Doctor Who (TV Series) Terror of the Zygons: Part Two (1975) User Reviews

"There are times Doctor when you do talk absolute nonsense." One of my favourite stories.

[poolandrews · 8/10 · 5 July 2007]

Doctor Who: Terror of the Zygons: Part 2 starts as the Doctor (Tom Baker) discovers the disappearance of both Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen) & Harry (Ian Marter) from the hospital. While looking around he finds Sarah in a decompression chamber, meanwhile Harry has been kidnapped by the evil Zygons who intend to take over the Earth with the aid of their huge cyborg monster the Skarasen since their own has been destroyed by solar flares. That is unless the Doctor can stop them...

This Doctor Who adventure was episode 2 from season 13 & originally aired here in the UK during September 1975, directed by Douglas Camfield this is one of my very favourite Doctor Who stories. The script by Robert Banks Stewart is a nice claustrophobic mix of horror & sci-fi, this episode introduces various body stealing & shape shifting ideas that were probably influenced by Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). The story itself is coming along nicely & while a simple alien invasion plot it's a good one with plenty going on. The Zygon alien monsters are great & I like the way the legend of the Loch Ness monster is used & it's existence is explained albeit in a far fetched manner! This is what I call classic Doctor Who, lots of monsters, lots of fun & lots of entertainment all crammed into four 25 minute episodes!

I mentioned the special effects in my comment for Terror of the Zygons: Part 1 & I have to mention them again here because we see the Skarasen Loch Ness monster for the first time properly & it's far from impressive, while if one was being charitable you might say the basic design & model looks alright it has absolutely no movement at all & doesn't interact with what is happening on screen that well either. I have to give Sarah Jane a mention too, she's one of my favourite companions & she's great in this wearing a cool outfit complete with some sexy boots.

Terror of the Zygons: Part 2 is a great episode in a great story, there are many aspects to this that I like, if your a fan of the show then this ones a must, if you like 70's sci-fi then it's a must & if you want some fun then you could do worse then this. A personal favourite.

Another Bermuda Triangle...

[Xstal · 8/10 · 29 June 2022]

The Zygons have some tricks up their sleeves, a facsimile of you they can use to deceive, they've cloned poor old Harry, made him adversary, means you don't know who's pucker, or who's make believe.

It's faultless.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 10/10 · 20 October 2019]

Sarah is used to lure The Doctor into a trap, the village sleeps while The Zygons begin their plan for a takeover of the Earth.

When you look at the names associated with this, Robert Banks Stewart, Douglas Camfield and Robert Holmes, is it any wonder it turned out so good? Direction and production are superb, it looks wonderful, I love the appearance of the Zygons, way better than the new ones. The sets are wonderful also.

Tom is incredible, at the very top of his game, he's sincere, strong, and as I watch this, I firmly believe in his Timelord character, he uses his wonderful eccentric personality to make The Doctor alien. It's a great episode for Harry and Sarah, Sarah finally does some journalism, and Marter gets to play an evil Harry, brilliantly. Banks Stewart seemed to write each character very successfully, every detail about them was considered.

Once again, I can find no fault, the story has progressed so well. Loving it. 10/10

Monstrously Good!

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 10/10 · 22 November 2014]

Review of all 4 episodes:

This tremendous story opens one of best seasons of the show's history in superb style. Tom Baker's first season, Season 12 was fantastic, as good as any season up to then, with producer Philip Hinchcliffe and script editor Robert Holmes establishing what I feel stands as the greatest era of all time. Season 13 would turn out to be even better and this story starts the season at top level.

Much like other occasional stories in Doctor Who over the years, before and since 2005, this story has an element to do with an iconic idea or legend (like werewolves, vampires, ghosts etc). In this case the Loch Ness monster. Ironically the realisation of the monster on screen is the only real negative in this great adventure. However, it is actually a very small aspect of the story and does not detract from it for me.

The story is that an alien race called the Zygons have had a small group hiding in Scotland for a few hundred years and that the Loch Ness monster is actually a cyborg monster, the Skarasen, they intend to use as a weapon. The Zygons have a very long term plan to conquer Earth and change it to suit their needs in readiness for the arrival of the rest of the Zygons who are spread across the galaxy after Solar flares destroyed their home planet. They are able to transform themselves into humans that they have captured and using this and the Skarasen the plan is kicked into action.

The Zygons are fantastically good alien villains. They look brilliant, are menacing and scary as well as having good dialogue. The story is exciting, thrilling, fun and humorous. The Zygon ship is great and other effects such as an explosion in episode 4 are really well done. The skarasen monster is realised badly on screen as it is a pretty poor puppet and is a small distraction but thankfully has very little screen time and is the only effect that is not good. The setting, the music, the action and the direction by the great Douglas Camfield are all top notch.

The acting is wonderful with Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Nicholas Courtney, Ian Marter and John Levene all terrific as usual. It is sad that UNIT would be fazed out from this point. Guest performances from John Woodnutt and Lillias Walker are especially good and the whole cast is strong.

The dialogue and plot keep excitement and interest throughout. The lack of importance given to the monster allows the story to still be a 10/10 classic. If it was re-released with a CGI monster it would eliminate that one fault but even with the occasional, disappointing appearances by the Loch Ness monster/Skarasen, this is a classic adventure of extremely high standard and great fun.

All 4 episodes 10/10. One of my favourite stories.