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Doctor Who:Snakedance [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The evil Mara from the previous season returns to haunt Tegan's dreams and then take control of her once again. This time, it manipulates her into steering the TARDIS to a world where it was banished centuries ago. Now, on the anniversary, the Mara plans to gain control of the world once again. A very good sequel to one of the best stories in Davison's time, Kinda.

In this episode we discover that Tegan is not free of the Mara from the Kinda world.The Mara makes the TARDIS land on the planet Manussa.Eventually the Mara is able to take over Tegan and plot it's return.The Doctor meanwhile tries telling everyone of impending doom for the whole planet!The Doctor suspects that the Mara has taken over Lon , a big government big wig. The Doctor must somehow learn the Snakedance defeat the Mara.The special effects are better than Kinda! Peter Davison and Janet Fielding are outstanding in their roles this time! The companions even change their clothes in this episode! It's a fun episode with a good follow up to Kinda! If you have Kinda ,be sure to buy this episode!

"Where the winds of restlessness blow, where the fires of greed burn, where hatred chills the blood, here in the Great Mind's Eye, here in the depths of the human heart, here is the Mara." --from the diary of Dojjen.

Much like the later Season 25, Season 20 of Doctor Who had the Doctor confronting villains from his past. This time, it's a creature that only appeared in the previous season.

Tegan has given the Doctor the coordinates to Manussa, a planet of the Earth Federation that used to be part of the Manussan Empire and the Sumaran Empire--Su-Mara, in other words, empire of the Mara, the serpentine embodiment of evil that possessed Tegan in the Kinda story. The Doctor's fears that the Mara is back is confirmed, but he fits a device that prevents dreams from occurring in her subconscious. However, once on Manussa, she gets separated from the Doctor and Nyssa, result being that the Mara gains full control over her.

On Manussa, Lon, the young son of the Federator, is bored with affairs of state and spends his time idling on a sofa or behaving childishly, to the chagrin of his indulgent mother Tanha, who wishes he'd take an interest in his own planet's culture. Ambril, the Director of Historical Research, a pompous academic type who is enthusiastic about archaeology and history, is respectful to Lon nevertheless. He isn't bored much longer, as he is summoned by the owner of a hall of mirrors stall sent to fetch him. There, he meets Tegan, who sports a distinctive snake tattoo on her arm, which he acquires once he makes physical contact with her. She enlists him to get the Great Crystal, under the custodianship of Ambril.

There is a legend on Manussa, that the Mara was not destroyed but driven to the dark places within, and that it will return in a dream and regain power over humans when the minds meet in the Great Crystal. Ambril dismisses the legend with contempt. To him, the Mara was destroyed by the Federation, end of story. His assistant Chela, isn't as skeptical, and he helps out the Doctor under the nose of his boss. And the Doctor's suspicions are stirred further when he learns that there is an upcoming ceremony commemorating the quinquecentennial of the Mara's destruction.

Like its predecessor Kinda, Snakedance is studio-bound, but the lively atmosphere of the bazaar and the sight of costumed Manussans serves to fill the screen with movement and colour.

Of the guest stars, John Carson as the pompous scholar Ambril and Colette O'Neil (Tanha) stand out. Preston Lockwood (Dojjen) doesn't say a word onscreen, but his importance is felt when he is mentioned and his characterization is a credible one as a mystical shaman.

Nyssa's new outfit is alas only seen in this story, as she wears a drab white blouse and blue skirt in her final two stories, but here, the seersucker blouse with a striped multicoloured dress ia a welcome change from her fairy princess-like maroon velvet outfit.

Janet Fielding (Tegan) has more fun being possessed than other companions have in previous stories. Her harsh grating voice is used to great effect, and her laughter when possessed is a far cry from the Doctor's familiar grumpy sorehead of a companion. She plays someone divided within herself, pleading for help one moment, the next moment speaking harshly. One of her better moments.

Lots of Buddhist and Native American religion come into play in this sequel to Kinda, and while not reaching the heights of its predecessor, Snakedance succeeds in presenting the material inspired by it in a more easily understood fashion than Kinda.

Not exactly a sequel, but a decent follow-up to "Kinda", has the Doctor trying to stop the return of the Mara through Tegan. Janet Fielding makes a great vilianess. The design is wonderful. Davison is a tour de force trying to convince people of worldwide destruction. Love the archealogical spin on this story. And Lon is a great character. Another of one of the charming 5th Doctor Stories.

Snakedance is one of my favorite episodes. What makes it is the acting - the royal family is superb, and Tegan who I usually find annoying is excellently evil. The plot/concept - a society based around the legends of the Mara - the epitome of what I like about Dr Who, every detail explored. Quotables - There are some very good lines in this episode excellently delivered. The doctor - struggling to understand how to defeat the Mara - no one suffers as well as Peter Davidson. Of course expect the usual original series problems; slow start and absolutely awful effects, however it is also chilling and very engaging. I highly recommend this.

Just like the first Mara story, "Kinda", this has a very good plot in it. Unfortunately, like "Kinda", the story suffers badly from lack of action. Apart from the cliffhanger, part one wasn't that good at all, and part four has a confusing and mediocre ending. Apart from the regulars, the acting was terrible. And the costumes were hideous looking like the ones in "The Horns of Nimon". On the plus side, like "Kinda", the plot was excellent. There were some eerie and scary parts in this one, all the cliffhangers were great, and Janet Fielding's acting was breath-taking. She does a very good job playing the part of a possessed Tegan. She made my hair stand up. But in all, I would not recommend this one.

The Mara, a snake-light entity, lives on in Tegan, who it soon has control over.

Overall a good follow-up. There are some superby eerie scenes in a hall of mirrors, the possessed Tegan's voice is grippingly haunting, and the demonstration of the darker side of Punch & Judy (Punch beating his wife in front of grinning youngsters obviously taking all this to heart) is a nice touch.

The real downer is the ridiculous-looking Mara. Even more unconvincing than the model used in 'Kinda', this one is a rubber creation, complete with wobbling rubber fangs, which bleeds blacmange. Not a very satisfactory climax to what is otherwise a good story.

Snakedance is a good Doctor Who story. As a sequel to Kinda, it had much better characters (except the useless Tanha and irritating Ambril) and the special effects - particularly that of the Mara - were far more impressive. The fifth Doctor really shines, as does Janet Fielding - again stealing centre stage as main baddie. I'll admit, the "Look At Me" scenes are a little silly, but it isn't that bad. Overall, hugely enjoyable...and better than Arc Of Infinity at any rate!

Below you will find the available information for Snakedance, including bonus material. In the United Kingdom, Kinda & Snakedance are only being sold together as "Mara Tales" boxset, but in the USA and Canada it is the opposite: they are only being solicited to retailers as individual titles.

1 disc, 125 minutes, 4 episodes, full frame video, English mono audio, English subtitles, [...]


The TARDIS makes an unplanned landing on Manussa, where preparations are underway to celebrate the defeat of the Sumaran Empire five centuries earlier. But the ancient evil of the Mara lives on, and Tegan, who has been haunted by disturbing dreams since her time under the Windchimes on Deva Loka, is now a pawn in its plan to re-enter the physical world and subjugate the Manussan people. Only the Doctor can stop the Mara - but first he must convince the authorities that he is not just a deluded fool who believes in children's fairytales.

Extras:

*Commentary - stereo. With actors Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton.

*Snake Charmer (dur. 24' 37") - cast and crew look back at the making of the story. With actors Peter Davison and Janet Fielding, director Fiona Cumming, writer Christopher Bailey, script editor Eric Saward, designer Jan Spoczynski, and new series writer Robert Shearman.

*Deleted Scenes (dur. 3' 05") - scenes from the original ending of episode four, courtesy of a timecoded recording kept by producer John Nathan-Turner.

*In Studio (dur. 6' 12") - a rare glimpse inside the studio during recording of effects sequences for the story, including the infamous `farting Mara'!

*Saturday Superstore (dur. 14' 16") - Peter Davison guests on the Saturday morning children's show, where he plays cricket with Mike Read and John Craven and takes questions from callers.

*Photo Gallery (dur. 5' 21") - production, design and publicity photos from the story.

*Isolated Music - option to watch the story with the isolated music score.

*Radio Times Listings in Adobe PDF format.

Peter Davidson returns as The Doctor in the episodes entitled "Snakedance". Tegan has been having strange visions of a cave that looks like a serpent. Oddly enough Tegan has somehow changed the corridantes on the TARDIS console to take her, Nyssa and The Doctor to the planet that was once part of the "Manussa Empire" a time when the Mara was in control. The Doctor is convinced that the Mara still has some control over Tegan from thier time on the planet Devaloka.
Meanwhile The Fedration that arose from the ashes of the empire is currently perparing for the time of the Mara. A festival to celebrate the demise of the Mara and the birth of the Federation. The federator son Lon is placed in charge while is father is off world. Bored he wants something wonderful to happen, something that will make the festival truly sepctacular.
The TARDIS materliazes and The Doctor has found a way to keep Tegan awake without the Mara trying to control her. He needs to find out more about the world the Mara came from. The current historian thinks the Mara is a myth and those that belive are foolish. The Doctor is running out of time as he has lost Tegan and strange events begin to happen within the cavern Tegan spoke of. Can the Doctor stop the Mara for good? Check out in Snakedance.