Day 584: Snakedance Part 1

Series 20 of Doctor Who is all about the past. Each story features the return of some old villain from the series' past, such as seeing Omega again in Arc of Infinity, and in this story, the Mara makes a return, last seen in Kinda. It's great to see the Mara return again, as it made a strong impact in Kinda, and it deserves a return visit to the world of Doctor Who.

The way in which it comes back is really interesting as well. It turns out that, when at the end of Kinda, we believed that Tegan was free of the possessive influence of the Mara, we were wrong. A small part of the Mara remained in Tegan's mind, building up its strength such that it can possess Tegan completely. It's really interesting to see this concept, because it's a departure from normal stories where villains return, where we just bump into them, only this time in a slightly different context. Here, we learn that the story didn't end when we thought it did, making this feel like more of a continuation of the original story than just a sequel.

This continuation is echoed in some of the production of the story. Not so much in the design, which is completely different by virtue of being on a different world with a different culture than that of the Deva Lokans, nor is it found in the direction, but instead it is found through the audio cues, as developed by Dick Mills (special sound) and Peter Howell (composer) both of whom had previously worked on Kinda. This mainly presents itself with a particular screech, that occasionally comes around when looking at the Mara, or some representation of it, that formed much of the underlying tension of Kinda and returns in Snakedance to provide this tension again, as well as a continuity that helps the story feel like it's a true continuation of the original story.