An unusual Philip Hinchcliffe effort - ultimately a rather disappointing one, with some of the best bits omitted.
The Doctor and Sarah are made to seem strange, mysterious and very competent, a bit like an Avengers pairing perhaps. I wonder if this was a response to the odd way the story has them hanging round on Earth at the start of the action, as if it was an old Pertwee script that fell down the back of Robert Holmes' submissions box?
The first visit by Dunbar to Harrison Chase that we see is his first one ever - he has only just decided to sell out, whereas on screen I got the idea that he'd been leaking information for some time.
There's no argy-bargy about Moberley not being qualified to amputate an arm - he's 'had some medical experience' so he agrees to the idea straight away.
When Stevenson (Bob Fleming) sees Scorby's gun, he doesn't waste any time telling him to drop it, he just tries to shoot him immediately. Botanists are tougher than we've been led to believe!
The Floriana Requiem and the 'green cathedral' remark are absent.
The Molotov cocktail idea is entirely the Doctor's. Scorby does not make the quotation about being of the same opinion as Mr Chase. Later, he doesn't do the speech about being a mercenary either.
Hargreaves doesn't appear to say anything in the scenes with Keeler, which is a shame because on screen his unruffled manner contributes a sense of surreal normality to the proceedings. We don't see his second visit to the cottage. There's no Chase/Mr Chase stuff with Scorby either.
The lead fighter pilot talks about turning the Krynoid into 'chop suey'.
It's Sarah who invites Sir Colin to come to Cassiopeia. After declining, he looks out of his window and sees the TARDIS dematerialising from the WEB car park. So the Doctor and Sarah got to the Bureau by TARDIS? That at least makes more sense than the nonsensical ending seen on screen.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Target: Brain of Morbius
The casualty we see in the opening is called Kriz - there's a digression about the orderly insect race he comes from. The Doctor does not refer to him as a Mutt, merely a member of a mutant insect species.
Solon wears robes ('which somehow suggested the academic') rather than the neat madman/dictator/Bond villain suit seen on screen. When he covers up the bust of Morbius, he merely says 'Oh, no, I’m sure you're mistaken,' which entirely lacks the Madoc menace of 'No, you were mistaken'.
The Sisterhood wear black robes. The reason the Doctor's pyre catches fire so easily is that it's soaked in rineweed oil. They have tridents, not those cool flammiform blades seen on screen.
Condo brings Sarah a snack when he takes her to the 'parlour'. There are various allusions to her experience of blindness, TD making an effort to turn it into more than just a plot device.
Ohica remembers an occasion when a disgraced Sister tried to force her way back into the Elixir ceremony: denied the drug, she crumbled into nothing before her very eyes. (Ohica is quite sympathetically portrayed in the novelisation).
Solon still makes the 'crowning irony' joke, but he doesn't do the 'pun was irresistible' bit. He doesn't tell Condo 'All right, she doesn't like it' but 'That's enough drooling for now'.
Morbius' claw came from a Crustacoid (the race to which Vorg's battery sergeant in the 14th Heavy Lasers in Carnival of Monsters belonged).
Instead of the 'pliers' remark when he insists on the disassembly of Morbius, the Doctor grabs a hacksaw and says '..otherwise I'll do it myself. Though I warn you, my surgical technique's a bit rough and ready.'
The Doctor and Sarah don't search for the HCN, the Doctor has already found it when he begins to exposit. The mind-bending setup has attention drawn to it slightly before it becomes important, which is good as it lessens the impression that it's been pulled out of nowhere to provide a resolution.
There are no pyrotechnics when the TARDIS dematerialises. Sarah can't wait to get away from Karn, and who can blame her?
Solon wears robes ('which somehow suggested the academic') rather than the neat madman/dictator/Bond villain suit seen on screen. When he covers up the bust of Morbius, he merely says 'Oh, no, I’m sure you're mistaken,' which entirely lacks the Madoc menace of 'No, you were mistaken'.
The Sisterhood wear black robes. The reason the Doctor's pyre catches fire so easily is that it's soaked in rineweed oil. They have tridents, not those cool flammiform blades seen on screen.
Condo brings Sarah a snack when he takes her to the 'parlour'. There are various allusions to her experience of blindness, TD making an effort to turn it into more than just a plot device.
Ohica remembers an occasion when a disgraced Sister tried to force her way back into the Elixir ceremony: denied the drug, she crumbled into nothing before her very eyes. (Ohica is quite sympathetically portrayed in the novelisation).
Solon still makes the 'crowning irony' joke, but he doesn't do the 'pun was irresistible' bit. He doesn't tell Condo 'All right, she doesn't like it' but 'That's enough drooling for now'.
Morbius' claw came from a Crustacoid (the race to which Vorg's battery sergeant in the 14th Heavy Lasers in Carnival of Monsters belonged).
Instead of the 'pliers' remark when he insists on the disassembly of Morbius, the Doctor grabs a hacksaw and says '..otherwise I'll do it myself. Though I warn you, my surgical technique's a bit rough and ready.'
The Doctor and Sarah don't search for the HCN, the Doctor has already found it when he begins to exposit. The mind-bending setup has attention drawn to it slightly before it becomes important, which is good as it lessens the impression that it's been pulled out of nowhere to provide a resolution.
There are no pyrotechnics when the TARDIS dematerialises. Sarah can't wait to get away from Karn, and who can blame her?
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Target: Pyramids of Mars
There are many rather good extra bits in this book, it really is one of TD's best efforts. I'm surprised that I didn't remember most of them - I think this one was very much in demand at the library, and by the time I had my own copy I knew the screen version well, so I didn't read it much. More fool me.
A prologue has been added, describing the events on Phaester Osiris that led to Sutekh's imprisonment, before we join Marcus Scarman at the semi-legendary Black Pyramid. Finding it has taken him years, and he's spent 'many English sovereigns' in the bazaars to get information.
The Doctor calls Sarah 'Victoria', not the annoying and wrong 'Vicky' used on screen. Sarah reflects that he's still annoyed by being called back to deal with the Zygons - and she thinks at some length about her association with the Doctor, and the way that all her adventures, and all the years that the Brigadier's known him, are just a small part of his travels, and that he's had 'many lives and many companions'. Lovely stuff.
Namin also has a lengthy reverie, about his work as a priest of the secret cult that the Osirans set up to maintain the Black Pyramid. Reading between the lines, it's clear that they couched the secret writings in religious terms so that the ancient Egyptians could grasp them. By the way, the labourers seen in the opening scene don't escape - Namin and his associates killed them all, making this a story in which everybody dies (except Horus).
Collins (the manservant) doesn't plead that it's hard to find jobs at his age. His motivation is purely loyalty to the Scarman family.
Sarah doesn't mention to Laurence that she comes from 1980 (nor does she say it in the TARDIS later). The 'preposterous' exchange flows better, too - it runs 'Yes it is, isn’t it,' agreed Sarah sympathetically. 'I’m sorry.' I think it's funnier that way.
Ernie Clements is first seen at dawn the day after the Doctor, Sarah and Laurence hide in the 'priest-hole' - they spend all night there. Ernie used to take the Scarmans 'poaching' on their own land when they were boys, and he sells rabbits to Dr Warlock too. When the mummies are chasing him through the woods, 'for the first time in his life he felt some sympathy for the animals he hunted and trapped.' (Cf the comment about fox-hunting in Android Invasion).
Sarah once researched an article on Egyptology for an educational magazine, which is why she knows about the 740 gods etc.
The narration goes to some lengths to make it clear that Ernie's hut wasn't, and never had been, his home. There really is a ferret in the cage - it escapes. Sarah doesn't throw the box of sweaty gelignite, but she does poke the contents with her finger, horrifying the Doctor.
When Marcus Scarman grabs his brother, there's the same 'smoke' effect as is seen in the episode one cliffhanger.
The Doctor already has the detonation plan worked out when they stash the gelignite - it isn't an improvisation.
After the Doctor's 'Human?' line he adds, 'You forget, Sarah, I'm not.' I think it works better without the explanation. 'Five men, six' have been murdered, not 'Four, five'.
We see Sarah's capture by the mummies. When the Doctor appears in the time tunnel on his return journey, he's sitting cross-legged, not standing up.
In the pyramid, Sarah wonders why Scarman didn't order her killed as well as the Doctor. Sutekh says that they're in an antechamber under the pyramid, not that there is an antechamber as he seems to on screen. He also calls the switch a switch, not a solenoid (on screen he delivers it as if he's insulting Scarman - 'extreme right, solenoid' - perhaps Gabriel Woolf didn't understand the line?)
There are some minor swaps between lines and thoughts in the Cretan paradox scene, but nothing special. The switches are on the wall, not the glass bell.
The opposing mummies hit each other with great swinging blows (rather than ineffectually bumping into each other) - eventually achieving mutual destruction. When Sutekh breaks free, Marcus Scarman does not get to proclaim his own freedom before dying - I thought it was a shame to omit this.
When the Doctor has Sutekh trapped, he says 'You forgot that Time is the weapon of the Time Lords. I have used Time to defeat you.' Sutekh lives another 7000 years, whereas on screen it sounds like he lived 7000 years in toto.
There's no joke (?) about 1666, but there is a TARDIS bookend where Sarah's weariness and horror at all the deaths is well conveyed. She says that surely the events at the Priory will get out - the Doctor tells her that Time takes care of these things, 'when we get back home, you can look it up and see!'
Even better, there's an Epilogue, a really nice account of how 'later, much later' Sarah does just that, and is consoled. I won't spoil it for you by quoting it - it's a real Target high point. Well done TD.
A prologue has been added, describing the events on Phaester Osiris that led to Sutekh's imprisonment, before we join Marcus Scarman at the semi-legendary Black Pyramid. Finding it has taken him years, and he's spent 'many English sovereigns' in the bazaars to get information.
The Doctor calls Sarah 'Victoria', not the annoying and wrong 'Vicky' used on screen. Sarah reflects that he's still annoyed by being called back to deal with the Zygons - and she thinks at some length about her association with the Doctor, and the way that all her adventures, and all the years that the Brigadier's known him, are just a small part of his travels, and that he's had 'many lives and many companions'. Lovely stuff.
Namin also has a lengthy reverie, about his work as a priest of the secret cult that the Osirans set up to maintain the Black Pyramid. Reading between the lines, it's clear that they couched the secret writings in religious terms so that the ancient Egyptians could grasp them. By the way, the labourers seen in the opening scene don't escape - Namin and his associates killed them all, making this a story in which everybody dies (except Horus).
Collins (the manservant) doesn't plead that it's hard to find jobs at his age. His motivation is purely loyalty to the Scarman family.
Sarah doesn't mention to Laurence that she comes from 1980 (nor does she say it in the TARDIS later). The 'preposterous' exchange flows better, too - it runs 'Yes it is, isn’t it,' agreed Sarah sympathetically. 'I’m sorry.' I think it's funnier that way.
Ernie Clements is first seen at dawn the day after the Doctor, Sarah and Laurence hide in the 'priest-hole' - they spend all night there. Ernie used to take the Scarmans 'poaching' on their own land when they were boys, and he sells rabbits to Dr Warlock too. When the mummies are chasing him through the woods, 'for the first time in his life he felt some sympathy for the animals he hunted and trapped.' (Cf the comment about fox-hunting in Android Invasion).
Sarah once researched an article on Egyptology for an educational magazine, which is why she knows about the 740 gods etc.
The narration goes to some lengths to make it clear that Ernie's hut wasn't, and never had been, his home. There really is a ferret in the cage - it escapes. Sarah doesn't throw the box of sweaty gelignite, but she does poke the contents with her finger, horrifying the Doctor.
When Marcus Scarman grabs his brother, there's the same 'smoke' effect as is seen in the episode one cliffhanger.
The Doctor already has the detonation plan worked out when they stash the gelignite - it isn't an improvisation.
After the Doctor's 'Human?' line he adds, 'You forget, Sarah, I'm not.' I think it works better without the explanation. 'Five men, six' have been murdered, not 'Four, five'.
We see Sarah's capture by the mummies. When the Doctor appears in the time tunnel on his return journey, he's sitting cross-legged, not standing up.
In the pyramid, Sarah wonders why Scarman didn't order her killed as well as the Doctor. Sutekh says that they're in an antechamber under the pyramid, not that there is an antechamber as he seems to on screen. He also calls the switch a switch, not a solenoid (on screen he delivers it as if he's insulting Scarman - 'extreme right, solenoid' - perhaps Gabriel Woolf didn't understand the line?)
There are some minor swaps between lines and thoughts in the Cretan paradox scene, but nothing special. The switches are on the wall, not the glass bell.
The opposing mummies hit each other with great swinging blows (rather than ineffectually bumping into each other) - eventually achieving mutual destruction. When Sutekh breaks free, Marcus Scarman does not get to proclaim his own freedom before dying - I thought it was a shame to omit this.
When the Doctor has Sutekh trapped, he says 'You forgot that Time is the weapon of the Time Lords. I have used Time to defeat you.' Sutekh lives another 7000 years, whereas on screen it sounds like he lived 7000 years in toto.
There's no joke (?) about 1666, but there is a TARDIS bookend where Sarah's weariness and horror at all the deaths is well conveyed. She says that surely the events at the Priory will get out - the Doctor tells her that Time takes care of these things, 'when we get back home, you can look it up and see!'
Even better, there's an Epilogue, a really nice account of how 'later, much later' Sarah does just that, and is consoled. I won't spoil it for you by quoting it - it's a real Target high point. Well done TD.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
The Android Invasion
A fake village, inhabited by people brought in on a lorry, and who only come to life at specified times - always fun to see DW hinting at its own artifice.
The racing mechanic look for the armed androids is an excellent choice - both smart and menacing.
It's very odd indeed to see Benton and Harry Sullivan again in this - after Planet of Evil they seem like dinosaurs from another era. It would have been far better to leave UNIT after Terror of the Zygons.
Like other Terry Nation stories, this has some memorable ideas (the fake village, the mint-new money, getting to Earth by pod) but the story itself isn't very exciting.
The racing mechanic look for the armed androids is an excellent choice - both smart and menacing.
It's very odd indeed to see Benton and Harry Sullivan again in this - after Planet of Evil they seem like dinosaurs from another era. It would have been far better to leave UNIT after Terror of the Zygons.
Like other Terry Nation stories, this has some memorable ideas (the fake village, the mint-new money, getting to Earth by pod) but the story itself isn't very exciting.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Target: The Android Invasion
I first read this book on a hot afternoon with a headache, and ever since then Devesham has felt like a hot, thirsty place where you'd want a ginger pop.
The doomed UNIT corporal is handsome and young. True, the man we see on screen is no minger, but he's no spring chicken either. He gets his face ripped by a bramble, but doesn't flinch.
Sarah doesn't roll down a slope towards the cliff, she just steps over it, not knowing it's there, but fortunately the Doctor catches her hand.
When Sarah sees the 'mechanic' with his visor up, there aren't circuits inside, just a dark space. There's a completely new scene just after this, before she gets back to the TARDIS, in which Grierson (an android presumably) reports a strange pinging signal to Crayford.
Sarah finds a middle-aged woman in the pod by the TARDIS, not a man in a leather jacket.
At the Space Research Centre, the Doctor points out the Brigadier's cap (on top of a filing cabinet) to Crayford to illustrate his point about whose office it is. Crayford is just Senior Astronaut, not Senior Defence Astronaut.
The Doctor throws the darts all at once - from the 'aiming point' rather than the more usual oche.
The android Sarah is a mirror image - and so is the android Harry, the Doctor says, with his medals on the wrong side, though we aren't given any indication of this when we meet him for the first time. (He isn't even wearing medals on screen). It's her jacket that gives her away, not her scarf.
As the Doctor runs from the dogs, he thinks grimly that anyone who thinks foxes enjoy being hunted should try being chased by dogs themselves. He uses the old hollow reed trick to hide underwater in the lake. Luckily, his Time Lord constitution makes him resistant to colds.
Styggron's anti-android pistol sprays a solvent mist rather than emitting flashes. The Doctor is extremely rude to him:
(He's rude about him again in his absence when they're captured by the androids in the access tunnel.)
The Doctor is tied to the war memorial with plastic rope, not plastic ivy. There's no business with the knife or the sonic screwdriver - Sarah just manages to undo the rope.
The Brigadier was at the Space Research Centre (along with Harry and Benton) as a temporary assignment.
Once Sarah and the Doctor are on board the rocket, the climax of the story is very much the same, except that it's easier to tell who's an android and who isn't. (Or should that be 'Who's an android and Who isn't'?) Benton's taking his sister to the village dance, not the Palais (did the UNIT future have dance halls as well as music halls?)
However, once Styggron's dead the story ends almost immediately, with no more than an assurance that Chedaki waited in vain for the invasion signal. Not so keen on this change I have to say, I much prefer to see the Doctor and companion 'on their way to their next adventure'.
The doomed UNIT corporal is handsome and young. True, the man we see on screen is no minger, but he's no spring chicken either. He gets his face ripped by a bramble, but doesn't flinch.
Sarah doesn't roll down a slope towards the cliff, she just steps over it, not knowing it's there, but fortunately the Doctor catches her hand.
When Sarah sees the 'mechanic' with his visor up, there aren't circuits inside, just a dark space. There's a completely new scene just after this, before she gets back to the TARDIS, in which Grierson (an android presumably) reports a strange pinging signal to Crayford.
Sarah finds a middle-aged woman in the pod by the TARDIS, not a man in a leather jacket.
At the Space Research Centre, the Doctor points out the Brigadier's cap (on top of a filing cabinet) to Crayford to illustrate his point about whose office it is. Crayford is just Senior Astronaut, not Senior Defence Astronaut.
The Doctor throws the darts all at once - from the 'aiming point' rather than the more usual oche.
The android Sarah is a mirror image - and so is the android Harry, the Doctor says, with his medals on the wrong side, though we aren't given any indication of this when we meet him for the first time. (He isn't even wearing medals on screen). It's her jacket that gives her away, not her scarf.
As the Doctor runs from the dogs, he thinks grimly that anyone who thinks foxes enjoy being hunted should try being chased by dogs themselves. He uses the old hollow reed trick to hide underwater in the lake. Luckily, his Time Lord constitution makes him resistant to colds.
Styggron's anti-android pistol sprays a solvent mist rather than emitting flashes. The Doctor is extremely rude to him:
The Kraal began dragging the Doctor towards the village green. 'Come. There is no time for pleasantries.'
'How about unpleasantries, pig face?’ said the Doctor rudely.'
(He's rude about him again in his absence when they're captured by the androids in the access tunnel.)
The Doctor is tied to the war memorial with plastic rope, not plastic ivy. There's no business with the knife or the sonic screwdriver - Sarah just manages to undo the rope.
The Brigadier was at the Space Research Centre (along with Harry and Benton) as a temporary assignment.
Once Sarah and the Doctor are on board the rocket, the climax of the story is very much the same, except that it's easier to tell who's an android and who isn't. (Or should that be 'Who's an android and Who isn't'?) Benton's taking his sister to the village dance, not the Palais (did the UNIT future have dance halls as well as music halls?)
However, once Styggron's dead the story ends almost immediately, with no more than an assurance that Chedaki waited in vain for the invasion signal. Not so keen on this change I have to say, I much prefer to see the Doctor and companion 'on their way to their next adventure'.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Target: Planet of Evil
What I liked about this one in the old days was the depiction of a far future society with really advanced technology, who were still helpless against the antimatter monster. The principal 'variation' is the difference between my mental picture of Sorenson (thin, dark, driven) and the meaty thug we see on screen. But we can't blame TD for that.
It's Edgar Lumb, not Egard, who gets buried in the opening scene. The Doctor, not Sarah, recognises the distress signal. He's flicking the TARDIS controls 'like a supermarket cashier'. There's more bizarre supermarket imagery later when the plastic-wrapped TARDIS is compared to a supermarket chicken. Had El Tel just been shopping when he wrote this one?
Salamar owes his early promotion to influential friends in high places.
Sarah actually gets physically (not just psychically) drawn towards the antimatter beast in both encounters that she and the Doctor have with it.
The joke about Shakespeare taking up writing because he was a dreadful actor is drawn out a bit longer, suggesting that TD particularly liked it.
The Doctor's experience inside the Black Pool is pleasantly psychedelic. He has to concentrate hard to get on with what he's come there for.
When Vishinsky goes out to get Sarah and the Doctor, it's him that orders the sickbay to be made ready, not Salamar (depriving the latter of one of his few human touches).
Salamar threatens to arrest Sorenson if he keeps arguing on board a military vessel.
When the Doctor recovers in the sickbay after his visit to the Pool, he tells Sarah that he's given his promise as a Time Lord. This has the advantage that her subsequent question 'Your promise as a Time Lord?' actually makes some fucking sense instead of being a bizarre non-sequitur.
It's just the pupils of Sorenson's eyes that become flat discs of red (a description that stayed with young Shallow for a long time).
There's no fight between Salamar and Vishinsky in the ejector room. The latter won't eject the Doctor and Sarah, but he doesn't try and stop Salamar doing it. When the scream comes over the intercom, and the others hurry out, it takes a desperate appeal from Sarah to get him to press the vital button. (He does it 'almost casually'). This works quite well as it appears as a decision point for his deposition of Salamar in the next scene.
'The whole story was there,' the narrator says on behalf of the Doctor when he grasps the effect of the black potion on the anti-matter. The speech to Sorenson ends with a repetition of the words 'Total responsibility', which is very effective.
Crewleader Ranjit has an Indian accent, not the one he has on screen. Much is made of the Doctor's concern about making two short, accurate journeys in the TARDIS, the second one to a fast-moving spaceship into the bargain.
Sarah has grown very attached to Vishinsky and says goodbye with 'real regret'. He begins 'a clumsy speech of thanks'. We actually 'see' the TARDIS departure, and are assured that Sorenson becomes the most brilliant scientist in the Morestran Empire, Vishinsky returns to a hero's welcome and the promotion that has so long eluded him, and the Doctor and Sarah go off to begin their next adventure.
It's Edgar Lumb, not Egard, who gets buried in the opening scene. The Doctor, not Sarah, recognises the distress signal. He's flicking the TARDIS controls 'like a supermarket cashier'. There's more bizarre supermarket imagery later when the plastic-wrapped TARDIS is compared to a supermarket chicken. Had El Tel just been shopping when he wrote this one?
Salamar owes his early promotion to influential friends in high places.
Sarah actually gets physically (not just psychically) drawn towards the antimatter beast in both encounters that she and the Doctor have with it.
The joke about Shakespeare taking up writing because he was a dreadful actor is drawn out a bit longer, suggesting that TD particularly liked it.
The Doctor's experience inside the Black Pool is pleasantly psychedelic. He has to concentrate hard to get on with what he's come there for.
When Vishinsky goes out to get Sarah and the Doctor, it's him that orders the sickbay to be made ready, not Salamar (depriving the latter of one of his few human touches).
Salamar threatens to arrest Sorenson if he keeps arguing on board a military vessel.
When the Doctor recovers in the sickbay after his visit to the Pool, he tells Sarah that he's given his promise as a Time Lord. This has the advantage that her subsequent question 'Your promise as a Time Lord?' actually makes some fucking sense instead of being a bizarre non-sequitur.
It's just the pupils of Sorenson's eyes that become flat discs of red (a description that stayed with young Shallow for a long time).
There's no fight between Salamar and Vishinsky in the ejector room. The latter won't eject the Doctor and Sarah, but he doesn't try and stop Salamar doing it. When the scream comes over the intercom, and the others hurry out, it takes a desperate appeal from Sarah to get him to press the vital button. (He does it 'almost casually'). This works quite well as it appears as a decision point for his deposition of Salamar in the next scene.
'The whole story was there,' the narrator says on behalf of the Doctor when he grasps the effect of the black potion on the anti-matter. The speech to Sorenson ends with a repetition of the words 'Total responsibility', which is very effective.
Crewleader Ranjit has an Indian accent, not the one he has on screen. Much is made of the Doctor's concern about making two short, accurate journeys in the TARDIS, the second one to a fast-moving spaceship into the bargain.
Sarah has grown very attached to Vishinsky and says goodbye with 'real regret'. He begins 'a clumsy speech of thanks'. We actually 'see' the TARDIS departure, and are assured that Sorenson becomes the most brilliant scientist in the Morestran Empire, Vishinsky returns to a hero's welcome and the promotion that has so long eluded him, and the Doctor and Sarah go off to begin their next adventure.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Target: The Loch Ness Monster
My copy of this is very well-thumbed, and I can remember reading it in a junior school classroom in 1980. I enjoyed it just as much on this reading thirty years later.
The doomed radio operator uses the jovial racist term Sassenach in his haggis ordering conversation. How ironic that it's a fellow Scotsman who shoots him later.
The TARDIS is seen - and then it isn't, as it turns invisible just after the travellers get out. The Doctor goes back in to fix it and comes out wearing the Scottish version of his costume seen on screen.
The stag's head is in the back of the Duke's 'shooting brake', and we hear him telling Angus that he's brought him it when he reaches the inn. Sarah's conversation with Angus is a bit different: the fact that one of the cases of weirdness on the moor happened in 1870 is used as a punchline, not an introduction, and it works much better.
Sarah's question about the jamming detector being jammed has not previously occurred to the Doctor. 'I shall build in a protective circuit,' he says hurriedly (it's a bit like a Pert/Jo exchange, isn't it?) The bit about the Brig and the quayside is swapped to after this. Sarah does not do a joke accent on the phone.
Sister Lamont is not overtly sinister, if anything she's painted as being very innocent. Terrance is concerned that we might forget she's supposed to be Scottish, so we're reminded of her 'Highland lilt' at least twice.
Benton is not sent for plaster of Paris by the Doctor. The Doctor says that it's not so much teeth that chewed up the rig, but 'dentures' that can cut through steel and concrete. The Brig then gets the immortal line 'Come on now, Doctor. First you suggest we're dealing with some kind of sea monster, then you say it's got false teeth.' (Very obvious feedline but still very funny). The word 'cyborg' is mentioned at this point, much earlier than on screen.
The Doctor tries the sonic screwdriver on the decompression chamber window, with little success. Then he has to try and remember human reaction to oxygen deprivation. 'Unconscious in two minutes, dead in under ten, wasn't that it?' - a bit that I always particularly liked.
A motivation is stated for Broton's boastful, yet helpful, explanations to Harry. 'It might be amusing to overawe this primitive creature with the might of Zygon technology, to see his fear when he knew the fate that awaited his planet'. Good to have it acknowledged that gloating, which is invariably a bad mistake for DW monsters and villains from both the security and time management standpoints, ought to have some kind of explanation.
It's old UNIT favourite Corporal Palmer who annoys the Brigadier by calling him 'sir' too often. And the sleeping gas takes effect while he's talking, leading the Brig to think 'Sleeping on duty was a serious offence in itself, but actually dropping off under the eye of a superior officer...', another moment which I used to enjoy as a kid.
It's getting dark when the Doctor goes out onto the moor. His landrover runs out of petrol rather than breaking down. When the Brigadier and Sarah go to look for him, the Brig does a nice bit of deduction to work out that he'll be on his way back to Tulloch, and soon their headlights atmospherically pick out his tall form trudging home.
A night at the inn follows: Sarah notes that it's unusual for the Doctor to bother with sleep. Porridge for breakfast: she and the Brig 'scandalise' Angus by demanding milk and sugar, but the Doctor likes his with salt, a taste he acquired, he says, in the Jacobite rebellion.
At the castle, the Doctor has another good line: 'The Brigadier does have a rather touching faith in high explosive as a universal solution.' We're shown the 'duel' between him and the Duke from Sarah's POV.
When the Doctor and Brig are called back to Tulloch, they visit Benton at the Zygon hunt before going to the inn. Meanwhile, Sarah's boarding the ship, where she hears the 'abomination of a body' line delivered in the Zygon voice, not the human one. When she and Harry meet the Brigadier and Doctor in the library, and the Doctor goes into the tunnel, and Zygons come out, the Brig draws his gun immediately - only to have Broton enter from the other side of the room, which makes a more interesting confrontation. After his parting shot, Broton picks up the Duke's document folder from the table, causing Sarah to think how odd it looks clutched in the alien claw.
Once again, Target Brig is much more the professional, telling Sarah that he isn't intending to destroy the Zygon ship (subtext: what do you take me for?) but to get it to surface.
On the ship, the Doctor's taunts about the Zygons hiding culminate in another wonderful line: 'You have to step out on a balcony from time to time and wave a gracious claw.' The taunt about there only being six Zygons is missing. The purpose of Broton's plan to construct thousands of lakes is to breed herds of Skarasen in.
The Duke is not trustee of any comically-named organisations. The Prime Minister is not female, and his basic message to the Brig is that whatever happens, it's the latter's head on the block. When Sarah sympathetically asks him what he'll do, he resolutely says 'Just what I always do, Miss Smith. I shall act as I think best.'
There's a UNIT tracking squad atop the Post Office Tower. The thing that Harry has over his shoulder at the quarry is a thermic lance (to cut into the ship with). When the real Duke is freed on the ship, the narration mentions the Zygons kidnapping him and his retainers (plural), suggesting that the Doctor finds more than 3 humans in storage.
The Fourth (not First) Energy Conference is described in detail, but the rest of the denouement is very much the same. Sarah doesn't bear the Skarasen any ill-will, since it was just being controlled by the Zygons.
The Brigadier turns down the invitation to a TARDIS trip because he has 'very disturbing memories of his one trip in the TARDIS'. A footnote points us to 'Doctor Who and the Three Doctors' - I always used to think enviously of the lucky people who'd found that book and read the wonderful story of the Brig in the TARDIS.
The doomed radio operator uses the jovial racist term Sassenach in his haggis ordering conversation. How ironic that it's a fellow Scotsman who shoots him later.
The TARDIS is seen - and then it isn't, as it turns invisible just after the travellers get out. The Doctor goes back in to fix it and comes out wearing the Scottish version of his costume seen on screen.
The stag's head is in the back of the Duke's 'shooting brake', and we hear him telling Angus that he's brought him it when he reaches the inn. Sarah's conversation with Angus is a bit different: the fact that one of the cases of weirdness on the moor happened in 1870 is used as a punchline, not an introduction, and it works much better.
Sarah's question about the jamming detector being jammed has not previously occurred to the Doctor. 'I shall build in a protective circuit,' he says hurriedly (it's a bit like a Pert/Jo exchange, isn't it?) The bit about the Brig and the quayside is swapped to after this. Sarah does not do a joke accent on the phone.
Sister Lamont is not overtly sinister, if anything she's painted as being very innocent. Terrance is concerned that we might forget she's supposed to be Scottish, so we're reminded of her 'Highland lilt' at least twice.
Benton is not sent for plaster of Paris by the Doctor. The Doctor says that it's not so much teeth that chewed up the rig, but 'dentures' that can cut through steel and concrete. The Brig then gets the immortal line 'Come on now, Doctor. First you suggest we're dealing with some kind of sea monster, then you say it's got false teeth.' (Very obvious feedline but still very funny). The word 'cyborg' is mentioned at this point, much earlier than on screen.
The Doctor tries the sonic screwdriver on the decompression chamber window, with little success. Then he has to try and remember human reaction to oxygen deprivation. 'Unconscious in two minutes, dead in under ten, wasn't that it?' - a bit that I always particularly liked.
A motivation is stated for Broton's boastful, yet helpful, explanations to Harry. 'It might be amusing to overawe this primitive creature with the might of Zygon technology, to see his fear when he knew the fate that awaited his planet'. Good to have it acknowledged that gloating, which is invariably a bad mistake for DW monsters and villains from both the security and time management standpoints, ought to have some kind of explanation.
It's old UNIT favourite Corporal Palmer who annoys the Brigadier by calling him 'sir' too often. And the sleeping gas takes effect while he's talking, leading the Brig to think 'Sleeping on duty was a serious offence in itself, but actually dropping off under the eye of a superior officer...', another moment which I used to enjoy as a kid.
It's getting dark when the Doctor goes out onto the moor. His landrover runs out of petrol rather than breaking down. When the Brigadier and Sarah go to look for him, the Brig does a nice bit of deduction to work out that he'll be on his way back to Tulloch, and soon their headlights atmospherically pick out his tall form trudging home.
A night at the inn follows: Sarah notes that it's unusual for the Doctor to bother with sleep. Porridge for breakfast: she and the Brig 'scandalise' Angus by demanding milk and sugar, but the Doctor likes his with salt, a taste he acquired, he says, in the Jacobite rebellion.
At the castle, the Doctor has another good line: 'The Brigadier does have a rather touching faith in high explosive as a universal solution.' We're shown the 'duel' between him and the Duke from Sarah's POV.
When the Doctor and Brig are called back to Tulloch, they visit Benton at the Zygon hunt before going to the inn. Meanwhile, Sarah's boarding the ship, where she hears the 'abomination of a body' line delivered in the Zygon voice, not the human one. When she and Harry meet the Brigadier and Doctor in the library, and the Doctor goes into the tunnel, and Zygons come out, the Brig draws his gun immediately - only to have Broton enter from the other side of the room, which makes a more interesting confrontation. After his parting shot, Broton picks up the Duke's document folder from the table, causing Sarah to think how odd it looks clutched in the alien claw.
Once again, Target Brig is much more the professional, telling Sarah that he isn't intending to destroy the Zygon ship (subtext: what do you take me for?) but to get it to surface.
On the ship, the Doctor's taunts about the Zygons hiding culminate in another wonderful line: 'You have to step out on a balcony from time to time and wave a gracious claw.' The taunt about there only being six Zygons is missing. The purpose of Broton's plan to construct thousands of lakes is to breed herds of Skarasen in.
The Duke is not trustee of any comically-named organisations. The Prime Minister is not female, and his basic message to the Brig is that whatever happens, it's the latter's head on the block. When Sarah sympathetically asks him what he'll do, he resolutely says 'Just what I always do, Miss Smith. I shall act as I think best.'
There's a UNIT tracking squad atop the Post Office Tower. The thing that Harry has over his shoulder at the quarry is a thermic lance (to cut into the ship with). When the real Duke is freed on the ship, the narration mentions the Zygons kidnapping him and his retainers (plural), suggesting that the Doctor finds more than 3 humans in storage.
The Fourth (not First) Energy Conference is described in detail, but the rest of the denouement is very much the same. Sarah doesn't bear the Skarasen any ill-will, since it was just being controlled by the Zygons.
The Brigadier turns down the invitation to a TARDIS trip because he has 'very disturbing memories of his one trip in the TARDIS'. A footnote points us to 'Doctor Who and the Three Doctors' - I always used to think enviously of the lucky people who'd found that book and read the wonderful story of the Brig in the TARDIS.