Ian Scoones

I was so engrossed in the front-of-camera personnel in my last post - Hammer Connections - that I neglected to mention the late, great Ian Scoones. One of this country's best visual effects men, who worked on several Hammer films as well as some classic 1970's Doctor Who. To appreciate his work, watch the DVD extra on The Invisible Enemy in which Matt Irvine interviews him - appropriately enough at a Hammer Convention at Bray Studios. Or, as well as the fore-mentioned story, just watch Curse of Peladon, Frontier In Space, City of Death...

Mummies, Monsters, Mad Scientists... The Hammer Connection

An expedition to the Himalayas to catch a Yeti. Much of the story is set in a remote monastery. Wolfe Morris is in it. The Yeti turn out to be something no-one quite expected...
Not the Doctor Who story of 1967, but the Hammer film of The Abominable Snowman in 1957. It stars Peter Cushing - the movie Dr. Who and one of Hammer's most prolific actors.
Cushing's most famous role is probably that of Dr Frankenstein. Whilst the Universal series of films chose to follow the exploits of the Monster, Hammer elected to follow the not-so-good doctor. There was a different creature in each film. One of them (in the final Cushing / Frankenstein film - Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell, 1973 ) - was played by Dave Prowse (the Minotaur of The Time Monster).
Prowse played the monster twice - also appearing in a Cushing-less attempt to revamp the franchise, co-starring Kate O'Mara (the Rani) in Horror of Frankenstein, 1970.
Another unlucky subject of brain transplants is George Pravda (three Doctor Who appearances) in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969).
I recently covered The Brain of Morbius in my on-going look at all the Doctor Who TV stories, and that is totally influenced by the Frankenstein story - and the reason for this "Connections" post.
The Brain of Morbius also has elements from She - which was also filmed by Hammer with Peter Cushing and Bernard (Wilf Mott) Cribbins in 1965.

The Abominable Snowman was written by Nigel Kneale. A film version of his first Quatermass serial was Hammer's first X-Certificate release. Kneale's work is part of the DNA of Doctor Who - both as an influence on the creation of the series and in the writing of a number of stories (especially the UNIT era, but there are others such as Image of the Fendahl). Kneale always declined to write for the series as he said his stories were always being used anyway...
My own personal favourite TV Quatermass was Andre Morrell (The Massacre). He appears in one of the Hammer Mummy films as well (The Mummy's Shroud - 1967) which guest stars Roger Delgado (The Master). Morrell stars in the TV serial of Quatermass and the Pit. The film version features Julian Glover (The Crusade & City of Death).

In an alternative universe, this is a scene from The War Games...

If Peter Cushing is the most obvious link between the worlds of Hammer Horror and the universe of Doctor Who, he is not the only one. Another Doctor made quite a few appearances in Hammer films. He was filming one, in Ireland, at the time he was offered the role. That was the non-horror The Viking Queen (1967), and he was Patrick Troughton. Troughton played a rat catcher who meets a nasty end in 1962's The Phantom of the Opera (which features Michael Gough - The Celestial Toymaker and Arc of Infinity- in a villainous role. He's also in the first Hammer Dracula, 1958).
Troughton was back as a dodgy police officer in The Gorgon (1964). The titular monster was played, in human form, by Barbara Shelley (Planet of Fire).
Shelley was also in Dracula Prince of Darkness (1966) alongside President Borusa himself - Philip Latham. Latham played Dracula's human servant, Klove - a role taken up by Troughton in Scars of Dracula (1970).
Troughton can also be seen in that final Hammer / Cushing Frankenstein film mentioned above - playing a grave robber.

"Oh great Osiris! If this doesn't work out, let me have better luck on Telos..."

An obvious Hammer / Who crossover is actor George Pastell. The Tomb of the Cybermen is clearly based on the Mummy movies. Pastell plays Eric Klieg, who wants to bring the Cybermen back to life to do his bidding. In The Mummy (1959), he plays an Egyptian villain out to do something similar with Christopher Lee's desiccated High Priest. Pastell is also in Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964), and a non-horror Hammer called The Stranglers of Bombay (1959).
Talking of Mummy films - old Arbitan from The Keys of Marinus (George Couloris) is one of the victims in Blood From The Mummy's Tomb (1971).

I could go on all day (but promise I won't) but let me select just one Hammer film that features a number of Doctor Who guest artists: Taste The Blood of Dracula (1970).
A bunch of apparently strait-laced Victorian gentlemen claim to do charity work in London's East End once a month. They are really visiting a house of ill repute, run by Russell Hunter (The Robots of Death). Two of these gentlemen are played by John Carson (Snakedance) and Peter Sallis (The Ice Warriors). The Sallis character has a daughter - played by Isla Blair (The King's Demons). Carson has a son - played by Martin Jarvis (three Doctor Who appearances).

Two of my favourite Hammer Horrors are out-with the Dracula / Frankenstein / Mummy franchises. They are the stand-alone movies The Reptile and Plague of the Zombies (both 1966).
Both feature a very young Jacqueline Pearce (The Two Doctors). In the first film she transforms into the titular monster, and the hero of the tale is Ray Barrett (The Rescue).
Pearce becomes one of the undead in the second feature - courtesy of villain John Carson (see above). Out to stop him is Andre Morrell once again.

So, next time you settle down to watch a Hammer Horror, with the lights turned down, see how many familiar faces you can recognise (like Professor Eldred from The Seeds of Death burying an alleged vampire victim, or Autloc from The Aztecs facing up to a group of devil worshippers).
If there is one person who is totally synonymous with Hammer, it is the aptly monickered actor Michael Ripper. Sadly, he never did a Doctor Who.
Probably too busy serving the doomed students of Kleinenberg with foaming steins of lager before firmly locking the shutters, and hanging up lots and lots of garlic...

Those missing episode rumours...

You will have read the stories in the press today (and seen on some TV news programmes). Seems to be a regurgitation of a story from earlier in the summer. In that instance, the rumours were dismissed and it was claimed that material from a number of African broadcasters was being sent to the UK to be conserved. The material was produced in the countries sending it - not copies of foreign sales they had received - so no Doctor Who.
I even read that there was going to be a trailer for newly-found lost episodes on The Terror of the Zygons DVD. A very reliable source being quoted, as always.
The rumour has persisted. Like Mulder, we want to believe I suppose.
I wouldn't want to comment on the veracity of the latest reports. One thing I would say, however, is don't believe any report that specifically states that 106 episodes have been found. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure I read that The Feast of Steven didn't get sold overseas.
Personally, I think they've only found one further episode of The Underwater Menace, and that's why the DVD release has been held back - and the rest is all wishful thinking.
Though I'd love to be proven wrong...

Matt Smith Has Left The TARDIS...

Spoilerphiles can stand down. You no longer need to use your welfare benefits / student grants to hunt across Cardiff and much of South Wales for the film crews making Matt Smith's final story. No more shaky camera phone footage required. They've finished the principal photography on the Christmas Special 2013, as this item on doctorwhonews.net attests - via a tweet from Marcus Wilson.

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2013/10/filming-wraps-051013220008.html

Landmarks No.39

Bad Wolf / Parting of the Ways.
Final appearance for the Ninth Doctor - and first for the Tenth.
First regeneration of the new series.
Daleks. More Daleks than you can shake a Perigosto Stick at.
New Dalek Emperor.
"Bad Wolf" story arc explained.
The origins of Torchwood.
Sadly, Christopher Eccleston's departure had made it into the newspapers only a week or so after his first episode had aired - so the surprise of a regeneration was lost to us. Eccleston reportedly had a bit of a wretched time on the series. This was mainly down to the new production team learning the hard way as they went along and, had he stuck around for the second series, he may have had a more pleasant experience.
The new explosive regeneration effect will become the norm - being used for River and the Master as well as the Doctors. Up until this point, every regeneration had been different.
We had always dreamt of mass ranks of Daleks, but budgets had only ever stretched to 4 or 6, or to model displays of the Louis Marx toys. Now we could have hundreds, flying through space, thanks to CGI. The new Emperor has special guards with black domes - a nice nod to the version seen in Evil of the Daleks.
"Bad Wolf" caught the public attention far more than any story arc since. There were numerous articles in the popular press discussing who or what it might be.
RTD's story arcs were quite subtle - a word or name seeded through the series. These days, the arc seems to come first then stories are shoe-horned into it.
Captain Jack gets exterminated, then Rose / Bad Wolf brings him back to life. Unfortunately, he's brought back permanently - leading to the darker version we see in the spin-off series.

Story 84 - The Brain of Morbius

In which the Time Lords divert the TARDIS to the storm-lashed planet of Karn, and the Doctor is not very happy about it... The Doctor recognises this planet, as it is in the same region of space as Gallifrey (the constellation of Kasterborous). It was on this planet that the rebel Time Lord Morbius was finally defeated and executed.
Exploring, they see the wrecks of a number of crashed spaceships. By an escape module they discover the headless corpse of a Solonian Mutant. They make their way to a tower, which is home to an Earth scientist named Mehendri Solon, and his manservant Condo. Solon has a clay bust of Morbius' head, which the Doctor recognises just before he passes out - his wine having been drugged. Sarah hasn't drunk any, and feigns unconsciousness. Solon has Condo take the Doctor to his laboratory.
Karn is also home to the Sisterhood of the Flame. This all female sect are uneasy allies of the Time Lords. They worship a flame which emanates from a rock in their temple. It produces an elixir that can greatly prolong life. Time Lords sometimes employ it when a regeneration goes wrong. The flame is now dying, and there is very little elixir left. The leader of the Sisterhood, Maren, suspects that the Doctor has come to steal what remains. First, she has the TARDIS transported to the temple - and then the unconscious Doctor. Looking for him, Sarah enters the laboratory and discovers that Solon has created a headless monstrosity from diverse body parts.

Realising what has happened, Solon sends Condo to get the Doctor back from the Sisterhood - or at least his head. Sarah goes to the temple and rescues him from being burnt at the stake. On escaping, Sarah is blinded by the light from Maren's ring. Solon claims this can only be cured with the elixir - a ruse to get the Doctor to return to the temple and be captured. Solon was a secret follower of Morbius. He was able to remove the Time Lord's brain before his execution. It is kept in a tank of nutrients in a chamber beneath his home. On learning that another Time Lord is on Karn, Morbius insists that Solon place his brain in the new body immediately. Solon must use a temporary artificial cranium. Sarah's sight is restored just as Morbius returns to life. Solon has been forced to shoot Condo - after the servant discovered that the new arm promised to him has been used in the composite body. Morbius then kills the wounded servant, as well as one of the Sisterhood. The Doctor is able to convince Maren that they should be allies.

The Doctor and Solon hunt Morbius down and sedate him. The Doctor insists the body be dismantled and the brain destroyed. Solon instead tries to perfect the temporary brain casing. Locked in the basement, the Doctor and Sarah use toxic gas through the ventilation system to kill Solon. Morbius is unaffected. He challenges the Doctor to a mental duel - in which they push each other back through their respective timelines. The Doctor wins as the brain casing malfunctions - making Morbius deranged. However, the Doctor is badly injured in the process. Morbius goes on the rampage but the Sisterhood find him and force him off a cliff - to plunge to his death. The Doctor is saved when Maren gives him the last of the elixir - sacrificing her own life. The Doctor fixes the fault with the sacred flame - unblocking the channel with a firework.

This four part adventure was credited to Robin Bland, and was broadcast between 3rd and 24th January, 1976. The director is Christopher Barry, and the designer is Barry Newbery.
The story may be credited to Mr Bland, but it was actually written by Terrance Dicks and Robert Holmes. Dicks formulated the original storyline and wrote the first drafts. His story had a robot servant building Morbius' new body, and there was no Solon. Producer Philip Hinchcliffe felt that a robot would be difficult to realise in studio realistically, and so the scientist was devised. Dicks was out of the country and un-contactable when this major revision took place. On his return, he hated the idea. Why would a gifted surgeon make such a botch-up of a new body? The whole point of the robot was that, having no aesthetic sense, it would simply use whatever it found that would function. Dicks asked to have his name taken off the story - suggesting Holmes use "some bland pseudonym" instead - hence Robin Bland.

The inspiration for The Brain of Morbius is clearly the Frankenstein story - with a bit of H. Rider Haggard's She thrown into the mix. The latter features a life-prolonging flame. As for the principle influence, it is more the Universal and Hammer film versions of the Mary Shelley novel which apply. Indeed, both Peter Cushing and Vincent Price were considered for the role of Solon.
The part instead went to Philip Madoc - giving him his third, and greatest, role in the series. It's a marvellous performance, with just the right level of black humour.
The other principle guest artist is Cynthia Grenville as Maren. Another remarkable performance considering she was not that old at the time this was made.
The Morbius monster is a quite horrific design. A human arm juxtaposes with a massive claw, and the brain is clearly seen in the goldfish bowl casing. Physically, it was played by Stuart Fell, but the voice is Michael Spicer - who will return to play Magnus Greel in The Talons of Weng-Chiang.
Episode endings are:

1. Looking for the Doctor, Sarah enters the laboratory during a power cut. She sees the curtains around a bed moving. Pulling them aside just as the lights come back on, she sees Solon's hideous, headless creation...
2. Still blind, Sarah goes to the basement following an anguished voice. It is emanating from a disembodied brain in a tank...
3. As Sarah's sight returns, she is unaware that the Morbius monster has woken up and is moving towards her...
4. The Doctor has given new Sisterhood leader Ohica some more fireworks should the flame fail again. He uses one to disguise the TARDIS dematerialisation.

Overall, a very good four part story, that wears its influences on its sleeve. Great design work from Barry Newbery, returning to the show after a long absence. It's a studio-bound story and , apart from the day time exteriors, this works well. Nice to see Christopher Barry reunited with one of his Mutants.
Things you might like to know:

• Can we finally put the mind-duel appearances to bed now? As the Doctor and Morbius duel, images of previous incarnations appear. These are cameos by Hinchcliffe and Holmes; directors Christopher Barry and Dougie Camfield; writer Robert Banks Stewart; and production personnel Graeme Harper, George Gallacio and Chris Baker. Many people are convinced that these - or at least some of these - represent incarnations of the Doctor prior to the First. Personally, whilst one might be a younger version of the Hartnell Doctor, I have always maintained they are previous versions of Morbius. I think we can now say that The Name of the Doctor has finally resolved this issue. Apart from the John Hurt version, Clara clearly sees only 11 incarnations.
• John Scott Martin plays the Solonian Mutant (as he had done in their first appearance in The Mutants (1973).
• A race called the Dravidians are mentioned. Condo was rescued from one of their slave ships. Dravidia is mentioned again in the incantation designed to bring the Carrionites to Earth in The Shakespeare Code.
• The Doctor's killing of Solon is disturbing. He has never been this cold-blooded. And how clever is it to kill your captors? If you are left to starve to death then you must have succeeded? Not sure about the logic here.

Landmarks No.38

Dalek.
The return of the Daleks (though there is only one on show).
The full background to the Time War is  revealed.
A new companion - the first male one since Turlough.
RTD deliberately held the Daleks back to the mid point of the new series - to give it a second publicity boost. For a time, use of the creatures was not guaranteed by the Nation estate, and so the Toclafane were devised.
The story shows just how deadly a single Dalek can be. The new version has a sturdier look, and it can swivel its mid-section to fire in any direction. It can clearly fly (not just implied as before). The sink plunger kills. It has a forcefield that dissolves bullets. Most importantly, Davros is nowhere in sight. The Daleks haven't had a story to themselves since 1974.
We've been drip fed some information about the war. We know that the Time Lords have been destroyed and other races affected by it. The Doctor is the last of his kind, and he is angry and bitter about it. Now we learn that the war was fought between the Daleks and the Time Lords - and the Doctor was responsible for destroying both sides. He's naturally horrified to discover that it might all have been in vain.
Adam Mitchell is introduced, though he won't make it beyond the next story. Turns out he's there just to show how good Rose is ("I only travel with the best..."). Another male companion is waiting in the wings - a soldier to help fight in the upcoming battle at the end of the series.
The story also features a Revenge style Cyberman helmet. They won't be coming back until Series 2.