Doctor Who/The Keeper of Traken

The Keeper of Traken
Season 18, Serial 6
Airdate	January 31, 1981
Production Number	5T
by	Johnny Byrne
Directed by	John Black
← 18x05 Warriors' Gate	18x07 → Logopolis
Doctor Who — Season Eighteen

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The Keeper of Traken is the sixth serial of the eighteenth season of Doctor Who, and the one-hundred and fifteenth serial overall.

Part One: Tom Baker (Doctor Who), Matthew Waterhouse (Adric), Anthony Ainley (Tremas), Sheila Ruskin (Kassia), Denis Carey (The Keeper), John Woodnutt (Seron), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Margot Van der Burgh (Katura), Robin Soans (Luvic), Roland Oliver (Neman), Geoffrey Beevers (Melkur) (voice only)

Part Two: Tom Baker (Doctor Who), Matthew Waterhouse (Adric), Anthony Ainley (Tremas), Sheila Ruskin (Kassia), Denis Carey (The Keeper), John Woodnutt (Seron), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Margot Van der Burgh (Katura), Robin Soans (Luvic), Roland Oliver (Neman), Geoffrey Beevers (Melkur) (voice only)

Part Three: Tom Baker (Doctor Who), Matthew Waterhouse (Adric), Anthony Ainley (Tremas), Sheila Ruskin (Kassia), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Margot Van der Burgh (Katura), Robin Soans (Luvic), Roland Oliver (Neman), Liam Prendergast (Foster), Geoffrey Beevers (Melkur) (voice only)

Part Four: Tom Baker (Doctor Who), Matthew Waterhouse (Adric), Anthony Ainley (Tremas), Sheila Ruskin (Kassia), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Margot Van der Burgh (Katura), Robin Soans (Luvic), Roland Oliver (Neman), Liam Prendergast (Foster), Geoffrey Beevers (Melkur) (voice only)

Uncredited: Graham Cole (Melkur)

Trivia

The Show

• First appearance of Nyssa.

• First appearance of Anthony Ainley as the Master, although he does not assume the role until the final moments of the last episode.

• Is considered to be the first of a trilogy featuring the Master that would continue in the two subsequent serials.

• The name "Tremas" is an anagram of "Master".

Behind the Scenes

• While Geoffrey Beevers voiced Melkur and is credited solely as such, he also physically played the decayed Master in the latter two episodes before he takes the body of Tremas.

• Beevers wore the same Master costume from The Deadly Assassin, but the mask was too deteriorated, so it had to be replicated with make-up.

Memorable Moments

• The Master has failed at taking Traken and it seems he is defeated. But after seeing the Doctor and Adric off, Tremas sees a grandfather clock and is frozen in place when he touches the face. The Master then emerges from the clock's door and proceeds to then merges into Tremas, rejuvenating himself and giving him a new body and thus avoiding a permanent death.

Quotes

• The Master: (seeing Tremas) So... a new body... at last! (merges into him) A new body... at last.