Doctor Who (1963) 14.02.01

The Hand of Fear - Part 1

A creature, possibly humanoid, wrapped in protective garb mans a post on an extremely cold planet and in the distant past. It is given orders which it follows to blow up a spaceship, which it does.

The TARDIS materializes on Earth in a quarry. The Doctor and Sarah Jane emerge and start walking around. They are caught in an explosion which levels a wall of rock. The Doctor emerges from the explosion relatively uninjured but Sarah is buried under some rubble. The Doctor and men who were working at the quarry dig her out.

Sarah is taken to a hospital. She is holding a stone hand which must be much be older than mankind, based on where it was found. There is a ring on the hand which Sarah takes. The hand is examined by Dr. Carter at the hospital while Sarah is unconscious. The Doctor checks in first on Sarah and then on Dr. Carter. The Doctor decides to return to the quarry to have a look around to see if he can find anything related to the hand.

The Doctor returns empty handed from the quarry but by then Sarah is gone. She awoke while he was at the quarry and went to see Dr. Carter. She took the hand and knocked out Dr. Carter using a ray beam that the ring emits. She heads to the nearest nuclear reactor, Nunton Experimental Complex. She uses the ring again a few more times at Nunton.

The Doctor surmises that Sarah must have headed to the closest nuclear reactor and gets Dr. Carter to drive him there. They arrive at the gate where one of Sarah's victim's is just recovering. The Doctor and Dr. Carter are ready to continue on to the nuclear reactor itself when they are detained by more security guards.

Sarah goes deep into the nuclear reactor. She sits down on the ground and takes the top off the box in which she is carrying the stone hand. The hand starts to come to life and wiggle as the episode ends.

Thoughts

I really don't remember much about Hand of Fear. It has probably been over 30 years since I last it. 

Once again someone starts to do something that seems very irrational. This time around it is Sarah rather than a supporting character. clearly she is being controlled but what is the force that is controlling her. What it up with that hand?

So far I'm not loving The Hand of Fear but it seems okay, fairly standard fare for Doctor Who of this era. The supporting cast has yet to do much of interest.