Doctor Who - Terror of the Zygons [VHS]

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VHS Movie Reviews of Doctor Who - Terror of the Zygons [VHS]

Movie Review: The Doctor won't let Zygons be Zygons
Summary: 4 Stars

Some curious markings from the wreckage of the Bonnie Prince Charlie, the rig destroyed at the beginning of the story leads the Doctor to do a study in orthodontology, with a cast of "a set of giant molars than can chew through solid steel as easily as paper." Could it be a manifestations of evil spirits that Angus McRanald, landlord of the inn UNIT is occupying, tells about to Sarah? "Bad luck comes to them who set foot on Tullock Moor" he tells her. But do evil spirits destroy oil rigs?

Another character is the Duke of Forgill, a cynical-looking man with a withering look who is not very pleased with the oil company for two reasons. One, most of his servants have left his employ to work for the oil company, making Forgill Castle a lonely place. Two, roughnecks from the oil company keep trespassing and poaching on his land.

Things get going when Harry is shot while attempting to help the survivor of the Bonnie Prince Charlie, and the climax of Episode One has a Zygon reaching out for Sarah while she's on the phone to the Doctor.

What makes this story interesting is the fact that the Zygons are shape-shifters, and the special effects of their transformations are well-done. The Zygons are aliens who like so many alien invaders, want to conquer Earth. However, the way they intend to do it involves a creature from ancient legend. Hint: UNIT are stationed six or seven miles from Loch Ness.

The Doctor's dismissive comment on oil is clearly inspired by the effects of the 1973 oil crisis. "Oil, an emergency? Huh! It's about time the people who run this planet of yours realize that to be dependent on a mineral slime just doesn't make sense!"

One error is the Doctor telling the Brigadier he's come 270 million miles just to help him. The outermost of the satellites of Jupiter, where the previous story took place, is 370 million miles, so he's off by a factor of 100 million.

The Zygons themselves are well-realized, macrocephalic, fetal-looking aliens with suckers on their body and prominent rib-cages. They were modelled after half-formed embryos in amniotic sacs. As for "Nessy", the director was not too happy with the model realization, so much of the script was rewritten in order not to see much of it. The interior of the Zygon ship, organic like that of the Axons in Claws of Axos, is very realistic and alien.

This would be the last appearance of Nicholas Courtney (the Brigadier) for eight years until he reprised the character in Mawdryn Undead and The Five Doctors. There would be two further UNIT stories without him--The Android Invasion and The Seeds Of Doom. Other trivia: the two bagpipe tunes heard playing are "Strathspey Reel" and "Flowers of the Forest." Also, as location shooting in Scotland proved too expensive, shooting was done around the village of Charlton in Sussex.

Not a bad opener for the season, with the usual cast solid and the Zygons and their ship well-realized, but there isn't that extra oomph to make it a great story.

Movie Review: Routine fun
Summary: 5 Stars

This story should be considered pure junk in any case. The Skarsean ranks up there with Dinosaurs in Invasion of the Dinosaurs and the Kroll as one of the most poorly realized monsters and the Zygons themselves are pretty generic aliens. On top of all that it's a pretty routine alien invasion story However.........................

The Good
it's a damn good one. In spite of the flaws. The location filming is excellent and the scenes in the Zygon ship are quite good. Also after being treated as comedy relief in the last few stories UNIT are returned to their proper form as a crack military investigation squad and not the cozy "family" it was portrayed as after Jon Pertwee's first season. And Nicholas Courtney seems to be enjoying himself unlike in Robot where he had this "Oh god this horrible stuff." look in Robot and someone finally dragged him to a barber. Harry get's more to do than previously and Ian Marter does good as the Zygon disgused Harry. Also despite it looking shoddy it was about friggin time Doctor Who delved into the legend of Loch Ness Monster. Not a classic but fun.

The Ugly

You mean other than the Zygons.

Movie Review: An excellent leading story for the 13th season
Summary: 5 Stars

Summary of Doctor Who - Terror of the Zygons [VHS]

Drama Video

• Genres
• Horror > General
• Television > BBC > Genres > Science Fiction
• TV Series > Doctor Who > All Titles
• General William Hartnell
• Patrick Troughton
• Jon Pertwee
• Tom Baker
• Peter Davison
• Colin Baker
• Sylvester McCoy