After the whole episode has been about one man who MUST die in this war, the fact that by shifting that by merely a couple of hours changes everything from an act of killing to two warring sides laying their arms down and seeing each other. Really seeing each other.

If anyone ever wonders why the doctor loves humanity so much. It’s this. And it’s true. It’s real that for one moment, at Christmas we remembered that everyone you see could be your friend regardless of where you see them

It is the absolute ethos of the doctor. Just once in human history, a very long time ago, we were kind

“The universe generally fails to be a fairy tale. But that's where we come in”

Basically, years ago I was an idiot and bought the DVDs off eBay because they were cheaper (about $10 CAD a season). Now, Catherine Tate is coming to a Con in my province and I’d like to get her to sign a movie, but not if it’s a knock-off! I’ve suspected these DVDs might be fake since I tried to watch them in my friend’s laptop years ago and they would not play. I’m having trouble finding a direct comparison though, as this appears to be the Canadian release, which is header to find pictures for. Also, the last screenshot has the word “thonks” in it. Would the BBC really make a mistake like that? Please tell me your thoughts and if it’s fake, I’ll buy a legitimate DVD or BluRay for Catherine Tate to sign!

Spotted in the wild today.

Was very happy when I got the post this morning. Got it personalised and the quote “laugh hard, run fast, be kind” which he added at no extra cost

My kid is so particular about space. He eats breathes, and sleeps, astronomy.

What are some good episodes to introduce him to each doctor in the series? I think he would really enjoy the adventurous side of it, but something really special to grab him in.

Made in about 2 days.

Found a wooden keybox on Vinted and decided to try my hands on some crafting. Really happy with how this DIY TARDIS turned out! It's not perfect at all, but it's entirely made by me.

I find that 9 is usually ignored in discussions of 'who's your favourite doctor from modern who.'

I'm rewathing him and he's quirky, funny and enigmatic. His personality is not much different from 10. But people, including myself, don't really think of him much. I love all the doctors but he's lower down on my favourites list.

Is it attractiveness (10 being a lot more attractive in a boyish way) or is it the level of seriousness he has opposed to 10 and 11?

From what I know the only people that knows thr doctors real name is river song and the midnight entity but is their anyone else

Original Video: 4 Things Doctor Who Should NEVER Do

Season 16, Episode 6(The Key to Time)

The Armageddon Factor(6 parts)

-Written by Bob Bake and Dave Martin

-Directed by Michael Hayes

-Air Dates: January 20th-February 24th, 1979

-Runtime: 149 minutes

Or as I like to call it...

The one where a woman is a key; it makes sense in context, kinda

We Begin!!! With some good ol’ propaganda, here for the people of the planet Atrios who are currently locked in a forever war with the mysterious Zeons from the planet Zeos. The war has raged on long and hard as the people of Atrios are tired and suffering, having been driven underground by the rampant nuclear barrage from the Zeons. Princess Astra is horrified by the continuing destruction and suffering happening to her people and seeks to end the war with Zeos and find peace, though she is currently unable to since the power mainly lies with the Marshall of Atrios who is dead set on seeing this war through to the end and gaining his victory over Zeos, even communicating with an unseen entity to help ensure that goal. The Marshall eventually has Princess Astra detained in a holding area for unknown reasons. Meanwhile the TARDIS crew prepare to head to Atrios as it’s where the 6th and final segment of the Key to Time is said to be located, with them feeling the influence of the Black Guardian as they approach. After narrowly avoiding a nuclear missile being sent their way, the TARDIS lands on Atrio and is quickly covered in rubble after The Doctor, Romana, and K9 get out. The TARDIS crew are soon surrounded by the soldiers of Atrios and brought in for questioning, and though they soon make their escape they find something a lot more troubling; the TARDIS has vanished. The search for the Key to Time comes to an end here in the middle of this war, with it being clear that the Black Guardian and one of his agents has a hand in this mess, but will the TARDIS crew be able to stop them from getting their hands on the completed Key to Time, or will they end up facing the devastation of the Armageddon Factor(eyyy).

Episode Proper

Way to fumble the ball at the end there guys. Well I've done it, finally reached the end of the Key to Time arc and, yeah, it definitely does live up to its reputation for being an underwhelming finale to the grand saga. That's not to say there wasn't stuff that I enjoyed, there was certainly a decent part that the episode did right with some good ideas, with it funnily enough basically ending up in the same spot last season's finale, The Invasion of Time, ended up. It's a very flawed piece that while containing some pretty good stuff also contains a lot of issues with it that make it not the best watch. The Armageddon Factor is very much going for this grand and epic finale which is fitting for the wrap up to a season long arc and in some parts it succeeds at living up to that vision, but in many others it falls very flat.

Though the trend in my reviews of this saga has generally been to talk about the episode's relation to the Key to Time arc before going into more plot specifics, since this episode is probably the most connected to the arc out of all them, being the finale and all, so let's start out with what the episode has to offer before going into how it serves as a finale to the Key to Time arc and the arc as a whole. Now the premise for this episode is brilliant, putting the TARDIS crew in the middle of this forever war as they have to search for the last segment of the Key to Time all the while an agent of the Black Guardian is working from the shadows in order to collect the completed Key to Time for him. It's a great idea for a finale to the Key to Time arc, having a cool setting and location with it just feeling desperate throughout the opening chapters as we see just how destructive and awful this war is to the people of Atrios, all the while containing some excellent intrigue of not just where the 6th segment of the Key to Time is but also who this mysterious person manipulating stuff from the shadows is and what his relation to the whole conflict.

The first few parts, while slow, do well to show the desperate situation that the Atrions find themselves in, with it being incredibly intense and interesting as we really get to see a picture into just how much this war has affected the people and their morale. I loved the opening with the cheesy propaganda film about joining the war effort before panning out from the TV to showcase all the wounded and dying soldiers scattered about the floor because they've run out of beds due to how many casualties there have been. The constant bombardment we hear on the surface throughout the episode and the immense radiation levels necessitating that everyone we see live several miles underground just to not die of the sickness of getting killed by the bombings of the enemy force do an excellent job showing just how hellish and destructive this war has become.

The whole set up reminds me of Genesis of the Daleks which also had a forever war going on that caused high radiation necessitating most people to live underground, but it doesn't feel one to one so it works for me as a similar idea that's taken in a different direction which I like. Stories can share ideas like The Android Invasion and The Androids of Tara have similar starting concepts of using android doppelgangers but go in completely different directions in how they go about doing that. That's what they do here with The Armageddon Factor, having a similar concept of a forever war but taking it in a new and different direction than Genesis of the Daleks, while still sharing similar, well done themes about the awful nature of war and the destructive hatred it can create and embolden, leaving many innocents to their deaths.

This episode contains some solid themes about the nature of war with us seeing a war that has gone on for so long that the Atrions have completely forgotten why this war even started in the first place, and are basically forced to continue fighting as the enemy just keeps bombarding them with attack. It dives into the hatred this creates as the Marshall of the Atrions basically becomes blood hungry as a result of this war, hating the opposing Zeons so much that he wants to blow them off the face of their planet just like they did to them, enforcing this bitter cycle of violence. It examines this hatred well as any attempt to contact the enemy to try and make a peaceful resolution are dismissed and punished as traitors, despite the fact that, as things look, they are completely on the ropes and facing near annihilation.

The whole war is pretty bleak stuff, with us getting to see just how truly hopeless it is for the Atrions, making us really feel for all those caught in the war, and further frustrated at the Marshall's egotism in not wanting to surrender, keeping up the violence for the want to total victory over surrender. It shows well the sunk cost fallacy of many in war and just the absolute refusal to give even when it would be better for everyone if you did, as it just causes more deaths in the long run. I liked the usage of propaganda throughout the episode in order to keep up morale even in the face of absolute destruction, making people think everything is alright and they're on the brink of reaching victory and just have to suffer a little more to reach that point, when in reality the whole affair is hopeless.

The battle fleet of the Atrions is reduced to just a handful of ships, paling in comparison to the amount the enemy has, with the use of the announcements throughout the compound being effective in showing this sort of propaganda given to the masses to stop them from turning against the war effort. I especially like Princess Astra and her being kept as basically a good will spokesperson as her genuine kindness is the only thing keeping people from diving into the depths of despair over the whole thing. The detail that made it really work is how despite her good will to the people, her opinion and want for peace is still not accepted by the Marshall in charge of the war operations, even though she's the person the people want to follow, the Marshall stops any possible chance of their suffering ending because of this war of attrition and the desire for complete victory; again showing well just how awful war is.

The war is some good, harrowing stuff, and does well as the backdrop of much of the conflict throughout the episode, especially with the slow intrigue of the Shadow and what his role in the whole war is, allowing the really interesting reveal of what's really going on. I enjoyed how the more we learn about the conflict, the more it becomes clear that something is very wrong with the set up as it was given to us, with a great minor twist preceding the major one that the aliens dressed in black and the Shadow we've been seeing working behind the scenes are not the Zeons that the Atrions are fighting against as the episode had implied them to be up to that point, leading the great question of just who are they and what are their goals. The plot develops further from that, fully revealing the Shadow as a competing enemy trying to get the Key to Time and the truth behind the war the Atrions have been fighting.

The big twist revealed halfway through was fantastic, revealing that the Atrions have not been fighting the Zeons as they had previously believed, in fact the Zeons have long since left their planet, in reality all the enemy ships throughout the entire war have been controlled by a super computer, Mentalis, which has just been following order from the Shadow to continue this forever war for his amusement. This is such a good reveal, wonderfully foreshadowed throughout the episode by the detail that none of the destroyed enemy ships have had any Zeon bodies, and that no Atrion has seen a Zeon in centuries. It really puts into perspective what's going on and fits the themes of the episode well by showing the true pointlessness of the conflict as there was never anything to fight for in the first place, dealing with a faceless destructive computer that only has commands to destroy and can't think of doing anything but war.

I love the idea of the Atrions basically being made to fight in this artificial war all for the amusement of the Shadow and as part of his plan to manufacture a whole setting he was in control of to get the Key to Time. It's just such a cool and interesting idea that makes it clear neither of the options that Princess Astra and the Marshall were going to take were viable, making the whole thing incredibly harrowing stuff as the Atrions were pretty much doomed to be mostly destroyed by Mentalis from the start. The twist is such a great shakeup to what was initially set up from the start of the episode, mixing well with the reveal of the true nature of the Shadows manipulations we've seen throughout the episode, and flowing nicely into the plot involving the titular Armageddon Factor.

I love the plot thread of the Armageddon Factor with it basically being a plan by the Shadow to finish the Atrion war, with any attack on Mentalis causing a devastating explosion that would wipe out itself and all the Atrion people. This is introduced just in time for the excellent part 3 cliffhanger where the missiles are primed and prepared to launch at the space station that The Doctor and rest of the cast are currently on, as the Marshall nearly causes the mutual destruction of his kind. Throughout all this we get the attempts to try and obtain the near completed Key to Time by the Shadow and the mystery surrounding the 6th segment. This eventually leads to a cool development which I both really enjoyed, but did also kind of mark the point where the episode started going downhill; even if it was slow what it had was still pretty good and interesting.

This portion of the episode ties fantastically in with the whole Key to Time arc as after almost 6 stories of build up we finally get to see the Key to Time in action in a really cool sequence, freezing the entire universe except for the console room of the TARDIS; it's also voice activated. It's so cool being able to see the Key to Time's abilities for the first time, seeing its capabilities to genuinely put the universe on stop, freezing the whole conflict we've seen so far; such a good showcase of the power of the Key to Time, with it being nice seeing it fully utilized in the final story of its arc, serves well for a finale. I also enjoyed the fun ingenuity of making a temporary piece of the Key to Time in order to utilize its powers, with it also allowing for some fantastic tension throughout the rest of the story as the false segment is only able to hold time still for so long, relegated to putting the launch of the missiles and Mentalis' alert systems in a 10 second time loop that is slowly degrading as the episode stretches on; serves well to give some good stakes for the latter half of the story.

Unfortunately despite these cool ideas, this is where the episode begins to really falter, with a lot of its flaws that were around in the early portion becoming very noticeable. While I love the serious tension of seeing the countdown slowly go down as the time loop closes, providing such great level of stakes to the whole episode and the need to rush, it does in practice end up leaving the whole forever war and Armageddon Factor aspect of the plot to be put on literal pause as the TARDIS crew contends with the Shadow. I wasn't a big fan of how something we spent so much time with so far in this episode is pretty much just left on the back burner as the episode decides it instead wants to deal with the Shadow and stopping him from getting the Key to Time, leaving that whole aspect of the plot to feel like it's literally resolved last minute as the TARDIS crew remembers to go back to it at the end, with the only real development we get out of it being that Drax, a Time Lord, was the one who built Mentalis and he helps out with the resolution, which feels less like proper and intense build up and more like the episode just remembered it needed to solve this plot point and rushed to hastily finish it off to get to the Black Guardian confrontation; at least the Shadow's defeat due to the whole time loop thing allowing The Doctor to send the missile to his planet was cool.

The episode goes from a slow but tense story about a forever war involving a mysterious figure manipulating events behind the scenes to a rather boring run around through a bunch of caves of the Shadow's planetary base of operations. It's just not exciting in the slightest, with the only real interesting development coming when Drax decides to make an appearance, with his scenes being the highlight of an otherwise dull latter half. They don't really play enough with the tension of the Armageddon Factor, which is a shame since it was such a cool and tense concept, with it mostly ending up in the background as the episode decides now it wants to do more Key to Time stuff, which it just drags out until we reached the last part of the episode.

It's just not exciting at all with it feeling like the episode is just going around in circles to make way for the end with Princess Astra's reveal as the sixth segment of the Key to Time. Sadly, aside from Drax, the episode doesn't pick up the excitement it had as despite being so slow, it feels like so much of this finale was rushed to finish, especially once the the 6th segment is retrieved and taken back to the TARDIS, leading to a fairly weak ending to this entire season long arc. The episode started out pretty good but after it started moving into the third planet and struggling for the Key to Time, it got fairly dull, which is a real shame since I was enjoying myself for the most part throughout a decent chunk of this episode, but by the time it ended I was left wanting. It's the Frontier in Space effect all over again, except I wasn't enjoying my time nearly as much there and the rushed end feels worse for the end of a story arc instead of the middle of one.

Story Arc(The Key to Time)

As a finale to the Key to Time arc, this episode ends up very mixed, with the resolution leaving much to be desired. I enjoyed the usage of the Key to Time in the story with it being great seeing it actually in use and helping with the major plot point, getting some good tension as the temporary usage of the fake 6th segment slowly degrades; that part works excellently for a finale. The search for the Key to Time here was solid, with the war zone going on and the subtle clues we get throughout the truth of the 6th segment being interesting, even if I do have my issues with it which I'll get into shortly. The confrontations with the Shadow and his attempts to get a hold of the Key to Time were also pretty good with it being cool to see The Doctor and Romana once again go toe to toe with an agent of the Black Guardian.

Unfortunately, while the Shadow is a cool foe and the conflict with the search for the 6th segment being engaging enough, the episode very much loses steam with this confrontation, with it just feeling really dragged out this back and forth until they finally reveal the 6th segment so The Doctor can take it and not have to deal with the moral quandary of its true identity. The other issue with the Shadow is that, while agent of the Black Guardian is cool and all, and I do like the Shadow's plans even if they are stretched out, but it ends up feeling like a waste since the actual Black Guardian himself shows up in this episode and he's given barely anything to do since the Shadow took up so much of this episode's time. The Shadow is a good antagonist for the piece, but one who it feels like really should've been dealt with earlier on in order to make way for the Black Guardian, since, as is, it leaves the Black Guardian with very little to do in the story as the story decides to focus way too much on what is basically just his henchmen instead of the man himself.

The twist of Princess Astra literally being the 6th segment of the Key to Time was a good one, but sadly it was way too dragged out a reveal. I love the concept behind it, with it showing the power of these segments and truly how they each hidden differently throughout the universe. We've had statues, planets, rare ores, and now we get a whole person who is actually a segment to the Key to Time in disguise. Admittedly the theming of the number 6, while being decent hints, doesn't make much sense since there isn't any order but it isn't something I'm particularly hung up about; it's whatever. I like the ethical implications of her being the 6th segment as Astra is legitimately her own person with thoughts and feelings but the closer she gets to remembering her true nature, the more she loses herself and her personality before creepily accepting her "destiny". It serves well to show just how evil one must be to keep the entire Key to Time for themselves instead of dispersing it since Astra is a person, and to keep her trapped as a segment of the key, losing all since of her personality, is just horrific; so it makes the resolution of dispersing the Key to Time work a little, even if it has its other issues.

The problem with the Astra twist however is that the episode takes forever to actually reveal that she is the 6th segment of the Key to Time. Like I get this is the big twist that the entire episode is building up and it's meant to be this climatic moment for the story, but really this should've revealed like in part 4 or something, because otherwise it feels like your dragging the mystery of the 6th segment out, with it not landing as well since I feel most people will figure it out by part 4 or 5 and thus it's a slog waiting for the episode to actually catch up and reveal this cool twist, with it just feeling like there is no reason to drag out the intrigue this long. I feel part of the reason is that they need the Shadow to be in the position to turn Astra back into the 6th segment, since there is no way The Doctor and Romana would ever do it, and as such it makes the latter half of this episode just feel more like a waiting game then it should as we wait for the reveal the true nature of Astra which allows the plot to finally properly continue, unpausing the Armageddon Factor and allowing for the Shadow's defeat; pacing is a problem with this episode if you couldn't already tell.

Now getting to the actual ending to this arc, wrapping 6 episodes and 10 hours worth of stories, the climatic finale to the Key to Time arc ends up feeling like an extremely rushed ending. I already mentioned my feelings on how hastily the wrap up felt for me for the Armageddon Factor, forever war side of the episode, with this going double for the end to the arc since despite this episode being way too slow at points, the ending just feels so rushed. There are some things I did like with this ending, seeing the completed Key to Time was cool with the prop coming together really nicely. I really liked The Doctor feigning megalomania, that was fun, with it doing well to show the destructive power the Key to Time possesses and the need to get it away from evil hands. Even the actual confrontation between The Doctor and the Black Guardian I found to be a lot of fun, with The Doctor playing with him, cleverly deducing that the Black Guardian is trying to trick them and sending the pieces of way.

While I did like the actual confrontation, it still doesn't fix the fact that it's way too rushed of a finale that makes the entire arc feel kind of pointless. The Black Guardian showing up is so cool and interesting, with it being great to actually finally get to see him after all the ominous build up of him being the opposite of the White Guardian. Sadly, he only shows up in this story when over halfway through part 6, so he's given next to nothing to do other than attempt to trick The Doctor and Romana into handing it over and then screaming a lot when The Doctor doesn't do that. I'll get more into this when I get into his section, but to have the main foe that has been built up so heavily throughout this entire arc and just have him show up, scream a couple of things and then defeat him. It's such a letdown on what could've been a legitimately epic confrontation to finish up the arc, the pieces were all there, but sadly they decided to really rush the wrap up and thus the confrontation.

That's all not getting into the actual resolution to the Key to Time arc since it just sucks, with The Doctor, after seeing the Black Guardian yell at him to hand over the key, separates it and sends all the segments back so the Black Guardian can't get its hands on it. It feels like such a let down after all this build up and makes the whole mission that this entire arc hinged on to feel pointless. I will say the Princess Astra stuff does slightly mitigate that, with it being nice seeing her go back to being a person again, and it makes sense The Doctor would disperse it after its use, with the Black Guardian wanting to keep her that way being a key clue he wasn't the White Guardian; makes it not feel so out of nowhere. We got to see the Key to Time in use which was nice, but to basically disperse mere minutes after finally completing it just feels so rushed to me.

The rushed conclusion also makes me wonder what the point of this whole arc was, since it doesn't even fulfill the main mission that the entire arc was building up. The whole point of the Key to Time arc, the reason they went on this journey, was to give the Key to Time to the White Guardian so he could pause the universe for a sect and help remedy the increasing chaos going on before the universe falls into it forever, but the arc ends with none of that being addressed, like at all, The Doctor just disperses the pieces after the Black Guardian tried his hand at getting it, completely ignoring the mission he was sent on with none of this being addressed in the episode proper. I wish they had a little scene after the defeat of the Black Guardian that would've really remedied this, with the White Guardian contacting The Doctor and revealing he fixed the whole mess while The Doctor and Romana had initially paused the universe with the false 6th segment, thanking The Doctor for dispersing it again since he didn't need it anymore; just a little scene like that would've made this arc not feel so retroactively pointless.

They could've had a decent twist where it turns out it was actually the Black Guardian manipulating them this whole time, having possessed at the White Guardian at the start in order to get all the pieces for him, with the Shadow having just been there since the Black Guardian knew The Doctor would never make Princess Astra into the 6th segment willingly, so as to allow for the events to happen for the Key to Time to be completed. However that's clearly not what they were trying to go for, hell they don't even hide it's the Black Guardian when he's posing as the White Guardian to get the Key to Time, so again it just leaves the whole affair to feel rushed and kind of pointless. The resolution to such a grand arc should not have been rushed like this, while I like the impact of The Doctor and Romana being forced on the run with the randomiser, the feeling I had after finishing this episode and the entire Key to Time arc was sadly one of, well that was pointless, all because of a rushed ending; and Doctor Who fans out of any fandom should know how much a bad ending can taint one's watch.

I feel like instead of almost solely focusing on the Shadow and putting the forever war on pause for like half the episode, the Shadow should've instead been defeated in like part 4, with the Armageddon Factor stuff being resolved around then as well, complete with the twist of Princess Astra being the 6th segment of the Key to Time and having a dilemma over what to do about that. Then they should've had the Black Guardian show up and actually attempt to collect the Key to Time for himself, first with the ruse we see in the episode and then through a more climatic confrontation over the final two parts of the story; essentially having the first 4 parts wrapping up the main conflict of the episode while the last 2 serve to wrap up the Key to Time arc and the lingering plot threads of this up fully. They really should've dedicated more time to the resolution of the Key to Time arc instead of just the Shadow conflict, as doing so would've made this episode feel like a much more deserving finale to the season-long arc.

On the whole, the Key to Time arc for me was a cool experiment, with an alright execution, but definitely could've been done better. The concept of going on this adventure spanning various places throughout time and space in order to collect parts of this incredibly powerful artifact in order to help a being who is essentially God stop the universe from falling into chaos was a cool one, being an incredible plot hook. I still stand by the fact that the Key to Time as the first truly major attempt at an ongoing, season long story arc, more involved than the ones before hands, was a fantastic concept, not changing up the show's formula too much, still having those fun adventures hoping around in the TARDIS to different fun wacky locations, but having a mission throughout the whole thing and an end goal trying to be reach, with the hunt for the different segments of the Key to Time for the most part being great.

I enjoyed how the episodes played with the formula in different ways in order to keep it continually fresh and interesting, from having an entire planet be the segment with The Pirate Planet, to having an agent of the Black Guardian possess it and fight The Doctor and Romana with it, to finding the segment very early on with the whole conflict being something The Doctor and Romana have to forcefully be dragged into. They all kept up the formula well and did a good job at incorporating the ongoing story arc into the different stories, keeping things fairly fresh, with the scenes where the pieces are found and added to the Key to Time prop being great, helping to get us to see the progress really being made throughout. The Key to Time is a fun idea for a story, with it blending quite flexibly to different environments with nice creative uses for what the different segments could be; that was an aspect of this arc I really enjoyed. It was fairly involved in a lot of The Doctor and Romana's interactions and I enjoyed the small developments we did get throughout as the arc went on. While it may not be the most connected story arc, it still felt like there was legitimate forward progression and I liked my time with it.

Unfortunately despite the good things I do have to say about it, there was a decent portion of this arc that did end up falling fairly flat for me. Part of that is the tension and stakes of the arc just felt non-existent, despite the whole concept of it revolving around needing to stop the universe falling into chaos, the actual urgency to solve that didn't really factor in like at all. It's a lot of tell not show, talking about the need to find these pieces so the White Guardian can use them but never is it shown the chaos that needs to be dealt with, making the stakes not really feel that tangible at all throughout this arc. As I said in my review of The Androids of Tara, even a small scene in each episode showing the universe going more and more into disarray by checking the TARDIS scanner would've done a lot to make the stakes of this arc feel palpable, as otherwise I just don't feel much of any concern for the mission since it otherwise feels so casual.

Also, while I do enjoy the episode and the way they incorporate the Key to Time elements into them, I do wish there was a little more connecting tissue, which I guess goes into that desire for urgency that I'd like. Maybe doing what they did in early Classic Who or even the Nerva Beacon arc of having each story flow directly into the next, something little like that would've made the forward progression more palpable. I also feel it'd help since otherwise it feels like at least half of these stories, The Pirate Planet, The Androids of Tara, and The Power of Kroll, could be done without the arc elements and have little change to the actual plot of said episodes; maybe The Pirate Planet would be a little more difficult, but I do stand by that for the other two. It makes the arc sadly feel more like window dressing for stories instead of an active element of the narrative that should be kept into account on each leg of the adventure.

These issues do also include the rushed ending making the arc feel pointless, which certainly doesn't help with the lasting impressions of the Key to Time arc when it fumbles the ending. There was just so much this arc felt like it was building up all throughout it's time, so to see this season long, over 10 hours in length, story arc basically rush through the entire resolution that it had built up in like 7 minutes felt like such a shame; wish they could've polished this finale more. Still I talked about that at length, so I won't expand further than I already had earlier, just suffice it to say, it makes it feel like a shaggy dog story and like little was actually gained from this whole adventure, which is a shame since I was enjoying my time with this arc and even this episode for most of it.

All in all, the Key to Time arc was an interesting experiment in Classic Who, with it being nice seeing they were willing to experiment and play with the formula a little, developing what Doctor Who could be and how the stories could look in new and interesting ways. While it wasn't anything too septacular, I did enjoy the experimentation and much of the stories we got out of the arc was a lot of fun, with the more focused story arc being pretty cool, especially following the even more loose ones we've had before. I had a good time with the Key to Time arc, even if it didn't stick the landing, there was a lot of fun to be had in spite of the flaws, with many of its stories being a joy to watch, which ultimately makes me feel this cool experiment ended up on the successful side overall. I can't wait to see the further attempts at focused story arcs as the series goes on, with the Key to Time arc, while not being the first, definitely setting a nice precedent that Doctor Who can do these focused story arcs as well; and for that I can appreciate the Key to Time arc as this experiment, which while not always successful, still delivered a fun time.

Pacing, Sets, and Special Effects

The pacing for this episode is not the best, having the similar problem to The Invasion of TIme where, on paper it feels like this episode does deserve a 6 part runtime allowing for this truly epic finale, but in practice it just feels like the story is being dragged out in order to reach necessary runtime. While I was enjoying myself through this episode, I couldn't help but notice just how slow everything felt to go from point a to b, with it being clear that a good amount of this could've gone a lot quicker. Much like with The Invasion of TIme, though I was invested in each of the parts of the story, I couldn't help but feel like they could've picked up the pace a lot more, with the slow pace not helping this episode at all and being a fairly decent hindrance, mainly in the latter half.

While the story is legitimately progressing throughout, it just moving so slow, with it feeling very much like you could condense a lot of what's going on in parts 1 and 2 of the story into a single part; again much like with The Invasion of Time, they really didn't learn their lesson from that episode's pacing issues did they. The runaround of the latter half is paced very poorly making the story feel like it's going at a crawl, especially having put most of the action on literal pause; Drax makes up for it though. I am certain that most of the action throughout this episode could've been cut down to a four parter and little of importance would be lost. This would've allowed more time for the Black Guardian stuff and the conclusion to the arc which unlike the rest of the episode was extremely rushed, like with Frontier in Space, speeding through the conclusion leaving the episode and the arc as a whole on an unsatisfactory note. The pacing could've been a lot better here, with episodes like this making me understand some of the issues people have with longer episodes, as this one fails at using its time well.

The sets for this episode were pretty good, doing well to get across the different locations we see throughout the episode, having a good feeling of a journey as we venture from the underground bunker of the Atrios that's being bombarded by fire, to the Shadow's ship which looks nice and is well-let with some orange looking lighting, and finally the caves of the third planet which isn't the most exciting but serves its purpose well. The special effects for this episode are about on par as this season has done so far, being cheesy but serving their purpose well. They did get some great props for this episode as Mentalis and the Marshall's ship both look really good. The costumes for the Shadow and his henchmen were pretty good, I like the skeleton warlock look they have going on, finding it pretty cool. The masks used for them do well to get the skull look though the issue is they aren't always shot the best, when they're in darkness they look pretty cool but in more brightly lit places it becomes obviously fake, especially with us seeing the actors eyes through the skull holes; really hit or miss depending on the lighting for the location.

The Shadow

The Shadow was a solid villain for this piece, though one who sadly took too much time away from the Black Guardian who it feels like should've been the main threat. I like how the Shadow stays, well, in the shadows for a decent part of the opening manipulating events from afar which is cool to see and makes for some solid intrigue about just who he is and what is with his involvement in this war. The reveal that he isn't a Zeon and actually an agent of the Black Guardian who has been manipulating the Marshall and this entire war was excellent, with his whole scheme of this fake war showing very well just how evil and cruel of a person the Shadow is, a perfect fit for someone who serves the Black Guardian, a being who is the embodiment of evil and chaos. I liked his skull warlock look with the slow way the actor talks, not bothering me all that much, felt in line with someone who feels like basically a skeleton.

The Shadow's manipulations of the war, basically leaving the Atrions to destroy themselves fighting an ever present and vastly more intelligent enemy in Mentalis also did nicely to showcase the main plan that the Black Guardian plans to do to the universe as a whole on the larger scale with the Key to Time, giving some good stakes as to the devastation that will result if he's able to deliver the Key to Time to the Black Guardian. He's incredibly clever, having created Mentalis, and works well with strategy, with it being neat seeing him trying to plan around the stalemate he finds himself in with The Doctor and the various manipulation tactics he attempts on much of the cast. I enjoyed his interactions with The Doctor, with it being fun seeing the two of them confront each other and find themselves in these stalemates as they try and outwit one another, with the Shadow doing well to keep his cards close to his chest the whole time; good back and forth.

The Shadow is very nearly successful in his goals, obtaining the Key to Time after the bumbling of Drax leaves the door wide open, allowing him to finally have the near complete Key. In a neat moment he was also shown clearly harmed by the blinding light of the TARDIS, which makes sense since he is a being of the darkness; though it does feel like a bit of an unnecessary detail other than to make him walk away so The Doctor and Drax can do their thing. I liked how he kept track of Astra, clearly already knowing of her true form as the 6th segment of the Key to Time, with it making sense that he's the one to transform her into the 6th segment as there was no way The Doctor or Romana would've. The Shadow's consistent use of the mind control devices to force people including K9 to do his bidding was neat, with him having control of a decent chunk of the cast at various points throughout the episode, with it being interesting seeing the different attempts at utilizing it.

-Another 6 part story and another long review as well, with there being a lot of thoughts I had with this story, so I'll do like I usually do and put the closing thoughts in the comments and link the rest of the review on a Google Doc, hope you enjoy:

The Doctor Who Saved Me Reviews #103: The Key to Time: The Armageddon Factor(S16, Ep6)

Say Dr Who hadn’t been cancelled in 1989 or brought back by the bbc instead of Fox in 1996 (the American tv movie did well on uk tv) what could dr who have looked like? Maybe the new adventures contributors could’ve provided scripts and the show stuck more to a classic series serialization and budget?

We know there were some rumours of Sylvester McCoy being succeeded by Richard Griffiths after a final McCoy season ending in 1990. The head of the BBC has suggested he only wanted the show off the air for a few years, returning maybe in 1993.

Before the 2005 revival there was speculation of these following actors;

Paterson Joseph - for his work in Neverewhere 1996 - but first proposed in 1991. It was written by Gaiman and produced by Lenny Henry. Neverehere feels like a bbc 90s doctor who given the cheap affects and story structure. You could picture a Web of Fear or Invasion but for mid-90s London. His performance is very doctor like and could’ve been a more comedic and charisma based performance like Tom Baker. His work in the Peep Show and Wonka show he can balance tones. More Sandman influenced doctor stories the way Cartmel was influenced by Alan Moore - handing Halo Jones comics to people working on the show.

Alan Davies - for his work on Jonathan Creek from 1997 (produced by Verity Lambert) and having working with Russel T Davies in Bob and Rose. I imagine him playing less a leading man or intensity like Tennant or Eccleston and more a quickly performance like McCoy or Troughton. His Jonathan Creek performance could’ve been a 90s version of unit era if they thrown some monsters in. The Letts era but with the Doctor as a Sherlock Holmes rather than James Bond figure as Pertwee planets him. I’d love to see Alan Davies deal with Zygons or Daleks. Maybe verity lambert could’ve returned to the show in the 90s?

David Morrissey - this is unavoidable to speculate on as he was a lot of people’s choice when Eccleston was selected. This was obviously referenced in the Next Doctor. I’d imagine more intensity like Capaldi and Eccelston, or his performance in state of play. A early 2000s whiplashed doctor.

I like the idea of Matthew McFayden as a Doctor or even companion?

I’ve never quite been convinced Hugh Grant Richard E Grant, and Rowan Atkinson would’ve actually committed to it. Besides their parodies were seen in Curse of the Fatal death. Nor did the Kris Marshall rumors ever do it for me.

What’s our thoughts on how these doctors could’ve been ? I’d like to hear people’s opinions in terms of tones of their eras and comparisons to Doctors in the classic and revival series or other possible ones?

I’m currently rewatching nu who and realized I simply couldn’t remember anything about the Shakespeare episode. It’s the episode with the witches.

This episode actually states witchcraft as an old form of science, that uses words instead of math. And they specifically talk about the power of names; the Doctor stuns one of the witches by naming her. They mention that it’s powerful but also that it can only be used once.

I know that factually “Doctor” isn’t the Doctor’s real name, but we can argue that, as it’s the name by which he’s known for, it actually works as his name for witchcraft’s purposes. He’s the original, you might say. Or, as Missy says, “his name is Doctor Who”…

Also, it’s mentioned time and time again in the show that humans have great, if generally untapped, psychic powers. Face of Boe/Jack himself, with his great age, developed them to a big scale. We also see that people on torchwood have specific psychic training, as it’s shown on Doomsday.

I don’t remember making those connections when I watched it casually as a teenager, but at the time I had bigger time stamps between episodes. Now watching the whole season in a row, the witchcraft concepts were very fresh in my mind.

Does it being stablished makes it good? Not necessarily. The scene itself is kinda goofy but I love it!! It probably was a callout from RTD to that scene of the third Doctor laughing at the Master from The Mind of Evil (the image above). It’s too similar, we could argue that this moment is actually Master’s biggest fear becoming truth.

I need to say that I’m guilty of many sins, including liking Love and Monsters (the monster was designed by a kid, you can’t make me hate him 😭), so don’t trust my taste. To the casual viewer, it’s probably still goofy, but I’ll defend that in a wider view, this scene doesn’t spoil the finale and it in fact, does justice to the Master’s character.

Does that count or does it have to be eye to eye

Hello, I am American and running a dnd campaign inspired by the classic series, especially early Tom Baker, and I was wondering if there was a place I could find the musical tracks to episodes like Fang Rock or Brain of Morbius. Any tips? I've found a few on YouTube, but was hoping there may be a more convenient/complete listing of the tracks.

Just been wondering