So the Doctor's epic 26 episode quest to assemble the Key To Time comes to and end in this six part story. It also brings to an end Season 16 with a bit of a fizzle (more on this later)
The Doctor and Romana land in the middle of a battle between the two planets of Atrios and Zeos. However nothing is quite as it seems and the war is actually being manipulated by the Shadow who is hiding out on a third planet between Atrios and Zeos.
The Doctor is instantly mistrusted upon his arrival on Atrios, especially by the warmongering Marshall (with his mighty shoulder pads!) who has been fighting for so long that he has whittled his fleet down to just a few ships. This brings me to one of my first gripes. The first couple of episodes include some space battles which would be fantastic to see but these are reduced to the Marshall watching the battles unfold as little blobs on his radar screen. I'm guessing that this being the last story of the season that the money may be running low in the budget.
The other characters we are introduced to are the Princess Astra and Merek, a couple secretly in love and hoping to find a peaceful end to the conflict. We also meet the hilarious Shapp, played by Davyd Harries. Now I say hilarious but...well..its a very odd performance. It's almost like he's acting in a completely different style to everyone else. It's very camp and pantomimey ....but I kind of like it. Especially when he gets shot, his reaction is brilliant. And he survives so I don't feel too bad about laughing and rewinding it back to watch it over and over again.
The Marshall takes a dislike to K9 (I can't really blame him) and sends him to be melted down with the rest of the metal scrap. This involves K9 being drawn along a conveyor belt getting hotter and more "melty". Just think the ending of Toy Story 3..but crapper and without the jeopardy.
Of course K9 is saved *unenthusiastic cheer* by the Doctor who scrambles along the conveyor belt to reach him. Despite K9 complaining about how hot it is its strange to note that the Doctor doesn't even bother taking his coat and scarf off. Maybe he doesn't feel the heat as much as humans or tin dogs do.
The Doctor travels to Zeos to find the planet deserted and being run by a super computer. The super computer, realising that the war is over and that the Marshall is about to launch a missile strike on the planet sets a self destruct system that will destroy both Atrios and Zeos. To give themselves more time to sort things out, the Doctor bodges together a fake sixth segment of the Key To Time so that he can establish a time loop around the entire universe! This means that the last 10 seconds of the countdown will constantly loop round. Unfortunately the time loop is degrading so they still don't have long to figure stuff out.
THE DOCTOR - "Someone somewhere has just slipped on a banana skin and is wondering when he's going to hit the ground"
This leads me to my second gripe. The time loop. It's a great idea and The Key To Time being used in such a way is good too as we get an example of what power it has so we know how big the stakes are. However I understand the idea that things are looping the first time I see it! I don't need to see the same clip 50 times!
On the third planet, the Doctor comes face to face with the Shadow, a truly creepy character who we learn has also been sent by a guardian to locate the six segments of the key. Of course he has been recruited by the evil black guardian. The Shadow's plan is actually quite ingenious. Instead of traipsing around the universe looking for the segments like the Doctor and Romana, he has simply located the sixth and final segment and then waited for the Doctor to come looking for it, bringing the other five segments with him.
Luckily the Doctor also finds help by meeting one of his old Time Lord friends, Drax. Drax refers to the Doctor as Theta Sigma. So is that the Doctor's name? I like to think it's his nickname, mainly because it's a crap name.
The sixth segment turns out to be Princess Astra herself who metamorphoses into the segment allowing the Doctor to complete the key. The white guardian arrives to collect the key but the Doctor realises he's really the black guardian so he splits the key up and scatters it through the universe again...so what was the point in that?? 26 episodes to put it together only to split it all apart again! The only explanation I can think of is that it was the black guardian in the first place who gave the Doctor the quest and the Doctor had only just realised that he has been used,
It's clear that the segments return to their previous state as evidenced by the nice scene we have of Merak meeting Princess Astra again. Of course this just makes me realise Delta Magna is going to have serious giant squid problem again when Kroll gets returned to them!
Overall I enjoyed this story, it does feel like an epic ending to the series and the Shadow is an excellent villain. It's just a shame that the final ending is a bit stupid. Still, it beats the ending of Lost!
Also a final pat on the back for me for meeting and exceeding my 500th episode! I genuinely never believed I could do it. Still a long way to go...
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