“The Robots of Death” is an adventure of the fourteenth season of “Doctor Who” classic series, which aired in 1977. It follows “The Face of Evil” and it’s a four parts adventure written by Chris Boucher and directed by Michael E. Briant.
The story
The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) is bringing Leela (Louise Jameson) to make her first trip outside her home planet. The Tardis rematerializes in an enclosed space which turns out to be a huge sandminer traveling in a desert scraping its surface in search of valuable minerals.
The two travelers are found by two service robots and locked in a room. The Doctor opens the door with his sonic screwdriver and the two of them start exploring the sandminer. The crew suspect that the travelers have killed one of them who has just been found dead and things get worse when the Doctor finds another corpse and someone tries to kill him too.
Extras
The original edition is poor in extras while the Special Edition contains a good amount of extras. In both editions there are typical contents such as a gallery of pictures from this adventure. The Special Edition also contains production subtitles, the Radio Times Listings and a promo of the “Doctor Who” DVDs soon to be published.
There are various comments in the adventure alternative audio track of both editions by producer Philip Hinchcliffe and writer Chris Boucher. The Special Edition contains a further alternative audio track with comments by protagonists Tom Baker and Louise Jameson, actress Pamela Salem and director Michael E. Briant.
Both editions contain:
In Studio / Sound Studio. A short clip from this adventure without sound effects on the voice of one of the robots and without music.
Model Sequences / Model Shots. Various shots of the models used in this adventure.
Studio Floor Plans. An interactive map of the studios in which this adventure was filmed.
The Special Edition also contains:
The Sandmine Murders. A documentary on the production of this adventure.
Robophobia. A tongue-in-cheek look at the history of robots and in particular to their appearances in “Doctor Who”.
Continuity. A promo for the original broadcast of the first episode of this adventure.
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Chris Boucher was writing the screenplay for “The Face of Evil” when production problems led to a change in plans for the other adventures of the season and Boucher was asked to write the next one as well. It was unusual that the same author wrote two consecutive screenplays but producer Philip Hinchcliffe and script editor Robert Holmes had decided that Leela would become the Doctor companion therefore Boucher, who created the character, was also the most suitable to develop her immediately after her debut in “Doctor Who”.
The script that became “The Robots of Death” is strongly inspired by the novel “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie but with a science fiction setting. The enormous sandminer was inspired by the similar one that in “Dune” harvests the spice. Concerning robots, the inspiration is Isaac Asimov.
On this basis, Chris Boucher developed a science fiction mystery story which also includes social themes and the consequences of a massive use of robots. All this in a story shot entirely in studio with the advantage of being able to use the budget to create sets of good quality from the point of view of aesthetics.
The human members of the crew of the sandminer have elaborate costumes and this is a bit curious. The’re not simple workers who work to enrich their employers: in the story it’s clear that they are entitled to a percentage of the income obtained through their work and their perspective is to get rich.
Throughout the story, we also discover that the human crew members belong to different social classes and this increases the tension of an already stressful job in which a small group of people must live together for a long time. Uvanov is a man who has become rich through hard work and the results he achieved but socially he remains below Zilda, who belongs to one of the founding families.
The characters don’t always act with consistentcy. For example Uvanov has moments when he doesn’t seem interested in the death of his colleagues and others in which instead he’s deeply touched. He has moments when faces a situation with extreme caution and others in which he acts almost recklessly. In general, those are characters I don’t feel empathy for so it’s hard to get interested in their fate.
The theme of robophobia doesn’t convince me that much. The society shown in “The Robots of Death” has become dependent on robots but their use causes some anxiety in humans. Their society is treated as decadent, with the fear that the slaves might rebel and as a result someone develops a real phobia towards the robots.
The British have an ambivalent relationship with technology and not surprisingly Luddism developed in England. In “The Robots of Death” the massive use of robots is viewed in a negative way, as if it was better to have heavy tasks, repetitive and even dangerous jobs made ​​by humans. I could agree with a message of this type if robots were sentient but in this adventure most of them are very stupid and even the most intelligent ones seem rather limited. In essence, it’s as if computers were considered slaves to be freed.
I’m part of a minority that see flaws in “The Robots of Death” because this adventure is generally considered one of the great “Doctor Who” masterpieces. Of course, it also has its merits not only concerning the aesthetic side but also in the story and performances.
“The Robots of Death” is one of those “Doctor Who” adventures that look like stage plays because outside there are only a few shots of the models of the sandminer. The real story is shot in a few sets in studio where there’s a lot of focus on the intensity of the cast’s performances.
We can discuss characterization but the performances are of high level. The Doctor and Leela are absolutely excellent. Tom Baker wasn’t happy to have a new companion for the Doctor and it took a long time for him to accept Louise Jameson, yet the two of them are able to work really well together.
Chris Boucher did a great job in creating and developing Leela making it one of the best companions. This character is literally a force of nature, a huntress who cleverly uses her instincts even in a technologically sophisticated environment such as the sandminer with its robots. Sometimes those instincts seem to work in a supernatural way but Louise Jameson handles them so well that she makes them look natural.
In 2011 Big Finish produced an audio adventure titled “Robophobia” with the Seventh Doctor – available on Amazon UK
Overall, I find that “The Robots of Death” is a good adventure but generally overrated. As already written, I’m part of a minority while most fans believe that it’s a masterpiece so probably you’ll appreciate it more than me.
“The Robots of Death” was one of the earliest adventures published on DVD so the original edition is poor, with just some clips from the time it was produced. The Special Edition is instead a really good product with new interesting extras so I recommend buying it.
In Region 2 nations, the Special Edition is part of the “Revisitations 3” box set, available on Amazon UK
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