The Armageddon Factor

103 – The Armageddon Factor
Doctor Who serial
The Doctor and Romana question Princess Astra about the mysterious third planet.
Cast
Doctor Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor)
Companions Mary Tamm (Romana) John Leeson (Voice of K9)
Others John Woodvine — The Marshal Lalla Ward — Princess Astra Davyd Harries — Shapp Ian Saynor — Merak William Squire — The Shadow Barry Jackson — Drax Valentine Dyall — The Guardian Ian Liston — 'Hero' Susan Skipper — 'Heroine' John Cannon, Harry Fielder — Guards Iain Armstrong — Technician Pat Gorman — Pilot
Production
Directed by	Michael Hayes
Written by	Bob Baker Dave Martin
Script editor	Anthony Read Douglas Adams (uncredited)
Produced by	Graham Williams David Maloney (uncredited)
Executive producer(s)	None
Incidental music composer	Dudley Simpson
Production code	5F
Series	Season 16
Length	6 episodes, 25 minutes each
Originally broadcast	20 January – 24 February 1979
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → The Power of Kroll Destiny of the Daleks

The Armageddon Factor is the sixth and final serial of the 16th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 20 January to 24 February 1979. It was the last to feature Mary Tamm as Romana.

The serial is set on the planets Atrios and Zeos, and another planet in between them. In the serial, the war between Atrios and Zeos is nearing its end. Mentalis, a commandant computer on Zeos, and the Marshal of Atrios (John Woodvine), plot to wipe each other out. At the same time, the Shadow (William Squire), a henchman of the Black Guardian (Valentine Dyall), steals the time and space vessel the TARDIS, which contains the first five segments of the powerful Key to Time, and kidnaps Princess Astra of Atrios (Lalla Ward), who is the sixth and final segment.

Plot

In their search for the final segment of the Key to Time, the Fourth Doctor and Romana arrive on the planet Atrios, which has endured a recent bombing by their neighbouring planet Zeos, with whom they are at war. The Marshal of Atrios is about to launch a counterstrike on Zeos, but the Doctor finds that Zeos is deserted save for the giant computer Mentalis, which is controlling the war. He also discovers that the true opponent is a third planet called the Planet of Evil, ruled by "the Shadow". The Shadow, an agent of the Black Guardian, has Princess Astra of Atrios captive, threatening to torture her if she doesn't give him the location of the final segment of the Key to Time (which she doesn't know).

After disabling Mentalis, with the assistance of Romana and K9, the Doctor creates a substitute sixth segment out of chronodyne, which gives the Key enough power to create a time loop in which to trap the Marshal's ship (armed with missiles for the final strike) as well as the Mentalis control room. On the Planet of Evil, the Doctor encounters an old Academy mate named Drax, who has been employed under duress by the Shadow but agrees to help the Doctor.

The Shadow wants the Key for himself, and forces the Doctor to retrieve it for him. The Doctor leads a Mute to his TARDIS and opens the door, but is suddenly shrunk to tiny size by Drax, who then shrinks himself using the dimensional stabiliser from his own (in-need-of-repair) TARDIS. Originally, Drax misinterpreted the Doctor's plan and shrank the Doctor instead of the mute.

The Mute returns to the Shadow with the Key, but the Doctor realises why the Shadow has requested it: Astra is the final segment, and is transformed in front of everyone. Using their diminished size, the Doctor and Drax smuggle themselves into the Shadow's lair inside of the now-restored K9. Drax again uses the stabiliser, this time to return them to their normal size. The Doctor snatches the partially assembled Key and the final segment, and disappears with Romana and K9 in the TARDIS, assembling the Key after dealing with the Mentalis and the Marshal's missiles.

The White Guardian appears to congratulate the Doctor on finding and assembling the Key to Time, and requests that it be sent to him. However, the Doctor, realising that it is actually the Black Guardian in disguise—due to his lack of compassion for the fate of Princess Astra—orders the Key to re-disperse. Enraged, the Black Guardian, threatens to kill him. In an attempt to evade him, the Doctor fits a randomiser into the TARDIS guidance system, sending it to an unknown location in time and space, and leaving the Doctor with no idea of where they are headed, and the Guardian being unable to follow.^[1]

Production

Working titles for this story included Armageddon. This story was the last that Bob Baker wrote with Dave Martin. Baker's next story, Nightmare of Eden, would be a solo effort. In the original draft of the script, the Black Guardian did not appear at all. He was only inserted in the later drafts by incoming script editor Douglas Adams and Producer Graham Williams.

Broadcast and reception

Twenty-three minutes into transmission of Part Five, a technical breakdown resulted in the episode going off the air for fifty seconds. The break occurred at the point where the Doctor is being escorted to the TARDIS by the Mute; and the Shadow makes to remove his control device from Princess Astra, saying "Now, my Princess, your work is done. Your destiny is at-". Music was played ("Gotcha" by Tom Scott, better known as the theme music to NBC's Starsky & Hutch) and a TEMPORARY FAULT caption slide displayed until the fault was rectified. When transmission restarted, the videotape had been slightly rewound so there was a repeat of the action immediately prior to the break — with the Shadow's line also finally completed as "Your destiny is at hand." A reconstruction of the break can be found as a bonus item on the serial's remastered DVD release.

Paul Cornell, Martin Day, and Keith Topping gave the serial an unfavourable review in The Discontinuity Guide (1995), describing it as "a dreary end-of-season Oh-my-God-the-money's-run-out 'spectacular'" without subtle acting.^[3] In The Television Companion (1998), David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker wrote that The Armageddon Factor was "entertaining enough in itself, with some good direction by Michael Hayes and generally fine production values, but ultimately fails to tie up all the loose ends and leaves the over-arching plot strangely unresolved". They praised the Shadow but felt that the other characters were one-dimensional, and called the ending a "cop-out".^[4] In 2011, Patrick Mulkern of Radio Times stated that the serial "hugely disappoints, yet it's not an unmitigated disaster". He criticised the characterisation and much of the plot, but praised the direction and the Shadow.^[5] On the other hand, DVD Talk's Justin Felix gave the serial four out of five stars, saying that it "packs more of a wallop than the previous two stories" and had everything typical of Doctor Who. Felix also called it Mary Tamm's best performance.^[6]

Commercial releases

In print

Doctor Who and the Armageddon Factor

Author	Terrance Dicks
Cover artist	Bill Donohoe
Series	Doctor Who book: Target novelisations
Release number	5
Publisher	Target Books
Publication date	26 June 1980
ISBN	0-426-20104-3

A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in June 1980. A typo has the Marshall introduce himself as the warlord of Zeos.

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Fourth Doctor

• The Armageddon Factor at BBC Online
• The Armageddon Factor at Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time (Travel)
• The Armageddon Factor at the Doctor Who Reference Guide