Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start...
Day 467: The Robots of Death, Episode Three
Dear diary,
There’s a point earlier in this story when the Doctor says that people rely on robots for everything, but that they’re always unnerved by them. They’re made to look just human enough to be familiar, but they still retain a feeling of being somewhat ‘alien’ all the same. I’ve liked the design of the robots since the very first episode (and I suddenly appreciate them a lot more than I have in the past – I’ve never had the action figure of any class of robot out on display, but I’m now tempted to dig around and get them out), but I’ve never found them in any way creepy… until this episode!
We get a scene today, where one of the robots is reprogrammed to kill, and there’s a shot of the creature staring right down the camera lens, and right out at the viewer. The shot goes on that bit too long – past ‘Ooh, they really should have cut there,’ and into being actually unsettling. As the camera focuses in on the blank, expressionless face, I suddenly understood why they’re so scary – you’d not want one of them to be coming at you with its arms outstretched for murder! People talk about the Daleks being so scary because they have nothing recognisably human about them: there’s nothing in there that you can relate to. These robots are scary for the exact opposite reason – they’re very nearly human, but they don’t quite reach it.
Earlier in the same episode, we get to see some kind of robot graveyard, with a number of deactivated models. As Poul explores and finds a particularly beat-up model, we finally get a shot of the arm hanging lifeless by its side – dripping with blood. It’s actually really scary, and although it’s not really all that over-the-top, it still feels quite shocking, even in this era of pushing things right up to the limits of what would be allowed (I bet Mary Whitehouse loved this shot!)
The only thing that slightly lets the robots down for me is that they’re not all quite uniform. When several have been converted into killing machines, they’re each handed a Corpse Marker and given their targets. ‘I will kill,’ one says. ‘I will kill the Doctor,’ another adds. ‘I will kill Leela,’ the third announces, as they all turn one by one and make their way out into the Sand Miner to complete their tasks. Each one has a different voice, though! I assume it’s the actors inside the costumes delivering the lines, but I wonder if I may find it even creepier if they all spoke with the same robotic voice. This gives each robot more of a distinct personality, and that takes away some of the threat for me – they should all be more identical, allowing the thought of the army of killer robots that the Doctor speculates about.
I’m glad that one robot has a personality, mind: D84. There was something uniquely un-nerving about him during the last episode, when Leela speaks to him before finding out that he’s not supposed to have the ability, but now he’s just a really fun addition to the cast. I love his pairing with the Doctor, and I’m almost sad that we don’t get a few stories of them travelling in the TARDIS together! The Doctor and his robot detective companion – how great could that be? D84 does bring in yet more shades of Isaac Asimov’s work, though. There’s been a strong vein of his style right through this story (any story that takes a strong element of ‘robot rights’ and the idea that they’re programmed specifically to not harm humans is going to be traceable back to Asimov somewhere), but the idea of a robot detective is key in his novel The Caves of Steel.
It’s interesting that this side of the adventure is now starting to come out, just when the murder mystery aspect of it is starting to die down. Dask was one of my suspects (but then, I think most of them have been at some stage!), but it’s odd to see how they’ve given the game away here. We see his face on a screen giving orders to a Voc – although it’s covered by a video effect, you can still clearly see who it is – but then they carry on as if they’re trying to keep the secret! They cover him up for any of his subsequent appearances, as if we’re still supposed to be guessing who it could be. Bumbling mistake, or simply a lack of faith in the audience’s attention span and mystery solving skills?
The Robots of Death has been a fairly strong story so far, with plenty to enjoy, but this episode feels like it’s stepped things up slightly. I’ve praised the set design already, but during some of the opening shots of this episode I realised just how much I love the design of the main ‘bridge’, with its buttresses, and wall designs. The crew quarters are equally brilliant, and even the corridors are of a more interesting variety than usual. The only word I can think of to sum it all up is ‘lavish’ – you can really see that some budget has been thrown at this one.
