The Armageddon Factor (TV story)
Synopsis
The final segment of the Key is traced to the planet Atrios, engaged in a long war with the neighbouring Zeos. The Marshal of Atrios intends a final strike to destroy the Zeons, but the Doctor and Romana discover that Zeos is deserted and the war is being co-ordinated by a computer called Mentalis, built by one of the Doctor's old Time Lord Academy friends, Drax.
The computer is under the control of the Shadow, an agent of the Black Guardian. He and his servants, the Mutes, are inhabiting an unseen third planet positioned between Atrios and Zeos.
The Doctor creates a temporary substitute for the final segment from a substance called chronodyne and uses the Key to place a time loop around the ship from which the Marshal is about to launch his strike against Zeos. It transpires that Atrios's Princess Astra is the real sixth segment. The Shadow converts her into the segment, but the Doctor snatches it and escapes to the TARDIS, where he finally completes the Key.
The White Guardian appears on the scanner screen and congratulates the Doctor. He asks that the Key be given over to him, but the Doctor decides that it is too powerful for any one being to control and orders it to re-disperse.
Enraged, the Guardian reverts to his true colour - Black - and vows that the Doctor shall die for his defiance. In order to shake him off, the Doctor fits a randomiser to the TARDIS's controls. There is now no telling where or when his travels will take him.
Plot
The TARDIS lands on a planet, where the Doctor and Romana conclude their search for the key to time. The Black Guardian poses a threat, but the Doctor foils the Black Guardian's evil schemes. The Princess is the final segment to the key to time.
Cast
- The Doctor - Tom Baker
- Romana I - Mary Tamm
- K-9 - John Leeson
- Princess Astra of Atrios - Lalla Ward
- The Black Guardian - Valentine Dyall
- Drax - Barry Jackson
- Marshal - John Woodvine
- The Shadow - William Squire
- Shapp - Davyd Harries
- Merak - Ian Saynor
- Guard - John Cannon
- Guard - Harry Fielder
- Technician - Iain Armstrong
- Pilot - Pat Gorman
- Hero - Ian Liston
- Heroine - Susan Skipper
Crew
- Assistant Floor Manager - Steve Goldie
- Assistant Floor Manager - Rosemary Padvaiskas
- Costumes - Michael Burdle
- Designer - Richard McManan-Smith
- Make-Up - Ann Briggs
- Producer - Graham Williams
- Production Assistant - Ann Aronsohn
- Production Unit Manager - John Nathan-Turner
- Script Editor - Anthony Read
- Special Sounds - Dick Mills
- Studio Lighting - Mike Jefferies
- Studio Sound - Richard Chubb
- Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
- Title Music - Ron Grainer
- Visual Effects - John Horton
References
- First appearance of the Black Guardian.
- The Doctor installs the randomiser in the TARDIS.
- Drax calls the Doctor Theta Sigma.
- K9 is influenced by the computer Mentalis.
- Atrios and Zeos have been waging nuclear war on each other, despite the fact that for the last five years Zeos has been uninhabited and that its warfare has been prosecuted by Mentalis, a computerised commandant built by Drax at the behest of the Shadow.
- The Doctor mentions Troy.
Story Notes
- Originally the sixth segment was to be the Shadow's shadow.
- Lalla Ward appears as Princess Astra, next season she would play Romana.
- This story had the working title of; Armageddon.
- Episode 1 was promoted as the 500th episode of Doctor Who.
- According to Mary Tamm in the DVD featurette "There's Something About Mary", it was while filming this serial that she made her final decision to leave the series.
Ratings
- Part 1 - 7.5 million viewers
- Part 2 - 8.8 million viewers
- Part 3 - 7.8 million viewers
- Part 4 - 8.6 million viewers
- Part 5 - 8.6 million viewers
- Part 6 - 9.6 million viewers
Myths
to be added
Filming Locations
- BBC Television Centre (Studio 3), Shepherd's Bush, London
- Ealing Television Film Studios, Ealing Green, Ealing
Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors
- In episode two, after the TARDIS has left, it can be seen behind Romana just after K9 begins blasting a door.
- In episode three Shapp's gun falls apart when it hits the floor.
- In episode four, when K9 exits the transmat, he's got the new left panel he gains in episode five
- In episode six Astra regains the circlet Merak had used to distract the Mute.
- Romana forgets that she's already been told (in The Stones of Blood) that it wasn't the President who sent her on the mission.
- The Doctor says he's never seen K9 spin around before, so he's forgotten about The Pirate Planet.
- In episode six one of the Mutes kicks up a piece of studio carpet.
- Astra says that she is the sixth princess of the sixth dynasty of the sixth royal house of Atrios. (It should be sixth house of the sixth dynasty.)
- In episode four Merak expounds on how only the Doctor and Romana can get into the TARDIS, despite the fact that he shouldn't even know what it is. His insight continues in episode six, where he talks knowledgeably of the sixth segment, having been told nothing about it. On screen. The scene cuts away during his and Romana's search for the TransMat in episode 3, in which she had plenty of time to explain what they were looking for and why.
- In episode six Shapp acquires the same ability, somehow understanding the functions of the time loop.
- Drax repeatedly mispronounces Gallifrey as 'Gallifree'.
Continuity
- The Black Guardian reappears in DW: Mawdryn Undead, Terminus, Enlightenment and MA: The Well-Mannered War.
- The Doctor has been shrunk before in DW: Planet of Giants.
- The randomiser remained installed until DW: The Leisure Hive.
DVD, Video and Other Releases
DVD Releases
- Released along with The Ribos Operation, The Pirate Planet, The Stones of Blood, and The Androids of Tara as Doctor Who: The Key to Time. This October 2002 release was only in Region 1. Extras include commentary by Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and John Leeson, a photo gallery and production information subtitles.
- Also released with same stories as Doctor Who: The Key to Time, an extras-laden box set limited to 15,000 in its initial UK release on 24th September 2007, later followed by wide release in Region 1 on 3rd March 2009 as The Key to Time - Special Edition. In the 2009 version, The Armageddon Factor is presented over two discs, with the six episodes and minimal extras on disc one and the remaining extras on disc two.
Contents (2009 version):
Disc One:
- Commentary by Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and John Leeson (carried over from the 2002 set).
- New commentary by Mary Tamm, John Woodvine and Michael Hayes.
- Production subtitles.
- Doctor Who Annual 1979 DVD-ROM feature (PC/Mac)
- Radio Times Billings - Original listings from Radio Times (DVD-ROM PC/Mac)
Disc Two:
- Defining Shadows - featurette on the production of the serial, featuring interviews with Bob Baker, Dave Martin, Richard McManan-Smith, Lalla Ward, David Harries, Barry Jackson.
- Directing Who - retrospective on Michael Hayes' work directing the serials The Pirate Planet, The Armageddon Factor and City of Death.
- Rogue Time Lords - featurette on various errant Time Lords featured throughout the series.
- Pebble Mill at One interview with Tom Baker promoting the broadcast of the 500th episode of Doctor Who, Armageddon Factor part 1.
- Pebble Mill at One featurette on Dick Mills and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, featuring the creation of sound effects for The Armageddon Factor.
- The New Sound of Music - a brief look at Dick Mills creating a sound effect for Doctor Who.
- Merry Christmas Doctor Who - an infamous skit filmed for BBC staff viewing only in which the Doctor and Romana get a little tipsy while celebrating the season and get K-9 to sing a holiday song.
- Alternative/deleted scene from the serial.
- BBC continuity announcements played before and after each episode of the serial.
- Photo Gallery
- Bonus series: Five episodes of Late Night Story, a never-shown series from 1978 featuring Tom Baker performing dramatic readings of: "The Photograph" by Nigel Kneale, "The Emissary" by Ray Bradbury, "Nursery Tea" by Mary Danby, "The End of the Party" by Graham Greene, and "Sredni Vashtar" by Saki.
Novelisation
- Main article: Doctor Who and the Armageddon Factor
- Published by Target as Doctor Who and the Armageddon Factor By Terrance Dicks in 1980.
See also
Stories involving shrinking
External Links
- BBC Episode Guide for The Armageddon Factor
- Outpost Gallifrey Episode Guide: The Armageddon Factor
- Doctor Who Reference Guide: Detailed Synopsis - The Armageddon Factor
- A Brief History of Time (Travel) entry for The Armageddon Factor
