A Journey Of A Thousand Eons...: 26. The Keys of Marinus (The Keys of Marinus, Episode Six)

And in this episode, Terry Nation realizes he has to wrap up his cascade of ideas.  After having rambled through five episodes with ideas instead of stories, we get a lot of story to wrap up.

In reaction to last episode’s cliffhanging kidnapping of Susan, Barbara leads Sabetha and Altus into a search and rescue.  The crew--along with Tarron, who is beginning to believe that Ian’s been set up--lay a trap to locate the remaining conspirator and the micro-key, free Ian and head back to Arbitan’s.

Now we know Arbitan’s been killed, and the leader of the Voord is wearing his robes with the hood pulled up to conceal that Tokasatu helmet thing, and he tricks Ian into giving him the final micro-key...but Ian has pulled a switch (remember that fake key from part three?), causing the MacGuffin Mind Control Machine to blow up.  The crew all escape before the pyramid is atomized, and the Doctor and company leave Marinus in the hands of Sabetha to rebuild.

This was a disappointing end, and a disappointing serial overall.  The Voord are just people in funny suits, given no personality whatsoever.  There are two big reveals in this episode, both of which are telegraphed.  And there is an anti-climatic feel once everyone returns to Arbitan’s pyramid.

I say that to say this.  I just watched this serial over the course of a week and change at the age of 56.  This was designed to be watched primarily by children over the span of six weeks.  What I see in this does not necessarily make it a failure.  I will say it’s a big drop from ‘The Daleks,’ and that it is a little too scattershot to be successful as a coherent whole--once again, I wonder if this story could have been condensed/restructured so that it flowed a bit better.  But I also see something which implies that the Doctor was planning on destroying that MacGuffin all along, giving the end and the bit of trickery a somewhat Cartmell-ian feel to it.

And there are still enough nice bits--in this wrap up, I liked the way the relationship between the Doctor and Ian seems to have been restructured to the point where they genuinely like and trust each other while still getting on each other nerves, and the way the Doctor trusts Barbara enough that he doesn’t scold her for holding back information about Susan from him.  I will say this is the serial where I’m beginning to wonder if Ian and Barbara are busy knocking boots in between episodes, but that may just be my twisted mind (wait until we get to Tegan and Nyssa’s shared bedroom....with only one bed....).

So this serial didn’t work for me....but it must have worked for British families in 1964, because I’m still talking about it, and the series as a whole, today.