Snakedance (TV story): Difference between revisions

On the planet [[Manussa]], [[Tanha]] wants [[Lon]] to be prepared for the ceremony to celebrate the end of the Mara. He isn't really bothered, but is interested in a [[jewel]] kept between the teeth of a model snake. It is [[Ambril]]'s - an artefact kept for many years, as a symbol of the Mara. They decide to set off to the cave, where Ambril will explain the ceremony's proceedings.

Under the influence of the Mara, Tegan has set the TARDIS controls to Manussa, a planet known well to the Doctor. She also talks of a dream she's been having, of a cave, shaped in the jaws of a snake. The Doctor creates a [[hypnosis]] machine that inhibits the brainwaves associated with dreaming to protect Tegan. Upon their arrival on the planet, they decide to investigate.

On a local street, a man is shouting to the crowds about a hall of mirrors. Lon finds it hilarious and is pulled along by his mother, so that they can reach the cave. There, Ambril explains the legend of the snake and how they will add to the ceremony using the stories. They enter the cave and travel far through the tunnels inside.

The Doctor is searching for the cave, which Tegan had a vision of in her dreams. They finally find it and the Doctor enters, telling Nyssa to look after Tegan outside. As a consequence of her dreams, Tegan is frightened when a merchant approaches selling wriggling toy snakes, bought by children on Manussa. She runs away and Nyssa tries to follow her, but loses her in the crowds.

Nyssa arrives just outside the cave where Lon, Tanha and Ambril have just emerged to return to the palace. The Doctor is behind them. Nyssa explains about Tegan's disappearance. The Doctor looks worried. He wants to return to the TARDIS though to monitor the wavelengths of an interesting blue jewel he has obtained.

The Doctor and Nyssa are now inside the TARDIS where the Doctor is creating a circle where he can project thoughts into the jewel. When he tries along with Nyssa, the jewel lights up, but only when they concentrate.

Lon arrives at the hall of mirrors and is quickly taken by the Mara. They then proceed to the cave and behind the symbolic wall where they use Dugdale as a servant.

=== Part 3 ===

The Doctor returns to the palace to try to persuade Ambril to believe him. Ambril is unimpressed and orders the Doctor to be jailed. Nyssa overhears everything and tries to work by herself.

Chela brings the Doctor a diary written by [[Dojjen]], Ambril's predecessor as Director of Historical Research. Dojjen believed that the Mara had not been destroyed and would someday return. He eventually left his post to study the forbidden teachings of the Snake Dancers.

Nyssa searches Ambril's office for the key to the jail cell, but Tanha catches her in the act and has her locked up alongside the Doctor. The Doctor and Nyssa read through Dojjen's diary and realise that the ancient Manussans manufactured crystals that could conduct mental energy. The unanticipated result was that the crystals absorbed and reflected the Manussans' own negative thoughts and emotions, creating the Mara. As centuries passed, the Manussans forgot that they themselves had brought the Mara into being. The Doctor [[deduce]]s that Dojjen learned this truth from the Snake Dancers, the only people who kept the knowledge alive.

Lon and Ambril return to the palace, where a dazed Ambril informs Tanha and Chela that at the impending ceremony, the Great Crystal will be restored to its original place. Alarmed, Chela frees the Doctor and Nyssa in hopes that they can intervene.  They attempt to flee the palace, but are surrounded by guards. Lon claims that the three are plotting his death, and orders the guards to kill them.

=== Part 4 ===

Determined to destroy the Mara completely, the Doctor uses his crystal to summon Dojjen. Dojjen and the Doctor enact the Snake Dance ritual, in which live snakes bite their wrists, allowing them to communicate telepathically. Guilt-ridden over what has befallen Tegan, the Doctor asks how he can save her and defeat the Mara once and for all. Dojjen urges him to find the "still point" within himself.

Tanha questions Lon's strange behaviour, but he brushes aside her suspicions. In the cave, the ceremony proceeds according to custom until Lon stuns the audience by announcing that the Mara has returned. The Doctor, Nyssa and Chela burst onto the scene, but are too late to stop Lon from placing the Great Crystal in the mouth of the snake on the cave wall. Tegan appears holding the Mara in the form of a snake wrapped around her arm. The Mara feeds on the crowd's fear and panic, growing larger and stronger.