The Nightmare of Eden

[John]

Not quite as good as Horns of Nimon in my opinion, but a thoroughly enjoyable story nevertheless, even though Bob Baker clearly ripped off the idea of the CET machine from Carnival of Monsters.

It's interesting that the production team decided to do a story of this nature. Doctor Who generally has a strong moral standpoint, so tackling an important topic like drug abuse head on was quite a brave decision, and whilst it wasn't portrayed too graphically, the Doctor's condemnation of the practise paints a very clear picture for younger members of the audience.

Great to have David Daker back, though perhaps on this occasion his character didn't have quite the same substance as that of Irongron, and I wonder whose idea it was to give Tryst a camp German accent? Who cares, it all adds to the fun of the story.

For me, what makes this story such fun is the amazing variety of amusing quotes that are littered throughout all four episodes. My favourite has to be:

"Me? Well, I told you, I'm from Galactic."

"Galactic went out of business twenty years ago."

"I wondered why I hadn't been paid."

My favourite scene has to be the infamous "Oh... my fingers... my arms... my legs... ah... my everything... aaargh!" scene, where the Doctor emerges from the Eden projection with shredded clothing after having been mauled by the Mandrels. Priceless!

Unplug brain and enjoy...

Rating: 3 Tom's out of 5

[Toothy Grin]

Nightmare of Eden is one of the most frustrating stories ever, as it has such a wonderful plot, dealing in serious issues like drug addiction, and some fascinating science-fiction concepts, but it's almost totally ruined by dreadful production. The Mandrels are terrible monsters, looking like something from The Muppet Show, the costumes are horrendous (what on earth were they thinking of with the customs men? ), and the performances are almost entirely dreadful - Tryst is the worst offender with his ludicrous german accent, and David Daker is pretty abysmal too. The silly humour in the story ruins the serious message and clever plot, BUT.....for some reason Nightmare of Eden still remains enjoyable. Tom is excellent in this (apart from his one, unfortunate lapse into farce - the "my arms, my legs" scene), and the story moves along at a good pace, while some of the special effects are quite good, and the scenes in the eden projection are pretty well done. It's sad that this story comes across so silly, as done seriously, with decent performances and better monsters, I think Nightmare of Eden could have been an all time classic.

[pattie anne]

My favourite scene has to be the infamous "Oh... my fingers... my arms... my legs... ah... my everything... aaargh!" scene, where the Doctor emerges from the Eden projection with shredded clothing after having been mauled by the Mandrels. Priceless!

Indeed! And didn't they just do "that" again, very recently?