The Keys of Marinus

The Keys of Marinus
by Terry Nation
Originally Broadcasted: April 11th-May 16th, 1964

The Doctor, Susan, Ian, and Barbara land on the planet Marinus and discover an island of glass surrounded by a sea of acid. They come across Arbitan, the creator of the Keys of Marinus. The TARDIS crew are forced by Arbitan to collect the keys from all across Marinus in order to keep the planet stable. But the evil Voords are also after the keys, and they'll do anything to get it...

The Keys of Marinus is an interesting episode of Doctor Who. It's actually more like five stories wrapped into one than one overarching story. The quest for the keys of Marinus is the theme that links five unrelated stories together. The TARDIS crew first come across a palace that seems to be full of luxuries, but is really a prison of mindless humans controlled by the Morpho, who may be the worst monsters I've ever seen in Doctor Who. They don't move. Not one bit. They are just stationary eyes on a stalk inside a glass case. At least the Krotons moved... But after destroying the Morpho's control, The Doctor gains two companions for the rest of the story, Altos and Sabetha. They next come across a screaming jungle full of deadly traps around every corner, that mostly leaves you thinking "man, those were some wobbly sets!" Then Barbara gets stuck with a seemingly friendly hermit named Vasor, who actually turns out to be a rather creepy pervert. Ian and Altos find her though, and they head to a surprisingly impressive looking ice cave, to find one of the keys of Marinus. And then comes the weirdest inclusion in this story, where The Doctor has to fight for Ian's life in the courtrooms of Marinus. And then finally, the crew returns to where they started midway through Episode Six and all is saved. The William Hartnell era is a bit so-so for me, but I actually enjoyed this story, perhaps because it was written by Terry Nation, one of the show's greatest writers of all time. The individuality of each episode makes this a unique story, and it was actually quite refreshing to see!

Luke's Rating: 7/10