The Keys of Marinus

Big Finish Productions The Companion Chronicles Domain of the Voord

Written by	Andrew Smith
Format	Compact Disc
Released	2014

Starring William Russell and Carole Ann Ford

Synopsis: The Doctor, Susan, Ian, and Barbara land on the planet Hydra, where Admiral Jonas Kaan leads a vast flotilla of ships trying to elude the vicious race that has invaded and occupied their world. But his ships are being picked off one by one, vessels, and crews dragged underwater by an unseen foe. The time travellers find themselves pitched into battle against the Voord, the ruthless enemy they last encountered on the planet Marinus. As they take the fight to the very heart of the territory now controlled by the Voord the stakes get higher. First they lose the TARDIS... then they lose that which they hold most dear. And that's only the start of their troubles. In the capital, Predora City, they will learn the truth of what it means to be a Voord. And that truth is horrifying.

• Sequel of Marinus by Niall Jones

Sequel of Marinus by Niall Jones <15/2/25

Travelling back through the history of Doctor Who is an exercise in simplification. Each step backwards removes a piece of the series' mythos. First to go are the most recent and controversial developments: bigeneration and the Timeless Child. This is then followed by other features of the New Series, such as the Time War. After this, the changes become increasingly drastic --- no Gallifrey, no Time Lords, no regeneration --- until you're left with just the barest bones of the Doctor's identity: a mysterious scientist/inventor who travels through time and space in his 'ship'.

It's therefore easy to see the appeal of this era in the show's history to writers of spin-off material. Shorn of its continuity, Doctor Who becomes a series in which all roads are yet to be taken.

Andrew Smith's 2014 audio drama Domain of the Voord acted as the launching pad for Big Finish's Early Adventures, which aimed to recreate 1960s Doctor Who as faithfully as possible. This not only involved writing stories in styles from that era, but also required the echoing of contemporary production decisions, such as having characters speak in Received Pronunciation. There was, however, a major obstacle to be overcome. The untimely deaths of William Hartnell and Jacqueline Hill meant that it was impossible to do a full cast production using the original actors. Whereas subsequent audio dramas would solve this problem by recasting the TARDIS crew, Big Finish opted for a hybrid approach when making Domain of the Voord, with William Russell and Carole Ann Ford voicing not just their own characters of Ian and Susan, but also the Doctor and Barbara, as well as providing linking narration.

The results of this are mixed, as success or failure is dependent on the quality of the vocal impersonations. While Russell does an effective job of evoking the First Doctor's way of speaking, without merely doing an impression of Hartnell's performance, Ford is less successful and it's often hard to tell Susan and Barbara apart.

Despite this, Domain of the Voord does sound like a Doctor Who story from the 1960s. While it takes a bit of getting used to, the linking narration successfully mimics the format used in audio recordings of missing episodes. As a result, it is possible to imagine that Domain of the Voord was broadcast in 1964 and subsequently lost.

Although the early days of Doctor Who provide more scope for reinvention and creativity than almost any other era in the show's history, Domain of the Voord's brief is necessarily nostalgic. It is therefore liberal in borrowing tropes from stories such as Marco Polo and The Keys of Marinus. For example, the plot is based around a journey, with Ian and Susan travelling across the seas of the planet Hydra to the capital, Predora City. The situation on the planet is also familiar, with its native rulers forming rebel groups to fight off their alien overlords. The story also ends with the Doctor giving a didactic speech about the nature of justice.

Although the story features the original TARDIS crew, it is Ian and Susan who act as the main protagonists for most of the running time, with the Doctor and Barbara absent from the second and third episodes. In part, this acts as a tribute to the ensemble nature of early stories, but there may also have been practical considerations behind this decision, as it ensures that there are relatively few scenes in which Russell and Ford have to effectively talk to themselves. While this is understandable, it also sidelines the era's most interesting characters. On the other hand, it does create a space in which Susan can come to the fore. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she is far less deferential to Ian than she is to her grandfather and she comes across as a much stronger character here than in her TV appearances.

All this adds up to a story that is enjoyable, but not particularly memorable, and I could very easily end this review here with the conclusion that, while putting on Domain of the Voord is a perfectly decent way to pass the time, it's hardly a must-listen. Except, there is one thing about it that does stick in the mind: the Voord.

The Voord occupy a strange place in Doctor Who. They were the second ever alien threat faced by the TARDIS crew, after the Daleks, earning them a privileged place in the series' history. However, whereas the Daleks would quickly become iconic figures, the Voord sank into obscurity. If they are remembered at all, it is as an acceptable answer to the (admittedly very tough) pub quiz question of 'Name a Doctor Who monster created by Terry Nation that's not the Daleks'.

In The Keys of Marinus, the Voord's sole televised appearance, the Voord (or Voords, as they are also called) are incredibly thinly sketched. It's suggested early on that their distinctive diving suits are merely protective covering against the planet's acid seas, but it's never explained who they really are. They're even referred to as 'men', so it's possible that they were never intended to be aliens at all.

The Voord's mystique as one of Doctor Who's earliest, but least known, adversaries, combined with their initial lack of substance, makes them an attractive proposition for writers. They are a blank page, ripe for development and reinvention. For example, in his 1987 comic strip The World Shapers, Grant Morrison has them develop into Cybermen. In Domain of the Voord's special features, Andrew Smith namechecks this comic and there is something vaguely Cyberman-like about his conception of the Voord. In the story, the Voord are not an alien race, but instead a kind of cultural or even religious group. Although they have individual names, they reject multiplicity and diversity, concluding that 'opposing cultures cannot exist' and instead embrace an ideology of 'peace through unity'. Aside from those who are 'of the blood tree', Voord are not born, but made. The helmet descends, like an image from The Age of Steel, and fuses to the skull of the would-be convert. If their belief is not pure enough, it tears itself off, condemning the faithless to a gruesome end. Ian --- a character who lived through the Second World War --- notes that 'I've heard a version of this speech on Earth' and condemns the Voord's words as 'the compelling rhetoric of totalitarianism'.

In the end, the clue really is in the name. It is the Voord that make the story, with Smith's development of them from blank ciphers into a sinister Borg-like culture that transforms Domain of the Voord from a competent, but routine, recreation of Doctor Who's earliest days into something more interesting. It may feature the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan, but it really belongs to its villains.