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

Revelation of the Daleks

Two episodes (45 minutes each)
Aired between 23rd March 1985 and 30th March 1985

Written by Eric Saward
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Directed by Graeme Harper


Synopsis

The Doctor decides to visit his old friend Dr Arthur Stengos who is interred at a facility called Tranquil Repose in suspended animation at a planet of remembrance and mourning called Necros.

They both wear outfits of vibrant blue as it's the official colour of mourning, and reflects the copious blue flowers that can be seen about the place (and are frequently used in funerals there).

It's not long before the Doctor gets into trouble, being attacked by a mutant man, whom Perri is forced to mortally wound to save her friend. 

With his dying breaths, the mutant explains that experiments on him forced changes in his behaviour as well as appearance. He is a subject of the Great Healer's experiments, but he dies before he can say any more.

Meanwhile, in Tranquil Repose itself, two figures (Natasha and Grigory) creep about the compound, trying to find something. It turns out that Natasha is Arthur Stengos' daughter and she is also looking for him.  They discover that bodies have been disappearing from suspended animation chambers and ultimately, they find that Daleks are on the compound. 

More terrifyingly, they see that Arthur Stengos himself has been taken and is in a glass dalek case, being turned into one of the creatures.

Stengos explains that the bodies have been taken and turned into the Daleks like him, conditioned to follow the Great Healer. He begs his daughter to kill him which she does.

Elsewhere in Tranquil Repose, the staff themselves are in the service of the Great Healer, but are unaware of what is happening with the body snatching.  The head of operations Mr Jobel, a smarmy, vain older man who is perpetually fawned over by his junior staff member - Tasambeker, is ordered by the Great Healer to track down Natasha and Grigory. He delegates the responsibility to his orderlies - Takis and Lilt. 

At this point, we find out that the Great Healer is none other than Davros - he's escaped imprisonment and the Movellan virus (which has left him as just a head) and has hidden himself here, on Necros, creating his own army of Imperial Daleks. 

He conspires with a food distribution company run by Kara, a powerful woman. He has somehow helped cure a vast food shortage and is using her company to get the food where it needs to be. He is willing to be lenient with her, but his demands and impatience for more money is growing. 

Kara secretly desires to kill him off and take control of the food, thus she hires a first class mercenary called Orcini to deal with Davros. She gives him (and his smelly man at arms) a signal to switch on as soon as they have killed Davros. This is secretly a bomb that she intends to detonate and kill them all, thus leaving her without a trace of the deed, covering her tracks and ridding herself of Davros in the process.

Back outside, the Doctor and Perri find it hard to get in to the compound and end up jumping the wall.  As they look around, they find a tombstone with the doctor's current image etched into it.

This means that the Doctor is supposedly buried here as he is now. As the Doctor worries over this alarming information, the tombstone collapses on top of him.  Luckily, he's not hurt, and Jobel finds them.  He agrees to show them around as they pretend to want a package for the Doctor's internment.

Once inside, Perri is surprised to find that a DJ from the 20th century plays music on a radio station to all the people in suspended animation. She is taken to him whilst the Doctor is shown around.

Orcini and Bostok (his man-at-arms) arrive on Necros. Their presence is soon alerted to Davros and he suspects Kara is behind it. He dispatches Daleks to bring her to him. He also talks to Tasambeker, promising her eternal life (as a Dalek) if she follows him willingly and proves herself by killing Jobel.  She feels compelled to follow his orders.

As Perri leaves, the Doctor is taken by Jobel and led straight into a trap where he is captured by Imperial Daleks.

Perri meets the DJ and is disappointed to learn he's not from the 80's, but she likes him anyway. He shows her that he has control of all the cameras around the centre, and she can see that the Doctor is captured. The Daleks come for them too, but the DJ has a sonic gun that he sets up and fends them off.

The Doctor is imprisoned with Grigory and Natasha and it's not long before they are rescued by Oricini.  He tries to contact Perri and tells her to get back to the TARDIS whilst he tries to stop the Great Healer.

Meanwhile, Tasambeker kills Jobel begrudgingly, after he refuses to listen to her telling him he's marked for death. 

The centre is falling apart and Tarkis and Lilt begin to understand that Tranquil Repose is being used. In response, they call the "real" Daleks and inform them that Davros is here.

Orcini and Bostok reach Davros' lair and they destroy the Great Healer as planned, but they are cut down in a counter attack, Orcini having his false leg blown off, and to their horror, discover that Davros is actually fully alive and unscathed from the Movellan virus.

The head was just a ruse for people.  He brings in Kara and through their arguments, it is revealed that Kara did hire Orcini and that the signal box is really a bomb.

Orcini kills Kara for her treachery.

As the Doctor, Grigory and Natasha set a self destruct on the conversion labs, Perri and the DJ fend off the Daleks with his sonic gun. The DJ however is ultimately killed and Perri is taken prisoner.  The Doctor hears this over the radio, and goes to save her but is captured by Daleks and taken to Davros. Natasha and Grigory are both killed in the attempt.

Once infront of Davros, the Doctor confirms that the bodies were not all used for Daleks, but as cure for the famine (as in Soylent Green). 

He used it to set himself up with the funds to create a new Dalek army, which he has done. Bostok thought dead is actually alive and manages to blow Davros' hand off before being killed permanently. Oricini gains control of the bomb and prepares to detonate it.

The "Renegade" Daleks arrive in Davros' lair however and take him prisoner, bringing him back to Skaro for trial.  The Doctor, Perri, Orcini, Takis and Lilt are left under guard.

Orcini tells them he's got the bomb and refuses to set a timer, preferring to die with honour.  The group manage to get past their guards and race out of the catacombs as Orcini blows up the Dalek base. 

Once back in the main entrance of Tranquil Repose, Takis and Lilt ponder what they will do now. The Doctor instructs them to use the blue flowers to cure the food famine as they can be used like soy-beans. 

Perri, exhausted, explains that she wants a holiday.  The Doctor says that he'll "take her to...."

Trivia

• A lot of the character names are Greek. This is because Saward wrote it whilst on holiday in Greece.  The story also contains elements and characters heavily influenced by the Evelyn Waugh novel "The Loved One". 

• This story was also an attempt to show Colin Baker how to underplay a maniacal villain or major character in the form of Kara, Orcini and to a much lesser extent - Davros. This was because of his over the top acting both as the Doctor, but also as the villain in Blakes 7

• This story was the last time that film was used on the show for outdoor locations. Video tape would now be the preferred medium. This was because of the problems experienced with The Two Doctors 

• This was also the final time that the opening credits from Peter Howel would be used on the show since their start in 1980.

• This is actually the first time that the Daleks are seen to hover - even though it's Davros who hovers, it proves they have the technology

• The big one to note here - what does the Doctor say at the end?  Well, it was supposed to be "...Blackpool" as a lead in to next season's story - The Nightmare Fair. This story would have seen a return of the Celestial Toymaker and would have sparked a whole slew of stories with old enemies including the Ice Warriors teaming up with Sil (do a bit of googling around "The Mission to Magnus").  As it happens, the show was put on haitus, so the series was in effect frozen. 

• In the dark time of the show on hold, the stars Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and a host of other "celebrities" were convinced by super fan and continuity adviser - Ian Levine to create a song in the style of Live-Aid called "Doctor in Distress".  Here's a link to it, and brace yourself. It's not good!  https://youtu.be/NnTSbFeWwro 

The Review

The Revelation of the Daleks is the triumphant return of the most iconic villains in Dr Who and the return of their master.  This could have been a run of the mill space age romp, which Eric Saward has proven in the last story they were in, that he could do it well, but he chose something else.  This is a hodge podge of ideas, some work well, others don't.  The usual insistence from John Nathan-Turner on random things e.g. the DJ and the tombstone were incorporated, and it's to the story's detriment that they are clearly dropped without ever doing anything with them.  The sub-plot with Kara is equally..odd, but it does a couple of things well.

Davros in this story is more than just a ranting Looney.  I mean, he eventually turns into one, but at the start, he's diplomatic, and therefore sinister.  He's creepy the way he talks to both Kara and Tasambeker, and when you consider the plan for the bodies - it takes Soylent Green and puts a malicious spin on it because in the movie, they're doing it as there's no other choice and they're using people who've volunteered to die. This is totally different in that respect and it goes to prove just how messed up Davros is.

The Dalek civil war aspect is also a great undercurrent in this story, something seen in the 60's comics, but not visited so much until the Resurrection of the Daleks. Here, we see the battle lines drawn and they will be culminating in an all out war the next time we see them.

The sets looked great and the soundtrack is excellent.  As this is a Saward story, one of the main things that stands out is the death toll.  There are horrible things that happen to people here. The transformation of Stengos is truly horrific and it stuck with me as a kid - it's probably one of the most horrifying things I can remember in Dr Who - especially when his brain is pulsating too - yuk!!

I see this sort of akin to the Sea Devils in that there's a lot of dead ends and things that don't make sense including the tombstone and Davros' need to lure the Doctor to Necros, but this is a story that has to be enjoyed for the experience and the sinister atmosphere. If this was a historical, it would be set in Dr Mengele's lab. It's one of the last, great stories that was put out in this era of the show, and will forever remain one of my guilty pleasures.

Rating

8 out of 10

Re-Watchability Factor

8 out of 10

Watch this if you liked...

• Soylent Green

• The Adventures of Don Quixote 

• Resurrection of the Daleks

Timelash

Two episodes (45 mins each)
Aired between 9th March 1985 and 16th March 1985

Written by Glen McCoy
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Directed by Pennant Roberts


Synopsis

On a distant planet known as Karfel, a despotic ruler called the Borad monitors his subjects via cameras and rules with an iron fist.  A council of elders under him, led by a Maylin, rule in his name and keep the people in line.  They insist that no mirrors are allowed in the society, that all power is periodically transferred to the Borad's power banks, and that they are waging a pointless war with a neighbouring race of snake-like aliens known as the Bandril. If subjects incur the wrath of the Borad, they are either taken to him directly and killed, or escorted by huge, blue skinned androids to a time fissure in the capitol known as the Timelash.

There, they are thrown into it, never to return.

After asking too many questions and having contacts to rebels, the current Maylin, Renis is taken before the Borad and is hit by a beam of energy that ages him until he's just a skeleton. 

His daughter, Vena, and the rebel she keeps company with are both thrown in the timelash. Unknown until it's too late, Vena takes with her an amulet that helps transfer power to the Borad's systems. The new Maylin, a despicable scheming man known as Tekker, is tasked with getting it back.

On their travels, the Doctor and Perri find themselves coming into contact with the time corridor of the timelash.   They see a ghostly image of Vena pass through the console room.  The Doctor soon works out that the corridor goes to Karfel and says that he's been there before.  He takes the TARDIS there and is met by Tekker who gives them a smarmy welcome.

The Doctor is suspicious of the amount of advancement the society has made since he was last there, and of the lack of mirrors, but plays along for the moment.  He allows Perri to be shown some sights and he goes off with Tekker. It's not long before the new Maylin plays his hand and forces the Doctor to go into the Timelash with the TARDIS to retrieve the amulet.  He's taken Perri hostage to make sure this happens. What Tekker doesn't know, is that Perri has managed to evade capture and has gone into the tunnels under the city where she meets the rebels who help her escape from large lizards known as Morlox. 

The Doctor, forced to comply, goes in the TARDIS and calculates where Vena would have landed as she emerged from the timelash, finding it in Scotland, 1885.  It turns out, she's come into contact with a young man called Herbert who is besotted with her and sees her as an angel. 

The Doctor finds him most annoying, but although he tries to leave him behind, Herbert manages to stow away on the TARDIS and goes back with Vena and the Doctor to Karfel.

Once back, Tekker takes the amulet and orders the android to push them back into the Timelash.

They are forced to fight and with the help of revolting civilians, they just manage to survive and destroy the android.  They block the council chamber and access to the Timelash, buying the Doctor enough time to reach into the corridor and take two Krontron crystals (of the same substance that the amulet is made of). 

With these, the Doctor makes a time-ruse, allowing them to escape into the city and going after Perri.  Herbert naturally goes with him.

Perri gets re-captured and tied up in the tunnels, ready to be feasted on by a Morlox.  A cannister of strange gas is installed on her chest. 

Tekker goes to see the Borad and blames the problems on the last remaining Councillor, who is killed by the ageing beam, thus leaving Tekker as the only one in charge after the Borad. The Doctor finds a way to their hidden lair and sees that the Borad is a hideous malformed human / morlox hybrid. 

It's revealed that he used to be a scientist called Megelen, a man who was doing questionable experiments the last time the Doctor was here. The Doctor had stopped him, but he had no idea that the man had gone ahead anyway and disfigured himself for life. The Borad / Megelen now blames the Doctor for everything and says he intends to use the same gas that disfigured him on Perri. 

He's also provoked the conflict with the Bandrils as he knows they will use Bendalypse Warheads, which will wipe out the humans, but leave him and the Morlox alive, thus allowing him to rebuild Karfel in his own image.  Tekker is shocked at this revelation, but is simply killed by the Borad with the ageing ray.

As Herbert is freeing Perri and rescuing her from the Morlox, the Doctor reflects the ageing beam back at the Borad with the Krontron crystals and kills him.

They all rush back to the Council chamber and contact the Bandrils, trying to stop them from firing their missiles. 

They refuse as they cannot trust the Karfellans, and the Doctor is forced to get in the TARDIS and fly to intercept them.  Perri wants to go too, but the Doctor stubbornly refuses as he secretly knows he's going to die in the process.  Herbert once again stows away, much to the annoyance of the Doctor. 

Due to his brilliance, the Doctor finds a way of detonating the warheads on route and they survive.  Both he and Herbert return to Karfel and are given a heroes welcome. Celebrations are short lived however as the Borad seemingly returns from the dead and takes Perri captive. 

It turns out the Borad had a clone and could transfer consciousness to it. He is defeated a second time when a false wall is smashed (with a picture of the third Doctor on it) and reveals a mirror which repulses the Borad enough to be distracted. 

He is thrown into the timelash and the threat is over, but the Doctor says that he'll turn up from time to time in Loch Ness.

The Doctor and Perri agree to return Herbert home, and he gives them his business card which reveals his full name - Herbert George Wells

Trivia

• This story references concepts from numerous HG Wells stories including The Invisible Man, The Time Machine, War of the Worlds and The Island of Dr Moreau

• The story was originally intended to be an adventure with the Daleks as the main enemy, but Eric Saward asked for this to be cut as the writer was still a novice at this point and he felt he couldn't do them justice.

• The original version of the script had the first Doctor, Barbara, Ian and Susan going to Karfel, but this was changed to the Third Doctor and Jo Grant. A sliver of it still exists, as Tekker enquires why the Doctor only has one companion with him this time.

• Paul Darrow was well known as his role on Blakes 7 -Kerr Avon.  Colin Baker had previously played a character in that and had been sufficiently "over the top". Paul Darrow decided to return the favour and intentionally exaggerated his part, choosing to play it as Richard the Third

• At the end of the last story, it was announced that Doctor Who would be on a hiatus for a year.  The official account (according to John Nathan-Turner) was that they needed the money to launch a series of shows, especially on Daytime TV and the only way to do that was to cancel a load that weren't working.  Doctor Who wasn't cancelled, but rested to free up some of that money

• The press had a field day with it all and mounted a save Doctor Who campaign that lasted several months.  Rumours were that controller of the BBC at the time - Michael Grade - did not like the show and was intending for it not to return, but the volume of response caused them to re-think this and re-instate it a year later.  More on this next season

The Review

Many a time on this journey, I have said that the premise of a story has been particularly great, but the execution has severely diminished it.  Well, when it comes to Timelash, I want to say the same, except the concept of the story (finding out how HG Wells got all his ideas) would take, what, ten minutes at the most in terms of revealing a pay off, fifteen at the maximum. The problem is that this story has ninety minutes to kill, so that's over an hour of filler to find to justify the payoff for this concept, and find a meaningful way to bring the Doctor and Perri into this. 

Timelash is shown in such a way as to leave the viewer feeling as that was exactly the case - that everything else was filler.  Even the tidbits of "oh, that's where HG Wells got the idea for the Inivisible Man from" are pretty mundane and boring - the closest we get to "excitement" is the rescue of Perri from the Morlox.  It's just a story made to annoy you - from the high-low alternating pitch of the androids voice, past the extremely hammed up Tekker, right the way to the Doctor's five minute back and forth with the annoying Herbert. Although, having said that, Herbert as a character had quite a descent comedy element to him. Is that what we really wanted though at the expense of a tense drama?

I ask myself, is this as bad as the Celestial Toymaker?  Difficult to say. I would say it's on a par for the most bit, with a slight increase for the fact that at least it's got a vague annoying narrative. I'd argue that t's worse than the Twin Dilemma however, as at least in that one, the Doctor was new and unpredictable (and that isn't saying much).

Timelash has very very little to redeem itself as the cardboard villains and characters go through the motions and play out this utterly annoying story.  I doubt I'll go back to it again.

Rating

3 1/2 out of 10

Re-Watchability Factor

2 out of 10

Watch this if you liked...

• The Space Museum 

• The Underwater Menace 

• The Abominable Snowmen

• The Krotons

• The Armageddon Factor (Key to time part 6)