DOCTOR WHO:  THE KEEPER OF TRAKEN

commentary by Judy Harris

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#41  THE KEEPER OF TRAKEN (4 Parts)
ORIGINALLY AIRED:  1/31/81 to 2/21/81
WRITTEN BY:  Johnny Byrne	
DIRECTED BY:  John Black
PRODUCER:  John Nathan-Turner	
SCRIPT EDITOR:  Christopher H. Bidmead
		

This is the first of another trilogy involving the Master, the Doctor's old Time Lord nemesis, which concludes with the first Peter Davison show, CASTROVALVA.

The Master had last been heard from in THE DEADLY ASSASSIN, where he appeared as a sort of walking corpse. The costume worn in that show was found for this story, but a different actor plays the role, in far less grisly makeup. JNT has a particular fondness for the Master and was proud of reviving him; he has incorporated him into 8 stories so far.

THE KEEPER OF TRAKEN boasts DOCTOR'S WHO's most beautiful villain, Kassia, played by Sheila Ruskin. The character does not start out evil, but is corrupted by the Master, the true (but less interesting) villain of the piece.

Also quite beautiful are the settings and costumes in this show. Melkur is an interesting asymmetrical design and is a surprisingly effective monster.

This is the first appearance of Sarah Sutton as Nyssa. She was originally hired for this single story and, although she does get into the TARDIS with Adric, she doesn't actually go off with the Doctor at the conclusion, so I guess she doesn't officially become a companion until the next show, LOGOPOLIS.

Although it has several flaws, this is my favorite story from Tom Baker's last two years. My chief criticism is--similar to PLANET OF EVIL--there is only one obvious suspect to blame and, although the Doctor has been given a particularly broad hint by the Keeper, it takes him quite a while to figure out who is the root of the evil.

It was also disappointing to see another story threaten a planetary power source, so recently the topic of MEGLOS. And it is hard to accept the Fosters, introduced blandly as uniformed gardeners, turning into a ruthless security force so quickly because the plot demands it.

The TARDIS is back in N-space. The Doctor tells Adric he is able to pick interesting planets to visit by the law of probability. Adric remarks a lot of the time the Doctor doesn't really make sense. "Oh, you've noticed that, have you? Well, I mean, anyone can talk sense. As long as that's understood, you and I are going to get on splendidly," the Doctor replies.

Looking at the starscape on the TARDIS scanner, the Doctor thinks they are in Mettula Orionsis, home of the Traken Union, famous for its universal harmony. It's a whole empire held together by "people just being terribly nice to each other." The TARDIS is heading for Traken, although neither the Doctor nor Adric remember setting the controls. "We could panic, of course, but where would that get us?" the Doctor says.

An elderly figure in a large armchair appears in the TARDIS. It's the Keeper; he's served a thousand years and his time of dissolution is near. He tells the Doctor he has all the minds of the Union to draw on. (Is it just me, or does this sound like the Time Lord APC Net to you too?). The Keeper is just the organizing principle for the Source.

He asks the Doctor to come to Traken, warning there is great danger threatening the empire, although the atmosphere on Traken is so full of goodness, evil just shrivels up and dies.

The Keeper uses the TARDIS scanner to show a grove on Traken, where the Fosters guard the spiritual welfare of the capitol. From time to time evil creatures arrive, whom the Fosters name Melkur, a term which literally means a fly caught by honey. There's nothing to fear from them; their baleful influence doesn't extend beyond the grove and, even there, they produce only a few weeds. Eventually Melkur will calcify and pass harmlessly into the soil.

One such Melkur is currently in the grove, rooted to the spot. Kassia was appointed by the Fosters to look after it many years ago. Now she is a Consul. The day of her marriage to Tremas, also a Consul, has somehow become a turning point for Traken.

After the marriage ceremony, in the Keeper's Chamber, the Keeper relieves Kassia of her duties to Melkur and appoints Nyssa, Tremas' daughter, to tend it. There are 5 Consuls--Tremas, Kassia, Katura, Seron and Luvic. The Keeper names Tremas his successor.

Back in the TARDIS, the Keeper tells the Doctor he senses all-pervading evil. If the Doctor agrees to help, he will confront power that could obliterate even a Time Lord. The Keeper disappears.

On Traken, Kassia goes to the grove to take her leave of Melkur. She's unhappy her new husband has been named Keeper Nominate, because it will shortly take Tremas from her forever. For the first time Melkur speaks to Kassia.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor brings two large, heavy books to the control room, telling Adric they contain the "accumulated wisdom of centuries." They're a couple of his old Time Logs; he wants to look up his notes on Traken before the TARDIS lands.

On Traken the body of a Foster is found just outside the grove. Tremas scans the courtyard and registers readings beyond the scope of his instrument to analyze or measure. If the readings are true, some force is taking possession of Traken.

Tremas shows the readings to Seron, who advises him not to let the others know. Tremas tells the other Consuls the Foster died through contact with some high energy source.

The TARDIS materializes in the grove near Melkur. Adric and the Doctor exit and, leaving the grove, run into the Fosters who aim guns at them. Proctor Neman, head of the Fosters, brings the Doctor and Adric to the Keeper's Chamber, announcing to the Consuls they are the cause of the evil.

The Doctor and Adric introduce themselves and claim the Keeper asked them to come. Tremas sends some Fosters to the grove to find the TARDIS to confirm their story.

In the grove, Melkur's eyes light up. Red rays shoot out of his eyes and the TARDIS disappears. The Fosters return, saying the grove is empty.

The Consuls summon the Keeper by putting crystal rings in a control panel. The Keeper appears in a glassed in Sanctum. Melkur has walked out of the grove and now peeks in the door of the Keeper's chamber, behind the Doctor and Adric. Rays come out of his eyes toward the Keeper.

"Evil, the Sanctum is invaded!" the Keeper declares, disappearing. The Consuls think he meant the Doctor and Adric.

Kassia says the evil originates in Melkur; the Doctor and Adric are his creatures. She works herself into such a state, she collapses.

The Doctor says a high energy beam has been used against the Keeper. He notices Tremas has a device which could prove his theory and tells the Consul he's dabbled a bit in the bioelectronics line.

Melkur returns to the grove, killing two more Fosters.

The Doctor checks the reading Tremas took in the courtyard. "Plasma fields of this strength couldn't have been generated without some pretty formidable magnetic containment," the Doctor asserts.

Tremas claims consular privilege, taking Adric and the Doctor under his protection. If they infringe the law in any way, all their lives will be forfeit.

Kassia goes into the courtyard and hides the bodies of the Fosters. The other Consuls leave. The Doctor, Adric and Tremas go into the courtyard, where the Doctor discovers stones which have been hit by a plasma beam. Although it is still apparently Tremas' wedding night, the Doctor invites himself to breakfast.

Nyssa brings flowers to Melkur. When she leaves, Kassia speaks to the statue. Melkur has promised to save Tremas from becoming Keeper.

Nyssa comes into her home and is introduced to the Doctor and Adric, as they finish breakfast. Adric stays there with Nyssa, while Tremas and the Doctor leave to search for the TARDIS.

Nyssa shows Adric some of her father's equipment. Adric has read of Traken in the Doctor's log and knows the Keeper dedicates himself to the Source--a bioelectronic system from which he organizes the whole Traken Union.

Adric asks if Nyssa has tried a Fourier analysis on the readings Tremas took in the courtyard, whose energy emission frequency profiles are completely new to Traken.

Kassia goes to Seron, Luvic and Katura and suggests Tremas seek rapport with the Keeper to prove he's fit to succeed him. She suspects he has kept secret information about the energy emissions. Seron defends Tremas, saying he knew of the emission readings, and Tremas kept silent on his advice. If anyone should seek rapport it is Seron. Kassia volunteers to keep vigil for him during this ceremony.

There are rumors abroad the Melkur has been redeemed; a crowd has gathered outside the grove waiting for a sign. Tremas knows another way into the grove--a service vault beneath the Keeper's chamber. Entry is possible only with one of the consular rings.

Adric has worked out some calculations on the energy reading Tremas took and is anxious to get them to the Doctor.

Melkur gives Kassia a collar. She puts it on and it gives him complete control over her; now she's Melkur's eyes and ears. We see her through Melkur's eyes. Melkur is a machine, with a control panel, operated by an unseen someone.

As the Doctor and Tremas pass beneath the Keeper's chamber, they see Kassia return from the grove; she's in some sort of trance.

The Doctor and Tremas pass the Source Manipulator. "Limitless organizing capacity, refined to a single flame, obedient only to the will of your Keeper," the Doctor notes admiringly.

The Doctor and Tremas enter the grove, observed by the inhabitant of Melkur. The Doctor takes a reading of the area where he put the TARDIS down. It's there, but displaced slightly by the current time cone. The Doctor would like to set up a standing wave; something the autosystems can home in on. Tremas suggests a binary induction system, and they set off to the vault stores to get it.

Nyssa bribes Proctor Neman to disperse the crowd outside the grove. The gate is locked, so Adric borrows Nyssa's broach to pick it. Adric enters, but Katura stops Nyssa before she can follow, and leads her away.

Adric finds the Doctor and Tremas and tells the Doctor the wave loop pattern is unmistakable; the source of the energy emissions is a TARDIS. "You don't get shift ratios of this magnitude in an ordinary type 40," the Doctor says.

Seron gives his crystal ring to Katura and enters the Keeper's chamber to claim rapport with the source. Kassia puts her ring in the control panel to start the procedure.

In the Source Manipulator room, the Doctor puts together a few components, saying, "There we are--a fully fledged fold back flow inducer." Tremas notices the Keeper is being summoned; he, Adric and the Doctor run upstairs.

A white light falls on Seron. The Keeper appears, saying, "You are blameless, Seron, but doomed, and we are both betrayed."

Kassia's eyes and collar glow redly. Through her eyes, Melkur emits a ray which kills Seron.

Tremas enters from one door; Katura and Luvic from another. Kassia says Seron was rejected by the Keeper, and accuses the Doctor, Adric and Tremas of being Melkur's agents. Adric, Tremas and the Doctor run off to the vault, picking up the fold back flow inducer en route, and head for the grove.

Melkur addresses the Doctor, who tells Adric and Tremas to avoid its eyes. The Doctor uses the fold back flow inducer to materialize the TARDIS.

Kassia steps between them and the TARDIS; her eyes glow redly and emit a ray at Tremas, but he's only stunned. The Fosters drop a net over the Doctor, Adric and Tremas and send a charge through it, which knocks them out.

They wake up locked in the penal wing of the vault. Tremas' consular ring has been taken away. The electron lock on the door is too far away for the sonic screwdriver to reach.

Melkur tells Kassia the Doctor and Adric must be killed. He wants her to be the next Keeper, completely against her wishes.

The Doctor says Melkur must not be allowed to contact the Source. Tremas asks how can he? The bioelectronics permit only a Traken to succeed to the Keepership.

Kassia, Luvic and Katura meet to choose a new Keeper Nominate; Kassia is the unanimous choice and accepts.

Nyssa pulls an ion bonder on Neman and another Foster to get the key to her father's cell. She stuns the Fosters when they try to stop her, and then releases her father, the Doctor and Adric from the cell.

When the Doctor comes across the Fosters Nyssa stunned, he pockets her ion bonder, saying, "Very clever. No self respecting fugitive should be without one."

Melkur is displeased the Doctor has escaped and causes Kassia to suffer.

The Doctor, Adric and Tremas go to Tremas' quarters, temporarily safe because they've already been searched. The Doctor asks Tremas for the master plans of the Source Manipulator. After some soul searching, Tremas gets them from an atmosphere safe concealed in the wall.

The Doctor isolates a crucial circuit and wonders if it can be tripped: "Warp crossover connected there; shutdown element there." After the Doctor, Tremas and Adric pour over the plans, Tremas returns them to the safe.

The Keeper is dying; Luvic and Katura send for Kassia. The new Keeper must be present at the death of the old or the Source will go out of control.

Kassia has called off the guards searching for the fugitives so the Doctor's party is able to reach the TARDIS, where they're surrounded by Fosters. Just as they're about to be killed, there's a great thunderclap and the superstitious Fosters run off. The Doctor knocks Neman out with the ion bonder. The storm indicates the Keeper is dying.

Kassia enters the Keeper's chamber The old Keeper dies. Kassia steps into the glassed in Sanctum and sits on his chair. Immediately the storm abates.

Inside Melkur, we see who has gained control of the Source. It is the Master, not quite as decayed as in THE DEADLY ASSASSIN, but still wearing the same disintegrating clothes. Melkur dematerializes; it is the Master's TARDIS.

The Doctor, Tremas and Adric race to the Keeper's chamber, where the Doctor tells Luvic and Katura Kassia has betrayed them, but he's too late to stop the transition. As Katura turns over the Source to Kassia, she screams and disappears. Melkur materializes in Kassia's place. The Doctor sends Adric and Nyssa to the TARDIS.

Melkur summons Proctor Neman and has the Doctor and the Consuls confined to their quarters. He fades in and out.

In the TARDIS, Adric tells Nyssa the Doctor showed him how to destroy Melkur, but only by completely destroying the Source.

In his quarters, Tremas tells the Doctor the fluctuations Melkur underwent are natural; he's vulnerable until he adjusts to the Source.

The Doctor wants to short circuit the security system of the Source Manipulator, so they won't need all 5 consular rings to eject Melkur from the Source.

Neman now wears Melkur's collar and is in his power. Melkur sends him to get the Source Manipulator plans from Tremas.

The Doctor locates a recursive integrator on the Source Manipulator plans. The consular rings are coded with gamma mode encryption. There's a single large prime number at the root of it, but the Doctor doesn't have the integer key.

Neman arrives and asks for the plans. Melkur materializes and shoots some rays at Tremas. The Doctor surreptitiously passes the plans to Tremas, who pretends to take them out of the safe. When he hands them to Neman, Melkur burns them up and dematerializes.

The Doctor leans confidentially toward the Fosters. "Do you know that expression two heads are better than one?" he asks, knocking their heads together. Tremas and the Doctor take the ion bonder and a consular ring from the fallen Fosters and head for the Keeper's chamber.

In the TARDIS, Nyssa completes a globe-shaped servo shutoff and gives it to Adric, who plugs it into a component he's building. Only the crossover element is left to construct.

Tremas and the Doctor enter the Keeper's chamber and start to break the code.

In the TARDIS, Adric's contraption is complete. All that remains is to connect it to the Manipulator circuits. Then, when Melkur taps the energy core of the Source, time and energy will be displaced, energy will overflow and overload the control element. The Source will consume itself and Melkur.

The Doctor has deduced 6 digits of the prime number: 887100, when Melkur materializes amid an explosion which rocks Tremas and the Doctor away from the Source controls. There are 3 more digits to enter--337--to trigger the start of the Sanction program to expel Melkur.

With his power, Melkur draws the Doctor closer and forces him to his knees.

Adric and Nyssa hook up their contraption to the prime circuit panel in the Source Manipulator chamber and turn it on.

Neman arrives in the Keeper's chamber and Melkur tells him to hand his weapon to Tremas. He forces Tremas to kill Neman and turn the weapon on himself, although he stops Tremas just short of killing himself. Melkur tells the Doctor he plans to use the power of the Source to conquer other worlds.

Melkur draws the Doctor inside the Sanctum and they both dematerialize. Adric and Nyssa enter the Keeper's chamber and tell Tremas they sabotaged the Source Manipulator, not knowing it would endanger the Doctor's life as well. Nyssa insists they can't detach it because it's at full power.

Inside the Melkur's TARDIS, the Doctor now recognizes his old enemy, the Master, who tells him the whole domain is now keyed to his biological rhythms. The Doctor is frozen like a statue.

The Master intends depositing the Doctor's mind in his library and plans to inhabit the Doctor's body since he's nearing the end of his twelfth and last regeneration.

Just as the Master is about to take over the Doctor's body, Adric's invention affects the Source. The Doctor regains his mobility. The Master's TARDIS starts to burn.

Luvic and Katura enter the Keeper's chamber. The Doctor appears in the Sanctum and tells Adric to key in 337. Adric fights his way to the controls against a powerful wind and manages to key in 33. The Doctor pushes his way out of the Sanctum and enters the final digit--7, cancelling Adric's sabotage and ejecting the Master from the Source.

Luvic quickly steps into the Keeper's chair. Katura completes the transfer of power to him.

Accepting Tremas' thanks, the Doctor and Adric leave. Checking the TARDIS, the Doctor remarks, "Well, she seems to be going right as ninepence now."

On Traken, Tremas approaches a large clock in the Keeper's chamber. It is the Master's TARDIS. The Master exits and takes over Tremas' body, changing his appearance from the Consul's long, grey hair and beard to swept back black hair and a goatee. The Master enters his TARDIS and dematerializes, as Nyssa comes looking for her father.

I'm prejudiced, because I think the Master is a boring villain, but Anthony Ainley is so much more interesting as Tremas, it seems a shame the character had to be killed off. The Master is such a one-note evil character, it was a pleasure to see Ainley display more range as Tremas.

Anthony Ainley, who plays Tremas, went on to play the Master in the Tom Baker story LOGOPOLIS; the Peter Davison stories CASTROVALVA, TIME-FLIGHT, THE KING'S DEMONS, THE FIVE DOCTORS and THE PLANET OF FIRE--plus a brief appearance during the regeneration sequence of THE CAVES OF ANDROZANI; the Colin Baker stories THE MARK OF THE RANI and THE TRIAL OF A TIME LORD; and the McCoy story SURVIVAL.

Dennis Carey, who plays the Keeper, played Professor Chronotis in SHADA, the "lost" Tom Baker story; and the Old Man whom everyone thinks is the Borad in the Colin Baker story TIMELASH.

Margot VanDerBurgh, who plays Katura, played Cameca in the Hartnell story THE AZTECS.

John Woodnutt, who plays Seron, played the dual roles of Broton and the Duke of Forgill in the Tom Baker story TERROR OF THE ZYGONS; the Emperor in FRONTIER IN SPACE and Hibbert in SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE, both Pertwee stories.