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The Hand of Fear Format Reviewed: DVD Review The Hand of Fear marks the departure as a companion of Sarah Jane Smith. Another remarkable thing about this story is that the TARDIS materialises in a quarry that is supposed to be a quarry. In general, alien landscapes have been depicted by location shoots in quarrys, but now we get a quarry being a location, exciting! The story basically follows that the Doctor and Sarah get caught up in a quarry explosion, and when Sarah is dug out she is unconscious and clutching a fossilised hand. When nobody is looking, she escapes from the hospital to where they were taken and heads for a local nuclear reactor under the apparant influence of the hand. The hand regenerates the body of Eldrad from the planet Kastria. The Doctor then agrees to take Eldrad back to Kastria so that the destruction that could be caused on Earth is averted. Once there, Eldrad reveals an appetite for dominance and rule and the Doctor eventually tricks Eldrad who trips into a crevasse and dies. The Hand of Fear is a story that most fans really want to be a great story to give Sarah Jane Smith a great send off. What we actually get is a somewhat patchy effort that includes some very memorable moments in amongst a lot of padding and cliches. Conceptually the story is good, but the execution of the plot seems to me to be rushed and lacking in substance. The same plot devices are used again and again, and elementary mistakes are made by characters who should know better, such as contiually trusting people who have had contact with the hand or ring. Then we get to Kastria, which again is good in concept. The execution of the plot though seems lacking again, and the death of Eldrad is not a good conclusion to the story. For someone who has survived 150,000,000 years to be killed in such a way is laughable. The ending though is something that will be played over and over. The Doctor gets a call from Gallifrey and realises he can't take Sarah there so has to drop her off first on Earth. As an aside, quite why he can take Leela there later on and not Sarah is beyond me but quite irrellevant really. Sarah is already threatening to leave though, but realises that it is a hollow threat when the Doctor says he can't take her on anyway. This moment is really very touching, marvellously acted and well written. The cast do a decent job here, and regulars Tom Baker and Elizabeth Sladen give very typical performances as the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith respectively. The guest cast is largely OK, with the highlight for me being the portrayal of Professor Watson by Glyn Houston who gives a good performance, and the phone call home to his family is genuinely touching. Overall, The Hand of Fear will be long remembered for the departure of Sarah Jane Smith. The story has a good concept, but the execution of that concept appears to have been rushed and not properly thought out. What could have been a very good story, and also memorable for the great plot, becomes a rather forgettable romp around a nuclear reactor. Rating:  |