Season 20, Episode 2 | 4 parts | First broadcast: 18–26 January 1983 | Writer: Christopher Bailey | Director: Fiona Cumming
Cast
- Peter Davison as the Doctor
- Sarah Sutton as Nyssa
- Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka
- Martin Clunes as Lon
- Colette O’Neil as Tanha
Summary
The dormant Mara, still lurking within Tegan’s subconscious since her possession in Kinda, begins to reassert itself as the TARDIS arrives on the ceremonial world of Manussa during a festival commemorating the ancient defeat of the very same entity. As Tegan is drawn deeper under the Mara’s influence and a bored, cynical prince becomes the key to its return, the Doctor must convince a society that has reduced its own history to myth that the danger is horrifyingly real.
Interesting Facts
- This story serves as a direct sequel to the previous season’s Kinda, bringing back the malevolent psychic entity the Mara.
- A young Martin Clunes, later known for numerous British television roles, appears here in one of his earliest screen performances.
- The story explores themes of complacency and disbelief, as the Manussan society dismisses its own historical warnings as mere folklore.
- Writer Christopher Bailey again drew on Buddhist philosophical concepts to shape the Mara’s symbolic nature and eventual defeat.
No Responses