| An identity crisis on a mysterious world for DOCTOR WHO in The Face of Evil. Images: BBC. |
DOCTOR WHO: THE FACE OF EVIL
Starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and introducing Louise Jameson as Leela.
Released on DVD from 2ENTERTAIN/ BBC WORLDWIDE
Reviewed by Scott Weller
Ever had a bad day at the office, or at home, with your trusty computer? Ever felt that it had a mind of it’s own? Well then, spare a thought for that trusty Time and Space zipping Time Lord known as the Doctor, in his teeth and curls incarnation of Tom Baker, when he becomes an intergalactic Sigmund Freud, and joins up with a promising female warrior companion to boot, in order to tackle a mentally deranged, homicidal computer who, bearing the Time Lord’s visage, think’s he’s a megalomaniacal god! Yes, it’s the latest enjoyable CLASSIC DOCTOR WHO tale released from those ever reliable people at 2ENTERTAIN / BBC Worldwide: The Face of Evil!
Groomed into a promising new author for the series by then incumbent script editor and all-round writing genius Robert Holmes, Chris Boucher’s first story for Tom Baker WHO (originally titled The Day God Went Mad- yep, you bet that was changed very quickly so as not to incite a religious backlash!) is an all-round good sell to audiences, with an intriguing central plot full of seventies sci-fi ingenuity (including feuding tribesman against high tech scientists in an evolutionary experiment gone awry, and with a seriously bonkers computer at the heart of it!) and well paced storytelling (especially in the opening two episodes), lots of invention and intriguing characters, most notably with his creation of the series newest TARDIS companion/occupant, the ex-savage Leela of the Sevateem, as played by RSC actress Louise Jameson with action gusto and inquisitive, child-like spirit, continuing the series then fine trend for strong female companions (the likes of which had prior been seen with Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith) and with the advent and continuing evolution of Women’s Lib.
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| The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) and new companion Leela (Louise Jameson). |
Partially inspired by Boucher and the Production Team from the late sixties/ early seventies figure of Leila Khlaed, a Palestinian liberation fighter, the behind the scenes character aim for Leela, later well-described as a “savage feminist”, was an attempt to shake the WHO companion format up a bit and try to do something different from what had been done before, so much so that, in many ways, the companion could often be strong enough to protect the Doctor rather than the established other way round.
Also new to the series director Pennant Roberts would be much liked by the WHO crew, possessing a good grasp of storytelling and character moments for the series, strong casting skills (most notably here in finding Louise Jameson), as well as showing visual flair under time pressure (the usual behind the scenes bugbear for the show), especially for the filmed sequences of the un-named jungle planet at Ealing Studios designed by Austin Ruddy, whose trees and sandy surface, marked with the occasional deadly piranha-like Horda creature (from resident FX expert Matt Irvine), look excellent. (There’s also some impressive model work, like the Mount Rushmore face of the Doctor, even if it is shot on video.) The story’s all-important serialized cliffhangers are also very strong, with an absolute cracker to the third episode that's up there with Modern WHO’s “Are you my Mummy?”
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| Leela protects the Doctor from the scheming Caleb (Leslie Schofield) |
Beyond her lethal killing abilities (which are aplenty in this first season, eventually resulting in her fine tuned aggressive tendencies being toned down by both the production team and star Tom Baker), the often fearless and inquisitive character of Leela (the name meaning “dark eyed beauty”), indeed a true counterpoint to Sarah Jane, soon shows herself as a companion with great potential for the Doctor to educate and enlighten abut life, the universe and everything, in a sort of WHO version of the Pygmalion story: the plan initiated by the producers to see Leela, eventually evolve away from the leathers and into a more developed, clothed individual. This first season for the character sows the seeds of those ideas well, before such game-plan ideas frustratingly disappeared before any satisfying conclusion well into the actress second and final season in the role (a missed opportunity from an already overburdened new producer to come, Graham Williams).
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| Louise Jameson certainly makes an impact with the dads as Leela. |
Certainly attracting the male audience of the time, and a welcomely shapely figure in becoming brown leathers, Jameson makes an attractive and spirited entrance on the series (her youthful face and acting style reminding me of Diana Rigg/Emma Peel from The Avengers) and she handles herself well on the show against the mighty and formidable presence of Baker in the titular role. The pair may not have gotten on all that well off-screen for their original filming duration (Baker never having been happy with the way Leela hade been devised without his input, and at a point in the series when he would have been perfectly happy to have been alone in his travels (thankfully, his later ideas of a parrot or a talking cabbage as a companion had not yet sprung into his mind!), but that tenseness never appears on screen: indeed, the Doctor and Leela make a fine combo for Saturday tea-time viewing of 1977-1978.
Baker also has ambitious double duties here (but I bet the BBC of 1976 only paid him one salary!), not only as the Doctor but also in providing the manipulative and highly dangerous voice of the neurotic split personality “god”, Xoanon/ “The Evil One”, formed into being from a blunder made by the Time Lord during an unseen past adventure (read Terrance Dicks fun TARGET novelization of the story from the seventies to find out more!).
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| The Doctor has to undergo a William Tell-like competition to save Leela, watched by the sneaky Caleb. |
The Face of Evil also has a fine pedigree of guest support, too, including a post STAR WARS Leslie Schofield (whom Pennant Roberts would later cast in his first directed episode of BLAKE’S 7) as the manipulative Sevateem warrior Caleb, Brendan Price as Leela’s compatriot, Tomas, and a great performance that almost, but not quite, goes over the top from David Garfield as the wily Sevateem witch doctor/shaman, Neeva, who worships the god/split personality Xoanon. His scenes with Baker are excellent. Oh, and looks out for the brief appearance of EASTENDERS Peter Dean (who played Pete Peale) as a Sevateem warrior soon killed by invisible monsters!
Of the rest of the behind the scenes production, later to be Oscar winning costume designer John Bloomfield creates some noteworthy wears for the episodes, especially the Sevateem in their primitive leathers, which look believable within their primitive fantasy environs, whilst their Tesh enemies/servants of Xoanon, led by Leon Eagles as Jabel, reside in bizarre harlequin-like attire that wouldn’t be out of place in an intergalactic version of Alice in Wonderland! With those particular costumes you’ll either like them or loathe them. Still, they are nonetheless memorable.
On a slightly negative note, some of the set design work of the Earth survey spaceship interior looks pretty cheap by today's standards (its clear that money was being saved for the next two ambitious stories of the season instead), and there's also the occasional duff video effect overlay or stunt fight that doesn't quite work, but one can, and should, overlook all of that in favour of the fun and intelligent sci-fi set-up: certainly the kind of tale that today's WHO, afraid to lose it’s viewer base, just wouldn’t be able to produce.
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| The titular Face of Evil. |
Though Tom Baker's presence is missed on the Special Features side, a strong bevvy of supporting bonus material still accompanies the release, which fully documents Louise Jameson and Leela’s arrival in the series, including Into the Wild-a nice behind the scenes documentary from Chris Chapman looking back at the making of the story (featuring an excellent new look at BBC effects man Matt Irvine’s fun Doctor/Mount Rushmore face), Doctor Who Stories, in which the actress fondly recalls her time on the show in previously unseen and extended interview material originally conducted in 2003 for the BBC 1 documentary, The DOCTOR WHO Story, a look back at her appearance with Noel Edmonds in a February 1977 edition VHS clip from the Multi-Coloured Swap Shop children’s series, detailed info text which includes a full list of the 26 actress who originally tested for Leela alongside the winning actress, some very nice rare out-take footage from the September 1977 Ealing studios filming that introduced Jameson as Leela, a Denys Fisher toy commercial for their then WHO range-costing around £3.49 each back in the day-if only today’s FORBIDDEN PLANET exclusive figures were as cheap as that now!- and including an incredibly well-endowed Leela action figure that Jameson would go on to hate!, plus a nice photo gallery that includes aborted early make-up tests for Jameson as Leela, and Tomorrow’s Times- the continuing documentary series on UK newspaper coverage of each era of the show, this one on Tom Baker’s era, and hosted by the lovely Wendy Padbury. Topping it all of there’s also a great trailer for the next WHO/Jon Pertwee DVD release: The Daemons. Great stuff.
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| Tom Baker and Louise Jameson pose for the press. |
Though not regarded as one of the all-time classics of the Philip Hinchliffe produced WHO era, The Face of Evil is still a solid, well-made tale that’s superior to many of the shows later mid-eighties series offerings, as well as most other television of its time. It’s enjoyable new take on an old sci-fi concept- the kind of mad computer gone amok that Captain James T. Kirk used to enjoy debunking on Classic STAR TREK – lifts it well above the ordinary, combined with an excellent introduction to the series by Louise Jameson/Leela, who has a promising repartee with Tom Baker (continuing to be as perfect as ever in the title role).
KOOL TV STORY RATING: 4 out of 5
KOOL TV DVD EXTRAS: 4 out of 5
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