The Keys of Marinus

My journey into the worlds of this strange Time Lord who isn't me but has a similar name continued with this six part story called 'The Keys of Marinus'. Six seemed a nicer number than seven = not so long!
The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and screaming Susan arrive on the world of Marinus, escape a lot of deep-sea divers who seem to be hostile for some reason and and very quickly sent on a quest to find keys to this machine by some old guy who's contract didn't seem to stretch past the first episode.

It was a funny story, credited to this 'Terry Nation' chap who wrote that encounter with the Daleks, and I started to wonder if the TV series was actually nothing more than fiction. Interestingly enough this story hopped from place to place, rarely spending much more than an episode anywhere.
I could tell it really was a TV series because the sets seemed to lack a certain something.... money, I think that was what was lacking!

Brains in cases, no walls to be seen. = Money saver!
 

Soon they pick up a couple of others looking for the keys when they land in a world ruled by talking brains in glass casings. That set lacked... walls. An interesting twist on reality when they have their minds effected and everything seems perfect when in fact it's the opposite. My favourite episode of the pipece I think was this episode two, although it lacked background music. And walls at times.

Then we are in the screaming jungle. The Doctor disappears for two episodes, and we have an episode entirely set around a lot of vines and another overacting old fella. This is left to Ian and Barbara to solve, meaning Susan gets to shriek a bit but then moves on for half the episode which is nice. But it's rather dull and nothing much happens.

Episode four puts us into a land of snow, ice and general freezingness. And a yucky man - not so old but not so young - who takes a fancy to Barbara in a scene I felt very uncomfortable watching. I heard somewhere this was supposed to be a kids show. Who are they kidding? (boom boom!)

Ice and snow are very hard to do convincingly on a budget, but hell they did them anyways. Badly. And then Ian is suddenly accused of murder!

Episode Five and they are all reunited with the Doctor, who has the job of defending Ian for killing a guard and stealing the final key of Marinus in the city of Mellenius or something. This episode and the last feature judges in wonderful hats, and poses the question - how would justive work if people were presumed guilty before being proved innocent? Something in that for everyone I thinks!
Interesting telephones and a jealous and evil wife are not enough to stop the Doctor and co, and episode six sees them return to where they started.

However, now the diving instructors, called Voords, have control of the machine. Ian is a smart cookie and switches a fake key for the real last key though. The Doctor and Co. escape just as the machine blows up, killing the Voords. And I ask, Ian is the hero? So what do they need a Time Lord for?

It's an okay story with good and bad points. Can't wait to see what they get up to next!
The Professor, signing off with a 5/10.

Marco Polo

 

 

Well, finally of that TARDIS goes the Doctor and he’s back on Earth. It seems these episodes were engulfed by the time vortex! They don’t exist anymore as moving pictures! The time vortex is a cruel beast that ways, some of my earliest adventures such as ‘The Man-Eater’ and ‘Nature Walk’ have disappeared into time and space never to be seen again. Very sad indeed.

However, this has some sort of reconstruction I saw on the DVD that I bought in the future on ebay for a fraction of the actual cost of today as I blog. In fact I got the whole series. And with a series of blurry photos and some of the surviving soundtrack I could follow this story, apparently 7 parts but on DVD only 31 minutes!

That’s a mercy! So the Doctor and his crew have an issue with the TARDIS getting to cold. How bizarre. Wouldn’t happen if they took better care of it! They meet Marco Polo, a famous traveller from Venice who’s going along the silk road to China, called Cathay back in the time. I went to China once where I met the evil Nhim Sie Hou, but it turned out this Tegana fellow was even shiftier!

They also travelled with Ping Cho, a lady to be married to a man of 70 she had never met. Susan wasn’t so rapt at that thought. She told her what’s for and Ping Cho realised she didn’t really want to marry the chap.

Meanwhile, Marco Polo wants to give the TARDIS to Genghis Khan in the hope he will be allowed home. But Tegana wants war. They travel a heck of a long way in this one, thousands of miles, and never leave the studio. Impressive stuff! All they really want is the TARDIS back so they can bugger off, but every time they get close something goes awry!

 

For seven parts based on such a thin premise, the story holds up extraordinarily well. The actors, especially the supporting cast do a great job, and there appears to be less of Susan’s whining, crying and screaming. Why the Doctor doesn’t just drop her off somewhere and not come I don’t know. A very clever idea for a story, and well paced over seven episodes (in fact I went to this youtube place where I saw a full, colourised version!). Nicely done.

 

8/10

 

 

The Edge of Destruction

Hello what do we have here? A good look at the Doctor's TARDIS.

Well, I was quite jealous, it looks pretty spiffing although who knows how accurate the 1960s BBC design department were. I'm not sure about the photocopied walls but I liked the beds and that handy food dispenser. Oh have we seen that before? Well yes but nevertheless. I expect to see that fault locator featuring prominently all through the 70000 episodes I am yet to see.

As for the story, it was quite strange wasn't it? Everyone goes weird. Susan grabs some scissors and attacks her bed. Good thing it was down feathers. But true to form she is soon whining screaming and crying again in episode two. It seems that does not get toned down. But hey, only at story three, right?

Watching the episodes you get drawn into what is happening and why, espeically episode one, the Doctor and friends are all acting so weird! Is it a new style of theatre? I'm unclear if the TARDIS made them act that way or... it was a strange directorial choice by Mr Martin.
I once had an untelevised adventure when I never left the TARDIS, and my TARDIS was invaded by the Perfect Humanoids. A very advanced and obviously evil race. I wonder if they will visit this Doctor in a future adventure? I wait to find out.


The TARDIS makes clocks go funny and watches too? All trying to the Doctor that... THAT.... drum roll.....

A switch was stuck. Yes, quite anticlimactic. I can compare these episodes to an episode of the Goodies I watched on my time-space visualiser the other day when the Goodies were encased in concrete. But that was only 30 minutes and two episodes was a little of a stretch for me. I bet the Doctor doesn't have one of those time-space visualisers!

That William Hartnell had some good moments in this one. And others where ummmm.... it appeared he forgot his lines! And the 'fast return' switch was nicely labelled in texta for him. I should think of labelling my controls now that I think about it. I always open the doors mid flight when I meant to adjust the helmic regulator instead....

 

To summarise... it probably needs a better ending to pay off all the tension and stress built through the two episodes.

5/10

The Daleks

Well, now we are talking. This Doctor chap, Ian, Susan and Barbara make their way to a distant planet called Skaro and face these creatures called Daleks. They meet a race of people called the Thals. Much more interesting than running away from cavemen for three episodes!
Strange, I have never heard of these 'Daleks' before. They are like the Ingrins, which I fight on a regular basis, with more bumps and things that stick out. The first part was very atmospheric indeed. I like how they take basically the whole first episode to explore their surroundings and find out about what's going on.

Crikey! It's the bloody Daleks!

The Doctor seems to be a man of tricks, fancy getting them into trouble with the fluid link because he wanted to explore the city! Then the Dalek plunger arrives. Poor Barbara. Did I mention the actress that plays her is rather brilliant?
Radiation poisoning? You have to be careful of that when travelling the cosmos. I have only a type 15 TARDIS but I always make sure the radiation dial is working properly.
The story is long. Wow - seven parts! But only about episode five did it start to drag a bit, nicely resolved but the scene when the Daleks are defeated was strangely lacking in sound. I guess that's 1963-64 production values. Some interesting lessons with the Thals and the guy who appears to be a coward, but sacrifices his life to save Ian's. They were in those tunnels/caves forever. Do they visit caves in every adventure? I'm beginning to wonder!

Lovely work from the cast. Susan got a little bit sad and weepy at times, and screamy at others. I'm sure that will change as I said last time. The Doctor was a shifty old soul too. Shouldn't your hero be lovable? Someone they can all look up to? He did a good job when he went back to the city to disable the cameras of the Daleks though. Ian was again the real hero, leading from the front. Maybe he will get his own spinoff series??? He has a wonderful scene when he goes inside a Dalek, very interesting. I don't think I could successfully hide inside an Ingrin, hats off to you Chesterton!

The guest cast was strong. Of note was the girl, Dyoni, played by Viginia Wetherall. She appears in A Clockwork Orange, sans clothes! A far cry from Doctor Who! Alan Wheatley as Temousos was the perfect Thal leader. Strong and resolute, and blond of course!
This was a very interesting story. I'm glad of that because after the cavemen running about thingo, I wasn't sure whether to progress. Even at seven episodes it dragged less than the first one. I can look forward to 'The Edge of Destruction' with far more confidence.

Dyoni, played by Virginia Wetherall. With clothes.

8/10