The Keys of Marinus by Terry Nation
11 April - 16 May 1964
Well now. I think it’s time to ring the new year in with a long delayed review, since I’m nowhere near done with Season One. You’ll notice that I’ve decided to abandon the more structured episode-by-episode format to talk about the whole kit and kaboodle at once. This might get kind of questionable with some longer serials, which I intend to break up over a few posts; the first occasion when I’ll probably do that is during The Daleks’ Master Plan a couple seasons from now. I think the change will otherwise keep things looking a little neater, so I’m sticking with it. I chose a fine story for it, when you consider how piecemeal The Keys of Marinus is. This story is Terry Nation’s second contribution to the Who canon (in the non-binding sense of the word). It’s actually sort of odd watching something of his that doesn’t have the Daleks in it. I understand he was heavily involved in Blake’s 7, of course, among other things, but the association’s still there in my mind. And how does this offering compare with the last? Well…
It’s hard to say that this story suffers from a lack of ambition. Cramming a new conflict and location into just about every 25-minute chunk is enough to keep one watching through this at a decent speed, but the results aren’t always satisfactory. The first episode is quite good, with the charming modelwork surrounding the pyramid and the glass beach being one of the story’s best design points (though there are quite a few). Ray Cusick is frankly on point for all six weeks of this, so credit where it’s very much due. I should also make mention of Norman Kay’s incidental music work, since I’ve made plenty of mumbling about music outside of the show and haven’t said a thing about its score. Silly me. A creepy-sounding piece with brass and xylophones plays during the model shots of the beach during the first and final episodes and marks another memorable little detail for this story; you could call it the “Marinus theme”, I guess, since it plays during the title card and later once we return to the same view. Really, quite a few things are individually fantastic about this story, but it doesn’t come together as well as I’d probably like. Things start off okay, with the creepiness of the Voord skulking around and the cool location setting up a cool atmosphere. But we leave it behind in a bit of a quick and perfunctory manner, sending us along to the next.
The Velvet Web has its strong moments, too. The cast is sent along to Morphoton, which might be one of the silliest location names I’ve ever heard (and considering that this is a Terry Nation story, that’s saying something). The slow reveal that there’s something terribly amiss in this place is executed well, with Barbara’s mounting dismay as she sees the disrepair of the place while her fellows cannot heightening the tension marvellously. Jacqueline Hill knocks it out of the park, as always. Carole Ann Ford gets in a good acting moment herself with the way Susan looks genuinely wounded at her “dress” being called out as filthy rags. The double sight is used cleverly through this episode, especially during shots which might otherwise have been expensive or time consuming to make. Seeing the Doctor look at random bits and bobs and proudly declaring them to be scientific instruments is quite funny. The Morphos themselves are fantastically creepy-looking, their sinister grip on the humans of the city belied by their unassuming stature. I kept finding myself snickering about the fact that they sort of look like Gary the Snail from SpongeBob Squarepants. Still, both their evil little monologues and their cries of pain as Barbara smashes their jars open (oops, I wonder if she was meant to actually break that one, those props look expensive) are charming and make for one of the most memorable parts of the serial.
The Screaming Jungle isn’t quite as riveting, I’m sad to say. The creepy sound effects and the design of the idol are probably the best parts of this episode, since nothing else really comes together right. Darrius is the least impressive supporting character we’ve seen so far and doesn’t get to do much but rasp mysteriously before falling over dead after being choked out by vines. His maze looks a little cluttered, and looks sort of dinky and silly until you see that warrior’s swing put a serious dent in the floor and say “oh, God, that’s a real axe”. I’m happy to leave the jungle behind when Barbara and Ian are speedily ushered onward to the next point in their journey. The unforgiving tundra’s a little more convincing, and one at least feels that our regulars are in real danger here, not just from the cold. Vasor is pretty much instantly untrustworthy, especially around Barbara, which made me squirm sufficiently. I can’t say I’m really pleased to watch interactions like that on screen, but at the very least he has his comeuppance by the end of the episode. It’s a mark of favor that Nation has at least gotten us attached to two supporting characters when Altos (by gravy, somebody get that man some pants) and Sabetha turn up again here, and we (or at least I) are relieved to see them again. Once they’ve escaped from a cave and ditched Vasor, they’re off to the penultimate stage of their quest.
Ian arrives at the scene first, before going down from the lightest tap in the universe. When he comes to, we learn that he’s been accused of murder, and worse still, is more or less already doomed to the gibbet before he even has a chance to defend himself. The upside-down nature of justice in Millennius (groan) is clearly wrong to us, but the local bureaucracy seems very sure of itself nonetheless. The man is a friend of Altos’, and another questant seeking the titular keys, which makes us suspicious from the off that something’s up. Or, well, it would if we hadn’t already seen somebody frame Ian for the murder to start with. Gripes aside, the episode and a half spent in Millennius is probably the strongest portion of the whole serial. Seeing the Doctor turn up in the midst of this unfortunate situation is actually a big relief, and his work as Ian’s advocate seems very fitting for the man we saw outwit Kal in the first episodes of the series. The courtroom drama itself is interesting. Susan’s predicament and the complicity of the wife of one of the conspirators also unfold quite tensely, and it’s hugely pleasing when the Doctor emerges from the shadows to gloat at the captured Eyesen and bails Ian out of his situation at last. The cast leaves the place behind to close the circle and finish the journey.
Arriving back at the pyramid by the beach, I think we’re meant to read Yartek’s replacement of Arbitan (groan) as something of a suspenseful moment. There’s a little problem in that the audience has already known Arbitan was dead for five episodes now. I sort of wish this had been left ambiguous at the end of The Sea of Death, since I feel it might have improved this moment somewhat. Seeing the Voord again here, I’m reminded that they’re hardly in this story, despite their headliner status as the chief antagonists. This too is a little disappointing; there was a lot of interesting potential in exploring this race a little more closely, so I guess it isn’t much surprise that numerous off-screen adventures explore them a bit more. Regardless, the resolution is nice. The Doctor proudly declares that “machines can make laws, but they cannot preserve justice” as the avaricious Yartek places the false key from the jungle in the Conscience and sets off a tremendous explosion. It’s a pleasing conclusion to this long morality play, all told, as is our goodbye to Altos and Sabetha. One hopes the happy couple had a nice life after all this drama.
The Keys of Marinus (that being the serial, not the episode) has its idiosyncrasies, between some of the weird narrative choices and the goofily descriptive names of people and places. Like the last Nation story I looked at, it drags at points, but ultimately it kind of works, in an ineffably charming sort of way. It’s by no means my favorite of the season, but as long as this sort of madly ambitious grasping for stories to tell continues, I think I’ll keep having fun with this segment of the marathon. No dialogue segment this time, nothing really stuck out to me and I don’t feel like a script-trawl. You’ll just have to starve of it, my dears.
The Aztecs is next. I’ll grab my macuahuitl.
(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 10 January 2018.)
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