'Doctor Who: The Deadly Assassin' (1976)


And so my journey to catch up with all the classic 'Doctor Who' stories that I either watched or read, as a kid, continues, via wherever I can find them on DVD (because the thrill is in the chase). 'The Deadly Assassin' was first shown in 1976 and I would have all of about a year old so if I did watch back then, I can't remember it. I first came across this tale via the library and was immediately struck by the cover, check it out...

Honestly, a cover like this pretty much demands that you read the book, especially if you're me ;o) It was a little while longer before I'd get to watch the story and even longer before I'd finally get a chance to watch it again. Here we are though, let me tell you all about 'The Deadly Assassin'...(with some spoilers, this story is forty six years old now...)

Gallifrey. Planet of the Time Lords. The Doctor has come home, but not by choice.

Summoned by a vision from the Matrix, he is drawn into a web of political intrigue and assassination. Nothing is quite what it seems and in the shadows lurks his oldest and deadliest enemy...

I guess the first place to start is by saying that I have never seen 'The Manchurian Candidate', a movie that people like to compare 'The Deadly Assassin' to. I can't, because I haven't ;o) What I can say though is that even on a second viewing, and knowing who the enemy is, 'The Deadly Assassin' is an absolutely compelling watch. It's one of those stories where you just know that if you take your eye off the ball for even a minute, you're going to miss something important. I made that mistake once and now I'm going to have to watch the whole thing all over again to get that final piece of the jigsaw in place. It won't exactly be a chore though.

All of this is in no small part down to Tom Baker's performance as the Doctor, both on Gallifrey and in the Matrix itself. There's real gravitas happening here, so much is at stake and the Doctor reacts accordingly. At the same time though, he's back on Gallifrey and you get the feeling that there's a lot there that he can't take seriously (maybe that's why he left?) Either way, it's a superb performance.

Talking of which, you don't get to see a lot of Peter Pratt under all that costume and make up but his performance, as the Master, is also worth noting for it's mix of desperation and sheer venom as the Master fights to hold onto what is left of his final regeneration before it is too late. And considering this was all shot in 1976, that outfit is more than just a little bit scary. I like it.

The plot itself is a good mixture of 'courtly intrigue' (that show the Time Lords in a different light, 'adjusting the truth'...), whodunnit and these sweet little moments of horror as we see what happens to the Master's victims in death. And those scenes in the Matrix... Considering it's all presumably taking place in the same quarry, it really works in terms of all the different locations that the Doctor must travel through. And it's brutal regarding what the Doctor must face, there's real 'fight to the death' stuff happening here and you can see the Doctor having to face, and even exceed, his limits, just to survive.

If I ever get round to making a list of my favourite 'Doctor Who' stories, I think 'The Deadly Assassin' would be right up there, probably in my top five. Everything about it just hit the spot and I can't see myself leaving it so long before I watch it again.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘Deathworlder’ – Victoria Hayward (Black Library)

Image
Before I get into the review proper, thank you Black Library for sending me a copy of ‘Deathworlder’ in return for a fair and honest review. Talking of ‘fair and honest’… There will be loads of the latter but I enjoyed the hell out of ‘Deathworlder’ so… We’ll see how being fair goes ;o) That’s your only warning, lets talk ‘Deathworlder’… Lazulai is a world beyond the brink, its battle against the tyranids all but lost. Once-magnificent cities lie in ruin. The seas boil. The skies crack. Horrific alien bioforms devour. In mere days the planet will be consumed. The 903rd Catachan ‘Night Shrikes’ defend one of the last fortresses still standing. Led by Major Wulf Khan, to die fighting is all that is expected of them… until she is given one last mission: to lead a squad through the apocalypse and recover a piece of archeotech that may doom or deliver the entire Lazulai System. Facing insurmountable odds and zero hope for aid, the major must hold her squad together as they pick their way ...
Read more

‘Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth’ (1992)

Image
Every time Halloween comes round, I promise myself that I’ll watch more horror films and read more horror fiction; we’re halfway through the month and you can see how that’s going so far… There’s still plenty of October left though so lets see how I do from now until the end of the month ;o) First up is ‘Hellraiser 3’ which I watched last night, mostly because I love it (you can tell how this post is going to go, sorry…) but also because it was cheap on Prime and I’m still just on the wrong side of payday. Here goes… TV reporter Joey Summerskill’s life is changed forever when she witnesses the horrific death of a teenager, torn apart by bloody chains. Joey’s search for a story leads her to the Lament Configuration Box but it has already been opened, waking an old evil from its slumber… Now Pinhead walks the earth once more, creating a new army of Cenobites from the transmuted flesh of his victims; his one desire to reclaim the Box. Even with help from an unexpected source, Joey Summers...
Read more

‘Cursed City’ – C.L. Werner (Black Library)

Image
I always have these vague ‘reading resolutions’, for the New Year and without fail, they all come to absolutely nothing. I still read loads, just none of the books that I meant to… This year is panning out slightly differently and I think I’m going to enjoy it. All the books that were originally ‘out of sight, out of mind’, in the loft at my old place, are now all over my new place and wherever I look, I’m constantly discovering books that I totally forgot I had but now quite fancy reading. Books like ‘Cursed City’ for example… I’m not going to tell you how long ‘Cursed City’ was sat in my loft, lets just say it was long enough for me to totally forget it was there and buy myself another copy… Oh well. I found it on the shelf the other day (only the one copy now) and figured it was way overdue a read, let me tell you about it… Ulfenkarn is a city of nightmares. Its vampiric rulers have indulged their bloodlust in every shadow-clad alley, turning the once-proud metropolis into a charnel...
Read more