“The Stones of Blood” is the third adventure of the sixteenth season, known by the global title “The Key to Time”, which aired in 1978. It follows “The Pirate Planet” and it’s a four parts adventure written by David Fisher and directed by Darrol Blake.

The story

The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) and Romana (Mary Tamm) locate the third segment of the Key of Time on Earth, near a megalithic circle that two local archaeologists are studying. While attempting to identify the segment they have to deal with some apparently supernatural phenomena.

The Doctor must investigate a Druidic cult and megaliths that move on their own and feed on blood, and both he and K-9 risk their lives. Romana thinks that the Doctor wants to kill her, what is the truth?

Extras

Note. The adventure “The Stones of Blood” was published in a single DVD or in a box-set that includes the entire season “The Key to Time” in different editions. This review refers to the edition published in 2009 in a box-set, available on Amazon UK , Amazon USA and Amazon Canada .

This DVD contains a good amount of extras. There are typical contents such as BBC continuity, a PDF file with the Radio Times Billings, production subtitles, a gallery of pictures from this adventure and the announcement of the DVDs to be published shortly.

There are comments in the adventure alternative audio track by protagonist Mary Tamm and director Darrol Blake. In a second alternate audio track there are comments by protagonists Tom Baker and Mary Tamm, actress Susan Engel and author David Fisher.

Getting Blood from the Stones. A documentary on the production of this adventure with interviews with cast and crew. It’s the most important extra.

Hammer Horror. A short documentary on the influence of horror movies on “Doctor Who”.

Free Stones. Mary Tamm visit the megalithic circle used in the production of this adventure.

Deleted Scenes. Over two minutes of material cut from the second part of “The Stones of Blood”.

Blue Peter & Nationwide. A video taken from the TV show in January 1979 where models used for “The Stones of Blood” are presented by designer Mat Irvine.

“The Stones of Blood” is an adventure a little peculiar because it’s divided into two almost equal parts which have an entirely different setting. The first part is a classic horror story as it was commonly seen in previous “Doctor Who” seasons and the second part is set in a spaceship adrift in hyperspace.

The setting changes dramatically from the megaliths in the English countryside to the isolation of a spaceship whose interior is bright white and also the tone of the adventure goes from the initial horror to comedy in the last part.

Despite appearances however there’s a continuity in the story which doesn’t suddenly jump from one part to the other but it develops step by step. Thus from the beginning with a Druidic cult and apparently supernatural phenomena the Doctor and Romana slowly discover what there’s really behind all of that.

With such an elaborate plot you can’t really understand a lot about the bad guys’ plans and motivations nor what happens at the end to the starship in hyperspace so it’s understandable that at the end of “The Stones of Blood” some people are a bit puzzled.

Getting inspired to successful adventures from a few years earlier such as “Pyramids of Mars” and “The Ark in Space” at the same time trying to mix and match elements from them is an interesting idea but not enough. A good result is achieved not only by what and how many elements are placed into an adventure but also by how they’re developed. In “The Stones of Blood” development is a little chaotic and the result is affected.

If in some ways the characters are a sore point of “The Stones of Blood” it’s true that at the end this adventure works also thanks to some of them. Professor Rumford is an excellent complement to the Doctor / Romana couple and the final part, which goes on a little too long, is saved by the Doctor’s funny behavior.

In all of this there’s the search for the segment of the Key to Time. “The Stones of Blood” is an adventure that could be produced at any time because there are few references to the Key and they could be easily eliminated by making the story totally autonomous.

For this reason it’s almost ironic that “The Stones of Blood” is probably the adventure of the season in which the special effects are most successful in spite of the limited bugdet. The stones that move on their own can give you some chill and hyperspace appearance is quite suggestive and perhaps that’s why years later it was recreated in a similar fashion in the series “Babylon 5”.

Despite the flaws, “The Stones of Blood” is an adventure funny and overall good although the result is a bit lower than the previous two.

Because this DVD is part of “The Key to Time” box set a global judgement must necessarily be given only at the end of the reviews of this season’s adventures.