Doctor Who (TV Series) The Armageddon Factor: Part One (1979) User Reviews

A great start to the season finale.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 20 August 2015]

And here it is the finale of the Key to Time. It's been a bit of a flat series, and were it not for the 75% of Stones of Blood, it would have been a bit of a disaster up until now, but what of the finale, could it end on a high?

The Doctor and Romana travel to Atrios in search of the sixth and final segment, when they arrive they discover it's at war with twin planet Zeos and under siege. Internal politics on Atrios is in conflict, it's Princess seeks peace, while it's Marshall seeks continued war. The Marshall takes the Doctor and Romana prisoner, and leaves the Princess for dead locked in a room full of radiation, but she is taken by a dark shadowy figure. The Doctor and Romana make their escape from the Marshall, but the TARDIS is gone.

Mary Tamm looks utterly drop dead gorgeous, the outfit works brilliantly, she looks sensational, by this stage she looks very comfortable in the role, almost casual.

Even after a few minutes there's no denying the brilliance of John Woodvine, he is excellent as the Marshall, he's playing it straight.

The acting of the play shown at the start, still beats Eastenders hands down :-)

Squid are thankfully a distant memory, and it's back to real sci fi, the finale was needing to be big and bold, and thus far it is, a great start. 8/10

Your Planet Needs You...

[Xstal · 7/10 · 13 July 2022]

A suspicious scenario greets us all, with a planet that once was, but isn't anymore, when a fair princess, in a flowing purple dress, becomes encaged, then abducted, behind a secret wall.

The Key Unlocked

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 7/10 · 30 January 2020]

Review of all 6 parts:

This story by Bob Baker and Dave Martin brings an end to the season long arc of the Key to Time. It does so in a very entertaining way but ultimately is rather an anticlimax of the arc in that the way the Key to Time is handled in the final part of the story is an odd throw away conclusion which makes the whole quest seem rather pointless. It is not totally illogical or bad but it just leaves you wondering what the whole reason for finding the key was meant to be. I feel they could have ended it much better. That final part is therefore marked down a bit despite being a very enjoyable conclusion to the 6 part story.

The first part of the story is pretty unexceptional but is a solid setup. It introduces the idea that the final segment of the key is hidden on a world in the middle of a nuclear war against an unseen enemy. There are themes of nuclear war/cold war throughout which at times is thoughtful and interesting.

As the story progresses we see that a malevolent being called the Shadow seeks to get the key to provide it to his master the Black Guardian. This creates an exciting and very engaging story of evil interference as well as the war and the story of Princess Astra (played by Lalla Ward who would become Romana II for the following season). Astra's story is a nice subplot which ends up being an important and dark aspect to the overall story. Lalla Ward acts the part perfectly and it all adds to the fun and absorbing story.

Tom Baker and Mary Tamm (in her final full story) are on good form and the character of Drax is a fun addition.

Overall this is a good story but could have been great if had a better opening and a better conclusion to the Key to Time arc.

My ratings: Part 1 - 7/10, Part 2 - 7.5/10, Parts 3 & 4 - 9/10, Part 5 - 8.5/10, Part 6 - 7/10. Overall - 8/10.

Season 16 overall was a big step back up after Season 15 had fallen well short of the super high quality of Season 12 to 14. Season 15 was not bad but was pretty ordinary. While this season still does not get close to the great early Tom Baker seasons I think it is a very good season of very solid standards. Mary Tamm was a great, charming Romana and The Key to Time arc added some interest along the way in addition to some very good individual stories.

My Season 16 average rating: 8.6/10.

very good, if not really great and almost overlong, six-parter episode

[Quinoa1984 · 9/10 · 21 August 2008]

The Armageddon Factor features the Doctor and Romanna coming to a planet where Princess Astra is trying to bring peace to her planet Atrios and has to contend with a conniving and war-mongering Marshall, who only wants to wage battle and some outcome with planet Zeos. But as it turns out, maybe not entirely surprisingly, there's more sinister elements- like the black guardian and his Shadow figure with the dark cloak and overtly dastardly demeanor/voice. Throughout this six-parter episode we get equal amounts of atypically (and always enjoyably) witty and British aside-type dialog and those diggs from the Doctor that show he has another motive going on nine times out of ten- usually the right one- and some wooden or terribly overwrought acting (Lalla Ward as the Princess and John Woodvine as the Marshall respectively), and a couple of shoddy special effects.

And while we get a really amusing side character with the Doctor's old school chum- bringing about his real name as Theta Sigma- and some nail-biting tension in the fifth and sixth acts, there's something about the episode that feels padded and big, despite the importance of the key and its sixth "component". Nevertheless, fans of classic Tom Baker won't be disappointed as there's many scenes that ring out as amazing and fun and and kooky (i.e. Baker's momentary power-craving with the key towards the last part) even intellectually stimulating (I liked how the Marshall is frozen in time right when he reaches his climactic glory at Zeos) and a lot of great K-9 action that only reinforces him/it as one of the great TV dogs/computers. If it's not entirely perfect the writers and actors come up with some clever moments and delicious hambone acting to suffice.

one of my favorites

[misswhite386851 · 10/10 · 28 June 2016]

i bought the whole set of tom bakers series of doctor who and i enjoyed watching each and every one of them. i think it was really cool how they used their immaganation to do the special effects shows they don't have to use a computer and tom baker always treated his companions like friends the men or the women as well the ladys on his show were treated like ladies. i thought that was really cool to the older episodeswas pretty neat they use what they could come up with creature or other just putting together using their minds and not computers don't you think. and yes i loved the tom baker years they were great episodes. and i am glad i got them all. sincerely virginia

Armaggedon Ends With A Bomb

[Theo Robertson · 4/10 · 12 January 2014]

Refers To All Six Episodes . Suggestive Spoilers

Searching for the sixth and final part of The Key To Time the Doctor and Romana arrive on the planet Atrios which is locked in a state of perpetual war with its neighbour Zeos . The Doctor quickly concludes that the state of affairs isn't what it seems

This is the concluding story of season 16 and when I first saw the opening episode my instinctive reaction was that it was going to be head and shoulders above the other stories of the season . This turned out to be a painfully premature evaluation . While being no classic The Stones Of Blood was the best story and The Armageddon Factor quickly crashes and burns . Like some other stories stretching back to the Hartnell era this story has a very intriguing start then for reasons unbeknown to the audience is let down by the production team

Storywise it's a bit of mess . By no means the ridiculous and embarrassing mess that Steven Moffat brought to the Matt Smith era but that's hardly a great defence . . I'm at a loss trying to follow the meandering plot , something involving a mad villain called The Shadow who is in league with The Black Guardian and a computer involved in perpuating a war against the planet Atrios . When ever someone mentions mad computers I'm always reminded of STAR TREK and in some ways this resembles a very loosely plotted and elongated ST story drag out well beyond its natural length . It's interesting that this was the final broadcast story of DOCTOR WHO that was six episodes long which goes to prove long doesn't equal good

Another aspect that crushes the production is the lack of location filming . I've praised some of the stories for their impressive locations but it's obvious that its been done to the detriment of this story . If you've done a season revolving around a narrative thread its logical that you end on a high note and unfortunately the writing which makes the resolution to the 26 week build up to the Key To Time a massive cop out and the air of poor production values throughout the story led to the fledgling fandom of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society become very vocal in its criticism towards Graham Williams . As I've constantly stated his hands were tied as to what he could produce but season 16 was the first and last time the show had a running theme throughout the season and would only be attempted once more in the classic show - season 23's Trial Of A Time Lord