22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another interesting release, September 25, 2009
It's worth noting that you've been watching a cut version of this story all these years; read this from the Restoration Team website:
"[The film copies had] seven seconds of cuts to episode two and ten seconds of cuts to episode four. The most likely reason for these cuts is either physical damage to the transmission videotape or physical splice edits in the tapes, both of which might be expected to produce disturbing picture off-locks in the film recording.
It was decided to reinstate all the audio material back into the episode, leaving Peter Crocker with the problem of how to fill seven black holes in the picture! Using various combinations of cutaways, composite images and retiming, he was able to cover all the holes. Although this will obviously differ from what what would have been seen originally, it does at least allow the story to be enjoyed uncut for the first time since its transmission in 1964."
As for special features, read on...
* Commentary with actors William Russell and Carole Ann Ford, director John Gorrie and designer Raymond Cusick. Moderated by Clayton Hickman.
* The Sets of Marinus (dur. 9' 25") - designer Raymond Cusick recalls his work on this story.
* Photo Gallery (dur. 7' 25") - production and publicity photos from the story.
* PDF Material - Radio Times listings plus the entire set of Cadet Sweets 'Doctor Who and the Daleks' sweet cigarette cards in Adobe pdf format for viewing on PC or Mac.
Plus of course the usual Subtitle Production Notes and Coming Soon trailer.
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sea of Acid, Sand of Glass, October 16, 2009
Season one, 11/4/64-16/5/64.
My main gripe with this story is, it's just too ambitious on it's minuscule budget. Who plays to it's strenghts when it embraces it's limitations, and doesn't try to do a story that needs a Hollywood budget. Okay rant over.
This was Terry Nation's first non-Dalek story, Dalek popularity was still in the ascendancy when Nation hastily delivered this script.
The only other time he went Dalek-less was the "Avenger" like Android Invasion.
Mr Nation's strong points were ideas to capture the imagination, but with this story his weaknesses are revealed, he simple couldn't write easy flowing natural dialogue in the same way as Whittaker or Spooner. This was also the earliest of the quest like stories which later came out as The Chase, The E-space trilogy, the Key to Time season, and the Black Guardian trilogy.
The reason for Hartnell's disappearance for episode three and four was, he was on two weeks holiday, and it worked wonders, he comes back in episode five completely invigorated with no fluffs or dries.
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With six new sets required each week and only one designer (Ray Cusick).
This story does appear to have more production problems then most early Hartnell stories, example: when the secret entrance door swings open you catch a glimpse of one of the set workers operating it.
But episode four, "The Snows of Terror" sums up exactly why I always rate sixties Who above any other decade, and that is when Vasor is alone with Barbara he attempts to rape her. Very strong stuff for an early evening TV show. (A similar incident occurs with Edith in, "The Time Meddler".)
This touching on some of societies taboos was avoided in later decades. Which I felt was a shame, as it gave it an extra edge of realism.
Unlike most Who fans I can't slavishly mark every story as a five star one, If all stories are marked highly then that cheapens the quality of the real classics.
This is one story that needs to be criticized, in places.
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(Brief synopsis)
Episode One, Sea of Death, Arbitan stops the Tardis crew gaining entrance to the TARDIS. Forcing them on the quest for the four keys.
Episode Two, The Velvet Web, here in the city of Morphoton you can get anything you wish for, or so it appears.
Episode Three, The Screaming Jungle, in the jungle, scientists have speeded up plant growth, to a frightening degree!
Episode Four, The Snows of Terror, On the Icy tundra they meet a fur trapper called Vasor, who seems a nice man.
Episode Five, Sentence of Death, The travellers encounter a society in which the legal system is, guilty until proven innocent.
Episode Six, The Keys of Marinus, returning to the Island but only to find, trouble.
Overall opinion, not a classic story but the changing locations help to maintain ones interest.
Trivia.
This is the first time we see the Tardis land from the outside, albeit a model shot, all other times were shown to have landed from inside the Tardis.
What has this story got in common with the film Citizen Kane?.....Answer George Couloris starred in both.
Watch the conscience machine make a reappearance four years later as, "The Mind Robber."
Don't let the fact it's in B&W put you off.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"The most unloved story", January 19, 2010
"The Keys of Marinus" is on paper a sweeping outer-space epic. The TARDIS crew is solicited by a man named Arbitan -- the keeper of the Conscience of Marinus, a robed figure living in a pyramid on a deserted island surrounded by a sea of acid. Arbitan's played by George Colouris, who was part of Orson Welles' repertory and who had a role in
Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition). So in the first part of this six-part story, the principal guest actor brings great gravitas to proceedings.
Then our heroes are sent across the planet in search of the hidden micro-keys that will reactivate the Conscience machine and set Marinus to rights. They travel to such terrifying locations as the Screaming Jungle and the Snows of Terror. They're imprisoned in a Velvet Web, and then later, in a fine "Perry Mason" pastiche, Ian is framed for murder and it's up to the Doctor to act as his defense counsel. This reads great on paper, as the novelization (
Doctor Who and the Keys of Marinus) demonstrates.
So, how could this story go wrong? Well, a low budget, for one. The DVD release of "Marinus" looks fabulous -- the original videotapes for this story have long since been destroyed, but the existing kinescope transfers have been restored to a pristine VT look. Unfortunately, that process doesn't serve the story well -- with "Marinus" already well known for tons of technical errors, it's hard to look at this DVD for 45 seconds without spotting a stray stagehand or a roaming boom shadow or a wobbly set.
The writing isn't great, either. For "Doctcr Who"'s second adventure into outer space, Terry Nation was brought in on short notice (following a string of canceled scripts) to recapture the success of "The Daleks" (available in
Doctor Who - The Beginning Collection). He fails. The story's biggest logical flaw is that Arbitan himself hid each key in an inaccessible location -- and then never tells his hand-picked agents how to overcome those traps.
The audio commentary to "Marinus" adds a lot of flavor. The director, John Gorrie, was from the BBC plays department, and this was his only foray into "Doctor Who". However, his inexperience was offset by that of designer Ray Cusick, who'd been largely responsible for the success of "The Daleks" just a few stories previously. Surviving original cast members William Russell (Ian) and Carole Ann Ford (Susan) recall details about their characters 45 years after the fact. It's all moderated by ex-"Doctor Who Magazine" editor Clayton Hickman. Similarly, the text commentary track ably matches dry production details with a keen eye for pointing out on-screen bloopers.
The last word belongs to Cusick, who in this disc's lone featurette, describes point by point the budget shortfalls that led to his ingeniously minimal set designs... and who then, when asked what about this story he'd keep,if he had to do it all over again, says "nothing".
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