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The Mysterious Planet
The Mysterious Planet is the first serial of the larger narrative known as The Trial of a Time Lord which encompasses the whole of the 23rd season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 6 to 27 September 1986. The title The Mysterious Planet is not used on-screen and only appears in the serial's scripts with the four episodes that comprise the story being transmitted as The Trial of a Time Lord Parts One to Four.
In the serial, the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) is put on trial by his own people, the Time Lords, accused of meddling in the affairs of Earth far in the future, when it has been renamed Ravolox and relocated light years from its original location. Much of the story consists of video testimony presented by the prosecutor the Valeyard (Michael Jayston) of the Doctor attempting to stop the robot Drathro from causing an explosion that would threaten the entire universe.
Events of the serial are framed on an arcing plot that carries through the other three serials of the 23rd season. In this, the Sixth Doctor is forced to land the TARDIS aboard a Gallifreyan space station, where he is brought into a courtroom. The Inquisitor informs the Doctor he is on trial for conduct unbecoming a Time Lord; evidence will be presented by the Valeyard. The first evidence is shown through video footage, taken from the Matrix, of the Doctor's recent involvement in the planet Ravolox, where the Valeyard shows that the Doctor willingly became involved in the affairs of the planet. The Doctor denies these charges as the Valeyard brings them. After showing the video, the Valeyard affirms he has more evidence sufficient to call for the end of the Doctor's life.
As shown by the court evidence, the Doctor and Peri land on Ravolox, a largely uninhabited planet they note bears an unusual similarity to Earth. As they walk, they are observed by Sabalom Glitz and Dibber, a pair of mercenaries out to obtain an archive of highly advanced technological secrets being held by a robot named Drathro. The Doctor and Peri find a tunnel and enter to find remains that appear to be that of the Marble Arch tube station on the London Underground Central line, despite the planet being several light years away from where Earth should be. Peri becomes despondent over her world's apparent fate and refuses to accompany the Doctor as he journeys further into the tunnels and encounters a group of humans serving Drathro, who demands that the Doctor repair its malfunctioning black light power system.
Glitz and Dibber believe that they can disable Drathro by dismantling the antenna for the black light system, which is worshipped as a totem by a tribe made of people who escaped from Marble Arch. The tribe's queen, Katryca, immediately sees through Glitz when he falsely claims the antenna to be responsible for the planet's devastation and has them thrown in prison, later doing the same with Peri when she is captured by the tribe and refuses an offer to join them. The trio escape, as does the Doctor, pursued by a primitive service robot, with the tribe saving him from the robot, but capturing the Doctor, Peri and the mercenaries. Katryca is in no mood to hear out the Doctor, thanks to Glitz's lies and Dibber's blowing up the antenna during their escape, and has them all put back in prison, where Glitz reveals that the planet is indeed Earth, and that the planet was somehow devastated and moved across space shortly after Drathro's creators stole the archive of secrets from another, unidentified civilisation. The service robot returns and tries to abduct the Doctor, but the tribe disable it, with Katryca mistakenly believing the robot to be Drathro and ordering the tribe to raid Marble Arch. There, they encounter the real Drathro, who electrocutes Katryca when she tries to attack it.
Returning to Drathro's chamber, the Doctor tries to persuade it to let him shut down the black light system, the imminent explosion of which could in the worst case destroy the whole universe. Drathro refuses, as it will cease to function either way, until Glitz dupes it into thinking it can be repaired if it comes aboard his ship. After it leaves with the two mercenaries, the Doctor manages to contain the explosion of the black light system to the chamber, but the surge of energy destroys Drathro, and with it, the only copy of the archive. The remains of the tribe offer to take in those humans that were living underground, and the Doctor and Peri say their goodbyes, though the Doctor remains suspicious about what happened to Earth.
In February 1985, the BBC announced that the planned twenty-third season of Doctor Who had been cancelled. After vocal protests by the press and Doctor Who fans (including a charity single, "Doctor in Distress"), the BBC announced that the programme was merely on "hiatus", and would return in September 1986. Several stories which had been planned or commissioned for the original Season 23 were abandoned in favour of an overarching "trial" theme, reflecting the fact that the programme itself was on trial at the BBC.
This story was the last complete Doctor Who story written by Robert Holmes. Its plot is similar to Holmes' first contribution to Doctor Who, The Krotons. In both stories, an alien machine subjugates a humanoid civilisation and forces its brightest young people into its service.
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The Mysterious Planet
The Mysterious Planet is the first serial of the larger narrative known as The Trial of a Time Lord which encompasses the whole of the 23rd season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 6 to 27 September 1986. The title The Mysterious Planet is not used on-screen and only appears in the serial's scripts with the four episodes that comprise the story being transmitted as The Trial of a Time Lord Parts One to Four.
In the serial, the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) is put on trial by his own people, the Time Lords, accused of meddling in the affairs of Earth far in the future, when it has been renamed Ravolox and relocated light years from its original location. Much of the story consists of video testimony presented by the prosecutor the Valeyard (Michael Jayston) of the Doctor attempting to stop the robot Drathro from causing an explosion that would threaten the entire universe.
Events of the serial are framed on an arcing plot that carries through the other three serials of the 23rd season. In this, the Sixth Doctor is forced to land the TARDIS aboard a Gallifreyan space station, where he is brought into a courtroom. The Inquisitor informs the Doctor he is on trial for conduct unbecoming a Time Lord; evidence will be presented by the Valeyard. The first evidence is shown through video footage, taken from the Matrix, of the Doctor's recent involvement in the planet Ravolox, where the Valeyard shows that the Doctor willingly became involved in the affairs of the planet. The Doctor denies these charges as the Valeyard brings them. After showing the video, the Valeyard affirms he has more evidence sufficient to call for the end of the Doctor's life.
As shown by the court evidence, the Doctor and Peri land on Ravolox, a largely uninhabited planet they note bears an unusual similarity to Earth. As they walk, they are observed by Sabalom Glitz and Dibber, a pair of mercenaries out to obtain an archive of highly advanced technological secrets being held by a robot named Drathro. The Doctor and Peri find a tunnel and enter to find remains that appear to be that of the Marble Arch tube station on the London Underground Central line, despite the planet being several light years away from where Earth should be. Peri becomes despondent over her world's apparent fate and refuses to accompany the Doctor as he journeys further into the tunnels and encounters a group of humans serving Drathro, who demands that the Doctor repair its malfunctioning black light power system.
Glitz and Dibber believe that they can disable Drathro by dismantling the antenna for the black light system, which is worshipped as a totem by a tribe made of people who escaped from Marble Arch. The tribe's queen, Katryca, immediately sees through Glitz when he falsely claims the antenna to be responsible for the planet's devastation and has them thrown in prison, later doing the same with Peri when she is captured by the tribe and refuses an offer to join them. The trio escape, as does the Doctor, pursued by a primitive service robot, with the tribe saving him from the robot, but capturing the Doctor, Peri and the mercenaries. Katryca is in no mood to hear out the Doctor, thanks to Glitz's lies and Dibber's blowing up the antenna during their escape, and has them all put back in prison, where Glitz reveals that the planet is indeed Earth, and that the planet was somehow devastated and moved across space shortly after Drathro's creators stole the archive of secrets from another, unidentified civilisation. The service robot returns and tries to abduct the Doctor, but the tribe disable it, with Katryca mistakenly believing the robot to be Drathro and ordering the tribe to raid Marble Arch. There, they encounter the real Drathro, who electrocutes Katryca when she tries to attack it.
Returning to Drathro's chamber, the Doctor tries to persuade it to let him shut down the black light system, the imminent explosion of which could in the worst case destroy the whole universe. Drathro refuses, as it will cease to function either way, until Glitz dupes it into thinking it can be repaired if it comes aboard his ship. After it leaves with the two mercenaries, the Doctor manages to contain the explosion of the black light system to the chamber, but the surge of energy destroys Drathro, and with it, the only copy of the archive. The remains of the tribe offer to take in those humans that were living underground, and the Doctor and Peri say their goodbyes, though the Doctor remains suspicious about what happened to Earth.
In February 1985, the BBC announced that the planned twenty-third season of Doctor Who had been cancelled. After vocal protests by the press and Doctor Who fans (including a charity single, "Doctor in Distress"), the BBC announced that the programme was merely on "hiatus", and would return in September 1986. Several stories which had been planned or commissioned for the original Season 23 were abandoned in favour of an overarching "trial" theme, reflecting the fact that the programme itself was on trial at the BBC.
This story was the last complete Doctor Who story written by Robert Holmes. Its plot is similar to Holmes' first contribution to Doctor Who, The Krotons. In both stories, an alien machine subjugates a humanoid civilisation and forces its brightest young people into its service.