Customer Reviews

Doctor Who: The Androids of Tara (Story 101) (The Key to Time Series, Part 4)

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I have yet to play this video to a group of kids OR adults who don't love it. K-9 enthralls youngsters, and the number of riotous one-liners is great. This one just never gets boring. Sure it's cheesy, but it's more FUN that way! Of course Tom Baker hams it up, eyes wide and hair wilder. And for once, just once, the planet is not at risk, let alone the universe, galaxy or time and space itself...

The search for the Key to Time is half over. The Doctor, Romana and K9 have recovered the first three segments and, unhappily, the best three stories of the season are over. The last half of the Key to Time quest is definitely the weaker. This is not to say, though, that "The Androids of Tara" is bad. It's quite fun, even if it feels a little inconsequential. The criticism it has attracted from most fan circles is that it draws too heavily upon the one source, Anthony Hope's "The Prisoner of Zenda" and displays this quite blatantly. However, most of Doctor Who (like the works of William Shakespeare) is plagiarised from one source or another. How stylishly it is done is the best indicator of how it succeeds. With the case of Doctor Who, it succeeds most of the time. "The Androids of Tara" is a fun, swashbuckling adventure. The villain, Count Grendel, is a wonderfully over the top cad, scoundrel and all round baddie. The usual ingredients for the genre - Princes, Princesses and swordsmen - are all here. There's also the obligatory swordfight at the end. The story is low key - it revolves around the political machinations of the world of Tara - there is no planet to save from invasion or destruction, no populace to save from alien oppression. This story will never be regarded as a classic; it won't be in any all time top 10 lists - but it is a breath of fresh air. It's a nice diversion, however unoriginal. (There's an awful monster, so it's not really that different from the rest of Doctor Who!) Sure, it feels inconsequential. But it has the usual charm that the program always succeeds in pulling off.

Landing on the planet Tara, Romana believes that she can find the fourth segment of the Key to Time without getting involved with the locals. She couldn't be more wrong. "Androids...", with many Graham Williams' Who stories, is very cheap looking. The Taran beast in the opening doesn't help. But Fisher's story is so charming, and filled with great characters, such as the Count, that you almost forget about the silly acting, and lazy direction. Mary Tamm seems a little relaxed in her acting(especially as the Princess). There is loads of humor. The swordfight at the end of episode 4 is a little long winded, but enjoyable at the same time. At least we don't have a story where the villian wants to take over or destroy the universe, a typical "Prisoner of Zenda" story, incorporated in the Doctor Who universe.

Don't be fooled by the lack of buzz, or by all the reviews declaring "The Androids of Tara" to be the weakest of "Doctor Who"'s Key To Time season. Granted, the DVD may be the weakest in the new six-disc box set, but the story itself is remarkably witty and something to be enjoyed again and again.

As the production notes are sure to tell the viewer several times, this story is "Doctor Who"'s homage to "The Prisoner of Zenda", following the plot twist by twist, and adding only a few modest sci-fi elements (two androids and some electric swords). As Tom Baker points out on the commentary track, visiting guest stars used "Doctor Who" as an opportunity to "do a turn" (or, as the fans say, "chew the scenery"), and this serial's guest villain Peter Jeffrey (playing the aptly-named Count Grendel of Gracht) gives a delightful performance as the scheming nobleman who doesn't kill a soul and is allowed to swim away at the end of the story, uttering the famous face-saving line above.

The DVD production is bare-bones, unusual for the high-quality "Doctor Who" line. The text commentary is notably weak, perhaps because it's not written by Martin Wiggins, who did the notes for the first three DVDs in this set. Now authored by Richard Molesworth (who did notes on a few of the earlier "Who" DVDs), the notes are basically endless lists of the supporting actors' other TV appearances -- most of which will not be familiar to the audience watching these US-release-only discs -- and the dates of location filming. It indeed adds a lot to your enjoyment of Part Three to learn that Romana's stunt double rode her horse on the 27th and 28th of July. The notes spend a good amount of time describing the original "The Prisoner of Zenda" (stating three times that the novel was written by Anthony Hope in 1894), but fail to pick up on a deliriously funny blooper in which Jeffrey walks through the walls of a set, Leslie Nielsen style, as Tom Baker ducks through a curtained doorway.

The commentary track is recorded by stars Baker and Tamm (Romana), and director Michael Hayes. Hayes dominates the early going by reciting the "Prisoner of Zenda"'s original movie cast, while Baker laughs insanely at the sight of the poorly-costumed miniature bear that menaces Romana in the opening minutes. After a while it's obvious that the three aren't watching the story, and I found myself mentally tuning out. That said, the anecdote about Petter Jeffrey's wart is funny, and, as in every other DW disc released to date, a commentator asserts that the low-rent 1970s production values "stand up rather well today". Charming. But wrong.

"Next time, I shall not be so lenient!"

One of the most enjoyable Doctor Who stories, with no pretensions to be anything other than good clean fun. Several times 'Avengers' villain Peter Jeffrey guest-stars (and steals every scene) as the wicked Count Grendel of Gracht, plotting to usurp the throne of Tara in the series' cheeky re-make of 'The Prisoner of Zenda'.

Tom Baker is good value as the Doctor, Mary Tamm's beautifully outfitted Romana is one of the great companions, and the story rattles along at a splendid pace, with some great swordplay with electronic swords and android doubles.

One to simply sit back and enjoy - it also inspired the best Doctor Who spin-off from Vigin Books, the 'Decalog 2' short story 'The Trials of Tara', which manages to be even camper than this video version. END

The Doctor is feeling lazy in Episode One and he decides to delegate to Romana, saying that "after a journey of 400 years and 12 parsecs, I'm allowed a rest of fifty years." He goes fishing, to which Romana, clearly disgusted at his childishness, tells him, "Look, I'm going to get that fourth segment and I'll be back in under an hour. You be ready to leave." Of course, things don't pan out as planned.

The medieval society of Tara is the setting for the fourth story in the Key To Time season. The Doctor and Romana get caught up in a power play between the good Prince Reynhart and the evil Count Grendel, contenders for the throne of Tara. Romana finds the fourth segment early enough, and what follows is her being mistaken for an android of Princess Strella. However, when Grendel and Lamia, the peasant android technician, realizes she is human, she becomes further enmeshed in his attempts to gain the throne.

Romana loses none of her stylishness, dressed as she is in a long purple dress with velvety front and matching hat. Despite it being listed as something everyone's wearing, nobody is seen in the outfit. Mary Tamm plays both Romana and Princess Strella.

There's clearly caste philosophy mixed in here. When Reynhart bemoans the tragedy of not being taught peasant skills, Zadek replies, true to Plato's Republic, "If we were meant to be peasants, we would have been born peasants." And Lamia tells Grendel, "I'm a peasant. I leave politics to my betters."

The late Peter Jeffrey has appeared in countless movies and TV series, notably as the headmaster in Lindsay Anderson's if... and as Inspector Trout in The Abominable Dr. Phibes. He's also notable as one of the contenders of the prime ministership in "Party Games," the transition episode of Yes Minister that makes it Yes Prime Minister. He does a fine job as the Machiavellian Count Grendel.

There are repeated themes from other episodes. Reynhart and the pessimistic Zadek are another variation of Vynda-K and Sholakh (Ribos Operation), and the drugged wine a repeat of The Brain Of Morbius. Grimwade's Syndrome or robophobia, (q.v. Robots Of Death) is also felt by, although not nominally referred to by Farrah and Zadek.

Cyril Shaps, who plays the religious leader, the Archimandrite, already made a Doctor Who appearance in Tomb Of The Cybermen.

The Androids Of Tara works in breaking away from the usual finding the segment in the last episode routine, and the lack of unusual monsters or megalomaniac villains.

Because Australia & US have different standards for TV (PAL vs NSTC), there was some doubt about compatibility of DVDs. But the product arrived promptly & worked fine on an Australian DVD player

And now, for something completely different...

"Androids of Tara" is an unusual "Doctor Who" storyline in many ways, possibly unique in the history of this long-running TV series. It's neither science-fictionalized horror nor straightforward high-concept science fiction, nor even a historical adventure from the old days of the show. Instead, it's a strangely quaint fairy tale romance complete with handsome princes, beautiful princesses and evil counts--and horses, castles, dungeons, coincidental doubles, and swords (the latter with a little electrical buzz just to remind you that this is science fiction, after all). The stakes are pretty low, too. Hardly anyone dies, the fate of the planet Tara doesn't hang in the balance, no Cybermen armies are poised to invade; the Doctor and Romana just have to make sure the good guy gets to be king instead of the bad guy, and then whisk off with the fourth segment to the Key to Time--which is found easily at the very beginning, almost anticlimactically. Furthermore, as "Doctor Who" stories go, this one is unusually shallow. There are a few references to a rigid social hierarchy making Tara almost believable as a place, but otherwise this story is devoid of the usual depths and layers of meaning so characteristic of the show. Sly social satire is likewise muffled, despite the whole royal succession humbug virtually begging for such treatment.

In some ways, of course, this brief flirtation with an unusual genre makes for a breath of fresh air, and all in all is delightfully entertaining if a bit silly. It's nice to see the show go out on a limb and try something a little different, anyway. That said, the writer relies on his sources (or source, rather: Anthony Hope's "The Prisoner of Zenda" apparently) to such a degree that the Doctor and Romana seem almost like co-stars rather than main characters. The plot kind of drags in spots, with multiple twists and turns clever at first but gradually a bit tedious; a hamster with a penknife could've carved away the plot's padding a lot quicker than the editor, apparently. Still, when Tom Baker's the Doctor, all's not lost--the oddball, eccentric charisma and humor he brings to the role serve to enliven even the most mediocre of episodes, and that charm goes a long way towards making "Androids of Tara" enjoyable. And he also gets an outstandingly memorable sword-fighting scene at the very end of which even Jon Pertwee could've been proud.

So all in all this is hardly a classic, but it still manages to function as a fun if somewhat forgettable light-hearted adventure. But let the writers and producers beware. I shall not be so lenient next time.

P.S. Since "The Androids of Tara" is the fourth storyline in the six-part "Key to Time" saga of the sixteenth season, this DVD is also included with five other DVDs in a box set, Doctor Who - The Key to Time Collection, so unless you have a particular interest just in this one storyline, that may be the better option both in terms of economics and convenience.

...true, and rather indicative of Douglas Adam's script editing period. However, this episode like all of Adam's run were very very entertaining because he atleast chose the right elements and the dialogue was so well written that everything else could be forgiven. The sword fight in the end is one of the best ever done on film because of all the force and impact of each thrust and perry and by the end they are tossing barrels at each other and falling down stairs. Over all, 'Androids of Tara' may not be the height of Doctor Who's brilliance, but this fairy tale android story won't fail to continue entertaining.

Probably my least favorite adventure in the Key To Time series is THE ANDROIDS OF TARA. And the main criticism that I have of it is that it commits one of the worst sins that a television program can -- it bored me. Which is a real shame because in-between the long stretches of lackluster material, there are more than a few things to enjoy. But my overwhelming impression of this (and that impression is reaffirmed with every subsequent viewing) is that there is just far too much padding and fluff in this adventure for its own good.

First of all, the story seems to jar slightly from the usual way that the Tom Baker Doctor interacts with others. Rather than being at the center and driving the action forward, the Doctor takes a passive role for the majority of the tale. He eventually does become a mover in his own right near the end, but for the most part this is a story that he influences rather than drives. ANDROIDS OF TARA is very much the story of the King, the Crown and the fight for the throne rather than having a structure more typical of the average Doctor Who adventure. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though. It's interesting to see a more subdued Fourth Doctor, although occasionally I was wishing for him to take a more active stance. It just seemed odd that the Doctor would cave so easily under the threat of violence and that it was only this threat that kept him in the story. It's even more odd when one realizes that the Doctor would usually be predisposed to want to help out the Prince, Zadek and Farrah anyway. The fact that most of the plot points are borrowed from other sources is fairly obvious so perhaps this is an inadvertent holdover from an earlier draft. I'm not quite sure what the solution is, but there's something about those sequences that just don't quite seem to work.

As far as the characters go, the oh-so-bad Count is probably one of the most amusing villains in Doctor Who; he almost makes the story worth viewing just by himself. It's true that he becomes a caricature of himself by the end, but by that point he's an entertaining force in his own right. I love how by episode four he isn't even bothering to put up a pretense around his machinations any more, he's just busy being as evil as he can be -- and he's immense fun.

As professional as the rest of the cast is, they simply don't have a terribly exciting script to work with here. The characters are well played but there isn't much to them. With robotic and dull android duplicates roaming through the story, it can sometimes be difficult to determine when exactly someone is portraying an emotionless machine, and when someone is portraying a bland and uninteresting character.

On the positive side, the picture has been cleaned up quite well, and special mention must go to the exterior shots that now look extremely crisp and clear. The sound is also remarkably improved, with many little whispers and mumbles now audible. Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, and director Michael Hayes feature on the commentary track, and this alone is a big reason for obtaining this DVD. Baker and Tamm are slightly more subdued than they were on the RIBOS OPERATION disc, but still manage to come out with several hysterical comments (I particularly enjoyed Tom Baker's pride at his character's ability to consume vast quantities of drugged wine - "I'm the last one to drop!"). Hayes manages to answer Baker's frequent asking of "Who's that?" as well as offering insights into the behind-the-scenes production. The pop-up production notes are sadly much less interesting than those on the previous three discs. While there was some useful information concerning the development of the script, far too many of the slides simply tell us what day and time certain shots were filmed. Not necessarily bad, just dull compared to the other notes.

If you already liked ANDROIDS OF TARA, then no doubt you'll enjoy the DVD release, which again maintains the very high standards that the Doctor Who discs have enjoyed. Personally, I could have done without picking up this one, and had it not been part of the Key To Time box set, I think I would have avoided it. Still, it's always nice to reevaluate Doctor Who stories that one hasn't seen recently, even if one's original opinion remains unchanged. And with the story physically looking and sounding better than it ever has before, this is probably the best opportunity you'll have to enjoy this particular one. I just hope you find it less boring than I did.