Doctor Who - The Keys Of Marinus [DVD] [1964]

Back in its very first year, DOCTOR WHO was billed as "an adventure in time and space" and alongside the principal characters the audience really didn't know what to expect next whenever the TARDIS landed and this was part of its early charm. In these early days, the narrative used to pretty much alternate between "historical" and "futuristic" tales and for a brief time scriptwriter Terry Nation, whose second DOCTOR WHO this is, had cornered the market in the "futuristic" ones having changed forever the public profile of the show with his creation of the Daleks a mere three stories previously.

By this time, William Hartnell is mellowing beautifully into the role of the Doctor and is rather loveable despite what you might have heard, but he is noticeably absent for two whole episodes of this story (parts three and four), but luckily the supporting companion roles are strong enough to carry the story for a while without his presence. Ian Chesterton (William Russell) has always been to my eyes an all-out hero. Plucked out of his relatively dull life as a schoolteacher in 1960s London he throws himself into his adventures with a gusto and brio. Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) is equally impressive and the quiet dignity, strength and bravery her character shows over the course of her adventures is something to be admired, and as a role model Barbara would hold up today as someone to look up to and emulate. The Doctor's Grand-daughter Susan (Carole Ann Ford) has a tougher time of it generally as her character was rather inconsistently written and she seems younger and rather more "wet" in these episodes than in some of her other stories.

THE KEYS OF MARINUS is the fifth ever broadcast story of DOCTOR WHO and the series seldom played around more with the expectations of its audience than in this six part tale, which has a different setting nearly every week. In episode one, the TARDIS arrives on the strange world of Marinus, a fairly effectively realized world of glass sand and acid seas where they are coerced into a quest to find the eponymous keys by the mysterious Arbitan played by the very same George Coulouris who was once in "Citizen Kane" and introduces the rather sinister rubber-suited Voord.

Subsequent episodes transport us to other parts of Marinus and these various visits give an overview of a complete world seldom shown in the series. They are all created to variable effect, but all-in-all a real "Saturday morning adventure serial" air is created. Mind games are played in the city of Morphotron (where all is not quite what it seems) and are quite cerebral for teatime telly, and the Jungle sequence proves suitably menacing in a slightly wobbly pre-Indiana Jones kind of a way. A visit to some Ice Caves is slightly less effective, but does give Barbara a very disturbing confrontation. Then the city of Millennius, with its rather brutal legal system, provides a chance for a returning William Hartnell to shine before we are returned to the island first seen in the opening episode for the slightly bonkers climax when the evil Voord plan is finally revealed.

Yes, it's now well over forty years old and can seem a little slow or cheap or mistake-riddled to an audience used to more modern sophisticated fare, but there is a magic and charm to these old stories that is hard to quantify, and if you settle down to enjoy what is obviously an experience that is very different, you will find a great deal to like. The sets range from the almost brilliant to the most basic as do some of the props. Some of the effects are pretty simplistic but they do manage to help to tell the story. The image quality is pretty good too, considering, as there's been a pretty impressive restoration job done on these episodes.

This story follows on directly from MARCO POLO, a serial seemingly now sadly lost forever as it was one that was misguidedly wiped back in the day. You can listen to MARCO POLO as a rather fine Audio CD version however. THE KEYS OF MARINUS then leads directly on into THE AZTECS which was the first William Hartnell DVD release and if you also take into account DOCTOR WHO - THE BEGINNING DVD box set, a fairly hefty chunk of that amazing first year of the Doctor's adventures is now available to you, and given the tape wiping policy of the past, to we fans of archive television, that's something of a small miracle in itself.

Given the age of the material, there isn't much left in terms of available extras, but a fairly significant set have still been assembled for this release. A ten minute interview with designer Raymond Cusick gives a frank insight into the difficulties of early television production and stretching a wafer thin budget to create a mind-boggling number of locales in a tiny studio. The commentary bounces along and is quite fun with William Russell and Carole Ann Ford representing the actors and Director John Gorrie alongside Raymond Cusick from the Production side in a fairly upbeat vein all held in check by Clayton Hickman to keep them "on-topic". The text commentary is up to the usual standard and there are also the usual photo gallery and Radio Times billings.

As someone who has watched the series since the very beginning I am happy to say that this is my favourite story of them all. I like the idea that it is set in different locations and instead of one long story it is composed of a number of smaller ones. I remember when I first saw it that I found the Voord an interesting adversary for the Doctor and I was surprised that they only featured in the first and last episodes. Sadly William Hartnell is absent for two episodes but as usual he makes his presence felt whenever he appears. William Russell, Jacqueline Hill and Carole Ann Ford are as excellent as ever and all appear throughout the episodes. I missed episodes 2 and 3 when they were first transmitted and I was delighted when years later I got to see the complete story. Back in the 1960s it wasn't always possible to be at a TV set when you got your one and only chance to see the episodes. While I was a little disappointed that there wasn't a full documentay on this DVD what extras there are, are very good. The commentary is interesting and I like the complete set of sweet cigarette cards. I only managed to get a few of these when they were originally released. The text commentary is good too and of course the episodes look better than they have ever looked. It was great to see this story again and I can watch it again and again being fully involved in what is going on ever time. I find it difficult to understand Doctor Who fans who don't enjoy this story or The Web Planet - another of my all time favourites. Perhaps it makes a difference if you were there when it was originally transmitted. Doctor Who for me in its first three seasons was at its most magical and wonderful. I am fortunate in that I can watch these stories today and still enjoy them - just as much as I did back in the 1960s.

Back in 1963 nobody expected Doctor Who to be a major hit, or last very long. But then along came the daleks, and the show really took off. With it being on screen for over forty weeks of the year the pace of the production meant that it was sometimes hard for the production team to keep up.

So for the fifth story of the first season they turned to terry nation, who'd just created the daleks. One of a group of tv writers who were responsible for the vast majority of episodic drama of the time, he could turn out a script quickly and whenever required.

This story finds the tardis crew landing on the world of marinus. A machine there has the ability to remove evil from people's mind. But the keys that control it have been hidden all over the planet, lest they fall into the wrong hands. With the nasty creatures called the voord trying to seize the machine for themselves, the only hope the planet has is for the tardis crew to find the keys.

An episodic story ensues, with each key being in a very different location allowing for a different kind of adventure each week. and the inveitable confrontation with the voord in part six.

The limitations of this are manifold. William Hartnell was entitled to two weeks off so the doctor has to be written out in the middle of the story. the small budget and the technical limitations of the time and the need for new sets every week result in the whole thing being very stagy. And the voord, tipped to be the next big thing after the daleks, never really amount to much. in their first appearance they're men in wetsuits but in their next appearance in the story they're humanoid creatures who look like men in wetsuits.

And yet the whole thing proceeds very nicely. Like many old doctor whos you can watch this and admire how they made a purse [not quite a silk one] from a sow's ear. and the production does it's best. It doesn't have the problems of so many 1980's stories of poor production values down to bbc apathy of the time. It fights against those limitations.

This is not fast paced spectacular television, it's a nice little relic of days gone by and an entertaining little story with it.

the age of the whole thing means there's not much they could provide by way of extras.

there's a commentary from william russell [companion Ian] Carole Ann Ford [Companion Susan] the director John Gorrie and the Designer Raymond Cusick.

The one feature, the sets of marinus, is a nine minute long interview with raymond cusick about his work on the story. a fascinating look at the things designers had to contend with at the time he's a very good talker and an interesting listen. And very forthright with it. Don't switch off the extra till you've seen what's after the end credits.

In addition to the usual radio times listings of the story as a pdf file there's also one showing some sweet cards of the time which tell a short story involving the doctor and friends and the daleks and the voord.

there's also the usual items for this range: production information subtitles, coming soon trailer for a forthcoming doctor who dvd, a photo gallery of stills from the story and the production, english language subtitles and language track and audio captioning.

This is a single disc release, and I couldnt find any easter eggs. The dvd starts with a general trailer for the range but you can skip that by pressing the next button.

So whilst this may not be for every doctor who fan, it's not a bad record of an integral part of the show's very early days