Well here we are, 2018! A new year, a new Doctor, and practically a new me. How cool is that? As I write this I am at the very end of my vacation, so tomorrow morning I start back in on a more strict routine. No more sleeping in like I have the past two weeks, I need to be up and working out by 6:30am so that I can get to work on time. Tomorrow morning is going to come very early...

So let's talk Doctor Who so that I can get to bed.

Snakedance - Parts 3 & 4

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

I have an author friend, Rik Hoskin (whose newest book Seal Team Six: Executive Order has just been released on Kindle, you should check it out!). One thing that I really enjoy about his writing is that he can create a snap-bang action story, and manage to create a climax where the conflict is somehow both existential and completely engrossing. The ending of Snakedance really reminded me of his style of writing.

The back half of the story has Tegan completely under the sway of the Mara, and the princeling Lon equally under control and using his social station in order to have the Great Crystal revealed in public for the first time in five hundred years. The Doctor and Nyssa spend a chunk of the story in a jail cell, before seeking out the old shaman Dojjen for guidance on how to confront and defeat the Mara. The climax comes during the annual Snake Dance ritual, with the Great Crystal used to subdue the entire watching community as the Mara finally emerges in physical form.

The final battle, then, certainly has a direct physical threat to the populace as they cower in fear at the giant serpent's appearance. But the battle is primarily fought on the mental plane with the Doctor using his own willpower (combined with the crystal) in order to beat back and finally defeat the Mara, as poor Tegan writhes in pain and terror begging for help. It is a riveting sequence, beautifully executed. In the immediate aftermath, as the Mara lies dead on the floor, there is an equally touching scene between the Doctor and Tegan with him comforting her as she breaks down and cries at the horror of what she has just experienced.  

One of the really interesting things about this story as a whole is that, although it is nominally set in a science fiction reality, the truth is that the society portrayed is just.... us. It is a world where the really interesting things that happened hundreds of years ago have been trivialized and commercialized, turned into trinkets and toys, and dramatized in children's plays with Punch and Judy style puppets. The battle that rages is only barely a physical one, but is more a fight for the minds and souls of humanity.

Also, interestingly, the Mara turns out to be a forgotten consequence of technology itself. It is not an alien menace, not an inter-dimensional threat, but instead is a gestalt accidentally created when the Great Crystal was first constructed. A perfectly structured device, built under zero gravity conditions, it took all of the fear and anger projected from the scientists who built it, and manifested it into an actual serpent that held sway over the world for hundreds of years before being previously banished. By that point, nobody knew its true origins any longer.

What I am saying is, for a silly children's program this story contains a far bit of deep thought and social commentary. This story is a shining example of the greatest strengths of the Fifth Doctor era. It's the kind of thing I really love about the show in general.

Tomorrow: The Brigadier is back!!

STATS:

Doctor(s): Fifth
Companion(s): Tegan, Nyssa
Episode(s): Snakedance - Parts 3 & 4
Steps Walked: 7,475 today, 2,055,331 total
Distance Walked: 3.99 miles today, 1,050.21 miles total
Weight: 245.76 lbs (five day moving average), net change -61.54 lbs