| Production Code: 6D
First Transmitted
Plot Outline from Wikipedia The arrival of the TARDIS on the planet Manussa, core planet of the Sumaran Empire and now the Manussan Federation, triggers nightmares in Tegan, who dreams of a snake-shaped cave mouth. It is evident to the Fifth Doctor that the Mara is reasserting itself on her mind following her possession by the entity while on the Kinda planet of Deva Loka. He attempts to calm her by taking her and Nyssa in search of the cave but Tegan is too scared to enter when they find it, and runs away. Alone and confused Tegan lapses under the control of the Mara once more, revelling in horror and destruction. The emblem of the snake soon returns to her arm. Manussa is in the grip of a festival of celebration of the banishment of the Mara from the civilisation five hundred years earlier. In the absence of the Federator his indolent son Lon is to have a major role in the celebration, supported by his mother the Lady Tanha and the archaeologist Ambril, who is an expert in the Sumaran period. Lon is intrigued with the notion that the Mara might one day return as prophesied, but Ambril is unconvined and believes such talk is the product of cranks. When the Doctor tries to get Ambril to take the threat seriously he too is dismissed as a maverick, though the deputy curator Chela is more sympathetic to the Doctor and gives him a small blue crystal called a Little Mind's Eye, which is used by the Snakedancers, a mystical cult, in their ceremonies to repel the Mara. The Doctor realises the small crystal and its large counterpart, the Great Mind’s Eye, can be used as focal points for mental energy and can turn thought into matter. This, he determines, is how the Mara will transfer from Tegan’s mind to corporeal existence. He realises that the Manussans must once have been a very advanced people who could use molecular engineering in a zero-gravity environment. They created the Great Mind's Eye without realising its full potential, and the crystal drew the fear, hatred, and evil from their minds, amplified it and fed it back to them. Thus the Mara was born into Manussa and the reign of the Sumaran Empire began. Meanwhile Tegan makes contact with Lon and passes the snake mark of the Mara to him too. They visit the cave from Tegan’s dream which contains a wall pattern which could accommodate the Great Crystal. Lon is sent back to the Palace while she causes more havoc and takes control of a showman, Dugdale, who is used for her pleasure. Lon meanwhile covers his arm and goes about trying to persuade Ambril to use the real Great crystal in the ceremony, placing it in a position in a wall carving that will evidently enable the Mara to return as the Doctor predicted. To persuade him to comply, Ambril is shown a secret cave of Sumaran archaeological treasures and warned they will all be destroyed if he does not help him. Ambril thus agrees to the change in format. The Doctor and Nyssa have meanwhile been aided by Chela, who shares with them the journal of Dojjen, a snakedancer who was Ambril’s predecessor. All three venture to the Palace to persuade the authorities to do something about the situation, but soon see Lon is in the grip of the Mara and orchestrating a very dangerous situation. All three escape and the Doctor now uses the Little Mind’s Eye to contact Dojjen, who lives in sandy dunes beyond the city. They venture there and the Doctor communes with Dojjen by opening his mind after being bitten by a poisonous snake. He is told by the wise old snakedancer that the Mara may only be defeated by finding a still point in the mind. All three now head back to the city to prevent the ceremony of defeating the Mara using the real Great Crystal. The festivities are now at a peak, with a procession taking place which culminates in a ceremony at the cave. Lon plays the role of his ancestor Federator in rejecting the Mara. After a series of verbal challenges he seizes the real Great Crystal and places it in the appropriate place on the wall. Tegan and Dugdale arrive and she displays the Mara mark on her arm, which is now becoming flesh having fed on the fear in Dugdale’s mind. With the crystal in place, the Mara is able to create itself in the cave, becoming a vast and deadly snake. However, the Doctor arrives in time and refuses to look at the snake or recognise its evil, relying instead on the still place he finds through mental commune with Dojjen via the Little Mind’s Eye. This resistance interrupts the manifestation of the Mara and its three slaves are freed while the snake itself dies and rots. The Doctor comforts a distraught Tegan, sure that the Mara has at last been destroyed.
Analysis by Cuisle The Mara of the Kinda are not gone for good, after all. The story opens with Tegan suffering terrible nightmares due to their baleful influence, and The Doctor realising that under that same influence she has redirected the TARDIS to the planet the Mara originated on. Clearly they have to encounter the Mara again in order to rid Tegan of their malignancy. Up till that point the story is simple enough. But then it gets complicated in the annoying way Doctor Who stories too often do. Some reviewers pointed out similarities between this story and Planet of the Spiders, caves, blue crystals, creatures many people have a morbid fear of. But really, there the resemblance ends. Much of the complication of the story is taken up with the history of Manussa, which is revealed through the wife and son of the planetary leader, Lon. She is a controlling woman who has never heard the expression ‘cut the apron strings’. He, not surprisingly with such a mother, is a rather effete young man who easily falls under the influence of the Mara and lets himself be used in the plan to being it back to corporeal form using what had been an empty ceremony commemorating the banishment of the Mara. The ceremony was a very colourful affair, with resonances in Chinese New Year. The giant snake model carried through the streets is not unlike the dragon used in the Chinese culture to banish evil spirits. This is only one culture touched on in the creation of a spectacular backdrop to the story. Native American culture influences the Snake Dancers themselves, and the town where the ceremony takes place as a feeling of a north African Kasbah. These elements give that backdrop a rich feeling. But the episode has to stand or fall on the story not the set and costumes. When the complications are overcome, one thing this story has is a fantastic act of courage from The Doctor. He allows himself to be bitten by a venomous snake in order to be able to make a mental connection to the one man who can unravel the mystery, Dojjen. Even for a Time Lord with a certain amount of control over his body, it was a risky thing to do. He stood tall as the hero we all love him for in that scene. At the same time, though, something of his alien detachment was also seen. In allowing Tegan to go so far as to be merged with the Mara, even temporarily, it seemed as if he had forgotten that she is a Human being, and a friend. Afterwards, he did explain that it was necessary for her to go through that much in order for the defeat of the Mara to be complete. But it is hardly surprising, after seeing this story that Tegan would eventually leave The Doctor after being traumatised one too many times. She really DOES have a bad time of it.
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