Snakedance

Dear Gary—

“We’re not where we’re supposed to be.” A familiar TARDIS refrain as Snakedance opens with a companionable scene between the Doctor and Nyssa. Nyssa has lately emerged as the companion of choice and the two play well together. They are both so very understated and the humor arises in subtle ways. In this instance Nyssa comes into the console room newly attired in what I can only describe as a garage sale mismatch of hand-me-down clothing. Obviously proud of her new outfit, Nyssa presents herself before an obtuse and preoccupied Doctor. Personally I think he is just trying his hardest not to laugh in her face and he latches onto the unexpected landing as a means of suppressing the what-were-you-thinking giggles.

This low key relationship results in another amusing bit later in the TARDIS when they silently work at cross purposes to exit, one flipping the switch and then the other, countering the control. Nyssa simply looks at the Doctor, flips it again, and out the door they go. No words necessary in this pantomime of comedy.

Just a brief aside, here, Gary, on the emerging Nyssa. I can’t help getting the feeling that, despite her increased Doctor time, the actress is beginning to chafe at the confines of the character. Two instances in particular. The Doctor, Nyssa, and Chela are confronted by guards during their escape attempt. Now, running for an exit, chased by armed guards, escape route cut off, swords drawn, order to kill given, nobody’s but nobody’s first reaction would be to scream. I can only assume that the 1-2-3 cue scream reaction from Nyssa is Sarah Sutton’s subtle sabotage. Next we have the Doctor, Nyssa, and Chela racing to stop the ceremony. “Thank you; it wasn’t necessary,” Nyssa says as she is helped along. The look that the Doctor and Chela give each other says it all—‘what was that all about?’ What it was about, undoubtedly, is the resentment at the patronization of Nyssa.

One more Nyssa moment that I can’t help commenting on. “It can’t be,” Nyssa says as the crystal that the Doctor has been concentrating on glows. “It’s impossible.” All that Nyssa has witnessed with the Doctor and she can’t get over a glowing crystal? I know I’m jumping around, Gary, on unrelated Nyssa matters, but I wanted to get those out of the way before starting in on this marvelous story because the Nyssa/Doctor relationship is finally starting to take off and I didn’t want it to get lost.

However, the aforementioned unexpected landing, engineered by Tegan, or more accurately by the Mara who still resides within Tegan, is what drives our plot and not the Doctor and Nyssa. Mara possessed Tegan—she was impressive in Kinda and she is again here in Snakedance. And the Mara is much more effective in Snakedance because it is fully integrated into the story. The Mara is the story.

The Mara, the fascinating in concept but disappointing in realization monster from Kinda, continues to haunt Tegan’s dreams, and now the Mara has guided the TARDIS to Manussa where it awaits its second coming. Somehow the Doctor figures this out based on the fact that Manussa was formerly home to the Sumaran Empire “which may or may not ring a bell.” It does not; not for me at any rate, but the Doctor apparently is familiar with it and expects Tegan to be as well.

Knowing that the Mara is most dangerous to a sleeping mind, the Doctor places Tegan under hypnosis to find out the Mara’s plans. All he learns, besides the fact that six year old Tegan used to tell lies in her garden, is that the Mara is seeking a cave. Seems to me he could have gathered that much information from stopping a passing Manussan in the street. Next the Doctor gives Tegan an earpiece to wear that is attached to a device that “inhibits the production of brainwaves associated with dreaming.” In addition to impairing her hearing, it also gives her tunnel vision and seemingly renders her mute. He then proceeds to drag her through the streets of the city, and when he locates the cave (which he found by asking a passerby) he leaves the terrified, deaf, dumb, and practically blind Tegan in the care of Nyssa, who promptly loses her.

Not an auspicious start for the Doctor and Nyssa.

Now we have two strands of the plot as the Doctor tries to learn all he can about the Mara’s history while the Mara takes full control of Tegan. Both will eventually lead back to the cave where the ceremony commemorating the destruction of the Mara takes place. Both are equally well told tales tied together by a trio of excellent supporting characters: Lon, his mother Tanha, and the Director Ambril.

Lon, the Federator’s son, and Tanha, the Federator’s wife, have an interesting relationship. Lon doesn’t care much about anything, and yet he has a mutual respect and liking for his mother. Neither is a sympathetic character, yet both are richly developed and highly intriguing. Their evident contempt for the absent Federator is the conceivable bond between the pair, hinting at undertones of a shared history. The mother puts up with the son’s rudeness to a point, reprimanding only slightly; while the son relies on his mother’s approval.

Lon: “Am I forgiven?”

Tanha: “What? Oh yes, of course. Aren’t you always?”

Their lives are superficial, but their depths are boundless.

While Lon can’t hide his ennui, Tanha can at least feign an interest in Ambril’s droning on of ancient history; putting up appearances; but I imagine a wealth of thwarted desires lurking beneath her yawns. Ambril, on the other hand, is one note; no subterfuge, no subtext.

Together the three dance a dance that we never get to see from the Snake Dancers, with Mara/Tegan calling out the steps.

“The Federator’s son is bored.” Lon is the picture of indolence; too lazy even to be cruel. “You’ve disappointed me Doctor,” he says, “I should have you punished.” But when the Doctor runs off Lon decides, “No, let them go. What’s the point?” Infected by the Mara, though, Lon is more fully able to indulge his nasty side, adding a whole new level to his lethargic creepiness.

Ambril, on the other hand, needs no undue influence; his natural greed for fame and glory as the discoverer of untold wealth and knowledge is all it takes to turn him over to the evil bidding of the Mara.

Tanha, however, left in the dark, can only react. “What does he mean, evil? Who is evil?” she asks, confused by the accusations flying. “Lon, what arrangement? What did you promise him?” she enquires, suspicious of the conspiracies she doesn’t want to admit to. “I know: you’re planning something. Is it to be a surprise?” she wonders, attempting to make unfathomable truths conform to her world view.

And through it all Tegan/Mara laughs that evil laugh and moves ever closer to her/it’s becoming.

That is a difference between Kinda and Snakedance that I want to applaud. In Kinda the Mara transferred from Tegan to Aris whereas in Snakedance the Mara remains within Tegan and merely influences Lon and tempts Ambril, a decided improvement. Similarly, in Kinda the Mara was repulsed by mirrors, however in our current story it revels in a funhouse full of mirrors. “On the Kinda world I was trapped in a circle of mirrors,” the Mara offers by way of explanation. “There is no circle here.” The Mara encourages Tegan to look at her reflection and it only grows stronger.

Perhaps the discrepancies arise from the fact that the Mara is now on its home planet; but that begs the question, what was it doing on Deva Loka to begin with?

There are still many unanswered questions concerning the Mara, but the Doctor does his share of digging out information as he runs about hyperventilating all over the place (he really should start carrying a paper bag with him to breath into occasionally). His problem, however, is that he can’t get anyone to listen to him. Perhaps if he slowed down and bothered to explain himself instead of shouting at people he might be heard. As it is, Ambril chucks him in jail to get him out of his hair.

This Fifth Doctor does lack that certain command of authority that each of his predecessors boasts. Even when he points out that the sixth face of the Six Faces of Delusion headdress is the wearer’s own (and does the archeological scholar Ambril really not know that?) he does it in a ‘look Ma, no hands’ kind of approval seeking way rather than the confident arrogance of any of the other Doctors.

Confined as he is, though, the Doctor does start to piece things together, with the help of Ambril’s assistant Chela who brings him the previous Director Dojjen’s diary, and with the help of Nyssa who realizes that the crystal, the Great Crystal that is the center of the Mara ritual, is in fact manmade. This all leads the Doctor to realize that the Mara itself is manmade, born of the fears and greed and hate of the mind.

Armed with this knowledge, the Doctor seeks out Dojjen.

A word here, Gary, about this Dojjen character; he is a kindred spirit to the Kinda; one of those who prefers to work in cryptic visions rather than conversation. Dojjen put together the truth of the Mara and when he couldn’t convince the Manussan people of the Mara’s imminent return he hightailed it to the hills. Talk about indolence. This guy sits cross legged in the wilderness while the danger lurks below; he is well out of it; if the Doctor wants to rush off to help, let him. The Snake Dancers, too. We never get to meet these mysterious outcasts who know the truth of the Mara and “who kept the knowledge alive, hidden in traditions and legends.” I guess they figure they are protected; let the masses fend for themselves once the Mara manifests.

The Doctor does rush in where Dojjen and the Snake Dancers fear to tread. Into the cave; into the middle of the ceremony. “Reach inside yourselves and find the still point,” he admonishes the cowering crowd. One last appeal to Nyssa, but the Doctor is alone in this. Taking his own advice, reaching deep inside himself, he finds that mental version of the paper bag, breaths deeply, and defeats the Mara.

“It was awful; it was awful.” The Doctor comforts a sobbing Tegan. I’m going to miss the deep-throated Tegan of the Mara. And I’m going to miss Lon, Tanha, and Ambril. I wish there was more of an afterward to this saga. But as the Mara is more effective in the dark recesses of the mind, I suppose Snakedance is more effective in the nuances, and some tales are better left to the imagination.

And so I take my leave, Gary, and can only imagine . . .