The Armageddon Factor

Hooray! Another segment of the Key to Time recovered!
As long-time VJers will know, it's been taking me a while to complete covers for the R1 Season 16 boxset. But we're now five-sixths of the way there - just 'The Ribos Operation' to go.

Part of the problem with these last two, especially 'Armageddon Factor', is the sheer lack of photos from the stories (at all, let alone decent photos). Were they running out of money so much by the end of the season that they couldn't afford an on-set photographer? Or did they just think publicity pictures were unnecessary this close to the end of the run? Either way, my only hope was DWM's Complete Doctor specials. These have provided some lovely new photos, several I've not seen before, and often at a good size for scanning. And sure enough, The Complete Fourth Doctor Volume Two came to the rescue with good pics of the Marshal and the Shadow (thanks Clay and co).

Thus it was the pics that suggested to me the 'triptych' of the Marshal overlooked by his master the Shadow, overlooked by his master the Black Guardian - even though I knew I'd have to use a pic of the BG from Mawdryn Undead. I actually went to the trouble of giving him a hood like his S16 one (no crow!) and a beard, though you can hardly make them out in the finished cover. It was only when I came to begin the cover that I decided on the overlapping triangles to frame each character (with the slight justification that they suggest the shape of Mentalis). This is clearer on the plain artwork where the apexes aren't obscured by the logo. Colouring came from the source pics too, the purple picked from the background of the Marshal photo, and the grey from the Shadow's cave walls.

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