| Season Twelve (1974-75): Bohemian
Rhapsody |
| Companions and Recurring Characters |
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Terrance Dicks had departed from Doctor Who at the end of the
previous season, and was replaced by veteran Doctor Who
scriptwriter Robert Holmes (bio). Barry Letts remained in the
producer's chair for just a single story during Season Twelve in order
to ease the transition to his successor, Philip
Hinchcliffe (bio). Hinchcliffe and Holmes
quickly discovered they shared a unique vision of Doctor Who,
which gibed with that of the new Doctor, Tom Baker. Having tired of the
UNIT format, they sought to return the Doctor to his original role as a
wanderer in time and space. They also wanted the programme to appeal to
a more mature audience, and their adventures emphasised suspense and
thrills, often cribbing from classic science-fiction and horror films
and literature.
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Robot by Terrance Dicks, directed by
Christopher Barry
The secret plans for a disintegrator gun are stolen under seemingly
impossible circumstances. When a spate of further robberies targets the
components needed to construct the weapon, the newly-regenerated Doctor
is summoned to help UNIT investigate. Meanwhile, Sarah has become
suspicious of Think Tank, a scientific collective with ties to a fascist
political organisation. Sarah discovers that Think Tank is in
possession of a massive robot designed by an estranged member, Professor
Kettlewell. When the Doctor grows suspicious that the robot has
perpetrated the thefts, he becomes its next target.
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Surgeon Lieutenant Harry Sullivan of UNIT leaves in the TARDIS with the
Doctor and Sarah.
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The Ark In Space by Robert Holmes,
directed by Rodney Bennett
The TARDIS materialises aboard the Nerva Beacon, a space station
carrying the remnants of humanity in suspended animation. The Earth was
abandoned before it was scoured by deadly solar flares, but mechanical
failure has caused the survivors to oversleep by millennia. The Doctor,
Sarah and Harry begin reviving the humans, including their leader, Noah.
Soon, however, one of the crew is found to be missing, and the Doctor
realises that Nerva has suffered an incursion by the insect-like Wirrn.
When Noah is infected by the Wirrn and begins to succumb to their
hostile influence, mankind faces imminent extinction.
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The Sontaran Experiment by Bob Baker and
Dave Martin, directed by Rodney Bennett
With humanity awakening from its long slumber aboard the Nerva Beacon,
the time travellers transmat down to Earth to make sure the matter
transmitter is fully operational. While Sarah and Harry explore, the
Doctor discovers a dead astronaut. Confronted by the man's colleagues,
the Doctor learns that they have been under attack ever since they were
lured to Earth by a mysterious distress call. Meanwhile, Harry falls
into a pit and Sarah seeks help from Roth, another of the astronauts.
Together, Sarah and Roth discover that Earth is the setting for a series
of cruel experiments devised by a Sontaran named Styre.
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Genesis Of The Daleks by Terry Nation,
directed by David Maloney
The Time Lords intercept the Doctor, Sarah and Harry as they return to
the Nerva Beacon, and send them to Skaro in the distant past. They
arrive amidst a centuries-long war between the Kaleds and the Thals,
when a disfigured Kaled scientist named Davros is about to engineer the
creation of the Daleks. Sarah is captured by the Thals and forced to
work on a devastating missile, while the Doctor convinces the Kaled
government to halt Davros' work. But Nyder, the Kaled head of security,
betrays them to Davros, who will stop at nothing to unleash his Daleks
upon the universe -- not even the destruction of his own people.
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Revenge Of The Cybermen by Gerry Davis,
directed by Michael E Briant
Returning to the Nerva Beacon, the Doctor, Sarah and Harry discover that
they are thousands of years too early and must wait while the TARDIS
drifts backwards in time. At this point, the Beacon directs interstellar
traffic, warning spaceships away from a new satellite in Jupiter's
orbit. This is all that remains of Voga, a world abundant in gold which
was vital in ending the last Cyber war, and which is now home to a
people riven by civil war. But the Cybermen are determined to strike
back against Voga. They have unleashed a terrible plague aboard the
Beacon as the first step in their plan... and Sarah is amongst the
infected.
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With the introduction of the Fourth Doctor and the highly successful
Hinchcliffe/Holmes tandem taking the reins, Doctor Who saw its
viewing figures soar. For the first time ever, the start of a season was
brought forward, with Season Thirteen due to start in the autumn rather
than the subsequent winter. As a result, Season Twelve lost its finale,
Terror Of The Zygons, which was
held back to the start the next season.
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| Season Thirteen (1975-76): A Gothic
Aspect |
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Terror Of The Zygons by Robert Banks
Stewart, directed by Douglas Camfield
The Brigadier summons the Doctor back to Earth to investigate the
destruction of several oil rigs in the North Sea. UNIT has established a
base of operations at Tulloch, near Loch Ness in Scotland. There, the
Doctor discovers that the rigs were attacked by an enormous beast, while
Harry is abducted after locating a survivor from the most recent
incident. Taken to a spaceship crewed by the Zygons, Harry learns that
they are preparing to take over the Earth using a cybernetic sea monster
called the Skarasen. And because the Zygons are shapeshifters, the
Doctor and his companions can trust nobody... not even each other.
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Harry decides to stay behind on Earth.
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Planet Of Evil by Louis Marks, directed
by David Maloney
The Doctor and Sarah respond to a distress signal emanating from the
planet Zeta Minor, at the very edge of the universe. There they discover
that a research team has been systematically hunted down by an invisible
anti-matter monster. The only survivor is Professor Sorenson, who has
discovered a mineral which could serve as an almost limitless power
source. When a rescue mission led by Salamar also arrives on Zeta Minor,
the time travellers find themselves accused of murdering the scientific
expedition. The Doctor must find a way to convince Salamar of the truth
before Sorenson, corrupted by the anti-matter, dooms them all.
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Pyramids Of Mars by Lewis Greifer,
directed by Paddy Russell
It is 1911, and the TARDIS lands in the home of sibling scientists
Marcus and Laurence Scarman. Something has happened to Marcus during an
archaeological dig in Egypt, and he has ordered the sinister Namin to
bar Laurence from the house. Furthermore, Laurence has begun detecting
strange radio signals from the surface of Mars. The Doctor discovers
that Marcus has become the avatar of Sutekh, a powerful alien Osirian
who has spent centuries imprisoned on Earth by his people as retribution
for his terrible crimes. Now Sutekh is using Marcus to regain his
freedom, heralding the end of the world.
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The Android Invasion by Terry Nation,
directed by Barry Letts
The TARDIS seems to have materialised near the modern-day English town
of Devesham, but something is very wrong. People in hazard suits attack
with guns in their fingers, the pub calendar repeats the same day again
and again, every coin is minted from the same date. Even the Doctor and
Sarah's friends from UNIT behave unnaturally. And, perhaps most
strangely, astronaut Guy Crayford is in charge of the nearby Space
Defence Station... but Crayford was lost in deep space years before. The
time travellers soon realise that they are not on Earth at all, but in a
simulacrum created by the Kraals as part of a plan to invade the Earth.
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The Brain Of Morbius by Robin Bland,
directed by Christopher Barry
The Sisterhood of Karn tends a sacred flame, which provides an elixir
granting eternal life and which is used by the Time Lords to aid in
regenerative crises. The TARDIS arrives on Karn at a time when the
sacred flame is dying, and the Sisterhood accuses the Doctor of planning
to steal the last vestiges of the elixir. But also on Karn is the mad
neurosurgeon Mehendri Solon. He hides the brain of Morbius, an evil Time
Lord thought to have been executed. Solon is trying to build a new body
for Morbius, and is lacking only a suitable head... the head of a Time
Lord.
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The Seeds Of Doom by Robert Banks
Stewart, directed by Douglas Camfield
An Antarctic expedition unearths two pods which the Doctor recognises as
Krynoids. Once germinated, the pods will infect humans, turning them
into giant carnivorous plants which will quickly overrun the world.
Already Winlett, one of the expedition members, has started to succumb
to the Krynoid taint. To make matters worse, the insane botanist
Harrison Chase has learned of the pods' existence and has despatched the
sadistic Scorby to obtain them. Even if the Doctor and Sarah are able to
stop the mutating Winlett in Antarctica, an even greater threat awaits
them at Chase's mansion in England...
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With Doctor Who now consistently one of the BBC's most popular
programmes, a new problem reared its head in the form of Mary Whitehouse
and her National Viewers' and Listeners' Association. A self-appointed
media watchdog, Whitehouse had occasionally spoken out against violence
and horror in Doctor Who in the past. Now, however, with the
Hinchcliffe and Holmes encouraging these very elements, Whitehouse went
on the offensive. Her media campaign against Doctor Who would
ultimately contribute to the break-up of the successful production
team.
|
| Season Fourteen (1976-77):
Savagery |
| Companions and Recurring Characters |
|
Leela was a far-future human whose culture
had regressed to prehistorical standards, and who assisted the Doctor in
defeating the mad computer Xoanon.
Louise Jameson (bio) played Leela from The Face Of Evil in January 1977 to The Invasion Of Time in March 1978.
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The Masque Of Mandragora by Louis Marks,
directed by Rodney Bennett
The TARDIS accidentally transports the Mandragora Helix, a malevolent
energy being, to Renaissance Italy. The Duke of San Martino has died
under mysterious circumstances, and the great thinkers of the fifteenth
century are coming to celebrate his son and heir, Giuliano. Desperate to
uncover the Helix's plans, the Doctor and Sarah forge an alliance with
Giuliano and his friend Marco. But the new Duke's uncle, Federico,
schemes to eliminate his nephew. He is assisted by the astrologer
Hieronymous, the secret leader of the cult of Demnos -- who has fallen
under the sway of the Mandragora Helix.
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The Hand Of Fear by Bob Baker and Dave
Martin, directed by Lennie Mayne
The TARDIS lands in a quarry, where an explosion buries Sarah under
rock. When the Doctor rescues her, she is unconscious and clutching a
calcified hand. After awakening at the hospital, Sarah begins acting
strangely: the hand is all that remains of a silicon-based alien called
Eldrad, whose consciousness has seized control of Sarah's mind. Eldrad
compels her to break into a nearby nuclear complex and send the reactor
into meltdown. Even if the Doctor is able to avert a radioactive
catastrophe, can he save Sarah and put a stop to Eldrad's ancient plans?
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The Doctor receives an urgent summons to Gallifrey and is forced to leave
Sarah behind on Earth.
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The Deadly Assassin by Robert Holmes,
directed by David Maloney
The Doctor has a premonition that he will assassinate the President of
the High Council of the Time Lords. Returning to Gallifrey, he finds
himself unable to prevent the murder, nor his own arrest. Only by
declaring his candidacy for the presidency does the Doctor buy the time
he needs to investigate, with the reluctant assistance of Castellan
Spandrell. The trail of clues leads to the Master: now disfigured, dying
and vengeful, he has somehow tapped into the extraordinarily advanced
computer network which guides the Time Lords. To stop his old enemy, the
Doctor must risk his life in the surreal landscape of the Matrix.
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The Face Of Evil by Chris Boucher,
directed by Pennant Roberts
The rebellious warrior Leela is cast out of the Sevateem tribe after she
doubts the existence of their god, Xoanon. Left to fend for herself in a
phantom-plagued jungle, she meets the Doctor -- who is baffled when she
recognises him as the mythical Evil One. The Doctor manages to earn
Leela's trust by warding off the phantoms, and she brings him to a giant
carving of his own face in a mountainside. Returning to the Sevateem
village, the Doctor finds relics of advanced technology, and discovers
that the voice of Xoanon is his own. As the mystery unravels, the Doctor
realises that a past mistake is finally catching up to him...
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Seeking adventure, Leela leaves with the Doctor.
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The Robots Of Death by Chris Boucher,
directed by Michael E Briant
The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Leela to a Sandminer, a giant mining
ship. Most of its functions are maintained by robots: the mute Dums,
more advanced Vocs and highly sophisticated Super Vocs. The small human
crew has little to do except sit around in idle luxury... but now
they're being killed off, one by one. The lone clue to the killer's
identity is a corpse marker -- normally used to denote a deactivated
robot -- attached to each victim. Leela discovers a mysterious Super Voc
masquerading as a Dum, while the Doctor fears that they are in the midst
of a robot revolution. But is a human mind responsible?
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The Talons Of Weng-Chiang by Robert
Holmes, directed by David Maloney
In Victorian London, girls are being kidnapped off the street, giant
rats haunt the sewers, and ghosts have been sighted in the opera house
run by impresario Henry Gordon Jago. When a mutilated body turns up in
the Thames, the Doctor and Leela find themselves investigating alongside
pathologist Dr Litefoot. The clues lead to a sinister mesmerist, Li
H'sen Chang, who is assisted by a murderous ventriloquist's dummy called
Mr Sin. Chang serves a man he believes is the god Weng-Chiang, and is
searching for a time cabinet lost by his master. Their quest leads them
to Litefoot -- and puts Leela's life in terrible danger.
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|
Even as Doctor Who consistently enjoyed high ratings like never
before, Mary Whitehouse continued to campaign against its frightening
elements. After episode three of The Deadly
Assassin concluded with a lengthy freeze frame of the Doctor
being drowned, Whitehouse finally won an admission from the BBC that the
programme had gone too far. Behind the scenes, it was decided that
Philip Hinchcliffe should move on from Doctor Who, and that his
successor's approach should emphasise humour over horror.
|
| Season Fifteen (1977-78): A Lighter
Touch |
| Companions and Recurring Characters |
|
With Philip Hinchcliffe shifted off of Doctor Who onto more
hard-hitting dramas which, it was perceived, would make better use of his
talents, Graham Williams was brought in to both
replace Hinchcliffe and to find a way to rework Doctor Who.
Williams was under direct orders to tone down on the horror and violence,
and as such replaced them with the only element he felt was remaining to
him: humour. Robert Holmes, meanwhile, was also expressing a desire to
leave so that he could return to scriptwriting full time. His mid-season
replacement was Anthony Read.
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Horror Of Fang Rock by Terrance Dicks,
directed by Paddy Russell
The TARDIS materialises near a lighthouse on an island in the English
Channel, where a boat carrying several high-society passengers has just
capsized. The lighthouse itself has suffered mysterious energy drains
and the death of one of its technicians. The Doctor and Leela discover
that a shapeshifting Rutan has infiltrated the island and is about to
summon its mothership to Earth. As the lighthouse's occupants are killed
off one by one it appears that, this time, the Doctor may be too late to
save anyone.
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The Invisible Enemy by Bob Baker and
Dave Martin, directed by Derrick Goodwin
A parasite infects the Doctor whilst the TARDIS is hovering in space,
and begins to slowly take over his mind. While the Doctor places
himself in a coma to stall the organism, Leela takes the Time Lord to a
medical facility on Titan in the far future. There, with the help of
Professor Marius and his robot dog K·9, Leela has miniaturised clones of
herself and the Doctor created, so that they can travel into the
Doctor's brain and take the battle to the parasite itself.
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Professor Marius gives K·9 to the Doctor and Leela.
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Image Of The Fendahl by Chris Boucher,
directed by George Spenton-Foster
The activation of a time scanner draws the Doctor, Leela and K·9 to
modern-day Earth, where a team of scientists has uncovered an ancient
skull. The skull is that of the Fendahl, a creature which thrives on death
and which was thought to have been destroyed by the Time Lords. One of the
scientists, Thea Ransome, is converted into a host for the Fendahl, and
she creates minions -- the deadly Fendahleen -- to deliver her lethal
message across the planet.
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The Sun Makers by Robert Holmes,
directed by Pennant Roberts
The TARDIS lands on Pluto in the far future, where the Doctor is
astonished to find the planet inhabited by humans and heated by a number
of miniature suns. He, Leela and K·9 discover that the human race has been
moved off Earth to do the bidding of the Company, a ruthless intergalactic
conglomerate. It is up to the Doctor to uncover the secret of the
Company's head, the Collector, while Leela is sentenced to death by
steaming.
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Underworld by Bob Baker and Dave Martin,
directed by Norman Stewart
The Doctor, Leela and K·9 find themselves in a spacecraft piloted by the
last of the Minyans, a race which destroyed itself using technology given
to them by early Time Lords. Now the remaining Minyans are on a desperate
search for their race banks, lost centuries earlier, which represent the
only hope for the survival of their civilisation. With the Doctor's help,
the race banks are located. But in order to retrieve them, the time
travellers must confront an insane computer and its robotic servants, or
the Minyans will be forever doomed.
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The Invasion Of Time by David Agnew,
directed by Gerald Blake
The Doctor returns to Gallifrey, having become President of the High
Council following an illicit deal with aliens known as the Vardans. He has
Leela exiled to the wastes beyond the Capitol, where she allies herself
with outcast Time Lords living as savages. Leela believes the Doctor has
turned traitor, but in fact he is masterminding an elaborate plan to
unveil the identity of the Vardans' masters, and foil a scheme to invade
Gallifrey itself.
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Leela remains on Gallifrey to marry a Chancellery Guard named Andred. K·9
stays with her, while the Doctor activates K·9 Mark II.
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Season Fifteen saw an attempt not to just to lighten the atmosphere of
Doctor Who but also to turn it back into more of a family show than
it had been during the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era. This is most apparent in
the introduction of K·9, designed to appeal mostly to younger children.
With the measures taken by Williams this year, the attacks from Mary
Whitehouse finally abated, and such criticisms would not plague Doctor
Who again in any serious form until 1985.
|
| Season Sixteen (1978-79): The Quest For The
Key To Time |
| Companions and Recurring Characters |
|
The first incarnation of the Time Lady Romanadvoratrelundar -- called
Romana for short -- was despatched by the
White Guardian to assist the Doctor in his quest for the Key to Time.
Mary Tamm played Romana from The Ribos Operation in September 1978 to
The Armageddon Factor in February
1979.
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The Black Guardian was a cosmic force
embodying chaos, the antithesis of the order and balance represented by
the Doctor's patron, the White Guardian.
Valentine Dyall played the Black Guardian
on a recurring basis from The Armageddon
Factor in February 1979 to Enlightenment in March 1983.
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The Ribos Operation by Robert Holmes,
directed by George Spenton-Foster
The Doctor is called upon by the White Guardian, the embodiment of order
and light, to find the six disguised segments of the Key To Time --
scattered throughout time and space -- so that the Guardian can restore
the faltering universal balance. To this end, the White Guardian
provides the Doctor with a new assistant in the form of the young Time
Lady Romana. Their first destination is Ribos, a mediaeval-style planet
which a con man named Garron is trying to sell to the megalomaniacal
Graff Vynda-K. When the Graff uncovers Garron's treachery, the crook's
assistant, Unstoffe, flees into the monster-infested Catacombs, little
realising that amongst his possessions is the first segment of the Key
To Time.
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The White Guardian sends Romana to aid the Doctor.
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The Pirate Planet by Douglas Adams,
directed by Pennant Roberts
The Doctor and Romana head to the planet Calufrax in search of the second
segment of the Key To Time. Inexplicably, however, the TARDIS lands on
Zanak. The Doctor discovers that Zanak is a pirate planet, materialising
around other worlds and reaping their mineral wealth. The leader of this
operation is the crazed Captain, who is prepared to take Zanak onto its
next conquest: Earth.
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The Stones Of Blood by David Fisher,
directed by Darrol Blake
The quest for the third segment of the Key To Time takes the TARDIS to
modern-day Earth, near a stone circle called the Nine Maidens. The
circle has been the site of renewed worship of a Druidic goddess called
the Cailleach, and has also attracted the interest of archaeologist
Emilia Rumford. When someone tries to kill Romana, the Doctor realises
that something is amiss at the Nine Maidens, and that the Cailleach may
not be quite as mythical as he believed.
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The Androids Of Tara by David Fisher,
directed by Michael Hayes
While the Doctor has a rest, Romana finds the fourth segment of the Key
To Time on Tara, only to be kidnapped by the villainous Count Grendel.
It transpires that Romana is an exact double of Tara's Princess Strella.
Grendel has aspirations to the Taran throne, and has kidnapped Strella in
an attempt to force her to marry him; now he believes he can make Romana
pose as Strella and accomplish the deception that way. But the Doctor
allies himself with Reynart, Strella's true love, in a desperate attempt
to stop the throne from falling into Grendel's cruel grasp.
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The Power Of Kroll by Robert Holmes,
directed by Norman Stewart
For the fifth segment of the Key To Time, the Doctor and Romana travel
to the marsh moon of Delta Magna. There, the time travellers become
enmeshed in tensions between the barbaric native Swampies, the
gun-runner Rohm-Dutt, and the crew of a refinery which is trying to
drive the Swampies away. In the midst of all this, the Swampie god, a
gargantuan squid named Kroll, is beginning to stir, and even the Doctor
will be defenseless in the wake of the destruction wrought by Kroll.
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The Armageddon Factor by Bob Baker and
Dave Martin, directed by Michael Hayes
The Black Guardian, the embodiment of evil and darkness, is closing in as
the Doctor, Romana and K·9 go in search of the sixth and final segment of
the Key To Time on the wartorn planet Atrios. Atrios is in a state of
perpetual conflict with its neighbour, Zeos, and the planet's entire
civilisation is being held together only through the tireless efforts of
Princess Astra. But it soon becomes clear that there is more to the
Atrios-Zeos war than meets the eye, and discovering the key to the mystery
may become the deciding factor in the Doctor's quest for the Key To Time.
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An idea Graham Williams had tried and failed to implement during his first
year as producer was that of an overarching theme running through every
story of the season. This finally came about during Season Sixteen, with
the Doctor's quest for the Key playing a greater or lesser role in all six
adventures.
|
| Season Seventeen (1979-80): The Time
Traveller's Guide To The Galaxy |
| Companions and Recurring Characters |
|
Despite having completed the quest for the Key to Time, Romana chose to continue travelling with the Doctor
in a regenerated body.
Lalla Ward played Romana from Destiny Of The Daleks in September 1979
to Warriors' Gate in January 1981.
She returned for Dimensions In Time
in November 1993.
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Anthony Read left Doctor Who at the end of Season Sixteen. His
replacement was the inexperienced but creative Douglas
Adams, who had scripted The Pirate
Planet the previous year. Remaining on the programme for just a
single season, Adams would shortly gain great fame and prestige for his
radio play/novel/TV series (and, posthumously, feature film) The
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
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Destiny Of The Daleks by Terry Nation,
directed by Ken Grieve
Having installed a Randomiser in the TARDIS to avoid the attentions of the
Black Guardian, the Doctor and the newly-regenerated Romana find
themselves on a bleak planet the Doctor is sure he has visited before. The
two are separated in a cave-in, and Romana finds herself a captive of the
Doctor's oldest foes, the Daleks. The Doctor encounters the Daleks'
enemies, the ruthless android Movellans, who reveal that the planet is in
fact Skaro. The Daleks are searching for their long-lost creator, Davros,
in an attempt to shatter the stalemate in the Dalek-Movellan war.
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Romana regenerates into her second incarnation.
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City Of Death by David Agnew, directed
by Michael Hayes
In modern-day Paris, the Doctor and Romana realise that someone is
playing with time. They trace the disturbances to Count Scarlioni, who
is actually one of several fragments of an alien Jagaroth named Scaroth.
Scaroth's ship exploded on primordial Earth, scattering shards of his
being throughout history. Now Scaroth has accumulated the funds and
technology to send himself back in time to avert the accident. But the
Doctor realises that this would prevent the evolution of life on Earth,
which was instigated by the explosion.
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The Creature From The Pit by David
Fisher, directed by Christopher Barry
The planet Chloris is plentiful in vegetation but barren of metal. When
the Doctor, Romana and K·9 arrive, Chloris' leader, the wicked Adrasta,
has the Doctor thrown into a pit at the bottom of which an enormous
green monster is supposed to dwell. The Doctor discovers that the
monster is actually Erato, an ambassador from Tythonus who came to
Chloris to trade metal for agriculture and was banished to the pit
because Adrasta feared losing her monopoly on metal. But this revelation
may come too late, as the Tythonians are en route to Chloris, ready to
ravage the planet to avenge Adrasta's treatment of their envoy.
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Nightmare Of Eden by Bob Baker, directed
by Alan Bromly and Graham Williams
Two spaceships collide in hyperspace, fusing the vessels together.
Investigating the accident, the Doctor, Romana and K·9 meet Tryst, an
eccentric scientist who is carrying samples of various planets within a
machine called the Continuous Event Transmuter. The CET malfunctions,
however, unleashing monstrous Mandrels onto both ships. Meanwhile, the
time travellers discover that someone on board has been smuggling the
illicit, addictive drug vraxoin -- and it becomes clear that the
disastrous events are not unrelated.
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The Horns Of Nimon by Anthony Read,
directed by Kenny McBain
The Doctor and Romana discover a stricken space vessel transporting
seven young people from the planet Aneth to Skonnos. The Time Lords are
forced to help repair the ship, even though the Anethans are fated to be
sacrificed to the bull-like Nimon, who has promised the Skonnans great
prosperity. On Skonnos, however, the Doctor learns that the Nimon is
actually a member of a race of intergalactic locusts, who ravage each
world foolish enough to believe their lies.
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Shada by Douglas Adams, directed by
Pennant Roberts
The Doctor, Romana and K·9 visit an old friend, a retired Time Lord
named Professor Chronotis now living as a professor in Cambridge. There
they encounter the evil scientist Skagra, who has come to steal a
Gallifreyan text in Chronotis' possession. With the book, Skagra can
locate Shada, the Gallifreyan prison planet, where he intends to force
Salyavin, a Time Lord criminal with vast mental powers, to help
him imprint his mind upon every being in the cosmos. (This story was
never completed or broadcast due to industrial action.)
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Although Doctor Who had been threatened by strikes before, never
had a story actually been cancelled due to industrial action until Season
Seventeen. Sadly, the loss of Shada
also meant that the planned conclusion to the departing Graham Williams'
production era would never see broadcast. It would, however, finally see
the light of day as a video release in 1992.
|
| Season Eighteen (1980-81): Change And
Decay |
| Companions and Recurring Characters |
|
Adric was a teenaged mathematical genius
who stowed away aboard the TARDIS after helping the Doctor solve the
mystery of his home planet, Alzarius.
Matthew Waterhouse played Adric from Full Circle in October 1980 to Earthshock in March 1982. He returned as
a hallucination for Time-Flight in
March 1982 and as a regenerative image for The Caves Of Androzani in March
1984.
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Nyssa, the daughter of nobility on the
planet Traken and a gifted scientist, joined the Doctor after her father
was murdered by the Master.
Sarah Sutton played Nyssa from The Keeper Of Traken in January 1981 to
Terminus in February 1983. She
returned for Dimensions In Time in
November 1993, and also as a regenerative image for The Caves Of Androzani in March
1984.
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The evil Time Lord known as the Master was
reinvigorated after stealing a human body, embarking on a new spree of
mayhem across space and time.
Anthony Ainley played the Master on a
recurring basis from The Keeper Of
Traken in February 1981 to Survival in December 1989.
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Tegan Jovanka was an airline stewardess for
Air Australia who wandered into the TARDIS when it was parked in 1980s
London.
Janet Fielding played Tegan from Logopolis in February 1981 to Resurrection Of The Daleks in
February 1984. She returned as a regenerative image for The Caves Of Androzani in March
1984.
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As Doctor Who headed into the 1980s, an all-new production team was
brought in to helm the series. The new producer was John Nathan-Turner, who would go on to serve in this
capacity for the entire decade. His script editor for Season Eighteen was
Christopher H Bidmead. The new team's philosophy
was that Doctor Who had strayed too far into the realm of science
fantasy rather than proper science-fiction in recent years; the new season
would see a return to solid science more in line with this way of
thinking.
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The Leisure Hive by David Fisher,
directed by Lovett Bickford
In search of a holiday, the Doctor and Romana travel to the famous Leisure
Hive on Argolis, a planet ravaged by a nuclear war with the reptilian
Foamasi years earlier. The main attraction of the Hive is a device called
the Tachyon Recreation Generator, but when things start to go mysteriously
wrong with the machine, the Doctor realises that evil is afoot in the
Hive. He and Romana begin to unearth a tangled conspiracy which may lead
to a new, deadlier war between the Argolins and the Foamasi.
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Meglos by John Flanagan and Andrew
McCulloch, directed by Terence Dudley
The Doctor is summoned back to the planet Tigella, where the population
is divided along religious and scientific lines. Something is going
terribly wrong with Tigella's main power source, the Dodecahedron, but
the Savants are prevented from investigating by the zealous Deons. To
make matters worse, before the Doctor can solve the problem with the
Dodecahedron, he is accused of its theft. The true culprit is Meglos, a
shapeshifting Zolfa-Thuran, who intends to unleash the full might of the
Dodecahedron upon the universe.
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Full Circle by Andrew Smith, directed by
Peter Grimwade
Romana is recalled to Gallifrey, but en route the TARDIS is drawn
through a Charged Vacuum Emboitment into another universe, called
E-Space. Landing on the planet Alzarius, the Doctor meets a group of
humans who are trying to rebuild their spacecraft -- which crashlanded
generations ago -- so they can return to their native Terradon. When
Marshmen begin rising from the swamps during the dreaded time of
Mistfall, however, the Doctor realises that there is something amiss on
Alzarius, and begins to unravel a genetic riddle which stretches back
centuries.
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Adric, a young Alzarian, stows away on board the TARDIS.
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State Of Decay by Terrance Dicks,
directed by Peter Moffatt
Still trapped in E-Space, the TARDIS materialises on a mediaeval planet.
The townsfolk live in fear of the Three Who Rule, who govern from their
mighty castle. Investigating, the Doctor discovers that the Three Who
Rule are ancient astronauts who were turned into vampires long ago, and
their castle is actually their spaceship. When Romana and Adric are
kidnapped, the Doctor must ally himself with a band of renegade peasants
to stop the resurrection of one of Gallifrey's greatest enemies: the
Great Vampire itself.
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Warriors' Gate by Steve Gallagher,
directed by Paul Joyce
Trying to escape from E-Space, the Doctor, Romana, Adric and K·9 instead
land in an eerie white void whose only feature is a crumbling old keep.
Also trapped in the void is a privateering ship captained by the cruel
Rorvik, whose time sensitive pilot, the leonine Tharil Biroc, escapes
and lures the Doctor into the keep and the mirror gateway beyond. There,
the Doctor witnesses the rise and fall of the once-mighty Tharil Empire.
He realises that he must free the Tharils enslaved on the privateering
ship and escape through the gateway, before Rorvik's vengeful actions
destroy them all.
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Romana and K·9 remain in E-Space to help free the captive Tharil race.
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The Keeper Of Traken by Johnny Byrne,
directed by John Black
The Union of Traken is governed by a Keeper gifted with the powers of the
Source. The current Keeper is nearing the end of his thousand-year tenure,
however, and asks the Doctor and Adric -- who have escaped from E-Space
-- to go to Traken and stop an evil he believes is plotting to destroy
the Union. But the source of the evil, the Melkur, has already
infiltrated the Consuls of Traken, and has the Doctor declared a
criminal. Allying himself with Consul Tremas and his daughter, Nyssa, the
Time Lord must uncover the true power behind the Melkur -- someone who
knows the Doctor of old.
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Logopolis by Christopher H Bidmead,
directed by Peter Grimwade
After her aunt is murdered by the Master, an airline stewardess named
Tegan Jovanka becomes an unwitting stowaway aboard the TARDIS as it
travels to the planet Logopolis. There, the Doctor discovers that the
Master's interference with the Logopolitans' advanced mathematics has
unleashed a wave of entropy which threatens to consume the entire
universe. The two Time Lords enter into an uneasy alliance, together
with Adric, Tegan and Nyssa, who has travelled to Logopolis to confront
the Master. Their only hope lies on Earth... but then, in the moment of
greatest crisis, the Master plays his ultimate trump card.
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The Fourth Doctor, now joined in his travels by Nyssa and Tegan, falls
from atop the Pharos Project telescope and regenerates.
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The stylistic changes made for Season Eighteen saw Doctor Who enter
firmly into the Eighties, much as the programme's reconceptualising at the
start of Season Seven had ushered it into the Seventies. With a flashier
title sequence, more high-concept stories, more accessible companions, and
a renewed emphasis on production values (seen as taken an appreciable dip
during Graham Williams' time on the show), Doctor Who had undergone
a complete facelift. With the departure at the season's end of Tom Baker,
the show's longest-serving Doctor, the slate was wiped clean for a new
style of Doctor Who.
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