The Seeds of Death

Episode Four

By Brian Hayles and Terrance Dicks

Original Air Date: 15 February, 1969
5:15pm - 5:40pm

1, INT: EARTH-CONTROL

(There is a whine from a nearby cubicle as something appears.)

BRENT: Commander Radnor, the T-Mat is working!

RADNOR: Working? Kelly must have got through!

ELDRED: Splendid!

(They all peer at the object that has materialised.)

ELDRED: What is it?

(Brent Enters the cubicle and touches the sphere. As he does so it begins to grow like the Doctor’s, but more ferociously.)

BRENT: It's alive!

(They all look astonished as the alien artifact soon fills the entire cubicle with an unknown rippling white mass, and just when it seems it can expand no further it explodes disgorging a mass of white vapour into the Brent’s face. As he collapses the others rush away from the rapidly spreading cloud, Radnor briefly checking Brent for signs of life.)

ELDRED: Get away from here quick, quick!

RADNOR: He’s d*ad, keep back and out of that smoke! Guards, keep away from here!

(They all begin to get overcome by the undispersing cloud.)

ELDRED: Use the air conditioning!

(Radnor turns to a guard.)

RADNOR: Switch the air conditioning to expel!

(A guard rushes to the controls and throws the switch, there is a whine as all the cloud of vapour gets sucked out through a grille.)

ELDRED: It seems to be clearing - what was that thing?

(He peers closer at the remains of the sphere.)

RADNOR: Careful Daniel!

ELDRED: It’s alright, harmless enough now. It’s shrivelled up.

RADNOR: Get Brent’s body over to the medical wing - tell them that I want a full autopsy!

(Four technicians take Brent's body away.)

RADNOR: Now what do you make of that?

ELDRED: Ever seen anything like that thing before?

RADNOR: No. It looked like some sort of seed pod, but why do you think it exploded like that?

ELDRED: Some plants reproduce that way, their pods explode and spread their seeds.

RADNOR: All this thing spread was some kind of smoke.

ELDRED: Which has now been dispelled into the outside air of London!

2, INT: MOON-CONTROL

(On the control board the Ottawa light is flashing. An Ice-Warrior moves forward with a new seed and places it on a stand in the cubicle.)

SLAAR: Prepare to dispatch... Dispatch!

(The stand and seed in the cubicle vanish. The Warrior moves forward with another seed repeating the process for Oslo.)

SLAAR: Hamburg.

FEWSHAM: Why are we doing this? What are those things?

(Slaar glares at him.)

SLAAR: Dispatch!

3, INT: SOLAR-ENERGY STORE-ROOM

(Kelly is examining one of the solar energy heat-lamps with a screwdriver.)

KELLY: Zoe could you hold this for a moment?

(She hands Zoe a small bulb.)

ZOE: What is it?

KELLY: Well this circuit was overloaded; it blew out when we destroyed that creature. I'm trying to repair it.

(Zoe hands the bulb back and moves over to gaze at the other lamp.)

ZOE: Well this one looks alright.

KELLY: Let's hope it works.

ZOE: Well let's hope we don't need it.

(Zoe crawls into the entrance to the maintenance tunnels and looks, then comes back out again.)

ZOE: No sign of them. Isn't getting any warmer is it?

KELLY: Well they can't have had time to reach the heating controls yet.

ZOE: And the heating controls are in the main control room aren't they?

KELLY: Yes.

ZOE: ...And so are the Ice-Warriors.

4, INT: MAINTENANCE TUNNEL

(Jamie and Phipps crawl through a small rough metal section and pause for a moment.)

PHIPPS: Are you alright?

JAMIE: Fine.

(They continue to a section where they can stand up and walk past an array of dirty old pipes. Rounding a corner they find a grille in the wall, looking through Phipps sees the Ice-Warriors and Fewsham.)

SLAAR: Paris! Dispatch!

(Another stand and seed pod vanishes and Jamie and Phipps crouch down again.)

JAMIE: What are they up to?

PHIPPS: I don't know, it looks as though they're sending something by T-Mat.

JAMIE: Well who's that helping them?

PHIPPS: Fewsham.

(Phipps stands up again and looks.)

JAMIE: Hey, can you see the Doctor anywhere?

PHIPPS: No, there's no sign of him. I wonder what it is they're sending?

5, INT: EARTH-CONTROL

COMPUTER: THE OBJECT APPEARED IN RECEPTION CUBICLE T-MAT HEADQUARTERS. LEADING TECHNICIAN DOUGLAS D. GRANT IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE OBJECT COLLAPSED AND DIED INSTANTLY. CAUSE OF DEATH AS YET UNKNOWN. MESSAGE FROM NEW YORK ENDS.

RADNOR: That's another one. How many does that make?

ELDRED: Sixteen T-Mat reception centres.

RADNOR: How many deaths?

ELDRED: Brent here, that man in Berlin, two in New York... But I doubt that those things were sent just to k*ll one or two people at random.

RADNOR: Well what else then?

ELDRED: Well I don't know, but ...

RADNOR: What?

ELDRED: I'm wondering if there's any pattern with these cities. London, Ottawa, Oslo, Hamburg, Berlin..

RADNOR: Yes, they're all major population centres certainly.

ELDRED: But is that all they have in common?

(There is a whistle and Radnor pulls a piece of printout from the control panel. He gazes at it incredulously.)

ELDRED: What is it?

RADNOR: The autopsy report on Brent.

ELDRED: Well?

RADNOR: He died of oxygen starvation.

ELDRED: Oxygen starvation takes at least three or four minutes. He died instantly!

RADNOR: Exactly! And according to this the medical unit can't believe it either.

ELDRED: Obviously what k*lled him was that smoke-like substance which was emitted when the pods exploded; which was expelled into the outside atmosphere!
let's hope that diluted with air it loses it's toxic quality, otherwise...

(They look at each other in concern.)

6, EXT: EARTH-CONTROL GROUNDS

(The gas-like vapour sweeps through the air like a deadly poison shroud. On the grass below slimy white fronds begin to push themselves up from the soil.
Inside the fronds a small round pustule expands a bit before ejaculating a little more vapour with an expl*sive pop...)

7, INT: MOON-CONTROL

SLAAR: Zurich. Dispatch!

(Another trisilicate-grey metal stand bearing a seed pod vanishes from the cubicle. The Ice-Warrior lumbers away from the cubicle and Slaar surveys the room.)

FEWSHAM: Is that the last?

SLAAR: It may be necessary to send further seeds later.

(Fewsham gets up and moves over to the Doctor.)

FEWSHAM: What about him?

SLAAR: Is he still alive?

(Fewsham checks.)

FEWSHAM: Yes, still breathing.

SLAAR: That is unusual, most humans would be d*ad. Take him to the T-Mat cubicle.

FEWSHAM: What for?

SLAAR: Do as I say.

(Fewsham drags the Doctor over to the cubicle while Jamie and Phipps watch helplessly from behind the grille.)

8, INT: MAINTENANCE TUNNEL

JAMIE: What are they going to do?

PHIPPS: Ssh!

9, INT: MOON-CONTROL

(The Doctor lies in a cubicle.)

SLAAR: Dispose of him!

FEWSHAM: What do you mean?

SLAAR: You will adjust the T-Mat controls and suspend him in space; between the moon and the Earth.

(Fewsham looks a little sick.)

10, INT: MAINTENANCE TUNNEL

JAMIE: We've got to try and save him!

PHIPPS: Back of the cubicle, over here quick.

(They crawl over to the grille that leads into the back of the cubicle that the Doctor is lying in.)

11, INT: MOON-CONTROL

FEWSHAM: But you can't just ask me to k*ll a man, just like that!

SLAAR: You dispatched the seeds, in so doing you destroyed your entire species. What is the death of one man compared to that?

(Fewsham looks distraught.)

FEWSHAM: What was in those things?!

SLAAR: No more questions. Operate the controls.

FEWSHAM: I can't. I can't!

SLAAR: Prepare to die.

FEWSHAM: T-Mat is only programmed to send to other centres. I shall have to reprogram the circuit.

SLAAR: Then do so - at once!

12, INT: MAINTENANCE TUNNEL

JAMIE: Are you sure this is the back of the right cubicle?

PHIPPS: It'd better be!

13, INT: MOON-CONTROL

FEWSHAM: Please... Please don't make me...

SLAAR: Complete it!

14, INT: MAINTENANCE TUNNEL

(Loosening the last screws Jamie and Phipps tug the grille.)

PHIPPS: Right!

(As the grille falls away they see another one.)

JAMIE: Oh no!

PHIPPS: It's only the interior casing; it comes away easily.

JAMIE: Oh.

15, INT: MOON-CONTROL

(The Doctor still lies slumped in the cubicle.)

SLAAR: Is the circuit prepared yet?

FEWSHAM: Yes. Almost...almost.

SLAAR: You are wasting time, operate.

FEWSHAM: No!

SLAAR: At once!

(Fewsham flips a switch and looks at the cubicle that the Doctor was lying in. It is now empty.)

FEWSHAM: You've k*lled him... You've k*lled him, you've k*lled him!

SLAAR: Prepare to dispatch to London. Do as I say!

(Leaving a dejected looking Fewsham at the console, he strides over to a waiting Warrior.)

SLAAR: The time has come, Umil. You understand what you must do?

ICE-WARRIOR: I understand.

SLAAR: You must succeed at all costs.

(The Warrior lumbers over to the cubicle and gets inside as Slaar returns to Fewsham.)

SLAAR: Transmit to London.

FEWSHAM: I need time. I must reprogram.

16, INT: MAINTENANCE TUNNEL

(Phipps and Jamie have hauled the Doctor out through the grille at the last possible moment.)

PHIPPS: Bringing the Doctor by yourself?

JAMIE: Yes.

PHIPPS: Can you remember the way back?

JAMIE: Oh I-I I think so.

PHIPPS: I'll try and get to the heating controls.

JAMIE: Good.

(Jamie moves off dragging the still unconscious Doctor with him. Phipps crawls through another low tunnel and climbs a ladder. Walking through another higher passageway Phipps turns a corner and peers through a grille on the other side of the control room. From where he is he can see the heating control. Silently he removes the grille and tries to squeeze out, but it proves too small for him to fit through. He replaces the grille and decides to follow Jamie.)

17, EXT: EARTH-CONTROL GROUNDS

(There is now a mass of slimy fungal fronds voraciously spreading across the ground at an alarming rate. As each of the many pustules on it's surface erupts, they spray jets of gloopy ichor across the ground which instantly take root and begin to grow their own pustules...)

18, INT: EARTH CONTROL

COMPUTER: REPORTS NOW RECEIVED ON CAUSE OF DEATH OF T-MAT RECEPTION TECHNICIANS IN NEW YORK AND BERLIN. IN ALL CASES VICTIMS DIED OF OXYGEN STARVATION.

RADNOR: Discontinue report.

ELDRED: Wait a minute, there's something else...

RADNOR: Alright. Continue report.

(He sits down.)

COMPUTER: INFORMATION COMING IN ON APPEARANCE OF VEGETABLE BLIGHT NOW ATTACKING PARKS AND GARDENS IN THE METROPOLISES.

(In a T-Mat cubicle an Ice-Warrior appears. The creature exits through the door neglecting to open it first, noisily destroying the entire cubicle. Radnor jumps up from where he is sitting.)

COMPUTER: MANY AREAS HAVE SUCCUMBED TO THIS UNIDENTIFIED MENACE. FOAM APPEARS TO BE BYPRODUCT OF LARGE FUNGI WHICH GROW AND BURST SPREADING THEIR SPORES OVER LARGE AREAS.

(As the Warrior advances a couple of technicians rush away.)

COMPUTER: RATE OF GROWTH IS SUCH THAT ACRES OF GROUND ARE COVERED IN MINUTES.

(The Warrior approaches Radnor and Eldred, then turns to pursue the fleeing technicians but they escape. It lumbers back to Radnor and Eldred again)

RADNOR: GUARDS!

COMPUTER: ...ESTIMATED THAT STRONG SOUTH-WESTERLY WINDS WILL SPREAD THIS DISEASE OVER LARGE AREAS OF EUROPE AND ASIA...

(A group of oxygen-masked, armed guards rush in and f*re their r*fles at the warrior, but the b*ll*ts ricochet off it's bumpy green carapace having no effect.)

COMPUTER: ...DESTROYING CERTAIN CROP CEREALS. MESSAGE ENDS.

(The Martian raises it's arm and it's w*apon flashes condemning a guard to death by bibbling. The Warrior lumbers out through the doorway. There are sounds of sh*ts, then a terminal whine, a wibble of the sonic disruptor and silence. Radnor Picks up a r*fle and rushes through the doorway after the Ice Warrior, then returns moments later glancing at the r*fle in his hand.)

RADNOR: The guards... It's k*lled them; it's k*lled them all!

19, INT: MOON-CONTROL

(Slaar is addressing two of his warriors.)

SLAAR: I shall return shortly. You will remain here.

(He addresses the other.)

SLAAR: The humans that escaped - have they been found?

ICE-WARRIOR: We are searching for them.

SLAAR: Intensify the search. They must be found and destroyed.

(Slaar strides out without looking back.)

SLAAR: Guard him.

20, INT: SOLAR-ENERGY STORE-ROOM

(Zoe glances at the figure of the Doctor lying on a table at the back of the room.)

ZOE: How is he?

KELLY: I think the water helped him.

JAMIE: Aye, well we'd better get back then. We've still got to get those heating control things.

PHIPPS: It's no good, we'll never make it.

JAMIE: Why not?

PHIPPS: Because the ventilor's too small and there's no other way.

JAMIE: Well maybe I could get through?

PHIPPS: No look, it's impossible.

ZOE: How big is this grille?

PHIPPS: About so big.

(He holds his hands apart and Zoe manoeuvres herself between them.)

ZOE: Well I could get through.

JAMIE: No Zoe, you're not going!

ZOE: Look, I'm smaller than you and I'll probably be a lot quieter too!

JAMIE: Look, it-it it's too dangerous anyway!

ZOE: Well what other alternative is there?

JAMIE: W-well...

KELLY: She's right, it's the logical thing to do.

ZOE: Thank you. Well come on! Show me the way...

(She rushes past Jamie to the maintenance tunnels.)

21, EXT: EARTH-CONTROL GROUNDS

(The Ice-Warrior strides through the middle of the undulating mass of foamy slime and fungal fronds which are now covering the entire ground like a living carpet.)

22, INT: EARTH-CONTROL

ELDRED: He can't just have vanished!

RADNOR: I can assure you that the security guards have lost all trace of it!

ELDRED: I wonder what its purpose was.

RADNOR: Purpose, what are you talking about?

ELDRED: Well can't you see, it's all part of the same plan. First the seed pods and now this creature. I tell you it came here for some purpose; and heaven help anyone that gets it it's way!

23, EXT: EARTH-CONTROL GROUNDS

(The Ice-Warrior continues it's grim march through the fungus-infested grounds. To one side of the slimy fungal mass three masked guards with
"DEFENCE" stencilled on their helmets stand hosing the weed with chemical defoliant. It clearly isn't working as the fungus keeps advancing, clinging to the ground and the guards alike, making them appear as bizarre snowmen. The warrior pauses and g*n down a guard who twists, falls and is swallowed whole by the spreading gloop. The other two guards turn and flee. The warrior presses on through the shapeless Martian vegetable life.)

24, INT: EARTH-CONTROL

(Eldred faces the computer.)

ELDRED: Any trace yet of the alien creature?

COMPUTER: REPORTS FROM SECURITY NEGATIVE.

RADNOR: There you are, what did I tell you?

COMPUTER: SECURITY REPORTS CORDON ROUND T-MAT COMPLEX UNBROKEN.

ELDRED: At least we know it's still in the area.

COMPUTER: CORRECTION, URGENT MESSAGE: BODIES OF THREE TECHNICIANS FOUND IN T-MAT GROUNDS.

25, INT: MAINTENANCE TUNNEL

(Zoe and Phipps crouch at an intersection of the tunnels and Phipps looks extremely flustered.)

ZOE: Right, which way now?

PHIPPS: I'm not sure.

ZOE: But you must remember, you've already been this way once with Jamie.

PHIPPS: Yes I know but...I can't remember this time.

ZOE: But surely...

PHIPPS: Look, I can't remember! All the tunnels look the same.

ZOE: Are you alright?

PHIPPS: Oh yes I'm fine. Seeing most of my friends k*lled and being hunted by monsters!

ZOE: Well if you keep on shouting like that you'll be caught by them and so will I.

PHIPPS: I'm sorry, I don't know what's the matter with me.

ZOE: Nervous exhaustion and a slight touch of claustrophobia. Just sit down here and we'll have a rest.

26, INT: EARTH-CONTROL

ELDRED: I tell you that creature came here for some purpose. It must be making for somewhere, somewhere in this area.

COMPUTER: URGENT MESSAGE: CONTACT MADE WITH THE SECURITY GUARD OBSERVING THE ALIEN.

RADNOR: Relay report direct!

GUARD OOV: Report to central control.

27, EXT: EARTH-CONTROL GROUNDS

(Another guard stands behind a tree.)

GUARD: Report to central control. The creature is entering the east compound area.

(The Ice-Warrior spots the guard, who tries to run off. Pausing to look back for a moment he is just in time to see the warrior blast him. The radio remains clutched in the man's hand as he slumps.)

RADNOR OOV: What's happened? Report.

28, INT: EARTH-CONTROL

RADNOR: What's happened? Report!

COMPUTER: SECURITY GUARD CEASED TRANSMISSION.

RADNOR: Tell security I want a armed patrol sent to the East Command without fail. Immediately! And relay any findings to me here direct. Top priority.

ELDRED: You're only going to lose more security guards.

RADNOR: Well I can't let that creature roam loose, can I?

ELDRED: Can we stop it? Do you know how we can stop it? You know that b*ll*ts will do no good, we've seen that for ourselves. In all these cities there... Wait a moment...yes! Oslo, Ottawa, Berlin, Hamburg, London, Paris, New York! These are the places where the pods have arrived.

RADNOR: Well, so what?

ELDRED: Well don't you see? They're all cold climates, all northern hemisphere. In all of those cities it's winter as it is here!

RADNOR: So?

ELDRED: Why haven't the pods arrived in any warm areas?

COMPUTER: URGENT MESSAGE. SUBJECT: CONTINUED BREAKDOWN OF T-MAT AND CESSATION OF ALL WORLD TRANSPORT AND DISTRIBUTION. TOTAL BREAKDOWN OF SOCIAL ORDER PREDICTED EMERGENCY MEASURES PROVING INADEQUATE...

RADNOR: Discontinue report.

COMPUTER: INCOMING DATA WILL BE RECORDED.

ELDRED: Well, the emergency measures may manage to save a few people.

RADNOR: Well what's the good of that? With no distribution of food supplies we could lose millions!

ELDRED: We may lose most of the world's population before they've finished with us.

RADNOR: They?

ELDRED: That creature... It's only the first - we're going to be inv*de!

29, EXT: EARTH-CONTROL GROUNDS

(Silhouetted against the sun, the warrior strides across the ground.)

30, INT: SOLAR-ENERGY STORE-ROOM

(Jamie crouches at the entrance to the maintenance tunnels.)

KELLY: Any sign of them?

JAMIE: No.

KELLY: They've been gone ages. They can't have reached the heating controls yet the temperature seems the same.

JAMIE: Look, I'm going down there.

KELLY: No, our job is to act as a rearguard in case something goes wrong!

JAMIE: Look, a lot of good we are!

KELLY: Well we're not entirely helpless...

JAMIE: Ah, you've got that thing working again?

(He squeezes through the low opening and into the room.)

KELLY: I think so, but we can hardly test it.

JAMIE: Oh look, where are they? What's keeping them?

31, INT: MAINTENANCE TUNNEL

ZOE: I think we ought to go on.

PHIPPS: Alright.

ZOE: Look, can you remember the way now?

PHIPPS: No, it's no good.

ZOE: W-we could work it out.

PHIPPS: How?

ZOE: Well presumably these maintenance tunnels run parallel to the corridors.

PHIPPS: Well, yes they do, but...

ZOE: Well I've seen a map of the corridors, the Doctor had one in the rocket.

PHIPPS: But you can't possibly remember..!

ZOE: Yes I can, I think.

(She closes her eyes and scans her memory.)

ZOE: Now there's a main corridor here, there are two junctions here... We went left, right left... It must be that one.

(She points.)

PHIPPS: But you and Jamie got lost on the way to the solar energy storeroom!

ZOE: Well only temporarily, I found the way eventually.

PHIPPS: Well you'd better be right this time.

ZOE: Oh come on!

32, INT: MAINTENANCE TUNNEL

(Zoe and Phipps have found the grille that faces out onto the central control room, but there is an Ice-Warrior on guard.)

ZOE: Oh, how long is it going to stand there?

PHIPPS: I don't know... But I daren't move the grille until it goes.

33, INT: SOLAR-ENERGY STORE-ROOM

JAMIE: Look, I'd better see what's happened to them.

KELLY: Alright, but...

JAMIE: What?

KELLY: Ssh!

(They hear the icy, rattling breath of an Ice-Warrior coming closer.)

KELLY: Quick the door!

(Jamie rushes up with his iron bar to jam the door, but there is no time.)

JAMIE: Too late!

(He rushes to a hiding place behind a piece of apparatus as the warrior comes through the door and strides into the middle of the room looking around. Jamie silently mouths "Now!" and hides his eyes as Kelly throws the switch, but hearing no sound of solar energy, peeks out. The warrior is standing a whisker from where he is hiding looking around. Jamie mouths "come on!" at Kelly, and she desperately pulls at the on switch, but the apparatus doesn't work. The Ice-Warrior turns and makes to leave, but as it is in the door way it stops and turns. The creature moves towards the table that the Doctor is lying on.)

34, INT: MAINTENANCE TUNNEL

ZOE: It's moving.

PHIPPS: Quick, move the grille!

(Phipps sets to removing the grille.)

35, INT: CENTRAL-CONTROL

FEWSHAM: How much longer must I wait here?

ICE-WARRIOR: Do not ask questionss!

FEWSHAM: I need food, rest! I haven't had any sleep for...

(He notices the grille being taken off and completes his sentence a little distantly.)

FEWSHAM: ...hours.

(He gazes at the small crack where the grille has been partially removed. The faces of Phipps and Zoe peek out.)

ICE-WARRIOR: What are you doing?

(Fewsham gets up and walks over to the cubicles and begins to make a show of examining them.)

FEWSHAM: I must check the cubicles.

ICE-WARRIOR: But you said T-Mat was functioning properly.

FEWSHAM: I know, but there is something I've forgotten.

36, INT: MAINTENANCE TUNNEL

PHIPPS: Quick! Now the heating controls are over there, turn the main wheel to full.

(He helps Zoe up and out through the grille.)

37, INT: MOON-CONTROL

(Zoe squeezes through the grille and walks along a small raised dais that skirts the wall around the room. She silently shuffles across the vast pulsing screen of lights towards the heating control and tugs it, but it is jammed from lack of use. She looks back at Phipps, then returns to the task and tugs with all her might. Slowly the control moves towards full-on.)

38, STOCK FOOTAGE: THERMOMETER

(The Moonbases heating system rapidly zooms towards 80 degrees.)

39, INT: MOON-CONTROL

(Zoe starts to creep back along the dias as the Ice-Warrior turns.)

PHIPPS: Look out Zoe!

(The warrior's g*n flashes and Phipps dies in a distorted haze of treacly air. Zoe is cornered, standing on the dias before the pulsing screen of lights there is nowhere she can run in time to escape from a second deadly blast. She looks desperately at Fewsham as a rabbit caught in the headlights of a speeding car.)

ZOE: Well help me can't you?! Help me!

(Fewsham nervously shakes his head at Zoe as the Ice-Warrior, with a deliberate laggard grace borne of pure sadism, aims it's w*apon...)
{"type": "series", "show": "Doctor Who", "episode": "06x26 - The Seeds of Death - part 4"}