4.12: The Masque of Mandragora
In which superstition beats science. Or something. If I’m honest it’s a little hard to follow.
Broadcast: September 1976
Watched: June 2020
The Masque of Mandragora, Part One
The TARDIS has been hijacked by a special effect!
Odd structure this. Five minutes of temporal weirdness, then another eight or nine of Italian politics before the TARDIS arrives.
Sarah eats oranges with the peel on. Eww.
What’s the deal with the secondary control room? It’s a bit Big Finish.
This is all very pretty but Louis Marks doesn’t really do jokes does he?
The Masque of Mandragora, Part Two
This is very well-made, if not very interesting. We all know the BBC is better at period stuff – but why is that? Just because they do more of it? Because sci-fi is hard? Because the designers suck? Why?
Oh! This is the set of The Prisoner isn’t it. [Portmeirion, in north Wales.]
I was going to say the plot was millennials vs boomers, except then Hieronymous broke away from the count so now there are three factions and it doesn’t map on.
Not sure 15th century Italy really is the hinge between superstition and science – Italy was ahead of us, surely by this point the Renaissance was well established there?
“My companion, Marco” is a bit Julian and Sandy.
The Masque of Mandragora, Part Three
I was going to ask what the masque in question was anyway, but I’ve just realised we weren’t supposed to know the cult leader and the astrologer were the same bloke until he took his mask off were we, so it’s probably that one. I totally failed to be surprised by that.
First incredibly boring thing – I could have sworn there was no “the” in this title. Wonder where I got that from.
Secondly incredibly boring thing – this story. This really isn’t holding my attention, sorry. Which is annoying in some ways because it’s beautifully made and has ideas and it’s Doctor Who doing a deliberate take on a revenge tragedy, which should be brilliant... But I don’t care about anyone in it, the mandragora energy is too abstract a threat, and nobody has cracked a joke in ages. Oh! I liked Tom escaping his execution in part two. That’s it though.
Oh! It’s a plot to kill Leonardo da Vinci and pals.
I am not buying the idea Giuliano is a good sword fighter because bloody look at him with that hair and that gormless expression.
The Masque of Mandragora, Part Four
“Save me a costume, I love a knees up.”
Actually, lots of lines in this that sum things up. “Things are bad, aren’t they?” “Desperately bad.” Or “I don’t think I’m ever going to meet Leonardo.” God this is dull.
The bit where the cultists put their hands in the air and spin around makes it look hilariously like they’re doing a dance routine.
Sarah just assuming the person in a particular mask is the Doctor. Sarah is a bloody idiot.
“Pity, another fifty years we could have used Galileo’s-” Not if it’s the late 15th century, mate, he won’t even be born until 1564.
Oooh so that’s what the masque is. The fact Marco reports that the cultists have forced the townspeople to evacuate, and then throws a hissy fit at the idea of cancelling a party, is *hilarious*.
Anyway, that was a massive disappointment. There’s a lovely image at the heart of this episode – the big party full of all the best brains of Europe, locked in a castle besieged by cultists (OMG, it’s The Masque of the Red Death!)... but the party looks rubbish, we don’t meet the scientists, the siege is entirely off stage. It’s very pretty but it’s entirely lacking in tension.
Also, what was it about again? We basically have three factions... one represents science, one represents power, and the third represents superstition. Except nothing that happens in the story really maps onto reality because by the third cliffhanger superstition is winning because it’s been taken over by a primal energy that eats people’s faces? The allegory just sort of stops.
And then Doctor wins by technobabble (“A case of energy squared. It puts Mandragora back to square one”, WTF DOES THAT MEAN?)