Episode #146 : The Ultimate Foe

"In all my travelling throughout the universe I have battled against evil, against power mad conspirators. I should have stayed here. The oldest civilisation: decadent, degenerate, and rotten to the core. Power mad conspirators, Daleks, Sontarans... Cybermen, they're still in the nursery compared to us. Ten million years of absolute power. That's what it takes to be really corrupt."

Episode 146:   The Ultimate Foe.
Companions:   6th Doctor and Mel.
Air Date:         29th November to 6th December 1986.

With the evidence complete, the Doctor learns that the Master has gained illicit access to the Matrix in his TARDIS. Glitz is now revealed to be the Master's associate and the 'secrets' to be information stolen from the Matrix. The Valeyard admits his identity as a distillation of the dark side of the Doctor's nature, somewhere between his twelfth and thirteenth incarnations, out to take control over his remaining lives. With the help of Mel, who along with Glitz has been brought to the space station by the Master, the Doctor defeats his future self - although, as they leave in the TARDIS with all charges in the trial having been dropped, it appears that the Valeyard has taken over the body of the Keeper of the Matrix and may not have been as completely vanquished as they had thought.

The Trial of a Time Lord season comes to an end with a rather disappointing two part story in which it is revealed who the Valeyard really is (see above). It then ends up being a repeat of The Deadly Assassin with the Doctor with Glitz in tow, entering the Matrix where he is at the mercy of what the Valeyard can throw at him. It then ends with the Doctor forgiven, though how you can try someone for the same crime twice (see The War Games) is beyond me. But as everyone goes home it is revealed that the Valeyard is still very much alive.

The addition of the Master into this story is pointless. He doesn't do anything and seems to be just there to gloat, and show off how clever he is. It smacks of lazy writing to me. Had the Master been to the one behind it all, having created the Valeyard in an attempt to kill the Doctor from behind the scenes, I think this story might have been better.

I really hoped that in the right spot in the new show that they might show the Valeyard or at least hint at his creation but they never do and the character has never reappeared in canonical Who.

One last thing, we do at least discover that Peri is very much alive, and living as a warrior queen with King Yrcanos. Why the Doctor doesn't go back for her we never learn.

Episode #123 : Arc of Infinity

"You know how it is; you put things off for a day and next thing you know, it's a hundred years later."

Episode 123:   Arc of Infinity.
Companions:   5th Doctor, Tegan, and Nyssa.
Air Date:         3rd to 12th January 1983.

An antimatter creature has crossed into normal space via a phenomenon known as the Arc of Infinity but needs to bond physically with a Time Lord in order to remain stable. A traitor on Gallifrey has chosen the Doctor as the victim. The High Council, headed by President Borusa, decides that the Doctor's life must be terminated in order to avoid this danger. Tegan meanwhile arrives in Amsterdam to visit her cousin, Colin Frazer, only to learn that he has disappeared. She enters a crypt in search of him and is captured by a hideous creature, the Ergon.

Another classic villain returns... Omega! Once again he is trying to leave behind the anti-matter universe and return to our own. To do this he must bond with a physical entity and the Doctor has been chosen. There is no excuse given as to how Omega survived the events of The Three Doctors but he has, and this time with a much better costume design that makes him seem more menacing.

Tegan returns to the show after being fired as an air stewardess. We don't know why she was sacked and we never find out. My guess would be that she was vanished with the Doctor for a bit longer than she expected and couldn't explain why. Nyssa seems happy to have her back, the Doctor less so.

We get another look at Time Lord society and this time they live up to the corrupt reputation that later Doctor's would subscribe to them. They seem to have forgotten everything that happened the last time Omega showed up, or what good the Doctor has done, because they seem content to simply kill him rather than let him stop the menace that is growing. It seems very shortsighted of them really. One of the Time Lords, Commander Maxil, is played by Colin Baker who would eventually replace Peter Davison in the role of the Doctor.

One small niggle that starts to grow on me around about this time is where in time is present day Gallifrey? I have always assumed that the present for there is somewhere far far away in the distant future since you can't go past Gallifreyan present in a time capsule. But they seem far too concerned with events in the past if you get my meaning since both this story and The Three Doctors is set on 20th century Earth. It is never really explained and that bugs me somewhat.

Arc of Infinity is a good sequel to The Three Doctors with a far pace and some OK story lines. It does feel though that if the story had perhaps had another draft or two it may have been even better.

Episode #88 : The Deadly Assassin

"Through the millennia, the Time Lords of Gallifrey led a life of ordered calm, protected against all threats from lesser civilisations by their great power. But this was to change. Suddenly, and terribly, the Time Lords faced the most dangerous crisis in their long history..."

Episode 88:   The Deadly Assassin.
Companions: 4th Doctor.
Air Date:       Four episodes. 30th October to 20th November 1976.

The Doctor arrives on Gallifrey, where he is accused of the assassination of the Time Lord President. Investigating with the aid of Co-ordinator Engin and Castellan Spandrell, he discovers that this is part of a plot hatched by his old adversary the Master.

The Deadly Assassin is the story that sets out exactly how the Time Lords would be presented from here on out. This story sets up their appearance, politics, culture and gives us the first reference to a twelve regeneration limit. At the time of original broadcast it appears to have upset a number of fans because of the depiction of Time Lord society. Specifically that prior to this the Time Lords are set up on a high pedestal as a race of super powerful beings with master over time itself, can make entire planets vanish and whatever else they choose to do. Following this story they seem to be no different to mankind in pretty much every way. Personally I like this portrayal as it makes them easier to identify with. Plus, I like the costumes.

With this story we have the return of the Doctor's arch nemesis the Master. This time round though he has reached the end of his regenerations and his living purely by force of will alone in his own corpse. Following the events of this story he achieves some sense of renewal, though not a fresh regeneration, and escapes as always to fight the Doctor another day.

There is, for me at least, a small problem with the flow of this tale and that is that a good chunk of it takes place inside the Matrix - the Time Lord's computer system. This gives us a very surreal engagement between the Doctor's mental self and that of the Master's minion (a traitorous Time Lords). Filmed entirely on location somewhere we have the Doctor facing a biplane, a train, a big game hunter and other aspects of the first World War. It just doesn't quite work very well. It looks out of place with everything else.

Though not a great story it is enjoyable and gets bonus thumbs up for giving us our first proper look at Time Lord society.