Review of The Armageddon Factor (#103)
DVD Release Date: 09 Mar 09
Original Air Date: 20 Jan – 24 Feb 1979
Doctors/Companions: Four, Romana I, K-9
Stars: Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, John Leeson
Preceding Story: The Power of Kroll (Four, Romana I)
Succeeding Story: Destiny of the Daleks (Four, Romana II)

This month marks the fourth of six installments of The Key to Time that has made it onto the Bad Reputation list. The Armageddon Factor is, however, the highest-ranked of those four on io9’s Best-to-Worst list, coming in at #207 of 254, putting it in only the bottom fifth of televised canon.

It had been a good long while since I’d last watched this one, so I’d forgotten a great deal of both the plot and the trappings. For example, it came as a bit of a surprise to discover how much of the story revolved around that last piece of the Key to Time. To be honest, pretty much all I remembered were who the Doctor and Companion were, and that a guest character was wearing a future Companion’s body (or, more correctly, vice versa).

To set the stage for readers who, like me, need either a refresher or an introduction to the adventure, the Doctor and Romana I are in pursuit of the final segment of the Key to Time when they arrive at a pair of twin planets, only one of which is where they expect. Atrios and Zeos are, to our heroes’ surprise, in midst of a nuclear war.

The plot then focuses on the Marshall in charge of Atrios’s forces doggedly pursuing “victory” regardless of the cost, and the way he appears to be the puppet for some unknown player. Meanwhile, the Princess Astra, who seems to have something to do with the sixth segment, and her romantic partner Surgeon Merak are trying to make peace overtures to their counterparts on Zeos.

Hijinks to do with copious transmat travel, a mysterious third planet, and the Black Guardian ensue. There are actually a couple of unusual twists, so I won’t go into more detail on plot, but clearly I had previously found it forgettable enough that I kept having unexpected jolts of memory as various events unfolded.

For example, had you asked me, I’d never have remembered that this is the story in which the Doctor encounters Drax, his onetime classmate on Gallifrey who picked up his mode of speech on a visit to Brixton, London, Earth, and calls the Doctor “Theet” (apparently short for Theta Sigma).

Not every flash of memory was so positive, though. The scenery-chewing Marshall definitely took the melodrama over the top, and there were so many trips back and forth to various destinations by so many combinations of characters that I almost got dizzy.

My personal fondness for The Stones of Blood would put it higher than Armageddon Factor rather than vice versa, but I can understand why someone else would find AF more appealing. The plot, though convoluted, is neither utterly uninteresting nor without charm. Although I had been less than excited about watching another six-parter, with so much focus on wrapping up the show’s first-ever season-long arc, it didn’t drag as much as I’d feared.

So while I’m unlikely to seek this one out, even if I’m just choosing from among the searches for the segments of the Key to Time, I won’t avoid it as thoroughly as I have in the past, either. Perhaps that can be a first, small step in rehabilitating its reputation.