Snakedance Part Three

The one where everybody waits...

After two solid episodes that too often slip under fandom's radar, part 3 of Snakedance lets the story down terribly. It's not that it's bad, in any way, but so little happens that you feel somewhat cheated. People talk, people go from A to B, but the plot has barely moved on at all by the end of the 25 minutes.

The theme of the episode seems to be 'patience'. Everybody's waiting for something, and that includes the audience. On an intellectual level, writer Christopher Bailey has pulled off a bit of a coup by making this third episode so static, because one of the principal teachings of Buddhism is the search for patience and mental well-being. Buddha considered patience to be one of the mental states that an awakened person has perfected. It is an act of compassion toward ourselves, and also leads to peace and spiritual well-being. By making both his characters and audience wait for the 'next big thing' (in this case, the Manussan ceremony) Bailey is imposing his Buddhist creed onto Doctor Who. Clever, but not entertaining!

As with part 3 of Kinda (I'm seeing a pattern here), the Doctor spends most of his time incarcerated. He learns an awful lot while imprisoned, thanks to Chela spilling the beans about the snakedancers and former director Dojjen, and also giving him the book Dojjen wrote before disappearing into the hills. Part 3 is a terrific info-dump, where the Doctor becomes more knowledgeable by staying still (against his will), asking questions and applying thought.

He might be in jail, but while he patiently waits for Chela to make up his mind and let him out, he acquires everything he needs to know to try and stop the Mara once released. He learns how the Mara came about, as a result of some very clever molecular engineers who mastered the art of manufacturing crystals in a zero-gravity environment over 800 years ago. But all of their technological knowledge was subsumed into the Mara entity itself, created by feeding on the negative mental energy of the ancient Manussans. Basically, the Mara was born out of pure evil. Makes sense...

Once the Doctor finally gets out of jail, he runs down a couple of corridors, only to be recaptured by Lon. The Doctor's "journey" in this episode goes full circle, like ouroboros, the snake biting its own tail. As I said, clever, but rather frustrating!

Meanwhile, Lon is in search of the Great Crystal, which can be used during the ceremony to reawaken the Mara. Under the instruction of the possessed Tegan (Janet Fielding giving a fantastically dark and brooding performance), he spends most of the episode trying to persuade Ambril to hand it over. After showing him all the ancient trinkets buried in the caves, Lon appeals to the director's passion for history, as well as his lofty egomania, suggesting he can be allowed to "discover" the treasure trove if he gives up the Great Crystal. By the end of the episode Ambril is dazed and incoherent, as if mentally fractured by the Mara, reciting prepared dialogue perhaps implanted into his mind. But if the Mara could mentally influence him all along (as it has Tegan, Dugdale and Lon), why didn't it just search his mind for the location of the crystal at the start?

Interestingly, Tanha, a character conspicuous by her lack of agency, tells Chela that her son finds it difficult to wait, but wait he must. He is the current federator's son, and will inherit the position, but Tanha openly admits her husband is an old man, and "lingering on" somewhat! Like the Prince of Wales, Lon must have patience as he waits for his parent to pass so that he may become head of state, and find meaning and direction in his life. I'm not sure Lon has been waiting quite as long as poor Prince Charles has though (more than 70 years!).

So, with the Doctor waiting for release, Lon waiting for his promotion, and Ambril waiting for his trinkets, the audience must wait also. We know what's coming, but we must wait.

Random likes about part 3: Jan Spoczynski's wonderfully sparse yet grand prison set; Tanha's curiously luminous green tipple; Peter Howell's unsettling, rumbling underscore which emerges when people speak of the Mara; the Punch and Judy show with the crocodile replaced by a giant serpent; and Nyssa lamenting the loss of the sonic screwdriver (because having it would get them out of jail much quicker!).

The young do not like to wait, do they...?

First broadcast: January 25th, 1983

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Martin Clunes has such a calm, gentle, zen presence and delivery, which works so well against his corrupt intentions. It's a good, solid, intelligent performance when it would have been so easy to send all this up.
The Bad: The Doctor spends 98% of the episode locked up, only to be recaptured within seconds of escape!
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

NEXT TIME: Part Four...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Two; Part Four

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site.

Snakedance is available as part of the BBC DVD box set Mara Tales. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Tales-Kinda-Snakedance/dp/B004FV4R4K/