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Production Code: 5W
First Transmitted
Cast The Doctor - Peter Davison
Plot Outline from Wikipedia The TARDIS materializes on board a vast and advanced alien spacecraft, observed by a hovering surveillance device which conveys the arrival of the Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric to an observing being that is in control of the vessel. The TARDIS crew become separated and the Doctor and Tegan reach the bridge of the vessel where the green-skinned commander introduces himself as Monarch, ruler of Urbanka, and his associates and fellow Urbankans are the Ministers of Enlightenment and Persuasion. The leader is intrigued by talk of current Earth civilisation and reveals their ship is bound for Earth. Shortly afterward Enlightenment and Persuasion regenerate into seemingly human form, dressed in garments Tegan designed to demonstrate contemporary Earth fashions. The TARDIS crew are reunited as guests aboard the ship and it soon becomes apparent that there are four distinct human cultures represented on the vessel by a small group of humans – Ancient Greeks, the leader of whom is the philosopher Bigon; Chinese Mandarins and their leader Lin Futu; Princess Villagra and representatives of the Mayan people; and Kurkutji and his tribesmen, of the very ancient Australian Aborigine culture. The Urbankans have made periodic visits to Earth, each time getting speedier in their journeys. This time they have left their homeworld after erratic solar activity, storing three billion of their species on slides aboard their craft, and it seems the current journey is their last and they now wish to settle on Earth, which they are due to reach in four days time. The Doctor becomes suspicious of Monarch and soon learns that the Urbankan does not plan on peaceful co-existence: instead, he has developed a virus to wipe out humanity, and this will be unleashed before the Urbankans disembark. He also finds out that the humans aboard are not descendents of the original abductees, but are the original people taken from Earth and converted into androids like the three Urbankans walking around on board. The four leaders of the peoples have been given additional circuits to help them reason, but this facility can be taken away, as Bigon learns when he crosses Monarch once too often. He explained to the Doctor that Monarch strip-mined and destroyed Urbanka in a quest for minerals to improve the ship, and now plans to do the same to Earth. Monarch believes that if he can move the ship faster than the speed of light, he can pilot it back to the beginning of time and discover himself as God… Adric, nevertheless, is rather taken with Monarch, and tensions between him and the Doctor become very strained. It takes the truth to break the alien’s hold over the boy. The Doctor now sets about over-throwing Monarch and, with the help of the human androids led by a restored Bigon, a revolution is put into effect. Enlightenment and Persuasion are de-circuited, while Monarch himself is exposed to the deadly toxin and killed. It seems he was a product of the weak “flesh time” after all, having never, as the Doctor suspected, been fully converted into an android. The humanoid androids decide to pilot the vessel to a new home on a new world, while the TARDIS crew departs. Back in the console room, Nyssa suddenly collapses to the floor in a dead faint...
The first thing to be said about this episode is that it LOOKS absolutely stunning. The whole thing is beautifully done. The ship, exterior and interior looks as if it really is miles wide. The costumes and make up are great. The characters representing Human culture through the ages are fantastic. The scenes of the Chinese Lion Dance, the Aborigine ritual etc., were so colourful and detailed, I wondered just how much budget was used on these sequences. However much it was, it was worth it. Why shouldn’t Doctor Who be visually exciting. As long as the visuals are not disguising a lack of plot. And no, they weren’t. Essentially it is about a megalomaniac (monarch) who has asset stripped his own world, now turning towards Earth. The android remnants of the original Earth people are a part of the plan. But so is a deadly virus intended to wipe out life on Earth in order to replace it with android life with the microchip personalities of his stored race. A variation on a familiar theme. But why not. Some of the critics complained about The Doctor’s special Time Lord powers being used to circumvent dangerous situations. But why is that a problem? Does anyone object when Superman flies? We already know The Doctor can put himself into a meditative trance and stop breathing in circumstances where air is at a premium. We also know that his body is superior to Human in many other ways. Being able to survive a six minute space walk without a space suit happens to be one of them. And for its time, it LOOKED terrific. And of course physics teachers the universe over have argued that the Doctor throwing the cricket ball in space in order to get the backwards thrust to reach the TARDIS is scientifically impossible. Well, of ourse it is scientifically impossible. But who said that science fiction has to be scientifically possible? The point of it is to stretch the imagination, not give science lessons. And it WAS a fantastic piece of Doctor Who pseudo science AND visually stunning, too. The plot as a whole was a little over complicated, but not distractingly so. The only oddity was exactly WHY Nyssa collapsed at the end. But obviously we would find out next week.
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