And we’re back, after what was probably a thrilling adventure with some alien called Marco Polo who rode Ian like a horse as he belted Barbara about in a giant hamster ball.

HEADCANON SAYS THIS IS MOSTLY TRUE

This is Terry Nation’s (ancestor to Uha Nation) second episode and it starts quite well only to piss about and fall down at the end. The story differs from the prior ones in that it’s a narrative with a mission, retrieving the titular Keys of Marinus, as opposed to the explorers “accidental adventures”. The first episode fits the standard mould of landing somewhere and poking about, but then it’s 5 episodes of mission. This idea would be returned to in season 16’s Key to Time, which was a multi-story arc lasting the whole year. It’s a good way to drive narrative and one I wish the modern series would dip into again. The show has been weird about series arcs, preferring to repeat the hidden arc idea over and over again which seems about the only way the series can approach an idea.

The Sea of Death

There’s been a pleasant amount of immediate story continuity in these early episodes and this one continues that tradition by having Ian in his finest weeb gear for the whole story. The TARDIS crew have landed on beach made of glass lapped by a sea made of acid. Naturally, the screaming death magnet, Susan wanted to paddle in it but manages only to see her shoe dissolved. This opening episode drags and I’m torn as to whether it’s a fault of the episode itself or the slower pacing of a medium still in the process...