Serial X20 – The Five Doctors 2 / 2

Recap: Four of the Five Doctors, plus the Brigadier, Sarah Jane, The Master, a Dalek, some Cybermen, Tegan and Turlough find themselves in “the death zone” on Gallifrey, seemingly playing some “Game”. Five has transmatted back to the citadel and is meeting with the High Council, comprised of President Borusa, Chancellor Flavia and the Castellan.

Borusa demands what The Doctor is basing his accusations on. Five replies that the Cybermen were brought along, and even in their “darkest times”, the Gallifreyans never allowed the Cybermen to play the game.

“Like the Daleks, they play too well.”

Five opens the recall device to reveal a homing beacon. Borusa says that the Castellan gave it to The Master, but the Castellan says The Doctor is seeking revenge. Borusa orders his security to search the Castellan’s living quarters and office.

Back in the death zone, The Master struggles to convince the Cyberleader that he can help. He tells them the tower is the stronghold of the Time Lords, but he can help them. The Cyberleader agrees, promising to spare him in exchange (but not planning to keep his promise.)

Turlough and Susan watch One and Tegan’s progress. Suddenly, they realise there are Cybermen outside the TARDIS.

The Brig and Two continue through the tunnel; the Brig complains all the while. They hear the grumbling roar of some creature and hurry along.

Three and Sarah Jane make their way through the mountains towards the tower. Suddenly, a warrior robot appears. It shoots a spear at her from its arm. It seems to disappear from sight, appearing nearby, then jumping about, disappearing again.

The Doctor leads Sarah to the entrance. The robot appears near them, with its back to them.

Turlough asks if Susan can operate the TARDIS, but she says even though she can it will do no good – the forcefield from the tower still keeps them there.

Tegan and “Doc” (Her name for One, much to his displeasure) make their way.

The search of the Castellan’s quarters turns up a box with the seal of Rassilon on it. Within are the Black Scrolls of Rassilon. Borusa says it is forbidden knowledge. The scrolls burst into flame and Borusa closes the box.

The Castellan denies having seen the box or the scrolls before. Borusa orders him to be interrogated, authorising the use of the “mind probe”. As they take him off, there is a shot and a scream. The Doctor exits, to see that the Castellan has been shot down in an attempt to escape.

Borusa says The Doctor has found his traitor and hopes this will allow his other selves to complete their quests. He says Five cannot go back to the death zone, as the President needs him there to advise. Flavia takes The Doctor off to quarters to rest. Borusa is very pensive.

The Brig and Two flee through the caverns, pursued by the creature. They squeeze through a small hole in the wall and find safety there. A large paw tries to reach them, but Two fends it off with the torch.

Handing the torch over, Two searches his pockets for something, finding a firework to spook the creature. In the light, they identify it as a Yeti. The creature, enraged, attacks the opening, causing the rocks to slide down and block the hole they slipped through. Searching their area, they find it leads to a door. The door is unlocked and Two says that “someone…or something wants us to go inside.”

Despite this, they do enter.

The Cybermen are setting up something outside the TARDIS.

A Cyberman trailing Three and Sarah arrives. The robot attacks it, killing it. More Cybermen arrive, quickly dispatched by the robot. EVEN MORE Cybermen arrive (jeebus, how many are there?) Yet again, the Cybermen are killed with ease.

While the robot is distracted with them, Three and Sarah grab the robot’s spare… well, Three calls them “arrows” but they’re more like javelins. Three also grabs some bundles of cable. They move on and find themselves on the mountain facing the top of the tower.

Flavia assures The Doctor that his friends and other selves are safe. He tells her he’s more worried about the High Council, saying that the Castellan was limited and narrow minded, but always loyal to Gallifrey.

Five says the traitor is still at large. Flavia says she will speak to the commander. Five goes off to speak to Borusa.

Three lassos the tower and he and Sarah Jane slide across to the tower, while The Master and Cybermen watch from lower down on the mountain. They, too, find an unlocked door waiting for them, and enter.

Tegan and One stand at the main entrance. The Doctor finds an “entry coder” and opens to the door.

Susan says the Cybermen are setting up a bomb outside the TARDIS.

One tells Tegan to be careful as she approaches a checkerboard floor. He starts tossing coins onto the squares. The death trap doesn’t activate until you reach the fifth row of squares, then electricity arcs all about.

The Master comes up behind them, saying their ancestors were devious. When The Doctor questions who he is, he says they knew each other at the academy. He tells them they need to hide, just before the Cybermen arrive. They do so, just in time.

The Cyberleader questions why the main entrance was unguarded, but The Master says the Time Lords are overconfident. When instructed, The Master strolls across the board, with no repercussions, then skips back. But when the Cyberpatrol crosses, they are all blasted down.

The Cyberleader accuses him of betraying him, and tells him to show him the safe route, or he will destroy him. Despite the route changing each time, The Master seems to know it and leads the Cyberleader.

However, mid-route, the renegade Time Lord turns and shoots the Cyberleader with a Cybergun.

Tegan and One come out and she chastises The Master for his ruthlessness (showing mercy for Cybermen, when they were responsible for Adric’s death? Out of character for Tegan.) He skips across again and says it’s “easy as pie”.

The Doctor remarks, “What an extraordinary fellow. As easy as pie?” Suddenly, The Doctor realises he meant Pi. The Doctor says that the formula for Pi is the key. He walks across and then directs her across.

Five arrives at the Council room, but the President is not there, much to the guards posted outside surprise. Five tells the guard to inform Flavia, and then begins poking about.

Three and Sarah Jane make their way through the dark tower. Sarah Jane stops, saying something is stopping her, some force. Three says it is the mind of Rassilon, keeping her at bay. She sits down while Three goes on a bit.

While he’s separated, Mike Yates shows up, as is Liz Shaw – they say someone else he should know well is waiting – implying the Second Doctor. When Three goes back to get Sarah, they try to stop him.

Three realises they’re phantoms, “illusions of the mind,” and runs back to Sarah Jane. The phantoms call out to him to stop. Three reunites with Sarah Jane and they head onward.

Tegan feels the same as Sarah Jane; One says it’s all mental illusion and to just ignore it. The Master skulks behind them, following.

The Brigadier also feels it. Two explains it much like the first two. They hear a scream and investigate, though The Doctor says it could be a trap. Over and again, the scream continues.

Rounding the corner, they find Jamie and Zoe in the hall, warning them off. They claim there is a forcefield, and if he goes on or tries to free them, it will kill them.

Two realises that when they were returned to their own times, the Time Lords erased their memories. They, too, are phantoms. They move on, engaging in some wonderful banter:

“Trust me, Brigadier, have I ever led you astray?”

“Yes, on many occasions.”

“This will be the exception!”

In the council chamber, Five sees a painting of a harp player. There is also an actual harp. Playing with it, The Doctor realises it is a key to a secret door.

One and Tegan reach the actual tomb chamber. There is an obelisk that One examines while Tegan looks around. Three and Sarah Jane arrive shortly thereafter, and yes, there’s more Doctor on Doctor banter. Fun stuff.

The two Doctors examine the obelisk while Sarah Jane and Tegan introduce themselves and chat. One asks “What happened to the little fellow,” but before Three can answer, Two and the Brig arrive. The three Doctors (aw, yay!) banter and inspect, while the ladies greet the Brig.

Three is delighted to see the Brig and they shake hands. Before the Brig can complain too much, Three dismisses him and heads back to the obelisk. The companions exchange notes.

The three Doctors divine what it is all about, but One says it’s nothing to do with them. They simply need to leave. When the companions demand an explanation, One directs Two to fill them in.

It turns out that whomever takes the ring from Rassilon’s hand will get “the reward he seeks.” However, there is a warning of “to lose is to win and to win is to lose.”

At hearing how to gain the immortality, The Master steps out of the shadows. He rants at them, saying he came to help them, but he was scorned. Now he will help himself to immortality. The three Doctors protest, but he holds them off with his TCE.

The Brig sneaks up behind him and knocks out The Master with a right cross. Yay, Brig!!

(Yes, I know, The Master is my favourite Time Lord. But it’s the Brig, yo.)

Back at the TARDIS, the Cybermen (how many are there?) have set up multiple bombs. Apparently, the Cyberleader is with this crew, not one who went into the tower.

Turlough and Susan fret within, watching as the Cybermen withdraw from the perimeter of the TARDIS.

Five finally sees that the painting of the person playing the harp has a tune in the painting. He plays it, and reveals the gameboard and pieces and controls in a secret room!

Borusa, dressed in black robes, is there. He offers The Doctor his hand. The Doctor confesses he did suspect him, though not at first. The Doctor asks what has happened to Borusa. The President says he will not retire, his work half done. He wants to be President Eternal, to rule forever.

Tegan and Sarah Jane truss up The Master.

Three reverses the polarity of the neutron flow (take a drink everyone!) so the TARDIS will be free of the forcefield. Two attempts to contact the capital.

The TARDIS activates as the Cybermen detonate the bombs.

Borusa goes on, quite madman-like ranty, about following Rassilon’s clues. He says that the secret lies in the tomb. He sent the Doctors to get past all the traps. Borusa says that The Doctor will serve him; Five says he never will.

But Borusa is wearing the Coronet of Rassilon and that amplifies his mind to control others. He demonstrates by making Five bow before him, and then rise and accompany him as he departs the secret room.

The TARDIS arrives in the tower. Turlough and Susan join the others.

Two appears on the videoscreen of the transmat device. Five, under Borusa’s control, tells them not to meddle with anything until Borusa arrives to take charge.

After the conversation is over, Three says that something is wrong. Two mocks him for finding menace in his own shadow, but One agrees with Three.

Borusa and Five appear in the transmat booth in the tomb room. When the companions approach, Borusa compels them to be silent and not move.

One, Two and Three say they will not allow Borusa to win. They join their minds and ask Five to join them. They free him from Borusa’s control and he joins them; the four wills combined are more than the President, even with the Coronet, can handle.

Borusa says they cannot overcome him; Five says that Flavia and her guards will soon arrive. Borusa says that since he is the Lord President and they are an infamous renegade, Flavia will believe him, not they.

Suddenly, a booming voice announces, “This is the Game of Rassilon!”

Borusa moves to the voice, over by the tomb proper. One stops Five from following.

Rassilon (whose face appears in the air above his body) asks who disturbs him, what they seek. Borusa identifies himself, saying he seeks immortality. Rassilon asks who the Doctors are, and Borusa says they are his servants.

Three, Five and Two deny this, but One assures him the President speaks true. He asserts that Borusa deserves “the immortality he seeks”.

Rassilon instructs Borusa to take the ring; the President does so. Rassilon asks Borusa if he is sure, once more, asking if he will turn back. Borusa says “Never!” When instructed, Borusa puts on the ring.

Rassilon says, “Others have come to claim immortality through the ages. It was given to them, as it shall be given to you.” When he says this, stone faces on the side of the tomb become animated, their eyes glancing about helplessly.

There is a blank space. “Your place is prepared, Lord President Borusa,” and Borusa becomes a face in the blank spot. The ring returns to Rassilon’s finger.

The companions recover.

Rassilon asks if the Doctors claim immortality. They quickly deny this, saying they only wish to be returned to their proper place and times. Rassilon agrees to this, as well as to freeing the Fourth Doctor and Romana from the vortex. And The Master, whom Rassilon says “his sins will find their punishment in due time” disappears as well.

Rassilon says it is time for them to say their farewells and depart. He commends them on choosing well, and then he fades from sight. (Well, his floating face does; his body remains there all the while, laying atop the stone.)

Five asks One if he knew all along what would happen, but he says he suddenly realised what the warning meant, the one about winning and losing. He says it was a trap to remove those who sought immortality.

Farewells are said. One and Susan go into the TARDIS, followed by Two (who has to exchange name-calling with Three first) and the Brig, then Three and Sarah Jane go in.

After the others go in the TARDIS, Five says, “I’m definitely not the man I was… thank goodness.”

Tegan ask how they’re all going to travel together, but then each of the Doctors goes off in a triangle from the time scoop.

(That’s funny, I remembered it being separate TARDISes that branched off from Five’s.)

Flavia and several guards arrive by transmat. Five greets her, telling her that the legend of Rassilon is true. She says he has evaded his responsibilities far too long and he must replace Borusa, as the Council has appointed him the replacement.

She says that to refuse this would incur the wrath of the council. He deputises her until his return and (after instructing the companions back into the TARDIS under his breath), orders the guards to escort her back to the citadel.

In the TARDIS, The Doctor explains to his companions that he’s not going back to rule Gallifrey.

Tegan questions this, “You mean you’re deliberately choosing to go on the run from your own people, in a rackety old TARDIS?”

“Why not,” The Doctor replies as the camera zooms in on him, “after all, that’s how it all started,”… and the credits roll.

A fun story. Makes me excited to see the 50^th anniversary special later this year.

Serial X20 – The Five Doctors 1 / 2

The 20^th anniversary special, this is not technically part of the 20^th season, but stands alone. I remember this one well and it’s pretty darn good.

We open with a snippet of The Doctor’s heartfelt speech to his granddaughter, Susan, upon leaving her on Earth. Then the opening credits roll!

An alien landscape. The insides of a fortress seen amongst the mountains.

Then, switching to Turlough walking amongst some ruins. He sits down with a sketchpad and sketches the landscape.

In the TARDIS (looking spiffy, I’m guessing a new set), The Doctor polishes the console. Tegan enters, wearing a different outfit. She asks if he repaired everything, but he argues the TARDIS is more than a machine. However, to her point, he has difficulty opening the door.

He exits, and strolls along the ruins, finding Turlough. He admires Turlough’s sketch. Tegan joins the boys. Apparently, this is the Eye of Orion they spoke of at the end of The King’s Demons. Tegan asks if they can stay and The Doctor agrees they can, for a while, as they’re “due for a rest”.

Elsewhere, a mysterious gloved hand works some controls. We see, on the screen, the edifice from the opening.

The First Doctor is seen strolling along a garden. (Obviously, as William Hartnell had already passed away, the First Doctor is played by Richard Hurndall.) A mysterious twirling triangle of energy zooms down, and though he attempts to run away, he is snatched up.

The gloved hand takes a figure of the First Doctor that has appeared in a lightbox in the wall out and sets it on what appears to be a gameboard of some sort.

The Fifth Doctor clutches his chest, gasping in pain. He explains he felt “a twinge of cosmic angst,” “…as if I’d lost something.”

Inside the UNIT HQ, the Brig is visiting, apparently some form of reunion. He talks to his replacement, Colonel Crichton, and they talk of The Doctor. Just then, the Second Doctor bursts in, greeting the Brig. The Doctor says he read the article on the Brig’s speech in tomorrow’s newspaper and hopes he’s not too late for it.

The Brig and The Doctor go for a walk (the former hoping to get the latter away from his replacement, hoping not to cause any offense.) They reminisce about Yeti, Cybermen, Omega and others.

However, The Doctor says he has to go – he’s not really supposed to be there. However, before farewells can be said, the same force that kidnapped the First Doctor grabs the two of them.

Figurines of the two of them appear and are placed in the board.

The Doctor says, “It’s fading, it’s all fading. Great chunks of my past, detatching themselves like melting icebergs.” He tells his companions that all is well, but then collapses.

The Third Doctor is driving Bessie, when he sees the energy triangle. He tries to avoid it, but he and the car are snatched up by it.

He, too, is added to the field of play. (No figurine for Bessie, though.)

Turlough posits that The Doctor is under some psychic attack. The Doctor says he needs to get back to the TARDIS and the companions assist him. En route, he gasps again. He says he has to find his other selves.

Sarah Jane is leaving her flat, but K-9 tells her there is danger and she should not go out. He cannot identify the cause of danger, only that it is extreme and getting worse. When he tells her that The Doctor is involved, she says he’s imagining things and leaves.

The Fourth Doctor and Romana II are shown in footage from the (then unaired) Shada. The Doctor is piloting their punt, when the force abducts them. (Tom Baker had declined to appear, so the footage from the incomplete serial was used.)

The gloved hands work the controls, frustrated at the inability to manifest figurines of Four and Romana Two.

In the TARDIS, The Fifth Doctor collapses.

At the bus stop, Sarah Jane is abducted. She is added to the game board next to Three.

The TARDIS column rises and falls rhythmically. Turlough is surprised to discover that The Doctor has two hearts. As they watch, The Doctor seems to fade off and on, as the TARDIS materialises.

The gloved hands add three more figurines to the game board.

Turlough says the instruments say they’re no where and no time. When Tegan asks what they do, he says they wait.

Time Lords mill about hallways in the grand city. The Lord President Borusa attends a meeting of the Inner Council and protests involving someone who is awaiting them. They remind him that the Council has over-ruled him and they bring in The Master.

Borusa offers him a complete pardon, including a complete cycle of regenerations – to earn this, he must “rescue The Doctor.”

The First Doctor wanders some halls with crystalline walls. Lightning and thunder crash all about. Suddenly, he sees a shadow of a woman – it’s Susan!!! They embrace, happy to have found each other. She asks him what’s happening, but he’s clueless.

As they question their situation, a Dalek rounds the corner and they rush off. The Dalek pursues, shooting wildly, shouting for The Doctor’s death.

The Inner Council shows The Master the “death zone”, which has recently become active. It is draining energy from the Eye of Harmony, enough so to endanger all of Gallifrey.

When The Master asks if they bothered investigating on their own, Borusa says that two of the High Council went and did not return. They explain that The Doctor has been lifted out of time – only the Fourth can be found, trapped in some limbo.

“A cosmos without The Doctor scarcely bears thinking about,” The Master muses. When he asks why they want him, he’s told that they need someone ruthless and cunning. Again, they ask if he will go.

Five continues to fade in and out, but he becomes mostly rooted. He tells them he’s being drawn into a time vortex, but must find his other selves and be whole.

Susan and her grandfather flee the Dalek. It chases them into a dead end. They hide and when the Dalek approaches, they push it into the cul-de-sac and it fires. It’s beams bounce off the reflective walls and it ends up killing itself.

Part of the wall is blasted open and they recognise the Dark Tower – they both know it and where on Gallifrey they are – the “death zone”. The Doctor says they will find their answers in the tower.

The Brig complains about the wintry rocky terrain they find themselves in, while Two says it’s not his fault.

“You attract trouble, Doctor, you always did,” the Brigadier sums up his complaints.

They seem something moving, at a distance, in the mist, and crouch behind a partial wall. A metallic hand reaches out and grabs the Brig’s wrist, but Two beats at the hand until it lets go and he and the Brig dash off.

The movement in the mist is Three in Bessie. He stops to take in the area, and sees someone moving.

Sarah Jane, wandering in the mist, falls down a slope, crying out. Three, hearing her, calls out to wait and lowers a rope down, tied to Bessie, and drags her out. Sarah Jane is amazed to see that he’s still Three and not Four, and confused when he explains that hasn’t happened yet.

They get into Bessie, so he can explain while they travel.

Five cannot recall what he’s supposed to do; Tegan and Turlough remind him he wants to send a signal to become whole, but before he can do anything, he collapses again.

The First Doctor takes a break, but Susan sees the TARDIS and they go to it. They enter, finding the Fifth Doctor and companions. One demands to know what they’re doing in his TARDIS.

The companions explain that it’s “his TARDIS,” indicating the fallen Five. One asks who he is, and Turlough answers, “The Doctor,” and One seems to ‘recognise’ himself once this is pointed out.

Seemingly revived by his other self’s presence, Five awakens and tries to explain how he got there, but he doesn’t know. One says it doesn’t matter, and is delighted to find out there are “five of me running around.”

Introductions are made; Tegan (having known the Fourth Doctor) understands the two Doctors should not be together. They agree, saying it only happens in the gravest emergencies.

One starts barking orders, saying Tegan needs to fetch some beverages. Before she can go ballistic, Five begs her to play along.

The council gives The Master the Seal of the High Council (to prove his working for them) and a recall for the transmat so they can bring him back when he needs to speak to them.

The Master asks if anyone is going to wish him luck, but Borusa says he will wish him success, “…for all our sakes.” Personal note: when people say “wish me luck,” I always wish them success and I believe this is where I first picked that up.

The Castellan activates the transmat, sending The Master into the death zone. Borusa dismisses Flavia and the Castellan, saying he would prefer to wait alone.

The Master comes across a dessicated Time Lord, musing, “One of my predecessors.” A blast of energy comes near him and he calmly remarks about the inhospitable environment.

Two confirms his suspicions – they are in the death zone on Gallifrey – and explains to the Brig about the history of said place. In the days before Rassilon, his people abused their powers and would kidnap beings from other worlds and times and put them in the death zone. They set off to the Dark Tower, which Two says is Rassilon’s tomb.

One and Five argue whether to send the signal and wait (One’s preferred plan) or to go out (Five’s side.) It’s a classic example of the difference between the Doctors.

They set about setting up the “computer scanner” to see what’s out there.

Bessie moves down a road through a gnarled forest. Three explains that the zone was a setting of “the games”, until Rassilon put an end to it. He stops to get his bearings and indicates the Tomb of Rassilon to Sarah Jane.

The Master steps out and calls out to them. Three stops the car and isn’t sure he recognises him. They drive back and banter, The Doctor presuming The Master is behind it all. His enemy says he’s working for the High Council, presenting the seal as proof.

The Doctor says it’s probably stolen and doesn’t believe The Master is there to help. There’s more banter, but a thunderbolt strikes the ground near The Master. He dashes off, and Three drives off in Bessie, thinking it’s a trap.

One and Five have pulled up a schematic of the Dark Tower (the Stephen King fan in me is loving that name), identifying three entrances – the main, one above and one below.

One argues against Five’s plan to go in via the main door.

Bessie has been disabled by the thunderbolts. Three claims this proves it was a trap.

Borusa orders a technician to stabilise Four in the part of the vortex he is trapped. The Castellan arrives to inquire if there’s any news from The Master.

Two wonders if Rassilon brought them there. The Brig wonders about that if Rassilon was dead. They discuss the legends of Rassilon – The Doctor says that some speak of Rassilon not being a good guy, despite the official history.

Two posits that they could be playing the “Game of Rassilon”. The Brig says he guesses they’re not expected to win. Two frowns and they set off towards the tower again.

Five heads off with Susan and Tegan in tow; Turlough remains in the TARDIS with One.

Three and Sarah see a Cyberpatrol of Cybermen Cybermarching through forest.

In the TARDIS, One identifies the presence of two more Doctors… and wonders what happened to the final one.

Two and the Brig approach the tower, the Time Lord singing a nursery rhyme about the tower, trying to recall how to enter. They find some torches and a brazier and after he lights one, Two leads the Brig into a cave.

Five, Tegan and Susan encounter The Master. When the renegade Time Lord says he knows it will be hard to believe, but he means them no harm, Five replies with, “Like Alice, I try to believe three impossible things before breakfast.”

As the two Time Lords confer, and the companions worry from afar, a Cyberman Cyberspots them and Cyberreports to the Cyberleader. (Ok, ok, I’ll stop.) The Cyberleader orders that they be kept alive and interrogated.

The Master and The Doctor banter and threaten each other. The Master tries to convince him he’s legit, and even says his credentials were taken by another self.

The Cyberpatrol approaches the Time Lords; the companions dash off, and the Time Lords are attacked. The Master is knocked out. The Doctor takes the transmat recall device, and beams away as the Cyberpatrol arrives to take him prisoner.

Susan and Tegan rush off, Susan limping after hurting her leg (which I seem to recall happened frequently during her time with the TARDIS.)

Five arrives where Borusa, Flavia and the Castellan await.

The Master is taken prisoner by the Cybermen, but offers his services to them.

Back in the TARDIS, Tegan inspects Susan’s leg. One suspects that Five escaped via a transmat, but says with “our young friend” gone, he will have to go to the Dark Tower himself. Tegan says she will go with him, though the Time Lord is less than delighted.

Five discovers that he was wrong about The Master; Borusa says if he survived, “I’m sure he will learn to live with the misjudgment.”

When Five wonders who is using the death zone and the time scoop, the Council tells him they were hoping he could tell them. They say if he suspects the time scoop was used, it would be a Time Lord.

Five says he suspects it would be a rather important one, at that, eyeing the three of them. When Borusa asks if he has evidence, he says he doesn’t yet.

And that’s where we’ll leave off until Friday my friends, as this is the halfway point of the story…

Serial 74 – Planet of the Spiders 2/2

We start with episode 4, so it’s a spoiler warning you need.

Episode 4:

The Queen’s guards struggle with the villagers. The Queen says that soon it will be dark and she must hurry away. Sarah Jane hides amongst the villagers, but the Queen has her men take Arak’s father.

Mike watches Lupton’s group enter Barnes’ room and put up a Do Not Disturb sign. He listens at the door.

Sarah Jane begs for the villagers to help; Arak’s brother says it’s almost curfew, they have to go in, but The Doctor begins to stir.

Lupton’s group argues over where Lupton is. As they do, the door knob turns; they open it and find Tommy at the door. Barnes is very rude to him (again). Mike returns to the door, listening.

A bell tolls, signaling curfew on Metebelis Three. To be outside after twilight is punishable by death. The Doctor seems to be getting sicker, they say there is no cure, he should be dead already.

When the Queen returns to the chamber of spiders, Lupton is sitting in her place. Lupton’s spider speaks up against the Queen. They use the crystal as leverage, saying if The Great One wants the crystal, she will have to wait until he and his spider get proper reward.

The Queen tells Lupton he was followed to Metebelis Three by two Earthers – the male was killed but the female is still loose. Because of this, the council is worried and agrees not to listen to Lupton’s demands until the female (Sarah Jane) is found.

Tommy takes out the crystal in his room, sets it atop a bar stool, and pulls out a children’s book and begins to read. He struggles with the words, but then the crystal begins to glow brightly. He stares into it and it sees to affect him, until he collapses. When he recovers, he is able to read easily.

Arak and his siblings talk about trying to rescue their father, Sabor. The two brothers argue. Sarah Jane watches over The Doctor as they do. She tells them if he could recover, he could help. He begins to speak, telling her there is a machine in the TARDIS, in an old leather satchel. He’s weak, can barely speak, but gives her the key to the TARDIS.

Sarah gets the satchel out of the TARDIS, after avoiding some guards. When she exits, Lupton is standing there, waiting for her.

Arak and his brother (whose name I can’t seem to catch) argue over what to do – they see the satchel by the TARDIS (Sarah and Lupton are nowhere in sight, so I’m guessing he took her away.) Arak runs out and retrieves the satchel and brings it back. They pull out a strange device out of the satchel.

The Doctor comes to and asks for Sarah; they explain she’s not there but brought the machine. They had it to him and he uses it to discharge the energy of the attack within him.

Tommy goes into the library at the meditation center and pulls a book off a shelf. He starts reading, “Tiger, Tiger, burning bright…” and so forth, from “Tiger” by William Blake. He stops, saying, “That’s pretty,” in a child-like voice, then, in a more adult voice, “No… that’s beautiful.” He starts grabbing other books from the shelf.

Sarah Jane is brought to the spider’s lair. She sees Sabor laying in a bunk, covered in webs, then she sees one of the spiders, but when she tries to run, she is stunned by a guard.

Mike knocks on the door to Barnes’ room, scaring the conspirators. They hide and when Yates comes in, Moss attacks him as he tells Barnes he thinks they should have a talk, as he’s been listening.

When the sun rises, the morning bell tolls. The Doctor sits up, all chipper, waking the others.

Sarah Jane is seen waking; like Sabor, she is wrapped from shoulders to feet in webbing, like a coccoon. Sabor tells her it’s no good struggling. When she asks what will happen to them, he intimates they’ll be eaten by the spiders.

The Doctor is fed mutton, while he sits with Arak, who gives him a basic history of his people, who arrived over four hundred years ago from Earth. He asks how the spiders got there.

Meanwhile, Sarah has asked Sabor the same, and he responds they, too, came from Earth. It seems the blue crystals of Metebelis Three mutated the spiders, making them larger, giving them great mental powers.

The Doctor asks Arak and his brother to fetch him an assortment of stones and pebbles.

Mike is tied up and gagged on a bed, and he struggles with his bonds.

The Doctor holds up a variety of stones to the machine that cured him. Each time he does, the machine buzzes. He’s looking for a stone that will absorb the energy from the spiders’ attacks. One of the stones registers and he says they’re getting somewhere.

Later, The Doctor leaves the village, the machine in hand. Arak insists he take one of the stones, and he accepts it from Arak. They clasp arms and The Doctor departs.

Sabor tells Sarah Jane to get some rest. He tells her there is no hope of rescue and that is why he’s not afraid.

The Doctor skulks through the spiders’ citadel; a guard attacks him and he uses the machine to absorb the blast. They move to hand to hand and the machine falls to the floor. Another shows up and when The Doctor goes for the machine, Lupton steps on his hand. But before any more can happen, a third guard, a superior of some sort, has Lupton arrested and taken to the council. The Doctor, too, is taken away.

Sarah Jane sees The Doctor and rejoices until she sees he’s accompanied by guards… and the credits roll.

They should have left the bit with The Doctor being captured off camera, so when he showed up, the viewer would have thought he was there to save them.

 

 

Episode 5:

Lupton has been brought before the Queen with his confederate (the spider); the council has learned that the crystal is still on Earth. Lupton’s spider tries to turn this against the Queen and several of the council are quick to join in. The Queen says she will go consult The Great One.

The Doctor has joined Sarah Jane and Sabor in the larder. The Doctor tells Sabor and Sarah Jane that Arak is trying to get together a rescue party and begins to tell them that they know how to protect themselves, but he stops when guards come in to cut Sarah Jane free and take her away.

In the village, Arak and his brother and the menfolk of the village prepare to attack. Their mother tries to dissuade them from going, but the brothers tell her they must, not just for their father and the strangers, but for all the villages. The men put on headbands that have the stones The Doctor identified in them.

The Doctor escapes the cocoon by using a trick he learned from Harry Houdini. He leaves Sabor there and goes off to rescue Sarah.

Sarah is thrown to the floor and brought before a solitary spider; it is the Queen, and she pretends that she wants peace with all two legs. She says she has lied to the council about consulting The Great One. The Queen wants Sarah and The Doctor to return to Earth and collect the blue crystal.

The Doctor skulks through the spiders’ citadel, avoiding guards.

Mike struggles with his bonds, as Barnes comes in and takes off his gag. Barnes says they’re waiting for Lupton to come back. Mike talks Barnes into letting him assist them in re-establishing the link, suggesting that Lupton may be waiting for them to do exactly that.

Lupton and his spider argue with the rest of the council; there’s lots of talk of not trusting the Queen, nor trusting Lupton. Lupton and his spider argue and she drops him with a mental attack (seemingly backed up by the council, as this time he cannot fight back.)

The Doctor hears Sarah Jane calling out for him and goes down a tunnel.

Tommy is reading a big book, full of big words, and doing rather well with it. He has a dictionary next to him, trying to understand words he doesn’t know, trying to understand what has happened with him. He decides to ask Yates what is going on, but overhears them talking about the cellar. Tommy remembers Lupton appearing out of thin air, and having the crystal in his hand.

Tommy then decides to ask Cho-Je, but hides the crystal first.

The Doctor walks into a large chamber, where he is told to stop; should he enter further, he will die. The voice of Sarah Jane is an illusion, used to lure him in. He asks who he is speaking to, and she identifies herself as The Great One. He asks why he cannot see her, but she says he will, but not until he brings back the crystal – she says it is “the one last perfect crystal of power.”

He defies her, saying she will never have it. She attacks his mind, forcing him to march about. He struggles against her, to no avail. She orders him to leave and go fetch the crystal and then goes into a cacophony of “go now, I must have it” over and again.

The chanting circle begins chanting and the spider council detects it. Lupton warns them that the group might not be allies and the spiders are sent to Earth, manifesting in secret in the room, not in the mat in the center of the group.

Tommy tells Cho-Je what he knows; the deputy abbot says he will go to the cellar and instructs Tommy to fetch the crystal. Cho-Je is not surprised as the transformation in Tommy. Cho-Je enters the cellar, stopping the men, but they are attacked by the spiders. Cho-Je and Yates are blasted and drop to the ground. The spiders close in on the rest of the men, and Tommy, watching from the stairs (with the crystal in hand) rushes away to go tell K’anpo.

The Doctor and Sarah Jane reunite in the larder room. As Arak and the villagers arrive to rescue Sabor, Sarah Jane uses a trick taught her by the Queen to teleport her and The Doctor to the TARDIS. They enter and head to Earth.

On Earth, the chanting circle seem to be merged with spiders – they are looking at their backs, rolling their shoulders. When the TARDIS materialises in the cellar, they hide. When Sarah Jane and The Doctor exit, they are ambushed; The Doctor has a stone that protects him from their blasts until Tommy helps them escape and locks the cellar door. Tommy is blasted by one of the men, but it has little effect.

When Sarah Jane says, “Tommy, you’re normal – you’re just like everybody else,” Tommy has the best response, EVER – “I sincerely hope not.”

Tommy leads them to meet with K’anpo. The Doctor speaks to the abbot in Tibetan, apologising for not bringing a symbolic gift. The abbot says he and The Doctor have no need for symbols, and The Doctor looks at him curiously at this. Tommy goes out to keep a watch out for the others.

The Doctor begins talking about the blue crystal. He asks if he and K’anpo have met before, and the abbot says, “the recognition of friends is not always easy.” He encourages The Doctor to go on about the crystal.

Outside, Barnes, Moss and the other two of the chanting circle who are now spider-hosts arrive. Tommy stands outside the abbot’s door, protectively. One of the spiders says the crystal is in the room. Barnes steps forward, ordering Tommy to get out of the way. Tommy meets his gaze, defiantly, and Barnes backs away, sensing something about Tommy.

Barnes blasts Tommy with the blue lightning, but again it has limited effect. He fights several of them off physically, but then they attack with the blue lightning in concert… and the credits roll.

I like Tommy. This would have been one pisser of a cliffhanger if I had to wait a week to find out what was going to happen to my boy.

 

 

Episode 6:

K’anpo reveals that he has the crystal. Suddenly, Sarah Jane demands that the crystal be given to her. She blasts The Doctor with blue lightning and he falls to his knees, at K’anpo’s side. The abbot takes The Doctor’s arm and instructs him to see through his eyes, and when The Doctor looks, the Queen spider can be seen attached to Sarah’s back.

Again, we see Tommy face off with Barnes and his fellow spider-hosts, the cliffhanger from last week.

The Doctor and the abbot call upon Sarah to resist the Queen. The Doctor urges her to look at the crystal, to look into the light. The Queen falls from Sarah’s back, landing upside down, her legs curling as she disappears.

The spider-men stop blasting Tommy and link their hands and begin chanting.

Sarah Jane apologises for allowing the Queen to control her. The abbot says that The Doctor’s greed is responsible for all of this – had he not taken the crystal in the first place, none of the events would have happened (though, honestly, I imagine The Great One would have the crystal and that would be worse.)

The Doctor turns to the abbot, saying, “I know who you are, now.” It seems that K’anpo is also a Time Lord.

The two Time Lords explain regeneration to Sarah Jane – this is the first time that it has been codified or named. When the First Doctor “regenerated”, it was just explained that the TARDIS fixed him, healed him. When the Second Doctor regenerated, the Time Lords “changed his appearance”. This is monumental, folks… and, well, just you wait and see.

K’anpo explains that Cho-Je is a projection of his own self and not really a seperate entity.

Cho-Je rouses Yates and they leave the cellar.

The chanting circle chants.

The spider council sends power to their sisters on Earth.

K’anpo says the moment of truth approaches. He asks The Doctor if he knows what he must do, but he says that he does not. K’anpo asks what The Doctor fears most, and The Doctor recalls his confrontation with The Great One. He tells Sarah Jane that he has to go, even if the cave of crystals would destroy him.

The spider-hosts stop their chanting and turn their attacks on Tommy; this time they seem to have more effect, though he still stands. Yates runs up and takes a hit and drops like a rock. The spider-hosts rush into K’anpo’s room as The Doctor disappears. They blast the abbot who falls to his chair.

The Doctor appears in the cellar and hops in the TARDIS. It dematerialises just as the spider-hosts make the cellar. He arrives on Metebelis Three, where he is greeted by Arak and his brother. They agree to show him how to get to the cave of crystals.

Under Cho-Je’s instruction, Tommy picks up Yates to take him to K’anpo.

The Doctor is led into the spider council chamber by the brothers; it seems their attack failed and they are enslaved. The Doctor says the crystal is to be returned to The Great One. Lupton moves to grab the crystal, but the spiders stop him. The spider council tells The Doctor that he has beaten them and it is good that he will die. He turns and leaves.

Lupton begins ranting at the spiders, calling them spiders and they react poorly to that word. He moves to strike the spider confederate, but she blasts him with blue lightning.

K’anpo helps Mike recover. K’anpo then says that his body cannot take any more and his head drops. Cho-Je begins speaking, but in mid breath, he fades. As they watch, K’anpo changes, becoming Cho-Je in form. He says not to concern themselves, he is not dying, merely regenerating.

The Doctor arrives at the cyrstal cave and is allowed all the way in, where he sees The Great One, a giant spider, the size of a small building. The Doctor says that he has brought the crystal, and asks her to leave Earth alone.

She laughs, saying the paltry plans of her subjects are no concern of hers. Her plans are greater than one small planet. When he asks why it is so important to her, she explains that the web of crystal above her in the cave is a replication of her brain, it lacks only one perfect crystal to be complete. When complete, her mind and mental powers will be increased to an infinite level, allowing her to rule the entire universe.

Wow, that’s a pretty big thing, that. That’s the sort of thing that’s going to take some great sacrifice to balance out. What could The Doctor do to make that “payment”? (Doctor Who is the sort of show that, at times, the hero wins because of a sacrifice. Sometimes it’s an ally or innocent who pays the price. Sometimes a companion goes away. Sometimes, it’s a personal cost.)

The Doctor tries to tell The Great One that completing the circuit will only destroy her. She refuses to listen, mocking him, saying he is dying, the cave is destroying his body as they speak, but she will grant him one favour, to allow him to see her ascension before he dies.

The crystal moves from his hand, by the power of her mind presumably, into the spot in the crystal web. She says she is complete and gloats and rants and praises herself. The Doctor begs her to stop, but she’s too busy singing her own glory, telling the stars to bow down and worship her.

The power consumes her, burning her up from within. The Doctor flees as the cave shakes.

The spider council screams as the building shakes – it seems they’re dying. The villagers come to, and flee the building.

On Earth, the spiders fall off the spider-hosts and die.

The Doctor makes it back to the TARDIS and enters as the mountain begins to explode.

In The Doctor’s lab at UNIT, Sarah Jane is holding The Doctor’s coat. She sniffs it and seems melancholy, or at least pensive. The Brig walks in and realises she’s there to see if “the old fellow” has popped up. She says it’s been over three weeks, but the Brig says that’s nothing, “One time, I didn’t see him for months… when he did turn up, he had a different face.”

Sarah Jane says they’ll never see him again, but just then, the TARDIS materialises. The Doctor staggers out, weak and weary. He says he got lost in the time vortex, but the TARDIS brought him there. He collapses and they put a pillow under his head.

The Doctor explains he had to go back, to face his fear. She begs him not to die and cries, while the Brig kneels quietly beside them. He touches her tears and says, “Don’t cry, while there’s life…” but his hand drops and he says no more. Sarah Jane closes his eyes, but before anything else can happen, there’s a strange noise.

Cho-Je/K’anpo materialises in the lab, sitting in a lotus position. “It is all right, he is not dead,” the Time Lord proclaims. He apologises for startling her. The Brig asks for an introduction, but Sarah is confused on how to explain who K’anpo is.

K’anpo says he will give The Doctor’s cells “a push” so he can regenerate. When he explains that The Doctor will become a new man, and look different, the Brig exclaims, “Not again!” I love the Brig.

K’anpo says that the change will shake up his brain cells and they might find his behavior “a little erratic”. He gestures and says good bye and disappears. The Brig and Sarah Jane turn and look at The Doctor. Sarah Jane says it’s starting and the Brig quirks an eyebrow, “Well… here we go again.”

We get a close up of The Doctor and watch as his face changes, is replaced by a darker haired man with a more pointed nose.

IT’S TOM BAKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY DOCTOR! MY EVER-LOVING DOCTOR!!!!!!!!

Yes, this was no surprise, but it still doesn’t change the fact that IT’S MY DOCTOR!!!! I love all the kids complaining about how they miss David Tennant, how Ten was their Doctor and it will never be the same, whine whine whine.

I lost MY Doctor almost thirty years ago, thank you very much. The show goes on and you find things to love about it, regardless.

Next week, we begin the seven season of Tom Baker.

MY DOCTOR. 

Serial 74 – Planet of the Spiders 1/2

I’ve seen this before, a couple times, and as recently as last year. It’s a good one, but not a great one. However, one of the most important ones of all. You’ll see why in a bit, and not just because of the big obvious reason you might know about. (I’m being vague in case there are people who have no idea.)

Episode 1:

We open with Mike Yates, no longer of UNIT, walking along a country path. There are cows in the pasture. He looks around, takes it in and moves on.

The Doctor and the Brig are sitting in the audience at some performance, obviously a comedic one. From their faces, it’s not very funny.

Mike walks along and we see a large house in the distance.

The Brig complains about it being a waste of time, but just then, they introduce a Turkish dancer, and the Brig is no longer complaining.

Mike is inside the house, and seems to be skulking. He opens a door and opens in and we hear chanting from within. He steps in and listens at another door.

A group of men are seated around an ornate rug/mat on the floor. One clangs cymbals together as they chant. Mike opens the door and creeps down, listening intently. He steps into a spider web and panics, making noise, alerting the men as he leaves.

The Doctor tells the Brig that the next act is the one he’s come to see, a mind reader.

The men chanting get up; they decide it’s time to quit for the night, and argue whether someone was there or if it was just the wind. They hear a car depart, and the leader says that only one person there has a car, Mister Yates.

The next day(?), Professor Clegg, the mind reader, is invited to UNIT. The Doctor has interest in things psychic, but Clegg pretends he is just a performer. The Doctor tells him that he knows he has some true gift. Clegg is very upset about having any actual abilities.

The Doctor talks him into demonstrating his psychokinesis, and using his mind, he moves a tray with food on it. The Doctor tells Clegg that he might be able to help him understand his powers, why he has them.

Back at the household, the man leading the chants argues with Cho-Je, the deputy abbot of the… monastery? It seems a female reporter (gee, who could that be?) is coming to visit. The man is not happy about this, but Cho-Je throws out snippets of zen koan in response. He says that it is too late, that Mister Yates has gone to the train station to fetch her.

At the station, Mike picks up Sarah Jane Smith (what a shocker) and they take off, Sarah asking what it’s all about.

Back at the monastery, Lupton, the leader of the chant circle, tells one of his fellow chanters that they’re on to something, they’re making progress, they were tapping true power the night before. He says they cannot afford to pull back and hide because of a visitor.

A simple man interrupts their conversation; Tommy shows Lupton and Barnes a flower he’s found, but Barnes shoves him down.

Sarah quizzes Mike about why he invited her there. Mike tries to play it off that he just thinks a story on their “meditation center” run by a couple Tibetan monks would be a great sell for the paper. He explains he’s there trying to sort himself out after “that Golden Age business” (referring to INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS.)

The chant circle is at it again.

Mike explains that the chant circle is up to something; he thinks it’s a job for UNIT to investigate. He wants Sarah to come check it out and then go to the Brig or The Doctor for him.

The chanters chant, more emphatically.

As Mike and Sarah Jane drive down, suddenly there’s a tractor in their way. They spin out of control, but when they come to a stop, there’s no tractor to be seen. Sarah Jane feels this is evidence that something is afoot.

Clegg is hooked up to a machine with earphones (it’s the same prop from THE GREEN DEATH!) to test his brain pattern. The Brig is asked to give Clegg something personal and he hands over his watch. Clegg does a psychometric reading, saying it was given to him eleven years ago in Brighton by a young lady named Doris, but the Brig interrupts before more can be said.

Another device can translate his thoughts into pictures. The Doctor hands Clegg his sonic screwdriver and on the video screen, we see the Drashig from CARNIVAL OF MONSTERS and The Doctor using the screwdriver to ignite the marsh gases to burn up several Drashigs.

Sarah Jane and Mike sit in a meeting with Cho-Je who is explaining what can be learned through meditation. Cho-Je says that the powers of meditation and powers unlocked through self-realisation could be used for good or evil. He leaves to teach a class.

Clegg apologises, feeling what he saw was not real. Benton comes in with a package from South America, addressed to “The Doctor or the Brigadier or Captain Yates or Sgt Benton”. It seems to be from Jo, and The Doctor asks to see it. Before he opens it, he asks Clegg to use his powers to see what is within it.

He says it is from beyond the stars, and it is a beautiful blue gemstone. The Doctor opens it, and in fact, it is the Metebelis 3 sapphire that he gave Jo.

Mike is showing Sarah Jane about the meditation center. They enter the meditation room, but Mike cautions her to be quiet. A larger group of people sit and meditate, listening to recorded chant. As they leave, Lupton and his crony, Barnes, confront them. Mike makes an effort to get her out of there as soon as possible, much to Sarah’s confusion.

Lupton watches from the window, telling Barnes they won’t be a problem any more, “That young man is frightened.”

Mike drives away, telling Sarah that Lupton knew they were coming and must have been responsible for the hallucination that almost killed them. When Sarah asks why they’re running, Mike’s reply is, “We’re not, we’re just letting him think we are.” He pulls the car over and parks, “We’ll head back on foot.”

The Doctor reads Jo’s letter. The letter says that the crystal is causing problems with their native guides, who say it is bad magic. She hopes they’ll keep an eye on it for her.

Mike and Sarah get caught sneaking back in the house through a window by Tommy, the simple man. He wants to play games with them – he seems rather smitten with Sarah Jane. He tells her the game they’re going to play is called “Secrets” and it’s a secret that she’s there. He is fascinated with Sarah’s lapel pin and she gives it to him to buy his silence.

Mike leads Sarah to the lower basement where the chant circle meets. The mat and their cushions are laid out but nobody is there. They hear voices and the two hide, Sarah getting spider web on her. The men come in and take their seats and begin chanting.

Clegg is still holding on to the crystal, and has been, while The Doctor reads the letter. The crystal glows and as he finishes the letter, the room begins to shake, papers and small items are cast about. The Doctor makes it to Clegg and pulls the crystal from his hands, but the psychic is dead.

Sarah and Mike watch as a spider materialises in a blue-green light in the center of the chant circle… and the credits roll.

Yay, Mike Yates! (Having seen what went on with Yates, it makes more sense why he’s here, etc.) Mystery, stranger spiders, an alien crystal – it’s a good one thus far.

Episode 2:

The men react in fear as the spider manifests; one man rises and flees, but the spider strikes him down with blue lightning. The spider addresses Lupton, saying it has come bring him “the power you seek”. It tells him to turn his back to it, and he reluctantly does so. It leaps and lands on his back and disappears, seemingly phasing into his body.

The Doctor plays back the machine that records thoughts, to see if Clegg’s dying thoughts were visualised. They were, and they see spiders.

Lupton dismisses the men, telling them to return to their rooms, not to tell anyone.

The Doctor says the only thing to do would be for him to look into the crystal; Benton offers to do it, as he’s expendable, but The Doctor says he’s already got one death on his conscience.

Mike sends Sarah out the window, and hides, as Lupton and Barnes discuss the spider; Lupton says it didn’t go away, it’s still there. He says their minds are joined together. Lupton dismisses Barnes, telling him not to worry.

The spider tells Lupton about the crystal, saying they must find it. Lupton is bid to concentrate, and he does. He says he sees a man staring into a blue crystal.

The Doctor is seated, staring into the Metebelis crystal. When Benton brings in a cup of coffee, the aroma of which brings The Doctor out of his trance. (It seems that, at least according to The Doctor, Benton makes the second best cup of coffee in the world.)

The Doctor starts talking about the old man hermit on the mountain (the same hermit he told Jo about when they were locked up in the dungeon in episode 6 of THE TIME MONSTER), saying that when he looked into the crystal, he saw the face of the old man, who had been the teacher who taught him how to look into his own mind.

Tommy stops Yates, as he tries to go upstairs to see K’anpo, the senior Tibetan monk. Tommy is distracted by Yate’s medallion, which he gives to the simple man. As Tommy walks off, he admonishes Mike to go to bed, and Lupton appears moments later, to reinforce the advice.

Sarah Jane has been telling The Doctor about the events, but he’s more interested in the crystal. When she mentions the spider, however, he is very, very interested, and makes her start over from the beginning.

Lupton arrives… presumably at UNIT HQ, as there’s a car lot with Bessie and a man working on The Doctor’s new car, the hovercrafty one. He asks to speak to The Doctor and the mechanic gives him directions, before asking for Lupton’s pass. Lupton blasts the man with blue lightning from his hand, just the same as the spider did to the one man in the chant circle. (No idea if he was killed or what, nobody seemed to note.)

The Doctor explains to Sarah Jane where he got the crystal from. He explains the crystal can be used to clear a mind and amplify it. When Sarah asks about the giant spiders on Metebelis Three, The Doctor says there weren’t any there when he was there.

Benton comes across Lupton, who does the lightning blast on him. Lupton peers into the lab, seeing the crystal. The spider in his mind tells him to concentrate.

As Sarah Jane dithers on about things, the crystal disappears and we see Lupton come out of a trance, holding it. He runs off, but Benton tries to stop him, so he punches him in the gut.

The Doctor, Benton and Sarah Jane give chase. Lupton encounters the Brig, who sees the others chasing Lupton, and he opens fire multiple times, missing completely – I’m horrified that the Brig is such a bad shot.

Lupton steals the hovercar, while the others take Bessie. They drop The Doctor off at the airfield and then pursue in Bessie. The Doctor takes a one man helicopter to pursue by air. I guess this is the running scene for the serial. The Doctor radioes directions to the Brig on how to catch up to Lupton.

A local cop sees the three vehicles and gives chase. I can’t help but think this is completely unnecessary. Eventually, after shenanigans, they find the hovercar parked. The Doctor lands and confers with the Brig and Benton and Sarah Jane as they argue with each other and the copper.

Lupton, who was hiding in the weeds, steals the helicopter – the spider says it can pilot it. The Doctor and Sarah Jane hop in the hovercar, which The Doctor takes into the air after him.

The copper radioes in that there was nothing to report.

The Doctor and Sarah Jane give chase, but the spider tells Lupton that fuel is low and they have to land. Lupton runs around some farmland while the hovercar lands. Again, what is the point of all this. None of this makes any sense, doesn’t add anything to the story whatsoever. It’s like padding.

Lupton steals a boat, blasting one of the men. There’s a hovercraft (the water kind) and The Doctor hops in it to give chase.. what? ANOTHER chase? Oy vey.

After a bunch of whatever, we get to the end of the chase, when The Doctor leaps from his hovercraft into Lupton’s boat. Just before this, Lupton is told by the spider to concentrate, and when The Doctor makes the boat, there’s nobody on board… and the credits roll.

Really displeased with the silly chase(s).

Episode 3:

Lupton is nowhere to be seen, and The Doctor is very confused.

In the meditation center, Tommy watches as Lupton appears out of thin air. He sees the crystal in Lupton’s hand and is fascinated by it. (Tommy likes pretty things, as likely you’ve noticed.)

Lupton returns to his room, soaking wet from his fleeing. He pulls out the crystal and asks the spider about it; the spider says it can give them more power than he could dream of. The spider tells him to shield his thoughts from her sisters on Metebelis Three.

On Metebelis Three, we see a group of spiders sitting about on tables. One of them is the queen. They communicate with the spider with Lupton, but he is privy to the conversation and demands to know what will become of him. Lupton’s spider argues that he has served them.

There is talk of “The Great One” and her plan, involving the conquest of Earth, their rightful home.

Communication ended, the spider tells Lupton to sleep and he lays down, falling asleep immediately. The spider separates from him and phases through the door.

Cho-Je meets with Sarah Jane, Mike and The Doctor. Cho-Je argues whether Lupton could have been involved with the theft of their equipment, when he saw Lupton in the house at the same time they say they were chasing him.

Barnes overhears this and wakes Lupton to tell him what he heard. Barnes wants to leave, especially after learning that the spider isn’t currently there. Lupton goes into a spiel about how he gave his company twenty-five years, but when the company was changed, he was thrown out. He tells Barnes that he came there for power, not peace of mind, and he’s not going to leave now that he has a chance to get it.

The spider eavesdrops on The Doctor’s conversation with Cho-Je.

While Lupton and Barnes talk, Tommy reaches in through an open window and steals the blue crystal. He takes it to his room under the stairs and puts it in his box of baubles. His “pretties”.

The spider returns to Lupton’s room, telling him to expect a visit from Cho-Je who will want him to speak to The Doctor. Lupton says he will not talk to The Doctor, but the spider uses their link to twist his mind, causing him pain. Lupton reverses it on the spider – seems he’s a rather quick learner.

Lupton and the spider make their plans to help each other – power for Lupton on Earth, and for the spider on Metebelis Three. They merge again and then realise that the crystal is gone.

Tommy calls over Sarah; he wants to give her a present and leads her off.

Cho-Je continues to utter rather silly zen things.

Barnes and Lupton argue over the crystal’s whereabouts. Lupton tells the spider they’re going to bluff the queen, but the spider says it will never work.

Tommy leads Sarah to his access beneath the stairs. He goes in, telling her to wait, and she overhears Lupton talking about going to their ritual area by himself. Moss, sent to bring Lupton to The Doctor, arrives but Lupton says to tell him that he couldn’t find Lupton. Lupton and Barnes depart for their rooms.

When Tommy returns with his box of pretties (including the crystal, which I bet is the present he wants to give her), Sarah Jane is dismissive to him, almost rude. She asks him politely to go tell Yates that she’s going after Lupton to the cellar.

As she leaves, Tommy holds out the crystal, saying it’s her present, but she doesn’t look. She goes down below, hiding before Lupton can come down with his mat and cushion from his room.

In the cellar, Sarah Jane watches as Lupton disappears into thin air while chanting. She runs over and steps on the mat, and cannot move from it.

The Doctor runs down and yells at her to get off it. As he runs to her, she disappears, appearing on Metebelis Three. She sees Lupton in the distance and follows him, hiding behind rocks. A pair of hands grab her from behind.

The Doctor tells Mike he’s going to Metebelis Three after Sarah Jane. When talking about the TARDIS, Mike says, “You talk about it as if it’s alive.”

The Doctor smiles, “Yes, I do, don’t I?”

On Metebelis Three, Sarah is brought to a village of humanoids. She’s accused of being a spy by the man who caught her. They argue amongst themselves, some wanting to kill her, others not.

Hearing the queen of the spiders’ retinue, the villagers hide Sarah. The queen is brought on a cushion bore by “two-legs”. One of them speaks of an assault by Arak on another. If Arak does not surrender himself, they will take one male from each family as punishment. Arak is one of the ones hiding Sarah Jane.

Arak’s father, Sabor, comes forth to explain why Arak struck the guard. Sabor lies and says that he helped his son escape to the hills. The queen says that Sabor will take his place. When Sabor’s wife comes forth, she is struck down, but Sarah Jane is being a busybody, watching through an open door and the queen sees her. Sarah Jane surrenders herself to protect Arak.

The Doctor arrives on Metebelis Three, appearing in the village just as Sarah Jane is being taken by the queen’s guards. The queen says they both will be taken in for questioning, but The Doctor fights her guards. One of them blasts The Doctor with the blue lightning and he falls at the TARDIS, reaching for the door… and the credits roll.

That’s a most excellent cliffhanger, and one we’ll leave you with until Friday.

Interesting note – one of the spider voices is done by Kismet Delgado, the widow of Roger Delgado, The Master.  

Serial 73 – The Monster of Peladon 2/2

Suddenly, a ghostly spoiler image manifests!

Episode 4:

Another Ice Warrior steps out with the first and they take Gebek and The Doctor prisoner. In the communications room, Eckersley, Alpha Centauri and Sarah Jane are watching on the video screen. Alpha explains to Sarah who the Ice Warriors are, but says s/he thought they were still in orbit.

Just then, an Ice Warrior leader caste walks in and proclaims that the planet is under martial law.

When Ettis learns that Gebek went to speak to the queen, he says Gebek is as good as dead, or certainly a prisoner, and there’s nothing to be done. The others argue for rescuing him, and he acquiesces.

In the throne room, the Ice Warriors have everyone gathered; the leader sums up the various accusations and complaints – Ortron vs The Doctor, nobles vs miners, etc. We learn that the commander is named Azaxyr.

Azaxyr commends Eckersley for not being part of all these accusations. He says that he is not concerned with the political situation on Peladon, only that the Federation gets the trisilicate it needs. He proclaims that the miners will work under Ortron’s guards, who will kill them if they do not obey. Both Gebek and Ortron protest – seems Ortron doesn’t mind having his guards kill miners, but he wants to be the one to decide that. (In truth, it’s more that Ortron resents the Federation and the aliens on his planet.)

Hostages have been taken and Azaxyr says that until the miners return to work, hostages will be killed daily.

Ettis leads his men into the citadel.

The queen and Alpha protest Azaxyr’s methods, but he says this is war, he has been authorised to do what he deems necessary. Gebek and Ortron unite against him and he even threatens destroying the planet, but then changes tack, saying he would prefer a more peaceful solution.

Just then, Ettis’ rebels break into the throne room and several are killed by the Ice Warrior soldiers. The rest flee. Azaxyr has The Doctor, Sarah Jane, Eckersley and Alpha taken to the communications room with him.

After they leave, Ortron and Gebek kneel over the dead and look each other in the eye, Ortron proclaiming, “We will be revenged.”

When Azaxyr proclaims he thinks he should have The Doctor executed, Alpha and Eckersley speak up for his having some influence with Gebek and he could get the miners working again. Azaxyr gives The Doctor this chance to stay his execution.

Azaxyr has Eckersley take him to the refinery.

Sarah Jane tells The Doctor that Sskel (Ice Warrior guard who was in the refinery who helped arrest The Doctor) was the shape she saw much earlier in the refinery. The Doctor tells Alpha that Azaxyr isn’t here on the Federation’s behalf, but is up to something else.

When Alpha tries to contact the Federation to report Azaxyr, the communications is being jammed by the ships in orbit.

The Doctor (accompanied by Sskel) goes to the throne room, where he finds Gebek. When he tells Gebek he wants him to have the miners go back to work, Gebek, Ortron and the queen all stand together, in defiance. In hushed tones, The Doctor tells them he just wants them to play along for now, and he and Gebek go off to speak to the miners.

Azaxyr compliments The Doctor on his success, saying that the miners are back to work and Eckersley says the refinery will be up and running soon. The Doctor’s death sentence has been “suspended” – as long as The Doctor cooperates fully, he will be allowed to live. He is brought to the communications room and told to stay there.

There, The Doctor raises the ambient temperature in the mines (cuz, ya know, that’s where the controls for such a thing would be – in the communications room of the citadel), hoping to make things difficult for the Ice Warriors.

In the mines, Ettis talks to one of the miners, but he thinks Gebek has sold them out. He plans to use the sonic lance to destroy the citadel, killing the nobles and aliens. When the other miner says he’s gone mad and leaves to tell Gebek, Ettis kills him.

In the mines, the Ice Warriors begin to suffer the effects of the temperature.

The queen protests that she cannot contact the Federation, but Azaxyr says that until he is satisfied that the emergency is truly at an end (he suspects the settlement of issues was achieved too easily), he will not lift the “communications seal” on the planet.

Gebek gives the signal and the guards and miners in the mine attack the Ice Warriors. The Doctor and Sarah Jane escape the communications room and access the tunnels.

During the fight, Gebek finds the miner Ettis stabbed, who is still alive. He tells Gebek of Ettis’ plan to destroy the citadel with the sonic lance. Gebek greets The Doctor and tells him about Ettis. The Doctor heads off to stop Ettis, as Gebek is needed to lead the miners. Sarah Jane stays to tend the wounded miner.

Sarah Jane is captured by an Ice Warrior (Sskel?) and brought back to the communications room, where Azaxyr demands to know where The Doctor is.

The Doctor confronts Ettis, telling him that the Peladonians are united against the Ice Warriors. If he uses the lance, he won’t kill most of the Ice Warriors, as they’re in the mines fighting.

Azaxyr knows of the sonic lance and pulls up on the video screen the fight between The Doctor and Ettis. Azaxyr says that the sonic lance has a self-destruct which he has preset by remote control – if it is fired, it will detonate, killing all the in immediate area as well.

Ettis bests The Doctor and activates the sonic lance. It explodes… and the credits roll.

Nicely done. I notice in the credits there’s a fight arranger by the name of Terry Walsh (who also plays the guard captain) and it shows in this serial – the fights are much better than the average Doctor Who serial.

 

 

Episode 5:

Sarah Jane watches, believing The Doctor to be dead. Azaxyr says they’ve reduced the temperature in the mines and soon will shut off the ventilation system so the miners will have to flee the mines, into the waiting arms of the Ice Warriors.

Suprisingly, The Doctor is alive! (I know I’m shocked.) He gets up and returns to the mines, where he meets Gebek. Gebek says they forced the Ice Warriors out of the mines, but weren’t able to push into the citadel. The temperature is rising and they both notice the air is getting stale.

The queen and Ortron comforts Sarah over the loss of The Doctor. Alpha Centauri arrives to say that Azaxyr plans to extend the martial law over the planet; the queen will rule in name only. All citizens will be conscripted to work in the mines.

To create a distraction, the queen pretends to faint, and when the Ice Warrior guard comes in to investigate, they try to escape – Sarah and Alpha make it out, but the queen’s cape is caught beneath the Ice Warrior’s foot, and when Ortron stays to help her, he is shot by the Ice Warrior. Queen Thalira stays behind with her fallen counselor as Azaxyr arrives.

The Doctor and Gebek arrive at the refinery but hide as Azaxyr and another Ice Warrior arrive there and enter. Inside, Azaxyr tells Eckersley that Sarah and Alpha are in the mines (a lie the queen told him), and Eckersley smiles – is he part of this?

In the communications room, Alpha struggles to remember the sequence to activate the automatic SOS. Sarah Jane skims the security channels and comes across the video from inside the refinery, where she and Alpha eavesdrop on Eckersley and Azaxyr – they are, in fact, in cahoots, and are selling the trisilicate to Galaxy Five!

Outside the refinery, Gebek and The Doctor are listening in as well. Azaxyr says that time is short, Galaxy Five has given them a deadline that is rapidly approaching. Eckersley says they will use Aggedor, pulling back a curtain to reveal a statue. He uses machinery to manifest it near a group of miners, attacking and killing one. The others flee, heading up from the lower levels.

Watching all this from the communications room, Sarah Jane sees The Doctor peering through the cracked door of the refinery. She leaves Alpha in the communications room to keep sending the SOS.

Reports of the miners fleeing and being destroyed come in to Azaxyr and Eckersley. Again, Eckersley sends Aggedor to kill more Peladonians, and then he and Azaxyr head back to the citadel, leaving a guard. Sarah Jane comes in, distracting the guard and Gebek attacks the guard, knocking him out.

Sarah Jane and The Doctor are reunited and she asks if he ever stays out of trouble.

“My dear Sarah, there’s nothing I’d like more than a quiet life.” – The Doctor.

Azaxyr and Eckersley return to the communications room, determining the “spatial distress beacon” (SOS) has been activated. He threatens the Ambassador, but Eckersley talks him down.

In the throne room, Alpha tells the queen about the truth of Azaxyr and Eckersley’s true plans. Alpha runs his mouth and reveals that Sarah also overheard their discussion in the refinery. Alpha continues to run his mouth, revealing that The Doctor is still alive.

The Doctor accesses the refinery and he, Gebek and Sarah Jane enter. They restore the ventilation to the mines and The Doctor examines the machine used to project Aggedor.

Sskel arrives at the refinery and begins firing on the the door, burning his way in.

It’s Eckersley’s turn to run his mouth, in typical villain fashion, explains his reasons for being a traitor, as well as Azaxyr being part of a breakway faction of Ice Warriors who long for the “good old days”.

Azaxyr arrives to report that The Doctor has been found in the refinery and his Ice Warriors have him trapped.

More Ice Warriors arrive at the refinery and begin to help Sskel burn down the door. Sarah Jane starts to panic… and the credits roll.

 

 

Episode 6:

The Doctor figures out the device and projects Aggedor into the area outside the refinery, attacking the Ice Warriors, who flee. The Doctor and Gebek start making plans.

Sskel returns to the throne room to report his failure, but Eckersley says he knows a few things about the refinery The Doctor doesn’t, and he and Azaxyr go off.

The Doctor manifests Aggedor for the miners to see that it is not a threat, and this allows Gebek to rally the miners.

In the communications room, Eckersley contacts The Doctor. He tells them the security system works on the inside, and demonstrates it. The Doctor sends Sarah to warn Gebek while he stays in.

When The Doctor stays, Eckersley turns up the intensity. The Doctor works the Aggedor controls, attacking the Ice Warriors. Eckersley turns it up to maximum, saying it won’t be long now.

Sarah runs through the mines (it’s Doctor Who, after all, we gotta have some running.) Gebek leads his men to the secret entrance, but Azaxyr and his men lay in wait. As they enter, the Ice Warriors show their hand too fast, and most of the miners retreat.

The Doctor sends Aggedor to kill two Ice Warriors, and Azaxyr flees. Gebek rallies his men and they return to the citadel.

The Doctor finally succumbs to the mental assault.

Sarah enters the citadel, picks up a gun and heads to the communications room, where she makes Eckersley turn off the security system, and he does so, saying it’s too late, The Doctor is dead. He grabs her gun and locks her in the communication room.

Gebek and his men make the throne room, but Azaxyr has the queen hostage and demands they lay down their arms or he will kill her. They do so and Azaxyr steps down from behind the throne and the rebels swarm him. Gebek forces him to shoot the other Ice Warrior (Sskel?) present and then one of the guards stabs Azaxyr.

Alpha enters the communications room, where Sarah mourns The Doctor. On the screen, The Doctor is still in the chair in the refinery, motionless. Sarah leaves to go to him.

Eckersley skulks about the citadel and takes the queen prisoner. He takes her through the secret tunnel behind the throne.

Sarah arrives at the refinery. Standing over The Doctor, she cries, and her tears fall on his face, waking him from the trance he had placed himself in to defend against the security system’s assault.

Eckersley drags the queen through the tunnels.

The Doctor and Sarah return to the throne room, and upon hearing of the queen’s capture, The Doctor fetches the real Aggedor to track them down. They track them down, and when the queen frees herself of Eckersley, Aggedor attacks, but the ‘monster’ is killed in the fight.

(Oh no! I’m gonna cry.)

Later, in the throne room, the queen asks for The Doctor to stay as her chancellor. The Doctor and Sarah advocate that she choose Gebek to be the man for the role. Alpha arrives to report that Galaxy Five ended the war once the scheme to get the trisilicate failed.

Gebek arrives to report that they found that “blue box” he was asking about. He and Sarah leave to check on it, but the queen is wise enough to realise he won’t be coming back and she says good bye. They turn around and bow/curtsy in farewell. The queen asks Gebek to stay, she has something to discuss with him.

Outside the TARDIS, Sarah razzes The Doctor about being offered a civil service job and how she’d hate to stand in the way of his career. He grabs her by the ear and pushes her to the TARDIS. They laugh, enter, and it disappears… and the final credits roll.

A very good serial. I didn’t like Aggedor being killed, but I’m a softy for animals (even when said animal is a man in a costume) being hurt/killed. I enjoyed the Ice Warriors being the baddies again, and despite my complaints about the similarities (again, I understand that it was done intentionally, parallels and homage and all that – and, again, if I had spent several years between watching the two, I would have appreciated that more), I really enjoyed this one.

A great story for the penultimate Jon Pertwee serial. 

Serial 73 – The Monster of Peladon 1/2

And so we return to Peladon! Really enjoyed the first serial set here, let’s hope this one is as good.

 

Episode 1:

We open with the same castle on a stormy mountain that the first Peladon serial opened with; I guess Peladon is a stormy world?

Inside, four men are moving some machine (a sonic lance, I believe) through the tunnels when a strange sound frightens them. One of them says it is the spirit of Aggedor and one of them is engulfed in a nimbus of energy and disappears; the others run off. They scurry by two off-worlders (one human and one race I don’t know, almost satyr-like) who discuss a piece of rock/mineral/jewel that’s being mined.

The human stops one of the natives as they run by and he says that Aggedor slew one of the men for bringing the sonic lance into the mines.

In the throne room, the human and his companions (from the planet Vega), as well as an Alpha Centauran (the same as before, I wonder?) appear before the queen to explain the death. The mining reps say they don’t believe in some supernatural force being behind it. The queen seems reasonable and asks them to arrange a demonstration, feeling that if her people saw that the technology could be trusted it would go far in quelling fears.

Ortron, the chancellor, protests, but the queen says it was her father’s wish to see Peladon become a civilised planet, a full member of the Federation. The Federation is at war with “Galaxy 5” and the mining of trisilicate is needed.

We later see the chancellor performing a ritual, praying to Aggedor, asking him not to punish his loyal servants but to punish those who deserve it.

A soldier moving through the tunnels hears a strange noise and hides as the TARDIS materialises. The Doctor steps out, telling Sarah Jane about the citadel of Peladon. He seems startled that they’re in a tunnel, not the citadel, and she gives him guff about it. They walk off as the guard watches them.

Sarah Jane seems doubtful they’re even on Peladon.

In the tunnels, the queen and her retinue arrive to observe the demonstration of the sonic lance. Talk of a guard seeing more aliens appear is discussed. Ortron sends guards to investigate, with orders to “find and destroy”.

The Doctor and Sarah Jane are lost in the tunnels.

Nexos, the Vegan, activates the sonic lance. They blast open a hole in the wall, and there’s a strange sound within. Nexos, trying to dissuade everyone from being afraid, enters the hole and is engulfed by the nimbus. He screams, flails and falls to the ground before disappearing. The native miners flee, one of them yelling about the curse of Aggedor.

Palace guards find The Doctor and Sarah Jane; one yells, “There they are, kill them,” and Sarah Jane runs off. The Doctor follows, and they find one of the secret doors, accessed by lifting the sconce in the wall, leading into the Temple of Aggedor.

Guards capture them and take them to the throne room, where the queen, chancellor and retinue enter. They are accused of “sacrilige and sabotage”. Ortron introduces himself as “high priest and chancellor” (the two positions now one, interesting) and the queen as “Queen Thalira”. She says she is the daughter of King Peladon.

The Doctor proclaims he was a friend of her father, but Ortron says that everyone knows the story of The Doctor and what better identity to assume for an “alien spy and saboteur”. Just then, Alpha Centauri enters, and it is, in fact, the very same one that was on Peladon years before. Alpha Centauri vouches for The Doctor and the Queen releases them into Alpha’s care.

Ortron tries to tell the queen that The Doctor is not to be trusted; it was he that persuaded Peladon to join the Federation and that is the cause of their troubles now. The queen says that if The Doctor is their enemy, he will reveal himself as such and they will deal with him accordingly.

The miners debate; Gebek, who seems to be their leader, wants to speak to the Queen and Ortron, but another says they are but puppets of the Federation. The other argues for violence and when Gebek goes to speak to the queen, the others begin their violence, breaking into the citadel and attacking a guard.

The Doctor chastises Alpha Centauri for the lack of improvements for the mining caste of Peladon over the fifty-plus years Peladon has been part of the Federation. Alpha says that the feudal caste system is resistent to change, the nobles refuse to give up their stranglehold.

The mining representative (who is really familiar, his face and voice… aha, it’s Donald Gee, who played Major Warne in THE SPACE PIRATES) explains why trisilicate is so essential to the war effort (in short, it’s used for many things.)

On a video scanner, they see the rebel miners trying to break into the armory where the modern weapons are being housed; Eckersley (the mining rep) isn’t concerned, but then one of the miners enters and takes him at swordpoint to go open the door. The Doctor disarms him, while Alpha prattles on uselessly. The Doctor and Eckersley take him to speak to the queen, while Sarah Jane stays behind with Alpha.

Gebek is still speaking with the queen and Ortron, when first, word of the miners attempt to gain access to the armory is brought by a guard, and then The Doctor arrives with his prisoner. When The Doctor tries to get the queen to listen, Ortron starts barking orders (lots of parallels between this serial and the first, all rather intentional, I’m sure – and if years had gone by between viewing them, as opposed to weeks, I’m sure it wouldn’t be grating on my nerves.)

The Doctor helps the two rebels escape but he is taken prisoner and Ortron declares he should be executed in their place. The Doctor appeals to the queen, saying that he saved them from civil war. He asks for her permission to investigate the appearances of Aggedor – he feels they are trickery.

The queen’s champion leads The Doctor to the last place Aggedor was sighted. Ortron sends orders with a guard to find and capture, or kill, Gebek and his rebels.

One of the rebels lays explosives in the tunnels.

Eckersley reports to Sarah Jane what has transpired.

The Doctor and the champion (also a mute, like the last champion), investigate the site. It is the same area the rebel has just laid the explosives. The champion is reluctant to go in. The Doctor enters and sees a massive vein of trisilicate.

Two rebels discuss the champion and “one of the aliens” entering the cavern and sacrificing them. The explosive is set off and The Doctor and the champion are trapped within.

As he helps the champion to his feet, The Doctor stops in amazement as a ghostly form of Aggedor (looking rather like the statue and not the creature itself) appears and the nimbus of light envelops the champion, who falls and screams in pain (he’s not voiceless, just grunts, so he can scream) and disappears… and the credits roll.

Well, as stated, I’m a little annoyed by the great similarity between this serial and the first. I’m sure it was done intentionally, and again, if I was watching the show as it aired, several years would have transpired and it wouldn’t be annoying it would be homage-like and clever.

Episode 2:

After Blor is killed, Aggedor disappears. The Doctor tries to dig his way out.

Ettis, the rabble-rousing miner, brags to Gebek (who showed up just before he triggered the explosive) how he returned the cave to the sacred mountain and made a sacrifice to Aggedor. Gebek realises that The Doctor is in there and begins to pull away the rocks, and the other two join in. They activate the sonic lance and blast a hole in the rockfall.

The Doctor jumps through, just as “Aggedor” appears again and blasts where he was standing.

Alpha Centauri dithers on about mining and refining, but Sarah Jane isn’t listening – she’s worried about The Doctor, especially after a warning about explosives comes through. Sarah Jane takes off, as Alpha calls for Eckersley.

Sarah Jane enters through the Temple of Aggedor, using the secret door to access the tunnels.

Gebek says that he and The Doctor are even, now that he has saved his life. The Doctor offers to help him if they will let him. The Doctor tells them that someone is using Aggedor to keep the mining from happening. Before more can be discussed, soldiers arrive and battle breaks out.

The soldiers are defeated and The Doctor and the three miners run off before more arrive.

Sarah Jane is lost in the tunnels, but sees a somewhat translucent window with someone behind it. She calls out to them, asking for help, but they turn the light off within. When she bangs on a door in frustration, some mental or sonic assault overwhelms her.

Eckersley returns to the communications room and sees an alert flashing on the refinery console. He activates a camera and sees Sarah Jane collapse to the ground. He realises that she must have set off the defense system. He rushes off to save her.

The Doctor meets with the miners, who complain about their lot in life. Ettis says that Aggedor’s spirit is angry, but The Doctor insists that it is trickery, and he is going to find out who is behind it.

Gebek and another miner take The Doctor to the queen, leaving Ettis behind to plot to attack the armory again, now that The Doctor inadvertantly gave away that to get in the armory, they need to capture the communications room.

Eckersley and Alpha find Sarah Jane and the mining rep argues with her – he says there was nobody inside, it’s on shut down, nobody can get in, she was imagining it. They leave to return to the communications room, and we see, through the window, that there is in fact someone in there.

In the tunnels, The Doctor is separated from his miner guides when they each break off, trying to lead the guards away from finding The Doctor. When Gebek is being escorted away, The Doctor incapacitates them and frees Gebek.

Ortron argues that The Doctor is their enemy, saying he has been sent to stir up the miners. The queen asks for his counsel, and he says she must crush the revolt and to do so, capture The Doctor and have him executed.

Ettis attacks Eckersley, possibly killing him, leaving him in the corridor. He takes Sarah Jane and Alpha prisoner, taking them into the communications room, demanding they open the armory. Reluctantly, Alpha does so.

Lord Ortron brings news of the attack on the armory, saying this is what comes of softness with common people.

Ettis flees, taking Sarah Jane with him. Alpha natters on until Eckersley wakes (he was only KO’d.)

Ortron and his guards grab Sarah Jane when she manages to break free of Ettis; Ettis and his rebels flee into the tunnels, passing by Gebek and The Doctor. Sarah Jane is taken to the temple.

Gebek leaves The Doctor to be with his people, hoping to prevent any further madness.

At the temple, Ortron accuses Sarah Jane of collusion with Ettis. The Doctor arrives at the secret door outside the temple, and enters the temple saying he’s got it all wrong. Ortron uses every unfortunate statement to say they’re both guilty. In the temple, his will is law and he appeals to Aggedor for what to do.

The queen says she will trust in Alpha Centauri’s judgment, but there is nothing she can do to overrule Ortron.

Ortron condemns The Doctor and Sarah Jane to the pit.

Alpha talks the queen into trying to change things, to assert herself.

In the temple, guards move a pedestal, revealing a hole. As the queen demands to be let in, The Doctor and Sarah Jane are thrown into the hole. The queen enters the temple, too late, and Ortron says the choice is out of their hands, their fate is subject to the judgment of Aggedor.

In the pit, there’s something roaring, something musky and alive. The Doctor pulls out a small penlight, and we see Aggedor, who roars… and the credits roll.

That’s a good cliffhanger!

 

 

Episode 3:

The queen insists that they rescue The Doctor and Sarah Jane, but Ortron says it is too late.

Aggedor attacks, while The Doctor tries to talk to him, saying they are old friends. The Doctor pulls out a shiny dangly thing, spinning and singing to Aggedor, as he did before, lulling the beast into a docile state.

Rather embarrassed, Ortron complies with the queen’s demand to release them.

Alpha Centauri turns to Eckersley for advice; he counsels Alpha to contact the Federation, asking for troops to be sent. Eckersley takes off to fetch the sonic lance, afraid it might be used as a weapon by the rebels. Alpha contacts the Federation.

The queen brings The Doctor and Sarah Jane to the throne room to sit for refreshments and speak about his investigations. The Doctor advocates treating the miners more fairly, to contact Gebek and work with him. The Doctor leaves to consult with Alpha and then go speak with Gebek to set up a secret meeting between he and the queen; he asks Sarah Jane to stay behind and give the queen some advice about Women’s Lib.

In the tunnels, Gebek argues with Ettis and his followers.

The Doctor chastises Alpha Centauri over sending for Federation troops. Sarah Jane shows up to tell The Doctor about seeing someone at the refinery, and suggests that whomever is behind the fake Aggedor is in the refinery.

Ortron shows up to say that The Doctor cannot leave the citadel to contact his rebel friends. After trading words, he and his guard leave, but wait around the corner. When The Doctor tries to leave the citadel, Ortron and his guards take The Doctor prisoner for trying to leave.

Eckersley is at the sonic lance; Sarah Jane shows up to tell him The Doctor is afraid the rebels might be after it. Eckersley says there are none in sight, but Gebek, Ettis and others watch from a hiding spot.

Alpha Centauri protests The Doctor’s arrest and imprisonment. Ortron protests that The Doctor is a nameless alien with no official records in the Federation. The queen asserts that Sarah Jane will not be arrested, as Ortron plans.

The rebels attack the guards and take the sonic lance. Despite Ettis’ protests, Gebek lets Sarah Jane and Eckersley go, but not before Sarah Jane passes on the message that the queen will meet with him in secret.

When it is revealed that Federation troops are on their way, everyone is upset at Alpha for contacting them. Sarah Jane advises that the only way to get rid of the troops once they arrive is to make it seem that all is going well and they are not needed.

Gebek enters the citadel, and runs into Sarah Jane. He tells her he will free The Doctor for her. He makes his way to the cells and frees The Doctor. The Doctor insists that Gebek take him to the refinery to investigate Sarah’s claims.

Ettis and his men set up the sonic lance outside, facing the citadel.

Alpha Centauri receives a message that the Federation ship is in orbit. The voice is obviously an Ice Warrior.

Gebek warns The Doctor that there is magic at the refinery that has destroyed several of the miners’ minds. The Doctor pulls out his sonic screwdriver to disarm the security system. On the security monitors, Eckersley sees this and Alpha, who is quite the idiot, says it’s obvious that The Doctor is in league with the rebels. Eckersley storms off to stop them, but Sarah Jane talks him down, explaining their theory that the refinery is being used to power the fake Aggedor manifestations.

Ortron goes into the tunnels with guards to meet with the rebels, to tell them of the need to coexist while the Federation troops are present. He promises them a fair hearing of any complaints once the Federation troops have left if the miners return to work ASAP to convince the troops all is well.

The miners agree, and as they leave, Aggedor manifests and kills one. The men flee, panicking, and Gebek hears it from outside the refinery. The Doctor has almost hot wired the door, and once he does it opens, and an Ice Warrior steps out… and the credits roll.

Now, THAT is a perfect place to stop for the day. See you tomorrow and Happy Memorial Day, BTW!  

Serial 72 – Death to the Daleks

Episode 1:

A man staggers through a craggy terrain and is shot in the chest with an arrow.

On the TARDIS, The Doctor and Sarah Jane prepare to vacation on Florana, the paradise planet, but a sudden power surge forces them to materialise on the craggy terrain.

The TARDIS is completely dead; every time The Doctor tries a back-up power source it dies out. Even the emergency torch (flashlight to us Americans) dies out. Using an oil lamp and a hand crank to open the doors, they depart and begin exploring.

Sarah Jane goes back in change into something warmer, after asking The Doctor not to wander off. As soon as she goes in the TARDIS, he does exactly that and is attacked by someone in furs. Sarah Jane comes out, looking for him. She finds the oil lamp that The Doctor dropped and runs back to the TARDIS.

Inside is someone in furs, though they hide before she notices them. Hearing others approach, she winds the hand crank. Closing the door, the figure in robes approaches her, but she beats them down with the crank and then struggles to open the door again.

Again the person grabs her, this time crawling after her, and again she beats them with it, before escaping the TARDIS.

The Doctor is led, his wrists tied, by two men in fur/robes. He manages to free himself and gets into combat with them, and manages to escape them.

Sarah sees a large flashing light atop a city or large building and walks towards it in the night.

As the sun rises, The Doctor wanders through large stony dunes, observed by a figure in robes/furs. He comes across a trip wire and triggers it, causing a boulder to come rolling down. A man in a blue uniform attacks him and they struggle, but another man yells at Galloway, The Doctor’s attacker to stop and they head back to their base.

The two men approach a base, where another man in a blue uniform awaits with a bow and arrow. They go inside, where The Doctor is introduced to the crew of the Marine Space Corps expedition. They tell her of the “forbidden city”, saying that if anyone goes there, they will be sacrificed.

They show him pictures o the city and it’s obviously the same place Sarah was heading to. We see Sarah poking around the outside of the city, until she is captured by one of the natives, identified as Exxilons.

The MSC crew tells The Doctor they’re there for an element needed to fight a horrible plague that’s ravaging the outer planets. They hear a ship arriving and believe it to be a relief ship from Earth and go out, excitedly.

Sarah Jane is declared to been judged and prepared for sacrifice.

The relief ship lands and, to everyone’s surprise (but mine), Daleks exit and begin firing their guns… and the credits roll.

A great cliffhanger and a promising serial.

Episode 2:

The Daleks fire, but their weapons have been drained by whatever has drained the TARDIS. The Doctor mocks them, they bluster, the human leader offers a truce – the Daleks first say they need nobody’s help but when they are informed the entire planet is full of dangerous creatures, they say they will confer.

Sarah is surrounded by Exxilons who are chanting.

The Daleks, planning to turn at the moment the humans are no longer useful, agree to work with the humans. Several of the crew have nothing but hate for the Daleks. It seems the Daleks need the parrinium as well – though they have a secret need for it.

In the crew’s quarters, we see the commanding officer, who was sick, has been taken.

The MSC crew, Doctor and Daleks move along, walking into an ambush. The captain of the crew is show with an arrow by Exxilons. The others take cover as more arrows are fired on them, but they find that they are surrounded.

The savage Exxilons charge forward and attack the Daleks; one of of them is battered until its chassis explodes. Another group of Exxilons arrives with Commander Stewart, the injured leader from the MSC base, and he tells them to surrender, which they do.

The Doctor and the others are brought to where Sarah is STILL being prepared for sacrifice. The Doctor breaks free of the Exxilons holding him and lunges forward, trying to fight for her, but is beaten down by the greater numbers.

Everyone is placed in a cell; The Doctor is wounded and weary, and while Sarah Jane and Jill, the civilian geologist, tend to him, the Daleks propose to offer technology and knowledge in exchange or assistance. The two Daleks are taken away to speak with the high priest.

On the Dalek ship, other Daleks have been working on replacement weaponry, slugthrowers to replace the drained energy gunsticks.

The Exxilons agree to discuss terms, but not until the sacrifices have been carried out. The Commander, with his dying breath, tells Galloway that Lt Hamilton will take charge, but Galloway pretends he didn’t hear it, as he is next in line for command.

As The Doctor and Sarah Jane are prepared for sacrifice, Daleks armed with slugthrowers arrive and begin firing on the Exxilons. The Doctor and Sarah Jane escape in the chaos.

Sarah Jane realises that the tunnel they’re in is where they were going to be thrown as part of the sacrifice; The Doctor says he expects the sacrifice is to be carried out by something else – they hear the roar of some creature in the tunnels.

Galloway tells Jill and Hamilton (the remaining members of the MSC crew) that the Daleks have taken over but they’re still working with them – they’ll over see the Exxilons who will mine for the parrinium.

In the tunnels, Sarah Jane and The Doctor hear the roar of the creature as they meander through the tunnels. We see the hand of an Exxilon.

Daleks are seen moving through the tunnels, in pursuit.

The Doctor leaves Sarah Jane, to scout ahead. The Exxilon in the tunnels is very close, watching her from obfuscation. She senses someone is there, and turns and all by cries out.

The Doctor comes across what appears to be a mechanical snake like creature with a glowing eye… and the credits roll.

 

 

Episode 3:

The Exxilon in the tunnel is different, like an albino. It approaches Sarah Jane and introduces itself as Bellal. It says he is not like those that tried to kill her, that his kind are persecuted.

The creature attacks The Doctor, striking with its eye. When it strikes the ground (after The Doctor moves out of the way) the ground sparks.

Another renegade Exxilon shows up, to warn about approaching Daleks. The Daleks split up, searching for The Doctor and Sarah Jane.

A Dalek comes across the cyber-snake (my word, not theirs) and they fight. The Doctor watches, giving commentary over the battle. The snake kills the Dalek.

The Doctor returns to Sarah Jane and they rush off with the renegade Exxilons as the remaining Dalek pursuer approaches. They escape through a crack in the wall of the tunnel. Bellal says his people are watching the others and will report what happens.

Exxilons are mining outside, supervised by the MSC (Marine Space Corps) crew, who are ordered by the Daleks to increase the work productivity. Galloway argues with the Daleks.

Bellal explains that Exxilon is an old planet; long ago, his people were the supreme beings in the galaxy. They built their great city, making it self-sustaining, giving it a brain. It turned against those who created it and drove them out. Bellal’s people want to destroy the city, while the main Exxilon population worship it.

The Daleks overseeing the mining openly discuss destroying the beacon above the city, saying it is the source of the power source interference.

In the water, another snake-root, part of the city, rises up and kills an Exxilon who did not get out of the water quickly enough.

The Doctor sends Sarah to tell the MSC crew to get the Earth ship loaded with parrinium and ready for lift off the moment the power is restored – he says that the Daleks will certainly try to destroy the Earth ship the moment they can do so and doesn’t believe their story about needing the parrinium for medical reasons.

Bellal leads The Doctor to the city. He shows The Doctor the symbols, and as the Time Lord studies them, he starts to see something – some of the symbols don’t conform with the others. But before anything else happens, Daleks come around the corner. The Doctor finds a secret door and they slip inside.

They find a touch-sensitive maze on the wall and The Doctor runs his finger along the route. As the Daleks scan the symbols outside the city, The Doctor and Bellal move further inward, passing the maze test. As they move inward, The Doctor stops Bellal from going any further. There’s a red and white pattern on the ground… and the credits roll.

That’s not much of a cliffhanger.

 

 

Episode 4:

The Doctor pulls out his sonic screwdriver and detects where to step. He moves across and then directs Bellal across. Afterwards, Bellal asks if that was necessary and to demonstrate, The Doctor throws a coin on the tile and it is destroyed by electrical charge.

The Daleks pass through, the first being struck by electricity, but survives. The second Dalek fires on the tile, destroying the mechanism and passes through unharmed. Afterwards, the tile repairs itself and the Daleks say this suggests that the city is indestructible.

Sarah covertly speaks to Jill, telling her what The Doctor has sent her to inform the MSC crew.

Inside the heart of the city, an Exxilon in a chair sits and observes The Doctor and Bellal on a video screen.

Bellal triggers something that overtakes his mind and he turns on The Doctor, but The Doctor manages to stop him with his sonic screwdriver, disorienting him long enough to disarm him. This qualifies them to go through. Moments later, the Daleks arrive in the very same room.

Galloway and Hamilton are escorted by a Dalek to the city and instructed to climb the summit and lay the explosives to destroy the beacon. If they do not comply, Jill will be exterminated.

Sarah Jane has Jill fetch some empty bags and says they have to be filled with anything – obviously as some plan to replace other bags.

The Doctor and Bellal discuss being tested by the city, wondering for what purpose. They enter a room that The Doctor says will be the final test, likely an “assault on our sanity”.

We get some funky psychedelic lighting effects as The Doctor calls out to Bellal to fight it. They survive, and a door to the brain chamber appears in the wall. As they enter, the figure in the chair’s body disintegrates. The Doctor says he has an idea on how to destroy the brain.

Bellal watches as two bodies begin forming in the chamber; The Doctor says the city is creating “antibodies” to deal with them and to let him know when they’re almost completely formed.

Galloway and Hamilton place one charge, but Galloway says they’ll keep the second.

A Dalek begins waking the Exxilons for more mining and discovers that Jill has escaped – the bags were used to make it look as if she was still sleeping.

The antibodies form and grab The Doctor and Bellal. The two Daleks arrive and engage in combat with the “Exxilon mutants” who seem much tougher than any Exxilons yet seen.

The Doctor and Bellal run through the various traps which are no longer a threat; the city is beginning to break down, a result of The Doctor’s rewiring – he said he was giving the city a “nervous breakdown”.

Hamilton and Galloway are brought back to the Dalek ship to load the parrinium. The Doctor and Bellal reunite with Jill and Sarah Jane and plan how to free Galloway and Hamilton.

The explosion goes off, destroying the beacon. The power is restored to the Dalek ship (and presumably the Earth ship.) As The Doctor and others stand about, celebrating the destruction of the beacon, they are caught by another Dalek.

The Daleks reveal their plan was to collect all the parrinium and use it to force the planets to bow to them. They plan to launch a plague missile once the ship takes off.

The Dalek ship takes off, with Galloway still on board. He primes the explosive and sets it off beore the missile could be launched. Sarah Jane reveals that the real parrinium is on the Earth ship, it was bags o sand on the Dalek ship.

The city begins to crumble and melt and all apart and there’s a strange low screaming in the background, though I’m not sure if it’s part of the background music or the actual city crying out.

The Doctor watches with the others, saying it’s a bit of a shame, but now the universe is down to 699 wonders (a reference to earlier when he said it must be one of the 700 wonders of the universe)… and the final credits roll.

All in all, an okay serial, nothing stellar and the title seems a bit unrelated to anything in general.  

Serial 71 – Invasion of the Dinosaurs 2/2

We’re mid serial, so it’s time for a spoiler warning.

 

Episode 4:

General Finch storms in, demanding an explanation about “this latest fiasco” from the Brig. The Doctor tells Finch that there was sabotage, much to the displeasure of Captain Yates, who, after The Doctor and the Brig step out, confronts Finch about his agreeing to sabotage The Doctor’s machinery, but not agreeing to murder – seems Finch is, after all, a part of their little conspiracy!

The Doctor checks out his “new car”, a hovercraft looking thing – horribly silly looking, honestly. Bring back Bessie! He goes for a ride, with his portable tracking device on board.

Sarah Jane, on the “spaceship” (I’m guessing it’s a big farce) is greeted by others, who introduce themselves as “the Elders”. She recognises them, a novelist, an anti-pollutionist activist and the man who first woke her up is an athlete.

They tell her they’re on a ship on the way to “New Earth”, a simpler world, unspoiled by man’s technology. They explain there are over two hundred sleepers on the ship – Sarah Jane was the first to awaken of the sleepers… and there are other ships as well, seven in all, on their three month journey. (Yeah, totally a sham.)

The Doctor follows his device’s readings down below the streets of London; he hides as labcoat blondie accesses a lift hidden as a wardrobe closet. When the lift comes back down, The Doctor takes it back up.

Labcoat blondie reports to Professor Whitaker, but notices the blue lift is in operation from a flashing signal on a map. The Doctor exits the blue lift and wanders down the hallway.

On the security screen, blondie and Whitaker watch him as he makes his way to the reactor powering the facility. A metal door slides down, blocking him off at one point, then another behind him as he passes along another hallway. Penned in eventually, he has no choice but to enter the lift again.

Whitaker operates his device, finding a pterodactyl on the viewscreen, then using the device to pull the creature out of the past, depositing it at the exit of the lift. It attacks The Doctor, who fights it back with a mop from the lift. He manages to escape back up the stairs to the street level.

Sarah Jane debates the way things “were” on Earth – the Elders talk about how bad things were, but Sarah Jane speaks up for the good things. Her talk is very disturbing to the Elders. They decide that she has to be “re-educated”.

The Brig and The Doctor return to the location in a jeep. (No soldiers with? Really?) They go down the steps to the Underground location, but when he shows him the lift, it really just seems to be an actual mop room.

They go to Grover’s office and he pretends there’s no such place, that when Sarah Jane came, she found the file showed the project was abandoned. Grover calls in his chauffeur who claims he took her back to UNIT HQ.

Sarah Jane is subjected to video documentary about the horrors of what man did to the Earth. She’s given a sparse meal of bread, with the promise of better food when she learns her lesson.

The Elders discuss having Sarah Jane killed if she “doesn’t respond to re-education”.

Professor Whitaker, Captain Yates, General Finch and Minister Grover have a pow wow in the lab. They talk of the “colonists” on their spaceship. Whitaker says in a matter of hours they’ll be ready to start the countdown. They discuss discrediting The Doctor as a way to neutralise him.

The Doctor and the Brig argue over what to do. The Doctor feels Grover is part of whatever is going on. After the Brig leaves, The Doctor receives a call from Professor Whitaker. Whitaker says that he’s been tricked into working for Grover, he thought he was working for the government. He makes arrangements for The Doctor to come to the hangar where the t-rex was held, but to come alone.

When The Doctor arrives, they beam in a stegosaurus. Moments later, General Finch, leading the Brig and soldiers, walks in, saying The Doctor is “the monster maker, caught in the act,”… and the credits roll.

Oh, really, if the Brig buys into this, I’m gonna call bullpucky.

 

 

Episode 5:

The Brig tells The Doctor that he’s under arrest.

Sarah Jane is still subected to more of the propaganda. The athlete, Mark, comes in to warn her about the Elders’ plans for her if she doesn’t get in line. Suddenly, the gravity of her situation becomes obvious, and she plays the role of penitent, using it to distract Mark, elbow him in the gut and escape the room.

The Doctor is brought in; General Finch insists that The Doctor is to be locked up and not to be interrogated until later. He insists that the Brig accompany him when he reports to Grover.

Captain Yates ignores The Doctor’s appeal for assistance, ordering Benton to lock him up and not let him talk to anyone. The Doctor realises that Mike was the mole in the operation the entire time. When Yates leaves, Benton sends the two soldiers to fix up a room as a temporary cell. With them gone, Benton asks The Doctor what’s going on.

See, this is why I love Benton. He’s a simple, straightforward guy. He’s a good egg. He’s a loyal soldier, but he knows right from wrong. The Doctor tells him that Yates is the man working against them, and though he doesn’t want to believe it, he knows he can trust The Doctor.

Ah, man… I just stood up and applauded Benton. Had to stop the playback and rewind and watch it again. Benton listens to The Doctor’s story and says, “Right then, Doctor, you’d better get busy.” When The Doctor looks at him, puzzled, he explains, “You’d better start overpowering me, hadn’t you?”

He allows The Doctor to knock him out with his Venusian karate, using a nerve pinch. The good Sgt drops like a rock and The Doctor takes off.

Grover returns to the lab to tell Whitaker and blondie that The Doctor is under lock and key. He says it doesn’t matter how long they’ll keep The Doctor locked up, as “Soon, The Doctor and his associates and everyone on this planet, except for our chosen group, will never have existed.”

Wow, that’s pretty heinous and massive!

Whitaker uses the time field to demonstrate how it can reverse time and we see a cup smashed by blondie leap back up into his hand. They seem well to small in scope to do what they’re planning, though… I would think demonstrations like this would have been done months ago.

Sarah Jane sneaks about the “spaceship”, accessing a control room, and flipping a switch, but nothing happens. She starts randomly punching buttons, but again, nothing happens.

She goes back and finds Mark, and when he grabs her, she begs him to listen.

General Finch tells Benton he’ll be court-martialed. Yates seems very uncomfortable about the whole situation. Finch orders Benton to be placed under arrest and leaves, with Yates in tow. The Brigadier asks Benton where The Doctor has gone off to, Benton says he believes he went to “that underground place”.

The Brig tells Benton to ready the men, they have to get there and find him before Finch and his men do – Finch has said The Doctor is to be shot on sight.

Sarah Jane argues with Mark, trying to show him some proof that all of this is a fake. Finally, she realises that she has to go to extreme measures, and goes through the airlock as he watches.

One of the Elders talks of talking to her, but Mark tries to dissuade him. It doesn’t seem it’s going to work.

The Doctor drives about London, trying to avoid military patrols, on his way to the underground lair. He is pursued and has to hide his jeep in a dilapidated warehouse until his pursuers pass by.

Sarah has left the “spaceship” and finds the laboratory. She overhears Whitaker and blondie talk (argue, really) about checking the reactor power levels. Poking about, she finds the lift and triggers the door. She finds herself back in the “file room” lift that leads to Grover’s office and slips out.

A helicopter flies over The Doctor and radios his activity to a patrol in a jeep. They get on his tail quickly and pursue. They find his jeep, but he’s nowhere in sight. The four soldiers get out and begin to search the woods, while The Doctor watches from hiding.

He grabs their jeep and calls in to the helicopter, pretending to be one of the patrol. He tells them they’ve caught their prey and are bringing him in. The ‘copter pilot says he’ll call off the other patrols. The Doctor drives off as one of the patrol men returns and fires on his jeep. Hopping in the other jeep, the soldier finds that the engine won’t start.

Sarah Jane argues with a guard at the school room over her not having a pass, over The Doctor being responsible for the monsters. General Finch shows up and Sarah Jane says she’ll tell him everything, as she knows what’s going on. Finch dismisses the guard and Sarah Jane tells him Minister Grover is behind it all. He plays skeptical but says they must go and investigate.

They arrive at Grover’s office and she leads him to the file room. After she activates the lift, Finch pulls out his gun and takes her prisoner and leads her to the lab room where Grover and Whitaker are. Grover gives Finch orders to withdrawl all the soldiers, including UNIT and the general leaves Sarah Jane with Grover.

Grover explains what they’re doing, that they’re going to “roll back time”.

In an attempt to drive out the last remnants of people in London, Whitaker brings in a bevy of dinosaurs all over London. The Doctor is forced to stop his jeep when a t-rex appears just in front of him… and the credits roll.

 

 

Episode 6:

I’m enjoying this immensely, but like many of the earlier serials, I think some tighter writing/editing, cutting out one episode, would make for a better story.

The appearance of the dino has killed the engine of the jeep The Doctor was driving and he’s forced to leave it. The t-rex and another dino get into a fight. It’s really, really bad puppetry/animation. Laughably bad. Ouch.

As The Doctor runs off, he comes across a jeep with Finch and two guards in it. Just then, the Brig and Benton come up behind The Doctor, claiming The Doctor as their prisoner (since Finch had, in fact, turned The Doctor over to UNIT earlier, the Brig is 100% correct.) Reluctantly, especially after Benton points a gun at them, Finch agrees and leaves.

Sarah Jane is thrown in a store room by blondie, who tells her she’ll be coming with them when it’s time to go.

The Brig, Benton and The Doctor return to the school room base to learn that the troops have been ordered by Finch to evacuate. The Doctor explains that Finch is part of it, along with Grover. The Doctor and Benton also try to convince the Brig that Yates is as well.

The Doctor finds a note from Sarah, saying she has proof Grover is behind it all. The duty private says she left the note “very early this morning” and left with General Finch. (The timing and pacing of these episodes is always uneven.)

The Brig says he’s going to contact Geneva, but The Doctor says there’s no time for that. When Benton gets Geneva on, the Brig is handed the phone but Yates comes in with a gun, stopping them.

Sarah Jane struggles and removes vent grill from a duct and climbs in.

Mike explains Whitaker’s plans. Mike seems willing to not exist, should they not be within the protective field – the base is on the edge of the expected field of protection from the time roll back. When the duty private comes back with tea, Mike is distracted and Benton kicks his gun away and grapples him.

On the spaceship, the Elders and Mark are waking up others, when Sarah Jane sneaks back on. She explains to Mark what’s going on.

The Doctor and the Brig head off to the tube station; Benton is staying behind to rendezvous with any remaining patrols and then bringing back up to help.

Sarah Jane and Mark try to convince the Elders and the awakening “colonists” the truth of things. However, they won’t listen and drag her and Mark away. Adam, one of the Elders seems to see some truth in their words. He begins fiddling with the controls, contacts spaceship one, asking to speak to Charles Grover.

The Doctor and the Brig head towards their destination, at one point driving the jeep under a brontosaurus. They arrive at their destination, to find a stegosaurus outside the entrance and have to scare it off with explosives.

On the spaceship, Charles Grover boards, having come over by shuttlecraft. He goes through the process of pressurising the air lock before entering. Then he takes off his space suit and asks Adam what the problem is.

The Doctor and the Brig make their way into the tube station.

In the “reminder room”, Grover confronts Sarah Jane and Mark, as Adam (the Elder) listens in from outside.

A triceratops comes near where The Doctor and the Brig are and Lethbridge-Stewart lights a flare to try to scare it off. The Doctor wires up some explosives while the Brig holds it off.

Adam frees Sarah Jane and Mark.

The Doctor blows the explosives, blowing a hole in the mop room, exposing the lift shaft. (Surely those below would have heard/felt the explosion?) The Doctor readies to scale down while the Brig goes back to the jeep to call in to Benton.

However, Finch has Benton at gun point. Benton makes a grab for the gun and the men struggle.

Sarah Jane shows everyone by exiting through the air lock that they’re not on a ship.

The Doctor has gained access to the bunker and takes out blondie with his Venusian karate.

Whitaker and Grover discuss Finch not being present; Whitaker says the timing is crucial they can’t wait. Grover says he must be on his way and should be in the protective area. As Whitaker moves to start things, the “colonists” arrive and Mark grabs him. Grover appeals to them to let go ahead. As he gives his speech, The Doctor, then shortly after, the Brig and his troops, arrive.

In the distraction, Whitaker grabs the lever and pulls it. The time effect begins, but The Doctor manages to move through the field and return the lever upwards, stopping it. He starts flipping other switches and toggles, but Grover leaps forward, grabbing the lever again. Whitaker tries to stop him, saying, “No! He’s reversed the polarity,” and as the two men struggle, Grover gets the lever down and both of them and the computer bank are sent back into the past.

The Doctor explains that because he was a Time Lord, he was able to move when nobody else could, saving the day. We get a pretty little speech from The Doctor about pollution (the moral of the story, I guess.) The Brig says he has to write a deposition for General Finch’s court-martial, and Benton asks about Captain Yates.

The Brig says he put Yates on extended sick leave and he’s been given the chance to resign quietly. “The best I could do,” the Brig says, somewhat disappointed.

As the Brig walks off, calling for Benton to follow, Benton leans over the table to address The Doctor and Sarah Jane. “Still, I’ll say one thing, not many Sergeants get the chance to punch a General on the nose!” They laugh, but when Benton turns, the Brig is standing right there.

“Just don’t make a habit of it, Benton,” the Brig says as the two soldiers depart.

The Doctor and Sarah Jane banter about the TARDIS; she says it’ll be a long while before she gets in, but The Doctor gives her a speech about a planet named Florana, one of the most beautiful planets in the universe. She keeps saying no, he keeps doing the hard sell… and the final credits roll.

A fun serial, again, could have used some tighter writing/editing. Shame about Captain Yates (I knew he ended up being a bit of a traitor, but never knew the specifics about it.)  

Serial 71 – Invasion of the Dinosaurs 1/2

Another serial I’ve not seen before/know nothing about. Looking forward to it!

Episode 1:

We open on what appears to be modern day London, the River Thames. But the streets are empty, devoid of people! London has become a ghost town. A few dogs roam the streets, picking through trash, but that’s it.

The TARDIS materialises in a park and Sarah Jane and The Doctor exit. Sarah seems uncertain that they’re in the right time period – she’s very suspicious of his getting her back to the right time and place, which suggests of some other adventures between THE TIME WARRIOR and now.

They find a telephone booth, but the line is dead. They decide to try catching a bus at the nearby stop.

A man carrying a duffel bag departs a building, looking about. Seeing the coast is clear, he starts descending the flights of metal stairs (it’s like a factory or warehouse), but lays down on one landing when he hears a jeep approaching. Soldiers in the jeep drive by, not seeing him and once they pass, he hurries down to his car, parked around the corner. He gets in and drives off.

Waiting at the bus station, The Doctor remarks there are no vehicles, pedestrians, bikers. They set off walking as a car comes down the road; they step out, trying to flag him down (seems to be the man we saw leaving the warehouse) and he almost runs them over.

He pulls up to a storefront, looking about, before grabbing the duffel bag and running it over to one of the storefronts.

The Doctor and Sarah Jane come down the street, as if following his car. They find it parked out front, door open. The Doctor sees an open door and enters, but the man has a gun pointed at them. He leaves them there, driving off, telling them to find their own places.

Sarah Jane tries calling the police, but there’s no answer.

Outside, they hear a car crash and a strange roaring. They dash out and down the street, to find the man dead, and his car totaled.

UNIT troops are in a room with a map of London, tracking sightings of something. The Brig is on the phone and Sgt Benton moves a push pin on a map to indicate the latest sighting. Captain Yates reports to the Brig about the looters becoming more organised, but the Brig is more concerned about the sightings.

At the police station, The Doctor and Sarah Jane try to get it, but it’s locked up. They have the looter’s duffel bag with them. They hear a vehicle and see a jeep roll by, but hear it slow down out of sight. They hurry to find it, but it’s already backed into a garage by time they get there.

Entering the garage, The Doctor calls out, “Hello,” and further in, we see the men scatter and hide. The Doctor encounters one of them and fights, but is attacked from behind. The men rush off after they hear the sound of automatic fire.

As The Doctor and Sarah Jane try to open the garage door, to drive the jeep they heard earlier, a pterodactyl flies down into the garage and attacks. They manage to get into the jeep and drive through the door to escape.

The Brig argues with a superior officer over firing on looters; the Brig feels it is wrong for his men to fire weapons at civilians. Talk of The Doctor comes up – the Brig is waiting for him to show up, any day now. The general(?) gives the Brig extra men for patrols, but with the caveat that any looters who do not surrender immediately will be shot.

The Doctor and Sarah Jane encounter a patrol who fire into the air and demand they raise their hands. They comply and are searched while the vehicle is searched and the loot is found inside. The Doctor realises there’s no point in arguing.

They’re brought into the processing location and are taken for mug shots. They seem to think it’s a big lark. One of their fellow captives tells them the military are in charge because of “the monsters”.

A tyrannosaurus rex burst through a building as army troops fire upon it. Using grenades, they chase the dinosaur off. Back at UNIT HQ, upon hearing the report, during which the radio cuts out, the Brig and Benton discuss the issue with the radio and how it must be related to the dinosaurs.

Upon reviewing the latest batch of looters, Benton comes across the pictures of The Doctor and Sarah Jane. The Brig orders Benton to send someone.

The Doctor and Sarah Jane’s fellow prisoner tries to get them to make a break for it. The Doctor says thanks but no thanks. An officer shows up and a trial (for lack of a better word) is held for their fellow prisoner. He’s declared guilty (it’s really that simple) and sentenced to be locked up during the course of emergency, to be turned over to civil authorities after the emergency has ended.

Sarah Jane tries to tell the officer they didn’t steal the items, but since that was the same story the guy before them gave, he’s not remotely believing it (and likely one he’s heard a hundred times before.) The Doctor tries to explain that he’s an associate of the Brig, but again, the man doesn’t buy it (not that I expect he’s heard that one before.)

The officer sentences them to the same sentence as the previous man. The officer leaves and the other prisoner gives them the “I told you so” line. The Doctor is more interested in the man’s escape plan. They fake a fight until the guard comes over and The Doctor immobilises him. The other prisoner turns the gun on them, but The Doctor takes care of him and he and Sarah Jane run off.

However, as they find a jeep and try to find the keys, the soldiers arrive and take them prisoner again. As they’re being transported (in the very vehicle they were trying to steal), the truck comes to a sudden halt. Looking out, they see the tyrannosaur… and the credits roll.

Okay, the dinosaurs are kinda shoddy, but if you can look past that, it’s a pretty fun serial so far. London under seige, abandoned, and dinosaurs? Yes, please.

Episode 2:

The soldiers exit the jeep and open fire on the rex. Using the distraction, Sarah Jane and The Doctor (handcuffed to each other by one wrist) slip out the back and run off. They find shelter in someone’s workshop and The Doctor rummages about for a tool or something to free them of the handcuffs.

The soldiers return to the truck to discover their prisoners are gone.

As The Doctor and Sarah Jane talk, trying to figure out how the dinosaurs got there, they encounter a man who seems to be from King Richard’s time. He attacks and during the struggle, a strange effect envelops him and he disappears.

Soldiers arrive and The Doctor and Sarah Jane try to bar the door, but there’s nothing to do so with. The door opens and The Doctor moves to attack, but it’s the Brig! He’s oh-so-thrilled to see his scientific advisor.

Back at UNIT’s HQ, the Brig fills in The Doctor and Sarah Jane what’s been going on; it started shortly after they left in THE TIME WARRIOR. The temporary HQ appears to be in a class room, from the children’s artwork on the walls. The Brig informs them they’ve evacuated eight million people from London.

It turns out that not only are the dinosaurs appearing and ravaging the streets, but they are also disappearing. General Finch arrives, wanting to hear The Doctor’s answers for what’s going on. The general thinks that some mad scientist has been breeding dinosaurs and lost control of them.

A dinosaur has been spotted and the Brig and The Doctor go off to see it. It’s a stegosaurus! I love stegs!

Back at the HQ, Yates and Sarah Jane are talking. He’s summing up “that business in Wales” and needing a holiday for a bit (referring to the events in THE GREEN DEATH and the mind control he underwent). They discuss London without people – Sarah Jane is bothered by it, but Yates rather prefers it.

As the Brig and several soldiers are about to give The Doctor a hand in trying to catch the stegosaurus, there’s another time eddy and it disappears.

Back at the schoolroom, The Doctor argues with Finch and tells everyone that whomever is responsible is in central London, despite it being evacuated.

We see several men in lab coats (and one of them is Nyder from GENESIS OF THE DALEKS – I mentioned this back in DOCTOR WHO AND THE SILURIANS, where Peter Miles played Dr. Lawrence, the head of the nuclear facility in that serial. I can’t wait till GENESIS OF THE DALEKS, I’ve always considered that my favourite of the original run) discussing the next time transference.

They discuss keeping the authorities off balance – whatever they’re up to, it has more to do than with just bringing in dinosaurs.

There’s a bit of “comic relief” where The Doctor is trying to work quietly but everyone keeps bugging him. It’s kinda cute, mostly for Sarah Jane’s part, but in the end, is ruined by Pertwee’s googly eyes of frustration.

The lab coated men receive a visit from Mike Yates – seems he’s in league with them!

Sir Charles Grover, the Minister with Special Powers (what about one with Super Powers, that’d be cool) arrives at the military HQ. The Doctor is still working on a device to KO a dinosaur. The Doctor recognises Grover as a staunch anti-pollutionist, and a man whose work he admires.

The main lab coat (Nyder’s actor, they haven’t named him in story yet) isn’t impressed with Yates’ opinion of The Doctor’s threat to their operation. His associate says if Yates is right, “Operation Golden Age” could be at risk, all their plans would be for naught. They tells Yates to deal with The Doctor, but he says he won’t harm him, nor allow any harm to be done. “If we descend to that sort of thing, we’re no better than the society we intend to replace,” he tells them.

It seems Mike is definitely in cahoots; he doesn’t seem blackmailed or under control. This is shocking to me, as I rather like Yates.

The Doctor tells Grover that he suspects the dinosaurs are merely being used to clear out central London for some greater purpose. A brontosaurus has been spotted, and the Brig, The Doctor and Benton go off to try out The Doctor’s stun gun. Grover is left behind and he has an odd look on his face (from his politics and ecological view point, I wonder if he’s part of the plan with the scientists and Yates.)

Lab coat boss guy gives Yates a small device to put on the stun gun, which will disable it.

At the location with the brontosaurus, they prepare to use the stun gun. Yates has arrived on scene and fetches the gun for him, placing the device given to him on it. He gives it to The Doctor who approaches the dinosaur and takes aim. He seems to have issues working the gun and the brontosaurus disappears in a time eddy.

Suddenly, behind The Doctor, a tyrannosaurus appears! The Brig orders for his men to fire… and the credits roll.

That’s a pretty good cliffhanger there!

Episode 3:

The troops fire on the t-rex, and the blast stuns The Doctor. Afraid for The Doctor’s safety, Yates rushes in, removes the disabling device, and uses the gun to stun the t-rex.

Later, Yates confronts the lab coats, accusing them of intentionally bringing in the t-rex, knowing it would kill The Doctor. He asks them permission to tell The Doctor what is going on. They say no and say he must go back and sabotage The Doctor’s instruments so he can’t track them.

After he leaves, the lab coats discuss Yates’ loyalty, fearing he’s too concerned with “this precious Doctor of his”.

The t-rex has been brought back to a warehouse, where it has been chained down. The Doctor says they must wait for the temporal energy to fade, upon which the dino will return to its proper time and he can trace the energy.

Sarah Jane says she’s been doing research into time travel experts and a man named Whitaker seems to be the leading scientist in the field. The Brig recognises his name and Sarah Jane says he’s disappeared about six months ago, after being refused government funding.

The Doctor and Sarah Jane catch a ride with the Brig back to the temporary UNIT HQ; The Doctor needs to get some equipment from the TARDIS, which has been brought back there. Once there, Minister Grover tries to put off any suspicion about Whitaker, saying he’s just a harmless crank.

General Finch is the only person who seems interested in Sarah Jane’s theory about Whitaker. When she complains about not being allowed to take pictures of the dinosaur, Finch gives her a note to take to his driver, saying he’ll take her to his HQ where she can get a special pass allowing her to photograph the dino.

After consulting with Grover, The Doctor and the Brig return, to find Sarah Jane gone. The Brig discovers that she left in the general’s car.

Sarah Jane returns to the warehouse, with her camera, so one assumes she got her pass. She begins photographing it and the flash starts to waken the sleeping dino. It begins to rise and Sarah Jane runs out, but cannot get past the office door, as it is locked. As she tries to get out, the dino’s tail starts smashing everything, knocking a piece of the wall down onto Sarah Jane. (Seems to me this would have been a great cliffhanger to end an episode on.)

The Doctor arrives in the nick of time to save her and they run out. The t-rex breaks through the warehouse wall as they drive off.

Back at the school room, Sarah Jane is being tended to by The Doctor. She says she was locked in on purpose, someone tried to kill her. Benton shows the Brig one of the chains – it was cut through. He says they were all like that. The Doctor’s machinery was sabotaged, as well.

Sarah Jane wants to track the power source and corrals Sgt Benton into assisting her. She goes to visit Minister Grover. He takes her into a file room and there’s a sinister air. He plays along with her and they find records of an underground bunker, built under that very building! It turns out that the file room is an elevator and has taken them below to the very bunker.

Benton tells The Doctor that Sarah Jane has gone out; The Doctor finds her behavior baffling.

Minister Grover and one of the lab coats (not Whitaker) leave Sarah Jane in a room, saying they won’t find her where she’s going. Lights begin to flash in the room and there’s a strange alarm-like sound. She begins to react adversely to the lights, entering an almost trance-like state.

She wakes on her back on a bed in a futuristic chamber. A man looms over her, welcoming her, talking about being on a spaceship heading to the planet that will be their new home. Looking out a window (or on a viewscreen perhaps) she sees outer space. The man says, “We left Earth three months ago,”… and the credits roll.

Okay, that’s a much better cliffhanger than the dinosaur bit. Wow. And that’s the cliffhanger you guys are going to get until Thursday!

See you then!

Serial 70 – The Time Warrior

Another serial I know nothing about, have never seen (that I recall.)

 

Episode 1:

We open with a new opening sequence, once with the full body of The Doctor going into the time tunnel effect.

As the serial starts, a comet or somesuch is visible in the night sky.

Several men in furs and armour sit at the table eating; one man, a Captain, complains of the food and wine served him. The Captain and his associate agree to raid their neighbor’s storage.

Suddenly, a star falls into the forest; they wake men sleeping in the house, but nobody wants to go with the Captain. They argue until he agrees to wait until dawn – the men fear demons in the forest.

After the sun has risen, the men go out into the forest and find the ‘star’ – a large sphere with facets. It opens and an armoured being steps out, one that is well known to later fans of the series, though this is their first appearance – a Sontaran! The Captain challenges the alien, who shoots his sword with his handheld weapon.

Using a translator device, the Sontaran (who identifies himself as Sontaran officer Linx) speaks to the men; one thinks he’s a “Saracen”. As the two men watch, Linx plants a flag and claims the planet for the Sontaran Empire.

They take him back to the castle. The captain tells the Sontaran that he took the castle by force, the locals pay tribute to him. Linx offers him weapons, weapons he can kill men from far away, in exchange for assistance with his ship.

The Brig brings The Doctor to a top secret location, a scientific think tank where people have been vanishing – half a dozen scientists and great amounts of equipment have gone missing.

We see Linx overseeing men working at computer consoles – obviously, he’s been kidnapping the scientists. Already Linx grows tired of dealing with the “primitives”.

We see that he’s given Captain Irongron a rifle, though the warlord struggles to master the aim.

The Doctor meets one of the scientists, Joseph Ruebish. The Doctor uses the pseudonym, Doctor John Smith, again. Ruebish introduces The Doctor to a Lavinia Smith, who looks a helluva lot like a Sarah Jane to me!!!!!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! Sarah Jane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry.

The Doctor confronts “Lavinia”, notably on her age not meshing with a paper written by the real Lavinia. It turns out that Sarah Jane’s aunt is the Lavinia, but she’s in America, so Sarah Jane used her aunt’s invite to sneak in, see if she could find a good story – she’s a reporter, you see.

(Okay, now this is BS. Sarah Jane can sneak in as her aunt, but The Doctor and the Brig talked about the security being so tight, they almost didn’t let the Brig in?)

Sarah Jane gets upset when The Doctor says he won’t turn her in, hoping she can hang about to make coffee.

Sir Edward of Wessex discusses the plight of having to put up with Irongron’s raiding and bullying with his wife. It seems the good king has conscripted most of their troops leaving him with only a handful of men; others locally are in the same boat. He hopes to unite the local lords against Irongron.

Irongron’s men bring Sir Edward’s squire before Irongron. Irongron and his men can’t read the message the squire carried, nor would the squire reveal the nature of the missive.

Irongron and Linx meet; Irongron wants Linx to make the squire speak.

Professor Ruebish has found out that Sarah Jane is not Lavinia. He wants to rat her out to the Brig.

Linx uses his weapon, but on a different frequency, on the squire. Linx tells Irongron “this is a key, it has unlocked your prisoner’s mind.” When Irongron asks questions about Sir Edward’s castle, the squire answers truthfully, in a trance-like state.

Linx grows tired of the interrogation and tries to leave; when Irongron tells him he has not given him leave and bars his way with his axe, Linx cuts the axe in half with his weapon (it’s a blaster it’s a mind-unlocker, it might be a Sontaran version of the sonic screwdriver!)

The Doctor naps while a device set to detect delta particles wakes him up; Professor Ruebish mysteriously disappears from within his bunk cubicle, with The Doctor outside the door. Using a tracer, The Doctor goes outside and sees an ghostly image of the Sontaran. One of the UNIT guards sees it and fires, but it passes through his image.

The Doctor hurries to get his equipment in the TARDIS so he can follow the trail, while trying to explain it all to the Brig. While they talk, Sarah Jane pokes about in the TARDIS. The Doctor slips in and the TARDIS dematerialises.

An archer in the woods hears the TARDIS materialise. The Doctor pats the TARDIS door, praising her, “Right on target… for once.” He walks off, and shortly after, Sarah Jane exits, going to look for a telephone.

Irongron and his right hand man, Bloodaxe, talk about raiding Sir Edward’s castle.

The archer fires an arrow at Irongron, but Sarah Jane distracts him and the arrow misses its target, barely. Irongron’s men chase after him as he runs off, one of them grabbing Sarah Jane, as The Doctor watches from the woods.

He slips into Irongron’s castle, searching for Sarah Jane, presumably. He hears Linx approaching and hides. The Sontaran enters the courtyard, looks around and then takes off his helmet, revealing the horrible countenance that we all know and love. Or something… and the credits roll.

An interesting start so far – an alien meddling in history, kidnapping of modern day scientists and equipment, and a creepy Sontaran licking his lips. What more would you want in a serial?

Episode 2:

Irongron’s men bring the archer into the courtyard, forcing Linx to don his helmet (not wanting the humans to know he isn’t one of them) and The Doctor to find another hiding spot.

Sarah Jane is brought to Irongron and Bloodaxe; she still thinks it’s a renaissance fair sort of thing she’s come across. As she demands to use their telephone, the archer is brought in. He reveals that Sir Edward’s wife, Lady Eleanor, is the one who sent him to kill Irongron.

Sarah Jane tries to figure out where she is – not a village pageant, nor a film set, so she decides it must be a tourist trap. As she goes on criticism them, Irongron yells at her to shut up. Linx enters, and from his startlement at Sarah Jane, we learn that Sontarans do not have males and females.

Linx realises from Sarah Jane’s clothes that she’s from the Twentieth century. He uses his catch-all device/weapon to “unlock” her mind and starts questioning her about how she got there, who this Doctor is, etc.

Irongron demands from Linx about the “new weapon” and Linx brings in a remote controlled robot soldier in full armour. Sarah Jane slips off as Linx demonstrates to Irongron how it works.

She bumps into The Doctor but runs from him; he moves to pursue but must hide as Irongron’s men bring the archer by.

In the courtyard, Irongron stays Bloodaxe from beheading the archer, giving him the chance to win his freedom in a fight agains the “iron man”. Bloodaxe protests, saying the archer has the advantage at such close range, but Irongron tells him to watch and see.

The archer’s arrows strike true, but to everyone’s surprise and most of the men’s delight, he moves onward, approaching the archer. On one of the upper levels, The Doctor emerges and sees what’s happening. He grabs a crossbow and shoots the controller out of Irongron’s hand. The “iron man” goes rogue, approaching Irongron, swinging it’s sword.

The archer slips off with help from Sarah Jane.

Irongron cuts off the head of the “iron man” and it falls, still moving. Irongron says he will have words with Linx about this.

In Linx’s computer room, the scientists work at the computers. The Doctor watches through a grill in the wall. Irongron bangs at the door, demanding to speak to Linx. Irongron bursts through and is startled to see Linx’s unhelmeted features, but quickly regains his composure.

Linx says he will make a better one, one without a hand control unit, but takes Irongron away to go deactivate the beheaded one. Once they leave, The Doctor slips into the room, investigating Linx’s sphere. He pokes around the room, trying to talk to the scientists and seeing that firearms are being mass produced.

Ruebish is there, though not hypnotised like the rest – The Doctor suspects the hypnosis is done through an ocular device, since Ruebish is nearly blind without his glasses. The Doctor tries to get Ruebish to come along with him, but as they argue, Linx returns.

It seems The Doctor is already aware of the race of Sontarans. Linx says he doesn’t care about the effects his actions will have on Earth, he just wants to return to the war, and says nothing and nobody will stop him, and fires his weapon at The Doctor who reacts in pain.

The archer has brought Sarah Jane to his Lord and Lady. Sarah Jane seems to think The Doctor is the one working with Irongron. She encourages them to try a commando raid.

The Doctor recovers; Linx praises his willpower and says he could have increased the power, but it might have killed him and he would rather keep The Doctor alive – his mind could be put to good use.

Linx explains that he crash landed after being shot down by Rutans (the enemies of the Sontarans.) The Doctor admits to being a Time Lord, and while Linx knows of his people, he is not overly impressed.  (Note: For the first time ever, the name of the Time Lords’ home planet is given – Gallifrey!)  

The Doctor makes the offer to help Linx if he would consider returning the people to their rightful time. Linx will not listen to bargains. He hooks The Doctor up to a device, forcing him to work on Linx’s problems under duress.

We get more googly faces from Pertwee.

Sarah Jane leads a small group of men into Irongron’s castle. I’ve always loved Sarah Jane, I love her more now. They overhear Irongron and Linx talking about their new weapons from Linx and their plans to attack Sir Edward.

Ruebish helps The Doctor escape the device he’s attached to, but quickly is pursued by Irongron’s men. Sarah Jane and the archer (Hal, I think) see Irongron loom over The Doctor, lifting his axe, saying, “He who strikes Irongron dies,”… and the credits roll.

Nice cliffhanger for a week’s wait, fortunately we don’t have to wait!

 

 

Episode 3:

Hal shoots the axe out of Irongron’s hand, allowing The Doctor to escape. Sarah Jane calls to him and he dashes to her, but is taken prisoner by the men accompanying her.

Ruebish works on a lens to help himself see better.

The Doctor explains to Sarah Jane what’s been going on, that he works for UNIT and he was trying to investigate. Sarah Jane seems to realise he’s speaking truth, at least some truth, though she tells Sir Edward and Lady Eleanor that she’s not sure if he’s telling the truth or just trying to save his own skin.

Hal informs Edward of Wessex that they overheard Irongron’s plans to attack. The Doctor offers to help create an illusion that Edward’s castle is fully manned.

Linx demands to accompany Bloodaxe and Irongron on their attack on Wessex’s castle.

Sarah Jane and The Doctor have a chat about who he is, what he can do in the TARDIS. He explains that his people don’t like unauthorised time travelers.

When Irongron and his men arrive, they see mock ups of men “manning” the walls, and Linx dissuades them from giving up before the battle is fought. Using the rifles, they determine there are dummies present and begin to scale the castle using ladders.

The defenders throw pouches of noxious powder that explode in smoke and stench, as well as fire arrows down on the brigands, until Irongron calls for the retreat.

Back at his castle, Irongron chastises his men, saying they will attack again in the morning. Linx chastises Irongron for his own cowardice and the two fight, Linx easily knocking Irongron about.

Sir Edward, Lady Eleanor, Sarah Jane and company sit and celebrate their victory, though The Doctor advises they won’t be so lucky again. He advocates taking Irongron’s castle from him.

Irongron and Bloodaxe talk; Irongron tells him that he plans to kill Linx once he gets the weapons that the man from the stars has promised.

The Doctor and Sarah Jane, dressed as monks, seek and are granted entry into Irongron’s castle. They find their way to Linx’s workshop, where Ruebish encounters them. He tells The Doctor and Sarah Jane about the pace the scientists have been working under, repairing Linx’s spaceship.

Linx brings a crate of weapons to Bloodaxe and Irongron, but they trade harsh words, each trying to outbluster the other.

The Doctor tries to break the hypnotic spell on the scientists, but Linx returns to the workshop before they have much success. Linx tries to rouse the scientists to work, but they’re dying from malnutrition and sleep deprivation. The Doctor comes out of hiding and makes the offer – return the men to their rightful place, help him take Irongron and his men captive and he will help finish the repairs.

Linx’s answer is to fire his weapon at The Doctor… and the credits roll.

 

 

Episode 4:

Sarah Jane rushes out as The Doctor falls, distracting him. The Doctor recovers enough to talk and they argue. The Doctor speaks of every race having a weakness, the Sontaran weakness being the hole at the back of their neck, which is a message to Ruebish, who sneaks up and strikes Linx on the spot indicated, dropping him.

Sarah, dressed in period garb, goes off to enact “the rest of” The Doctor’s plan.

Irongron sends Bloodaxe to fetch Linx as the men ready for their next attack.

The Doctor ties up Linx. When Bloodaxe arrives to deliver Irongron’s demand for his presence, The Doctor puts on Linx’s helmet and does his best mimicking of his voice to delay for time. After Bloodaxe departs, The Doctor sets Ruebish to freeing the scientists’ minds while he muses over the “iron man”.

Sarah Jane is caught in the scullery, stealing food. She pretends to be a starving lady and the kitchen worker says she will let her earn some food.

The “iron man” marches into the main hall where Irongron and his men ready for battle. It is obvious The Doctor in armour pretending to be a second robot.

Irongron demands a test of the mettle of the metal man (my pun, not his) and he and The Doctor fight, The Doctor besting him, but the battle continues anew when Bloodaxe is ordered to join in. Eventually, The Doctor’s ruse is revealed.

Irongron says that since The Doctor is a wizard, he shall die by wizardry.

Sarah Jane tries to stir up (no pun intended) the kitchen supervisor against the men, but it is to no avail. She does, however, get a chance to lace the meat and oatmeal with some drug The Doctor had prepared.

Ruebish gets the scientists free of the hypnotic control and explains that they have to pretend they’re still hypnotised until The Doctor can return to send them home. They hear Irongron coming and all start working as if hypnotised. He finds Linx and frees him.

The Doctor is to be used as target practice for Irongron’s men practicing with the rifles as Irongron, Bloodaxe and Linx watch.

Sarah Jane, hearing the shots, leaves the kitchen, hoping to help. She swings a chandelier down, allowing The Doctor to swing to freedom and lock everyone in the great hall.

They flee, slowing to a stroll, and disabling the two guards, and returning to Sir Edward’s. There, The Doctor says he will wait until the potion Sarah Jane put in the food takes effect. Sarah Jane and Hal offer to assist him when he does return.

Linx’s ship is fixed, he need only wait for the power to build up.

The Doctor exits the TARDIS, carrying a fan.

The guards at the gate fall asleep. The Doctor joins Hal and Sarah Jane watching from outside. They enter after a bit, finding Ruebish, who says Linx put the osmic projector (the device needed to return the scientists to their time) back in the ship. The Doctor fetches it and shows Ruebish how to operate it.

Linx and Irongron argue, but the humans seem giddy and foolish – likely a result of the spiked food.

“He is a toad, who knows what a toad thinks?” – Irongron.

The men, one by one, begin to fall asleep.

Linx returns to his workshop and begins to fight The Doctor, who used the fan to deflect Linx’s weapon. Ruebish sends the others back, and then Sarah Jane sends him back.

Hal makes it to the main hall, disarming the men, but Irongron stirs and knocks him down. He thinks Linx is the source of the treachery and heads to confront Linx. When he arrives, Linx has just downed The Doctor and the Sontaran turns his weapon on Irongron and blasts him.

Hal rises and wakes Bloodaxe, telling him to get the others out if they want to live.

Linx’s ship is ready to launch; as the door begins to close, Hal fires an arrow into the weak spot on the back of his neck, killing him. His body slumps forwad, initiating take off sequence too soon.

The Doctor, Hal and Sarah run for their lives. They barely escape the castle before there is a great explosion and the entire structure is reduced to rubble.

The Doctor and Sarah Jane say good bye to Hal and enter the TARDIS. Hal watches as the TARDIS dematerialises… and the final credits roll.

A good story, great to see Sarah Jane be so much more than another screaming pretty face. Fun characters, good pacing, a solid serial and a wonderful start for Sarah Jane, who has always been one of my favourite companions.