The Hand of Fear (TV story): Difference between revisions

=== Cultural references from the real world ===

When Sladen expressed her intention to leave the series, Sarah was originally supposed to be killed off in a pseudo-historical story involving aliens and the Foreign Legion. However [[Douglas Camfield]], who was supposed to write the scripts, was unable to do so. This was much to Sladen's relief, as she did not want Sarah to be killed or married off. Sladen also asked that Sarah's departure not be the main focus of the story, as she felt the programme was about the Doctor, not the companion. Baker and Martin intentionally did not write Sarah's departure scene. The script for that scene was rewritten by Sladen and [[Tom Baker]] from Robert Holmes's original version. In the final scene, Sarah Jane whistles the tune, "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow-Wow". Since Elisabeth Sladen was unable to whistle, director Lennie Mayne provided the whistling while she mimed to it. In terms of 'seasons', [[Elisabeth Sladen]] was the longest serving companion with any Doctor, appearing for over three seasons and surpassing [[Katy Manning]]'s record as [[Jo Grant]]. In terms of 'years', [[Janet Fielding]] holds the record for playing [[Tegan Jovanka]] for just under three years. [[Frazer Hines]] as companion [[Jamie McCrimmon]] holds the record for the longest serving companion in terms of the number of 'episodes' in which he appeared. These records do not take non-televised adventures into account, nor later "guest" reappearances.

 

The original script for ''The Hand of Fear'' had many differences from the finished version. The nuclear power station was supposed to be the [[Nuton Power Complex]] of ''[[The Claws of Axos]]'' but was renamed the [[Nunton Experimental Complex]] instead. The real-life location was the {{w|Oldbury nuclear power station|Oldbury Nuclear Power Station}} in [[Gloucestershire]]. Miss Jackson was a nameless man. Director [[Lennie Mayne]] built up the part, changed the gender and cast his wife, [[Frances Pidgeon]]. Eldrad's home was originally supposed to be the black hole of Omega 4.6. When [[Robert Holmes]] pointed out to [[Bob Baker]] and [[Dave Martin]] that the name Omega had already appeared in ''Doctor Who'' (in ''[[The Three Doctors]]''; ironically this story was also written by Baker and Martin), they changed the name to [[Kastria]]. The story was to feature an ageing Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart, who had been moved from [[Unified Intelligence Taskforce|UNIT]] to the Extraterrestrial Xenological Intelligence Taskforce — EXIT for short — to study UFO activities. He was to sacrifice his life when he steered a commandeered experimental rocket into an Omegan kamikaze ship to prevent that ship from crashing into Earth. This plan did not go through as [[Nicholas Courtney]] was unavailable for filming. The original script also featured [[Harry Sullivan]]. Supposedly, the working titles for this story were ''The Hand of Death'' and ''The Hand of Time''.<ref name="sullivan" /> However, the production notes on the DVD release state that there were no working titles.

 

Elisabeth Sladen is credited as 'Sarah Jane' in ''Radio Times''. Frances Pidgeon and Roy Boyd are uncredited on-screen for part three, but are credited in ''Radio Times''.

 

The fly that can be seen walking across [[Glyn Houston]]'s brow in one scene was swallowed by Elisabeth Sladen in an outtake.

 

This serial was repeated in May 2011 on BBC Four across two days as a tribute to [[Elisabeth Sladen]] after her death from cancer a month previously.

Sarah Jane's and the Doctor's parting words were gentle admonishments not to forget one another. When [[K9 Mark III]] revealed that he was a gift from the Doctor, Sarah Jane remarked, "Oh, Doctor, you ''didn't'' forget." ([[TV]]: ''[[A Girl's Best Friend (TV story)|A Girl's Best Friend]]'') Their conversation was repeated nearly verbatim when Sarah and the Tenth Doctor parted after her aborted [[wedding]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith]]'') Following Sarah's departure, Fourth Doctor would not have another companion from Earth until his final story, ''[[Logopolis (TV story)|Logopolis]]'', and only one, in [[Leela]], who was human.