Friday 6 April 2012

501 The Armageddon Factor Part Two

EPISODE: The Armageddon Factor Part Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 501
STORY NUMBER: 103
TRANSMITTED: 27 January 1979
WRITER: Bob Baker & Dave Martin
DIRECTOR: Michael Hayes
SCRIPT EDITOR: Anthony Read
PRODUCER: Graham Williams
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - The Key to Time Box Set (Ribos Operation/Pirate Planet/Stones of Blood/Androids of Tara/Power of Kroll/The Armageddon Factor)

The Doctor, Romana & Merak return to K-Block, but discover Astra gone, so then return to the Marshall's control room who now treats them like old friends. The Marshall has had K-9 recycled but the Doctor rescues him from the furnace. However Romana notices a device on the Marshall's neck and further investigation of the Marshall's Mirror, which he continually stands in front of, reveals a skull hidden behind it. The Doctor promises the Marshall a psychological deterrent against the Zeons but needs to speak with one. The Marshall says he knows of a secret transmat to Zeos but when the Doctor investigates he is captures by the same black clad strangers who kidnapped Astra and transmatted away....

The thing I remember most about this episode is the lengthy sequence where K-9 is sent along a conveyor belt to the scrap metal furnace. Five & Half year old Philip loved it. Thirty Eight & a half year old Philip looks at it and thinks "Filler". It serves no purpose to the plot and all it adds is a bit of quickly forgotten about peril. I suppose you could argue that it illustrates the dire straits that the Arions are in that everything must be recycled but the presence of only 6 Atrion battleships makes this point quite clearly. The main source of mystery here comes from The Marshall of Atrios: who is pulling his strings?

Our old friend Mister Harry Fielder makes a rare credited speaking appearance as a guard in this episode. For all his other, mainly uncredited, Doctor Who appearances see his IMDB entry

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