If I had to pick two words to describe The Green Death, they would have to be "giant maggots". I mean, honestly, what else could you possibly take away from this story? And to think I almost stayed in bed. Honestly, though, the reason I almost stayed in bed was because my foot was throbbing all night long. Even so, I got up and hit the treadmill and then a surprising thing happened: once I started walking on it the pain went away. Maybe the nerve endings just got overwhelmed when I started stepping on it constantly, but within a few minutes of walking it stopped hurting at all. So that was nice.

So let's talk about those giant maggots.

The Green Death - Episodes 1 & 2

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

The first episode sets up the basic situation, which involves a decommissioned coal mine in the south Wales village of Llanfairfach that has been taken over by Global Chemicals to become a petroleum factory. Most of the locals are thrilled, having been out of work since the mine closed, but a group of protestors are fighting the new owners out of fear of pollution. Oh, and there's the niggly bit that a mine shaft inspector comes up from underground covered in some kind of phosphorescent green muck and promptly dies. That doesn't go over well at all.

That's where the story makes a fun side-step. UNIT is called up to go protect Global Chemicals and investigate the death, and the Brigadier is all gung-ho to get on with the work. Jo Grant, on the other hand, is determined to go to Llanfairfach in order to stand with the protestors, in particular with their leader Professor Clifford Jones. On top of that, the Doctor isn't even remotely interested in going at all. Instead, he has decided to finally take his long-discussed trip to the vacation paradise of Metabilis III. There is a sweet little scene where the Doctor realizes that Jo is done being his traveling companion, which I thought was a very nice touch.

As Jo and the Brig head off to south Wales, the Doctor gets a glories series of intercut scenes in which the Doctor's vacation turns out to be a series of escalating dangers as he is attacked by tentacles, chased by flying monsters, and just generally tormented endlessly until he staggers back to the TARDIS with his jacket torn in several places and returns to UNIT HQ. I loved this bit so much!

Anyway, Jo gets involved with Professor Jones and ends up deciding to go explore the mine shaft to find out what's down there. Creepy things are going on at Global Chemicals, with the Director apparently under the control of some sinister entity. The Doctor arrives on the scene just in time to not prevent Jo from entering the mine and being trapped deep below the Earth when the elevator is sabotaged.

By the end of the second episode another mine worker has died, a third is infected, the Doctor has gone down to rescue Jo, and they are both trapped by a cave-in. Oh, and there's the small matter of a creepy green glow, toxic sludge, and (in case I hadn't mentioned it before), GIANT MAGGOTS!!!

Doctor Who has veered into horror before, but never quite like this. A fair bit of the story is taking place in dark, claustrophobic spaces and features people being infected by a horrifying slime before dying in agony. On top of that, these aren't just any old science fiction monsters. There are few things quite as revolting as maggots, the very emblem of rot and decay. This is seriously unsettling stuff going on here, and I am loving every minute of it. Holy cow but Doctor Who really was at its creative peak throughout most of the 70's. I really do love this show.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Third
Companion(s): Jo Grant, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Episode(s): The Green Death - Episodes 1 & 2
Steps Walked: 7,105 today, 1,207,160 total
Distance Walked: 3.66 miles today, 596.11 miles total
Weight: 263.86 lbs (five day moving average), net change -43.44 lbs