The Keys of Marinus (TV story)

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The Keys of Marinus was the fifth story of the first season of Doctor Who, and was the second story to be written by Terry Nation. It was notable for its structure, in that it was the first of several "traveling" serials. Like The Chase, The Daleks' Master Plan and The Infinite Quest that followed it, Keys had the main cast moving to a different setting in almost every episode.

Additionally, it introduced the Voords, the first in a long line of deliberate, but generally unsuccessful, attempts on the part of the production team to find an enemy as popular as the Daleks. It was also the first story to endure the temporary absence of one of its leading actors, and the first which did not end with a cliffhanger into the next serial. Nevertheless, because The Aztecs began with the shot of the TARDIS dematerialising from Marinus, the lack of a cliffhanger at the end of Keys did not mean that the two stories weren't consecutive.

Episode three, or "The Screaming Jungle", was the subject of the programme's first serious charge of plagiarism. Robert Gould had complained to Donald Wilson that the notion of a story about plant life in the dominant evolutionary position on a planet had been something he'd outlined to script editor David Whitaker. Whitaker was thus obliged to write a memo to Wilson on 26th March 1964, in which he offered up a detailed defense against Gould's charge. Whitaker's successful defense rested on the statement that Terry Nation had independently arrived at the use of hostile vegetation in "Jungle", and that Gould's idea was derivative of The Day of the Triffids, anyway. (REF: The First Doctor Handbook)

Synopsis

The planet Marinus is under threat from the evil Voords. The only hope of stopping them is to recover the keys to a machine known as the Conscience of Marinus, which have been hidden around the planet.

The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara are forced to search for the keys, transported round the planet using travel dials provided by the elderly Arbitan, Keeper of the Conscience.

Plot

The Sea of Death (1)

On the glass beach, inspecting the glass submarine,

The First Doctor and his companions Barbara Wright, Ian Chesterton and Susan arrive on an island and discover that the beach is made of glass and the sea is made of acid. The latter point is discovered when Susan tries to paddle and in the process of taking off her shoes sees them dissolve in the acid water. She goes back to the TARDIS to change shoes and is followed by a mysterious creature in a rubber suit. While Susan is gone The Doctor, Ian and Barbara discover 4 glass submarines, one of which has the remenants of a rubber suit inside, seemingly left there after a creature has perished in his journey. When Susan gets to the TARDIS she discovers footprints which she follows to a tower that looms in the distance. As she looks around the mysterious creature is waiting round a corner to strike out at her however just before this can happen the wall revolves and eliminates the creature.

Finding that Susan is not at the TARDIS the companions go to explore the tower.They decide to split up. The Doctor is brought inside the tower through the spinning walls as are Ian and Barbara, eventually. When Susan is inside she encounters another of these mysterious creatures which, on the point of attacking her is stabbed, seemingly by a mysterious monk-like figure that Susan encountered earlier. Later Ian discovers one of these cretaures fighting with the same monk and pulls the creature off of the monk, The monk introduces himself to Ian calling himself Arbitan and explains that the creatures that they have encountered are called Voords. Arbitan explains that he is Keeper of the Conscience of Marinus, a vast computer developed two millennia earlier as a justice machine which kept law and order across the entire planet.

For seven hundred years it was absolute, radiating its power across the planet and eliminating all thought of evil, but then a Voord named Yartek worked out how to resist its impulses and used this to corrupt the system. Arbitan goes on to explain that the Conscience has now been upgraded sufficiently to control the Voord again and needs to be activated, but years earlier he prevented it falling into Voord control by separating the five keys needed to regulate it. The five keys are in different locations - one is in his possession but the other four are scattered over Marinus. He suggests that The Doctor and his companions could find them for him as all his friends and family have failed to return from the voyage.

The Doctor refuses and leaves to return to the TARDIS, however when he gets there finds that a forcefield has been placed around the TARDIS. Arbitan explains that he has been forced to confiscate the TARDIS from them in order for them to find the keys for him. The Doctor and his companions return to the tower they discover that they are to be transported around the island by following directions pre-set into travel dials . As the four companions' teleport away using the dials, Arbitan is overcome and stabbed to death by a Voord that has gained access to the tower. When the travellers reach their destintion they discover Barbara, who teleported first, has vanished leaving only her bloodied travel dial is found.

The Velvet Web (2)

Barbara confronts the rulers of Morphoton, the Morpho.

The Doctor, Susan and Ian search for Barbara on the other side of a set of double doors. As they open them a form of alarm goes of accompanied by a blinding light. When this stops they see Barbara reclining on a chaise, her every need attended to as if she were a queen. One of the inhabitants, Altos, explains that they are in the city of Morphoton, an advanced and pacifist society. He impresses the travellers with the luxuries, advances and aesthetics of the city. Initially sceptical The Doctor and Ian are won round by the generous hospitality and beneficence that the people bestow upon them. In the night a young slave-girl Sabetha places a small disc on the heads of the sleeping travellers however while Barbara sleeps her disc accidentally falls off. The powerful hypnotic pulse (the mesmeron) then has no effect on her. Morphoton is governed by four brain creatures, with hideous eyes on stalks, which communicate through their life-support machines. The Brains of Morphoton use hypnosis to control the entire city, having outgrown their bodies, and the entire human population of the city is now subjugated to their will. When Barbara awakes she sees the truth: the City is really a place of dirt and squalor. She disturbs her fellow travellers with her assessment of the surroundings claiming that what appears luxurious is actually squalid. Barbara is taken away from her friends but escapes from the clutches of Altos. She finds her way into the dungeons and there makes contact with Sabetha, the same girl that placed the discs on the travellers' heads. Barbara deduces Sabetha is Arbitan’s missing daughter and discovers she is wearing one of the Keys of Marinus about her neck. Meanwhile The Doctor and Ian are taken to what appears to them to be a state-of-the-art laboratory that was promised them, however this is just an empty room. Barbara tries to break her conditioning but seemingly fails. Altos comes in to take Sabetha away as the Brains of Morphoton orders, but Barbara's attempted escape is stopped by him. Sabetha knocks out Altos. Barbara leaves promising Sabetha she will return for her. As Barbara prowls the corridors she comes across Ian who she embraces however as she talks she realises that the Brains of Morphoton are now controlling him. Ian takes Barbara to the Brains of Morphoton, who order Ian to kill her. Ian begins to strangle Barbara however she breaks free and smashes the control room and life support systems, they die, and all the human subjects of the city are freed with their original memories returned to them. Altos remembers he too was sent to the city by Arbitan, and he and Sabetha decide to join the Doctor and his friends on their quest. The six now split up, with the Doctor going ahead to find the final key in the city of Millennius, while the others venture to find the second key in the next destination. Susan arrives first, wanting to avoid a long goodbye with her grandfather, but soon her ears are deafened by a growing screeching.

The Screaming Jungle (3)

Barbara is captured by Darrius

The next location for the five searchers is a dangerous screaming jungle, which has a particularly debilitating effect on Susan. In the jungle is an ancient temple overgrown with plants. Ian finds an archway but it is overgrown with the copious flora. While Ian and the Morphons go and look for another way to get in, the flora reaches out and grabs Susan. Even though Ian instructed Barbara not to attempt entranceto the temple she finds that the flora can be easily moved and she walks down the passage wherin she finds a stature - which to her suprise has the key propped on the top of a statue in the temple. However when Barbara reclaims the key the statue holdson to her and the wall reverses imprisoning her. Her companions decide that if she were in real trouble she could turn her time dial and escape - however Ian is skeptical and wants to ensure Barbara's safety. He instructs the others to go on to the next place while he stays and rescues Barbara. As they go to leave Sabetha realises that the key is a fake - this gives Ian more reason to stay on. Once they are gone Ian replicates Barbara's movements and gets imprisoned also. Ian finds Barbara in a large hall that is heavily booby-trapped. Barbara saves Ian's life by shouting to him as a statue brings his axe down where he was standing. They find a set of doors which needs a metal bar to open them. Ian sees a metal bar however this is also a trap and brings prison walls down around him. Barbara also becomes the victim of a trap when she walks through the doors that have magically opened and gets trapped in a net as the dagger-filled roof of the enclave lowers itself upon her. Hidden in the temple is an aged and dying scientist, Darrius, who stops the roof and saves Barbara. He seems very suspicious of Barbara suggesting that she may be a Voord. He takes her time dial away to inspect it - doubtful that she has been sent from Marinus. Ian, who has escaped from his prison, finds Barbara just in time to save Darrius from an attack by a creeper. Very weak, the old man explains the traps of the temple are to fool the Voord, and that he too is a friend of Arbitan. Before dying he tells Ian and Barbara the Key is hidden in "D-E-3-O-2" and pointing to a door. On entrance to this room they notice it is a lab and their interest is immediatly drawn to the safe - however the letters and numbers given do not correspond to a code. They begin to search the room for the code. As they search Ian finds research that Darrius has made intro the mutation of flora by a growth accelerator. As night falls the screaming of the jungle starts and the branches of the trees encroach into the laboratory and begin to destroy the equipment there. In the destruction Ian realises that the letters and numbers given to them are chemical symbols. The two friends only just manage to retrieve the Key from an experiment jar before the vegetation over-runs the room. Arriving in the next location, they find it bitterly, paralyzingly cold.

The Snows of Terror (4)

Barbara is left alone with the dangerous Vasor

Ian and Barbara now teleport to an icy wasteland. Unable to move due to the crippling cold the two pass out. They wake to be met by a suspcious trapper named Vasor. He says that he recently saw Susan and Sabetha in a nearby cave but couldn't save them due to the fact he would risk his life. Ian says he will go and trades his dial in for furs to keep him warm. Barbara is now alone with Vasor. As she clears dinner dishes away she discovers the chain that Sabetha was wearing in a drawer, along with 4 time dials. Vasor catches her looking and begins to be angry saying that he took them from them and left them to die. He also says this is the plan he had for Ian too.

In the wastes Ian finds Altos, bound and abandoned. Altos tells him that Vasor is to blame. Ian and Altos return to the trapper’s hut and confront him, just as he starts to attack Barbara. They force the wicked man to reveal the stolen Keys in his possession and to take them to the ice caves where he had earlier abandoned Sabetha and Susan. Vasor refuses to go claiming that there are demons in the cave, however the two men force him.

The two girls have meanwhile searched the icy caves themselves and uncovered a block of ice connected to some form of pipin, these are protected by Ice Soldiers, seemingly statues. As the two run from the statues they meet the rest of their party who have crossed a rickety ropebridge to find them. However to get back at them Vasor detaches one end of the bridge and throws it into the chasm confining them on the other side of the cravass. While Ian and Altos set up a bridge made of tree trunks in attempt to get back across the chasm, they find the next Key frozen in the block of ice. Their removal of the Key, through the turning of a dial on one of the pipes which releases heat from a volcani spring, revives the Ice Soldiers, who begin a vicious rampage chasing after the travellers to retain their key. Susan bravely crawls over the precarious trunks they place over the chasm, reattaches the bridge, and they all flee back to the trappers' cottage to retrieve their stolen dials. Before they have a chance to use them Vasor grabs Susan and threatens the travellers into fighting the soldiers together however Vasor is killed by the Ice Soldiers' swords as they try to break into his cabin. The travellers activate their time dials.

In the next location, Ian discovers the key in a display case, with a man knocked out next to him. Soon Ian himself is knocked out by a man who steals the key. Before he leaves the man frames Ian for the murder of the mutilated body by placing the bludgeon in his hand.

Sentence of Death (5)

The Doctor defends Ian

When the travellers reach the next location Ian finds himself accused of the murder of Eprin, a friend of Altos, who had discovered the key shortly before his death. The Key has now disappeared and Ian is accused of theft as well. The punishment will be death if he is found guilty before the court of Millennius. By the laws of Millennius, it is up to the defence to prove Ian's innocence beyond reasonable doubt. The other travellers are reunited in advance of Ian’s trial, at which the Doctor takes on the role of defence counsel. He succeeds in postponing the trial for two days while he gathers evidence and uses this time to work out what really happened to Eprin. He works out that the relief guard, Aydan, is implicated in the murder. To find out more information, Barbara and Susan go to the house of Aydan and talk to his wife Kala, who gives nothing away. when Aydan returns home he gets cross at the women, orders Barbara and Susan to leave and hits his wife. During the trial the Doctor calls Sabetha to be a witness. he uses a subterfuge to trick Aydan into confessing by claiming that one of the earlier keys is the one that they found in Aydan's hiding place. Aydan confesses is murdered in court before he can implicate anyone else. As the Doctor is summing up Barbara and Altos discover that Susan has been kidnapped and is being used as a hostage to try to persuade the Doctor not to investigate the crimes any further.

The Keys of Marinus (6)

Altos, Barbera and Sabetha decide not to tell the Doctor of Susan's dissaperance and decide to vist Kala to see if she has any information on who might beconnected to both her husband's death and Susan's kidnapping. When they go to her house she says she can't help them and breaks down in tears - only to begin laughing when the trio leave revealing Susan bound and gagged in another room. She recieves a phone call from someone saying that Ian has been sentenced Susan can be killed . Luckily, the trio figure out that it may be Kala that has taken Susan hostage and return before Kala can kill her as she did her own husband, and the plot is uncovered. Once they are reunited with the Doctor they learn that Kala has admitted her part in the crimes but they must still uncover her accomplice to prove Ian did not kill Eprin. Their efforts are initially thwarted when Kala swears that it was Ian she was working in league with. Susan remembers that when Kala was on the phone to the assailant the man stated he would pick up the key later that night. The Doctor and the officals of Millenius wait in the place that the Doctor has deduced the key is being kept - in the mace that was being used as evidence throughout the court case. The man that was trying to sneak it away is Eyesen, the Court Prosecutor. Ian is freed and the trio return to Marinus.

Yartek obtains the final key

Altos and Sabetha have travelled ahead with all but the last Key in their possession. They do not know that Arbitan has been killed and that Yartek now rules Marinus Yartek has seized the first four Keys and holds Altos and Sabetha prisoner while he awaits the fifth and final one. When the Doctor and his companions arrive and find Altos and Sabetha nowhere to be seen they split up - Ian and Susan go to find Arbitan with the key and Barbara and the Doctor go to find their Morphon friends. Ian and Susan find Yartek wearing Arbitan's clothes and saying that they cannot look at him as he has been disfigured from a power surge leaked from the Conciousnes. Ian gives him the key and then goes to get the Doctor. He finds him releasing the Morphons who tell them that the Voords now reign supreme on Marinus. Ian reveals he gave Yartek the false key from the Screaming Jungle. Whilst very pleased the Morphons warn the travellers that this will cause theConciousnes to explode when placed insideit. The travellers run. When Yartek places the false Key in the Conscience, the machine duly explodes and he is killed along with the occupying Voord. The Doctor and his friends flee the tower with Altos and Sabetha before the growing blaze overtakes the ancient structure.

The travellers say goodbye to their Morphon friends who say they will start a new life together in Millenius.

Cast

Crew

References

  • The Doctor claims to have met Pyrrho, the founder of scepticism.

Story notes

  • All episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings.
  • Negative film prints of all episodes were recovered from BBC Enterprises in 1978.
  • An Arabic print of "The Sea of Death" is held by the BBC.
  • Terry Nation wrote this story as a replacement to The Red Fort, a story that was to be set during the Indian Mutiny.
  • William Hartnell does not appear in The Screaming Jungle or The Snows of Terror as the actor was on holiday during the filming of these episodes. This was the first time the lead actor had been allowed to be absent in this way; nonetheless, Hartnell receives screen credit for these episodes. His co-stars will also take time off for holiday during production of upcoming stories.
  • This story contains a controversial scene in which it appears that Vasor attempts to rape Barbara.
  • Darrius is never referred to by name but his name appears in the show's credits.
  • Stephen Dartnell was cast as Yartek, the Voord leader. A few weeks later, he appeared in The Sensorites as the troubled astronaut John.
  • Initially it was hoped that the Voords would catch on with young viewers in the same way the Daleks had inspired Dalekmania, with toys, books, and other merchandise. This, however, did not come to pass.
  • This is the first story to feature a model TARDIS materialisation.
  • Smalls parts of the original film negative for this story were damaged. For the 2009 DVD release, computer imagery was used to restore these small scenes. An example of this is in episode two when Barbara sees Altos in the "real world" (at 0:12:24 on the DVD); according to the text commentary, the first few seconds of the scene had to be recreated via computers to bypass the damaged part of the negative. Episode 4 used an off-air soundtrack recording and a short piece of recycled footage to recreate a short piece of dialogue lost from the master negative; on the DVD, this occurs at 0:14:08.
  • Between episodes 2 and 3, the BBC launched BBC Two, a second network. Episode 3, therefore, was the first episode to be aired under the branding BBC One.
  • The basic format of the story - six separate storylines connected by a quest to retrieve a series of items, was later reused for the season-long Key to Time story arc of Season 16.
  • In episode 5, the Doctor is heard to stumble over the phrase "I can't prove at this very moment", saying initially "I can't improve at this very moment." Although William Hartnell was notorious for stumbling over dialogue (which, due to time and budget restrictions preventing retakes was often left in the broadcasts), this isn't one of those occasions. According to the DVD trivia track, for some reason Terry Nation wrote this stumble into the script, which Hartnell delivered accurately.
  • This is one of the stories selected to be shown as part of BSB's Doctor Who Weekend in September 1990.
  • This is one of only two televised Doctor Who stories by Terry Nation not to feature the Daleks (the other being DW: The Android Invasion more than a decade later).

Ratings

  • The Sea of Death - 9.9 million viewers
  • The Velvet Web - 9.4 million viewers
  • The Screaming Jungle - 9.9 million viewers
  • The Snows of Terror - 10.4 million viewers
  • Sentence of Death - 7.9 million viewers
  • The Keys of Marinus - 6.9 million viewers

Myths

  • Yartek's race is known as the Voord. (Although they are referred to as the Voord in some of the dialogue, the term most often used is Voords and this is the name that appears in the closing credits).

Filming locations

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
  • The radiation counter is on the opposite side of the console to its location in The Daleks.
  • There are at least two stagehands caught on camera in Episode 1.
  • It is clear that the Voord falling to his death in Episode 1 is a cardboard cut-out.
  • While walking around the TARDIS force field in Episode 1, Susan can be seen walking in front of Ian and into the barrier with no ill effects.
  • In episode 2, while Susan is sleeping, a camera can be seen casting a shadow on her.
  • In episode 4, when Ian goes to cross the rope bridge, his weight causes the cardboard wall the bridge is attached to to noticeably pull away from the side of the set and nearly fall down.
  • In episode 6, the Voord escorting Sabetha trips over his "scuba" feet and nearly pulls a sliding door off its track.

Continuity

  • While in the screaming jungle Susan comments that she has heard the noise before. This was most likely during her visit to the planet Esto which is inhabited by telepathic plants that screech when anyone stands between them and disrupts their communication. (DW: The Sensorites)
  • Ian wears the costume he wore in DW: Marco Polo throughout this story.
  • It is revealed in NA: No Future that the Monk was once an advisor to the Voords.
  • A future for the Voord is explored in DWM: The World Shapers.
  • The planet Marinus, and specifically the Voord, are mentioned EDA: Interference - Book Two

Timeline

In DWM: The World Shapers, it is revealed that the Voords become the Cybermen. DW: The Tenth Planet reveals that Mondas/Marinus left Sol before any geological date, placing it sometime before 4,000,000,000BCE.

Timeline

Home video and audio releases

DVD Release

The DVD was released on 21st September 2009 in the UK, with North American release occurring in January 2010. As the first three stories are only available at present in the The Beginning box set, and Marco Polo remains a lost story, The Keys of Marinus stands as the earliest Doctor Who story currently available on its own.

Contents:

Rear Credits:

Notes:

File:Keys of MarinusVHS.jpg

VHS Release

Released as Doctor Who: The Keys of Marinus

UK Release: March 1999 / US Release: July 1999
PAL - BBC Video BBCV6671 (2 tapes)
NTSC - CBS/FOX Video 14263 (2 tapes)
NTSC - Warner Video E1383 (2 tapes)

Novelisation and its audiobook

Keys of Marinustarget38.jpg
Main article: Doctor Who and the Keys of Marinus

This story was published as Doctor Who and the Keys of Marinus in August 1980, ISBN 0-426-20125-6 . Philip Hinchcliffe wrote the novelisation based on Terry Nation's script. The cover art was by David McAllister. The novel was number 38 in the total series of 156 Doctor Who novels published by Target Books.

See also

to be added

External links

Template:Season 1

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