'Doctor Who: The Hand of Fear' (1976)


I really should start watching these in some sort of order other than the 'damn, that's been on my shelf for ages I really should watch it' order... If I'd watched 'The Hand of Fear' before 'The Deadly Assassin', I'd have had a little continuity going on but it's me and here I am, finally finding out why the Doctor was on his own when he landed on Gallifrey. Let me tell you about that, and a few other things along the way...

The Doctor and Sarah return to Earth, but are plunged into danger as soon as they step from the TARDIS. They arrive in a quarry rigged with explosives, and the blast leaves Sarah unconscious in the rubble, a fossilised stone hand in her grip. What strange power does the hand have over Sarah Jane...?

'The Hand of Fear' isn't a bad story, in itself, but for me, it's more about Sarah Jane leaving the Doctor at the end and... is it just me or did the whole thing seem a little forced ad staged? Sarah Jane Smith probably knows better than anyone what travelling with the Doctor means but the fact that it was bitterly cold on Kastria proved to be the final straw and she was pissed because the Doctor wasn't listening to her...? I'm not sure that I buy that. And isn't it a little convenient that the Doctor was summoned to Gallifrey and couldn't take Sarah Jane with him? I'm not sure that I buy that either. I get that people leave shows and have to be written out somehow, sometimes at very short notice, but this time round I think they could have done a lot better with Sarah Jane's departure.

Which is a real shame as it's a slightly lackluster ending that sits at the end of a story that's actually fairly gripping and engaging. There's some good buildup with various possessed parties looking to safeguard, and work towards, the return of Eldrad (who has their own intriguing sub-plot around whether they're a force for good or evil). You know who is possessed but the Doctor doesn't and this makes for some tense moments, especially with some high stakes moments around whether the reactor will go into meltdown (the Director phoning his family was a poignant touch). And that poor guy who just wanders off into the reactor core and is written off by the Doctor as 'probably vaporised by now'... His death is just chilling.

I enjoyed Eldrad, as a villain, as they can just absorb whatever is thrown at them and grow stronger off the resulting energy. This forces the Doctor to get a little more creative than perhaps he would do normally and that makes for a decent battle of wits with plenty to play for. Is that final confrontation a little too easily played out? Possibly, I suspect that the show was a little too keen to get to Sarah Jane's departure and moved quickly to take Eldrad off the board... It's fun though, with a short sharp burst of action to sign off on, and that's the main thing from where I'm sat.

'The Hand of Fear' could have been a lot better if it hadn't had to share top billing with Sarah Jane leaving the TARDIS. That wasn't the case though and what we're left with is a story that works but clearly could have been a lot more. Look, I've seen worse but at the same time, I've definitely seen better.

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