5A. The Ribos Operation

TRANSMISSION DETAILS:

480. Part One                      02.09.78   5.45pm - 6.10pm   8.3M/42nd/59%
481. Part Two                      09.09.78   6.20pm - 6.45pm   8.1M/36th/---
482. Part Three                    16.09.78   6.30pm - 6.55pm   7.9M/38th/---
483. Part Four                     23.09.78   6.20pm - 6.45pm   8.2M/36th/61%

GARRON: Iain Cuthbertson; UNSTOFFE: Nigel Plaskitt; GRAFF VYNDA-K: Paul Seed; SHOLAKH: Robert Keegan; CAPTAIN: Prentis Hancock; SHRIEVES: Oliver Maguire, John Hamill (1-2); THE WHITE GUARDIAN: Cyril Luckham (1); BINRO THE HERETIC: Timothy Bateson (3-4); THE SEEKER: Ann Tirard (3-4). UNCREDITED: WALK-ON SHRIVES: Roy Brent, Yuri Gridneff, Barry Summerford, David Young; SHRIEVENZALE: Stuart Fell (1-2), Nick Wilkinson (1-2); KROLE: Pat Gorman; LEVITHIANS: Tony Bell, Derek Chafer, Harry Fielder, Steven Ismay.

STORY:

The Doctor is chosen for a very special mission - to retrieve and assemble the Key to Time - by none other than the White Guardian. The Doctor is also provided with a new companion, the Time Lady Romana, and warned that there is also a Black Guardian who will do all in his power to obtain the Key to Time.

The Doctor is also provided with a Tracer which will locate each of the segments, and it leads the TADIS to the planet of Ribos, where two conmen are attempting to sell the planet to the Graff Vynda-K. To make the planet look more valuable the leader, Garron, plants a lump of Jethryk as bait, whlst Unstoffe pretends to be a local talking of a Jethryk mine.

The Graff Vynda-K discovers that Garron and Unstoffe are con-men, and pursue them into the catacombs, where the natives fear to tread. Several fights break out, and the Graff Vynda-K's men are all destroyed. The Doctor disguises himself as one, and the Vynda-K tries to use him to deliver a bomb, but the Doctor switches it back, and the Vynda-K is destroyed.

Romana uses the tracer and the Jethryk transforms into the first segment of the Key to Time.

STUDIOS: Television Centre Studio 4

WORKING TITLES: The Galactic Con Man, The Ribos File, Operation

NOTES: This story introduces the Key to Time quest that is continued through the season
John Leeson's K-9 voice is not heard in Part Two
The organ music heard in the story was played by Leslie Pearson

NOVELISATION: The Ribos Operation by Ian Marter

VIDEO: The Ribos Operation