4.13: The Hand of Fear

In which Sarah Jane Smith gets dumped.

Broadcast: October 1976

Watched: June 2020

The Hand of Fear, Part One

“I don’t wanna sound heartless, but I’m not taking responsibility.”

The thought occurs that there’s a whole thing in this era of elementals and superbeings. Eldrad, Sutekh, Morbius, the Fendahl, arguably the Rutan – it feels like a different approach to the alien armies that dominated earlier seasons. (Only exception that immediately leaps to mind: Azal the Daemon.) I wonder what shifted?

The opening sequence – men with silly deep voices in parkas talking about particle obliteration – is a bit Mighty Boosh.

After that though it’s surprisingly fun? I love the sequence of the Doctor and Sarah accidentally getting blown up in a quarry. Poor Sarah – possessed again. If this was modern Who, the trauma resulting from the fact she keeps being controlled into doing massively evil things would be the reason she leaves, but this is 1976 so the show just dumps her.

This is the first time since, what, Fury From the Deep maybe, that the Doctor is in roughly present day earth and UNIT doesn’t come up at all?

Questions. Is the doctor the first desi in Doctor Who? Is Dr Carter a Tutenkamhen reference or am I being silly?

The Hand of Fear, Part Two

Okay the most important thing is there’s a bit where the power station director phones his wife and speaks to his daughter to hear their voices before he faces his death, and it is EXACTLY Skype granddad isn’t it let’s be honest. [This is a reference to an ongoing mailing list argument about whether a minor character’s death in The Woman Who Fell To Earth was the most callous thing ever seen in Doctor Who or not. I decided to leave it in.]  I was going to add “he survives, til the end of this episode” but the last shot is him lying on the floor after an explosion so maybe not.

Anyway, odd structure this. The story sort of wraps up half way through the episode – the hand is defeated, the major guest star disposed of tragically (pity, I liked Carter), everything is done. Except then it immediately restarts, and the episode kind of ends where it started.

But unlike, say, Masque it’s actually quite fun to watch so I’ll forgive it.

The hand effect is quite good. I also enjoyed the power base director’s irritation with his own alarms.

Carter is quite a nice little guest turn. He’s disposed of fairly quickly, mind.

The Hand of Fear, Part Three

“A sort of un-explosion.” Love that Tom gets his hand gestures on “inwards” and “outwards” the wrong way around. 

Anyway after a couple of silly fun episodes this one’s quite dull. I am enjoying imagining Watson explaining all this to his bosses though. On which note:

“Air command have ordered a tactical nuclear strike” ARE YOU F*CKING INSANE HOW IS THIS A GOOD IDEA FOR ANYONE ALSO HOW DO YOU MAKE THAT HAPPEN WITH ONE PHONE CALL. Also how is hiding behind a truck meant to protect anyone from a nuke?

I know it doesn’t really matter but I don’t entirely understand why the reactor keeps going critical. Did I miss a line or did they just not explain it?

Sladen, who I don’t normally rate, is really good in this one. The business when they’re hiding from the nuke, forcing her way back into the nuclear plant etc.

The TARDIS scene is dull gibberish though. And the regulars are so shitty I’m almost on Eldred’s side.

And then the cliffhanger is “Eldred is in danger” what the f*ck.

The Hand of Fear, Part Four

Acids don’t have antidotes guys. Even by Doctor Who standards the science here is nonsense. 

Anyway, this is a very odd episode that has almost nothing to do with the first two. The idea of an entire race destroying itself to spite a tyrant is interesting, but there’s ten minutes of nonsensical mucking about in unconvincing caves before we get there. And the way the Doctor defeats Eldrad is both stupid and a bit sick.

Good to see that Doctor Who was doing gender switching regeneration all the way back in 1976, even if boy Eldrad looks like a rock.

Sort of love that Sarah announces she wants out like a child running away from home, and then the Doctor immediately dumps her. Also “You can’t come to Gallifrey” is bullshit, every other f*cker goes to Gallifrey.