The Androids of Tara
| 101 – The Androids of Tara | |||||
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| Doctor Who serial | |||||
Romana (centre) meets her first doppelgänger, the Princess Strella (left)
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| Production | |||||
| Directed by | Michael Hayes | ||||
| Written by | David Fisher | ||||
| Script editor | Anthony Read | ||||
| Produced by | Graham Williams | ||||
| Executive producer(s) | None | ||||
| Incidental music composer | Dudley Simpson | ||||
| Production code | 5D | ||||
| Series | Season 16 | ||||
| Length | 4 episodes, 25 minutes each | ||||
| Originally broadcast | 25 November – 16 December 1978 | ||||
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| Author | Terrance Dicks |
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| Cover artist | Andrew Skilleter |
| Series |
Doctor Who book: Target novelisations |
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Release number
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3 |
| Publisher | Target Books |
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Publication date
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24 April 1980 |
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The Androids of Tara is the fourth serial of the 16th season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 25 November (two days after the fifteenth anniversary) to 16 December 1978. This is the fourth of six linked serials that comprise the whole of Season 16, known collectively as The Key to Time.
The society of the planet Tara is a mix of the feudal and the futuristic, with a rigid social monarchical hierarchy developed alongside a skill in advanced electronics and android making, a skill reserved to the lesser orders. Centuries earlier, after a plague wiped out nine tenths of the population, the peasants, abandoned by the nobles, began building androids to deal with labour shortages. The planet is now troubled by a struggle for the crown and the power on Tara. The rightful heir, Prince Reynart, is facing a challenge to his rule and coronation from his cousin, Count Grendel of Gracht, a suave but deadly villain who has kidnapped Reynart’s sweetheart, the Princess Strella, and is holding her captive to persuade Reynart not to take the throne.
The Fourth Doctor and Romana arrive on Tara in search of the fourth segment of The Key to Time and, for once, the quest is simple. While the Doctor goes fishing, Romana identifies and transforms the fourth segment alone – it was disguised as a segment of a Grachtian statue – though her luck does not last. She is attacked by a native Taran bear and only saved by Count Grendel, who takes Romana to his castle on the pretext of treating her injured ankle and "registering" the Key segment as an exotic gemstone. Once there, it becomes clear that Grendel believes she is an android, because she exactly resembles the captive Strella. Grendel orders her to be disassembled, and just before Romana's head is to be chopped off, Grendel's surgeon/android engineer Madame Lamia realises Romana is real. However, Romana is then imprisoned in Grendel's dungeons like the Princess.
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Wikipedia