The Body Snatchers

DVD, The Champions (The Body Snatchers)

Like no other episode this feels very much like a James Bond film, and not just for the prominent role Bernard Lee plays as villain Squires - it's in the mould of the old-time Bond films with evil technology, a group of similarly attired henchmen surrounding the villain's 'base,' and a hard edge to the villain himself, a cruel streak of vicious pleasure in killing and suffering. It's also got that Bond feel because Richard is called in by an old contact, Felix Leiter, I mean Frank Nicholls, and when he went into that old shed near the chapel I half-expected the whole thing to descend into the cavernous environs of a secret scientific establishment. Add to this the far from uncommon use of a grand old house for much of the action, and Bond, I mean Barrett, acting mostly alone, dodging machine gun fire and taking on multiple opponents at a time, and it really has that style down. I don't know whether they were going for that, but it would seem likely since that film series was going strong at the time when this was made, so Sixties super-spies were the 'in' thing. Indeed, it seems that only this series' trope of one of the main characters being captured while the others have to track them down, was the reason for having Craig and Sharron in it at all, though they do make a good pairing, Craig always acting quite jovially and Sharron looking up to him almost like an older brother.

It's definitely Richard's episode, however, going in alone without telling Tremayne what he's up to, and it's up to the boss to do some deduction work of his own, albeit from the comforts of his Nemesis office, which is why he sends for Richard's colleagues to do the ground work. If there are clear Bond influences, you could also point to 'The Avengers' as a source of inspiration, whether directly or not, I couldn't tell, not being an aficionado of that series, but it's just the sort of eccentric English setup you'd expect there: a research establishment; a race through an old graveyard within its grounds; entering a secret lab through a tomb; weird scientific experiments to revive the dead… It also has elements of classic sci-fi and horror, except they don't really go down those routes or explore the nature of cryogenic freezing beyond a few mentions. I say it's eccentrically English, but of course the action all takes place in a small, remote Welsh village called Porthgerwyn which is probably fictional, though it's said to be in North Wales. The funny thing is, you don't get any Welsh accents in the whole production, bar one: Talfryn Thomas makes an uncredited appearance as a mechanic Craig and Sharron leave their car with, a good decade before he'd become the famous Welsh reporter Mr. Cheeseman in 'Dad's Army,' so it's fun to spot him here. It's ironic that we have Irish (Frank sounds like it, anyway), French or German (Inge Kalmutt's name sounds German, but her accent might have been French!), most of Squires' men sound English, and one has an Aussie lilt.

Again it's noticeable that they like to set stories within the UK, probably because, although the series has always tried to be exotic and globe-trotting, creating other countries in studios is probably more challenging than filming in the countryside around where they were based, and I have to say it always looks better with the natural woodland, grass, trees and such (or even the busy London streets), than otherwise. Here, some lovely stock footage is used to set a few scenes, mainly the train journey Craig and Sharron take, so the record of well integrated use of stock continues. The downside is that the story is smaller and more country based than some others, but the villains are suitably menacing thanks to some heavy firepower which they aren't afraid to use - the sight of a machine gun crashing into the old shed and blasting the opposite wall is much more shocking than Frank's shotgun blasts which are quite fitting for such a locale. The same when Richard has to duck as another automatic weapon trills a clip at him in the house, peppering the doorway with holes. But it's still just one old house that our three agents are dealing with. I'm not entirely clear why they couldn't get the police involved, or even the army, except that at least one of the patients (and the number of cryo-tubes suggested there were others), was former American General Carl Patterson, noted as top brass on defence at the Pentagon, so for publicity purposes and the sensitivity of those who might be held captive, there was some sense in sending in the best on their own.

The technology could have been a fascinating science fictional exploration, but it's really only talked about, except when Richard is locked inside one of these (well-designed), tubes and the temperature plummets to -125ºC. It's a mini return of the trope of getting locked in a freezer room to add to the one of them being captured. But once again, as in a few cases (like the recent 'The Silent Enemy' where Craig and Richard get themselves out of captivity), Richard manages to free himself so he's on hand ready to act when backup eventually arrives in the form of his colleagues. I don't know what he was going to do if they hadn't turned up as lost 'tourists,' but by then he had the help of one of Squires' men, Yeats, so perhaps he could have got Inge's hostage Father out and then come back for her. Yeats was probably the most interesting character outside of the brutal and forbidding Squires, as he clearly has a change of heart. Originally working for the Kalmutt's, he joined Squires' group when the Mellion Research establishment was taken over, and you get the impression it was because he was a coward and only followed Squires in fear of him. He stands up to the man after he's killed two people instead of holding them captive, and murder's too far for Yeats. But he's soon cowed into submission again until he sees a chance when Richard comes a-calling. I like the visual clue that of his change of allegiance: Squires and all his men dress the same with flat caps, as does Yeats until he's forced to put Richard in the cryo-tube, at which point he no longer wears the cap and we never see him in it again.

Squires is said to be working for some foreign government, using the Kalmutt's research experiments into reviving those who have been frozen, by which means he hopes to get all General Patterson's defence secrets. There are a couple of flaws with this plan, and his motivation is a bit boring, he's in it for a lot of money, though perhaps that's why he exercises his cruel streak whenever possible, because he wants some enjoyment from the job. Regarding the General's secrets I wasn't too keen on that plan as the Pentagon isn't going to keep all the same codes and layout as when this particular General was high up in the organisation, they'd have changed it all. This is reasonably overturned when Richard talks of the General's awareness of the locations of launching pads, airbases and nuclear stores, things which aren't going to be irrelevant in a hurry, so I can give them that. The other problem with it all is that this technology which gives the power to restore life weeks or months later, a breakthrough which Squires claims 'changes all the old concepts of life and death,' is far from the immortality it seems on the surface. As Inge admits, reviving people won't cure them of their illnesses, which means they'd be dead again before long, not to mention the fact that the ageing process can't be stopped so it doesn't alter the natural human lifespan, merely prolongs the possibility of resurrecting someone if they died from something that can eventually be cured.

That doesn't bother Squires, probably because he just wants to wake Patterson up, interrogate him, then he can drop dead again, true to the callous, bullying nature. It was convenient he didn't kill Richard as he shot the young photographer at the beginning, and with great deliberation and relish set fire to Frank who was covered in petrol from burst cans. But it's believable that he'd want to use Richard as a test case (much like Minoes in 'The Silent Enemy'), and a suitable way for Richard, like Bond, to be left to his own escape devices. Powers were fairly sparingly used for much of this episode - we see Richard's almost too weak to push his way out of the freezing tube, but he somehow rallies and is eventually able to break the catches and roll out. It's fourteen minutes into the episode before we see the first use of the champions' abilities, and at that only Richard hearing a car approaching the shed where he meets contact Frank. After that, he breaks the bars out of their concrete base to get through a window into the house (in a strange parallel with the post-credits sequence as if to prove he can do it, too). He hears the conversation between Squires and Inge, though it might not have been using his special hearing as he was just outside the door! It's not until Inge foolishly betrays him when Squires comes back, revealing his presence hiding in the room, that he gets to do some fun stuff, making an almighty leap at Squires as he enters, then taking on three henchmen in the corridor before being brought to a halt by machine gun fire - even the champions can't dodge that, something that comes up at the end.

Craig and Sharron's first use of powers comes with the sensing of Richard being put into the cryo-tube, before then they've been having a pleasant jaunt through unpronounceable Welsh stations, which is close to being a running joke (Tremayne mentions the place where Richard was said to be going and Craig says he can't even say it, then when they pass Abergynolwyn he can't say that either). Craig breaks the chain holding the large iron gates of Mellion closed, so they can pretend they got lost, and when challenged further into the estate, Sharron knocks the be-capped guard over using the car door, then gets out and bashes him about a bit, before settling back in and smiling cheesily at Craig, which is quite funny, though their scenes can undercut the more brutal direction the episode has taken - Squires' murder of Frank is quite shocking as we see him calmly throw the match, then the camera view is covered in flames through which we see him watch, even though there are no screams or sound of thrashing around, which might have been a step too far. Or when Squires unsportingly thumps Richard hard in the chest once he's surrendered, a thuggish, nasty man. Perhaps they needed to lighten the mood a little with such a foul villain. He's a bit of a Darth Vader, too, changing his mind about the deal with Inge to stop the experiments once Patterson has been revived.

The best use of abilities comes when Craig and Sharron finally make it to the house, Richard speaking to them to let them know he's watching, and informing them of the guards that are at exits surrounding them in the famous staircase set they love so much - a big rumble then ensues, starting when one of the caps comes on Richard from behind and is hurled over the balcony to crash onto the floor below. It's a well choreographed fight with leaps and punches, though once she's dealt with one opponent by pushing him over, Sharron prefers to leave it to the boys as if she doesn't really like fighting, which is fair enough. Craig and Richard then run off and perform what is fast becoming one of their signature moves, jointly kicking a door in. But, like in 'The Mission,' they're too late and a car chase results. Just like 'The Mission' it's the villain and a woman (this time Inge with Patterson, who's dead - but why worry, surely he can be revived yet again?), and, just like 'The Mission' it all ends in tears with a crash, though this time the girl survives. Also just like 'The Mission' the chase appears to take place from the same location used in that episode, the house and it's distinctive arched front entrance and driveway very clear. I wondered if the place was the same we'd seen before - while it was certainly the one from that episode I don't know if it was the same as other country houses seen in earlier episodes.

The return of some familiar sets and locations isn't limited to the house and the staircase room, we also see the 'fishing village' set with its steep central slope bordered by buildings either side, the inn both Richard and the others check into is situated there. Again, the innkeeper (apparently named Lee Rogers, though we never hear her name - it's funny to think the script is written with such things in mind as if these are real people with a life beyond what we see), is very English, which is strange for such an isolated village in Wales, I would imagine, but perhaps there was a shortage of Welsh actors or those that could do a Welsh accent - or perhaps they were thinking of the international market, just as American Craig couldn't handle the town names, they might not be able to deal with too many accents (though that doesn't explain the other various examples, nor Mr. Cheeseman!). At least the post-credits scene is another original, even if it does come across as a bit small fry: Craig rescues a young boy who's got his head trapped in some railings. He doesn't make it look easy to bend the bars, but that may have been on purpose so as not to astound the crowd surrounding the incident.

There's a fair bit of day for night shooting around the graveyard scenes, which is always rather obvious by the way patches of sunlight are shining through the trees. There's also some discernible back projection used for some of the car scenes, but not all, particularly glaring in the car chase at the end which doesn't look right at times. There are other notable oddities like that, such as the stunt double in some of the scenes doubling Richard in the graveyard - he's only seen from behind, but you can tell it's not William Gaunt. There's a bit of a booboo when Craig gets out to open the Mellion gate as the filming is from inside the car looking forward and you can spot a man standing, reflected in the rearview mirror, perhaps a crewman or the Director? It's funny to see as you don't usually get such major flubs. In a similar vein the cover of the tomb that Frank and his photographer mate use to enter the underground lab is lighter than it first appears - at first they have to push hard to move it aside, but then when the young man climbs in and looks back at Frank he bumps his head on it and it wobbles so you can see it's actually rather light! It's fortunate the grilles they remove to enter the lab weren't screwed in or they'd never have made it without causing a big racket…

The credits are pretty comprehensive as there wasn't a large cast, though I didn't work out who 'White' was. He could have been one of Squires' henchman, perhaps the Australian-sounding one who gets a few lines. I was also unclear on who 'David Fenton' was, but it's likely he was the young photographer that put Frank on the trail in the first place, and Lee Rogers could only be the innkeeper as there weren't any other female characters. One of the henchmen gets named as Joey when the Aussie asks him to stay with Craig and Sharron while he finds Squires, but I don't think he had any lines. General Patterson is only seen comatose, so no wonder he doesn't get a credit, and we don't even see Inge's Father, a fellow scientist that Squires is using as leverage on her. Frank would have been a good character to keep around, and it adds something to Richard's character when we hear of them having dealt with something in the past - Frank's a famous freelance journalist and when he tells Richard to go while he provides a diversion to the men in caps brigade, Richard says he's just trying to square himself for what happened 'before,' so we assume he saved him or helped him in some way in a previous adventure, something which broadens the imagined life of these characters. He was quite a character with his mane of white hair and intense attitude, but he says he's got something that kept him alive all these years, that he's a coward, which doesn't ring true from how we see him act.

Tremayne's learnt enough to 'keep tabs on you three,' which is how he got interested in where Richard had gone, contacting the Americans and finding out the body of General Patterson had been stolen, so it's good to see some development in how he views his agents from all the experiences they've shared. But… The story doesn't live up to the premise, and when I saw the name Terry Nation on the screenplay I thought I was in for a good one, so expectations were raised a little. The 'cryobiology' was ripe for exploration in this context, and they mention the possibilities of spare part surgery, something that was a big deal in the Sixties (prompting the creation of the Cybermen in 'Dr. Who'), but these ideas aren't very well explored, and creeping around in a graveyard at night is as atmospheric as things get. Squires was a perfectly nasty villain, like a bad version of James Bond as he's said to be part of a big espionage operation for a government, Bernard Lee appearing to enjoy playing against type, far from 'M' or the various officers he'd played so often, but his support wasn't very strong and the episode comes across as a little bland after a promising beginning, and another abrupt end doesn't help: the champions wryly observe that not even this technology will cure a chest full of bullets, without any time for Richard to feel sorry for Frank, or a wrap-up with Tremayne. So it just edges under the quality I hoped for, even though it looked good and had its moments, it gets a little bogged down with long explanations, mainly whenever Inge was discussing things, and didn't live up to the provocative title.

**