The Keys Of Marinus

Series 1

Title - The Keys Of Marinus

Production Code - E

Serial arc/story - #005

Episodes:

"The Sea Of Death" (also the alternate arc title)

"The Velvet Web"

"The Screaming Jungle"

"The Snows Of Terror"

"Sentence Of Death"

"The Keys Of Marinus"

Original air dates - April 11 - May 16, 1964

Writer - Terry Nation

Director - John Gorrie

Doctor - First Doctor - William Hartnell

Yay! I'm back! Randomly decided to sit and watch this serial tonight. And I've bookmarked the playlist for the next arc that I've not seen, The Sensorites. I did see The Aztecs already, thanks BBCA 50th anniversary specials and Netflix! Will be rewatching though, just for continuity's sake. I've also decided that when and if the time comes that I find myself having watched all available episodes of the classic series, I will continue with the movie and the new series, in their proper order - meaning I will watch 8's regen minisode before I watch Rose. Fantastic! Allons-y! Geronimo! What color are my kidneys?

haha Ian's Chinese Hawaiian style shirt - something he apparently picked up when they met Marco Polo...

So...our premise - 

The TARDIS lands on an island on an unknown planet. After venturing outside, Susan gets separated from the others and taken into the Tower. There the group meets Arbitan, a monk and the creator of the Consciousness of Marinus, a giant computer that keeps law and order for the planet. Arbitan enlists the Doctor and his companions to find the Keys which will control the computer and which will reset it, giving it back control over everyone on the planet. 

After the first episode where we meet Arbitan and the group gets sent on it's way, the rest of the episodes follow their journeys to find the Keys and return to the Tower. Along the way, the group meets others that were looking for the Keys, some with good intentions, some not, and they face a number of trials, including an actual courtroom trial for Ian, while on their search. 

Here we meet the classic villains, the Voord. Their costumes are rather simple - a wetsuit and gloves, flippers, and a full face mask/helmet with a pointed back end. Low tech, but effective. 

Most of what the group faces are typical sci-fi "danger" - plants that move, statues that move, brains in jars...

Not sure when the talking-brains-in-jars thing originated in sci-fi but it's used to full effect here. Very reminiscent of the more recent famous-head-in-a-jar gag from Futurama. I'd guess this was an influence. 

Nice that with this arc, we have episodes where the Doctor doesn't even feature. (Apparently Hartnell was on holiday during part of the time...) Early versions of the "Doctor-Lite" episodes of the reboot. But it's great that we get to see the companions interacting with each other and with those they meet instead of just being there for the Doctor's instructions and orders. Shame though that once again, we have Susan the victim, the whiny, impetuous child. She was supposed to be smart, right? Why does she keep having to be the one to be rescued? Not that Barbara doesn't need her fair share of rescuing, but at least she does other stuff, like keep Ian from getting his head whacked and eventually figuring out who the real criminal accomplice was at the end of the last episode. 

And nice on that too, a murder mystery in the middle of an arc on a sci-fi show :)

And one with a decent twist at the end to boot!

But does Barbara always have to look so dour? The oddly stiff, helmet hair bob and weird neckline sweater don't do her any favors. 

Interesting though how those in the early 60s thought computers would take over the world, or at least could. Having a whole planet's population get their law and order and justice from and all knowing computer? Yeah...we aren't there yet. Computers rule our lives, sure, but law and order is still a mandate of the people and still controlled by human thought and emotion. I'm kinda glad I don't have to rely on a cold, calculating computer in order to seek justice. Though I'm sure it would work a lot faster...

Lovely bits of miniature work for the landing and leaving of the TARDIS.

I wonder if they'll ever bring the Voord back to the new series, and if they do, will they keep the costumes as low tech? The Cybermen are still just people in metal-ish looking costumes, so why not the Voord in wetsuits and masks?

EXTRA

"The Sets Of Marinus"

Little bonus video at the end of the playlist I used about the sets and designs of the story arc. Moral of it - everything was done as cheaply as possible - and sometimes it looks like it, other times, it looks just as good as what is done in this day and age, particularly the Consciousness computer. Still very futuristic looking, even by today's standards. And all it was was some silver painted pipes, a many sided, lit box made by the visual effects department, and some black curtaining that cost them nothing to use as the background. They made the best of what they had and what they could do. 

I watched the episodes here - http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x2k83v_greendude33_season-1-the-keys-of-marinus-005/1#video=xymu8x

I can't say that these will necessarily still be online whenever it is that you are reading this, but I know that the Dailymotion user is one who continues to upload classic Who videos. It's the same user I've gotten all of my other First Doctor episodes from (aside from the one arc on Netflix...which was the arc used in the 50th anniversary First Doc special...)

They Keys Of Marinus - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Keys_of_Marinus

I will continue to format my heading as I have above, listing all basic info. Too lazy to go back and edit my old posts though. I will also try to link where I've watched episodes online, if I'm not using discs. But I'm pretty sure most of the classic episodes out there in the public view are streaming online someplace...

Skipping Marco Polo

Marco Polo

Series 1
Title - Marco Polo
Production Code - D
Story # - 004
Episodes:
"The Roof Of The World"
"The Singing Sands"
"Five Hundred Eyes"
"The Wall Of Lies"
"Rider From Shang-Tu"
"Mighty Kublai Khan"
"Assassin At Peking"

Doctor - 1st - William Hartnell

Originally broadcast between February 22 and April 4, 1964, the serial "Marco Polo" is one of three Doctor Who serials of which no known copies of the broadcast have survived. As of the date I write this, July 14, 2014, there only remains for public use audio copies of the programs, recorded off air, and "telesnaps" images of the airing broadcast.

The episodes are known to have last aired publicly in Ethiopia sometime in early 1971, but the fate of those copies of the show are unknown.

In the last few years, there has been rumor upon rumor that the copies used in the Ethiopian broadcast do still exist and are in the hands of private collectors, the BBC, archivists, and any number of other groups. So far, there has been no truth to any of these rumors, although most recently, another serial that was missing parts, "The Web Of Fear", was revealed to not only exist but was restored to the best possible quality that could be done and was released to the public. WoF was among those frequently mentioned in what has become known as the "Omnirumor" of the missing but found episodes. Many people assumed that for the 50th anniversary of the show that it would be finally, publicly confirmed by the BBC what episodes, if any, they currently had, and what episodes they might still be negotiating the return of.

But as of today, nothing more has been announced, and nothing more has changed.

With that, I am officially going to skip watching the Marco Polo serial and continue on to The Keys Of Marinus, watching whatever episodes are available.

If any part of Marco Polo does become available, I, like the rest of the Whovian fandom, will rejoice and eagerly watch such a treasure.

Allons-y!

Marco Polo - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo_(Doctor_Who)

Recent Who Viewings

So in the last two weeks, I've found myself looking for something to watch, so I chose whatever it was that Netflix has to stream of Classic Who.

Aside from the Second Doctor's The Mind Robber, which I'd seen some time ago, I've jumped headlong into the 70s and era of the Third Doctor.

The joke?

The first episode they have of his is his regeneration arc. So all in all not a bad place to start. But the next arc? The one where he gets back his ability to travel in the TARDIS. So, um...no exile then?

Netflix, you have issues.

So far I've watched Spearhead From Space, The Three Doctors, and The Carnival Of Monsters.

Not a bad group, but aside from Spearhead and 3 Docs, aren't there more and better episodes they could've picked?

Well, on to The Green Death.

I promise to get back to watching the First Doctor, and then the rest in order.

Oh, and I think I've decided to skip Marco Polo. There was talk about the Omnirumor possibly including it, but well, who knows how much of that is true. Since only the recreations exist out in public at this point, I'm going to skip it.

The Keys Of Marinus will be next when I can find the episodes.

Allons-y!

Oh, and the Brig's mustache is hilarious. Just sayin...LOL.

Life, the Universe, and Everything

So...

Life.

Life got in the way of this blog last year.

I started writing on a weekly basis for a Doctor Who fansite, so my writing energies seem to frequently go there.

I also managed to find a paying job that was only for 2 months...then find another one that started right after the first ended!

But things have changed once again, and due to unforeseen circumstances, I am now unfortunately no longer employed.

Getting used to that this week has been, well, weird. Funny how easily you slip into routine (even if your schedule is ever changing) and get into thinking long term  and planning your life as if the job you have is a permanent one.

So this week has been a bit of transition week. Next week I will restart (though I never really stopped) the job hunt in hopes that this time I won't be out of work for more than a year and a half like last time. We're working on really cleaning out all of the junk that has collected in this house in the last 30 (yes 30) years. VBS is coming up at church. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed that that first job I had last year calls back, like they said was very possible, though that wont be till the end of July.

In the mean time, I'll also get back to this Whovian blog, and my movie blog. I've had the next movie on the list for a few months now but could never find the time to watch it. I'll have to go searching for the next DW episodes as I'm sure all my saved links are junk now.

And while we haven't had any new content since the anniversary back in November, I have been keeping myself in the Who-niverse in various ways. I never really was a fan of comics and graphic novels, but I've found a number of DW issues that have been interesting. I've also been playing a jewel-matching puzzle game with a Who story all it's own that integrates characters from across the Who-niverse.

And well, that's kinda the other reason for this blog post. There's a neat site that keeps up on the latest Who products out there called Doctor Who Gifts. They also frequently run giveaways and are currently running one for some goodies for the Doctor Who: Legacy game. If you play the game, head on over to http://www.doctorwhogiftsguide.com/category/giveaways/ and enter to win!

B

(This post is in no way endorsed by anyone other than me, the writer of this post!)