 This story is a sequel to Season Nineteen’s "Kinda" and so sees the return of The Mara.
The writer for this story was Christopher Bailey - whose first Doctor Who story had been "Kinda". Even as "Kinda" was wrapping up production, in August 1981, Christopher Bailey and Script Editor Eric Saward were already beginning discussions about a possible Mara sequel.
The director assigned to this story was Fiona Cumming, who had directed "Castrovalva" the previous year.
Among the actors in this story were two popular BBC comedy actors, Martin Clunes, (in an early television role, as Lon) and Johnathon Morris (as Chela). Johnathon Morris is famous for playing the part of Adrian Boswell in the 1986 - 1991 comedy series Bread. While Martin Clunes, is famous for being in Men Behaving Badly and for playing the lead roles in Doc Martin and the 2010 remake of classic comedy Reggie Perrin.
Playing the part of the showman Dugdale was Brian Miller - who was the husband of Elisabeth Sladen who played companion Sarah Jane Smith in the mid-Seventies. He later played the part of Harry Sowersby in The Sarah Jane Adventures story "The Mad Woman in the Attic".
Playing the part of the Megaphone Man was Brian Grellis. Brian Grellis previously played Sheprah in the 1975 Fourth Doctor story "Revenge of the Cybermen" and Safran in the 1977 Fourth Doctor story "The Invisible Enemy".
In Season Nineteen, John Nathan-Turner had intentionally outfitted the regular cast in recurring costumes (Adric’s Alzarian garb, Nyssa’s "fairy dress" and Tegan Jovanka’s air hostess uniform) in an effort to both reduce costs and increase the show’s marketability. This had proved an unpopular decision amongst viewers and so beginning with this story the costumes worn by companions Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding began to change.
Because "Snakedance" was intended as a purely studio-bound story, and so that the production team on "Arc of Infinity" could avoid inclement weather for their trip to Amsterdam, it was decided to record this story first, even though it was scheduled as the second adventure of Season Twenty.
For this story both fake and real snakes were used, with a snake company called Janimals being commissioned to provide non-poisonous snakes for the actors to work with.
Every story during Season Twenty had The Doctor face an enemy from his past. For this story, the enemy was the Mara, who had featured in the previous season’s story "Kinda".
It is revealed that The Mara was created on Manussa, and ruled, turning the former Manussan Empire into the Sumaran Empire. Manussa is in the Scrampus system, and is a colony of a Federation formed by one of Lon's ancestors (part of a network of former Earth colonies). The Mara was defeated by Lon's ancestor 500 years ago (and escaped to Deva Loka (see "Kinda")).
Look out for the scene in which Lon claims that the fake crystal is made of glass. The practical effect of it being smashed does not convincingly confirm Lon’s statement as it obviously shatters like plastic or polystyrene.
Blue Crystals have appeared in the show before (see the Third Doctor stories "The Green Death" and "Planet of the Spiders"). The blue crystals in this story have very similar properties to those of Metebelis 3 but here they are manufactured in zero gravity to ensure there are no imperfections.
During post-production of the fourth and final episode it was found to be overrunning badly. As a result, it had to be completely restructured with the deletion of some scenes - including those involving discussions of the Great Crystal (which would have led into a possible third story for the following season (to be titled "May Time" or "Manwatch"). Further, a sequence at the end in which The Doctor comforts Tegan was removed, to be reprised in the following story, "Mawdryn Undead".
This is one of the very few Doctor Who stories in which no one dies.
Despite being happy with "Snakedance", and again quickly requesting that Christopher Bailey devise another story idea, the return of the Mara would ultimately be abandoned. As a result "Snakedance" became Christopher Bailey’s final Doctor Who story and for television in general.
The Mara however, would make a return in the Big Finish Productions audio story "The Cradle of the Snake".
In the redesigned TARDIS of the 1996 television movie "Doctor Who: The Movie", one of the consoles displays different time eras such as the ‘Rassilon Era’, ‘Humanian Era’ and the ‘Sumaron Era’. It has so far not been revealed if the later is a reference to this story.
Even though not related to this story but a couple of weeks prior to the start of production on this story, on the 18th March 1982, Peter Davison arrived on location to film what he believed was a promotional trailer for Australian television. Instead he became the subject of the popular This Is Your Life hosted by Eamonn Andrews. Taking part in this show was Matthew Waterhouse, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding (Beryl Reid, who had recently been in "Earthshock" also appeared later in the tribute.) This marked the second time a Doctor Who star had been featured on This Is Your Life, the other being Jon Pertwee in 1971. The tribute to Peter Davison aired a week later on the 25th March.
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The Lasts (Subject to Future Stories):
The last appearance of the Mara.
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(Position = 85 out of 159)
(Position = 120 out of 200)
