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Doctor Who: The Armageddon Factor: Special Edition
Starring: Tom Baker , Mary Tamm
Directed by: Michael Hayes
Produced by: Graham Williams
Written by: Dave Martin
The last stretch of the quest for the Key to Time brings the Doctor and Romana to the planet Atrios in the last days of a nuclear war with its neighboring planet Zeos. Volume 6 of The Key to Time set.
Item Number: 14986
- Format:
- DVD Fullscreen
- Region:
- 1 - More Details
- Run time:
- About 2 1/2 Hours
- Number of Discs:
- 2
- Special Features:
English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired
Audio Commentary 1 by actors Mary Tamm (Romana) and John Woodvine (The Marshal) and director Michael Hayes ● Audio Commentary 2 by actors Tom Baker (The Doctor), Mary Tamm and John Leeson (K-9) ● Production Note Option ● DVD-ROM PC / Mac feature: The Doctor Who Annual 1979, Radio Times billings● Defining Shadows "Making Of" documentary featuring writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin, designer Richard McManan-Smith, and actors Lalla Ward (Astra), David Harries (Shapp) and Barry Jackson (Drax) (15 mins) ● Directing Who Director Michael Hayes talks about his directing career (8 mins) ● Rogue Time Lords Potted history of errant Gallifreyans (13 mins) ● Pebble Mill at One 1978 Tom Baker interview (8 mins) / Interview with Dick Mills and Brian Hodgson of the Radiophonic Workshop (4 mins) ● The New Sound of Music Dick Mills on series sound effects (1 min) ● Merry Christmas Doctor Who Sketch for 1978 BBC Christmas tape (1 min) ● Late Night Story Tom Baker reads five spine-chilling stories from an unbroadcast 1978 series (69 mins) ● Alternative/Extended Scene (3 mins) ● Continuities (3 mins) ● Photo Gallery (5 mins)
The last stretch of the quest for the Key to Time brings the Doctor and Romana to the planet Atrios in the last days of a nuclear war with its neighboring planet Zeos. The Atrian ruler, Princess Astra, presses for peace, but the Marshal insists that his forces can win the war. Those near the Marshal fear that his judgment is suffering from the strain of command. He has taken to making most of his decisions following meditations before a strange black mirror. The Princess has disappeared, and the Marshal now rules unopposed. Have the Doctor and Romana arrived too late to complete their mission before Atrios is destroyed? When the Doctor learns that no living Atrian has ever met a Zeon, he proposes to travel to Zeos to negotiate for peace and the return of Princess Astra, who seems to be linked in some way to the sixth segment. He finds the planet deserted. There are no living Zeons, but they left the computer running, and it's programmed for Mutual Assured Destruction.
The final stage of their search for the segments of the Key to Time takes the Doctor and Romana to the twin planets of Atrios and Zeos. They find a full-scale interplanetary nuclear war raging. Atrios is off its orbit, and Zeos seems to have disappeared altogether. They land on Atrios and soon become involved in the war - and with the mysterious marshal in command of the Atrian forces who is intent on pursuing hostilities to their ultimate conclusion. But it soon becomes apparent that the Marshal is being controlled from somewhere else. The Doctor suspects that he and Romana have been lured into a trap, and that the Black Guardian may well be responsible for what is happening on Atrios. The final segment of the Key seems to have some connection with the Atrian royal princess, Astra. But she has been kidnapped by Zeons and taken to their planet. Doctor Who, with Romana and K9, go in search of her and find themselves trapped on Zeos. The Marshal is on his way to press home his final assault. The master computer of Zeos is programmed to destroy itself, the planet, and everything around it, if he does so. In a desperate attempt to avoid this ultimate catastrophe, the Doctor manages to rig a temporary time loop around the Marshal and the computer. He then goes in search of the Shadow, the agent of the Black Guardian who is controlling the situation from an artificial third planet. But it looks as if the Doctor and his friends are completely within the Shadow's power, and that the entire key to Time will be his. Yet help comes from an unexpected quarter when the Doctor discovers another renegade Time Lord on the Shadow's planet. Together - and with a little help from K9 - they manage to save the day.
| The Doctor | --- | Tom Baker |
| Romana | --- | Mary Tamm |
| Voice of K9 | --- | John Leeson |
| 'Hero' | --- | Ian Liston |
| 'Heroine' | --- | Susan Skipper |
| Drax | --- | Barry Jackson |
| Guard | --- | John Cannon |
| Guard | --- | Harry Fielder |
| Marshal | --- | John Woodvine |
| Merak | --- | Ian Saynor |
| Pilot | --- | Pat Gorman |
| Princess Astra | --- | Lalla Ward |
| Shapp | --- | Davyd Harries |
| Technician | --- | Iain Armstrong |
| The Guardian | --- | Valentine Dyall |
| The Shadow | --- | William Squire |
Director - Michael Hayes
Assistant Floor Manager - Steve Goldie
Assistant Floor Manager - Rosemary Padvaiskas
Costumes - Michael Burdle
Designer - Richard McManan-Smith
Make-Up - Ann Briggs
Producer - Graham Williams
Production Assistant - Ann Aronsohn
Production Unit Manager - John Nathan-Turner
Script Editor - Anthony Read
Script Editor - Douglas Adams uncredited
Special Sounds - Dick Mills
Studio Lighting - Mike Jefferies
Studio Sound - Richard Chubb
Title Music - Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, arranged by Delia Derbyshire
Visual Effects - John Horton
Writer - Bob Baker
Writer - Dave Martin
Lalla Ward plays Princess Astra. Ward was subsequently cast as the second incarnation of Romana as she had made a favourable impression on the production team.
