City of Death - Episode 4

So this is the most watched episode of Doctor Who ever. Over 16 million people watched this episode and sadly it wasn’t because it was the most talked about TV event ever. Due to a strike at ITV (which I have already mentioned) meant that despite the ratings for this story this wasn’t the greatest story of Doctor Who ever made. Certainly it’s a good one and far better than Douglas Adams’ previous offerings but to be fair it has worked quite well during this story. As I write this I am on holiday with a friend so for the next several episodes I may have input from my friend. This is my equivalent of padding but it will hopefully be more enjoyable than some of the padding that there has been in Doctor Who so far.

After the death of Kerensky, the only weak link in this story is the Countess. The problem with the Countess as far as I am concerned is that she is naïve to the point where it is frustrating. Narratively it does serve a purpose so I suppose its more due my expectations that flaws with the story. When she does come the realisation about the truth it does make for a very good scene where the Count rips off and like the first episode cliffhanger the green mask does come off as the face mask comes off which does slightly ruin the effect.

The Count only has two minutes to stop his previous self from pressing a switch that causes the explosion seen in the first episode but the way that he is stopped is simply by talking to the Doctor and Duggan punching which leads to a wonderful line from the Doctor says that it might be the most important punch in history. The character of Duggan has been one of change because at the start he was annoying but overtime he has been a great part of the cast and I think that Tom Chadbon did well with the character.

This episode features the cameo of Jon Cleese who makes a cameo in the art gallery where the TARDIS is located. I just love the idea that one of the Pythons has featured in Doctor Who.  There is a slight continuity error in this episode because in the previous episode, he wrote THIS IS A FAKE yet when he tells Romana and Duggan about it he says “THESE ARE FAKES”. I hate to be pedantic but I feel the need to point it out and they even go to the trouble of pointing it out on the DVD information text. Julian Glover is the best thing in this story and my friend says that we didn’t need to see the alien face but just has Glover’s Count as the villain. I think that the casting of Glover was great and I don’t know what more I can add to it I’m afraid.

The final shot is of the Doctor and Romana walking away after apparently flying and shouting “Goodbye Duggan” which my friend says is impossible. It’s a nice shot though because the camera pulls back and gives us one last look at Paris. It’s been a good end to a good story and I think that after being disappointed with ‘Destiny of the Daleks’ it was good that this story restored my faith in the show. The story was good, the performances were also good and the directing was sound and when all these things come together then the story has a good chance of doing well. Sadly I know what the next story is and so my recently restored faith might be test in the next story. In fact the next two stories are going to be a test but I suppose my opinions can change.

As I mentioned, Tom Baker is now just one episode behind William Hartnell. My friend reminded me that in Baker’s last season he looks a lot more tired than he did in this season. As this is his penultimate season its fair to say that his humour is becoming more impactful on the story and on this occasion he got away with it but I think when the story doesn’t require it then his humour just looks misplaced. On a totally random note, the bodyguard/stooge that the Count has looks an awful lot like one of the maintanence guys that works at the caravan park that I am staying at. Means nothing to you but it does make me and my friend chuckle.

City of Death - Episode 3

It seems that humour is the order of the day as there is more humour in this episode than in the previous two. It takes less than three minutes for Duggan’s comedy to show itself. It’s not the only bit of comedy as Peter Haliday’s comedic role is ended when the Doctor uses a Polaroid to blind him. The stuff in 1505 does seem to be a little odd because its moving quite slowly. Once the action returns to 1979 it seems to be moving along a lot better. I like how Duggan and Romana have developed a different kind of relationship. It’s one of those things to try and think about how the show would have been had Duggan stayed on the show. It’s one of those things that Big Finish could do.

There is a moment where the 1979 Scarlioni is talking to 1505’s Scarlioni where one question starts in 1979 and ends in 1505. That must have looked very impressive on the script page and it’s edited very well and its simple things like this that show the vast idea of what David Agnew/Douglas Adams was trying to achieve. The THIS IS A FAKE moment happens in this episode and this is why I cant look at the Mona Lisa without thinking that this might be in the background. The montage of the different Scarlioni’s is quite a good one and does a good job of showing us that there are more than just the two versions. I haven’t commented on Michael Hayes’ directing so far in this story which is a shame because he has did quite well in his two stories during the Key to Time season and he has managed to do wonders in this story.
There has been only aspect of this story that hasn’t worked so well and that is the role of Kerensky. Apart from being there to do work for the Count, he hasn’t really contributed to the story and I think that the role is a bit too silly for the story so his death was perhaps overdue but it was a good death as he aged to the end of his existence. This marks the cliffhanger with the final shot being of the Count. It’s not the strongest cliffhanger of this story but I suppose after two really good cliffhangers it was inevitable that there would be a bit of a dud ending. The episode was another good one which continued the story and for once the humour was quite enjoyable and I think that the whole story is working very well. I am glad that they have got some location footage in this episode because it makes up for the lack of it in the previous episode. Looking forward to the final episode and hope that it ends just as I hope it does.

City of Death - Episode 2

This story got the highest ratings for any Doctor Who story during the classic era. This episode got 14.1 million viewers any that was a record but it would only last seven days with 15.4 million and then that record lasted for seven days when the final episode got 16.1 million. This was due to strike action at ITV. Whilst the previous episode was memorable because of the French location filming but todays episode doesn’t have any of that.

First thing that stands out in this episode is the comedy is back and I think that this is down to the fact the story is starting to stagger a bit because it doesn’t seem to flow as well as it did in the previous episode. There is a bit in terms of what the Count and Countess are doing and that is they are trying to steal the Mona Lisa. The Doctor decides to go and visit Leonardo Da Vinci and encounters Peter Halliday (aka Packer). Halliday’s character is quite a comedy character which seems to be odd considering moments later he meets an older version of the Count. The cliffhanger is just as good as the previous episodes and its just the way that Julian Glover walks into the room. Julian Glover is a fine piece of casting and its largely down to his performance in the two episodes so far that has stood out aside from the location filming.

The idea of their being several Mona Lisa’s is something that could only have come from the mind of Douglas Adams (sorry David Agnew). I cant think or look at the Mona Lisa on the TV without thinking of the moment that’s about to come up where the Doctor writes THIS IS A FAKE. It’s quite an big moment and even gets mentioned in a Big Finish story.

I know that the comedy might seem a little bit unwelcoming but I think that it works a lot better than the humour that appeared during Adams’ last story ‘The Pirate Planet’. The performances from Tom Baker and Lalla Ward have been quite fun to watch and also I have found the running gag about Duggan hitting everyone and anyone to be quite fun and I think that this has slightly made up for the lack of filming in Paris. I think that this story is still fun but I am worried that the lack of location filming is going to sap any positivity out of this story.  

City of Death - Episode 1

Today is Tom Baker’s 129^th episode as the Doctor which puts him in second place behind William Hartnell who is on 133 so by the end of this story he will be just one episode behind him. I know that I enjoyed the Key to Time (most of it anyway) buts it nice that the show has returned to just randomly going to different places. This story is credited to David Agnew who previously wrote ‘Invasion of Time’ but this is a Douglas Adams script and after being left a bit disappointed with ‘The Pirate Planet’, I wonder just what to expect over the next four episodes. There is something quite special about this story and its that this is the first story to have been filmed abroad. That’s the real Eifel Tower and those are real French people walking around a real Paris. It’s weird that its taken nearly 16 years for the show to go out of the United Kingdom and whilst its not uncommon for the show to venture away from our green and pleasant lands with the most recent episode (Kill the Moon) being filmed in Lanzarote but back in 1979 this must have felt like a holiday for the viewers.

The first shot is a very impressive model which sees the camera pan across a rather grim and baron landscape before focusing on a spider like ship. Scaroth’s mask is probably a bit silly compared to todays standards but in context it looks fine. Count Scarlioni is played by Julian Glover and is someone that throws money around like its funny money so is instantly unlikeable. He is messing around with time so there is a nice mystery as to how he is linked with Scaroth. As well as having money is a slave driver because Kerensky is doing all the donkey work and doesn’t get to go out and have a life.

The opening shot in Paris is beautiful. Very rarely would I describe something in Doctor Who as beautiful but I cant help it. When the Doctor and Romana end up on the train it looks weird to think of a couple that could fly through time and space end up on public transport. The whole sequence of them travelling through Paris is fascinating because I am one of those people who like to watch old programs and see how the transportation or something similar looked when filmed in the ‘modern’ day. Even when the action moves to a studio, it still feels like we are still in Paris even though it’s a BBC studio in wet London.

The episode ends with Scarlioni removing his mask to show that he is in fact Scaroth and its only ruined by the slight moment where the mask appears to be pulled up when the face mask is pulled off. Apart from that the revelation is quite good and ends of a good note. I have really enjoyed this episode after being slightly disappointed with the Dalek story and thought that this episode had everything that I would want from an episode and after several episodes which haven’t quite had that effect on me I am just relieved to get that fanboy feel from an episode.

The Armageddon Factor - Episode 6

Now we have reached the end of the journey, after twenty five episodes the key to Time would be completed. The previous episode ended with the Doctor being shrunk by Drax. The episode sort of takes a while to get going but the Doctor and Drax carry the early moments of the episode. Merak and Shapp seem to be forming a double act. The Doctor and Drax are a good double act. This is normally the sort of thing that Robert Holmes would have done but it just shows that other people can get away with it to.

There is a moment where Astra announces that she is the Sixth princess of the sixth royal house of the sixth dynasty and it’s a lovely way of pointing things out and it could easily have been a silly explanation as to why she’s special but Baker and Martin have thought this one through. K9 has to pretend to the Shadow that he is still under his control. This is again a moment where K9 is actually interesting and sadly it doesn’t last very long but again like the time when he was a bad K9, it was fun while it lasted.

There is a lovely moment when the countdown of the Mentalis is getting to 0 and Drax is trying to remember which cable is needed to cut and stop the countdown and it does feel a bit like comedy and bit like drama. This means that the Marshall can fire his rockets for the first time since episode three or four and the planet of evil is destroyed and then the Shadow has a wonderful final scene. After Drax leaves the Doctor and Romana there comes a really fine scene where the Doctor pretends that he has become a bit bad now that they have all six segments. This is just the Doctor playing but it’s a wonderful moment when the viewer must be unsure whether he has been warped by the power that the Key to Time has.

The Shadow talks to what appears to be the Black Guardian. Here comes the best part of the episode because the Black Guardian pretends to be the White Guardian. The Doctor does a good job of stalling things and the moment when the White Guardian turns into the Black Guardian is great moment. What isn’t such a great moment is when the tracer is broken and the segments are broken up. After spending twenty six weeks, its basically been reduced to nothing. I cant quite make my mind up about this because on the one hand it’s the epic ending that we needed and on the other hand it does sort of make a mockery of what we have seen.

This is the final episode to feature Anthony Read as the script editor. I cant really fault the quality of the stories that he has been involved with. The Armageddon Factor is the final six part story ever. I cant believe that with over 350 episodes left to watch that it will just be two or four part stories. I cant say that I will really miss the six parters because they are a bit baggy and sometimes doesn’t quite work. The episode was a decent finale but it was an episode of two halves with the first half being the ok stuff and the second half being the stuff with the Black Guardian and the Doctor. The story was ok as well but I think that it could have been a bit shorter but whilst the budget might have been a bit tight, it didn’t show too much on screen and I thought that the story was directed quite well and Bob Baker and Dave Martin managed to make a six parter interesting which isn’t an easy thing to do.

On a final note I have to say that this is May Tamm’s final episode and like Caroline John, she doesn’t get a proper goodbye scene which is a shame because she has been really a great addition to the show and it is perhaps a wise move for Tamm to depart after just one season but when she returned to star alongside Tom Baker in the Big Finish adventures just before she passed away I was reminded as to how good she was and she carried a certain dignity that the role hadn’t really had for a while and Mary Tamm will be missed.

The idea of having a season with an overarching theme is something that is something that I think has paid off. The only story that didn’t work was ‘The Pirate Planet’ but the rest of them had something to enjoy and ‘The Stones of Blood’ and ‘The Androids of Tara’ were the best stories of the season. It wouldn’t be until the new era before we would get a story arc but I think that the Key to Time season was a good one and onwards with the next season.

The Armageddon Factor - Episode 5

The penultimate episode starts off with a great TARDIS scene with the Doctor, Romana and Princess Astra. There are some weird moments in the early stages of the episode where there are duplicates of the Doctor and Romana which is quite clever and done quite well. Its nice to know that even when the budget has run out that there is money for a nice little effect.

Drax appears in this episode and is a friend of the Doctor’s. Whilst Romana is otherwise detained, Drax becomes his assistant. Drax seems to be a comedic character and its good that despite all the darkness in the episode there is still time for the Doctor to be slightly funny. Drax seems to have developed a cockney accent for some reason but whilst there is a reason given it doesn’t really work and so just seems to be an odd. Drax doesn’t seem to have much of a purpose in the episode until the end when he shrinks the Doctor who leaves the TARDIS door open. That’s the cliffhanger which is quite a good one compared to some that we have had during this season.

I mentioned in the previous episode that I was happy that K9 had turned bad and wasn’t refereeing to the Doctor as Master but simply as Doctor. Sadly the bad K9 doesn’t last for long but it was fun while it lasted. Now he’s just going to be his usual boring self. I cant wait until the moment where K9 leaves the show because he is just irritating.

I don’t know whether the Doctor is suppose to know that Astra is the final segment or not but it’s a bit frustrating that I know that Astra is the segment and yet its not been revealed even at this point. The mystery about the segment’s identity and who knows what is something that happened during the previous story but in this case it’s the final story and it could have been revealed earlier (or made clearer that the Doctor knows) thus allowing for a different kind of drama

I have to say that the story doesn’t seem quite as interesting as it did in previous episodes. The fact that we are now in the business end of the story and season means that it loses some of the fun aspects of the show and the darker aspects take hold. I think that there were moments which did feel like padding until the final episode. It’s still a good story but it just feels a bit heavier than I would have liked. It’s not terrible but I don’t think its quite as good as ‘The Androids of Tara’ or ‘The Stones of Blood’ but I will be hoping that the final episode will end the season in style.

On a final note, this is the final story to be written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin together. Although Bob Baker would return to the show the following year, Baker and Martin have been one of the most underated writers in Doctor Who. Their ratings have been The Claws of Axos (7.45), The Mutants (7.39), The Three Doctors (7.60), The Sontaran Experiment (7.71), The Hand of Fear (7.65), The Invisible Enemy (7.30) and Underworld (7.41) so they have performed consistently. Whilst I think that The Mutants is their weakest story by a clear mile, they have worked really well and have delivered stories that haven’t been boring (except for the Mutants). However they do have the most heinous of crimes to face up to and that’s the creation of K9.

The Armageddon Factor - Episode 4

The fourth episode of this story is where the story has its usual change in direction which can sometimes work and sometimes doesn’t. Sometimes it manages to do it without too much of a giveaway and I think that this is the case in this episode. Once the episode starts up there is one thing that seems to suggest the darkness has gone and that involves Shapp. Shapp is definetly a comedic character. This is evident when he shoots the Shadow and shrieks backwards before falling to the ground.  For the Doctor and Romana they have to deal with the Mentalis machine and that seems to be sorted quite quickly.

I like how the Doctor thinks that he can sort of get around the fact he doesn’t have the sixth segment of the key and decides to try and make his own segment. It works but it’s a short term fix. The Doctor tries to talk it into working but that doesn’t do the trick and we are reminded constantly that time is stretching but looking at the clock that is counting down.

There is a bit where K9 does come across as quite stupid. He enters a room with a ringing phone and then when he is transmatted he stumbles across the Shadow and becomes overpowered. To be honest this is best he has been in since he joined the show. I think I quite like bad K9 and I never thought I would put like and K9 in the same sentence without being sarcastic. The Marshall is stuck in a limbo now until the end of the story just as says ‘fire’. It’s a shame that someone like John Woodvine has been reduced to this minor role now. He has been one of the best things in the story and now he’s not. Ok so at least he will be appearing in the rest of the story but he wont be the same and between him and K9 I would rather have more Woodvine.

There is a scene where Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and Lalla Ward are on screen at the same time and its weird to think that two incarnations of the same character are interacting and also Tom Baker is encountering his future ex-wife. Lalla Ward is given some good stuff to do and feels like she is part of the story instead of just being a character that appears in random scenes. Her best period in the episode comes when she is in the TARDIS and is looking at the Key to Time. It was during this time that I realised that I don’t think that there has been so much time used in the TARDIS.

I don’t think that this episode was as good as the previous one but I still think that its maintained my interest and I think that with two episodes left the story is starting to build up to the big finale and the pieces are starting to fall into place.

 

The Armageddon Factor - Episode 3

I have been keeping an up to date note of how many episodes people have been in and even though Lalla Ward isn’t playing Romana yet, she is in the show and this is her third episode and that puts her just two behind Adrienne Hill. People may say that as she is not a companion it does count but I disagree and I did the same when Peter Purves appeared in ‘The Chase’ as Morton Dill before appearing in episode six as Steven Taylor. Also and I know that he has been involved in the show for a while at this point but John Nathan-Turner’s name has been appearing in the credits at the end of the episode. Now back to the episode itself. The episode starts off with the Doctor being held by a strange figure dressed in black who calls himself the shadow. It’s a great name for a well realised design. The Shadow knows about the Doctor’s search for the key to time and seems to have a lot of power.

I still think that Merak is a wet individual and isn’t someone that I have really have a lot of time for. Sadly as the Doctor is spending time with the Shadow, it means that Romana has to interact with someone and that person has to be Merak. He pinches the tracer of Romana and decides that he is going to Zeos without her. “I’ll explain it to you when I’ve got two weeks to spare” is what Romana says to Merak and it shows a bit of the Romana that we saw at the beginning of the season but said in a way that shows she has mellowed.

Shapp gets to become a more independent character because he finds himself on Zeos. I don’t know whether its because the Marshall isn’t right next to him but I find him even funnier than in previous episodes. He doesn’t quite believe that he is on Zeos and his refusal to accept this fact is breathing a bit of humour in a story that doesn’t quite have a lot of fun qualities about it. When the Marshall does return to the episode, he is ranting at the camera in a war speech to try and get people whipped up into a frenzy. It’s a short scene but its enough to remind me of how good John Woodvine is.

It was a while before I realised that this were a studio bound story as the story was so good that I was too involved in what was going on to either notice or care. We do get a model shot in this episode and its used to show us the Marshall’s ship and the only ship left in the fleet. This is the last episode where the Marhsall gets to be useful really as I think in future episodes he is part of a loop that will last for most of the serial. The revelation that there aren’t any Zeons on Zeos but infact its just one computer that has been fighting with the Marshall is wonderful idea and the computer is called Mentalis and interacts with K9 thus making this the only time that K9 has been useful.

The episode ends with the Marshall just saying “Attack”. This is perhaps not quite as impactful an ending as the previous cliffhanger was but I enjoyed the episode quite a lot and thought that there have been much worse endings in the show before that I forgave the story for its weak ending. I am now at the half way point of the serial and think that its progressing along nicely but I am waiting for the build up to start because whilst there have been a few mentions of the key to time and segment, the drama and tension has yet to really start and time in starting to run out. Still at least I can say something good about a six parter and that is I am still not bored. Couldn’t really say that about other six parters that there have been during the Tom Baker era.

The Armageddon Factor - Episode 2

I still think that the TARDIS being out of action isn’t the best cliffhanger that there could have been. Anyway this is a minor blip really as the episode starts off in a good way because we get a Doctor and Marshall scene. I have just noticed that Merak is with the Doctor and Romana. Merak is in love with Princess Astra so as a result becomes someone that the Doctor and Romana can trust and the viewer knows is a good person. My impression is that he’s a bit wet and not on par with the Doctor or Romana. The Marshall continues to be very good in this episode but whilst we noticed that he’s a bit odd in the previous episode we learn a bit more in this episode and that is he has a little thing on his neck which seems to be controlling him and on the other side of the mirror he talks into he is actually talking to a skull.

Tom Baker and Mary Tamm have been really good in this episode. I haven’t really commented on the performances of the regulars for quite sometime in any real detail but I have to say that Tom Baker was fantastic and seemed to be back on fine form. I cant quite put my finger on exactly what it was about Baker’s performance that I liked but its been one of his best performances this season. Mary Tamm is also very good in this episode but for different reasons. The role of the companion is pretty much a thankless task but Mary Tamm has always managed to drag something out of the character and I think she has been one of the best things about this season. There is a point where K9 looks like he is about to meet his end and I am so happy about this because as regular visitors to this blog know, I am not a huge fan of K9. Sadly he is saved by the Doctor. There are few things that I can’t forgive the Doctor for but this is one of those instances.

The Marshall is after the ‘ultimate deterrent’ and the Doctor does a deal with the Marshall that if he helps the Doctor find the Princess (who he sort of let slips that is the segment) and he will help the Marshall to create this ultimate deterrent. Normally if the Doctor were to help the bad guys then that would mean a comprise of the Doctor’s principles but on this occasion I think that the Doctor is helping partly to get the key/Princess Astra and partly because he sees it as a challenge.

It’s funny that during the ‘battle’ scene of this episode we don’t see any models to indicate this but a radar on the CSO screen. This is another indication that the money has pretty much run out. Another indication of this is the outfit that some of the crew wearing the sort of costume that the Sensorites were wearing. The difference being that it suited the Sensorites and it was 1964 not 1979. During this episode it enters my head about why they don’t just try and seek peace and its an argument that could be used in some conflicts in the world today. There is a line about how many ships they have going from hundreds or thousands to three.

As this is a six parter this story is still moving along at a good pace and whilst there doesn’t seem to be much of a story, Bob Baker and Dave Martin have done a good job of fleshing things out to make it seem like its not padding. I haven’t felt bored during these two episodes and even with budgetary limitations on screen, I don’t think that production values have really taken a dip. The cliffhanger for this episode was much better than the previous one although like the previous cliffhanger Mary Tamm gets the last line in the episode. The Doctor has walked into a trap but finds out just before he is taken. This has been another good episode and the ending matches the rest of the episode and I am looking forward to the remaining two third of this serial.

The Armageddon Factor - Episode 1

So I have now reached the final story of the Key to Time season and today’s episode is the 500^th. This story is also the six parter of the season. With so many four parters in a row, it’s weird when a six parter arrives. Six parters have become something of a problem as far as the show is concerned because when I was watching the Pertwee era they were really fun to watch and now they seem to be a bit of a bore because they have to almost change stories at the 2/3 point. I watch this story knowing what the sixth and final segment of the key is but I wonder what those watching in 1979 would have thought the segment would be when they started to watch.  This has never been one of my favourite stories ever but I am hoping that watching it at steady pace might mean something comes out at me that I have previously missed.

This story has a lot to live up to and do in a longer time than previous stories and do it with probably less money than previous stories. Lalla Ward makes her debut in the show but not as Romana. Here she plays Princess Astra and from the moment she makes her first appearance on screen she commands my attention.

John Woodvine is very good as The Marshall. I recognise him from appearing in ‘The New Statesman’ and he played a slightly unhinged policeman. As the Marshall there is something peculiar about him. Davyd Harries plays Shapp who is the marshall’s right hand man and I found to be one of the few moments of comedy in the episode. I don’t think he was intended to be funny or says anything particularly funny but its just the way that he performs because it’s the impression that I get.

Atrios is the planet featured in this story and its twelve minutes before the segment if mentioned. Atrios is at war with Zeos and that’s pretty much all that we need to know really. Due to the fact that money is tight, it means that the lavish location filming that we have seen in previous stories are gone and its all studio based from now on. I think that it adds a certain amount of claustrophobia which might work in its favour.

As we approach the end of Mary Tamm’s time on the show, I am reminded of how far the character has changed in such a short amount of time. In ‘The Ribos Operation’ she was quite a snobby madam but now it feels like she’s mellowed a lot and is forming quite a partnership with the Doctor. Due to the fact that quite a bit is happening, it means that I don’t think Mary Tamm and Tom Baker really got to stand out. I suppose that might be a good thing but considering this is suppose to be such an important story its weird that they spend so long in the TARDIS at the beginning of the story. Also I haven’t missed K9.

The cliffhanger is a little bit disappointing. It’s just the realisation that the TARDIS has gone but with five episodes left in the story, it was clear that they weren’t going anywhere. Apart from that odd cliffhanger, the whole episode has worked out quite well. The various aspects of the story have been set up well and whilst it might be light on humour or location filming, I think that the final story of this season might be a good one.

The Androids of Tara - Episode 4

As I watch this episode I wonder whether the story would have worked if they had gone with my original suggestion and have the coronation in this episode because it would have been the perfect end to the story. I think that as good as that suggestion might be (ok I am biased) but I think that the ending that they use in this episode is ok. This story should really have been called two weddings and two funerals because of all the shenanigans that the Count is coming up with. Like most plans in Doctor Who, the plan he has come up with is very convoluted. Surely there would have been an easier way. That said the plan never seems to be come close to working. Before the first wedding between the Prince and Romana happens, the Doctor gets involved and the wedding is stopped.

The Doctor embarks on a sword fight for the first time (I think) since ‘The Sea Devils’. The lack of music is something that I think makes the fight less interesting that it could have otherwise should have been. When the incidental music does arrive it doesn’t really save things. The end of this fight is the end of the Count’s involvement in the episode. The fight goes on for a few moments and I can’t help but compare this to the Sea Devils story. The Count jumping off the bridge into the river is a bit of a cop out. It would have been better I think for the Count to have had some sort of closure because this ending implies that he could return but obviously this isn’t the case so it just seems like a bit of a weird way for a character to be written out of a story.

The scene where Romana encounters the Princess Strella is a funny moment and one that I think is the perfect way to end this adventure. The scene with the Doctor and Romana and the segment is a good one because it reminds us properly for the first time since the first episode that they are on a mission.

I think that this episode was a perfectly fine episode but it wasn’t quite the finale that it should have been. It’s a story that has a lot to like about it and it starts with the story and ends with the characters which all been very well realised by David Fisher and credit should be going to Michael Hayes because he has directed this story beautifully and has done a really good job. It doesn’t happen very often in Doctor Who where both the writing and the directing work so well together but it happens here and this is the second best story of the season which might sound like a bit of a back handed compliment but considering that the best story of the season is ‘The Stones of Blood’ then you know how good this had to be. I think that now I am 2/3 of the way through the season, I realise that we have just two stories left of the Key to Time and the stories that are left aren’t quite as good as the previous two that I have enjoyed. The Androids of Tara has remained as good as I have previously thought of in previous years and think that David Fisher has shown himself to be one of the best writers of recent years. His freshness is something that the more established writers could learn a thing or two from.

The Androids of Tara - Episode 3

It’s fair to say that the previous episode ended on a bit of a sombre note because it appeared to show the Doctor striking a companion. It all becomes clear that it wasn’t the real Romana. The Princess Strella that is in the room is revealed to be an android and the opening few minutes become a bit mad because there is a lot of talking but I couldn’t really tell what was going on. Something else that seems a bit odd is the moment where Lamia and Romana are talking about the segment. This seems to be added in just to remind the us why the Doctor and Romana are on Tara.

I like how the Doctor is advised not to make the android King too intelligent. I thought that its was a funny moment. The humour that has been in these three episodes (and perhaps in Fisher’s previous story) have had a nice dose of comedy and perhaps not the obvious slapstick kind that Douglas Adams attempted to pull off. I think that its credit to David Fisher that he has made the good guys seem to regal and yet not at all annoying. I think that Zadek is my favourite of this group of people but even Neville Jason is doing well as Prince Reynart.

I haven’t commented on just how loathsome the Count is. I always thought he was unlikeable but when its clear that he is doesn’t have any feelings towards Lamia it makes him even more unlikeable. Lamia’s death is quick and surprising but I suppose there wasn’t really much more that the character could do. Peter Jeffrey is playing the role the way that it should be played. With 20% seriousness and 80% humour and campness. I discovered on Wikipedia that Jeffrey previous appeared in ‘The Macra Terror’. I didn’t know this and can safely say that this is the better story for him.

The episode did a thing where it managed to keep the story going without really doing anything. The coronation was done and Romana escaped and then got captured again. I am still impressed with the location filming and it becomes greater in this episode. It all feels like the location filming is a part of the story and by that I mean that it does feel like we are in a land where a kingdom is instead of a quarry pretending to be an alien world. It’s perfectly reasonable to assume that this park/forest filmed wherever in the UK (I can still refer to the UK in the same way after the events of this week) and it still seem like an alien world.

The final scene leading up to the cliffhanger is quite good because it seems that the Count is up to something and it ends with him throwing a spear at the android King and running away with the real Romana. I think that it was a good episode and I am still enjoying this adventure and the final episode should be the perfect ending to this serial. I rate each episode and at the moment the average for this story is 0.01 less than ‘The Stones of Blood’. In terms of Tom Baker’s entire run of stories, it currently stands in joint 9^th place (tied with Robot).

The Androids of Tara - Episode 2

With the Prince kidnapped the Doctor proposes that they get the android crowned. The prince isn’t the only one that has a duplicate. Romana meets her double who is a Princess (Princess Strella to be exact) that is being held prisoner by the Count.

The Count doesn’t know that there is an android version of the Prince exists so when he walks into the coronation chamber and sees the android version he believes it to be impossible. It’s quite odd that if the Prince was late then his opportunity would go to someone else. It’s hard to imagine that if Queen Elizabeth were late to her coronation that they would have crowned someone else. That’s the only thing that doesn’t quite make sense on Tara. That said I thought that the room where the coronation takes place looked quite splendid.

Mary Tamm’s performances were splendid. Playing two roles that are supposed to look alike but are completely different is a tricky thing to pull off but Tamm does this really well and due to the fact Romana acts like she’s a princess she doesn’t really have to try too hard to make it work. Tom Baker does seem to not be quite on form in this episode and seems to be on autopilot which shows that perhaps his time on the show should have been coming to an end now. After over 100 episodes I suppose its only fair to expect the occasional off the boil performance.

I’m surprised that the coronation happens so soon in the story. This would have been what the story was building up to and so happened in episode four but I suppose this means that Fisher has plans for the final two episodes so that is something to look forward to. The writing has been just as good and also the directing has been superb. I still love all the location filming but even the studio scenes have been directed with a refreshing pace and it shows that studio scenes don’t have to been slow and boring. The episode zips along nicely and at no point did I feel like the story was stalling.

The cliffhanger is quite shocking because as far as the viewer is concerned, its Princess Strella that walks toward the android King but the Doctor seems to have other ideas and instead appears to strike a blow (off screen). It’s got to be one of the strongest cliffhangers for a while and its clear that David Fisher is very good at coming up with cliffhangers that are strong and don’t feel bolted at the last minute. I am still enjoying this story even though this episode doesn’t have quite the impact that the opening episode does.

The Androids of Tara - Episode 1

The Androids of Tara is a story that I have always found rather charming. After enjoying the previous story its good that a run of enjoyable stories is showing all the good things that there are about the show. This story is famous because Mary Tamm gets to play two roles. This is the second story in a row for David Fisher. There are only two instances before this where a writer has written two stories in a row, the first was Ian Stuart Black in 1966 with The War Machines and The Savages and the second was Chris Boucher in 1977 with The Face of Evil and The Robots of Death. This episode was broadcast 2 days after the shows 15^th birthday and this is the final story of 1978. This story is quite unusual in that it takes just seven and a half minutes for Romana to find the fourth segment. That means that instead of the story being about the search for the segment the story could be a standard, more traditional Doctor Who story.

The Doctor’s decision to have a break instead of looking for the next segment seems like a bit of an odd thing to do. The only purpose that it serves is for Count Grendel of Gracht to encounter Romana without the Doctor being around. Gracht thinks that Romana is a robot and she is about to be cut up. The Doctor encounters Prince Reynart who is about to be coronated and Gracht is trying to kill him and become king himself. This is essentially the plot of the entire serial. Zadek is played by Simon Lack returns after previously appearing in the 1971 story ‘The Mind of Evil’.

Like the previous story, the location filming is some of the best that has been seen in the show. If I didn’t know any better I would have sworn that it was the same director. There is a shot where we see the castle and it looks slightly dodgy because the castle looks like it has a few bits added on which don’t quite match. I’m not sure whether its just my 2014 eyes looking at a product of 1978 but it’s the only thing that lets the location filming down a bit.

The segment is pretty much forgotten about which is a bit of shame really but that aside I thought that this was another good opening episode. Despite being wedged in the middle of a season long story, the story doesn’t feel like its running out of steam. In fact it feels like its picking up momentum. I am looking forward to the next three episodes and I will probably be spending the next three days figuring out which story is David Fisher’s best. That isn’t the sort of thing I would be considering.