4.16: The Robots of Death

In which the design and the juxtaposition make up for the lack of mystery.

Broadcast: January-February 1977

Watched: July 2020

The Robots of Death, Part One

“But that’s silly.”

Right, well, this is more like it. The idea of a ship that mines in the desert is a lovely concept, but it’s also perfect for a murder mystery – a bunch of people who probably hate each other shut together with no escape. No idea who half the characters are but they’re distinctive at least. And this is the best design work in Who in years.

Also, the TARDIS scene at the start – Leela scared to stop playing with the yoyo; the Doctor trying to explain dimensional engineering with a couple of boxes – is properly great.

Incidentally, had something improved with CSO around the mid 70s? There’s a scene in this in which it looks like we can see the Doctor walking through a model – I think we’ve seen something similar quite recently (Hand, maybe? Not sure) but don’t think this had happened before that.

The Robots of Death, Part Two

Still good. Builds nicely. Love the undercover robot detective, and really all the guest stars who aren’t swiftly disposed of.

Also, I like the way that a) the crew is multicultural, and b) the mixed race girl is meant to be an aristo from a very old family.

The Robots of Death, Part Three

I sort of love the fact that the sandminer sinking is a crisis that takes all of two minutes to resolve. It’s genuinely quite refreshing. In a six-parter, they’d get a whole episode out of that.

Dask’s disguise on the monitor screen doesn’t work at all. I’m also confused by Capel’s origin story – how exactly did a human end up raised by robots? Plus the robots’ level of sentience – the extent to which these are beings, as opposed to machines – feels very unclear. 

Also – is there yet another imperial subtext here? Because that sort of only works if the machines are people... in which case, surely Capel is right and everyone else is a f*cking slaver?

All the same, this is the best world building in ages, it’s an entire society created through a few off-hand remarks about old families and Kaldor City. You want to see more of the setting, which is why I suppose it gets so many spin offs. 

The Robots of Death, Part Four

“I am not important” – well when you die at the end no one gives a crap, so apparently you’re right D84.

There are a lot of ideas here – robophobia is a whole new concept thrown in at the last minute. And the creepy way in which the robots are so calm as they try to kill you, because it’s just another job, why would they be otherwise, is genuinely unnerving.

Dask’s make up is hilarious. Also, whenever we were shown the robots’ feet I genuinely assumed they were Dask in disguise because they’re so shit, but no those are actually robot shoes.

The ending, in direct contrast to Face, happens incredibly fast. The plot only stops about 30 seconds before the end, there’s no “So what did all this mean” scene at all. I wonder if that’s because it raises difficult questions.

Anyway. I unreservedly love that one.