Who Review: The Hand of Fear
The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Sarah to a quarry on Earth, just before a rock face detonates burying Sarah. Thankfully, the rocks fall around her creating a protective shelter, so she is unharmed. Nevertheless, she is shaken by the experience, and an ambulance carts her to hospital. When the Doctor arrives to check on her, she is recovering well, but seems rather attached to a petrified hand. She was gripping it so tightly when the medics found her, they had to relax her hand to get it free. Under analysis, the hand appears to be some kind of crystallized life form, with a type of DNA unknown on Earth. What they don’t yet realize is that the hand wore a ring that put Sarah under its mesmeric power. As soon she gets an opportunity, she grabs the hand and escapes from the hospital. The hand needs power, and Sarah will find a way to give it the power it needs. Once the hand is infused with sufficient energy, it will regenerate into its true form. But its craving for power could create a nuclear disaster. And if it’s that powerful when it’s just a hand, what will it be like when it has completed its transformation…?
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!
The BBC had announced earlier in 1976 that Elisabeth Sladen would be leaving the show, so audiences knew they would be saying goodbye to Sarah Jane Smith. It seems a little odd, however, to have the companion leave part-way through the season. Conventional wisdom says you wait until the end of the season for a major cast change like that. Nevertheless, “The Hand of Fear” marks the last time we get to see the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith on screen together. That in itself is sad, since they work so well together. But let’s talk about the story first.
“The Hand of Fear” starts with backstory, as we see Kastria about to expire due to solar winds, but not before the Kastriam leadership detonates a prisoner ship carrying a notorious criminal, Eldrad. The resulting explosion scatters Eldrad’s crystalline body parts throughout the galaxy. One part, a hand, lands on Earth. Millions of years later, that hand has become encased in rock, which is released in the quarry explosion that buries Sarah Jane. I wondered whether this prologue was necessary, or whether the story could have started with the TARDIS arriving in the quarry. While that’s a lot of backstory to try to fit in elsewhere, it does tip us off to the fact that Eldrad is a condemned prisoner. It might have been better for us to discover along with the Doctor Eldrad’s true intent. But that’s a minor quibble. Classic Who likes to do these scene-setting prologues, so it’s nothing strange.
The quarry in which the TARDIS materializes is, for once, an actual quarry doubling as a quarry! Sarah Jane is wearing an outfit that fans refer to as her “Andy Pandy” outfit (Dr. Carter uses the same terminology to describe her overalls in Part 1). For those unfamiliar with Andy Pandy, he was a marionette character who was a favorite with British children in the 1950s and 1970s. Andy wore a striped onesie, which is the basis of the comparison with Sarah’s overalls. On reflection, there really isn’t much else that’s similar, so the reference is not so much based on the fact Andy Pandy wore red striped overalls–he didn’t. But Andy Pandy’s clothes are suggested by Sarah’s outfit. See for yourself:
Once again, Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen are superb. Once again Sladen plays under-the-influence Sarah to perfection. Indeed, her performance in this serial is cruel; at least if she had been terrible, it wouldn’t have been so sad to see her go. As it is, she leaves very big shoes for her successor to fill, and an audience of fans wondering how anyone can replace her.
I thought the hand in the plastic box was well done, and female Eldrad’s costume was good, though it would have equally suited a 70s disco. I could have expected it to turn up in an Amii Stewart video.
Of the two Eldrads in the story, Female Eldrad, played by Judith Paris, is undoubtedly the better one. Stephen Thorne’s male Eldrad is a bit too shouty and all one note, whereas Judith’s Eldrad is more nuanced–defensive to begin with, then sympathetic and agreeable, at least until she gets what she wants.
Most fans find the first three episodes to be the best, with the plot going sour in the fourth episode. Broadly speaking I agree, though I like the surprise twist for Eldrad: the Kastrians have chosen death, so when Eldrad returns to conquer and rule, he ends up “Eldrad, ruler of… nothing!” But then he wants to go back to Earth as its god and conqueror, an ambition the Doctor and Sarah put an end to by tripping him up with the Doctor scarf, sending him into a bottomless abyss. There’s something a little unsatisfying about that. I think I expected more of a battle at the end.
The closing scene was, apparently, written by Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen. When Sarah goes off on her “fed up” rant, I totally understand. Over the past season and a bit, she has been possessed more than once, been hypnotized, and had her life threatened by creatures of all kinds. Oh for a quiet, normal life! But, as she points out in the Tenth Doctor story, “School Reunion,” how could she ever return to a “normal” life after her time in the TARDIS? It’s a heartbreaking scene, and, once more, played very convincingly. Without incidental music, I might add, which means the emotion comes entirely from the actors.
I have to wonder why Sarah wasn’t allowed to go to Gallifrey with the Doctor. That’s not really ever explained, other than the hint that humans are not allowed, which is clearly not true since Leela will go to Gallifrey with the Doctor at the end of the following season. And what’s all this guff about receiving “the call of the Time Lords” which “I must obey.” Since when did the Doctor obey the call of the Time Lords–at least willingly the first time? Remember “The War Games”?
For the fact that this is Sarah Jane’s last story, I suppose the Whovian ought to watch it. However, I hold back from calling this must-see Who. It’s good, and you’ll be entertained by it, but it’s hardly on the same level as some of the other stories this season.
