Deep
in the permafrost of the Antarctic, scientists discover two vegetable
pods. The Doctor identifies them as Krynoids, an alien species of plant,
hostile to all animal life. One of the pods opens and a Krynoid takes
over a scientist's body. In England Harrison Chase, a rich and eccentric
botanist, sends two men to steal the remaining pod. They succeed but in
the ensuing battle the base and the first Krynoid monster are destroyed.
Back in England the second pod opens and takes over Keeler, one of Chase's
scientists. He soon evolves into a giant Krynoid monster which threatens
to turn the native plants of Earth against Humanity. The Doctor and his
allies at the World Ecology Bureau manage to infiltrate Chase's residence,
but it is too late to stop the demented millionaire or the Krynoid. The
RAF bombs the Krynoid, now larger than Chase's house, before it germinates.
.
The Doctor: Tom
Baker
Sarah Jane Smith:
Elisabeth Sladen
Guest Appearances:
Harrison
Chase: Tony Beckley
Scorby: John Challis
Arnold Keeler: Mark Jones
John Stevenson: Hubert Rees
Charles Winlett: John Gleeson
Derek Moberley: Michael McStay
Richard Dunbar: Kenneth Gilbert
Sir Colin Thackeray: Michael Barrington
Hargreaves: Seymour Green
Amelia Ducat: Sylvia Coleridge
Guard Leader: David Masterman
Doctor Chester: Ian Fairbairn
Chauffeur: Alan Chuntz
Guards: Harry Fielder, David Masterman,
Ian Elliott
Major Beresford: John Acheson
Sergeant Henderson: Ray Barron
Major Beresford: John Acheson
Secretary: Keith Ashley
Kzynoid Monster: Ronald Gough, Keith
Ashley
The Krynoid's Voice: Mark Jones
Producer:
Phillip Hinchcliffe
Script Editor: Robert Holmes
Writer: Robert Banks Stewart
Director: Douglas
Camfield
Designer: Roger
Murray-Leach
Costume: Barbara Lane
Make up: Ann Briggs
Visual Effects: Richard Conway, Jeremy
Bear
Music: Geoffrey Burgon
..
Novelized as "Doctor Who and the Seeds of Doom" by
Philip Hinchicliffe (0 426 11658 5) first published by Tandem / Wyndharn
Publications (now Virgin Publishing Ltd) in 1977 with cover by Chris Achilleos.
Target library number 55.
Pinnacle Books released the novel in America in
March 1980 as number 10 in their series. The second printing was in February
1981 (ISBN 0 523 41620 2). The sixth printing came in December 1989 (ISBN
1 55817 297 1). This was the final Pinnacle adaptation. In the early eighties,
W. H. Allen arranged for distribution of Target books in the USA and so
there was no continuing need for these translations.
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.
a
Released
as "The Seeds Of Doom" in episodic format, August 1994,
(BBC
Video 5377) on two tapes (UK only).
Released in US and Canada (Warner catalogue # E1300) with cover art by
Colin Howard
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The original
designer was John Bear, but after doing work on the Antarctic base camp
sets and models for the first two episodes, he fell ill and was replaced
by Roger Murray-Leach.
The costume for the humanoid Krynoid was created by taking one of the
surviving Axon costumes from 'The Claws of Axos' and spraying it green.
At the season's conclusion, Elisabeth Sladen announced that she would
leave Doctor Who after the second serial of the next season. Sladen was
finding herself turning down other promising work because of her commitment
to the series, and had decided it was time to move on.
All six episodes
exist in color on videotape.
Studio
recording in Stage TC4. (17-18 November;
1-2 December 1975)
Studio recording in Stage TC8. (15-16 December
1975)
Buckland
Sand and Silica Company Ltd., Reigate Road, Buckland, Surrey. (7-8
December 1975)
Athelhampton House, Athelhampton,
Dorset. (30
October -3 November 1975)
BBC
Television Centre, Wood Lane, Shepard's Bush,
London, W12. (16
December 1975))
Episode
1 - The fake snow looks relatively credible... until
the scene where Tom Baker digs up the second Krynoid pod. It's so obviously
made from chunks of styrofoam that Tom looks like he's unwrapping a mail-order
package.
Episode
1, 2 - If you pay close attention,
you'll notice the chessboard propped up against the wall in the Antarctic
base. In episode 1, it is positioned so that the upper-left square is
white, but by episode 2 it has been rotated 90 degrees, so that the upper-left
square is black instead.
Episode
2 - When Keeler and Scorby are
in the Antarctic base alone and a call comes in on the radio, Scorby answers
it and talks to the people on the other end for a while. The problem is
- when he stops talking, he's supposed to flip the switch on the radio
from 'send' to 'receive' so that he can receive the transmissions from
the other end (since that's how 2-way radios normally function). However,
on at least two occasions, the voice of the other people comes in before
he flips the switch.
Episode
4 - Sarah's scream at the advancing
Krynoid at the episode's climax is a study in inability to suspend disbelief.
She's looking at this big green plastic thing, and it shows on her face.
What's more, her actual scream couldn't have been very convincing - it
was dubbed in afterwards.
Episode
5 - In several shots of the Krynoid
after daybreak, it's pictured with trees and sky behind it - a blue CSO
screen, naturally. Yet the trees in many of those blue screen shots have
no leaves on them. No real tree lacking foliage is shown in episode 5
(though Autumn does inexplicably start to arrive in episode 6).
Episode
6 - As the Doctor and Sarah flee
the house through the undergrowth, which is supposedly moving wildly in
order to ensnare them, their hair is blown about just as well by the wind
machines that move the plants. When they look up to see the house burning,
in fact, Sarah looks like she's just been standing next to a jet engine.
Episode
6 - Watch for the priceless moment
when Tom Baker grabs Elisabeth Sladen's chest (during the "steam!"
scene).
Episode
6 - How does the TARDIS get to
Antarctica at the end of the story? The Doctor claims he "never reset
the coordinates", but the TARDIS never went to Antarctica in the
first place - the Doctor and Sarah travelled there by helicopter.
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