Renegades, Fun Characters and a Strong Ongoing Story Arc
The Key to Time by Vivienne Dunstan
I’m not sure when I first became aware of Doctor Who, though my Dad remembers watching the Leela stories. I first started watching it in 1978 though, the Key to Time series of stories, with Romana 1. And it hooked me completely from the very start.
Admittedly the story quality was erratic. There were standout classics for me, such as The Ribos Operation, and The Stones of Blood — particularly the Earth-bound bits of the latter. I also greatly enjoyed The Androids of Tara. But then there were not so good ones like The Power of Kroll, and The Armageddon Factor. Even as a 5-year-old watching back then I struggled to find redeeming qualities in the plots of those two stories.
But that didn’t matter at all, because the Doctor and Romana 1 were such a fun pair to watch on screen. For me this year was all about the interplay between the main characters, including K-9, albeit sugared with imaginative storytelling, such as planet-eating planets, and complex stories involving body doubles — even if back then I didn’t know the literary origins of that one!
I also liked how the Doctor and Romana were always shown throughout this year as renegades, going against authority figures. For example in The Ribos Operation one of their first scenes is a heist, where they break into a treasure room, and try to recover the first segment of the Key to Time. Not conventional heroes to root for at all, but really interesting for the viewer to watch. In other stories the subterfuge would be more subtle, for example in The Pirate Planet where the pair try to figure out what is going on by quizzing local inhabitants. And the Doctor would constantly diffuse a situation with a witty remark, puncturing any inflated egos. And likewise Romana 1, a wonderful role model for any young girl watching, always had a clever retort to the Doctor’s dafter comments.
The Key to Time was an experiment in many ways for Doctor Who, as a long-running piece of storytelling. But for this new viewer it worked in spades, because it showed me everything I needed to know to enjoy the series. I still enjoy watching the series of stories years later, and Romana 1 is still one of my top three favourite companions. I was devastated when she regenerated, though that is perhaps a tale for another time!
Admittedly the story quality was erratic. There were standout classics for me, such as The Ribos Operation, and The Stones of Blood — particularly the Earth-bound bits of the latter. I also greatly enjoyed The Androids of Tara. But then there were not so good ones like The Power of Kroll, and The Armageddon Factor. Even as a 5-year-old watching back then I struggled to find redeeming qualities in the plots of those two stories.
But that didn’t matter at all, because the Doctor and Romana 1 were such a fun pair to watch on screen. For me this year was all about the interplay between the main characters, including K-9, albeit sugared with imaginative storytelling, such as planet-eating planets, and complex stories involving body doubles — even if back then I didn’t know the literary origins of that one!
I also liked how the Doctor and Romana were always shown throughout this year as renegades, going against authority figures. For example in The Ribos Operation one of their first scenes is a heist, where they break into a treasure room, and try to recover the first segment of the Key to Time. Not conventional heroes to root for at all, but really interesting for the viewer to watch. In other stories the subterfuge would be more subtle, for example in The Pirate Planet where the pair try to figure out what is going on by quizzing local inhabitants. And the Doctor would constantly diffuse a situation with a witty remark, puncturing any inflated egos. And likewise Romana 1, a wonderful role model for any young girl watching, always had a clever retort to the Doctor’s dafter comments.
The Key to Time was an experiment in many ways for Doctor Who, as a long-running piece of storytelling. But for this new viewer it worked in spades, because it showed me everything I needed to know to enjoy the series. I still enjoy watching the series of stories years later, and Romana 1 is still one of my top three favourite companions. I was devastated when she regenerated, though that is perhaps a tale for another time!