2 episodes. Approx. 58 minutes. Written by: Richard Dinnick. Directed by: Ken Bentley. Produced by: David Richardson. Performed by: Richard Franklin, Felicity Duncan.
THE PLOT
A series of crop circles has appeared on Sark, one of the Channel Islands. These aren't ordinary crop circles, but instead are pictograms, whose intricate shapes the Doctor identifies as letters in the Etherian language. The Etherians are trans-dimensional beings, a race the Doctor is happy to say are non-aggressive.
When the final pictogram appears, the Doctor realizes that they spell out "Ikiria" - the name of the Etherian who is making contact. Ikiria (Felicity Duncan) introduces herself as an artist, who manipulates matter to create works of beauty. She gives the Brigadier a ring to show to his superiors as a gesture of friendship. He then returns to the Home Office to make arrangements for Ikiria to meet some high-ranking officials, leaving Capt. Mike Yates in charge.
Mike quickly finds the situation slipping out of his control. The Doctor disappears, apparently (and rather suspiciously) having fallen from a nearby cliffside. Ikiria is distributing her rings among UNIT soldiers, and it is clear that she has a disturbing influence over them. With the officials soon to meet Ikiria, Mike is left with no choice but to take desperate action that could spell the end of his military career - if it doesn't cost him his life!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: Though he knows the Etherians to be essentially peaceful and non-aggressive, he does not give Ikiria his full trust. She identifies him as a threat early on, and takes steps to remove him. Though he's absent from the middle of the story, the Doctor has already made an impression on Mike as someone to be relied upon, and the captain never stops believing that the Doctor is still out there and ready to fight Ikiria - faith that is rewarded in the story's final Act.
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: When the Doctor states that the pictograms are letters, the Brigadier reaches for the most obvious question: "What do they spell?" He likes concrete, practical answers, and has little patience when the Doctor tries to explain that the meaning of the letters won't become clear until all of them have appeared. After Ikiria gives him the first of her rings, the Brigadier becomes a cartoon of his own worst traits. This apparently alien-influenced Brig refuses to listen to Mike's concerns about her influence over the men and responds to Mike's doubts by threatening to transfer him out of UNIT.
Capt. Mike Yates: UNIT is the first posting that has seen Mike truly "at home." He has an enormous amount of faith in both the Doctor and the Brigadier. He seems to look upon the Brigadier almost as a father figure, which makes it all the more painful when the Brigadier says that UNIT may not be for Mike. Even knowing that the other man is under Ikiria's influence, hearing these words from him is painful to Mike.
THOUGHTS
The Rings of Ikiria hits the ground running. Literally, as it opens with a teaser in which Mike Yates runs from his UNIT comrades. He runs through a field of crops until he finds himself at a cliffside, surrounded. The Brigadier appears, brandishing a gun which he levels at Mike, firing and sending the captain over the edge.
Which yes, means we go into credits literally on a cliffhanger.
The story itself is basic, bread-and-butter Who, very much of the era in which its set. A remote country area on a peninsula, an alien claiming to come in friendship but having another agenda... Heck, it's even resolved by the Doctor putting together a Thingie to Reverse the Polarity of something-or-other. It's such a complete pastische of Pertwee-era Who that it could easily have been dreary in its predictability.
But that opening demonstrates the story's big assets. It may deliberately be formulaic, but The Rings of Ikiria zips along. The story moves breathlessly from plot point to plot point, making up in sheer momentum what it lacks in surprise. It also has real verve to it. Writer Richard Dinnick isn't cynically ticking off boxes on a list labeled "Pertwee UNIT story." His script sparkles with energy, made even more evident by Richard Franklin's enthusiastic reading. It may all be a bit lightweight, but it's such good fun that it's impossible to fault it for that.
Things do weaken a bit toward the end, with the resolution to the crisis seeming a bit too easy. Technobabbling a gadget may be in keeping with the television era, but it doesn't make it a good climax to a story. Also, the Companion Chronicles' own format means that a Third Act twist is easy to see coming well in advance. I'm not saying the twist in question would have been a big surprise in a full-cast story, but in a Companion Chronicle the nature of the presentation makes it regrettably obvious.
In the end, this story is solid fare. It's hardly indispensable, and it's far from ambitious. But its energy, enthusiasm, and spark make it a lot of fun. Its ambitions are modest, but it achieves them splendidly, making it an easy story to recommend.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
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