User Reviews

The TARDIS arrives on the planet Marinus on an island of glass surrounded by a sea of acid. The travellers are forced by the elderly Arbitan to retrieve four of the five operating keys to a machine called the Conscience of Marinus, of which he is the keeper. These have been hidden in different locations around the planet to prevent them falling into the hands of the evil Yartek and his Voord warriors, who plan to seize the machine and use its originally benevolent mind-influencing power for their own sinister purposes.

Review of six parts -

Yeah, I'm sorry. This episode was just very hard to follow, it just felt weak, boring, and handled poorly.

Not sure why the difference between title and summary Keys to Marinus was one of the best William Hartnell stories that survived and was transferred to US format video.

It is inventive in the difficulties they must face and in the very planet itself there are many mysteries about it's properties and how the doctor and his friends can ever get off of Marinus.

They meet a couple friends along the way as well as some deadly enemies.

One of the more science fiction stories of the first doctor who probably had more historical and educational stories than any of the subsequent doctors who replaced him.

The Tardis lands on an island on the planet of Marinus . The time travellers meet Arbitan who is the keeper of the Conscience Of Marinus a sophisticated computer that controls the planet . Arbitan tells the time travellers that the Voord a race from outside the computers influence are tyring to infiltrate the island and the only way they can be controlled is if the computer is upgraded but this is not possible without the five keys scattered across the planet . The Tardis crew agree to find the keys but shortly after they depart the Voord arrive and murder Arbitan

Two things are noticeable watching this story today . One is that it seems directly influenced by Tolkien and the other is how painfully over ambitious it is . LORD OF THE RINGS wasn't the mega success it was known for until the hippy era so congratulations to the underatted Terry Nation for making a Tolkieinesque quest story before it became fashionable . However he might have to lose a mark down to having the ambition that Peter Jackson has but having the budget of 37 pence . Always a bad idea to write mega million dollar screenplays when you're financed by the BBC

In his defence Nation had to write the script in a hurry to replace a script by Malcolm Hulke called The Hidden Planet . One however can't help thinking why Verity Lambert and script editor David Whittaker didn't insist on something a little bit more low key , a sort of More Low Keys of Marinus ( Groan ) . The problem is the episodic nature means you're going to have to build different sets and costumes for each episode you probably won't have the budget to do many or any of them justice , a fact often reflected on screen with laughable model work . The entire story also fails to hang together as a coherent story if the episodes are watched all in one go

Not to be too negative it's always good to watch this unique era of the show as the companions Ian and Barbara who forever remain very human characters that we can believe take centre stage . The other positive is that being so episodic if you don't like one episode then a entirely different genre type episode will be around the corner very soon . It's also interesting to see Nation come up with an idea of an Island being surrounded by highly corrosive acid which is a plot he used later in the 1978 BLAKES 7 episode Orac . It's also an aquatic planet which is no doubt why it's called Marinus

(Note: A review of the serial The Keys of Marinus)

When one sees the name of writer Terry Nation on a Doctor Who story, one might assume Daleks are involved. More so, perhaps, if the designer Raymond Cusick is included in the same serial's credits. But, surprise, no Daleks feature in The Keys of Marinus, Nation's second outing for Who and something of a replacement when another story fell through. And what a story it turned out to be.

The Keys of Marinus is the first quest narrative in the show's history. By that, I mean that the TARDIS crew finds themselves given a mission to perform rather than getting themselves into trouble like, say, the earlier Dalek tale. In this case, to track down the five keys that control a powerful device known as the Conscience of Marinus. To do so, they must travel to different locations around the planet. They'll go from cities to jungles and icy mountains to do so and get back to their travels.

The episodic nature of Nation's scripts is part of what makes this story so compelling. Indeed, one might see a tribute to Jules Verne's Around The World In 80 Days and the 1956 film version with its all-star cast. Both feature planet-hopping narratives, varieties in locations, our protagonists becoming separated, and characters picked up along the way who join our main characters in their journey around the world. Ian's murder accusation and the delay in their quest late in the story share a point of similarity with Verne's Phileas Fogg, who finds himself arrested as an alleged bank robber late in Around's narrative. Even the appearance of George Coulouris as Arbitan (which Clayton Hickman calls Doctor Who's brush with Citizen Kane on the audio commentary) imitates the cameos of the later film version. If Doctor Who, in its earliest years, is paying tribute to the serial fiction that came before it, than Marinus sees Nation paying tribute to Verne's tale.

Nor is Verne the only source on display. One too might see echoes of The Day of the Triffids in the jungle episode with plants moving on their own, killing and destroying. As mentioned above, the latter parts of the serial feature a mini-courtroom drama, with the Doctor playing the role of Perry Mason to save Ian from a system that assumes his guilt rather than innocence. If variety is the spice of life, then this story is very rich indeed!

It's also full of ambition that is a hallmark of this era. There's a new set of locations practically every episode, not to mention changes in casts and costumes. The second episode, set in a city that isn't quite what it seems, perhaps speaks most to those efforts with director John Gorrie and designer Cusick doing everything they can to get the maximum effect. Fans often point to The Web Planet the following year as early Who at its most ambitious and, while there's no disputing the ambitions there, there's an argument to be made that this story is even more so. After all, it's trying to create an entire planet in the confines of the BBC's oldest studio.

Does it always work? Not quite, as one can see where photo blowups and photo blow-ups get used in the first episode, for example. Some of the dialogue, never a Nation strong suit, is clunky at times, especially where exposition gets involved. More than that, Susan's characterization is all over the place, inconsistent from scene to scene, let alone episode to episode. All of which serve to undermine the story slightly.

At the end of the day, it can be easier to forgive over-ambition where there's a good story to be told. And there is plenty to like about the Keys of Marinus from its location-hoping, genre-changing narrative and the efforts made to bring it to life. It may not always succeed, but by Jove, it tries. In the end, it's an overlooked tale from the opening days of the show and one that deserves another look.