Original DVD Extras include:
Special Edition DVD extras add:
But episode one also manages to display extremely good exposition of the main theme of the story, as scenes of Jo and Professor Clifford Jones are expertly juxtaposed against the opposing viewpoint at Global chemicals between Director Stevens and the Brigadier. Top marks.
"I'm having a whale of a time!"Jon Pertwee's Doctor manages to avoid most of his usual downfalls, probably not spending more than a total of ten minutes in the prisoner dynamic throughout the entire story, and even then managing to thoroughly enjoy himself. With such a thematically based story, he does get into Doomsayer mode now and then, but these are relatively short bursts, usually resulting in him changing tactics quickly to something that gets better results. The high level of ecological research that went into the story also helps keep it focused on imparting and playing with relevant information, rather than doomsaying. There's no Man of Sleep for Pertwee's Doctor in this one either; luckily Professor Jones took that role away from him near the end of the story, along with the scenes of Jo blubbering that go with it.This frees Pertwee up to do more of what he's good at: Venusian aikido, fun disguises, deeper emotional scenes, and above all lots of exploration, investigation and problem solving. Episode Six is particularly good at keeping him in problem solving mode, where he neatly wraps up most of the mysteries and conflicts that had been brought up by the story and its themes. The final computerized world take-over crisis seems a bit artificial, deadline and all, as though created solely to give the ending a bit more bang, but at least the Doctor's role in solving this one remains on spiritually and philosophically sound ground, keeping his final heroics logical, believable, and satisfying.
Juxtaposed against the previous two space story flops of the season, "The Green Death" brings home the appeal of UNIT stories: they have a large cast that you can depend on to be enjoyable, and have their stories set in places that are full of social complexity that is easy to believe in and realise on screen on a tight budget. Space/future-based stories have a steeper challenge in trying to create these elements from scratch; half the challenge is the writer's burden in crafting real characters and a plot that is easy to follow but not so easy to predict, but the other half for the production crew is what Doctor Who is all about. That's why I like it so much better than Star Trek. Star Trek learns how to do its regular characters and their ship and a typical planet exterior really well, after which they take very few real artistic risks production-wise. Dr. Who is always stretching itself beyond its means, taking one artistic risk after another, which makes these reviews so enjoyable and such an education in the art of film & video. So "The Green Death" may have a lot of de facto bonuses going for it which it capitalizes on, but it does not fail to stretch itself anyway to do justice to its maggot monsters, its Metebelis III sequence, and its realization of mechanized monetary appetite, brainwashing and restoration included. CSO is a staple device for much of this, and there is some flawless execution for most of UNIT's outdoor dialogue scenes. Curiously though, the mine scenes leave a bright halo around people through too bright a choice of background key colour, while outdoor sequences such as Bessie's jaunts leave a dark shadow around people through too dark a choice of background key colour. A little more colour co-ordination in pre-production might have brought things up a notch, but this is generally a minor consideration. Dudley Simpson seems to be slacking off where composition is concerned, as none of his music seems to reach over the fence to become memorable or deep. The story has many emotional keypoints, well-acted and well-directed to the point where a little musical underscore would be the professional icing on the cake and make everything complete. To his credit, Simpson does not spoil any of these with the wrong instrument or mood, but even when he does deign to write some music for them, there's really nothing to his cues that you can hang your hat on. For example, Jon Pertwee muses on the foreshadowing of Jo abandoning him as he steps into his TARDIS and leaves his lab, a wonderful scene begging for a lonely "departure theme" or something, and Simpson senses the mood and starts to build it up musically.... but then stops all the development before even getting a handful of notes out or introducing a chord change to anchor the mood to. Director Michael Briant gets some guitar music like he asks for, but it too remains too low key and non-descript for my tastes. Simpson has developed a substantial palette of themes in previous stories that he could be drawing on as well, if inspiration for new material is in short supply, but he seems to be unable to tap into that either. The music is disappointing this time around, and perhaps a warning in allowing one composer a complete monopoly on an entire season of a challenging risk-taking program. In this respect, I have to bow to the original Star Trek's methods of reusing stock tracks whenever and wherever it suited the mood - they ended up with a very fun and recognizably unique repertoire that I enjoy more each time I hear it.
International Titles:Deutsch: (Die grüne Mine)Magyar: (A zöld bánya)vagy "A zöld halál"Français: (La mine verte)ou (La mort verte)Русский: (Зелёный рудник)или "Зелёная смерть"Season Ten Rankings:
"The Green Death" is now available on DVD and VHS video:
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