Doctor Who/Recap/S20/E02 Snakedance: Difference between revisions

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
< Doctor Who‎ | Recap‎ | S20
Content added Content deleted
VisualWikitext
m (update links)
(→‎Tropes: clean up)
 
(3 intermediate revisions by one other user not shown)
Line 3: Line 3:
{{quote|''Dreams are important... never underestimate them.''|'''The Doctor'''}}
{{quote|''Dreams are important... never underestimate them.''|'''The Doctor'''}}


Uh-oh. Looks like Tegan isn't ''quite'' over her encounter with the Mara, the mind-controlling snake god from "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S19 E3 Kinda|Kinda]]": not long after they land on the planet of Manussa, she starts having sinister snake-themed dreams.
Uh-oh. Looks like Tegan isn't ''quite'' over her encounter with the Mara, the mind-controlling snake god from "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S19/E03 Kinda|Kinda]]": not long after they land on the planet of Manussa, she starts having sinister snake-themed dreams.


Possibly these were inspired by her environment. Manussa used to be ''controlled'' by the Mara until they kicked the evil snake god to the curb some 500 years previously, an event commemorated by a festival that the TARDIS crew has landed smack in the middle of. Could the Mara be attempting a comeback?
Possibly these were inspired by her environment. Manussa used to be ''controlled'' by the Mara until they kicked the evil snake god to the curb some 500 years previously, an event commemorated by a festival that the TARDIS crew has landed smack in the middle of. Could the Mara be attempting a comeback?


Of ''course''. It's a good time for it, too: Manussa's currently under the control of vain and weak-willed Lon, and no one in the palace believes the Doctor's warnings of incoming doom. Except one token guy, who gives the Doctor a crystal and tells him about an old scholar, who ''also'' believed in the Mara and later left society to wander around in the desert and be a monk. Or something. It takes the Doctor roughly five seconds to deduce that the Mara came to Manussa when the ancestors of the Manussans made some kind of giant <s>magic</s> molecularly-engineered crystal that fed off everyone's hate and fear and thus allowed the Mara to enter. Either he's ''really'' good, or someone's been showing him the scripts.
Of ''course''. It's a good time for it, too: Manussa's currently under the control of vain and weak-willed Lon, and no one in the palace believes the Doctor's warnings of incoming doom. Except one token guy, who gives the Doctor a crystal and tells him about an old scholar, who ''also'' believed in the Mara and later left society to wander around in the desert and be a monk. Or something. It takes the Doctor roughly five seconds to deduce that the Mara came to Manussa when the ancestors of the Manussans made some kind of giant <s>magic</s> molecularly-engineered crystal that fed off everyone's hate and fear and thus allowed the Mara to enter. Either he's ''really'' good, or someone's been showing him the scripts.
Line 11: Line 11:
Lon, meanwhile, proves easily susceptible to the Mara's charms, especially when they come Tegan-shaped. Now he's trying to rejigger the Ceremonial Ritual Commemorating Having Kicked Out The Mara into a ceremony to allow them reentry.
Lon, meanwhile, proves easily susceptible to the Mara's charms, especially when they come Tegan-shaped. Now he's trying to rejigger the Ceremonial Ritual Commemorating Having Kicked Out The Mara into a ceremony to allow them reentry.


=== Tropes ===
== Tropes ==


* [[All Myths Are True]]: The Mara is largely regarded as a fairy tale used to scare children, but guess what...?
* [[All Myths Are True]]: The Mara is largely regarded as a fairy tale used to scare children, but guess what...?
Line 17: Line 17:
* [[Cliff Hanger]]: Naturally. Part 3 gives us a particularly stereotypical [[Prepare to Die]] moment, complete with a rare Nyssa scream.
* [[Cliff Hanger]]: Naturally. Part 3 gives us a particularly stereotypical [[Prepare to Die]] moment, complete with a rare Nyssa scream.
* [[Demonic Possession]]
* [[Demonic Possession]]
* [[Distressed Dude]]: Once again, the Doctor spends almost an entire episode locked up in a cage!
* [[Dude in Distress]]: Once again, the Doctor spends almost an entire episode locked up in a cage!
* [[Does Not Like Shoes]]: Dojjen
* [[Does Not Like Shoes]]: Dojjen
* [[Everybody Lives]], astonishingly enough for a Fifth Doctor serial
* [[Everybody Lives]], astonishingly enough for a Fifth Doctor serial
Line 25: Line 25:
* [[I'm Not Afraid of You]]: how the Doctor weakens the Mara enough to be able to destroy it.
* [[I'm Not Afraid of You]]: how the Doctor weakens the Mara enough to be able to destroy it.
* [[Impossibly Tacky Clothes]]: Martin Clunes, the actor who played Lon and who went on to be a sucessful star, is being quoted on the dvd for never quite forgiving director Fiona Cumming for putting him in the ceremonial costume, since [[Never Live It Down|whenever he now appears on a talk-show they always show that clip]] in order to make fun of his earlier jobs pre-stardom.
* [[Impossibly Tacky Clothes]]: Martin Clunes, the actor who played Lon and who went on to be a sucessful star, is being quoted on the dvd for never quite forgiving director Fiona Cumming for putting him in the ceremonial costume, since [[Never Live It Down|whenever he now appears on a talk-show they always show that clip]] in order to make fun of his earlier jobs pre-stardom.
** Sarah Sutton cheekingly said during the dvd-commentary when the Costume showed up that "[[I Was Young and Needed the Money|You can only make the young wear something like that, anyone with some experience and confidence under their wings would take one look at it and flat-out refuse.]]"
** Sarah Sutton cheekingly said during the dvd-commentary when the Costume showed up that "[[I Was Young and Needed the Money|You can only make the young wear something like that, anyone with some experience and confidence under their wings would take one look at it and flat-out refuse.]]"
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Manussa. Swap a syllable and you get [[Classical Mythology|Medusa]], who famously had hair comprised of the Mara's bretheren.
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Manussa. Swap a syllable and you get [[Classical Mythology|Medusa]], who famously had hair comprised of the Mara's bretheren.
* [[Mind Control]]: Tegan and the Mara
* [[Mind Control]]: Tegan and the Mara

Latest revision as of 01:01, 29 June 2016
Dreams are important... never underestimate them.
—The Doctor

Uh-oh. Looks like Tegan isn't quite over her encounter with the Mara, the mind-controlling snake god from "Kinda": not long after they land on the planet of Manussa, she starts having sinister snake-themed dreams.

Possibly these were inspired by her environment. Manussa used to be controlled by the Mara until they kicked the evil snake god to the curb some 500 years previously, an event commemorated by a festival that the TARDIS crew has landed smack in the middle of. Could the Mara be attempting a comeback?

Of course. It's a good time for it, too: Manussa's currently under the control of vain and weak-willed Lon, and no one in the palace believes the Doctor's warnings of incoming doom. Except one token guy, who gives the Doctor a crystal and tells him about an old scholar, who also believed in the Mara and later left society to wander around in the desert and be a monk. Or something. It takes the Doctor roughly five seconds to deduce that the Mara came to Manussa when the ancestors of the Manussans made some kind of giant magic molecularly-engineered crystal that fed off everyone's hate and fear and thus allowed the Mara to enter. Either he's really good, or someone's been showing him the scripts.

Lon, meanwhile, proves easily susceptible to the Mara's charms, especially when they come Tegan-shaped. Now he's trying to rejigger the Ceremonial Ritual Commemorating Having Kicked Out The Mara into a ceremony to allow them reentry.

Tropes

Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Doctor_Who/Recap/S20/E02_Snakedance?oldid=1414490"