DVD Extras include:
Fun and FunctionalThe story is notable for some very good location filming, where director Lennie Mayne was quite innovative during many sequences. In addition to the usual exteriors, we also get grand use of an actual nuclear station, featuring the sort of interior location filming that became popular during the Graham Williams era (seasons 15-17), not to mention many a Blake's 7 production.The simple plot continues to escalate well throughout the story and keep it moving, with the rebirth of Eldrad in the reactor being one of the highlights. Choice dialogue is mixed in with poor and overused dialogue, the worst bits being scenes of people not listening to each other and shutting each other down - the story doesn't get told during this kind of thing, and pretty much stops altogether and irritates members of the audience such as myself. On the other hand, the Doctor gets a lot of great lines, showcasing his humour, uplifting general demeanour, and pacifist helpfulness. Special effects for the hand itself are really well done. Once again, the ring ray is usually just a silly blue blob superimposed on the screen, which I find less than satisfactory. On the plus side, this effect remains visually literate thanks to Mayne doing it carefully each time, and the fact that the first blast of the ray has an even better angle thrown in amidst the usual ones, showing a proper visual beam. If only we could have had that effect each time..... The music is important too, for although this isn't one of Dudley Simpson's most memorable scores, he backs moments of Eldrad possessing people so perfectly that many moments are brought to the forefront of our attention where, without the music, such moments would surely have been lost or confusing. The studio sections are adequate. Kastria is particularly demanding, as Baker and Martin keep everyone moving through new environments without very much happening in any one particular spot. The race-bank storage room is really nicely achieved, and the regeneration chamber works nicely, but the chasm crossing is really blasé, by the time one can figure out what one is looking at. After all that Eldrad has survived, the fall into the chasm is seriously anti-climactic.
Glorious Intro to the Wrong TARDISAs much as I like the novelty of the secondary control room in the TARDIS from the previous story, I was horrified to see it being used to replace the main white control room in continuing stories. The tiny, static console is way too boring, and the door to the exterior looks exceedingly silly with a black backdrop behind it. And the place is just too small and dark for my tastes. Sure, producer Philip Hinchcliffe fought to lower lighting levels in the studio to help wrap monsters in the unknown - all the more reason why the console room should contrast that and remain the safe and friendly white place it always was.That said, "The Hand of Fear" features some of the best TARDIS console room scenes in the Hinchcliffe era. Baker and Martin's script is wonderful in introducing the TARDIS to Eldrad and the audience, and showing us what the TARDIS is best for: taking us to cool places like Kastria, and allowing travel to broaden our minds. The model work for Kastria's exterior is very well done, and this console room does boast the best scanner effect yet, allowing us to continue to see the surface while Eldrad talks about the planet's history, all in the same shot. Magnificent.
Unformatting the ShowEldrad does quite rightly take a backseat to the real conclusion of the story: Sarah's departure from the series. Lis Sladen's final scene with Tom Baker is the best in the entire story, full of humour, drama, and sadness, and is one of the best exits any companion has had yet. 20-20 hindsight suggests that there isn't really any reason why Sarah couldn't have gone to Gallifrey with the Doctor, but remember, the last time he took any of his friends there, the Time Lords did their best to erase Jamie and Zoe's memories before sending them home. Better to drop Sarah off at home with her memory still fully intact.Even if it wasn't meant to be one, this does still feel like a UNIT story. A new and unusual menace to mankind makes its way through public facilities like hospitals and nuclear plants, right under the noses of trained scientists and officials, and the Royal Air Force is called in to make missile strikes. Crikey, all we're missing are the friendly faces of the Brigadier, Benton, and Harry. That would flesh out the thin cast, and give us some good humour or relationship development in place of some of the padding. This story doesn't really represent a break from UNIT stories as much as it does a UNIT story without the usual cast charm. The plant's manager, Professor Watson, has to do the Brigadier's role instead, which seems a bit far-fetched. They don't even bother to offer an excuse, like the Brigadier being in Geneva again. Basically, the Hinchcliffe era is still doing UNIT, now at its most impotent ever. Do they need to get rid of Sarah to do stories that don't beg for UNIT? Not really. Just focus her on an alternate motivation from the returning home thing (an unfortunate staple of season 13), and she could have worked marvellously in space. Sadly, the writers didn't get it early enough.
International Titles:Magyar: "A félelem keze"Français: (La main de la peur) Русский: "Рука страха" Español: "La Mano del Miedo" This story is now available on DVD and VHS video:
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