So it comes down to this. After 20 weeks, we are down to the final six weeks where the final segment of the key will be found and the quest is over. The story marks the final appaearance of Mary Tamm as Romana before Lalla Ward takes over in Destiny of the Daleks. The story was written by Bob Baker & Dave Martin and was given the hard task of finding an fitting end to this epic series. However this story came at the end when as was the case with Doctor Who in the 1970’s, the budget had pretty much run out and this story was no different.
The Doctor and Romana arrive on the planet Atrios which is at war with neighbouring planet Zeos. They meet the Marshal of Atrios who is slightly unbalanced. The story seems is good when its about the Marshal and the battle between Atrios and Zeos but then it got replaced with a slow tedious story. The actual segment is something that I thought was quite interesting. We’ve had a planet and a monster as segments for the key but this time it’s the ultimate part when its actually Princess Astra. Princess Astra is pushed into the middle of the story but no one clues on to what importance that she has in the search for the segment. Despite all the doom and gloom, there is a bit of humour. The humour comes in the form of Drax a guy from Gallifrey who has developed a cockney accent. Barry Jackson (Drax) does a great job and has some great scenes with the Doctor. One of the best scenes in the entire piece is when the Doctor and Romana are in the TARDIS talking to what looks like the White Guardian but is in fact the Black Guardian. You can tell that the Doctor knows instantly that its not the White Guardian and plays it perfectly.
Lalla Ward put in a performance which is surprising if you see her performances as Romana before this. She is a lot less confident and brave as Astra. She must have convinced Graham Williams because after this she was offered the role of Romana. It’s quite odd watching Romana I and II in the same scenes even though of course Lalla Ward isnt Roman yet. Mary Tamm puts in another solid performance in her final outing. It’s a shame that she didn’t want to do another series because I think that the character would have developed even more than it had already done in this season. It’s a shame that Mary Tamm didn’t get to do a regenerations scene. The one at the beginning of Destiny doesn’t really count as we don’t seem Tamm at any point. She was a great companion and her reading of a Companion Chronicle in 2009 shows why she is so good. We also get a great performance from William Squire as the shadow. I loved every scene that he was in and that was partly down to his voice but also down to the costume he was wearing. It added to the grim setting he was in.
Linking an entire season with a single story arc isn’t anything odd now a days. In fact it would seem odd when they don’t use it. However it must have annoyed the viewers when the Doctor broke up the key to time after spending five months looking for the different segments. It’s a shame that this story wasn’t as good as it should have been. I just found the last half of the story to be so slow and tedious that I was glad when it got to the end and it moved into the TARDIS. Despite everything I think that there are good things in the story and its one of those that you would have to be ready for and not watch it like I did at 11.30 at night after spending the rest of the day watching the rest of the series.
The Key to Time series was a bold experiment for the series and it wasn’t until 1986 that this style got used in the classic series. Graham Williams and Anthony Read did a great job of producing six stories that stayed true to the series but made sense in relation to the Key to Time story arc.
The Doctor and Romana arrive on the planet Atrios which is at war with neighbouring planet Zeos. They meet the Marshal of Atrios who is slightly unbalanced. The story seems is good when its about the Marshal and the battle between Atrios and Zeos but then it got replaced with a slow tedious story. The actual segment is something that I thought was quite interesting. We’ve had a planet and a monster as segments for the key but this time it’s the ultimate part when its actually Princess Astra. Princess Astra is pushed into the middle of the story but no one clues on to what importance that she has in the search for the segment. Despite all the doom and gloom, there is a bit of humour. The humour comes in the form of Drax a guy from Gallifrey who has developed a cockney accent. Barry Jackson (Drax) does a great job and has some great scenes with the Doctor. One of the best scenes in the entire piece is when the Doctor and Romana are in the TARDIS talking to what looks like the White Guardian but is in fact the Black Guardian. You can tell that the Doctor knows instantly that its not the White Guardian and plays it perfectly.
Lalla Ward put in a performance which is surprising if you see her performances as Romana before this. She is a lot less confident and brave as Astra. She must have convinced Graham Williams because after this she was offered the role of Romana. It’s quite odd watching Romana I and II in the same scenes even though of course Lalla Ward isnt Roman yet. Mary Tamm puts in another solid performance in her final outing. It’s a shame that she didn’t want to do another series because I think that the character would have developed even more than it had already done in this season. It’s a shame that Mary Tamm didn’t get to do a regenerations scene. The one at the beginning of Destiny doesn’t really count as we don’t seem Tamm at any point. She was a great companion and her reading of a Companion Chronicle in 2009 shows why she is so good. We also get a great performance from William Squire as the shadow. I loved every scene that he was in and that was partly down to his voice but also down to the costume he was wearing. It added to the grim setting he was in.
Linking an entire season with a single story arc isn’t anything odd now a days. In fact it would seem odd when they don’t use it. However it must have annoyed the viewers when the Doctor broke up the key to time after spending five months looking for the different segments. It’s a shame that this story wasn’t as good as it should have been. I just found the last half of the story to be so slow and tedious that I was glad when it got to the end and it moved into the TARDIS. Despite everything I think that there are good things in the story and its one of those that you would have to be ready for and not watch it like I did at 11.30 at night after spending the rest of the day watching the rest of the series.
The Key to Time series was a bold experiment for the series and it wasn’t until 1986 that this style got used in the classic series. Graham Williams and Anthony Read did a great job of producing six stories that stayed true to the series but made sense in relation to the Key to Time story arc.
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