h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm recently been watching older stories, and have picked the early Tom Baker season (Terror Of The Zygons, Planet of Evil, Pyramids of Mars, The Android Invasion, The Brain of Morbius, The Seeds of Doom).

What I never realised was that it's almost an entire season with roots in old horror films (Planet of Evil - Jekyll & Hyde, Pyramids - mummies, Brain - Frankinstein, Android - Stepford Wives, Seeds - Quatermass/Day of Triffids).

Anyone got any analysis or thoughts on this?

Couldn't see you going without a reply. Though I have to be honest and say I haven't seen any of those stories yet. Sorry. I've heard Brain of Morbius is a good one though.

Wonder why no one else has commented?

have only seen Zygons and Morbius from that series... so I can't really comment sorry

I've just started watching The Seeds of Doom, episode 1 is very The Thing / Alien.

Planet of Evil was a considerably better story than I expected. I saw it on UKGold about 7 years ago, as a one-off 90 minute compilation. All I really recall is the jungle scenes and the 'pit'; but the stuff in the spaceship and the Jekyll/Hyde scenario makes it very good. The storyname is also a bit of a letdown.

One of the things I'm loving about watching these old Tom Baker stories is watching the titles. Just takes me back to my childhood. Love the way it starts out in wideshot with black above and below the 'tunnel' which I could never quite figure out, and I found it almost quite scary when I was young.

My first thought about this is how few of your examples are 'old horror films'. 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde' and 'Frankenstein' were books written in the 19th century. 'The Day of the Triffids' and "Quatermass" were products of the fifties and 'Stepford Wives' is from the 70s.

Having said that, mummies are ancient and as for Zygons, well, make sure your best mate really is your best mate before you go for a drink at the Fox Inn

perhaps I should have said "classic" rather than "old" ...