The Ribos Operation

If you call that being nearly killed, you haven’t lived yet.

The Fourth Doctor

Synopsis

On a mission to collect the six segments of the Key to Time, the Doctor and Romana travel to the planet Ribos where the first segment is protected by the monstrous Shrivenzale.

Review

The Ribos Operation kicks off a season-long arc that sees the Doctor on the hunt for the Key to Time, with two new companions in the bargain, Romana and K9 (Mark II). Both of these characters would remain with the Doctor to nearly the end of this regeneration’s life, albeit with a change of actor for both along the way. For the purposes of this blog, it is also the penultimate Robert Holmes story I will review, which feels like a significant milestone, although it will be at least another 12 months before we reach The Power of Kroll!

Season 16 is the show’s first attempt to tell a story over the course of a whole season. Whilst the show had had long multi-part serials, like The Daleks’ Master Plan, or loose arcs, like Season 8 having stories that feature the Master. This is the first that would have a narrative device, the Key to Time, and the six parts that the Doctor needs to find to keep them from the grasp of the Black Guardian. The show would try a season-long story for Trial of a Time Lord and, following the revival in 2005, would feature series long arcs as a form of storytelling. The Key to Time being separated into six parts and scattered across the universe breaks down neatly into a six-story arc, and I do quite like the fact that The Ribos Operation sets out that these stories won’t simply be the case that we are waiting for the Doctor and Romana to find the segment – here, they find it straightaway, but are unable to retrieve it until the end of the story.

Robert Holmes does a good job of creating this primitive world which is ripe for exploitation by the Graff-Vynda K and the conman Garron, however, it is interesting that the shorthand for primitive in the 1970s was actors using a West Country accent! Ribos feels as though it is a world that has been really well thought out and that Holmes has put his writing talent to good use here, making it one of the more memorable worlds that we only ever see once on television. Holmes is also responsible for introducing another element to Who mythos in the shape of the Guardians. They are notable for being more powerful than the Time Lords, who have previously been shown to be one of the most powerful races in the universe. It’s just a shame that the first time we meet the White Guardian, he is very clearly on a rather plain set, sitting in some rather non-descript wicker furniture. Holmes does a good job of setting up the concept of the season and a compelling story, but Part 4 does feel a bit ropey and overlong as the characters go into the catacombs.

The standout of this story is definitely Iain Cuthbertson, who plays the intergalactic conman Garron. He is rather charming, despite creating a difficult situation with regards to the Graff Vynda K by setting up a fraudulent transaction to sell the planet of Ribos to the tyrant in exile. This story does feature a double acts in the shape of Garron and Unstoffe, and the Graff and Sholak, which all work really well.

One more thing—-your name.

What about my name?

It’s too long. By the time I’ve called out, ‘Look out’—what’s your name?

Romanadvoratrelundar.

By the time I’ve called that out, you could be dead! I’ll call you Romana.

I don’t like Romana.

It’s either Romana or Fred.

All right, call me Fred!

Good. Come on, Romana!

The Fourth Doctor and Romana I

The Ribos Operation introduces a new companion in the shape of Romana, a Time Lady fresh out of the Academy and the eighth companion in the 1970s. The companions we see introduced in the 1970s all feel distinct, and from Liz to Sarah, Harry to Romana, they are all unique. Romana is perhaps one of the most interesting of these. As another one of the Doctor’s own species, she is academically brighter than the Doctor, who she takes glee in reminding scraped a pass in his exams at the Academy, but she is naive as to the ways of the universe, an experience that the Doctor is admittedly reluctant to provide her with to begin with. Mary Tamm feels as though she is not going to be one to take the Doctor’s nonsense, and perhaps that also applies to Tamm’s relationship with her co-star, which already feels much more respectful and settled than the one shared between Baker and her predecessor, Louise Jameson.

Tom Baker feels more subdued here. That might be down to the change of co-star or feeling the effects of that dog bite wound that can be seen on his top lip, or maybe the fact that this is a Robert Holmes script. That doesn’t mean that he’s any less magnetic on screen.

Verdict: The Ribos Operation creates a good concept for The Key to Time. 8/10

Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Mary Tamm (Romana), John Leeson (Voice of K9), Cyril Luckham (The Guardian), Iain Cuthbertson (Garron), Nigel Plaskitt (Unstoffe), Paul Seed (Graff Vynda-K), Robert Keegan (Sholakh), Prentis Hancock (Shrieve Captain), Oliver Maguire and John Hamill (Shrieves), Timothy Bateson (Binro) and Anne Tirard (The Seeker).

Writer: Robert Holmes

Director: George Spenton-Foster

Producer: Graham Williams

Composer: Dudley Simpson

Original Broadcast Dates: 2 – 23 September 1978

Behind the Scenes

• Working titles for this story were Operation, The Galactic Conman and The Ribos File.
• This is the last season opener to introduce a new companion until Rose.
• All four parts of The Ribos Operation ran over, leading to a lot of cut material, which ended up in the novelisation written by Ian Marter.
• Despite uncertainty about whether K9 should return due to the technical difficulties that the prop had caused during production of Season 15, Graham Williams approved the introduction of K9 Mark 2, on the assurance that the prop would work better.
• Tom Baker wears a scar from being bitten by a dog on his lip during this story in a pub incident.
• Elisabeth Sladen was approached to return as the companion for this story, however, declined the opportunity.

Cast Notes

• Prentis Hancock had previously appeared in Spearhead from Space, Planet of the Daleks and Planet of Evil.
• Anne Tirard had previously played Locusta in The Romans.

Best Moment

It’s got to be the Doctor being falling into a cartoonish net very quickly in Part One!

Best Quote

Couldn’t I just take K9?

K9 is a mere machine.

He is a very sensitive machine!

The Fourth Doctor and the White Guardian

Previous Fourth Doctor review: The Invasion of Time

For more Fourth Doctor reviews, click here.