🙏🏼59% = Okay! = Mildly recommended

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time! This time: the quest for the Key to Time begins with a new companion and a planet of snow and cold winds.

Robert Holmes uses the opening episode effectively to set up the Key to Time arc of this season and introduces us to new characters: K9 Mark II (improved but barely used), the freshly graduated Time Lady Romana I, and the White Guardian. What distinguishes Season 16 is its basic quest nature, in which the Doctor hunts down the six segments of the Key to Time in order to help save the universe, with each story in the season focusing on finding one of the segments.

Part 1 has a bit of a stupid cliffhanger, where the Doctor throws himself under the shutting door to get stuck, just like Romana (the Shrivenzale reveal is pretty good, though). The other cliffhangers are simply boring.

The script doesn't do a whole lot in terms of developing tension or dramatic beats after the setup. The story moves between the same people and locations while stalling time until the Doctor can get hold of the Key segment.

You can clearly see from Tom Baker’s performance that he is becoming very protective of the show and the role in how he initially reacts to and interacts with his newest companion/assistant, Romana. Mary Tamm isn't the most iconic incarnation of the character, but I like how she is the first companion since Susan to be of the Doctor's race, and she is very witty and intelligent in her own right, to the point where the Doctor is easily annoyed by her. She is definitely a stark contrast to the fearless warrior that is Leela.

The guest cast has always felt a little strange to me. Iain Cuthbertson and Paul Seed's exaggerated performances, intended to reference real-life bureaucrats, leaders, con men, and businesspeople, annoy me greatly. While there's plenty of dramatic fuel in Garron and the Graff arguing with each other, their political and economic debates are not very interesting.

Robert Keegan as the scarred warrior bodyguard Sholakh is a cool supporting character, but underused. Anne Tirard returns from The Romans and gives one of the worst Doctor Who performances in the classic series as the Seer.

If there is one guest character I sympathise with, it’s Timothy Bateson as Binro the Heretic—such an underappreciated character and an allegory for those early scientists who dared to preach against the established word of the church. Even though they only tangentially relate to the rest of the plot, his scenes with Unstoffe are heartfelt and likely the best parts of the story.

Ribos as a planet seems potentially interesting, but the story mostly reuses the same three or four sets, meaning that it never comes alive very well and feels a bit limited. The costume design on the Ribosians is really nice.

This story never picks up speed or tightens the atmosphere, and it mostly saunters its way across the finish line as the Doctor snatches the Key segment and leaves. It teases the Shrivenzale throughout the story but barely uses it (it looks like Rancour from Star Wars to me!).