The Androids of Tara

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101 – The Androids of Tara
Doctor Who serial

Romana meets her first doppleganger, the Princess Strella
Cast
Doctor Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor)
Companions John Leeson (K-9 Mk. II)
Mary Tamm (Romana I)
Production
Writer David Fisher
Director Michael Hayes
Script editor Anthony Read
Producer Graham Williams
Executive producer(s) None
Production code 5D
Series Season 16
Length 4 episodes, 25 mins each
Originally broadcast November 25–December 16, 1978
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by →
The Stones of Blood The Power of Kroll

The Androids of Tara is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from November 25 to December 16, 1978.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Finding the fourth segment of the Key to Time was simple enough, but holding onto it may be another matter. The Fourth Doctor and Romana find themselves embroiled in the political games of the planet Tara, where doubles, android or otherwise, complicate the coronation of Prince Reynart.

[edit] Plot

The society of the planet Tara is a mix of the feudal and the futuristic, with a rigid social monarchical hierarchy developed alongside a skill in advanced electronics and android making, which is an ability endowed on the lesser orders. Centuries earlier a plague wiped out nine tenths of the population and the peasants, abandoned by the nobles at that time, began building androids to deal with labour shortages. The planet is now troubled by a struggle for the crown and the power on Tara. The rightful heir, Prince Reynart, is facing a challenge to his rule and coronation from his cousin, Count Grendel of Gracht, a suave but deadly villain who has kidnapped Reynart’s sweetheart, the Princess Strella, and is holding her captive to persuade Reynart not to take the throne.

The Fourth Doctor and Romana arrive on Tara in search of the fourth segment of The Key to Time and, for once, the quest is simple. While the Doctor goes fishing, Romana identifies and transforms the fourth segment alone – it was disguised as a segment of a Grachtian statue – though her luck does not last. She is attacked by a native Taran bear and only saved by Count Grendel, who confiscates the segment as an unregistered mineral and insists that the injured Romana accompanies him to his castle. Once there, it become apparent that Grendel believes she is an android. This assumption is based on her exact physical resemblance to the captive Strella — and Romana too is imprisoned like the Princess.

The swordsmen Zadek and Farrah have meanwhile recruited the Doctor to the party of Prince Reynart. He agrees to help repair an android copy of the Prince which is to be used to help him reach his throne and crown by diverting the attention of Grendel’s men while the real Prince slips into the coronation chamber through a back way. This plot looks plausible, but Grendel strikes first, drugging the Prince’s retinue and kidnapping Reynart himself. When the Doctor and the swordsmen recover they decide to change the original plan and crown the android Reynart instead. The party move through the tunnels beneath the royal castle to get to the throne room so that the facsimile Reynart can be crowned, for if he is not there at the correct moment then Grendel may be chosen under the law to claim the crown. The real Reynart was wounded in his capture and has been imprisoned with Romana at Castle Gracht to prevent any legitimate succession. By their elaborate ruse, the Doctor and his party succeed in getting the android Prince to the throne room and the coronation begins. However, the android Prince is damaged and it is clear the ruse will not hold for long. After the Prince is crowned King, Strella appears and swear loyalty to the King. Although struck by her resemblance to Romana, the Doctor realizes she is an android and hits her on the head with the King's sceptre.

K-9 is enlisted from the TARDIS to provide armed support and scanning intelligence that confirms that the Count has the Prince, the Princess, and Romana in his castle. Shortly afterward, Till, Grendel’s manservant, arrives at the Reynart estate and offers the Doctor a chance to collect Romana from the Pavilion of the Summer Winds, a nearby gazebo. It is, as ever, a trap. Grendel knows the Doctor is the man who has deprived him of the throne and has persuaded his android maker Madam Lamia, who is in love with him, to make an android in the image of Romana that is programmed to kill. While this is happening, the real Romana manages to escape from Castle Gracht and heads off to find the Doctor. She arrives at the Pavilion in the aftermath of Grendel’s attack, which has left Lamia dead, and helps the Doctor flee. The situation is soon reversed as Grendel succeeds in destroying the Reynart android and then recapturing the errant Romana. The evil Count now wishes Romana (as Strella) to marry the real King, who will then be killed, leaving Grendel free to take her hand himself and be declared the legitimate King of Tara.

Worried by the length of time a siege would take, the Doctor resorts to other means to get his friends back from Castle Gracht. K-9 is used to help them gain access to the castle by means of the moat and underground tunnels. The Doctor reaches the throne room just in time to stop the sham Reynart marriage to Romana. He then engages the Count in a deadly fight with electro-swords, defeating him and forcing the villain to jump into his own moat and swim for his survival.

Romana has meanwhile freed Strella and the royal party is united, with Grendel disgraced and presumably on his way to exile. It is a time of reunions: Reynart with his love Strella; and the Doctor and Romana with the fourth segment of the Key and the TARDIS – once K-9 has been retrieved from a boat in the moat.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Cast notes

[edit] Continuity

  • This is the fourth of six linked serials that comprise the whole of Season 16, known collectively as The Key to Time.

[edit] Production

  • According to the DVD commentary, Mary Tamm herself designed Romana's distinctive purple outfit after the originally planned costume proved unsuitable.
  • While Doctor Who opening credits are typically ordered story title-author-episode number, this story's order was story title-episode number-author.
  • Unnamed in the credits, the atmospheric location work was performed at Leeds Castle, Kent.

[edit] Outside references

The plot of the serial is inspired by The Prisoner of Zenda. In fact, among the working titles were The Androids Of Zenda, The Androids Of Zend and The Prisoners Of Zend.

[edit] In print

Doctor Who book
Book cover
Doctor Who and the Androids of Tara
Series Target novelisations
Release number 3
Writer Terrance Dicks
Publisher Target Books
Cover artist Andrew Skilleter
ISBN 0 426 201086
Release date 24 April 1980
Preceded by Doctor Who and the Stones of Blood
Followed by Doctor Who and the Power of Kroll

A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in April 1980. For many years it was the most difficult for collectors to locate.

[edit] Broadcast, VHS and DVD releases

  • This story was released on VHS in May 1995
  • This serial, along with the rest of season sixteen, was released in North America as part of the Key to Time box set which was released on region 2 DVD on September 24, 2007[1].

[edit] References

  1. ^ "DVD News", BBC, 18 May 2007. 

[edit] External links

[edit] Reviews

[edit] Target novelisation

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Doctor Who season 16 serials
The Key to Time