Doctor Who continued …

The Keys of Marinus, which effectively has one goal – to give the story a random selection of environs for the following episodes.

A very intriguing opening episode begins with the TARDIS landing on what appears to be a beach, only the sea is very still, the sand is glass, and the water is acid.  A very good “figure out what’s going on” first episode, with the lack of budget (actually being on a beach) cunningly covered by the use of a “tidal pool”.

While the crew are investigating, four fish-like submarines/ships land each containing an alien Voord with nefarious intentions.  The crew find a strange pyramid with apparently no entrance, but they’re soon trapped inside before meeting the inhabitant who goes on to explain the plot for the next several episodes.

The crew leave by means of a wrist-based transporter doohicky to their first environment, with suitable cliffhanger.  We see the fate of the inhabitant in the pyramid at the hands of the Voord.

We know by now that the story “does a Terry Nation” that, instead of dragging out a story over several weeks, he gives us a different mini-adventure each week until the finale.  This is both an advantage, in that the story remains fresh, but also a disadvantage in that it’ll never be an epic.  Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to the next episodes.

Next time … The Velvet Web