“The Androids of Tara” is the fourth adventure of the sixteenth season, known by the global title “The Key to Time”, which aired in 1978. It follows “The Stones of Blood” and it’s a four parts adventure written by David Fisher and directed by Michael Hayes.

The story

The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) and Romana (Mary Tamm) locate the fourth segment of the Key to Time on the planet Tara. The Doctor however is tired of running around space and time and decides he deserves some relax. As a result he instructs Romana to take the segment while he goes fishing.

Romana finds the segment but is mistaken for a local princess who looks amazingly like her. She and the Doctor get involved in the planet’s political intrigue where the most difficult thing is to understand the true identity of some of the people involved.

Extras

Note. The adventure “The Androids of Tara” was published in a single DVD or in a box-set that includes the entire season “The Key to Time” in different editions. This review refers to the edition published in 2009 in a box-set available on Amazon UK, Amazon USA and Amazon Canada.

This DVD contains a fair amount of extras. There are typical contents such as a PDF file with the Radio Times Billings, production subtitles, a gallery of pictures from this adventure and the announcement of the DVDs to be published shortly.

There are comments in the adventure alternative audio track by protagonists Tom Baker and Mary Tamm and director Michael Hayes.

The Humans of Tara. A documentary on the production of this adventure with several interviews with cast and crew. It’s the most important extra.

Now & Then: The Androids of Tara. The production’s locations as they are today compared with the appearance they had in 1978, when this adventure was produced.

Double Trouble. A brief history of doppelgangers in “Doctor Who”.

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“The Androids of Tara” is strongly inspired by the novel “The Prisoner of Zenda.” It’s neither the first nor the last adventure inspired by an earlier work but this is one of the most obvious rip-offs. The story of “The Prisoner of Zenda” was used as the basis for several later works, even in science fiction. In fact in 1956 Robert A. Heinlein published the novel “Double Star” in which he developed in his own way the same theme.

The theme of the doppelganger is a classic in “Doctor Who” and in “The Androids of Tara” the story is made more complex by the presence of androids. Not only Prince Reynart has an android doppelganger but the princess Strella has two of them: Romana and an android. Thus Mary Tamm can shine in this adventure because she can play three roles.

Sure it’s a bit curious to see a planet with a typically medieval setting in which there’s the technology to build androids and electronic weapons. It’s possible that this choice was made by production to stay within budget.

If we take that setting for good we can still enjoy an adventure with a villain, Count Grendel, who’s truly evil and quite over the top without becoming a caricature. It’s almost inevitable that there’s a final duel between him and the Doctor, who in “The Androids of Tara” is a protagonist only in some moments.

Creating a science fiction version of “The Prisoner of Zenda” means that in many places the plot moves forward with a limited participation of the Doctor, who only wanted to do a little fishing and instead gets caught up together with Romana in the intrigue that develops around the coronation of the new king.

It’s probably for this reason that the fourth segment of the Key to Time gets found at the beginning of “The Androids of Tara”, so they can proceed with the plot similar to “The Prisoner of Zenda” and its protagonists. The segment is mentioned a few times during the adventure but it’s basically an excuse to remind us that the Doctor and Romana are looking for the Key to Time.

For these reasons there are those who don’t appreciate “The Androids of Tara”. Personally I think that it’s an enjoyable adventure even if it’s not at the same level as the previous ones.

Because this DVD is part of “The Key to Time” box set a global judgement must necessarily be given only at the end of the reviews of this season’s adventures.