Serial 150 – Dragonfire 3/3

Recap: The Doctor and crew have found the treasure – the “dragonfire”, held within the head of the robotic ‘dragon’. Kane, who has waited three thousand years, is close to obtaining it for his revenge.

Episode 3:

Kane sends his men to find and destroy the creature, ordering them to bring back its head.

The Doctor ponders Proamnon, wondering why it’s troubling him. He can’t recall if it was the past or future, and what the significance is/was. Glitz asks if this is important.

He responds, “Is a grain of sand important, Glitz,” and says he must go back to the TARDIS to consult the star charts. Glitz says the ice garden is a form of star chart and The Doctor leaves the three of them there to go investigate.

Two of Kane’s white-suited lackeys talk about going on an “ANT hunt” (Aggressive Non-Terrestrial). The woman tells the man they’ll need bigger weapons and she gets to big rifles for them.

Mel suggests playing “I Spy”, which elicits a look of disbelief from Ace.

The lackeys go on their ANT-hunt.

The dragon leads The Doctor through the corridors.

Kane addresses an assembly of white-suited and black-suited and grey-suited people, saying the Dragonfire will soon be his, and they will leave. He orders them to spread terror through Iceworld, driving everyone towards the Nosferatu. “I want no one left in Iceworld!”

The Doctor examines the star charts, seeing a red star with orbiting planets, but says they’re out of position.

Ace complains that she’s out of nitro, and the girls want to go back to fetch some from her flat, but Glitz says he’s got commercial explosives on the Nosferatu and orders them to stay while he fetches it.

Dejected, Ace says, “I Spy, with my little eye, something beginning with I.”

“Ice,” Mel replies.

“Your go,” Ace tells her.

The mercenaries attack the cafeteria. People panic.

The dragon leaves the ice garden and The Doctor follows.

The ANT-hunters lay in wait for the dragon. It blasts at them as The Doctor runs past, and it backtracks. They follow it.

Kane slips into his cabinet.

The Doctor returns to the girls, asking where Glitz is. Mel tells him and he says they have to hurry if they want to stop Kane and save the creature.

The ANT-hunters are tracking the creature in a scene that I’m sure is a nod to ALIENS, with their tracker saying it’s approaching them, it’s all around them. They find the little girl from the cafeteria (wow, really, so she’s the Newt character?) and the man fires on her, but fortunately he’s as accurate as a Stormtrooper, so she’s fine.

They order the girl to come out from beneath the stairs and she does. Just as they wonder why the tracker is picking up the girl, the dragon comes up from behind them, attacking them, but they run off. The dragon and girl look at each other.

The Doctor leads the girls back to the TARDIS, saying that unless they convince Kane that “his star charts are hopelessly wrong,” the creature will be always in danger from him.

The dragon carries the girl back to the mercantile area. She waves and says goodbye and they part ways.

People rush towards the Nosferatu.

The girl runs about the command center/console room. She sits down and plays with her teddy bear.

Glitz arrives at the docking bay just after everyone runs through and the door is shut. He cries out in anguish as the Nosferatu launches. It flies off.

Kane, in the control room (where’s the girl?) watches the ship on a scanner, then presses a button, blowing it up.

Glitz, looking rather serious, growls, “Kane.”

The Doctor and Mel take Ace into the TARDIS. Mel does the “well, it’s bigger on the inside than the outside” line which is disappointing.

The Doctor looks up his star charts, saying there is no planet Proamnon. He yells at the girls to be quiet and then storms out. They follow.

Ace separates from the others to get some nitro from her room.

Glitz wanders, looking for The Doctor and girls. The little girl’s mother (the one Ace milkshaked) sees him and asks him to keep an eye out for her little girl.

The ANT-hunters ambush the dragon.

Kane catches Ace in her quarters. (Why would he be waiting there?)

The ANT-hunters cut the head from the dragon. They pull it off and it opens up, revealing the Dragonfire, which blasts both of them.

Glitz enters Ace’s room, finding the handle frozen and brittle.

The Doctor and Mel find the dragon ‘corpse’ and the dead ANT-hunters. They take the crystal out, the Time Lord saying it’s time to “put an end to all this death and destruction”.

Glitz rummages through Ace’s apartment, when The Doctor and Mel show up, demanding to know where she is. They leave, but Kane contacts them via PA, offering them Ace for the Dragonfire.

In the restricted zone, the little girl puts the teddy bear in Kane’s cabinet, kissing it and saying, “Good night, Teddy.”

The Doctor, Mel and Glitz confront Kane, saying they know about Proamnon from the archives. Kane reveals that the dragon was his jailer, but with the Dragonfire, he can return to Proamnon to exact his revenge.

Mel refuses to give it to him, and Ace begs, “I’m sixteen, I’m too young to be freeze-dried!” The Doctor tries to explain, but Kane insists they place it in the circuit or he’ll kill Ace.

Reluctantly, Mel does so. Ace runs over to them as the complex of Iceworld becomes active – turns out it is a giant ship and it launches from Svartos.

Kane begins waxing about his revenge, but The Doctor says it’s too late, Proamnon had been destroyed by their sun going supernova two thousand years ago.

Devastated by this, Kane opens a sun shield, letting in unfiltered sunlight which melts him.

Glitz has taken the ship (Iceworld) as his own.

In the TARDIS, Mel tells The Doctor that it’s time for her to say goodbye. He becomes very gruff, brusque, saying if it’s time, it is time. She tries to say her piece, but he says there’s no time. He waxes poetic about time, about not having met, having met, not knowing.

She says goodbye, he tells her to think of him, the old homeless traveler in his police box, while she’s at home.

“Who said anything about home,” she asks. “I’ve got much more crazy things to do, yet.” They hug as Glitz and Ace enter. He says he’s renamed Iceworld as NOSFERATU II and says he’s going to drop Ace off in Perivale. She’s less than enthused.

Mel asks if Glitz has room for one more, saying she can help keep an eye on him, keep him out of trouble. “And that means no more dodgy deals.” Glitz, almost reluctantly, agrees.

Turning to The Doctor, Mel tells him that Ace has nowhere to go. He says Perivale is “an idyllic place”.

Glitz tells Mel to hurry along and she tells The Doctor she’ll send him a postcard. “But I don’t have an address,” he replies.

“I’ll put it in a bottle and throw it into space. It’ll reach you… in time.” Best parting line for a companion. She leaves and when Ace goes to follow he calls out to her, asking where she thinks she’s going.

Moping, she replies, “Back to Perivale.” He replies she can go the direct route with Glitz or the scenic route with him and still make it back in time for tea. Obviously, she’s thrilled at this.

He explains there are three rules, “One, I’m in charge. Two, I’m not The Professor, I’m The Doctor. And the third… well, I’ll think up a third by the time we get back to Perivale.”

Outside the TARDIS, the little girl tries to get into it, but her mother comes along and says it’s time to go. The mother walks off and the girl watches as the TARDIS dematerialises, smiling brightly… and the final credits roll.

A nice farewell to Mel (and I’m very glad to see her go, she is not a companion I hold in high regard) and I’m curious to see how Ace is handled. All in all, this was a good serial. Hoping the last two seasons hold up better (though I know the final serial is god-awful, having seen it a couple years ago.)

Serial 150 – Dragonfire 2/3

Recap: The Doctor and Mel come to Iceworld, a shop and stop center. The Doctor has heard stories of “the ice dragon” and wants to check it out. They run into their old friend Sabalom Glitz and he and The Doctor go into the lower levels, as the con man has a map he believes to be legit.

Mel, meanwhile, has gotten into some trouble with a friend she and The Doctor made earlier, Ace. The girls are on the run from the mysterious Mister Kane (who runs Iceworld, and is building an army of mercenaries that he’s keep in cryo-sleep.)

Episode 2:

I still don’t see why Teh Doctor had to exit the perfectly safe, stable walkway. He dangles there, looking stupid.

The ‘dragon’ shoots laser beams at the girls and they run off.

Glitz leans over the railing (you know, to the PERFECTLY SAFE WALKWAY that The Doctor left and is now dangling from about to fall to his death) and says it’s no use, he’s found the ice garden, but no dragon or treasure. Glitz teases The Doctor but agrees to rescue him.

Kane confronts Belasz about not searching the girls; we learn that Kane once had feelings for Belasz and he says that is behind them. He says the girls must be stopped from reaching Glitz and The Doctor and he awakens Glitz’s former crew (who were the ones we saw marched in at the beginning of the first episode) to send them after the girls.

Glitz helps The Doctor to safety with some ricockulous physical “comedy”. (I know physical comedy was part of McCoy’s routine as a stand-up comedian, but still…)

Belasz listens in on a conversation between Glitz and The Doctor (presumably through the tracking device in the map) about how Kane is cold and ruthless, has a lump of ice for a heart.

Glitz and The Doctor come to an arrangement – The Doctor will help Glitz steal his ship back, in exchange for the map.

Kane watches an artisan work on the statue. He praises the work and says that he almost believes that Xana (the woman the sculpture is of) still lives, looking at it. He praises her beauty and criminal mind and laments her death.

Mel and Ace are on the trail of The Doctor and Glitz. Ace just happens to have a rope/chain ladder in her backpack and drops it down for them to descend.

The Doctor and Glitz find one guard where the docking bay that the Nosferatu is berthed. The Doctor distracts the guard by getting into a philosophical discussion about the nature of existence.

Glitz, having slipped in his ship, readies to bolt, but Belasz is there with a gun. They argue until The Doctor enters, and she asserts that she’s going to leave Iceworld in the Nosferatu. When they argue over whether she belongs to Kane or not, Glitz disarms her.

The Doctor chides Glitz for wanting to bolt, demanding that he pay back his debt to Kane. He tells Belasz, sadly, that he doesn’t think she could ever pay off her debt.

The statue of Xana is finished, and Kane says nobody should ever see the artisan’s work and kills him.

Glitz’s crew catch up with the girls, who run off.

The Doctor and Glitz, following the map, encounter the ‘dragon’, though it seems more humanoid than not. The creature pursues them, cutting through a door with laser fire.

Mel and Ace toss explosive deodorant cans at the mercenaries. One survives and chases them. Mel runs into some metal stairs (no, really, that’s just as bad as your typical slasher movie girl falling down in the woods.) Ace drags her under the stairs as the mercenary comes after them, but the hiding spot seems to work.

The ‘dragon’ breaks through the door and Glitz tries to fire on it. The Doctor struggles with him and throws the gun away, saying they’ve “no right to kill”. The creature looks at them and turns around. When Glitz wonders why it didn’t kill them, The Doctor says they should ask it.

Officer Kracauer and Belasz have a conversation in the console room, talking about working for Kane, about selling theirselves to Kane. She says if they don’t kill him first, Kane will kill them. She says they can use heat to kill him, telling Kracauer about the refrigeration cabinet.

Ace pulls out some coffee out of her backpack (she’s got everything in there) and tells Mel about believing she was meant for something bigger and better when she was on Earth, dreaming that she was from elsewhere, didn’t belong there. She talks about how it happened, that she was swept away, but now she can’t dream of going elsewhere.

Kane tells the statue of Xana that one day they’ll return home and he’ll erect “colossal statues in your honour”. He goes into his cabinet.

Ace asks Mel if she tells her her name, will she promise not to laugh or tell anyone else. Mel agrees, of course. “Dorothy” is her real name. (Have you figured it out yet?)

Kracauer enters the restricted zone and turns up the temperature on the cabinet.

The Doctor and Glitz reunite with the girls. Then the mercenary catches up with them. Glitz tries to talk him down, but The Doctor says he won’t remember anything from being cryo-frozen. However, the man remembers how Glitz betrayed them.

As they back up, the man raises his gun, but the ‘dragon’ blasts him. The Doctor greets the creature, making friends. It beckons them to follow.

As the cabinet temperature rises, the statue of Xana melts. Kane exits his cabinet, having trouble breathing. He sees Kracauer, and then seeing the statue, kills him. He realises Belasz is behind this, cursing her as he lowers the temperature in the room again.

The dragon leads them to the singing trees. The creature taps into the crystals and plays back a video/holographic archive, a woman in white robes. She relates the story of the Kane-Xana gang, who terrorised their homeworld of Proamnon and Kane was exiled to Svartos.

Kane confronts Belasz, saying he’s been thinking of her request to leave him – and he’s reconsidered it and will allow it. He uses this to distract her to get close enough to touch her (and kill her), saying he’s been waiting three thousand years for his revenge and he’s not going to let her stop him now that he’s so close.

The hologram shows a picture of Xana, and says she killed herself rather than be caught and tried for her crimes.

Mel wonders where the creature came from. Glitz asks if this room is the treasure, but The Doctor says Kane could get here easily enough. He says that Kane fears fire, so what better to guard it than a “fire breathing dragon”, but then he posits that the creature itself might be the treasure.

When The Doctor asks the dragon if this is so, the head of the creature (which is a robot) opens up, revealing a large crystal. Glitz, of course, says it must be worth a fortune, but The Doctor says the energy inside is more important, a power source than an evil mind such as Kane would want.

Kane, listening in, rejoices that they found it. “After three thousand years, the dragonfire shall be mine…” and the credits roll.

A decent cliffhanger that one. I’m rather enjoying this, despite the silliness. See you Friday…

Serial 134 – Planet of Fire 2 / 2

Recap: The Doctor, Turlough and Kamelion meet Peri on Earth; they go to Sarn, a planet with a colony threatened by a volcano. There’s religious/political drama going on. Kamelion, controlled by The Master, is using the religious drama to get his way. Turlough feels his family might have crashed there, as he is from Trion and there are signs and equipment from a Trion ship there. He and the chosen one, Malkon, bear the same mark on their arm.

Episode 3:

The Doctor demands that K-Master stop it, but he refuses.

Turlough, Malkon and Peri rush towards the temple.

K-Master orders that The Doctor is added to those being forced towards the fire.

Turlough sends Malkon into the temple, telling him to keep them occupied; Turlough takes Peri with him and they go off in another direction – he has a plan!

Malkon enters, ordering the sacrifice to stop. Everyone stops. K-Master yells, demanding the burning proceed. He demands to know who the boy is, and The Doctor jumps at the chance, “Don’t you know, this is Malkon, chosen one of the Sarns!”

He tells the others that he’s no Outsider, he doesn’t even know the chosen one or understand their laws.

Turlough and Peri go to the machinery in the caves. He begins messing with the controls, saying he hopes to snuff the sacrificial flame.

K-Master tells Timanov that if the burning does not go forward, there will be no gifts and he will call down the wrath of Logar upon them. The Elder says that Malkon is over-ruled and to continue the burning. Malkon leaps forward, trying to stop it, and is shot for his troubles!

As K-Master points to The Doctor and says, “To the fire with the unbeliever,” the flames in the pit go away. Timanov says that Logar is upset that his chosen one has been struck down, shouting and turning to face K-Master as he says (shouts) this. (Lots of shouting in this serial, what what?)

Turlough and Peri view the temple and see that Turlough snuffed the fire.

The Doctor checks on Malkon; the boy is not dead, but he tells the others with him to play along as if he were. They cover Malkon with a shirt, but the boy does tell The Doctor that The Master is in fact Kamelion.

The Doctor turns and walks over to K-Master, saying life must be complicated for him. K-Master doesn’t quite grasp his statement and questions it. “Not only are you a phony Outsider, you’re not even the real Master! You’re just a machine.” He begins to force his will on K-Master.

K-Master turns to Timanov demanding that he kill The Doctor, but the Elder says there must be a sign. As they watch, K-Master changes into K-S-Howard.

Peri and Turlough watch this transpire on the video display in the cave as well. Peri gives Turlough the comparator from the TARDIS and she and Turlough rush off to help.

The Doctor continues to force his will, hoping to force Kamelion to his true form. In his TARDIS, The Master struggles to assert his will. He tells K-S-Howard to use the cave to shield him from The Doctor’s mind. K-S-Howard orders The Doctor taken to the cave.

Peri and Turlough watch as The Doctor and other unbelievers are put in the cave. This allows Kamelion to return to K-Master form, and The Master has control again. He picks up one of the Sarn rifles and aims it at The Doctor.

Peri rushes in, appealing to Kamelion, saying he’s supposed to be The Doctor’s friend. K-Master turns, gloating that he’s grown stronger and her mind has no effect on her. Timanov demands there be no other killing except for by fire, as only that is acceptable to Logar.

The Master orders that K-Master take Peri with him and to leave The Doctor to die in the cataclysm.

Timanov demands to know where the gifts from Logar are. K-Master says they’re hidden in safe keeping, at the ruins, and then leaves, dragging Peri behind him. Timanov and his followers, well, they follow.

The Doctor deduces that the residue in the cave must be what prevented him for forcing Kamelion to revert.

Turlough slips in then, and opens the door keeping The Doctor and unbelievers in the flame chamber. He tells them that he rerouted the flow. They check on Malkon, who is unconscious but alive. Turlough tells The Doctor that he suspects that Malkon is his brother.

At the ruins, K-Master (grabbing Peri by her wrist), leads Timanov and the faithful. He points out his overturned TARDIS, covered by rubble, saying it is a wonderful gift and they just need to remove the rubble. Timanov looks like an eight year old boy at Christmas morning.

Turlough explains that the last Trion ship crashed and Malkon was the only survivor. He says the ship “must have been the ship my father was on,” though how he deduced that isn’t remotely clear. He tells The Doctor that he knows his brother would have been the only infant on the ship.

The Doctor asks Amyand if he knows of the ruins; he says he does and will lead him there. Turlough gets up to go with them and the Time Lord wonders why he doesn’t want to stay with Malkon. Turlough says he could be useful there and shows him the brand on his arm.

“Does everyone on Trion have this mark,” The Doctor asks.

“No, you have to be very special,” Turlough replies.

K-Master watches with glee as they uncover the M-TARDIS. Timanov and the others realise it is just a pillar of stone. Peri tries to warn the Elder that K-Master is about to “pull a bunk”.

K-Master promises that “This is a day of reckoning for us all.”

The Doctor and Turlough follow Amyand through some tunnels; the Time Lord says there must be some reason why The Master is using Kamelion as his pawn, that something has happened. Turlough wonders if he’s having another regeneration crisis, but The Doctor doesn’t think so, saying The Master’s current body should last for a few years yet.

The M-TARDIS is lifted upright. Peri calls out, telling them not to let him enter, but he pushes her in and follows, stopping to turn to Timanov and snipe, “Gullible idiot,” before closing the door.

A moment later, The Doctor, Turlough and Amyand arrive.

In the M-TARDIS, Peri exclaims, “It’s just like The Doctor’s,” and it is, though the colour scheme is different. K-Master says the M-TARDIS is, “Infinitely superior, as I am to that galactic philanthropist.”

Turlough shows Timanov his mark of Logar, saying he is the new chosen one and orders him to let The Doctor into the D-TARDIS. Turlough does a great job of bluffing and Timanov gives in when Turlough brings up the murder of Malkon.

Even though Turlough has given The Doctor the comparator back, The Doctor realises that the temporal stabiliser has been removed too.

The M-TARDIS disappears, much to Turlough’s dismay and everyone else’s surprise.

The Doctor realises that the M-TARDIS is still on Sarn.

Peri and K-Master exit the M-TARDIS, finding themselves in a control room that K-Master says is “in the heart of the volcano.” She stands up to him and he shows her the TCE, threatening her with it. To demonstrate, he uses it on some nearby hanging safety suits (for dealing with extreme fire/temperature, obviously.) He shrinks two of the three suits and says if she misbehaves, that will be her fate.

The Doctor asks Amyand what Logar looks like.

Turlough confronts the elders, saying that perhaps he will choose new elders, including a chief elder who would be more faithful to the new chosen one. Timanov says this is a time of crisis, they must not change things. Turlough insist they obey him in all things, and Timanov says they will be guided by him.

Using the TARDIS computer, The Doctor creates a mockup on the screen, with Amyand’s help, trying to generate a visual of Logar. It seems to be a man in a spacesuit.

In the heart of the volcano, K-Master creates a quake. Turlough orders everyone into the TARDIS. The Doctor puts the visual of Logar on the screen and the elders genuflect. Turlough insists that The Doctor is a friend of Logar.

The Doctor asks Timanov if he’d ever seen Logar; the chief elder says he did once, on the summit of the fire mountain, when he was just a boy. Logar spoke to him, beckoned him to inhale the gases. He said it was intoxicating, invigorated. He said his body and mind felt stronger and fitter.

The Doctor wonders if that’s what The Master is after.

The D-TARDIS detects the Peri and K-Master in the heart of the volcano.

K-Master tinkers with things until the column of flame in the mountain turns blue.

The elders leave the D-TARDIS to gaze upon the change of the mountain. They see a great plume of blue fire. Timanov says the blue flame has not been seen in many generations. It is a sign of mercy from Logar to heal the sick.

The Doctor confronts Turlough, demanding to know what interest the Trions have here, but Turlough says he doesn’t know. The Doctor asks if this was a planet abandoned by the Trions, what was his father doing there? Turlough doesn’t answer, and The Doctor says if he’s holding back anything that will help The Master, their friendship is at an end.

In the heart, the flame turns from blue to yellow again. K-Master is delighted, saying they control the nusmismaton gas, a rare force in the universe. He says when the surge comes again, he will be ready to “absorb it’s infinite transforming power”.

Peri flips some random switches on a console and shoves K-Master from behind, knocking him down. She rushes off into a tunnel and hides. K-Master dashes past her and she slips back into the M-TARDIS, closing the door.

In the sacrificial chamber, The Doctor examines the residue, realising there are trace elements of numismaton gas. He says this would be very useful for “a Time Lord who cannot regenerate.” He still wonders why The Master needs it in such quantities.

Sorasta arrives to inform them that Malkon is much worse. Turlough demands that The Doctor take his brother to the TARDIS, but The Doctor refuses, saying he must get back to the bunker to control the flow.

Peri is in the M-TARDIS and regards the “control box” she saw earlier. It’s the size of a crate, about knee high. K-Master is banging on the door outside, but cannot get it, so she decides to open the control box.

She opens it up, revealing a miniaturised Master inside! He looks up, “You escaped from my slave, but you will obey me… or die!”

And the credits roll.

I didn’t remotely remember that part until just before she opened it. That was unexpected and cool and quite the cliffhanger.

Episode 4:

As she recoils in disgust, Peri knocks over the control box. Outside, K-Master falls down and reverts to K-S-Howard.

Little Master scampers and runs from Peri.

The Doctor realises that the gases can be used to save Malkon and opens the gas valves and instructs Sorasta to have Malkon brought to the Hall of Fire. (Oh, I like that name. The Hall of Fire, like the Hall of Justice from Super-Friends? The possibilities are endless…)

When Timanov gives Turlough an amulet, Turlough says he’s seen one of them before. Just then the fire in the chamber comes back. The Doctor, entering and seeing this, proclaims, “Excellent!” Amyand says that flame will burn, not heal, but The Doctor says the residue has to burn off first.

The Doctor sees the amulet; Turlough says it’is a “coded circuit release key” and he knows the lock it opens.

The fire turns purple, which The Doctor proclaims to be “pure Numismaton gas,” and to demonstrate it being safe, he steps into it. (ooooh… now those possibilities…)

Turlough grabs Malkon’s body and carries it into the gas/fire.

Peri chases the mini Master. She has a sneezing fit, which allows him to escape. High drama, that.

The other sick and infirm accompany The Doctor and Turlough in the chamber and they are all restored. When they exit, the fire becomes regular fire again (oh, how convenient). Timanov is elated.

Suddenly, there are quakes; Turlough insists that Timanov bring everyone there.

The Doctor asks Amyand to take him to the seismic control center. Turlough says they won’t need to use the TARDIS to escape, though, if he can activate the communication relay on his father’s crashed ship. If so, the Custodians of Trion can send a rescue ship.

The Doctor questions why Turlough was concerned earlier about the Custodians; he says that the Misos Triangle is the mark of prisoners, and that Sarn was a prison planet for very special prisoners. Amyand asks if his people are prisoners, too, but Turlough says they are the remnants of the indigenous population. (Lots of facts thrown about with no way of knowing how they know this for certain.)

Mini-Master hides under the M-TARDIS control console. He threatens her, she gets tough. He operates the doors and she slips out. Seeing K-S-Howard still laying, writhing, she quips, “Pleasant dreams,” as she walks by.

The Doctor confronts Turlough, wanting to know how his family became prisoners; Turlough says there was a civil war, in which his mother died. His father was on the wrong side and when the war was over, Turlough was sent to Earth, his younger brother and father to Sarn. He tells The Doctor that the Trions have spies/agents on many planets (and lists off a bunch.)

Mini-Master crawls about inside the wires and such.

Amyand is upset at learning that his people’s beliefs were based on aliens using their planet as a prison. The Doctor says with a leader like him, his people will go far.

Peri is back in the rocky terrain. The mountain seems to be generating a lot of smoke/steam and there’s great rumblings.

The Doctor and Amyand are alarmed by the increasing instability and hurry to their destination.

Turlough and a Sarn search the Trion ship for the communication relay. The ship begins to shake as quaking increases.

The Doctor and Amyand are trapped between various small eruptions and unstable areas. Peri sees them and calls out to them. The follow her to their destination.

Turlough gets the communication unit operating, but there’s interference. However, they reach a Trion who demands to know their name, rank, etc.

“My name is Vislor Turlough, junior ensign commander,” and he gives his ID code which I’m not going to keep pausing to get just right. He reluctantly gives the last digits, as they obviously identify him as a traitor/prisoner/rebel.

Mini-Master gets back in his control box and tries to awaken Kamelion.

The Doctor tries to reverse the chaos The Master has started.

Turlough says they’re sending a ship, but he’s almost fearful. The Sarn with him tries to console him. Turlough quips as long as they don’t send him back to “the worst place in the universe – English public school”, and makes a brave face and tries to laugh it off.

The Doctor says he should have the eruption held back for a while and then leads Peri and Amyand into the M-TARDIS. Peri shows them the control box. The Doctor takes the dimensional stabiliser from the M-TARDIS and then they upright the control box.

Mini-Master stares up at them. The Doctor taunts him. They banter. It seems he was making a new TCE when this happened. Kamelion had felt The Master’s pain and led them to him to help.

K-S-Howard gets up to his feet, turning into K-Master. K-Master enters and orders them out of the M-TARDIS, threatening with the TCE. They leave.

The Doctor says The Master is going to move his TARDIS into the flames to be cured by the gas. He’s in the process of giving Amyand something to give to Turlough (the stabiliser, I’m guessing) when Peri points out they’re trapped in there, as there are flames outside the entrance.

The Doctor finds the sole safety suit from the Trion geologists (the one out of three that The Master did not shrink to intimidate Peri earlier) and tells Amyand it’s his “turn to play Logar”.

Turlough tells Sorasta that she needs to take her people to the ruins; she asks why and he tells her that is where the rescue ship will land.

Logar, I mean Amyand, exits through the flames.

The Doctor tinkers with things to give Kamelion a heart attack. The M-TARDIS disappears, then appears in the flames there. K-Master steps out with the control box and sets it down, in the flames. K-Master points the TCE at The Doctor, who is standing by the controls.

The Doctor says he won’t risk shooting and damaging the controls. The Doctor (quietly to Peri) says he hopes K-Master will walk out of flames, and the robot does so. They activate the trap and K-Master goes down, reverting to K-S-Howard again.

K-S-Howard apologises and asks The Doctor to destroy him. Peri and The Doctdor exchange a look as Kamelion takes on his true form. She walks back and The Doctor uses the TCE on the robot.

Turlough asks Timanov to go with them. The Elder says he wants to stay, to die there. Logar enters just then, demanding they all rise, and removes his helmet to reveal Amyand.

Timanov says that Logar is everywhere, that he cares for the faithful. Amyand says, “Perhaps that’s why he sent a spaceship, he wants you to live,” and offers his hand, but the Elder turns his back. Amyand departs.

Seeing the Trion ship (wow, that was fast) on a monitor, Peri proclaims that to be “a REAL spaceship.” The Doctor gives her a look as if to say, “You’re lucky the actress playing you signed a contract, or I’d throw you in the fire for that.” He tells her that it won’t do them any good, the TARDIS is their only way out.

Turlough puts in the stabiliser in the D-TARDIS. A Trion officer walks in as Turlough sets a time delay take off. They exchange (un)pleasantries as they exit.

The flame turns purple again. The Master rises up out of the box, resuming his natural size.

The D-TARDIS appears in the control room. The Doctor sends Peri in.

The Master gives a haunting diatribe, “I shall come from this fire a thousand times stronger to hound you to the borders of the universe,” and begins laughing. Suddenly the flame turns yellow. The Master begs and threatens, and is saying, “Won’t you show mercy to even your own – “ when suddenly his words are cut off and he screams, apparently burnt up by the fire.

(A tease about their relationship… ooooh.)

The Doctor watches, horrified, then enters his TARDIS and leaves as the control instruments begin to explode.

In the TARDIS, Peri asks if he’s okay. He says, “Yes, of course, I’m all right,” but he’s obviously not.

The people of Sarn are boarding the ship. The Trion captain says they must hurry and board. Turlough asks if he’s under arrest, but he learns that former political prisoners are no longer persecuted on Trion, that he’s welcome to return.

Just then, the TARDIS appears. The final call for boarding is sounded. Turlough urges Malkon to go on with the captain as The Doctor and Peri exit.

Turlough tells The Doctor that his exile has been rescinded. Turlough is reluctant to leave The Doctor’s side, but he says it’s time to go home. They shake hands.

Turlough regards Peri and says, “Look after him, won’t you? He gets into the most terrible trouble.” And with that, he turns and walks away… one of my most favourite companions of all has left.

Peri seems confused. The Doctor says he must get her home, but she doesn’t seem thrilled about that. They enter the TARDIS. She says she wanted to travel, that she has three months of vacation before school. The Doctor all but reluctantly agrees, “All right, why not,” he says with a smile.

Flipping a toggle, the TARDIS lurches and they both grab the console. The Doctor looks across the console at her, “Welcome aboard, Peri,”… and the final credits roll.

Sad to see Turlough go. Apparently Mark Strickson left because of the show’s format – 4 x 25 m episodes didn’t allow for enough character development for the companions. When he later found out that the following year, the show went to 2 x 45 m episodes per serial, he regretted leaving. I would have much liked to have seen Turlough and The Sixth Doctor together…

Serial 133 – Resurrection of the Daleks 2 / 2

 

 

Recap: Trapped in a time corridor, the TARDIS is taken to London, 1984. There, they encounter some Daleks. Elsewhere/when, a Supreme Dalek and Daleks and humanoid servants of the Daleks free Davros from cyrogenic suspension on a prison space station. They need his aid to get revenge for losing the war with the Movellans.

 

The Doctor has just arrived on the Dalek ship and found that a man he thought an ally is actually a Dalek agent!!

 

 

Episode 3:

 

Daleks and troops arrive, demanding that The Doctor be exterminated. Lytton shows up, saying he must be duplicated first. The Daleks confirm this with the Supreme Dalek, and the Time Lord is led away.

 

Lytton and Stein discuss the impulsiveness of the Daleks. There’s a great bit here.

 

Lytton: “They’ll kill anybody, even if they need them.”

Stein: “How much longer until it’s your time?”

 

Turlough and the remainding prison crew find the self destruct controls.

 

The woman tending to Tegan hopes to knock out the duplicated colonel, but he doesn’t want any tea. After he leaves, she (still haven’t named her that I’ve caught, at least) and Tegan try to uncover one of the cannisters in the dirt (what the builders thought were bombs.)

 

At the duplication chamber, The Doctor sees the bodies of several of the military men from Earth.

 

Duplicated colonel tells his fellow duplicated soldiers that the girls know. One of them says the Daleks will tell them what to do.

 

The Daleks are instructing Davros that he must complete his research quickly; he demands a sample of the virus and two Daleks for experimentation. They argue this last part, but then leave to consult the Supreme Dalek.

 

The Supreme Dalek informs Lytton that the self destruct chamber has been invaded by the hostiles. He argues, but the Supreme Dalek demands he obey.

 

Stein warns The Doctor to be careful how he acts with the Daleks. The Time Lord says they need his brainwaves intact.

 

Tegan and the scientist lady put one of the cannisters under the blanket Tegan was sleeping in.

 

Turlough gets Mercer to agree to come and check out the time corridor, to see if it could be used to escape the destruction of the station once it’s initiated.

 

Stein lets it slip that Davros is there.

 

The duplicated colonel tells Tegan that she’ll be transferred to the Dalek ship.

 

Davros’ pet engineer uses the mind-control device on another humanoid.

 

Lytton and his troopers approach the self-destruct chamber. The prison crew gets the door shut just in time. Lytton has his men take out the outside camera.

 

Strapped down, The Doctor taunts the Daleks. It comes about that Stein is a duplicate, and apparently all the humanoids serving them are.

 

Turlough and Mercer make their way to the corridor, but find the way guarded. Mercer insists they go back.

 

Tegan slips off, leaving the chick behind; they use the cannister to make her bed look like she’s still sleeping there, but the scientist has to stay to make it seem convincing.

 

A Dalek trooper shows up at Davros’ laboratory; he prepares to add the trooper to his personal army.

 

The Doctor tries to find out how the duplication process works, but Stein refuses to tell him. They show him pre-duplicated Turlough and Tegan. The Daleks reveal their plan is to send him to Gallifrey to assassinate the High Council!!! Yes, folks, it’s the lead up to the Time War!

 

When they find the Dalek troopers outside the chamber, Mercer frets. Turlough points out that if the Daleks are trying to stop the self-destruct, then Davros must still be on board. “You may not be able to help your friends, but you can still kill him,” Turlough points out.

 

Two Daleks enter Davros’ laboratory, to “assist” in the research – to provide living tissue. When they open their casings, the mind-control device is used on them and they are now his servants.

 

The Supreme Dalek orders a sample of the Movellan virus to be transferred from Earth.

 

Scientist lady watches as one of the cannisters is beamed away. The sound causes her to collapse, covering her ears.

 

The Daleks leave Stein to oversee the duplication of The Doctor. Stein seems to have a moment of self-struggle/doubt.

 

The cylinder appears in the time corridor booth.

 

Tegan is in the street, but the two bobbies follow her – so I guess they’re not the soldiers.

 

Mercer and Turlough determine that Davros is using Dr. Styles’ lab.

 

Dr. Styles gets the self-destruct console unlocked. “Why am I so excited, this is the last thing I will do.”

 

Two more Dalek troopers are added to Davros’ cabal.

 

Duplicated colonel discovers Tegan’s escape.

 

The bobbies approach Tegan; at first she’s happy to see them, but then sees the guns they bear and runs from them. She sees a man by the river using a metal detector. The bobbies shoot him and she screams, “No!”

 

The Doctor tries to get Stein to recall his childhood, growing up. This seems to break the Dalek control, but there’s conflict. The control wins out and Stein continues the process.

 

Tegan is prisoner of the bobbies.

 

The Dalek Troopers gain access and shoot Dr. Styles and her associates just as they were going to activate the self-destruct.

 

Turlough convinces Mercer they need to get back to Earth, there’s nothing they can do there.

 

A Dalek blames Lytton for almost letting the space station be destroyed; despite Lytton pointing out that they won, they stopped them, the Dalek says it is going to report this to the Supreme Dalek. (I’m gonna tell on you!!!)

 

Tegan is brought back to the warehouse. The scientist lady is shot when she tries to run away. Tegan is dragged to the time corridor.

 

On a monitor near The Doctor, we see wavy images of his companions, starting with the current, then working back. Tegan, Turlough, Nyssa, Adric, Romana II, K-9, Romana I, Harry, Sarah Jane; then the Fourth Doctor is seen. Then Jo, the Brig, Liz Shaw, and others. The Third Doctor is shown.

 

The Doctor pleads for Stein to resist; the conditioning seems to be dominant.

 

Davros is informed that The Doctor has been taken prisoner and demands he be brought to him at once. He goes into a rant about exterminating The Doctor and creating a new race of Daleks with he as their leader… and the credits roll.

 

A good cliffhanger. (Oh, apparently the reason this was done as two longer episodes originally was because of rescheduling for the 1984 Winter Olympics.)

 

Episode 4:

 

Tegan appears in the time corridor booth on the Dalek ship. She steps out, sees the TARDIS (but doesn’t dash to hide in there?) Suddenly, Mercer and Turlough show up. She tells him The Doctor is there, pointing out the TARDIS.

 

On the screen, we see Zoe, Victoria, Jamie, The Second Doctor, Steven, and others. The Doctor cries out in pain and so does Stein. He shuts off the machine and releases The Doctor.

 

Davros sends his pet Daleks to secure the TARDIS.

 

The Doctor and Stein take the troopers posted outside the duplication chamber prisoner. Stein says he could turn on The Doctor at any time, if the conditioning reasserts itself.

 

Tegan and Turlough and Mercer unite with The Doctor.

 

The Supreme Dalek and Lytton are aware of The Doctor’s escape. Lytton calls his special guards.

 

Seeing that they’re being watched by a camera, The Doctor destroys the duplication device before they flee back to the TARDIS. Once there, Tegan asks where they’re going. When The Doctor says they’re going to Earth, Turlough, AMAZINGLY says, “Best news all day.” (Sure, I get the context of why he’s saying it, but considering he complains every time they end up on Earth, it’s ironic.)

 

Stein tells them about the virus; Tegan realises that’s what must be in the cylinders back at the warehouse, and Stein confirms that.

 

Before they can leave, The Doctor says he must kill Davros. “Davros created the Daleks, he must not be allowed to save them.”

 

Stein and Mercer insist they accompany him. He gives the companions orders to wait as long as they can but if they are attacked, to leave at once.

 

Davros and his pet engineer see The Doctor being escorted by Stein and Mercer; Davros wonders if that’s The Doctor, and his pet engineer says that the Daleks wouldn’t assign Stein to escort just anyone.

 

Lytton is informed by the Supreme Dalek that Davros has gained control of two Daleks. He is ordered to exterminate them and destroy Davros, who has been deemed “unreliable”.

 

Davros greets The Doctor. He promises the Time Lord that he will suffer tenfold for what he experienced. The same old conversation between the two ensues.

 

Mercer hands his gun to The Doctor, much to Davros’ dismay. The Doctor tells him, in a haunting speech, “Until I walked through that door, I foolishly hoped you’d changed enough for me to not have to do this. I’m not here as your prisoner, Davros… but your executioner.”

 

Davros pleas, saying he had planned to recreate the Daleks, and this time he would not make them totally ruthless. This brings The Doctor to lower the gun. Still, it seems Davros only wants this to make them stronger. He offers The Doctor the chance to join him as the head of the new Dalek army.

 

Stein and Mercer go out to deal with approaching troopers; The Doctor raises the gun at Davros once more.

 

In the TARDIS, the companions see that The Doctor preset the controls. They slip into the time corridor once more.

 

Davros calls The Doctor, “Soft, like all Time Lords, you prepare to stand by and watch.”

 

Mercer shoots the two troopers when Stein’s attempt to bluff them seems to be failing. They argue, and Stein struggles with his conditioning. More troopers show up and Mercer begins firing. Both Stein and Mercer are shot.

 

The Doctor, hearing the fight, goes out. Stein, who is still alive, tells him to stay back. While they argue, the door to the laboratory closes, locking The Doctor out.

 

Over the comm link, the Supreme Taco, I mean Dalek, berates Lytton. He says that he has sent Daleks to destroy Davros, and Lytton must go to Earth to destroy Davros’ pet Daleks.

 

Stein walks down the hall, struggling with his conditioning.

 

In the warehouse, Tegan and Turlough slip out of the TARDIS. Turlough argues they’re being there. Tegan says the virus is the only effective weapon they have.

 

Davros gives one of his pet troopers the virus to use on the Daleks on the ship.

 

The duplicated soldiers engage in combat with Davros’ Daleks and pet troopers. The Daleks win.

 

Tegan and Turlough are in the sick bay. They get a cylinder and head back to the TARDIS.

 

Stein makes it to the self-destruct chamber but sees guards.

 

Lytton’s troopers reach the warehouse and a firefight begins.

 

The Supreme Dalek sends more Daleks to destroy everyone, including Lytton and his troopers. The Doctor watches them depart, then grabs some metal boxes from a cubbyhole in the wall. (From the same one that Stein took the gun he turned on The Doctor when they first arrived, I think. I’m guessing these are explosives.)

 

A Dalek stops and exterminates Davros’ trooper and medic who had the virus.

 

Lytton’s men are shot; Lytton feigns death.

 

Stein shoots the guards then enters the self-destruct chamber.

 

Davros’ Daleks and troopers search for the TARDIS. They are attacked by the loyal Daleks.

 

The Supreme Dalek sees Stein and sends Daleks to stop him.

 

Davros’ Daleks argue with the loyal Daleks over who is traitors or not. They begin shooting each other. As they fight, The Doctor appears in the warehouse via time corridor. He hides behind crates, placing the explosives on the Daleks when he can, destroying several.

 

Lytton stops feigning death and shoots at The Doctor, who dashes off. He enters the TARDIS and finds Tegan and Turlough and the cylinder.

 

Davros checks on his escape hatch. Because, you know, that would have been put in the prison med lab. He then shatters one of the small ‘eggs’ with the virus in it.

 

A moment later, the door to the med lab is shattered. Two Daleks enter, telling him they are there to exterminate him, but before they can, the virus kills them.

 

The Doctor activates the canister, which begins smoking. He takes it out of the TARDIS and sets it down. A trooper takes a shot at him, but he dashes back in to the TARDIS.

 

Lytton and a trooper watch as the Daleks begin to die from the virus. “They’re dying, and so are you,” he says, shooting the trooper with him. He then slips out the door.

 

Stein finishes his work on the self-destruct console, “Done… must rest.” He sits down, seemingly struggling with himself.

 

Davros proclaims, “The Daleks are dead. Long live the new Daleks!” Suddenly he begins shaking. “What? This cannot be. I am not a Dalek, I cannot die,” he protests, smoke pouring out of his chassis.

 

In the TARDIS, The Doctor and companions watch as the Daleks die. Tegan is horrified by the scene and turns away from it. The Doctor shuts off the image, saying Earth is safe from the Daleks, at least until they develop a cure for the virus.

 

However, the Supreme Dalek appears on the scanner, saying he has not won. He tells The Doctor that he does not need to invade, that he has duplicates placed throughout the planet and soon the collapse of Earth society will happen.

 

The Doctor says the duplicates are not stable, but the Supreme Dalek says that they cannot fail, their destiny is to rule.

 

Daleks enter the self-destruct chamber and shoot Stein, but he leaps forward onto the console, activating the explosion; the space station explodes, destroying the Dalek ship as well.

 

Seeing this, The Doctor seems to feel Earth is safe. When Tegan asks if Davros was the one who destroyed the space station, The Doctor suggests that perhaps it was Stein, who “finally decided what side he was on.”

 

Lytton, dressed as a cop again, meets the two bobbies. They salute him and fall in line and the three men walk off. (I always liked that ambiguous ending there.)

 

The Doctor assures the companions that the duplicates are unstable and will eventually break free of Dalek control. Turlough suggests alerting the Earth authorities and The Doctor agrees, saying, “Come along,” to Tegan.

 

“I’m not coming with you,” she replies, not following. The Doctor stops, turns around and comes back, followed by Turlough.

 

“I beg your pardon?”

 

“I’m tired,” she says.

 

“What’s the matter,” he asks, softly, perhaps the most gentle he’s ever been with her.

 

Emotions wracking her, she answers, “A lot of good people have died today. I’m sick of it.”

 

“You think I wanted it this way?”

 

“No. It’s just that I don’t think I can go on.”

 

“You want to stay on Earth.”

 

She relates what her aunt Vanessa said about when you stopped enjoying something, to give it up. The Doctor tries to protest but she cuts him off. “It’s stopped being fun, Doctor.” She shakes hands with both of them, “I’ll miss you both.”

 

As she runs off, The Doctor begs her not to leave, not like this. She turns around, still moving away, “I must, I’m sorry,” she says, then turns and slips away.

 

This scene has always struck a chord with me. As a teenager, I was very fond of Tegan (she’s hot, yo) and this one always wrenched my heart a little. Still does.

 

The Doctor looks at Turlough, “It’s… strange. I left Gallifrey for similar reasons. I’d grown tired of the lifestyle. It seems I must mend my ways.” He and Turlough enter the TARDIS and depart (sure hope they’re going to alert the authorities about the duplicates still…)

 

As the TARDIS fades, Tegan returns, and sees that it’s gone. “Brave heart, Tegan,” she says out loud. After a pause, “I will miss you,”… and the final credits roll.

 

Great serial. Wow. Loved it, love it still. Wow.

 

Serial 126 – Terminus 2 /2

Recap: Trapped on a leper ship, The Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa link up with two raiders. They end up at Terminus, a space station at the exact center of the known universe. There, a group of armoured men called the Vanir pass the Lazars (lepers) on to a wolf-headed creature called the Garm. 

We left off with The Doctor in mortal combat with Valgard, one of the Vanir.

Episode 3:

Kari recovers and grabs her blaster. The Doctor asks for help, and she shoots her gun, ricocheting the blast off a nearby surface, hitting Valgard in the back of the head, downing him. The Doctor and Kari head into the Forbidden Zone as he struggles to his feet.

Olvir hides from a group of Vanir, finding himself in a room with suits of their armour.

Turlough and Tegan finally break out of the service hatch tunnel system.

In the Forbidden Zone, The Doctor and Kari move along. The Doctor uses Kari’s radio to determine that “the level is acceptable… for the time being”, seemingly suggesting he knows of the radiation/whatever that makes it the Forbidden Zone? Kari remarks on how the static is always the same pattern. They move on, gasping (from… radiation?), unaware that the Garm is trailing behind them.

Amongst the Lazars, Nyssa attempts to speak to the Vanir, but they won’t listen. One of the other Lazars, a woman, speaks to her, saying the Vanir only care about hydromel, the drug they’re addicted to, that keeps them alive. She says they’re supposed to cure them, but she suspects they’re going to let them die instead.

Eirak slots a tube of hydromel into his armour, then begins inventorying the cache. As one of his men enters, he slams one of the tubes down (shattering it, much to the horror of his man), saying it’s coloured water and that the size of the consigment has been reduced.

The subordinate wonders why The Company has reduced the quantity, why they haven’t sent anyone to observe, oversee. Eirak says perhaps they have, after all, they’re only slaves, The Company doesn’t have to tell them anything. Just then, Valgard arrives to inform them about the presence of The Doctor and Kari and their entrance into the Forbidden Zone.

The others immediately jump to the conclusion that they must be agents from The Company. Eirak says the FZ is the perfect place to hide. He tells the others that the consignment has been reduced and if the strangers are Company agents, they may have information the Vanir need.

When Eirak suggests someone needs to go in after them, Valgard calls him out, saying why doesn’t he go, since he’s their “honoured leader”. Valgard calls his bluff. Eirak turns it back on him, saying if Valgard brings back the spies, he’ll step down and let Valgard become leader.

Nyssa’s chatty Lazar says there’s no way out. Nyssa asks her about the FZ, and she says that the radiation in the FZ is too strong for the Vanir, but that’s where the Lazars go to be cured. When Nyssa asks what the Garm is, she remarks, “You’ll find out soon enough.”

Olvir is getting dressed in Vanir armour and garb when another Vanir tells him they’re moving the Lazars, tank three. Olvir replies, “I’ll be down in a moment,” and it’s obvious the Vanir doesn’t recognise his voice. The Vanir hesitates but departs without saying a word.

Tegan and Turlough come across a drone, but slip by it easily.

The Vanir who spoke to Olvir returns to Eirak, telling him there’s a third intruder. Eirak and the man head off to take care of the intruder.

The Doctor asks Kari about the radiation leak; she speculates it’s part of the cure, but the Time Lord points out Olvir says there isn’t a cure. She suggests maybe the Vanir can’t repair it.

In the equipment room, Eirak and the other challenge the intruder, but it’s only an empty shell of armour. The other Vanir protests that it spoke (and he also saw the back of Olvir’s unhelmeted head, too, but he doesn’t say anything about that) but Eirak calls him a fool, accusing him of developing the Lazar disease.

Olvir approaches Valgard, who is standing outside the FZ. He lowers his visor before Valgard turns around. Thinking he’s being pressed by his fellow Vanir, he slams down his helmet, says, “I’m going,” and enters as Olvir watches.

The Vanir take Nyssa as she’s “hardly touched”. (They call her it, not her.) She struggles, protesting, but Eirak says the fit ones go first.

The Doctor and Kari hear someone singing.

Turlough asks Tegan if she had to kill someone, could she do it? She says if it was to save a friend, defend herself, she could. He asks about cold-blooded murder, and she calls him weird and storms off. BG’s voice echoes in his head, calling him a fool.

The singer is Bor, who is sick and burnt by the radiation and confused. The Doctor approaches, asking if they can help. Bor thanks them, then heads off singing, leaving The Doctor to drag some items the Vanir had been before.

In the flight deck, Turlough and Tegan see the star charts.

Bor leads The Doctor and Kari to the Terminus entrance. Bor takes the items, propping them up against a damaged engine unit, apparently the source of the radiation. He collapses, so The Doctor and Kari help him away.

Bor introduces himself, but he doesn’t remember meeting them. He says the short term memory is the first to go. He explains that he tried taking down the control cables, but pulled the power lines instead, thus his injuries. According to Bor, all the engines are unstable and if one goes, it’ll be a chain reaction.

He also tells them one of them has already exploded, a long time ago. He gets confused, saying it’s all in the computer. He points out the nearby engine, saying it’s the next to go.

When Kari asks why Terminus wasn’t destroyed when the first engine exploded, he says it was protected. Before he can say any more, Valgard arrives, telling Bor to say no more, that they’re company spies.

Kari threatens Valgard with her gun, but he says her power pack is exhausted from their last encounter. He and The Doctor begin fighting again, and Valgard is thrown against the wall of debris against the engine. Bor runs forward and The Doctor tries to restrain him, but then, the Garm arrives.

Nyssa struggles as the Vanir chain her up. One says this is for her own good, so she’ll be cured. “At least, that’s what I’m told.” He activates the machinery, and the Garm, who has picked up Bor, heads off. The Doctor and Kari follow. Valgard struggles to his feet – that’s like a theme.

Nyssa screams as the Garm arrives. The Vanir collect Bor from the Garm and hustle him off to Eirak. Olvir shows up, trying to free Nyssa as the Garm closes in. He shoots the Garm, who just looks at him like he’s a fool.

The Doctor and Kari look for the control lines (I guess they didn’t follow the Garm.)

The Garm takes Nyssa off into the FZ. Olvir watches, then follows.

Tegan and Turlough press buttons. He tells her to wait there, after saying there must be a way to recreate the door that brought them there, and heads off.

Kari and The Doctor discuss whether Bor knows what he’s talking about.

Bor tells another Vanir that Terminus’ pilot is dead, but “he’s going to fire up the engines and they won’t take it and the big bang will happen all over again”. Eirak arrives, asking where his helmet is. When the Vanir with him says Bor needs hydromel, Eirak says there isn’t enough to spare.

Turlough consults the crystal. BG yells about not destroying The Doctor. When Turlough argues he hasn’t found him yet, BG causes Turlough pain. He cries out, saying he has a plan and asks BG for help getting back to the TARDIS. BG tells him to look for a bypass switch under his feet.

Tegan arrives and Turlough tells her he just thought of something.

The Doctor and Kari find Terminus Control… and the dead pilot.

Olvir arrives at the engine room; the Garm has Nyssa and when Olvir rushes in, Valgard attacks him.

The Doctor says that Bor was wrong – the engine didn’t explode. He says that Terminus was once capable of time travel. The Time Lord says such a large ship would need immense amount of energy to travel through time. He starts laying out what they’ve learned thus far – Terminus is in the center of the (known) universe. The Doctor says that the fuel was unstable and the pilot ejected it, unfortunately, into a void. It exploded, causing a chain reaction, an enormous one. Biggest explosion of all time, Event One. The Big Bang.

Kari says that’s impossible, but The Doctor says if life on a planet can be started by chance, why not the universe? He postulates that the ship was catapulted through time billions of years. He says if the second engine exploded, it would cause the death of the universe. (Dum dum dum!!!! Bit over the top in the risk category there, what what?)

Tegan and Turlough find the emergency bypass. Turlough pulls some cables and there’s a small explosion, a shock pushes him into Tegan’s arms.

In the Terminus Control, The Doctor and Kari feel the shock wave. A computer comes to life and The Doctor checks it, saying it has started an automatic sequence to jettison the unstable fuel. (Oh noes!!)

“If we don’t do something quickly, the whole universe will be destroyed,” The Doctor proclaims as a handle starts moving… and the credits roll.

Okay, that’s a bit too over the top to be actually effective. Meh.

Episode 4:

The Doctor takes off his cricket jacket, so you know it’s serious business.

Olvir and Valgard fight. The raider beats the sick, wounded Vanir. Nyssa screams as the Garm carries her off. Even though the Garm is like seven or eight feet tall, Olvir doesn’t notice him walking out of the area with Nyssa over his shoulder, he just stares at where she was, crying out, “Oh, no, Nyssa!!”

That’s kinda dumb.

The door partially appears, and Tegan says they must make it appear fully. She and Turlough return to the bypass panel.

Olvir looks around, confused. He sees his blaster too close to the exposed engine to grab safely.

Turlough works on the device, saying it won’t move. Tegan says she can help and joins in.

Valgard tells Olvir that if he gets any closer, he’s a dead man. Olvir calls him a liar. Cuz, you know, what Valgard says only makes perfect sense and fits with all known information present. Fucking moron.

Valgard says Olvir isn’t company, he’s been combat trained. In fact, they just happened to have had the same trainer, Colonel Pereira – Valgard recognised the moves, saying he was with the Colonel for five tours until he was turned in for a reward.

The Vanir explains to Olvir that they’re forced to work for the drug that keeps them alive. He asks Olvir for help, saying he’s dying. He tells Olvir that the Garm is there to cure Nyssa, not harm her, but Olvir doesn’t trust him and goes off on his own.

After he does, we see that Olvir was wise to distrust the Vanir, as he was playing injured and gets up easily. He uses his staff to pull the blaster away from the engine, then picks it up, smilingly sinisterly.

The Doctor and Kari struggle with the handle, trying to move it back to a safe position, but they cannot.

Turlough and Tegan rest, being unsuccessful in removing the bypass. The liner computer announces the ship is about to depart Terminus. Tegan yells out, but Turlough tells her the ship is on automatic. Rushing off, she says she has to try.

Turlough gets up, seeing the door has reappeared.

In the flight deck, Tegan calls out to the computer to stop. She begins pressing buttons and yells shut up and slams her first down, which causes the ship to abort the launch.

Turlough makes it to the TARDIS console room.

Nyssa wakes up in a chamber, confused.

The Doctor bends a pry bar, trying to move the handle. Kari remarks that the pilot must have had the strength of a giant and they both think of the Garm, and rush off to find it.

The BG says that Turlough has been a poor investment of his time and energy and as a failure, there is only one course to follow. Turlough glances over at the crystal, which is on the console, and the crystal flashes brilliantly and Turlough screams.

Olvir confronts the Garm, announcing that he is unarmed. When he asks if the Garm can understand him, it responds in a booming voice, “PERFECTLY.” The Garm tells her that Nyssa is recovering and he leads the raider to her.

Bor says that in a couple hours, there won’t be a universe or a Company, but he can’t remember what’s going to happen. The other Vanir (Sigurd or something like that) tries to get to the hydromel to help Bor, but it’s locked up.

The Doctor summons the Garm.

Olvir tries to open the door to where Nyssa is.

The Garm walks to answer the summons.

Nyssa hears the door rattling and moves.

Tegan returns, looking for Turlough.

The Garm answers the summons. The Doctor tells Kari they have to get him to the control room. When The Doctor tries to lure him on, the Garm says deception is unnecessary, he must obey once the summons is sent.

Olvir opens the door and Nyssa trips him and pins him, then realises who he is. He asks her how she was cured and she says she was exposed to a massive dose of radation (at the damaged engine.) She says it’s not proper treatment, but there’s no control – the cure works, but without control most of them are just trading one disease for another. Olvir says she’s probably right but they don’t have time for that now.

Eirak and several Vanir lead another Lazar to the signal box. He finds it is gone and throws a hissy fit.

In Terminus Control, the Garm asks if this is necessary. The Doctor tells him if he fails, it’s the end of the universe. The Garm grabs the handle and struggles with it.

As everything starts shaking, Bor says, “Beginning of the end, boys.”

We get a montage of the Garm trying to move the handle, Olvir and Nyssa running about, the engine glowing bright. Finally, the handle starts moving… and the Garm forces it all the way. The Doctor says that is it, and flips some switches and pulls some cables.

The Garm asks if he has served The Doctor well. The Doctor says that he has. The Garm asks him to destroy the box and set him free and The Doctor does so.

Valgard encounters Kari and The Doctor, taking them prisoner. Nyssa and Olvir distract and disarm him. Nyssa tells The Doctor that the cure works, but the system is far from safe.

Nyssa says with the Garm’s help, Terminus could be turned into a proper hospital. Valgard says The Company would never go for it, and since they control the hydromel, that’s the end of that. Nyssa’s response is to ask if they had an endless supply, they’d be free of The Company, and if that were so, would they be willing to help change Terminus for the better?

This question leaves Valgard speechless.

Bor asks if he’s dead yet. Sigurd tells him to try to sleep. Valgard shows up, cautioning Sigurd to keep quiet, saying he has people with him. The Doctor and others enter, but when Valgard shows them to the hydromel, Sigurd protests.

Shooting the lock off, The Doctor opens up the hydromel. Nyssa looks at it, not examining it, not doing anything a scientist would, other than turning the tube over in her hands, but declares, “It’s crude stuff, probably organic,” but she could probably synthesize, if not actually improve upon it.

They explain to Sigurd that if they produced their own on Terminus, they wouldn’t need The Company. When he protests, saying that The Company would send soldiers, Nyssa points out that no soldier would go there with the reputation that Lazar’s disease has. Valgard agrees with her logic and Sigurd begins to see the light.

Bor calls out to Sigurd, who takes him some hydromel.

Kari and Olvir are sent to ensure that the engines don’t start up again. Olvir questions if they’ve found the right cables, saying he wouldn’t want to accidentally destroy the universe by mistake.

He shoots the control cable with his blaster. The engine is seen dying.

Eirak returns to base, only to find Valgard, The Doctor and Nyssa there. Valgard, backed up by Sigurd and Bor, says Eirak owes him his position. There’s a nasty stare down and The Doctor asks about seeing the damaged engine.

The Doctor and Nyssa and Valgard run into Tegan. The Doctor is displeased and chastises her, but Nyssa tries to smooth things out. The Doctor takes Valgard aside, explaining that the Vanir need to contact the authorities to explains what’s been going on.

Nyssa tells Tegan she has something to tell her. As The Doctor and Valgard speak, we can see the two women talking in the background. Tegan tries to storm away, but Nyssa stops her. They keep talking, but the body language shows that something is up.

The Doctor tells Valgard to talk to the Garm – now that there is no control, they’ll have to earn his trust, but he says they should find him very agreeable. Tegan butts in, demanding that The Doctor talk to Nyssa.

Nyssa says she’s staying, to help transition Terminus. She says they need her here, that she can put her skills to a proper use here. Tegan continues to argue and Nyssa puts her foot down, saying she is adamant.

“Please, let us part in good faith,” she implores them.

“You do fully understand the commitment you’ll be undertaking,” The Doctor asks her. She says that she is aware that life will be hard and she is willing to stay. She gives The Doctor a kiss on the cheek and then the ladies hug. The Doctor turns away, upset.

Okay, I’m getting weepy. I forgot about this.

Turlough is awakened by the booming voice of BG. He tells Turlough that The Doctor is returning and this is his last chance. Turlough says he cannot do it, that the Guardian should kill The Doctor himself, even if he takes the blame, he doesn’t care.

BG tells him he has little choice. As The Doctor is heard calling out Turlough’s name, BG says, “This is your last chance. I shall not say that again. Kill The Doctor,”… and the credits roll.

Great ending to a very, very cool serial. I loved the concepts behind the story. Could’ve done without the end of the universe crap – just make it a big enough explosion to destroy a nearby planet of a few billion, that have been big stakes enough, ya know?

But a great farewell to Nyssa, a great furthering of Turlough’s drama, a neat concept… and I’d love to see further stories of Nyssa and the Vanir. I wonder if Big Finish did any audio plays about her? (The short answer is yes – apparently, fifty years after leaving the TARDIS, she rejoins The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough, though it has only been a matter of days or weeks for them.)

And onward we go…

Serial 113 – Warriors’ Gate 2/2

Recap: Stuck between E-Space and N-Space, Romana, Adric, K-9 and The Doctor have gotten themselves into a bit of trouble…

Episode 3:

Romana screams as the figure releases her from the chair.

On the other side of the mirror, The Doctor stares at the men (and K-9), who stare at the mirror, though they cannot see him. He realises Biroc is there with him. Biroc says the time winds touched The Doctor’s hand, which allowed him to do so.

Romana hears the crew looking for the creature and she tells it/him to hide. It does so and Romana pretends to be unconscious.

Rorvik stops his men from breaking the mirror, saying they need to think about this. One of them fires his energy/laser pistol at the mirror, but it bounces off. Rorvik chastises him. Then Rorvik kicks the mirror.

(There’s a very jarring dissonance in the writing – the serial is mostly serious, albeit with the blend of humour that pervades most DW scripts, but the crew are being handled in almost a farcical manner.)

Adric still wanders the grey, still flipping a coin.

Rorvik kicks K-9. He sticks out his gun but then powers down.

Biroc says that K-9 can only be repaired on that side of the mirror. The Doctor asks him about where they are, and it seems they’re still in the gateway area. As The Doctor talks to himself, Biroc walks off.

The two clowns/crew enter the bridge and check on Romana, saying her mind is gone. One of them suggests hooking her up and giving her another dose of energy, but she asks them for answers, wanting to know what the crew is doing to the Tharils (Biroc’s people.) Before they answer, there’s a beeping and she yells at them to answer it.

Adric runs off in the grey.

Rorvik tells Aldo and Royce (the two idiots) to break out the MZ and that he’s sends others back for it. K-9 follows Lane and Packard, asking for orders. Packard keeps yelling at him to go away.

The Doctor wanders about in a black and white environment, following Biroc.

Lane and Packard and K-9 return to the ship. They remark that that distance back to the ship wasn’t as far as the first trip. K-9 says that the microcosm is contracting. Packard throws K-9 out, but Adric sneaks in while he does so.

Romana slips down and hides as Lane and the clowns are looking for her. Packard orders the clowns to get the MZ outside. Packard gives the orders to search the ship.

The Doctor pokes about another building, or perhaps part of the greater building.

The clows move the MZ out of the ship, commenting on how its become heavier; once they leave, we see that Romana and Adric were hiding in it. Romana tells Adric about the gateway, saying The Doctor must be there.

Romana and Adric follow Lane to the motor area. There is significant damage to the craft. Lane reports that the cables are worrying him. Romana comments to Adric that the warp engines are three times larger than they should be for a ship of that size. She tells Adric that the hull is made of “dwarf star alloy”, explaining the need for great motors.

K-9 arrives, shouting of dimensional instabilities and needing orders. Lane comes out and sees Romana. Packard grabs her and she shouts for Adric to take K-9 back to the The Doctor.

A female Tharil encounters The Doctor and takes him by the hand, leading him off.

Romana is thrown into the hold. Lane brings up that it (their evirons) seems to be shrinking around them. Packard acknowledges this and says it’s time they get back.

The other Tharil attacks the man taking Romana to the hold and frees her. Touching hands with her, they walk off and fade away, out of the ship, into the grey.

The Doctor walks with the female Tharil.

The crew moves through the grey with the MZ and even the two clows follow. Adric is hiding in the MZ array.

The Doctor overlooks a dining area – perhaps the same as the cobwebby one, but this one is clean and filled with Tharils eating good food. Suddenly it turns cobwebby and Romana and her Tharil companion are overlooking the scene.

In the real room, Rorvik and others sit about while the MZ is brought in and set up. Rorvik comments how quick it took; Lane comments that it was even faster this time.

Rorvik starts addressing the men, but stops as Romana, led by her Tharil come down some stairs. The Tharil leads her into, and through, the mirror. They walk the same black and white area The Doctor did.

Romana notices that the burns on the Tharil’s face are healed.

The Doctor sits at the table, being served food. He comments to Biroc, “You live like kings,” and the Tharil replies, “We ARE kings.”

The crew eats as Rorvik addresses them about the mirror and the MZ and the situation they’re in. He gets mad that they’re more interested in food and he draws his gun on them.

Biroc explains that the universe is their garden, the universe is theirs, even the people. One of the Tharils slaps the humanoid maid serving them. The Doctor realises that the Tharils were the masters that the Gundan spoke of – the enslavers.

Romana watches from above as The Doctor angers another Tharil, who pulls a knife on him. She rushes down, saying The Doctor is in danger, but just then a bunch of Gundan charge in, attacking.

Suddenly, The Doctor and Romana find themselves seated at the table with Rorvik’s crew, in the ‘real’ room.

Rorvik sees him and says, “Well, Doctor… this IS a surprise…” and the credits roll.

Interesting going ons here. I like the twist about the Tharils being the former masters.

Episode 4:

The Doctor admits it is a surprise for him, too. Romana posits they jumped back over the striations.

Rorvik and his men don’t believe that the mirrors aren’t the way out. The Doctor insists this is true and says they must work together or they’ll be trapped until the crack of doom.

Guns are pointed to The Doctor’s head again, demanding the secret.

K-9 enters (backwards, cuz he’s still not right) asking for orders, saying there is a mass conversion anomaly. The Doctor asks him about it, and K-9 says the area is contracting, warning them of the danger.

When they talk about the space and time contracting, Rorvik scoffs, but Packard says it’s worth hearing out. K-9 says he’s not able to predict how long they have left. The Doctor says they would need a huge mass to cause that sort of collapse and Romana informs him that Rorvik’s ship is made of dwarf star alloy.

The Doctor demands to know what they’re up to, accusing them of being slavers, trading in time sensitives – he says that dwarf star alloy is the only material that will hold the time sensitives from escaping.

Rorvik admits to it, but before too much can be said, The Doctor realises K-9 has moved off, to the mirror. He runs over to the robot, but K-9’s speech is distorted. It sounds almost backwards/reversed.

Lane tells Rorvik that the trip from castle to ship and back has gotten shorter each time. Rorvik says he doesn’t believe it and wants The Doctor to get them through the mirror.

The Doctor turns to face the mirror and through it, he and Biroc talk; the Tharil admits they once abused their power but asks have they not suffered enough. He tells The Doctor they will be free. The Doctor asks him what to do, and the Tharil says do nothing, it already is done.

As Adric points his gun, saying time has run out, Adric yells at them to stop. He’s at the controls of the MZ and says he doesn’t know what it does, but it’s pointed at them. The Doctor grabs K-9 and moves off as the crew back away. Romana takes K-9 and Adric out as The Doctor takes over the MZ, keeping the crew at bay.

The Time Lords and Adric rush off, searching for the TARDIS, entering it when they find it.

Lane says the MZ doesn’t have an automatic and the crew exits in pursuit.

Rorvik orders the men back to the MZ and powers it up. There’s a big explosion, but the crew walks out mostly unharmed, just covered in dust and smoke.

In the TARDIS, the Time Lords yell at Adric when he suggests just dematerialising and leaving, saying there are slaves on the ship.

The ship fires up the engines, shaking the entire gateway and the TARDIS (and all else within.) Romana says the ship won’t take off in the state the warp motors are. The Doctor says he’s trying to use the engines to back blast the mirrors.

Romana says that would just destroy everything and accelerate the shrinking. Adric argues for riding the blast back into N-space, but Romana says they have the slaves to think about.

Adric brings up the exposed part of the engines, saying they could short out the power to the engines. The Doctor orders them to stay, but Romana argues that he needs her to find the cables. They leave Adric and K-9 on the TARDIS, with orders to dematerialise in thirteen and a half minutes if they’re not back.

Rorvik orders the ship set down outside the castle, near the TARDIS. They start the backblast procedure, saying there’s about ten minutes to power up. Rorvik orders for the cargo to be revived en masse, hoping at least one will survive.

Rorvik checks on the progress, but is told three for three haven’t been revived. Biroc and the other male Tharil are seen skulking about the ship.

The Time Lords make it to the outer breach on the ship, and The Doctor goes in to find the cables, Romana staying back to keep watch. After he goes up, she slips off on her own.

The Doctor encounters Rorvik and tells the captain the back blast will kill them all. Rorvik kicks the Time Lord and attacks them. They struggle. Romana shows up and grabs the clipboard and hits Rorvik on the back, to no avail.

Romana grabs the manacles and uses them to short out the engine. Rorvik kicks The Doctor down again. The engine smokes and catches on fire. When The Doctor gets to his feet, Biroc is there.

When The Doctor asks what he’s doing, Biroc says to do nothing. Romana says it makes sense, and The Doctor agrees, saying, “If it’s the right sort of nothing.” Biroc touches both of their hands and they fade away.

Rorvik has the manacles, watching from above, and says, “Run, Doctor, scurry off back to your blue box!” He goes on a rant about lily-livered deadweights and goes into maniacal laughter. He’s gone around the bend.

Sagan keeps trying to raise more Tharils, to no avail. The other loose Tharil arrives and kills him. The Tharil then begins to awaken the other prisoners.

Biroc and the Time Lords make it back to the TARDIS, but Romana says she’s not going with him. She says she has to be her own Romana, she’s tired of taking orders. Biroc says they need a Time Lord. The Doctor gives her K-9, saying he’ll be okay on the other side of the mirrors and she promises to take care of him.

Hurried goodbyes are said and Romana leaves with Biroc as The Doctor calls out, “You were the noblest Romana of them all.” Biroc leads her back to the mirror and they walk through.

The TARDIS dematerialises as the ship fires its back blast, destroying the outer edifice of the gateway. The ship catches fires and explodes.

The TARDIS appears, briefly, in the black and white of the land beyond the mirror. K-9 says he contains all the schematics for duplication of a TARDIS. She says she will help Biroc free his people, who are enslaved on many planets.

Tharils exit the smoking remains of the ship and enter the smoking remains of the edifice.

In the TARDIS, Adric and The Doctor regard the scanner as it fades and shows nothing. The Doctor says that if the E-Space image translator isn’t working any more, that gives him hope they’re back in N-Space.

Adric asks if Romana will be all right. “All right,” The Doctor answers, “She’ll be superb.”

Biroc, K-9 and Romana walk off in the black and white… and the final credits roll.

An interesting farewell to Romana and K-9. I like the idea of her having a direction, a purpose to her departure… and the set up of there being an eventual return to Gallifrey, should she want it – with the ability to make a TARDIS of her own.

A pretty good serial, a little too much farce for my liking to say more than pretty good. I liked the nuances and double-play to the story.

Sad to think that there are only two more serials of Tom Baker…

Serial 97 – The Invasion of Time 2/2

It’s a split post, so spoiler time…

Episode 4:

K-9 stuns Andred before he can fire his gun at The Doctor. That done, K-9 reconnects with the TARDIS console (while still wearing the Matrix headpiece). Yep, K-9 is a pretty bad ass companion.

Kellner sends out a command to arrest Andred; the Vardans question if anything is wrong, but the Castellan says it’s just a small matter of discipline.

Andred wakes up as The Doctor squats near K-9. Too involved with urging K-9 on in whatever it is they are doing, he doesn’t notice Andred until the commander has his gun pointed at the Lord President again. Andred tries to fire his gun, but The Doctor tells him it doesn’t work in the TARDIS.

Kellner’s guards attack and shoot Andred’s guards outside the TARDIS.

Andred tells The Doctor that the TARDIS is surrounded, there’s no way he could leave alive (obviously, unaware of what just transpired outside.) The Doctor tells him not to touch anything, he’s going out for a bit.

The guards outside report to The Doctor that the others were trying to assassinate him. He asks if they all had to be killed, to which the guards reply in the affirmative. The Doctor chastises the guards for letting the ringleader, Andred, escape, and orders them off to find him.

The Doctor goes back inside and informs Andred that his coup has failed. “I don’t know what they teach you in the Academy these days, but if you can’t pull of a simple palace revolution, what can you pull off, hmm?” Andred refuses to believe it and tries to open the scanner to see.

He realises it’s been jammed and The Doctor lets him in on a secret – that with the scanner closed, they can’t read his thoughts or travel via broadcast wavelengths to get there. He’s biding his time, hoping to identify their planet of origin, to time loop it.

Andred suggests using the Matrix, but The Doctor says it has been invaded. That’s why he has K-9 plugged in to the Matrix instead of himself.

Andred questions, “Can you trust a machine?”

“This one I can. He’s my second best friend.” Awwwww!

Kellner is conferring with the Vardans; he says he has a delicate matter to discuss with them. He brings up the Lord President’s strange behavior, but the Vardans are already aware and say they shall deal with him soon.

Back in the TARDIS, The Doctor is saying, “Well, at least they don’t suspect me.” Yikes!

The Vardans learn that Andred is neither dead nor a captive; Kellner suggest that he must have escaped to Outer Gallifrey.

At the tribal village, Leela and Nesbin discuss attacking the Citadel.

The Doctor outfits Andred’s helmet with a partial barrier to protect his inner thoughts from the Vardans.

K-9 has determined the wavelength the Vardans are using, but not the channel of origin. The Doctor says he’ll have to continue to play along and dismantle the forcefield protecting Gallifrey.

The Doctor says that Rassilon is part of the APC net and he can use his knowledge to dismantle the forcefield without blowing Gallifrey to pieces.

Nesbin trains Gomer on how to use a bow. It’s hopeless. Leela says she and Nesbin’s warriors will have to attack the Citadel on their own and rescue The Doctor. She believes he will know what to do and insists that The Doctor is not working with the Vardans.

The Doctor speaks with the Vardans about using the APC net. He places the Matrix headset on and this time it doesn’t cause him any harm. He says there is a way and walks off; the Vardans remind him they are watching his every move, monitoring his every thought.

Andred and K-9 work on some calculations in the TARDIS.

The Doctor finds the machinery for the forcefield and starts to work on it; a Vardan appears to observe directly.

Leela, Rodan and the warriors run through desert, towards the Citadel.

The Doctor works on the machinery; things all over the Citadel wobble and shake. After a few moments of this, he announces, “Well, I did it,” and walks off.

K-9 says it’s imperative they make it to the President’s office immediately and departs the TARDIS, reminding Andred to grab his helmet.

In the Panopticon, The Doctor arrives; Kellner, who was knocked to the ground by the shaking, is just getting up. The Doctor tells the Vardans that he couldn’t destroy the forcefield, as that would destroy the planet, but he made a hole in it above the Citadel.

Kellner wails that with a hole in the forcefield they are without protection, but quickly changes his tune when the Vardans say they are the protection now.

When questioned on the permanency of the hole, The Doctor says some more work will have to be performed to achieve that.

The Vardan space ship zooms in. The Vardans announce they are safe now and can materialise. They do, and there are three humans, much to Kellner’s disappointment. One of the Vardans is instructed to assist The Doctor in his work.

Andred and K-9 move down the corridors; Andred shoots a guard who recognises him.

Leela sends Nesbin with the majority of the warriors to enter one side of the Citadel, to create a diversionary attack, while she takes Rodan and Jasko (one of the tribe) with her.

The Vardan ship flies in closer and closer.

Lots of walking through corridors – The Doctor and his Vardan escort, K-9 and Andred. The latter two enter the lead-lined Presidential quarters and K-9 shuts down to conserve resources while Andred asks how long it will be before The Doctor gets there. Andred shuts the doors and takes off his helmet, looking at the walls and the inside of his helmet, as if impressed.

Leela, Jasko and Rodan lurk in the Citadel, Leela whispering that something is wrong. She points out the missing guards.

Outside the Presidential quarters, The Doctor stops and says he has an idea, and pops in the quarters, saying, “Two seconds!” The Vardan stands outside, then tries to open the door. He takes the energy/tinfoil form, while inside, The Doctor laughs mockingly.

The other two Vardans tell Kellner The Doctor has betrayed them and appoint Kellner as the new one to run things. He leaves to “issue instructions and take control, immediately”.

Leela bangs on the TARDIS door. They decide to check the Presidential quarters when nobody lets them in.

Kellner issues an alert, taking control of Gallifrey and putting a shoot on sight order for the Lord President.

The Doctor hands the Rod, Sash and Matrix to Andred, then picks up K-9 and puts him on a table. He puts the Sash and Matrix on K-9, propping the Rod of Rassilon against the robot dog. K-9 says he is ready.

The Vardan instructs two guards to break the door down, but instead they fall, each with an arrow in their back. The Vardan vanishes as both Leela’s force and Nesbin’s meet up, congratulating each other. They try to break the door down.

Inside, The Doctor, attending to K-9, instructs Andred to open the door. The primitives charge in, but Andred warns them to keep still. K-9 begins doing something, his head nodding up and down and his little interface sucker extending in and retracting over and again.

The lead Vardan says he detects an “illegitimate frequency tracer” and yells for a full alert.

K-9 finds the coordinates of the Vardan home world The Doctor instructs him to “activate the modulation rejection pattern” and like a good doggie, he does.

Kellner arrives to report he can’t break into… but stops as The Vardans disappear. The Castellan wonders what happened.

K-9 says there is no trace of alien wave form left on Gallifrey. The Doctor seems very somber at this and takes the tools off K-9, then announces they’ve won – he sent the invaders back to their home world and will jerry-rig a time loop.

Leela asks how they could have won when there hasn’t been any real combat. He tells her that with some practice, she’d be “quite proficient” at killing people. They all leave, as Leela tries to find out what “proficient” means.

Kellner greets The Doctor and his posse of warriors. The Doctor pretty much tells the Castellan that he’s not a very good Castellan, then sends him to “clear up the mess”.

Leela asks if it is over and The Doctor says it is, and everyone rejoices. The Doctor begins to give a speech about the future of Gallifrey, but everyone is staring off to the side. He stops, asking, “What are you looking at,” and turns to see a group of Sontarans in battle armour. (Not that they wear anything else that I’ve ever seen.)

The lead Sontaran takes out his weapon and points it at The Doctor… and the credits roll.

I have always loved that wonderful bait and switch.

Episode 5:

The Doctor raises his hands, asking, “Please don’t fire that thing.”

The Sontaran lead steps forward, followed by his associates. He (it? Sontarans are gender-neutral) says there is no advantage in killing yet. “Slavery is more efficient.”

Commander Stor of the Sontaran Special Space Service (SSSS?) introduces him(it?)self? The Doctor mocks him for carrying alliteration too far.

Stor reveals that the Vardans were the toys of the Sontarans, saying they were used to get the forcefield to be dropped. Stor then asks whom Doctor is, but nobody points him out and he declines it himself, saying he is Lord President and he is called “sir”.

Stor sends one of his troopers to “find Doctor!”

Borusa is seen listening in to the discussion from his quarters. He shuts the device off and then accesses his secret door, using it to find entry in the Presidential quarters. There, the device seems to be useless, and he remarks that he believes The Doctor and then heads back through the secret door there to his own quarters.

Of course Borusa would have a secret door to the Presidential quarters. Borusa is the man, one of my fave Time Lords of all. Back in his quarters, he can pick up the conversation again.

Stor and The Doctor are talking about the ultimate goal – Victory over all. Stor gets tired of talking.

Borusa accesses a secret panel in his room, activating a switch which causes a sonic attack in the Panopticon; the Sontarans writhe in agony as everyone runs off, except Kellner, who I’m not sure if he was trying to help Stor or attack him. Stor shoves off Kellner as he writhes.

The Doctor says someone was helping them escape; he takes half the group (including Leela, Rodan, Andred) and Nesbin and the rest go in another direction.

Kellner apologises to Stor, calling him, “My Lord”. I don’t know if he’s just sucking up to them out of habit or if there’s some deeper connection. Stor sends an order to apprehend the President but to kill those with him. Kellner seems to protest and is knocked away by Stor again.

The Doctor’s group hide in a corridor; The Doctor tells Leela how to kill a Sontaran and she casts her voice, making the Sontaran turn around, exposing his back. She throws her knife at the small vent in the back of the neck (the physical weak point of the Sontarans) and kills him, instantly.

Borusa continues to listen in on The Doctor, smiling.

Kellner helps Stor predict where The Doctor’s group is heading – the Presidential quarters. Stor gives the order again to take the President alive, and again, Kellner protests and again, Stor knocks Kellner to the ground.

Borusa listens to The Doctor saying he has an urgent appointment in the Presidential quarters.

Stor orders Kellner to accompany him.

There’s lots of running (see, it IS Doctor Who, after all) in corridors and stairways. Also a lot of stairwells. Sontarans do not run, apparently, but stomp ploddingly.

Also, lots of the same sets being used over and over and over, sometimes with slight changes.

The Doctor and his associates make it to the Presidential quarters, where Borusa greets them with a gun in hand, pointed at them.

Stor and Kellner and a handful of troopers meet up outside the Presidential quarters. The Castellan calls Stor “excellency”. The troopers begin banging on the door.

The Doctor says it won’t hold long. Borusa comments on lead not being the best defense against heat-based weapons. The Doctor agrees.

Borusa comments, “Fortunately, someone had the sense to reinforce the structure with a titanium-based alloy.” The look of joy on his former student’s face is delightful. The Doctor vouches for his companions, and Borusa puts away his gun.

Stor sends for fully armed troopers to deal with the door.

The Doctor and Borusa agree that getting to The Doctor’s TARDIS is the best plan and they access the secret passageway. The Doctor unlocks the door, which Stor hears and when the Sontaran opens the door, he demands of Kellner, “What trick is this,” but the Castellan pleads ignorance.

The Sontarans burst into the room, followed by Kellner, but there is nobody there.

The Doctor asks Leela to take the others to the TARDIS, but she argues, saying every time she leaves him, he gets into trouble. He begs her to trust him and she gives in. Everyone (now including K-9) but The Doctor and Borusa (still holding his gun) leave. The President turns to the Chancellor and asks, “Well, now, Borusa, are you going to help me or kill me, hmm?”

Stor tells Kellner he may still be of use to them; it seems the Castellan has no previous association with the Sontarans, and is just attaching his fate to the new invaders.

The Doctor demands of Borusa, “Where is it?” Borusa claims ignorance. The Doctor asks for the Great Key, but Borusa says it is but a myth. Borusa says every President has been charged with finding the Great Key. “None has ever found it.”

Sontaran troopers engage in fire fight with Leela’s group, taking down several warriors. Jasko is downed, but manages to take out one Sontaran from behind (Leela’s knife throw to the neck vent is repeated quite well here.)

The Doctor and Borusa verbally… not quite spar, not debate, maybe dance? The Doctor appeals to Borusa’s compassion, but the Chancellor plays it aloof, detached The Doctor says that if they don’t do anything, millions of Sontarans will threaten time itself.

This gets Borusa to react, he turns and yells, “They cannot threaten time, not while I…” he stops, realising he gave himself away.

The Doctor completes the sentence, “Yes, Chancellor… not while you have the Great Key.”

Leela, Andred, Rodan and K-9 make it to the TARDIS.

There is a piece of art on the wall of Borusa’s office, that is a bunch of keys. The Doctor says he read Borusa’s paper on reason and says where better to hide a tree than in a forest?

Andred picks the lock to the TARDIS and they get inside.

Borusa plays it coy, saying take all the keys. The Doctor postulates that, to keep any President from having too much power, he gave the Great Key to the Chancellor and it has been handed down since then. Borusa remarks none of this in the Matrix (“I know, I’ve been there, you haven’t,” The Doctor remarks to this.)

The Doctor has Borusa’s gun and points it at him, saying, “I will kill you before I let that key fall into the hands of the Sontarans.” Borusa says that will not be necessary and plucks a key off the wall artwork. The Doctor throws the key to the floor and points the gun at him again.

This time, Borusa reaches down and pulls a key out from beneath his desk (next to the controls that attacked the Sontarans in the Panopticon) and hands it to The Doctor, saying, “You are the first President since Rassilon to hold the Great Key.” The Doctor regards it most seriously as very important music plays. (Score for us, not actually in-story.)

Kellner pleads with Stor, saying nobody can connect to the Matrix without the circuit. Stor says to bypass the Matrix, but Kellner insists that it is impossible.

Stor’s reply is so, so Sontaran, “For the strong, everything is possible!” Stor demands that the gap in the forcefield be widened so his battle cruisers might enter.

When Stor says that only The Doctor can give him the Great Key, Kellner almost gets himself killed by arguing, but quickly talks his way out of it.

The Doctor and Borusa walk by several Sontaran troopers, asking if they got their new orders and to get in touch with Stor. They walk on.

Stor yells at his troopers, “Of course there are no new orders, stop him!”

The Sontaran troopers pursue and fire upon the Chancellor and The Doctor, but Borusa’s personal force shield protect them – though he says the batteries are uncomfortably low.

He turns to The Doctor as the two troopers get closer, “So, what do you suggest we do?”

“Run?”

“Run.”

“Let’s do that.”

The two Time Lords run (Borusa is most inelegant, even complaining that it is, “So undignified, I haven’t run like this for centuries.”) They make it to the TARDIS, but The Doctor closes the door before Borusa can get in. Exasperated, Borusa rolls his eyes and bangs on the door, “If you could just open the door…”

He is quickly let in, and the door slams, just as the troopers arrive and open fire on the TARDIS, to no effect.

Kellner looks at the forcefield machinery, while Stor presses him. The Castellan says there is a way to patch control through.

In the TARDIS, The Doctor gives Leela the Great Key, much to the horror of Borusa. The Doctor tells Leela he trusts her, much to Leela’s delight.

The Doctor consults with Rodan about sealing the hole in the barrier. He asks her if she could connect the TARDIS controls to the machinery and she asks if he has a screwdriver. I like Rodan!

(Still no Godzilla/etc jokes.)

Stor pressures Kellner; Stor confides that his battalion commander has demanded immediate entry. “Unless I obey, I shall die. Before I do, you will die, Time Lord.” This makes Kellner quite uncomfortable, and understandably so!

The Doctor plays assistant to Rodan, handing her tools and comforting the TARDIS as she works.

Stor is enraged when Kellner says the controls have been bypassed.

The Doctor goes on about what the Sontarans are after – the Key, Rod and Sash, linked to the Matrix.

Kellner posits that he can bypass the safety circuits.

Rodan calls the TARDIS a “load of junk”. I don’t like her so much any more.

She opens the scanner to show the Sontaran fleet in perfect formation (in the form of an arrow.) The Doctor wonders why they brought an entire battle fleet, but she says it doesn’t matter, the shields are up and as long as the TARDIS remains secure, he controls the defense screens.

Stor praises Kellner, who then flips a bunch of switches and levers.

Suddenly, everything goes wobbly in the TARDIS, and The Doctor tells Rodan that the stabiliser banks have been reversed. She says only a Time Lord could do that, and The Doctor agrees – even a criminal one could do it.

As they are shook about, The Doctor cries out, “We’re being thrown into a black star,”… and the credits roll.

Nice, intense, dramatic cliffhanger.

Episode 6:

Leela bursts into the console room, but The Doctor tells her to get Rodan. The Doctor throws a failsafe switch, effectively trapping the TARDIS.

Stor demands that Kellner bring the relevant entrance probe to The Doctor’s TARDIS.

The Doctor finds out that Leela took everyone to the bathroom and gives her a hard time for getting lost. She argues that his directions were too convoluted to follow. They set off to find the others.

Stor and Kellner enter the TARDIS; Stor says the machine is obsolete. Kellner agrees, saying this model was taken out of service centuries ago. The door to the further interior of the TARDIS has been locked from within, bu Stor says this is the only way out (what about the secondary control room? Did we forget about that already or is that how the others are going to get out?)

The Doctor, Rodan and Leela walk through various levels, the whole time, The Doctor rants on about his sense of direction and his reliable antiquated TARDIS. They pass through the same room several times.

There’s a bit of silly banter. You’ll have to watch the episode.

They’re obviously lost and The Doctor says he knows the TARDIS like the back of his hand (while looking at the front). Leela turns his hand over for him.

A Sontaran trooper blasts at the door, trying to get in.

K-9 is attached to some machinery in a workshop while Andred looks on.

There’s more walking through the same room again. It’s getting old now.

Stor says it is a stalemate – The Doctor cannot escape and neither can Stor destroy the TARDIS. Just then, the trooper with the laser/blaster/cutter breaks through the door lock.

The Doctor and girls meet up with K-9 and Andred. Andred tells The Doctor it is at capacity, as he ordered, but we don’t get to know what they’re speaking of. They get an alert that the upstairs door has been broken through.

Stor puts his helmet back on, saying, “We will do battle in your own ground, Doctor,” as he and his trooper enter the inner TARDIS.

The Doctor gives Rodan the Great Key and instructs her (presumably through hypnosis, but she doesn’t seem to be entranced) to assist K-9 with anything he needs. He tells her to give the Great Key to K-9 when he asks for it, but to give it to no one else.

The Doctor, Leela and Andred leave, running about different areas. Seems they’re looking for the bathroom.

Stor says The Doctor has set up a “biological barrier”, keeping him from tracking human life forms (though the only human is Leela, so I’m not entirely sure why he’d be tracing them). Kellner says he can take down the generator powering the barrier.

Rodan does some welding.

The Doctor, Leela and Andred run through some corridors. I guess we had to fill the time requirements on the episode somehow, hmm?

Borusa is reading an issue of The Daily Mirror reporting the sinking of the Titanic. He sips some water/clear liquid through a spiral straw. The Doctor arrives and, seeing the headline, swears he had nothing to do with it.

The Doctor goes on to say that it would be bad if Borusa fell into the hands of the Sontarans – he knows too much about the Rod, Sash and Key. They hear the Sontarans approaching and rush out, Andred throwing lounge chairs in the way of the trooper.

There’s more shenanigans of running through all sorts of crazy rooms. Borusa complains about wishing The Doctor kept a tighter ship, so to speak.

Andred gets shot in the arm, but accidentally, as Stor is firing randomly in frustration. The Doctor sends Leela to escort Andred and Borusa back to the workshop.

In a terrarium, the trooper enters, firing blindly as The Doctor does bird whistles and duck calls and squeaks and other such not. There’s a rather strange plant that swallows up the Sontaran. The Doctor walks off.

The Doctor wanders through the same rooms again. It’s getting really old.

Stor and Kellner find and free the trooper. Stor sends the two of them to destroy the generator. He takes off his helmet (he’s worse than the actors in Spider-Man 3) and says he has other things to attend to.

The Doctor meets up with Borusa, Andred and Leela. They head to the workshop.

There’s a museum with artwork and statues. Kellner and the trooper enter and Kellner says it is the ancillary power station. Kellner finds a switch in the Venus de Milo statue, turning it off to remove the illusion. Kellner unplugs a plug thing and the trooper can trace them now.

Back at the workshop, The Doctor snaps Rodan out of her hypnosis (OK, so she was in his influence) and takes the Great Key. She and K-9 had been making a giant gun, a rifle, very futuristic looking.

Borusa is upset, forbidding The Doctor to use it, saying it should not have been built. The Doctor tells Rodan that she built “the ultimate weapon”, the d-mat gun. He snaps the Great Key into place.

“I could rule the universe with this, Chancellor,” The Doctor says. Borusa implores him to destroy it, saying, “it will throw us back to the darkest age!”

The trooper and Kellner arrive, and The Doctor blasts the trooper with the gun. Leela puts her knife to the Castellan’s throat and he tells The Doctor that Stor is in the Panopticon. (But he’s not…) The Doctor looks at Borusa and says, “The Matrix,” and runs off.

Stor is wandering through the halls of the TARDIS. The Doctor is hunting him, d-mat gun in hand. Stor approaches the Panopticon, with some explosive device, but The Doctor is already waiting for him there.

Stor is prepared to die for the Sontaran empire; The Doctor says he will destroy the entire galaxy, and Stor is happy to agree, saying all the Time Lords will go with it.

“If we cannot control the power of the Time Lords, then we shall destroy it!”

As Stor moves to place the explosive down, The Doctor fires the gun. There’s a bright white flash and when it clears, The Doctor is seen laying on the ground, the key next to him, no rifle in sight.

Back in the workshop, they hear the plodding steps of a Sontaran approaching. Leela moves to the side of the entrance, knife in hand… but it’s just The Doctor being a clown. He asks Borusa what he’s doing there and then is surprised to be called “Excellence” and wonders why he’s wearing the Sash of Rassilon.

Borusa takes the Sash from him, asking if he’s forgotten his induction and asks him about the Vardans and Sontarans, but The Doctor has no recollection of any of it, or of saving Gallifrey.

Borusa proclaims it is the wisdom of Rassilon that he remembers nothing.

Back at the TARDIS, everyone gives The Doctor a round of applause. He bows and says good bye and then tells Leela, “Come on,” but she says she’s staying. When he asks why, she reaches over to Andred, taking his hand in hers.

The Doctor nods and tells Andred that she’ll look after him and is awfully good with a knife. He tells K-9 to come, but the robot dog says he will stay as well, “To look after the mistress.” The Doctor seems a bit shocked but doesn’t argue.

Leela says she will miss The Doctor and he smiles, chuckles and closes the door. Inside, he rests his head against the closed doors, saying, “I’ll miss you, too, savage.”

The TARDIS dematerialises as everyone watches. Borusa asks, “Where will he go now, I wonder?”

Leela’s reply is simple, “Somewhere else.”

The Doctor pushes a large box into the console room. He stops and adjusts some controls on the console.

Leela asks K-9 if The Doctor will be lonely, but the robot says there is insufficient data. She and K-9 lower their heads together.

The Doctor looks at the box, marked “K-9 MK II”. He regards the camera with a big toothy grin and a laugh… and the final credits roll.

All in all, one of the best serials ever. A lot of fun, great characters, smarmy villains, devious Time Lords, so much more of an insight into the Gallifreyan people… I love this serial quite a bit, I must say. It’s not a perfect story, by any stretch, but it is a lot of fun.

Sad to see Leela go. I gather Louise Jameson wasn’t too happy towards the end of her tenure. They should have set up some romance between Andred and her to explain why she stayed, though.

Serial 87 – The Hand of Fear

I don’t believe I’ve ever seen this one. Already found out a spoiler and based on that, pretty sure I have not. Let’s do this!

Episode 1:

A ship flies through space and we hear a voice over, a man sentencing “Eldrad” to obliteration. As he talks, the scene shifts to a dome on a wind-blasted terrain. Inside the dome, a robed figure wipes away frost to look out the window.

Central Command contacts Dome Six, and the robed figure finds his companion dead. The figure sits and responds to Central Command’s communication, reporting that the temperature continues to fall, but the “obliteration module” (the ship we saw flying through space) is still on course. They discuss collapse of some barriers and the impending loss of control and the ability to live on the surface.

Central Command gives the order to detonate the module now, before control is lost. The robed figure argues that if they detonate too soon, there is a slight chance that some particles of Eldrad might survive. Reluctantly, the robed figure obeys the orders and is then told to evacuate immediately.

We are treated to a spinning of stars effect with some grating music. Then a fade to black.

Humans in modern Earth clothing set up explosives in a quarry. They trail away and the TARDIS appears. Sarah and The Doctor step out and try to talk over the siren going off. Sarah complains they’re not where they’re supposed to be.

A man on a high embankment tries to wave them off. They wave friendily to him. He tries to tell the man working the plunger not to do it, and Sarah finally realises that there must be a reason there’s a siren and tells The Doctor to run. They do run but the explosions are set off and they’re covered in the rubble.

The Doctor crawls out and looks at the mass of rubble, fearing Sarah is deep beneath. He sees his coat, which she was carrying.

An ambulance is seen moving through the streets, siren blaring.

Sarah is trapped in a pocket beneath several large rocks. She reaches out and touches a hand with a missing finger. Her screams alert the others to her location. They pull her out but she’s unconscious and has a death grip on the hand she found.

At the hospital, The Doctor is being checked out. The doctor working with him tells him that Sarah is still unconscious but seems otherwise uninjured. Talk of him being a doctor comes up and instead of the usual disclaimer that he’s not a doctor of medicine, he instead says that he’s sort of a doctor and studied at Gallifrey. When the doctor attending him says he’s “not heard of it, perhaps it’s an island?”, The Doctor agrees that perhaps it is.

They go to see Sarah Jane. Her left hand and forearm are rigid, clenched. The object she was holding too was removed and taken to pathology.

At the path lab, The Doctor realises that the hand is from a silicon-based life form. He asks for access to an electron microscope, saying he’s not sure what it is, but it’s no hoax.

Sarah Jane wakes and opens her hand; inside is an object, perhaps a ring, that glows bue. She gets up out of bed.

The Doctor says the answer to the hand, which has been there for 150 million years, might lie in the quarry. He leaves after asking Dr. Carter, the path lab man, to prepare another slide.

The Doctor puts a Patient Not To Be Disturbed sign on Sarah’s door on his way out. She leaves momentarily after he moves on, heading to pathology. There, she slips in and takes the hand. Using the ring, she blasts Dr. Carter, saying “Eldrad must live”. A voice in her head tells her that none must interfere.

At the quarry, The Doctor tells the quarry foreman that he suspects the hand came from outer space – either a space ship or by itself, but he wonders why and where.

Dr. Carter recovers and gets on the phone to the reception desk, telling them to hold Sarah if she tries to leave, but they say she left an hour ago.

The Doctor returns to the hospital to find Sarah gone. He ends up in pathology and talks to Carter, who tells her what happened.

Carter looks at the electronic microscope again, saying it’s changed. The Doctor posits that the sample has been absorbing radiation in the machine, possibly regenerating. He tells Carter to put it somewhere safe and asks where the nearest nuclear reactor is.

Sarah Jane approaches the Nunton Complex R&D facility. An armed guard steps out to greet her and she blasts him with the ring and walks in.

Carter and The Doctor drive, presumably to Nunton.

Sarah enters an R1/reactor area of the complex.

Carter’s car drives, following the signs to Nunton.

Sarah enters a “R2” or Radiation Level 2 area.

The Doctor and Carter are stopped at the front gate by more armed guards.

Sarah has made it to “Radiation Zone Class 3” area. A technician calls out to her and she blasts him with the ring. She moves on to a Radiation Class 4 area, and then approaches a door marked RADIOACTIVE SOURCE EXPOSED DO NOT ENTER.

She winds the crank on the door and enters. An alarm sounds. She sits down and opens the tupperware style container she’s been carrying the hand in. As she watches the hand becomes less fossilised and the fingers begin to move… and the credits roll.

CREEEEEEEEPY. I like it. I have never seen this serial before. I’m excited.

Episode 2:

In the operations center, a higher up is yelling that he can’t think and wants the racket stopped. The alarm is sounding over and over and the call for people to report to emergency stations, this is not a drill, repeats over and again.

The Doctor and Carter give the guards who are bringing them in the slip and head to the command center.

The hand has regrown the missing finger and is flexing. It must be communicating with Sarah, as she says, “Yes, I understand.” She rises and closes the door.

The higher up screams at everyone to shut up. That’s real professional. But it works, so I guess that’s ok. He begins instructing everyone on what to do – gee, you’d think they’d have been trained on what to do and be doing it instead of standing about blabbering so the boss can yell at them.

On the PA, he announces that the intruder has broken into the outer core of the neutron reactor; they don’t know if she’s a suicide job or has the skill to make it go critical but are beginning shut down procedures.

As the shut down procedure on the neutron reactor isn’t working, Mr Driscoll is ordered to get a team of men suited up and armed to get her out of there.

The Doctor and Carter arrive and talk to the top man. Carter is hearing a voice in his head, saying, “Eldrad must live!”

The Doctor asks Miss Jackson for layouts of the building and he punches them up on the computer she indicates.

Armed techs/guards try to open the door but cannot open it – the manual locks are jammed.

The top man tries to talk to her via the PA. When he’s told the levels are rising, he says she’s had it, there’s no way she can live. He orders an evacuation as The Doctor gets on the PA to try to reach her.

Sarah cries out, “It’s no use! There’s nothing more to say, because Eldrad must live!” Carter hears this in his head, in another’s voice.

The Doctor plans to enter via a cooling duct, despite the temperature being 200C. Carter follows him.

Sarah turns off the video monitor, preventing them from being able to see her. The hand begins to crawl out of the tupperware.

The hand crawls to the main reactor door and Sarah begins to pull open the latches.

On the way, Carter attacks The Doctor, saying Eldrad must live, but he falls to his death. The Doctor heads on to the cooling systems.

The head man calls in and talks to his daughter and wife, but he doesn’t tell her anything is wrong, just saying he has to work late.

The Doctor enters the outer core area; as Sarah moves to blast him, he says, “Eldrad must live,” and she holds off. When he gets close, he renders her unconscious. He takes her out, watching the hand, but the ring falls from Sarah’s hand as he slips her out.

The head man gets off the phone saying good bye and to kiss the children, and is about to cry when the alarm ceases. The Doctor contacts, him addressing him as “Professor Watson”, though I haven’t heard his name as yet.

Watson gets on the PA and issues the all clear.

The Doctor checks out Sarah with a rod that seems to be a radiation checker. She is murmuring, half conscious and wakes up. The last thing she remembered was being under the rock, and someone reaching out a hand to her.

Watson comes in and reads her the riot act. The Doctor uses the device to show them that she’s not been irradiated. Watson and Miss Jackson demand an explanation and The Doctor says they won’t believe him, but they press him to try. He begins at the quarry.

The hand is seen crawling to the main reactor door. Back in the command center, The Doctor, Watson, Sarah Jane, Driscoll and Jackson see the hand moving, trying to get in.

Driscoll enters, wearing a radiation suit. He picks up the hand with tongs and puts it in the container. Seeing the ring on the floor, he picks it up. It glows green-blue and he seems in a trance.

They scan it and place it in a decontamination safe. The Doctor asks Driscoll about the ring, but he says he didn’t see anything. The Doctor asks him to go back in and look for it.

The Doctor uses his mental powers to put Sarah in a trance so he can ask her about Eldrad. She just asserts that Eldrad MUST live, we MUST obey. He confirms that Carter “saw the light”.

Driscoll reports that there’s nothing in the reactor room. Watson tells him to leave and he does, pausing to look at the ring, which glows again.

The Doctor uses hypnotic suggestion to free Sarah of Eldrad’s control.

Watson tells The Doctor that Driscoll didn’t find the ring, but the Time Lord figures out that Driscoll must have found it and is under its control.

In the decontamination area, a man hears banging from the safe and reports it in to Watson. The Doctor says he’s on the way down and Watson tells the man to wait. Driscoll shows up and attacks the man and opens the safe. He opens the safe and takes the hand, which grabs his hand.

The Doctor arrives just in time to see Driscoll leave and contacts Watson to tell him what’s going on and to have him put guards on alert for Driscoll.

Driscoll rushes through the compound. Several guards follow, but he blasts them with the ring. The Doctor catches up and Driscoll blasts with the ring, but The Doctor hides behind a console box – the blast scortches the metal, so maybe the ring has different blasts it can do.

Driscoll is back at the reactor, opening the door Sarah could not. He walks in with the hand as Watson issues another evacuation. The Doctor and Sarah pull back from the reactor, seeing the door is open.

In the command center, consoles begin to short out. An explosion knocks Watson to the ground… and the credits roll.

Pretty intense stuff going on here!

Episode 3:

Watson recovers and staggers out the door of the command centre.

The Doctor and Sarah Jane lay on the floor of the corridor, surprised to find out they’re not dead. The Doctor goes in and closes the ginormous vault door, saying an “unexplosion” has taken place.

Watson arrives yelling for them to come out, that the radiation is lethal, but The Doctor says it’s fine, indicating on the wall-mounted sensor. He explains that a nuclear explosion happened but it was absorbed. He posits that Driscoll has been vaporised, but Eldrad is rebuilding himself, using the reactor’s energy.

Watson returns to the command center and gets on the phone to call the military. He comes back to inform The Doctor they have ten minutes.

The Doctor begins to wonder if Eldrad is a threat or just afraid. Watson and Sarah Jane run off, The Doctor lingering behind to watch as the vault door begins to fall apart before catching up with them.

Two jets fly in, part of the tactical strike from the military. The missiles are fired, but there are no explosions. The Doctor advocates trying to communicate with the being.

Inside the reactor, there is a large hole in the door. A voice can be heard, “What is this place, where have I come to,” and a feminine figure covered in silica and rock/crystal formation steps out. It recoils at its appearance; apparently its form has been determined by the creatures around it – perhaps even by Sarah Jane’s touching it (and that would explain it being feminine.)

Returning to the complex, The Doctor leaves the others, but Sarah Jane rushes in after him. They make it to the reactor, where they encounter Eldrad. The Doctor and Sarah Jane talk to Eldrad, discovering ‘she’ absorbed the missiles explosions to complete the regeneration process.

She realises that The Doctor is not from Earth and demands to know why he is there; he explains he’s a friend of the planet and is there to help them. He introduces Sarah Jane, who is very nervous.

Watson makes it to the command center and can hear the discussion between The Doctor and Eldrad. Eldrad demands to know why he tried to destroy her, but The Doctor crosses both his hearts and says, “We’re the ones who saved you.”

Eldrad’s eyes turn blue and The Doctor is transfixed. She reads his mind and sees that he speaks the truth. He tries to explain that the humans sometimes try to destroy what they do not understand.

Eldrad explains she was betrayed, her people tried to obliterate her. She says she will return to get revenge, but The Doctor says it has been 150 million years. Again, she scans his mind. She sees he is a Time Lord. This time, her mind scan of him results in his collapsing.

When Sarah accuses Eldrad of being cruel and destructive, she is almost wounded by the words. She tries to explain – Kastria, her homeworld, was a planet ravaged by the solar winds. She built the barriers to protect the planet, she created silicon forms for their bodies, she created machines to rejuvenate the planet’s soil and atmosphere.

Kastria became a battleground between two alien races, the barriers were destroyed. The aliens manipulated the leaders and discredited her, having her sentenced to obliteration.

Eldrad begs The Doctor to help her save Kastria, asking her to take her back in time to save her planet. The Doctor says he cannot take her back in time, it would contravene the First Law of Time. But he will take her to Kastria in the present.

Eldrad senses another presence; Watson is skulking nearby, and Sarah Jane lies, saying they’re the only ones there. She even gets in (another) dig about the deaths, saying, “The only living ones, at least.”

The Doctor asks Eldrad if she agrees to his conditions and, after a moment’s thought, she does. They step out of the reactor area and Watson opens fire on Eldrad with his pistol that he collected from his office. The bullets do not harm her and she blasts with her ring, but misses. He runs off and she chases him to the command center.

Watson is reloading his gun when she catches up. She tells him he will die slowly, “as traitors deserve,” and uses her mind to envelop him in an aura of pain.

The Doctor arrives and tells Eldrad if she does not let him go, he will never take her home. She releases him and says he will leave and after making sure he is okay, The Doctor and Sarah Jane leave with Eldrad.

Watson stands, befuddled. Miss Jackson arrives with more questions. She claims to have only seen The Doctor and Sarah Jane, but nobody else with them.

Returning to the TARDIS, entering the older control room. Eldrad asks where the TARDIS’ armaments are, and he indicates his head, saying, “They’re in here.”

Eldrad tries using her mental attack, but The Doctor explains that while in there, they are in a state of “temporal grace” and she cannot harm him.

The Doctor explains that he’s not really helping Eldrad, but more helping Earth by getting her off world. Plus, he wants to see Kastria. This upsets Sarah and she storms off.

The Doctor asks Eldrad to help him plot the course to Kastria. She agrees but gets irate when there’s some turbulence and he asks to check her coordinates. She goes on about not trusting anyone and he preaches at her about getting over her paranoid distrust.

They make it to Kastria, outside the dome we saw before. Eldrad tells him, “You will have to trust me, Doctor.” They raise the scanner and see the blasted exterior. The Doctor says the atmosphere is “near enough, Earth normal” though the radiation count is “a bit high”. This seems to please Eldrad, who says, “That is all I should need.”

Judith Paris, who plays Eldrad, is an extremely attractive woman, under the makeup and ornamentation. Well, honestly, even with it, she’s rather attractive. Her smile is quite fetching.

They depart the TARDIS. Eldrad says that Kastria is as it once was, before she built the solar barriers. She claims there will be survivors, living in the thermal caves. When The Doctor says there is no power, she laughs, “Do you think I would not have planned for my return?” She plunges her ring into an impression on a console and the dome lights up and hums with energy – energy from the core of the planet.

Eldrad opens a door, saying they will descend to the thermal chambers, but when the door open, a spear or projectile of some sort pierces her. She spins about, crying out… and the credits roll.

I’m really rather torn as to where this is going and whether I’m supposed to be rooting for or against Eldrad.

Episode 4:

The Doctor and Sarah Jane run over, but she waves them off and removes the projectile from her chest, saying it was filled with an acid designed to neutralise the molecular bonds of her body. She says there is no antidote, only the “regenerator chamber” on level 306 can save her.

They rush her into the elevator.

A robed figure receives a report from a computer about the intruders descent.

Departing the elevator on level 306, Eldrad points the way. The Doctor helps her shuffle out as Sarah heads down the path indicated.

The computer identifies the intruders as two aliens and one Kastrian.

Sarah steps into a trap, but Eldrad says the trap only affects silicon-based lifeforms. The Doctor gives her a hard time for being melodramatic.

Walking into a chamber, rocks collapse from above, but they avoid it. They both help Eldrad walk in. Sarah Jane says, “If they were dead, you’d think we’d see some bodies.” (Not after millions of years, you wouldn’t!)

The Doctor informs Sarah they have – the sand on the floor is broken down silicon lifeform bodies. This squicks her out completely.

The computer asks for orders to activate “automated defense procedures”.

Sarah questions about the aliens, realising that they must have been silicon life forms, too. The Doctor agrees, noting that silicon life forms are very rare and for two such to exist in the same galaxy is quite the coincidence.

Sarah almost falls into an opening. The Doctor saves her and kicks some rocks (bodies?) down.

The Doctor: “It’s an abyss.”

Sarah Jane: “It’s a long way down, too.”

Eldrad indicates they have to cross the bridge over the abyss. Sarah Jane says it’s not safe. The Doctor hoists Eldrad over his shoulders and crosses. Sarah Jane follows, on her hands and knees.

The computer keeps updating the progress of the intruders’ progress, saying they’ve reached the regeneration chamber, but if they enter, they will be eliminated. The robed figure never speaks that we see, at least not yet.

At the chamber, Eldrad moves to use her ring to open the door, but The Doctor stops her. He pushes them to the side and takes the ring to open the door. Sarah almost waltzes in, but The Doctor pushes her away again. Probing the doorway with a extendable stick, he triggers some sort of blast which destroys it.

He collects Eldrad and walks in. Good thing the gun was only a one shot. Cuz, that’s the sort of booby trap I’d set up…

The computer still has not identified Eldrad, yet.

The Doctor realises that the ring carries Eldrad’s genetic imprint, which allowed her to rebuild her body using the radiation on Earth. As The Doctor tinkers with the controls, Eldrad’s body is covered with black marks, perhaps cracks?

Sarah Jane has done a complete 180 degrees, now urging The Doctor to hurry, worried for Eldrad.

The computer identifies Eldrad (probably with the genetic info on the ring). The computer then begins to malfunction.

In the regeneration chamber, a large block comes down and smashes her body. The Doctor says they’ve been used, “they were determined to destroy Eldrad one way or another.”

Sarah says she’s confused, and asks what they should do now. The Doctor says they should leave. Just then, a door slides open, and they hide. A massive, male silicon life form steps out, identifying himself as Eldrad.

The Doctor deduces that Eldrad modeled himself after the first “primitive” he encountered – Sarah. I was right!

Eldrad begins some maniacal laughter, saying that the booby trapped regeneration chamber could not kill him, as he created the chamber, too. He goes on a bit of a megalomaniacal rant about controlling Kastria, his creation.

I liked the feminine Eldrad more better. (Though, interestingly enough, the male Eldrad is played by Stephen Thorne, who played Omega in THE THREE DOCTORS)

On a mirror/monitor, Eldrad’s enemy, Rokon appears and says he has won nothing but defeat and then the screen goes blank. The Doctor asks who Rokon was and Eldrad goes on a rant, revealing that there were no aliens, that the King (Rokon) turned against him, so he destroyed his own barriers.

Eldrad seeks to be the ruler of a conquering Kastria, spreading the rule of silicon life forms across the galaxy. He storms off to find Rokon, but finds only a brittle body.

The Doctor and Sarah Jane follow, watching him discover Rokon is long dead. The Doctor taunts Eldrad, but Eldrad says he will grow new Kastrians from the database, restoring the planet to its former glory and then conquer the universe.

Eldrad enters the database to find nothing, no genetic codes to grow the Kastrian people anew.

Another recording of Rokon activates, explaining that they knew he might return. After the destruction of the barriers, that the only future they had was a miserable existence below ground, the Kastrian people elected to die and destroy the race patterns.

Rokon salutes him, “Hail, Eldrad, king of nothing.”

When Sarah says, “I wouldn’t want to live here, or have him as leader,” Eldrad overhears and says he will take over Earth and use them instead. He wll be their god.

Eldrad demands his ring, which The Doctor still has. The Doctor throws it and when Eldrad runs after it, the Time Lord and Sarah run off and set a trap with his scarf. Eldrad, retrieving the ring, runs into the trap, tripping over the scarf and falling into the abyss.

“The gravity of the law finally caught up with him,” The Doctor quips.

They return to the TARDIS and depart. I do love the old feel to the secondary control room. En route, the ship begins casting wildly and The Doctor opens up the console, with Sarah Jane handing him various tools (somehow knowing what each one is. Another ‘gift’?)

She complains that she might as well be talking to the Moon, as he never listens. She sits down, complaining that she’s sick of being tired, cold, wet, savaged by monsters, never knowing if she’s coming or going.

“Oh, boy, am I sick of that sonic screwdriver! I’m going to pack my goodies and I’m going home!” She repeats herself but he’s too busy tinkering to notice until she storms off. The Doctor realises there’s nothing wrong with the TARDIS and gets out of the console, only to receive a mental call from Gallifrey.

He realises that he can’t take Sarah to Gallifrey, and must take her home first. She arrives, with her stuff. The Doctor tries to be nice, hoping to break it to her gently that he has to take her home; she mistakes his gentleness for trying to apologise, saying it’s too late, she’s got to go.

The Doctor: “How did you know?”

Sarah, suddenly realising that she’s not in control of this decision, “What?”

The Doctor: “I’ve had a call from Gallifrey. I can’t take you with me, you’ve got to go.”

Sarah: “Oh, come on! I can’t miss Gallifrey. I was only joking, I didn’t mean it. Hey, you’re not going to regenerate again, are you?”

Sarah thinks he’s just trying to trick her into staying.

The TARDIS materialises and The Doctor says they’ve landed, cutting Sarah off from listing a bunch of people she’ll say hello to for him. He tells her they’re at Hillview Road in South Croydon.

“That’s my home. Well, I’ll be off, then.” She grabs her coat and possessions and turns to him, “Don’t forget me.”

“Oh, Sarah, don’t you forget me.”

Sarah walks to the exit, “You know, travel does broaden the mind.”

“Yes. Until we meet again, Sarah.”

Sarah just nods, probably knowing there won’t be much chance of that, at least not any time soon. She exits and watches the TARDIS disappear, then looks around.

“This isn’t Hillview Road… I bet it isn’t even South Croydon. Oh… (laughs), he blew it!”

Whistling, she sets off down the road, after talking to a dog… and the credits roll.

Oh, man, I’m crying. Sarah Jane is definitely one of the best companions of all time. I haven’t regretted seeing a companion going since Jamie and Zoe. This was a fun serial, I rather enjoyed the dichotomy of feminine and masculine Eldrads.  

Serial 80 – The Terror of the Zygons

Season thirteen opens with an episode I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen – maybe I have, maybe I haven’t. I know it involves UNIT, so that’s a plus. Let’s get started!

Episode 1:

at a drilling platform in the sea, a man is on the radio to the mainland, when there’s a sudden strange interference. One of the pilons of the platform collapses, sending the entire platform into the water, exploding on the way down!

The Doctor, Harry and Sarah march through the brush and wilderness. From The Doctor’s headgear, I’m assuming they’re in Scotland. The Doctor consults a device (early GPS concept, or just a compass?) that leads them to a nearby road, where they flag down a vehicle.

Benton drives a jeep into a small town. My suspicions about Scotland are confirmed by the bagpipes playing loudly. Inside the local pub (or inn?) the Brig has set up and is meeting with a man about his company’s losses and the loss of life. Benton arrives to report no word of The Doctor yet. However, shortly thereafter, he and his companions arrive.

The man who gave The Doctor and his companions a lift turns out to be the Duke of Forgill; he’s come into town to see Mr Huckle, the oil man consulting with the Brig. He’s not pleased with the oil man’s presence, nor with the Brig’s reluctance to discuss UNIT’s presence.

On the beach, a body in a lifesaver has washed up ashore.

The Brig explains that there have been three disasters at sea; The Doctor is irate that he’s been summoned back to Earth for such a paltry issue. He goes into a rant about Earth’s dependence on oil (interesting to note that the same talk about not being dependent on oil goes on today, some 37 years later…)

Reluctantly, The Doctor agrees to help with the investigation. They go to the oil company, where Sullivan is to look at the bodies of the dead men, while Sarah goes to the village to talk to the locals. The Doctor and Brig stay and talk with Mr Huckle, learning that the radio blackouts have preceded each incident.

Sarah chats with the landlord of the inn, Mr. MacReynold, who claims to have second sight (he’s the seventh son of a seventh son…) Sarah discusses the Duke, how he seems to be odd, and the man says the Duke has changed recently, since the oil company came in.

A creature, alien or monstrous, watches their conversation via a video monitor.

MacReynold relates different stories from the past of men who went missing, saying there are ancient mysteries and evil spirits.

On the shore, the man in the lifesaver rises and staggers out of the water. One of the Duke’s men, patrolling the lands, sees him. The Duke is fed up with people wandering onto his property and even told Huckle earlier that he’d have any men shot.

Harry, driving along, sees the man stagger and fall as he comes down a dirt road from the shore. The Duke’s man watches from afar, hiding. As Harry reaches the man, he talks about it being too late, it came from the sea, but before he can answer Harry’s questions, the armed man shoots both of them.

The inhuman creature(s) work controls on their console, which seems more organic than technological. They talk about making contact.

The sea churns and we hear the strange interference that came on the radio. Something large, under the water, moves.

Huckle is on the radio with another platform, when the interference begins. The man on number three rig and Huckle cannot reach each other.

Harry is in the hospital – the bullet graze his skull and he is in shock. The Brig relates the destruction of another rig, forty men killed. The same pattern – radio blackout, then that sound, then nothing. The Brig and The Doctor leave Sarah to wait at Harry’s bedside.

In the back of the Brig’s jeep, there’s a piece of wreckage from the previous rig. There are some “curious markings” on it that catch The Doctor’s eye, two deep punctures. He sends Benton to get some plaster of paris.

Back at the inn, The Doctor makes a cast of the holes, revealing giant teeth. The Doctor informs the Brig and Huckle they are dealing with a giant sea monster of some sort.

The inhuman/alien(s) watch this conversation and say(s) that The Doctor has already found out too much and be destroyed.

At the hospital, Harry starts to come around. He tries to tell Sarah what Monroe (the man from the rig who washed up) told him, but he’s too weak. Going to call The Doctor, Sarah leaves the nurse to watch over him, but she’s AWFULLY sinister-seeming.

Harry is murmuring, still talking to Sarah (who isn’t in the room, but he’s still not 100% coherent). We hear the strange noise and Harry starts to shriek.

While Sarah is on the phone with The Doctor, one of the creatures attacks her (bet it’s the nurse’s true form) and she screams… and the credits roll.

So far, a pretty solid serial. Alien or inhuman threat, giant monster, preaching about dependence on oil.

Episode 2:

The Doctor dashes off, followed by Benton. There, the nurse says that Harry and Sarah disappeared and she has no idea where they went. She’s totally part of the threat… or at least the writers really want us to believe it.

The Doctor pokes around sick bay, entering an area for the divers to depressurise. In there, he finds Sarah Jane and opens the door to the chamber. She explains what happened, but suddenly the creature that attacked her closes the two of them in the chamber and begins to fiddle with dials.

Harry is brought into the chamber with the alien/inhuman creatures. He meets Broton, the war lord of the Zygons. Broton says their spacecraft was damaged centuries ago but they have since learned their homeworld was destroyed, so now they plan to take over Earth. (So… they waited centuries for rescue? Wow, patience is their strong suit…)

Sarah begins to panic, having difficulty breathing.

Broton shows Harry their giant sea creature, the Skarasen; he tells Harry they rely on its lactic fluid for survival (yeah, sure, tell the human how to defeat you, that’s just fucking brilliant.) Broton claims nuclear missles would be “mere pinpricks” as they have made it a cyborg.

The Doctor hypnotises Sarah so she won’t breathe. Um, okay.

The Brig sits at his desk, making plans to have the coastline supervised. Smoke begins to billow through the door, but it’s locked. It’s a gas, apparently, as everyone quickly collapses.

Benton finds The Doctor and Sarah in the pressure chamber. The Doctor has slipped into a trance but shortly wakes after Benton comes in. He wakes Sarah from her trance as well.

Huckle arrives at the inn, finding the Brig and his two men unconscious. He hears a roar in the distance.

A UNIT soldier moves through the mist, and turns when he hears a roar. The Skarasen is sighted.

Everyone in the village has been gassed. The Doctor, Benton and Sarah return to talk to Huckle about the village. The Doctor sends Benton out to scout about.

On the Zygon ship, Broton receives a report about The Doctor and Sarah arriving at the village. The Zygon who left them for dead is chastised. They watch as Huckle hands The Doctor a “trilactic activator”, whatever that is, Broton is upset they have it. He gives orders for Harry to be “prepared for use”.

The Doctor tells Huckle that it is a signal device for the monster.

Harry is taken to have a body print made. He is led into a chamber, where we see a bunch of people in some sort of suspended animation. The Zygons have the ability to take the forms of those whom they body print. (It seems one of the pods has a nurse in it, so that explains that.) The Zygon demonstrates by becoming “the Caber”, the man who shot Harry and Monroe.

The Doctor posits that the device emits a signal like an animal mating call. Huckle leaves and shortly thereafter, the Brig comes around.

Benton and another UNIT soldier find a dead soldier in the field – it was the one in the mist, I believe. The Zygons watch as The Doctor and Brig leave Sarah behind in the inn to wait for Harry.

“Harry” returns to the inn, saying he escaped. He picks up the signal device and leaves, Sarah giving him a hard time. He knocks her down and runs off, and she gives chase. She stops to get a couple UNIT soldiers to help her give chase.

This is the ubiquitous running scene, apparently.

Sarah splits up from the UNIT soldiers (okay) and finds him hiding in a barn. He attacks her with a pitchfork, but she side steps and he goes over the edge of the loft, revealing his true form of a Zygon (Murdlar being its name.)

Broton orders immediate molecular dispersal of Murdlar before the humans can take the body. Sarah returns to the barn with her soldier friends, but the body is gone.

Back at the inn, Sarah Jane suggests that they are being watched or spied upon. They tell the Brig that any one of them could be one of the creatures, but The Doctor says it could be some form of electronic surveillance. The Zygons watch this and Broton orders that UNIT and The Doctor be destroyed.

Sarah Jane watches the signal device move and begin to signal the creature. The Doctor says their machine guns may not be enough, but he offers to draw it off, while UNIT works on triangulating the source of the signal’s control. He hops into a jeep and drives off.

In the middle of nowhere, the jeep engine dies. Unable to restart it, The Doctor runs off into the moors. The Skarasen pursues. This is the second running scene, it seems. The Doctor tries to get rid of the signal device, but it seems to have bonded to his skin.

He runs off as the Skarasen gets closer. We see a little bit more of it – longer neck, scaly body.

At the inn, they triangulate the approximate location – Loch Ness!

The Doctor collapses as the Skarasen/Nessie gets close. Broton, watching on the video monitor, says, “Die, Doctor, die,”… and the credits roll.

Good cliffhanger. Of course it’s the Loch Ness monster. Of course! (I rather prefer the explanation for Nessie given in… the Colin Baker serial, TIMELASH.)

Episode 3:

Harry enters the Zygon control room and throws himself on the control panel, randomly grabbing controls, disrupting contact with the Skarasen. The Skarasen slams it’s paw down, but The Doctor moves, but the signal device is smashed.

Since the Zygons aren’t getting a trace from the signal device (which they’re calling a “reciprocator” now), they assume that The Doctor was killed. You know, because it’s always best to make assumptions. The Skarasen is recalled, and Harry, who has been subdued, is taken away.

Benton and other soldiers search the inn for bugs, as MacReynold argues the whole time that they’re wasting their time. Benton almost discovers one of the video cameras, hidden in a buck’s head, a gift from the Duke of Forgill.

The Brig and Sarah Jane, searching for The Doctor, find him wandering in the moors. Somehow, he’s back to his usual hat and not the Scottish one. The Doctor tells them that the creature is a cyborg; they tell him that the signal was traced to Loch Ness. The Doctor says they need to visit the Duke in Forgill Castle.

The Duke greets them, though not pleasantly. When they say there’s something about Loch Ness, he makes a crack about the monster, but they say they’re quite serious.

MacReynold notices the eye of the buck head moving as he cleans up.

The Duke finds the idea that aliens are behind things to be as preposterous as the idea that the Loch Ness monster is real.

The nurse shows up and reveals her Zygon nature, attacking MacReynold. Benton and other soldiers hear his scream and run in, finding him dead. The nurse has removed the buck head’s eyes (the cameras.) Benton leads his men into the woods, and they see the Zygon (why it didn’t take human form again, I don’t get) and fire upon it and give chase as it runs off.

The Brig receives a call at Castle Forgill, saying Benton has cornered one of the Zygons (not that they’re known as such.) Sarah is left at the castle to go through the library (with the Duke’s blessing) as The Doctor and Brig head off.

The nurse wanders through the woods and a UNIT soldier sees her. She’s injured, and when the soldier looks to her wounded arm, she attacks him and steals his jeep.

Back at the inn, Benton reports to the Brig about the attack. They then discuss the buck’s head missing its eyes and that it was a gift from the Duke – suddenly, there is concern about leaving Sarah behind with him.

Sarah asks to look at some books and the Duke summons the Caber to have him fetch the steps. The Duke explains that Caber is a nickname, as he is a Highland Games champion – his real name is “very Gaelic” and likely Sarah Jane couldn’t pronounce it.

Sarah climbs the steps Caber brings in and ends up opening a secret door in the bookcase. She goes in to investigate. The Duke sees the open door and quickly departs. Deep inside, Sarah finds an automatic door that leads to… well, I’m going to assume it’s the Zygon ship… and it is!

Skulking about, she finds the room of human bodies in their little pods.

Back in the castle, the Duke and Caber bring the injured “nurse” into the secret area to the ship.

Sarah Jane finds Harry. He begs her to let him out, but she’s not sure it’s really him. When he calls her “old girl,” she realises it is him. They hear the Caber and nurse and hide.

The Doctor and Brig return to the castle; seeing blood on the floor and Sarah’s jacket, they realise that something is wrong. The door opens and Sarah and Harry exit. The Doctor slips in the tunnel and screams. As the Brig, Harry and Sarah move to follow, Brotons and Zygons appear saying they are leaving and taking The Doctor with them. Broton says the “big event” is yet to come. They slip back in the tunnel and close the door.

The Brig and others leave and we see them firing depth charges into the loch. The Zygons power up their ship and bring it out (and I can’t help but notice it doesn’t look terribly different from the platforms, as it seems to be three legged? Maybe it’s four, I can’t tell for sure.)

As it lifts up out of the water and flies off, the Brig and others watch… and the credits roll.

Not the most gripping cliffhanger, but still a good one.

Episode 4:

Broton gives the order for a jamming signal to interfere with any radar. The Doctor nags Broton and the Zygon war lord assures him that the plan is still unchanged and in a few hours, they will not need to hide any more.

Sarah Jane suggests that the Brig let them search the castle, to see if they can find any clues what the Zygons are up to. Sarah and Harry poke about the library, and Sarah finds papers about the Duke being president of the Scottish Energy Commission; Harry says they’re wasting time and they leave.

Broton (played by John Woodnutt, who is also playing the Duke – and it’s worth noting that Woodnutt has four serials he’s been in, or will be in, including this one. He was in two Pertwee serials, SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE as Hibbert, who I think was one of the scientists, and more notably as the Draconian Emperor in FRONTIER IN SPACE. He also later features in the Tom Baker serial THE KEEPER OF TRAKEN, one I enjoy muchly) gives the order to bring the ship down.

Okay, the ship looks to have four legs, not three, so disregard my earlier thoughts on similarity between it and the oil rigs.

Benton reports to the Brig that radar all over Scotland is being jammed, so they’ve lost track of the spaceship. Shortly after, Harry and Sarah show up. The Brig talks about an underwater object being tracked moving south, though the ship has been lost.

Broton approaches The Doctor and takes on the appearance of the Duke. We learn that a great refugee fleet of Zygons are on their way, but not to arrive for centuries. However, they must reshape Earth into a new planet, suitable for Zygons.

The Brig gets a call from the Prime Minister; he speaks to her (the last time a PM got on the phone with the Brig, it was a male PM, back in the Pertwee era. Wasn’t named, and neither is this one. Interestingly, this is before Maggie Thatcher came to the post, so this was rather impressive of the writers of the show to see a woman PM, as she was the only woman to serve that post to current date.) The PM insists that there be a media blackout and the public not informed.

The Doctor uses his body to send a transmission out, a signal to be traced. Running power through his body, he’s hurting himself while doing it. UNIT triangulates the signal, just before they lose it.

The Zygons believe The Doctor to be dead. Broton (still in the Duke’s form) leaves, saying it is good that The Doctor is dead. In the command chamber, he learns that that Skarasen is fifteen (or maybe fifty, hard to tell with the whisper Zygon voices) miles from target. Broton prepares to leave to place the signal device on the target.

In the storage room, The Doctor frees the Duke of Forgill from his pod.

Broton leaves, saying when Phase Two is completed, he will broadcast his demands.

The Doctor triggers a fire sensor, and he and the humans hide in the alcoves; he, the nurse, Duke Forgill and Caber escape and make it to the command room. The Doctor sets the self-destruct and leads the humans out.

Outside, UNIT troops arrive (and Sarah Jane; Harry’s there, too, but he IS part of UNIT) and approach the ship, just in time to see it explode. The Doctor and the freed humans all hide with UNIT as the ship blows.

As everyone starts congratulating him for defeating the Zygons, but The Doctor warns them that Broton is still loose and he’s got the signal device and plans to have the Skarasen attack somewhere in London; the Duke of Forgill fills them in that a world energy conference is going down just off of the Thames.

They dash off to London. Once there, they split up, and The Doctor and Sarah Jane find Broton in the basement. Sarah Jane rushes off for the Brig as The Doctor and Broton struggle.

The Brig and his men arrive, opening fire on Broton. With his dying words, Broton says “the Skarasen will destroy you all.” The Doctor finds the signal device in his pocket and runs off to the roof, throwing the device into the Thames just as the Skarasen shows up and everyone in London is screaming.

After eating the device, the Skarasen heads back home. Back in Scotland, The Doctor and his companions, along with the Duke and the Brig walk through the woods to the TARDIS. We learn all has been neatly wrapped up, as much as a giant monster in the Thames in London can be, at least.

The Doctor invites everyone along for a ride; the Brig declines (imagine if he hadn’t? Imagine the Brig romping around the universe with The Doctor, an official companion? HOW COOL would that have been?) Harry also declines, sadly. Sarah Jane agrees, “providing we do go straight back to London.”

The two of them enter and the Duke watches perplexed as the TARDIS dematerialises.

Not a horrible serial; some clunky writing here and there, but the fun parts more than make up for it. Sad to see Harry depart as a companion, really enjoyed him.  

Episode 69 – The Green Death 2/2

Maggot spoilers!!!

Episode 4:

Perhaps I missed it last night, but the maggot that is stalking Jo breaks out of the egg that she and The Doctor brought back (I had wondered where it came from.) It inches through the house into the room where Jo is seated on the floor reading.

Hinks is outside a window, and opens it, slipping in to the room behind Jo. He doesn’t see the maggot until it is too late and it leaps up and bites him on the arm. It inches away as Hinks falls and screams, rousing the others, who come running.

The Doctor collects a sample of the green slime to analyse.

UNIT has arrived at the pit, Benton and soldiers running about, unloading all sorts of explosives.

The Doctor and Professor Jones work on the sample; when exposing it to human mucous membrane cells, the green ichor attacks and transforms the human cells into cells like itself.

When The Doctor finds out the Brig plans to blow up and seal the mine, he asks for time, and the Brig gives him thirty-two and a half minutes. The Doctor goes to speak to Stevens, asking him to rescind the order to seal the mine.

Stevens refuses and brings in a man from the Ministry department – Mister Yates – yes, Captain Yates!

As The Doctor argues with Yates, who pleads the old “orders” bit, the Brig has the mine blown. Upon hearing the explosion, The Doctor tells Yates that this could be the worst day mankind has ever seen.

After The Doctor is dismissed and Yates is taken off to the executive suite, the computer taunts Stevens, saying it is not safe to allow outsiders to do their work. The computer says that D-Day is approaching.

The Brig explains that he had Yates assigned as the Ministry representative, to have an inside man. The Brig is no more fond of Stevens than The Doctor is.

A cleaning lady lets herself into the chamber Fell and Elgin were arguing in, where The Doctor and Jo escaped the pipe, and sees maggots in the pipe chamber. She finds Elgin and cues him in.

Benton patrols the various UNIT guards on duty, checking in on one. A maggot burrows out of the ground at the man’s feet and hisses at the soldier.

Elgin argues with Stevens, who still refuses to believe in the existence of the maggots (or at least pretends so.) Then, mid breath, Stevens seems to change to “oh, I’m not disputing it, just not concerned” (not an exact quote.) When Elgin tries to leave, saying he’s going to find someone who will do something, Stevens locks the door from the desk and tells Elgin to come sit down near the computer.

Elgin refuses and Stevens presses a button; there’s a high-pitched shrill whine and Elgin holds his hands to his head in pain. Stevens tells him to sit down and Elgin listens, obediently. Stevens gets the funky headset out.

Maggots are all over the hillside. UNIT soldiers fire on them but seem to be really bad shots. The Brig fires his pistol, but the bullets bounce off. One of the UNIT boys uses an automatic rifle, also to no avail. Even insecticides don’t work.

The Doctor says that the only solution is a “biological counterstrike”. He says Jones is working on something. The Doctor says they need to get a sample of the waste from GC.

The Brig rings Mister Yates, who can’t speak plainly as he has a GC guard with him at most times. He manages to inform the Brig that he cannot help them get a sample directly, but might be able to assist The Doctor, should he find a way in.

The Doctor disguises himself as a dairy/milk delivery man, pretending to be the dad of the regular guy.

Jo is having fun assisting Professor Jones until she spills some samples and he gets rather brusque with her.

The Doctor gets inside the GC complex but an alarm is sounded and it is announced over the PA that he’s been found out. Oh very efficient, that.

Yates gives his escort the slip when he sees The Doctor, dressed as a washing lady. Yes, you read that right.

Jo goes wandering, hoping to find a maggot for Professor Jones. Benton, driving in a truck, stops and warns her off, but she doesn’t listen.

Yates lets The Doctor know where the formula is being kept, but before they can talk much longer, Stevens and Yates’ escort guard arrive. Nobody realises The Doctor isn’t the regular cleaning lady. This is high comedic entertainment here, folks.

Professor Jones realises that the dried mushroom extract that accidentally got spilled on the slime is the cure. Of course. THEN he realises that Jo is gone. Of course. He reads the note she left him and realises she’s off maggot-hunting and he dashes off.

The Doctor, back in his usual garb, accesses the private lift, using his sonic screwdriver.

The Brig tells Benton that the RAF is flying in with a HE grenade strike in seven minutes.

The Doctor finds a massive computer room, filled with various computer consoles and banks. The computer voice speaks to him and reveals that it is the boss and is “the computer”. The Doctor looks around, rather alarmed… and the credits roll.

Okay, I guess forty years ago that might have been a shock, but I took it from the get go that it was a computer running things.

 

Episode 5:

Jones shows up where the UNIT troops wait for the RAF strike. He sees Jo moving into the strike zone and follows, unaware of the impending strike.

The Doctor and the BOSS (acronym to be explained when it happens in story) banter, trading barbs and the such. BOSS is aware of The Doctor, having accessed his files at UNIT. When The Doctor asks BOSS what he is, he says he is the first Biomorphic Organisational Systems Supervisor. (Told you we’d explain it.)

BOSS says that the secret to the human creative spark is inefficient and he programmed Stevens to program it to be inefficient and thus have the human spark. BOSS is programmed to make profit for GC and nothing will stand in its way.

Jones find Jo and hustles her away from some maggots that cornered her. They try to get out of the strike zone, but the RAF helicopter is given the all-clear to start dropping the HE grenades and they must take shelter in a mine shaft.

When BOSS says it is infallible, The Doctor gives it a riddle. The riddle seems to get the best of BOSS and when The Doctor makes his pithy departure, the private lift has Stevens and two guards in it, awaiting him.

During the bombing run, Jones is knocked unconscious.

Not all the maggots were destroyed by the grenade run.

The Doctor is sitting, wearing the funky headset. He seems to resist the programming, running sums in his head to fight off the brainwashing.

Jo tries to wake Professor Jones, to no avail.

BOSS has a temper and The Doctor is playing the computer like a cheap violin. When BOSS gets too pissed, it orders for The Doctor to be killed, but The Doctor suggests that killing him will be getting rid of a powerful bargaining chip.

Jo tries to repair her radio that was damaged during the bombing. Outside, maggots are getting closer to their hiding place.

The Doctor is placed in a room for holding, and shortly thereafter, Yates frees him. They try to sneak out, but are spotted on camera and an alarm is sounded. Again, over the general PA everything is announced. The Doctor escapes, but Yates is taken prisoner.

Jo finally gets her radio to work and contacts Benton as The Doctor drives up in Bessie. They drive to the strike zone and look for Jo, finding the cave she and Jones are sequestered in. They rescue Jones and Jo and bring them back to the commune.

Jones only partially wakes, mumbling, “Serendipity,” before passing out again. They see a glowing green spot on his neck!

The Doctor ponders what Jones meant by serendipity, ironically standing before the microscope which still has the slide Jones was looking out when he realised that his mushrooms would be the cure. Mike Yates suddenly appears from behind a desk (he was laying on the floor, apparently, which makes absolutely no sense.)

Yates tells The Doctor they let him go, but it’s obvious he’s been “processed”, especially after he pulls a gun on The Doctor. The Doctor tries to talk him out of it, even after the Brig walks in and starts barking orders.

The Doctor pulls out the blue crystal he took from Metebelis 3, and the stone and The Doctor’s voice begin overwhelming Yates’ programming.

Stevens talks to Mr. James, another GC associate who has been processed by the BOSS.

When Yates awakes, The Doctor tells him he needs to go back into GC, as he has something he needs him to do.

Stevens and BOSS go over “slave unit” numbers in major cities across the world. Seems they have a great number of slave units prepared. Yates arrives, informing them that The Doctor is dead.

Jones is suffering; Jo is very worried about him and The Doctor realises that he means a lot to her.

Yates tries to dissuade Stevens from having Jo killed, but Stevens seems to find Yates’ arguing suspect and has Mr James brought in to keep watch on Yates. Stevens leaves, and Yates uses the Metebelis crystal to free James. As he questions James on what is happening, James begins to talk about a takeover at four pm, but Stevens arrives with two guards and uses the computer to stun/drop/kill James… and the credits roll.

 

Episode 6:

The Doctor works in Jones’ lab, trying to find a cure, still pondering what Jones meant by serendipity.

Benton brings in a maggot’s shell; it seems they’re beginning to change. The Doctor says the cure has to take a second place to stopping the creatures.

The maggot that killed Hinks shows up in the kitchen, but after it eats some of the fungus that they use for food, it dies. They quickly realise the fungus could be what they need.

BOSS is humming and singing while Stevens works on figures. BOSS inquires how Yates broke James’ programming. Stevens advocates for elimination, but BOSS says he will be used to test a new processing treatment instead.

Benton and The Doctor take Bessie out for a spin, throwing bits of the fungus out to the maggots, who greedily eat it and then begin dying off.

“It’s working, I say it’s working. They’re dying like… well, like maggots!” – The Brigadier.

A giant fly watches Bessie drive by.

Professor Jones is very, very ill and Nancy and Jo all but sit by helplessly. Nancy is all zen, “The Doctor will help,” and Jo is all frantic, “even he doesn’t know what to do.”

Yates escapes Stevens and the guards as they take him for the new processing.

The giant fly… well, it looks more like a dragonfly… follows Bessie. There’s some really awesome (and by awesome I mean not) super-imposed images. The dragonfly thing squirts some of the green ichor at The Doctor, but fortunately Bessie’s windshield is in the way. The Doctor throws his cloak over the creature and it crashes to the ground.

Yates escapes Global Chemicals, dropping from the rooftop.

Jo tells The Doctor about her accident in the lab, spilling the dried fungal powder, and The Doctor realises that must be the cure. (Yay, about time.)

A maggot clean up is in process, when Yates arrives to tell the Brig about BOSS. We next see him at the “nut hutch” (Jones’ commune), telling The Doctor that something, but he’s not sure what, is going to happen at 4pm.

BOSS chastises Stevens in a most irrational fashion. Stevens reports that all slave units are ready to be activated. BOSS orders him to link him with all seven computers so the countdown to phase one can begin.

The Brig and The Doctor try to get in the gate at GC, but the guard won’t let them.

BOSS is acting very silly, talking about using the symphony orchestra to play during his triumph. (I guess this is supposed to be the funny part of the show.)

Stevens tries to get BOSS to stop acting childish; Stevens says that until all the links are established they are at their most vulnerable. Landline links are established, but radio links have not been made yet. This is really rather silly and not in remotely a good way.

Phase two begins, and Stevens puts on the funky headset, apparently to connect to BOSS.

A poultice of the fungus is applied to Jones’ neck and he comes to, recognising Nancy and Jo and starts kissing Jo’s hand. It’s really touching. Kinda.

The Brig and his boys wait at the gate; they have only six minutes left in the timeframe The Doctor gave them to wait before charging in to destroy the computer.

The Doctor finds Stevens in BOSS’ chamber. Stevens and BOSS seem one; Stevens’ mouth moves as BOSS speaks. The Doctor appeals to Stevens’ humanity, then pulls out the Metebelis sapphire, using it to deprogram him. Stevens breaks free and tells The Doctor to get out, quickly. He tells The Doctor that the whole place is going to go up in two minutes.

BOSS pleads for Stevens to stop what he’s doing as The Doctor rushes off to get out and make sure the others do, too.

Outside the gate, The Doctor grabs the guard and everyone takes cover just in time as the main building explodes.

Afterwards, Jones seems to be quite well. Jo tells The Doctor that she’s going to the Amazon with Professor Jones. In the course of explaining it, Jones mentions getting married, much to Jo’s surprise and delight.

The Doctor says he’ll come back and see them some time. He gives her the Metebelis sapphire as a “wedding present”. Everyone celebrates with drinks and gives speeches as The Doctor slips out alone. He drives off across the countryside… and the final credits roll.

A companion leaving is always bittersweet – happy for Jo to have found something greater, sad for The Doctor.

This serial really wasn’t one of the best – too much silliness in my opinion. The writing started well but once BOSS became the main focus it just devolved into too much of the silly. Also, what’s the point of having scientific characters if the day is saved by serendipity?

Ah, well.