It is the late 21st century and Earth depends on a matter transportation system called T-Mat when is controlled from a base on the moon.  When that the moon base goes down, the Doctor and his companions (Jamie and Zoe) volunteer to pilot a rocket to the moon where they discover the Ice Warriors are using the base as the staging ground to send seed pods to Earth as the first stage in the invasion of Earth.   The Martians have a plan to use a deadly fungus to decrease the oxygen content of Earth, but the Doctor uses his intelligence and wit along with his companions and the personnel of T-Mat control assisting to stop the Martian plan.

THE SEEDS OF DEATH has great set design and costume design despite it being done on a shoestring budget.  The black and white film may have helped to further the budget.   The story does have holes, but the pacing and characters help iron over any of those plot bunnies that could ruin the story.  Why do the Ice Warriors ships need a beacon to land on earth or why does even the rocket need the moon beacon to land?   Also I wonder if the Ice Warriors thought of what the rain could do to their fungus (I guess it doesn’t rain on Mars much).  I did like the use of the T-Mat personnel in the story.  The West-East conflict is outdated since the Soviet Union doesn’t exist anymore (Brian Hayle thought the conflict between NATO and the communist bloc would last into the late 21st century).   Gia Kelly is one of the strong female characters in this series- smart, beautiful, and great uniform.   Zoe also gets a new outfit for this story.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Audio commentary with actors Frazer Hines (Jamie) and Wendy Padbury (Zoe), director Michael Ferguson, and script editor Terrance Dicks

The production notes text option gives the usual behind-the-scenes details on the making-of the story, details on the actors who are featured in this serial, and audience reaction to THE SEEDS OF DEATH when it aired

LORD OF THE RED PLANET- a 28 minute making-of documentary that chronicle the origins of the Ice warriors (from the unmade story that Brian Hayles wrote) to the making of THE SEEDS OF DEATH (including the difficulties encountered during the production and Terrance Dicks rewriting the scripts for episodes three to six).

SSSOWING THE SSSEEDSSS- interviews with the actors who played the Ice Warriors in eth first two Ice Warriors stories and the Make-up artist for THE SEEDS OF DEATHS as they go behind-the-scenes on how it was to play the Ice warriors and how the look of the Ice warriors was achieved.

MONSTER MASTERCLASS- Michael Ferguson talks briefly about Doctor Who monsters

MONSTERS WHO COME BACK FOR MORE!- BBV Producer Nicholas Briggs and DR. WHO MAGAZINE editor Peter Ware talk about why Doctor Who monsters came back, what are their favorite monsters, and who they would love to see come back on the TV show.

Also on the disc is the four minutes photo gallery slideshow, TARDIS Cam No. 6 which originally appeared on the BBC web site for DOCTOR WHO, a Coming Soon trailer for DEATH TO THE DALEKS, and Radio Times production Listings (which are accessible via DVD-ROM).

FINAL ANALYSIS:   THE SEEDS OF DEATH is a solid paced story with set design and costume design that still looks good today when you put it side by side against the budget of today’s DOCTOR WHO.    The behind-the-scenes featurettes focusing on the story are good where the other featurettes are worth just one viewing.

This DVD review is (c)6-24-2012 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com