Doctor Who - Mara Tales (Kinda / Snakedance) [DVD]

Two Doctor Who stories from Peter Davison's time in the role come to dvd in one box set. There's a cardboard box cover to contain the two individual stories, each in their own individual containers [handy for those who want to put them on their shelves in story broadcast order, because these two are not sequential stories].

Kinda and Snakedance are both four parters, and both complete on single discs.

Kinda sees the TARDIS visit the planet Deva Loka, a jungle world with seemingly primitive tribal inhabitants and a colonial expedition most of whom tend to dress in a not dissimilar fashion to british colonialists of centuries gone by. The latter bunch are in turmoil because some of their number have vanished. And the former seemingly know more than they're telling.

Whilst the Doctor strives to find what's going on here, and deal with a dangerously deranged member of the expedition, Tegan falls prey to the Mara. An evil creature that dwells in the mind. And wants to manifest.

By this time the production team were quickly realising that three companions was a bit restricting, and thus Nyssa gets rather perfunctorily written out for the duration of the story. But even so Kinda contains much to delight. The three actors playing the expedition members all offer excellent performances, particularly Simon Rouse as the deranged Mr Hindle, and the natives have a wise woman played superbly by veteran actress Mary Morris. Also watch out for Mr. Hankin from Grange Hill. Not that you'll recognise him. All the cast do remember that this kind of things work best when you play it straight and believable.

Kinda also offers a very scary monster, some nicely surreal moments inside Tegan's mind, and a script that draws on Buddhist philosophy to offer much that can be interpretered in many ways. Thus there's an awful lot you can get out of it.

It's slightly let down by the manifestation of the Mara. As a large rubber snake. But it's good enough to be forgiven for that.

Snakedance was made the following year, in the show's twentieth year. An anniversary season when every story had a connection to the show's past. In this case the recent past because the Mara returns, taking over Tegan once again on the planet Manussa. A world where ancient history involving the Mara has turned into rituals nobody takes seriously any more.

The Doctor has to save Tegan and stop the Mara. But he can't find too many people who will take him seriously...

It's not quite as original as Kinda but it's another that offers strong character drama from a superb cast who give their roles their all. A pre fame Martin Clunes is amongst them, and clips of his appearance always turn up before they were famous shows where people laugh at his costume. Which is a shame because his role, a bored youth who falls under the Mara's influence, is a good bit of acting.

Also offering an interesting alien world and some colourful sets and costumes in the confines of a tv studio, it may not be quite as highly regarded as Kinda, but it's a pretty strong tale in it's own right anyhow.

And there are real snakes in it so those with certain phobias might be bothered. Even though they're only little ones.

Both discs have the following language and subtitle options:

Languages: English.

Subtitles: English.

Audio captioned: English.

Plus the usual:

Isolated score.

Radio times billings for the stories as PDF files that can be viewed by accessing the discs on a computer.

Production information subtitles.

Photo gallery of stills from the story and it's production.

A trailer for the next release in the range.

And both also have commentaries from various members of cast and crew.

Other extras on Kinda:

A thirty four minute long making of documentary. Offering some interesting insights particularly into the early production and the writing processes, this is well worth a look.

There's a twenty four minute long documentary about the work of Peter Grimwade, who directed Kinda and several other stories and also wrote for the show. A fascinating look at a talented man it's a good watch.

There are fifteen minutes worth of deleted and extended scenes. These tend to have a rather rough picture quality but have their moments.

And there's also the option to replace the rubber snake mara manifestation with a cgi version. An extra allows you to do this and another one compares the original with the cgi version. The latter is impressive but also not one for those with certain phobias.

Extras on Snakedance:

A twenty five minute long making of documentary. Just as good as the one on Kinda.

Deleted scenes: a three minute alternate ending to the final part.

In studio: six minutes worth of footage of the special effects being prepared. Half of which is foam coming out the mouth of a large plastic snake.

Saturday Superstore: a fourteen minute long appearance Peter Davison made on the show back in the 1980's, being interviewed and taking viewers' questions.

The best extra though is the easter egg, which runs for fourteen minutes and has Christopher Bailey, who wrote both these stories, in conversation with Robert Shearman, who wrote the ninth doctor episode 'Dalek.' A fascinating and lively chat it's probably the best easter egg on one of these dvds ever. And it's also one of the hardest to find.

To get to it: Watch the disc on a computer. Go to the audio options part of the menu. Click on the option 'Isolated score' and when that is lit up move the pointer over the Doctor Who logo in the top left. It will now light up. Click on that to watch it.

All in all a very good box set of two of the best stories from the Fifth Doctor's era, and well worth getting.

In my opinion, Kinda is the deepest, most imaginative and thought provoking story in the history of Dr Who. The Mara is certainly the scariest and most disturbing monster ever seen, and there is a wonderful exploration of madness and crumbling personalities in the characters of Hindle (an outstanding performance from Simon Rouse) and Sanders (veteran actor Richard Todd). Janet Fielding gives easily her best performace as the possessed Tegan, the scenes set inside her mind are eerie and haunting, the music and sound effects are very atmospheric and the dialogue is wonderful. Kinda is a real gem of a story, working on many levels and I believe one of the greatest Dr Who stories ever made.
The sequel Snakedance is almost as good, but tries to be a bit more "normal" so doesn't quite have the same depth as Kinda. The mythology of the Mara is explored well, the sets and effects are pretty good and the performances excellent (Janet Fielding again shines and young Martin Clunes makes a particularly good villain). It's still a very clever story but Kinda was so unusual and thought-provokingly imaginative that it's inevitable it's sequel would seem less impressive. I would still say it's the third best Davison story after Kinda and Caves of Androzani and one of the best of the 80's.
A superb double bill of Dr Who, and an essential purchase just for the wonderful Kinda.

Finally, in 2011, we get the long-awaited "Mara Tales" box-set, featuring two of Peter Davison's strongest stories, ones I remember from my childhood. These stories by Christopher Bailey feature an enigmatic entity (race? civilisation? gestalt?) known as the Mara, symbolised by a snake and representing the darker corners of the mind.

Both stories feature striking imagery, and there are a few cracking cliffhangers along the way (opening the box in "Kinda"; the exploding crystal ball in "Snakedance"), and both provide Janet Fielding with plenty to do as the possessed Tegan, who falls under the Mara's influence. We also get two fascinating and believable alien planets (a welcome sight, given that new-Who seems so heavily Earthbound these days).

"Kinda" is a puzzle-box of a story, and like "Warrior's Gate" and "Ghost Light", it rewards multiple viewings. The TARDIS lands on the planet Deva Loka, an apparent paradise. The peaceful Kinda tribe share the planet with a survey team from Earth, but some of the humans have vanished mysteriously. When Tegan falls asleep beneath the mysterious chime-bars, she is lost in a nightmare that threatens everyone...

"Kinda" is full of stunning imagery (eg the journey through Tegan's eye into her dream) and clever dialogue, borrowing concepts from both Buddhist and Christian mythologies. It's a shame that Nyssa is written out for this story ("Oh I need a rest"), but Nerys Hughes's scientist makes a great companion-substitute (and love interest?). The rest of the supporting cast are good too (even Adrian from "That's Life"!), but it's sad that the whole thing is nearly scuppered by a giant prop snake at the climax. Actually the snake isn't that bad really, but it is clearly fake. It will be interesting to see the optional CG version looks like on the DVD.

The Mara was a fascinating creation, and the following year we were to learn a little more about its origins. Tegan has been having nightmares, and unwittingly takes the TARDIS to Manussa, once home to the Mara. The Mara may not be as dead as everyone thinks... "Snakedance" is another cracker, though in many ways it is more of a 'traditional' Doctor Who story than its predecessor. This is no bad thing however, and here we get a smart, fun adventure story. The possessed Tegan gets more to do this time around, as does Nyssa - Davison's Doctor worked best with just two companions and it's a shame Nyssa often got overshadowed by mouthy Tegan and sullen Adric. A young Martin Clunes gives a strong performance as a spoiled aristocrat, though it is his silly costume in the final episode, wielding an oven glove, that nearly scuppers things this time around!

It's interesting that in both stories the Mara is a thing of the past - a returning menace, a danger whose time has long-passed, but who seeks to return. In Snakedance particularly the themes of history and archaeology are used to illustrate this, while Kinda explores the more Buddhist theme of the circle of time - "the wheel turns, civilisations rise; the wheel turns, civilisations fall".

Hopefully there will be plenty of extras and I'm sure Janet Fielding will have a lot to say about these great stories. It's nice when each Doctor's era has something that is its own. For me, the Mara is that for the Davison era. Proper adult science fantasy.