Season 16

Season 16 is one of my favorite seasons of Doctor Who. Fans have mixed opinions about it, but it is definitely better regarded than the other two Graham Williams' seasons.

Season 16 is distinctive in that each serial is united by the overarching theme of the quest to recover the cosmic 'Key to Time,' a quest that the Doctor is sent on by the god-like White Guardian. He is opposed in this by the Black Guardian, who does not appear until the last episode. Oddly, this story arc is the weakest element in Season 16 and is a demonstrative example of how Doctor Who is not good at story arcs. The six serials vary enormously in the importance they attach to the quest for the Key. Androids of Tara hilariously sends up the whole idea, with the Doctor preferring to go fishing and leaving it to Romana to locate the Key within the first few minutes of the story. At the conclusion of the season, it is quite unclear how the finding of the Key to Time was significant, as the Doctor has its components scattered across the universe again. There are good reasons for thinking that the whole quest had actually been a set up by the Black Guardian. The current production team are in my judgment making a huge mistake in making story arcs so central to the show.

The Key to Time arc is actually a distraction from the real character of Season 16. In my opinion, this is one of the most adult seasons of Doctor Who. It places less importance on monsters and instead offers some really sophisticated scripts. The light-hearted tone offers some really comic moments. The other adult aspect of this season are the veiled references to sex; the 'certain kindnesses' in Androids of Tara and the very obvious lesbian subtext of Stones of Blood.

Although Season 16 is ostensibly about searching for an object that it is vital to the stability of the cosmos, the individual serials of this season are allowed to deal with more small scale themes. The Ribos Operation is about crooks and petty dictators, Androids of Tara is about feuding nobleman and Stones of Blood is about an escaped convict (who appears to just want to live a quiet life, eating sausage sandwiches with her lady friend). There is a distinct lack of alien invasions or machines that could tear a hole in the fabric of time and space. The current production team could really do with a story like Androids of Tara; a nicely produced adventure story without any grand cosmic proportions.

Season 16 saw the introduction of new companion Romana. In this season she was played by Mary Tamm, an attractive actress of Estonian extraction (I am told that she is famous in Estonia, and rightly so). Romana was a radically new kind of companion in that she was a Time Lord and therefore an equal to the Doctor. In this season, she had a delightfully frictitous relationship with him. Her upper class bearing made a great contrast with the Fourth Doctor's image as a sort of cosmic trade unionist. At times the Mary Tamm Romana showed some resemblance to Margo Leadbetter in The Good Life. Like her, Romana had a great flair for style and wore some quite eye catching outfits.

Mary Tamm was a much more talented actress than her successor to the role, Lalla Ward. However, there were occasional moments where one might doubt how seriously she was taking the role. Towards the end of her time on the show, she seems completely unenthusiastic about the part. The real problem was that the writers were not used to writing for a character like Romana and so fell back on the easy route of making her an old-fashioned damsel in distress. It was left to Lalla Ward to develop the character further in the next two seasons.

Unfortunately, K9 remained with the TARDIS crew this season and proved to be a continued to be an irritation and also a get-out-of-jail card for writers. He had been more tolerable with Leela, but placed with Romana, we had the irritation of three very clever people on board the TARDIS. This was a little too much.


The Ribos Operation 10/10- A brilliant story of double-dealing and small-time villainy with a script of almost Shakespearean wit. Ribos is a beautifully conceived world with a distinctive Muscovite look.

The Pirate Planet 7/10- Some great humour and wonderful performances, but let down by some poorly realised ideas.

The Stones of Blood 8/10- Despised by many fans, I adore this story. It's one of my favorites. The plot has many weak points, but I just love the way it subverts many of the conventions of Doctor Who. Romana looks ravishing in her Burberry cap!

The Androids of Tara 10/10- It's set on another planet and has androids, but it feels like an historical drama. A wonderful light-hearted adventure. There is no other Dr.Who story like it.

The Power of Kroll 4/10- When I reviewed this story on this blog, I tried to defend it. I don't bother any more. The more times I watch it, the more noticeable its faults become. Romana's potential is utterly wasted in this story.

Armageddon Factor 5/10- A very disappointing conclusion to a great season. There is some wonderful dialogue and brilliant performances, but Doctor Who has never looked so cheap. Lalla Ward first appears in the role, not of Romana, but as Princess Astra. She is not very impressive.

The Armageddon Factor

The Fourth Doctor and the first Romana look for the sixth and last segement of the Key to Time in a warzone.

I think the Key to Time season shows how story arcs don't really suit Doctor Who. Character driven story arcs are fine. The first season with the original TARDIS crew was one long story about the characters. That works. However, plot-driven arcs that span multiple serials or episodes do not work so well. Despite some of the excellent and delightfully witty writing in Season 16, the writers never really made the Key To Time into a convincing or interesting concept. Androids of Tara almost sends up the whole idea of the quest, with the Doctor's indifference to finding it and Romana's remarkably immediate success in finding the fourth segment. The nature of story arcs is that they build up audience expectation and thus require an epic conclusion. The problem is that Doctor Who does not do epic terribly well. The Armageddon Factor makes a brave attempt at a epic finale, but ends up looking just a little too tacky and cheap. Even worse, it gives us a resolution to the Key To Time quest that is a little confusing and unsatisfying.

Armageddon Factor has a wonderful opening, with the scene in the dreadfully melodramatic war movie. This imaginative move suggests good things for the serial and indeed, it does have good ideas. A pointless war to the death, a paranoid general, an enemy fleet controlled by a computer and the Doctor tempted by god-like powers. The script is really excellent with some great lines. Tom and Mary do their customary great job, though its sad to know this is the last performance of Mary Tamm. Of the guest cast, John Woodvine is brilliant as the Marshall and he is ably supported by Davydd Harries as Shapp. Woodvine gives a subtle performance, acting quite woodenly in a way that suits the character. The early scenes set on Atrios create a wonderfully bleak and dystopian atmosphere, reflecting Orwell's 1984. Unfortunately, this is lost as the story progresses and we are left with a lot of sci-fi silliness.

As I said, The Armageddon Factor needed to be epic and here the problem of scale comes in. We have a story set in three locations, the underground city on Atrios, Zeos and the Shadow's HQ (is it a space station or a planet?). Atrios is represented by a lot of grim and dark corridors, Zeos is represented by some brighter, cleaner-looking corridors and the Shadow's HQ is made up of some sinister, cavern-like corridors. Despite its cheapness the Atrios sets work because of the claustrophobic, war-torn atmosphere. Once we move away from Atrios, the cheapness of the sets prevails in the viewer's mind.

While the Marshall and Shapp are great, the rest of the cast are rotten. Lalla Ward gives a rather uninspiring performance. It is amazing that she managed to prove her worthiness in the next season. Ian Saynor is simply appalling as the princess' drippy lover, Merak. The Shadow's costume is not bad, but he has the most embarassing evil laugh in the history of the show. His silent servants are given shockingly bad cotumes, complete with sensible lace-up shoes. I suppose there is no reason why an alien moster might not wear lace-ups, as opposed to jackboots or sandals, but it just adds to the overwhelming feeling of cheapness in this story.

The subplot with Princess Astra was clever, but the ending is just too confusing. Did the White Guardian restore balance to the universe instantly when the Key was assembled? Or was the quest pointless? Was the White Guardian really the Black Guardian? We are left without any decent resolution. On the other hand, Tom Baker's speech about having absolute power is a brilliant moment.

The Power Of Kroll

The Fourth Doctor and Romana meet a giant squid and its green-skinned worshippers.

You know, I actually don't think that this story is half as bad as some fans make out. A lot of fans claim this is one of the worst stories ever, but what is actually so dreadful about it? I just don't see anything too horrendous going on here. I would much rather watch Power of Kroll than some of those dreadful later Pertwee stories, like Death to the Daleks. I mean, even if Power of Kroll is that bad, it is still only four parts, while your typical horrendous Pertwee story is in six.

There certainly are some bad things about this story. Apart from Ranquin, the 'Swampies' are all pretty unconvincing. Philip Madoc is wasted in a minor role, while the part of the base commander that he should have been given is played with corpse-like stiffness by Neil McCarthy. The interior set of the rig looks too small to be convincing and looks appallingly like cardboard. John Leeson is surprisingly dreadful when we finally get to see him in the flesh.

Other aspects of the story are a mixed bag. Its nice to see a really enormous monster being attempted in Doctor Who. While the Kroll moster is well designed, the effects used to create it are utterly unconvincing. It is still fun to watch it grabbing people with its tentacles though.

Mary Tamm puts in a good performance as Romana. She gets some good lines, put on the whole her role is handled dreadfully by Robert Holmes in this. She plays no effectve part and ends up as a standard damsel-in-distress. Again, the story is partially redeemed by the brilliant lines given to the Doctor and Tom Baker's performance.

As mentioned above, Ranquin is the only one of the 'Swampies', who gets to shine. He is a total and believable fanatic. His eventual demise in the tentacles of Kroll is well played. Glyn Owen puts in a weirdly bland performance as the gun-runner, Rohm-Dutt. Very disappointing because he is a cool character with a cool name.

There is some interesting politics in this story, with themes of colonialism and racism, but these are not terribly subtle and have been dealt with before in Dr. Who.

The location work is highly effective, with the Norfolk marshes giving the impression of an hostile environment in which one could easily drown in wet mud. The sight of the TARDIS cloaked in overgrown reeds is quite eerie.

Unlike the previous story, The Androids of Tara, the Key To Time story arc actually plays a significant role in the story. Robert Holmes was at least taking the story arc seriously, if David Fisher was not.

I can't be the only one reminded by this story of Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu.

Androids of Tara

Searching for the Key to Time, the First Romana stumbles into an adaptation of the Prisoner of Zenda and the Fourth Doctor gets to do some swashbuckling.

The Graham Williams era is really fun to watch. I would not hesitate to say I am a fan of this period in the history of Doctor Who. Unfortunately, its big failing of not taking the show seriously had consequences. This is very clearly seen in Season 16, where a story arc is introduced, but is never thought out carefully or executed in a manner that reflects the seriousness of the theme. One almost wonders why they bothered with the idea. This is most clearly seen in Androids of Tara. The Doctor and Romana arrive; she is anxious to find the fourth segment, but the Doctor can't be bothered and goes fishing. Romana then finds the fourth segment in a matter of minutes and the story moves on to other territory. Writer David Fisher does not seem to have seen the story arc as any more than a joke. Happily, this leaves us with a delightful lighthearted story that is immensely enjoyable.

Androids of Tara captures the look and feel of an historical story, but is set on another planet and features androids (unsurprisingly). The plot is heavily inspired by the novel Prisoner of Zenda and the superb costumes reflect that influence.

This story, above all others, shows that Doctor Who does not have to always be about cosmic horrors, threats to the human race or things that threaten the fabric of time and space. Sometimes it can just give us light-hearted stories with swashbuckling and mustache-twirling villains.

Tara is a fairy tale world of castles, princes and scheming villains. This approach to setting refutes any charge that the characters are lacking in depth. Villains are wicked and the handsome princes are good.

The first Romana fits in perfectly to this story, with her air of aristocracy and glamour. While Lalla Ward was patrician enough, I don't think she would have fitted into this story so well. I expect that the second Romana would not only have located the fourth segment on her own, but would also have single-handely dealt with Count Grendel! However, the sucess of Romana in finding the segment herself is an important marker in her character development and we begin to see a more independent Romana emerge.

Tom Baker gives us his usual brilliant performance. His adoption of the role of a 'peasent' is characteristic.

Prince Reynart is a good character who is actually quite fun to watch. He is unbelievably nice and is also a little on the dim side too. However, the show's best performance comes from Peter Jeffrey as the villainous Count Grendel. he really is fantastic. Sadly, despite his survival and escape at the end of the story, he never makes a return in the show.

Stones of Blood

Searching for the third segment of the Key to Time, the Fourth Doctor and the first Romana encounter an alien lady masqerading as a Celtic goddess.

Fan opinion has not been kind to this story, but I just love it.

What have fans got against this story?

Complaint #1

The first part of the story is good, evoking a feeling of gothic horror ('like in the good old Hinchliffe days'), but it turns lame when the Doctor goes into hyperspace and it turns into a silly space opera.

What would be the point of a Hinchliffe-style gothic horror story? All that had been done before. What we have is instead a send-up of Doctor Who Gothic with all its cliches subverted (see below).

Okay, so the parts in hyperspace could have been done better, but they are still fun. The Megara are hilarious with their Good Cop, Bad Cop routine. You must have smiled when Tom Baker pulled on the barrister's wig that he happened to have been carrying in his pockets. Stones of Blood defies both convention and expectation in its change of genre and style.

Complaint #2

Cessair of Diplos' motives are never explained. It is implied at the beginning that the Black Guardian might be involved, but it is never explained whether Cessair is his agent or not.

Yes, the lack of motivation for Cessair is a weakness in the plot. However, a lot of things in Doctor Who do not make a lot of sense.

It is a refreshing change to have a villain that is not only female, but is also not particularly interested in destroying humanity, taking over the earth or causing cosmic havoc. Vivien Fay of Rose Cottage doesen't want to conquer the universe, she just wants to eat sausage sandwiches with her lady friend and be a positive role model for young girls.

Complaint #3

The sequence where Romana is lead to a cliff edge by an unseen image of the Doctor is very badly done.

Yes, this is a weak part of the story. This was unfortunately caused by Tom Baker refusing to pretend to be evil.


So the story has its faults, as do many better-loved stories, but I would maintain that Stones of Blood is a story of real quality.

What really makes the story stand out is its uniquely feminine quality. Its supporting cast is almost entirely female. Also unique is its heavy use of a domestic setting in Rose Cottage (and all that talk about tea and sausage sandwiches..) and subtle (?) lesbian subtext.

Stones of Blood sends up many of the conventions of gothic horror and Doctor Who. For instance, the Doctor finds himself tied up ready to be sacrificed and needs to be rescued by a woman. And of course, the shoes. Romana's trouble with shoes is such a wonderful moment of realism in Doctor Who. Don't you ever get irritated by the unrealism of so many companions running and climbing in high heels without any apparent difficulty? Yet here we have Romana realising that her high-heeled sandals are a bad idea and opting to go barefoot. The only other example of this shoe-consciousness is the Rachel, the female scientist in Remembrance of the Daleks holding her heels having climbed into the Dalek ship in her stocking feet.



Tom puts in a splendid performance. Mary Tamm also gives a superb performance. And she looks absolutely fantastic in that peach jumpsuit and Burberry hat (with the already mentioned high-heeled sandals). Such an odd choice of outfit, yet she looks so elegant. When I watch Stones of Blood, I can't help feeling that I actually prefer Mary Tamm to Lalla Ward.



Few fans would deny that Beatrix Leahman is marvellous as the eccentric Professor Rutherford. It takes real talent not to make an eccentric scientist into a cliched caricature. Rutherford has real chemistry with the Doctor and she is one of the great unused companions.

Susan Engel seems a little uneasy in her role as Vivien Fay and ends up overplaying it a little at times. She is rather obviously a villain when she first appears, though she is very elegant and I think even classier than the Countess Scarlioni in City of Death. When she sheds her human disguise and reveals herself as Cessair of Diplos, she looks fantastic, with her shiny green skin and Jewish-style kerchief.



As mentioned above, it is commonly complained that as a villain, Cessair of Diplos lacks a motivation. While this does seem to be a plot failing, it does make her more interesting as a character. She shows no interest in ruling the world and apart from the mystical warning at the beginning of the first episode, there is no evidence that she is an agent of the Black Guardian. Significantly, we learn that she has never demanded human sacrifice prior to the Doctor's arrival. Her malevolence towards the Doctor seems to be motivated by the desire to protect herself, rather than out of cruelty. Cessair also does not seem to have lived a life of luxury and extravagance as the Jaggoroth does in City of Death. She appears to live a life of very modest rustic spinsterhood, even if her clothes are rather fashionable. When I read the Target novelisation at the age of ten, I was shocked to learn that an alien being would be a Brown Owl! The thought of an alien villain leading a group of Brownies just seems so surreal. There is no indication that any children have been molested, so her being a Brown Owl seems to indicate a caring and gentle nature. It is therefore hard not to identify with Rutherford's sympathy for Vivien in the end.

The Pirate Planet

Continuing with their quest for the Key to Time, the Fourth Doctor and Romana 1 arrive on a mysterious planet.

The Ribos Operation is followed by another good story.

Despite a huge amount of technobabble, this story is fantastically scripted. It will surprise nobody that writer Douglas Adams opted for an extremely comic vibe, making it one of the most hilarious Doctor Who stories.

There are some minor things to complain about. The ending is a little confusing. The Mentiads are disappointingly dull (as are the inhabitants of Xanak). I am puzzled as to why the climate of Xanak does not change and become more like that of Callufraz. It is also irritating that the guards are hopeless marksmen, while the good characters always hit their targets. Nevertheless, the huge sense of fun makes up for all these faults. This is one of the most fun Dr. Who stories ever.

Tom Baker is in his element in this story, ever the comedian, yet still fierce in his confrontation with the Captain. Mary Tamm is as cool and delightfully aloof as she was in her debut. She works effectively as the Doctor's companion. Her posh girl status is reinforced by the revelation that she was given an air car for her 70th birhday.

Doctor Who is full of ranting villains, and they can get tiresome, but the ranting of the Captain is simply glorious. He rages, bullies, intimidates and utters curses about a 'sky demon'. The Doctor sums him up brilliantly:

"What is it you're really up to, eh? What do you want? You don't want to take over the universe do you? No. You wouldn't know what to do with it beyond shout at it."

Yet he is also deeply sentimental. He is deeply upset over the death of the metallic parrot, his 'only friend.' He also grieves over hte death of Mr. Fibuli, who he had mercilessly bullied and threatened with death. The Captain also turns out to be a lot cleverer than he appears.

Doctor Who villains are often paired with a lieutenant which makes for superb double acts like Davros and Nider and Irongron and Bloodaxe. The Captain is paired up with the hilariously camp Mr. Fibuli. While Mr. Fibuli attracts our sympathy as a victim of the Captain's bullying, he reveals his cruel streak when he smiles with glee when the Doctor is apparently made to walk the plank.

While Queen Xanxia is not the most impressive performance in the story, her role is used highly effectively, with her appearance as the nurse increasingly becoming prominent as the story progresses.

The set for the Captain's HQ is very impressive.

The Pirate Planet is a very entertaining story.

The Ribos Operation

The Fourth Doctor and First Romana begin their quest for the Key to Time.

This is a classic story; one of the greatest pieces of simple and straight drama in Doctor Who. As many have said this is a very Shakespearean story.

The Ribos Operation begins the quest for the Key to Time, a story arc that occupies the whole of season 16. The cosmic story arc meant that the plots of each individual story of the season could become rather more low-key. Thus, Ribos Operation concerns a con trick being played on a petty interplanetary tyrant.

The quest is introduced by the White Guardian, portrayed as a distinguished elderly gentleman in a white suit, relaxing in a mysterious desert. It is a wonderful scene, given atmosphere by the sound of wind chimes. The wind chimes seem to function as a kind of leitmotif for either the White Guardian or the Key to Time theme, though unfortunately, they were not used consistently this way across the Key to Time season.

The Doctor is given a new companion, the Time Lady Romana. Giving the Doctor a companion from his own people was such a daring idea, but it worked brilliantly. Romana brings out the less magnificent side of the Doctor's personality, his petty jealousy and arrogance. Romana is the perfect foil for the Doctor.

Although Romana 1 is not as well remembered as Romana 2, I think Mary Tamm was Lalla Ward's equal. In Ribos Operation, she instantly exudes elegance and sophistication. Her white gown is delightful. Despite her conviction that she is smarter than the Doctor, throughout the story, she shows herself to be remarkably naive. While sometimes described as an icemaiden, Mary Tamm shows a lovely youthful enthusiasm in this story. This is particularly seen in her delivery of the line "Alright, call me Fred!" She is not being sarcastic or facetious, she is genuinely excited by the quest and is amused at the thought of being addressed as 'Fred.'

Cleverly, writer Robert Holmes, matches the Doctor and Romana with another master/ protege pair, the conmen Garron and Unstoffe. These are hilariously portrayed and help to create a wonderful comic drama. I love the final scene with the Doctor and Garron, in which the Doctor outwits him. There is a sense of fellowship between the Doctor and this rogue. The Doctor, in his own way is just as much a thief and a cheat.

The Graf Vynda-K is a decent villain. He is a petty tyrant who would committ any atrocity given the opportunity. The viewer can cheer as he is cheated by the conmen. He is exactly the kind of humourless villain that works so well in the more comic Williams era. I like the fact that the Doctor plants the bomb on him and kills him. I hate the pacifism of the Third and Fifth Doctors. I like the Fourth Doctor's ruthless streak.

Binro the Heretic does not add much to the plot, but he is adds some nice drama and brings out Unstoffe's more sympathetic side. I hate to be pedantic, but his character does show a tendency in science fiction to romanticise the history of science. Scientific discoveries are not the work of some lone heretic by Binro, but come from the refinement of existing ideas over time. Binro says he took measurements that enable him to come to his conclusions. My contention is that in a society as primitive as Ribos, nobody would think of taking measurements of the heavenly bodies. There would need to be some philosophical tradition that had recognised that natural phenomena is open to scientific investigation.

Nevertheless, Binro is not simply used as a hero of science over superstition. I believe in the character of Binro, Robert Holmes was introducing a fascinating irony into the story. While Binro scoffs at the idea that the seasons are regulated by gods of ice and gods of sun, the viewer discovers that the cosmos is in fact regulated by two Guardians, one of Light and one of Darkness! The natives of Ribos are actually closer to the truth than Binro realises. This is supported by the fact that the power of the Seeker is never explained away as trickery. The Ribos Operation transcends the scientific materialism of many earlier stories and paves the way for more spiritual stories like Kinda and Curse of Fenric.

The Ribos Operation lacks expensive sets, but its production gives it wonderful atmosphere. I absolutely love the costumes that echo Muscovite Russia and the delightful organ score. The rituals performed by the guards suggest Gormenghast as an influence. It feels very otherworldly. Some fans have complained about the screeching Seeker, but I think she fits in well with the medieval atmosphere. The Shrivenzale monster looks fake, but this is Doctor Who.

My only complaint about this story is that the Graf's soldiers look just a little too medieval. I like the blend of medieval and sci-fi, but I think the Graf's men could do with looking just a little more obviously futuristic.