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Keys of Marinus was an ambitious project for its time. The idea of a six parter with a running theme and different sets and different stories each week would be easy with modern production methods. But in 1964 it was a challenge. The story is accessible, despite feeling a bit dated. 9/10
Commentary William Russel (Ian) Carole Ann Ford (Susan) John Gorrie (director) and Raymond Cusick (designer) are the commentators, moderated by Clayton Hickman of Doctor Who Magazine. This idea of a moderator for the commentary works very well for these older Doctor Who stories. He keeps the cast and crew on topic when some of them might tend to wander off on tangents. Interestingly, Raymond Cusick is much less critical of his work as set designer in this commentary than he is in the documentary on the extras focussing on him and the designs. This story is very reliant on its sets and so much of the conversation does revolve around sets and costumes. Clayton Hickman keeps things going very well and asks the right questions at the right time. 10/10
Extras The only documentary on the disc is The Sets of Marinus, an extended interview with Raymond Cusick, who designed all of the sets for the story. It is a curious contrast to Raymond’s contribution to the commentary. In that he seems mostly positive, but in this interview he is critical of the obstacles put in his way by budget, lack of time, studio restraints and finishes by saying there is nothing about Marinus that he is proud of. Candid, to be sure, but not very reassuring to fans rediscovering the classic era. 8/10 Photo Gallery is quite run of the mill. It does include a couple
of pictures from the commentary and some set design drawings. 8/10 On PC ROM there is a PDF file of 50 Cadet Sweet Cigarette cards that told a complete story featuring The Doctor and the Voord and Daleks. It’s a very odd story that bears no relation to the TV series canonically and the pictures are typical high colour style of 1960s comic strips. 7/10 Coming Soon pulls the most dramatic moments of Frontier in Space and Planet of the Daleks for the Dalek War promotion. 8/10
Overall, a slightly disappointing package. They could have made a little more effort with extras,
8 out of 10
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