How GOOD is the KEY TO TIME in DOCTOR WHO???
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 มิ.ย. 2024
- Season 16's THE KEY TO TIME was the first time Classic Doctor Who attempted a fully acknowledged season long Story Arc. Taking place in the middle of the Graham Williams Produced era of Doctor Who and featuring the 4th Doctor we were introduced to fellow Gallifreyan Romana played by Mary Tamm as well the White and Black Guardians. But in an era of budget issues and a change in direction from the sucessful Philip Hinchcliffe era how good is The Key To Time???
GET THE KEY TO TIME ON DVD:
www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-K..."
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
00:00- Introduction
00:40- Start of the Graham Williams era
02:14- Outline of The Key To Time
05:21- The Ribos Operation
07:42- The Pirate Planet
10:56- The Stones Of Blood
15:35- The Androids Of Tara
19:00- The Power Of Kroll
24:21- The Armageddon Factor
28:54- Legacy and Conclusion
Twitter: / thewatc39783966
#DoctorWho - บันเทิง
![[MIRRORED] LISA - ROCKSTAR 🎸 MV version #LISA #BLACKPINK #ROCKSTAR](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-U58DuCCtZk/mqdefault.jpg)
Nice to see some (rare) love for this season. It's the one I most vividly remember from childhood, so I'm biased, but who couldn't love (i) Mary Tamm, (ii) Mary Tamm in that snow outfit, (iii) Garron, (iv) the Shrivenzale, (v) glowing, sentient, scary and blood-thirsty stones, (vi) Professor Rumford, (vi) Count Grendel, (vii) Renaissance androids (ix) Suffolk swamps, and (x) Lalla Ward? All that, plus the 'Fred' conversation, "...but what's it *for*?", sausage sandwiches, electric carving knives to the throat and Valentine Diall. Daft, ropey and thoroughly entertaining!
"STONES OF BLOOD" remains one of my fav of this arc.
I literally just finished watching this series last week (my first ever watch of it). I had never seen romana 1 before. She's brilliant, have started watching the next series with romana 2 and just can't get used to her. Mary Tamm played off Tom brilliantly.
I just love the episodes that made up 'The key to Time' I bought the box set as soon as it was avaliable.
This is an interesting season. It has some real highs but also some embarrassing lows, and it’s more than a little funny that the entire season-length quest is finally revealed to be little more than a massive MacGuffin.
That said, Armageddon Factor was the very first Doctor Who episode (pardon, I’m American, and Dr Who was shown on PBS in “movie” format), and despite the fact that one ran too long (and was clearly a zero-budget Star Wars knockoff), I enjoyed it a lot. Also, I will freely admit that teenage me had a huge crush on Lala Ward. I loved her in the 1979 season.
Best thing about the 1978 season: Douglas Adams, who really ran wild the following year. He was so brilliant and it’s a shame he didn’t stick around. I’d have to wait for Andrew Cartmel to arrive for the writing on Doctor Who to finally hit that high again.
Overall, it’s Tom Baker, what more do you want? He is one of the all-time iconic television personalities.
I do enjoy the Key to Time & I agree with much of what you say. The Armageddon Factor was a poor finale, but the Doctor pretending to go mad with power at the end when he has the entire Key is great! It was a shame that Mary Tamm left - good lord she was fit!!!! Apologies for the sexist comment.....
Perosannly I love Armageddon factor and especially the Pirate Planet. Android of Tara is great as well, with the others ok. It's a fantastic season
For me, the biggest weakness of key to time is its ending. Its as if the writer of armegeddon had no interest in the ongoing storyline, and just tacked on a quick ending with zero thought. Its such a shame. Today, I suppose you'd have a lead writer making sure that sure story in the series serves the larger ongoing narrative. However, the individual stories themselves are great mostly. The pirate planet now being one of my favourites of all doctor who.
Mary Tamm!! Yum!!💗💓
I've long gone along with the belief that it was Mary Whitehouse who was responsible for Hinchcliffe's removal from the show. However I've been reading the latest revised edition of About Time 4, and the author Tat Wood seems to strongly query it.
He certainly seems to suggest the decision was taken long before The Deadly Assassin controversy. Sure she'd complained about stories prior to then (Genesis of the Daleks, The Seeds of Doom) so it could've still been down to her, but Tat Wood seems to think it was more down to internal shifts within the BBC.
I don't know how convinced I am. Hinchcliffe and Williams have certainly said in interviews that they believe the corporation was worried by her, and Williams certainly was given stern memos by the head of serials to avoid such controversies in future.
Whatever the reason though, the show certainly was never quite as good again after Hinchcliffe left.
Oddly, I do find that there are fans who really dislike Williams' time, but who would still maybe treat Season 15 as a keeper. After all it does feature the last of the Hinchcliffe horror period in Horror of Fang Rock & Image of the Fendahl, a strong Holmes satire in The Sunmakers, and it does at least see out Leela's journey. Hell, I've known at least one fan say The Invasion of Time would've been their preferred endpoint for the classic show.
Season 16 is in some ways better than 15, but in other ways it does feel like the show has gotten a lot further away from the sense of danger and excitement of Hinchcliffe, and started to become more 'The Tom Baker Goon Show'. And I can enjoy the latter, but in a much more throwaway way. It doesn't really have the staying power of Hinchcliffe's best.
I think this applies to the Key to Time arc itself. It starts very promising when set up, but by Power of Kroll the quest kind of runs out of momentum, and by the end it does begin to feel like it was all pointless and inconsequential after all, or worse, that it was made up as it went along. In terms of what it added to lore, I could probably take or leave it.
On a story by story basis The Ribos Operation is brilliant, albeit a bit stagey and confined. The Pirate Planet has a lot of promise, but could lose some of its comic excesses (and also a lot of the laborious stuff during its ending). The Stones of Blood starts solid but then descends into farce and feels a bit of a wasted concept. The Androids of Tara is a very good page turner but lacks a bit too much in the danger stakes.
Power of Kroll does feel terribly dry. I don't think it's Holmes at his worst, but it is perhaps Holmes at his least. In other ways though, it actually does feel like the most Doctor Who story all season as it does feel more adventurous. Incidentally the bit where Tom does that silly goof with the cup is really unpardonable. He's not being funny there, he's just being a (possibly drunken) git spoiling everyone else's hard effort.
That said though, his final confrontation with Kroll does put me in mind of how Holmes would've maybe written a regeneration scene for Tom's Doctor.
The Armageddon Factor I'm afraid was just a miserable viewing experience (and certainly disproves the claim that critics of the era just need to have more sense of humor & fun about it). It's probably the worst of the era (even over Underworld). It really feels like an eternity is passing me by when I watch it. Frustratingly I think you're right that it could've been easily trimmed into a neat 4 parter.
As a season it was fun to discover and follow the first time. But it definitely pales in comparison to the timeless dynamism of Seasons 13 & 14. At the same time it's a much more pleasant watch than most of the JNT seasons.
It does feel like it's in the shadow of giants really, and mostly is just about keeping the meter ticking.
Nicely made video. Small point: Ribos is pronounced "Reebos".
It's let down by the Power of Kroll and the Armageddon factor for me. The rest are brilliant.
Key to Time was my introduction to Doctor Who. Being a kid in the 70's I loved it. I stopped watching when Tom Baker left the show.
_I stopped watching when Tom Baker left the show_
Believe me, you didn't miss much. ;)
Pure coincidence I've watched Ribos Operation, Stones of Blood & Androids of Tara in last couple of weeks. It's def underrated imo, the best of the three Graham Williams seasons 🗝👍
Good review
I got the dvd box set of the season
I like the key to time era more now than I did back in the day. Maybe its because enough time has gone past, or the chibbnal era was so unwatchable it makes any bad season of doctor who look better in comparison, I'm not sure, possibly the latter....
Nice
Rubbish season this when dr who died for me got a little better with 5th doctor but Baker should Have gone at least this season 😢
It's very uneven but I have a soft spot for it, even for Kroll and the Armageddon Factor which are clearly the weakest two stories.
My favourite is the androids of Tara and stones of blood the rest are meh