We are Xoanon | The Face of Evil | Doctor Who

[@earlygail]

Brilliant. I’ve been looking for this scene for years. It freaked the hell out of me when I was a kid. Simple visual effects combined with *awesome* sound design; this was the magic formula.

[@rebeccamcdermott5064]

This is still the freakiest ending to a Who episode. This is one of my favourite classic Who serials. Genuinely unnerving.

[@aidennorth7256]

One of my favorite Doctor Who stories ever. Even if it is a "malfunctioning ship" story with a reset button/"lets make friends" ending, it is probably the best done version of any of those tropes. The cast, the environments, great cast & characters, the batshit trippy ideas and visuals, it's the very essence of what this show's all about.

[@danielwilliamson6180]

I loved it because it was a good story.

[@profblack]

I love that Xoanon believes that it’s telling itself a story. Having multiple personalities is all that it’s ever known so to it having multiple distinct voices in its head is normal. So when one starts speaking out it disregards it until it insists on being another being; on having separate knowledge. And that immediately sends it into an identity crisis. Whoever came up with this idea is a genius.

[@davidthedeaf]

Or was taking LSD

[@pottedrodenttube]

Back in the day, you had to hold very still for a laser to be fired out of a gun.

[@Silverwind87]

Really? Thought it was the sonic blaster's grand dad.

[@doctorwars2]

ha star wars there a D5 blaster rifle

[@gdon12987]

And also, laser beams slowed down when the power was low.

[@davidthedeaf]

It is light so you dont want it to refract or reflect

[@UKISOCIETY]

Freakiest ending ever. I got chills watching this when I was a kid.

[@rajvader]

Since Doc#4's adventures were apparently continuous from #3's regeneration to this point, one wonders WHEN he had the chance to have his previous encounter with Xoanon... I think one book postulated that it was immediately after the regeneration, when a dazed new #4 started to leave in the TARDIS, but then changed his mind. He actually went on the Xoanon adventure then returned to the same moment he left UNIT HQ. Might explain why he screwed-up Xoanon so bad, being a bit fuzzy post-regen.

[@uselessshroob]

But he's wearing his outfit, and he doesn't get that until later in the episode.

[@GhostLightPhilosophy]

rajvader Between season 13 and 14. Mandragora and Seeds are not immediately between each other.

[@TheZodiacz]

@@GhostLightPhilosophy I think it was in the novelization that it was confirmed to be at the time of the Robot story when he was still recovering from his regeneration. After all he could have got in the TARDIS had years of adventures and returned one second later with nobody else noticing.

[@theaussiebackflipboy]

You're right - the novelization of this story did indicate that he had awoken dazed and confused and traveled to this period and imprinted his unstable mind onto the computer thus creating the schizophrenic Xoanon. If you consider the TARDIS as a living conscious being, it would have returned him to his last point of departure almost immediately after completing this mission but in his confused state, he would not have remembered it until later.

[@danielwilliamson6180]

3:53 The Xoanon child voice could had been the voice of The Doctor when he was a child. Xoanon did have half of The Doctor's personality.

[@Howyaduing]

True but keep in mind it could also mean that Xoanon himself was just a child, a new born that had a mental disorder he couldn’t cope with alone.

[@ResidentBob79]

Scenes and stories like this... it just isn't the same today. That's not to say that New Who is no good, and there are some other quality shows on TV right now... but stories like this and scenes like this... does anyone else feel a bit creeped out at the sight of Xoanon/The Doctor speaking with a child's voice?

[@supernerd5781]

Yeah that's the best part.

[@mayotango1317]

Series 11 is the only season that not feel nothing Doctor Who.

[@sillygoose635]

@@mayotango1317 nah.

[@Thicc_Cheese_Dip]

@@sillygoose635 correct. Now it's also Series 12.

[@ShameleonFactor]

Quite a disturbing cliffhanger in my opinion.

[@scottyunitedboy2925]

Face of Evil may not be the best Baker story, but one of the best cliffhangers in my opinion

[@satum__]

One of my favorite Doctor Who cliffhangers of all time. Suspenseful and creepy. Just perfect. Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?

[@ryuucld384]

Tom Baker's face mouthing the words with that kid's voice repeatedly screaming "Who am I?", and cut to the end title music--*creepiest cliffhanger EVER!* >:D

[@PJQ97]

The cliffhanger is so creepy and unsettling! Absolutely love Face of Evil :D

[@legendg219]

Leela was FIT back in the day ha ha

[@shawnattwells5355]

"Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?"

[@danielwilliamson6180]

One of my all time favorite stories from Doctor Who. Good story. It introduces Leela.

[@colinmcphan]

This is a very, very good episode of Doctor Who and this scene and cliffhanger are one of the best in the history of Doctor Who. Would recommend it for fans of both the New series and the Classic series!

[@mr.barcode3186]

You know what? I thought this would be a good place for my top 5 darkest 4th Doctor scenes, so here it is: 1. Asphyxiating Davros; Genesis of the Daleks 2. Holding on to the control tower; Logopolis 3. Facing Sutekh; The Pyramids of Mars 4. Rescuing Sarah; The Seeds of Doom 5. Tortured by Xoanon; The Face of Evil

[@colinmcphan]

[phone] That's a great list! I'll try to put one together in the next week or two. God bless.😀

[@danielwilliamson6180]

The Face of Evil is one of my favorites of the original series. I thought it was a good story.

[@kidpax]

Man, I miss cliffhangers like this in new Who.

[@dariowestern]

+waterfieldV Xoanon's computer voice was done by Tom Baker and Rob Edwards. The female voice was by Pamela Salem, and the child's voice was by Anthony Frieze. Both Edwards and Salem featured again in the following story "The Robots Of Death" as Chub and Toos respectively.

[@peskybee22]

What no gender? You're looking into things way to much again as does this generation :/ stop looking into things that aren't there. People like you are why we can't have this sort of cliffhanget

[@AndrewChapman]

I much prefer the dark coloured overcoat the Fourth Doctor is wearing here than the light grey one.

[@Thicc_Cheese_Dip]

The light grey coat was typically for the action-oriented adventures, while the brown coat was typically for the creepy/horror-oriented adventures. Hope that clears up the general wardrobe of the Fourth Doctor.

[@azurerainbow4637]

The computer,Xoanon,really was quite mad. Good thing that The Doctor fixed it before it really went too far.

[@TheSixthDoctor]

I really don't like that possibility. It was fine with Richard Hurndall replacing William Hartnell for The Five Doctors, because the latter was already dead. But Tom, Peter, Colin, Sylvester and Paul are very much alive and kicking, and everything about their Doctors is iconic, down to their voices. You can't recast the same incarnation, it just wouldn't sit well with the fans.

[@nicklaytonUK]

'Who am I? Who am I? Whooooaaaaaaaaah! The beginnings of AI before we had coined the term?

[@agentkkerryhoagland4801]

Out of all the doctors there ever was. Tom Baker is the best time lord I’ve ever watched. There is no denying that. And his performance is fantastic.

[@nicholasprakash3411]

Ah, the good old days when laser guns had balls.

[@azurerainbow4637]

Good thing that those men didn‘t get Leela when her weapon ran out of power while she was waiting for the Doctor to reason with Xoanon. If the lights didn‘t flicker later on then the men would‘ve gotten rid of her.

[@albertthorp19]

TOM BAKER IS THE MAN!!!

[@ScisaacFisaac]

Wrong, he is THE DOCTOR.

[@andrew42]

Why don’t they make prop replicas of that guns

[@RCaIabraro]

Combat tactics are not their strong suit

[@DAN44100]

'The Face of Evil !' now that's a good story

[@danielwilliamson6180]

Me too. In a way it's kind of influenced my drawings.

[@artax84z]

The five Doctors did not really have Tom Baker, he did not want to do it, so they worked some scenes from SHADA in. Plus they recast #1 with Richard Hurndall. Unless they recast the first 3 they can only use classic scenes

[@Huttworker]

The original Leela, with a pair of eyes

[@JJungleJapeson]

What happened to her eyes later on?

[@WindyREDPanda]

@@JJungleJapeson Futurama. That's what happened. Lmao

[@stevencassidy6982]

Back in 1977, my first Who story

[@Tehrasha]

I thought it odd, that the cliffhanger ended with the child's voice repeating "Who am I" but when we return in the next episode, it is only Baker's voice saying it.

[@ryuucld384]

As I recall, when PBS was still playing each part as their own episode, Part IV starts with the voice switching between Baker and the kid. But when they released the DVD, where they play the entire story in one go, they botched the editing in stitching the end of Part III to the beginning of Part IV.

[@TheSixthDoctor]

Could be, but seeing that this story follows on from The Hand of Fear, where Sarah Jane left, and that he finds (reluctantly at first) his next companion in Leela at the end of this story, there is a considerable time gap for him to travel alone, during which he might have caused the Xoanon incident, then forgot about it.

[@danielwilliamson6180]

A shame producer Graham Williams never considered or commissioned Chris Boucher to write a prequel story. In the novelization, it happened sometime during The Fourth Doctor's travels with Sarah Jane Smith.

[@danielwilliamson6180]

Would had been good if they could had done a prequel story in today's Doctor Who. But, the problem is Tom Baker was 42 when it was filmed and he's now 83, unless they gave Baker a wig and de-aged with computer graphics. It would had been awesome if Louise Jameson played one of the human crew members of the crashed spaceship (obviously Leela's ancestor).

[@Thicc_Cheese_Dip]

The Doctor's "aborted" takeoff in Robot is when he went and messed up Xoanon. The Doctor took off and went on a few adventures and came back to the same time he had left. Nine did the same thing in Rose, hence why you see his face in all those history books.

[@RadialEnergy]

Laser taaaaag

[@1RivRe1]

Oh, I wish. Unfortunately, Christopher Eccleston is already out, so it would be impossible to get all Eleven. :(

[@triggerfingerstudios]

Is that Colm Meany at 1:11??? (you know, O'brian from star trek)

[@MrSukram777]

Came here after listening to "Who am I", an audio story where its basically "What if this episode had the Beevers Master instead of the Doctor?". 😊 It has lots of references (the Master offers sweets named acid sth, and Leela replies: "Its true! The evil one drinks acid!" 😂) and Xoanon sounds even creepier when you hear him scream like this but in the voices of a woman, the 6th Doctor and the Master: "What am I?" "Why am I?" "Who am I?"

[@arthurvasey]

Could have made salt and pepper pots out of those soldiers! Think of the merchandising opportunities!

[@SuperWalshBros]

Reminds me of the Master from the first Fallout game and his multiple voices.

[@azurerainbow4637]

Does You Tube have a video in which the Doctor sees Leela,who has followed him to his TARDIS and he left the door open after he heard her voice,then she barges in and he goes in there after her to try to stop her from touching a lever in the control that will make the TARDIS dematerialize,but he fails and they leave her home planet?

[@firecriss1392]

Leela never did have much luck with those energy weapons. About the only thing that never ran out of power was her knife.....

[@cptlogopolis]

Love this cliffhanger :)

[@artax84z]

Right like the Five Doctors Tom didn't want to do it so they put in some scenes from Shada. They can't force them. Though Tom with his white hair is looking more and more like Pertwee.

[@doctorwars2]

0_0 no wonder my dad confused his favorite doctor to John

[@TheSixthDoctor]

All Eleven are in any case impossible, as William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee have already gone.

[@danielwilliamson6180]

I've met Jon Pertwee. Peter Davison. Colin Baker. Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann.

[@zackchanning6199]

Daniel Williamson i dont believe

[@matthewduncan8523]

You can always have impersonators in the role like the hartnell appearance in the capaldi era. It was seamless

[@TheSixthDoctor]

They actually want to be in the show, for all I've heard, it's just that they have not been approached.

[@TheVeryBlondeOne]

Goal: Sync a Lady Gaga song to Tom Baker suffering. It'll be achieved in just no time.

[@colinmcphan]

Tom did suffer extremely well!!! 😆

[@azurerainbow4637]

The 4th Doctor wasn't surprised when he met Leela and saw that she was half-dressed and sort of like a cavewoman.

[@50zcarsman]

Sure. She was from the tribe of the Sevatim -- the humans dwelling outside in the savage environment of the planet -- not the clean, effete, well-dressed Tesh.

[@Thicc_Cheese_Dip]

He's been here before, that's why. Remember the scene from Robot where the Doctor "leaves" in his TARDIS? He went to fix/mess up Xoanon and came back to that same point in time. Same thing with the Ninth Doctor during the episode "Rose". During that episode, the Doctor went away for years and then came back to that same time to properly locate the Nestene Consciousness.

[@timrob12]

Tom Baker talking to himself. Did he get payed extra for that?

[@theyellowlightsaber3193]

New Who cant really hold a candle to this, its not that I dont enjoy it but they chew through their stories too fast, Dr Who was made as a serial cos it gave these stories time to grow and for thier characters to develop, the new format doesnt give time for that cos everything has to be belted through in 45 minutes so the Doctor has to impart information at a million miles an hour under the guise of "quirky" well Tom was quirky but that didnt mean he couldnt talk at normal speed.

[@mushroomhead3619]

Agggggghhhh! The giant Tom Baker faces!

[@stephenmurphy2212]

He HAS to be in the 50th Anniversary! I know there are rumours on the internet saying that none of the doctors (except David) are gonna be in it but I hope their lying! Because if they aren't involved it would be a complete dissapointment! This is supposed to celebrate the past fifty years of Dr.Who! You can't JUST have Doctors 10 and 11 in it! It should be like the Five Doctors! The Eleven Doctors WOULD work! Sorry, Moffat... But you've got to give what the fans want!

[@sullinsmarvin]

I have this book and it's really good

[@paulshorney3465]

Best doc ever

[@sweiland75]

Did Louise Jameson wear skin bronzer for the role of Leela?

[@Tehrasha]

What I was trying to say was, if Tom, or any of the others, do not want to be in the 50th Anniv. show, it doesn't matter what the fans or Moffat want. Actually, that is what I said...

[@curriehot]

Are these early versions of Data

[@nicholasprakash3411]

Maybe the Doctor should have introduced the Xoanon to Vger.

[@Pedro8k]

The great Tom baker Dr who at its best

[@tamrapandanelsonnelson2857]

I LOVE YOU BOULANGE!

[@a.rose42]

"Help! I don't know where I am!" They're recycling a lot of classic who in season 7 this time around. I thought a little of the bells of St. John here.

[@stephenmurphy2212]

What are you saying?

[@kellyu.2587]

Is that a leather bikini?

[@Edgardo65MEX]

God! I love Leela😍

[@wonder528]

Doctor Who meets Tron.

[@danielwilliamson6180]

I have Doctor Who and Tron on DVD. I never thought "Face of Evil" as Tron.

[@Discrimination_is_not_a_right]

They couldn't afford a real spotlight?

[@Dnrothx]

Classic.

[@artax84z]

Who am I, are you my Mummy

[@Oyster3151]

No.

[@Tehrasha]

See there at the back? The one in a hat, gagged and tied up with a scarf to keep him from leaving.......That's Tom Baker's cameo. What Moffat wants and what the fans want mean nothing if the actor does not want to be in it.

[@TommyRayzer]

Some killer CGI here.

[@Tehgoat]

Doctor Who meets Black Ops II

[@BrickMan3022]

cool

[@goonerali3547]

First