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Doctor Who Season 23 Synopsis
(Note: This "episode guide" to Season 23 is done in the format presented in
"The Doctor Who Programme Guide Vol.1" by Jean-Marc Lofficier and is not in-
tended to infringe upon the rights of the author, Target Books or the British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Contents copyright 1987 by Jim Lyon.)
Twenty-Third Season
Producer Script Editor
John-Nathan Turner Eric Saward
7A 6 September 1986 to 27 September 1986
THE TRIAL OF A TIME LORD -- PART ONE
(THE MYSTERIOUS PLANET) (4 episodes)
(Also incorrectly referred to as "The Robots of Ravolox")
Writer Director
Robert Holmes Nicholas Mallett
Regular Cast: Colin Baker (the Doctor); Nicola Bryant (Peri Brown)
Guest Stars: Michael Jayston (the Valeyard); Lynda Bellingham (the Inquisitor)
Cast: Tony Selby (Sabalom Glitz); Joan Sims (Katryca); Glen Murphy (Dibber);
Roger Brierly (Drathro); Tom Chadbon (Merdeen); David Rodigan (Broken Tooth);
Adam Blackwood (Balazar); Timothy Walker (Grell); Billy McColl (Humker); Sian
Tudor Owen (Tandrell)
Story: The TARDIS is pulled out of time by a mysterious ship from Gallifrey,
sent to put the Doctor on trial for interference. The Valeyard, the prosecu-
ting attorney, selects two separate incidences in the Doctor's past to begin
with, and shows his first evidence, taken from the Matrix. The display begins
with Ravolox, a planet very much like Earth supposedly devastated by a fire
ball some 500 years previous. The Doctor and Peri find an entrance to an un-
derground cavern system and are themselves stalked by Glitz and Dibber, two
rogues who are here in search of some strange "secrets" and believe the Time
Lord on the same trail. Peri stays above and is captured by followers of
Queen Katryca, leader of the Tribe of the Free which is made up of people who
have escaped the underground. Meanwhile, the Doctor is captured by those
below, who etch out an existence unaware of the true condition of the surface.
Believing the planet to really be Earth but unaware of the reason why it is in
the wrong place celestially, the Doctor hears of "The Immortal", ruler of the
underground who keeps his people in darkness. In actuality, the Immortal is
Drathro, an L3 robot whose purpose is to guard the chamber of the Sleepers
until a relief ship from Andromeda can arrive to pick up they and the secrets
they carry. Peri, Glitz and Dibber escape from the Tribe and flee to the un-
derground, where they find the Doctor and all are recaptured. Drathro sends
a service robot to find the Doctor. Drathro, who needs the repair of the
black light converter which supplies its power, insists that the Doctor help
in the repairs, but the system is faulty and about to overload. Aided by
Merdeen, a controller who has been sending people to the surface, the Doctor
is able to stop the incredible explosion that will threaten the universe, and
Drathro is destroyed. Glitz's prized secrets are destroyed with the robot,
but the rogue finds a mineral of value and he and his partner are off. The
Doctor departs, still wondering why Earth was moved out of its constellation
and what the "Secrets" Drathro was guarding were. In the courtroom, the Doc-
tor believes he's won a victory, but the Valeyard says damning evidence is yet
to come.
Book: The Mysterious Planet, by Terrance Dicks.
7B 4 October 1986 to 25 October 1986
THE TRIAL OF A TIME LORD -- PART TWO
(MINDWARP) (4 episodes)
Writer Director
Philip Martin Ron Jones
Regular Cast: see 7A above
Guest Stars: see 7A above
Cast: Brian Blessed (King Yrcanos); Nabil Shaban (Sil); Christopher Ryan (Kiv)
Patrick Ryecart (Crozier); Alibe Parsons (Matrona Kani); Richard Henry (Men-
tor); Trevor Laird (Frax); Gordon Warnecke (Tusa); Thomas Branch (Dorf)
Story: The Valeyard's second set of evidence comes when he displays the planet
Thoros Beta, where the Doctor and Peri have arrived to determine the source of
energy weapons used by the War Lords. They accidentally kill a strange sea
creature and then encounter the Lukoser, a half-man, half-wolf who attacks and
then pleads for mercy. The two spot Sil, whose home planet this is. Crozier,
a scientist employed by Sil's corporation, is involved in an experiment to
transfer the expanding brain of Kiv, head of the Corporation, into another
body and is testing the procedure on Yrcanos, King of the War Lords. The Doc-
tor and Peri help Yrcanos escape but the Time Lord himself is captured and the
mindwarp equipment is used on him, altering his mind. The Doctor becomes a
different person and begins to aid Sil. Peri and Yrcanos find the Lukoser,
which is really Dorf, one of Yrcanos' warriors. Peri becomes a servant to
Kiv's aide, Matrona Kani, but is discovered, captured and questioned by the
transformed Doctor. Yrcanos saves her, but she intervenes when the King tries
to kill the Doctor. The three find Tusa, leader of the revolutionaries here
trying to stop Kiv, and join forces. Kiv's brain is put inside a temporary
body, while the Doctor aids Sil in making better business decisions. Crozier
sees Peri as a fine permanent body for Kiv and she is captured once again.
The effect wears off and the Doctor switches sides again, helping Yrcanos and
Tusa in an attempt to stop the transfer. On his way to rescue Peri, he is
taken out of Time to the trial, while Yrcanos is taken over by the Time Lords
and used as an assassin. Crozier succeeds in his scheme, transferring only
Kiv's consciousness into Peri's mind, destroying her own. Yrcanos bursts in
and goes wild, killing everyone. In the courtroom, the Doctor accuses the
Time Lords of a greater crime than his: killing Peri Brown.
Book: Mindwarp, by Philip Martin (due out soon)
7C-1 1 November 1986 to 22 November 1986
THE TRIAL OF A TIME LORD -- PART THREE
(TERROR OF THE VERVOIDS) (4 episodes)
Writers Director
Pip and Jane Baker Chris Clough
Regular Cast: Colin Baker (the Doctor); Bonnie Langford (Melanie)
Guest Stars: see 7A above
Cast: Honor Blackman (Professor Sarah Lasky); Michael Craig (Commodore Tra-
vers); Denys Hawthorne (Rudge); Yolande Palfrey (Janet); Tony Scoggo (Enzu/
Grenville); Malcolm Tierney (Doland); David Allister (Bruchner); Arthur Hew-
lett (Kimber); Simon Slater (Edwardes); Barbara Ward (Ruth Baxter); Sam Howard
(Anza); Leon Davis (Ortezo); Hugh Beverton (Guard); Mike Mungarvan (Duty Offi-
cer); Peppi Borza, Bob Appleby (Vervoids)
Story: Having had sufficent time to access the Matrix, the Doctor, bereaved
by Peri's death, begins his defense, displaying a segment from his own future.
In 2986, the liner Hyperion Three is beginning a journey from Moga to Earth,
carrying minerals, passengers and a botanical expedition. One of the passen-
gers, Grenville, is really an agent sent to investigate the expedition and its
use of Demeter Seeds. He sends a message to the TARDIS, where it is picked up
by the Doctor and Melanie, his current traveling companion. The TARDIS ar-
rives on the Hyperion. When the Demeter Seeds are stolen, plant pods are
accidentally exposed to bright light. The Doctor and Mel are restricted to
passenger sections by Commodore Travers, whom the Time Lord knows. Mel is
contacted, but circumstances lead to her being captured for the murder of the
communications officer, who dies in an electrocution. One of the Mogarians on
board is killed, and it proves to be Grenville in disguise. The Doctor won-
ders about the expedition, led by Sarah Lasky, and begins his own investiga-
tion. In the trial room, the Doctor insists that some of the footage being
seen is being deliberately distorted. They discover that plant creatures,
called Vervoids, are doing the killing, and have been brought aboard by Lasky
and her two assistants. Melanie is nearly killed, but the Doctor saves her.
Bruchner, one of the assistants, goes mad and tries to send the ship into a
black hole, but he's stopped; during the rescue, the Mogarians and Security
Officer Rudge take over the ship. The Vervoids begin a final effort to des-
troy all life on the ship, because they cannot co-exist with "animal kind".
The Doctor and Mel find a compost heap of dead humans, and then resort to the
only method of stopping them--they, the Commodore and Lasky appropriate the
ship's store of vyanesium, a reactant that when exploded creates bright light
which accelerates the life cycles of the Vervoids, killing them all of old
age. The Doctor protests to the Valeyard that this was necessary, but the
Valeyard insists that the charges be raised to genocide.
Book: Terror of the Vervoids, by Pip and Jane Baker.
Script Editors
Eric Saward, John Nathan-Turner
7C-2 29 November 1986 to 6 December 1986
THE TRIAL OF A TIME LORD -- PART FOUR
(THE ULTIMATE FOE) (2 episodes)
Writers Director
Robert Holmes, Pip and Jane Baker Chris Clough
Regular Cast: see 7C-1 above
Guest Stars: see 7A above, and Anthony Ainley (the Master)
Cast: Tony Selby (Glitz); Geoffrey Hughes (Popplewick); James Bree (Keeper of
the Matrix)
Story: The Doctor protests the genocide charge but cannot present witnesses to
prove his claim that the Matrix was tampered with. He doesn't have to though;
because Melanie and Glitz are taken out of time and appear, just before the
instigator of this grand scheme makes his appearance: the Master. Proving the
Matrix is not secure, he informs everyone that the secrets Glitz was after are
stolen records from the Matrix wanted by the Andromedans because of the tech-
nological information they carry--and proving the Time Lords moved Earth out
of its constellation to avoid this. The Master further announces that the
Valeyard is really a future incarnation of the Doctor, and the Valeyard flees
through the Seventh Door into the Matrix. The Doctor and Glitz follow and end
up in a nightmarish Victorian London setting where they encounter a fun house,
a multi-cloned clerk named Popplewick and the Valeyard himself. Ending up on
a beach, the Doctor and Glitz enter a beach house--the Master's TARDIS, where
the evil Time Lord captures the Doctor and takes him back to the fun house,
the Fantasy Factory. The Valeyard, who is disguised as Popplewick, has an al-
terior motive than the Master--while the latter wishes to rock Gallifrey's
High Council with the knowledge of Earth's constellation shift, the Valeyard
has a "hit list" of Time Lords at the Trial which he is going to kill after
they give him the Doctor's regenerations. Melanie is able to get into the
Matrix after the Doctor is pronounced guilty in a fake trial room. Glitz and
the Master appropriate the "real" Andromeda Secrets, but they are boobytrapped
and the Master's TARDIS is immobilized. The Doctor finds a partical accelera-
tor which the Valeyard is using for his mass murder and sends Mel back to the
trial room to warn them. She succeeds just in time--the Doctor forces a feed-
back in the device and then escapes. The Valeyard, absorbing the energy, is
supposedly destroyed. That part of the Matrix explodes and the Doctor narrow-
ly escapes. Back in the trial room, the Inquisitor drops all charges and is
able to tell the Doctor something she learned from the Master--that Peri is
really alive and living with Yrcanos. Melanie and the Doctor depart after
suggesting that the Inquisitor stand for President of the new High Council.
The TARDIS departs, leaving the trial ship behind.....as well as the new Kee-
per of the Matrix: the Valeyard!
Book: The Ultimate Foe, by Pip and Jane Baker (due out soon)
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