This serial is a rather odd mix and I'm not entirely sure it works, but at the same time am not entirely sure it doesn't. The plot sees an astronaut trying to do a recovery mission on another craft which Earth has lost contact with, only to lose contact again. UNIT and of course the Doctor gets involved and quickly it becomes clear that something odd has happened to the astronauts – although just as quickly it seems that there is someone who is keen to get their hands on the content of the space craft when it does eventually return to Earth. From here the story goes and mostly it is decent enough although it has its fair share of flaws.
To start with it is clearly longer than it can bare and, while it doesn't really sag, there are parts where clearly it is just introducing things for the sake of filling time and keeping people busy rather than actually moving the story forward – or as fans of 24 may call them: 'cougar moments'. These moments still work but it does feel padded. The other odd feeling throughout is that it is a mixed approach. On one hand the serial seems quite talky and 'Quatermassy', with reality-based ideas and aliens, conspiracy and so on; but then on the other hand it has plenty of running, jumping, shooting and aliens with deadly electric hands. The latter style seems to be the one that is padded out the most and it is regularly called upon to produce cliff-hangers which are dramatic but rarely do much more than provide an ending because seconds into the next episode it is generally forgotten, but it does its job at least.
The downside of these things is that it does feel like a core of a very strong story has been watered down somewhat – a feeling I was left with even more by the rather sudden but yet also a tad underwhelming conclusion. I guess it depends on personal taste but personally I wanted more of the dialogue and ideas driven stuff and less of the "woman in mini-skirt running" stuff. Speaking of which, Caroline John continues to do little for me but at least here she has some fight in her character and, although she doesn't convince, she does get some decent dialogue. Pertwee plays things a bit stiff at times but his serious delivery is good for the majority. Courtney is solid as ever and does well with the twists and turns even though I would have liked him to do more with the twists as they impact his character and his position. The production itself is okay, a mix of locations and sets, both of which work – just a shame that it changes form black/white to color all the time and that the color sections are not of a good quality.
Ambassadors of Death is a good enough serial but has its weaknesses evenly spread out. It is longer than it needs to be and the mix of "action" and dialogue-driven material really doesn't merge together as would have been hoped, instead undercutting each other more than you'd expect.
To start with it is clearly longer than it can bare and, while it doesn't really sag, there are parts where clearly it is just introducing things for the sake of filling time and keeping people busy rather than actually moving the story forward – or as fans of 24 may call them: 'cougar moments'. These moments still work but it does feel padded. The other odd feeling throughout is that it is a mixed approach. On one hand the serial seems quite talky and 'Quatermassy', with reality-based ideas and aliens, conspiracy and so on; but then on the other hand it has plenty of running, jumping, shooting and aliens with deadly electric hands. The latter style seems to be the one that is padded out the most and it is regularly called upon to produce cliff-hangers which are dramatic but rarely do much more than provide an ending because seconds into the next episode it is generally forgotten, but it does its job at least.
The downside of these things is that it does feel like a core of a very strong story has been watered down somewhat – a feeling I was left with even more by the rather sudden but yet also a tad underwhelming conclusion. I guess it depends on personal taste but personally I wanted more of the dialogue and ideas driven stuff and less of the "woman in mini-skirt running" stuff. Speaking of which, Caroline John continues to do little for me but at least here she has some fight in her character and, although she doesn't convince, she does get some decent dialogue. Pertwee plays things a bit stiff at times but his serious delivery is good for the majority. Courtney is solid as ever and does well with the twists and turns even though I would have liked him to do more with the twists as they impact his character and his position. The production itself is okay, a mix of locations and sets, both of which work – just a shame that it changes form black/white to color all the time and that the color sections are not of a good quality.
Ambassadors of Death is a good enough serial but has its weaknesses evenly spread out. It is longer than it needs to be and the mix of "action" and dialogue-driven material really doesn't merge together as would have been hoped, instead undercutting each other more than you'd expect.