like something out of a musical (this would have been amazing in color), and Michael Ferguson’s direction gets absolutely nuts in episode 3. The bizarre chase in the corridors of the moonbase, where the Doctor is constantly changing direction, then outwits the Warriors with, “I’m a genius.” is so OTT camp that you can’t help but go with it.
Speaking of musical theater, this feels like one of the gayest episodes of Doctor Who ever made. Consider the evidence:
Earth’s (T-Mat org’s?) costume/uniform is quite tight-fitting and incorporates some interesting “lines.”
Loads of shots of Slaar from behind, with his derriere quite prominent.
Jamie’s swashbuckler top is straight out of the international male catalog.
The nonstop supply of Warriors, or “bears.”
Everybody gets to play in foam and balloons! It’s a pride parade!
The Grand Marshal has sequins on his helmet.
The solution to the seeds problem is everybody gets wet.
As with many Classic Doctor Who’s, there are many huge simplifications to how the world works and what we see. It seems like the entire world is being run by this one room — T-Mat headquarters — and the world’s weather is equally centralized. Other cities and the UN (which is apparently the world government) are mentioned, but they’re all NPCs. Why don’t the security forces have better weapons? Why isn’t the entire world working to understand the seed pods? Why is the old codger they found in the museum advising them on anything outside of rocketry? Best not to ask questions.
That said, I’ll draw a distinction between the script essentially relying on a heuristic, and a real plot hole. Once the Ice Warriors restore T-Mat operations, why wouldn’t the Earth send security forces up? Also, why send just one Warrior? Surely it would be prudent to take control not just of the weather control but T-Mat headquarters, too.
Once you can see that the little balls coming into the T-Mat receptor terminals are essentially bombs of some kind, why wouldn’t you tell every city to shut them down, or, if they can’t, at least keep the doors closed?
It’s also a bit silly that all Earth security has is a few .22 rifles. Once they see that bullets don’t work on the warrier, surely they would have gone to get some explosives. They mention flamethrowers in episode 6, but why didn’t they think of that four episodes ago?
I’m glad Zoe recognizes that instantaneous transport would be faster than light, though it’s too bad the implications of this are never really explored (which would be a tall order for 1969 Doctor Who, I admit).
The moon gravity being exactly like Earth’s might be a plot hole, but Zoe does mention at one point that the rocket has gravity control. It’s logical to assume the moonbase does too.
The seeds are destroyed by “ordinary water.” For starters, LOL! This is more evidence that this is supposed to be a camp funfest, and nothing too serious. As a plot point, it’s pretty ridiculous that the Ice Warriors ever thought their plot would work, given Earth is covered in the stuff.
OK, let’s talk about the Ice Warriors. First, let’s inventory all the problems with their plan and their relative incompetence:
They take control of T-Mat without understanding how it works — their plan depends on capturing technicians and them cooperating.
The Warriors are incredibly slow, can be overpowered by humans grabbing their arm, and can’t see what is plainly in front of them.
At the same time, the actors playing the Warriors are playing up their lumbering movements so much, it’s inadvertently hilarious in many places.
Slaar wants to kill the Doctor by spacing him, but why? Just shoot the guy.
They don’t bother sending warriors to control T-Mat facilities before sending the pods, so their plan depends on Earth personnel inadvertently releasing the pods.
They send a single Warrior to Earth, armed with just one sonic gun, and only to take control of the weather.
There is apparently no plan for conquering the warmer parts of Earth.
Their invasion force is coming to the moon for some reason? And the fleet depends on signals to navigate, plus they have so little fuel they can’t course-correct? That’s some pretty low-tech space travel
Beyond the Ice Warriors being terrible tacticians and strategists, there’s the big question of what the hell they’re doing? They’re from Mars and want to invade Earth, I guess because Mars is dying? OK, whatever, but in any case the portrayal here his of one-note evil aliens bent on conquest — more like the Daleks than what we see the Ice Warriors becoming in later episodes. The Seeds of Death requires a retcon to square this with what we see later of the Ice Warriors: This must be either an ultra-violent faction of the Warriors, or some kind of terrorist organization that’s wrested control of the Ice Warrior government.
The Grand Marshal has dots on his helmet. Equivalent of rank pips???
I like the vision of a complacent Earth that’s gotten too comfortable with its own brilliance in inventing T-Mat that they’ve gotten lazy about everything else, and haven’t addressed the “single point of failure” problem with the whole system. When you consider the “world computer” or whatever might be what ChatGPT becomes in the future, this actually looks even more relevant to today than you might think. Certainly the prediction that humans would fall out of love with space travel and rocketry came to pass (which probably seemed silly in 1969, considering the Apollo program was in full swing).
It’s hilarious when Radnor describes the Doctor and Zoe as brilliant and knowing so much about space travel, and then says “I’m not sure about him,” when asked about Jamie. And it’s totally nuts they’d let 3 unknowns pilot the rocket, space expertise or no.
What the hell is with that QR code overlaying Kelly in episode 2?
All the analog tech is pretty amazing:
Manually hooking up big cables to “solar power”
Switches, loose wires aplenty
The temperature control is shaped like a ship’s helm
Vacuum tubes still in use!
The bulky transmitter unit the Warriors use
OMG the HVAC system on the moon is INSANE! It works so well that the air temperature can increase by 20°C in the space of a minute. The moonbase temperature goes as high as 60°C, which is hotter than the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth (Death Valley, 1913, 56.7°C). And the meter goes all the way up to 100°C! One “fat finger” moment would kill everyone on the base — and they should have died anyway from Zoe’s twist of the dial.
What is with the Second Doctor years and foam? Did they have such a ball with all the foam in Fury from the Deep that they were like, “We HAVE to do this again!” It sure looks like Patrick Troughton and all those security guys who got to jump into it (after getting zapped by the warrior) were having the time of their lives! Grace loved this part.
Companions: Great episode for Jamie — he gets to stand up for himself several times (getting on the rocket, T-Matting to help the Doctor in episode 6), gets to go toe-to-toe with Ice Warriors, shout “Creag an tuire!” and generally demonstrate his bravery.
Not as good for Zoe. Her main heroics don’t rely on her brain — crawling through conduits and twisting a temperature dial. The Doctor ends up doing all the scientific heavy lifting. Plus she just stands there and screams for help when the Warrior is threatening her.
One of the reasons Zoe isn’t well served is because of Miss Kelly. Kelly is a great character: smart, determined, extremely competent, and she just happens to be a woman. This is an excellent choice, but it does get into Zoe’s space: there just isn’t enough for both of them to stand out, and Zoe often gets the short end of the stick.
I really like the moment when Zoe and Jamie are enjoying their pina coladas in episode 5 after escaping the moonbase.
Why is the Doctor convinced Zoe and Jamie will open the door of the weather control base when the seed pods become overwhelming? Why not run? (No choice anymore I guess.)
The Doctor goes into full war mode in episode 6. He builds a solar weapon and hunts the Warrior, killing it. He kills another Warrior on the moon, and is totally fine with putting the Ice Warrior fleet into an orbit that will kill them all. He and Jamie then kill Slaar and the remaining Warrior (self-defense in those cases). While the Doctor actively participates in repelling invasions all the time, his hands-on approach here is a bit disturbing, and certainly contrasted with, say, Tennant’s Doctor in The Poison Sky. It’s all justifiable in a “we’re at war” kind of way, but it’s good that Doctor Who went in a more sophisticated direction with respect to how it addresses violence and cycles of violence.
It’s also a bit curious that the Ice Warriors don’t hold more of a grudge against the Doctor for this incident.
What did Pete’s family think?
Grace watched with me. She liked it, but not enthusiastic. She LOVED the foam, commenting on how fun it looked more than once: “looks like heaven!” She also had wise observations for future Earth like, “Stop relying on one person.”
Four Questions to Doomsday - Pete
Why did the Randomizer take us here? Going for “of Death” bingo (just need Robots and City). Definitely contrasts from the other most recent “of Death,” where, in Ambassadors, the invaders from Mars are not the bad guys.
What if the evil plot had succeeded? As incompetent as the Ice Warriors are, the Earth is so riddled with single points of failure that it’s not inconceivable the world would succumb to their invasion. OK, so assume the Doctor and gang are rounded up and killed by the Ice Warriors, their advance forces succeed in repelling anyone from controlling the weather, and the seed pods alter the atmosphere to pave the way for their relatively small invasion force to take over. Earth becomes New Mars, perhaps with a few humans acting in pockets of resistance. The glorious future of colonization looks quite different, with the Ice Warriors being the central empire of the galaxy rather than bit players. Maybe they have deep shame for what they did to humanity in the early 21st Century and lead in an even more noble fashion? Do they inspire the galactic powers to unite against truly evil forces like the Daleks, Cybermen, and Sontarans?
Where's the Clara splinter? She’s Secretary-General of the UN! At some point she just goes, “We are deferring everything to T-Mat control and this mysterious ‘Doctor’ helping them. I’m confident they’ll have it all under control soon.”
Dalek, Ogron, Professor Hayter, Viscount Banger, Fixed Point in Time, or Lady Cassandra? I have no idea what to make of this one. It seems fatally flawed but it’s also super fun on a lot of levels. I remember really liking it as a kid, and it’s unquestionably memorable. Plus it’s a total conundrum as to where it fits into Doctor Who continuity, which gets your head canon going if you want to. You’ve done it, Seeds of Death — you’re my first Fixed Point in Time.
Cast (via TARDIS Wiki)
Dr. Who - Patrick Troughton
Jamie McCrimmon - Frazer Hines
Zoe Heriot - Wendy Padbury
Slaar - Alan Bennion
Gia Kelly - Louise Pajo
Computer Voice - John Witty
Brent - Ric Felgate
Osgood - Harry Towb
Radnor - Ronald Leigh-Hunt
Fewsham - Terry Scully
Phipps - Christopher Coll
Locke - Martin Cort
Eldred - Philip Ray
Ice Warriors - Steve Peters, Tony Harwood, Sonny Caldinez
Security Guard - Derrick Slater
Sir James Gregson - Hugh Morton
Grand Marshall - Graham Leaman