Snakedance (TV story): Difference between revisions

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'''''Snakedance''''' was the second serial of [[season 20]] of ''[[Doctor Who]]''. A sequel to ''[[Kinda (TV story)|Kinda]]'', it featured the return of the [[Mara]] and [[Nyssa]]'s first direct contact with the [[Mara]]. Three decades later, a sequel to this story — though not the one [[Christopher Bailey]] had attempted — was created for audio in the form of [[Big Finish]]'s ''[[The Cradle of the Snake]]''.

The Mara takes control of Lon and uses him and Tegan to obtain from Ambril, the Director of Historical Research, the '[[Great Crystal]]' - the large blue stone that originally brought it into being by focusing energy from the minds of the planet's one-time inhabitants. The Mara now plans to use the crystal during the ceremony to bring about its return to corporeal existence.

The Doctor and Nyssa, aided by Ambril's assistant Chela, locate Ambril's aged predecessor, Dojjen, who predicted the Mara's rebirth before wandering off into the wilderness. The Doctor allows himself to be bitten by a snake to enter a state of mental commune with Dojjen, who tells him that fear is the only true venom and that to defeat the Mara he must find the still point within himself.

Tegan has decided to return to the  [[The Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]]. But she is having strange dreams, just like she did back on [[Deva Loka]]. She tells the Doctor and Nyssa about it. The Doctor worries that the [[Mara]] could still be alive, not as a physical form, but in the mind.

[[File:Tegan's_room.JPG|left|thumb|The Doctor and Nyssa listen to Tegan's dream.]]

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.

[[File:Snake_cave.jpg|thumb|Lon outside the Cave of the Snake.]]

=== Part 2 ===

The Doctor has appeared in the cave where Lon is having a lesson on the Mara legend. Ambril is surprised by the [[Time Lord]]'s appearance. The Doctor is keen to note that the legend is very real. Lon finds this curious. Ambril believes that the Doctor is [[crazy]].

Nyssa finally finds Tegan, who is laughing about the fortune teller. Nyssa soon realises that she is under the influence of the Mara again, her emotions different to what Tegan would express. Tegan then runs again and this time Nyssa loses her for real. Tegan has secretly entered the hall of mirrors.

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 Mara in Tegan is interested in the [[mirror]]s, remembering that she was trapped by a [[circle of mirrors]] before on the [[Kinda]] world. [[Dugdale]] finds her talking to herself in the mirror, and is also influenced by the Mara when he looks into the mirror. Tegan orders him to bring Lon.

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.

[[File:Mara_puppet.JPG|thumb|The Mara puppet show.]]

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.

[[File:Tegan_Mara_and_Dugdale.jpg|left|thumb|The Mara begins to manifest using Dugdale's fear.]]

=== Part 4 ===

[[File:Snake_cave_inner_chamber.JPG|thumb|Power flows toward the Mara.]]

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.

''to be added''

=== Myths ===

=== Filming locations ===

== Continuity ==

* The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan previously encountered the [[Mara]] on [[Deva Loka]] in the company of [[Adric]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Kinda (TV story)|Kinda]]'') Tegan recounts the events in a dream state induced by the Doctor. The three of them and [[Vislor Turlough|Turlough]] would later encounter the entity, once again on Manussa, though centuries before the rise of the Sumaran Empire. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Cradle of the Snake (audio story)|The Cradle of the Snake]]'')

* The Doctor would later tell Nyssa that he planned to catch up with Dojjen at some point in the future. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Cradle of the Snake (audio story)|The Cradle of the Snake]]'')