The Keys of Marinus

Keys of Marinus (part 1)
The Sea of DEATH


 

Look at that title, Terror Nation is back at the writing. Also back are moving pictures. I missed them. Presumably Keys of Marinus is 10/10 now.

To be honest, I last saw it 20 years ago, so who knows?



Zoom in on a beach and then...a model TARDIS appears. Marks for imagination. They are very excited to see a beach, and no radiation, but Ian thought he saw something on the scanner. At which we see things swimming to the shore. Small model submarines.

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"It's absolutely calm" says Ian, 3 minutes into Episode 1 of a 6 parter. The Doctor immediately assumes creatures lurk in the sea, however, whilst a scuba wearing other person just misses the Doctor and crew by seconds. The sand is made of glass and the water is made of acid, which eats Susan's shoe instead of her foot.

Diving gear chap tries to break into the TARDIS but can't because he lacks a key.

The Doctor is amused about an acid sea. Then he turns round and "Good gracious!" there's a submarine right there. These scenes would work better if there was any sense of scale to the beach. Instead it looks like a set.

Diving gear chap gets to appear in all his glory, looking a bit cheap.

They find a suit, with a slight tear in it, meaning the guy inside has been dissolved by the acid. That's a bit nasty for tea time!

Then Ian and the Doctor see a city and immediately go to investigate.

Susan investigates it, and Diving Gear Guy has a knife ready to strike her down.

"I'm beginning to think that sea of acid is a defence barrier" says the Doctor in a laughably bad line.

Diving Gear Chap is waiting to kill Susan and then suddenly a trapdoor swings behind him and knocks into the inner bit of the wall. Last week Fast Horse Man saved the door, this week its dodgy architecture.

Then Susan falls into the wall, and the wall actively has to jump forward to nab the Doctor. Ian and Barbara are confused. Meanwhile Susan nearly walks into Diving Gear Chap doing his best "I'm just a statue" acting. But suddenly it turns out he was stabbed in the back instead (huh?) and a cloaked figure looking a bit like John Carradine shows up.

Ian falls into the wall off screen and finds the Dead Diving Gear Man, and then suddenly Barbara is with the Doctor and Susan again. Do you ever feel like pivotal scenes just got cut or forgotten about?

The Man in the Cloak has a short fight with Diving Gear Man Number Two before Ian runs over and has the hokey cokey with him, leading to Diving Gear Man Number Two to fall down a hole into...presumably.... a vat of acid.

Man in the Cloak reveals himself to be George Coulouris. He was in Citizen Kane as Thatcher, the man who adopts the child Kane and basically sets up the entire plot. He also worked with the Mercury Theatre in the 1930s, and was also in For Whom the Bell Tolls, and played Richard III on Broadway. In short, this was a big ¤¤¤¤ing deal of a casting coup and they put him in...The Keys of ¤¤¤¤ing Marinus!

Coulouris gives us the plot by exposition. Marinus is a peaceful world as all free will is controlled by the centre computer, but the Voord want the computer so he hid all the keys. But now he is old and needs the keys back so can they get them for him or else?

So the good guy wants the materials to create a brainwashing tool to stop his enemies. Just so we are clear.

George Coulouris incidentally is giving this badly written role far more respect than you'd think. But when you buy class you get class.

Anyhow, he puts a force-field around the TARDIS to force the TARDIS crew to find his keys. Terry Nation has them discuss the concept of it possibly being a force-field for 40 seconds. Arbitan (Coulouris) says get the keys or you will starve to death.

"It's blackmail!" says the Doctor.

"Btw, I have a daughter, and I miss her" says Arbitan who pretty much dooms himself faster than "getting married after one last day in the army" guys.

The team get space travel dials to find the Keys, and Barbara leaps to the first spot ahead of the rest. Once the TARDIS crew are gone, George Coulouris turns round and is promptly murdered to death by the leader of the Diving Suit Guys. Although given he didn't hear that creeping behind him, I can only assume Arbitan had tired of life. Always kill off the only decent thing so far in Episode one, that's always a good sign.

Ian, Doc and Susan arrive and find Barbara's travel dial, with blood on it. INSTA-CLIFFHANGER.

Well, that was incredibly half-assed, our random appearance of an acting legend aside.



 The Keys of Marinus (episode 2)
The Velvet Web



So, yes, Arbitan sent the Doctor off on a quest, swiftly got bumped off, and now Barbara's travel dial has been found with blood on it.

The Doctor, Susan and Ian open the doors and immediately walk into blinding light accompanied by what will one day become famous as the Dr Who stock hypnotism music. Which is a bit of a spoil sport for Oldies.

Barbara is already in this new place, and well attended in her robes. Even though she presumably only got there 30 seconds ahead of them. So they've landed in a place of seemingly great wealth and luxury.

Some random girls bring in a turkey, fruit and cheese. Sorry, they're truffles.

"Go on, have one"
"No, I don't know the price yet" says Ian, sagely.

The City of Morphoton is apparently the most content in the universe as people can have whatever they want. The Doctor is skeptical, but then he gets offered a brand new laboratory.

BARBARA: You're not very convincing. I don't know what you want.
IAN: Perhaps it's my materialistic side. How rich and powerful do you have to be to give things away free?
BARBARA: Oh, now don't spoil it all for me.
IAN: I didn't mean to do that.
BARBARA: You can't apply Earth standards. You just can't.
IAN: No. Certainly very different here. You notice that man's eyes?
BARBARA: What about them?
IAN: He didn't blink once. Am I being ridiculous?
BARBARA: Yes. They're just kind, hospitable people.

Ian's smarter than your average bear, as that night, Barbara wakes up to realise everyone is being brainwashed, and because she woke up, she isn't. The entire history of Doctor Who saved by an uncomfortable bed!

The others wake up but think Barbara, unconscious, is still tired. Both Ian and the Doctor complain about sore heads. Susans new dress arrives and she's delighted so wants to show it off to Barbara, and this is when the episode shifts....

They wake up Barbara, who suddenly realises they are in a dank old room. Suddenly Barbara can see things as they really are, while the rest are stuck in the brainwash, so we see things from their perspective and from reality. William Hartnell plays the brainwashed Doctor like a bemused Twilight Zone character, and this episode does seem to borrow heavily from Rod Serling's show and its dual perspective episodes. Also when you see the room from Barbara's perspective, the other characters are off kilter too. It's quite eerily done.

Susan hugging her dirty rags/nice new dress is very funny. Then Altos shows up again, and from Barbara's POV he looks like the villain of the piece. She runs off when a second Doctor is brought up, and I don't mean Pat.

Barbara runs through the falling apart building, seeing decay everywhere and breaks down. Jacqueline Hill is knocking this out of the park, incidentally.

Then, as Barbara is out of the way, we keep the reality shot, and see Atlos going to talk to... some talking brains with eyes in jars. For real. The talking brains order Barbara's death. This had me looking up when William and Mary, Roald Dahl's short story, was first published. 1959. I wonder if Terry Nation had read that one.

The serving girl walks into Barbara's lair and she tries to break her brainwashing, but fails.

At this point, the camera is only showing us the reality perspective, so we don't get to see what the Doctor and Ian see in the "laboratory". Presumably a budget issue, which is a shame. Still, William Hartnell fondly looking over a mucky cup raises a smile.

Barbara twigs that Sabetha The Serving Girl is actually Arbitan's Daughter, on the basis of being the only speaking female guest role 2 episodes in.

Barbara runs into Ian only to find he has been utterly brainwashed. She seems defeated, until she gets taken to the Talking Brain Creatures with Eyes. The Creatures order Ian to kill Barbara, but even brainwashed Ian struggles to do so, and so Barbara swiftly smashes the tanks of the Talking Brain Creatures with Eyes and they swiftly die. Ever noticed Barbara is awfie quick to straight up kill folk.

Later, the Doctor watches happily as the city is burnt to the ground by its citizens. The mans an ardent anarchist! Altos and Sabetha, now free of the brainwashing, want to help out, so the Doctor decides the best thing for him to do is to take a two week holiday and jump to Episode 5, leaving the other 5 to find the next 2 keys. As you do.

Susan lands in a forest, which seems to be screaming.

A vast improvement on the previous week, this was Terry Nation doing the Twilight Zone by way of Doctor Who. That man's writing is Jekyll and Hyde so far.



 Keys of Marinus (part 3)
The Screaming Jungle



Everyone else lands in the forest and calms down Susan. Ian plans to look around the trees to see if there's a route to anything while Barbara watches Susan.

Susan is scared of "the evil sound". But currently the jungle is quite quiet.

Then we see a vine move by itself and tap Susan on the leg. Not to worry, Barbara, Intergalactic Species Killer, is right there to thump another living thing to death.

This looks more like an overgrown indoor garden than a jungle. Which is a shame as we've already seen a bloody good jungle a few stories earlier.

Barbara has found a sort of temple thing and left Susan alone with the killer weeds.

Ian then casually wanders back into frame with such understated movement. Barbara finds the Key, but is grabbed by some stone hands by the thigh, and then another trapdoor thing takes her into the wall.

"That idol thing was on some sort of a pivotal" says Ian, realising that one line has stretched the entire plot to a single episode. Sabetha has her first line of the episode 7 minutes in. The idol returns sans Barbara. Altos takes Susan to the next Key location in the hope it will be safer.

I have to be honest this is the first story that it looks like the director is being utterly defeated by the ambition to Dr Who's actual budget ratio.

Then Ian discovers the Key is a fake, and tells Sabetha to travel to the next key. So Ian goes to the Ido and gets felt up and travels into the other room. A statue that looks suspiciously like a Weeping Angel, and an executioner who rises an axe but then Barbara shows up in time to warn Ian.

Ian finds a big door and decides to see if it opens if he whacks it with his fist. It doesn't.

Meanwhile some old guy in rags opens the door. As you do. And Barbara walks right into a net. Terry's making this up as he goes along, surely? Ian gets trapped behind a prison door, and vines slowly lower themselves onto Barbara as some Old Guy Watches. Then the Old Guy stops the trap and asks them why they are there.

"Are you a Voord? You don't look like them." says Old Man.

The Old Man doesn't believe that Arbitan has sent Ian and Barbara. Meanwhile Ian has bent open iron bars with a bit of metal and the Old Guy walks right by a door and is being strangled by a bloody vine. This is getting bloody farcical!

Ian and Barbara save the old guy with a nearby sword, as you do. "It's coming again!" he says. Steady on!

"Arbitan has sent us."
"Has Arbitan sent you?"

Yes, they just said that!

The old guy is suffering from dying of death, having only just shown up. He then tells them where the key is in a metaphor. "The whispering will start" he adds, then dies. Farewell badly written cypher!

William Russell has a frown on his face. Ian confused at the message, or William ¤¤¤¤ed off with how bad the script is? We may never know.

Suddenly they find a safe, but the combination doesn't seem to work. Then they hear screaming outside, realise the old guy was a scientist who has speed up plant growth, watch plants exploding into the room and then just in the nick of time realise the combination was a chemical equation for the jar that contains the Key. If that sounds rushed, yes, it all happens in a minute. The pacing for this episode is abysmal.


Then they land in a snowstorm.

This episode is a complete mess of pacing, camera work, plotting, and its only saving grace is it allowing Jackie Hill and William Russell to work together again for long periods of time. That they nearly make the whole thing work is entirely a testament to those two actors.



 Keys of Marinus (episode 4)
The Snows of Terror




No, I have no idea how many times I'm going to jump between Parts and Episodes.

Ian and Barbara are bloody frozen in a snowstorm. Barbara goes to sleep in the snow, and Ian collapses. Barbara wakes up to see a burly big guy in furs standing over her.

Big Guy goes back to his cabin, where he's brought Ian and Barbara out of the cold. Already he's a bit too touchy feely with Barbara, and there's a reason I'm watching this one after midnight when the weans asleep.

Bit of education for the kids as Barbara tells Ian not to immediately put his hands in front of a heat source without rubbing them force to prevent frostbite. Big Guy gives them both soup, and says there's lots of wolves outside. He also says Altos arrived looking for "two girls" and then went to the village.

Ian then bizarrely gives his travel dial away to Big Guy in exchange for some furs to wear outside as he goes looking for Altos, Susan and Sabetha. And he leaves Barbara alone with this guy.

"There. We're alone" says Vasor (the big guy) and Barbara gives a worried look I've seen in many a pub in my time.

Ian is out in the snowstorm, and the howling storm and the snow look quite impressive, which makes you wonder how much better it looked a few episodes ago under Warris Hussein! Ian finds Altos unconscious in the snow with his hands tied together, and we cut immediately to a smug looking Vasor. Uhoh.

Sound of wolves is heard outside. Barbara goes to clean up, opens a drawer and finds... the other three travel dials and Sabetha's rosaries! Uh-oh!

You know, I'm beginning to think this guy might not be on the level...

He claims he basically left them for dead on the mountain. Barbara thinks Vasor killed Altos, but Vasor says he doesn't need to kill when the cold and wolves do it fine enough. Also, he's left a surprise with Ian.

As Ian realises Vasor left Altos for dead, he suddenly realises he's left Barbara alone with a monster.

Also, there's something in Ian's bag...

IAN: Just a minute, look at this. Raw meat. What on earth would Vasor want to give me that for?
(Wolves howl)
ALTOS: There's your answer. Those beasts could scent meat a couple of miles away. Draw them like a magnet. Vasor's making certain you wouldn't get back.

Holy. ¤¤¤¤.

We actually see a stock footage of a wolf.

And back to the actual Wolf in the cabin, as Vasor tries to, well, grab Barbara ,who dives out of the way and grabs a fireside poker.

BARBARA: Don't you dare come near me.
VASAR: All right, I'm in no hurry. There's no one coming to help you. I can wait.

Ian drags the injured Atlos down the mountain, with the sound of wolves. They see Vasors cabin, and make a run for it.

Vasor grabs the poker, chases Barbara round the room, and goes to grab her but Ian and Atlos arrive just in the nick of time. This is kids TV! That is ¤¤¤¤ing dark. This is not the terror in the snows Terry Nation had us expecting.

"He's going to show us where the cave is" says Ian, with a voice dripping in fury and a face of disgust. Just some random throwaway episode of Doctor Who and we're suddenly face to face with the biggest monster in the show so far.

Susan and Sabetha stand in a cave, and Susan gets a good hug going on. They're lost in a sort of maze of ice caves.

IAN: How much further?
VASOR: It's just beyond the next ridge. When we get there, can I go back?
IAN: You're getting no promises out of me. Come on.

We've never see Ian hate someone quite so openly before. Threaten his friend and you get Hulk Ian.

Vasor is scared of the cave demons, but Ian forces him to lead the way.

Susan and Sabetha cross a loose rope bridge. Soon after, Ian's group reach the rope bridge. Susan and Sabetha walk into a room with some frozen knights, one of whom wobbles trying to remain still. I feel his pain, I'd be useless taking on the T.Rex from Jurassic Park.

Ian and Barbara meet Susan again, only to see Vasor cut the rope bridge, leaving them trapped. ¤¤¤¤ing hell.

And so the group re-enter the room with the frozen knights. "The demons" Ian says. That poor guy is still wobbling. The key is in a solid block of ice, surrounded by four dead warriors. There's a pipe system which introduces warm air into the room. Barbara surmises its a volcanic spring like in Iceland.

The TARDIS crew build a bridge out of planks of ice.

The key is nearly free from the ice and all those soldiers have slumped over. Susan goes over to look at one of the soldiers and he wakes up. All of the frozen soldiers rise their swords and stalk the group. Actually if I was a kid this would have freaked me out.

Susan crawls over the crumbling ice bridge, holding onto the wooden rope bridge parts, and makes it across just as the ice breaks into pieces. Susan mends the rope bridge while Ian tries to block the Knights by knocking ice down in their path, but one Knight alone lifts up the wreckage, and because its meant to be impressive, I'll just ignore its blatant tinfoil or the like nature in favour of suspension of disbelief.

The Knights RUSH forward - no lumbering - after their prey. The bridge is cut, and the first Knight falls to his death and SCREAMS. So these things feel pain? ¤¤¤¤ing hell.

Vasor is smug in his cabin, when Ian and his crew arrive, and take their travel dials on. Vasor rushes back in having seen the Knights coming to his cabin.

IAN: I'm afraid you'll have to entertain them alone, Vasor. We have to leave you.

Vasor grabs Susan - this guy just loves to threaten women, doesn't he - but in the struggle a Knights sword cuts through the door and into Vasors back. And the entire team take off in space as the Knights smash into the cabin.

You know, given how fast they were, that village three miles away? It's ¤¤¤¤ed, isn't it?

A man lies dead on the ground as Ian appears on the scene in some sort of museum. And is immediately coshed on the back of the head by someone we can't see, who moves the murder weapon and places it in Ian's hands. From terror to intrigue.


Well then. A good setting, some strong moments for all the regulars (including a rare moment of Susan courage and guile), and the wolves and snow storm soundtrack. Add to that the Ice Soldiers (thank you end credits) for some added eeriness. But Francis de Wolff's Vasor nearly steals the whole thing. Between leaving three people to die from exposure, cutting the bridge supports to condemn the whole group to death, and that whole bit where he very clearly wants something specific from Barbara and is prepared to wait for her to tire out so he can pounce... what an absolute genuine monster.

This might be the darkest episode of Doctor Who in some time, perhaps even ever. And its in the middle of the Keys of ¤¤¤¤ing Marinus. Terry Nation, you don't know if he's going to give you a snooze in an overactive garden, or a ¤¤¤¤ing sex pest and demon warriors...



 Keys of Marinus (part 5)
Sentence of Death



Sounds grim. As grim as a sex pest and murder ghosts? Time will tell.

So Ian got bopped on the head and framed for a murder in a museum. The villain nicks the Key and sets off an alarm too.

Next thing we know Ian wakes up to find a policeman sitting waiting for him. He's being interrogated. The policeman says its a locked door mystery with only one suspect - Ian. The police mans name is Tarron. Isn't a common Terry Nation name?

Tarron insists Ian has hidden the microchip, and tells him he is being charged with murder.

IAN: But there was another man in here. I've got a lump on the back of my head to prove it.
TARRON: The dead man could have hit you before he was killed.
IAN: I suppose I killed him while I was unconscious.
TARRON: Well it does suggest you had an accomplice, I agree. So you had better produce him. That's my advice to you, for what it's worth.
IAN: I don't have to produce him, Tarron. You do. This is circumstantial evidence. You must prove that I did the actual killing.
TARRON: That is contrary to our legal system.
IAN: What?
TARRON: I mean that you are already guilty of this crime. The burden of defence is entirely yours. You must prove without any shadow of doubt that you are innocent, otherwise
IAN: Otherwise?
TARRON: You will die.

Ian gets told he can have someone speak for him at trial and he immediately suggests The Doctor. Which is probably the most sensible thing anyone has done in this entire story. All the regulars look worried about Ian but the Doctor is MIA.

IAN: They're treating me well enough. Have you found the Doctor yet?
BARBARA: No. There isn't a sight or sound of him anywhere.
IAN: We must find him, Barbara. We must. The laws in this country are a mockery.
DOCTOR: I quite agree with you, my boy.

Everyone cheer! William Hartnell is back after a two week holiday! Everyone runs forward to give a big old hug, and it wouldn't surprise me if some kids let out a big cheer at the time. Or was that just this big kid?

"I need a man to defend me" says Ian.
"I am that man" says the Doctor triumphantly. He's been watching the 70s episodes on Britbox on his time off.

So unless the Doctor can prove why an execution shouldn't happen Ian is dead. This is very much a Terry Nation having a Twilight Zone moment of inspiration: "What if socks were no longer our friends? What if court cases went backwards?"

Doctor demands time to look up witnesses and the facts of the case, and the Judges allow it as "murder is so unusual".

EYESEN: I congratulate you.
DOCTOR: Thank you.
EYESEN: It will not alter the outcome.
DOCTOR: We shall see.

It just feels more like the same old show with the main guy back. The Doctor met up with Altos's pal, but the pal is the guy who got murdered. Intrigue!

The Key has disappeared. It would have been detected by their systems if it left the room and it never did. So ever Flambeau was involved or...

DOCTOR: You see, Tarron never doubted that Chesterton was guilty. A grave error. Yes, a very grave error.
SUSAN: Yes, where as we know he's innocent.
DOCTOR: Precisely. But someone did it, and we also know there was a third man in the room. How he got in here we shall know in a moment. Now let us assume he was hiding. Yes. Behind this door. Now, Barbara, you imagine that you are Chesterton for a moment. Come here. Now please, you look into the room, you see a body on the floor. What do you do?
BARBARA: I'd see if I could help.
SUSAN: I'll be the body.
DOCTOR: Good. Right, now let me see you do it. There's a weapon beside the body. Do you examine it?
BARBARA: Yes, yes, I think I would.
DOCTOR: Good. Then you look up in front of you and you see exactly what you came here for, the micro-key. Unbeknown to you, the third man comes out of hiding, creeps up behind you, and you are struck down, so. Now, he could take what he came here for. He opens the case, lifts the key, the alarm bell sounds. Now, he only has a few seconds so he conceals the key, runs to the door, opens it, gets out and then closes it. But he can't go any further because already the security guards and officials are on their way. So he decides to pretend that he is first on the scene!
SUSAN: The relief guard!
DOCTOR: Yes.
BARBARA: Yes, of course. That's why the guard inside let him in in the first place. He knew him. He even expected him.
DOCTOR: Yes, he went in, killed his colleague, heard Chesterton in the hall, hid behind the door and the rest we know.

The Doctor is having an absolute ball of a time here. Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder as they say.

"I can't improve at this very moment" says the Doctor. Its a fluff but he does himself a disservice. He knows where the Key is but revealing it without a murderer would condemn Ian.

Susan and Barbara go to visit the wife of Aydan, the suspected killer, and she tells him about the microchip. Then Aydan shows up and promptly proves himself to be the worst poker player so far in Who.

SUSAN: I thought you might like to know that we know where the key is hidden.
BARBARA: Susan!
AYDEN: But you couldn't know where it is. I....

He's the least successful crook since Clive Revill's terrible Irish accent IRA murderer in Columbo. Susan and Barbara leave after the guy threatens to hit Susan. And behind the closed door, Aydan thumps his wife. Terry Nation FFS, whats with the recent attacks on female characters?

Someone phones up the Prosecutor Elydon who seems to be on in the plot against Ian.

At the trial, Elydon says the mace was held in the hand of the prisoner and "this concludes the evidence from the prosecution". The man is confident.

DOCTOR: My Lords, let me begin by saying that the murderer is without any doubt in this chamber. The trouble is, he's not under arrest, but my young friend here is.

Cue all the conspirators looking worried.

The Doctor calls Sabetha to the stand. The Doctor asks Sabetha if she recognises the microchip, she says she does and produces it in her hands. It was given to her by Aydan the guard.

"She couldn't have found it. OK I give up. The real killer's name is....uuuuurgh."

Yes he does give up and then get shot by someone unseen. Me and Cat used to take the ever living pish out of this one moment in Dr Who for years and I forgot it was in The Keys of Marinus.

Everyone looks shocked, and then his widow starts crying suddeny as if cued offscreen.

The Doctor used one of the earlier keys to get Aydan to collapse under pressure. Devious old man.

The Judges then decide that Aydan was working with Ian and Ian must be executed anyway.

And then Susan gets kidnapped.

Must be...yes, it's the end of the episode.

Melodramatic murder mystery with not very interesting real villains, but the Doctor's return livens things up no end.



 Keys of Marinus (part 6)
The Keys of Marinus




So last time, the Doctor pointed out Ian was innocent of murder but Ian is going to be executed anyway because the society they landed in can't be arsed with innocence. Also, the kidnappers of Susan very kindly phoned up the hotel, asked for time travellers and spoke to Barbara. As you do.

Barbara tells Altos and Sabetha not to tell the Doctor or Ian about Susan's kidnapping and they can find her themselves.

Meanwhile Ian is with a bored looking guard who tells him his execution is near.

Barbara assumes if Aydan was killed to prevent him talking, then his wife might know something about his doings. SO they visit the widow who does a lot of crying, and they leave again, only for the sudden reveal that Kala the widow has Susan tied up in her closet and is the villain all along. Plot twist!

Then Eyesen the prosecutor phones up Kala, says Ian is getting executed and tells Kala to murder Susan. While outside, Barbara suddenly realises Kala knew about them speaking to Susan so must be the kidnapper.

SABETHA: It was a terrible choice. She sounded so afraid.
SABETHA: What is it?
BARBARA: What you just said. Kala couldn't have known.
ALTOS: Known? Known what? What are you talking about?
BARBARA: Kala said, you must have been sick with worry since you spoke to Susan. Well how did she know we'd spoken to Susan? We've told no one.
ALTOS: Then Kala must have been with Susan when she telephoned.

It's not exactly a crime they'd have called in Hercule Poirot to solve.

Kala goes to kill Susan but right at that moment Barbara bursts in and saves the unearthly child. The plot foiled by a lack of locking your front door. Remember when Susan was treated competently a few episodes ago? Me neither.

Tarron talks to The Doctor, before Barbara phones him to tell them they have captured Kala.

ALTOS: But surely they'll stop the execution now that Kala's confessed.
DOCTOR: I hope so. I sincerely hope so. Well? Well!
TARRON: Kala's made a full statement. She's named her accomplice.
DOCTOR: Ah. Then you can stay the execution.
TARRON: No, I can't. Kala's sworn testimony states that the man she was working with was Ian Chesterton.
DOCTOR: Impossible!
BARBARA: But she's lying.
TARRON: Yes, I have doubts myself. She's a vicious, dangerous woman, but just doubts aren't enough to ask for a stay of execution. They'd need positive proof.
SUSAN: What about that man who called on the phone thing? I heard him tell her to kill me.
TARRON: Did you recognise the voice?
SUSAN: No.
DOCTOR: What else did he say?
SUSAN: Oh, nothing much. Just that he'd collect the key later and then pick her up.
DOCTOR: Collect the key. Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Yes, yes. You understand? The villain that planned all this, the one who planned this whole affair, is now planning to collect the key! What a wonderful opportunity it gives us to catch him red-handed. And to release Chesterton!

And then they cut direct to Eyeson getting captured. That was a quick finish than poor old Gregory gets. At least we get a good old Billy Hartnell laugh and giggle from it. Dr Who is much better with Dr Who in it.

It seems like anytime the drama of Keys of Marinus threatens to become intriguing, Terry Nation gets bored and ends it.

The Doctor gets to look grumpy in Eyesons face, and finds the Key.

BARBARA: Have you any idea why they did it?
TARRON: Oh, yes, they've owned up to everything. Kala and the Prosecutor had planned to steal the key and sell it, and Chesterton here just happened to walk right into the middle of it. They made him look so guilty I never doubted for a moment he was the one.
DOCTOR: You should read Pyrrho, my boy. He founded Scepticism. A great asset to your business.
IAN: Thank heaven you remembered reading Pyrrho, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Reading? What are you talking about? I met the man.

Tarron mysteriously knows the entire plot. This might have been helpful earlier. Also, the line about "I met the man" is gloriously read by Hartnell and followed by a delightfully knowing giggle from Susan.

They show Tarron the dials by moving in space back to Arbitan.

TARRON: Yes. He told us what was going to happen and we saw it. But nobody else has seen it. We'd be better off keeping this story to ourselves.
CLERK: How are you going to complete the report, Tarron?
TARRON: I shall say that they left. They left to take the key back to its inventor, Arbitan.

Meanwhile apparently Altos and Sabetha went back to the beginning off screen when we were occupied and have been captured by the Voord. Thats the Diving Gear Guys from Episode 1. Their leader, Yartek Of Mondas (name may be exaggerated), is wearing Arbitans robes, but still has his big rubber gear on. Or is that his actual face? I'm confused. Also, the new "keeper of the keys" ain't Citizen Kane class, to be honest.

He brings in Sabetha and ties her up to Altos. A bit presumptuous to assume what they might get up to in private. The Voord Guy blackmails Altos into revealing who has the key:

YARTEK: In that case, as you think so little of him, as I gather from the way you treat him, it doesn't matter what happens to him.
SABETHA: Of course not. Send him away.
YARTEK: Yes, I can do that. Or I can have him killed. After all, he's only a servant. Kill him!
SABETHA: No!
YARTEK: Useless lies! Where is the final key?
SABETHA: I'll never tell you. Never.
YARTEK: But this man is no servant. He travelled with you. He is in love with you. I think he will tell me.
SABETHA: The man who loves me cannot betray me.
YARTEK: The man who loves you cannot condemn you to death. I can promise you one thing. If you do not tell me where the final key is, I shall order my creatures to kill her.
ALTOS: The man who was with us, the Doctor, he has it.

Sabetha responds with some bad acting in slow motion. But few could survive that camera shot with dignity.

The TARDIS regulars all land back on the Beach Palace place, and Ian immediately thinks something is up, because he's the only character who is consistently written.

"I have put them in the cell as ordered" says a Voord of Little Importance giving Altos and Sabetha alone time.

Luckily that Voord becomes of Great Importance when he tries to attack Ian, but dies.

Yartek pretending to be Arbitan with a big hood over his head is really daft. Susan falling for it is another nail in her coffin.

Ian hands over the final Key to "Arbitan", but then reveals to Susan that as "Arbitan" didn't know who Altos (who real Arbitan sent to find Sabetha) was, he can't have been the real guy. Also in that scene, Susan is now a skeptic too.

The Doctor releases Altos and Sabetha from bondage.

DOCTOR: You heard about Arbitan?
IAN: Yes. We met the man who's usurped his place.
DOCTOR: Give me the key. We must have it destroyed.
SUSAN: Ian gave it to him.
DOCTOR: What! You gave it away?
IAN: I gave him a key. Sabetha, you remember that fake key? Barbara found it on the idol.
BARBARA: I remember.
IAN: That was the key I gave him. This is the genuine key.
DOCTOR: My dear boy!
SABETHA: We must go quickly. Leave the building.
IAN: Why?
ALTOS: Yartek may put that false key into the machine at any moment. If he does, it will set the machine in motion, but once it feels the full force of the power, it'll break under the strain.
IAN: You mean the machine'll blow up?
ALTOS: Yes.
DOCTOR: There's not a moment to loose. Come on!
ALTOS: And everything in this building with it.

So they escape the building, Yartek explodes the machine and himself, and well, that's it. Free will can no longer be defeated on Marinus by one machine.

DOCTOR: No, no, I wouldn't say that. His work will go on, only not quite in the same way. But I don't believe that man was made to be controlled by machines. Machines can make laws, but they cannot preserve justice. Only human beings can do that. Now I only hope that you'll carry on his good work, please. Goodbye. Bless you, my child.

His good work of ruling a machine that mind controls a planet.

Ian and Barbara say goodbye to Altos and Sabetha, who decide to go travelling together.

And then the toy TARDIS takes off from the sandpit beach, the camera zooms out of Marinus and the story just ends.

It ended with all the emphasis of the story, really.