The Classic Capitology wing of the Tour makes what will, unfortunately, become a rather rare appearance in the Troughton era with the new, improved set of caps for The Seeds of Death. A follow-up of sorts to their original story The Ice Warriors, The Seeds of Death is the last example (in the Troughton era at least) of the base(s)-under-siege story. The Ice Warriors in this story are not the more ambiguous creatures they would become during the Pertwee era, here it’s all about conquest using the T-Mat as their way in, and the control centers both on the Earth and the Moon as the bases to siege from.
And just as the Ice Warriors can be lumbering, so is The Seeds of Death as a story, grinding on through six episodes, including (as was typical of the time) the rare episode where the Doctor doesn’t appear at all (Troughton is knocked unconscious by a seed pod just in time for episode four). Lots of duct crawling and peering through grates to be found here.
It’s all played earnestly enough but with the unraveling at the seams which permeated season six, all six episodes of The Seeds of Death were needed to fill out the schedules, even though it could have been done in four.
Still it’s fun to see the foam swelling ever outwards, and Troughton slip-sliding through it in episodes five and six. Cleanliness is next to ,,,, whatever Classic Capitology comes up with next.
