Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1923 in VHS
• Released on: 1999-08-02
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: HiFi Sound, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 91 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Loch Ness is the setting of this very traditional 1975 Doctor Who monster story, even though it was actually filmed in southern England with local atmosphere provided by Scottish character actor Angus Lennie (The Great Escape). The Doctor (Tom Baker) is called in to investigate a mystery involving the destruction of several oil rigs and it's not too long before the Loch Ness Monster is revealed as the culprit. But it's actually just a biomechanical weapon being manipulated by the evil Zygons who have been living at the bottom of the Loch plotting world domination. The organically designed sets and monsters are very striking, as are the visual effects with one notable exception: Really Big Creatures have always been a bane for the series with its limited budget to pull off and this story's reliance on an obvious puppet monster, especially during the climax, diminishes its impact. But there is still much to relish, particularly the dialogue of writer Robert Banks Stewart (who would go on to create the long-running BBC series Bergerac) that provides a number of gems including the Doctor admonishing the Zygons that if they succeed in their plans, "you'll have to come out on the balcony sometimes and wave a tentacle". With much derring-do, the Doctor saves the day as usual but not before four exciting episodes of fun and action. --Ryan K. Johnson

Synopsis
Arriving in Scotland at the request of the Brigadier, Doctor Who must investigate a mysterious force that has destroyed three oil rigs, and left giant teeth marks behind. He soon finds that the monster of Loch Ness is really Part-Cyborg, and his friends are not always what they seem.....

Customer Reviews

Excellent!
This is one of the best Doctor Who adventures. All the performances are excellent (although John Woodnutt's attempt at a Scottish accent is a bit iffy!). This was the last appearance by the Brigadier for a very long time (which was a bit of a shame because I thought that he worked well with the fourth Doctor in this adventure). Lillias Walker and Robert Russell are very sinister villains in this story even though they don't say too much. The brilliant incidental music and the contributions of Ian Marter, Nicholas Courtney and John Levene mean this is better than its sequel 'The Seeds of Doom'.

Classic Gothic Chiller
This is one of the best episodes from the Gothic Hinchcliffe/Holmes era. It features UNIT, the horrific Zygons and a rather embarrassing Loch Ness Monster (obviously not the idea of it, but how it turned out) which is the only let down in an otherwise faultless episode that should be regarded as a vintage slice of Doctor Who. This is directed by Douglas Camfield who also went on to direct the excellent 'The Seeds of Doom'. It is also worth mentioning that the music score by Dudley Simpson is magnificently eerie, especially when the nurse escapes through the woods.

Finally, aren't the Zygons brilliant? - no disrespect to Russell T Davies, who's new Doctor Who series is fast, thrilling, fun and entertaining to watch, but he ain't quite mastered how to do monster's & alien's just yet (at the time of writing), for example:- The Slitheen anyone?

Welcome to the Bodysnatchers Who Style
This belongs to the 'gothic' era when Philip Hinchliffe was producer and a lot of tributes were done to hammer horror style films and if 'Pyramids of Mars' is 'Curse of the Mummy' then 'Terror of the Zygons' is 'The Bodysnatchers'. It does benefit though from being set in contemporary ish Britain which gives it a little 'reality' to ground it and the use of drilling for Oil off Scotland adds to this as I think this was something that had only recently started when the show was filmed in 1975. I still think it has one of the best Who effects in it, that of the Zygon space ship leaving Loch Ness, the filming of the model and the detail in it does almost fool you into thinking it's real until you see a little juddering of wires in the actual flying of the thing (mind this could be my video jumping it is rather old now), shame I can't say the same for the monster really but Tom Baker does his best in reacting to it to try and make it look like a threat. It is also nice to see the Brigadier as always and is Harry Sullivan's last regular story with him just deciding to take inter city as a nice understated departure. All the guests are good too. Definetly a must for the collection!