Doctor Who and the Power of Kroll

Doctor Who – The Key to Time Part Five

Story 102
23 December – 13 January 1979
“Well… progress is a very flexible word. It can mean pretty much anything you want it to.”

Apparently when Graham Williams drafted his brief on Doctor Who as part of his application for the role of producer, he suggested the rough beginnings of the Key to Time. Williams postulated that there were vast cosmic forces kept in balance by two opposing beings (later to become the White and Black Guardian). The Doctor was chosen as a champion of the White Guardian to assemble a device could off-set the balance, but he was up against a similar champion of the Black Guardian. His inspired application got him the job, but unfortunately, the scripts for his first year were already written, causing him to put off his interlinking tale for a year.

The Key to Time is a bold experiment that challenged the very concept of Doctor Who. Part of the program’s strength comes from its versatility. It can be a gripping sci-fi tale one story, a light comedy the next and a gothic horror tale the third. The first four parts of the Key to Time covered several styles including comedy, action, science fiction and swashbuckling fantasy. The fifth installment of the Key to Time is in many ways a more traditional tale. A monster story with a twist, Power of Kroll includes statements on colonialism, environmentalism and racism. In many ways, it feels like a story by veteran writer Malcolm Hulke set in the Jon Pertwee era.

The Doctor and Romana arrive on a swamp-covered planet enthralled in a violent struggle for power. There are several plot threads going on already and the first two parts are full of exposition craftily written into the dialog by Robert Holmes. Even so, it’s a bit of a mess and makes the story somewhat top heavy.

In the first 23 minutes, the viewer is presented with the arrival of a high-ranking officer, Thawn, who has returned to his post on a methane-drilling rig transporting protein to the home planet Delta Sigma. There are locals (derogatorily referred to as Swampies) who are threatened by the installation and plotting an overthrow. Quite right too as the full project would see them without any land to live on.

There is also a suspected gun runner named Rohm-Dutt sent by a group of colonists known as the Sons of Earth (a call back to the Pertwee story Colony in Space) sensitive to the Swampies’ rights. But Thawn is anxious to get to Rohm-Dutt first before the Swampies strike. When they travel out to the mainland, they encounter the Doctor who is looking for Romana who has been caught by Rohm-Dutt who hands her over to the Swampies, saying that she is from the rig.

Got that?

Good, because that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Romana and the Doctor trudge through the swampland of Delta Three

Dutt, as it turns out, is in cahoots with Thawn and has delivered faulty weapons to the Swampies to give Thawn the excuse he has been waiting for to wipe the Swampies out. Already deported from their home world of Delta Sigma to a miserable planet, the Swampies are determined to get revenge on the colonists. Calling upon their great god Kroll, they offer up Romana as a sacrifice… but Kroll is more of an ideological myth than an actual creature to the Swampies. Before a Swampie in a goofy squid outfit can kill her, Romana is rescued by the Doctor who conveniently discovers a tome containing the history of the Swampies and Kroll.

The leader of the Swampies, Ranquin, becomes completely committed to his cause after coming face to face with Kroll when it rises from the lake and attacks. It’s a religious moment for the Swampies that justifies their mission and galvanizes them to action. Of course the Doctor can see it for what it really is. As usual this is not a god at all but a common squid altered by some external power.

With the arrival of Kroll, the many pieces of the puzzle start to come together. The rig has been transporting bits of Kroll for consumption to the home planet, thereby enraging the creature and drawing it out of a centuries long hibernation. According to legend, it has also swallowed a symbol of power that the Doctor is very suspicious of. Thawn is decided on destroying the creature on first sight as it is a clear threat to the rig. In order to obtain the fifth segment to the Key to Time, the Doctor must not only avoid death at the hands of the Swampies and avoid getting wrapped up in Thawn’s plot, but he must also defuse the situation on Delta Three and somehow defeat a mythical squid over 200 miles across.

Rohm-Dutt, Romana and the Doctor about to meet their end

The story is not one of Holmes’ better scripts, but it has its strengths. Full of rich characters and interesting ideas, it is also set in a fully realized universe, something that is rare in Doctor Who. It shares similar traits to Caves of Androzani, a story that he would contribute in 1983 that would see the end of Peter Davison as the fifth Doctor (satellites, convoluted political plots, gun running and a goofy monster).The dialog, one of Holmes’ many strengths, is in fine form, but it often gets tripped up by corny jokes that are presumably ad-libbed by Tom Baker.

The idea that the rig is operating for the benefit of Delta Sigma and the Swampies are threatening the way of progress (even though it directly threatens their way of life) is rather clever and a very sophisticated device that also hearkens back to the Pertwee era when the stories by Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks were often mirroring the thoughts and concerns of the viewers.

1978/9 is a period where Baker was feeling very secure as the Doctor and was sure that any idea which crossed his mind was viable for the program. It resulted in a number of scenes that came to a complete halt in order to make room for his latest gag (from playing the flute with a reed to the silly singing gag). I adore Tom Baker as the Doctor, but there are times when he considered the series ‘The Tom Baker Show’ rather than Doctor Who. 99% of the time, he’s golden, but that one percent can be detrimental to the dignity of the series. It’s a fine line and to be honest I’m not entirely sure where it is drawn… but it is there.

As Romana, Mary Tamm is once again the know-it-all who prefers to psychoanalyze everyone she meets rather than relate to them. It’s a character trait that I can only recall cropping up in Ribos Operation and Power of Kroll, so I suspect that it’s am idea of Holmes’ that other writers decided not to use. In any case, Romana continues to act as a glamorous and dignified foil to the Doctor’s scatter-brained space vagrant.

The supporting cast is rather superb. As the gun-runner, Glyn Owen is simply amazing. The part is all attitude and demands that he go a bit over the top in parts but become subtly sly at other times. In the hands of a lesser actor it would have been a disaster, but Owen pulls it off nicely. Acting as a sympathetic member of the Sons of Earth operating in the interests of the Swampies, at first he seems like a good-hearted rogue. When he is later exposed as a double agent and a scoundrel, he plays it all with such honesty and desperation. In the hands of the Swampies, he’s doomed and Thawn is certainly not about to risk his grand plot to help just one man.

As Thawn, Neil McCarthy bristles from beneath his stern mustache. It’s a very butch role and one that he plays to the hilt. While he is in full control of the situation in the beginning, the appearance of Kroll proves to be too much for him and he starts to fray along the edges, finally becoming one of the many insanely unstable villains that populate classic Doctor Who stories, killing his crew, making decisions that could destroy the entire planet, etc.

Philip Madoc

Of course the real gem here is Philip Madoc. An actor that has appeared in several Doctor Who stories (including the second Peter Cushing film), he has played the roles of the aggressive Eelek in the Krotons, the serene yet deadly War Chief in the War Games, and the mad scientist Doctor Solon in Brain of Morbius.

This is not one of his better parts. In fact, in Power of Kroll, Madoc is looking a little on the heavy side and his usual smooth demeanor comes off as comical in a belted costume that does his matronly figure no favors. There’s a quality in Madoc’s acting that is not entirely dissimilar to Paul Darrow (Kerr Avon on Blake’s 7) and both actors face similar challenges. They act with such authority and power that you forget that their appearance is in opposition to their tone. In any case, I love hearing him purr lines of dialog and having him in any scene with Tom Baker is simply magical.

Ranquin meets his end at the hands (tentacles) of Kroll

Power of Kroll becomes something of an unintentional comedy any time the giant squid appears on the screen. It’s unfortunate because so much of the story revolves around the squid being terrifying and impressive. It does demand attention, but the reaction that I have always gotten is one of dumbfoundedness rather than awe. I mean… what were they thinking?

KROLL!!

The sound effects of the monster are very creepy and cool and as usual the cast plays up to the monster to keep it believable (thankfully Tom Baker refrains from sending it up). But even so… what were they thinking? Likewise the Swampies appear rather comical with their silly wigs… in fact they also feel like something out of the mid-Pertwee era.

I have said in my previous reviews of the 16th series that the strength of the Key to Time lies in its variety. After four years of dark Gothic tales, it is refreshing to have so many stories that are wildly and inventively different. It’s not all gold, but the program is so full of inspiration that it makes the experiment memorable and iconic in its own way.

Available on DVD in a deluxe box set, the Key to Time is definitely worthy of a place on your shelf. Play Robots of Death and Genesis of the Daleks when you are alone or with a mate, but if you have a party of guys over who have a vague memory of Doctor Who and are interesting in revisiting that nostalgic place of their childhood, put Key to Time on.

Doctor Who and the Androids of Tara

Doctor Who – The Key to Time Part Four

Story 101
25 November – 16 December 1978

On the planet Tara, the Doctor and Romana easily find the fourth segment of the Key to Time but become pawns in a feud over the crown. A scheme involving androids and lookalikes threatens not only the time travelers’ lives but the control of the planet. A wicked villain named Count Grendel gives the Doctor a worthy challenge in a battle of wits and of swords as a kingdom hangs in the balance.

A last minute filler to replace a story called ‘The Dopplegangers’ or ‘The Shield of Zarak,’ David Fisher returned in the eleventh hour to deliver an homage to a beloved fantasy tale, Prisoner of Zenda. Filmed on location at Leeds Castle, the program has a wild fantastic air that hints of period drama and children’s entertainment. Many fans claim that Androids of Tara is a deviation from the series-long linking story, but in all honesty, aside from the opening and closing adventures, each of the six parts has little to do with each other and the quest for the key is a flimsy device at best to connects them.

That’s not to say that the year-long concept is a poor one. I actually think that the Key to Time story gives just enough of an impetus to the six tales while allowing for different styles of adventure to play through the 16th series. Try to find a series of the classic Doctor Who that has as much variation in genre and tone and you may agree. It’s not a roaring success, but series sixteen’s Key to Time is unique.

Fisher’s previous script, Stones of Blood, in my opinion has some of the same strengths and weaknesses found in Androids of Tara. Both are terribly uneven. They have remarkable locations, excellent guest actors and a wondrous tone… but whereas Stones of Blood has a strong opening that falls apart in the end, Androids of Tara is a run around with a wafer-thin plot that has an exciting conclusion.

UK Gold trailer

Rather than placing Romana and the Doctor as working together, Fisher’s script separates the pair so that they each have solo adventures. While many point out that it gives Mary Tamm an opportunity to stretch as an actress, it also wastes the chemistry that the two actors have. Tamm, a charming and glamorous woman, plays off of Peter Jeffrey who positively steals the show as Count Grendel, a villain so evil that even Fisher planned a follow-up story.

The Doctor (Tom Baker) and Romana (Mary Tamm)

One of the positive impacts that the Key to Time quest has is a sense of urgency.

A cosmic being calling himself the White Guardian has enlisted the Doctor to assemble the parts of a device so powerful that it can stop all of time everywhere. Warned that the Black Guardian is operating against him, the Doctor has very little time to complete his mission… so when he decides to go fishing instead of searching for the fourth segment, I wonder what they were thinking. It’s a silly idea and a rather lame joke that also manages to kill the tension and drama is lost entirely. Additionally, we are treated to another chess sequence where the Doctor yells at K-9 who easily beats him at the match. It’s a poor way to open the adventure that gets worse when Romana ventures out to find the segment on her own and comes face to face with the goofiest monster ever seen in Doctor Who.

The goofiest Doctor Who monster ever

Honestly, I was not sure at first if I was meant to be a real monster or a guy in a suit. I waited for the reveal and when it became plain that this actually was supposed to be a gorilla/bear/thing… I was very disappointed that the story had already met its first impediment.

Fisher had reportedly intended that Tara would be a mixture of fantasy and science fiction in which mythical creatures (such as gnomes and unicorns) would appear as robotic creations. The only left over of this concept is that the inhabitants have the technology to create androids but live in a simple feudal manner. Romana bears an uncanny (and convenient) likeness to the Princess Strella who is promised to the noble Prince Reynart. Grendel plans to use Romana to steal the throne from Reynart, no matter what the cost. Meanwhile the Doctor is asked to repair an android based on Reynart that is malfunctioning.

Reynart is captured and the plot kind of stalls right there for about three episodes.

The android is crowned in public. Romana is captured, escapes, and is then captured again. Count Grendel states his intentions to steal the throne several times and no one seems to be able to just stop him, despite numerous opportunities. K-9 burns through things and is regaled as a solution to all of their problems even though the prop could barely make it across the room. Tom Baker hams it up and laughs off Grendel’s threat, further removing any real drama or threat. Combined with the cyclical plot that can’t seem to get out of a rut, it’s only the breathtaking locations and guest cast that can save this one until finally the Doctor and Grendel face off.

The Doctor and Count Grendel duel

Despite a silly opening in which he plays the drama as gag, Tom Baker finally comes to his senses in the final part as he sword fights against Peter Jeffrey. The Doctor is reported to have had a ‘gentleman’s education,’ hinting that he is a gifted swordsman. We have seen his skill at swordplay in Sea Devils and would again in the King’s Demons. Each fight sequence is rather good, but given the fantasy elements already in place, it works especially here.

 

An adventure with atmosphere and character, Androids of Tara could have been much better given more attention. Androids of Tara is hampered by several problems that can’t be helped. As a replacement story, it is rather good and a welcome facet to the many sided Key to Time saga. As it was based on Prisoner of Zenda, it is unfortunate that it seems to be restricted to re-telling the same story rather than branching off into its own tale. Tom Baker’s ego is also in full effect here and he seems to randomly decide to play humor into any situation, especially when it is ironically inappropriate. However, Fisher’s second outing as a Doctor Who writer has charm and style and neither of those things should be taken for granted.

Doctor Who – Stones of Blood

Doctor Who – The Key to Time Part Three

Story 100
28, Oct – 18, November 1978

In 1978, Tom Baker was at what many consider the height of his popularity. Fandom was at a fever pitch and the program riding a high from the controversial Philip Hinchcliffe era that rankled the nerves of parents with its over the top violence and terrifying monsters. Solidified as a worthy successor to the mantle of the Doctor, new producer Graham Williams took over the program. After a series of adventures that started as a near-homage to the previous year with a moody and tense drama set in a lighthouse, Williams’ freshman outing concluded with a comedic political romp, The Invasion of Time. The following series would operate under a story arc bringing six adventures together in a unifying concept, the search for the Key to Time.

Series 16 is far more fantasy-based and has a high level of comedy to off-set the loss of violence seen in previous years. The Doctor’s Harpo Marx-like persona is in overdrive against the regal and glamorous Romana, as played by Mary Tamm. The scripts are far wittier than they had ever been, but the production values are lackluster (even by Doctor Who standards). Guest actors and directors seem confused at how to convey the humor without the program becoming a send-up of itself, resulting in a most undignified loss of integrity that would only get worse in the following year. Tom Baker himself seems to be taking the whole thing as a laugh, which is a major loss given the high level of dramatic acting skill that he had portrayed previously.

All that said, the Key to Time is a lot of fun if you are up to it. Released in the United States long before it hit the shelves in its native land, The Key to Time was the first year-long box set of Doctor Who available to fans in DVD format. A celebration of boyhood memories, it served a unique purpose in recapturing memories of my generation that had grown hazy over time. Not in the same ballpark as other classics, the Key to Time nevertheless entertains as a whole.

After Robert Holmes’ excellent Ribos Operation and Douglas Adams’ rather lackluster Pirate Planet, the third installment had to not only pick up the long thread of continuity but also bring with a bit of breathing room. Searching for the third segment to the Key to Time, the Doctor takes a moment to recap the umbrella concept of the series and to finally reveal to Romana that the mission is vital to all of life in the universe. It’s a clever trick that brings the audience up to speed and provides a pretty major plot point by having Romana brought into the Doctor’s confidence.

Mary Tamm and Tom Baker in The Stones of Blood

The TARDIS lands on contemporary Earth next to a stone circle. A clan of scholarly druids are offering up sacrifices to their goddess, the Cailleach. Researching the circle is the charming Professor Rumford and her close friend Vivien Fay. Beatrix Lehmann is a welcome addition to the cast and brings with her a warmth that had been lacking in the Key to Time. Her character is full of whimsy and spunk along with far too much knowledge that makes her a kind of lovable foil to the Doctor. Her companion Vivien is like a viper in a pants suit in contrast played no less magnificently by Susan Engel. The location footage, amazing guest actors, superlative musical score and an atmosphere of mystery and danger make the first two parts excellent viewing.

It’s all high quality stuff… until the stones fight the toy dog.

‘Walking Stones’ Clip

After some steady build-up, the whole plot comes crashing together with the revelation that not only is Vivien Fay the Cailleach, but above the stone circle is a space craft housing the perfect justice machines called the Megara (flashing lights). Vivien is actually an intergalactic crook that the Megara are hunting down but they have no knowledge of what she looks like and are tripped up by their own pedantic adherence to the legal process. The Doctor frees the Megara from their cell (where Vivien had trapped them) and they put him on trial for tampering with an official seal. While the Doctor tries to fight logic with logic and trick the Megara into recognizing who Vivien is, K-9 holds back a steadily growing army of Ogri who attempt to crush him and Professor Rumford.

The Cailleach

Tom Baker hams it up

Stones of Blood is a very weird adventure. I adore the first half focusing on the mystery of the Lady Morgana Montcalm, but the ‘walking stone’ Ogri are silly by any standards and the trial sequence where Tom Baker steals the remaining dignity of the story by producing a judge’s wig then finding his light in the studio is just embarrassing. In the previous adventure, the Pirate Planet, the first two parts are far too silly to be taken seriously or otherwise while the conclusion is excellent. In this case, the opposite is true. A mystery involving Druidic cults and overlapping space is cast aside for silly nonsense banter and sillier special effects that take the viewer into the realm of pantomime. Doctor Who often walks the fine line of panto, but the Key to Time prances all over that line in a kind of absurd blend of science fiction and comedy.

Watched with a group of friends and a few drinks (what a great way to watch Doctor Who!), this is a perfect party piece, particularly the moments with the Megara. Inviolate justice machines, the Megara are difficult to grasp. As a serious threat they are just too silly and as a joke they go on for far too long.

The third installment of the Key to Time is also the 100th story of Doctor Who. Screenwriter David Fisher (Creature from the Pit) was reportedly instructed by the BBC executives to write stronger parts for women, an aspect that many have pointed out. It’s true that Doctor Who is mainly a male-oriented show in which women predominantly play a subservient role and this story seems to have been chosen to reverse that trend at least temporarily. If Fisher was indeed given such edict, it certainly influenced his later addition to the Doctor Who mythos, the equally goofy Creature from the Pit which featured a matriarchy clad in leather garb.

Apparently Fisher was also pushed to include K-9 which proved comical on the terrain that the crew was shooting on. The prop could barely make it across a flat surface, and in the end had to be pulled along via a length of fishing line  on location. The reliance on K-9 to solve a problem in general never sat well with me and greatly hampered the program’s intelligence. It essentially placed the Doctor into a position of shooting his way out of a problem without ever putting the gun in the hero’s hands. John Leeson is an amazing voice actor and managed to create a bond of sorts of with his co-stars, but the character is more often than not a replacement to the Doctor’s ingenuity at dealing with a situation.

A charming adventure with some wonderful camera work and direction, the ‘monsters’ and poor trial sequence are so opposite the mood of the first half of Stones of Blood that it makes for an unusual experience. For a mid-way point, The Stones of Blood is an accomplishment as it renewed the story and heightened the tension with the reminder of the Black Guardian, but the substandard production values combined with a convoluted idea hamper the overall success of this one.

Doctor Who by its nature is a mixed affair of comedy, drama, fantasy and science fiction performed by classically trained actors against blue screens and rubber monsters. Occasionally it transcends this with an ambitious script, impressive effects or even an unusual setting. Stones of Blood is one of those stories that nestles comfortably into the accepted norm of a silly entertaining program created by clever individuals with an unusual sense of humor… and that’s not a bad place to nestle.

Doctor Who and The Pirate Planet

Doctor Who- the Key to Time Part Two

Story 099
30 Sept -21 October 1978

“Earth… If I have to save that planet one more time I shall go stark staring mad.” The Doctor and Romana, searching for the second segment of the Key to Time, find themselves embroiled in one of the most fantastic crimes against the universe, a pirate planet. The power mad Captain rules over a population of docile citizens who cower in fear from the Mentiads, a bizarre cult roaming the hills. In order to discover the second segment, the Doctor must do something extraordinarily clever or the next planet to be looted will be Earth.

I have stated before that the Key to Time series is a mixed bag and nowhere is that statement truer than in this story. Written by Douglas Adams, the script came under fire from the BBC execs for its fantastic concept and comedic elements that bordered on pantomime. It’s interesting to note that Doctor Who’s producer Graham Williams had been charged an edict to make the program lighter but was simultaneously expected to maintain a high standard of storytelling and drama that the series’ audience expected.

Set on an alien world ruled by a larger than life character named The Captain, Pirate Planet has a number of bold ideas that were new to the program. After investigating the mystery of the Mentiads who are depicted as a mob of boogeyman extras dressed in rags, the Doctor discovers that the planet itself is hollow and has

As a child, I knew of Doctor Who from watching segments over my uncle Rick’s shoulder. I glimpsed both Terror of the Zygons and Pyramids of Mars. When a friend talked me into watching the series as a teenager, I tuned in and saw the first episode of Pirate Planet. It took a lot of convincing to get me to watch again. That’s not to say that Pirate Planet is a bad story, it’s actually a brilliant story, but the execution leaves something to be desired.

Part of the problem with the Pirate Planet involves the budgetary constraints of the program, the other involves the cast’s inability to play their parts straight. Both combine to result in a shoddy production that fails to deliver the story in the script. The extras have varied acting ability, with the poor chap playing Pralix wailing against the ceiling at the opening of part one a prime example. The program comes off as a farce in most places, with Tom Baker often delivery his hammiest performance since Underworld the previous year.

However, and it’s a big ‘however,’ the plot is a stunner. A scheme involving an immortal Queen, a cyborg pirate captain, a planet that is piloted around the universe like a mobile mining facility and a mob of psychic beings swearing the vengeance for the lost worlds could be the most ambitious plot of classic Doctor Who. When it is played straight, Pirate Planet is wonderful.

I can understand the difficulty in that the script is so outlandish that it is a fine line between absurdity and panto, but certain cast members prance across that line quite easily while others stumble about.

The Captain shouts his dialog (in places it’s hilarious but after a while it becomes tiresome). It’s hard at times to figure if Bruce Purchase is an inspired actor or a horrible one (of course he’s fantastic in the end). It’s said that Adams wanted to depict the Captain’s boisterous ramblings as a cover for a more complicated mindset. He was disappointed with Purchase’s performance, feeling that it went too far to be taken seriously, but looking at the dialog… how can you not go over the top? In the end, the actor played the lines to their limit as the most bombastic villain ever seen on Doctor Who since Professor Zaroff in the Underwater Menace.

The Doctor confronts The Captain

The 16th series marks the beginning of my personal least favorite concepts of Doctor Who, where our hero wanders about the universe with his robot dog and companion time lady. The Doctor is depicted as nearly infallible, and K-9 is used to deal with any opposition, reducing the chances at drama to almost nothing. Romana is a flippant genius and gets by on charm alone, usually escaping death with an glamorous/impish smile (depending on which incarnation). Because the two leads are presented as so flippant and powerful, there are so few opportunities for drama. This places a higher than usual demand on the actors and on the writers, as the script needs to be ingenious or humorously filled with witty dialog.

The first two parts of this story are so silly and larkish that upon a recent viewing I wondered how I could defend it. But then the final two parts vindicate the story absolutely as the horror of ransacked planets is revealed and Baker rises to the dramatic moment. The plot starts firing on all cylinders and the cast responds in kind (mostly) with Bruce Purchase as the Captain subtly revealing his true nature and Rosalind Lloyd as the Nurse shows that she is more than a pretty face.

Pirate Planet was the first real glimpse of Douglas Adams’ writing skill that fans would soon discover in his radio series the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (which he was writing at the same time). There are some great moments and some dire ones as well, but if you are a Tom Baker fan or a follower of Douglas Adams, this is worth checking out. It’s a shame that the entire production could not have been of a more consistent quality, but that’s often what you get when watching Doctor Who (silly rubber monsters, rubber trees, goofy giant rats or even a man-eating clam have nearly ruined other classic adventures).

The Doctor’s arrogance is matched by Tom Baker’s ego in this era, but the actor and character still excel at reminding the viewer why he can get away with it. Because when the chips are down, the Doctor really is that good.

Doctor Who and the Ribos Operation

Doctor Who- The Key to Time Part One

Story 098
2-23 September, 1978
Summoned by the White Guardian, a mythical figure of Time Lord lore, The Doctor is given a task to assemble the Key to Time. A device capable of stopping all of time everywhere simultaneously, the Key is also being sought out by the Black Guardian, the White Guardian’s polar opposite. His first case involves a rock, a deadly monster, a pair of con men and an exiled Prince with plans for conquest. With K-9 and his new assistant Romana, the Doctor must out-fox a crafty con job where an entire planet is offered up for sale while avoiding getting himself killed by the enraged Graff Vynda-K.

Four years into his seven year stint as the Doctor, Tom Baker was a bit full of himself. That’s not a judgement solely of my own, but from the actor himself as well. He re-wrote scenes on the fly, directed other actors and even choreographed whole scenes while the rest of the production crew looked on, some bristling with frustration and others begrudgingly accepting that Doctor Who had become Tom Baker’s show.

A national institution of 16 years, Doctor Who had seen many producers, its most recent being regarded as one of the best, Philip Hinchcliffe. Blending sci-epic, period drama, suspense and Gothic horror, Hinchcliffe’s reign on Doctor Who is still seen as definitive by some. Under Graham Williams, Doctor Who became lighter, more fanciful and rarely took itself seriously. Tom Baker’s ego swelled to massive proportions as he waltzed around dangerous ray-gun wielding guards armed with only a jelly baby, talked down to monsters as absurd creatures and was basically an unbeatable fairy tale hero. In short, this was not at all similar to the Hinchcliffe era where the danger was real and the Doctor was very vulnerable to violence. That’s not exactly a bad thing. Doctor Who thrives on change, but never had an actor played the role for as long as Baker had and the program has never gone through so many changes as it did from 1974-1981.

While I personally prefer the darker Hincliffe era, I can appreciate some of Williams’ work, citing Key to Time as his finest outing. When I was a first-time fan I despised the Williams-era Doctor Who and was attracted to the more serious and darker stories, but when I got re-invested in the program, I found myself purchasing these stories on DVD as I had never really given them a fair chance. I’m glad that I did because there are some real corkers in here.

Cited as overly violent and far too horrific for children, Doctor Who was forced to lighten its mood after Hinchcliffe’s departure. Even so, it was not until William’s second year as producer that you can really see this change set in (many of series 15’s stories still feel a lot like the Hinchcliffe era).

An entire series devoted to an over-arching story is a concept that could be tied back to Keys of Marinus which is like a miniature Key to Time story in which the Doctor and his companions embark on a quest in six parts. It was attempted again in the Trial of a Timelord and is currently a device used in each series of the new Doctor Who. Even so, it’s a risky thing. If the connecting idea is to precise, you run the risk of alienating viewers who haven’t watched every week, but if it’s too weak the series fails to hold together as one story. Key to Time is a very mixed result. In places it works, but in others the concept shows as being very flimsy and tired (such as the finale Armageddon Factor). However, during the Key to Time storyline, Doctor Who functioned like a children’s adventure serial. Lighter in its approach and incredibly diverse in setting and character, it was a wild year.

I’m going to attempt to review all six stories which is quite an under-taking. I won’t be reviewing them one after the other and in fact will likely review many more Doctor Who stories in between, but this is the start.

Cyril Luckham as the White Guardian

The opening tale is written by fan favorite Robert Holmes (Terror of the Autons, Time Warrior, Ark in Space, The Brain of Morbius, Deadly Assassin) and plays out like farce with strong fantasy elements. Terribly witty dialog, overblown absurd characters and a main plot involving a planet-sized confidence trick, this is actually a great story and perhaps one of Holmes’ finest scripts in my opinion (and I really really like his work).

The opening sequence sees the Doctor in a kind of limbo where he is approached by a kind of cosmic being called the White Guardian. The White Guardian explains that there is a device that could be used in desperate situations to stop all time. Separated into six segments, they key is protected but could be assembled if someone knew of the segments’ locations. The Doctor is sent on a quest to assemble the key before the White Guardian’s opponent, the Black Guardian, can find the pieces. Even though the Doctor insists on operating with just K-9 as an assistant, he is charged with a new companion, the strikingly beautiful Time Lady, Romana. The two get on like oil and water, Romana being book-smart and the Doctor petulantly insisting on taking things as they come. The result is a series of mishaps that leads the pair into several dangers that they narrowly escape, something the Doctor takes for granted but Romana views as a death wish.

It’s a great mix.

The Doctor (Tom Baker) and Romana (Mary Tamm)

As Romana, Mary Tamm has a definite regal quality. Dressed all in white and painfully attractive she is just as strikingly gorgeous as Tom Baker is giddily amusing. A no-nonsense, straight-forward character, Romana has all of the fictional knowledge of a Time Lord and refuses to put up with any of the Doctor’s tom-foolery. However, the program is built around the logic of the Doctor and is far too silly to be approached from a linear logical stand-point, forcing her to eventually concede to his point of view (perhaps that’s why her regenerated form is so much like a female version of the Doctor?).

Fans are largely split on their view of the Key to Time as it is much lighter in tone than the previous two series and rarely takes itself seriously. One could view it as a pantomime of Doctor Who or as silly nonsense. That could be true, but when it works it is also great fun and Ribos Operation is a prime example of this.

The central piece of the Ribos Operation is a rock being used by a pair of tricksters Garron and Unstoffe who are operating a confidence job on a galactic scale, using it as bait to sell a primitive planet that they do not own. The two con men, the larger than life and lovable Garron and the young innocent Unstoffe are standard examples of Holmes’ double-act in which two characters play off of each other, their dialog climbing all over the place like a pair of squirrels fighting over the same nut. It’s just marvelous to watch.

Garron and Unstoffe are unwisely attempting to con the Graff Vynda-K into buying a planet that they do not own. The Graff is an exiled ruler, ousted by his own people while at war. Roaming the galaxy with his battle-weary troops, he seizes an opportunity at revenge when he finds that the planet that Garron has for sale is rich in a rare mineral called jethric. Garron has placed a massive piece of the mineral in the plain site as a local jewel… which also happens to be a segment to the key to time in disguise. With the jethric, the Graff could raise an army to take back his planet by force… and more. But the Doctor has other plans.

The Graff soon rumbles that he has been had, but he has seen the jethric and knows that it is real. Played by the classy Paul Seed, the Graff Vynda-K is a real piece of work. His eyes blaze with a genuine madness that has such threat to it that you fear what he may do if he managed to seize any real power on his own. Luckily, the jethric mine, like the deed of sale on the planet, is fake. Unluckily, the Graff is desperate and mad with power-lust. Sure that there is a wealth of the stuff somewhere on the planet, he seizes both Garron and the Doctor, who seems to know more than he lets on. Separated from Unstoffe, Garron gets to play off of the Doctor who is taken by the man’s charm while Unstoffe happens to meet a public pariah Binro the Heretic, a man who was stones out of society for claiming that there was life on other worlds. Played by veteran actor of stage and screen Iain Cuthbertson, Garron is a swarthy delight, just the kind of cartoon character that the Doctor could take seriously. Alternately, Unstoffe really is a good lad under it all and the moment where he tells Binro that he is in fact correct, there is life on other worlds, is truly touching.

The Ribos Operation is not everyone’s cup of tea and I can understand why. Tom Baker is clearly out of control and delivers a very uneven performance, the situations are contrived and silly and the quest is for what may as well be a magic wand. It’s all kid’s stuff and for a program that has screened such gripping drama as Pyramids of Mars and The Talons of Weng-Chiang, that can come as a disappointment. But this era of the program is a different take on the concept of Doctor Who, demanding that the audience allow it to be silly and more fanciful. If you can accept that, it’s a very fun adventure.

Doctor Who: The Key to Time (Special Collector’s Edition)