Who Review: The Daemons
The eyes of the nation are on Devil’s End, a village where a Bronze Age mound is about to be excavated. Local white witch, Olive Hawthorne, warns against the project saying untold evil will be unleashed by disturbing the site. No-one believes her, except, oddly, the Doctor. Jo is surprised given the Doctor has just lectured her on the superiority of science over superstition. But the Doctor’s concerns aren’t about the supernatural, but about an ancient visitor to Earth who is about to be awakened, and is ready to wreck havoc across the entire planet. What the Doctor doesn’t know is that this ancient visitor has an ally, the mysterious new vicar Mr. Magister, whose interest in the occult seems at odds with his profession. Using centuries old rites and incantations, Magister is determined to help his new friend achieve his goals. The Doctor must stop him before it’s too late.
SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen this serial. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!
Doctor Who does Hammer Horror in this five part story written by “Guy Leopold”–a pseudonym for producer Barry Letts and his writing partner Robert Sloman. And there are plenty of Hammer tropes to enjoy, including villagers with their traditions and folklore, Morris Dancers who turn violent, a white witch foretelling doom, and a vicar who doubles as a red-robed Satanic priest holding occult rituals under the church. Toward the end, we even very nearly have a human sacrifice!
“The Daemons” was much praised for its well-written script and better-than-usual special effects when it first broadcast in May and June of 1971. Over the years it has received more mixed, maybe jaded, reviews, but it still holds a special place in the hearts of many fans. Undoubtedly the script is one of the better of the Pertwee era. This is partly due to the fact that Barry Letts, the show’s producer for the past couple of years, co-wrote it, bringing to bear his intimate knowledge of the characters, and careful observation of the actors.
Personally, I think the effects are good for their time. These include giant hoof prints in a field seen from a helicopter, an archway cut into a heat barrier enabling U.N.I.T. soldiers to pass through, and a church blowing up at the end. All these were done with video trickery and models–no CGI. I’m impressed, anyway.
The U.N.I.T. technician called upon to help the Doctor in this story is Sergeant Osgood. If you’ve been following the New Series, you’ll recognize that name. Osgood was a U.N.I.T. scientist in “The Day of the Doctor,” reappearing in New Series Seasons Eight and Nine. Though never explicitly stated, according to Steven Moffat, New Series Osgood is, in fact, the daughter of Sergeant Osgood. What did you expect with a fanboy running the show? 🙂
This is a good story, but it’s not without its problems, chief of which is the ending. Terrance Dicks says he doesn’t like it because it doesn’t make sense. Azal, the last of the Daemons from Daemos, has been on the Earth for thousands of years, helping mankind grow in knowledge and skill. The Earth has been an experiment for the Daemons, and Azal will soon decide whether or not to end the experiment and destroy the planet. In the end he decides to pass on his power to the Doctor, but the Doctor refuses. Somewhat put out by the Doctor’s snub, Azal decides to gift his power to the Master (who was posing as the vicar, Mr. Magister). Before doing that, he takes the Master’s advice and attacks the Doctor, intending to kill him. Jo, however, throws herself in the way, offering her life in place of the Doctor’s. This illogical act of self-sacrifice confuses Azal who has a sudden existential crisis, resulting in self-destruction, taking out the church as well as himself. Dicks’ problem with this is the fact that, having been on Earth for thousands of years, Azal would have witnessed countless acts of selflessness, so what Jo did shouldn’t have been such a shock to the old alien. I would add to this the fact that throughout the story, the Doctor has pushed science over superstition, and yet it was something as unscientific and intangible as Jo’s love for her friend that defeated the bad guy. Surely it would have been more consistent for the Doctor to come up with a scientific weapon to destroy Azal?
Of course, the story is typical of Doctor Who in that it wants to be theologically agnostic, but can’t help leaning toward skepticism, or outright atheism, while on the other hand upholding logic, reason, love, good, and evil, for which there are no scientific explanations. The Doctor tells Jo there’s a scientific explanation for everything in life. He warns her that the Daemons are far more real than any “mythical” devil, but they are not evil, simply amoral: they will help as long as they somehow benefit from helping. And yet the Daemons punish failure with destruction, something the Doctor wouldn’t consider “amoral.” Further, the Doctor tries to persuade Azal to leave by making a moral argument based on how much his “help” has actually increased man’s power of self-destruction. It would be better for mankind, he says, if Azal were to go. Clearly, the Doctor thinks the fact that man can blow up the Earth many times over, thanks to Azal’s training and guidance, is a bad thing. From a purely rationalistic point of view, why is this the case? And who has the right to say it’s bad? Indeed, by confronting Azal, the Doctor is saying he is wrong. On what scientific basis does the Doctor object to Azal’s experiment? One could write an entire thesis on the moral conundrums bubbling under the surface of Who, so I’ll leave it at that.
In short, despite the dodgy ending, “The Daemons” is a good story, a great script, and worthy of your time.
