This is considered to be the greatest ever story from the Pertwee era . It originally started off as a casting scene when Barry Letts was looking for an actress and actor to play Jo Grant and Captain Mike Yates with the scenario revolving around the two characters in a church crypt where they're confronted with a vision of the Devil . This probably explains why Katy Manning is so very effective in the climax to episode five
The story opens with a superb hook where a character staggers out of the pub , takes a short cut through the churchyard and sees something so diabolical that he drops dead from sheer fright . The scene owes a lot to the conventions of horror films with it being filmed in darkness amongst a thunderstorm . Christopher Barry makes outstanding use of night filming . NuWho fans will be blase about night filming but it was something rarely seen in the classic show and gives the first two episodes a deeply brooding atmosphere rarely seen in the show . I confess that as a child this story absolutely terrified me and only the most cynical person would fail to understand the fear generated by this . This is undisputed hide behind the sofa material
Unfortunately after the terrifying second episode cliffhanger the story fails to sustain the doom laden atmosphere which is a pity . Instead of the conventions of horror we're given the hallmarks of the contemporary Pertwee era of action where the Msster makes it his life ambition to kill the Doctor , along with chase sequences and battles involving UNIT . The climatic battle is very disappointing after viewing it as a child . I remembered it as being an epic battle involving UNIT soldiers bravely but vainly giving their lives trying to overwhelm Bok the grotesque living gargoyle . The sequence is bitterly disappointing when viewed as an adult
So I have to take issue that its the peak of the Pertwee era . The previous season contained 4 very good stories two of which The Silurians and Inferno are amongst the best television ever produced . Not only that but they were both obvious influences on one of this year's NuWho stories The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood as is this story . Much of its reputation lies in vague memories of it being atmospheric and terrifying , a memory reinforced by the brilliant novelization by Barry Letts . It has two outstanding episodes followed by three rather mundane ones which makes for a good but inconsistent story
The story opens with a superb hook where a character staggers out of the pub , takes a short cut through the churchyard and sees something so diabolical that he drops dead from sheer fright . The scene owes a lot to the conventions of horror films with it being filmed in darkness amongst a thunderstorm . Christopher Barry makes outstanding use of night filming . NuWho fans will be blase about night filming but it was something rarely seen in the classic show and gives the first two episodes a deeply brooding atmosphere rarely seen in the show . I confess that as a child this story absolutely terrified me and only the most cynical person would fail to understand the fear generated by this . This is undisputed hide behind the sofa material
Unfortunately after the terrifying second episode cliffhanger the story fails to sustain the doom laden atmosphere which is a pity . Instead of the conventions of horror we're given the hallmarks of the contemporary Pertwee era of action where the Msster makes it his life ambition to kill the Doctor , along with chase sequences and battles involving UNIT . The climatic battle is very disappointing after viewing it as a child . I remembered it as being an epic battle involving UNIT soldiers bravely but vainly giving their lives trying to overwhelm Bok the grotesque living gargoyle . The sequence is bitterly disappointing when viewed as an adult
So I have to take issue that its the peak of the Pertwee era . The previous season contained 4 very good stories two of which The Silurians and Inferno are amongst the best television ever produced . Not only that but they were both obvious influences on one of this year's NuWho stories The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood as is this story . Much of its reputation lies in vague memories of it being atmospheric and terrifying , a memory reinforced by the brilliant novelization by Barry Letts . It has two outstanding episodes followed by three rather mundane ones which makes for a good but inconsistent story