Dr. Who (The Early Years) - Part 71 "Dragonfirei"

It's the far future and the Doctor is interested in visiting Iceworld. A planet where one side is constantly turned away from the sun. While visiting a cafeteria on the surface, they run into Glitz and one of the cafe's waitresses, Ace. Glitz is proudly admiring a treasure map he acquired in a game of chance, but what the Doctor doesn't know is Glitz recently betrayed his rebellious crew and sold them into servitude to Kane, the planets ruler.

Kane is a cold-blooded ruler, literally. He must remain constantly cold as heat severely irritates him. He buys all those who are employed to him, so leaving his employment is impossible. While the Doctor and Glitz go off in search of the treasure, one of Kane's employees is instructed to detain the Nosferatur, Glitz's ship, after Glitz sold them rotten food. When Belaz inquires if she can have the ship, Kane orders the ship destroyed.

While waiting for the Doctor, Mel befriends Ace, the waitress in the cafe who has grown to hate her job. After dealing with a rude and irritating customer in her own style, Ace is fired. With nothing better to do, Ace brings Mel to her quarters where they learn an ice jam is causing the station problems. Ace decides to take care of the problem on her own and introduces Mel to her 'home-brew' explosive - Nitro 9. The authorities are not to happy with the explosives so chase the girls into the lower levels where they catch up with the Doctor and Glitz. When they meet the underground 'dragon', they learn that Kane is in exile and the dragon is his jailer. They also learn the dragon is holding the ultimate power to the station, in its head. However the treasure map has a hidden tracking device on it as well as a microphone and Kane hears the entire conversation. Kane now sees his opportunity to escape his prison.

In order to acquire the required power source, Kane awakes a few of the mercenaries he has put on ice. Kane finds it a twisted irony to send his most recently acquired mercenaries, Glitz's old shipmates. He then orders the mercenaries to capture the dragon below and to drive the rest of the stations inhabitants towards the Nasferatu. Kane has decided to cleanse the station of all personnel. Trying to return to his ship, Glitz is shocked to find the stations inhabitants have all gathered on his ship and are taking off. Glitz begs for them to open up but they strive to get out as soon as they can. Once clear of the station, Kane then fires on the ship, destroying it. Glitz vows revenge on Kane.

Once his staff have 'killed' the dragon and retrieved the power source, a surge kills those involved - one final trap set by the jailer. The Doctor takes the power and returns to Kane. Mel is holding the power source and refuses to give it to Kane, till he takes Ace hostage. Now with the power needed, Kane begins his retreat from the Iceworld to exact his revenge on his home planet. But the Doctor has some shocking news for him. During his 3000 year exile, his home planet has been wiped out by a super nova. Robbed of his revenge, Kane opens the heat shields of the sun and kills himself; having nothing left to live for.

Glitz seizes his opportunity and takes control of Kane's spacecraft. He has agreed to take Ace home, back to her own time and place. She revealed to Mel earlier she comes from the 20th century and was caught up in a time storm that transported her to Iceworld. Mel also has decided to take leave of the Doctor and hopes to travel with Glitz for awhile, possibly to reform him. As she heads out, she mentions to the Doctor, Ace has no where to go, as she doesn't want to go home. The Doctor agrees to take on Ace under three conditions.
1.) He is always right.
2.) He is called the Doctor, Not Professor, as Ace is prone to call him.
3.......... He will decide on the third rule at a later time.

WHO: Dorothy "Ace" McShane

PLANET OF ORIGIN: Earth, circa 1987

REASON FOR JOINING: Unwilling to return home or travel with Glitz, the Doctor offers her a ride home via "the scenic route".

 

WHO: Melanie Bush

DEPARTURE LOCATION: Iceworld, The far, far future.

REASON FOR DEPARTURE:Having grown tired of travelling with the Doctor, Mel hopes for more adventure with Glitz, and to some degree hopes to reform him.

Bonus Photo!