A Quest to Find Special Keys turns into Quiet the Trip: THE KEYS OF MARINUS

Arriving on the planet Marinus the TARDIS the time travelers are unwittingly recruited to find the keys to the Conscience of Marinus, which have been scattered across the planet, to prevent from Voord, Yartek from taking over the planet.

A Voord lies in wait to ambush an unexpected Susan

Cast

William Hartnell (The Doctor), William Russell (Ian Chesterton), Jacqueline Hill (Barbara Wright)

Carole Ann Ford (Susan Foreman), George Coulouris (Arbitan), Francis de Wolff (Vasor), Donald Pickering (Eyesen)

Vasor, the hunter and trapper. He's not as friendly and house warming as he seem

Henley Thomas (Tarron), Robin Phillips (Altos)

Katherine Schofield (Sabetha)

Martin Cort, Peter Stenson, Gordon Wales (Voords)

Heron Carvic (Voice of Morpho), Martin Cort (Warrior)

Edmund Warwick (Darrius), Michael Allaby

Alan James, Peter Stenson, Anthony Werner (Ice Soldiers)

Michael Allaby (Tarn), Raf de la Torre (Senior Judge)

Alan James (First Judge), Peter Stenson (Second Judge) Fiona Walker (Kala), Martin Cort (Aydan)

Alan James (Guard), Stephen Dartnell (Yartek) AcC

UNCREDITED CAST: Faith Hines, Daphne Thomas, Veronica Thornton, Sharon Young

Lynda Taylor (Ladies in Waiting), Bob Haddow (Idol), Dougie Dean (Eprin), Veronica Thornton, Valerie Stanton, David Kramer, Adrian Drotskie, Leslie Shannon, Patricia Anne, Billy Dean, Tony Lampton, Brian Bates

Monique Lewis, Heidi Lane, Rosina Stewart, Cecilia Johnson, Jill Howard, Yvonne Howard, Tony Hennessey

Johnny Crawford, Leslie Wilkinson, Desmond Cullum Jones, Perrin Lewis (Citizens of Millennius)

John Beerbohm (Double for Arbitan)

Crew

Terry Nation (Writer), Title Music by Ron Grainer with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

Norman Kay (Incidental Music), Daphne Dare (Costumes), Jill Summers (Make-Up)

David Whitaker (Script Editor), Raymond P Cusick (Designer), Mervyn Pinfield (Associate Producer)

Verity Lambert (Producer), John Gorrie (Director)

The Sinister Morpho what exact do they want?

UNCREDITED CAST

Delia Derbyshire (Theme Arrangement)

Pat Heigham (Grams Operator)

Timothy Combe (Assistant Floor Manager)

Peter Murray (Studio Lighting).

Jack Brummitt, Tony Milton (Studio Sound)

David Conroy, Penny Joy (Production Assistants)

Broadcast

EPISODE	DATE	TIME	VIEWING FIGURE	CHART POSITION	APPRECIATION INDEX
1	11/04/1964	5:30-5:55pm	9.9M	22nd	62
2	18/04/1964	5:30-5:55pm	9.4M	25th	60
3	25/04/1964	5:30-5:55pm	9.9M	22nd	61
4	02/05/1964	5:30-5:55pm	10.4M	20th	60
5	09/05/1964	5:15-5:40pm	7.9M	29th	61
6	16/05/1964	5:15-5:40pm	6.9M	43rd	63

Connections in the Who-Niverse

Ice Soldier frozen forever and awaiting for the command to come alive

Martin Cort can be seen in three separate roles during The Keys of Marinus and he was later Locke in The Seeds of Death. Edmund Warwick later stood-in for WillIiam Hartnell, after the Hartnell injured himself during recording. He later played the Robot Doctor Who for The Chase; both men did not look like each other in the slightest. Francis de Wolff later played the legendary Trojan Agamemnon for the historical narrative The Myth Makers. Fiona Walker returned to the show some twenty-four years later playing Lady Peinforte for Silver Nemesis, she also played the Nemesis Statue but was uncredited. Stephen Dartnell returned as John for The Sensorites - he was the first actor/ress to play two credited parts in the show (excluding the main cast and extra artistes). Donald Pickering returned as Blade for The Faceless Ones and Beyus for Time and the Rani. Uncredited John Beerbohm could be seen walking the streets of Paris in 1572 during The Massacre.

Death the Constant Companion

The island surrounded by the sea of acid.

Several Voord were meet their end in various ways. From falling into the Sea of Acid, to being dissolved by the Sea of Acid, to being stabbed in the back and killed in an explosion. Arbitan is murdered by an unidentified Voord; to make matters worse Yartek impersonates the old man. Morpho are hilariously killed by Barbara. Darrius dies of old ages - one of the more peaceful deaths seen on Doctor Who. He sure got off easily. One of the Ice Soldiers falls into a chasm. Vasor meets his end (quite literally) at the pointy side of one of the Icer Soldier's weapons. The co-conspirators all dispose of each other: Eprin is killed by Aydan whilst Aydan himself is killed by Kala. Yartek, the main Voord is killed in an explosion. Other Voord are also killed in the explosion. Oh, yeah, another Voord disappears behind a revolving door. That's a lot of Voord to keep track of. And another Voord's empty wet suit is found by the time travellers having been eaten away by the sea of acid. Marinus is not a nice place is it. You come here and you end up dead.

Episode Cliffhangers

(1) The Doctor, Ian, and Susan arrive at the location where the first Key to the Conscience of Marinus is hidden. Upon arriving, Barbara is nowhere to be seen, and her travel dial is covered in blood!

The Voord arrive in their submarines. Not on the same level as the TARDIS, but still cool

(2) Having found the first key, Susan moves onto the second location, alone. She finds herself in the middle of jungle filled with screaming. She covers her ears and cries out ‘Go Away’.

(3) Ian and Barbara arrive in a snowy, barren landscape. As Barbara succumbs to the freezing temperatures Ian stresses that they must move on or they won’t stand a chance.

(4) Ian arrives in what appears to be a room inside a museum. Ian finds the body of a dead man on the floor, and discovers the final key locked in a glass case. An unknown person enters the room, and knocks Ian out cold. The person places Ian’s hand on a mace before retrieving the key, causing an alarm to sound.

(5) Whilst investigating a way to clear Ian’s name, Barbara gets a telephone call from Susan. Susan tells Barbara that she has been kidnapped and, if The Doctor reveals the location of the final key, she will be killed.

(6) With Yartek defeated The Doctor and his companions depart in the TARDIS.

Fun Facts

(1) The opening to part one featured the very first model TARDIS demateralation sequence to be seen in the show; (2) The setting of the serial is unknown, but according to COMIC: The World Shapers places the setting to 5,000,000BC or thereabouts; (3) Originally production design Raymond Cusick wanted to place stuffed rats around the reality sets for "The Velvet Web but the idea was vetoed by director John Gorrie; (4) The shots of the Wolves seen during 'The Snows of Terror' came from stock, and had featured in the 1957 film The Grey Robber directed by Boris Dorlin; (5) The model submarines were made to move via the use of magnets. One magnet was placed inside the models, whils the was placed under the model set; (6) Stand-in actor John Beerbohm (who

Arbitan, the show's first mad scientist.

later appeared in The Massacre) stood in for Arbitan during various scenes and shots. There was a 'rule' where, when Arbitan's face was hidden under his cloak hood, he wasn't played George Coulouris; (7) The Voords were met with a mixed reception within the production personnel: producer Mervyn Pinfield liked them, whilst s cript editor David Whitaker did not like them; (8) The Voords were constructed by freelancers Jack and John Lovell and were constructed from vulcanized rubber. The helmets were design based on Daphne Dare's designs; (9) Altos was not going to join The Doctor to find the keys of Marinus, he was originally going to stay behind to help rebuild the city of Morphoton; (10) Uncredited grams operator Pat Heigham played various sound effects into the studio during the recording sessiosn for 'The Velvet Web' and 'The Snows of Terror - he played the sounds of footsteps running and the wolves howls in the distance; (11) The moving vegetation seen during "The Screaming Jungle" was supplied by an outside company called Design and Display Ltd; (12) Shawcraftt Models made the submarine props and the Conscience of Marinus.

Recording Days

7 Recording days between March and 24 April 1964. Model filming was carried out at Ealing Film Studios during early to mid March 1964. All six episodes recorded at Lime Grove Studio D on Friday evenings between Friday 20 March - Friday 24 April 1964. William Hartnell was absent for the recording days covering "The Screaming Jungle" and "The Snows of Terror". Hartnell recorded no lines or pre-filmed scenes before going on his scheduled holiday. He returned for "Sentence of Death" and was apparently in a better mood for the evening recording.

Verdict

The first adventure quest in the show’s narrative, The Keys of Marinus, is made of up of, not one, not two, but rather several mini-episodes tied together with one basic end goal. Whilst the entire story is somewhat fragmented, there is a whimsical but likeable similarity in the six episodes, where the story and narrative are never taken too seriously.

The Doctor acts as Ian's 'lawyer' as his friend is accused for theft and murder.

The plot explores various old and recycled science fiction tropes (mind control, hypnotic powers, aliens resembling giant brains etc.), which only appear for a single episode, play their part in the narrative, and disappear without a trace. Writer Terry Nation will later do a similar thing when writing many of his Doctor Who scripts over the years, which perhaps says something about his overall enthusiasm for the show. The best episode of the six “The Snows of Terror” is intensely shot and is your basic survival-of-the-fittest storyline, with

Francis de Wolff providing a memorable performance as Vasor. The weakest is “Sentence of Death” which centres round a poorly realised trial narrative with a pretty obvious villain working silently in the background. It is not convincingly written with The Doctor acting as a lawyer and Susan being kidnapped and held hostage in a side plot which lasts mere minutes. The last episode “The Keys of Marinus” is also a weak link. The resolution and climax is stretched to the limit with little in between. This is the first time the typical ‘plug something into a computer and wait for it to explode’ resolution was used on the show. It is a typical resolution that has no fresh angles to make it interesting. “The Velvet Web” and “The Screaming Jungle” are good episodes however.

The costume and sets design are generally remarkable but the supporting characters, especially most of the villains are rather weak. Yartek is the show’s first bland and forgettable antagonist. Yartek and the rest of the Voords can be summed up in one word – boring. Yartek’s weak personality traits and characteristics are an indication that Terry Nation probably forgot all about him, and just threw in some last-minute ideas to give viewers an ‘intense’ confrontation and ‘climatic showdown’. Thankfully Yartek is only in one episode. It’s interesting that the production team tried to cash in on the Voords (Terry Nation’s second race of aliens for Doctor Who), but failed to create another nationwide phenomenon. It’s not that surprising that the Voords faded away from the public’s hearts and imagination, an indicator for how forgettable they are.

The Keys of Marinus has all the potential for being big and epic, but there’s only thing missing – money. Good story ideas with plenty of potential require a decent budget and various production blunders indicate a missed opportunity. Whilst this one is not entirely brilliant, it makes for good compelling entertainment, and that’s all Doctor Who, at the best of times, is meant to be. ***

Independent, non-commercial Doctor Who review and analysis site. Not affiliated with the BBC. Images and media are used under fair dealing for commentary, criticism, review, parody, and analysis. All rights belong to their respective owners.