Trial of a Timelord - 13-14: The Ultimate Foe

Two episodes
Aired between 29th November 1986 and 6th December 1986

Written by Robert Holmes (part 13) / Pip and Jane Baker (part 14)
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Directed by Chris Clough

Synopsis

After all this trial malarky, the Doctor is still insistent that the Matrix footage has been tampered with, even in the face of the Keeper of the Matrix denying it.  The Keeper says it can only be accessed by senior Time Lords with appropriate keys, leading the Doctor to say that either someone high up has stitched him up, or someone has duplicated a key.

Surprisingly, Mel and Sabalom Glitz turn up, transported here by someone to help the Doctor prove he acted innocently. That someone is of course, the Master. He says he's been watching the trial with great interest and has decided now is the time to help the Doctor.

Sabalom Glitz reveals that he and Dibber were sent to Ravalox (See The Mysterious Planet) to retrieve secrets stolen from the Matrix. In retaliation for this theft, the Time Lords moved Earth to prevent them from being retrieved.

The Master it turns out worked with the Valeyard, a darker version of the Doctor, to frame the Doctor and set him up, in recompense he would have been given all the Doctor's remaining incarnations to prolong his regenerative cycle. The High Council also agreed to go along with this and let the Doctor take the fall for the theft of the secrets from the Matrix.

The Doctor is furious and accuses the Time Lords of being corrupt and evil. The only one who seems not to be in on it is the Inquisitor herself.

The Valeyard now exposed, flees the courtroom and hides in the Matrix. The Doctor and Glitz agree to go into the Matrix to retrieve the Valeyard and bring him to account.

As they are gone, the Master harps on about how the Valeyard would have been a good ally, but even more powerful and cunning than the Doctor, so ultimately he's too big of a threat. This way, they might well kill each other and he wins both ways.  The Master is however upset at the High Council for what they have done to Earth and has tapped into the Matrix feed, showing the trial to everyone on Gallifrey so they can see just how corrupt the Council is.

Inside the Matrix, the Doctor and Glitz find themselves in Victorian London, a world created by the Valeyard.  He has a giant lair called "The Fantasy Factory" that is manned by an officious bureaucrat called Mr Popplewick who sends them around in circles and to multiple versions of himself, until the Doctor agrees to sign a paper that forfeits his remaining regeneration's to the Valeyard, should the Valeyard defeat him here.

With little option, the Doctor agrees, steps through a door, and finds himself on a beach. Hands come from the sand and drag him down, whilst the Valeyard laughs. Glitz arrives and tries to save him but it's too late. 

To his surprise however, the Doctor miraculously rises from the sand unharmed. He explains that's because it's all fantasy so long as his belief is stronger than the Valeyard's.

The Valeyard turns up and tries to kill them with nerve gas.

They take refuge in a nearby hut which turns out to be the Master's TARDIS. The Master re-iterates that the Valeyard is too evil and unpredictable so he wants to stop him. He then manipulates the Doctor into waiting in the console room, and springs a trap, debilitating the Doctor. The Master will beat the Valeyard in his own way.

He sends the Doctor back to the Fantasy Factory hypnotised as bait. The Valeyard comes out and the Master tries to kill him with his Tissue Compression Eliminator, but it bounces off the Valeyard, who in turn throws explosive quills and forces the Master to flee.

Meanwhile, Mel manages to get inside the Matrix, finds the Doctor and brings him back to the courtroom. There, she gives evidence that the Doctor is innocent of his accused crimes, but the Inquisitor deems the Doctor is indeed guilty of genocide.  The Doctor takes the news with surprising calm and agrees. It turns out that this wasn't the courtroom at all, but another illusion from the Matrix. The real Mel in frustration steals a key from the Keeper and really does enter the Matrix. She finds the Doctor being led to his execution and he tells her he knows it was fake, and was trying to draw out the Valeyard for a final showdown.

Together with Glitz, they go back to the Fantasy Factory. There, Glitz finds the stolen secrets from the Matrix and offers to give up the Doctor in return for them, being paid a shed load of money from the Master to do so.  Popplewick agrees, and Glitz goes.  Popplewick is then revealed to be the Valeyard in disguise. The Valeyard in true Bond style, explains that there's a laser pointed into the courtroom and is willing to kill everyone.

The Master meanwhile tells the court and High Council that Gallifrey's population are in revolt and they have been deposed. He now intends to release their secrets and take control himself. He uploads the secrets onto the screen, but it turns out they're fake and instead it's a trap that captures both him and Glitz in the Matrix.

The Doctor sabotages the laser, sending wild beams of energy flying everywhere. Mel rushes off to evacuate the courtroom whilst he creates a huge feedback loop. The Valeyard is wounded and left to die in the Matrix as the Doctor rushes out before the entire Fantasy Factory goes up in a ball of fire.

Back in the courtroom, the Doctor is cleared of all charges and he is told that Perri actually survived and is living as a warrior queen with Yrkanos.

He is offered the presidency once more, but refuses and suggests that the Inquisitor takes it instead.  He also suggests that leniency is given to Glitz as he can be reformed.

He goes to the TARDIS and is despondent when Mel says she's going to make him exercise again. He intends to drop her off back in her own time.

Back in the courtroom, we discover that the Keeper of the Matrix is somehow the Valeyard.

Trivia

• And so, we bid farewell to Colin Baker. This is his last televised adventure as the Doctor. He did go on however to be majorly popular in the big finish audios (and is still going). He was supposedly invited to do one more story to regenerate, but given the fact that the BBC effectively used him as a scapegoat for the series being dull, and firing him, he unsurprisingly turned it down

•  So, over the course of the Trial, we've seen that all is definitely not well with the production team.  Eric Saward was increasingly disillusioned with JNT caring more about the Cons and publicity than he did about the show. The final straw came in the guise of writing this story.  

• Originally, Robert Holmes was to pen the tale, but he got incredibly ill and died, only having written the first part and notes for the second half.  Eric felt honour bound to carry the story through in the vision Robert Holmes had given for it.  The problem was that the show was to end on a cliff hanger with the Doctor and the Valeyard falling in a vortex, similar to a Sherlock Homes and Moriarty ending.  John Nathan-Turner did not like this at all, as it gave the BBC too much opportunity to simply axe the show and say he died.  

• With this, JNT ordered the ending re-written. Given this dilemma, Eric Saward refused to change it and quit, taking the story with him and forbidding JNT from using it. John Nathan-Turner was in a tight spot, so turned to Pip and Jane Baker, handing them some continuity notes and asking them to effectively write a story blind with little reference to how things had played out or would go.

• This is a point where we should lament the end of the Robert Holmes stories. The best in the game, he ushered in many of the Golden Age Dr Who stories. Unfortunately, these final ones were not as good as his earlier works, but it is indeed worth mention that this is the end of an era.

The Review

Doing a story about the Matrix is always going to be hard as the laws of physics don't apply, so much of what makes logical progression is thrown out the window.  So, we have a bonkers surrealist nightmare for most of the episodes, coupled with an overly complicated tying up of the trial, and on top of it all, shoehorning in the Master to end it all with a bond villain super weapon.

None of this works. In part this is due to all the behind the scenes fisasco, but I feel it's just as much because there's so much to get in on this story that you can't focus on any one aspect and the result is a very diluted, very half arsed effort to bring everything to a close.

I understand the ending JNT wanted, but it just exaggerates the anti-climax.

Nothing more to say than it being a very sad story for Robert Holmes to go out on, and it's one quite frankly that you would only watch because you've suffered through the rest of the trial.  If this was what was offered up as the best of Doctor Who when they had one last bite of the cherry, I for one am amazed that it didn't get cancelled anyway.

Rating

4 out of 10

Re-Watchability Factor

4 out of 10

Watch this if you liked...

• The War Games

• The Deadly Assassin 

Trial of a Timelord - 9-12: Terror of the Vervoids

Four episodes
Aired between 1st November 1986 and 22nd November 1986

Written by Pip and Jane Baker
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Directed by Chris Clough

Synopsis

Given the opportunity, the Doctor now presents his defence to the court. He chooses a defence that says whilst he's been guilty of meddling in the past, it will demonstrate that not only can he change, but that he can be of benefit.

He highlights the Hyperion III, a star liner that in addition to taking passengers on a cruise, is also transporting rare metals from the planet Mogar to Earth.  The Doctor insists that a murder is about to occur.

One of the passengers, Kimber, recognises a new arrival, calling him Hallett.  The man however denies that he knows him and insists his name is really Grenville.

Other passengers include a team of scientists, Bruchner, Dolland and Professor Laskey, as well as a bunch of Mogarians.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor has evidently found a new companion - Mel. She is ruthlessly making him work out to get into better shape. 

Whilst he's doing so, a secret message comes in to say "...perative traitor be identified before reaching Earth".  The pair agree to investigate and end up on the Hyperion III.  It's not long before they are captured and taken to Commodore Travers, the man in charge. 

Travers knows of the Doctor, having met him in the past. He thinks the Doctor is trouble, but agrees to  let him stay, ordering his security to keep an eye on him so that the Doctor can get to the bottom of the mysterious mayday call.

The Doctor and Mel hang around the ship, using the Gymnasium and leisure facilities. The scientists become increasingly suspicious, and Bruchner even informs Laskey that someone has broken into their supplies.

Mel is eventually contacted over headphones and told to take the Doctor to Cabin 6. They both eventually go there and see that the cabin is trashed, with seeds stolen from the scientists being stowed in there, along with a single boot. 

The boot it turns out, belongs to Grenville who's found himself thrown into a waste disposal unit and got himself killed.

Mel decides to investigate the Hydroponics section, but the Doctor declines (a fact that he states has been manipulated in the Matrix).  Mel finds Edwardes, one of the ships officers down there. Together they investigate, but Edwardes triggers a trap and is killed by electrocution. The unleashed energy interacts with strange plant like pods and something inside begins to move.

Mel is saved by more guards and taken to the Commodore. Later, Dolland and Bruchner discover that the pods are now empty.

Rudge, head of security, summons the Doctor to question both him and Mel about the goings on. As he's doing so, the guards contact him and tell him Edwardes body has gone.  Travers gets anxious and changes course, speeding up the arrival time, but bringing them close to the Black Hole of Tartarus.

Later, one of the Mogarian's collapses after having a drink. Despite protests, he removes the mask and reveals that it's Grenville, or as he knows him, Harllett, an undercover agent.  The Doctor surmises that Harllett has been murdered and he was the one who left the demeter seeds to lead them to the Hydroponics station.  They go there and see the empty pods and on the way back, see Laskey leaving a guarded room. They cause a distraction and get into the room, finding a half-human / half-plant woman in quarantine. The woman is Dolland's assistant. She became that way after a small speck of pollen infected a cut on her thumb.  The team are taking her to Earth to try and cure her.

A short time after, Mel manages to record a strange conversation coming from the air ducts, surmising that it's the plants, planning to kill everyone on board. She's knocked out with chloroform by an unknown assailant and dumped in the disposal bin.  The Doctor rescues her just in time to stop her being thrown in the incinerator, but the recording she made has gone.

Bruchner, starts going mad at the thought of their own discoveries, going around the air vents killing people, so he decides to destroy all the research and by gunpoint, forces the crew to steer the Hyperion III into the path of the black hole.  The Doctor and the crew all try to break into the bridge, but when they do, they find that the Vervoids have gotten there first and killed Bruchner, filling the room with "marsh gas". 

Rudge enlists the Mogarian's (who breathe methane) to go into the room and steer the ship away from the black hole.  They do this, then they and Rudge turn the tables, holding everyone to ransom. Rudge is involved purely as a hired gun to get a better retirement fund as he was due to be on the scrap heap after this voyage.  The Mogarian's are doing it because they want to take back the minerals in the storage that they claim were stolen from their planet.  It's not long however, before the unknown assailant turns up and kills the Mogarian's by damaging their suits.

 The group all manage to get free and find the Mogarian's dead, then disarm Rudge. 

Back to the investigation, the Doctor goes on the hunt for the missing recording that Mel took.  Through process of elimination, they find it on Dolland, who admits to the murders, and outlines his plan to use the Vervoids as slave labour, taking over robots and men. He's arrested, but on the way to the brig, he and the guard are killed by the Vervoids.

The Doctor, Mel, Travers and Laskey all meet on the bridge to discuss what to do with the Vervoid infestation.  Laskey tries to play the situation down, but the Doctor insists that all animal life is the natural enemy of the plant-like Vervoids and they're simply following instinct. The conclusion they come to is to kill the Vervoids before they in turn, are killed. All present ask for the Doctor's help to do this, a fact that is pointed out in the Time Lord's courtroom.

Laskey tries to implore the Vervoids before they use the herbicide on them, but they kill her. 

The Doctor comes up with a plan to use the Mogarian metal in the storage that burns very bright to accelerate the Vervoid's life cycle.  Travers lowers the heat and lighting, forcing them back into their lair, and then the Doctor and Mel use the metal on them, making them wither and die.  They lament the loss, whilst they find humans piled up on a grotesque "compost heap".

Back in the courtroom, the Valeyard uses the outcome of this to insist that the Doctor be tried for Genocide.

Trivia

• The next story (The Ultimate Foe) and this were made all as one filming block, in fact, the next story was actually filmed before this

• Despite this, I will cover the whole behind the scenes shenanigans in the next story as it's more relevant to that bit.  For now, it's safe to note that Pip and Jane Baker were asked to write this story, a fact that Eric Saward did not like

• We welcome Bonnie Langford here. She was given a rough ride by Eric Saward who believed she would be far too "pantomime" for the show, as her background indicates. He gave her a very complicated script, full of big words, and asked her to read it in the audition.  The story goes that she rose to the challenge and blew everyone away, hence she was accepted.  

• Mel's story of how she came onto the TARDIS is never explained on screen, but in the background notes, she's supposedly a computer programmer, and helped the Doctor foil the Master's plans to bankrupt the world by messing with the stock exchange computers.

• Around this time, Eric Saward gave a very scathing interview with Starburst magazine, bitching about Nathan-Turner.  The legal team got involved and it was decided Saward would become a martyr if they made a big deal of it, so they let the story die without comment. BBC higher ups wanted Saward gone, but it seems that Nathan-Turner actually stuck up for Saward to stay. 

• The cat badges that the Doctor wears in this story were made with Colin Baker's own cats in mind

• After all the fracas and disappointing reception of this season, the BBC head, Grahm Powell asks for John Nathan-Turner to resign. He later comes back to him and says that the show will continue, and he's prepared to allow Nathan-Turner to remain (because they can't find anyone else suitable) but as a consequence, he will have to tell Colin Baker that he's fired. 

The Review

Terror of the Vervoids is a story that I want to like. Looking at it in annual stints, when you forget about the details of it, a murder mystery on a space liner is just the kind of story that harks back to the golden era of Doctor Who (Robots of Death anyone?).  The problem comes when you actually watch the story - it's poorly executed, poorly scripted, very 1980's and at times very boring. It's not necessarily Pip and Jane Baker's fault because they had to do a rush job, but if you're fighting to keep Doctor Who alive, this is hardly the story that you'd pull out of the bag and show to the executioner.

At the time, Bonnie Langford was a major concern to most fans, but in actual fact, I would say she's one of the redeeming features of this. Yes, she's a little bit too "pantomime", but she's far more intelligent, switched on and pro-active than any companion has been since Sarah-Jane and Romana. It's sad to say, but it feels like a breath of fresh air. The Doctor himself feels better when he's not arguing all the time, and once he gets going is more like the Doctor we wish we'd have seen from Colin Baker. 

Terror of the Vervoids should all be firing on all cylinders, but it most certainly isn't, so what's wrong?  Exactly as I stated, it's rushed, it's half-hearted and blunt - no subtle nuances - the fact that we get Laskey reading Murder on the Orient Express is like a sledge hammer to the brain. It feels tedious with a lot of backwards and forwards without much happening. The end turns out to be paper-thin motives to kill people and most of the victims are from a plant that doesn't need reasons, so it feels...unsatisfying.

And all of this without digging into the fact that the Doctor could have chosen any period from his VERY long life to find something that didn't end with him being charged with genocide.

Rating

4 out of 10

Re-Watchability Factor

4 out of 10

Watch this if you liked...

• Mission to the Unknown 

• The Moonbase

• The Wheel in Space

• The Planet of Evil

• The Robots of Death

• The end of the World (Doctor Who, Series 1)

Seventh Doctor Episodes

Summary

Season Twenty Four Episodes

Time and The Rani
Paradise Towers
Delta and the Bannermen
Dragonfire

Season Twenty Five Episodes

Remembrance of the Daleks
The Happiness Patrol
Silver Nemesis
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

Season Twenty Six Episodes

Battlefield
Ghost Light
The Curse of Fenric
Survival

Trial of a Timelord - 5-8: Mindwarp

Four episodes
Aired between 4th October 1986 and 25th October 1986

Written by Phillip Martin
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Directed by Ron Jones


Synopsis

The Doctor's trial continues. The Valeyard previously showed a block of evidence from the Doctor's past, and now, he intends to examine the current case of evidence from his latest adventure, the section of time where he was summoned to this very courtroom...

The Doctor and Perri arrive on Thoros Beta. The Doctor explains that they've gone there because he was given a weapon from the Warlord of Thordon, a weapon that can be traced back to this world, and that it has an unusual quality.

The pair enter a cave near the sea and they're attacked by a large creature, and the Doctor is forced to use the weapon to kill it.  Guards arrive at the scene in moments and the Doctor and Perri are accused of murdering the creature, a fact that they refute as they did it in self-defence.  The head guard asks them if they're part of "Crozier's" group. The Doctor bluffs that they are, but they both flee before the guards can uncover their lies.

 As the Doctor and Perri hide in the tunnels, they soon discover that Sil is on this world, and the Doctor understands that in fact he is likely behind the arms sales.  The Mentors (Sil's race) rule this planet and are currently eradicating a primitive warrior race led by King Yrkanos.  The king has been taken prisoner, as the mad human doctor, Crozier, is intending to use his body as a brain transplant for the head Mentor, Lord Kiv.

As the Doctor and Perri skulk about, they're ultimately caught and Crozier is forced by Sil to extract the truth from the Doctor with a mind probe style device, but Crozier has eyes on the Doctor being the next transplant victim.

The Doctor is saved from a fate worse than death by Yrkanos, who breaks free.  They escape and it soon becomes apparent that the Doctor's brain has been affected as he's suddenly more open to violence and as they intend to attack the mentor's, he gives the game away and ends up joining Sil and the Mentors, forcing Perri and Yrkanos to retreat.

Back in the courtroom, the Doctor tells the Court that he has no memory of that occurring and he doesn't believe it to be correct. The Inquisitor and the Valeyard both point out that the Matrix cannot lie.

Back on Thoros Beta, Perri finds herself in the room of a Matron. To keep herself from being turned over as a convict, she agrees to serve the Mentors. 

She takes drinks to Sil and Kiv, and finds that the Doctor is in the same room, gloating along with them.  He manages to discover Perri and they tie her to rocks outside the tunnels, as the tide is rising high. The Doctor tries to interrogate her, but Crozier in the end convinces the Mentors that he can extract the truth better.

As they re-enter the complex, Yrkanos attacks and threatens to kill the Doctor. Perri stops him and together she and Yrkanos escape once more.

The Doctor then assists Crozier in transferring Kiv's consciousness into another recently dead Mentor and the operation is successful.

Meanwhile, Yrkanos and Perri find help in others, namely an old comrade of Yrkanos' called Dorf, who has now been transformed into a Werewolf, and a further tribe of warriors that have been captured by the Mentors. 

Together, they try to assault the arms supply, but the guards fight back and subdue many of the warriors, including Perri.

In the courtroom, The Valeyard accuses the Doctor being responsible for this violence. The Doctor protests, stating that he had nothing to do with it, but the Valeyard hints that he did, in a subtle way.

In Crozier's lab, Kiv awakens and feels well, but the previous Mentor's species (predisposed to fishing) is influencing his mind.  Crozier agrees that the new body is only temporary and suggests using Perri. The Doctor asks them not to and Crozier agrees, provided he can find a more suitable candidate. The Doctor goes off to look for one, but Crozier calls in Perri and starts prepping her for the operation.

The Doctor goes to Yrkanos' cell, makes peace with him, and frees all the resistance members. He tries to get to Perri, but as chaos reigns in the revolution, the TARDIS appears in a beam of light and the Doctor, clearly brainwashed, steps into it and leaves.

Back in the courtroom, the Doctor is beside himself with anger at the Court's summoning him to trial, just as Perri was in mortal danger.  The Court justifies their interference with the work of Crozier threatening all life, and the Valeyard insinuates that they had to step in because of the Doctor's meddling.

It plays out that Perri does undergo the operation and Kiv takes over her body. Yrkanos fights his way to the lab, and in anger shoots at everything in sight.

The Doctor is clearly upset at the supposed death of Perri, insists he was taken to trial for a specific reason, being manipulated by someone from behind the scenes, and vows to find out who.

Trivia

• The writer, Phillip Martin was invited back to do another story featuring Sil following the highly successful Vengeance on Varos. He was not all that impressed in the end though, because despite being told to inject more humour into the script, he found a lot of his ideas (and the humour he was told to put in) was being cut out. 

• The changes were so extensive, that when Colin Baker approached Phillip Martin to get clarity on which scenes the Doctor was faking his treachery and which scenes were altered by the Matrix. Martin couldn't say - he told him to go and see Eric Saward.  Saward didn't know himself!

• Supposedly, there was a rumour that the old Mentor who dislikes everyone shouting was watching re-runs of The A Team. This isn't true though.

• This is the second and final story in Doctor Who that Sil appears (if you don't count the episode Mission to Magnus). There is however a fan video of him called Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor.  Here's the trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK03fn2r3r8 

The Review

This story is proof that lightning does not strike in the same place, twice. Vengeance on Varos was good. In fact, it was a breath of fresh air, creating one of the more unique and lovable villains that the show had received in a long, long time (maybe even since Davros!).  It was natural to try and replicate it. But either through the deconstruction and meddling in the original script, or through the intent to shoehorn the story into the Trial, Mindwarp just doesn't live up to expectations.

There are quite a few things that are okay in it. Sil is still a good character, although portrayed far more subservient here, he is perhaps sly as a snake and just as charismatic as before. Indeed, the problem isn't with Sil, or any of the Mentors.  If anything, the biggest problem I had with it was it felt like a 1967 plot put in a 1980's show.  Similar feelings were felt when Four to Doomsday was presented.  You see, the instigation for the story is barely there, being more tied into the continuation of the trial than anything about futuristic arms dealing. The structure is very similar to The Underwater Menace, with Crozier being the mad scientist, but instead of the destruction of the world, the only thing we even have to care about happening is a change in evolution, which is hardly captivating.

Brian Blessed is, of course, over the top, and you know what you're getting when you choose him. Being a rabid warrior king is right up his street, but even so, it does get a little beyond the pale and the theatrics start to take away from everything else. 

The final thing I will say about the bad stuff is that the end goes completely off the map in terms of a well written storyline.  The Inquisitor starts explaining as evidence is presented, how the Time Lords had to intervene and stop Crozier's work - so much so that it looks just like all the High Council are in on the plot and the trial is a formality.

Is there then anything good about this story beyond the return of Sil?  Yes, the minor one (contrary to a lot of people's views) is that the humour is about right in this story for me.  The major thing though is the death of Perri.  It is, like Adric, Genuinely shocking because you don't expect it. It's a shame then that they overturned this and retconned it for her to marry the barbarian of all people.  If they'd have left it as is, Perri's death would have been a big landmark and have had some of the impact they were looking for to keep this show alive beyond the trial.

All in all, it was a noble effort, but sadly, despite the inclusion of Sil, it was lacking in decent story to keep me entertained.

Rating 

5 out of 10

Re-watchability Factor

4 out of 10

Watch this if you liked...

• The Underwater Menace 

• The Brain of Morbius

• Vengeance on Varos

The Trial of a Time Lord - 1-4: The Mysterious Planet

Four episodes
Aired between 6th September 1986 and 27th September 1986

Written by Robert Holmes
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Directed by Nicholas Mallett

Synopsis

The TARDIS arrives on a strange space station and the Doctor finds that it is home to a courtroom full of Gallifreyan officials.

The prosecutor known as the Valeyard explains that the Doctor is on trial for meddling in the affairs of other races too often, breaking the Time Lord's code.

The trial is overseen by members of the High Council, and led by the Inquisitor, a female Time Lord.

The Doctor accepts that he is on trial and refuses the use of his own lawyer, preferring to mount his own defence.

The Valeyard begins the prosecutions by using the Matrix to show the court the events that took place on the Planet Ravolox...

The Doctor and Perri went to Ravolox on a hunch of the Doctor's that the planet is not all that it appears to be.  Gallifreyan records show that this planet was devastated by a fireball, but in actual fact, it looks just like Earth. 

It's not long before they find evidence that it is in fact earth, with the London tube stations being overgrown by vegetation. The Doctor explores the ruins of Marble Arch station and gets separated from Perri.

Perri meets a barbarian tribe known as the Tribe of the Free, and is told by the Matriarch - Queen Katryka, that she will be used to bear children for the tribe. 

Perri is temporarily placed in Jail where she meets two unlikely mercenaries known as Sabolom Glitz, and his apprentice, Dibber. They are here to get into the underground complex near Marble Arch and destroy a robot that's running it all so they can retrieve some vital information for an undisclosed employer.

Meanwhile, the Doctor comes into contact with the residents of the underground complex. They view him as hostile and a thief, and sentence him to death via stoning.

Thanks to the workings of the L3 robot (Drathro) who has placed itself in charge above the humans and is referred to as the Immortal, the Doctor is saved from this fate and taken to Drathro for questioning. The Robot is sufficiently clever enough to work out that the Doctor can help it. It commands him to fix a black light converter that is malfunctioning and putting everyone in danger.  The Doctor agrees, but says he needs to go outside to fix it.

Drathro won't allow him to leave, so he has to come up with a plan to stun the robot long enough to run and escape. Drathro responds by sending out his L2 robot to re-capture the Doctor.

Back with Perri, Glitz and Dibber explain that the black light converter, an artefact that is being treated as a totem by the primitive tribe needs to be destroyed in order to take down the L3 robot. They come up with a plan, overpower the guards and destroy the converter. As they're on the run, they find the Doctor, but ultimately all four of them are trapped in the entrance to "Marb Station" between the L2 robot and the pursuing tribe. The tribe shoot and disable the L2 robot, and capture the gang, putting them back into prison.

The L2 robot is re-activated and goes after the Doctor. Breaking through the wall of the prison and stunning the Doctor.

 It hauls him up with cables and tries to take him back to Drathro. 

Believing the L2 to be the Immortal, the tribe attack it and destroy it, taking themselves to be free of it finally, they go off to pillage Marb Station.

Seizing their chance, Glitz and Dibber return to their ship to get bigger guns to deal with the L3 robot.

Perri, having stayed behind in the chaos, revives the Doctor and they go off to stop Katryka and the others from getting themselves killed. As they get to the complex, they're confronted by a member of the underground complex known as Merdeen. He raises a crossbow to them, but he shoots a colleague, revealing that he has helped many of the former inhabitants into the outside world to join the tribe. He always disbelieved the Immortals claims that the outside was a giant wasteland, scorched by fire.

Katryka and the tribe come unexpectedly face to face with Drathro, who electrocutes the Queen and the head warrior and scatters the rest of the tribe.

The Doctor makes it back to Drathro and explains that now the convertor is destroyed, it's going to feedback and cause an explosion that could destroy the universe. He asks Drathro to shut down in order to prevent this. Drathro however does not agree, believing that life is meaningless without him there.

Waiting outside, Perri convinces Merdeen and another inhabitant called Balazaar to help her. They're joined by Glitz and Dibber and attempt to infiltrate Drathro's domain via the rubbish chute.  Drathro activates the fans and defences in the area and nearly kills them, but Glitz and Dibber blow a hole in the wall and they escape. 

Reaching the Robot, the mercenaries lie and say that they have black light on their ship that they will give to Drathro. The L3 robot agrees to go with them, and they take the secret files they wanted as payment. 

The Mercenaries aren't bothered that the system will explode and leave the Doctor and Perri trying frantically to stop a chain reaction. This all culminates in the L3 robot overheating and damaging the secret files, but the Doctor saves the universe by containing the explosion to the complex itself.

Glitz and Dibber leave the planet, having taken solace in finding a bunch of rare minerals instead that they can sell on.

The Doctor and Perri take their leave, instructing Merdeen and Balazaar to take the people of the complex out into the wide world as it's not devastated as they believed.  When alone, the Doctor does question the reason why Earth was moved from its point in space and renamed in the archive as Ravolox.

Back in the courtroom the Doctor glibly states that he saved the universe, but the Valeyard claims that the case isn't over and more evidence is about to be presented...

Trivia

• This story sees a new take on the theme tune introduced, but the titles remained the same since the Twin Dilemma.

• As noted in the previous story, the entire run of Season 23 was re-thought from the point of view as a trial, hopefully showcasing the best things that it could offer, and mimicking the reality that the show was "on trial for it's life".

•  The opening scene of this story was one of the last model shots on film ever to take place on the show. The model was over 6ft long, and cost £8,000 to make and film.  The scene, although spectacular and stands up to this day, basically blew the budget and many corners had to be cut throughout the season to make up for it.

• Because the production team wanted to make this season a great showcase for the possibilities that it could be, Eric Saward returned to veteran writer Robert Holmes to outline this and the final story as the overall arc of the series. Holmes wasn't feeling well at this time, and the quality of the story is a reflection of that

The Review

And so we begin the final season of Colin Baker's Doctor. The start is a strong one, with the visual effects being top quality and the introduction of the story being intriguing indeed. If you look back into the seventies episodes, you will see that I've never been one to put effects above the quality of the story, but... in this case it does feel like it is an issue.  It's not so much the special effects even, it's more about the costumes and to some extent the supporting cast. The contrast between the opening and the story itself is such a stark contrast.

The robots themselves are reasonably robotic, and okay, and Sabolom Glitz is Holmes doing a re-hash of Garron and Unstoffe from The Ribos Operation, which is fine. The issue comes with their costumes, the quality of the Tribe's costumes, and let's be honest, the use of Joan Simms as Katryka.  She has been such an ingrained part of the Carry On franchise for so long that it is very difficult to see her in any serious light here, and she looks about as far away from a warrior queen as you can get.

Even Linda Bellingham is an odd choice for an Inquisitor, seeing as most people at the time were more familiar with her in the OXO cubes adverts, still I do think she manages to pull the role off with some measure of gravitas.

The logic behind all the story is somewhat lacking, as we will come to see, the Valeyard is actually shooting himself right in the foot by even presenting this as evidence, showcasing how he's done stuff to manipulate things, but as a story in it's own right, it's a halfway decent start to the series. I just wonder if they could have redeemed the god-awful Celestial Toymaker in the story that was orignally scheduled for this spot.

Rating

6 out of 10

Re-watchability Factor

5 out of 10

Watch this if you liked...

• An Unearthly Child

• The Enemy of the World

• Colony in Space

• Invasion of the Dinosaurs

• Robot

• The Face of Evil