TTT2 - The Green Death 2

I love the first meeting between The Doctor and Professor Jones in this story. There is an immediate respect for one another, and when they both, without actually speaking about it, realize they're thinking the same thing when trying to find a way into Global Chemicals. I'm so glad that their relationship wasn't made to be adversarial because, knowing how this story will end up, it would eventually lead to feelings of jealousy and bitterness.

The theme of this story, about the rise of environmentalism and the negative effects of pollution, makes The Green Death one of the more timeless Doctor Who stories set in the present day UK and dealing with then contemporary issues. As a keen environmentalist myself, as well as an ardent vegetarian, it's both heartwarming and sad at the same time that such a story was made in 1973. Have we come only this far that, in the almost 40 years since this was made, we're still holding rallies and educating people about the same issues raised here? And were portobello mushrooms around for consumption in 1973? Because I've won people over to vegetarianism flaunting the positive effects of those mushrooms. Every time I see the Brigadier scoff at the idea of eating fungus in this story, I want to jump up and correct him...

Two episodes in, and this is already one of my favourite directing jobs as put on by Michael Briant. His quick intercutting between scenes is sharp and effective, and his use of seamless edits (where the audio of the next scene precedes the video) is visionary and would, sadly, seldom be seen again in Doctor Who by an director.

And let's hear it for Roy Evans, who plays Bert, as minor a character if ever there was one, but his compassionate portrayal of the doomed Welsh miner makes the few minutes that he and Jo share together delightful, and when Bert's health takes a turn for the worse, we all feel his panic, and Jo's concern. This is no joke - the relationship between Jo and Bert is essential for what it is to come.