Doctor Who — The Key to Time

Doctor Who — The Key to Time —
The Complete Adventure (DVD set)
Science Fiction Videos — The Ribos Operation, The Pirate Planet, The Stones of Blood, The Androids of Tara, The Power of Kroll, The Armageddon Factor
All Videos starring Tom Baker
ISBN/ISIN: IB000067FPE (for the full boxed set)
Publisher: Warner Home Video / BBC Video, $124.98 ($24.98 for individual DVD stories)

Released in late 2002, “The Key to Time” boxed set contains all six DVD stories that encompass a season-long story arc. In these stories you have the Doctor (Tom Baker) and his new companion Romana (Mary Tamm), who are sent out by the White Guardian to find the six segments to the Key of Time. These segments are scattered across the universe, and disguised as many objects and things. With all six parts of this key, time can be stopped throughout the entire universe, and the White Guardian can restore order to the cosmos before its pending destruction. This, of course, is what the enemy, the Black Guardian, wants more than anything.

It must be noted that the acting of both Tom Baker and Mary Tamm is excellent and fairly consistent throughout all six stories in this set. Other actors will be commented upon in the individual mini-reviews below. I’ll have to admit that they gave Tom more influence on his character during these episodes, as he does get rather humorous at times, which isn’t a bad thing necessarily. It doesn’t wreck any plot, for the most part, and I’ve always liked his Dr. Who humor anyway.

Before I go into each story, I must point out that this set does contain extras on each DVD. These extras are not as expansive as they have been on other Dr. Who DVDs. Most of the bonus material consists of audio commentary by the actors and directors, along with photo galleries and cast bios. As with other Dr. Who shows on DVD, each of these also has the option for text-only commentary, which puts interesting facts on the screen as the show plays on. I’ve always liked this feature, and these six DVDs have a wealth of information in this commentary text, much of which point out things in the show that you may not of otherwise notice. In fact, some of this information is quite humorous, and shows that the folks behind the making of the DVDs did not take themselves too seriously (which no one should).

The Ribos Operation — Dr. Who Story No. 98
Written by Robert Holmes
ISBN: 0-7907-7091-1

In the first story of this set, the Doctor meets the White Guardian, and is sent on his quest to retrieve the six pieces to the Key of Time. He is also given a new companion, Romana, played by Mary Tamm. They set off in search of the first piece to the Key of Time, which leads them to the planet Ribos, a rather primitive planet. On this planet, they come across two con men trying to rip off the Graff Vynda-K, an errant warlord looking to rebuild an empire. Suffice it to say that the Doctor gets involved with both the con men and Graff, but of course wins out in the end, as usual. The best parts of this story are the friction between the Doctor and his new companion, and the fun interaction between the two con men. About the only bad part of this story is the cheesy rubber monster that they have in a few scenes, but then again Dr. Who has been famous for all of its silly creatures. Luckily, this one only makes minor appearances.

As for the set designs, they are of decent quality in this story, and do make for a reasonably believable backdrop. The special effects are minimal in this story, and are fairly typical for the low budget show. About the best part of some of the effects is the “text commentary” that points out flaws and problems that you might not detect otherwise, such as the Seaker (a witch-like character) who burns her hands twice in the show, and keeps on acting!

I liked this storyline, even though it is not the best of this series. The action is a bit on the slow side, and some of the scenes seem a bit cut off (which is actually true, according to the text commentary). This tends to make a few scenes seem a bit out of place. Nothing bad, but it does make for some minor confusion in spots. Otherwise though, this is a decent story, and enjoyable to watch (I didn’t have to hit the fast forward button once).

The Pirate Planet — Dr. Who Story No. 99
Written by Douglas Adams
ISBN: 0-7907-7092-X

The second installment in “The Key to Time" series, The Pirate Planet, has the Doctor and Romana heading for the Planet Calufrax to find the second Key. However, when they get there, they find themselves on the planet Zanak instead. On Zanak, they find people ruled by the Captain, a rather big, shouting pirate who looks part-Borg, as his entire left side is mechanical. Wealth is everywhere, as the people regularly get “new ages of prosperity” announced by the Captain. This, of course, is due to the sinister secret behind Zanak, which is actually a giant spaceship of sorts that goes around eating other planets. Of course, the real plot behind the planet and the Captain is the evil Queen! But I won’t go into details for those who may not have seen this classic story.

This story was written by the late Douglas Adams, and it definitely shows. Not only does Tom Baker have more witty lines than usual, but all of the main characters are well done, each with their own unique and outstanding personality and dialogue. Some of the lines could only have been created by Mr. Adams. The man had such a great wit and sense of humor which shows throughout this storyline. However, as with many Dr. Who shows, there is a bit of silliness about it, but this doesn’t take away from the plot too much. About the only problem I have with this story is the somewhat outlandish plot line that comes out in the last of the four episodes. I found it slightly hard to swallow, but no ones perfect, not even Douglas Adams!

The settings, special effects and such in this story are typical Dr. Who. A bit on the low budget side, which shows in some areas, but they did a good job on the costumes and sets, even with the limitations they had. If you turn on the optional “Information Text” for this DVD, you’ll again be treated by wonderful facts about what’s going on during the show, along with what happens behind the scenes. This is another good example of a DVD extra that was enjoyable to read as I watched the show. Now if only they could have kept this up on all the DVDs... In all, a rather delightful and fun story.

The Stones of Blood — Dr. Who Story No. 100
Written by David Fisher
ISBN: 0-7907-7093-8

The Stones of Blood is one of my favorite Dr. Who stories, and it still shines through after all these years despite being underrated by others. This story has the Doctor, Romana and K9 landing on Earth looking for the third segment to “The Key to Time." They find themselves in the English countryside by an ancient stone circle which goes by the name of the Nine Travelers. Here they meet Professor Rumford (Beatrix Lehmann) and Vivien Fay (Sussan Engel). I’ll have to admit that Beatrix, at 75 years of age, really helps this story shine, as her part and acting are just a treat. The two ladies our travelers meet are doing a survey of the stones because the number of stones has been debated in historical documents. As it turns out, the circle is also the sacred grounds for a group of druids, who turn out to be a little on the nasty side for druids. While the Doctor and Romana can’t quite figure out where the Key is, as the tracer is acting up, the Doctor gets involved with the Druids. Romana, meanwhile, gets caught up with the two ladies, one of whom, Vivien Fay, turns out to be the main villain. The best part of this story is the Ogre (not sure if that’s how they would spell it), who in this story are blood-sucking giant stones that move around and menace the Doctor, his companion and friends. For a low budget, they pulled this off pretty well. The later episodes involve The Doctor and Romana along with Vivien Fay going into HyperSpace above the Circle, where they meet up with the Megara, justice machines aboard a strange ship. Of course, the Doctor wins out in this part, and they get the Key from Vivian before she meets her doom.

As mentioned above, Beatrix Lehmann, the actor behind Professor Rumford, is just a wonderfully eccentric character in this story. Just picture a 75 year old lady who acts as if she is still 30. I especially like the bits where she gets excited during dangerous scenes, and in one even talks about capturing an Ogre with just a policeman’s club. Now that’s character! Of course, the other actors are just as good, and it must be noted that this is one of the few, if any, Dr. Who stories where three main female characters are present. As for scenery, most of this story was shot on location, which also adds to the enjoyment of this show, as there are not a lot of obvious inside stage scenes — at least not till later in the show.

The extras on this particular DVD contain the usual stuff — commentary, photo galleries and such. What really makes the cut on this DVD is the “Informational Text.” They really went all out on this one, with tons of behind-the-scenes information as well as stuff from the script that was taken out of the show, such as the Doctor’s 751st birthday cake scene! Since I’ve seen this show years ago, and now again on DVD, I always have a smile on my face whenever I see a stone circle of any type.

The Androids of Tara — Dr. Who Story No. 101
Written by David Fisher
ISBN: 0-7907-7094-6

In this fourth story, The Androids of Tara, we have the Doctor and Romana, along with K9, taking a trip to the planet Tara. While the Doctor takes a short fishing trip, Romana quickly finds the fourth Key segment. Getting off the planet turns out to be a rather lengthy process, however. Both characters end up getting involved in the politics of Tara, which involve Count Gredel, who is trying to win the throne of the land from Prince Reynart. The oddest part of this story is that they have Romana looking like an exact duplicate of Princess Strella, which of course she is, in real life, not the story. Suffice it to say I find this to be one of the weaker plots in “The Key to Time” series. The politics can get a bit boorish, and for a planet that is supposed to have Androids, you sure don’t see a lot of them. In the end, the Doctor ends up foiling Gredel’s plots to become king, as if you wouldn’t see that coming.

Location shots, from a local castle to the areas around it, take up most of the filming for this story. The scenery does the story justice, along with some cool shots from within the castle. The costuming is rather well done too, even though I found electric swords and crossbows a bit strange and silly. The main problem I had with this storyline was not the good acting, but the plot itself. It just seemed a bit to boorish, and definitely borrowed from old movie plots. In fact, the story slows down in enough spots that I found myself almost dozing off while watching this show. Now that tells me that this just isn’t one of the better Dr. Who episodes. It’s not bad really, it just takes its time getting anywhere. Luckily, there are those wonderful humor elements that both Tom Baker and Mary Tamm pull off fairly well.

One thing to note about this particular DVD is that the extras are not all that great. Commentary by Tom Baker is pretty good, but the “Informational Text” that I love so much totally stinks in this story. Almost all of it just tells you how much the writer borrow elements of other movies, which is why I found the thing boring in the first place. Besides that, the information provided is dull, just like the show. Oh well, it’s okay Dr. Who, just not the best.

The Power of Kroll — Dr. Who Story No. 102
Written by Robert Holmes
ISBN: 0-7907-7095-4

The fifth story in this series, The Power of Kroll, has the Doctor and Romana, but not K9 for once, on the third moon of Delta Magna, which turns out to be a rather swampy place. Here, you find the “swampies,” the local inhabitants on the brink of rebellion against a human refinery that is set up on their land. The swampies are basically green-painted humans that, in their situation, are representative of the American Indians when they lost their lands to the Europeans. The swampies call upon their god, a huge octopus-like creature, to help them destroy the humans and their refinery. Romana gets caught in the beginning of the story by the swampies, while the Doctor almost gets shot by and ends up with the humans at the refinery. To sum up the majority of this story, you have the Doctor and Romana escaping and getting recaptured by either the refinery workers or the swampies, all the while running around the swamp. In the end, Kroll makes his appearance with a not too badly staged visual effect. The final battle between Kroll and the people who end up at the refinery is decent, and has enough action to keep things going. Overall though, it’s still an average story which just doesn’t keep the pace going or have a strong enough plot to hold it nicely together.

One thing, however, that this story does have is lots of location shots. Some of them are wonderful, with plenty of rare night shots that really are unique for Dr. Who. As for the acting, it’s fairly good, with only a bit of overacting at some points. One thing special about this story is that the actor that usually plays the voice of K9, John Leeson, actually has an acting spot for a change, playing Duegeen, one of the refinery workers. The main reason for this was that his contract said that he had to be in each episode, and without K9 in a swamp, he finally got an actual character to play. Both Tom Baker and Mary Tamm interact more than usual through their characters in this story, which is something that was pointed out in the optional “Information Text” on this DVD. Basically they had a decent amount of space in this story, so they added extra footage of the Doctor and Romana talking about various subjects just to fill time. This alone tells you that this story is on the weak side. There is an optional commentary by Tom Baker himself and John Leeson, which is fun, but doesn't make up for not meeting the quality standard that I expect from a Dr. Who show. This DVD is good for the fans, but other may want to pass on this one!

The Armageddon Factor — Dr. Who Story No. 103
Written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin
ISBN: 0-7907-7096-2

Last in the sixth part of "The Key to Time" series, The Armageddon Factor, finds our threesome — the Doctor, Romana and K9 — heading to the planet Atrious to find the last Key segment. Here, they find that an interplanetary war has been raging between Atrious and Zeos, with Zeos being on the winning side as we start this story. However, for the most part, the war is just a backdrop for this six-part story (compared to the normal four-part ones of the first five stories in this series). They don’t mention it in the credits, but Douglas Adams had some say in the direction this story took, and it shows too. You basically have two planets at war with neither side having seen the other planet! In the end, Zeos turns out to be uninhabited anyway, except by a battle computer that is running the whole war for that planet. During the story, the Doctor meets up with an old college chum, Drax. This is probably my favorite part of this story, as the old Tom Baker humor comes out rather well with the Drax character as they try to do battle with the Shadow, the main villain in this story. As with most six-part Dr. Who shows, I found this one dragging on too long and going in far too many directions, which is why I won’t even attempt to summarize it in this review. Suffice it to say that the Doctor does battle, indirectly and directly, with this Shadow, who works for the Black Guardian. After six whole episodes of the Armageddon Factor, when the Doctor finally gets the last Key to Time, and puts the key together so that the White Guardian can restore the balance to the Universe, I ended up thinking, “Was that all there was too it?” Just a simple plot, dragged out over six roughly half hour-long episodes! Sorry, but this was not what I consider a good conclusion to a six-part story arch.

As for extras on the DVD, the “Informational Text” that I usually like almost drove me nuts during the entire six episodes! Most of the information was about all the movie and shows that every actor was in, along with the entire original draft of the Armageddon Factor. As if I wanted to know what would have happened in the story, rather than what did. If you watch this one, do yourself a favor and don’t activate the special features. In all, I think the last of this six-part series that make up “The Key to Time” was probably the weakest of them all. I always hate it when something ends on a sour note. As a Dr. Who fan, I did like this story to some extent, just not enough to call it good, especially considering that I was hitting the fast forward button on the DVD controller to get past some of the dragged out boring bits! A sad ending to a decent series plot.

(review (c) March 2004 / David Flemming)