Terror of the Zygons (TV story): Difference between revisions

Terror of the Zygons was the first story of Season 13 of Doctor Who (although it had been originally produced to conclude Season 12). The story saw the departure of Harry Sullivan as a companion and was the first UNIT story since TV: Robot. Although two more UNIT stories would follow, this was the last appearance of the Brigadier until TV: Mawdryn Undead.

Synopsis

The Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry return to Earth in response to the Brigadier's summons. UNIT are investigating a series of attacks on North Sea oil rigs and have set up a temporary HQ in the Scottish village of Tulloch. The attacks are the work of a huge cyborg, the Skarasen, controlled by aliens called Zygons whose spaceship lies at the bottom of Loch Ness.

The Zygons plan to take over the Earth as a substitute for their own planet, which has been devastated by solar flares. They use their shape-shifting abilities to take on the identities of locals whose inert bodies are held aboard their ship.

The Doctor releases the Zygons' prisoners and causes their ship, which has now emerged from the Loch, to self-destruct. Only their leader, Broton, survives. He has assumed the identity of the Duke of Forgill and travelled to London. There he plans to give a show of strength by destroying a World Energy Conference with the Skarasen, which is now coming up the Thames.

Broton is shot by UNIT troops and the Doctor throws the Skarasen its homing device, which it devours. Without a controlling influence, the creature makes its way back to Loch Ness.

Plot

The Loch Ness monster is let loose.

Part one

On an oil rig off the coast of Scotland, a strange, high-pitched beeping sound echoes through the structure. It begins to break apart, collapsing into the North Sea.

The Fourth Doctor, Harry and Sarah hitch a ride with a motorist to the town where the Brigadier and UNIT have set themselves up in an inn. The Brigadier is talking to Huckle, an official of Hibernian Oil, who owned the rig. Huckle complains that three rigs have been destroyed in the last month, two of them belonging to Hibernian. The Brigadier assures Huckle that UNIT is also concerned, especially about the loss of life.

The Doctor, Harry and Sarah arrive at the inn. It turns out that their ride is the Duke of Forgill, a local landowner. The Duke warns Huckle that if his men are caught trespassing on his land, they will be shot. He also wants to know what UNIT are doing here, but the Brigadier says that it is a sensitive matter. Though not pleased, the Duke leaves.

On the shoreline, a survivor of the destroyed rig washes up, barely alive. The Brigadier brings the Doctor, Harry and Sarah to Hibernian Oil, where Huckle briefs them on the injuries of the rigs' crew. Harry decides to examine the injuries at the sickbay, while Sarah goes to talk to some of the locals. Huckle cannot understand it: the rigs were designed to be unsinkable and the seas were calm and empty before the incidents. The Doctor darkly notes that the sea is never empty.

Back at the inn, Sarah talks to Angus, the landlord. She admires a stuffed stag's head above the fireplace, a gift from the Duke just this past week. Angus observes that the Duke has not been himself since the oil companies came. His servants have gone to work for them, leaving Forgill Castle cold and empty. He tells Sarah about Tulloch Moor and people disappearing over the centuries when the mist comes down. Sarah is sceptical — evil spirits do not destroy oil rigs. All this while, something alien watches Angus and her on a monitor screen.

The Duke's man, the Caber, sees the rig survivor, Munro, stagger from the surf. Harry is driving by and and goes to Munro as he collapses. Before Munro can tell Harry about what smashed the rig, the Caber fires a rifle, killing Munro and creasing Harry's forehead with a second shot. Harry falls, unconscious. Back at the inn, the Doctor is working on a radio probe to check for localised jamming when a call comes in informing them about Harry.

Alien hands manipulate strange, organic controls. A high-pitched beeping summons a creature from the depths. It heads towards the Ben Nevis rig. The rig's communications with Huckle are jammed.

The Doctor and Sarah visit Harry, who is sedated and being tended by Sister Lamont, the nurse. The Brigadier arrives to tell him of the Ben Nevis rig's destruction. Sarah stays with Harry while the Doctor goes with the Brigadier. Outside, the Doctor spots wreckage from the rig with odd holes in it. He asks Sergeant Benton for plaster of Paris and makes a mould of the holes, revealing that something with very large teeth bit the rig. The watching aliens decide that the Doctor knows too much and must be destroyed.

Harry awakens. Sarah goes to tell the Doctor while Sister Lamont tells Harry he will be very well looked after. A high-pitched beeping echoes through the room and Harry looks up in fear. As Sarah calls the Doctor, a suction-tipped hand clamps down on her shoulder. She turns as she is grabbed by a large, orange biped creature.

Part two

The Doctor hears Sarah's cries over the telephone and rushes to the sickbay. Sister Lamont tells them that she found Sarah gone and Harry's bed empty. The Doctor snoops around and finds Sarah unconscious in a decompression chamber. As Sarah comes round and starts telling the Doctor about what happened, a Zygon locks them in and starts to remove the air from the chamber. To escape death, the Doctor hypnotises Sarah into not needing to breathe and then puts himself in a similar trance.

Harry is brought to the Zygon ship deep underwater, where he meets their warlord, Broton. Centuries ago, their spaceship was damaged and they landed on Earth. They were waiting for rescue when they heard that their world had been destroyed in a stellar explosion. No, they intend to claim Earth for their own, using the sea monster under their command, an armoured cyborg of great power. Broton explains that the Zygons depend on the lactic fluid of the Skarasen. Harry realises that if the monster is destroyed, the Zygons will die. Broton declares that no human weapon can affect the Skarasen.

The Brigadier is briefing one of his officers at the inn when gas floods the room, knocking them all out. Meanwhile, Benton has found the Doctor and Sarah. He opens the pressure door. The Doctor exhales, awakens and carefully revives Sarah. He tells Benton the trance was a trick he picked up from a Tibetan monk.

The Doctor, Sarah and Benton find the entire village has been drugged by some kind of nerve gas, but they soon revive. The Doctor deduces that this was done so that something could get around unseen. The Zygons watch Huckle give the Doctor a device he found in the wreckage: the signal device that summons the Skarasen. Broton says it must be recovered. Harry is taken to another room in the ship, where he sees other humans hooked up to booths, providing the Zygons with "body prints" that they use to assume human form.

The Doctor hypothesises that the signal device sends out a primeval mating call to attract the beast. The savaged body of a UNIT soldier is found on the Moor and the Doctor and the Brigadier go to see it, leaving Sarah behind in case Harry turns up. He does, but it is his Zygon duplicate Madra. He takes the signal device, saying that the Doctor asked him to collect it. Sarah notices his curious behaviour and questions him, but he pushes her aside and runs away. Sarah and some soldiers pursue him.

Sarah discovers 'Harry' hiding in an upper level of a barn and he attacks her with a pitchfork. She steps aside at the last moment and he falls, killing himself and turning back into a Zygon. The signal broken, Broton realises Madra is dead, and remotely disperses the corpse. Harry, however, is freed from his body print booth.

Sarah wonders how the aliens knew they had the signal device. The Brigadier orders the inn searched for bugs. Broton in turn orders the Skarasen unleashed, even if it reveals their presence. The signal device begins to beep. The Doctor grabs it to lure the creature away while the Brigadier tries to get a fix on the activating signal.

The Skarasen catches up to the Doctor on the Moor and he finds that he cannot get rid of the semi-organic signal device which has fastened itself to his palm. The Brigadier traces the incoming signal to Loch Ness. As the Doctor stumbles, Broton orders the Skarasen to destroy him.

Part three

Harry rushes into the Zygon control room and randomly hits controls, making the device fall off the Doctor's palm and allowing him to roll out of the Skarasen's way. Since the device is dead, Broton assumes that the Doctor is too and recalls the Skarasen. The Doctor retrieves the device and makes his way back across the moor as the Skarasen glides away. In the ship, Harry is dragged away by the other Zygons.

The Doctor is met halfway by the Brigadier and Sarah, who tell him that the signal came from Loch Ness. The Doctor decides to visit Forgill Castle, right next to the loch. They get a frosty reception from the Duke, who does not believe them about the monster, aliens and their intention to drop depth charges in Loch Ness.

At the inn, Angus discovers the Zygon surveillance link in the stuffed deer head that was the Duke's gift. As he tries to pry it loose, Sister Lamont enters the inn. The sister turns into a Zygon and kills him, removing the link after. Angus' dying cries are heard by Benton and some UNIT soldiers, who discover the body and pursue the killer. The UNIT troops sweep through the nearby forest and fire on the Zygon.

The Brigadier is told a Zygon is being cornered. The Doctor and he leave Sarah at the castle to research the monster. In the woods, the wounded Zygon disguises itself again as Sister Lamont and fools a UNIT soldier long enough to knock him out and steal his jeep. At the inn, the Doctor notices the missing eye in the deer head and realises that the Duke may be a Zygon facsimile.

At the castle, Sarah examines the upper bookshelves. She triggers a hidden switch and a section of the bookcases slides open, revealing a passage. She takes a torchlight and goes in, following a long dark tunnel that leads to the Zygon ship. 'The Duke' (in reality Broton) finds the open bookcase. He and 'the Caber' take the wounded 'Sister Lamont' (the Zygon Odda) into the ship; the crew must be alerted and the intruder found and destroyed.

Sarah finds the cell where Harry is held. She frees him and they sneak back to the castle, just in time to meet the Brigadier and the Doctor. Sarah tells the Brigadier about the Zygon ship. The Doctor enters the tunnel, but does not get far; a scream is heard. The Zygons emerge in their true forms. Broton tells the humans that they are leaving with the Doctor as their prisoner. He warns them the oil rigs were only a test; the "big event" is yet to come. Broton retreats, sealing the entrance to the tunnel.

The Brigadier orders the loch depth-charged to bring the Zygon ship to the surface. The Zygon ship does rise, but keeps on rising into the sky, flying away.

Part four

Broton orders a jamming signal transmitted to block the humans' radar systems. The Brigadier prepares to move his troops out, but Sarah and Harry suggest they search Forgill Castle before they leave for clues to the Zygons' plans. Sarah finds some papers that indicate the Duke is the President of the Scottish Energy Commission, but Harry dismisses the information as useless. They return with the Brigadier to London.

The Zygon ship lands in a disused quarry. UNIT cannot track it. Radar stations are knocked out all over the country. However, there are reports of a large underwater object heading south at high speed. Broton enters the Doctor's cell and, taking the Duke's form again, tells him that Phase I of the conquest of Earth is complete. A great Zygon refugee ship is on its way, but will take some centuries to arrive. In the meantime, Earth's environment must be restructured with human labour and Zygon technology to turn it into a new homeworld.

Left alone, the Doctor rigs some of the organic technology in his cell, electrocuting himself but sending a transmission to help UNIT track the ship to the quarry. By the time Broton and his men open the Doctor's cell door, the Doctor is apparently dead. However, when Broton leaves, the Doctor comes to. He makes his way to the body print chamber and frees the real Duke, Sister Lamont and the Caber.

Broton leaves the ship to plant a signal device on his target, which the Skarasen will then destroy, proving the power the Zygons hold. When Phase II is complete, he will broadcast his demands to the world. Inside the ship, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to set off the fire sensor, triggering an alarm. When the Zygons go to investigate, the Doctor ushers the humans out of the ship, jamming the hatches and activating the ship's self-destruct.

The Brigadier has arrived and the escapees reach UNIT's position. The Doctor shouts for everyone to get down just before the Zygon ship explodes. However, Broton is still free and has control of the Skarasen. The target is in London and must be close to the River Thames. The Brigadier says the Prime Minister will be at a conference at Stanbridge House, near the river. The Duke adds it is the first International Energy Conference, with delegates from all over the world. As the Duke is the President of the Scottish Energy Commission, Broton will have a pass into the meeting. They leave for London.

'The Duke' places the signal device in the basement of Stanbridge House. The Skarasen has been sighted mere minutes away. The Doctor finds Broton, back in his true form, who swears he will make sure the Doctor is dead this time and attacks him. Sarah calls for the Brigadier, who arrives to shoot Broton dead. The Doctor finds the signal device in his pocket and feeds it to the Skarasen as it rises out of the Thames. After it consumes the device, the beast sinks back into the river and heads back to Loch Ness, the only home it has ever known.

Returning to Scotland, the Brigadier tells the Duke that the incident will be kept quiet, even the appearance of a fifty foot monster in the Thames. The Doctor leads them into the woods to the TARDIS and offers all of them a lift. The Brigadier and Harry decline. Sarah agrees on the condition they go straight back to London. The Doctor promises and the TARDIS takes off. The Duke tells the Brigadier that, as a Scotsman, he should have gotten a refund for Sarah and the Doctor's return train tickets.

Cast

The Doctor - Tom Baker
Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
Harry Sullivan - Ian Marter
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney
RSM Benton - John Levene
Duke of Forgill/Broton - John Woodnutt
Sister Lamont - Lillias Walker
The Caber - Robert Russell
Angus - Angus Lennie
Huckle - Tony Sibbald
Munro - Hugh Martin
Radio Operator - Bruce Wightman
Corporal - Bernard G. High
Soldier - Peter Symonds
Zygon - Keith Ashley
Zygon - Ronald Gough

Crew

Assistant Floor Manager - Rosemary Webb
Costumes - James Acheson
Designer - Nigel Curzon
Film Cameraman - Peter Hall
Film Editor - Ian McKendrick
Incidental Music - Geoffrey Burgon
Make-Up - Sylvia James
Producer - Philip Hinchcliffe
Production Assistant - Edwina Craze
Production Unit Manager - George Gallaccio
Script Editor - Robert Holmes
Special Sounds - Dick Mills
Studio Lighting - John Dixon
Studio Sound - Michael McCarthy
Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
Title Music - Ron Grainer
Visual Effects Designer - John Horton

References

The Doctor's items

The Doctor is summoned back to Earth with the space-time telegraph he left with the Brigadier. It functions via a psionic beam.
In the first scenes after his arrival in Scotland, the Doctor wears a Tartan scarf matching his Scottish hat. His regular scarf is worn by companion Harry Sullivan during these scenes.

Organisations

Broton intended to disrupt the World Energy Conference.

Psychology

The Doctor mesmerises Sarah Jane to prevent her from suffocating when they are locked in the decompression chamber, a trick he said, "I picked up from a Tibetan monk".

Species

The Skarasen is a cyborg.

Technology

The Zygon ship operates on a dynacron thrust via organic crystalography.

Vehicles

The Doctor drives a UNIT Land Rover out to the moor.

Story notes

This story had working titles of: Loch Ness, The Secret of the Loch, Secret of Loch Ness, The Loch Ness Monster and The Zygons.
This story was originally planned to end Season 12, but was pushed back to the start of Season 13 to allow the series to shift its broadcast schedule from a January start (its routine since 1970) to September.[1] Despite its production schedule, it is universally considered part of Season 13.
Radio Times credits John Woodnutt as Duke of Forgill for Part One, Broton for Parts Two and Three, and Broton/Duke of Forgill for Part Four. All on-screen credits read Duke of Forgill.
The departure of Harry while Sarah remains with the Doctor marks one of only two incontrovertible times a companion who had already been with the Doctor before another one joins remains with him after the second companion leaves. Jamie arrived before Victoria Waterfield and remained after her departure. Two other arguable examples would be Katarina and Sara Kingdom, who weren't with the Doctor very long, and ended up dying. Generally, the Doctor's roster of companions revolves fairly consistently.
This is the only on-screen appearance of the Zygons, save for flashbacks. A Zygon was apparently to have appeared, along with a Dalek and a Cyberman, among the alien prisoners on the Time Lords' prison planet in Douglas Adams's unfinished and never broadcast story Shada, but the scenes set in Shada itself were never recorded.

Ratings

Part 1 - 8.4 million viewers
Part 2 - 6.1 million viewers
Part 3 - 8.2 million viewers
Part 4 - 7.2 million viewers

Filming locations

Climping Beach, Littlehampton, West Sussex
Hall Aggregates Quarry, Storrington, West Sussex
Furnace Pond, Mill Lane, Crabtree, West Sussex
Millbank, London
Ambersham Common, South Ambersham, West Sussex
Charlton, West Sussex
Westminster Bridge, Westminster, London
BBC Television Centre (TC3 & TC4), Shepherd's Bush, London

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

Continuity

TV: Timelash offers another explanation of the Loch Ness Monster.
In TV: Remembrance of the Daleks, the Doctor mentions "the Zygon Gambit".
In TV: School Reunion during Sarah Jane's comparison of travels with Rose she mentions the Loch Ness Monster.
PROSE: The Bodysnatchers features the Zygons and Skarasen.
PROSE: Sting of the Zygons also features Zygons and Skarasen.
This is Harry Sullivan's last regular on-screen appearance; however he appears in TV: The Android Invasion and reappears (in his own timeline after this story) in PROSE: System Shock and PROSE: Millennium Shock.

DVD, Video, CD and Laserdisc releases

DVD releases

A DVD was commissioned in April 2011, and subsequently announced for release on 25 June 2013.

VHS releases

This story was released as Doctor Who: Terror of the Zygons on VHS.

Released:

Australia April 1987 (Movie Format)

PAL - Polygram

BBCV20552

UK November 1988 (Movie Format)

PAL - BBC Video

BBCV4186

UK June 1999 (Episodic Format)

PAL - BBC Video

BBCV6774

USA 1991 (Movie Format - unconfirmed)

NTSC - Playhouse

5422

Notes:

Minor cuts were reportedly made on both the UK compilation and episodic releases to the scene in Part Two where the Zygon replica of Harry threatens Sarah with a pitchfork to obtain a "PG" certificate.
The 1999 episodic release also featured at the start of the tape footage of Tom Baker as the Doctor on the Summer Bank Holiday Monday edition of Disney Time, originally transmitted 25 August 1975.
The 1988 compilation video release was previously only available in Australia.

Australian VHS 1987 cover
UK VHS 1988 cover
US VHS 1991 cover
UK VHS 1999 cover
Australian VHS 2000 cover
US VHS 2000 cover

Laserdisc release