Doctor Who 50th Anniversary: The Seeds of Doom

Doctor Who:
The Seeds of Doom
By Robert Banks Stewart

“You and your kind are nothing but parasites. You're dependent upon us for the air you breathe, and the food you eat. We have only one use for you.”

The Doctor and Sarah are sent to Antarctica on behalf of the World Ecology Bureau to investigate a mysterious pod that has been uncovered there.  The Doctor believes the pod is from outer space and is extremely dangerous.

Unbeknown to The Doctor Harrison Chase also wants the pod for his elaborate collection of plants and flowers.  He is a plant fanatic and prefers his plants to people.  He sends his goon squad to Antarctica to retrieve the pod no matter the cost.

What both group does not know is that the pod has opened and infected one of the crew of the Antarctica base causing him to cry out in pain and collapse.  He soon starts evolving into some sort of plant like creature and starts killing the other members of the base.  The Doctor and Sarah discover there is a second pod and they do not want Scorby to find it and give it to Chase.   Scorby does find it and him and Keeler plan to head off to give it to Chase but before they do that they tie up The Doctor and Sarah and set a bomb to destroy the base.  But the Krynoid is still free and roaming around looking for people to eat and a place that is warm.   The Doctor and Sarah escape before the bomb goes off destroying the base and the Krynoid in it also.  But there are more pressing matters as the pair need to get back to England and prevent Chase from infecting someone and setting the Krynoid loose on the entire world.

This isn’t one of my particular favorites from this era of The 4^th Doctor.  Even though it is in my favorite era the Robert Holmes/Philip Hinchcliffe of the Tom Baker years it just isn’t one of my favorites.  It isn’t a bad story as it is a pretty good idea to have a killer plant alien trying to take the Earth over.   It is pretty ingenious and does take a lot from the Pod People and Body Snatchers but I just found the story boring.

I did enjoy the first two parts of the story.  The Antarctica part reminded me of The Thing as it seemed somewhat similar.  I would have preferred it being a two part story or just taking place at Antarctica as that seemed scarier to me.  I enjoyed the way the Krynoid was walking around killing people.  It so reminded me of the original Thing and it also gave me that same paranoid feeling even with Scorby around trying to find the other pod.  For me it would have been better if they just held the story there and forgot about going back to Chase’s mansion.  The best part of The Seeds of Death was the two parts set in Antarctica.

Harrison Chase is an interesting character. He is so obsessed with the pod and his plants that he just does not care about anyone else or the fact that the Earth will be taken over by an alien threat.  Chase is one of those characters that Doctor Who does so well. The megalomaniac that is so obsessed with his own reality and way of thinking that he is way too far gone to see sense.  Those characters are memorable and Chase is one of them.

One of the funnier things about The Seeds of Doom s is that the early stages of the Krynoid is actually an Axon painted green.   Yes it is they use the old costume from the Jon Pertwee story The Claws of Axos.  At least the BBC got its monies worth from it.  While not a favorite story of mine The Seeds of Doom had some good moments and scenes but it just did not do anything for me.

Grade B-