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varos

episode guide

the ribos operation

story 98 : season 16 : serial 5A : 4 episodes

Producer: Graham Williams
Director: George Spenton-Foster
Writer: Robert Holmes
Script Editor: Anthony Read
Designer: Ken Ledsham

cast information

Tom Baker (Doctor Who); Mary Tamm (Romana); John Leeson (voice of K-9); Cyril Luckham (The White Guardian); Iain Cuthbertson (Garron); Nigel Plaskitt (Unstoffe); Paul Seed (Graff Vynda-K); Robert Keegan (Sholakh); Prentis Hancock (Captain); Oliver Maguire (Shrieve); John Hamill (Shrieve); Timothy Bateson (Binro); Ann Tirard (The Seeker);

crew information

Richard Cox (Assistant Floor Manager); June Hudson (Costumes); Dudley Simpson (Incidental Music); Christine Walmesley-Cotham (Make-Up); Jane Shirley (Production Assistant); John Nathan-Turner (Production Unit Manager); Dick Mills (Special Sounds); Jim Purdie (Studio Lighting); Richard Chubb (Studio Sound); Delia Derbyshire (Theme Arrangement); Ron Grainer (Title Music); Dave Havard (Visual Effects);

episode information

  Title First UK Transmission Duration Ratings Archive Status
1 Part One 2 September 1978 at 17:45 25'02" 8.3mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
2 Part Two 9 September 1978 at 18:20 24'46" 8.1mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
3 Part Three 16 September 1978 at 18:30 24'42" 7.9mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
4 Part Four 23 September 1978 at 18:20 24'50" 8.2mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
  1. Part One
    » Always held by the FVTL
  2. Part Two
    » Always held by the FVTL
  3. Part Three
    » Always held by the FVTL
  4. Part Four
    » Always held by the FVTL

release information

In Print:
Novelised as: Doctor Who and the Ribos Operation
Written by: Ian Marter
Number 052 in the Target Doctor Who Library

Versions
1979 Published by W. H. Allen, UK in hardback
With cover artwork by: John Geary
ISBN: 0 426 20092 6
11 December 1979 Published by W. H. Allen, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: John Geary
ISBN: 0 426 20092 6

plot synopsis

The Doctor is sent on a quest by the White Guardian, a being of immense power who exists outside the dimensions of space and time, to collect the six segments of the Key to Time, which have been scattered throughout the universe. He has a new assistant, in the shape of the Time Lady, Romana, and a new model of KQ. The first segment is found on the planet Ribos, in the form of a lump of Jethrik, a precious stone that Garron and Unstoffe are using to help try and con the Graff Vynda-K into buying the planet, by making him believe that there are Jethrik mines throughout the world...

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