September 1979. I was 5 years old and Doctor Who with Tom Baker was officially THE scariest thing in the world EVER !
It was that strange ominous sounding theme tune. It was the mad staring eyes of Tom Baker's Doctor coupled with his loud booming voice. It was the hideous monsters, aliens and robots. It all added up to the perfect storm guaranteed to frighten the life out of a timid 5 year old boy, and yet for some reason I couldn't get away from it. For some strange reason I even seemed to be drawn to it.
The main reason it was unavoidable to me was of course down to my Dad being a fan of the show. He'd been tuning in regularly ever since the show started in 1963 back when William Hartnell was the original Doctor. So there was absolutely no way he was going to miss it. Every Saturday it was the same, at around 5.30 (usually whilst mum was making the tea) my dad would sit down and watch that week's terrifying episode.
I don't have many memories of the show prior to 1979 although I must have undoubtedly seen it before then. Maybe I was too young and they've been lost to the mists of time, either that or I've blanked them out. The first story of that season was "Destiny of the Daleks" of which I remember absolutely nothing. To be honest at that point I wasn't even in the living room when Doctor Who came on - I think I was probably hiding in the kitchen and getting under my Mum's feet. If I felt the need to get curious (and trust me - I WAS curious) then the sound of the Daleks ranting and raving in thier mechanical voices was more than enough to send me scurrying back to safety.
The only thing I remember about that serial was the advert that came on at the end of every episode for the BBC soundtrack L.P. of the previous year's Dalek story "Genesis of the Daleks". For some reason just the sound of the word "Genesis" intrigued me - I didn't know what it meant but it interested me all the same, plus I can remember I really liked the artwork on the album cover (even though I still thought it was creepy).
For the next story in that 1979 season I became a little bit braver. When episode one of "City of Death" started I actually sat down in the living room and stayed there for the whole 25 minutes that Doctor Who was on. The big cliché that absolutely EVERYONE comes out with when reminiscing about watching Doctor Who as kids is that they always hid behind the sofa when it was on. Well guess what...I COULDN'T HIDE BEHIND THE SOFA !!!!
This was mainly due to our black vinyl leather imitation 1970's sofa being pushed up against the back of the living room wall. Even though I was only 5 and small for my age there was absolutely no chance that I was going to fit behind there. So what did I do ? Did I bravely face the monsters like the good Doctor himself would do ? Did I fearfully clutch at my Dad's arm for reassurance and suffer in silence? No. I didn't do either of those things...I simply turned my back to the TV.
For 25 whole minutes I sat with my back to the telly, listening to every single word, occasionally braving the odd few seconds glance over my shoulder when it sounded like nothing too extreme was happening. My brief furtive glances started getting slightly longer...just a few seconds mind you, I was nowhere near brave enough to do much more than that. It was all going well until the last few moments of the programme when suddenly there came a moment which made me jump out of my skin. The character of Count Scarlioni stands in front of a mirror and camly RIPS HIS OWN FACE OFF !!!! To make matters worse what is revealed underneath is his true face - a quivering mass of green tentacles with a single cyclops-like eye in the middle of his head...
I'd just met Scaroth the last of the Jagaroth and he was absolutely terrifying...
In retrospect, through the filter of modern day eyes he probably looks a little silly these days. Especially when you factor in his John Travolta style white 70's disco suit, but back then he melted my 5 year old brain with fear. That was enough for me... I was done. I think I probably ran back into the kitchen at that moment just as the loud screech that heralded the start of the theme tune kicked in. I swore I would never watch Doctor Who EVER AGAIN.
Sure enough, the following week I was back for more. Sat with my back to the telly, once more risking the odd glance. Listening to every single word and enjoying the story even though I didn't dare turn round, but still finding myself thrilled regardless (even though I didn't fully understand what was going on). This ritual continued for the next few Saturday nights.
The next story after "City of Death" was "The Creature From The Pit". This story deals with an alien society who sacrifice people to the titular pit dwelling monster. The creature turns out to be a stranded alien ambassador and the whole thing is just one big misunderstanding. The thing that scared me about this story was the presence of the thing in the pit - this big massive green blob that glowed and crushed people to death. It was a horrifying concept and my child's imagination had these horrible visions of what it looked like.
About 20 or so years later I saw this story again. Imagine my disappointment when the horrific Lovecraftian entity that dwelled in the sinister dark pit turned out to look like this...
Thats right - the monster turned out to be nothing more than a giant green cock and balls. Seriously WHAT WHERE THEY THINKING ??? At one point The Doctor even does this...
Apparently he's "trying different communication methods", thats one way you could describe it I suppose. Tom Baker is a man noted for having a bizzare sense of humour, he MUST have known what he was doing.
The moral of the story is that the memory sometimes cheats. The pit monster is one of the most infamous creatures in Doctor Who history...but totally for all the wrong reasons. Moving swiftly on...
The next story broadcast was ''The Nightmare of Eden". I don't have many recollections of this one but I do remember being scared of these monsters (The Mandrels) as they stalked The Doctor down a gloomy spaceship corridor. It wasn't so much the way they looked (I must have been getting slowly braver) it was more the sound they made that got to me.
By the time the next serial "The Horns Of Nimon" rolled around, my Dad decided to have a little talk with me. It basically went along the lines of "Look, you're obviously enjoying Doctor Who otherwise you wouldn't keep coming back every Saturday. Why not turn around and watch it properly ? I'm here, nothing bad's going to happen. It's all pretend anyway. You'll really enjoy it... even more than you do now".
I was never a brave kid (I'm not a particularly brave adult either) but that conversation felt like a challenge to me. A challenge I was willing to undertake. I think I realised that I'd come so far in just a few short weeks from running out of the living room as soon as the first chord of the theme tune started to "watching" the show with my back turned. Over the last few weeks the monsters that had previously seemed so terrifying to me could now at least be faced with quick glimpses.
Even The Doctor who had seemed like this slightly sinister and intimidating adult now seemed like somebody who was actually quite funny and reassuring. After all, he always beat the monsters and usually laughed about it afterwards, so things can't have been that bad really could they ?
So, with this mindset in place I sat down and watched Episode 1 of "The Horns of Nimon" and...I absolutely LOVED IT ! My Dad was right. I enjoyed it a hundred times more actually being able to see the bloody thing (funny that) and it wasn't scary...it was thrilling. I especially liked "The Bull Men" as I called them (thier real name was The Nimon). I'd finally conquered my fear and everything was going to be OK.
Of course it probably helps that "The Horns Of Nimon" is one of the cheapest and most shoddily made episodes of Doctor Who ever committed to videotape. It was the end of the season and unlike modern Who where they pull out all the stops to give you a big budget "end of season finale" with movie style special effects, back then they tended to blow all the season's budget on the early episodes and then scraped the bottom of the barrel for the last few (this season they'd probably spent thier wad on flying the cast and crew out to Paris to film the location work for "City Of Death"). The sets, costumes and monsters in "The Horns Of Nimon" are all sub B-movie standard (In one scene a guard gets zapped to death by a laser and the actor's trousers split open right up the arse on camera. This mistake is left in - they obviously couldn't afford a reshoot so just had to leave it there, hoping nobody would notice...People did).
Back then though, none of this mattered to me. This silly, unintentionally funny, shonky example of Doctor Who at it's worst was, to me, the final piece that clicked into place. The fear had gone and I was now a fully fledged fan. I will always have fond memories of this story and it will always hold a place in my heart for helping to take away my fears and cause me to fully embrace something that I would grow to unconditionally love (warts and all). Thank you "Horns of Nimon".
"The Horns Of Nimon" was the final story to be broadcast that year. There was supposed to be one more story - "Shada" - but that was only partially filmed and never completed due to industrial action. Doctor Who was over for another year and it had gained a new fan. I couldn't wait to watch it again. However, little did I know that the show I had only just gotten used to was about to change forever. More on that next time...
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