The Daemons

The Daemons
by Guy Leopold
Originally Broadcasted: May 22nd-June 19th, 1971

An archaeological dig is being excavated at the mysterious Devil's End, little do the perpetrators know that conducting the dig could lead to the awakening of the great Azal. The Master, under the disguise of Mr. Magister attempts to awaken Azal to gain supreme power. Of course, it's up to The Doctor to stop him...

The Daemons ranks highly as one of the most popular Doctor Who stories of all time. It has all the archetypes that make the Jon Pertwee era so perfect. An Earth-bound UNIT story, The Master, and good old Jon Pertwee himself. There's a weird vibe to The Daemons that isn't achieved in many other Doctor Whos. I think it may be down to the way the show was shot and edited. But the weird vibe does  really help the story. I love a Master story, but to those watching in 1971, this was the fifth consecutive story he appeared in. While he's great in the story, I'm sure his surprise reveal was no surprise by this point. So it's better to watch it from a stand-alone perspective. It's also wonderful to see him actually captured at the end of the story. I think that's the only time in Doctor Who history that The Doctor manages to capture him. And of course, The Master's capture plays directly into the events of The Sea Devils in the following season. The realization of Azal is actually really good for 1971! The makeup is fantastic, and he's actually a pretty chilling, scary character. I've never seen someone shout so much... Stephen Thorne, the actor who played Azal, would go on to play two more great Doctor Who villains: Omega in The Three Doctors and Eldrad in The Hand of Fear. An unimportant to the story, but interesting fact was the use of BBC Three during the television broadcast. Doctor Who in the 70s was always supposed to be a little in the future, they just happened to predict something that would happen way later (in this case, 2003). All in all, a great example of Third Doctor era. Perhaps not my favorite, but still fantastic!

Luke's Rating: 8/10