Season Ten schedule, Season Nine poll

I’m really excited about tomorrow’s serial – THE THREE DOCTORS!

SEASON TEN

Mon 5.07 Serial 65 – The Three Doctors
Tue 5.08 Serial 66 – Carnival of Monsters
Thu 5.10 Serial 67 – Frontier in Space 1/2
Fri 5.11 Serial 67 – Frontier in Space 2/2

Mon 5.14 Serial 68 – Planet of the Daleks 1/2
Tue 5.15 Serial 68 – Planet of the Daleks 2/2
Thu 5.17 Serial 69 – The Green Death 1/2
Fri 5.18 Serial 69 – The Green Death 2/2

 

I have no idea which I’m going to pick for my favourite from Season Nine; this was a solid season, quite possibly the best thus far.

Serial 64 – The Time Monster 2/2

And, once more, it’s spoiler time.

Episode 4:

The convoy is hit by the bomb, though there are survivors. A local shows up, saying that’s the exact spot, more or less, where “that doodlebug fell, back in ’44”. I’m guessing that same bomber is the one The Master pulled out of time just now.

The Master celebrates his victory, telling that the TARDIS cannot be destroyed, but people can.

The Doctor, Brig and Jo tend to Yates as the UNIT boys try to free the TARDIS.

Benton gets word that Yates is okay (seems like there weren’t much casualties, just injuries) and then interrupts Stuart and Ingram arguing. Benton is so cool and he gets a great line when he gets off the radio and hears them arguing – “Hey, hey, is this is a private fight or can anyone join in?”

When Benton hears what Ingram wants to do (go to the lab and try to get The Master), he says it’s a good idea. When Stuart protests, Ingram makes a crack about men being spineless, and Stuart gets a great retort.

“Lovey, I’m not men. I’m Stuart Hyde, registered card-carrying, paid-up coward!” He finally agrees to go with them.

The Master and Krasis go inside The Master’s TARDIS, and we get the classic companion/associate line, slightly differently: “So vast a space inside so small a box!”

The Master’s TARDIS has a different console – instead of the crystal column in the center, it has a silver spinning column.

Jo tells The Doctor that the time sensor is picking up activity; The Doctor realises that it’s too low to be actual activity, so he deduces The Master has to power up before his TARDIS can take off. He tells the Brig that he’ll have to use his TARDIS there. He plans on using the time sensor to lock his TARDIS to The Master’s.

When Jo and The Doctor enter the TARDIS, Jo notes that the TARDIS looks different; he says it’s a “spot of redecoration” and then warns her what he’s doing is going to be dangerous. There’s a cute bit of banter/dialogue between The Doctor and his companion as he explains the risks and she says it’s her job to tag along.

Benton, Stu and Ingram skulk about the campus, approaching the building where the laboratory is located.

The Doctor talks about the TARDIS’ mood. Her refers to the TARDIS as a “her”.

As the the TARDIS “comes in for a landing”, The Master’s TARDIS appears inside The Doctor’s. When he steps out the door, he enters the console room of The Master’s – both TARDISes are inside each other.

The Master and Krasis are back in the laboratory. Krasis sees “alien warriors” – UNIT trucks rolling up to the campus, but The Master puts them in the time field, slowing them down. He tells Krasis to go in the TARDIS.

Just after the priest does so, Stu and Ingram burst in, distracting The Master, while Benton comes up from behind. The Master manages to slip past them and runs into his TARDIS, where he discovers The Doctor’s TARDIS is waiting. He laughs and activates his TARDIS.

Ingram and Stu watch as the computer bank disappears.

After a rough transit, The Master contacts The Doctor and Jo over the external sensor.

Stu and Ingram and Benton argue about switching off the machinery, after they see the Brig and troops are stuck in the time field. However, even with the machine off, they’re still stuck!

The Master and The Doctor banter and penis-wave at each other about who has whom trapped. The Master turns off the sound, telling Krasis that The Doctor cannot bear not to have the last word.

This is, of course, so very true.

The Doctor finally realises that The Master isn’t listening, but still wants to persuade him of the folly of his plan. The Doctor begins fiddling about with components.

Ingram says that TOMTIT must have created a permanent gap and she begins flipping circuitry in the hopes that it will do the trick. They run it up and back down, and it has no effect on the troops. Benton, who was standing nearby, is accidentally reverted into a baby.

The Master finds a way around the way The Doctor found around the lack of communication, forcing The Doctor to step out. He explains to Jo that the TARDISes are telepathic (I think this is the first time this is blatantly established, though it has been hinted at before.)

The Doctor steps out, where he is introduced to Krasis. “Any friend of The Master’s is an enemy of mine.”

The Doctor accuses The Master of being mad, paranoid. The Master’s reply is gold – “Who isn’t? The only difference is that I’m a little more honest than the rest.”

The Master unleashes Kronos, commanding him to devour The Doctor. The chronovore engulfs The Doctor and then The Master compels him back to the crystal. The Master tells Jo that The Doctor is the time vortex, trapped for all eternity.

The Master then says he is getting rid of Jo and The Doctor’s TARDIS; when Jo says she doesn’t care, just get it done with, The Master says, “Your wish is my command,” and presses a button. Jo is shown rocking back and forth and we hear the TARDIS dematerialise as The Master laughs… and the credits roll.

I’m not really sure this is a great cliffhanger. I think having it end where Kronos appeared would have been much better.

 

 

Episode 5:

The two TARDISes seperate in the time vortex. Jo, collapsed on the floor, wakes, hearing The Doctor, who is in the time vortex. The TARDIS is relaying his thoughts to her. He tells her that the TARDIS can help free him, and he directs her in what to do. She does so and he appears in the console room.

In ancient Atlantis, trumpeters sound their horns as the King and Queen enter the… throne room? Though I think it’s meant to be outside. One of his courtiers, Hippias, is instructed to speak plainly, and does so, criticising the king over the lack of crops.

The Master works out the exact landing coordinates, planning to arrive in the temple.

The king says he will speak plainly. He tells them that the power of Kronos was a curse, not a blessing. He says that with the good came much evil.

The Queen says she hears strange music – it is the warbling of the TARDIS, which appears, still a computer bank. The Master exits and says he is an emissary of the gods. Krasis steps out after him, testifying that he has seen Kronos. The king says the must speak privately with them and they leave, but The Queen and The Master make eyes at each other. She seems rather smitten.

The Doctor is again using the time sensor to follow The Master. They arrive at the temple, where Krasis awaits, with guards.

The Master tries to use his force of will on King Dalios, who is too strong and wise to succumb. He tells The Master that he knows he is no emissary and denies him the true crystal. He tells The Master, “When you find the true word to speak, I shall listen.”

The Master storms out, as The Doctor and Jo are brought to the king. The look of complete shock on The Master’s face is priceless.

The Doctor and Jo meet with the king. Jo is taken to meet the Queen while The Doctor and Dalios meet.

The Queen talks to her handmaiden; she seems quite smitten with The Master. Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Hippias, who has brought Jo to her. The Queen has Jo taken to change her garb. It seems that Hippias was used by the Queen to make his challenge in open counsel today.

The king explains that they tried to destroy the crystal of Kronos, but it is indestructible. He asks The Doctor for help in saving Atlantis from destruction.

Meanwhile, the Queen has invited The Master to come to her, using the word “Kronos” to entice him to come.

Jo finds out that The Master is in counsel with the Queen and she endeavours to overhear their talk. She and the handmaiden hear the Queen tell The Master that Krasis has a key to where the true crystal is kept, but there’s a guardian.

The king tells The Doctor about the guardian – a minotaur (though the king knows not that name.) It seems that once, the minotaur was a man, a friend of the king’s. He was transformed by Kronos into the creature he is now.

Jo sees Krasis taking Hippias to where the crystal is, and she follows trying to stop them. Krasis throws her in the chamber, and we hear the roar of the creature… and the credits roll.

Definitely a better paced cliffhanger than last episode’s.

 

Episode 6:

The Queen’s handmaiden interrupts Dalios and The Doctor’s conference, telling them about Jo and Hippias and Krasis.

Jo runs from the minotaur.

The Doctor finds Krasis and takes the key.

Hippias challenges the minotaur as it chases Jo. The minotaur throws Hippias through tin foil, which is supposed to be a mirror or mirrored metal. No, really.

The Doctor plays matador with his jacket/cape. No, really. He sidesteps the minotaur when it charges, breaking down the wall to the crystal of Kronos (which doesn’t look that much bigger than the ‘shard’.)

After The Doctor says that the game is over, Krasis arrives to say that it has only begun. When The Doctor demands to be taken to the king, he is brought before The Master, who, along with the Queen, inform them that there has been a palace coup.

The Master foolishly pisses off the Queen, though, telling her to do as she is told, basically. Really rather stupid of him.

Locked in the dungeon, The Doctor relates a story from his childhood, about living on a mountain, and about a hermit who lived there, too. On the “blackest day” of his life, the young Doctor went to see the man, to seek his help during his black time. The story is rather daft and not worth repeating here.

The king is brought into the cell, all but thrown in there by the guard, not treated as honourably as said. The guard strikes down Dalios and they leave. Dalios says The Doctor is “the only one” to save Atlantis, and then dies.. or may just passes out, I’m not sure.

In the temple, court is held. Queen Galleia addresses the council, saying they no longer fret beneath the hand of an old king and introduces his holiness, the venerable Lord Master. The Doctor, tied near by, makes a snarky comment, but is yelled at to keep his tongue.

The Master promises that Kronos, the most terrible, will be brought before them. Jo and The Doctor tell the Queen that Dalios is dead, which she did not know. She demands to know if this is true, and The Master admits to this. She has the guards seize The Master, but Krasis throws the switch, and Kronos comes forth.

Everyone screams and runs. The Master realises that he cannot control Kronos and grabs the true crystal and runs for his TARDIS; Jo leaps on his back and is dragged in. The Doctor is freed and runs into his TARDIS, giving chase.

Atlantis is left to ruin after the destruction at the hands of Kronos.

The Master gloats, believing The Doctor dead in the rubble of Atlantis. As he rants and gloats, The Doctor contacts The Master’s TARDIS and threatens to “time ram” The Master’s TARDIS.

The Master calls The Doctor’s bluff. “Do you think I’m going to dance to The Doctor’s tune, like some performing poodle?” The Doctor can’t do it, but Jo reaches over and toggles a switch, forcing time ram?

There’s a… something. The two TARDISes arrive… nowhere? Nowhen? Jo wakes, The Master unconscious on the floor. She rushes out to The Doctor’s TARDIS and wakes him. She believes they’re all dead and in Heaven, “…or somewhere.”

The Doctor exits and says he doesn’t think they’re in Heaven. A woman’s face, larger than all of them, appears and speaks to them. She is Kronos. She says she was released from the crystal at the moment of impact and will grant them what they wish.

Jo says she wants to go home, The Doctor qualfies, “in the TARDIS,” and Kronos agrees. She says that The Master will stay and suffer torment for what she has suffered at his hands. The Master comes out, begging The Doctor for his help.

The Doctor asks Kronos to spare The Master, to free him. She does not understand, but agrees to it. The Doctor says that he is taking The Master back to Earth, but The Master manages to escape – Kronos does not stop him as The Doctor had asked for his freedom.

Stuart and Ingram run the TOMTIT again, freeing the Brig and troops from the time field. The Doctor and Jo arrive in the TARDIS as this happens, and the TOMTIT explodes. The Brig and crew burst in, demanding to know what’s going on and where Benton is, who stands up, having returned to his adult age, completely naked, asking if anyone will tell him what’s going on.

Everyone has a good laugh… and the credits roll.

A few too many silly plot devices and such for me to really have enjoyed this. Even with The Master, this one falls flat for me. It wasn’t bad, just not very good.  

Serial 64 – The Time Monster 1/2

Another six episode serial, two days of three a piece. Another one I don’t know the first thing about, so very excited.

Episode 1:

We open with what appears to be a dream sequence; first with start with explosions and lava, quite reminiscient of INFERNO. Then, in an ornate temple, The Doctor lays on a couch. He wakes and looks around and sees a glowing crystal artifact.

A giant form of The Master looms over him, up high, reaching towards him, shouting, “Welcome! Welcome to your new master,” and laughs then fades into mist. The Doctor wakes to find Jo shaking him, concerned about him. Spurred on by his dream, he asks Jo if there have been any earthquakes or volcanic activity. She chastises him for not listening to a story she had read him the night before.

The Master is seen handling a piece of crystal, much like the one from The Doctor’s dream. He’s in a lab, attended by two humans who know him as Professor Thascalos. He tells them he has to meet with some important people but gives them instructions go ahead with the experiment, saying a test run isn’t important.

Dr. Ingram, one of the people assisting him, gets very upset when he takes a patronising tone with her, but he apologises (although not horribly convincingly) before departing.

Jo gets Mike Yates to bring maps of the Greek isles. When Jo mentions Atlantis, The Doctor suddenly becomes urgently upset about things and calls the Brig to tell him about his dream.

At the Newton Institute (Cambridge), we see The Master walking to his meeting.

The Brig informs that Priority A-1 of UNIT’s standing orders is to keep an eye out for The Master. He tells The Doctor they need to go to the Newton Institute to observe the test run of TOMTIT (Transmission Of Matter Through Inter-stitial Time), a form of transmat, but The Doctor says he’s too busy. Benton gets drafted to assist the Brig in attending.

The Master is confronted by the director, who has determined that The Master is not who he claimed to be. The Master uses the force of his mind to force the man to do as he commands.

Dr. Ingram and the other guy are working with their equipment, running checks. She complains about not doing a test run, and he talks her into doing one.

The Doctor is working on a time sensor, a device to detect any time machines, TARDIS or otherwise. We see the scientists testing their machine and then, back at UNIT, the time sensor becomes active.

The Master, in the director’s office, notices the tolling of the clock tower is altered, and realises they must be testing the machine. He curses under his breath and rushes out.

In the lab, Stu (the male assistant) and Dr. Ingram dance around, celebrating, until The Master returns.

The Doctor tries to narrow down the location of the time activity, but isn’t able to. He and Jo head to Bessie, hoping to be mobile should it happen again.

The Master consults with Dr. Ingram over a power surge during the test run. He comes to a conclusion on what must be done and sets Ingram with instructions as Stu notes that the VIPs are arriving (he’s looking out the window.) When Stu mentions a UNIT jeep is part of the VIPs coming in, The Master is suitably concerned. He asks Dr. Ingram to go in his stead, claiming that he’s a pacifist and has no desire to be around the military men.

Benton and the Brig find a window washer (who had been watching the experiment through the window and fell) laying on the ground outside the Newton Institute.

The Doctor and Jo are driving in Bessie, when the device activates again. They narrow it down to a town, Wooten. Jo says that’s where the Brig went, and The Doctor worries that The Master might be behind TOMTIT. The Doctor drives quickly, hoping to get there before the 2pm demonstration.

The VIPs (professors, govt men and the Brig and Benton) are brought to the lab by Dr. Ingram, who wonders at the absence of the professor. Stuart says he was there a few minutes ago, but isn’t sure where he went off to. Dr. Ingram begins explaining to everyone the theories behind their machine.

The Doctor and Jo rush, pushing Bessie’s super-fast speed, but still have not arrived.

Professor Thascalos arrives in the lab, dressed in full radiation gear, obscuring his identity from the Brigadier and Benton. They begin the process, but this time, The Master increases the power, much to Ingram’s concern. Stuart says he’s getting too much power, but The Master ignores them, calling out, “Come, Kronos, come!”… and the credits roll.

The Master, pretending to be someone he’s not, meddling with time. You know it’s going to turn against him eventually, but it’s a great serial so far.

Episode 2:

Stuart clutches his head and collapses in the chamber. The Master seems to have disappeared when everyone was looking at Stuart. Ingram moves to the controls and starts flipping switches.

Bessie pulls up outside, but Jo is in a sort of trance-like state. He rushes out, almost in slow motion and enters the building, as The Master watches from a hiding spot.

The Doctor makes it into the lab and tells Ingram to reverse the temporal polarity! (Woo hoo, we’re reversing the polarity again!) After the levels are reduced, they go in to find that Stuart has been aged to a near terminal age.

When Dr. Ingram mentions the name of Professor Thascalos, The Doctor and Jo realise that ‘thascalos’ is Greek for ‘master’.

Stuart wakes, muttering about seeing seeing him, seeing Kronos, and then collapses. The Doctor seems to recognise the name and orders Dr. Ingram to come tell him about the machine; he says he has a job for the Brig and leaves Jo to watch over Stuart, with orders to ring him if he wakes and talks again.

The Brig calls in to Yates, telling him to bring a bunch of men and weaponry there, as soon as possible, as well as The Doctor’s TARDIS.

The govt man tells the director that there will be a Whitehall investigation. The Brig overhears this and asserts that there will be no such thing as he is taking over here as it is now a UNIT matter. The govt man takes off in a rush. The Brig approaches the director, informing him he wants the location evacuated by three o’clock.

The Doctor and Ingram arrive at the lab, where Benton is keeping watch. She shows him the crystal, which is, in fact, the one from his dream – the Crystal of Kronos. He explains to Ingram that he’s been outside of space-time, it’s a dangerous placed filled with chronovores, time eaters. Kronos is the most fearsome of the lot.

The director (Dr. Percival) returns to his office, to find The Master waiting for him.

The Doctor informs Ingram and Benton that The Master is trying to use the crystal to capture Kronos, which would be a threat to all of existence.

The Master, once more, forces his will into Percival’s mind. He tells the director to attend to his telephone while he tries to sort out why the massive power build up happened.

The Doctor realises that one of the computer banks in the lab is The Master’s TARDIS. As he works out some figures in his head, he comes to the same conclusion that The Master did – logically, that power build up should not have happened. (Both of them use the same quote in the seperate scenes.) The Doctor says that the only thing to do is switch on the apparatus and see what happens. (Because, that’s what I’d do with a machine that was trying to capture a chronovore and bring it to the space-time continuum.)

Benton is instructed to move the crystal, but he can’t. The Doctor realises that the crystal has swapped places with its self in ancient Atlantis.

We see a hazy view of Atlantis. We see a young boy run to a priest, telling him that the crystal is afire. The priest sees this and praises Kronos as another man looks on.

The phone rings in the lab, and Benton answers. Jo has called to let The Doctor know that Stuart has woken and is in a bit of a state. When he wakes, he discovers that he’s become old and is, obviously, quite upset. The Doctor and Ingram arrive and he describes what it felt like, what happened to him. He explains he “just knew” about Kronos.

Benton receives a call from the director, saying that the Brig wants him to lock up and come attend him. When Benton questions it, The Master orders the director to tell him to call another line. Benton hangs up and does so, and The Master answers, disguising his voice as the Brig’s, telling him to do exactly that.

They watch as Benton leaves, but he circles back, having left the window open, not trusting the phone call. He reenters the lab and waits, his gun at the ready. The Master and Percival enter and Benton steps out from his hiding spot, ordering them to put their hands in the air. However, The Master manages to overcome the sergeant.

Benton taken out, The Master tells Percival he’s bringing someone who can help him harness the power to take over the Earth.

Back in ancient Atlantis, we see the priest praying to Kronos, calling out for power and strength. The priest is surrounded in a nimbus of light and brought to the modern day… and the credits roll.

Episode 3:

The Master enters and greets Krasis, who introduces himself as high priest of the temple of Poseidon in Atlantis. The Master introduces himself as “The Master, Lord of Time and ruler of Kronos,” which offends the priest. The Master says that with the assistance of Krasis, they can bring Kronos there and get him to obey them.

Benton, who has recovered, escapes, but The Master says it is of no import. He gets Krasis to hand over the seal of of the high priest, from which The Master says he can figure out the formula to summon and bind Kronos.

Jo, Ingram, the Brig and The Doctor escort Stuart out to a waiting ambulance. Benton shows up to inform them that The Master has gained access to the laboratory.

The Master uses Krasis’ amulet to know the proper settings and adjusts the apparatus accordingly. He activates the machine, again calling out for Kronos to come. A winged human form appears, glowing white and absorbing Percival. The Master calls out that he is Kronos’ friend, but Krasis only carries on that Kronos is The Destroyer.

Holding forth Krasis’ amulet, The Master manages to get Kronos to calm down a little, and closes the door on him. (Okay, so the chronovore can eat time, but a simple door will keep him penned in?)

The Brig and others rush on, but are caught in a time field. The Doctor is able to rush in and bring them out one by one – he is not affected by the time effect. Stuart has become young again.

In the lab, Kronos flies around the one room as The Master reverses some interstitial effect or another. Kronos is forced into the crystal. The Master bullies Krasis into serving him, demanding to know why he could not control Kronos. Krasis says that the crystal The Master has is only a part of the true crystal of Kronos.

Back in time, in Atlantis, the young man who was watching has brought his King, telling him that Krasis and the crystal disappeared. The king fears that Kronos will return, and says the world is in great danger. He leads the young man down into lower levels of the temple. The king says that when he was a boy, some five centuries before, he saw the raising of the temple of Poseidon. He shows the youth the true crystal of Kronos, hidden in a secret lair.

He tells the youth that the crystal is guarded by a creature, half man, half beast, after they hear it roar.

Back at Stuart’s apartment, The Doctor asks for tea. The Brig gives him a hard time for this, but The Doctor goes on to explain the time slowing was a side effect of the apparatus creating a crack in time between the now and now.

The Master drains the temporal energy from the crystal, preparing it to be moved.

The Doctor works with a wine bottle and various household implements, creating a “time flow analog”, something that will somehow put a fly in the Master’s ointment, so to speak. The Doctor is disappointed that he doesn’t work, but when handed a cup of tea, realises tea leaves are the missing component. He places the drained cup atop his device and it works!

Just as The Master gets Krasis to believe the crystal is safe to touch, because of The Doctor’s device, it begins to glow. The Master runs some feedback through the TOMTIT apparatus, frying out The Doctor’s device. As he and Krasis begin to move the crystal, The Master overhears the UNIT troops coming in with The Doctor’s TARDIS.

He sets an ambush, bringing a knight on horseback out of time to charge the UNIT trucks. They move off the road, and end up stuck in the mud, and the knight disappears. As Yates orders his men to get the truck(s) out of the mud, they find themselves under attack by roundheads with a cannon.

The Doctor realises that The Master is using the crystal to bring them out of time. He, Jo and the Brig head off to help Yates and his men. The roundhead forces disappear and The Master brings in a B1 bomber from WW2. The convoy has freed itself from the mud and the Brig tries to radio Yates to warn him. The signal is weak and they see the convoy driving down the road, entering a wooded area. The plane drops a bomb and there’s an explosion from the woods… and the credits roll.

Great cliffhanger, that one. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what happens next!

Serial 63 – The Mutants 2/2

All spoilery all the timey-wimey.

Episode 4:

The man in the silver suit shows up and waves for everyone to follow. They do so, just in the nick of time as the gas begins flooding that area of the caves. They are led down into the caverns as the Marshal’s explosives can be heard in the distance.

The man leads them through a sealed door; The Doctor notes that the bulkhead is lead and Jo says it has to do with radiation. He takes off his helmet, revealing a bald human who The Doctor guesses is Professor Sondergaard.

The Marshal returns to Skybase, leaving instructions for all the exits to be sealed.

Sondergaard explains there are areas in the caves with dangerous levels of radiation; the rest are safe in small doses, but since he’s been living there for years, he has to rely on a radiation suit when traveling the cave system. He found Jo in one of the areas that are dangerous and it was he she saw and he who moved her to safety.

Ky jumps to conclusions, accusing Sondergaard of experimenting on his people. Sondergaard explains that when he tried to report that the Solonians were being used as slaves by the Marshal and others, they tried to kill him, and that’s why he hides in the caves, trying to continue his research.

He explains that the mutants used to help him, bringing him food, but they no longer do. It seems that things are changing on Solos, not just the native people, but also plants, soil, even the weather. He agrees that Jaeger’s experiments have somehow accelerated whatever natural changes were happening.

The Doctor puzzles over the tablets, wondering why he was sent, how they can help. Sondergaard recognises the symbols as ones he’s seen in the ancient temples. He says that tablets could be the book of how life started on Solos, their own Book of Genesis.

There’s a great shaking and some debris falls. Stubbs says that was neither grenade nor explosive, but the mountain above them itself. The tunnels could well cave in. The Doctor tells Ky, Stubbs and Cotton to take Jo with them, as he must stay with Sondergaard to try to solve the mystery of the tablets.

In the tunnels, another guard comes across the group and fires on them.

The Doctor and Professor Sondergaard deduce that the tablets are a calendar. Solos circuits their sun every 2000 years, so the seasons must be 500 years long. There’s something that happens from Spring to Summer, some strange men are signified on the calendar. The Doctor convinces Sondergaard to take him to the dangerous areas of the caves.

Jo and company reach an area with a shaft going up; Jo briefly sees a man at the top of the shaft, but he’s gone by time the others look. Cotton begins climbing the shaft and the others follow. Ky warns that this will bring them out near Varan’s village.

Varan, physically changing, his face mottled with darkness, addresses a handful of his warriors. His speech is a bit slower than normal. One of his men comes to inform him of Overlords coming from “the place of darkness”.

The Doctor and Sondergaard go inside the cavern with the more intense radiation. The Doctor says he has already prepared himself and doesn’t need any protection. The Doctor looks around the cave and says it is magnificent, like a cathedral.

Jo, Ky, Stubbs and Cotton enter Varan’s village and are taken prisoner by the villagers.

As they progress into the cave, Sondergaard finds it harder to go on, even with The Doctor’s assistance. The Earthman drops and lays on the cavern, I’m not sure if he’s dead or just unconscious, and The Doctor goes on. He comes across a statue (that’s vaguely shaped like a man sitting) and takes a green stone from it. He turns back and collects Sondergaard, carrying him over his shoulders, and departs.

Varan still plans to attack Skybase. He doesn’t listen to reason any more than before. He thinks with the weapons of the two guards, he has a chance, as the villagers take their prisoners off on their attack.

The Marshal continues to harrangue Jaeger about launching the rockets and the scientist continues to make excuses. A message comes in, alerting the Marshal to the approach of an Earth Council Investigator coming on a space flight. The Marshal tells Jaeger that he expects to meet the Investigator on the surface of Solos, with changes to atmosphere already in effect, so he’d better get a move on.

Stubbs and Cotton distract the guard at the transmat station on Solos. Varan attacks him from behind and they have access to Skybase now.

The Doctor realises that the mutation is natural, part of their evolution. The mutants are only an intermediary form. The crystal from the cave is part of the process. The crystal has no radiation at all. The Doctor and Sondergaard realise they must go to Jaeger’s lab on Skybase to be able to examine the crystal.

On Skybase, the PA announces that the launch of the rockets is at hand. All personnel are recalled to Skybase.

Varan’s men and their prisoners are on Skybase. The rocket countdown is at 60 seconds.

At 41 seconds, the countdown is held due to presence of unauthorised personnel (Varan’s people?), but the Marshal overrides the hold. He leads a group of guards, who ambush Varan’s men. In the fight, the hull is blasted open and Varan is sucked out into orbit.

The countdown reaches zero and the rockets are launch. The Marshal, Jo, Ky, and others cling on to whatever is nearby as the room is depressurised and the vacuum threatens to suck them out… and the credits roll.

Other than a terrible bit of acting on the Marshal’s part, this is a great cliffhanger.

 

 

Episode 5:

The Doctor and Sondergaard walk outside, when small explosions go off. The Doctor says it’s Jaeger’s rockets. (They must be awfully tiny rockets…)

Cotton, Stubbs, Ky and Jo escape the depressurised area, only to be arrested by the Marshal’s guards.

The Doctor and Sondergaard find nobody at Varan’s village and head to the transmat station.

The Marshal has his four prisoners lined up. Stubbs and Cotton are charged with treason, Ky with terrorism, Jo with… nothing, but “such a pity”. Ky gives a speech as the firing squad comes in. As they take aim, Jaeger storms in, yelling about what is happening to Solos. He tells Marshal that the rockets were fired to soon without being checked out and the planet will be turned into a desert.

When the prisoners tell him that he’s going to be found out, the Marshal threatens to blow the investigator out of the sky. Ky brags that The Doctor is on Solos with Sondergaard, both of whom are alive.

The Doctor and Sondergaard see the changes brought on by the ionisation crystals landing on the planet, not seeding the atmosphere as intended. The Doctor agrees to go on to the transmat station on his own, Sondergaard returns to his lab.

The Marshal leads men down to Solos, to ferret out and find The Doctor. The Doctor evades the guards in the mist and makes it to the transmat station, beaming up to Skybase as the guards fire. On Skybase, he runs off before they beam up and loses them.

The Doctor tries to free the prisoners, but the Marshal and several guards show up to stop him. The Marshal instructs that if he helps Jaeger with the atmospheric modification, he will let he and Jo live.

There’s a great bit of dialogue, with a wonderful line from the Marshal:

“Marshal, you are quite mad.” – The Doctor

(smiling, chuckling in response) “Only if I lose.” – The Marshal

The Doctor works with Jaeger, meanwhile Jo and others free themselves and communicate with Hyperion, the ship transporting the Investigator. The Marshal and guards are outside, trying to get in, while Cotton and Jo communicate with the ship. Jo gives a complete synopsis to the ship on what’s been going on.

Stubbs is killed during the firefight with the Marshal and his men, but Jo, Ky and Cotton escape, but they are reapprehended at the transmat pods.

The Doctor tells Jaeger what he and Sondergaard discovered about the mutations not being a disease at all.

Sondergaard returns to the caves, where guards and mutants are present. The mutants surround Sondergaard after saving him from one of the guards. The mutants communicate with him through limited words. He explains to them that things can be fixed, set to a normal rate. He asks them for help to save their people and they seem to agree.

The Doctor and Jaeger work their experiment, beaming the planet surface until it is no longer contaminated. The Doctor shuts down the machine, but the Marshal arrives, with Jo in tow, saying he will continue the process until the air is breathable by humans and only humans, but then the Hyperion announces it is about to dock with Skybase.

The Marshal and The Doctor go off to meet with the Investigator. Jo is locked up with Cotton and Ky, kept as prisoners to ensure that The Doctor plays along safely. Cotton explains they’re being held in the refueling area and when the Investigator’s shuttle needs to refuel, they’ll be exposed to the radioactive fuel and killed. As Ky and Jo look at him in terror, the credits roll…

 

Episode 6:

The Investigator arrives to begin the inquiry. The Marshal tries to justify things, blaming terrorists and the like, putting blame off on Stubbs and Cotton, saying they’re dead.

When the Investigator turns his attention to The Doctor he asks if he’s a doctor, and our hero says he is and, in one of the recurring jokes, when asked what he’s qualified in, the response is “practically everything”.

Reluctantly, The Doctor backs up the Marshal’s story, for fear of Jo’s safety.

Jo, Ky and Cotton dash inside the fuel probe as it enters the chamber.

The Investigator confers with his associates as Jeager arrives to warn the Marhsal about the Hyperion refueling, but the Marshal is more than aware at the danger to the prisoners and is counting on their being destroyed. The Investigator tells Jaeger that the committee will speak to him now.

Jo, Ky and Cotton escape through the fuel probe and make their way through Skybase.

Jaeger denies that his experiments were designed to change the atmosphere to Solos so that only humans could breathe the air, and that they are responsible for the mutations.

As the Investigator is about to close the preliminary hearing, Jo and the others arrive and The Doctor is able to speak the truth against the Marshal and Jaeger.

Sondergaard leads the mutants to the transmat station. He tells them he has to go and find The Doctor to help them.

The Marshal and The Doctor argue, and The Doctor tricks the Marshal into going into an anti-mutt tirade. Realising he’s shown his ass, he shuts up. The Investigator asks about seeing the tablets, but The Doctor says that Sondergaard has them.

Just then, Sondergaard is brought in. As he tries to tell the Investigator about things, the Marshal jumps on some choice words to twist them about.

One of the mutants enters the transmat booth and beams up to Skybase, where it begins wandering around.

Sondergaard insists that the mutants are not evil, their change has been brought about by Jaeger’s experiments. The mutant enters the office where everyone is and the Marshal grabs a gun and kills it. He somehow gets the Investigator (who must have shit his brain out his ass in terror at seeing the mutant) to release his men and give authority to the Marshal to deal with the mutants.

Sondergaard, The Doctor and Jo escape during the chaos, but Ky and Cotton are not so lucky.

At Jaeger’s lab, Sondergaard and The Doctor work on the crystal, trying to analyse it, as Jo watches on. The Doctor realises that the crystal is a bio-catalytic agent. They talk of getting the crystal to Ky, but they need the thaesium radiation; Jo says there is some in the chamber they were being held earlier.

Just then, the Marshal and guards break in and take Sondergaard and Jo to the radiation chamber. (Conveniently enough for The Doctor’s plan, as he gave the crystal to Sondergaard just before the door was broken down.) The Marshal says if The Doctor wants his friends to survive their stay in the chamber, he better work quickly to give Solos an Earthlike atmosphere.

In the chamber, Cotton holds Ky, who thrashes in agony. Jo and Sondergaard are brought in. Sondergaard brings out the crystal and puts it in Ky’s hands. He grabs it and clutches it to his breast, writhing even more.

As they watch, he begins to transform into a mutant, his hand becoming a pincer.

The Investigator enters the laboratory, demanding to know why his men have been locked up. The Marshal informs him that his men will be the first inhabitants of New Earth. The Doctor uses the distraction to switch some wires around, unnoticed, and then tells the Investigator that the Marshal is “quite mad”. Again, the Marshal replies that mad men lose, while he has won.

Ky, fully transformed, absorbs all the radiation in the room and completes his transformation, becoming a being of light and colour. He speaks with his mind, communicating with them. He thanks the Professor for saving his people and showing him the way, before disappearing.

The hatch opens (presumably by Ky) and they slip out.

The light form of Ky moves through Skybase, knocking down guards with a simple wave of his hand.

In the lab, the Marshal tells The Doctor to begin the process. The Doctor tries to appeal to the Marshal one last time, but it is no good. The Marshal doesn’t trust The Doctor and tells Jaeger to take his place at the controls. Jaeger activates the machinery which begins to spark and smoke and then explodes in a flash.

As the Marshal raises his gun to fire at The Doctor, Ky appears and says (mentally), “Die, Marshal, let there be an end to your torture of my people,” and vaporises the Marshal with a burst of light.

Sondergaard says he believes that with the crystal, he can help Ky help his people evolve into their proper form. The Investigator places Cotton in charge, who says he’ll stay to help Sondergaard and Ky and then do what they should have done long ago – leave and go back to Earth.

The Investigator tells The Doctor that he and Jo need to return to Earth in the Hyperion with him, as he still needs a full disclosure from The Doctor. The Doctor agrees, but begs leave as Jo needs a moment, she’s feeling faint (a fact that takes Jo several moments of arguing to realise what’s going on… not the brightest, our Jo). They take their leave, saying they’ll see them all later. After they leave, the Investigator says, “Doctor…. Who, did he say?” Yep, we got that joke worked in as well.

Back in storage area four, they find the TARDIS and enter as another alarm goes off warning about another malfunction in storage area four… and the final credits roll.

A rather interesting serial, very well crafted, lots of layers. A few twists here or there really didn’t make too much sense, but nothing so bad as to ruin the experience.  

Serial 63 – The Mutants 1/2

Another six parter, split into two days. Don’t know the first thing about this one.

Episode 1:

We open in a misty fen, brambles and the like. A ragged looking man, long, unkempt hair is running, panting, terrified. He is being pursued by a man in a military or police uniform, though not one of the present day Earth, to be sure. He chases after the man, calling for others to follow. Calling the raggedy man “Mutt,” he chases, his gas mask falling off. Other men, dressed in the same uniforms, follow, picking up the Marshal’s mask.

From the two men talking, this is the planet Solos.

The men catch up with the Marshal, who has found the dead body of “Mutt”. The Marshal orders the men to call in the report, and one of them, Stubbs, calls in the report to Skybase about the mutant native alert – mutant tracked and found dead on arrival – “cause unknown”.

The Doctor and Jo are in his lab, where he is working on a “superdrive” for Bessie, when a spherical object appears on his table. He says it’s from the Time Lords, it’s an assignment, that it’s meant for someone, not him, he’s just the messenger.

Jo argues with The Doctor when he says she’s not coming along, as the TARDIS seems to be waiting for him to enter with the “message”, but she runs in after him and the TARDIS dematerialises.

It arrives inside a building and they exit. They look out a window and see that they’re in planetary orbit. A voice comes over a PA, identifying the station they’re on as “Skybase One”.

In another part of Skybase One, we see a group of men in cloaks and leather armor greeting each other. The men start arguing about the mutants and the hunting of them. One of them, Ky, opposes the rules set by the Overlords (those who operate the Skybase).

Ky and one of the other natives, Varan, almost come to blows, but the Overlords break them up. Varan is told that the Marshal wishes to speak to him, as the others are sent for cleaning up.

While Varan goes in to speak to the Marshal, one of the Overlords notices Varan’s associate seems to be hiding his hand. He grabs the native’s arm, revealing a mutated hand, and starts crying out, “Mutt! Mutt!” but the native attacks him and renders him unconscious or incapacitated (or dead.)

Jo and The Doctor wait for their reception (having overheard talk of the visitors, meaning the natives) and she asks when they are – they’re in the 30^th century, the height of the Earth Empire. He tells them they’re above the planet Solos. Finally tiring of waiting, he pulls out his sonic screwdrier and approaches the door.

Varan demands to know why Ky is there, part fo the conference. Varan tells him they have plans for Ky.

The Doctor and Jo depart the storage area they arrived in, grabbing the box. A voice comes over the PA about the door in that storage area malfunctioning. The two guards from the “mutt hunt” are playing chess (?) and hear the order to check on the door.

Varan and the Marshal seem in cahoots about something – Varan says his warriors will fight to the death. The Marshal gives him a pass. They talk of seeing some man, but not until afterwards. When Varan leaves, the Marshal calls him a fool under his breath.

The Doctor and Jo wander about the corridors, and a warrior (perhaps the mutt who attacked the Overlord guard, I’m not sure) sees them and chases after them. The Doctor forces another door so they can escape him and this causes another alert to be issued over the PA. This time, the two guards leave their game.

The mutt’s arm is stuck in the door, preventing it from being closed; The Doctor and Jo push the door, preventing him from pushing his way in after them, when Stubbs and Cotton show up. They order The Doctor away, the warrior enters and attacks the guards, but is shot dead. Stubbs calls in a report about dealing with the mutant and finding and detaining two non-personnel.

The Marshal receives a report that Varan’s bodyguard was a mutant, and orders for him to be brought to him. The Administrator (played by Geoffrey Palmer, who played Permanent Under Secretary Masters in DOCTOR WHO AND THE SILURIANS, and later will play The Captain in the David Tennant Christmas Special VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED) comes in, demanding to know why he wasn’t informed that Varan was there. The Administrator chastises the Marshal for the abhorrent security and informs them that Earth is pulling out from Solos, and this is news to the Marshal.

The Marshal (who is played by Paul Whitsun-Jones, who played The Squire in the William Hartnell serial THE SMUGGLERS) argues that if Earth’s empire is crumbling, why go back, why not stay? The problem of the atmosphere comes up and the Marshal denies that his experiments, trying to adjust the atmosphere (making it more hospitable to humans), have anything to do with the mutations amongst the natives. The two men argue, the Administrator saying that they have no choice but to give Solos back to the Solonians.

The Doctor and Jo, sitting in lock up, look out and see Solos in the light of the sun. Jo notes that it’s grey and misty and The Doctor tells her that Earth in the 30^th century is even greyer – it’s all grey from being built over.

The Administrator comes in, followed by the Marshal, to question The Doctor and Jo on who they are, why they’re there. The Doctor tries to pass himself off as being from Earth Centre, but the Marshal says there have been no arrivals to Skybase in weeks.

The Doctor offers his box to the Administrator but it doesn’t open for him, nor the Marshal. The Marshal tries firing an energy gun on the sphere, to no avail. The Administrator is called off to meet with the Solonian delegates. The Doctor tries to get the Marshal to take the sphere to the conference, but he refuses and leaves them and the sphere under the watchful eye of Stubbs.

In the conference hall, the Solonian delegates gather. Varan and the Marshal confer about one of the natives by the door. Varan assures the Marshal that “he understands” the new instructions and is reliable. The man they speak of is Varan’s son and he stands up for him.

The Doctor and Jo escape from Stubbs, distracting him with talk of Solos’ independence and his family on Earth.

The Administrator addresses the native delegates in a televised conference. We learn the Overlords (Earthlings) have been there for five centuries. Ky is all but heckling the Adminstrator’s speech, but the man seems to give him leeway.

Ky finally stops chattering under the Administrator’s words, jumping up and ranting. The Administrator tries to get him to listen, but he’s too busy with his sound bites to stop.

Outside, The Doctor and Jo are trying to get in with the sphere, but Cotton, posted at the door, won’t let them in without seeing what’s inside the sphere.

The Marshal orders Ky to be arrested for his outburst and at that moment, Varan’s son fires a weapon, a dart hitting the Administrator. In the confusion, Ky leaves the room, pushing past The Doctor, but the sphere begins to open. Jo goes after Ky, but he takes her prisoner.

Guards fire their guns at Ky and Jo… and the credits roll.

Tight cliffhanger there, of course we know they’ll be fine, but still, having to wait a week? Must’ve sucked.

I like this story already – I love stories of Earth’s empire amongst the stars, especially crumbling empire stories. We have that, we have native unrest, corrupt official(s), plots amongst the natives, and the Time Lords sending The Doctor as their errand boy. This has all the makings of a great serial!

Episode 2:

Ky and Jo step into a transmat booth as the guards fire. The booth is empty, having just beamed them down to the Solos transmat station. Ky overpowers a guard and they exit into the Solos surface.

The Marshal explains to The Doctor that the surface of Solos is poisonous to Earthlings; he uses his position (now that the Administrator has been assassinated, under the martial law, the Marshal is the highest ranking man) to coerce The Doctor into opening the sphere.

Ky and Jo run through the brambles. Jo collapses, falling prey to the effect of the atmosphere.

The Marshal brings The Doctor to Skybase’s laboratory. The Doctor offends the Marshal by calling the equipment “adequate”, and comments how it all seems to be geared towards atmospheric regulation. As they talk, a man bursts in, demanding to know, “What the blazes is going on in here?” At seeing the Marshal, he becomes apologetic.

However, when The Doctor admits to turning off a circuit that was about to overload, Jaeger (the man) begins ranting about atmospheric regeneration, prompting the Marshal to try to shut him up.

The Marshal leaves Jaeger with instructions to assist The Doctor in trying to open the sphere, as he receives a report that Varan’s son has been brought to his office.

Ky carries Jo and sets her down. They’re pursued by three guards, who split up. Ky attacks one and steals his gas mask for Jo.

Varan’s son demands to know why he is a prisoner, when he was acting under the orders of the Marshal. The Marshal uses the same weapon that was used to kill the Administrator to kill Varan’s son. Varan comes in, to find his son dead, and draws his sword. The Marshal fires the weapon on Varan, but Varan escapes.

The Marshal issues an alert that Varan is a mutant and is to be killed on sight. He contacts Stubbs and Cotton, who are the other two of the group pursuing Ky and Jo (ah, the limited cast budget of the show rears its ugly head) and orders them back to Skybase.

The Doctor and Jaeger discuss the effects of altering the atmosphere on Solos (The Doctor worried about the native Solonians, though Jaeger obviously doesn’t care one bit) and then turn their attention to the sphere. Jaeger scoffs at The Doctor’s claims of being able to reverse the sphere, and when The Doctor attempts it, we briefly see something inside with runic writing before there’s a flash from the machinery.

Varan runs into the herbarium, pursued by the guards.

Ky brings Jo into a cave. He helps her recover from exposure to the gases and explains that the gases are only harmful to Earthlings during the day.

Jaeger is fascinated by the partial success The Doctor had with the sphere, almost as if he can’t believe what happened. The Marshal and Stubbs show up, looking for Varan and The Doctor is interested in going along, something about the mutations (they’re claiming Varan is a mutt). He asks if he can go along and Jaeger motions to the Marshal that he wants to speak with him privately, so the Marshal has Stubbs take The Doctor with him to hunt down Varan.

Jaeger tells the Marshal that The Doctor could get the atmospheric reversal process working in a week and they must keep him around to help them.

Stubbs and The Doctor enter the Herbarium and find Varan, but it’s obvious he’s no mutant.

The Marshal tells Cotton to find Jo and bring her back, and as far as The Doctor knows, Jo is on a hospital on Solos.

The Doctor tells Stubbs they must lie to the Marshal, tell him that Varan has been “dealt with”, and when they return to the Marshal’s office, Stubbs does exactly that. The Marshal tells The Doctor that Jo has been found but it will be a few days before he’ll be able to see her. In the meantime, the Marshal suggests The Doctor help Jaeger with altering the atmosphere.

The Doctor and Jaeger argue over the process of altering the atmosphere. Cotton arrives to tell Jaeger that the Marshal wants to see him immediately. When Jaeger leaves, Cotton reveals the truth to The Doctor about Jo.

The Doctor and Cotton hatch a plan to help The Doctor get to the transfer (transmat) station. It involves initiating a power failure. Stubbs finds Varan, still hiding in the Herbarium, and tells him to wait until the power failure and then head to the transmat station. (I like transmat, why they’re not using that term for this serial, I don’t know, but I’m sticking with it.)

Jaeger and The Doctor run an experiment to try particle reversal, potentially as a method to alter the atmosphere. In reality, this is The Doctor’s way to cause the power failure; the resulting feedback knocks out Jaeger and The Doctor slips out.

As the alarms go off, Varan slips out, heading to the transmat. He finds The Doctor and grabs him, snarling, “Die, Overlord, Die,” holding his knife to The Doctor’s throat… and the credits roll.

Again, an excellent cliffhanger!

 

Episode 3:

The Doctor and Varan struggle; The Doctor uses his Venusian Karate to best the warrior and then gets Varan to swear to help him find Ky. They exit the transmat station on Solos, though Varan is surprised that The Doctor says he’s not an Earthman and need not worry about the daytime gases.

A firestorm is happening on Solos; The Doctor and Varan discuss it, the latter believing it to be “the wrath of the gods”. Elsewhere, in their cave, Jo and Ky watch the firestorm and Ky explains it is a side effect of the Marshal’s experiments on the atmosphere. In the flashing light, a strange humanoid creature is seen and it fightens Jo. Ky explains it’s one of his people and is harmless, though it then gets close and threatens them, forcing Ky to chase it off with a firey brand. They go deeper into the cave where it will be safer.

However, once they go deeper, they find more of the creatures. Ky hides Jo in a crevasse in the cave wall and then goes to chase them off with the fire.

The Marshal chastises Jaeger for falling for The Doctor’s trick and tells him to proceed with the rocket plan he had originally designed. Jaeger tries to protest but the Marshal won’t hear of it.

Stubbs and Cotton are ordered to the Marshal’s office; they fear that he is on to them. The Marshal chastises (he does that a lot) them and then tells them he’s sending them to Solos one last time, to take care of “mutts, Varan and The Doctor”.

Varan and The Doctor find Ky and Jo’s fire in the cave. One of the creatures appears but runs off. Varan says the creatures are “evil, diseased” and will go no further in the cave, but The Doctor challenges his manhood and they go onward.

Ky is surrounded by the creatures. Things look bad. Jo gasps and eeks from her hiding spot until a creature comes close and she runs off, getting lost.

Ky tries to reason with his people, but they don’t seem to know him or understand his words. As his brand loses its fire, the creatures gather close around him, but The Doctor and Varan show up to help Ky.

Jo finds a psychedelic area of the cave where she stands and looks bewildered (she does that a lot) and there’s funky music/sounds and she sees a vaguely humanoid form that approaches and seems to be a man in a space suit or perhaps a radiation/hazmat suit.

The Doctor introduces himself to Ky. He asks where Jo is and Ky says he hid her. He asks why The Doctor came and the Time Lord replies to find Jo and to give Ky the sphere. He does so and it begins to open. Inside are tablets, very disappointing to the Solonians.

Ky says the language on the tablets is that of the old ones. He says that nobody knows the old language. Varan storms off as the sphere closes itself. Ky leads The Doctor to where he left Jo. As they walk, they talk of a man named Sondergaard, a Earthman of great learning. Ky says he knew of the old langauge, but he disappeared. Ky says the Marshal was behind it.

The Marshal outlines a plan for the guards to flush The Doctor and company out of the caves.

They discover that Jo is no longer in her hiding spot.

Jaeger tells the Marshal that Solos is getting hotter and hotter – for the past 500 years, Solos has been in Spring, but now Summer is rising. Also, there are more mutts than ever and they’re all heading to the target area.

Varan watches as a group of guards enter the caves and he slips out past them. They fire and give chase but the native seems to have luck on his side.

Ky and The Doctor search the caves, not able to find Jo. The Doctor realises that the mutts only attack them in one particular chamber in the cave. Ky says he feels that the area is a safe place, he has an instinctual feeling about it.

The Marshal, Cotton and Stubbs are in the caves; the Marshal has some explosives that he’s hiding from them, and when they ask about going in to find The Doctor, he allows them fifteen minutes, but it’s obvious he’s on to them and is planning to detonate the explosives with them inside.

Varan returns to his village, demanding to know where his people are. An old man, obviously a mutt with spikes growing out of his back, tells him about the firestorm and then follows Varan’s orders to sound the gong.

The Doctor and Ky hear Stubbs and Cotton calling out for him, but evades them. He and Ky find Jo, and then Stubbs and Cotton find them. As they talk, the Marshal overhears their conversation (he’s apparently bugged one of them) and gives the orders for the grenades to be thrown. AS the grenades start releasing gas, he sets the explosive devices and departs.

Stubbs can’t raise anyone on the radio.

The old man tells Varan the warriors have fled, that everyone else is becoming a mutant and is going to the caves. Varan looks at his hand and sees he is changing. He hears a voice in his head telling him to go to the place of sleeping, the place of darkness and light.

He resists, drawing his blade, saying he is a warrior, he will die fighting, not sleeping.

Fully mutated mutts stagger down the tunnel into the grenade gas and collapse.

Jo explains to The Doctor about where she was and the silvery figure she saw before she fainted.

Stubbs, who was heading out, rushes back to The Doctor, Jo, Ky and Cotton, to report the gas attack has begun, that they’re sealed in… and the credits roll.

Not quite as good a cliffhanger, but still a well paced one. They’re really on stride with this serial thus far. The villain is nasty, the conflict and dramatics are good.

We’ll pick up the rest on Tuesday.

Serial 62 – The Sea Devils 2/2

All spoilers, kids.

Episode 4:

The Doctor and Jo make a break for the minefield as the Sea Devil starts firing at the guards. Trenchard chastises The Master for not telling him the truth about the “enemy agents”.

The Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver as a mine detector to avoid the mines. The Master cranks up his device, grumbling, “Stupid beast, why doesn’t it attack them?” It chases into the minefield after them, but The Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver to detonate several mines in close proximity to the creature, injuring it, and it runs off.

Captain Hart checks with his radio man, but is told that they’ve heard nothing from the sub. Hart says he’s ordering a full search.

On the sub, the men ready their small arms as the hatch to the bridge is blazed through, but stare in shock at the Sea Devil who comes through.

Trenchard and The Master argue; The Master tries to tell him that he only lied to him because he would never have believed him. The Master says they must wait until his device is perfected before telling anyone.

The Doctor and Jo run around the prison grounds, pursued by men on horse and in vehicles.

On the sub, the Sea Devils have taken over. One of them indicates on a map where it wants them to go.

Captain Hart refuses to believe about sea monsters. While he and The Doctor argue, Legs receives a call that the search for the submarine is being called off until the next morning.

However, Hart’s man picks up the sub moving towards the prison beach. The Doctor gloats, “Perhaps you’ll believe me now,” like this proves anything.

The Master communicates, presumably with the Sea Devils, via his device. Trenchard walks in, saying they should notify the authorities as soon as possible. When a reply comes through, though it’s just noise to us, Trenchard somehow guesses it’s a message.

A group (or two?) of Sea Devils exit the ocean, onto a beach.

Trenchard is on the phone, asking to speak to someone, saying the security of the nation is at risk, but he’s told they’ll have to call him back. A prison guard is attacked by a Sea Devil. Trenchard checks on The Master via his video link, then tries to raise the guard on the phone.

Two guards round a corner and come face to face with two Sea Devils. They sound the alarm and a firefight begins. Trenchard joins and starts shooting at the Sea Devils, seemingly hurting one, but is killed for his effort.

The three Sea Devils enter The Master’s cell and he looks all pleased.

Apparently it’s morning now. The contact with the sub has been lost (so they just sat there and kept trying to raise them the whole night through? The pacing/timing of the scenes seems really off in some of these serials.)

Hart, The Doctor, Jo and some naval troops make it to the prison, entering and finding Trenchard’s dead body. They return to the naval base, to learn that the sub is moving to the fort now. The Doctor says he wants to inspect the sea bed at the fort, and Hart says there’s a diving vessel at the ready.

Hart, Jo and The Doctor board the Reclaim. The Doctor is planning to go down by himself in a diving bell. He suits up and they hoist up the bell and lower him into the water. At the bottom, The Doctor looks out the porthole and a Sea Devil is looking in.

Despite him saying not to bring him up, Hart gives the order to raise him back up. When the bell is back on board, The Doctor is nowhere to be found!…and the credits roll.

 

Episode 5:

The Doctor is brought into the Sea Devil base in a rather convoluted looking thing. Their version of a diving bell/pressure thing, I gather, but it just seems odd.

Mr Walker, the Parliamentary Private Secretary, shows up at Captain Hart’s office. Blythe (Legs) tells him he’s at sea. Walker starts issuing orders much to the displeasure of Blythe.

The Doctor argues with the Sea Devils over the history of the Earth, who rightfully it belongs to, etc. The Doctor says he’s met their people before and wants to ensure they’re not destroyed.

Again, The Doctor attempts to broker for a peace between Man and the reptiles, as he did with the Silurians. The Sea Devil leader seems to be swayed by The Doctor’s words, and just as he seems that he’s going to agree, The Master enters, saying, “The Doctor is yoru deadly enemy! He must be destroyed!”

Hart and Jo are back in Hart’s office, dealing with Walker. Walker says the only option is to attack. He informs them that the orders have already been given, when Hart protests.

Both The Master and The Doctor argue for the Sea Devil leader to listen to him. The Master is pushing for them to ignore The Doctor and to fight. The leader walks behind The Doctor and touches the back of his head, saying he does not believe The Doctor is lying as The Master insists.

We see the naval task force ship cannons preparing to fire, loading artillery. Walker gives the order for them to begin the attack. When Hart tries to plead for Walker to reconsider, Walker threatens to have him removed and replaced with someone who will follow orders. Hart apologises to Jo and gives the order.

The ships begin a barrage of underwater artillery.

The Sea Devil leader charges The Doctor with brokering a truce with Man, and agrees to let the sub and the crew go free as a token of good faith. The Master protests once more, but just then, the base shakes with the assault from above. The Master jumps at the chance to say “is this the promised peace?” The Sea Devil leader agrees with The Master, saying the apes cannot be trusted. He orders for The Doctor to be taken away and killed (why not kill him there? Why not do it himself? Makes no sense.)

The Master tells the Sea Devil leader to let the apes think that the attack is a success – he still needs time to fix the hibernation unit so the majority of the Sea Devils can be awoken.

During the assault, there’s a partial cave in in the tunnel The Doctor is being taken down. His escort is knocked unconscious and the Time Lord collects one of the weapons.

The task force reports to Hart and Walker that lizard bodies and debris are floating up from below and Hart gets Walker to agree to let the attack end.

The Master tells the Sea Devil leader that he needs electronic parts to repair the hibernation device and they will have to attack the humans to get what he needs.

The Doctor frees the sub captain and his number one from a cell and learns the rest of the crew is still on the sub, in an undersea harbour. He hands the Sea Devil gun to the captain and the three of them go to find the sub.

On the bridge, three crewmen are playing cards under the eye of a Sea Devil. They hear rapping in morse code and create a diversion. The Doctor, captain and number one enter and the captain shoots the Sea Devil. The Doctor chastises him, saying it wasn’t necessary (shouldn’t have given him the weapon, then, Doctor. Duh.)

The Doctor’s escort wakes and sounds an alarm. As the sub leaves, the Sea Devil leader orders a force field to be activated; it stops the sub from moving. At The Doctor’s suggestion, the captain gives the order to fire torpedos at the tunnel wall and this breaks them free.

The Doctor returns to Hart’s office and receives a joyous reception from Jo. He then meets Walker and begins to chastise him. He tells Walker that he hasn’t destroyed the enemy, only angered them.

At the waters outside the naval base, Sea Devils emerge and access the beach. They attack a sentry and enter the base proper.

Walker’s answer is to seek approval from the Minister for a nuclear attack. The Doctor appeals to Walker’s ego, asking to let him approach the reptiles again to try, once more, to broker peace.

As The Doctor, Jo and Hart leave, planning to head to the Reclaim once more, Jo sees a Sea Devil and cries out, “Doctor!” (At least she doesn’t scream all the time.) The Doctor stops and turns and the Sea Devil raises its gun… and the credits roll.

 

Episode 6:

The Doctor fights off two Sea Devils but a third incapacitates him. The Master shows up with a large group of Sea Devils and they take them captive.

The Sea Devils seem to have overrun the base, locking up many naval men in a store room.

The Master gloats to The Doctor, but says he needs The Doctor’s assistance in reviving the reptiles.

Jo and Captain Hart, locked with Walker, in a communication room (but since power has been cut, they can’t use the equipment), try to escape. Walker whines as they work on getting Jo into the ventillation ducts.

The Doctor and The Master are in the electronics store room; The Master tells The Doctor that he needs to help him, else the humans on the base will be killed. (Though, once the reptiles are revived, they plan to kill all the apes, so why help?) The Master shows The Doctor his schematics and The Doctor says he’s got it all wrong and starts making corrections.

Jo slips out of the building via the ducts and makes it to the roof and down the side. She finds the building where The Doctor (who sees her through the window) and The Master are. The Doctor manages to get The Master to go fetch a component, and while he’s gone, The Doctor tells Jo that he’s going to create a diversion and to be ready to get Hart and the others to safety.

The Doctor runs a test of their device, and the Sea Devil who has arrived there grabs its head and writhes in agony.

All over the base, Sea Devils are writhing in pain. Jo frees Hart, but Walker remains in the facility, afraid to pass the Sea Devil. Hart and Jo make it to a hovercraft and leave the beach; the captain takes out several Sea Devils with an automatic rifle (they don’t seem as tough as their land-based cousins, the Silurians.)

The Master switches off the machine (so he just stood there for long minutes while the Sea Devil in the room with them writhed and danced about in agony? REALLY?) The Doctor pretends it was a simple mistakes of some crossed wires and The Master doesn’t question it. (REALLY?)

The hovercraft returns, as The Doctor and The Master and the device are being escorted to go back to the Sea Devil base. The Sea Devil leader has the Time Lords and the device placed back in the electronic stores facility, with a guard, while he goes to alert his men.

Troops disembark from the hovercraft, led by Hart, followed by Jo (because, sure, they’d let an unarmed woman go into a battle. REALLY?) A big firefight ensues and the navy boys are kicking some Sea Devil ass. Myers, one of the navy boys, finds The Doctor and shoots the Sea Devil. The Doctor has Myers keep The Master under guard while he goes to look for Jo and Captain Hart.

The Master uses his force of will to confuse Myers and then incapacitates him.

All over the base, there’s chaos and conflict. The Doctor is told Jo is on the beach and as he heads there, he sees The Master carrying the hibernation trigger device. The Master boards a one man jet boat (like a large jet ski, almost) and The Doctor boards another and gives chase.

The Sea Devils retreat into the ocean.

The Doctor catches up with The Master, but it’s a trap, as a group of Sea Devils show up.

Walker is back on the nuclear strike bandwagon.

The Doctor and The Master have made it back to the Sea Devil base. The Master is fanning the flames of the Sea Devils’ desire to make the apes pay, to be the “rightful” masters of the world again. The Doctor asks if there’s nothing he can say to make them change their mind and the leader says, “Nothing.”

“Then I am sorry,” replies The Doctor. I suspect this is a very telling line.

The Sea Devil leader gives the order to activate the machine, and The Master does so. He then says to the Sea Devil leader, “I suggest you now dispose of this man!” In response, the Sea Devil leader orders both Time Lords to be locked up. (Yep, once more, The Master allies himself with an enemy force only to have them turn against him. Will he ever learn?)

After they’re locked up, The Doctor tells The Master that he “reversed the polarity of the neutron flow” of the device, which will destroy the base in about ten minutes. The Master calls out to the guards, but they don’t hear him.

The Master realises they’ll both be killed, but The Doctor says, “Unless we both can escape.” He uses his sonic screwdriver to open the cell door and they find some “submarine escape equipment” just laying around. (REALLY?)

At Jo’s insistence, Hart orders a high speed hovercraft to skim the water surface before the attack. The Doctor and The Master are found floating in their escape suits and brought on board the hovercraft.

On the hovercraft, The Master clutches his chest and collapses. As the crew checks on him, The Doctor watches on, but everyone is distracted by a large underwater explosion – the base!

Jo hears that one of the two people they rescued “was in a bad way” and fears the worst. She’s relieved to find The Doctor is okay, when he gets off the hovercraft. They bring The Master off in a stretcher, but it’s one of the crew in a mask. The Master escapes in the hovercraft, heading out to ocean… and the final credits roll.

Wow, that’s an interesting way to end the serial. A lot of fun, but some really annoying little plot contrivances in this one, a lot of them. Still, always enjoyable seeing Delgado as The Master and the Sea Devils were fun.

Serial 62 – The Sea Devils 1/2

Another one I don’t believe I’ve ever seen; another one I do know a little about, and am excited to see! So let’s do it! This is six episodes, so we’ll do three on Thursday and three on Friday.

Episode 1:

A man aboard a ship makes the radio and calls in a mayday, saying they’re under attack and are abandoning ship. We see a monstrous hand grab the microphone from him as he is about to give the coordinates. He backs away from the creature and screams.

The Doctor and Jo ride aboard a boat to an island with a castle on it. The Doctor indicates it, saying it is The Master’s permanent residence. They’re dropped off, the boat’s operator saying he’ll be back in a couple hours.

Arriving at the facility, they’re brought to the office of Colonel Trenchard, the governor (warden) of the facility. He’s a gruff looking balding fellow and asks them for their passes, though they went through this at the gate. They’re there to see the only prisoner there – The Master.

When Jo questions about the guards being resilient to The Master’s power of hypnosis, Trenchard arranges a demonstration. While they watch via a video screen, a new guard enters. The Master tries to use the power of his mind to overcome him, but it is to no avail. The guard simply acts as if nothing had happened and walks away.

Trenchard brings The Doctor and Jo to The Master’s cell, where he is using a rowing machine to exercise. They banter and it comes up that there were a lot of people pulling for his execution – the implication being that The Doctor must have spoken up for him to be spared.

The Master says he’s had a chance to reconsider his life. The Doctor scoffs at this, but asks for the location of The Master’s TARDIS, which he will not divulge. When they leave, The Doctor asks him if there is anything he can do to help. The Master asks that he stop by regularly for conversation. He then offers The Doctor his hand, and while our hero is tempted, he choose not to shake, holding up his hand in a farewell gesture instead.

After they’v e left, The Master returns to his rowing machine, and begins a little maniacal laughter.

Jo realises that The Doctor was concerned about The Master, that he wanted to visit to make sure he was all right. The Doctor confesses that they were very good friends, once. Trenchard returns to his office to stamp them out, as per procedure.

After they leave, Trenchard returns to The Master’s cell and they are obviously in cahoots – the bit with the guard was all a ruse, a performance. The Master says The Doctor didn’t come to see him, he must be there about “the vanishing ships”. Trenchard, who had briefly mentioned this when first meeting The Doctor, says he did so and The Doctor showed no interest, but The Master is quite irate at Trenchard’s action.

The Doctor talks to the boatman, who tells him about the missing and attacked ships, telling him that there’s a naval cover-up. The Doctor asks him if they can go to the naval base and has to bribe him to walk away from the boat so he can go off on his own.

At the base, Captain Hart, a Navy man dictates a letter to his leggy secretary. Looking out the window, he sees The Doctor approaching in his boat. Hart is quite upset, as this is supposed to be a top secret base. He calls security and a group of Navy boys grab The Doctor.

Jo pays the boatman to use his motorbike and helmet, and she goes off to find The Doctor.

The Master watches some insipid puppet show for children, when Trenchard brings in some naval charts he wanted. The Master plots out the sites of the three ship attacks and notes in the middle of the plotted points, there’s an abandoned island. Trenchard tells him it’s no longer abandoned, it’s being converted into a signal station.

At the island, two men are playing cards, maintenance men. One of them mentions he keeps feeling he’s being watched.

The Doctor and Captain Hart talk. The Doctor explains that the lifeboat was fired upon by heat beams from beneath. Hart’s leggy assistant takes a call and informs him that there’s a lady at the gate with two UNIT passes looking for The Doctor.

The one maintenance man goes off to investigate some noises. The other, who stayed behind, hears him scream and goes looking for him. He finds the man and then sees a rather horrific humanoid creature there.

The Doctor tells Hart he wants to go to the abandoned island, but Hart says there are only some maintenance men there. He refuses to give The Doctor a ride out to the fort.

Jo and The Doctor arrive there in a boat (guess The Doctor’s getting his money’s worth out of the bribe.) They enter the fortress and start poking around.

Outside, a scaly green humanoid hand is seen reaching out of the water, grabbing the side of the boat.

Jo and The Doctor find the maintenance men’s card table. As they search around, they hear an explosion. Looking out the window, they see their boat is gone. As they search around for a radio, a rather alien humanoid creature with a sleek skull watches them.

The Doctor finds the first maintenance man, and determines he’s dead. They hear someone coming… and the credits roll.

Oh, very exciting. The Master, interesting new creatures, secret naval bases, me likey!

Episode 2:

The second maintenance man approaches. He swings a spanner at The Doctor, who disarms him and he begins babbling about sea monsters. Jo helps The Doctor escort him back to the bunkroom. The radio is there, but it’s been ripped out.

The Doctor administers a shot to the man, while questioning him about the presence of any radios or even receivers. The Doctor goes off to find a transistor radio, while Jo tends to the man, who quickly falls asleep.

While moving through the fort, The Doctor encounters one of the Sea Devils (though we don’t know what they are yet), who fires a handheld weapon at him. The Doctor runs back to the bunkroom and barricades the door, setting up a trap.

When Jo asks him what’s going on, he says, “Just as I thought, reptiles… like those creatures in the caves,” obviously referring to the Silurians. However, that was Liz Shaw who was his assistant then, not Jo.

Jo spends the whole scene asking him questions, which he mostly just ignores.

The creature burns a hole in the metal door and reaches through. The Doctor electrifies the door and it screams in pain and runs off. Jo and The Doctor give chase, but it makes it to the water.

The next morning, Captain Hart receives a report from “Legs” Blythe that The Doctor borrowed a boat and never returned it and when she tried to raise the fort he was interested in going to, there’s been no response. Hart puts a call in to have a rescue copter sent out to check on things.

The Doctor works on rigging up a transmitter to contact the authorities. There’s a comic relief moment where he tells Jo he’ll show her it will work, flips it on, and it receives her favourite DJ.

They go on to talk about the Silurians (the Brig had told Jo about them, apparently), and The Doctor theorises that the sea creatures are related to the Silurians. The Doctor gets the transmitter working and contacts the rescue copter Captain Hart sent.

Trenchard brings in a special item for The Master; apparently the box contains a military uniform.

The Doctor and Jo are back at Captain Hart’s office, trying to convince him about the Sea Devils.

Trenchard has smuggled The Master out of the prison and onto the naval base. He’s dressed as a superior officer and marching sailors salute as they go by.

Trenchard shows up in Captain Hart’s office, talking about an upcoming golf tournament. They can’t seem to get rid of him.

The Master is in a store room, collecting items when the quartermaster comes in. The Master tries to bluff, that doesn’t work, then he tries to use his force of will, and when that doesn’t work, he knocks him out with a blow to the back of the neck.

While The Doctor and Captain Hart argue over shutting down the shipping lanes or not, Jo looks out the window, seeing The Master. She tells The Doctor, but he’s out of sight. A report comes in about the CPO found in the stores room.

They go to speak to the Chief Petty Officer, who describes The Master to a tee. The Doctor and Jo return to the prison. Trenchard shows them that The Master is in his cell, but says he’ll go to check directly.

While the colonel is away, The Doctor tries using the office phones, but they’re all dead. He sends Jo to go back to the naval base to contact the Brig right away, to have everyone at the prison replaced immediately. She argues briefly but goes.

Trenchard and The Master talk; The Master tells him to bring The Doctor down and he’ll explain things to him and get him to see their side. Trenchard leaves and The Master puts a cloth over the camera in the air conditioning vent. A guard comes in and when he turns his back on The Master, the Time Lord attacks him from behind and takes a knife and gun off him.

The Doctor, bored, blindfolds himself and takes a put, putting a golf ball in a glass, much to Trenchard’s astonishment. He tells The Doctor that he should go check in on The Master himself. Almost reluctantly, The Doctor goes, Trenchard saying, “You know the way”.

Trenchard calls down to the gate, telling them not to let Jo leave.

The Doctor enters The Master’s cell; again, The Master is dressed in his workout gear. The Doctor accuses him of having been on the naval base, which he denies one moment and then says, “I guess I’ll have to tell you everything,” the very next.

The Master draws a gun, but The Doctor, who was still standing in the door way, shuts the door. The Master pursues, but is disarmed by The Doctor. Both Time Lords grab swords off the wall (just happen to be hanging there) and begin fencing.

The Doctor bests The Master (several times, in fact, letting his opponent have his sword back more than once) before taking it away and saying, “How many times have I told you… violence never gets you anywhere.” When he turns his back, The Master pulls out the knife and throws it… and the credits roll.

Now, THAT’S a great ending.

Episode 3:

we have to sit through the sword fight all over again. It’s really bad. Pertwee’s facial expression alone are horrible.

The knife misses The Doctor by a hair. Trenchard comes down, with an armed guard, and arrests The Doctor, ordering the guard to take him back to his office.

Jo escapes the men at the gate when they stop her from leaving.

Trenchard tells The Doctor that he will be kept there until a proper investigation can be held. He refuses to allow The Doctor to use the phone to call UNIT and has the Doctor taken away. He receives a call about Jo’s escape.

Trenchard returns to The Master’s cell. When he finds out that Jo is on the loose, The Master says they must work quickly from now on. He tells Trenchard to bring The Doctor to see him.

Captain Hart sends a submarine to check out the area around the fort, to use sonar to investigate the area.

The Doctor is brought to The Master’s cell and chained to a chair. Trenchard departs, leaving a guard just outside.

“No doubt, Doctor, you’re wondering why I sent for you?”

“Your usual childish desire to gloat, perhaps?”

The Master tells The Doctor that he can leave any time he wants, but the prison makes for a great base of operation. He has plans to contact the “reptiles” to help them become masters of the Earth once more.

Blythe tells Hart she contacted the prison, but Trenchard claimed Jo and The Doctor left for London already. She finds it odd that they didn’t return to the base first, and Hart seems to agree.

The crew on the submarine search the area as ordered, the captain half amused at their orders.

The guard tells The Master that Trenchard wants to see him. When he says in time, the guard insists that he go now.

Jo skulks about the property, trying to get back in the prison building; she sees The Doctor in The Master’s cell and uses charades to have a communication with him.

She leaves and finds an open, unlocked window. (In a max security prison with only one prisoner… really.) Gaining entrance, she skulks about some more, trying to find The Doctor. At the arranged time, The Doctor distracts the guard, and Jo is able to slip into the cell to help free him.

Hart visits with Trenchard, who attempts to dissemble. Hart asks if he could see the prisoner, and Trenchard activates the video and shows him The Master sitting and reading a book. He then becomes brusque and all but chases Hart off.

On the sub, they have a contact. The sonar begins pinging like crazy. Suddenly, power all over the sub begins dropping.

The Master enters Trenchard’s office; it seems the colonel believes that the disappearing ships are because of saboteurs.

Jo frees The Doctor and they double-team the guard and leave the cell.

Hart tells Blythe to check in with UNIT, see if The Doctor and Jo have returned to London or not.

The Master and Trenchard discover that The Doctor has escaped.

The sub sinks to the bottom; the engines seem to be fine, even though there isn’t any power. The crew hears banging on the hull of the ship. One of the sections reports they’re being invaded, and the man screams.

The Doctor and Jo run about the property, being observed by a guard as they head to the beach. The Master tells Trenchard to let them reach the beach, they will use his device to “trap them all”. Trenchard is under the belief that The Doctor and Jo are associates of the saboteurs.

As The Doctor and Jo rappel down a ‘cliff’, The Master and Trenchard arrive at the top with The Master’s device. The Doctor and Jo are caught between a minefield on once side, a squad of guards on the other and the beach in front.

The Master activates his device, and a Sea Devil comes out of the ocean… and the credits roll.

See you Friday!

Serial 61 – The Curse of Peladon

Okay, I’ve never seen this and don’t know much about it, though I do know who the antagonist is. And I’m excited because of that alone. So let’s do it! (Edit – having watched it, I do believe I saw this as a very young child.  I have vague recollections of having watched some Pertwee serials when I was younger than 9 years of age, though I’ve always considered Tom Baker to be my first Doctor – I have definitive recollections of my first Tom Baker serial, and I will discuss that when we get to that one.)

Episode 1:

It’s a dark and stormy night (no really) outside a fortress set into a mountain’s side. A man in robes walks through the castle, entering a throne room. There, he informs the king that several guests have arrived, they await only the ambassador from Earth.

The chancellor (the man who just arrived) and the high priest begin arguing about decisions made and abandoning the old ways. The king (a young king, it must be noted, played by David Troughton, the son of Patrick!) stands up and yells for them to stop. Despite the king’s efforts, the two men keep arguing – the king asserts to the priest that it has been decided that Peladon will, with approval of the arriving delegates, join the Galactic Federation.

Torbis, the chancellor, shoots Hepesh, the high priest, a smug (rather assholish) grin as he departs. All he needed to do was stick out his tongue to be properly immature about it. As Torbis heads to deliver news of the arrival of the delegate from Alpha Centauri to the others (as bid by his king) a furry monster attacks him in the hall. He is knocked down (and killed, presumably) and when Hepesh and a mute servant arrive, they find his body. The servant, having seen the creature, points to a sconce bearing its likeness when Hepesh, arriving too late to see the creature, asked what happened. Hepesh proclaims that the curse of Peladon will be fulfilled.

The TARDIS appears on the mountainside, outside the fortress. Inside, The Doctor and Jo are there. Jo complains that she was all dolled up for a night out with Captain Yates (yeah, Mikey, you score boy!) but got talked into going for a test flight – this is the first flight since he’s gotten the TARDIS working, apparently.

He turns on the scanner but the viewscreen shows nothing. Other scanners show that the atmosphere is safe, and he suspects they’re at the base on Earth, until the TARDIS, perched precariously, starts to rock. They exit the TARDIS just before it falls to the bottom of the cliff. Seeing the fortress, they start ascending towards it, seeking shelter from the storm and assistance in retrieving the TARDIS.

The delegate from Alpha Centauri, a vaguely insectoid appearing creature, presents itself before King Peladon. It speaks with a high pitched, voice. Topesh brings up the death of Torbis and Alpha Centauri gets scared, but the king eases its concerns.

Jo finds a tunnel in the rockface and leads The Doctor within.

Alpha Centauri is brought to meet with the delegate from Arcturus, who also reacts to the news of the death with concern for self only. Arcturus is a head with tentacles in a casement. It displays a weapon to show Hepesh that it is capable of self defense, and obliterates a vase in demonstration.

Jo and The Doctor have gained access to the castle. Seeing a statue of a monster, The Doctor tells Jo they are not on Earth.

Hepesh and the king recall when he was a boy and sat on the throne for the first time. We learn that the king is half Peladonian and half Earthling. Hepesh still believes that Aggedor – the royal beast of Peladon – was what killed Torbis, as a warning not to join the Galactic Federation. Hepesh is against Peladon joining the Federation, he distrusts the aliens, but the king is adamant. He tells his priest to summon the delegates.

The Doctor and Jo make their way through a maze of corridors. They hear the roar of some creature (the monster that struck down Torbis), but come across a blocked up tunnel. The Doctor lowers a torch and opens a secret door. As he and Jo are about to pass through, he pulls her back, just in time to hide from an ICE WARRIOR! (Woo hoo!)

They follow the Ice Warrior into the castle proper and try to head back to the tunnel, but are surrounded by Peladonian guards.

The Ice Warrior (a guard caste) joins a leader Ice Warrior in the throne room, with the other delegates. The king is meeting with the delegates to discuss the death of Torbis and the legend of Aggedor. Just as Hepesh, while retelling the legend, speaks of a stranger arriving bringing great tribulation, The Doctor and Jo are brought in, but the other delegates take him to be the delegate from Earth.

Jo must pretend to be of royal blood, as the only females allowed in the throne room of Peladon are royalty; otherwise, she would have to be put to death. She plays the part of “Princess Josephine of TARDIS”. They explain that she is there to observe only.

Alpha Centauri, quite the worry-wort, brings up the danger. While they talk, a servant of the court prepares to lever a statue onto someone who walks by in the hall outside the throne room. The Doctor gets the arguing delegates to withdraw to the delegates chambers for further discussion.

As they leave, The Doctor looks up, sees the statue tumbling forward… and the credits roll.

Ooooh, curiouser and curiouser. Ice Warriors, silly aliens, resentful high priest, novice king – I like this already.

Episode 2:

The Doctor pushes the other delegates out of the way (including the Ice Warriors), saving their lives, as the statue loosened by Grun (the large mute who found Torbis earlier) crashes to the hall floor. Hepesh pulls the “Aggedor has been merciful, we must give thanks,” line, whereas The Doctor (and after he suggests it, the delegates) feels they should investigate to see what happened. Hepesh makes it known his feelings, but the king yells from the throne room that he is king and asks everyone back in. The king asks them not to listen to fear and to stay and hold the conference. Jo slips away and investigates the site of the statue, finding something at the base, which she pockets.

King Peladon asks “Princess Josephine” to stay, after the delegates leave to consider their position. The king is happy for an equal, someone he can talk to as a person.. but he also wants to flirt with her. He asks if she will believe him, and when she says she does (as Jo is easily swayed by good manners – we saw this in DAY OF THE DALEKS, when the Controller wined and dined her and she bought into his spiel wholesale), he asks her to speak to the delegates on his behalf, which only upsets her.

Hepesh and Grun meet in secret; Grun is acting on Hepesh’s instructions. The priest performs a ceremony to bless him with Aggedor’s intent – to destroy The Doctor!

The item Jo found turns out to be an electronic key, belonging to the Ice Warriors. Obviously, it’s been planted, but The Doctor is buying into it wholesale. His previous experience is blinding him.

They hear an alarm and run to the delegate’s chambers, where Arcturus is, his life support has been tampered with. The Doctor fiddles (yep, that again) with it, saving Arcturus’ life. Hepesh says it is Aggedor, but The Doctor fairly bluntly accuses the Ice Warrior delegate.

Jo searches the delegate’s rooms, finding the component in the Ice Warrior’s chamber. Ssorg (the guard caste Warrior) comes in and finds her. She confronts him with the component, but he denies it is theirs. He leaves her there to consult with Izlyr, the Ice Warrior delegate.

Arcturus cannot remember who attacked him. The Doctor storms off, but Grun grabs him and tries to tell him to follow him. When he doesn’t, the mute drags him in the direction he wants, as Hepesh watches from around the corner.

Izlyr presents his suspicions of The Doctor in regards to Arcturus’ attack. The delegates quickly jump to conclusions based on Jo’s presence, King Peladon’s half-human heritage and Earth’s plans to form a strong union with Peladon, gaining more power in the Federation and so forth.

Ssorg arrives to talk to Izlyr, showing him Arcturus’ missing unit. The delegate tells the others that Jo had it.

In the Ice Warrior’s chamber, Jo escapes through a window, going outside. She moves along a narrow ledge (oh, I think I smell a cliffhanger, ahahhahahahah) in the storm, and makes it to the next window, entering into a hallway.

Grun drags The Doctor through a secret door, indicating that the princess is in danger.

Jo runs through the halls, encountering the monster. She runs off.

Grun leaves The Doctor in the catacombs after hearing the monster’s roar.

Jo runs back into the arms of the Ice Warriors. Izlyr sends Ssorg to investigate, but he comes back and says there is nothing. Izlyr accuses her of trickery, but says he will help her find The Doctor as it is time they answer his questions.

The Doctor runs from the monster.

Izlyr brings Jo back to the Ice Warrior chambers. He begins to interrogate her. During the course of the conversation, Izlyr reveals that what was done to Arcturus would not have been fatal, even if unattended, only uncomfortable. Jo says The Doctor claims they are a race of warriors, but Izlyr says they have rejected violence, except for in self defense now.

When she asks about Ssorg’s gun, if this is a peaceful mission, Izlyr responds, “Unfortunately, in order to preserve peace, it is necessary to survive.”

(Great line, that one.)

The Doctor is pursued by the monster, escaping through another secret door. He finds himself in the inner sanctum of Aggedor and Hepesh has Grun grab him and bring him before the king with a charge of Extreme Sacrilige – desecrating the holy of holies, the inner sanctum.

Peladon responds he has no alternative – there is no defense allowed and only one punishment – death… and the credits roll.

Episode 3:

The Doctor protests, pleading with King Peladon, saying he didn’t know the tunnels would take him there. The king is unaware of the existence of the tunnels (what, as a little boy he didn’t explore the caste? I find this hard to believe), but Hepesh insists there are no tunnels. He’s obviously set this up, having Grun leave The Doctor in the tunnels, so they could ‘catch’ him violating the holy temple.

The delegates speak up for The Doctor, asking for leniency, saying a pardon would carry much weight with the Federation; Hepesh says the Federation cannot outweigh their holy laws.

Jo appeals to Peladon, begging him to spare The Doctor, to prove they are a civilised people. Peladon says there is one only way – trial by combat. The Doctor reluctantly agrees. He is told in the morning, he will face the king’s champion, Grun in combat to the death.

Peladon proposes marriage to Jo, an alliance between their realms. Jo gets upset with him.

Hepesh comes to The Doctor, says that the guard is removed from his door and it is unlocked. The Doctor quips, “I see, killed while trying to escape, is that it?” Hepesh says he does not want The Doctor’s death. He lays out the escape route for The Doctor, and even tells him that his ‘space shuttle’ has been found and is being brought back to the citadel.

Hepesh tells The Doctor he fears the Federation, the change they will bring. He tells The Doctor, “We do not stand alone,” but he will not explain what he means.

The delegates and Jo debate leaving or staying. Alpha Centauri and Arcturus argue for leaving, Izlyr and Jo for staying. Ultimately, they decide neither to leave nor to stay and protest, but rather to stay and do nothing.

The Doctor rigs up a little spinning mirror that has some hypnotic effect. He takes the map laid out by Hepesh and departs his chamber.

Ssorg invites Princess Josephine to speak with Izlyr. He explains that the delegates will not leave The Doctor stranded, as it requires a unaminous decision, and Izlyr voted to stay. He offers to help her rescue The Doctor, as repayment for The Doctor saving his life when the statue fell.

Arcturus is listening through the wall to their conversation. He moves off before they exit.

The Doctor slips into the catacombs.

Hepesh sends his guards into the catacombs, with instructions to kill the alien if he resists.

The Doctor follows the map and stops when he comes across the roaring monster. He pulls out the little doohicky and spins the mirror on it, approaching the monster.

Hepesh consults with Grun, talking about their ally’s plan. He consoles Grun, who wanted to kill The Doctor in combat. He promises Grun that all of this is being done to maintain the king’s honor.

Izlyr and Ssorg enter The Doctor’s chamber, to find him gone. Izlyr says if The Doctor has been eliminated, “Hepesh and this planet will have much to answer for!”

The Doctor sings to the monster, moving the mirror back and forth as it spins. Aggedor becomes docile, almost asleep to The Doctor’s singing Venusian lullabys. Jo shows up and chases off the monster, much to the disappointment of The Doctor.

The Ice Warriors confront King Peladon about the location of The Doctor and Jo. Hepesh claims their escape proves his guilt. The Doctor and Jo show up, claiming they have just seen Aggedor. Hepesh keeps calling for The Doctor to be put to death, but the king and Izlyr call to hear his story.

Hepesh calls for The Doctor to be taken to the pit, to face his challenge. Jo appeals to Peladon once more, but he nods his agreement with Hepesh.

The delegates, Peladon, Jo, others assemble as The Doctor and Grun descend via ropes into the pit. They fight with pole axes, but after The Doctor disarms Grun, Hepesh throws him a sword. Soon, The Doctor is disarmed, but he grapples and disarms Grun.

The two men wrestle, use judo/leverage holds and the like.

Arcturus and Hepesh exchange glances as The Doctor defeats Grun but steps back and says he will not kill the king’s champion.

Arcturus extends his blaster weapon, Alpha Centauri screams, and we see Ssorg’s weapon fire… and the credits roll.

Episode 4:

Ssorg shoots Arcturus, killing him. Hepesh and one of the palace guards exchange a look and slip out.

Back in the throne room, The Doctor, remaining delegates and Jo consult with the king. They explain that Arcturus was working with Hepesh – Hepesh wanted control of Peladon (or of the king, at least) and Arcturus hoped to gain access to Peladon’s mineral assets. If Peladon had joined the Federation, Arcturus would not be able to have sole access to them. It suited both to keep Peladon from joining the Federation.

Hepesh moves through the catacombs.

The Doctor says they must find Hepesh and stop him – if he were to contact the Federation, he could accuse the Ice Warriors of murdering Arcturus (Izlyr says that Mars and Arcturus are ancient enemies), which would start galactic conflict, and the Federation would take sides and this could rip it apart, and Peladon would be blasted apart.

After the king asks for the Federation’s support if civil war breaks out; as thi sis generally not allowed by the Federation, the delegates recess to debate amongst theirselves, though The Doctor and Jo wander about on their own.

They find the secret door, left open by Grun, who was trying to get The Doctor’s attention earlier. He sends Jo to attend the delegates while he goes into the catacombs to see what Grun wanted.

Hepesh meets with the captain of the guard, as they plan an attack – no harm to the king, of course, but he wants the delegates dead. Grun shows up, beckoning Hepesh to follow, but the priest tries to dismiss him. Grun won’t take no for an answer and grabs the priest. He fights with several of the guards, but Hepesh strikes Grun from behind. The guards rush off to begin their attack.

The delegates hold their vote, Jo and the Ice Warriors voting for helping Peladon. Alpha Centauri doesn’t vote in favour until the two Ice Warriors turn and stare at her… him… it. Almost reluctantly, Alpha Centauri votes, but says it does so under protest and accepts no responsibility. Alpha Centauri reveals that its communicator has been damaged, so Izlyr sends Ssorg to fetch theirs, so that they may contact their spaceship in orbit.

This startles Jo and she shows concern, especially after Izlyr asks if she has one in orbit as well. Izlyr asks her if all is well and she says it is, and he mentions to her her forthcoming marriage with Peladon, shocking Jo.

Ssorg discovers their communicator has been destroyed as well.

The Doctor finds Grun stunned and manages to learn that Hepesh has many soldiers and is planning to attack.

The delegates realise that Hepesh must have had their communication devices destroyed.

Hepesh and his men approach the throne room. His guards attack those posted.

Alpha Centauri is freaking out, squawking like a child. They have to yell at it to get it to shut up.

Guards fight guards in the throne room. They take the king prisoner and the loyal guards surrender. Hepesh confronts the king.

“I thought you would bring me the crown of kingship. Are you going to bring me death instead?” – Peladon

Hepesh tells Peladon either he will restore the ancient ways or the line of Peladon will meet “an ignoble end”.

The Doctor and Grun find the monster and The Doctor uses his mirror and sings to it as the king’s champion watches on.

Hepesh arrives at the delegates’ chamber telling them they will accompany him; if he does not return with them all, the king will be put to death.

The Doctor gets the monster into a sleep-like state and guides him by grabbing his horn and walking him back the way they came.

Hepesh tells the delegates to go away, to tell the Federation that Peladon wants nothing to do with them. Just then, The Doctor bursts into the throne room, demanding, “Who challenges Peladon? Kneel and pay homage to his sacred guardian!” He steps aside as Grun, preceded by Aggedor, come into the throne room.

Hepesh says he is the high priest, and he is the master of Aggedor. Grabbing a torch, he approaches the beast and gives it orders to kill The Doctor, but instead it attacks the priest. As Alpha Centauri screams like a companion, The Doctor uses his mirror to bring the beast under control again.

Peladon runs to Hepesh’s side; the old man is dying from the wounds. He says perhaps he was wrong, but all that he did was for Peladon, and then he dies. As Peladon cries, Jo comforts him and says “They are waiting for you.” The king rises, covers the priest’s face with a purple cloth.

The Doctor returns and tells the captain of the guard to order his men to surrender, which the man does. King Peladon says there will be no punishments.

Later, The Doctor takes Jo to the TARDIS. When she says she hopes it will get them back to Earth, The Doctor says he does too. When she questions his doubt, he says it was no coincidence that they appeared on Peladon at a momentous occasion, helping to avert a catastrophe in the planet’s growth.

Jo realises that the Time Lords must have been behind it. The Doctor says he imagines they’ll send them back to Earth now they’ve done what’s been needed, and Jo says at least they’ll see a coronation before they go. The Doctor replies that he hasn’t attended a coronation “since Elizabeth I… or was it Victoria?”

“Name dropper,” Jo accuses him, and she’s 100% correct on that.

Aggedor comes into the room, startling Jo. The creature seems to have grown fond of The Doctor, and he takes the creature away to be penned up.

Peladon arrives to tell Jo he wants her to stay, that he needs her. When she confesses that she’s not even a real princess, the king replies, “That… doesn’t… matter.” She says she really cannot stay; he says he won’t give up, he will talk to her after the coronation and she gives him a soft kiss on the lips.

Peladon leaves to return to his court as The Doctor returns. He says they’ll go attend the coronation and then slip away. Jo is torn, but agrees that it’s best that she go with him. They go off to attend.

The real Earth delegate argues with Alpha and the Ice Warriors that she is the official representative of Earth. When Alpha Centauri says that The Doctor is the delegate, we get one of the classic Who moments:

“The Doctor? What Doctor? Doctor Who?” – the real delegate.

The Doctor and Jo come around the corner and overhear this. They immediately slip back and agree it best if they miss this coronation. Jo says they can go see Victoria’s instead.

They hurry back to the TARDIS and slip inside moments before the delegates arrive, only to see the TARDIS dematerialise. The Earth delegate gapes in surprise (why, I’m not sure – transmat is part of Earth history before they become a galactic race)… and the final credits roll.

WOW, what a great serial. I loved seeing the Ice Warriors as the good guys! I had no idea they weren’t the baddies until watching it. Loved the court characters, the king, Grun, Hepesh. Great story, lots of fun. 

Serial 60 – Day of the Daleks

The return of the Daleks to the Whoverse; Terry Nation had apparently tried to sell the Daleks as a property to American TV, but I guess it didn’t work out and he brought them back to Doctor Who, all the better for the show and the viewers. Looking forward to this one, have never seen it before, know nothing about it.

Episode 1:

In an ornate decorated house, a man stands at guard. A woman exits the room he’s by, instructing him to make sure that “no one disturbs him”. She walks away, and inside the room, we see an elderly man working at his desk. He takes off his spectacles and rubs his eyes. Through an open window, the wind blows. He walks over to the window, but a man in camouflage comes in, pointing a futuristic looking gun at him.

The man backs from the intruder, pleading, “No, no!” and stumbles back, falling down. The soldier points his gun, but there’s a vortex-ish effect and he disappears, much to the surprise of the elderly man. The woman bursts in, worried about Sir Reginald, and he tries to explain what happened.

The Brig receives a call from the Minister, who is contacting him in regards to Sir Reginald; the Brig says he’s putting his best man on it.

The Doctor and Jo stand at the TARDIS console, which is outside of the TARDIS again. He is working on trying to defeat the override on the dematerialisation circuit and crawls under the console to fiddle (oh no, not fiddling again) with something. While he’s down there, the french doors to the room open and The Doctor and Jo look in, as the Jo inside the room stares in shock. The Doctor tells Jo not to worry, and then her Doctor stands up and sees himself.

The newcomer Doctor has difficulty trying to explain it, but says it’s nothing to worry about. There’s a poof of smoke from the console and they disappear with it. Jo is confused and The Doctor is dismissive, saying when you tamper with time, odd things happen.

The Brig arrives to talk to him about Sir Reginald, who is the key diplomat at the UN, and is needed if there is any hope of getting China to attend the upcoming summit. The Brig tells The Doctor about Sir Reginald’s “ghost”.

In a field, we see the vortex-ish effect and the “ghost” appears. He dashes to hide in some overgrowth, then heads towards a house, but stops and turns and runs in fright. Two neanderthal-like men (dressed in non-neanderthal garb) attack him and leave him unconscious.

The Brig, The Doctor and Jo meet with Miss Paget, Sir Reginald’s assistant, in Sir Reg’s office. He walks in and tries to disclaim that anything happened, saying he must have been dreaming. The Doctor points out the muddy foot prints on the floor, saying someone was there.

UNIT troops search the grounds and find the “ghost”. The Doctor touches the man’s forehead and says “he’s in a bad way, you need to get him to the hospital”. The Brig notes that the man’s weapon, which is lying there, is notable.

Benton finds a small case about fifty feet away, while The Doctor plays with his bottom lip.

A man in a futuristic room sits in a swivel chair. The two neanderthal-men walk in a report to him that they found and destroyed the enemy. The man in the chair (not a neanderthal-like man) tells them that the others must be found and eliminated.

The Doctor and the Brig confront Sir Reginald with the man’s gun; he’s visibly frightened, but continues to dismiss any recognition or acknowledgement.

The Doctor examines the gun and explains to the Brig and Jo that it’s a weapon not yet made on Earth, a disintegrator, though the metals used in its construction are definitely from Earth. He says the small pack they found is a time machine of sorts, albeit a crude one.

He demonstrates to Jo there’s a mini-dematerialisation circuit for the small pack. He pops it in and presses the button and says it’s working.

In the ambulance taking the “ghost” to the hospital, Benton watches as the man disappears.

In the future(?), the man who was in the chair receives a report that there’s a “time transmitter” in operation, but the scanning technician cannot narrow it down. He yells at her for not being able to trace it. As he steps away, we see a Dalek at the doorway, which demands a report.

The Doctor says the temporal feedback circuit has overloaded on the device. The Brig receives a call from Benton, saying that the “ghost” just vanished, faded away.

The Doctor and Jo are spending the night at Auderly House. Jo is all sorts of skittish, wishing The Doctor had not dismissed the servants, and jumping when a clock chimes. I guess she really thinks it is a ghost, which makes no sense, as The Doctor has already demonstrated that they’re dealing with time travel.

Benton and Yates supervise UNIT troops on the premises. Benton reports in to Yates that all is well, it’s quiet as a morgue. Nearby, we see the vortex effect start.

The Doctor sits, drinking wine and eating cheese while Jo paces nervously. She’s so afraid, she departs the room and wanders around the house. Because that makes PERFECT sense for a frightened girl to do.

Benton spooks her, checking in on them. She goes back to fetch some cheese and wine for Benton (drinking on the job, really, Benton, tsk tsk) but Yates shows up, chases him off and takes the wine and cheese for himself. When Jo complains that wasn’t fair, Yates says RHIP. (Rank Has Its Privileges)

Near where the “ghost” was found, two men and a woman appear in the time transmitter vortex effect. She seems to be in charge and says they’ll wait there until it is light.

The next morning, The Doctor wakes Jo, saying nothing has happened.

The three time travellers move across the grounds, and vaporise two UNIT soldiers.

The Brig walks into a radio room, apparently having just woken. An emergency call comes from Geneva, saying that the international situation has gotten worse and war seems inevitable. No word from Sir Reginald Styles. Fighting has broken out in South America and Southeast Asia. All UNIT personnel are now on “maximum alert”.

The Doctor tinkers with the time transmitter, sets it down, and steps outside looking for Jo. The three time travellers close in on the house, seeing him as he returns inside. One enters the office and fights The Doctor, but the soldier begs The Doctor to turn off the machine or “they’ll kill all of us”.

In the future, the scanning technician woman alerts her superior that she has a stronger lock on the device. The man reports this to the Daleks via video link. The Daleks tell him to destroy whomever is operating the machine and then we get three Daleks doing a chorus of “Exterminate them!” over and over… and the credits roll.

So far, good start. I know I’ve seen something about the neandertal-like men before, but don’t recall what I know (and I’m not about to spoil it for myself by looking them up.) Daleks are back, yay!

Episode 2:

The Doctor has the intruder pinned to the couch with his Venusian Karate when the other two soldiers come in with Jo hostage and tell him to let the man go and turn off the machine.

The man reports to the Daleks in person that they lost the trace.

The woman tells The Doctor it is time for his execution; she seems to think he’s Sir Reginald. When he says he’s not Sir Reginald, she doesn’t believe him until he tells her to look at the paper saying Sir Reginald is in Peking. (Maybe there’s even a picture of Sir Reginald?)

One of the two men keeps challenging Anat (the woman)’s authority. She sends him outside the room to keep guard.

Benton reports to Yates that two men are missing from patrol. They go in the house to check that they’re not in there.

The time travellers take The Doctor and Jo down to the basement when they see Yates and Benton approaching the house. Yates reports in to the Brig who is busy on multiple phones with the Minister and others. Half listening, he tells Yate to search the grounds, and they leave the house as ordered.

The travellers tie and gag Jo and The Doctor and leave them in the basement. As Jo works on his bonds, The Doctor explains that they must be from the future – the gun would indicate the twenty-second century. He muses out loud, wondering why they’re trying to kill an important twentieth century politician.

Jo, bless her heart, knows her role as a companion, and quips, “I’m the one who’s supposed to be asking the questions.”

The Daleks tell the human coordinator to send security forces to the twentieth century to hunt down the other subversives. They also tell him that the Magnetron has been set up to bring anyone who uses the particular time transmitter (the one The Doctor has been fiddling (augh!) with) will be brought there.

Anat tries to contact her base, but there is “interference in the vortex” – obviously the effects of the Magnetron. The one guy again challenges her authority (he pretty much argues with anything she says. If I were her, there’d be one less member of this time team.) The one who doesn’t argue, Shura, takes the communicator back to the tunnel where they arrived, as it should have better reception there.

When he gets there, he pulls out a package from the grass, fiddles (augh!) with something in it, and puts it back. Then, when he tries to contact their base, one of the neanderthal-men is there and they fight. Shura vaporises the neanderthal-man and then runs off, clutching his injured arm.

Benton and Yates report in person to the Brig about The Doctor and Jo gone missing. He calls in to Auderly House.

The phone in Sir Reginald’s office rings and once more, Anat and the other guy argue. The other guy is sent to bring The Doctor and Jo to the phone. They put The Doctor on the phone and he manages to let the Brig know that all is not well.

Jo breaks free of her bonds and grabs the machine and manages to activate it. She’s pulled into the vortex and appears in the future where the man in the chair spins around to see her. Behind him stand two of the neanderthal-like men. (Okay, they’re Ogrons. We haven’t been told that yet, but they’re Ogrons. I’m tired of typing ‘neanderthal-like men’.)

Anat and Argues-With-Anat tell The Doctor that Jo was likely scattered through the vortex. If she did make it to the 22^nd century, “she would be better off dead”.

Dude-in-Swivel-Chair (also known as Middle-Management-Lackey-To-Daleks) tells Jo that the Ogrons are called Ogrons, and are “a form of higher anthropoid. They used to live in scattered communities on one of the outer planets. They make very useful servants.” And now you know.

He offers her his chair and asks her about the three people who attacked her. He tells her they are ruthless fanatics and she is lucky that they didn’t kill her outright. (He’s playing the I’m-The-Good-Guy trick on her.) He says there’s a chance he can help save The Doctor, but needs to know the location and exact date.

(It’s interesting to note that when she gives the date, September 13^th, the year is not discussed. He says, before he asks, “you’ve already told me the year”, which she must have done off-camera. The point of this is that the UNIT stories are never specified when they take place – a few years in the future in relation to the transmission of the show is all we know. There’s been a great geek debate for many years over WHEN exactly they’re set. Late 70s? Early 80s? Unfortunately, some of the ‘chronology’ of the show’s writing has been sloppy and doesn’t match others and there’s no definitive answer. Not that that will stop geeks from arguing about it. And, yes, I’m a geek, though I don’t argue about this.)

He has Jo escorted off to a room to rest, having learned about the tunnel. When she is gone, he reports to the Daleks. He says he should lead the expedition to lay a trap at the tunnel, but the gold/copper Dalek says it will do so instead, there can be no room for failure, which makes Swivel Chair dude frown.

The Doctor is tied up in the wine cellar again. He manages to break his bonds in less than a minute, where he and Jo couldn’t do it in the hour or so they were tied there. Yeah, great writing.

A large group of Ogrons approach the house. Anat and Boaz (Argues dude) open fire. The Doctor enters the office and he and Boaz fight, but Anat holds him off with her gun and the two guerrilas flee. The Doctor gets a gun from an Ogron who breaks in and exits the house. Two Ogrons approach him and he vaporises one, while the Brig shows up in a jeep and shoots the other.

The Doctor takes the jeep to the tunnel, where we see Anat and Boaz going in. He follows them in, but runs into a Dalek… and the credits roll.

That’s a great cliffhanger, imagine having to wait a week after that one? Yeesh.

Episode 3:

The Doctor runs from the Dalek, looking for the guerrilas. He finds them as they activate their time transmitter and he’s caught in the time field. We see the three of them in the vortex and they arrive in the 22^nd century. When Anat tries to soften the blow of having travelled two hundred years through time, The Doctor’s response is to calmly reply, “Thank you, but I’m probably more familiar with the concept of time travel than you are.”

Boaz wants to leave The Doctor, Anat isn’t sure that’s the right thing to do. Before they can argue, and Ogron patrol shows up and the three split up. The Doctor finds a ladder and ascends it, exiting through a trap door into a field. The Ogrons report to the Daleks that they lost their prey.

The Doctor evades a patrol of Ogrons and heads towards some buildings in the distance.

We see a black Dalek for the first time in this serial (but apparently it’s not a leader type) as Swivel Lackey reports the failure of the Ogrons to find anyone in the catacombs. When he discusses Jo mentioning The Doctor, the Daleks realise who he is and demand that he be found and exterminated.

The Doctor arrives at the buildings, but he is being watched by electronic surveillance.

The Daleks tell Swivel Lackey that production target for the next work period has been increased by ten percent; he starts to argue, but is told “do not dispute with the Daleks! Obey without question!” and does so.

Anat, Boaz continue to argue. Monia, a third rebel, tries to settle the two down, and he tries to explain things are different. Boaz, surprisingly, argues… Monia explains that their intelligence reports that Jo is at the Dalek base.

The Doctor skulks about, watching the workers, but is captured by an Ogron.

Swivel is razzle-dazzling Jo with fresh fruit and promises of 20^th century food for dinner. He tells her that The Doctor has been seen in the company of the renegades, obviously they brought him to the 22^nd century as a prisoner. While they talk, word comes in that The Doctor has been found.

A human security officer type interrogates The Doctor as two Ogrons stand by. The Doctor tries to deflect all questions, while the human tries to be all tough guy. Classic case of small man with a little power. A grey garbed man, obviously a superior, shows up and dismisses the first man and his Ogrons.

When they’re gone, the grey garbed man tries to get him to tell him which group he’s with – seems he’s sympathetic, if not actually part of the rebel movement. However, before any more can be said, the Controller (Swivel Lackey) arrives and apologises for the poor treatment.

He tells The Doctor that he is an honoured guest of their government. He tells The Doctor that Miss Grant is waiting for him in the guest facility. The grey garbed man gives The Doctor a visual warning, shaking his head somberly.

A guard escorts The Doctor away, while the Controller confronts the grey garbed man, who is apparently the supervisor for that area’s factory (where The Doctor was caught.) It seems that his production figures are consistently lower than any other factory in the central zone and The Controller wants to know why.

After The Controller leaves, the factory supervisor radios to the rebels, to report about The Doctor being taken in. While he’s on the radio, an Ogron attacks him.

Jo and The Doctor have dinner with the Controller. The Doctor challenges some of the facts of the society, but the Controller passes off the factory as a “rehabilitation center for hardened criminals” and says that the Earth has never been more efficiently, more economically run, nor have the populace ever been happier or more prosperous.

Jo seems have fallen under the spell of the Controller’s hospitality, believing that the rebels are criminals and that the Controller speaks the truth.

When The Doctor asks him, “Who really rules this planet of yours,” the Controller excuses himself abruptly. The Doctor goes on to tell Jo about the Daleks, though their conversation is being watched by video screen. The Controller and a gold Dalek watch and the Dalek says the physical appearance of The Doctor does not match their data, but it notes The Doctor’s appearance has changed before. It says they will use the “mind analysis machine” to find out.

Jo and The Doctor stage an escape, hijacking a three wheeled ATV. Instead of a running scene, we have a ATV scene, but eventually they are recaptured by Ogrons.

Monia tells Anat and Boaz they must go rescue The Doctor. Boaz, quite shockingly, argues this. Monia says that they must rescue him as he is their greatest enemy and the one man they are afraid of.

The Doctor is hooked up to the “mind analysis machine” and on a large screen we see pictures of Patrick Troughton and William Hartnell’s faces playing as the Daleks says, “You are The Doctor! You are our enemy!” and then they all join in a chant of “You will be exterminated!”… and the credits roll.

Quite a nifty scene, that last one.

Episode 4:

The Controller stops the Daleks from exterimating The Doctor by telling them he’s working with the rebels and therefore is more useful to them alive. He says that the factory manager at one-one-seven was a subversive and that The Doctor was trying to contact him when the Controller got there.

He appeals to the Daleks, saying that he understands human psychology, that he would be more successful in finding out what they needed to know. The Daleks agree.

The Daleks tell The Doctor that they have the secret of time travel (though this is nothing new, so I’m not sure why this is such a big deal) and have changed Earth’s history and soon all of space and time will fall before them.

The Controller appeals to The Doctor to reveal what he knows, else the Daleks will destroy he and Jo. The Doctor says that the Daleks will kill him and Jo regardless. The Doctor accuses the Controller of being a Quisling, a traitor. The Controller explains that at the end of the 20^th century, Earth broke out into a hundred years of wars, killing seven-eighths of the popluation, reducing mankind into near-primitive state. And that’s when the Daleks showed up, razing the planet for minerals for their expanding empire.

The Controller is part of a family of Controllers; he tells The Doctor that he has done good in his position, he has earned concessions and saved lives. He tells The Doctor that the rebels aren’t capable of defeating the Daleks.

The rebels raid the control center, using explosives to kill Daleks and their guns to vaporise Ogrons. They break into the command center and free Jo and The Doctor, the latter who speaks up for the Controller, saving his life.

Back in the 20^th century, the UNIT troops search for The Doctor and Jo, to no avail. The Brig receives a message that Sir Reginald and other delegates will be arriving at RAF Manston at 1800 hours. There’s a dramatic tone of music as we fade to black.

The rebels say that the reason they wanted to kill Sir Reginald was their history books tell them that he was a power-monger who called the conference as a trick… he brought the delegates to the house and there was an explosion, but Styles (Sir Reg) was killed in the blast as well. (Okay, I already figured the rebels were erroneous in trying to kill Sir Reg, and I fully expected a double-twist sort of deal, in trying to kill him they were creating the very future they were trying to stop, but how does this history make him out to be the bad guy?)

The rebels explain how they stole the time travel technology from the Daleks and the problems they had with it (causing people to travel back but then disappear – much like the “ghost”.)

They ask The Doctor to help, and they tell him that they want him to return to the 20^th century to kill Sir Reginald.

Shura watches the house from the trees, seeing the UNIT troops all over the place. He manages to find a route to approach and enter the house.

The Doctor is horrified at the idea of murder, and he’s not sure their version of history is correct. The Doctor asks if any of their people are back in the time zone, and Anat says Shura is still there, but they believe he might be dead.

Shura accesses the basement and sets up the device he had been tinkering with at the tunnel – obviously an explosive… and it seems my guesses earlier were correct.

The Doctor, after finding out that explosives were taken back in time with them, realises that they caused their own future.

The Controller tells the Daleks he is setting up an ambush to capture The Doctor as he tries to return to his proper time. The Daleks tell him that if he fails, he will pay with his life.

The Doctor and Jo are escorted to the catacombs to return back to their time. The rebels stay above to keep watch, but the Controller and his Ogrons catch them inside the catacombs. The Doctor says he can change things, he can stop the Daleks. The Controller dismisses his Ogrons and asks how can he be sure – The Doctor says he can stop the war that led to humanity’s enslavement by the Daleks.

“You saved my life, you could have let them kill me. Go, quickly.” – The Controller

The Doctor and Jo activate the time trasnmitter and they are gone. The Controller walks off, but around the corner, one of the human guards overheard it all.

The Controller reports to the Daleks, but he is exterminated for his treason. The Daleks elevate the guard who was in the catacombs to the position of Controller, obviously reward for ratting out the previous one. The Daleks then talk of going to the 20^th century, to ensure that the peace conference results in disaster and war breaks out.

At Auderly House, Alex MacIntosh, a reporter stands outside, giving a summation of what soon will take place there – “the most important summit conference of this century.” He sets the stage quite well – what we already know, diplomats gathering to avert a third world war.

We see many diplomats arrive – Sir Reginald, the Chinese contingent,, African representatives, more.

The Doctor and Jo arrive in their jeep and rush in. They find the Brig and Sir Reginald (who’s been a prick as usual) and tell them that everyone has to get out of the house, stat.

A large force of Ogrons and Daleks exit the tunnel and shortly engage in combat with UNIT forces, who are sorely overpowered.

The Doctor goes down to the basement to find Shura and try to appeal to him.

Since the hosue is under attack, the Brig is able to force Sir Reginald to comply and the delegates are ordered to leave the house post haste. Jo comes down to the basement to tell The Doctor that everyone is out but the three of them. Shura tells them that his explosive is the only weapon that will destroy the Daleks and he must set it off.

The Doctor and Jo leave and tell the Brig to let the Dalek forces into the house. When the Brig looks at him like he’s lost his mind, The Doctor has a great line: “It may not make military sense, but it’s the only way!”

The Daleks search the house, looking for the delegates. When Shura hears them above, he sets off the explosive, destroying the house and the Daleks within… and poor Shura, too.

From afar, after they see the explosion, The Doctor tells Sir Reginald the conference has been saved… now it’s up to him to save the world. Sir Reginald, for once not an uptight prick, says, “Don’t worry, we know what will happen if we fail.”

The Doctor looks at Jo and replies, “So do we… we’ve seen what will happen, haven’t we, Jo?”… and the final credits roll.

For the most part, a most excellent serial. A few minor complaints here and there, but nothing so big to take away from the fun of the serial. I love the rebellion and the Ogrons and the Dalek-run oppression. Some great scenes, especially the visual homage to Hartnell and Troughton in the “mind analysis machine”.  

Season Nine Schedule, Season Eight Poll

Sorry the post is late, had a little personal crisis this morning and forgot that I had to get this up by 1pm. Mea culpa.

SEASON NINE

Mon 4.23 Serial 60 – Day of the Daleks
Tue 4.24 Serial 61 – The Curse of Peladon
Thu 4.26 Serial 62 – The Sea Devils 1/2
Fri 4.27 Serial 62 – The Sea Devils 2/2

Mon 4.30 Serial 63 – The Mutants 1/2
Tue 5.01 Serial 63 – The Mutants 2/2
Thu 5.03 Serial 64 – The Time Monster 1/2
Fri 5.04 Serial 64 – The Time Monster 2/2