This is cheaper and more transparent than the previous serial. There are plenty of terrible visual effects (the plastic ice in ep3), lamentable action (the horrible fighting in ep4), boring and lazy direction and camerawork, the wobbly sets and some hammy acting (the wife of the bad guy in ep 5 and 6).The script is tame codswallop. It's a basic quest story. It has been done better many times since.
The whole quest notion is eroded by the 'Oh well just blow up the Conscience of Marinus now Yartek is in control" ending. If that was a live option then why didn't the keeper do this in ep1 and save everyone the bother? That's an awfully huge plot hole.
George Colouris is quite a famous actor. He was in Citizen Kane (1941) for instance. His role is very short and not real impressive. I sense that he was seriously over the hill at this point in his life. He's in ep1 only. Blink and you'll miss him.
Also notice:
- Francis de Wolff is slumming it in ep3 and 4 (Jedikiah off The Tomorrow People and lots more movies dating back to the 1930's)
- Donald Pickering in ep5 (first of his 3 DW guest star appearances, films and TV from the 50's to the 00's)
- Edmund Warwick in ep3 (noted stand in for Hartnell)
- Raf De La Torre ep 5 & 6 (lots of films 50's to the 70's)
- Fiona Walker (Lady Peinforte in Silver Nemesis indeed!)
- Robin Philips (Altos) went on to be quite an important director on Broadway and in other big theatrical productions. Not sure if he took those shorty shorts with him but...
... The guest cast in this is probably the most notable aspect of the story. When Julian Glover is in next season's The Crusade, the publicity was 'hey great actors wanna be in this... good sign". But for some reason they don't say that about The Keys of Marinus which based on the above list has arguably DW's best cast of the 1960's.
The story is diverted by the Millenius trial stuff in ep5 and 6. It's probably a better story and by the time the keys and the pyramid bit comes back on, it's something of a let down.
ABM Rating 2.50/4.00
LJM Rating 1.90/5.00
SPJ Rating 3.00/10.00
Peak Ranking No. 4 (out of 5)
Link to Cumulative Rankings
Link to Rankings Scoreboard
Yep, coming back to the pyramid at the end was a frustrating anticlimax...
ReplyDeleteAltos shorts were.....concerning.....
Some interesting aspects that could have been made into something better. ( the idea of the mind control and illusions in ep 2 was interesting, but very underdeveloped)
I used to think quite well of this story when I was younger, but now I'm older its disappointing more than anything....
My rating: 2/5
From Quickflix
ReplyDeleteThis DW story is a formula story based on the 'quest' plot. Lots of scene changes and characters spread over 6 episodes as the Doctor and his friends chase the Keys (of Marinus) in order to save the world or something. This one is a ride.......