Many Feet of Doctor Who

I've been working my way through the seminal Key To Time season on Dr. Who, the long-running British sci-fi series. I hadn't seen them in a while, and I think that the PBS station that I used to watch came in really poorly when the Key To Time was shown. It's been a pleasant surprise, good comedic/adventure sci-fi on a budget lower than most of Herchel Gordon Lewis' work.

The story that caught my eye for this column though was The Stones of Blood. And why, you might ask? Because the Doctor's babely assistant for that season, Romana, was played by none other than lovely brunette Mary Tamm. The story starts out with her changing into high heels with much mention of the possible difficult terrain she would traverse on the adventure. So I'm thinking: "there is going to be some feet in this somewhere". Perked up by an otherwise great Hammer-esq sci-fi storyline, I was back into the storyline as the Doctor noticed some monster footsteps. To compare their size, Romana used her foot to show it was much larger than human size. So far, so nice. Then theyt team is beset by some local wackos, and in the ensuing story Romana is left behind because her heels would not traverse the terrain well.

So I'm thinking "This bodes well. If it's been made this big a deal in the plot, then surely it will show up again". And it does. Romana decides she needs to go after the Doctor when she hears his voice, so off come the shoes! The she has a long walk along the coastline (about a minute of screen time) as she searches for the Doctor, with many foot closeups at her delicate walking apparatus takes on both grassy areas and rocky, dirty areas with equal ease. Finally she is pushed from the cliff by an unseen force and she has to use her feet to help cling to the rocky side of the cliff. Lucky for her (and us) that she lost those stupid ol' shoes!

Wow. An amazing foot journey, that lasts through the cliffhanger of episode one and into episode two. The episode was quite good by my standards, so I'd give it a solid 7. Mary Tamm is a super babe, and her feet were adequte for the job. I'd say her feet would normally get a 6 (attractive, supple, pink polish), but the scene gets a 7 because of the number of close-ups and the variety of foot acting that was required. If you are a Doctor Who fan and a foot man (or woman), get thee to a DVD player, pronto!