The Masque of Mandragora
Story: The Masque of Mandragora – Season 14, Story 86Year: 1976
Written by: Louis Marks
Directed by: Rodney Bennett
Synopsis: After the TARDIS encounters a Mandragora Helix, the malevolent Mandragora Energy follows Sarah and the Doctor to Renaissance Italy, where they get caught up in intrigue, power struggles, and the influence of a strange cult.
Sarah Moments:
• She flirts like mad with Prince Giuliano, and he tells her his adorable scientific theories
• She gets hypnotised by Hieronymous and convinced to kill the Doctor!
• She stalks the Doctor through the palace with her poisoned stabby thing
• She tries to kill the Doctor! But he stops her, thank goodness
• She goes to the masque to keep an eye on things while the Doctor takes on the Mandragora Energy
Capture, Rescue and Mortal Peril:
• Wandering about the unfamiliar forest blithely eating an orange, it’s no wonder she gets captured by creepy monks within about five minutes...
• The Doctor tries to rescue her from said creepy monks, but they knock him out with a big rock
• The Brethren chain her up in a dungeon and make her drink a weird smoking beverage
• She nearly gets sacrificed! But the Doctor rescues her in the nick of time
• When Count Federico's guards attack Giuliano, she runs into the temple to find the Doctor and the Brethren get her again
• When she’s freed from the influence of Hieronymous’ hypnotism, she and the Doctor get captured by Count Federico's guards anyway
• She is freed when the palace guards learn that Count Federico is dead and switch their allegiance to Giuliano
• During the masque, the Brethren get her yet again
Quotes:
• ‘Humans have got such limited little minds – I don’t know why I like you so much.’ ‘Because you have such good taste!’ - The Doctor and Sarah
• ‘Exactly as it was foretold! A maiden fair of face and sturdy of body!’ ‘You can forget the flattery – what do you lot want?’ - The High Priest of Demnos and Sarah
• ‘What was going on back there in the temple?’ ‘Sub-thermal recombination of ionised plasma.’ ‘Oh, simple. I should have thought of that.’ - Sarah and the Doctor
• ‘Now, child – whom do you serve?’ ‘I serve you.’ ‘And the Doctor?’ ‘The Doctor is a sorcerer.’ ‘And..?’ ‘Doctor is evil.’ ‘And?’ ‘And... must be destroyed.’ - Hieronymous and Sarah, after he hypnotises her
• ‘Hello, Sarah. Poisoned needle? Drop it.’ ‘Strike him now!’ ‘No, you don’t want to hurt me, Sarah. I’m your friend, remember, your best friend! Drop it. Drop it.’ - The Doctor tries to stop Sarah, while Hieronymous eggs her on
• ‘It is time. Count Federico ordered the execution of these traitors at the end of an hour.’ ‘If he didn’t return!’ ‘Neither he, nor the sorcerer, nor any of their party have returned from the temple.’ ‘You mean it’s an hour already? Doesn’t time fly when you’re enjoying yourself?’ - Rossini and Sarah
• ‘Are we to die without a priest?’ ‘Or even a hearty breakfast!’ - Giuliano and Sarah don't want to be executed...
• ‘Seventeen from sixty?’ ‘Forty-three.’ - The Doctor, with all his superior knowledge of time and space, apparently needs Sarah to help him with simple subtraction...
• ‘You’re going to hold a dance?’ ‘Well, only if you don’t think it’s too dangerous.’ ‘Dangerous? My dear Duke, you’ve got lots of guests to entertain, of course you must hold a hop, Sarah will love it, ask her!’ ‘Oh, yes, just my scene...’ ‘And Giuliano, save me a costume, I love a knees-up!’ - The Doctor, Giuliano and Sarah
• ‘You know, the worse the situation, the worse your jokes get.’ - Sarah, to the Doctor
• ‘All this waiting, not knowing what’s happening to him – it’s worse than being with him!’ - Sarah, on life with the Doctor
Wardrobe Appreciation
Sarah has a very pretty dress in this episode, and a little white blouse underneath.
Check out the details! The pattern on the skirt is especially nice.
The boots are black, and knee-high, with rather incredible heels:
At the end, she also wears a cute little white jacket, which you can see more of in The Hand of Fear
When the Brethren capture her (the first time), she has a big white I'm-going-to-be-sacrificed sort of thing:
At the Masque, Sarah gets to wear a posh frock! It has foofy sleeves and everything, and she even gets a little mask on a stick. Hurrah!
The Panel Said...
Style Watch:
paranoidangel: The brown dress is a bit bizarre, because it's so big by the time you get to the bottom. The dress she gets to wear to the ball entirely makes up for it though because it's just fantastic. 9/10
Cadi: Those boots? Distract me from everything else about what she's wearing...
hhertzof: The (what do you call those things in England, I'd refer to it as a jumper, but I know that's wrong). Oh let's just call it a dress. Anyway, I didn't think the style suited her and it was sooo busy. I did like the blouse, but how did she expect to run in those heels? But I liked the ball gown and I always enjoy the traditional ceremonial robe, so 6/10
Llin: I adore both of those dresses, and the boots are fantastic! 9/10
Sarah_JaneSmith: I love the first dress it's quite becoming of her, love the sacrificial robes, and i think she's adorable in the party dress. 10/10
Sarah Watch:
paranoidangel: She did manage to get caught a lot, didn't she? And was slightly pointless. I did like her flirting with Giuliano though, so 4/10
hhertzof: Sarah gets caught, Sarah's under mind control. Can we have a new plot, please? She did get a few good lines though 6/10
Llin: Stuff mostly happens to her rather than her doing stuff, but she deals with it all pretty well. 6/10
Sarah_JaneSmith: Oh Sarah, stop getting hypnotised! 9/10
Story Watch:
paranoidangel: I just found this to be really cliched. And I really don't understand how Sarah learnt the dances. 2/10
hhertzof: Spoiler for later adventures (highlight to read): Only good as basis for the 2nd series of audios. Otherwise, more faux medieval/renaissance. 4/10
Llin: Quite interesting, bit silly. 6/10
Sarah_JaneSmith: Umm, a bit odd but it's watchable and it connects to the audio novels. 8/10
Bonus Pictures
Prince Giuliano, in his very fetching pants...
It's Tim Pigott-Smith!!
Sarah eats an orange
Woohoo!!
There's always time for a little yo-yo practice...
Exploring the TARDIS
CLUE: Wookey Hole...
|
|