Review of The Face of Evil (#89)
DVD Release Date:  13 Mar 12
Original Air Date:  01 – 22 Jan 1977
Doctor/Companion:  Four, Leela
Stars:  Tom Baker, Louise Jameson
Preceding Story:  The Deadly Assassin (Four)
Succeeding Story:  The Robots of Death (Four, Leela)

As the story opens, a young woman is being cast out of her tribe. The scene sets up the character of soon-to-be-Companion Leela perfectly: she’s strong and outspoken, not willing to suffer fools gladly, and yet willing to subvert her own position for those for whom she cares. Conveniently for future exposition, she is soon orphaned (a bit subtly, actually) and cut off socially from her home. Why wouldn’t she ask the Doctor to take her with him?

From that perspective, it was nice finally to get to see Leela’s “origin story.” But aside from that, there were several interesting plot points that make one think a bit more, and clearly demonstrate that the production team were trying to stretch their storytelling muscles. Perhaps most in-your-face (~ahem~) is the idea that the Doctor has clearly been here before, as evidenced by the likeness of his visage carved in stone. He’s done his usual number of sticking his proverbial finger in the pie of the planet, only to have it backfire (“I thought I was helping…”). It’s a rare situation when we clearly see how fallible the Doctor can be.

There’s also the pretty major idea of an insane computer. Obviously this is not the only time in science fiction history that a sentient computer has gone mad (it’s not even the first time in Doctor Who – think back to BOSS in The Green Death, or even further back to WOTAN in The War Machines). The results, though, which include eugenics, linguistic drift (Leela’s tribe the Sevateem derive their name from their antecedents on Survey Team 6), and sociocultural evolution (a habitual motion among spacefaring folk has become a sign to ward off evil). It’s a rather fascinating quasi-academic study, if one wants to approach it that way.

I also love that Leela’s character gets established right off the bat. Not only do we get that opening scene, but as the story goes on, we realize that she’s quite bright. She may be uneducated outside her culture, but she picks up on new ideas quickly. Take, for example, the following exchange with the Doctor:

“That may be Xoanon speaking, but it’s not God. Gods don’t use transceivers.”
“Are you certain?”
“Aren’t you?”
{pause}
“Yes.”

There is one particular moment that’s rather uncharacteristic (or, perhaps more correctly, too-early-yet-to-be-characteristic) of Leela, when she fails in hand-to-hand combat and then looks on from the sidelines, winded, for minutes while the Doctor finishes the fight. But we also see the difference in moralities in her use of the janis thorns and the Doctor’s distaste for them. (Of course, the Doctor has his own darker impulses. He flicks a horda at the man who strikes Leela – a fate which we’re given to believe will kill or at least severely injure a person. Vindictive much?) I took heart knowing that such moments are few and far between for Leela, and that there’s plenty of Eliza Doolittle character development thereafter.

DVD Extras (highlights)

Into the Wild

With so many “making of” blurbies, you know the production teams for these DVD extras have got to feel like they’re retreading old ground all the time. They must get a bit desperate for ways to set each one apart. From that perspective, I’m willing to give them a break, but I can’t honestly say I was a fan of the section captions over the Doctor’s Mt.-Rushmore-face.

As for the interviews, there were plenty of fun tidbits. The visual effects designer and set designer were both new to their positions, and both talked about how they worked through that experience. There was a new Companion, which means we hear about how the idea came about as well as casting, the feel on the set, and Louise Jameson’s introduction to the publicity storm. Aside from those captions, I found it as enjoyable as any.

Tomorrow’s Times: The Fourth Doctor

I believe I’ve mentioned before how much I adore this series. This installment includes media coverage of Doctor Who from Tom Baker’s debut in Robot up through the announcement of Peter Davison as Five (“Dr. Moo” has got to be one of my all-time favorite headlines). I hadn’t previously realized that it was near the end of Four’s first season that William Hartnell passed away, casting a bit of a pall on the community. Further, it was apparently during this era (why am I not surprised?) that the first fan events seem to have cropped up. There’s lots to love here.

Doctor Who Stories: Louise Jameson

Edited down from a larger documentary done in 2003 (The Story of Doctor Who), here we have Louise’s portion of the show. She recalls for us various Doctor Who-related parts of her life, from her first memories of watching at home to working with Tom Baker, John Leeson (K9) and various other aspects of being on set to how her career has progressed since Doctor Who. You may have heard some of the stories before, but they’re well worth re-watching.

I have to admit that since meeting (well… as much as one ever really “meets” the guests) Louise Jameson at Gallifrey One this year, I’ve been more favorably disposed toward Leela. But this is also a really good story as an introduction to the character. And face it – anyone who hijacks the TARDIS instead of taking no for an answer is… just a little bit fabulous.