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 "travelling" 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.

It also introduced the Voords, the first in a long line of deliberate, but generally unsuccessful, attempts 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 obliged to write a memo to Wilson on 26 March 1964, in which he offered a detailed defence against Gould's charge. Whitaker's successful defence 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)

Like every other Who story of its era, Keys had to find a way to incapacitate the TARDIS to solve the "why not leave" problem. However, Nation then created the travel dials and so had to separate the characters from them as well in order to solve the same problem.

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, land on an island and find the beach is made of glass and the sea of acid. The latter is demonstrated when Susan tries to paddle in a rock pool. Barbara accidentally knocks one of Susan's shoes, which were placed on one of the rocks around the pool, into the 'water' where it dissolves. Susan returns to the TARDIS for a new pair and is followed by a mysterious creature in a rubber suit. While Susan is gone, the Doctor, Ian and Barbara discover four glass submarines, one of which holds an empty rubber suit with a rip in one leg; it seems that the creature who wore the suit perished in its journey when the acid got inside. When Susan gets to the TARDIS, she finds footprints. She follows them to a tower looming in the distance. As she looks around, the mysterious creature waits around a corner to strike out at her. Just before this happens, the wall revolves and eliminates the creature.

Finding 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. When Susan is inside, she finds another of the mysterious creatures which, on the point of attacking her, is stabbed by a mysterious, monk-like figure that Susan encountered earlier. Ian discovers one of these creatures fighting with the same man and pulls the creature off him. The creature is thrown back against a wall during the struggle, a hidden panel opens and the creature plunges down a shaft straight into a pool of acid deep beneath the building. The man introduces himself to Ian as Arbitan. He says the creatures are called Voords and 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 centuries it was absolute, radiating its power around the planet and eliminating even evils thoughts. Then a Voord named Yartek worked out how to resist its impulses and corrupted the system. Arbitan explains that the Conscience has now been upgraded to control the Voord again and needs to be activated. Years earlier he saved it from Voord control by separating the five keys that regulate it. The five keys are in different locations - one is in his possession but the others are scattered over Marinus. He suggests that the Doctor and his companions find them, as all his friends and family have failed to return from the effort.

The Doctor refuses and leaves for the TARDIS. When he gets there finds that a forcefield around it. Arbitan says he has been forced to cut the travellers off from the TARDIS so they will find the keys for him. The Doctor and his companions return to the tower to discover that they are to be moved around the island using pre-set travel dial. As the four 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 destination they discover Barbara, who teleported first, has vanished, leaving only her bloodied travel dial.

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 an alarm goes off, accompanied by a blinding light. When they stop they see Barbara reclining on a chaise, her every need attended to as if she were a queen. She explains that as she was transported, she panicked and tore at her travel dial, scratching her wrist; the dial then fell off. One of the inhabitants, Altos, says that they are in the city of Morphoton, an advanced and pacific society. He impresses the travellers with the luxuries, advances and aesthetics of the city. Initially sceptical, the Doctor and Ian are won over 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. While Barbara sleeps, her disc falls off. The powerful hypnotic pulse (the mesmeron) 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. They have outgrown their bodies, and the entire human population of the city is now subject to their will.

When Barbara awakes, she sees the truth: the City is a place of dirt and squalor. She disturbs her fellow travellers with her assessment, claiming that what appears luxurious is squalid. When Susan shows her new dress, she says it is rags. Barbara is taken from her friends but escapes from the clutches of Altos. She finds her way into the dungeons and meets with Sabetha, the same girl who put the discs on the travellers' heads. Barbara deduces Sabetha is Arbitan’s missing daughter and she wears one of the Keys of Marinus about her neck.

Meanwhile the Doctor and Ian are taken to what appears to be a state-of-the-art laboratory, but is just an empty room and the so-called scientific instruments contained within are just old cups and plates. Barbara tries to break her conditioning but fails. Altos comes to take Sabetha away as the Brains of Morphoton order, and stops Barbara's escape. Sabetha knocks out Altos. Barbara leaves, promising Sabetha she will return for her. As Barbara prowls the corridors she comes across Ian, whom she embraces. As they talk, she realises that the Brains of Morphoton now control him. They will punish Sabetha, make Susan take her place, put Ian to work, and make the Doctor work in the lab. Ian takes Barbara to the Brains of Morphoton, who order Ian to kill her. He begins to strangle Barbara, but 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. They start to destroy the city. 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. The Doctor goes 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 is a dangerous, screaming jungle, which has a particularly debilitating effect on Susan. In the jungle is an ancient temple. Ian finds an archway but it is overgrown with the copious flora. While Ian and the Morphons look for another entry, the flora reaches out to grab Susan. Even though Ian instructed Barbara not to go into the temple, she finds that the flora can be moved easily. She walks down the passage where she finds a statue - which to her suprise has the key propped on the top.

However when Barbara takes the key, the statue holds onto her and the wall reverses, trapping her. Her companions decide that if she were in real trouble she would use her time dial to escape, but Ian is sceptical and wants to ensure her safety. He tells the others to go on while he stays to rescue Barbara. As theygo, Sabetha realises that the key is a fake. It is shorter than the other one. This gives Ian more reason to stay on. Once they are gone Ian replicates Barbara's movements and is likewise trapped. He finds Barbara in a large, booby-trapped hall. Barbara saves his life by shouting as a statue brings its axe down where he was standing. They find doors which needs a metal bar to open. Ian finds a bar, but this is also a trap and brings prison walls down around him. Barbara is the victim of a trap when she walks through the doors that have magically opened and is trapped in a net as the dagger-filled roof lowers itself on her.

In the temple is an aged and dying scientist, Darrius. He stops the roof to save Barbara. He suspect she may be a Voord. Doubtful she has been sent from Marinus, he takes her time dial to inspect. Ian, who has escaped from his prison, finds them just in time to save Darrius from a creeper. The weak, old man explains the traps of the temple are for the Voord. 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 points to a door. On entering the next room they find it is a lab. Their attention is drawn to a safe, but the letters and numbers given do not correspond to a code. As they search the room, Ian finds Darrius' research, mutating flora with a growth accelerator, increasing the rate of nature. As night falls, the screaming of the jungle starts and trees' branches enter the laboratory to destroy the equipment. Ian realises that the letters and numbers are chemical symbols. The two barely retrieve the key from a jar before the vegetation overruns the room. Going to 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 teleport to an icy wasteland. Unable to move in the crippling cold, they pass out. They wake to a suspicious trapper, Vasor. He saw Susan and Sabetha in a nearby cave but couldn't save them. He would not risk his life. Ian offers to go and trades his dial for furs. Barbara is alone with Vasor. As she clears away dishes, she finds the chain that Sabetha was wearing in a drawer with four time dials. Vasor sees her looking and becomes angry, saying that he left them to die. This is his plan for Ian, too.

In the wastes Ian finds Altos, bound and abandoned. Altos tells him Vasor is to blame. They return to the trapper’s hut and confront him, before he can attack Barbara. They order him to reveal the stolen keys in his possession and take them to the caves where he abandoned Sabetha and Susan. Vasor refuse, claiming there are demons in the cave, but the two men force him.

The two girls have searched the icy caves themselves and uncovered a block of ice connected to piping, protected by Ice Soldiers, seemingly statues. As they run from the statues, they meet their friends, who have crossed a rickety rope bridge. However, to get back at them Vasor unties one end of the bridge and throws it into the chasm, trapping them on the other side. While Ian and Altos make a bridge of tree trunks to cross the chasm, they find the next Key frozen in the block of ice. They remove the Key by turning of a dial on one of the pipes, which releases heat from a volcanic spring, and revives the Ice Soldiers, who chase after the travellers to regain their key. Susan bravely crawls over the wobbly trunks over the chasm, reattaches the bridge, and they flee to the trapper's cottage to retrieve their stolen dials. Before they use them, Vasor grabs Susan and forces the travellers to fight the soldiers. Vasor is killed by the Ice Soldiers as they break into his cabin. The travellers activate their time dials.

In the next location, Ian discovers the key in a display case, with a dead man lying on the floor nearby. 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 discovered the key shortly before his death. The Key has disappeared and Ian is accused of theft too. In the city of Millennius, the legal system is guilty until proven innocent; the sentence will be death if he is found guilty by the court of Millennius. It is up to the defence to prove Ian's innocence beyond reasonable doubt. The other travellers are reunited before Ian’s trial, at which the Doctor will serve as defence counsel. He gets a postponement for two days while he gathers evidence and uses the time to work out what really happened to Eprin. The relief guard, Aydan, is implicated in the murder. To find evidence, Barbara and Susan go to the house of Aydan and talk to his wife, Kala, who gives away nothing. When Aydan returns home he is cross with the women, orders Barbara and Susan to leave, and hits his wife.

During the trial the Doctor calls Sabetha as a witness. He tricks Aydan into confessing by claiming that one of the earlier keys is the one that they found in Aydan's hiding place. Aydan confesses, and is murdered before he can implicate anyone else. As the Doctor sums up, Barbara and Altos discover that Susan has been kidnapped and is being held a hostage to persuade the Doctor not to investigate the crimes any further.

The Keys of Marinus (6)

Altos, Barbara, and Sabetha decide not to tell the Doctor of Susan's disappearance and to visit Kala to see if she has any information on who might be connected to her husband's death and Susan's kidnapping. She says she can't help them and breaks down in tears, but begins laughing when the trio leave. Susan is bound and gagged in another room. Kala takes a phone call from someone saying that Ian has been sentenced and Susan can be killed. Luckily, the trio realise it may be Kala that has taken Susan hostage, as she had talked of the call they got from Susan without them mentioning it. They return before Kala kills her as she did her own husband with a hidden gun, and the plot is uncovered. Reunited with the Doctor, they learn that Kala has admitted her part in the crimes but they must discover her accomplice to prove Ian did not kill Eprin. They are thwarted when Kala swears she was working with Ian. Susan remembers that when Kala was on the phone, the man said he would pick up the key later that night. The Doctor and the officals of Millenius wait where the Doctor has deduced the key is being kept - in the mace used as evidence in court. The man 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. 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, awaiting the fifth and final one. The Doctor and his companions arrive and fail to find Altos and Sabetha. They split up, Ian and Susan going to find Arbitan with the key and Barbara and the Doctor going to find Altos and Sabetha.

Ian and Susan find Yartek wearing Arbitan's clothes. He says they cannot come near him as he has a disfiguring disease caused by a power surge from the Consciousness. Ian gives him the key and goes to get the Doctor. He finds him releasing Altos and Sabetha, who tell them the Voords now reign on Marinus. Ian says he gave Yartek the false key from the Screaming Jungle. Although pleased, the Morphons warn the travellers that this will cause the Conscience to explode when put inside it. 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.

With the Conscience destroyed, the people of Marinus must now find their own answers, which the Doctor believes is a good thing: man was not meant to be ruled by machines. The travellers say goodbye to Altos and Sabetha who say they will start a new life together in Millennius.

Cast

Crew

References

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


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. The actor was on holiday during the filming of these episodes. This was the first time the lead actor had been 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 did not come to pass.
  • Although the Voords are the main villains of the story, they appear only in the first and last episodes. To this day, the Voords remain one of the most mysterious of the Doctor's adversaries, as little is revealed about them on-screen.
  • 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 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 was 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 side of the console opposite to its location in The Daleks. The Doctor could have changed things round.
  • 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. The bridge could be weak.
  • 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:

  • Region 2 UK cover

    Region 2 UK cover

  • Region 4 Australian cover

    Region 4 Australian cover

  • Region 1 US cover

    Region 1 US cover

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)
  • VHS UK cover

    VHS UK cover

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.


External links

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