The Androids of Tara (TV story)

"I once showed her a certain courtesy..."

- Count Grendel

The Androids of Tara was the fourth story of Season 16 of Doctor Who. It was part of the Key to Time story arc, and its original broadcast occurred just days after the fifteenth anniversary of the very first Doctor Who broadcast.

Synopsis
Finding the fourth segment of the Key to Time was simple enough, but holding onto it may be another matter. The 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.

Part 1
The Doctor and Romana arrive on the planet 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 part of a statue - through her luck does not last. She is attacked by a Taran wood beast and only saved by the nobleman Count Grendel of Gracht, who confiscates the segment as an unregistered mineral and insists the injured Romana accompanies him, to his castle. Once there it becomes apparent that Grendel believes she is an android.

The swordsmen Zadek and Farrah have meanwhile recruited the Doctor to the party of Prince Reynart. 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 workers, 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. Reynart is the rightful Prince but he is facing a challenge to his rule and coronation from his cousin, Count Grendel of Gracht. The Doctor 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.

Part 2
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. Romana learns that she is physical identical to another of Grendel's captives - the Princess Strella.

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. Strella enters the coronation room and pledges allegiance to the new King, but the Doctor kills her.

Part 3
The Doctor has not killed Strella, but an android duplicate, who was programmed to kill Reynart. The oath taking is delayed while other possible androids are found, and the "King" is watched over by Zadek and Farrah. When he returns to Castle Gracht, Grendel is furious, but when he finds out that the Doctor and Romana know each other he has his android maker Lamia, who is in love with him, make an android Romana programmed to kill the Doctor, the man he sees as the one who deprived him of the throne.

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. 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; but the situation is soon reversed as Grendel succeeds in destroying the Reynart android and then recapturing the errant Romana.

Part 4
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.

Cast

 * Doctor Who — Tom Baker
 * Romana/Princess Strella — Mary Tamm
 * Voice of K-9 — John Leeson
 * Prince Reynart — Neville Jason
 * Count Grendel — Peter Jeffrey
 * Zadek — Simon Lack
 * Farrah — Paul Lavers
 * Madam Lamia — Lois Baxter
 * Kurster — Martin Matthews
 * Till — Declan Mulholland
 * Archimandrite — Cyril Shaps

Crew

 * Writer - David Fisher
 * Assistant Floor Manager - Rosemary Webb
 * Costumes - Doreen James
 * Designer - Valerie Warrender
 * Fight Arranger - Terry Walsh
 * Film Cameraman - John Walker
 * Film Editor - David Yates
 * Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
 * Make-Up - Jill Hagger
 * Production Assistant - Teresa-Mary Winders
 * Special Sounds - Dick Mills
 * Studio Lighting - Brian Clemett
 * Studio Sound - Richard Chubb
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, arranged by Delia Derbyshire
 * Visual Effects - Len Hutton
 * Production Unit Manager - John Nathan-Turner
 * Script Editor - Anthony Read
 * Producer - Graham Williams
 * Director - Michael Hayes

Story Notes

 * The plot of the serial is very obviously 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. Another working title was The Seeds of Time.
 * Romana has a tendency to look like princesses. Here, she is the spitting image of Princess Strella. Later on in Destiny of the Daleks, Romana II takes the form of Princess Astra of Atrios (DW: The Armageddon Factor).
 * According to the DVD commentary, Mary Tamm herself designed Romana's distinctive purple outfit after the originally planned costume proved unsuitable.
 * The dating of this story is not explicitly stated in the story itself. A comment by the Doctor that he is entitled to a holiday every 500 years has been taken literally by some, who date the story 500 years after The Stones of Blood, in 2478. The short story, The Trials of Tara, a sequel to this story, has Grendel recruiting the Kandy Man to assist in his schemes, making this story contemporary with The Happiness Patrol.
 * While Doctor Who opening credits are typically ordered story title-author-episode number, this story's order was story title-episode number-author.
 * Mary Tamm plays four roles in this story: Romana, Princess Strella and their android doubles.

Ratings

 * Part 1 - 8.5 million viewers
 * Part 2 - 10.1 million viewers
 * Part 3 - 8.9 million viewers
 * Part 4 - 9.0 million viewers

Myths
to be added

Filming Locations

 * Leeds Castle doubled for Castle Gracht, with Tom Baker's fishing rod, stunt man Terry Walsh, and the sound recordist all tumbling into the moat at various times during filming. Use of the castle was delayed as it had already been booked for a high security Middle East peace conference.
 * BBC Television Centre (TC6 and TC1), Shepherd's Bush, London

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * Romana's restraints look pretty easy to escape from.
 * Why does the prince have such a tiny number of troops at his disposal? (Because the population as a whole was diminished by plague, which is why the androids were introduced in the first place.)
 * In Part 3 when the Doctor enters the Pavillion of the Summer Winds and shuts the door, it slowly swings open again. A hand then appears from behind the set wall and pulls the door closed.
 * When Grendal is inspecting Romana's android duplicate, his arm crosses the line where the screen is split (to allow Mary Tamm to be in two places at once) and disappears.

Continuity

 * This is the fourth of six linked serials that comprise the whole of Season 16, known collectively as The Key to Time.
 * Grendel returns in ST: The Trials of Tara, set some months after this story.
 * This is the fourth and last appearance of Cyril Shaps in Doctor Who (the others being The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Ambassadors of Death and Planet of the Spiders). It was the only time that his character was not killed in the course of the story.

DVD, Video and Other Releases
DVD Releases


 * Released along with The Ribos Operation, The Pirate Planet, The Stones of Blood, The Power of Kroll and The Armageddon Factor as Doctor Who: The Key to Time. This October 2002 release was only in Region 1. Extras include commentary by Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and Michael Hayes, a photo gallery and production information subtitles.


 * Also released with same stories as Doctor Who: The Key to Time, an extras-laden box set limited to 15,000 in its initial UK release on 24th September 2007, later followed by wide release in Region 1 on 3rd March 2009 as The Key to Time - Special Edition.

Contents (2007/2009 version):
 * Commentary by Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and Michael Hayes (carried over from the 2002 set).
 * The Humans of Tara - Cast and crew look back at the making of The Androids of Tara, featuring interviews with actors Mary Tamm, Paul Lavers and Neville Jason, writer David Fisher, script editor Anthony Read and director Michael Hayes.
 * Now and Then - A short featurette comparing the locations used for The Androids of Tara as they were in 2007, with how they appeared back in 1978.
 * Double Trouble - A brief history of doubles in other Doctor Who stories.
 * Radio Times Billings - Original listings from Radio Times (DVD-ROM PC/Mac)
 * Coming Soon Trailer - Planet of Evil (2007 UK version only)
 * Photo Gallery
 * Production Subtitles

Notes:
 * Editing for DVD release completed by Doctor Who Restoration Team.

Novelisation

 * Main article: Doctor Who and the Androids of Tara


 * A novelisation of this serial, Doctor Who and the Androids of Tara, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in April 1980.