The Stones of Blood

Dear Gary—

The Stones of Blood doesn’t make a particle of sense, but I never minded very much. Come to think of it, I never really even noticed. It’s just good fun Doctor Who. Now that I have noticed, though, I’m going to take a stab at making some semblance of sense out of it, rather like the Doctor at the start of our story unsuccessfully trying to assemble the two segments of the Key to Time.

To begin, the Doctor receives a reminder warning from the White Guardian to beware the Black Guardian. Could this be a portent for the story to come, or is it simply to serve as a recap to the audience for the season’s premise?

The Key to Time core (sometimes called the tracer) leads the Doctor and Romana to the Nine Travelers, a circle of standing stones in England, however once there the signal stops. Knowing that the segment is the Seal of Diplos worn around Vivien Fay’s neck, I can only assume that she was at the circle when they first started for it but then left. Romana doesn’t take the tracer out again when Vivien and Professor Amelia Rumford show up. However, I can’t help wondering; wouldn’t the Geiger counter sound start going wild from Romana’s backside, where she has the tracer tucked into her belt, every time Vivien Fay comes near? Romana doesn’t take it out again until after Vivien and the Professor leave and there is not a peep out of it, but wouldn’t it have a faint trace leading off in the direction of Vivien’s cottage that is just over the hill?

No matter, continuing on.

The Doctor goes off in search of answers from Mr. De Vries, the owner of the land upon which the stones stand and leader of a druidic cult operating in the area. The Doctor is surprised that De Vries knows his name and knew of his coming. This is where the crows come in. “It looks evil,” Romana says of one that seems to be hanging about. The crows lend an eerie element to the tale, and apparently communicate between Vivien and her cultist friends. At least that is the implication, and that is how De Vries knows so much about the Doctor. (“Beware the raven or the crow, Doctor; they are her eyes.”)

While at De Vries’ hall the Doctor remarks on some notably absent portraits. Lady Morgana Montcalm (“they used to call her the wicked Lady Montcalm”), Mrs. Trefusis (“she lived here for 60 years and never saw a soul”), and Senora Camara (“Was there a Senor Camara?” “He doesn’t seem to have survived the crossing from Brazil.”), all previous owners of the hall and the surrounding land, including the Nine Travelers. It’s another atmospheric scene deepening the sinister tone already established with the crows and the druids.

So far so good. De Vries is the leader of a druidic cult, chanting to his Cailleach (who is really Vivien Fay although that is not yet revealed), and communicating with her through crows. The Doctor, in search of the missing Key segment is a threat to the Cailleach and therefore De Vries (the segment being the Great Seal of Diplos around Vivien Fay’s neck although we don’t know that yet either). De Vries, under orders of the Cailleach, knocks the Doctor out. So far so good. Some appearance of order here.

De Vries, again by orders of the Cailleach (presumably), uses the power of the segment to transform objects to make himself or someone (unclear) over into the image of the Doctor (we never see this—it’s all implied and off camera) to lure Romana to her death over the treacherous cliffs (Romana being as much a threat as the Doctor for the same reasons). De Vries then gathers his circle of druids in the middle of the Nine Travelers to sacrifice the Doctor to the Cailleach.

Now this cult is rather rag-tag and the Doctor himself never really seems worried that Leonard (De Vries) will actually go through with his threat. Leonard (De Vries) does seem to take inordinate amount of time as Martha pleads with him to stop this madness while he stands awkwardly with curved knife poised above the Doctor. Good old Professor Amelia Rumford to the rescue on her trusty bicycle and the cult flees.

A brief rescue scene as Romana, bare foot (having thankfully shed those ridiculously inadequate shoes—although they did come in rather handy for judging the density of the ground early on), clings precariously to the edge of the cliff. Now send Romana back with Amelia to Vivien’s cottage (after getting her a decent pair of shoes) while the Doctor returns to confront De Vries (Leonard).

But first we have some more tracer mystery. They return to the circle. The tracer (Key core) picks up a faint signal. The Doctor has already introduced the hint of hyper space. But we know the segment is around Vivien’s neck and Vivien is in the circle when they arrive. Why doesn’t the tracer lead Romana straight to Vivien and story done? But the Doctor stops her hand, the Doctor already has his suspicions (“that’s what I thought”). My only conclusion is that the Doctor deliberately delays the discovery of the segment so he can indulge his natural curiosity. My next conclusion, since the tracer does not continue to signal, is that there must be a switch that Romana activates to make it work; I can only say that Romana has been extremely lax in her tracer duties.

Again, so far so good. I have managed to answer most of my questions. Next are the Ogri and their destruction of the hall and Leonard (De Vries) and Martha. Given the crow implications, I suppose Vivien sent message via the crows to the Ogri to carry out her command to murder Leonard (De Vries) and Martha when she hears the Doctor’s plans to go back for answers.

Side note here, Gary. I never bothered to put all of this together before. I always just watched and enjoyed and never really asked questions or tried to make sense. None of this is really spelled out for us, much is implied and much is supposition.

But back to our story.

And back to the Ogri. The Ogri are the stones located in the Nine Travelers circle, or at least three of the stones. The Ogri are silicone based life forms that need blood to live. Hence the druidic sacrifices (animal blood for the most part as far as I can tell; no human sacrifices until the attempt on the Doctor). The Ogri arrived on Earth 4,000 years ago along with Vivien Fay, aka Lady Montcalm, aka Mrs. Trefusis, aka Senora Camara, aka the Cailleach (and more aliases to come but not yet known). 4,000 years these Ogri have craved blood; has it been 4,000 years of druidic animal blood provided? Not clear. Never explained. The Ogri do go off to ‘recharge’ on a couple of camper’s  blood, so this doesn’t seem to be unprecedented, but there is no hint of disappearances or mysterious deaths in the area or associated with the Nine Travelers, so who knows how they have survived for 4,000 years or on what.

Let’s jump back to hyperspace. (“I still don’t understand about hyperspace”—Prof. Amelia Rumford. “Well, who does?”—the Doctor. “I do”—K9. “Oh, shut up K9”—the Doctor.) Vivien has rustled Romana off to hyperspace above the stone circle where a space ship has been parked, apparently for 4,000 years.

Now we veer off from the first half rather creepy, gothic, sometimes referred to as Hammeresque, story to the sci fi hyperspace second half of The Stones of Blood.

“They say it’s a theoretical absurdity and that’s something I’ve always wanted to be lost in.”

Vivien Fay, we learn, has been lost in hyperspace for 4,000 years, or at least the hyperspace ship she arrived in has been grounded on Earth for that long. We also learn that Vivien is actually Cessair of Diplos, a criminal who was being transported to trial by the Megara, justice machines who are also on board the hyperspace vehicle but locked up, until that is the Doctor lets them loose for which he is put on trial for breaking the seals on their compartment door.

OK, Gary, this is where things get a bit fuzzy. First we have a convict ship grounded on Earth; all the officers, crew and prisoners on board are dead except for Cessair/Vivien. How and why—who knows? Perhaps at the hands of dear Vivien/Cessair? And why would the Megara, who are to try the criminals, be on the same transport with the criminals? Where were they being transported to? If they were already all together at their starting point, why couldn’t they just hold the trial then and there? Why go anywhere else? Especially since the Megara have no compunction to try the Doctor on the spot. And why are the Megara locked up? The compartment they occupy is obviously intended for them since it has the distinctive seal (which is apparently sacrosanct), so why does it lock from the outside like a cell? And back to the point of all being on the same transport, wouldn’t Cessair of Diplos therefore already have been identified for the Megara? Why did they have to wait until they arrived at their mysterious destination before the officers would identify her? And do the Megara not realize that they have been locked up for 4,000 years?

But OK, those are all minor points. On to the bigger questions. Like why does Cessair of Diplos choose to remain on Earth for 4,000 years? Perhaps she isn’t technical minded and can’t figure out how to get the ship going again, but then, she has had 4,000 years to study. She obviously has some intelligence, posing as a scientist in the form of Vivien Fay. And she has the Great Seal of Diplos (Key to Time segment), which she obviously went to great lengths to steal and risked much, why doesn’t she utilize its powers more than she does? And why does she choose to remain for those 4,000 years in the same spot living as a recluse for much of it? How did she manage to get control of the Nine Travelers land and how does she manage to hold onto it for so long? How did she convince the world at large that her various personages were not one and the same? And if she wanted to keep up this illusion of different people taking on ownership of the land through the years, why did she have portraits done of herself as each of the different characters she played (only to lock them away in a priest hole)?  And then why did she wait the 4,000 years before hitting upon the idea of getting a front man?

Speaking of Leonard, how did she manage to convince him to go along with her scheme (whatever her scheme was)? OK—that’s not too difficult to answer, Leonard isn’t exactly the brightest bulb. But that begs the question, did Vivien/Cessair/Cailleach really stick around for 4,000 years with the power of the Seal/Key at her disposal just to hold sway over a middle aged couple playing at druid? And what was that druidic cult all about, anyway? Just to feed the Ogri animal blood? Ah, the Ogri—all kinds of questions abound there. Why did Cessair steal them away from their home planet? Why do they obey Cessair? Why haven’t they rampaged across the countryside these 4,000 years rather than waiting around in a circle for the cult to spill a little animal blood on them?

And what of the Black Guardian? Has he been using Cessair/Vivien? If so, when did he contact her? Surely not 4,000 years ago when she first stole the Seal/Key, otherwise, why wouldn’t he have freed her long before now and taken the segment for himself? So when? Vivien/Cessair does seem to know about the segment and that the Doctor is after it, did the Black Guardian approach her when the TARDIS first landed? And if so, again, why didn’t he just take the segment for himself? Was his sole intent to have Viven/Cessair kill the Doctor? Or was the Black Guardian not involved at all, and if not, how does Vivien/Cessair know (or at least seem to know)about the Doctor’s mission?

I give up.

No, Gary, I think I’ll simply leave the questions and enjoy the show. Because I do enjoy it. The first half is wonderfully gothic in atmosphere and the second high-tech sci fi. Professor Amelia Rumford is a delight and the Megara are fascinating (although for justice machines they don’t seem to be very just; and really, breaking a seal is punishable by death yet stealing and misusing the Great Seal, murder, impersonating a religious personage, and the removal and employment of life forms from their home planet in contravention of the Galactic Charter are not?). The Doctor’s self-defense against the Megara is classic Tom Baker, and even though Romana’s efforts at detection prove redundant they are enjoyable to watch. Let’s not forget K9 either (“Forget. Erase memory banks concerning tennis. Memory erased.”).

And that is the key to this Key to Time segment—it is enjoyable to watch.

I hope, Gary, that you enjoyed it as well as I send this out, no questions asked . . .