N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!
It seems a minor miracle that we can pop a DVD in and watch The Ambassadors of Death in full colour throughout. Like Doctor Who and the Silurians that preceded it and Terror of the Autons, The Mind of Evil and The Daemons from the subsequent season, for many years the only copy in the archives was (predominantly) black-and-white.
Many of those stories had a re-coloured version by the time of their VHS release – but like The Mind of Evil, The Ambassadors of Death was an exception. Now, thanks to technological advances and the wizardry of the Doctor Who Restoration Team, we are able to view it in something close to how its original broadcast would have looked. It seems churlish to remark that the picture quality dips occasionally but it does serve to remind you how fortunate we are to have it in colour at all!
Of course, watching it in black-and-white didn’t prevent The Ambassadors of Death being at times very, very spooky. The ambassadors’ musical motif is genuinely one of the strangest pieces of music I’ve heard in Doctor Who – a perfect accompaniment to the slow-moving menace they possess. (‘Hey, who turned the lights?’).
“It seems to be a case of the right hand fighting the left”
The Doctor,
The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 3
The story itself is another mixture of cracking set-piece action sequences – there’s a bloodbath in the warehouse at the end of Episode 1 – and tense, serious drama – of the guest stars, Ronald Allen in particular is excellent as British Space Programme director, Ralph Cornish.
Once again, there’s real grit – the amount of violence results in a lot of on-screen casualties – the Brigadier dispatching bad guys literally left, right and centre and he’s in ruthless mood again when UNIT rescues the Doctor and Liz. (Speaking of Liz, I do like how the music goes all Avengers-like when she escapes from the secret base – perhaps they were inspired by her kinky boots!)
The Ambassadors of Death may sag (just a little) in the middle but considering how many re-writes it went through it’s still very good indeed. The high standard of Season 7 continues.
And to cap it all, it’s the first story with the pre-end credits sting, surely one of the best things ever in Doctor Who.
"There is lot of action in this story, especially in the early episodes."
"I really like the bad guys' van, because they can change what it looks like."
"It's funny when the Brigadier drives Bessie. (He doesn't like it!)"
