MR 026: Primeval

All hail Kwundaar, our living god, I guess. Something something Traken will rise again? Return to Traken? Traken 2: Source Harder?

The Doctor takes Nyssa to Traken in the ancient past because she's sick and only her people can cure her. Not sure why he took her to the ancient past, but sure. Seems like taking someone to a leach specialist to cure your humors.

The ancient past Trakenites are extremely superstitious and have a vague spirituality. The Source, which is this big energy source from the original Keeper of Traken story, is the source of all good in the world and it banishes evil. It's part of their mythology and history. Therefore Nyssa is sick because she's come into contact with evil and being near the source will wipe out that evil. Again, Doctor, what the hell. You took Nyssa to a leach doctor.

There is another power hanging around. A group of pirate ships commanded by Kwundaar, a living god. He's made himself a little cult on these ships. The pirates worship him and follow his law.

Speaking of which, a little interesting bit I remembered: the Doctor says the conservative thing: the best way to help someone is to help themselves and not foster dependancy. Give a man to fish, feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, teach him for a lifetime. And then a little later in the story, the pirates have a commandment from Kwundaar that is similar: Kwundaar helps those who help themselves. I.e., no dependancy.

Anyway, the Doctor and a Traken Doctor tries to go to Kwundaar to see if he can heal Nyssa, which turns out disasterous. Kwundaar wants the Doctor's help in exchange for curing her and then he falls right into Kwundaar's trap. He goes into the room with the Source and increases the shield around it for... reasons. That allows Kwundaar to approach the planet and invade, normally he would be burned out by it.
As it turns out, Kwundaar used to be the original Traken god, but when the Trakenites invented the source, they abandoned their religion for science and used the Source to kick Kwundaar out. Reminiscent of what the Doctor said about every paradise having its snake. They exiled the snake from paradise instead of getting exiled from it themselves. Kwundaar means to unite with the Source, safe from its power against him now and use it to call in his old god buddies from before time. He reads a code from Nyssa's mind that gives the Source's power to the Doctor. The Doctor then destroys Kwundaar and gives the power over to one of the council, creating the first Keeper of Traken, in control of the source.

It's... ok. Nothing special I don't think. A lot of it is just strange and hard to follow. I don't think I have too much to say on it. It's pretty instantly forgettable and expendable. It's just an interesting idea for a prequel to Keeper, but I don't know if anyone was clambering for that. The Fifth Doctor and Nyssa are still pretty boring, unfortunately. That's to be expected, though. 🤷‍♂️