Doctor Who: Terror of the Zygons - Review

The good old fashioned monster verses the Doctor stories have always been my favorite. Complicated plot lines and over looked ideas have always made me prefer 'classic who' to 'modern who'. As a story, 'Terror of the Zygons' is one of those classic stories: a simple monster verses the Doctor story. However, it's not just that which I think helps make this story easily my favorite story out of the whole of Doctor Who, its other abilities that help, which I will go onto now.

(As this story is approximately 96 minutes long, I will not be delving into a good percentage of this serial. Trust me, everything I miss out, is either alright or good.)

To begin with, its a nice idea to state where this story is in the 'whoniverse'. This serial is generally conceived as a UNIT story, which it is. However I believe it is not just a UNIT story, but it is also a Brigadier story. This is the last time we see the Brig' in the seventies, and the only times we get to see him in great fashion is within 'The Five Doctors'. 'Mawdryn Undead' is an absolutely shocking serial and 'Battlefield' never really caught on for me. So here really, we begin to see the end of a legend and perhaps the Doctors best and most loyal (or perhaps not loyal in some situations) male companion (sorry Adric, Ian, Harry, Rory, etc...).

To begin with, we see that an oil rig get torn apart after a sound occurs through the radio system. Quite a good opening to an episode. These scenes help bring a little bit of terror right from the start, helping to the grip onto the viewers attention. However, you can see where production values begin to sway, just as the oil rig seems to do when it gets destroyed. Don't get me wrong the model looks amazing. However, the way the rig sways a little as it crashes down, feels like someone is pushing it from side to side a little. Not a big quarrel but still.

Moving on, we find out the Doctor has been summoned by UNIT to help sort out the mess of oil rigs being destroyed. I like the idea UNIT has a little machine that sends the TARDIS a message. I also like how the Doctor itches to return to adventures in space and time. How he questions and groans at the Brig' about 'how his little oil rig issues' isn't an excuse to drag the Doctor back to a planet he was exiled on for a long while.

Towards the end of episode one, Harry ends up recovering in bed for a long while after a shot wound. There Sarah waits with Harry until he wakes up. There Sarah gets kidnapped by the nurse who happens to be a zygon in disguise. This allowed for an amazing reveal cliffhanger! Sarah turning round and lets out the best scream in Doctor Who (which makes Bonnie Langford jealous)! Standing there is an orange humanoid covered in suckers. Perhaps one of my favorite creature designs in Doctor Who. The design and costume is so remarkably alien and non-human! Even when they were updated for 'Day of the Doctor' they still looked almost the same.

Big zygon reveal!

Skipping over a little, we go onto the Skarasen. Or more widely known as the 'Loch Ness monster'. I like the design. It tries to stay original as the possible to the original Loch Ness monster photograph. However the neck isn't quite so long, probably a shorter neck was easier to work with.

I'd also like to comment on the interior of the zygon spaceship. I like the fact it looks organic. However, the way some of the zygon's were handling the suckers on the consoles, all I'm going to say is its a bit weird. However, a big issue I have with the spaceship is that from the exterior, it looks to small to host how much there is inside. Especially in the shot it launches out of the Loch Ness. However, when it lands, it tries to look completely massive, however, you can tell someone has just put a model on the ground. Then the actors try to look as if they are exiting the ship, by going far away behind the model, and running to the left.

Zygon spaceship.

There is really not much to say about this episode, as it is all great, so sorry for a shorter review.

I would give 'Terror of the Zygons' 10/10 because it's all pretty much great, and the bad things are pretty small anyway.