Frog mask (The Twin Dilemma)

Frog mask

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A large, ornate frog mask covering the wearer's full head was used to adorn a statue in Mestor's throne room on Jaconda. It was bright green, with golden embellishment, jewelled eyes and a hinged jaw which hung slightly open. The grey statue was also adorned with a golden garland. (TV: The Twin Dilemma (part one) ^[+]Loading...{"part":"one","1":"The Twin Dilemma (TV story)"}, The Twin Dilemma (part three) ^[+]Loading...{"part":"three","1":"The Twin Dilemma (TV story)"})

	Mask
	Jaconda
	The Twin Dilemma [+]Loading...["The Twin Dilemma (TV story)"]

Behind the scenes

Alex Scott holding the frog mask in The Abominable Dr. Phibes.

The frog mask prop originated in the 1971 comic horror motion picture The Abominable Dr. Phibes (coincidentally William Hartnell's last contracted film role, though all his scenes were cut in the finished edit). Within the film, the frog mask is in fact a deceptively deadly murder weapon constructed by the titular Doctor Phibes as one of nine kills he orchestrates against the medical team who failed his wife; these murders are each themed after one of the Plagues of Egypt, with the frog mask corresponding to the Plague of Frogs. The deadliness of the mask lies in its latch, designed to tighten of its own accord, notch by notch, after it is fastened, until it fatally crushes the wearer's neck and head.

Although it would not necessarily be out of keeping with Mestor's sadistic and tyrannical personality for him to have decorated his throne room with an ancient murder weapon from another planet, this set-design choice is somewhat unlikely to have been intended as a noticeable nod to Phibes, despite the prominence of the prop in the composition of the first shot of Mestor's throne room.