Quotes
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"An assistant? Please, sir, on an assignment like this, I'd much rather work alone. In my experience, assistants mean trouble. I have to protect them and show them and teach them and couldn't I just, couldn't I just manage with K9?" ~ The Fourth DoctorRomana: I may be inexperienced, but I did graduate from the Academy with a triple first.
Doctor: I suppose you think we should be impressed by that, too?
Romana: Well, it's better than scraping through with fifty one percent at the second attempt.
Doctor: That information is confidential!
"Well. I'd like you to stay out of my way as much as possible and try and keep out of trouble. I don't suppose you can make tea? No, no, I don't suppose you can. They don't teach you anything useful at the Academy, do they. Gadgets and gimmickry. Never touch, never trust gimmicky gadgets." ~ The Fourth Doctor
Romana: That's ridiculous for somebody as old as you are.
Doctor: I'm not old. What?
Romana: Seven hundred and fifty nine?
Doctor: Seven hundred and fifty six. That's not old, that's just mature.
Romana: You've lost count somewhere.
Doctor: Well, I ought to know my own age.
Romana: Yes, but after the first few centuries, I expect things get a little bit foggy, don't they.
"Gadgets and gimmickry. Never touch, never trust gimmicky gadgets." ~ The Fourth Doctor
"Well, to put it very simply, Doctor, you're suffering from a massive compensation syndrome." ~ Romana
"Now, pay attention. I'm not anticipating any trouble, but it's as well to be prepared for these things. Ground rules. Rule one, do exactly as I say. Rule two, stick close to me, and Rule three, let me do all the talking. Is that perfectly clear?" ~ Romana
"Don't jump to conclusions about anyone or anything. It could lead you astray." ~ The Fourth Doctor
"And don't be sarcastic, either. That can also get you into trouble." ~ The Fourth Doctor
"Romana, you can't be a successful crook with a dishonest face, can you." ~ The Fourth Doctor
Romana: I do wish you'd explain what's happening, Doctor.
The 4th Doctor: You've got all the facts, study them.
Romana: Oh, that's very helpful.
Graff Vynda-K: Get up, you cringing cur!
The 4th Doctor: Yes, get up you cringing cur.
Garron: I was just taking my friends for a little stroll.
Graff Vynda-K: Don't lie!
The 4th Doctor: Don't hit the cringing cur.
The 4th Doctor: We're not a dirty gang, are we?
Romana: Of course not.
"Please don't panic, Romana. Come and sit down. Come on, come and sit down. Listen, when you've faced death as often as I have, this is much more fun." ~ The Fourth Doctor
"Well, it wasn't much of a heresy, my friend. Just a little thing. Oh, it was many years ago now. Have you ever looked up at the sky at night, and seen those little lights? They are not ice crystals. : I believe they are suns, just like our own sun. And perhaps each sun has other worlds of its own, just as Ribos is a world. What do you say to that?" ~ Binro
"Come on. K9, don't stop at all the corners. Come on." ~ The Fourth Doctor
"If you call that being nearly killed, you haven't lived yet. Just stay with me, and you'll get a lot nearer." ~ The Fourth Doctor
"You've got an unconscious death wish." ~ Romana
"You wouldn't understand. For years, I was jeered and derided. I began to doubt even myself. Then you came along, and you told me I was right. Just to know that for certain, Unstoffe, well, is worth a life, eh?" ~ Binro
Unstoffe: You cabberly old hypocrite. How could you?
Garron: Well, I admit I had a great trouble with me conscience. Fortunately, I won.
Garron: How did you manage to switch the jethrik for the thermite pack without the Graff noticing?
The 4th Doctor: Garron, I would've thought you'd have known that. Sleight of hands.
Garron: Oh.
The 4th Doctor: I was trained by Maskelyne.
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Trivia
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Working titles for "The Ribos Operation" include Operation and The Ribos File.
The planet Ribos was patterned after medieval Russia, with the name being an anagram of the common Russian name "Boris". The currency of Ribos, the opek, was a reference to both the Russian kopec (one-hundredth of a ruble) and OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries.
The Ribos Operation saw the introduction of both Mary Tamm as Romana, and the character of the White Guardian, an anthropomorphic personification of order and good, and one part of the Six-Fold God known as the Guardians of Time.
Show runner Graham Williams had been unhappy with the character of Leela, feeling she was too violent for the show, and was pleased to find out that Louise Jamison's contract was only for season 15. He phased out Leela at the end of the season, intending to bring back Sarah Jane Smith as the companion for "The Key to Time" season arc.
When Elisabeth Sladen turned it down, the character of Romana was created.
Mary Tamm had trained with Louise Jameson at the Royal Academy of Arts. Jameson played the previous companion Leela who departed at the end of the previous story The Invasion of Time.
While Tom Baker and Mary Tamm had a good working relationship, Baker quickly took exception to Romana's bright white dress. Plans for Romana to always be seen in white (to reflect the concept of her as an "ice queen") were hastily dropped. Romana was to have excelled in her "detachment" training, something that Borusa reminds the Doctor of in the previous story "The Invasion of Time".
The opening scene, with the White Guardian, was actually written by Anthony Read and Graham Williams, and not Robert Holmes.
In the original script, the Graff did not murder the Seeker but instead sent her back to the Catacombs, whereupon the Captain set off the explosion to seal the caves (killing the Seeker in the process). Believing himself to be the prophesied survivor, the Graff - insane and hallucinating about past campaigns - then took an ammunition pouch from a supposedly dead guard. The Doctor would reveal himself at this stage while an explosion detonated, proclaiming the Graff's final end.
Garron was originally Australian, hence the reference to his fraudulent sale of the Sydney Opera House. The Seeker was to be a man in the original script.
Anthony Read suggested that the jethrik be the first segment of The Key to Time. It was originally important, because it was actually a source of incredible energy which could power a fleet of spaceships.
In this serial (and much of the following one), Tom Baker has a clear disfigurement of his upper lip. A few days before production began, Baker was bitten by a Jack Russell terrier belonging to Paul Seed (Graff Vynda-K). The makeup team did what they could to cover up the injury with a bit of plaster, but it was still plainly obvious. The problem was explained in-story when the TARDIS lurches, and the Doctor's face bangs into the console.
Romana chides the Doctor about forgetting his age. In this story she states she's "nearly 140". As Romana II, in City of Death, she will state that she is 125.
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Links (Watch on DailyMotion.com)
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Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Doctor Who: The Ribos Operation (Story 98, The Key to Time Series Part 1) (Special Edition) DVD is available at Amazon.com,
or download from iTunes, or watch via streaming at Netflix or Hulu Plus.
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