The Armageddon Factor

Whenever you go into a new situation, you must always believe the best until you find out exactly what the situation is all about. Then believe the worst.

The Fourth Doctor

Synopsis

Looking for the final segment of the Key to Time, the Doctor and Romana arrive on the planet Atrios which is in a major nuclear war with the neighbouring world of Zeos.

Review

The Armageddon Factor has the task of wrapping up the Key to Time series, seeing the Fourth Doctor and Romana seeking the sixth piece of the Key. That’s a challenging premise, especially given that the Black Guardian has not featured in any stories to date. Whilst the Doctor was warned about the White Guardian’s antithesis in The Ribos Operation, he has been conspicious by his absence throughout the previous five installments.

This story is crammed full of ideas. That doesn’t sound like necessarily a bad thing for a six-part story given Doctor Who’s history of airing stories of this length that do not have the plot to justify that. The problem here is that there are so many ideas that do not feel as though they are fully fleshed out. The story starts with a soap opera which acts as government propaganda for a planet under siege, and a hospital full of injured civilians. The story then moves on from this, and throws other ideas into the mix. Some of these would be enough to sustain whole stories. There is certainly a story to be told about the reality of war and the role of propaganda, but the story doesn’t really stay here much beyond the first episode, even with the inclusion of Merak, the pacifist medic. It’s particularly jarring when the story tells us as that the Zeons are using nuclear weaponry. We then go into the discovery of the Shadow, him turning Princess Astra and K9 and then the arrival of another renegade Time Lord in the shape of Drax. The conflict between Atrios and Zeos kind of falls by the wayside when the Doctor puts the Marshal in a time loop, and the third planet just confuses things. It feels like a lot of elements to throw into a story that is supposed to wrap things up. This is also a criticism that can be thrown at the ending of the story and the wider arc, which sees the Doctor chose to scatter the parts of the Key across the universe to stop the Black Guardian getting his hands on them. Considering that we had spent 25 episodes trying to hunt down the individual pieces, this feels really unsatisfying.

That being said, the Black Guardian setting a trap for the Doctor when it comes to the final piece is quite a good scheme, however, it would perhaps be a bit more effective if the Doctor was going up against the Guardian himself rather than the Shadow, who is a glorified sidekick with delusions of grandeur. The Black Guardian only features briefly at the end of this story, and although the Doctor and Romana mention the threat he poses, we never really get to see that brought to the screen. Whilst the White Guardian states that he is unable to interfere, it seems really bizarre that the Black Guardian would be held to the same standards.

It is easy to overlook odd or nonsensical elements of stories that are well constructed, whilst in stories that aren’t highlight them ridiculously. The Armageddon Factor falls into the latter category, especially in respect of the segments of the Key to Time. Whilst the White Guardian tells the Doctor that the segments can be anything, the sixth and final piece being Princess Astra seems like a step too far. Whilst The Pirate Planet has a similarly credulity-stretching idea, that story is infinitely more entertaining. Ultimately, this is reversed at the end of the story, with the Doctor’s decision to scatter the parts once more bringing Princess Astra back to life.

The guest cast are a mixed bag here. The standouts for me are Lalla Ward as Princess Astra and Barry Jackson as Drax. It’s easy to see why the production team wanted to have Lalla Ward come back after Mary Tamm decided that she did not wish to continue as Romana. She brings a necessary force to the character, which is much needed when she is paired off with Merak. Meanwhile, Barry Jackson is a nice comedic insert in the final parts of the story as the Time Lord renegade Drax, and it is easy to see why Big Finish have brought the character back. I liked the fact that the character had also got stuck on Earth and been turned into a wheeler-dealer type character. Jackson enlivens the later part of the story.

Whilst Tom Baker was definitely difficult to work with during this period, it is not bleeding through to the screen. Baker continues to be charming and captivating when he is on screen. The director, Michael Hayes, stated that he struggled so much with him that he nearly had a blazing row on set with him, however, due to the distances between the gallery and the set, found that he had calmed down by the time he got closer. As Baker had been the lead of the show for five years by the time of this story, it is perhaps understandable that he felt that he should have more of a say about the direction of the show moving forwards. His chemistry with Mary Tamm has really developed nicely through the series, which is something that Bob Baker and Dave Martin seem to understand to their credit. Those first few moments where Romana keeps coming to the conclusion before the Doctor is quite a lot of fun.

Verdict: The Armageddon Factor is a messy story with too many ideas to ever be fully coherent. 2/10

Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Mary Tamm (Romana), John Leeson (Voice of K9), John Woodvine (Marshal), Lalla Ward (Princess Astra), Davyd Harries (Shapp), Ian Saynor (Merak), Ian Liston (‘Hero’), Susan Skipper (‘Heroine’), John Cannon (Guard), Harry Fielder (Guard), William Squire (The Shadow), Iain Armstrong (Technician), Pat Gorman (Pilot), Barry Jackson (Drax) & Valentine Dyall (The Black Guardian).

Writers: Bob Baker and Dave Martin

Director: Michael Hayes

Producer: Graham Williams

Parts: 6

Original Broadcast Dates: 20 January – 24 February 1979

Behind the Scenes

• This story had the working title of Armageddon.
• The first episode was the 500th episode of Doctor Who, and aired on Tom Baker’s birthday.
• The final scene of the story was written by Graham Williams and incoming script editor Douglas Adams.

Cast Notes

• This is the final story to feature Mary Tamm as Romana. The character would regenerate offscreen and be played by this story’s guest star, Lalla Ward, in the next story Destiny of the Daleks.
• John Cannon also played Elgin in The Hand of Fear. He also appeared, but was uncredited, in stories including The Talons of Weng Chiang, Mawdryn Undead and Enlightenment.
• Harry Fielder had previously appeared in The Seeds of Doom. He had also had uncredited roles in The Enemy of the World, Planet of the Spiders and The Deadly Assassin.
• Barry Jackson previously appeared in The Romans as Ascaris and Jeff Garvey in Galaxy 4 and Mission to the Unknown.
• Pat Gorman has the seventh most appearances in Doctor Who serials. He had credited appearances in stories including The Invasion, The Sea Devils, Genesis of the Daleks and The Masque of Mandrogora. He had uncredited roles in many stories, including The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Seeds of Death, The Three Doctors and The Caves of Androzani.

Best Moment

It’s difficult to find a best moment in The Armageddon Factor. Any moment that Tom Baker and Mary Tamm are on screen.

Best Quote

I’ve stopped the universe. Still, they’ll never notice. Just imagine, somewhere someone’s just slipped on a banana skin and he’ll be wondering forever when he’s going to hit the ground.

The Fourth Doctor

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