DVD Extras include:
- Audio commentary by actors Peter Davison (The Doctor),
Janet Fielding (Tegan),
and Sarah Sutton (Nyssa).
- "Snake Charmer" making-of featurette (25 min.)
including director Fiona Cumming,
writer Christopher Bailey,
script editor Eric Saward,
and designer Jan Spoczynski.
- Isolated Music Score by Peter Howell
- "In Studio" raw studio recording of effects sequences (6 min.)
- Deleted Scenes (3 min.)
- Photo Gallery (5 min.)
- Peter Davison appears on the Saturday Superstore show (14 min).
Buyers' Guide Review
by Martin Izsak
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(A more in-depth analysis, containing "SPOILERS" and intended
for those who have already seen the program, can be accessed
here.)
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This story's significant differences from most other Doctor Who
adventures will no doubt continue to make its ranking hotly debated
among the show's fans for years to come. It is in fact a real gem,
offering many quality elements rarely found elsewhere and almost
never at this level of excellence, becoming something unique for
Doctor Who, science fiction, and television programming altogether.
As such, this story has shot up into my list of the top five Doctor Who
stories of all time.
However, my opinion was not always so favourable, particularly
when I first saw it. Writer Christopher Bailey continues the anti-tech
writing style he began in this story's prequel
"Kinda" (story no. 119),
which denied my young thirst for laser beams, materializations,
physical action, and most of the "magical" effects surrounding
new sci-fi processes that fueled my early interest in the genre.
Bailey has other aims in mind, and chiefly sustains the first three
episodes with explorations of culture, character, and a form of
long-forgotten crystal technology which few still believe in
- all of which supports what I now believe to be the most important
aspects of good science fiction.
The final episode then layers in spiritual elements critical to
a superb dramatic climax that satisfies on multiple levels,
and has the added power of being able to positively affect
viewers' lives, becoming one of the tours-de-force for
Peter Davison's era.
As with "Kinda", the story begins just after the TARDIS has
landed. In fact, only one shot
of the police box appears in the opening episode, as our main characters
first come out of it, and it is not a glorious one, half hidden
behind someone's laundry. While the interior features several times
during the story - a nice touch in itself - the juxtaposition
of the interior and exterior is not really given its due. This just isn't a
great tale for introducing us to the main vehicle for the series.
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The opening shot is a nicely mysterious teaser, hinting at both
the geography and the thematic material that only gets its due
later in the story. "Snakedance" then quickly begins 80's style
intercutting of two groups of not-yet related characters: the Doctor's
gang in the TARDIS and some royal visitors to the planet in their
quarters - all without really letting the audience in on why we are
watching them or what should intrigue us about them. But the characters
are well fleshed-out, and each scene
is a good length, allowing some substance to show through in each.
Topping that, the story begins to gel really well once we realize that
both groups are headed for the same, mysterious location....
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Nyssa is seen trying out the first completely new everyday costume
she's had since she joined the show, and Sarah Sutton and Peter Davison
devise a few enjoyable additions to their first scenes surrounding this,
thankfully keeping it tasteful and minimal enough not to interrupt the
flow of the story. The new costume is welcome variety on the show,
but sadly isn't any improvement on Nyssa's season 19 look. Thankfully,
it only features for one story, until yet more variety wanders out of
the TARDIS's wardrobe room....
Once more for season 20, Nyssa gets to play the chief companion
to the Doctor as she did in
"Arc of Infinity" (story no. 124). Although
continuing to do an excellent job of it, there is less for her to do
in this story, and less dramatic meat for her to get her teeth into.
It is Janet Fielding who has far more acting to do, although only
a relatively small percentage of it is as her regular character Tegan.
Thankfully, a few nice new character bits still manage to come out for
Tegan, such as the glimpse
of what she was like when she was six years old.
The Mara also turns out to be an enoyable and successful mix of
acting, special effects, and backstory mystery,
having its most profound effect in the imagination.
While all the guest actors do excellent work in their roles,
John Carson's Ambril has become a particular favourite of mine. Both
his passions and his intolerances come out clearly, humourously, and
with much charisma. Superb. And if you're looking for a little alien
culture to show itself on the Doctor's travels through time and space,
Ambril's ramblings are actually rather interesting and rewarding to listen
to.
Which brings us to another point. It's easy to see how the production
team of the new millenium might try to set a story such as this in
colonial India a few centuries ago, as the parallels are great. But it
achieves more in the sci-fi genre by being a clash between two completely
alien cultures with the freedom to be anything, become anything, and have
any kind of history that suits the adventure at hand. Sweet. Just what
I look for these days, and precisely what is in far too short supply
in the 2005-2007 years of the show. While there is every reason to believe
that "Snakedance" features the same interplanetary Federation as was seen
exploring the planet Deva Loka in "Kinda", there really is nothing in either
story to indicate that this Federation is Earth-based, as many fans seem
to have assumed. In my mind, it's alien, as it should be, and if we ever
see any more of it on Doctor Who, it may yet surprise us with even
stranger cultural twists.
One of the things that makes these characters work so well is the way
they are all so easily understandable - the idle prince, the socially
climbing queen, the greedy showman, even the street vendor pushing trinkets.
They're all real at first sight, unlike many of the more experimental
characterizations one will encounter during the
Sylvester McCoy era.
The one bit that doesn't really work for me is the puppet play
in the market - which of course doesn't really need to be anything
too real in the first place.
The plot of "Snakedance" is fairly well-constructed, and a bit better
than "Kinda". Each episode works well both when viewed on its own,
and in quick succession as a whole story.
Although the progress and enjoyment of the story easily survive
its routine capture and escape sequence,
the adventure likely would
have been better and more popular had more traditional Doctor Who
action been used instead.
Stillpoint Quest
The final segments incorporate a whole new level into the story,
and it is only here that Peter Davison's Doctor's
mythological role in this tale is really defined,
making sense of what might have been perceived as character flaws
earlier in the story.
There is much more to say on this topic, but I will of course avoid
spoilers here by saving
it all for the
In-depth Analysis version of this review,
along with how and why "Snakedance" ties in with our feature article:
"Recipe for Health".
For now, I'll just say that my experience suggests that
the information expressed simply and helpfully here,
has the potential to reach beyond
into viewers' lives, consciously or unconsciously, and have impact.
Even after
dismissing this story in my youth, I found many profound lines coming back
to me whenever I needed them most.... along with images, sounds, and
music from the program.
Likely
without realizing it, Doctor Who audiences were given a glimpse
of something brilliant and real that many have yet to tap into.
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Peter Howell returns to compose and realise the score for this
adventure, building upon the musical foundation he had created the
previous year for "Kinda". It is yet another top-notch score, matching
action and mood brillliantly, featuring trademark transformational
electronic sound, and exotic instrument sounds worthy of ancient and
mysterious civilizations. But his layered octaves of graceful synth pads
evoking mental peace and tranquility
is the signature brilliance of the piece, effortlessly
burned into memory.
Sadly, only a less inspiring bit of source music is currently
available on a CD release, designed to counterpoint the peace as it
symbolizes the typical chaotic state of the citizens minds' going
about their daily lives and celebrations.
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Music by Peter Howell
"Janissary Band" (0:52) is available on:
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"Snakedance" undoubtedly has one of the most dramatically riveting,
successful, and unique conclusions of any Doctor Who story, with some
effective and bizarre visuals to boot. And the minute one considers
the Mara to be an external representation of any unwanted or unconstructive
thoughts in the mind, the conclusion reveals rare layers of mental,
emotional and spiritual wisdom.
I often look back at "Snakedance" as a biproduct of the brief
critical mass of spiritual transformation that the human race achieved
in the early 1980's, perhaps not so much in Christopher Bailey's
script-writing as he probably "got it" all along, but more in terms
of the rest of the production crew in deciding to do this story
in the first place and putting so much excellence and energy into it.
This critical mass probably also influenced the original "Star Wars" trilogy,
Spielberg's "E.T.",
"Enlightenment" (Doctor Who story no. 128),
and to some extent
"Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan".
As we reach critical mass yet again in the next few years, this time in more
permanent fashion, I predict new appreciation for "Snakedance" may
be in the works.....
This story is available on DVD and VHS video.
Click on the Amazon symbol for the location nearest you
for pricing and availability:
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DVD NTSC Region 1
for the North American market:
in the U.S.
in Canada
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DVD PAL Region 2
"Mara Tales" Box Set
for the U.K.
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VHS Video
NTSC
A
in the U.S.
NTSC
B
in the U.S.
NTSC
in Canada
PAL
for the U.K.
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Comments on this article are welcome. You may contact
the author from this page:
Contact page
Further adventures featuring the Mara and the struggle to overcome it
can be found in
the novel "Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment", by
Dr. Deepak Chopra.
