Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start...
Day 539: Nightmare of Eden, Episode One
Dear diary,
For as long as I can remember, Nightmare of Eden has been interchangeable in my mind with both Underworld from Season Fifteen, and the next story in transmission order, The Horns of Nimon. All three represent stories that don’t really know a great deal about, and although they were broadcast over a period of a few years, they always sort of merged into one in my head. Looking at this episode, I think I’ve figured out why at least this one and Underworld have been so linked to me - this looks and feels more like a Season Fifteen story than anything we’ve had in a long time.
The design of the spaceship models (and the way that it opens with a shot of a spaceship flying ‘overhead’ reminiscent for Star Wars) is very in keeping with the kinds of model work we had in stories like The Invisible Enemy and, yes, Underworld, and the set design has something about it which feels as though it comes from that earlier period, too. In a slightly more subtle way, I think the Doctor changing his coat from that beige one that I so associate with this period of the programme means that even he seems to fit in with his earlier self.
While I’m on the subject of costumes, I’ve got to mention Romana’s. She’s one of those companions whose dress sense is quite often discussed within fandom, so I’m familiar with several of her ’styles’. The pink ‘negative’ to the Doctor’s outfit from Destiny of the Daleks (still, I think, my favourite costume), the schoolgirl look from City of Death, the flowing white gown under the last story, the riding gear from the next, the bathing suit from The Leisure Hive… Essentially, the list really found go on. She’s got a wardrobe that makes her instantly stand out among the companions. And yet, I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a photo of the costume she’s wearing in this story! A pity, really, because it suits her rather nicely, and I like it a lot!
As for the story itself… I don’t really know what too make of it yet. I’m surprised to find that it’s a story about drug smuggling, because that’s not a topic I expected Doctor Who to be covering, but that’s another example of the show being able to surprise me somewhat. On the whole, though, it’s not really gripping me yet. There’s certainly not as much humour as I’ve been used to for the last week or so (though that’s not to say that the story is completely devoid of humour - it seems to be coming mostly from the Doctor himself), and everything so far feels a bit like it’s setting everything up. Hopefully now that we’ve got the traditional ‘end of Episode One’ monster reveal out of the way, I’ll find myself caught up a lot more.
I have to confess that I’m a bit disappointed by the reveal of the creature here. For some reason, with a nice smoke-filled doorway being built into the script, I was all set to see the monsters come walking out of the smoke, and I thought it was going to look pretty good! I even had that shot planned out in my head because I was so convinced that it’s the way they’d do it. To find the reveal coming simply by having the creature lean out of a hole in the wall… it was a bit of a let down, it has to be said!
