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| An alien intelligence unleashes havoc on Earth! |
4 episodes. Approx. 98 minutes. Written by: Louis Marks. Directed by: Rodney Bennett. Produced by: Philip Hinchcliffe.
THE PLOT
The TARDIS is drawn into the Mandragora Helix, a mass of living energy that the Doctor describes as having "an intelligence" behind it. The Doctor is able to escape- but not before unwittingly picking up a passanger, a fragment of Helix energy that escapes when the time ship materializes in 15th Century Italy.
A succession drama is playing out in the village of San Martino. The old Duke has died very suddenly, leaving his title to his son, the intellectual Giuliano (Gareth Armstrong). The death was foretold by Hieronymous (Norman Jones), the court astrologer, in league with the duke's brother, the evil Federico (Jon Laurimore). Now Federico plots for Hieronymous to cast another horoscope - one that will pave the way for him to eliminate his weak nephew and claim power for himself!
The Doctor has no interest in these petty power struggles. As soon as he sees a victim of the Mandragora energy, he realizes what has happened - a malevolent force has been set loose that could destroy or enslave the world, and he was the one who brought it here. He determines to do whatever is necessary to stop the Helix energy from spreading its influence... but with Federico using the Doctor's appearance as an excuse to accelerate his plans, and with Hieronymous hatching plots all his own, it soon becomes apparent that the Doctor can't solve one problem without becoming involved in the other.
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: Though he ends up assisting Giuliano against Federico, there's no sense that the Doctor has chosen a side. His sense of responsibility exists on a larger scale. He does end up assisting Giuliano, but only because the young duke helps him against the Mandragora energy. He feels deep responsibility for having brought that energy to Earth, and he is committed to correcting his mistake, while the human political conflict doesn't interest him in the slightest.
Sarah Jane Smith: Seems to have taken a hefty I. Q. cut for this episode, wandering off and getting into trouble multiple times during the first two episodes. Did writer Louis Marks think he was still scripting for Jo Grant? Elisabeth Sladen puts her usual energy into her performance, and the rapport between co-stars is as strong as ever - but this is definitely not one of Sarah Jane's better stories, which seems all the more a pity given that she only has one more story left in her tenure.
THOUGHTS
The Masque of Mandragora kicks off Tom Baker's third season as the Doctor with a safe slice of what I term bread-and-butter Who. We have a historical setting, spotlighting a scheming uncle's plans to murder his earnest nephew for his title. We have the ancient Cult of Demnos, performing human sacrifices to their pagan god. And we have a malevolent alien presence using both of these evil forces to help it take over the world.
It's all very nicely-shot by director Rodney Bennett, and it does an excellent job of passing off its locations and studio sets as 15th century Italy. Everything looks right, and the script is able to bring its disparate elements together so that they all feel like part of the same narrative. It's all very competent.
It's also very dull.
I think part of the problem is to do with the story's structure. The Doctor is focused on the threat of the Mandragora Helix... but the Mandrogara energy does practically nothing for the first three episodes. It hitches a ride in the TARDIS, zaps a couple of extras, and gives a disemobied speech to Hieronymous. It's not exactly coming across as the Earth-shattering threat the Doctor insists it is. Meanwhile, the rather hackneyed Giuliano/Federico conflict is left to carry the action through the first three episodes, only for this subplot to be promptly disposed of at the start of Episode Four - so as not to distract when the Mandragora energy decides that it's time to actually do something.
The dominance of the Giuliano/Federico plot is unfortunate. It's not just that this is the kind of story we've all seen played out many, many times before. That can be said of a lot of Who serials that I rate substantially higher than this one. But the Doctor behaves as if this whole conflict is nothing but an annoying distraction, which has the effect of discouraging viewer involvement. Meanwhile, Jon Laurimore's Federico is too one-note a villain to create much interest on his own, and Gareth Armstrong's Giuliano just comes across as a bit weak. Only Norman Jones' Hieronymous really works, Jones going over-the-top in just the right way to make his scenes fun to watch.
All told, this is a well-made story, and there's nothing about it that's badly-done. But I find it tremendously uninvolving. It's a story that has nothing really badly wrong with it, save for rather weak guest characters. It just doesn't do much to hook me into the story. Instead of getting caught up in it, I just watch it at a distance, waiting for the credits.
It's not bad, per se. It's just kind of... boring. An unpromising start to a season that would end up offering much better entertainment than this.
Overall Rating: 4/10.
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