On the Occasion (part 30)

My 40th anniversary marathon of Doctor Who continues today at 1:30 PM PST with The Key to Time, part threeThe Stones of Blood (commercial episodic version.) Never really been a favorite of mine, but it isn’t that bad of a story. It’s Earth; there are bloodthirsty stone creatures, and a maniac who has been evading the law for four thousand years. Some of the effects aren’t as good as they can be, and the stones moving about at a rapid speed looks a bit silly. 3/5.

3:10 PM PST The Key to Time, part fourThe Androids of Tara (commercial episodic version.) Many have remade the Prisoner of Zenda, even the BBC had made a proper adaptation. This time not only are there doubles – of which Romana is – but android replicas – of which the Doctor fixes. I have always enjoyed this story, and time has not changed that for me. 4/5.

4:50 PM PST The Key to Time, part fiveThe Power of Kroll (commercial episodic version.) Another of the much-maligned stories, though it’s mostly for the special effects (which have the smell of methane about them, if you catch the drift…) The story is pretty sound, and for once Philp Madoc isn’t a nasty. There’s a bit of Moby Dick in this, as the head of the refinery gets all hell bent to destroy the giant (and I do mean giant) squid. 3/5.

6:40 PM PST The Key to Time, part sixThe Armageddon Factor (episodic version.) I had the vague recollection that I liked this story quite a bit, but it does tend to drag on a bit (talk about padding, they just kept showing the same bits over and over again – wait, that was a time-loop…) I’ll concede that it is a good story, but it could do with a bit of tightening. I rather enjoyed the bits with Drax (nice to meet another time-lord out and about) and an inadvertent introduction to the future incarnation of Romana. 3/5

Now the 16th series is done, so is the marathon for today.