10x5. The Green Death
Writer: Robert Sloman
Director: Michael Briant
Script Editor: Terrance Dicks
Producer: Barry Letts
Synopsis: A series of
suspicious deaths in Llanfairfach, Wales seems to have links to Global
Chemicals, whose new refinery project has drawn suspicion from
environmental activists but promises new jobs for unemployed coal
workers. UNIT is called in, and the Doctor and Jo discover dangerous
mutating maggots in the old coal mine, created by the waste from Global
Chemicals. Compounding the situation is Global Chemicals' central
computer, BOSS, which is controlling the minds of the company's
employees.
Review: The tenth season of Doctor Who proved to be one very
much aware of its own place in history, what with the series' first
multi-Doctor serial and a linked storyline of two six-parters featuring
the Master and the Daleks. But self-conscious ambition can often lead
writers and producers to overlook the basics, and thus it is not
entirely surprising that the two best serials of the tenth season --
"Carnival of Monsters" and now "The Green Death" -- are the ones that
just focus on telling a story rather than trying to create a Doctor Who "event."
"The Green Death" is the first serial since "The Daemons" to follow the
UNIT formula of the early Pertwee era. The Doctor makes a brief trip to
Metebelis 3 where he
obtains a crystal that can de-hypnotize people, but otherwise this is a
story concerned with, and driven by, events and characters in
20th-century Britain. The serial is not exactly subtle about its
political intent, in that the very first scene is a three-way argument
between oil company representatives, laid-off workers, and
environmentalists. On the other hand, this scene nicely illustrates how
big business can sometimes drive a wedge between environmentalists and
their natural allies by suggesting that environmental protection means
fewer jobs. The alternative to this strict dichotomy, the script seems
to posit, is a more community-oriented existence like that of the
nearby hippie commune. Some might find this a bit naive, but I think
"The Green Death" does a nice job in making Prof. Cliff Jones and the
other characters living at the "Nuthutch" believable. The
stereotype of a hippie, especially in fiction, is someone spacey and
impractical -- exactly the
kind of person that you can't imagine as a successful member of a
self-sufficient community -- but these people are all very accessible
and down to earth. And while the idea of splitting off into small
agricultural communes to solve environmental problems may seem a bit
antiquated, the notions of alternative energy and organic dieting (both
of which are practiced by the commune members) are not.
After some rather embarrassing moments for UNIT in "The Time Monster"
and "The Three Doctors," they're treated much better in this
installment. Lethbridge-Stewart is playing it cautious given that
Global Chemicals have political connections and he's been ordered to
cooperate with them, but he's rightly suspicious, planting Yates inside
Global Chemicals and at one point threatening to take the matter to
Geneva until the Prime Minister himself orders him to back off. But
there's no pointless barking at the Doctor or any other dumb
closed-mindedness this time; he's back in form as a smart military
professional, and he gets along with the commune members surprisingly
well. Yates, whose laid-back, smart-alecky persona was starting to seem
out of place and who doesn't always get to do much, is also served well
by the script, as he's able to help the Doctor's own undercover
investigation of Global Chemicals. Unfortunately, there seems to be
some sort of rule that at least one UNIT character has to act like an
idiot at some point in every serial, and so we're subjected to Benton
teasing the maggots with, "Here kitties, come get your din-din!" (On
the other hand, the Doctor's reaction -- "*Really*, Sergeant Benton!" -- is right on
the mark.)
"The Green Death" also marks Jo's departure, and for the most part it's
handled well. She was assigned to be the Doctor's assistant, but
interplanetary travel was never part of the job description, and in
Episode 1 we see that she's more interested in this planet as she
decides to go protest Global Chemicals rather than accompany the Doctor
to Metebelis 3. Her time with the Doctor has helped her to become more
confident and able to handle tough situations, a development that now
reaches its logical conclusion as she starts to carve her own path in
life. Of course, she isn't setting out completely on her own, and in
fact Cliff Jones is another scientist with a penchant for exploration
and a tendency to get engrossed in his work, but the gap of experience
and knowledge isn't as great, and their growing attraction and
emotional bond introduces an element lacking in her relationship with
the Doctor. This also gives Pertwee a rare opportunity to show some
vulnerability. The Doctor has been a mentor to Jo, but he has also
become her friend, and while he respects that it's time for her to move
on, he's also clearly sad to see her go. The final shot of him driving
away alone is an appropriately quiet coda, and though I don't think we
ever hear of Jo again, I can easily imagine the two of them still
occasionally checking up on each other as they promised at the end.
The one area where "The Green Death" falls a bit short is the writing
of the Global Chemicals employees. The only one who has much of a
personality is Elgin, who occupies the unenviable position of the
whistleblower who knows that his company is involved in something
horrible but has limited power to stop it. The rest of them have all
been brainwashed by BOSS, and the sense of human tragedy that marked
many earlier UNIT serials is somewhat lacking because we never learn
much about how this situation developed in the first place. BOSS itself
has a rather lively and whimsical personality, which is a nice change
of pace from the cliché of the Monotone Autocratic Computer, but
its plan to take over the world by hijacking other computer systems (or
something) is the sort of boilerplate material that doesn't take much
creativity and doesn't really mean much of anything in human terms. I
can certainly extract "messages" from "The Green Death" -- new
technology can pollute the environment, corporations should be more
accountable, too much reliance on computers can be dangerous, etc. --
but again, the sympathetic examination of human flaws we saw in serials
like "The Silurians" or "Inferno" just isn't there, and "The Green
Death" comes off as more of a procedural than a well-rounded character
piece. That said, it's a first-rate procedural that never once tested
my patience, and the characterization of the protagonists is enjoyable
even if their counterparts don't quite match up.
Television is a strange medium, and with so many demands from so many
directions, it's hard to produce classic stories on a regular basis. In
retrospect, Season 7 was probably one of those rare creative bolts of
lightning, where a new cast, a mandate to change the show's formula,
and first-rate writing came together to produce something truly special
-- and to make the Pertwee era a victim of its own success. The show is
generally at a higher caliber than it was during the Hartnell and
Troughton years, and there have been some excellent serials since then,
and yet I can't help but hope for another "Silurians" or another
"Inferno." But if "The Green Death" doesn't quite meet those standards,
it still does its job nicely, and it's one that I gladly recommend.
Other notes:
- I'm told that some of the Welsh characters are portrayed in a very
stereotypical manner; since I'm not British and don't really understand
Welsh stereotypes in the first place, I'm not sure I'm qualified to
comment. I wouldsay that the script doesn't seem to view any of them as
especially obnoxious or unintelligent -- the complaints seem to be more
about their speech patterns, which is at least less offensive than the
racial attitudes of "Tomb of the Cybermen."
- I don't normally think of Pertwee as one of the Doctor's more
humorous incarnations, but he certainly gets to play up the comedy when
he disguises himself as a milkman and later a cleaning lady in order to
infiltrate Global Chemicals.
- I'm not inclined to hold it against anyone, but the bouncing back and
forth between actual location footage and obvious superimposition/CSO
is a bit jarring. (Apparently they simply ran out of time to film on
location.)
Rating: ***1/2 (out of four)
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