Doctor Who: 'The Face of Evil' REVISITED

One subtle theme that Series 9 of Doctor Who seems to be focused on is consequences, particularly when it comes to the Doctor’s actions. ‘The Woman Who Lived‘ was great at being a very different story to ‘The Girl Who Died‘ because of how much Maisie Williams’s character had changed compared to her previous episode, and the current Zygon episodes also seem keen to explore the consequences of the peace treaty set up in ‘The Day of the Doctor‘.

In fact, the consequences of the Doctor’s actions have been explored a few times throughout the New Series, with one of my favourite examples occurring in ‘Bad Wolf‘, with the Doctor discovering that, after learning what happened after he “fixed” things in ‘The Long Game‘, he realised that he should really stick around to make sure things are OK, sometimes.

In the Classic Series, however, this was a theme that was rarely explored. While enemies would return, exploring the consequences of what the Doctor did in a previous adventure – whether it was to an enemy, a planet or even just an ordinary life – very rarely occurred. One of the only clear examples I can think of include ‘The Ark‘, a First Doctor story of two halves, the first half focusing on the Doctor and his friends having an adventure in the far future, and the second half showing them arrive in the same place, but hundreds of years later. One of the only other stories that explored consequences of the Doctor’s actions was ‘The Face of Evil‘. What’s interesting about this example is that it’s a sequel to an adventure that we haven’t even seen!

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The Fourth Doctor is seen travelling alone at the start of this story, but he quickly makes a new friend: Leela, a warrior from a tribe of savages that call themselves the “Sevateem”. She’s initially hesitant to trust him, however, and the rest of her tribe are virtually ready to execute him on sight. Because the Doctor has a slight problem: he shares the same face as a being they call “the Evil One.”

Leela’s a great new companion for the Doctor. It’s interesting watching a companion who starts out as a savage and very quickly builds a friendship with someone who’s not just eccentric and brilliant, but also shares the face of something she fears. Leela was a companion with a lot of potential, and while her story may not have lived up to that potential as much afterwards, her introduction story at least explores both her and her new friendship with the Doctor rather well.

One thing I really like about ‘The Face of Evil’ is that there’s a lot of very dry humour mixed in with the darkness and the violence. One of my favourite examples is the Doctor threatening someone with a jelly baby. Surprisingly, it doesn’t ruin the overall grim tone of the story, it’s just a great moment that’s a natural part of it.

This being a story made in the era of Robert Holmes and Philip Hinchcliffe, however, there’s still plenty of horror mixed in, too. Xoanon, the “god” the two tribes worship in the story, is clearly and utterly insane. It’s even more horrifying when both his face and voice are the same as the Fourth Doctor’s. Tom Baker is, as usual, fantastic in this serial, and it’s great to see him in a dual role as both the hero and the villain. It eventually leads into one of the most chilling cliffhangers I’ve ever seen: Xoanon SCREAMING at the Doctor the words, “WHO AM I?” over and over again in a child’s voice.

It’s interesting watching the story unfold and seeing the Doctor begin to work out how his actions during a previous visit have caused the whole mess. It’s a shame that we haven’t seen the Doctor’s previous adventure, as this is one of the only times in the classic series when the Doctor’s interference is portrayed as having negative consequences, for once. (Perhaps it’s a job for Big Finish, especially since they’ve explored similar territory.) However, it’s still great to see this kind of story handled at all in the Classic Series, and handled rather well, too.

The story is paced quite nicely, and it really helps that it’s distinctly split into two halves: the first two episodes taking place entirely in a jungle environment, while the remaining episodes include a more traditional science-fiction setting of a spaceship. It keeps the story flowing very nicely from one genre to another.

Next: Preview/Synopsis: 'The Zygon Inversion'

‘The Face of Evil’ isn’t the strongest story of season 14, but that’s mainly because of how incredibly strong season 14 was overall. It’s not just a great character introduction story, it’s a great adventure that explores themes such as religion and faith versus science, while also telling a terrifying story of what happens when the Doctor makes a mistake and a “god” goes mad.

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Doctor Who: ‘The Face of Evil’ REVISITED

By James Aggas | Nov 15, 2015