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DVD: Doctor Who - The Key to Time
(The Complete Adventure) - 6 discs
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
Having become a Dr. Who fan via audio productions, both BBC and some of the other companies that put out exciting adventures, my imagination had always created marvelous monsters and spectacular "special effects" to go with the stories. It wasn't easy to get into the TV series, which millions of people had been rabidly into for nearly 40 years by the time I really gave it a go. The creatures were often just plain silly looking, after all. "That's clearly a small woman in a ...mmmm... monkeybody-fishhead suit, is what that is." Oddly enough, it only takes a few episodes for that very kind of thing to become charming, and one of the things you learn to love most about the television version of Dr. Who. I am now a confirmed fan of both the audio and the video, and though I'm still early in the learning process on the video side, I've definitely formed some opinions regarding the various "doctors." My personal favorite is Tom Baker, who played the role from 1974 to 1981, so this box set, The Key To Time, is a must-have for me. It is, after all, an entire season (1978-79) in one 6-DVD box.
It is also a season with a wonderfully creative running plot, a most beautiful and clever time travel partner in Romana (as played by Mary Tamm), and comic relief from that faithful metal mutt, K9. The plot revolves around six oddly shaped crystals that, when placed together in the proper configuration, form the most powerful object in the universe: the key to time. The White Guardian sends the Doctor and Romana off looking for the pieces, which are all cleverly hidden in various times and places (all of them planets where everyone has a British accent. Fancy that, Gov!). They must solve many puzzles and get out of many close scrapes, all the while watching out for the Black Guardian, the evil bastard who wants the key so he can do things that, believe me, aren't very nice at all.
The adventures are all four episodes long with the exception of the final chapter in the series, The Armageddon Factor, which runs six episodes in length because a good time lord doesn't leave loose ends floating about. If it takes six episodes to neatly sew things up, so be it. All the better for the viewers, actually. We get to watch 24 episodes of adventure as the Doctor, Romana and K9 thwart an interplanetary con-man and survive a megalomaniac with a (very) small army at his disposal in The Ribos Operation, solve the three or four mysteries that lead to the answer to the bigger mystery in The Pirate Planet, discover Stoneunhinged in a field just below hyperspace in The Stones of Blood, go swashbuckling while trying to figure out who's real and who's not in The Androids of Tara, suffer soggy socks and forever swear off calamari in The Power of Kroll and find the answer to the age old question, "War! Huh! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!" in The Armageddon Factor. Do they find the final segment to the key to time? Please...
Since Whovians record the hell out of everything anyway, how does a company make something like this appealing? By going the extra mile in the special features. Interactive menus offer single episode viewing, a "play all" feature, scene access, photo galleries, and a photo-with-text section for every series called "Who's Who" that gives you information on the lives and careers of the actors who were featured in the disc you're watching. This is where we learn that a large number of them have passed away and we're reminded that it was almost a quarter century ago. There is no "Making Of The Key To Time" documentary, but there doesn't need to be because it couldn't compare to 24 episodes of commentary tracks by Baker, Tamm, and various directors and actors, including John Leeson, the voice of K9, who joins Baker to comment on The Power of Kroll, a series that didn't include K9 but in which Leeson played a human role. There are times that the commentary is rather like polite British ladies and gentlemen at tea, but amusement gets the better them eventually. A classic moment comes when Michael Hayes, director of The Androids of Tara, is talking about how proud he is about most of this work, "though there's one bit coming up in a moment that makes me cringe." Baker and Tamm honestly don't remember the situation and they try to guess what it could be. Suddenly, right in the middle of the most beautifully filmed, best acted and directed episode of the series, the most embarrassing bargain basement "monster" attacks Romana in the woods.
Oh, that!
Yeah, the monsters definitely gave you the feeling the costume folks were mixing and mismatching at discount Halloween shops, but again, as hard as it might be for a "virgin" to understand this, that is one of the things that makes Dr. Who a fun and loveable show. Thank God they didn't have modern computer technology to create their monsters with. During the various commentaries, the actors and directors, once relaxed and into the flow of the show, make it clear that they have a real affection for these episodes and good memories of those times and the people they worked with. As the Doctor, Romana and K9 dematerialize in the Tardis, you certainly don't feel like they're skipping town with your money. The BBC gives you a season and more.
© 2003 - DJ Johnson