Whether it’s a new Doctor or a new companion, intro stories are so crucial. Who is built on regeneration, both literally and narratively, and the show lives or dies on making fans fall in love all over again every time an old favorite leaves and someone new comes in. I’ve experienced this so many times with classic and new Who alike, and this serial is a prime example.
The Fourth Doctor arrives on an unnamed planet where the population is split into two conflicting factions: the “savage” Sevateem and the mechanically minded Tesh. Superstitions about demons in the jungle permeate Sevateem lore, and to the Doctor, something feels off about their god Xoanan. When he meets a young warrior named Leela, they discover that the Doctor has more to do with their mythology than he realizes.
I know the story in “The Deadly Assassin,” the serial prior to this one, called for the Doctor to be solo, what with the whole “no humans on Gallifrey” thing. But I wonder if that was decided very intentionally on the show’s part, wanting a short buffer between Sarah Jane’s exit and the introduction of the new companion. I love Sarah Jane something fierce, and I know my first time through classic Who, I wasn’t ready for her to leave. But like I said, this is the nature of Who; they do this all the time. Either way, after “The Deadly Assassin,” I was prepared for the Doctor to get a new friend, and Leela is a fantastic one.
That’s the chief appeal of “The Face of Evil,” the fact that it’s the story that gave us Leela. In terms of making the switch, I’m sure it helps that she’s so different from Sarah Jane—really, so different from any companion, prior or subsequent. She’s instantly awesome, and she and the Doctor are similarly awesome together. They have this really engaging dynamic—even though her experiences have been so limited and she thinks everything the Doctor is talking about is magic, he doesn’t really treat her like she’s dumb. From the start, he expects that her mind can open and she can take in more than she’s been taught, and she quickly proves she’s no mindless savage. Her fighting skills and hunting instincts are invaluable, and it’s a treat to watch her making new connections and discovering new possibilities. By the end of the serial, I’m so ready for her to come aboard.
But while that’s the story’s best feature, it isn’t the only one. I also like the plot quite a bit. It combines a lot of my favorite Who tropes—mixing sci-fi and mythology/religion, artificial intelligence, and the Doctor’s past catching up with him (but not in a super-heavy way; new Who can get a little too overzealous with the angst on that one every now and then)—and uses them all pretty well. I love all the little details of the Sevateem and the Tesh, and it’s always fun to deal with sci-fi tech in a society that isn’t really prepared for it. Honestly, for me, it’s a winner all around.
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