PLOTLINE (SURVIVORS IN SPACE)
It has been three months since the Hexford catastrophe, and Mike Yates is trying to show strength of leadership to the villagers. But with morale low and supplies running out, it is increasingly difficult to keep his own hopes up. Unless somebody finds them soon, the future looks bleak.
So when the TARDIS materialises on the village green, it seems that help has arrived at last. But with two Doctors apparently at large, there is still the small matter of what was buried under Nest Cottage - not to mention who is clamouring to break through the protective force field. Soon Hexford is under siege once again, and this time an ancient hunger will be sated. Time has run out for the keepers of the Skishtari egg…
Performed by Tom Baker and cast.
COMMENT
With the Skishtari’s, an alien race of serpent-like creatures, audacity of abducting the entire village of Hexford (surely they would have the technology to scan for their ‘gene egg’ device without extracting the extended area), including the Doctor’s holiday home (Nest Cottage), Captain Yates and a visitor calling himself the Doctor, can our intrepid Time Lord and hapless housekeeper, Wibbsey conclude their adventure with a worth climax rather than a damp whimper?
Simply, yes.
Paul Magrs’ DOCTOR WHO – SERPENT CREST: SURVIVORS IN SPACE from AUDIOGO concludes with a combination of fanfare and flourish that has been eagerly awaited through the previously tepid five-part story.
Fourth Doctor: One final trip through time and space!
With the “base under siege” story conceit, this episode sees Hexford trying to gain a level of normality – tea on the hearth’s fire as a prerequisite – but existing on a rock in space, with no electricity and their food stocks dwindling, the villagers become both restless and wary of Doctor Two’s plans. Are his plans for the benefit of the villagers or to merely save his own neck?
For the first time this series, the episode is narrated from the viewpoint of Mike Yates (confidently delivered by 1970s stalwart of the CLASSIC SERIES, Richard Franklin) as he witness the inexorable decline and dissent as it creeps unnervingly across the village green from grocer’ shop to public house to church hall meetings.
However, it is the relationship of the Fourth Doctor (a pitch perfect Tom Baker) and Doctor Two (an outstanding performance by David Troughton as he emulates his father, Patrick, iconic performance as the Second Doctor) that is central to SURVIVORS IN SPACE success. Their bawdy tête-à-tête is worth the cover price of the CD alone, as is the Doctor Two’s acidic retort:
Doctor Two: … look like a polytechnic lecturer from the 1970s.
As is the tussle between Doctor Two and Mrs Wibbsey as his hands delves unceremoniously within her capacious ‘cardie’ seeking her copy of the TARDIS key. Wonderful.
But it is not threat of wandering hands amid knit-one-purl-one but the appearance of…well, that would be telling, wouldn’t it?
Needless to say, SERPENT CREST concludes in fine fettle; arguing Time Lord’s, spinsters lusting after Mike Yates, and a ravenous hatching serpent combine to deliver a thoroughly entertaining and thrilling conclusion to Tom Baker’s final (?) sojourn with AUDIOGO as he steers the TARDIS to BIG FINISH.
If this has been the final journey for the Fourth Doctor under the auspicious of Paul Magrs then has been, overall, a disappointing five-part series. It’s been uneven but that’s not saying that it’s been poor. Fans would be better directed to the Magrs’ ‘second series’, DEMON QUEST (2010) for more storytelling consistency.
