Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start... 

Day 541: Nightmare of Eden, Episode Three

Dear diary,

Of course there had to be some kind of clever, Doctor Who twist on the way - it couldn’t simply be something as relatively mainstream as a tale of drug smuggling (even if it does have some ‘crashed’ spaceships involved). I really rather love the idea that the new source of the drugs is the monsters stalking their way around the ship - and that when they die they turn into the drug (which, in fairness, seems a bit odd even by Doctor Who standards. I’m assuming that they simply turn into perhaps a key part of the drug?), it spins things off into a slightly more unique direction, and that’s perked up my interest in the tale somewhat.

Also keeping me involved is the fact that at this stage, I simply don’t know for sure who the drug smuggler is. I’ve been through more or less every character at some point throughout the last few episodes, and there always seems to be something crop up which manages to change my mind about it! To begin with, I was entirely sure that it was simply Secker trying to make a bit of money on the side, and leading the ship off course to try and make a delivery. Before long, though, he was dead and there was still a drug problem developing. On top of that, I also can’t decide now if the ship was purposely off course, or simply slipping because of his lack of interest caused by the drugs?

I’ve also gone through various members of Tryst’s team, including the trapped-in-the-projection Stott. He was lurking in the shadows, supposedly dead… it all seemed to point in his direction, especially when the evidence that the source of the drugs was the projector itself. But, no, it now turns out that he’s on the side of good, trying himself to uncover the smuggler! Ok, then, maybe it’s Della? There’s certainly plenty of evidence pointing in her direction. Or maybe it’s even Tryst himself? He’d certainly have the opportunity, knows the machine, and is funny about anyone else getting to touch it… That’s not even mentioning the captain of the other spaceship, or perhaps the captain of this ship, who’s simply hidden it very well… It’s certainly the part of the story which has been most enjoyable to me.

I’m also pleased to see that the Mandrels are given more of a chance in this episode. When they’ve been milling around in various brightly-lit corridors up to now, they’ve not really had any mystery about them. The epitome of ‘man in a monster costume’. Here, though, show in the dark and moody jungle of Eden, they come across as far more effective - especially during their initial appearance where we just see the great big luminous eyes moving through the shadows. It’s a shame in some ways that they couldn’t have been seen like this throughout the whole story - green eyes glaring through the smoke in the corridors, or just seen in small snatches here and there. They’ve suffered early - whereas this would have been a much better introduction to them!