Doctor Who: The Face of Evil (Story 89)

When the TARDIS arrives on a jungle planet, the Doctor encounters two warring tribes, the Sevateem and the Tesh. The Sevateem worship a god called Xoanon and the Tesh are supposedly keeping Xoanon prisoner... But why do the Sevateem call the Doctor the Evil One? And what are the invisible creatures in the jungle? The Time Lord, with the help of a girl called Leela, is about to find out.

Doctor Who: The Face of Evil introduced one of the most unusual of the time traveler's companions: Leela (Louise Jameson), an intelligent but savage woman from a jungle planet, a fierce fighter who looked good in a skimpy leather outfit. The Doctor (Tom Baker) finds himself caught between two tribes, one primitive and physical, the other effete and possessed of mental powers. Leela, who's been cast out of the primitive tribe for heresy, teams up with the Doctor as he discovers his face carved in stone on a mountainside--and realizes that the root of the problem may be his own past actions. Though the sets, special effects, and a few plot turns of The Face of Evil require some suspension of disbelief, this story has fantastic elements: the roaring invisible monsters (which may have inspired the similar monster on Lost), the rituals of the two tribes, the Doctor's confrontation with a computer with a split personality, and Leela herself. But above all is Baker, one of the all-time greatest Doctors. Intelligent, capricious, yet driven by a clear moral sense, Baker projected an unmistakable impression of being more than human yet still relatable. This story falls smack in the middle of Baker's seven-year tenure, when his grip on the character is assured but he hasn't yet begun to chafe at it. The extras on this DVD are abundant: outtakes, photos, a detailed making-of documentary, a wonderful interview with Jameson, an examination of the media response to Tom Baker's Doctor, a 1970s talk show featuring Jameson, and a commercial for Doctor Who action figures! --Bret Fetzer