REACTION: The Ambassadors of Death Episode 7 || S7E18 

I like this story. It’s very underrated. You can tell that the Pertwee era is influenced by Nigel Kneale’s Quatermass. Really enjoying your reactions.

I think the actor playing Regan does a really good job. On the face of it it’s maybe not the most memorable part, but I feel like having a human henchman who is treating the murder and sabotage in a nonplussed workaday fashion is kind of cool and more realistic than your standard moustache twirling villains in a lot of Doctor Who.

The effective score by Dudley Simpson: at this point, incidental music still had to be composed and performed to order before the episodes were recorded and then played into the studio as the actors performed. For this reason, the music tended to be made up of repetitive themes and dramatic stings. The following year, the technology had advanced enough so that incidental music could be composed and dubbed on after the episodes were made.

There's another jaunty theme during one or more of the later episodes of "The Invasion "🎩

Next story is one of the best stories of dr.who (in my opinion)

Really glad you enjoyed this underappreciated classic so much. For the second story in a row we get a very strong ending, as Hulke once again subverts our expectations by revealing that Carrington isn’t really a villain after all, just a deeply damaged, traumatised man who sincerely believes he is acting for the best. The way the Doctor perceives this and sympathises with him at the end is a very touching moment, and it once again shows Hulke’s skill, as did The Silurians, in creating a very morally complex story. The climax here also contrasts sharply with The Silurians, as this time the Doctor is able to walk away well satisfied with how things have turned out, and with his morale no doubt restored to some degree. Onward, then, to Season 7’s memorable climactic adventure. Incidentally, you’ll be seeing a fair bit more of Michael Wisher before he dons the Davros mask…

One of the Doctor Who podcasts I listen to uses the UNIT theme from this one as the outro music, so I'm fairly used to it. I've always liked Ambassadors and fits season 7 well. There's an intelligence to the stories, particularly the seven parters. More mature in tone and not falling for the typical sci-fi tropes.

Ambassadors gets a lot of stick, but I love how experimental it is. It's very unique.

Always puzzled me the Ambassadors touch is supposed to be lethal,but in this episode the odd person appears to be only stunned temporarily as seen early in the episode when at least 1 man is seen to come round (can they vary their power?)🎩

I really liked the ambassadors of death. Personally I preferred this to the Silurian’s. The concept of wanting to show the aliens to the world was very gripping I thought.

This story is that really great album track that I love more than the singles, despite their obvious hooks (“Shop window dummies + New Doctor!” “Prehistoric Lizardmen!” “P****** *****!”)

It's one of my favourite Pertwee stories (I'm hoping that the ultimate blu-ray release will have seen some restoration advances). I love the feel and look of it. Looking forward to your reactions of the next story!

I'll have to give this story another go. Actually - all of Pertwee. Here in Oz, Pertwee was on re-runs when I was about 7 or 8, so I would have seen a good chunk of them, but then it was only through the VHS releases that I got to re-watch them (and then 2003's "entire" rerun of classic WHO on the ABC). So - some stories I've watched the absolute pants out of (just think of the Top 6 you could name off top of your head), or I really don't know them well at all... and Ambassadors is certainly 1 of them.

I'm waiting for the next story...An absolute favourite!

Nicholas Courtney always looked ill at ease in fight scenes or running and indeed he felt so, often commenting upon it, but it’s what makes him endearing.

Re. Spotify and Doctor Who music. Very very little of the original recordings of the Who scores up to this point exist. It's only once you hit the 80s that all bar one score still survives (and that missing soundtrack has been recreated for the blu-ray release for a 5.1 mix) The scores that exist in full up to Ambassadors of Death are: The Daleks (has had two releases) The Daleks Master Plan (all acoustic and musique concrete - was released on CD in early 00s) The Gunfighters (full recording of the song:D) Fury from the Deep (bits appeared in the DVD release for the animation) The Invasion (quite a bit of unused material - CD release) The Seeds of Death (unreleased as of this Date, only two tracks on the 50th anniversary album) Doctor Who and the Silurians (isolated track on the dvd) Plus those scores that all came from stock music.

Another good one, guys.

Ambassadors is certainly my favourite story from Season 7 (and always has been). Nice that you have acquired an appreciation for this gem. When we get to the Seven Seven review, can we have a Top Ten of Thomas' favourite music from these four stories? I'm excited to see were UNIT Theme end up being ranked.

The tunnel entrance to the Space Centre was filmed at Blue Circle Cement Works (now Lafarge Cement) in Northfleet, Kent. I love this episode and story. But it's such a great season that I rank it third behind "Inferno" and "Spearhead". My biggest complaint is that the narrative doesn't entirely hold up and some loose ends are never explained. Obviously, Carrington arranged this vast conspiracy to get the alien ambassadors down to Earth disguised as the original three astronauts, in order to frighten Earth into attacking them, but it's a very complex and circuitous plot relying on a lot of naivete from the aliens. I mean, what did he tell them when they dressed up in Earth gear? This is how you respect Earth culture by dressing like us? They appear to be able to translate their languages, because the alien leader speaks to the Doctor, but they didn't bring translators with them on their diplomatic mission? Why are they so compliant to the General's (and later, Reegan's) wishes? Basically, there's this big mystery that drags out over 7 episodes with the two government arms fighting each other, but it never completely explains itself and then some elements don't quite work.

Well again I’ve really enjoyed this, watching in portions as opposed to scoffing all in one go has definitely helped its digestion. Agree with a lot of your points, good performances all round, nicely directed with some memorable shots combined with eerie music for those Ambassadors on the move and the cliffhanger to Ep 4 is a doozy. It does feel like not an awful lot happened though and considering it was somewhat stretched over 7 episodes that ending seems weirdly abrupt.

Dudley Simpson reuses his UNIT theme in The Mind of Evil, on a synthesiser and a bit of a key change I think, and it’s a bit more effective.

Underrated story though the ending is one of the most anticlimatic (the Doctor just walking off)🎩

Well glad the ambassadors of death has finished but next is excellent bring on inferno 😊 btw not much comments on liz the companion for this season