Stories Television Doctor Who (1963-1996) Classic Who S14 Serial: 1 2 3 4 5 6 The Masque of Mandragora 1 image Overview Episodes Characters How to Watch Reviews 2 Statistics Related Stories Quotes 4 Transcript Overview First aired Saturday, September 4, 1976 Production Code 4M Written by Louis Marks Directed by Rodney Bennett Runtime 100 minutes Story Type New TARDIS interior Time Travel Past Tropes (Potential Spoilers!) Fencing, Cult Location (Potential Spoilers!) Italy, Mandragora Helix, San Martino Synopsis An encounter with the living energy structure known as the Mandragora Helix leads the TARDIS to 15th century Italy. Between palace intrigue, the machinations of a sinister cult and a rogue fragment of Helix energy, the Fourth Doctor and Sarah have their hands full. There is not much time, for when Mandragora swallows the Moon, it will be time to strike. Watch Watched Favourite Favourited Add Review Edit Review Log a repeat Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Owned Save to my list Saved 4 Episodes Part One First aired Saturday, September 4, 1976 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Louis Marks Directed by Rodney Bennett UK Viewers 8.3 million Appreciation Index 58 Synopsis The Doctor and Sarah arrive in Renaissance Italy unaware that they have brought a deadly alien energy force with them. Part Two First aired Saturday, September 11, 1976 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Louis Marks Directed by Rodney Bennett UK Viewers 9.8 million Appreciation Index 56 Synopsis The Mandragora energy joins forces with the secret Brotherhood of Demnos. Count Federico plots to steal the Dukedom of San Martino from his nephew, Giuliano. Part Three First aired Saturday, September 18, 1976 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Louis Marks Directed by Rodney Bennett UK Viewers 9.2 million Synopsis Tempted by the promises of ultimate power offered by Mandragora, Hieronymous plots to eliminate the threat posed by the Doctor and uses an unwitting Sarah as his weapon. Part Four First aired Saturday, September 25, 1976 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Louis Marks Directed by Rodney Bennett UK Viewers 10.6 million Appreciation Index 56 Synopsis As the leading scholars of the era assemble in the palace for the masque, Mandragora prepares to attack, intent on sending the world into a new dark age. Show All Episodes Characters Fourth Doctor Sarah Jane Smith The Mandragora Helix First Appearance Show All Characters (3) How to watch The Masque of Mandragora: Watch on iPlayer Blu-Ray The Collection – Season 14 DVD The Masque of Mandragora VHS The Masque of Mandragora (VHS) Reviews Add Review Edit Review Sort: Newest First Oldest First Most Likes Highest Rating Lowest Rating Username (A-Z) Username (Z-A) Spoilers First Spoilers Last 2 reviews 23 September 2024 · 70 words Review by AndyUK One of those stories that you don't really hear spoken of that often. It's fun to see Four in a historical story and the BBC always did a fantastic job with period settings and their costumes. It meanders a bit to begin with but gets quite good in the last couple of episodes as the threat of the Cult of Demnos ramps up and Tom Baker is in fine form. Like Liked 0 8 May 2024 · 364 words Review by 15thDoctor Spoilers 2 This review contains spoilers! Louis Marks is not one of the series' more inspiring decade spanning writers, but I did enjoy his fourth Doctor stories (this and Planet of Evil) significantly more than his previous efforts for the first and third Doctors (Planet of Giants and Day of the Daleks). The most exciting moment of this serial happens up top with The Doctor introducing Sarah-Jane to the "old" TARDIS console room, it is a more radical interior redesign than we ever could have hoped for. A beautiful Victorian mahogany console - so much more "The Doctor" than everything that has come before. By making it a different room in the TARDIS rather than a redesign it adds to the mythology of the show and sense of infinite space inside the machine. Its not just that TARDIS that looks beautiful but the locations and costumes. I loved seeing Sarah-Jane in her posh 15th century frock - period costumes are something the BBC was and continues to be fantastic at. Anyone who has seen The Prisoner would admit that the location of Portmeirion could have been put to *slightly* better use in this story, but there is no doubt that it livens up the screen considerably more than your typical Doctor Who set. The story itself has some exciting twists and turns, the villain we are presented in part 1 does not end up being the ultimate threat, which is satisfying. It is let down by a couple of far-fetched elements in the plot, where annoying leaps of logic are made which pull you out of the drama. The baddies are often wearing static masks, which work well in the cloak and dagger scenes but less well in the brightly lit conversational scenes, with the actors relying on their vocal acting chops (not the most engaging TV). The main character you are routing for in 14th Century Italy is another one of these limp, young, wet leaders (that we saw twice on Peladon) that seem to be "nice" rather than have any character. His friend Marco however is a very passionate and exciting character to follow - his brief interactions with Tom Baker were marvelous. Like Liked 2 Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating279 members 3.36 / 5 Trakt.tv AVG. Rating369 votes 3.56 / 5 The Time Scales AVG. Rating162 votes 3.55 / 5 Member Statistics Watched 546 Favourited 25 Reviewed 2 Saved 2 Skipped 0 Owned 8 Related Stories The Blogs of Doom Hieronymous Rating: ??? Story Skipped Short Story Reviews(1) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: The Blogs of Doom Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Doctor Who Magazine Comics The Mark of Mandragora Rating: 3.95 Story Skipped Comic Reviews(1) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Doctor Who Magazine Comics Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved BBC Books Beautiful Chaos Rating: 4.21 Story Skipped Book Reviews(1) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: BBC Books New Series Adventures Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Other adaptations of this story: We define an adaptation as a recreation of a similar story but on a different medium or with different characters. Target Collection Doctor Who and the Masque of Mandragora Rating: 3.52 Story Skipped Book More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Target Collection Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Quotes Add Quote Link to Quote Favourite SARAH: But they lost. You know, the worse the situation, the worse your jokes get. — Sarah Jane Smith, The Masque of Mandragora Show All Quotes (4) Open in new window Transcript Needs checking Part One [TARDIS corridor] SARAH: Where are we now?DOCTOR: The TARDIS, where else?SARAH: I know we're in the TARDIS, I just don't know this bit.DOCTOR: I'll give you a guided tour someday. (Sarah stops to look through an open doorway into a room which looks like an elegant Georgian drawing room, with a pair of Wellington boots by the door.) SARAH: What's in there?DOCTOR: Boot cupboard. Not very interesting.SARAH: Boot cupboard? It's enormous! Show Full Transcript Open in new window
