14x5. The Robots of Death
Writer: Chris Boucher
Director: Michael Briant
Script Editor: Robert Holmes
Producer: Philip Hinchcliffe
Synopsis: The Doctor and Leela
arrive on an advanced sand mining vehicle where the human crow are
highly dependent on robot labor. When some of the robots turn
murderous, the Doctor and Leela become drawn into the mystery, exposing
a plot by the scientist Taren Capel to incite a "robot revolution."
Review: Like its immediate
predecessor "The Face of Evil" (also written by Chris Boucher), "The
Robots of Death" succeeds not by doing any one thing exceptionally, but
by doing a lot of things very well. It's a well-constructed mystery, a
solid character piece for the Doctor and Leela, and a perceptive social
commentary about a future human society that has become overly
dependent upon the use of robots.
This society appears to have been through some recent changes in
terms of upward mobility for average citizens: Uvanov, the commander of
the sand mining vehicle, is a self-made man (albeit one with a ruthless
streak -- he seems partly eager to resolve the murder mystery so that
it won't further interfere with productivity), whereas Zilda's station
in life is apparently derived from royal lineage. Still, the overall
impression is one of materialism and decadence. Uvanov's coldness is
apparently what has won him favor with the mining company, and it's
clear that the robots do much of the real work -- so much so that the
Doctor speculates that the developments on the sand miner could mean
the end of this civilization as it currently exists.
The social
commentary is painted in appropriate shades of gray, depicting neither
the robots nor the humans as the clear "good guys" in this conflict.
While the Doctor does his best to stop the killings, he also seems to
have a certain sympathy for D84, the robot who has infiltrated the
sandminer under the guise of a "Dumb," i.e. a robot who performs only
basic tasks and cannot speak. When he finally confronts Taren Capel at
the end, he argues that the robots cannot exist without humans, but not
that the robots should simply be slaves. His comment about Marie
Antoinette is actually right on the mark: like the French Revolution,
Capel's robot revolt is based upon legitimate concerns but has gone too
far. The serial never quite makes it clear whether the robots are meant
to be seen as possessing some degree of sentience or not: obviously
they are at least somewhat limited in this regard given that they can
be programmed to murder, and the possibility of "robophobia" -- fear of
robots based on the inability to discern emotion or intention in their
unrevealing visages -- seems to indicate that perhaps the solution is
simply not to create artificial life in the first place.
Boucher's
script picks up on the contrast between the Doctor's scientific outlook
and the less rational dispositions of Leela's society that he explored
in "The Face of Evil," with the Doctor acting as a sort of mentor to
his new companion. I don't think I understand the size of the TARDIS
any better after the Doctor's demonstration at the beginning, but the
scene works on its own terms, and obviously we're dealing with a
concept that the writers can't actually explain. For the most part, the
Doctor is willing to educate Leela along the way, though he
occasionally betrays some impatience ("Do you have to talk so much?" he
asks her at one point), and Baker hits the right note in these scenes.
On the other hand, there are times when Leela picks up on something
that the Doctor misses. She correctly deduces that Poul is hiding
something (he's part of the same undercover investigation as D84) by
noting that he moves in the manner of a hunter, and her sense that
something bad is about to happen shortly before the sabotage of the
sandminer also turns out to be right, despite the Doctor's dismissal of
her warnings.
While I'm not sure if I'd rank it quite as
highly as some, "The Robots of Death" is a strong installment that
works on multiple levels and sits nicely in what is shaping up to be
Tom Baker's best season to date.
Rating: ***1/2 (out of four)