History Recap / DoctorWhoS16E6TheArmageddonFactor

* ArcNumber: Six. Astra is the sixth child of the sixth ruler of the sixth dynasty of Atrios. She's also the sixth key fragment.

* AllThereInTheManual: In the novelisation, the Shadow is an extra-dimensional ghost resurrected by the Black Guardian from one of the Doctor's enemies.
** The Shadow's planet is an asteroid that resembles a medieval castle on the inside.
** The planet is littered with trap doors.
** The Doctor argues that the brief moment the Key was complete, the real White Guardian would have sorted everything out.

* AntiClimax: The "Key to Time" story arc, which spans six stories and an entire season, ends without a proper resolution.

* AsYouKnow: A particularly bizarr example occurs in the final episode, where two incidental characters recap the Doctor's current predicament for the audience's benefit — although the Doctor is across the star system and out of contact, and has been for some time, so there's no way they could know the events they relate.

%%Moved Barrier Maiden to MacGuffin Turned Human
%%* BarrierMaiden: Astra.

* BarrierMaiden: Astra.

* FollowTheLeader: Essentially, the Armageddon Factor is Doctor Who does ''Film/StarWars''. Only [[WithThisHerring with a typical BBC budget]].

* ImperfectRitual: The Doctor and Romana have five of the six pieces of the eponymous key and make a makeshift sixth piece since they know what its shape is. It works, but not well.

* FollowTheLeader: Essentially, the Armageddon Factor is Doctor Who does StarWars. Only [[WithThisHerring with a typical BBC budget]].

* ImperfectRitual: The Doctor and Romana I have five of the six pieces of the eponymous key and make a makeshift sixth piece since they know what its shape is. It works, but not well.

* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: The Shadow knows the Doctor's impatience is his weak spot.

* MacGuffinGirl: Astra.

* PlotHole: The Doctor identifies the Guardian at the end as Black rather than White due to his callous lack of concern for the fate of Astra, which clashes rather with the fact that the White Guardian casually threatened him with either destruction or eternal torment by boredom to get him to start the quest in the first place. A common fanon answer to this is to suggest that the White Guardian who the Doctor thought he was working for always was Black.

* TitleDrop: The title refers to a UsefulNotes/ColdWar situation.

[[caption-width-right:350:Now that the Key to Time's assembled, [[SarcasmMode surely this series of episodes]] [[AntiClimax will have a fitting climax!]]]]
->''"[[StylisticSuck Men out there - young men - are dying for it!]]"''

->[[StylisticSuck "Men out there - young men - are dying for it!"]]

* OutOfCharacterAlert: The Doctor knows something is wrong with K-9 when the latter starts calling him 'Doctor' instead of 'Master'.
** And he identifies the Black guardian by his disregard of human life.

* ShaggyDogStory: One that lasts for an entire season. The Key of Time storyline is abruptly stopped when it turns out the White Guardian was actually the Black guardian in disguise.

* InferredHolocaust: It's implied that the Atrians unknowingly managed to wipe out the Zeons very early on in the war, and that the subsequent conflict was engineered by the Shadow simply so that he wouldn't get bored waiting for the Doctor to arrive.

* {{Malaproper}}: The Marshal. "Taste the moment of victory. Any second now, [[TheDeadliestMushroom beautiful mushrooms]] will blossom and burst!"

* {{MacGuffin Delivery Service}}: Team TARDIS.
* {{MacGuffin Girl}}: Astra.

'''WARNING! THERE MAY BE UNMARKED SPOILERS!'''

* TitleDrop: The title refers to a ColdWar situation.