Brief Summary
This video summarizes Season 16 of Doctor Who, which aired from September 1978 to February 1979. The season is unique as it presents one long story arc where the Doctor, K9, and Time Lord Romana search for the six segments of the Key to Time. The video reviews each of the six stories that make up the season, highlighting their plots, strengths, and weaknesses.
- Season 16 of Doctor Who features a continuous story arc focused on finding the Key to Time.
- Each story within the season has unique elements, ranging from medieval sci-fi farces to over-the-top adventures.
- The season includes contributions from notable writers like Douglas Adams.
Season 16 of Doctor Who, broadcasted from September 2, 1978, to February 24, 1979, stands out for its serialized format. The Doctor, accompanied by K9 and the Time Lord Romana, embarks on a quest to locate the scattered pieces of the Key to Time, a powerful artifact essential for maintaining temporal equilibrium. Their mission is assigned by the White Guardian, a transcendental being far surpassing the Time Lords in power. The season consists of six interconnected stories, each dedicated to finding a fragment of the Key, culminating in its reconstruction in the final episode.
"The Ribos Operation" marks the beginning of the Key to Time quest, where the first fragment is concealed as a piece of Jethrik on the planet Ribos. Ribos is characterized by a medieval level of technology. The narrative unfolds as a blend of medieval and sci-fi elements, featuring a character from Earth attempting to sell the planet to an alien tyrant for its valuable Jethrik mineral. The story involves deceit and betrayal among various characters.
"The Pirate Planet," penned by Douglas Adams, is a standout story known for its over-the-top nature. The TARDIS arrives on the planet Zanak, a planet that has been hollowed out and converted into a spaceship. Zanak materializes around other planets, extracts their resources, and leaves behind compressed husks in a trophy room. The inhabitants of Zanak are searching for immortality.
"The Stones of Blood" is a four-part story featuring evil alien rocks that feed on blood, a cult of Druids who worship these rocks, a 4,000-year-old alien criminal hiding on Earth, and robots. The story begins as a horror story but evolves into something different. It also features one of the earliest intergalactic gateways.
"The Androids of Tara" is based on "The Prisoner of Zenda" in space. The TARDIS lands on a planet where Romana is mistaken for Princess Strella, an android double. The Doctor repairs a robot double to attend a coronation.
"The Power of Kroll" is set on the third moon of Delta Magna, where the indigenous people worship a god called Kroll, who is actually a giant octopus. A mining company has awakened Kroll. The fifth piece of the Key to Time is located inside Kroll. The story is noted for its budget limitations, which affected the special effects and creature design.
In "The Armageddon Factor," the final piece of the Key to Time is found amidst a war between the planets Zaius and Atreus. Princess Astra of Atreus is trying to arrange peace, but Zaius is controlled by a computer called Mentalis, working for a shadowy figure called the Shadow, who is working for the Black Guardian. The Doctor meets Drax, a renegade Time Lord, and discovers that Princess Astra is the final piece of the Key to Time. The White Guardian arrives to claim the completed Key, but the Doctor realizes something important, leading to a twist ending.
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Transcript
Full transcript of “A Quick Guide to Classic Who Season 16”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:17 the piece season 16 of Doctor Who rot from the 2nd of September 1978 until the 24th of February 1979 it was unusual it was one long story arc as the doctor k9 and the new companion the Time Lord Romana which is short for much longer name what's your name Romana drew at now under a lot
1:03 of time I've called that out you could be dead anyway Romana gets assigned to help the doctor to retrieve the various parts - the key to time a very powerful artifact that maintains the equilibrium of time they're sent on the quest for the white Guardian one of the guardians of time a group of transcendental semi gods one of the groups that dwarfed the Time Lords with their power but the new show forgot existed so the doctor could be the highest authority yes I'm negatively comparing new to old who if I pretended the show's existed in a vacuum I've been doing a disservice to both it knew who the doctor is the highest authority a lonely God it was strides the universe and old who is usually a pretty smart guy who does [ __ ] one of his main characteristics in classic who is that he's a rebel the attempt to have him be a rebel and new
1:49 who but it doesn't work why because he's the highest authority you cannot stick it to the man when you are literally the man this is six stories that follow on from each other each deals with the doctor and Romana collecting a piece of the key so what can we reconstruct it in the final story like trial of a Time Lord in season 23 this can be seen as one massive story or several smaller linked ones an away story one the rebus operation the first part of the key has been disguised as a piece of jefra connery boss we boss is an alien planet roughly to medieval level of technology Jarek is a rare mineral the most precious material in the galaxy the whole story is like a weird medieval sci-fi farce there's a
2:35 guy from Earth selling the planet with other people's consent to an alien tyrant he wants the Jarek but the Jarek was planted there's lots of people screwing other people over while a few of the guest stars yell a lot I'm not the world's biggest fan of the season overall and while this is a little better than average for the season this story leaves me pretty cold it's a rare misfire from Robert Holmes at least yet the doctor arranged for a villain to be exploded because we all know I [ __ ] love that [ __ ] the next story the pirate planet was written by someone famous and if you don't know much about classic who this might surprise you hmm it was written by
3:31 yes Douglas Adams's he worked on Doctor Who between co-writing one or two Monty Python sketches with Graham Chapman and writing Hitchhiker's Guide to the galaxy I know I was just aspiring the season and I meant it but this story is one of the better ones it's also [ __ ] insane the TARDIS materializes in slosh on flash in slush on the planet zanac a hollowed-out planet that has been converted into a massive spaceship it materializes around other planets sucks all the useful material from them and moves on leaving their compressed husks in the planets trophy room the concept is simply staggering pointless but staggering and gratified that you appreciate it appreciate it appreciate it
4:17 why are they doing this it's the usual search for immortality while other people aren't too into that this is easily one of the most over-the-top stories of classic Doctor Who I came close to type in this whole part of the script in capital letters it just feels right if this story was a person it would be Brian Blessed ironically the story that Brian Blessed appears and is more restrained than this one even if Brian Blessed isn't this story is so bombastic and hammy that it overpowers Brian blasted usually a whole story being more over-the-top than a single man wouldn't be that big a deal but I remind you that Brian blasted is not just a man he's a genetically-engineered shouting machine anyway they plan on destroying the earth because loud aliens and ridiculous plots
5:03 need no reasons to destroy the earth and Douglas Adams scripts then they start with the poetry this is a very special story for Doctor Who and I don't know exactly what definition of special I'm using right now it's a bit like if regular doctor who was crossed as Farscape relaxed the third story of the season is the stones of blood it's four parts long and features evil alien rocks at feedin blood a culture of druids who like to feed evil alien rocks and to 4,000 year old alien criminal who's been laying low on earth to escape justice robots 16 seasons and 100 stories and you still can't claim the concepts are getting boring if the story was crap that it's still been achievement I'm not the biggest fan of the story but I feel like it's the mix of random quirkiness pretty much right it begins
5:51 like a horror story it ends up as something else entirely the story is noteworthy for featuring one of the earliest intergalactic gateways 1978 it's all subtext but it's there it's so very there I've one last nice thing to say about this story the ghast cast are all [ __ ] brilliant from there we go to the androids of Terra aka the prisoner of Zenda in space I'm guessing someone thought the Philip Hinchcliffe your ratings has something to do with ripping off stories and so made this if so jokes on them Graeme Williams got the highest ratings in the show's history next season the TARDIS arrives on the Green Planet era were almost immediately Romana finds the fourth part of the key to time
6:37 unfortunately she's even more almost immediately captured by the evil count Grendel he thinks she's the Android double of princess Strela betrothed to Prince Reinhardt who also gets kidnapped we can't be crowned king but the doctor repairs his robot double so it can attend the coronation and you know just to give this one a mess there's a couple of funny jokes if you speak Dutch the costumes are i booting Lee amazing but that's pretty much all there is to see here it's the prisoner of Zenda in space and I have very little time for the prisoner of Zenda whether in space or otherwise if you like the sound of that then check it out the second to last story is the power of crawl not when a Robert Holmes is best it's set on the very wet third moon of the planet Delta Magna where the
7:24 indigenous people worship a god called crawl unfortunately an offworld mining company have managed to wake him up crawl isn't really a god but rather a really big and angry octopus and okay I'll do it and that was perfect things are going pretty much as usual cruel offworlders stupid locals giant [ __ ] monster but then it's revealed that the fifth part - the key to time is
8:10 inside crawl and that's where it gets complicated this is one of the stories for the classic who issues with budget budgets and budget really comes to the fore usually things look a bit [ __ ] the budget had not kept up with inflation so now that she would less me to work with an attack with Hartnell and yet they tried their best to imagine different breathtaking usually that leaves effects that you can take as they are and deal with but this story's different this story it looks like the costume and monster designers were actively trying to sync the episode pun intended it's an OK story I suppose but geez the special effects and creature designer awful distractingly awful the dialogues good but that's about it k9 doesn't leave the TARDIS this story
8:57 because the planet was too wet this frees John Leeson who usually voices k9 to turn up as a Mook I've counted 30 tentacles on one side alone the final piece to the key 2 times found in the Armageddon factor two planets Zaius on a tree are at war Princess Astra of Atreus played below award who later married Tom Baker and Richard Dawkins yes that Richard Dawkins but but not at the same time he's trying to arrange peace unfortunately Zaius has being controlled by a computer called mentalis working for the man the war has been arranged by a shadowy figure called the shadow but shadow yeah the shadow yes the shadow the shadow the shadow the shadow yes
9:46 he's called the [ __ ] shadow the shadow the shadow the shadow right I'm not saying that word again he that must not be named is working for the black Guardian the evil version of the white Guardian so the doctor meets up with another renegade Time Lord an old classmate of his called Drax who's cockney for some reason to apply this peculiar mocap today Brixton money rickston Brixton London earth you think I turned this into excuse to yell the Tenth Doctor but I won't why I'm not really sure I'm gonna go with a more polite than even I realize an away is discovered that the final part to the key to time is princess Astra herself and to get a hold
10:33 of her and um and the war at some point the doctor and Drax shrink themselves in hide inside k9 once the key is complete the white Guardian arrives to claim it but the doctor realizes something important that there's a twist ending so I won't spoil it maybe I didn't give this season quite as much credit as I should have it's nowhere near as good as the early Tom Baker seasons like 12 or 13 but it's not all bad one or two stories even briefly cross the threshold of moderately good and it's certainly very memorable with the Armageddon factor the final piece of the Graham Williams hero comes into place Douglas Adams officially takes over as head scriptwriter it'll be a fairly short-lived partnership but it will produce some very good on some very bad
11:18 stories next season you'll be seeing while award again next season - but I'll explain why next episode join me next time when the Daleks battle the second most fabulous foes they've ever faced there's a story that never happened and John Cleese turns up you
