The imaginative and fresh ideas that Christopher Bailey brought
to the show when he wrote Kinda was amazing. The Mara was an extremely sinister
and palpable menace, the embodiment of Dukkha especially was superbly effective
in scaring the hell out of me when I was a young boy. I felt when watching
Kinda that this is just begging for a sequel, and not just that, but a good
sequel too. And I was delighted to find not soon afterward that there was
indeed another Peter Davison story with the imaginative force from the dark
places of the inside, and this time it would be taking the Mara back to its
home planet and its roots.
Now I am almost certain that in many ways Snakedance is even
better than Kinda, at least for me. The first major improvement of course is
the look of the final serpent in part four. It is still not absolutely
brilliant, but it is a whole lot more convincing than the decidedly awful
realisation of the serpent in Kinda.
The spotlight given to Tegan in these two stories gives Janet
Fielding the space to act better than she does in all her other Doctor Who
appearances. In Kinda we saw her have a few moments possessed by the evil of
the Mara, but this was really only a delicious little snippet. Here in
Snakedance we are treated to the best of her controlled malevolence, and Janet
is brilliant to watch. From her surprisingly catty GO AWAY! To her absolutely
chilling performance whilst in the Fortune Tellers booth, Janet proves her
mettle as one of the finest actresses ever at conveying the core of being
possessed by a malign will. In the entire history of the show the only other
woman to come close to matching Janet for palpability in the possession
department is Elisabeth Sladen. I've never been so unnerved by a good girl
going bad as I was when watching Janet in Snakedance. She truly steals the show
with a brilliant and highly nuanced performance of demonic take over.
It is good to see a young Martin Clunes, and it’s a relief he
does not play the show for laughs like something out of Men Behaving Badly. In
fact, he plays the role of Lon totally straight and gives quite the
performance, and he works brilliantly besides Janet Fielding throughout this
story.
It is also a wonderful piece of TV to see no other than Brian
Miller, aka LIs Sladen's husband, as the hapless stall owner Dugdale. He puts
in a brilliant performance that is credible and it’s sad when he gets his mind
burn out by the Mara so soon in the story.
What is also very good about this story is that it is not
resolved in the typical way. Several Doctor Who stories villains are defeated
by strong action. But that is not the case with this story. Here the
Manifestation of the Mara is only defeated by the Doctor using the skills of
the Snakedancer Dojjen to locate the still point within himself. So, a clean
mind free of hate and misery and lies is what puts the refined evil of the Mara
in its place.
Another point of congratulation has to be for the way this
story embroils several differing nods to differing belief systems, particular
Buddhist and Christian themes, without mocking those belief systems at all. All
too often on TV shows we see plenty of belief systems being ridiculed or made
fun of, and this is nothing but a turn off for me. I was always brought up to
respect the beliefs and cultures of others, and it is a real decent change to
see some different cultural references being used in Doctor Who without them
being a source of jokes and disrespect. In fact, the subtle way the themes come
over is to the story's credit no end. Most people don’t like being preached at,
but when good moral and decent points are made in a programme it’s always a
plus point for me.
Every character in this story is extremely well refined and
characterised. We have the niave but charming Lady Tanha, played with charm by
Colette O'Neil. Then we also have the added plus point of John Carson appearing
as the aloof and brash Ambril. A classic scene is when he realises that the
sixth face of delusion is his own whilst trying on a superbly realised
headdress, and he barks at the Doctor to get out for him pointing this out to
him! Then we have the reasonable and approachable Jonathon Morris as Chela, who
works well with the Doctor and Nyssa in their quest to rid Manussa of the
plague of the Mara.
Peter Davison is at the top of his game. And it's a refreshing
change to see intelligence and thought being used to defeat a menace rather
than outright fights and action. The variety of Doctor Who stories always has
to be applauded. Never once did the show stagnate in the classic run, it’s part
of the reason why the show has lasted as long as it has.
And one must never forget the presence of Nyssa. It’s so good
that Sarah Sutton here gets to wear a different costume for once other than her
normal trakenite garb. She looks pretty and charming in her multicoloured skirt
and top here, and she is always wonderful as the character of Nyssa too.
Snakedance is one of the series finest presentations of a
sequel, it is nothing like its predecessor Kinda, and it in fact achieves every
goal that a decent sequel should have. It builds upon the foundation of Kinda,
and honestly grows it so well. Kinda was excellent enough on its own, but the
sequel for me is even stronger. Could we ever be in for a third story to make
up a trilogy? One feels the Mara is a menace that could easily be expanded upon
even more. But if we are to only have Kinda and Snakedance, then one seriously
can have no complaints at all. The Mara really encapsulates well the darkness
of the mind. The Mara stories stand as two incredibly strong Peter Davison
shows, perhaps maybe even the cream of his era even, if it just be for their
uniqueness and use of more than just overblown action to tell a very
intelligent and gripping and very well paced four episodes of Doctor Who.
I have no idea why Christopher Bailey never appeared again
after this story. He had such a fertile and rich way of thinking. He stands as
a brilliantly fresh and creative writer and Doctor Who could have taken more
stories from him. Just the kind of writer that brings nothing but benefits to
the wonderful show....
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