A Journey Of A Thousand Eons...: 25. Sentence of Death (The Keys of Marinus, Episode Five)

There’s an interesting idea here--an idea that I feel actually earns the need for more than one episode.  It’s sloppily, at spots out and out ineptly explored...but it’s interesting.

Ian, as we learned in last episode’s cliffhanger, found the last micro-key just in time to be coshed into unconsciousness and framed for the murder of the micro-key’s guard (who just happened to be one of the agents Arbitan sent out to find said keys).  Since the city in this sector assumes the guilt of accused, the burden is on Ian to prove he didn’t do it.  He is allowed to enlist an advocate on his behalf, and he chooses the Doctor.  The Doctor sends Sabetha and Altos to hit the law books and Barbara and Susan to do some detective work.  Nation realizes he should get Susan to do something useful, and has her trick baddie Tarron (Henley Thomas) into implicating himself, which leads to a Perry Mason stunt to out him.  However, since the crew has nothing to prove that Ian wasn’t in cahoots with Tarron, he is sentenced to die....

I really think the idea of a society of law based on guilt until proven innocent (something I think several countries around today still follow) is interesting, even if I don’t agree with Ian hissing about how barbaric it is.  The only nasty people involved in this trial are the ones who are in on this conspiracy to steal the micro-key; if it wasn’t for their rather silly hats that make them look like they’re wearing turkey frills on their heads, I would have no problem taking the adjudicators seriously.  Their conclusion--that the Doctor proved Ian didn’t kill the guard, but did not prove he wasn’t complicit with Tarron in the crime--is actually reasonable.  It’s this angle that appeals to me.

Of course, this being a Terry Nation script, there are things that annoy me.  The mystery of the actual killer is obvious on a Scooby-Doo level, and not helped at all by Thomas’ pantomime performance.  The sketchy nature of their forensics seems a bit handwavy.  And Altus and Sabetha are reduced to a single scene of them going through books together, which makes me wonder why Nation created these characters in the first place.  But the pluses outweigh the negative this time out, and the serial as a whole seems to be gaining momentum again after a couple of rambly, ill-conceived segments.  It’ll be interesting to see if this serial, which has been mixed so far, sticks the landing.