Serial 154 – The Greatest Show in the Galaxy 2/2

Recap: The Doctor and Ace are invited to the Psychic Circus, the Greatest Show in the Galaxy, but some very weird and evil things are going on. The Doctor is being forced to audition for the circus… but what’s the purpose behind it all and the disappearances/deaths of those who try out?

Episode 3:

Mags asks why Cook brought them there, and he says survival of the fittest. The Doctor says they’re on the verge of discovering the secret behind the Psychic Circus, but Cook says he’s not interested. He says all that matters is the fact that, “Anyone dumb enough to get into the ring gets killed.”

The robots approach Ace, who tries to insist she’s not frightened. She tries the door, but it’s locked. She pulls the arm off one and they all freeze up. She knocks one down and the clatter wakens Bellboy who has been sleeping in there.

Leaving the tunnel, Mags looks up; the moon carving has gone from half to full moon. Mags begins reacting savagely, while Cook tries to talk her down. The Doctor runs off while the clown robots are distracted by her.

The little girl in the crowd says she’s bored, but her daddy says something has to happen soon.

The clowns escort Cook and Mags back, him prattling on about some story or another. Mags seems to be rather calm now.

In the entrance to the circus, The Doctor gazes into Morgana’s crystal ball, seeing the eye reflected. He says “Things are beginning to get out of control quicker than I expected.”

Hearing the simpleton approaching, he hides. The simpleton enters, pulls out an amulet with the eye on it, and begins murmuring, “No, no,” before running off. The Doctor slips off, too.

Bellboy sees Flowerchild’s earring on Ace’s jacket and says that one of his robots killed her. She asks how he could be sure, he says that every robot on the planet he made and maintains. He explains that everyone in the circus has one circus skilled they learned, his was making the robots. He gives her a control unit, which is apparently the one used to control the robot Ace and Mags were digging up in the first episode.

He talks about how things used to be, how they were happy, how they communicated and worked together.

The Doctor follows the simpleton, who is Deadbeat, though how The Doctor knows his name, I’m not sure. He postulates that Deadbeat wasn’t always simple, and wonders if he was punished for finding out something.

The Doctor talks some more, saying at least Deadbeat won’t turn him in to the others. Deadbeat smiles and agrees and tells him to follow.

Captain Cook and Mags are returned to the cage; the nerd recognises him but the clown tells him to shut up. Cook explains that it was Mags’ fault that The Doctor got away and suggests that she be next to the ring, but the clown says Cook will be next instead.

The Ringmaster finds Morgana, seemingly in a daze/funk/trance, staring into her crystal ball. She tells him that that which they found is here, will always be here. They both get frantic, but the Ringmaster says he’s only worried about the empty circus tent.

The clown arrives to tell them that The Doctor escaped and Cook failed them. The two men start arguing, both wanting to take charge. Morgana interrupts them to show them The Doctor and Deadbeat in the crystal ball.

Ace promises Bellboy she’s going to get him out, but he says there’s no point in leaving, the freedom of being what you want to be, the fun is gone. She gets up, saying she has to find The Doctor.

Bellboy says they took all that was bright and beautiful about the circus and buried it. Ace asks who ‘they’ are. “The ones who run the circus,” he answers, then continues, “the ones you met. But there wasn’t just them… there was…” He has difficulty expressing, but pins the earring back on Ace’s jacket, saying, “There was Flowerchild and Peacepipe and Juniper Berry and Deadbeat… no, he wasn’t Deadbeat then… he was.. he was…” but he can’t recall.

Someone rattles the door and they get afraid, but it’s Deadbeat and The Doctor. Bellboy remembers that Deadbeat was called Kingpin.

In the cage, Cook gets friendly with the nerd, asking about his interest in the Psychic Circus. The Ringmaster gives Cook the two minutes warning. Cook starts buttering up the nerd, obviously trying to get him to take his place.

Mags argues for him to not listen, but the nerd tells her that Cook is one of his heroes. Cook offers the boy his spot in the circus, saying “It is a sacrifice I am prepared to make.”

Bellboy and Deadbeat chant something in unison, something about sifting dreams and the mind divided. Bellboy tells Ace and The Doctor that Kingpin was the one who persuaded the circus to come here, that there was something he wanted.

Once they got there, something evil there changed the circus. The Doctor asks Bellboy about the well, but he doesn’t seem to recall. Deadbeat chants about looking in the well, “the eye gives you promises of heaven or hell”.

The Doctor says that Deadbeat knows what happened, he has the answers.

The circus starts up, the clowns come out, then the Ringmaster raps, introducing the circus’ greatest fan, the nerd. He comes out, saying this is a dream come true.

In the cage, Mags accuses Cook of sending him to his death. But he gets zeroes and is killed. Cook reminds her of his motto – “survival of the fittest”.

All that’s left of the nerd is his glasses.

The Doctor asks if they take Deadbeat to the well, will he show them the purpose. Bellboy says he’ll stay there, saying he could delay the Chief Clown. Ace protests, but he says there’s no point for him to go on, doing work he hates.

Morgana talks to the crystal ball, promising the eye that they’ll stay away from the bus, there will be more acts and they are all it’s servant. It communicates with her, but we don’t hear it, only her side. She says she never wanted to resist, pleading.

The Chief Clown arrives and Bellboy says he doesn’t know where they went. He says the clown was wonderful, funny, inventive once. The clown hits him and Bellboy activates al the robots, demanding they deal with him as they did Flowerchild. The chief clown leaves.

As they near the well, Deadbeat/Kingpin says he can’t do it. He tries to run but The Doctor and Ace stop him. He shows them what he did, holding up his medallion and he collapses. The Doctor says the medallion must have been used to summon the power in the well.

Ace laments not having any Nitro-9. They realise that something must be in the bus that the power doesn’t want them to find. Apparently they saw a bit of mirror there that matches Kingpin’s medallion, and they posit that’s what Flowerchild was after when she was killed at the bus.

Cook reminds Mags that he saved her on Vulpana, where she’d been shot with a silver bullet. She says she is well aware, but he didn’t save her for her sake, but because he wants something. She asks what he wants now, but he says all in good time.

A sinister edge to the seemingly ridiculous Cook. Interesting.

Studying the well, The Doctor says they’re so close and yet so far from understanding what’s going on. Kingpin gets up and backs away from the well. The Doctor tells Ace to take Kingpin to the bus to find the other piece of mirror, while he goes back to the ring.

She asks, “Are you off your head,” but he explains the circus needs acts. She says she thinks he’s crazy, not Deadbeat, and he replies, almost vehemently, “Anybody remotely interesting is mad… in some way or another.”

The family in the crowd complains about the acts never being any good or getting better.

The Doctor surrenders himself and is escorted back to the cage. He tells Mags that he didn’t waste his freedom and has an idea. He proposes they go into the ring together. Mags likes the idea and says Cook is in for it as well, getting assertive when he begins to argue.

Ace and Kingpin escape slipping out from the tent.

The Ringmaster introduces not one act but three. The Doctor, Mags and Cook enter, but Cook has a request, “A special lighting effect.” Mags pleads, “No,” but Cook goes on, requesting “that old Devil Moon effect.” Mags cries out at the lighting is queued and collapses to the ground, growling and snarling.

Cook explains what is already all so obvious – that’s she’s a lycanthrope. We get a transformation done via cut scenes until Mags’ teeth are all canines and her eyes lupine, her fingers end in claws. She roars and threatens everyone around her… and the credits roll.

Again, just lacking in the punch that should have had. Sigh. And Mags is the best part of this serial.

Episode 4:

Mags transformation goes a little further, fur on her limbs. The Ringmaster throws a whip to Cook, who uses it to keep Mags in line, while he pontificates how The Doctor is going to die at Mags’ hands and that the circus is only half of what’s going on here. He says they didn’t come here for fun… then corrects himself by saying, some of them did, but they’re all dead.

Clown robots unload the ticket taker and return him to the bus. It walks in.

Cook goes on about there are powers there that are ripe for plucking by those capable, like himself. The Doctor argues, saying he’s meddling in things he doesn’t understand.

Morgana and the head clown watch as Deadbeat and Ace go to the bus via Morgana’s crystal.

Cook begins relating another story, but The Doctor interrupts and calls him a bore. He sets Mags on The Doctor, who climbs the rigging to escape her.

At the bus, Kingpin sits outside, chanting about searching for the truth, while Ace finds a case. She calls out to Kingpin that she found it, while the ticket-taker robot watches her from behind a curtain.

Mags throttles The Doctor, who begs with her to overcome her urges. He escapes her by swinging to the far side of the audience, where the family of three seem to mentally attack him, their eyes glowing. The Doctor falls back into the ring, where Mags attacks him.

She backs off after a moment and ends up attacking Cook instead.

Ace brings the box out to Kingpin/Deadbeat, saying she can’t open it. He sits and rocks, only stopping to laugh when the ticket-taker comes up behind Ace and grabs her.

The case is dropped and stepped upon by the ticket-taker. It opens up and he takes out a piece of mirror, a small eye, placing it in his medallion. The medallion glows and he jumps up, saying he remembers, it’s beneath the robot’s cap.

The ticket-taker knocks Kingpin to the ground and continues to struggle with Ace. She knocks the cap off, revealing a button. Kingpin tells her to press it, which causes the robot to self-destruct.

Kingpin says he’s his old self, but nobody is safe until he gets the medallion back to The Doctor.

Mags has reverted and The Doctor helps her up as Cook’s body is carried off on a stretcher. The Time Lord and lycanthrope run off as the family father says in a booming voice, “WE WANT MORE.”

The Doctor and Mags leap through one of the holes that Ace had cut during her time running about and hide.

The little girl in the family talks with the same booming voice, telling the Ringmaster they want another act now. All three talk in the voice, but Ringmaster and Morgana plead with them for patience, saying they’ve done all they could.

The family says they have nothing more to give but their selves. The Chief Clown sidles away as his clowns grab them and put them in a basket, doing a disappearing act.

The Doctor sends Mags to find Ace and Deadbeat as he is called back to the ring by the booming voice. The Doctor heads back to the ring.

Mags escapes the circus, the clowns stopping as she runs off.

The Doctor enters the circus ring, but en route, there’s some weird effects like he’s stepping through dimensions, something we’ve never seen before, so I’m not sure the meaning or significance. He ends up in a sandy pit surrounded by stone.

“And here we all are, at last,” he says, looking about. We see three stone figures seated up high and he addresses them, saying he’s surprised they brought him there. He remarks how difficult it must be, existing in two concurrent time spaces.

He notes the memorial stones, saying no wonder they look familiar and takes off his hat to acknowledge “the Gods of Ragnarok”.

Mags runs. The black car chases. The fruit-seller is moving her cart, which blocks the car. She chastises the clown.

The Doctor asks how many people they destroyed before Kingping came down. They tell him that he’s said enough, but he says he’s only begun, that he’s fought them throughout space and time. They say he’s in their realm now and must entertain them or die.

He says they “ain’t seen nothing yet”, and begins some physical comedy.

Mags encounters Ace and Kingpin, but the clown car is just behind her. Mags says Kingpin’s amulet is what they’re after. Ace has an idea and runs off, the other two following.

The Doctor talks about the beginning of life, wondering if it was the chicken. Then he starts coughing up an egg and does a magic trick. The Gods of Ragnarok are not amused.

Ace and friends hide behind the giant robot. When the clowns get there, they get out and the Chief Clown muses on “Bellboy’s greatest faiilure”. The Chief Clown calls out to them, saying Deadbeat won’t use the eye, he isn’t strong enough.

Ace uses the control Bellboy gave her to set the big robot against the clowns. It blasts them all, including the Chief Clown. Kingpin laments, “He used to be a great clown,” but Ace replies, “I never liked clowns.”

The Doctor does a dance and plays with rope, doing rope tricks. The Gods seem to be content to watch his shenanigans, aware he’s playing for time.

Ace and company get in the clown car.

The Doctor does more magic tricks. The Gods make it rain and he turns a snake into his umbrella which he uses to protect himself.

Ace, Kingpin and Mags enter the circus, passing the body of Cook, still laid out on a stretcher.

The Doctor performs an escape from a straight-jacket while hanging upside down. The Gods says he is trifling with them and they want something bigger. This seems to delight him to no end as he asks, “Do you?”

Kingpin leads the girls into the ring, but there’s nobody there. Kingpin says The Doctor “must be in the Dark Circus with the Gods. If so, there’s only one way we can reach him.”

Mags says the stone chamber is the way in, but Kingpin says they must be careful as they can sense the medallion’s presence.

The Doctor asks if he has the Gods’ full attention, noticing something is on their mind.

Kingpin warns the girls that the Gods will try anything to stop them. As they head towards their destination, Cook rises up and puts on his pith helmet.

The Doctor says for his finale, he will be using the powerful force of imagination. He holds up a piece of metal, saying it begins with this, which once was part of a sword, which belonged to a gladiator. He tosses the metal up and it transforms into a sword.

He catches the sword, saying that gladiator died in this ring to entertain them.

As they approach the pit, Cook steals the medallion from Kingpin. Mags says she thought he was dead and he says that he is.

The Doctor says he has fed them enough and they have found it indigestible. “So, I have taken myself off the menu.” He says it is over.

They command him saying he cannot stop. He says he already has. They threaten him with death, and he replies it’s just a matter of time, pointing the sword down at the sand.

Ace and Mags make a move for the medallion, but when Mags kicks it, it flies into the pit, landing before The Doctor’s sword. He picks it up and shields himself from the eye-blasts from the Gods.

Cook approaches the three, but stumbles into the pit.

The Gods continue to blast, The Doctor using the medallion to shield.

The circus above begins to shake and tremble. Ace and company rush to the exit.

The Dark Circus begins to fall apart. The Doctor strolls out calmly, the Gods seemingly unable to do anything but collapse with their surroundings.

The Doctor exits the circus topside, just before a huge explosion occurs.

The fruit-seller sees the explosion and remarks how there’s no consideration for those who already live there.

A pink tornado of energy/smoke destroys the circus.

Mags asks if Cook is done for, and The Doctor says yes, “But you’re just about to start.” Kingpin says he’s been thinking and The Doctor replies, “What better way for a circus to start than with a wonderful new thought?”

Mags says she’s afraid of being able to control herself, but The Doctor says she already has. Kingpin invites The Doctor and Ace to join their new traveling circus, but he says they have other galaxies to explore.

“Besides, I find circuses a little… sinister,” he adds… and the final credits roll.

All in all, meh. Could’ve been a lot more fun, but wasn’t horrid. Still weak, one of the weakest of the McCoy era.

One more season!!!!!

Serial 154 – The Greatest Show in the Galaxy 1/2

Never seen this one, no idea what it’s about, presumably a circus. Let do this!

Episode 1:

We open with The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. A man in the center of a circus ring welcomes everyone with a bit of a rap.

We switch to the TARDIS, with The Doctor juggling while Ace looks for her rucksack of Nitro-9.

Outside the Greatest Show in the Galaxy a three-wheeled motorbike appears out of nowhere, with a bat-helmeted rider on it. They ride a bit and then stop to eat a sandwich.

In the TARDIS, a little robot appears. The Doctor says it’s “just the sort of thing you’d expect to see in this part of the galaxy.”

The robot connects to the TARDIS console and an advert for TGSitG comes up on the scanner viewscreen. Ace calls it junk mail.

“Yeah, junk mail gets everywhere,” The Doctor replies.

Ace shuts the scanner off, saying the circus is kids’ stuff. She admits to being creeped out by the clowns. The Doctor seems interested in going.

The robot calls Ace scared, but she says she’s not. Ace ends up saying she’s not scared of anything and says the “junkbox” wins.

On some planet, two people, Bellboy and a girl, run through a blasted terrain. They’re escapees from the circus, apparently. A black car moves through the terrain, a passenger is a man in clown makeup. The car stops and he gets out, watching two kites in the sky, then gets back in. The vehicle drives off.

Bellboy and his lady friend keep running. They crest a sand dune and see Flowerchild (that’s her name)’s kites.

The TARDIS appears in the blasted terrain. The planet is Segnoax. The Doctor complains that the land isn’t as green and pleasant as they’ve been led to believe, but The Doctor says the inhabitants are supposed to be pleasant enough. Seeing one, they head over.

The bat-helmeted man drives his three-wheeled bike.

They meet a woman who calls them “weirdos”, saying they’re not welcome there.

Bellboy and Flowerchild stop to rest. She says there’s no choice. He says the kites will track them forever. They share a kiss after she says one of them must make it. She gives him an earring.

He says he’ll wait to draw the kites after him. He urges her to go on.

The clown keeps tracking the kites.

Bellboy wanders, trying to be obvious.

Ace and The Doctor try to win over the woman by eating some fruit…thing she made (and sells, I gather?) He says by eating (and paying their way), they’ll show her that they’re nice people and not weirdos.

Ace complains.

Bellboy calls out to the kites, trying to get them to track him. He doesn’t seem to be too lucky.

Flowerchild finds a bus covered in graffiti. A pic of Bellboy is on the bus. She enters the bus.

The Doctor talks to the woman, hoping to get info from her. Bat-helmeted dude arrives. Mags complains that he’s “another of your lot”. Ace is impressed by his bike but he’s a total ass to her.

The woman says all the riffraff and extra-terrestrials go to the Circus. “Anyone who is up to no good goes there,” she says.

The woman complains about the circus and the vagabonds. The Doctor prevaricates when she asks if he intends to go there. The Doctor asks if they can get a ride with him, but Nord (the Vandal of the Roads) says nobody rides with him.

He’s a right tosser. I’d have punched him in the nards.

Flowerchild leaves the bus but is caught by someone we don’t see very well.

The Doctor and Ace are walking down the road and almost run over the black car (the one with the clown.)

Nord is seen driving down the road.

The Doctor and Ace wander; The Doctor says something evil is going on, he can feel it. Ace asks if he thinks it’s the circus, but he’s unsure.

They see a man in explorer gear (pith helmet and all) and his goth/punk companion. Wonder if they’re a parallel of sorts for The Doctor and Ace? They go over and make introductions, meeting Captain Cook and Mags.

Nord approaches a clown/mime doing a balancing act, asking where to apply for a gig with the psychic circus. The “whiteface” points him in the right direction.

Cook and The Doctor sip tea while the girls play with a robot that was buried and Mags is uncovering. Captain Cook explains that his curiousity was picqued about the circus, but apparently Mags wanted to come as well. He says he met her on the planet Vulpana and says she’s a “rather unusual specimen”.

“Of what,” The Doctor asks, but Cook says that would be telling.

The robot sits up, grabbing Mags, and begins firing wildly. The Doctor asks Cook to help, but he’s too busy drinking his tea. Ace hits the robot on the head and it goes inert.

“Well, well. More tea, perhaps,” Cook asks.

At the place where Nord first appeared, a geeky kid on a bicycle appears and rides off.

The clown in the car follow the kites.

Flowerchild is dragged off by her attacker.

Bellboy approaches the woman fruit-seller and collapses. The black car pulls up and the clowns get out, demanding where the girl is. He says she’ll have reached there by now.

“If she has,” the clown replies, “she’ll regret it.”

The Doctor and company have found the bus. Cook mocks The Doctor for being cautious, wary. They enter the bus and poke around. A robot appears from the back, asking for fares and saying no standing inside. It fires a blast from it’s ticket machine at Cook, who tells the robot that The Doctor is paying.

The Doctor demands a multi/senior/etc pass, which seems to confuse the robot, and it becomes subservient to him. He demands to see the ticket machine and uses it to blast the robot.

“Just the ticket,” The Doctor quips. Groan.

Bellboy is dragged to the circus. A gypsy-looking woman named Morgana asks what they have done, but they say he needs to be punished. Bellboy calls out for Flowerchild as he’s dragged off.

The Doctor and Ace talk about their new friends. Ace finds Flowerchild’s badge/earring that fell off when she was grabbed. Ace asks if this was the source of evil and he thinks so.

The Doctor says they’re still going to the circus; Ace is reluctant but doesn’t argue.

Cook and Mags arrive at the circus.

The geek on the bike arrives at the fruit-seller’s. She’s pleased to see a “nice, clean, respectable young man”. When he asks the way to the circus, she’s disappointed.

Cook and Mags meet Morgana, but she says they cannot go in just now, but the head clown invites them in anyways.

The Doctor and Ace arrive shortly thereafter.

Bellboy is held by three clowns as the ringmaster cracks his whip.

Outside, The Doctor beckons Ace to follow.

Cook and Mags enter the circus proper, where they see Bellboy subjected to some high light/sonic attack. Mags screams.

Hearing Mags’ scream, Ace is worried. The Doctor doesn’t hear any screaming, and he thinks she’s making excuses. They argue.

Mags screams and clutches her ears.

The Doctor asks, “Are we going in or aren’t we,” and Ace seems trepidatious… and the credits roll.

That’s a lousy cliffhanger.

Episode 2:

The head clown comes and waves to The Doctor and Ace, inviting them in.

As they enter, Ace insists she heard screaming but doesn’t know. They are greeted by Morgana. Ace is standoffish to her. The clown watches through the curtain as Morgana goes on about why the founded the circus.

She offers to read The Doctor’s future, but he declines, saying “Not just yet.” They talk about how the circus used to travel from planet to planet, but they settled in, ever since… but Morgana declines to explain.

When the call for everyone to be seated is made, Ace and The Doctor get ready to go in; Morgana seems to be about to try to talk him out of it, but then the clown shows up and she changes her tune.

The clown sees Ace’s found badge/brooch as she passes by him. They enter and it’s dark and the sound of the crowd is gone. They climb, blindly, into the seats. There are others in the darkness, a little girl and her parents, the former complaining about wanting ice cream.

Ace complains that it’s a con, that the place isn’t full. The Doctor goes over to talk to them, but they ignore his attempts to talk, only offering him a crisp.

Lights come up and clowns juggle and dance and cavort. The ringmaster comes out and busts out another rap. The Doctor remarks on some memorial stones.

It seems that at least some of the clowns are robotic.

The ringmaster introduces their new act, and the spotlight hits The Doctor. He’s invited into the ring, but Ace is worried, telling him not to do it. He ignores her and goes in.

The ringmaster takes The Doctor to his dressing room, while the head clown tries to find out where Ace found the earring. She runs off.

The Doctor is taken to where Nord, Cook and Mags are seated. Cook is drinking tea and talking, which he seems to do both quite well and frequently. The ringmaster locks them into a cage and The Doctor gets all melodramatic about falling into a trap.

(I was under the impression he was playing along, suspecting a trap all the while. Now I’m not so sure.)

The clowns chase Ace. She cuts a hole in a tent wall and hides from them.

The Doctor asks why they let him fall into the trap, but Cook says he doesn’t think so. Mags agrees with The Doctor but Cook tells her to shut up.

A man sweeps up outside the cage, but Cook says his mind is “completely gone”. The man starts singing about being gone down the road.

Ace makes her way back to Morgana, but has to hide as the ringmaster shows up. He tells Morgana they have to talk.

Nord yells at the sweeper, trying to grab him through the cage. The Doctor laments not listening to Ace, and Cook agrees. Mags point out they didn’t do any better. He’s rather blasé about it.

The Doctor asks about the talent contest, and Cook says it’s “something pretty nasty”.

They call for the next and Cook and Mags struggle with Nord, who doesn’t want to go. The head clown and his robots come in to take Nord away.

The Doctor is handed three juggling pins.

The nerd on the bike shows up at the circus.

Morgana complains they used to have fun, before things changed, before they came there. The Ringmaster argues, saying they’re a success there. He says the others, bringing up Bellboy and Flowerchild and someone called Deadbeat, saying they couldn’t handle it.

The head clown shows up, saying the new pair worries him. He says Ace had one of Flowerchild’s earrings. The head clown seems a bit intimidated by the Ringmaster. The Ringmaster tells him that he’d better find Ace.

When he walks off, the clown and Morgana talk about Bellboy, the former saying he hopes he learned his lesson, as they need him to repair the clown robots.

Ace is discovered in her hiding spot and runs off, pursued by the clowns.

The nerd shows up, asking Morgana about the talent contest. He says he’s the circus’ greatest fan.

Ace comes across Bellboy, who is tied up.

Nord leaves the cage. The Doctor asks Mags why she’s frightened, but she refuses. Cook asks him not to bother her, saying “You have to be careful with these… rare specimens.” When The Doctor asks what he means, he says he’ll find out soon enough.

The head clown arrives where Bellboy is tied up; Ace hides before they enter. The clown says he has work for Bellboy, who doesn’t seem verbally respsonsive.

Nord does a strongman lift, getting ratings of 9. The Ringmaster says he has to tell a joke, but Nord stammers and gets 0s.

From the cage, watching through a part in the tent, The Doctor asks if that’s what Mags saw before, but she says not exactly, but it was just as bad. There’s a flash and smoke pours through the crack.

In the ring, all that left of Nord is a scrap of his outfit.

The nerd flatters Morgana, talking about her finest efforts. She grows tired of it, and tells him to go in. He does so.

Ace is still on the run, peeking through tent flaps.

The Doctor practices juggling. Cook tells them it’s not going to work. He begins to relate a story, but she cuts him off, “I don’t care.”

The Doctor and Mags start a staged argument about who’s going first (each claiming they will.)

In the ring, the Ringmaster makes his return to applause. Another rap is begun, another “Great new act”, this time highlighting the nerd who is in the stand.

The Doctor and Mags argue. When the robot clowns enter, they attack them with the juggling pins. They leave, but Cook says he’ll sit this one out and bids Mags goodbye.

Ace watches as the clowns take a body way, the head clown ordering them to take it back to the bus (maybe the robot from the bus, then? Couldn’t see it well.) The simpleton sweeper comes up behind her, but when she turns about to get away from him, the head clown grabs her.

The Ringmaster brings the nerd back to the cage, where he finds Cook sitting and the clown robots ‘knocked out’. (Maybe they were real clowns, I dunno.)

Over the PA, they call for The Doctor, telling him there’s no escape. Mags and The Doctor find some stones like the one(s) he saw in the ring. One of the stones has a moon carved into it and it upsets Mags. She won’t explain when he asks why it upsets her.

The head clown throws Ace in a room full of broken down robot clowns, saying some time in there will get her to tell him what he wants to know.

The Doctor and Mags make their way through the rocky tunnel. Mags almost falls into a chasm. The Doctor drops his juggling pin into it. It falls a great way and then at the bottom, there’s a large glowing eye.

He says that the answer they seek is down there, recognising the eye from the kites that were in the entrance hall.

Cook, accompanied by the clowns, shows up. He apologises for butting in, saying The Doctor is the next one for the ring… and the credits roll.

A somewhat better cliffhanger than the first one.

I’ll be honest, I’m not super excited about this story. It’s not horrible, but it’s weak. It’s the worst one since TIME AND THE RANI…

See you Friday.  

Serial 147 – Time and the Rani 2/2

Recap: The TARDIS was shot down by the Rani, knocking out Mel and causing The Doctor to regenerate. The Rani captured The Doctor and induced amnesia, pretending to be Mel, to get him to repair some machine of hers. Eventually, Mel and The Doctor reunited (and found out that the other really was who they were), but The Rani has activated her machine… but we still don’t know what evil purpose she’s up to. And why is she capturing Albert Einstein and other geniuses?

When we left off, The Doctor was hiding from the Rani, but unfortunately in the lair of her bat-men, the Tetraps, who had him surrounded…

Episode 3:

At the last minute, Beyus enters and releases the food, saving The Doctor from the Tetraps.

Mel and Faroon watch from behind rocks as the Rani exits. Mel suspects she’s searching for The Doctor. Mel tells Faroon to leave, afraid if she’s caught with Mel it would be for the worst. Reluctantly, the Lakertyan departs.

Urak arrives at the lab, looking for the Rani, cutting off The Doctor’s escape. Beyus tells the Tetrap that the Rani went outside. Urak tells Beyus he does not see why his mistress uses the Lakertyans, and then sets off to find his mistress.

Once he’s gone, Beyus releases The Doctor from the booth (the one reserved for him) that he was hiding in. The Doctor makes a witty comment about not liking the Rani’s pets, but Beyus replies, “The Tetraps are nobody’s pets and you’ll be wise not to forget it.”

The Doctor is worried about the geniuses she had trapped up, still wondering what she is up to. They begin debating why Beyus helps; again, he explains his people are under threat.

And yet still, The Doctor wonders about the asteroid and what’s behind the locked door. The Doctor steals a component from the machine, but Beyus tries to stop him. The Doctor gets the best of him and runs off just before the Rani arrives.

Mel is trapped by several Tetraps. Urak bites her and she seems to be paralyzed. Urak instructs the other, “You know where to take her.”

Ikona warns The Doctor not to take another step. His foot is under a tripwire, but he steps out of danger, only to find a Tetrap charging him. Ikona fires his gun that dazzles the bat-man and The Doctor shoves him into the trap. Boom, dead Tetrap.

Mel is brought to the Rani. She instructs Faroon to find The Doctor and offer him a trade – Mel for the component The Doctor stole.

After the Rani departs, Faroon and Beyus argue whether to fight the Rani or continue collaborating. Beyus believes when the experiment is done, she will leave them in peace.

The Doctor is brought to the Lakertyan city; Ikona says they are allowed free passage as long as they stay out of the way of the Rani and her laboratory. He takes The Doctor to the “Centre of Leisure”, where Beyus told him to look for answers.

Ikona calls it the “Centre of Indolence”; he says his people have become “spoon fed drones”. We see many of them laying about, listening to music, relaxing. Ikona points out something new, a globe that hangs over the center of the complex.

Ikona asks Lanisha, his brother, the purpose of the globe, but Lanisha says Beyus has forbidden contact with Ikona.

The Rani confronts Beyus about the fireworks gun that was used to help The Doctor escape. (How’d they know that, if the Tetrap was killed?) He says none of his followers would have interfered, but the Rani points out that he’s not denying it was a Lakertyan.

She activates her panel and we see the globe in the Leisure Centre come to a stop. Beyus begs with her, saying, “You’ll be punishing the innocent!”

“Guilt by association,” she replies, “I warned you of the consequences of subversion.”

In the globe, several panels open, releasing killer insects. Everyone runs. Several are stung and die. Faroon has arrived and delivers the Rani’s message.

Mel is seen hanging upside down in the Tetrap lair. Then, suddenly, we see her and a Tetrap (Urak?) walking outside. The Doctor and Ikona stand at the far end. The Lakertyan walks halfway and sets down the component. Mel is exchanged and Urak brags about him not being a worthy opponent.

Mel walks into The Doctor and disappears, apparently a hologram of some sort. Yeah, that’s pretty unworthy. The Doctor throws a hissy fit.

Mel, still hanging upside down, is collected from the cave.

The Rani tells Beyus Mel will assist him in his various duties, as he’s been complaining that she expects too much of him.

Ikona argues against The Doctor returning to the lab, but he’s adamant.

The Rani replaces the component. She’s worried about missing the solstice, saying the brain activity isn’t enough. Urak suggests she add her intellect to those assembled. He offers to operate the machine in her stead.

Mel argues with the Rani, saying underestimating him is a common fault. They snark and Beyus has to tell Mel to stay in line or she could have all the Lakertyans killed.

The Doctor and Ikona note a fixed trajectory rocked atop the mountainside that the laboratory is set in. He says the asteroid must be the target. Ikona suggests that the solstice must be the set time.

Ikona moves to distract the Tetraps as he did before with Mel, but warns The Doctor it might not work again. The Tetrap on guard rushes after Ikona and The Doctor slips in, only to be ambushed by Urak and another, the former saying they’ve been expecting him.

The Doctor is dragged (having been paralyzed) to the booth, to Mel’s dismay.

He is placed inside, but Mel gets stubborn about having him connected.

(Man, I just don’t like Mel. She’s constantly argumentative and doesn’t seem to care about any repercussions.)

The Rani and Urak enter the locked room. Mel follows and finds a giant brain that is rambling on about creating a supernova-level explosion. The brain needs understanding of time.

The Rani grabs Mel, saying that will change when The Doctor is connected. She drags Mel out and orders Beyus to activate The Doctor’s connection. The Rani tells Mel that the well-being of The Doctor is in her hand now.

The brain is upgraded with The Doctor’s understanding. Mel screams. The Rani breathes heavily and looks like she’s about to orgasm. The Doctor shakes.

The credits roll.

Um… yeah, ok. Huh.

Right, next and final episode!

Episode 4:

Urak lets go of the struggling Mel, telling Beyus he will be responsible for her behavior and the Tetrap rejoins his mistress. She tells him she is aware that time is getting critical as the solstice approaches.

Ikona hides from the Tetrap that pursues him. The Tetrap turns back and the Lakertyan scampers off.

Urak tells Rani that there must be Lakertyans helping The Doctor. She agrees, but says it is “too drastic” to kill all the Lakertyans as punishment. He questions her decision, saying she is being uncharacteristically sentimental.

She tells him she will not waste a resource until the experiment is done but tells him to exercise “selective retribution”. He goes to the cave and orders his brethren to follow.

Mel and Beyus watch as the Tetraps parade out en masse, Urak carrying a blue box the Rani gave him.

In the booth, The Doctor continues to shake.

The Tetraps march out. Ikona watches them from behind a boulder, and follows.

Mel argues that The Doctor’s character is something the Rani cannot account for. Beyus isn’t impressed.

The Rani checks on her new brain; various voices argue, male and female, and we hear The Doctor’s voice amidst them, stirring them up into nonsensical talk. She rushes back to The Doctor’s booth and disconnects him. Mel says it was her own fault, but the Rani does so and The Doctor jumps out and they shove the Rani in.

They head to the brain room. The Doctor says the asteroid is the target, so all they have to do is delay the launch. Poking about, they find a video showing the intent – the asteroid being destroyed, a supernova happening. The Doctor is, for some reason, shocked/impressed by this, which I don’t get since he’s the one who said that is what would happen a while ago.

The Tetraps arrive at the Centre of Leisure and instruct the Lakertyans to put on leg braces – if they do not, the insects will be released. When Faroon protests and asks that they at least explain what they are for, Urak is delighted to demonstrate. He activates one, already on a female’s leg, and there’s a spark, she screams and falls and within seconds only her skeleton remains. Not even her clothes.

Urak laughs, Faroon looks sad. Your viewer isn’t really impressed.

The Rani bangs on the booth, upset about being trapped in there. Beyus walks by and ignores her when she instructs him to let her out. She threatens his people and he stops and looks at her.

The Tetraps leave the Leisure Centre, and Ikona tells Faroon he’ll try to contact The Doctor, “…we need his help.”

The Doctor says that the only detonator for strange matter is strange matter itself. Mel suggests that the brain might be used to create a lightweight substitute and he thinks she’s on to something.

Still, he wonders why the Rani took such a risk as to record a supernova. He says it’s more than just how to recreate the event – she’s up to something bigger, more grandiose.

As they try to figure it out, the Rani enters, “So now you know.”

“Not the complete story,” The Doctor replies, “The last chapter is missing.”

The Doctor notes the brain is being quiet. “Perhaps, unlike you,” the Rani retorts, “it only speaks when it has something intelligent to say.”

“Possibly,” The Doctor admits, “on the other hand it could be wondering why you want Helium-2.” He says that is why she wants to explode it. She admits this and activates an animation, explaining that in the aftermatch, the Helium-2 will bond with Lakertya’s atmosphere to form “a shell of chronons,” discrete particles of time.

The Doctor realises that the Rani is set on turning the planet into a “time manipulator”, a cerebral mass capable of manipulating time anywhere in the cosmos.

She says she will introduce order into chaos. She will return Earth to the time of dinosaurs.

Urak, returning from his errand, overhears them debating. The Rani admits that all life on the planet will be destroyed, especially The Doctor.

Suddenly, the brain begins spouting a formula; The Doctor corrects it at one point and that allows it to achieve its objective – Loyhargil. (It’s an anagram of “holy grail”, how clever.)

As the Rani rejoices, The Doctor and Mel slip off. They lock her in there. Urak approaches them, but Mel hits him with his gun, taking him out, and they run off.

Beyus enters, finding Urak unconscious.

Exiting, Mel and The Doctor encounter Ikona; The Doctor tells him he “has a big part to play, you must stir up the Lakertyans”.

Beyus rouses Urak, who opens the door and reports to the Rani about The Doctor’s escape, but she says he’s inconsequential now that she has the loyhargil.

At the Leisure Centre, The Doctor sets about how to remove the explosive bands. Mel wires a roundabout on Faroon’s anklet and releases her from it. The Doctor sets Ikona and Mel to work on the others. Faroon worries about the insects, but he says the Rani isn’t the only one with a “sting”, saying the double bluff is his speciality.

The Rani starts the countdown and tells Urak that he must wait there, in case The Doctor returns. When questioned, she tells him that she will be monitoring the experiment from her TARDIS (remember, he overheard her tell The Doctor about everyone dying and her returning when it is safe), but he asks if he can accompany her, to which she refuses.

Faroon and The Doctor tell Beyus about the countdown resulting in the death of everyone. Mel and Ikona begin releasing all the captive geniuses, The Doctor giving her the key to the TARDIS.

He rushes to the brain chamber, with Faroon and Beyus. They begin placing the bracelets taken off the Lakertyans around the brain. Beyus sends the others off, saying he will complete the task.

There’s less than a minute left as everyone rushes out of the laboratory complex. Beyus shuts the door to the brain chamber as the count from ten begins.

The Rani is almost at her TARDIS when her wrist countdown stops at four seconds. The brain is stuck at four. Beyus stands there, so it’s nothing he’s done.

The Doctor tells the Rani that he’s aborted the launch and the Lakertyans are about to attack. She says he’s signed their death warrants and sets off the bracelets, which are around the brain. They explode, and Beyus standing there goes down.

The countdown continues and the rocket launches. (You know, it’s just really incredibly stupid for the rocket to have a fixed trajectory.)

As the rocket launches, the laboratory explodes. The Rani slips into her TARDIS which disappears.

The rocket heads off after the asteroid, narrowly missing it.

The Doctor leads the geniuses (from Earth and other places) into the TARDIS, saying he will get them all home.

Mel and The Doctor say their farewells. Ikona says he wish he were going with them, and Mel says she wishes it were so as well. That would have been interesting.

Ikona also expresses regret that the Rani got away scot free in her TARDIS. The Doctor’s face says he knows otherwise (though I’m not sure how.)

We see the Rani, in her TARDIS, hanging from the ceiling, surrounded by the Tetraps. Urak says when they return home, she will be of great use to them.

The Doctor hands Ikona an antidote to the insects, but he dumps it out, and Faroon says they need to face their own challenges.

Yeah, that sounds good and all, but in the mean time, Lakertyans will die from the insects. Nice.

Mel and The Doctor enter the TARDIS, she complaining that she’s going to have to get used to him. “I’ll grow on you, Mel, I’ll grow on you,” he says and they share a laugh… and the final credits roll.

Yeah, still don’t like this serial very much. Shame, cuz Rani and all.

Oh, I do hope they get better.

Serial 147 – Time and the Rani 1/2

I’m less than enthusiastic about the final stretch of this project. I’ve only seen a few McCoy serials but my general recollection is that I wasn’t all that impressed. I rewatched the very last one a couple years ago and it was REALLY not good at all. I kinda think the Dalek one was good, but honestly, I’m just not sure.

I do remember liking this one, probably because of the Rani more than anything else? Let’s find out… maybe my appreciation of them will have changed – it certainly did of the First Doctor.

Episode 1:

We open with the TARDIS under attack. It wheels violently, out of control, through space. Inside, The Doctor and Mel are both lying prone on the floor, unconscious.

On a planet, a green-ish skinned alien, humanoid but with some scales on his cheeks, watches at the TARDIS lands in a rainbow. (Never understood that part.)

In the TARDIS, the Rani enters, carrying a gun. She orders some hairy monster to get “the man” and bring it to her laboratory. The creature grabs The Doctor and rolls him over – his face is shifting, he’s in a regeneration.

(Sadly, Colin Baker, who got fucked over by the BBC, declined doing the regeneration scene, so we have Sylvester McCoy in Six’s clothing, a blonde wig, and a face blurred by special effects.)

His face completes the transformation… and the opening sequence begins.

At the time, this was a REALLY impressive opening sequence. Lots of “high” graphics, computer generated and the like. It’s a bit (lot) corny now, but I remember being rather blown away back in the 80s.

In the Rani’s laboratory, several of the green skinned aliens work. Rani starts barking orders at Sarn, a female who is placing an obvious Earth human (older man, kinda Albert Einstein looking) in a booth. Sarn argues that she doesn’t want to harm him, but the Rani snaps at her, “Seal it and label it.”

The girl seals the booth but waits for the label; the male (older than the girl) with Sarn tells the Rani she hasn’t given the name yet. “Einstein,” is the Rani’s reply.

The Rani warns Beyus (the older male) that “insolence could cost” his people. Sarn argues that he didn’t mean to appear insolent. There’s arguing. Beyus tells her that he knows she hates the Lakertyans (pronounced “Lah-ker-shuns”), but she scoffs, saying she has “no feelings one way or the other.”

We learn as they argue that she’s collecting geniuses for whatever purpose. (Though, honestly, having Einstein there was explanation enough for that, this exposition wasn’t necessary.) Beyus asks if she’s procured the means to repair her laboratory, and she says she has.

She walks into the next room, checking on The Doctor, who is laying on a table, unconscious. The Rani opens a panel/door, but when The Doctor starts murmuring, she closes it and returns to his side, just in time for him to leap up, saying “that was a nice nap” and start rambling about getting to work and temporal flickers in Sector 13 and so on.

He wonders where he is, who he is and who she is, but suddenly recognises her. The Rani threatens him with Mel’s safety. The Doctor goes to her console (I’m guessing it’s her TARDIS?) and starts searching for answers to where they are, what she’s up to.

He finds a video of an asteroid composed of “strange matter” and demands to know what “monstrous experiment are you up to now?” They begin their old debate of science vs ethics. Rani draws a gun, The Doctor backpedals and trips over himself. Sarn and Beyus enter, the young female rushing to The Doctor’s side.

Beyus orders her back and The Rani grabs her, full of wrath (and Kate O’mara is sexy when angry), threatening her. The Doctor recovers and threatens to smash something with his umbrella, but Urak, the Rani’s monster, comes in.

The monster fires a gun that traps The Doctor in some sort of net, stunning him.

One of the Lakertyans enters the TARDIS, picks up Mel, looks around, and leaves.

Sarn escapes the Rani’s mountainside lair. The Rani receives this report from Urak and watches Sarn’s progress on a video.

Mel escapes the Lakertyan carrying her and runs off; she and Sarn almost run into each other, but stop. Sarn runs to the side, tripping a wire that captures her in some force globe that flies off and explodes when it hits the nearby rubble. (Like many old Doctor Who shows, it’s filmed in a quarry.)

The male Lakertyan who was carrying Mel walks over to Sarn’s skeleton, obviously in sorrow. He shrugs off when Mel tries to place a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Back in the lab/TARDIS, the Rani administers a shot to The Doctor to give him amnesia.

The male Lakertyan thinks Mel is a friend of the Rani’s and yells at her, saying it’s her fault and tells her to run off. Mel argues. He tells her, “If I didn’t need you as a hostage, you’d be dead.” He explains he intends to exchange her for Beyus.

The Doctor wakes on the floor of the lab, to find the Rani dressed as Mel. No, really. She even talks more higher pitched. The Doctor gets up, wobbly, and trips over the device the Rani used to make them land there. He hands it to Mel, and wonders where they are.

“In your laboratory,” she replies. “On Lakertya. Doctor, are you sure you’re well?” This is rather silly but amusing.

He insists he’s “fit as a trombone”. She tells him he was in the middle of an experiment, there was an explosion and threw them both down. When she came to, he “looked like this,” and he assumes that was the cause of his regeneration.

She gets him to look at the machine, which needs repair. As they talk, his time at university comes up and this half-triggers a recollection of her (the Rani, that is).

Mel argues with her captor, trying to convince her she’s not a threat. She also tries to find out about The Doctor, but he says she was alone. Distracted, he triggers one of the booby traps, but Mel pulls him to safety before he is sucked in.

He realises that she’s not one of his enemies, and frees her, but says they must hurry before the Tetraps arrive.

The Doctor works on the machine, which sparks and sputters. He yells at “Mel” to mop his brow, which has her seething, but she does it. He picks up some tools, which are spoon-shaped and begins playing the spoons on his leg and “Mel”’s chest. She slaps them away and they argue.

The Seventh Doctor’s biggest gimmick thus far is his malapropisms; we’ve had a bunch so far, but I’m not going to regale you with them unless they’re particularly clever, which I have my doubts. “Mel” keeps correcting him.

The Doctor says he doesn’t think this lab has anything to do with him – he says the mind behind it all operates on too grand a scale.

Mel asks her former captor about getting help, but he says only Beyus could convince his people to help and he’s the hostage he was trying to exchange her for.

They run off, hearing rocks tumble, and head into a tunnel. (The Lakertyan runs funnily, with his arms straight down.)

The Doctor asks “Mel” what’s behind the door she was opening while he was asleep, but she says he wouldn’t let her in there, “the air wasn’t sterile enough for humans”.

He announces he’s doing nothing until his memory returns and sits down. She tries to get him to work, but he says it could be a diabolical scheme.

Beyus opens a grate and goes downstairs, with a big iron stick. Pulling a lever, he sends some goo down a shaft and the Tetraps, whom we don’t see well yet, move in to feed.

“Mel” prepares The Doctor a drink, putting some purple fluid in water that turns clear. He refuses the drink and gets all whiny and melodramatic, whining about his new personality, saying he could be whiny and mopey.

He says he needs a radiation wave meter, and “Mel” suggests that there might be one in the TARDIS. The Doctor heads out, but “Mel” stays behind to radio Urak to get Mel out of the TARDIS, but he tells her that she’s not there. She yells at him, but switches back to “Mel” when The Doctor comes back for her.

(The real) Mel leaves the tunnel, despite her companion’s arguing against it, saying she needs to find The Doctor.

The Doctor sees Sarn’s skeleton and examines it, saying he doesn’t recognise it. He identifies it as humanoid with reptilian influence. “Mel” says they’re lazy because of the climate and failed to realise their potential.

“Rather harsh judgment, Mel,” he says, shocked.

“Not mine,” she replies, “yours.”

This startles him and he says, to himself, “The more I know me, the less I like me.”

They arrive at the TARDIS and enter. The Doctor begins the traditional playing with the costumes that we see after every regeneration. First, he’s Napoleon. Then swapping hats. Then a Tom Baker-esque outfit. Then a Pertwee one. Davison, too. A Troughton coat, but underneath, the new outfit. Which, while not quite as gaudy as Colin Baker’s, is garish nonetheless.

The Doctor suddenly stares at “Mel”, as if about to recognise her, but she slaps him, saying he looked as if he were about to lose control. She gets him back on track looking for the radiation wave meter.

Urak contacts the Rani, saying he’s found Mel. She tells him to focus on her and activates the TARDIS scanner., which is now tuned into Urak’s eyes. Urak says “Yes, Mistress Rani,” and The Doctor, overhearing it, says that’s the name of the evil he sensed.

“Mel” asks if that’s her on the screen, and for some reasons he says it is. He tells her that the Rani “is completely evil”, but when “Mel” argues for her destruction, he says “Let’s not be hasty.”

Mel sees Urak and runs, tripping a trap. She’s encased in the force bubble, which takes off and bounces off the quarry, but doesn’t explode. Mel spins and screams and… the credits roll.

That’s actually a really good cliffhanger. So far, this serial isn’t horrible, but I’m not having a blast, either.

Episode 2:

The force globe lands in water, still spinning, heading towards rocks. The Lakertyan runs down the slope, finding Mel trapped on the shore. He tells her to stop squawking while he tries to disarm the explosive.

The Doctor’s attempts to fix the machine again result in smoke and sparks. He walks away, coughing, telling “Mel” he can’t “help but feel sorry for the Rani, Mel, getting caught in her own devious trap.”

“Mel” says it was her own fault. He wonders why the Rani was there, and “Mel” says it must be for the same reason he’s there. Again, he wails about not knowing what’s going on. He goes on about the locked door and his memory.

“Mel” says not to worry about the Rani, but he says not to underestimate her, “she’s a brilliant but sterile mind. There’s not one spark of decency in her.” She gets a little irritated and forgets to keep her voice high-pitched, but he doesn’t notice.

Mel is freed from the trap, but Urak seems to be on their trail.

The Doctor finally wonders why “the Rani” was dressed like her. “Mel” doesn’t have an answer, but gets him thinking about other things.

Again, we see Beyus feed the Tetraps.

Mel and We-don’t-know-his-name-yet move through the rubble, trying to keep an eye out for any Tetraps. She asks an awful lot of questions, both to his and my irritation.

Ikona (oh we finally learn his name) leaves Mel behind to fetch some weapons in a hiding spot in the rocks. While he’s gone, Urak )(I’m guessing it’s him, he’s the only one that seems to be not locked in the feeding chamber in the Rani’s lair) attacks – we finally see a Tetrap – a bipedal bat-creature with multiple eyes.

Mel screams (yeah, she’s one of those companions) and Ikona fires one of the guns that neutralised The Doctor.

The Doctor wonders how he could have made such a fundamental mistake – using the wrong heat conducting material. She asks if they can use a different material, and this leads to a conversation that results in “Mel” saying she forgot – now, the one thing we’ve learned about Mel in the previous serials is that she has an impressive ability to recall anything. She tries to pass it off as the machine affecting her memory as well.

The Doctor pokes about the locked door while the Rani is distracted by the readings.

Mel and Ikona are outside the Rani’s lair; Mel is sure that The Doctor is there. He tells her that building the lair cost the lives of many of his people.

With zero evidence to support this leap of logic, Mel tells him that something must have gone wrong and they needed The Doctor’s help. She says nobody would kidnap him if they didn’t need his help. The hole in this logic is so big you could drive Gallifrey through it.

“He’s not exactly predictable,” she says.

“Mel” drags The Doctor away from the door (he seems to think there’s something caged within) and makes arrangements to get some plastic from the Lakertyans to use for the machine. She locks him in, but he’s more distracted by her earlier saying they weren’t an advanced people. So, things are continuing to click in his post-regenerative/amnesia-induced mind.

Mel and Ikona spot Faroon, another Lakertyan. Ikona tells Mel to wait and goes to speak to her. They debate as they’re on opposing sides, Faroon supporting their people not trying to challenge their overlords. Mel interjects herself, talking about Beyus not being able to save “her” (Sarn).

Faroon asks if Ikona saw what transpired, but he is reluctant to answer. He admits it was Sarn, and sad music plays as Faroon walks over to regard the skeleton. Ikona tells Mel that Sarn was the daughter of Faroon and Beyus.

Faroon says she must go to Beyus. Mel follows her, saying she must find The Doctor.

“Mel” leaves her lair.

The Doctor tries to open the doors, to no avail. He picks up the spoons and plays them again. In a comical (…) moment, he hits himself on the back of the head with them.

Mel and Ikona argue about her going in, and the Lakertyan exasperatedly agrees to draw off the Tetrap guard. The guard pursues, but sees “Mel” and shoots her, thinking it is the real Mel.

Mel enters the lab. The Doctor is busy working on the machine and doesn’t notice her. The Doctor thinks she’s the Rani, and Mel doesn’t know who he is, so they end up wrestling. Mel gets the best of him, demanding to know where The Doctor is.

“He’s here,” The Doctor says, his arm in a chicken wing lock from Mel.

“Where? Under the carpet,” she demands to know.

“It’s me, you washerwoman, me,” he says, a reference to the first appearance of the Rani in MARK OF THE RANI.

The Doctor gets Mel in an airplane spin and then sets her down. He tries to remove her wig, only to find it’s real.

Urak apologises to his mistress, but she storms off.

The Doctor and Mel argue. He demands to check her pulse, saying that will prove who she is. He mentions carrot juice, and that he hated it, which makes Mel think that he might be The Doctor. She asks why he looks like that and what’s wrong with him.

He explains that he regenerated, adding, “I’m suffering from post-regenerative amnesia… as far as I can remember.” I like that line.

He offers her his wrist, so she can check his pulse. She checks, and seeing he has a double-pulse, believes him. He checks hers, and is astonished to learn she is Mel.

Mel is amazed – apparently she knew of regeneration, but not the drastic changes it entails.

He gets forlorn, moping about being taken in by the Rani, falling for her trick.

Urak follows the Rani to her TARDIS, which appears as a pinkish-purple mostly glass pyramid. (Why would she have it so far away from her lab? Makes no sense.) Urak seems intent on following her in, but she reminds him he’s not allowed.

The Doctor shows Mel the asteroid of strange matter, saying it is an incredible dense form of matter. The asteroid would weigh more than the planet Earth. (We also learn that computers are Mel’s specialty, not physics.)

He tells her if the asteroid were detonated, it would be equal to a supernova.

“When the Rani dabbles, she dabbles on a grand scale,” The Doctor says. Excellent line.

He instructs Mel to listen at the locked door. She says it’s like a giant heartbeat.

The Doctor tries to open another door, but Mel pulls a Peri, saying they should get away and leave Lakertya. He argues, saying he can’t leave the Lakertyans to the (nonexistent) mercy of the Rani.

On the other side of the door, Beyus and Faroon are listening. He calls out the combination, “Nine five three.” The Doctor and Mel hear it and he says that is his age, “…and the Rani’s.”

In her TARDIS, the Rani collects the plastic she needs and cuts a board out of it.

Leaving, she tells Urak to find the girl “before she finds The Doctor”.

The Doctor and Mel see a bunch of geniuses, including Einstein. The Doctor says she’s collected the greatest minds and most powerful matter in the universe.

The Doctor, again, seems impressed by her plans, but he assures them it’s fascination and regret. He wishes she’d use her talents for good, not evil.

Mel shows him a booth reserved for him.

The Rani returns.

The Doctor wonders what he can contribute that the others can’t. I bet I know!!! Mel answers that he’s a Time Lord and he says it’s his knowledge of time – yep, I was right.

They go back into the lab and The Doctor asks Beyus what’s behind the locked door (with the heartbeat.) Beyus says he’s never been allowed to see.

Mel and the Lakertyans leave when they realise “Mel” is almost returned. The Doctor pretends to be hard at work, but she sees that the monitor was on (the one viewing the asteroid.) He claims he was trying to jog his memory when she asks about it.

They slide the new board in, working together.

Beyus helps Faroon and Mel slip out.

The Rani activates the machine, though The Doctor was trying to learn more details. She realises he’s onto her and sheds her disguise. He runs off and she chases, and follows him into the Tetrap lair. She pokes around as he hides, and then leaves, securing the grate.

Suddenly, the Tetraps wake and surround him… and the credits roll.

A decent enough cliffhanger that one… again, this serial (and many from now on, I fear – I hope I’m wrong. I know this story wasn’t originally written for Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor, so that might explain the clumsiness of it all…) isn’t the best in the world.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s no THE MIND ROBBER or THE WEB PLANET or some of the god-awful ones from early on.

See you Friday?

Serial 146 – TRIAL OF A TIME LORD Part four: The Ultimate Foe 2/2

Recap: We learn of all the conspiracies involved. The High Council set up the trial to make The Doctor a scapegoat! The Valeyard is a form of future self of The Doctor, promised his future lives if he can get The Doctor executed. The Master, of all people, has come to The Doctor’s rescue.

The Doctor and Sabalom Glitz have pursued the Valeyard into the Matrix, where he is hiding in THE FANTASY FACTORY, as one JJ Chambers. The Doctor has just signed away his remaining lives and stepped into what was supposed to be a waiting room, only to find himself on a beach, with arms dragging him below the surface.

Episode 2:

Glitz comes running down through the scrub brush and arrives, trying to grab The Doctor by the feet, but it’s too late! Glitz laments The Doctor’s passing, saying he wasn’t all that bad. “Honest, of course. Still, nobody’s perfect.”

The Doctor’s voice (bubbly) emanates from where The Doctor was pulled down. The Doctor rises up out of the mud pit. Glitz doesn’t understand and again, The Doctor reminds him they’re not dealing with reality.

Suddenly, the Valeyard (not wearing his headpiece) appears, “Why waste your breath on that simple-minded oaf?” He disappears and reappears next to Glitz, “You cannot speak as though reality is a one-dimensional concept.”

He pops away, appearing next to The Doctor next, “Fortunately, there is a reality that you and I can both agree on. The ultimate reality.”

“Death,” The Doctor asks. The Valeyard quotes Shakespeare in reply, “The undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns,” and pops away again.

The Valeyard appears behind The Doctor, who turns around and identifies the quote, “’Puzzles the will,’ Hamlet, Act Three, Scene One.”

The Valeyard retorts, “I really must curb these urges… I have no wish to be contaminated by your whims and idiosyncrasies.” I do love this bit with the Valeyard, that he is fighting not to be like The Doctor. And this explains why the two of them were constantly fighting, sniping, even when it seemed not to further the Valeyard’s agenda.

They banter, the Valeyard popping about the whole time. The Doctor wants to know why the Valeyard would go to such lengths to kill him. The Valeyard answers, popping (teleporting) with each sentence, saying it is the only way for him to gain freedom, his own existence as a complete entity.

“Only by ridding myself of you and your misplaced morality, your constant crusading, your…” but suddenly, Glitz interrupts, suggesting, “Idiotic honesty?”

The Valeyard appears behind Glitz, calling him an oaf and a microbe. “Pardon me for trying to help. I’m neutral in this set-up, you know,” Glitz retorts.

“With you destroyed and no longer able to constrain me,” the Valeyard says, ominous music building again, “and with unlimited access to the Matrix, there wildl be nothing beyond my reach.” As he says this last bit, he fades out of sight.

Suddenly, nerve gas blows in off the sea and they run from it.

In the courtroom, Mel appeals to the others to help. The Keeper says she is applying logical thought to a situation that knows no logic. She charges at him, demanding the key, but he trips her up and she falls down.

The Doctor and Glitz go into a beach house, which fades from sight after they do. Inside, The Master greets them! It’s the M-TARDIS!

“Well, I’d never thought I’d welcome the sight of you,” The Doctor returns his enemy’s greeting.

“It will not happen again,” The Master promises.

“What puzzles me is why it’s happening now.”

The Master explains he wants the Valeyard eliminated and feels The Doctor is “the most likely candidate to achieve that.” Glitz argues, saying he originally said he wanted Six dead.

“With The Doctor as my enemy, I always have the advantage,” The Master tells Glitz, much to The Doctor’s displeasure. “But the Valeyard, the distillation of all that’s evil within you, untainted by virtue, a composite of your every dark thought, is a different proposition. Additionally, he’s infuriated me by threatening to deny me the pleasure of personally bring about your destruction. And so, he must pay the price.”

I have always liked when a villain is so out of touch with reality that they will not allow anyone else to defeat or kill the hero.

The Master starts his TARDIS and then takes Glitz through a door, saying, “You, Glitz, will help me collect.” The Doctor watches them, warily. Suddenly he grabs his head as loud sounds and lights assault him.

In the next room, The Master explains that the assault on The Doctor is engineered to result in a catatonic state.

The Doctor goes into a zombie-like state, as The Master promised.

The M-TARDIS appears in the courtyard of the FANTASY FACTORY again. Zombie-Doctor is brought out, The Master giving him verbal commands to walk and stop. He says this should prove an irresistible target for the Valeyard.

“You Time Lords take the cake,” Glitz praises The Master, “Talk about devious. Compared to you lot, I’m transparent as crystal.”

The Master and Glitz hide, and the M-TARDIS disappears. When the Valeyard comes out onto the balcony, The Master fires several blasts from his TCE (or a similar device, as it seems to fire a few blasts) which bounce off the Valeyard. The Valeyard calls The Master second rate, mocking him for thinking he’d fall for such a “transparent ploy”.

They dash to safety as the Valeyard throws several quill pens at them that explode. When Glitz complains it all could be an illusion, The Master turns on him, telling him to stay and find out and dashes off.

Mel calls out to The Doctor, beckoning him. He comes out of his zombie-like state, and goes to her, asking how she got in there, but she dismisses his questions, saying he needs to follow her to get out of there.

They end up in the lobby, passing his TARDIS. He complains that they’re going back to the trial, but she says he has to clear his name or he’s just as bad as the Valeyard, a renegade an outcast.

When he enters, the Inquisitor says he owes the court an apology. He apologises, and she brings up the charge of genocide, “…based on your own evidence.” When Mel argues it was also refuted by The Doctor, the Inquisitor remarks, “Seems you have a champion in this young woman.”

The Doctor agrees when the Inquisitor asks if he would accept Mel as an impartial witness, saying, “I would trust Mel with my life.”

The Keeper plays back the final battle with the Vervoids. Mel is asked if that was the truth; She asks The Doctor what she should say, worried the truth might be twisted like the Valeyard did, but The Doctor says “the truth cannot harm me.”

She tells the Inquisitor that is what happened. The Inquisitor then asks, “Is it your contention that The Doctor was solely responsible for devising the scheme we are presently reviewing on the Matrix?” Again, Mel says if it wasn’t for The Doctor, they’d all have ended up on the compost heap.

She says it was “an out of this world” solution. The Inquisitor replies, “An appropriate expression, wouldn’t you say, my lords?” For the first time, the gathered Time Lords do more than sit and swivel in their chairs, they all murmur in assent.

“Something’s going wrong here, I can sense it,” Mel says. The Doctor just stands there stoically. When she begs The Doctor to tell them that he had no choice, he replies that there’s always a choice.

The Inquisitor proclaims The Doctor guilty of genocide. Mel protests, but The Doctor tells her that the rule of law must prevail if law is to overcome anarchy. He then addresses the Inquisitor, accepting her verdict.

However, we then see, in the real courtroom, as Mel begs them to switch it off. She says that the Valeyard is taking advantage of “The Doctor’s romantic nature. He’s convinced that he must sacrifice himself and you’re content to let him!”

“We cannot interfere,” the Inquisitor says, but Mel says that she can. This time, she succeeds in grabbing the key from the Keeper.

The Doctor stands in a horse-drawn cart, moving on the cobblestone, escorted by Gallifreyan guards.

Mel appears as The Doctor and Glitz did before. She runs off, as laughing and singing and children voices are heard.

The Doctor’s cart passes Glitz, who stirs from where The Master left him. He gets up, hearing The Master’s voice calling his name.

Voices chant “death” over and over as The Doctor’s cart makes its way through the city. The cart stops and The Doctor looks around, quoting Dickens, “Tis a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done. Tis a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”

Mel runs, catching up. She tells him the trial was an illusion, but he whispers at her to go away. But the cart disappears and The Doctor falls to the ground, saying she ruined everything.

She argues, saying she saved him. He says he was trying to get to the Valeyard. He knew the trial was bogus, as she brought up The Doctor’s denial of the genocide charge, which was done before she had arrived. And with Mel’s gift of total recall, that mistake would have never happened.

The Doctor leads Mel to the FANTASY FACTORY to fight the Valeyard.

In the M-TARDIS, The Master tries to hypnotise Glitz after the criminal says he won’t go out again. It doesn’t work, but Glitz’s eyes don’t move from the bauble, as he’s wondering how much it is worth.

The Master pulls out a chest full of gold and objects and jewelry and The Master promises him it’s his if he obeys him.

Back in the FANTASY FACTORY, Mel and The Doctor search about. The Doctor suggests that the Valeyard’s plants have been too elaborate and he wonders what the real goal is.

Glitz is seen in another office, where he finds the Matrix memory bank inside a desk. Popplewick confronts him, confirming that this is the master copy. He tells Glitz to put it back, pulling a gun on him.

The Doctor find a list of names – the Time Lords attending the trial. “Every member of the Ultimate Court of Appeal, the supreme guardians of Gallifreyan law.” Mel asks why the names are all crossed-through and The Doctor points out that the handwriting is his.

Just then, Glitz brings in Popplewick at gunpoint, who is protesting. Glitz says the bureaucrat has agreed to lead them to Chambers.

They return to the courtyard, The Doctor saying he’s misjudged Chambers/Valeyard. Mel saying not for the first time and wondering how he’s survived so long.

In the courtyard, Glitz tells Popplewick he’s done his bit, he’s delivered The Doctor and asks for the memory tapes. They swap gun and tapes. Popplewick fires the gun at Glitz, but the criminal had taken out the shot.

However, The Master shows up, telling Glitz that his weapon is not disarmed and orders him to the M-TARDIS.

Popplewick rejoins Mel and The Doctor, both who wonder where Glitz went off to. The Doctor suggests, not sincerely, that perhaps he stayed on guard outside. Popplewick agrees that must be the case.

Seeing that Chambers is not there, Popplewick leaves to find him. While he’s gone, The Doctor grabs some tool. When Popplewick returns, they grab the clerk. The Doctor pulls of a mask, revealing the Valeyard beneath.

Mel opens the door that Popplewick/Valeyard just came from, finding some machinery at work. The Doctor identifies it as a maser, and the Valeyard tips him off to realise that it is a “particle disseminator”, the ultimate weapon, can even destroy sub-atomic particles.

The Doctor makes the connection with the lists of names of the men in the trial room. The Doctor realises that the matrix screen is the medium that the death ray will be transmitted to kill those in the courtroom. He orders Mel to rush back and warn them.

The Valeyard laughs.

In the courtroom, the Keeper arrives with an urgent message for the Inquisitor. He tells her, “The High Council has been deposed. Insurrectionists are running amok on Gallifrey!”

On the screen, The Master says, “Thank you, Keeper, that is the news I’d been awaiting. Listen carefully, I have an edict to deliver. Somewhere The Doctor and the Valeyard are engaged in their squalid duel. With luck, they’ll kill each other, but that is a mere coincidental occurrence. What I have to impart is of vital importance to all of you.” More ominous music. “Now that Gallifrey is collapsing into chaos, none of you will be needed. Your office will be abolished. Only I can impose order. I have control of the Matrix, to disregard my commands will be to invite summary execution.” He rises and walks away from view on the screen as the Time Lords there begin chatting and murmuring amongst themselves.

Glitz asks now that The Master has gotten that out of his system if they can get along. He wants The Master to load the cassette (the tapes, the box from Ravalox.) The Master calls him a philistine, saying moments such as this should be savoured. When he hooks up the case and activates it, something unexpected happens – both men are pushed against the wall by some force.

The Master says it is a “limbo atrophier”.

The Doctor frantically works at the maser device, trying to undo it. The Valeyard says it’s an exercise in futility, but The Doctor points out that if the Valeyard can make it, he can unmake it.

Mel arrives at the courtroom, telling them to disconnect the Matrix. The Inquisitor says without the Keeper they cannot, and he is not there. Mel yells for them to get out and the Time Lords all move to rush out, believing her. But, just then, the Matrix screen bursts and energy crackles about the room.

The Doctor gloats, saying he’s done it, but the Valeyard calls him a “blundering imbecile”, saying he’s “triggered a ray-phase shift that may amass a feedback” to where they are.

The Valeyard, who has freed himself, shoves The Doctor aside. He rushes to the device, but says it is too late. He collapses and seemingly dies.

The Doctor rushes out as energy flies all about and things begin to explode.

In the courtroom, Mel gets up, followed by the others. The Doctor arrives, asking where they were. “I was about to be sentenced, I believe.”

The Inquisitor laughs, “All charges are dismissed, Doctor. We owe an immense debt of gratitude. Which I can partly repay, by telling you that the young woman, Miss Perpugilliam Brown… is alive and well and living as a warrior queen with King Yrcanos.”

The Doctor smiles, gasping in relief. We see a vision of Peri and Yrcanos.

The Inquisitor says that, once law and order have been restored, a new High Council will need to be elected. She asks if he would stand for Lord President again.

He laughs nervously, suggesting she do so instead. Hurriedly trying to leave, he stops to ask one favour. She tells him to name it. “When the Matrix is restored, you can do what you like with The Master, but exercise leniency with Sabalom Glitz. He’s not beyond redemption.”

Mel adds, “Just don’t let him anywhere near the crown jewels.”

Whimsical music plays as The Doctor and Mel head into the TARDIS, she talking about carrot juice and exercise. Oh, yay.

In the courtroom, the Inquisitor departs, telling the Keeper to repair the Matrix and requisition whatever he needs. He bows as she passes, and then turns to face the camera and we see that the Keeper has the visage of the Valeyard. He laughs… and the final credits roll.

Oh, what a fun season-long story. So, so, so good. It’s a shame they didn’t follow up with much of it. After all the change, the rebuilding, they could have worked a lot of it into the story, but I don’t believe there were any real effects from this story?

And it’s a farewell to Colin Baker. This makes me sad.

Next week – The Seventh Doctor!

Serial 146 – TRIAL OF A TIME LORD Part four: The Ultimate Foe 1/2

This is only two episodes, but I’m doing one post for each, because I have a strong feeling I’m going to be doing a LOT of dialogue, word for word here.

Episode 1:

A Time Lord arrives, saying he came as soon as he could. The Inquisitor thanks him, addressing him as “Keeper”. She then turns to The Doctor, asking if he is done with his defense, but the Valeyard interrupts, bringing up Article Seven again.

The Inquisitor flies into a rage for him interrupting, saying just because they spent a steamy weekend in the Eye of Harmony… oh, sorry, no, that doesn’t happen. I’m making that up.

She, does, however, put him in his place, saying she will “deal with that charge in due course, Valeyard. Now kindly, do not interrupt me again.” YES, Sagacity laying the smacketh-down!!

Again, she asks if The Doctor has any further evidence in his defense. He says he does not, but points out that much of “The Railyard’s so-called evidence was a farrago of distortion which would have had Ananias, Baron Munchausen and every other famous liar blushing down to their toenails.”

He maintains that the evidence has been tampered with, though he does not know by whom or why.

The Inquisitor points out that she has summoned the Keeper of the Matrix and asks him about The Doctor’s allegations. The Keeper says it is impossible to tamper with the Matrix. Only those who have the Key of Rassilon may enter it.

The Doctor queries by whom may the key be used, and the Keeper replies, “Qualified people, for inspection, once in a millennium perhaps to replace a transductor.” The Doctor argues about making copies, the Keeper denies it. They go back and forth until the Valeyard interrupts, saying this is a poor attempt to throw them off.

The Doctor argues again that the Matrix can be physically penetrated, as the Keeper has just admitted. He asserts it has been deliberately distorted, by someone who wants his head, “Someone such as…” he turns and points to the prosecutor, “the Valeyard.”

The prosecutor just laughs, and in a rather sinister fashion.

We suddenly are outside the space station, zooming in. Two coffin-sized structures beam down in a beam of light (same as when The Doctor’s TARDIS first arrived.) They appear inside the lobby and one opens, revealing Sabalom Glitz!!!

There’s banging on the other one and he opens it, wondering what happened to Dibber’s voice, only to find Mel inside. She chastises him and they banter amusingly.

Inside the courtroom, the Inquisitor says the only way to rebut the Matrix evidence is to produce witnesses backing up his side. Well, that’s convenient, then, what what?

The Doctor says that he cannot produce witness, any he could are scattered through space and time. The Valeyard says procrastination is his only defense, but suddenly Mel and Glitz burst in.

They say they have been sent, but when the Inquisitor asks who sent them, it’s not Glitz who answers but… on the Matrix screen looming above them all, it’s none other than….

THE MASTER!!!! SQUEEEEEE!!! (Yes, I knew he was in this but I didn’t recall he appeared so early.)

“Oh, no, now I a really am finished,” The Doctor laments.

The Inquisitor says this is irregular and demands to know who he is.

“I am known as The Master, and as you see, I speak to you from within the Matrix, proof, if any be needed, that not only ‘qualified people’ can enter here,” he answers.

He shows a copy of the key when challenged by the Keeper.

The Inquisitor starts harping about this being an independent inquiry, but he cuts her off, saying he has been following the proceedings with great interesting and amusement, but now “must intervene for the sake of… justice.”

The Doctor scoffs, “Justice? Pay no attention, madam, he has no concept of what justice is. He’s see me dead, tomorrow.”

“Gladly, Doctor,” The Master replies, “But I’m not prepared to countenance a rival,” he says turning his gaze on the Valeyard.

Hastily, the Valeyard speaks, “My Lady, I must propose an immediate adjournment.” She declines, saying his has completed his presentation and “The ball, as The Doctor might say, is out of your court.” Woo hoo, Sagacity has picked up some Earth-isms.

The Master says he sent two star witnesses. The Valeyard challenges the veracity of Glitz, saying they know him to be a criminal. Mel argues, saying she’s “as truthful, honest and about as boring as they come.”

When The Master asks for Glitz to speak, the Inquisitor says that criminals have been known to speak truth, and allows it.

The Valeyard argues that he’s protesting allowing The Master to produce surprise witnesses. When the prosecutor claims not to know The Master, the renegade Time Lord calls him out on it, “I’m surprised at the shortness of the Valeyard’s memory.”

The Inquisitor puts The Master in his place, then instructs The Doctor to examine his witnesses.

Glitz is busy trying to buy the “machronite” which lines the trial room, offering her money for it. The Doctor has to yell to get his attention, asking how he knows The Master. Glitz says he’s “a business partner, so to speak.”

The Doctor asks Glitz what was in the box he and Dibber were after on Ravalox/Earth. “I don’t know,” the criminal replies, “Scientific stuff, so he said,” indicating The Master. “Stuff the Sleepers have been nicking from the Matrix for years.”

The Keeper is shocked to hear this and questions if he means his Matrix. Glitz confirms that he does. The Sleepers had found a way to break into it and were siphoning it off to take back to Andromeda.

When The Doctor questions about them operating from Earth, Glitz says that was their cover. “They knew the Time Lords would eventually trace the leak.”

The Valeyard jumps up, all but snarling, “He’s lying, my lady!”

“I don’t think so, Stackyard,” The Doctor retorts, “It all begins to make very good sense.”

Glitz continues, explaining the Time Lords did “suss out the leak” and in an attempt to wipe out the Sleepers, they used the Magnotron. The Doctor says that only an order of the High Council can allow the use of it.

The Master, watching with glee, interjects himself, “Of course, Doctor, to protect their own secrets, they drew the Earth and its constellation billions of miles across space…”

The Doctor completes the sentences, “…causing the fireball which nearly destroyed the planet!”

The Master continues, “Of little consequence in the High Council’s planning. The robot recovery mission from Andromeda sped past Earth, out into space. Gallifreyan secrets were saved.” Except the Sleepers set up a survival chamber before the fireball did its damage.

“So that’s why Earth was renamed Ravalox,” The Doctor exclaims. “That sanctimonious gang of hypocrites were covering their tracks!”

Glitz says there’s a big market for their scientific advances, “Worth a lot of grotzits.”

And, then, here we have it. One of the best quotes from this show, from all of tv, to be honest.

The Doctor, angry and horrified, looks at the gathered Time Lords, “All my travelings throughout the universe, I have battled against evil. Against power-mad conspirators. I should have stayed here! The oldest civilisation… decadent, degenerate and rotten to the core! Power-mad conspirators, Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen. They’re still in the nursery compared to us. Ten million years of absolute power, THAT’S what it takes to be really corrupt.”

Mel tries to get him to calm down. The Inquisitor tells him, “These unseemly outbursts…” but he cuts her off. “UNSEEMLY OUTBURSTS?!?!? If I hadn’t visited Ravalox, as I then thought of it, the High Council would have kept this outrage carefully buried as presumably they have for several centuries!”

“I must agree,” rumbles The Master from the Matrix. “You have an endearing habit of blundering into these things, Doctor, and the High Council took full advantage of your blunder.” While he talks, The Doctor just seethes, his eyes burning angrily.

The Inquisitor demands he explain his claims.

The Master smiles at her, then the prosecutor. “They made a deal with the Valeyard… or as I’ve always known him, The Doctor… to adjust the evidence, in return for which, he was promised the remainder of The Doctor’s regenerations.”

It is the Valeyard’s (or as I’ve always known him, The Doctor) turn to seethe as The Master speaks. He stands up, beginning to protest, but The Doctor interrupts him, “Just a minute!” With his eyes locked on the prosecutor, he addresses The Master, “Did you call him… The Doctor?”

Ominous musical chords strike as The Master replies, “There is some evil in all of us, Doctor… even you. The Valeyard is an amalgamation of the darker sides of your nature, somewhere between your twelfth and final incarnation. And I may say, you do not improve with age.”

The Doctor gapes, staring at… well, himself. The Valeyard stares back, warily.

“Madam,” The Doctor says quietly, “this revelation should halt this trial immediately. Surely, even Gallifreyan law must acknowledge that the same person cannot be both prosecutor and defendant.”

The Inquisitor seems mentally scrambling to hold on to her little trial, “The single purpose of this trial is to determine the defendant’s guilt or otherwise on the basis of the evidence that has been presented. Anything else is, for the moment, irrelevant.”

Completely unbelieving, The Doctor all but screams at her, “WHAT?” As he does, the Valeyard dashes out behind him and out the exit. Mel calls out to The Doctor, alerting him, and he gives chase as the Inquisitor calls out after the Valeyard.

Glitz and Mel follow The Doctor, who says “We need him!” However, they find no sign of him in the lobby. The Keeper, who was come out with the Inquisitor, says the Seventh Entrance to the Matrix is there and the Valeyard must have had a key.

The Doctor gets him to open it, but the Keeper argues, saying he’ll never find him, “The Matrix is a micro-universe.”

Mel pleads with him not to go, but he says he must, “Perhaps nothing in my life has ever been so important,” and he jumps through the door, pulling Glitz with him.

Mel calls after them and the Inquisitor tells her to be silent. She instructs them to return to the trial room, though Mel argues there’s nobody to try any more.

In a rat-infested, run down area, The Doctor appears in a beam of yellow light, complaining about the journey. A bell tolls and voices call out in the distance. A horse can be heard tramping by on cobblestones.

The Doctor calls out for Glitz, but the Valeyard’s laughter echoes all about instead. Then, children signing “London Bridge” can be heard. Again, Valeyard laughs, then piano music and a laughing crowd.

The Doctor runs about, to no avail. He sees a barrel full of water and approaches it, “I can’t believe you’re in there,” he says, looking into it, but two hands reach out and grab him, pulling his head in.

Glitz appears in a beam of light in the place where The Doctor first arrived. He hears The Doctor crying out for help and dashes over, finding The Doctor on his back. The Time Lord tells Glitz they’re not in the real world any longer.

Glitz questions how they could be in another world, when they just stepped through a door. The Doctor says they’re in the Matrix, “where the only logic is… there isn’t any logic.” That doesn’t make sense for a computerised repository of information, does it?

“Yeah, I knew this was a mistake,” Glitz says, “My grip on reality’s not great on the best of times.” He hands The Doctor a slip of paper, “Here, this is for you. Now, if you don’t mind telling me, how do I get out of here?”

The Doctor reads the paper, “It’s from The Master.”

“I know,” Glitz replies, “I’ve just given it to you. He said it would be useful.”

The Doctor shows Glitz, “It tells me where the Valeyard has his base.”

Glitz reads it, “The Fantasy Factory, proprietor JJ Chambers.”

They look up and see a big building with a glowing sign atop, THE FANTASY FACTORY.

“So why is The Master helping me,” The Doctor wonders.

“Yeah, well, I’m sure you’ll find out,” Glitz says. “I’m off.”

The Doctor grabs his arm, saying he wants him to meet his darker side. Glitz argues, but The Doctor says he’ll be safe. Just then, the building is lit up and a spear shoots out and strikes Glitz in the chest.

In the courtroom, the Inquisitor addresses The Master, “Assuming I accept what you say about the evidence against The Doctor, how much of it had been contrived?”

The Master replies, the gathered Time Lords and Mel listening, “For a lie to work, Madam, it must be… shrouded in truth. Therefore, most of what you saw was true.”

“Then the young woman, the one who died, was that true,” the Inquisitor asks about Peri.

The Master smiles a wonderfully sinister grin, “Ah, the delightful Miss Perpugilliam Brown. That was clever of the Valeyard, exploiting the affection The Doctor had for her… but then, of course, the Valeyard would know precisely how The Doctor felt.”

“Then she lives,” queries the Inquisitor.

A soft, almost faerie-like melody plays as The Master answers, “As a queen, set up on high by that warmongering fool Yrcanos.”

The Inquisitor turns away from the screen, “I am pleased,” she says quietly.

“Sentiment will not keep The Doctor alive, my lady,” The Master tells her.

Mel, standing in The Doctor’s box asks if they can do anything to help.

Glitz lays on the cobblestone, The Doctor standing next to him. The Time Lord says, “You’ll catch cold, laying there.”

“You’re a hard man, Doctor. I could have been killed,” Glitz complains.

The Doctor steps over him, “Not when you’re wearing a mark seven postidion life preserver.”

Glitz gets up as The Doctor explains the Valeyard wants to humiliate him.

“Oh, I see, he humiliates you by throwing harpoons at me. Makes a lot of sense.” I do love Sabalom Glitz.

The Doctor says that together they can fight the Valeyard. Glitz’s answer is even more brilliant, “Look, Doctor, I’m a small-time crook with small-time ambitions, one of which is to stay alive.”

When Glitz tries to leave, The Doctor points out that if the Valeyard kills him, Glitz will be next as the only witness. Glitz sees the logic and agrees to help.

The Inquisitor complains that she’s “never had to conclude a case in both the absence of the accused and the prosecutor.” The Master points out that they’re the same person. “So you’ve said,” she asks, “but can you prove that?”

He says he knows them both, but suggests she speak to the High Council, “They set up this travesty of a trial, making a scapegoat of The Doctor to conceal their own involvement.”

She asks why she should accept that allegation from him. He says she should, if she wants to learn the truth. She questions him, wondering what his interest is, pointing out that she doubts it is concern for The Doctor.

“Oh, indeed not,” he says, a chuckle in his voice. “The Doctor’s well-matched against himself. One must destroy the other.”

Mel, horrified, gasps, “How UTTERLY evil.”

“Thank you,” The Master says, touched at her kind words. “I think I lay a shade more odds on the Valeyard, though the possibility of their mutual destruction must exist. THAT would be perfect.”

“You’re despicable,” Mel tells him.

The Inquisitor asks, “Am I to take it that some base desire for revenge is your motive for interfering?”

Darker chords strike as The Master replies, the camera zooming in, “There’s nothing purer and more unsullied, madam, than the desire for revenge. But, if you follow the metaphor, I’ve thrown a pebble into the water, perhaps killing two birds with one stone… and causing ripples that will rock the High Council to its foundation!” He begins laughing, pleased with his chance to gloat.

The Inquisitor just glares at him. He recovers himself, “What more could a renegade wish for?”

In the Matrix, The Doctor and Glitz enter the building, where they find a man behind a desk, working by lantern light. The man ignores them until they ring the bell and ask for the proprietor.

The man says they need an appointment. The Doctor says they’re expected and make introductions. The bureaucrat at the desk goes on about the process and routine and how it cannot be rushed.

“Oh, I don’t know,” The Doctor replies, “I’ve always been a bit of an iconoclast by nature.” He dashes to the next room, finding the same man in there, who is expecting them. He tells them they “all are” expecting them, but Glitz says the previous one wasn’t.

“He is the exception. The VERY junior Mr Popplewick isn’t permitted to expect anyone,” this one explains.

“What’s he talking about,” Glitz asks The Doctor.

“I think it’s called bureaucracy.”

Popplewick, overhearing, corrects him, “I prefer to call it order. And the holy writ of order is procedure.”

He explains they wish to see the proprietor and they should have made an appointment. The Doctor asks if they can expedite the procedure, but the clerk goes on a rant about it.

He asks The Doctor to sign a consent form, signing over The Doctor’s remaining lives should he die here.

“Obviously, the Valeyard doesn’t trust the High Council to honor their side of the bargain,” The Doctor says, signing the contract, much to Glitz’s dismay. That done, they are directed to a waiting room until the signature can be verified.

The Doctor opens the door, only to find himself in a wind-blown beach area. The Valeyard’s laughter echoes all about when The Doctor realises that Glitz isn’t there. When The Doctor asks where Glitz is, the Valeyard’s voice says he should worry about himself, and hands reach up out of the beach, grabbing him.

The Doctor proclaims “This is an illusion, this isn’t happening,” but the Valeyard says it is. Trying to break free, The Doctor falls down and the arms grab him, pulling him down into the gravely beach.

“You are dead, goodbye, Doctor,” the Valeyard’s voice booms. The Doctor screams… and the credits roll.

Excellent well cliffhanger. See you Friday. 

Serial 128 – Enlightenment 2 / 2

Recap: The White Guardian sends The Doctor to a specific coordinate, saying he must stop something or someone from winning. But there are too many questions. Turlough seems to rebel against the Black Guardian. There’s a race of old Earth water-ships in outer space. Someone is sabotaging the other ships, trying to win.

We left off with Turlough, frightened, about to jump off the ship.

Episode 3:

Turlough leaps from the deck, despite The Doctor’s half-hearted attempt to stop him. (Bad acting? Bad script? Character didn’t realise Turlough was serious, despite he was climbing the rail?) The Doctor calls “Man overboard” and the crew reacts.

Tegan chastises Mariner for not doing anything, but he says, “It would be ridiculous to risk losing the race for an ephemeral.”

They throw a lifesaver out to him, but it’s to no avail. However, the buccaneer ship heaves to and nets Turlough, rescuing him.

The Doctor goes to talk to Captain Striker, saying he needs to get to the buccaneer ship. Mariner remarks to Tegan that it is surprising that the buccaneer captain would turn aside from the race to save Turlough. Tegan replies that she’s glad Turlough is safe.

Mariner’s reply is ominous, “Is he? Your friend might be better dead, than with the captain of that ship.”

Turlough is carried through the halls of the ship, thrown to the floor and instructed to crawl to Captain Wrack, a woman in buccaneer garb. She gives one her officers a sword, saying it is a gift for Captain Davies. They make a reference to her “present to the Greek” and both laugh. Before she dismisses her officer, she gives him some letters – invitations, apparently. She tells him that first to deliver Captain Striker’s, saying he can’t refuse, “…not with live bait dangling on the hook,” referring to Turlough.

(It’s worth noting that Lynda Baron, who plays Captain Wrack, appeared in the First Doctor serial THE GUNFIGHTERS, as a singer (though apparently off-screen only), and the Eleventh Doctor serial, CLOSING TIME as Val.)

Mariner tells Tegan (who is still on the deck) that Turlough is safe. Mariner compliments her on her mind, saying he’s never experienced one like hers. Offended, she blocks her thoughts from him, but this just makes her more entertaining to him.

Striker asks why Turlough jumped, but The Doctor doesn’t know why. When he insists that they get him back, Striker says he’s made his choice. The invitation from Wrack arrives for a ball. Striker declines, but The Doctor and Tegan (who arrived with Mariner along with Wrack’s officer) ask if they may accept in his place. He agrees, and Mariner asks for permission to escort them, which is granted.

After Wrack’s man leaves, Mariner explains they may need his company as Wrack has “strange ideas about entertainment.”

Wrack is playing with Turlough, whose wrists are manacled above his head, asking if he’s ever seen “a man flogged to death” or keelhauled. She demands to know what he wants aboard her ship – she says his mind is so devious (apparently to read?)

He tells her that he came to her because he believes she is going to win the race and he wants to be on the winning side. She encourages him to open his mind to him and releases him from the manacles, as the acceptance is delivered from Striker’s ship.

Tegan, dressed in a fine gown, exits her room while an impatient Doctor waits. Suddenly, the ship rocks and Mariner arrives, saying they’re under attack. They rush to the wheelhouse, where they see an asteroid storm!

Wrack pilots her ship through the storm, but gives it over to her (I’m guessing he’s the first mate, as he seems to be her right hand man) officer who delivered the invitation(s), when he reports to her that Davies’ ship is closing on them. She instructs Turlough to accompany her.

Wrack leads Turlough to a door marked “Vacuum shield”; she flips a switch and an “On” lights up. As she opens the door, Turlough asks what’s going on, but her reply is “You’ll find out,” and she enters laughing.

The Doctor, Tegan and officers watch as Davies’ ship begins to pass Wrack’s.

When Turlough can’t open it, he listens at the door and hears a muffled, but deep voice talking (sounds like the Black Guardian’s voice to me). Suddenly, the ship rocks and he’s knocked to the floor.

Suddenly, Davies’ ship explodes.

Wrack locks the door as she exits, saying she’s “improved my chance of winning”.

Mariner says Davies’ ship must’ve been hit by an asteroid, but The Doctor suggests otherwise, bringing up what happened to the Greek ship when it challenged Wrack’s ship for second place.

The launch from the buccaneer ship has arrived and The Doctor, Tegan and Mariner depart.

Wrack leads Turlough to the location of ball; Wrack’s first mate tells Turlough that his friends are en route. Turlough wonders what they want, but the first mate says he’ll be able to ask them that himself.

Mariner leads his charges to the stateroom. Tegan says she’s scared, but Mariner assures her there’s no need. They arrive and see the assorted Eternals from the different ships, each representing different eras of Earth’s sailing history.

Turlough is skulking about the ship, having left before his friends reached the stateroom. He ends up at the door.

Wrack approaches to meet with the new arrivals, taking Tegan away to meet the other Eternals. The Doctor asks Mariner if he can sense Turlough’s mind, but his answer is “not clearly”.

Turlough turns on the shield and opens the door; within he finds a metal room with a grate in the floor that is open to space (but I’m guessing shielded.)

Mariner ‘finds’ Turlough, saying he’s in the grid room, iron chamber. He gives The Doctor directions, saying the boy is in danger. The Doctor rushes off, asking Mariner to look after Tegan.

As Turlough kneels in front of the grate, a crewman closes the door and locks it. He then turns off the shield. Turlough bangs at the door in vain as “VACUUM SHIELD OFF” flashes over the door. He pulls out the crystal, calling for help; the Black Guardian shows up, “I have warned you, boy, you have failed me. You will die!” As Turlough begs, he turns from him, laughing, and fades from sight.

The Doctor searches the halls for the grid room. He flips a coin to decide which way, but then flips it again until he gets the result he wanted.

In the stateroom, Wrack’s first mate distracts Mariner as Wrack leads Tegan away. She takes Tegan to another room, saying she had brought her there to meet someone, but they’re gone. Tegan asks if they can go back to the party, and the captain says they can, “But first, have you heard of time standing still?”

Tegan replies in the affirmative, saying it’s an expression; in mid-sentence, she’s frozen with a wave of Wrack’s hand, who says it means what it says and she’ll be kept so until “I have finished with you,” and then the captain gives her best evil villain laugh.

Again, Turlough pleads to the crystal, screaming out, “Help me, please, help me,” but BG’s voice replies, “Die boy!!!”

The Doctor hears the alarm from the vacuum shield.

Turlough starts calling out for The Doctor, who resets the shield and opens the door. He asks Turlough what he’s doing in there; he says Wrack said it contained the secret of her power (no, she said it was how she would win the race…). The Doctor agrees that it is part of the ion drive system and is open to space for “better reception”.

Then, the Time Lord looks up, above the grate, where an electronic eye is. He says it’s an amplifier. Turlough asks if that’s how she destroys the other ships, which The Doctor confirms, but says they’re still missing a piece of the puzzle. Wrack still needs something to focus the power onto.

Wrack is seen opening a chest full of stones and pulling one out.

Turlough asks how big the focus would have to be, and The Doctor gestures with his fingers, indicating a size comparable to the stone Wrack was just shown holding. Suddenly, The Doctor remembers the clasp that the Greek captain was wearing, the one that was out of period.

When the Time Lord explains to Turlough about the Greek’s clasp, the companion tells him about the sword that was sent to Davies as a present, that it had a crystal on the hilt. When Turlough wonders if she’ll try the same with Striker, The Doctor points out that neither the captain nor Mariner trust her and would not accept a gift from her.

Turlough remarks, “Luckily for us,” but The Doctor says that won’t stop Wrack. “She’ll find a way,” he says.

We see Wrack place the crystal in Tegan’s tiara. She giggles and remarks, “Perfect.”

Turlough wants to leave the grid room, but The Doctor says not until he’s worked out a plan – their minds are harder to read there. He says he must find a way to stay on the ship, to stop Wrack from winning. Turlough offers to stay, but The Doctor says he couldn’t cope.

They leave the room and are taken prisoner by Wrack’s first mate and crew.

We end with Wrack doing the typical bad guy gloating (though to nobody by the time frozen Tegan, who is insensate, and the viewers), saying that nothing will result but their ultimate destruction. Then she laughs… and the credits roll.

Poorly done cliffhanger there. One of the worst ever.

Episode 4:

Wrack brings Tegan out of her temporal paralysis and they head back to the party. Mariner sees Tegan and rejoins her, asking where Wrack took her and if she was all right. He was quite concerned, and confesses that he was worried and that “I am empty without you… you give me being.”

She asks if he’s in love with her, and he replies, “Love? What is love? I want existence.”

Turlough claims that he saw The Doctor spying and was trying to apprehend him; Turlough says the spy should be sent back to Striker. Mariner and Tegan are all but dragged from the party and taken to the launch. The Doctor explains that he thinks Turlough is trying to prove himself by stopping Wrack from winning.

In the wheelhouse, Wrack pours Turlough a drink, questioning why he stayed. Again, he claims he wants to be on the winning prize and, when she asks, he admits he hopes to share in the prize. She says the prize is Enlightenment, “in all ways,” and when she has it she will no longer depend on ephemeral minds and be able to “create and destroy as I wish.”

She then directs Turlough to observe her crew setting up the plank, remarking it’s a great tool for dealing with those who get in the way.

Back on their ship, Tegan and Mariner go to their rooms to change; The Doctor goes to the wheelhouse. We see Tegan’s tiara, still bearing the crystal, on the bed.

On Wrack’s ship, a man is forced to the plank, but when he is off, he disappeared; Wrack explains that the man was an Eternal, and since he is “out of the race”, he is no longer there. She remarks that ephemerals are different and asks if they should send one of the crew off.

Turlough says no, but then she says they should go to the deck themselves as the crew is waiting for him. She accuses him of being a spy, saying while his mind is hard to read, it is always clear that greed is predominant. She accuses him of wanting all the prize for himself.

Her men start to drag Turlough off, but he tells Wrack that he heard the voice that speaks to her, saying he knows the voice. “I serve him… as I wish to serve you.”

In the wheelhouse, Striker points out their destination – a glowing form in space, looking much like a city, which he entitles “The Enlighteners.”

Wrack’s ship is gaining on Striker’s ship. She tells Turlough that they will go together to their Guardian “…and listen to his voice.”

The Doctor realises that Wrack’s ship has pulled level, but not passed them, because they intend to attack. He pleads with Striker, who orders more sail. The Doctor realises the focus must be on the ship somehow; he asks Tegan if she was given anything by Wrack, but she says she was not.

In the grid room, Turlough watches with trepidation as Wrack steps below the eye, on the grate, and a column of black energy engulfs her, leaving only her face floating in it visible.

The Doctor explains the focus is likely a crystal, a jewel, and it could be part of anything – he gives examples of what she’s used already. Tegan seems to wonder…

Wrack calls out, “Speak to me, come to me,” and then with the Guardian’s voice, she replies, “I am here…”

Tegan tells The Doctor and Mariner about the tiara as they rush to her room.

The Guardian focuses the power through Wrack’s mind.

The crystal in the tiara begins glowing, flashing.

The Doctor arrives and smashes the crystal with a fire axe, splintering it.

Wrack’s face in the darkness becomes smaller, many.

The Doctor realises they have to get rid of all the shards and he, Tegan and Mariner collect them, then dash to the deck.

(This is the obligatory running scene, because this IS Doctor Who, after all.)

On the deck, out of breath, The Doctor collapses, crawls to the rail and tosses the collected shards into space. Mariner and Tegan arrive in time to see it explode.

The darkness fades and Wrack realises Striker’s ship still exists.

Mariner compliments The Doctor, saying he didn’t think an ephemeral could outwit an Eternal. He points out, though, that all The Doctor had to do was imagine the crystal in space and he could have used his power to make it happen, with so much less effort.

“Then why didn’t you,” asks Tegan, almost snarkily.

The Doctor says he couldn’t have thought of it on his own – they depend on the ephemerals far more than they do on the Eternals. Mariner suddenly stops and looks around, noting that the wind is dying.

Wrack’s first mate arrives in the grid room; she snaps at him, aware that Striker’s ship is still intact. The mate tells her that the winds have dropped, and Wrack proclaims that the race is hers – and the prize – as her sails can catch the slightest hint of a breeze.

Captain Striker is outraged that Wrack is going to win. The Doctor says there’s still Turlough, but if he is to help stop her, he needs the TARDIS back. Striker says it is hidden within The Doctor’s own mind, and Mariner instructs The Doctor to concentrate.

The Doctor closes his eyes and then opens them, grinning to see the TARDIS. When Tegan moves to accompany The Doctor, Mariner insists that Tegan stay… or they both stay. Reluctantly, The Doctor goes by himself.

He arrives as Wrack is about to summon forth the power again; he tells her that the power will control her. She laughs and says he has no time left; the door is slammed shut and Turlough approaches from behind it, menacingly. Wrack orders he and her first mate to throw The Doctor into the void.

Back on Striker’s ship, Tegan and the officers watch the screen. A glowing light can be seen exiting the buccaneer ship. Striker says, “Man overboard.” Tegan insists it must not be The Doctor, it cannot be.

Striker and Mariner watch Wrack’s ship move closer to the finish line, bemoaning their loss. Tegan is silent. On the screen, we see two figures turn into outlines and then fade.

Tegan asks if The Doctor is dead. Striker replies, “I don’t know,” and he turns away as Tegan mourns. Mariner sees grief in her mind, asking what it is. Striker says they must go to Wrack’s ship to pay homage, as she has won.

All about Wrack’s ship, the crew fade away.

In the stateroom, both Black and White Guardians appear. Black holds a globe that he sets on a fitting on the table. The globe glows and he opens the top half, revealing another globe within, glowing even brighter – enough so that both Guardians must shield their eyes briefly.

“Let the victor receive his prize,” The White Guardian proclaims. As they wait, they banter. “You shall never destroy the light,” the WG tells his counterpart. “Others shall do it for me,” BG retorts.

“Destroy the light and you destroy yourself – dark cannot exist without knowledge of light,” the White Guardian tells BG.

“Nor light without dark,” BG replies. “Your powers are waning.”

“Others… will recharge them for me.”

Both sit down, BG gloating, “These creatures have no knowledge of good and evil. Enlightenment will give them power. They will invade time itself! Chaos will come again. And the universe will dissolve.” The White Guardian has no reply.

“Where is the captain of this ship,” BG demands, looking about. “Where is the captain, to receive the prize?”

From the entrance, The Doctor replies, “I’m afraid the captain cannot be with us.” He and Turlough walk in. “Both the captain and the first mate met with an unfortunate accident – they both fell overboard.”

He explains that he brought the ship into harbour with Turlough’s assistance. BG warns him that he has not been defeated, their war still goes on. WG tells The Doctor that Enlightenment is his.

The Time Lord says he isn’t ready for it. “I don’t think anyone else, especially Eternals.” As he says this, Mariner, Tegan and Striker enter. Tegan runs to the Time Lord, but he tells her not now.

The White Guardian agrees with The Doctor, saying the Eternals should return from whence they came; Mariner argues, saying he wants to stay.

“Back to the echoing void, back to Eternity,” the White Guardian says.

Mariner asks Tegan for help, but she cannot help him. He and Striker fade away as he reaches to her, saying, “I need you.”

The White Guardian says that while nobody is deserving of all of Enlightenment, he can allocate a portion to Turlough, who assisted in bringing the ship to harbour. Turlough appoaches, amazed. He says it could buy a whole galaxy.

The Black Guardian points out that, under their agreement, it belongs to him. Unless Turlough wanted to surrender something else in its place. He says The Doctor is in Turlough’s debt for his life – BG tells Turlough if he gives him The Doctor he can have Enlightenment, the TARDIS, whatever he wished.

The White Guardian leans forward, asking which shall he give, The Doctor or Enlightenment? “The choice is yours.”

The Doctor watches calmly as Turlough struggles for a moment with the choice, then violently shoves the globe at the Black Guardian, “Here, take it!” The globe crashes into the Black Guardian, setting him on fire. BG screams as the flames engulf him and he disappears.

“Light destroys the dark,” the White Guardian remarks as Turlough, Tegan and The Doctor watch. “I think you will find your contract terminated.” Turlough pulls out the crystal, which is now completely black, dead.

“I never wanted the agreement in the first place,” he says, throwing the crystal into the fire.

The Doctor steps over behind Turlough, “I believe you.” Tegan proclaims he’s mad for this. Turlough insists it’s true.

When Tegan claims that The Doctor only trusts Turlough because he gave up Enlightenment for The Doctor, the Time Lord replies, “You miss the point. Enlightenment wasn’t the diamond – it was the choice.”

Rising from his chair, the White Guardian warns The Doctor, “Be careful, Doctor, once, you denied him the Key To Time. Now you have thwarted him again. He will be waiting for the third encounter. His power does not diminish.”

Turlough says the Black Guardian is destroyed, but WG corrects him, “While I exist, he exists also. Until we are no longer needed.” He fades from sight without another word.

When Tegan says she wants to get away from there, The Doctor asks where to. Turlough says he wants to go to his home planet.

The Doctor replies, “Why not,”… and the credits roll.

What a fun, fun story. Okay, so Steven Moffat, we need the third (and final?) confrontation between The Doctor and the Black Guardian to happen. Make it so.

Serial 128 – Enlightement 1 / 2

(Sorry for the late post, was in the doc’s office and didn’t queue this up yet.)

Oh, I remember many bits and pieces about this one. I recall really, REALLY liking this one.

Episode 1:

Turlough sits at a chessboard in the TARDIS console room (something we haven’t seen since Tom Baker days – chess, that is), waiting for Tegan’s move. She’s assisting The Doctor as he inspects the underside of the console. He announces there isn’t a leak, but rather their loss of power is attributed to it being tapped, though he doesn’t know how.

When Turlough tells Tegan it was her move, a ghostly voice repeats “move”. The Doctor hears it, but seemingly his companions don’t. It also repeats “power”, which again only he hears. When he says it must be his imagination, the lights grow very dim.

“There IS something going on,” Turlough says, stating the obvious.

The Doctor realises it’s a message – move, power – “Turn up the power!” And he does so, while Tegan argues. The Doctor runs down the corridor, calling out, saying they’re giving more power. Tegan and Turlough seem to wonder if he’s lost his mind.

The Doctor says, “We’re giving you everything we’ve got. It IS you, isn’t it?” In response, a ghostly figure manifests and is speaking, but nothing can be heard. Partial phrases, “Power at risk… extreme danger… I repeat, danger, danger, danger…” as the figure fades. I know who it is, but I won’t reveal just yet, until it is done so in story. (Savvy viewers would likely guess, but we haven’t seen this character since the Tom Baker era and he isn’t wearing the same dress or being played by the same actor, so…)

The TARDIS console is smoking, Turlough worries they’re going to blow up, but The Doctor yells for them to continue the output. The figure appears again, speaking, giving some coordinates, instructing him to go immediately and not to allow… but the sentence is incomplete. He replies, “death… death… death…”

Just then, the Black Guardian appears next to the White Guardian, boasting how it is too late, that The Doctor’s destiny is in his hands and soon the Time Lord will be dead. BG laughs evilly and both Guardians disappear.

Turlough turns down the power, afraid it was going to blow. The Doctor chastises him. Tegan asks whom The Doctor was talking to and when he replies, “The White Guardian,” Turlough (who has returned to the chessboard) reacts strongly.

The Doctor enters the coordinates while Tegan nags him, despite him already telling her he doesn’t have time for her questioning. Suddenly, the TARDIS shifts, throwing everyone around, and they’ve arrived.

Instruments reveal that the air is breathable (something we haven’t seen them do in story in some time, though it’s not necessary to show it every time) and The Doctor sends Turlough for two torches, telling Tegan he wants her to stay in case the White Guardian tries to make contact again.

There’s more arguing between Tegan and Turlough over his returning to the TARDIS during the Terminus adventure.

They exit the TARDIS, to find themselves in a building with wooden floors; between the rocking, the sound of rats and a tarred rope, they deduce they’re in the hold of a sailing ship.

They hide as a crewman comes down to check the stores. They note that the man seemed to be hypnotised.

Tegan puts up the chessboard, not seeing two hands and a face in the scanner. The Guardian’s voice echoes, “More… more… more…” She turns up the power, as the face watches her (she’s still unaware and has her back to the scanner.) The White Guardian appears, his words incomplete, “…must not win. Tell The Doctor. Winner takes all… all… all…”

Suddenly the console sparks and smokes and the Guardian fades. Tegan suddenly sees the face in the scanner and asks who he is, wondering if he’s the White Guardian. He doesn’t reply, only smiles, then seems to fall, crying out as he does so.

Turlough and The Doctor enter a room full of crewmen playing cards. Their uniforms are historical, white with the blue kerchiefs. The men turn and regard the newcomers with some suspicion.

Tegan exits the TARDIS, looking for the man from the scanner.

The Doctor tells Turlough to pretend they’ve just joined the crew. He picks up a newspaper, which identifies them in Edwardian England. Turlough is less than delighted to find out they’re back on Earth. The crew seems to be sizing them up, The Doctor tells Turlough – after all, they might be cooped up together for months. Again, Turlough is horrified at the prospect.

Turlough argues for going back to the TARDIS, but The Doctor insists they stay.

Tegan wanders the hold, shining her light on a footlocker with the name STRIKER on it. She calls out again, trying to find the man she saw.

Finally, one of the crew approaches The Doctor, grabbing the paper from him. He introduces himself as Jackson. When The Doctor makes introductions, everyone is glad to hear that “The Doctor is aboard” (though, likely they think that A doctor is aboard.)

However, despite the many times this has happened over the years, The Doctor thinks it is HE they have been expecting/waiting for.

Tegan is hiding behind the lockers. Not sure what from, though.

Ahah, I’m only half right. Apparently, “the doctor” is the term for the “ship’s cook”, and the men are glad to hear they’ll get some proper food. Turlough laughs at The Doctor’s dismay.

A man leaves the hold, but we never see him forward on. Tegan turns around to find the man from the scanner. He says she’s a stowaway and he should put her in irons and she runs from him as he calls out, “Where are you, where are you?” He seems to be infatuated with her – that’s the general vibe from his expression on the scanner and here now.

The crew tells The Doctor they’ve been below decks for two days. Understandably, The Doctor finds this very odd.

Creepy stalker officer dude stalks Tegan. She strikes him and he collapses.

Jackson makes introductions to the rest of the crew. The Doctor asks if they came aboard together, but they don’t remember. The Doctor jests about celebrating too much for their last day ashore, but it’s pointed out that Jackson doesn’t drink, “I signed a pledge and I haven’t touched a drop since.”

The Doctor is very intrigued by the mystery that none of them can remember coming aboard the ship.

Tegan encounters Creepy Stalker office dude, everywhere she turns. She finally gives in and allows him to escort her.

The crew reveals they’ve been hired on for a race; they’ve been paid a month’s wages in advance and say that the captain isn’t a tightwad.

Officer dude offers to help Tegan find the two friends she’s looking for. She asks what he’s done with them, but he says he hasn’t met them yet, but she could take her to them. She’s very squicked out by him, but he’s very polite and asks her not to try to run away again.

The crew debates the best typ of racing ship. They give Turlough a hard time for bringing up “flying ships”. The Doctor seems bothered by something, but doesn’t interrupt. An officer arrives to escort The Doctor elsewhere, but he doesn’t allow Turlough to come.

The crew tells Turlough that he’s likely been taken to meet the First Mate, or perhaps the captain. When he asks if The Doctor will be all right, Jackson replies, “Who can tell?”

The Doctor is led into a stateroom, where Tegan is waiting. He is irate, briefly, but also relieved that she is well. She tells him about the White Guardian, his insistence about the race not being won by someone. And “winner takes all”. The Doctor shares that he’s been with the crew and she tells him about the strange officer.

Just then, Captain Striker enters and introduces himself, accompanied by two other officers. Striker knows their names already.

The crew tells Turlough that the officers are a funny lot and they’ve not even met the captain – it was the first mate who signed them all on. Turlough seems to have ingratiated himself into their company fairly well. He tries to find out about the race, the finish. The boat rocks and they say the winds have begun to freshen.

In the stateroom, a drink tips and spills and breaks. Mr Mariner, the first mate (and Tegan’s creepy admirer) arrives to announce the wind is picking up. He responds that the crew are being readied, and the captain calls a sudden end to dinner. Mariner is instructed to see to Tegan, and he offers her his arm, saying he’ll take her to the wheelhouse.

The Doctor is left behind to finish eating his meal and then he departs as well.

The crewmen rush out of the room, telling Turlough the signal for grog rations has been blown on the whistles. Jackson, who doesn’t drink, is the only one who stays behind with Turlough. He compliments Turlough for “keeping a clear head,” and then drags him off to go aloft.

The Doctor hides from an onrush of crewmen; Turlough calls ahead that he’ll catch up and reunites with The Doctor, who tells him he wants to find Tegan, and they set off to find the wheelhouse. Turlough tells The Doctor that the crew doesn’t know very much about the race and asks, again, if they can return to the TARDIS.

The Doctor replies they can, once they find Tegan. Just then, they hear a scream from the deck above.

Tegan, accompanied by First Mate Mariner, stops when she hears the same scream. She asks what that was, and Mariner’s reply is mysterious, “One of the crew going aloft. Sometimes it affects them that way, especially if it’s their first time.” Dum dum dum!!

(Man, I love this story so much.)

She thinks he means they’re sending completely untrained people to work the ship; his response is a callous, “they’ll soon to get used to it.” He leads her off, but she stops, seeing wet suits on a rack in the hall. She wonders, out loud, “What are wet suits doing on an Edwardian sailing ship?” Mariner beckons her to follow, and they enter the wheelhouse.

She remarks it’s dark outside and Mariner replies, “Isn’t it always dark?” Tegan replies she expected it to be daylight. The Doctor and Turlough arrive just then, and she asks if they saw the “underwater gear, like scuba sets”, which they had not.

Spying some charts, they approach, hoping to find out where they are, but Turlough remarks that the maps make no sense. Tegan says it looks like marker buoys, but The Doctor says, “They’re considerably more than that.” It’s obvious he has realised what’s going on, though his companions have not.

The captain instructs the first mate that he wants to “look at our competitors”; Mariner opens a panel, revealing a bank of electronics, and starts pressing buttons and flipping toggles. Tegan is stunned to see electronics.

A viewscreen slides open, showing sailing craft floating in darkness. “Look at the screen,” The Doctor says. “We’re not on a yacht. We’re in a ship. A spaceship,”… and the credits roll.

Now THAT is a proper cliffhanger.

I’m having so much fun reliving this one. This has always been one of my fave serials!

Episode 2:

Turlough wonders what the point of it is. Tegan says it’s like a game. Turlough remarks that the crew are all humans, but The Doctor wonders about the officers.

Tegan, overwhelmed, feels ill and is escorted to a room to relax. The Doctor protests, but Turlough calms him down, saying nobody’s threatened them. “Yet,” the Time Lord remarks.

Returning the charts, Turlough and The Doctor realise they’re in Earth’s solar system. Speaking in hushed tones, The Doctor instructs Turlough to go check on Tegan while he tries to find out more.

The captain seems to hear all this and tells him they’re guests and can come and go as they please.

Mariner gives Tegan something to drink, but she declines. He takes a sip, to show her it is safe and she gives in and drinks the rest.

Turlough is barred access to the deck; the officer doing so tells him that he would be in the way of the crew. He is startled to discover that the ship is equipped with the full rigging of a Earth water vessel of its type. As Turlough wanders off, the officer tells him that Tegan’s cabin can be found on the starboard side (though he never voiced his desire to find her.)

Mariner helps Tegan into bed; she is drowsy from the drink. He departs, saying he must return to the wheelhouse as they are approaching the next marker buoy.

As they approach Venus, the captain shows The Doctor the Greek ship, saying its captain is the only threat to his winning the race. The viewscreen shows the Greek captain and The Doctor notes he’s wearing a ring that appears to be 17^th century Spanish – the only piece out of place in the Greek captain’s ensemble or ship.

When he asks why, Captain Striker merely replies, “When you meet, perhaps you would like to ask him.”

Turlough finds Tegan in her room; she’s napping, and he wakes her. She feels much, much better. Turlough sniffs the glass, saying it seems to be the same drink the crew is given.

Tegan says the cabin room is a blend of her room on the TARDIS and her room back in Brisbane. She even finds a picture of her Aunt Vanessa (remember her?) on the nightstand!

She gets a little upset, realising someone’s been in her memories.

Captain Striker says that the race is a diversion; when The Doctor asks about the crew, the captain is dismissive, saying they are ephemerals, like The Doctor. The Doctor gets angry, saying they had no right to take them, that they are living, breathing, flesh and blood.

Striker realises that The Doctor is not an ephemeral, but a “time-dweller… you travel in time. You are a Time Lord, a Lord of Time. Are there Lords of such a small domain?” The Doctor realises that Striker is reading his mind, but then asks where Striker dwells in response to the captain’s comment about time being so small.

The captain’s reply is ominous, “Eternity, the endless wastes of Eternity.”

Crewmen in the wet suits and helmets line up and are given grog from a barrel. Each takes their shot, then lowers the visor on the helmet, before heading to the deck.

After seeing some of the space-suited crew, Turlough explains to Tegan that the ship must use the solar winds to move through space. She asks how they can accept it all if they’re from Edwarian England. Just then, Jackson, hiding down a hallway, calls out to Turlough.

Turlough remarks, “Perhaps not all of them do,” and moves towards Jackson, who takes him down the hallway. He says they need to throw the grog off the side of the ship, and he gives Turlough the key.

In the wheelhouse, the captain plans for a tight skirting of Venus’ atmosphere. The Doctor argues against it but is over-ridden.

In line at the grog barrel, Jackson refuses to drink, saying he’s signed a pledge. The officers drag him up to the deck as he begs for Turlough’s help. Turlough and Tegan head off to find The Doctor.

They arrive in the wheelhouse just as the ship skims Venus, entering the gravity field of the planet in a dangerous maneuver to increase their lead. They make it through, The Doctor explaining to his companions what just happened and said they were lucky not to be destroyed in the attempt.

Behind the Edwardian ship, the Greek and a Buccaneer ship are neck and neck. As they watch, the gravitational pull destroys the Greek ship.

Turlough remarks quietly that it didn’t look like gravitational pull that caused the Greek ship to explode; The Doctor agrees and says it was either sabotage or it was shot down.

Tegan questions what the prize for winning is, but The Doctor says this is not the place to have such a conversation and sends his companions off, saying he’ll meet up with them later.

The captain denies that anyone on his ship had anything to do with what happened to the Greek ship. He says that, while sabotage is not against the rules, it is “less divertive”.

“Oh, it spoils the fun,” The Doctor replies. He asks what is against the rules – they are not allowed to “go beyond” the setting/period they have chosen for themselves. (Outside of the whole piloting through space thing, of course.) The crew were chosen from the appropriate period of time.

The Doctor realises there’s more to the selection of the crew. He realises they need their minds, the minds of the ephemerals. He calls the Eternals parasites. When he storms off, for a moment, Striker is unable to read his mind.

Turlough uses the crystal to contact the Guardian, but it doesn’t work.

Mariner follows Tegan around. She says she’s disgusted with him, his lack of concern for the crew of the ship that was destroyed. He seems rather smitten with her, but clueless to the fact that he’s offensive to her.

Turlough again tries to contact BG; this time, he appears and grabs Turlough, choking him. He yells at Turlough, saying he’s had plenty of chances to kill The Doctor, but again, Turlough insists that he cannot kill him. “Then I condemn you to everlasting life – you shall never leave this ship,” BG exclaims, throwing Turlough to the floor and laughing maniacally before fading away.

In her cabin, Tegan regards the picture of her Aunt. The Doctor arrives and they begin talking. He explains that the officers are Eternals, they need the mortals mind to feed off of. She whines, wanting to go back to the TARDIS, but he begs her to stay, saying he doesn’t want them knowing about it.

Mariner and Striker are seen in the wheelhouse; Striker repeats, “TARDIS,” and they look at each other.

Again, Tegan asks if she can go back to the TARDIS, saying she can’t keep up with everything, she can’t handle it. The Doctor agrees and asks where Turlough is, but she doesn’t know.

Striker and Mariner stare at each other, apparently communicating telepathically. Striker says, “Now,” and Mariner salutes, departing.

They find Turlough unconscious on the floor and help him up. He tells them he fell, but The Doctor notes some marks on him and wonders. They head back to the hold and en route, Turlough asks if he can stay in the TARDIS as well. The Doctor seems reluctant, but agrees.

In the hold, they discover that the TARDIS is gone! Several officers are there, and they take Tegan to Mariner, escorting The Doctor and Turlough to find out what happened to the TARDIS.

Tegan is instructed by Mariner to put on a space suit. He’s already wearing one.

Turlough and The Doctor are brought to the wheelhouse, to meet the captain. The captain says Tegan is on deck and suggests they join her. Turlough panics, saying he’ll tell them about the mutiny going on below decks. “I’ll give you something,” he says, frantic, searching through his pockets.

The Doctor regards him with amazement and disappointment.

The captain already knows about the key to the rum locker and Jackson’s attempt to get Turlough to help him. Turlough gives in, at this, and tells The Doctor not to look at him that way. The Doctor asks the captain if Jackson will be punished.

The captain’s reply is, “For entertaining us? Superior beings do not punish inferiors.” He assures The Doctor that Jackson is safe, that the deck is safe, the suits are only a precaution.

Tegan is brought on deck; Mariner says he can see in her mind that the view is beautiful. When she asks about The Doctor, Mariner tells her that he will soon join them.

The Doctor asks what the prize is; “Enlightenment, the wisdom which knows all things and will allow me to achieve what I desire most. Do not ask me what that is! I will not tell you,” is Striker’s reply.

After opening his visor, Mariner tells her that there is atmosphere on the deck and opens her visor. The Doctor and Turlough come up on the deck. Turlough asks if they will ever get off the ship.

The Doctor says when the find the TARDIS, but the Black Guardian’s voice echoes in Turlough’s head, “You are doomed boy…” He gets frantic and demands of The Doctor, “Are you sure we’ll get off this ship?” The Doctor tries to get him to calm down.

Turlough, panicking, steps to the rail, yelling out, “I will never serve you again,” and prepares to jump. The Doctor cries out, “No,”… and the credits roll.

That’d be a pretty good cliffhanger if it were better filmed; the angles were off, too many camera cuts, it just felt wrong.

But it’s the one you get until Friday!

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 126 – Terminus 1 / 2

I don’t recall the specifics of this story, but I do believe I enjoyed this one – I know the next one is one I always enjoyed immensely.

Episode 1:

Turlough wanders the TARDIS corridors, arguing with the Black Guardian. He says Tegan doesn’t trust him. The BG instructs him to open a panel in the corridor, which he does. At BG’s behest, he operates some switches. BG instructs him to return to the console room. Tegan arrives shortly after he closes the panel, but it pops open while she’s accusing him of being “up to something”.

When he asks why she likes him, she says he’s unreliable. They argue. She ends up showing him to his room, despite his attempts to charm her. She takes him to Adric’s former room, where Turlough only offends her more by insulting the décor.

After she leaves, he slips off.

Tegan goes to Nyssa’s room, to complain.

Turlough sneaks to the console room and pulls out the BG’s crystal, which has repaired itself, to his surprise. BG appears and orders him to “concentrate, you have work to do!”

Nyssa is working on a project that Adric had originally helped her with; she says her computations aren’t as good as his and Tegan goes off to fetch Adric’s notes, “…before Turlough destroys them.”

Turlough removes some circuitry from beneath the TARDIS console. BG says he is touching the “heart of the TARDIS” and says to rip it free. When Turlough is worried about his own safety, BG assures him that he is ready to lift him to safety.

Tegan finds Turlough’s room empty and goes looking for him.

Alarms sound in the console room. He says the space-time element is stuck, but the Guardian says he can sense the break-up is beginning and urges him to continue. Turlough hears Tegan calling out his name.

Tegan comes across a field of… nothing? The TARDIS seems to be fading away and it’s spreading! She runs off, calling out The Doctor’s name.

Nyssa (wearing yet another outfit, though Tegan is still in her outfit from Amsterdamn, wonder why Sarah Sutton got to change outfits with each serial?) notices the effect in her room as well.

The Doctor comes and says they’re in trouble, but will explain later.

In the console room, Turlough has replaced the console panel just in time as The Doctor and Tegan arrive. Seeing the rotor is jammed, The Doctor pulls a safety cut out. Turlough inquires about Nyssa’s safety, and The Doctor uses the external scanner to try to see her, but the dimensional instability is all they see.

However, they are able to communicate with her through audio, telling her to stay back. Something seems to be in the pixelated mess, and Tegan sees it on the scanner (which now shows Nyssa, from behind, facing the effectd.)

An image of a skull forms in the pixellation, and then Nyssa’s equipment begins to explode. She screams and turns from the mess, but is instructed by The Doctdor to face it. A door appears, bearing the logo of the skull, and he urges her to enter, saying if she stays, she’ll die.

She does so, entering a ship or construct of some sort. In the console room, they hear a thrumming sound, but The Doctor isn’t sure what it is. Tegan points out that the door is closing and they rush to Nyssa’s room, where The Doctor throws a chair, which impedes the door from closing.

He explains that the TARDIS sought out the spacecraft, saying it’s a fail safe, that upon imminent break-up, the TARDIS will seek out another craft to latch on to. Tegan remarks, “You never mentioned it before,” and The Doctor replies, “Well, the script writers had never thought of it before.”

Okay, so he didn’t say that bit. Instead, he says, “Well, it never worked before.”

He passes through the partially-opened door, into the spacecraft. He instructs Tegan and Turlough to remain there as he goes to explore. Shortly thereafter, they hear a strange noise and Tegan enters to look for The Doctor, who is nowhere in sight.

(Companions listen so well.)

Back in Nyssa’s room, Turlough consults the BG’s crystal; the Guardian instructs Turlough to “follow and kill him!” When he passes through the door, it closes behind him, much to his dismay, eliciting a, “I wonder how THAT happened?!”

As he watches, the door fades from that side of the wall. Tegan, seeing this, says they have no choice.

The Doctor continues looking for Nyssa.

We see two ships linking up in space.

Nyssa wanders down the corridors on the ship. She turns around, hearing a strange noise.

Tegan and Turlough hear it, too, and rush in that direction.

Nyssa, hearing someone approaching, hides. The Doctor enters the area and finds her crouched. She inquires where they are and he suggests it might be an old passenger ship; when she asks about the skulls/scary faces painted everywhere, The Doctor makes a pithy comment about décor.

There’s an explosion and several people in space suits (but with their hands bare, hmm) enter. The space suits have huge clear bubbled heads, much larger than the human(oid) heads within. Very impractical. They bear blaster weapons and one woman instructs that the air seal be checked.

The breach in the hull has been sealed with some form of compound, possibly organic and is secure. That being checked, the man and woman head along the corridor, guns at the ready.

Tegan and Turlough are talki… no, they’re arguing. She says she heard Nyssa, he says it was her imagination. They round the corner and encounter a robot on treads. They quickly back away.

The two bubble heads enter the flight deck of the ship and remove their bubbles. She’s got 80s hair like you wouldn’t believe. Examining the controls, she says the ship is rigged on automatic, but wonders why there’s atmospheric controls activated, allowing them to breath without their bubbles. She says this is not what they were expecting from their briefing.

“So what, we’re only here for the cargo,” is his response. She wonders if there’s going to be any cargo. She pulls out a device, presumably a communicator.

The Doctor and Nyssa discover the recently plugged up hull. She points out that the plug is soft.

The woman is contacting their ship to say it isn’t as described; they hear The Doctor and Nyssa approaching. They hide and level their guns at them when they enter.

Tegan and Turlough walk about. They’re not arguing. They hear someone cry out, “Help me!” Tegan says it’s Nyssa, but it doesn’t sound like her.

The raiders interrogate The Doctor and Nyssa, but suddenly see their ship take off. The woman tries to contact the ship, but there’s no response. Suddenly, an alarm flashes and blast shields rise over the windshield (dunno what else you call them on a spaceship.)

Tegan tries to get into the room where the woman calling out for help is. She sends Turlough off to find a pry bar (crow bar to my American brothers and sisters.) He slips off and tries to use the crystal, to no avail. He finds Nyssa’s notepad, which she dropped once entering the ship, and examines the wall, hoping to find the door, I’m presuming.

Tegan keeps calling for him, saying “it’s moving” and “hurry”. He says he’s on his way. Defeated at his attempt to locate the door, he wanders off, but hears the thrumming and turns about – the door has reappeared!

As Tegan gets the door open, many arms grab her from within. Turlough arrives and frees her from them, and the door shuts itself on those within. Turlough tells her he found the door back to the TARDIS, but we see it disappear just then.

The woman tells The Doctor she’s commandeering his ship. He says no and they level their blasters at him. He tells her she doesn’t have the position to demand, pointing out that the ship they’re on is performing docking maneuvers. She asks nicely and he agrees, if they put away their guns. They do.

Just then an automated voice announces that “all decks stand by, this is a special announcement from Terminus, Incorporated”. The Doctor says they should get out and all four of them run out.

We see a large… construct, a space station.

The computer voice announces docking procedures are complete. Passengers should disembark – anyone failing to disembark will be removed and “sterilisation procedures will then follow”. Tegan and Turlough, hearing this, see the doors around them start to open and the moaning people within trying to get out.

“There is no return… this is Terminus,” the voice announces over the PA. The male raider knows where they are. When asked, he runs off instead, just as a mass of bedraggled passengers approach.

Tegan and Turlough go below a grate in the deck to avoid the mass of passengers.

The male raider shouts this is Terminus, where the lepers come to die, they’re on a leper ship. He all but screams, “We’re all going to dieeeeeeeee!!!”… and as the camera zooms in on a horrified Doctor, the credits roll.

Okay, THAT’S a stark, powerful cliffhanger. Yikes.

I don’t remember any of this thus far, but me likey. (Ok, that’s a lie, I do remember the bit about Turlough and the panel in the TARDIS.)

Episode 2:

The ship is seen docking with Terminus; I thought it already had?

The Doctor warns Nyssa not to let them touch her. The woman (Kari) moves to attack the “lazars” (lepers) after they pass, claiming she thought they were going to attack. The Doctor chastises her, saying they look to weak to do much of anything. He says he thinks Olvir (her fellow raider) has much to tell them.

Tegan and Turlough find themselves stuck beneath the grating. The begin crawling, but Tegan hits her head, knocking open a panel that reveals glowing green electronics. They crawl the other way.

At the flight deck, Kari reveals that they picked this ship because it was a big liner from a rich sector – the perfect target, or so they thought.

Tegan finds a ladder leading up out of the tunnel.

Nyssa is stricken, feeling weak, while looking for more computer “blocks” (cartridges) for The Doctor to search, hoping to find info about Terminus. She recovers and then finds Olvir.

BG threatens Turlough with “rewards for failure”.

The Doctor finds star charts. Nyssa tries to get Olvir to come talk to them, but he’s afraid of how Kari will react to his cowardice. He acquiesces and comes back to tell them that his sister died of Lazar’s Disease, she was brought to Terminus with the promise of a cure.

He tells them that it’s too late – they’re breathing in the disease already.

The Doctor is more interested in the fact that Terminus seems to be located at the exact center of the known universe.

Turlough catches up to Tegan, but they hear something/someone moving above them. A costumed figure in armour and robes passes by, then is greeted by the robot. He lifts his face plate and gives the order to the robot, “Sterilise!”

Tegan and Turlough exchange concerned glances and crawl off in a hurry.

Another figure in armour looms over some instrument panels. I remember this guy, for some reason! He takes off his helmet, revealing long hair, beak-nose and a moustachioed face. “What’s happening? Reading’s still climbing,” he says out loud as he inspects the instrumentation. He moves away, consulting his hand held unit, wandering across some hazard markings on the floor. Another man yells at him to stop, but Bor insists the readings are still climbing and he must find out why.

The other man rushes back to report to his superior, Eirak, that Bor has gone into the forbidden zone. When the leader refuses to send men after Bor, Valgard argues with Eirak, saying they cannot let Bor die. But Eirak points out they’re already dying, and this seems to quell Valgard’s vehemence. Eirak inquires if Bor said anything, and Valgard says he muttered something about the readings. “He’ll be back… when he gets hungry,” Eirak says, adding almost sarcastically, “He needs his hydromel.” Valgard turns from the leader as ominous music plays (the score, not in the actual scene.)

Man, I don’t remember what’s going on in this serial and I’m curious as hell – this is a great set up thus far.

Back on the liner, The Doctor pulls up a plan of the ship, which appears to be vast. The lights flicker and everyone ducks as Kari yells, “Everyone down!” The computer announces the beginning of Stage One Sterlisation, warning all unprotected personnel should leave immediately.

In the tunnels, fumes fill the area approaching Tegan and Turlough.

Nyssa pulls up a layout of the ship, saying they must split up as there are two possible routes.

Tegan and Turlough are lucky that most of the fumes bleed off.

Olvir is forced to stop as his companion, Nyssa, is falling ill. He tries to use his communicator, but gets the same static Kari did earlier. He says there must be an engine leak causing the interference.

The robot shows up, waving its many arms around as it beeps. This apparently is frightening, as Olvir asks Nyssa if she can walk. Nyssa says she feels as if she’s going to burst and starts shedding some of her clothing. When he touches her, he says she is contaminated.

The computer announces the beginning of Stage Two Sterilisation as Nyssa is dragged off by the robot. The voice says “All Lazars must comply with the drones.”

Valgard complains to the others about Eirak’s lack of compassion. They warn him that he has great power, but Valgard says his power lies solely in the control of the hydromel. The drone brings Nyssa to them and they remark that she’s in better condition than most.

Nyssa tries to explain she’s not a Lazar; Valgard is surprised that she’s even talking. He scoffs when she asks if they’re doctors and says they’re more like baggage handlers.

He explains she’ll be taken to the Garm, “…then after… who knows, nobody’s ever come back from a meeting with him.”

One of the armoured men fetches a supply of green tubes; he takes one, and slides it into an opening on his armour. He gets an euphoric demanor and murmurs, “Bittersweet taste of life.”

Nyssa makes an attempt for escape, knocking down Valgard, but is caught by the man bringing back the hydromel (the green tubes). Olvir watches from hiding as they take Nyssa down an elevator.

The Doctor and Kari wander the halls, apparently lost. He’s frantic, saying they couldn’t have missed the spot, there was a book on the floor (that was moved by Turlough, remember?) He tells Kari to contact Olvir after finding Nyssa’s skirt that she shed before being grabbed by the drone.

Turlough hears The Doctor’s voice as he and Tegan crawl through more tunnel space.

Lazars are herded through a passageway. Eirak, distinguished from his subordinates by his red cloak, is bullying the Lazars, shoving them for no apparent reason. When Valgard and the other bring Nyssa down, Eirak sends Valgard to inform the Garm about Bor going in the Forbidden Zone.

Valgard enters another chamber, gestures in front of a machine and waits. Shortly thereafter, a large humanoid with a wolf-like head appears. Valgard addresses him, explaining that one of the Vanir (oh ho, no wonder I liked this serial so much) has gone into the Forbiddne Zone, saying that if he dies, they require his body back. The Garm bows, never speaking, to acknowledge his understanding and departs.

The Doctor finds blood on the floor. Kari tries her communicator again, to no avail. They hear Tegan and Turlough calling The Doctor, but when Stage Two begins, the mist forces The Doctor and Kari to retreat.

Nyssa is in a room full of moaning, groaning Lazars.

Olvir sneaks past one of the Vanir.

The Doctor and Kari barely make it through a lowering bulkhead. Valgard hears their approach on the catwalk above him. The Doctor stops, regarding the room below, musing, “the center of the universe.” Valgar, below them, dons his helmet and walks along.

Turlough and Tegan are still in the access tunnels. I guess this is a friendship building bit, so that Turlough’s betrayal, when revealed, will bit more hurtful to Tegan? He breaks off a bar in a grate barring their progress.

As they enter the chamber where the Garm was summoned, The Doctor asks if she thought if the star charts on the liner were accurate, but before Kari can answer completely, Valgard grabs her from behind. The Doctor demands he let her go, which he does.

Valgard then says, “Now it’s your turn… only you, I’m going to kill,” and he does a fake swing with his staff (looked more like a botched move in the choreography of the fight – and yes, I know they never had good fights in Classic Who) and grabs ahold of The Doctor with both hands, choking… and the credits roll.

A compelling enough cliffhanger, but lacking compared to the previous. Ah well.