Starring Tom Baker, Mary Tamm & John Leeson.Written by Bob Baker & Dave Martin.
Directed by Michael Hayes.
The Key to Time is almost complete. With only one piece still to find, the Doctor, Romana and K-9 arrive on Atrios, a planet in the middle of a terrible war with its twin world Zeos. To restore the balance of the universe for the White Guardian the Doctor must find the sixth segment before the planets destroy each other - but Zeos is deserted, so who is behind the war...?
After twenty weeks of storytelling, twenty weeks of the audience following the Doctor, Romana and K9 in their search for the Key to Time, it all comes down to this. One final, six-part story to conclude the arc and tell its own satisfactory story. And, to be honest, The Armageddon Factor does neither of these things to any degree of satisfaction. In its attempt to tell a self contained story, it remains unfocused, cluttered with too many elements that do not enhance the story, but rather contradict it and fails to provide any kind of satisfactory pay-off to any of them. And with regards to the season long arc, this story dangles a load of tempting threads in front of the audience, and then pulls away to reveal nothing of any real substance, and concludes the arc in such a perfunctory manner, it makes one wonder why they even bothered in the first place. To put it bluntly, but accurately - The Armageddon Factor is a total mess, and that's before we even get to the character, acting and production problems this story has. It's like a proto-Steven Moffat finale - one too bound up in the arc to tell it's own story, but that doesn't utilise the arc enough to make sacrificing its individuality worthwhile.
The plot of this one is a total mess. It starts fairly innocently: the idea of two planets, locked to the death in a nuclear war. On one world, its people are morally broken, living on little more than hope and the propaganda that their state transmits, while its leaders are little more than puppets for higher powers. On the other world, there is nothing but a computer, running a programme to destroy the other world, by any means necessary. This is a great starting point for a story, a serious stonker of an idea. Yet, it never reaches its full potential here. Because of the nature of the arc, the whole set-up with Atrios and Zeos feels like filler, simply designed as a way to pad the story out to six episodes, and introduce the sixth segment. It's a real shame, because the ideas are potent enough, and there's plenty of potential for some really interesting commentary. Yet, it never gets anywhere, because all of a sudden, there's this key we've got to find, and the Doctor is kidnapped so that he will give up the Key to Time, and all the interesting satire is thrown out of the window in favour of meaningless sci-fi bafflegab. It also doesn't help that, thanks to a combination of writing and performance, the whole thing never takes itself as seriously as it should. It's treated like a campy joke, rather than the serious anti-war tale it should be. We're dealing with nuclear armageddon, for god's sake! Now, of course Doctor Who should try and always keep things as light as possible (let's not forget that this is a family show), so some jokes and banter between the Doctor and his companion is to be expect. But there are occasions where I feel that that humour should be lessened, and I think this is one of those occasions. The setting is so bleak, the situation so desperate that anything else feels, somehow, wrong. I know the Graham Williams-era was well known for a lightness of touch that few eras of the show can claim to have, but I think this is one instance where that approach simply doesn't work. Any political message that this material is trying to convey is lost beneath slapstick and silliness. And, of course, before anything interesting is done with the material, it's ditched so that the Doctor can deal with the arc that's been hanging over the season. I just find most of this wrap-up material perfunctory, and it doesn't really enhance the previous stories. I have to admit that the idea that Astra is the sixth segment is a genius twist, and it adds an added dimension to the story, and the consequences are actually well explored in a scene between the Doctor and Romana. It's a shame that the rest of this story couldn't have had the same level of care and dedication taken towards it. Bob Baker and Dave Martin scripts are notable for having a large amount of disparate elements that are randomly thrown together, but, unlike scripts like The Claws Of Axos or The Hand Of Fear, the varying elements seen here (the 'false' war, a planet run by a computer, a hidden world, mind-control of planetary leaders, Drax), they all feel very disconnected, and they don't really come together. It also doesn't help that this script is full of errors: characters wander from place to place with little to no motivation, and they even have a habit of disappearing from scenes or the whole narrative without any real explanation as to why. Just look at the end: there's too many characters for Baker and Martin to deal with, and so Merak, Shapp, the Marshal, Drax and even K9 have really terrible endings. There are simply too many loose ends by the end of the story for us to ignore the previous failings of the script. And, after 26 weeks, that's the ending we get? The Doctor just casually disperses the Key, and the Black Guardian turns out to be a shouty man that does nothing? To say this must have come as a disappointment in 1979 would be an understatement. 
And it's not just the plot that's poorly written, but the characters as well. In good writing, the characters should be able to stand on their own two feet and feel like they have a life beyond the story that is being told. Here, however, the characters are simply sounding boards for the plot; they make declarations, they don't actually communicate, just bounce bits of the plot off each other. Take Astra and Merak's relationship, for example. Their relationship is so flat: I can barely believe that there is any chemistry between the pair of them at all. And every conversation they have is about the war, there's nothing about their love or even how each other are. They come across like a knock-off Romeo and Juliet, only even less interesting. It doesn't help that one half of the team is clearly the better actor. Ian Saynor sadly can't get over just how wet Merak is, and doesn't leave any impression other than 'cardboard', while Lalla Ward is wonderful as Princess Astra. She has a lovely, ethereal quality, which suits the character of Astra perfectly. She seems totally untouched by the war that's going on around her, in a way that most royals often appear to be. She's a wonderful on-screen presence, and it's no wonder that she was selected to play the second incarnation of Romana, because here, she demonstrates that she is perfect for the role. In total contrast to the ethereal majesty of Astra is the manic, earthly Marshall, who is played to perfection by John Woodvine. He's easily my favourite character in this story: he's totally dedicated to bringing this war to a swift end, and will happily use any resource he can get his hands on. He's a man who lives for the fight, and it would be hard to see him out of his uniform. It's a lovely mockery of various generals and warmongers from throughout history, and while it may appear over the top and ludicrous, there is a lot of subtlety to him, more so than to the other villain of the piece - the Shadow. Now, I've seen lots of people claim that the Shadow is one of the strongest elements of the story, yet I find him interminably dull. He is the standard archetypal villain of the classic series: a raving megalomaniac, hell bent on domination. It doesn't help that actor William Squire doesn't really convince either, so the Shadow comes across as another shouty man in a story full of shouty men. It's a shame, because I feel like there was the potential there for something very interesting, as towards the end of the story, the Shadow mentions how he and his minions lurk in every shadow, yet this is an element that is never expanded upon or developed. It's just thrown away, yet is an idea that might have salvaged him and his bland Mutes, which are literally the most non-descript antagonists ever to grace a Doctor Who story. One of the story's weirdest creations is the character of Shapp, who I'm never sure if I should be laughing at or not. I can't tell if he's being played for laughs, or if he's meant to be a comedic side character, in the same vein as Mr Fibuli from The Pirate Planet. The script can't seem to make up its mind about the character, which is a shame considering that I actually think actor Davyd Harries is hilarious in the role. Sure, he might play up the physical comedy QUITE a lot, but (and I'm not entirely sure how), that seems to work. It's not perfect, but considering how lacklustre the rest of the story is, it's nice to see someone actually putting some effort into their work. And then there's Drax. Wow, what a creation. Now, I will just say right off the bat that Drax has absolutely no place in this story: there's simply too much going on, and Drax doesn't fit into that. However, that doesn't mean that he isn't a fascinating creation. Basically, he's a Time Lord who goes around time and space doing odd jobs, was one of the Doctor's peers at the Academy and... talks with a cockney accent. What an amazing idea! It also helps that they got the redoubtable Barry Jackson in to play him, and he does a wonderful job. It's a shame he never got to reprise the part, because he would have been wonderful. And, despite the mixed acting ability of the other actors, the regulars are on fine form: Tom Baker is as excellent as he is in every story, while Mary Tamm and John Leeson give wonderful final performances as Romana and K9. Sure, Leeson would return in 1980, and it's just as well, as K9 has very little to do here, other than blast locks and give facts and figures. Sure, he turns evil in episode 5, but it's not played for anything other than plot convenience. And Tamm is wonderful: sure, Romana doesn't have a great deal to do, but, as always, Tamm really takes what's there for all it's worth. I just wish Tamm could have stayed for a second season, because although we got the wonderful Lalla Ward, Tamm was really onto something strong with Tom, and I feel like she could have been even better had she got the chance to do a second run.
While the actors at least try to mask the deficiencies in the script, the production feels incredibly tired and lacklustre. You can tell that this was made at the end of a particularly gruelling season of Who, as there's clearly no money, and everyone looks like they lost the will to carry on. The set design is particularly poor, because most of them look exactly like sets. Now, with the bunkers on Atrios, I suspect it would have been difficult to realistically invision them as anything else, and the war room set does actually look pretty good, it's hard to deny. However, the rest of the story looks really cheap and dull. Both Zeos and the Shadow's planet are as unoriginal as they come: Zeos is dull corridors, harshly lit and lacking in colour, while the Shadow's planet is the stereotypical 'evil lair' complete with fake cobwebs and dark caves. Sure, the money has clearly run out, but isn't necessity the mother of invention? Surely, they could have used a bit more imagination to come up with something a bit different. Maybe they could have just gone with a black void? That would have been more interesting than 'oooh look, spooky caves'! I did like the Mentalis computer prop, which looks suitably weird and strange, and the model work was pretty good in places. The film sequences are universally excellent, but the models shot on videotape were, to be honest, pretty terrible. They just don't match the same standard as the rest of the effects. The video effects were pretty hit and miss too, to be honest, particularly the downright weird effect that they used for when anyone seemed to fall. Something about it just doesn't look right. Whether or not this was a directorial choice, I don't know, but it doesn't quite look the way I suspect it was envisioned (possibly due to the harsh cut between that and the next scene). If it's a directorial issue, though, it's the only fault I could pick with Michael Hayes' direction, which is absolutely stellar. It's clear how much work this man is putting in to make this thing work, and it's probably the only element that is 100% successful in the whole story. His dynamic use of the camera, particularly to perform a lot of tight panning shots in the war room and the Mentalis control room sets is glorious, and they just bring those sets to life. He also directs K9 really well: not just content to place the camera and let K9 trundle in front of it, he follows K9 and gets the camera down on his level. It's just a nice touch that quite a few directors have been content to ignore, and just shoot K9 like another prop. Hayes treats him as another character, and the story is all the better for it. No wonder he was picked to direct City Of Death the next year: this has a style that the script and the rest of the production doesn't deserve. Finally, Dudley Simpson provides a decent score, but this man could score Doctor Who in his sleep, so is it any surprise? I wouldn't say that it was his best score, but he at least injects some much needed drama into some very vacuous scenes. His work at the episode 2 cliffhanger is particularly great.
Overall, though, there's little that great about The Armageddon Factor. As a story in its own right, this simply isn't good enough, being full of plot holes, poor logic and an inability to settle on tone. As the conclusion to a season-long quest to find the Key to Time, this is even worse, as it doesn't really provide any answers the audience might have, nor does the ending feel satisfactory enough. Sure, there's some decent acting, and the direction is wonderfully engaging, but this story is seriously lacking. Rumour has it Tom Baker was thinking of quitting at the end of Season 16: all I can say is thank goodness that this wasn't his regeneration story. This would have been a pretty poor way to go out.
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