I took two days off in order to run down to Fort Lauderdale so that I could meet Peter Freakin' Capaldi, but I am back home today and back on the treadmill. Not surprisingly, two days of no exercise and vacation eating means that I temporarily gained back a few pounds. That will turn back around soon enough. In the meantime I started in today on The Dæmons.

Let's talk about that.

The Dæmons - Episodes 1 & 2

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

Make no mistake about it, this story is straight-up gothic supernatural horror. It is primarily set in the small English village of Devil's End, and opens up with a man being literally scared to death by something in a graveyard. The next day, there is a big televised hoopla over an archeologist who is about to open up a Bronze Age burial mound called the Devil's Hump, and there is a local white witch who is trying to stop it. Back at UNIT HQ, Jo Grant is talking to the Doctor about the Age of Aquarius and supernatural things, which the Doctor of course dismisses as hogwash. Even so, when he hears about the archeological dig he realizes that something very dangerous is afoot and so rushes off to stop it (with Jo at his side, of course). Little does he know that the Master is up to something as well, dun dun DUN!

The Doctor is nearly killed at the end of the first episode by being frozen solid when the seal on the mound is broken. Of course he survives, but not before the Master has revived whatever demonic entity resides in the crypt. It is all very effectively played for straight horror, although by the end of the second episode the Doctor has begun to explain to Jo that they are actually standing inside a spaceship that has been hidden there for centuries. Little does he know that the gargoyle that was resurrected by the Master is just outside creeping up on them. Oh no!

I joke, but this is really good, effective stuff. It is Doctor Who doing what it does best, telling a scary story with science fiction underpinnings on a shoestring budget. Roger Delgado is particularly good as the Master in this story. You would thing that at this point, being the fifth consecutive Master story, he would be wearing out his welcome. Instead, though, he is just properly menacing as he manipulates the townsfolk while pretending to be a reverend sent to replace the recently-ill vicar of the local church. The sequence where he dons his red satanic robes and leads the local black magic circle in a Beltane demon summoning is just fantastic.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable story so far, and I am very much looking forward to continuing it in the morning.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Third
Companion(s): Jo Grant, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Episode(s): The Dæmons - Episodes 1 & 2
Steps Walked: 6,809 today, 1,028,537 total
Distance Walked: 3.57 miles today, 503.62 miles total
Weight: 268.01 lbs (five day moving average), net change -39.29 lbs