Sarah -
Here we are in episode six and the Doctor is ready to dump Martha off at home, just 12 hours after they left. “The end of the line. No place like it.”
Halfway through the season and Martha is still being treated like an inconvenient guest.
Harry -
Cannot believe how shitty he behaves here. Like he can't wait to drop off a passenger and hit the road with barely a goodbye.
Sarah -
For a show based on changing the lead and supporting actors on a regular basis, it feels incongruous for the Doctor to still be mourning Rose’s departure. Did the production team think the audience wouldn’t watch without Rose? Viewers had already been through the Doctor’s regeneration, so why not trust them to survive a new companion?
Harry -
The production team's infatuation with Rose is evident.
Sarah -
The Doctor is ready to move along until he hears Professor Lazarus, for whom Martha’s sister, Tish, works, declare on television that he will “change what it means to be human.” The Doctor can’t resist finding out what’s going on and heads off to Lazarus’ big reveal with Martha, who finally gets to change out of her TARDIS uniform and into evening wear.
Harry -
All dressed up to the nines, they look smashing. This time, they can march right into Lazarus Laboratories and not have to pretend to be the hired help.
One of the hallmarks of the RTD era was providing expanded views of companions' lives and families, and it looks like most of Martha's family members have made their way to the reveal gala. Joining Martha and Tish are their brother Leo and their mum Francine.
Sarah -
Including the companions’ families is one of my favorite things in the RTD era. We occasionally met a family member in the classic era, but they usually didn’t stick around too long before meeting the business end of a tissue compression eliminator.
Harry -
Martha throws her arms around her mother, delighted to see her again after all of her adventures with the Doctor -- to which Francine frankly replies that they saw each other only the night before. Then she recalls Martha's sudden departure, turning her gaze onto the Doctor. Losing his cool, he stumbles through some awkward explanations of where they'd been and what they were doing. You can practically see the suspicion fall all over Francine's face.
Sarah -
One of my least favorite things about the RTD era is the way the companions’ mothers are portrayed. It doesn’t seem out of line for her to be concerned about what Martha’s been doing with this weird man, but she’s pretty much turned into a villain by the end of the story.
Harry -
It must be a given that RTD did not have a good relationship with his mother.
Sarah -
I have to admit I’ve wondered about that.
So, Professor Lazarus performs his parlour trick and emerges from his device several decades younger. My favorite fact about this story is that the wig that Mark Gatiss wears as the young Lazarus is the one he wore as the veterinarian on The League of Gentleman, a character that was based on Peter Davison’s Tristan in All Creatures Great and Small. It’s a small world in the Whoniverse.
Harry -
What a factoid! How long have you been waiting to drop that one, Toby?
Sarah -
I bide my time...
Harry -
I have to say the wig did look a bit silly on him. Maybe it was meant to be a symbol of Lazarus' vanity, as he soon shows us that he's a tremendous jerk.
Sarah -
To be fair he was already a creeper when he was old, asking Tish what her “interesting” perfume is called. Her response, “Soap.” was brilliant.
Harry -
Flashback to Mister Jobel in Remembrance of the Daleks, another wig-wearing jerk. In both instances, these were characters of rather limited physical appeal who nonetheless believed themselves to be ladies' men.
Sarah -
They’re definitely cut from the same creepy cloth.
Harry -
No sooner had he rejuvenated than Lazarus batted his partner Lady Thaw aside. His partner in matters professional and seemingly personal, she had assumed she'd be next in line for the treatment. Instead, Lazarus tells her he'd grown tired of her. When the side effects of the experiment cause him to mutate into a giant scorpion monster, Lady Thaw ends up being his first victim as he sucks the life out of her body.
Sarah -
That was even more horrifying than I remembered. Before she leaves us, Lady Thaw lets us know that the experiment is being funded by the mysterious Mr. Saxon.
Harry -
The season arc gains another hint.
So it's clear then that the experiment has not been a total success. Lazarus is able to present his younger form for a few minutes, but the mutation keeps kicking in. His body is literally going haywire. This is confirmed when the Doctor and Martha step away to a lab to study Lazarus' DNA. They see it is unstable and set off to find him.
Sarah -
The Doctor runs past Francine, spilling her drink on her, as they dash off to search for Tish. A rando immediately sidles up to her, whispering in her ear about the Doctor.
Harry -
Meanwhile, the newly-young lecher has lured Tish up to the roof of the building.
Sarah -
Tish is disturbingly taken with the new young Lazarus, flirting with him and brushing his cheek. So gross. When the Doctor and Martha find them, he confronts Lazarus about defying the laws of nature. Lazarus believes living multiple lives is a gift, but the Doctor is all to aware of the curse it can be.
While Tish is trying to justify her attraction to Lazarus ( “I know the age thing's a bit freaky, but it works for Catherine Zeta-Jones.”) he starts to go all scorpion again. The scorpion effect is more than a bit dodgy, but if you can’t handle dodgy monsters, you really shouldn’t be watching Doctor Who.
Harry -
The CGI scorpion is dodgy but I didn't mind it. The Lazarus Experiment is a very straightforward story. Corporate power and arrogance, laboratory tinkering, science gone mad and the Doctor saving the day while an old nemesis lurks in the shadows... this could have been a dusted off script right out of the Pertwee era. Of course, back then the giant scorpion might have been an awkward effect like something out of Invasion of the Dinosaurs.
Sarah -
It does feel very Pertwee-ish, doesn’t it? I believe the Third Doctor’s era is Gatiss’ Doctor Who touchstone and many of this stories feel like they could have been made in the early 70s, which I mean as the highest compliment possible.
Harry -
Lazarus' demise was mostly of his own making. The first time around, anyway. Finding himself trapped with Martha inside Lazarus' machine, the Doctor reverses the polarity (hah!) and causes a shockwave to blast outward, seemingly killing Lazarus.
Naturally, you can't have a character with a name like that not rising from the dead, and Lazarus escapes the authorities and flees inside nearby Southwark Cathedral. The Doctor, Martha and Tish follow him in. After a final failed attempt at reasoning with him, the Doctor convinces the incredibly trusting sisters to lure Lazarus (once again in scorpion form) up a tower. The Doctor then plays the church organ at maximum enhanced volume -- enough to kill a giant scorpion monster but no one else! -- and Lazarus plummets to his death once and for all.
Sarah -
He turns the volume up to 11 and that’s the end of Lazarus.
Harry -
Maybe because there's not much to the story, I didn't really have any strong positive or negative memories about it. It's just kind of there. The acting and production are good, the "Saxon" arc is nudged forward ever so slightly, and one other notable factoid here is that this is where Mark Gatiss begins his reign as the New Who era's perpetually returning guest actor. A Michael Sheard or John Abineri for our times.
Sarah -
"The Lazarus Experiment" is a solid-enough story for the middle of the series. In retrospect, it’s clear that it’s setting up the series finale, but we’ll get to that eventually.
Back at Martha’s place, the Doctor offers Martha one more trip, which she turns down without hesitation. She doesn’t want to just be a passenger, so the Doctor offers a long-term residency and Martha is back in the TARDIS.
Harry -
It's awkward how they go back and forth like this.
Sarah -
As the TARDIS dematerialises, Francine leaves a message on Martha’s voicemail, “I know who this Doctor really is. I know he's dangerous. You're going to get yourself killed. Please, trust me. This information comes from Harold Saxon himself. You're not safe!”
Harry -
Oooo!
Sarah -
Onward!
Best Line: "I'm old enough to know that a longer life isn't always a better one. In the end, you just get tired. Tired of the struggle, tired of losing everyone that matters to you, tired of watching everything turn to dust. If you live long enough, Lazarus, the only certainty left is that you'll end up alone."
Favorite Moment: I have to admit I enjoying Francine making the Doctor squirm. It’s fun to see Mr. “Act Like You Own the Place” feel uncomfortable.
Lasting Image: The dodgy scorpion
6/10
Harry -
Best Line:
Tish: He's a science geek, I should've known.
The Doctor: Science geek, what's that mean?
Martha Jones: That you're obsessively enthusiastic about it.
The Doctor: Oh, nice!
Favourite Moment: Squirming Doctor.
Lasting Image: rejuvenated Lazarus' wig.
6/10
Our marathon continues with Story #184: 42...
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