Doctor Who: "The Keys of Marinus"
Apr. 20th, 2010 11:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pmcray"The Keys of Marinus" is utter tosh. Supposedly, the story was late replacement with Nation being brought to crank out the scripts quickly as he had demonstrated the ability to do this on "The Daleks". The idea of the portmanteau story with the different settings was allegedly to save money, although how that can have been thought to be the case, I am at a complete loss. Perhaps Nation found it easier to do a series of vignettes than a longer story (see "The Chase"). George Coulouris, who had been in Pathfinders, another lost sf series from the 1960s, gives a bizarrely stilted performance as Arbitan, and most of the other actors seem to take their cue from him. It's obvious that most of the cast have realised that, on the evidence of the script and the budget, this seems to be a kid's show and there isn't really much point trying very hard.
We get a model shot of the TARDIS dematerialising followed by some footage of the island, which actually isn't that bad and reminded before of Stingray before the wobbly sets are rolled on and everything goes down hill rapidly. Arbitan, Keeper of the Conscience of Marinus (don't ask) sends the travellers off to try and reclaim the eponymous keys, which have been scattered across the planet, and gives them teleport bracelets preprogrammed with the locations of the keys. I know, I know. But this was the early 1960s and Nation was not a hard sf writer. So we get to visit four different locales on Marinus.
First, "Oz", an apparent utopia that is actually a decaying dystopia whose inhabitants are ruled over by BRAINS IN VATS, who use drugs to induce a state of reverie in the inhabitants. Interestingly, it is Barbara on whom the spell fails to take and who smashes the VATS (well, perhaps just a VAT).
Second, "The House in the Jungle". Intelligent plants. We'll see that again with Nation.
Third, "The Frozen Tundra". Actually, Vasor is an interesting character and, trapped in a hut in the middle of the sub-polar snowfields, there is a genuine sense of menace for the companions (the Doctor is on holiday) This episode might almost have worked where it not for the ice soldiers, who come over look like something out of Monty Python. I could also have done without the implied nature of the particular threat to Barbara.
Fourth, "Rumpole of the TARDIS". The Doctor gets to play Perry Mason and Ian the innocent accused. Contains some of the most ludicrously risible courtroom scenes in television history.
And then it is back to the island and the Voord, who are only in the first and last episodes. They are wearing flippers and one of the actors manages to trip over his own pair. I can't imagine that anyone really thought they were going to be the next Daleks. Yartek, the leader of the Voord is killed when he inserts a fake key into the Conscience of Marinus. Unlike W&M, I don't see how it could have been intended as an "I'll Be Back!" death.
Hardly any of TKoM makes the slightest bit of sense. Of course, that is true of most Who, but here there is so little less going on that you'd have chance to ignore the fact that it doesn't make sense. If things had gone on like this, I don't think DW would have lasted the year. Luckily, they didn't. And at least we know where the teleport bracelets in Blake's 7 come from.
Now Write On...
I think TKoM is an object lesson in what not to do. For instance, no "Collect the Plot Tokens" storylines - unless there is something intrinsically interesting about the plot tokens (by extension, this means no MacGuffins) or at least something intrinsically interesting in whatever it is that happens when you bring the plot tokens together (and a good reason why they are scattered in the first place). Of course, it also helps to have a coherent plot, scenery that doesn't wobble, monsters who aren't wearing flippers and actors who aren't phoning in their performances.
As Del pointed out many years ago, there is no such thing as a desert planet or a jungle planet and it is always good to see a planet that has different cultural and geographical zones. I think there is stuff that could be done with that. I also quite liked the idea of the Doctor as advocate. He certainly ends up on trial himself enough times in years to come. Given the popularity of courtroom dramas, the Doctor could surely roll out his Rumpole/Perry Mason routine again to defend a companion. Has this not been done? I think there is definite mileage in a Boston Legal crossover (surely they could get Shatner to do a cameo).
And BRAINS IN VATS. You can never have enough BRAINS IN VATS.
We get a model shot of the TARDIS dematerialising followed by some footage of the island, which actually isn't that bad and reminded before of Stingray before the wobbly sets are rolled on and everything goes down hill rapidly. Arbitan, Keeper of the Conscience of Marinus (don't ask) sends the travellers off to try and reclaim the eponymous keys, which have been scattered across the planet, and gives them teleport bracelets preprogrammed with the locations of the keys. I know, I know. But this was the early 1960s and Nation was not a hard sf writer. So we get to visit four different locales on Marinus.
First, "Oz", an apparent utopia that is actually a decaying dystopia whose inhabitants are ruled over by BRAINS IN VATS, who use drugs to induce a state of reverie in the inhabitants. Interestingly, it is Barbara on whom the spell fails to take and who smashes the VATS (well, perhaps just a VAT).
Second, "The House in the Jungle". Intelligent plants. We'll see that again with Nation.
Third, "The Frozen Tundra". Actually, Vasor is an interesting character and, trapped in a hut in the middle of the sub-polar snowfields, there is a genuine sense of menace for the companions (the Doctor is on holiday) This episode might almost have worked where it not for the ice soldiers, who come over look like something out of Monty Python. I could also have done without the implied nature of the particular threat to Barbara.
Fourth, "Rumpole of the TARDIS". The Doctor gets to play Perry Mason and Ian the innocent accused. Contains some of the most ludicrously risible courtroom scenes in television history.
And then it is back to the island and the Voord, who are only in the first and last episodes. They are wearing flippers and one of the actors manages to trip over his own pair. I can't imagine that anyone really thought they were going to be the next Daleks. Yartek, the leader of the Voord is killed when he inserts a fake key into the Conscience of Marinus. Unlike W&M, I don't see how it could have been intended as an "I'll Be Back!" death.
Hardly any of TKoM makes the slightest bit of sense. Of course, that is true of most Who, but here there is so little less going on that you'd have chance to ignore the fact that it doesn't make sense. If things had gone on like this, I don't think DW would have lasted the year. Luckily, they didn't. And at least we know where the teleport bracelets in Blake's 7 come from.
Now Write On...
I think TKoM is an object lesson in what not to do. For instance, no "Collect the Plot Tokens" storylines - unless there is something intrinsically interesting about the plot tokens (by extension, this means no MacGuffins) or at least something intrinsically interesting in whatever it is that happens when you bring the plot tokens together (and a good reason why they are scattered in the first place). Of course, it also helps to have a coherent plot, scenery that doesn't wobble, monsters who aren't wearing flippers and actors who aren't phoning in their performances.
As Del pointed out many years ago, there is no such thing as a desert planet or a jungle planet and it is always good to see a planet that has different cultural and geographical zones. I think there is stuff that could be done with that. I also quite liked the idea of the Doctor as advocate. He certainly ends up on trial himself enough times in years to come. Given the popularity of courtroom dramas, the Doctor could surely roll out his Rumpole/Perry Mason routine again to defend a companion. Has this not been done? I think there is definite mileage in a Boston Legal crossover (surely they could get Shatner to do a cameo).
And BRAINS IN VATS. You can never have enough BRAINS IN VATS.
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Date: 2010-04-21 09:21 pm (UTC)I do not wish to see the Doctor Rumpole Mr Shatner thank you very much.
The arrives-just-as-someone-has-been-killed-and-is-arrested/suspected old staple hasn't been done for a bit, has it? Allied to Doctor spends episodes in and out of jail, may be reason - need shorter stories for current version. But still, was common at a time and never my favourite.