Product Details

• Actors: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison
• Writers: Sydney Newman
• Producers: Peter Bryant
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: BBC Video / Warner Bros.
• DVD Release Date: October 1, 2002
• Run Time: 148 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000067FPK
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #57,862 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Doctor Who: The Armageddon Factor (Story 103) (The Key to Time Series, Part 6)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

• This is item 29 in The Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker (1974-1981) Series.

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The search for the Sixth (and last) Segment of the Key to Time bring the Doctor, Romana and K9 to the planet Atrios, where they encounter a pesky interplanetary war and Princess Astra, who is linked to the sixth segment in some mysterious way.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Biographies
Photo gallery
Production Notes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Last story to the Key To Time is also the weakest, January 31, 2004

By	Daniel J. Hamlow (Narita, Japan) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Doctor Who - The Armageddon Factor [VHS] (VHS Tape)

In their search to the final segment to the Key To Time, the Doctor and Romana land on war-torn Atrios, which has been fighting a war of attrition against its twin Zeos. As there's variable radiation counts even 140 meters beneath the surface, one can imagine what it's like on the surface. The Doctor jokingly says of the high radiation reading that it might not necessarily be nuclear war, that someone might be holding a huge breakfast party.

Things begin bad, as usual. The Marshall, the military leader conducting the war, mistakes the Doctor and Romana as Zeon spies, yet he does a volte-face and welcomes the Doctor as "the one to head us to victory." However, he's not all he seems. One, he makes his decisions by meditating and mumbling in front of a black reflective surface. Two, he has a tiny black object around his neck. Three, he and Princess Astra, a figurehead in charge of people's morale and comfort, are at odds what with her pacifist stance.

Astra and her lover, the surgeon Merak, are trying to contact Zeos to try to negotiate a peace, but something is jamming their communications. The same jamming that is blocking the navigation system of the Marshall's fleet, perhaps? First Astra, then the TARDIS, and then the Doctor vanishes, kidnapped by sinister masked figures in black robes. On Zeos, he meets his nemesis the Shadow, who's working for the Black Guardian in the same way the Doctor's working for the White Guardian.

The Doctor's condemnation of a war fought by machines is given when he describes the commandant of the Zeon side as a "passionless lump of mineral and circuitry, highly efficient, doing very well, giving Atrios a beating, killing millions without a flicker, just doing it's job, and it's totally invincible." Yet it's programmed to not accept defeat, and as the Doctor says, "there'll be a rather large bang, big enough to take Zeos, take Atrios with with it, and make the whole thing end in a sort of draw. That's the way these military minds work-the armageddon factor." But the story condemns war period; even the lamely romantic patriotic drama in the beginning is a satire on propaganda movies.

I agree with K-9's definition of optimism: "belief that everything will work out well. Irrational, bordering on insanity." And the Doctor lectures Romana on optimism, but doing an about face as he goes on: "Listen Romana, whenever you go into a new situation, you must always believe the best until you find out exactly what the situation's all about, then believe the worst." Romana: "Ah, but what happens if it turns out not to be the worst after all?" Doctor: "Don't be ridiculous. It always is." Classic Tom Baker comedy right there.

John Woodvine does an portrayal of the Marshall as a ruthless leader fanatical on victory. "You don't beg for peace... you win it!" he tells Astra. He's someone who'd use the ultimate deterrent, and when the Doctor ironically congratulates him on having a typical military mind, he takes it as a compliment, missing the irony. His patriotic speeches bear in mind Churchill's morale speeches during WW2, but with a more rabid edge. And Lalla Ward (Astra) would regularly appear as Romana in the next two seasons, replacing Mary Tamm.

But in Episode 5, we meet Drax, a renegade Time Lord who picked up a chirpy Cockney accent, and Barry Jackson's presence lightens things up when the story plods along.

As the final story to the Key To Time season, The Armageddon Factor draws it to a conclusion, but leaving with it an atmosphere of "Is that what it's all been about?" It also suffers from weak characters and continuity errors, such as Merak knowing things about the Key To Time though not told about it, and bad acting, such as the Shadow's diabolical laughter. The weakest of the six stories, although redeemed by the themes of the follies of war, especially total war. Rating: 3.5, rounded to 4.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Key to Time is the key to the Baker years, July 7, 2002

By	Robert Gil (Aurora, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The tug of war that goes on between the two warring planets of Zeos and Atrios is just the backdrop for an intriguing end to the Key to Time landmark episodes. For the first time, the Doctor Who series carries a single mission throughout six distinct stories. The brilliant end to the series forces the Doctor to choose between the life of Princess Astra and time itself. This moral dilema is best outlined in the famed mantra of Spock in Star Trek II, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one." The subplot of the Doctor reunited with his old college chum is hilarious. The Troy-like ending with a brainwashed K-9 playing the trojan horse makes the ending even more fun. The tongue in cheek soap opera is quite humorous from the opening scene to the end. A lot of criticism is pointed at this show due to the rash ending, but hey, you cannot have the light without the dark! Oddly enough, the actress playing Princess Astra returns the following season as a regenerated Romanavoratrelunder.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "Got to be synaptic adheassion!", April 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Doctor Who: Armageddon Factor [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The Doctor, Romana and K-9 land on Atrios, where a massive nuclear war in progress. But they must hurry in trying to find the sixth and final segment of time, because the evil Shadow is interrested in obtaining it for his Guardian. "The Armageddon Factor" should have been a lot better. It's tedious, padded, and very cheap looking at times. The costume designer must have had something else on his mind when he designed both the Shadow's and Mutes costumes and masks, as they are just pathetic. One confusing point: The Shadow's lair, the mysterious Planet of Evil, is obviously a space station, why then are the interriors of this "space station" designed as if he lived in a cave?! But, on the lighter side of this review, there are some great one liners. Both Shapp and Drax provide some needed laughs. Romanna is sexy as ever. At times, "The Armageddon Factor" is quite enjoyable, but it should have been so much better.