Review Of All Four Episodes
Under sentence of death convicted criminal Eldrad escapes from the planet Kastria . In a galaxy far away the Tardis lands the Doctor and Sarah in a quarry . Narrowly surviving a dynamite blast they find that the alien fugitive Eldrad is not dead
This is another curiosity from the classic series . Forever known as the story that wrote out Sarah Jane Smith from the series its a strange mixture of good and bad and to be honest I think much of the good isn't good enough to neutralize the bad . The story starts with a bizarre sequence that has to be seen to be believed and has a truly idiosyncratic feel . Its function is one of exposition and serves its purpose but is very strange and is in the love it or hate it camp . After this the story jumps to a quarry in present day Earth and within this location change it's almost like the TV channel has changed stations
The rest of the story continues in this same vein . We have a story for much of the time that apes the camp stories of disembodied hands coming back to life along with alien possession but there is a jarring quality to everything as if the production team can't make their mind up what the story is trying to be . Human moments such as Professor Watson phoning his family as the nuclear reactor goes in to meltdown deserve credit as does the plot twist of Eldrad being resurrected as a female type creature which is a surprise to say the least . But these contrast very badly with a final episode which rips off episode three of Death To The Daleks where Sarah and the Doctor go through a series of dangerous tasks . This climax is ridiculous and the silly voices and costume design give the impression you're watching children's television
As so it's time to bid farewell to Sarah Jane Smith .who companion to the Doctor when the show was it its critical and popular peak . . Actresess playing a companion in the show are never going to be Oscar contenders but to be fair to Elizabeth Sladen she always did the best of what material she was given before being consigned to obscurity . Nice to know that RTD regarded her highly enough to bring her back to NuWho . After all who wants to go out on a story as lackluster as The Hand Of Fear ?
Under sentence of death convicted criminal Eldrad escapes from the planet Kastria . In a galaxy far away the Tardis lands the Doctor and Sarah in a quarry . Narrowly surviving a dynamite blast they find that the alien fugitive Eldrad is not dead
This is another curiosity from the classic series . Forever known as the story that wrote out Sarah Jane Smith from the series its a strange mixture of good and bad and to be honest I think much of the good isn't good enough to neutralize the bad . The story starts with a bizarre sequence that has to be seen to be believed and has a truly idiosyncratic feel . Its function is one of exposition and serves its purpose but is very strange and is in the love it or hate it camp . After this the story jumps to a quarry in present day Earth and within this location change it's almost like the TV channel has changed stations
The rest of the story continues in this same vein . We have a story for much of the time that apes the camp stories of disembodied hands coming back to life along with alien possession but there is a jarring quality to everything as if the production team can't make their mind up what the story is trying to be . Human moments such as Professor Watson phoning his family as the nuclear reactor goes in to meltdown deserve credit as does the plot twist of Eldrad being resurrected as a female type creature which is a surprise to say the least . But these contrast very badly with a final episode which rips off episode three of Death To The Daleks where Sarah and the Doctor go through a series of dangerous tasks . This climax is ridiculous and the silly voices and costume design give the impression you're watching children's television
As so it's time to bid farewell to Sarah Jane Smith .who companion to the Doctor when the show was it its critical and popular peak . . Actresess playing a companion in the show are never going to be Oscar contenders but to be fair to Elizabeth Sladen she always did the best of what material she was given before being consigned to obscurity . Nice to know that RTD regarded her highly enough to bring her back to NuWho . After all who wants to go out on a story as lackluster as The Hand Of Fear ?