Dr. Who (The Early Years) - Part 72 "Silver Nemesis"

Doctor Who's 25th Anniversary Episode

It's Windsor, 1638. Lady Peinforte and her companion Richard Maynarde are in search of a Silver statue known as Nemesis. In an earlier untelevised adventure she met the seventh Doctor where she learned the secret of who he really is, his planet Gallifrey and the components of the Nemesis statue - Validium. Validium is a sentient metal created by Omega and Rassilon as a defence for Gallifrey. Somehow, some of this metal fell to Earth and was discovered by Lady Peinforte. She formed the metal into a statue of herself, and the statue told her of Gallifrey and some rudimentary secrets of time. Armed with those secrets and the Silver Arrow, she concocts a potion to transport her in time to 1988 to redezvous with the Statue.

 

In 1988, a group of neo-nazi's, led by De Flores,  are also searching for the Nemesis statue. Through uncertain contacts, they have found out an 'asteroid' containing the statue will be arriving on Earth in Windsor. Hoping to utilize the power, the Nazi's travel from South Africa to Windsor to acquire the statue. They have in their possession the Silver Bow, which given to the statue along with the Silver Arrow, will allow them to control the living metal. Whoever is in control of the Nemesis can then manipulate all of time and space.   

As the Doctor becomes involved, Ace strives to figure out what is really going on, but as per usual the Doctor is keeping his secrets. Right from the beginning they are under fire from an unknown force. They run into De Flores who immediately orders Ace's execution. But she's saved when a space craft flies overhead. Ace is thankful to whoever just "saved her life", but the Doctor tells her she'll likely live to regret it. The ship lands and Cybermen pour out of the ship, they too are looking for the Nemesis.

The Cybermen open fire, immediately decimating many of the Nazi troops. From the outskirts, Lady Peinforte fires upon the Cybermen with her arrows and is delighted to find they are effective, despite the Nazi bullets which seem to have no effect on the Cybermen. But her arrow-heads are crafted in gold, the one substance lethal to the Cybermen. With this revelation, she withdraws hoping the Nazi's and Cybermen fight each other to the death. During the course of the battle, the Doctor secretly steals the bow away from the Nazi's and the Cybermen take control of the Nemesis once it hits ground. Lady Peinforte still has the Silver Arrow.

Still believing they have the Silver Bow, De Flores forges an unsteady alliance with the Cybermen. De Flores' selling point is he and his men are immune to whatever is afflicting the Cybermen, he's unaware the gold tipped arrows are the problem. With the alliance cast, both go their separate way, though vowing to destroy the other side first chance they get. Meanwhile, Lady Peinforte is convinced she will shortly be in possession of the Silver Bow and the Nemesis. Drunk on the prospect of potential power, she begins to go mad.

Once finding the Nemesis, Lady Peinforte primes it by giving it the Silver Arrow. She believes she can easily acquire the Silver Bow and be in full control, but the Cybermen discover her and she is forced to flee. At this point, De Flores discovers he is no longer in possession of the Silver Bow, which had been stolen by the Doctor. The Cybermen dissolve the temporary alliance. De Flores claims they still need him because the Doctor will not just walk in and hand them the bow. No sooner said than done, the Doctor walks in and offers the Cybermen the Silver Bow. But it's a stalling tactic and the Doctor actually hands the Nemesis the bow, then departs as quickly as he came in, taking the Silver Bow with him.

Now that the Nemesis is fully primed, it will follow the Silver Bow. The Doctor makes his way towards an abandoned warehouse where the Cybermen have stored the "asteroid" or rocket the Nemesis fell to Earth in. Armed with some gold coins and a slingshot, Ace protects the Doctor, destroying all Cybermen that get in her way while the Doctor programmes the Nemesis to leave Earth and destroy a massive Cyber Invasion Fleet. With the Cybermen dispatched, De Flores tries to take control. But the Cyber Leader was not destroyed as Ace had hoped and kills De Flores and his last remaining man.

Lady Peinforte re-enters the scene now, still completely drunk on her potential power. She orders the Doctor to give her the Bow. The Doctor refuses so she threatens to tell the Cybermen all about the Doctor, who he really is. Not persuaded, the Doctor ignores her demand and hands the Silver Bow to a surprised Cyber Leader. The Cyber Leader reveals he doesn't care about the Doctor's origin, he only wanted the Silver Nemesis and the ultimate power. He orders the Doctor to dismiss his last command to the Nemesis and have it rendezvous with the Cyber Fleet. The Doctor asks the Nemesis if it understood the order and it says it does. The Doctor then sends it on it's way. But driven insane knowing she is not to have the ultimate power, Lady Peinforte jumps into the rocket with the Nemesis and merges with it, leaving her faithful companion behind. The Cyberleader orders they watch as the Nemesis is delivered to the Cyber Fleet. But the Doctor has tricked the Cybermen. He only asked the Nemesis if it understood the order, which it did, he didn't order the Nemesis to follow the instructions. Meeting up with the Cyber Fleet, the Nemesis destroys it. Wishing to take revenge on the Doctor, the Cyber Leader attempts to eradicate him. Realizing he can save the Doctor, Richard grabs a gold tipped arrow which had previously been shot at the Tardis, and drives it into the Cyber Leader, destroying it. The Doctor agrees to take Richard home.

Bonus Photo!

The Doctor wearing a fez, because fez's are cool. And he's even got a mop. Hmmm, could this be where Matt Smith got this from?

Dr. Who (The Early Years) - Part 70 "Time & The Rani"

The Tardis is mysteriously and violently attacked. Mel and the Doctor are knocked unconscious as the Tardis is drawn off course and lands on the planet Lakertya. Upon landing on the planet, the doors are forced open and the Rani strolls in just as the Doctor is regenerating.She ignores Mel and instructs her multi-eyed, alien bat-like creature to bring the Doctor; the Tetrap complies. The Rani is known for her dangerous experiments but it's unclear why she's brought the Doctor. To help or to experiment on him?

With the Doctor suffering from post-regenerative stress syndrome, the Rani took full advantage. She induced an even greater memory loss to the Doctor and began to impersonate his companion. As his companion, Rani/Melanie encouraged him to continue the work he was doing before an explosion in his lab forced his regeneration. The Doctor took Rani/Melanie at her word and reluctantly began helping repair a damaged machine.

As the Doctor is helping the Rani, the real Melanie has awoken and left the Tardis in search of the Doctor. She runs across a native who despises Rani for the experiments she's running and blackmailing Beyus, (the leader of the Lakertya people) into helping her. Meanwhile, the Doctor is beginning to feel better and starts to see through the Rani's deception. With her in tow, he heads to the Tardis to change clothes, though still falling for her deception. The Rani instructs her Tetraps to capture Mel before the Doctor realizes the truth.

As the Rani finds out, Mel has already woken up and left the Tardis. She narrowly avoids dying in one of the many traps set. She's helped by Ikona who realizes she's not working with the Rani as he previously thought. He helps her sneak into the Rani's base of operations where she meets the newly regenerated Doctor. It's a case of mistaken identity and neither trusts the other one, the Doctor thinking Mel is the Rani in disguise. Checking each others wrists for double pulses, they realize the truth. When the Rani returns, Mel hides and the Doctor tries to stall, but she soon realizes the Doctor has now snapped out of his amnesia and knows the Rani for who she is.

It's almost too late for the Doctor to thwart the Rani's plans. She has captured the 'crème de la crème' of greatest thinkers to help her fire a rocket, destroying a strange matter asteroid, turning the entire planet into a huge Time Manipulator. Now unwilling to help, the Rani places the Doctor alongside the other great intellects and is having his brain drained of his knowledge. But the Doctor outwits her, causing a delay in her calculations and foiling her plans. Beyus then sacrifices himself to destroy her equipment, thus stopping her from trying again. The others are horrified she quickly escapes to her Tardis, but the Doctor seems to know the truth. Her Tetrap servants realized she was going to double cross them, so they've beat her to the punch. They are now in control of her Tardis with her captured.

BONUS PHOTO!

Dr. Who (The Early Years) - Part 68 "The Ultimate Foe"

The Valeyard had just claimed the Doctor now needs to be tried for genocide. Outraged, the Doctor again claims the matrix has been tampered with. In order to prove it's impossible, the Inquisitor brings in the keeper of the Matrix. He claims changes to the Matrix are impossible because he personally holds the key, which never leaves his side. The Doctor points out it has from time to time when maintenance is needed. Stubbornly, the keeper of the key refuses to admit such an event is possible, and those in possession of the key when not in his hands are "qualified personnel".

When the Valeyard claims the Doctor is just stalling for time, the Inquisitor asks the Doctor if he has any witnesses available that can back up his version of events. The Doctor asks how he'd have witnesses with him, any companions who could back him up are scattered across the universe and all through time. But mysteriously, two capsules arrive carrying Glitz and Melanie. It's revealed the Master has sent them along to 'help' the Doctor. He has penetrated the Matrix (just as the Doctor claimed was possible) and has been following the trial with great interest, though he is not responsible for the alterations.

The Master makes another startling statement when he calls the Valeyard the Doctor. It turns out, the Valeyard in an amalgam of all the Doctors darkest sides, coming between his 11th and 12th regenerations. He's working with the High Council to hide their corruption. They have promised the Valeyard the Doctors remaining regenerations. The Master finally admits he's only helping the Doctor for two reasons. The first is to discredit the Valeyard. The Master hopes the revelations will shock Gallifrey to it's very core. Also, he's helping the Doctor because he wants to kill the Doctor personally. While explaining all this, the Valeyard escapes into the Matrix. The Doctor takes Glitz and follows the Valeyard.

While inside the Matrix, the Valeyard tries to kill the Doctor but the Master gives the Doctor refuge. He continues to relate why he's helping. He admits that the Valeyard, without the good qualities of the Doctor that holds him back, is the ultimate foe. Additionally, he wants to steal the Gallifreyan secrets and bribes Glitz into helping him. Glitz is able to persuade the secrets from Mr. Poppelwick, via use of a gun.

Meanwhile, the Doctor escapes from the Valeyard and finds Mel in the Matrix, she coaxes him out to the trial room where the Inquisitor sentences the Doctor to death. The Doctor agrees to the verdict and heads back to the Matrix. But this is all a ruse, another fabrication of the Valeyards. In the real trial room, the Inquisitor tells Mel they are helpless and cannot interfere. Mel disagrees and steals the Matrix key and runs in to warn the Doctor. But the Doctor knows it was a ruse and was pretending to give up his life to get close to the Valeyard. Once they meet him, they find out he's wired the monitor in the trial room to explode, hoping to kill the Inquisitor and the Timelords in the trial room. Mel runs off to warn the courtroom.

Struggling to save the courtroom, the Doctor narrowly averts the disaster, though a surge still destroys the courtroom monitor and takes out the Valeyard. Meanwhile, the Master tries to install the Gallifreyan data into his Tardis, but it's not authentic and it traps both him and Glitz. Back in the courtroom, the Inquisitor offers her thanks to the Doctor and once again suggests him for the Presidency, to which the Doctor politely declines. He's also delighted to find out, one of the fabrications of the Matrix was the death of Peri. It turns out she's living as a Queen with King Yrcanos. The courtroom clears and the last persons to leave is the keeper of the Matrix key, but it turns out to be the Valeyard in disguise.

WHO: The Doctor (6th)

DEPARTURE LOCATION: Last seen in the Timelord Courtroom.

REASON FOR DEPARTURE: Little is known (in the televised) series as to why the Doctor regenerates. It's possible an explosion in the Tardis as a result of a strong tractor beam can be the culprit.

Dr. Who (The Early Years) - Part 67 "Terror of the Vervoids"

The Doctor has just learned that Peri died in the previous episode, but the show must go on. Or in the Doctor's case, his trial must go on. Given the same opportunity as the Valeyard, the Doctor draws upon the Matrix as his evidence. His defence (at least to the Valeyard) is he improves in the future. To illustrate this, he highlights an adventure that take place in the future, with a future companion; Melanie.

The adventure begins when the Tardis suddenly receives a distress call. Quickly the Doctor answers it and the Tardis materializes inside the Hyperion III. Initially, Rudge, the security chief apprehends the Doctor and Mel - not knowing how they got inside the ship. The Doctor is taken to Commodore Travers, who already knows the Doctor from a previous unseen adventure. Knowing the Doctors reputation for running into trouble, Travers is none to pleased to meet him.

The Doctor is set to work immediately as one death has already taken place. Mel decides she wants to investigate the hydroponics bay, but the Doctor dismisses her and the lead she's following up on. Immediately, the Doctor (back in the court-room) halts the matrix. He claims the Matrix has been tampered with as he wouldn't have dismissed Mel and her evidence. Again, the Valeyard claims the Matrix cannot be altered. Reluctantly, the Doctor decides to continue airing the episode. He hopes it'll give him a clue to who's trying to frame him and how.

It isn't long before the episode is once again interrupted when the Valeyard questions the Doctor on seeming to have additional information than what the court room has. He accuses the Doctor of omitting evidence. The Doctor, however, is able to support his evidence by reshowing a crucial part with the Mogarians and the Commodore. Two of the Mogarians turn on their translators before talking, but one does not. However, the Mogarians are peace loving people so it's unlikely they are the culprits behind the now several murders.

Despite being peace loving, the Mogarians voice their views of the humans who they think are taking advantage of some mining rights. As their innocence seems unsteady, another group appear with some shady motives. Lasky and her associates have a cabin which remains locked at all times with a guard standing duty. Horrible moans and crashing can be heard within at times. In the fitness centre, one of the group talks about the disturbing aspect of their research and has his doubts about their research.

Inclined to investigate this tight lipped group, Mel convinces the Doctor of the urgency. After breaking into the isolation room, the Doctor and Mel are shocked to find a human/plant hybrid. This is the questionable research the group have been working on. Currently they are en route to Earth where professor Lasky hopes to cure the woman. The Doctor and Mel are ushered out of the isolation room so the hybrid can be sedated. But there is still the problem of the mysterious deaths.

As if problems aren't bad enough, it's soon revealed that Security Chief Rudge is hijacking the freighter along with the Mogarians. The Mogarians wish to 'liberate' the minerals mined from their planet and are paying Rudge for his help. As he's reaching retirement, he's hoping for a more secure future. But Mel is able to sneak away and warn the others. The hijacking is thwarted.

Despite all the motives floating around, the real culprits behind all the murders are the Vervoids. A species created by Professor Lasky and her companions. Mel is shocked when she discovers their human compost heap, but the Doctor reminds her it's all relative. It's no more unusual for the plant-like Vervoids to compost humans as it would be for humans to do so with discarded plants. Essentially, the Vervoids are acting completely out of instinct in order to preserve their race.

Realizing how dangerous the Vervoids can be, The Doctor orchestrates their demise by using a rare metal that accelerates their growth. The Vervoids wither and die in seconds, not so much as a leaf survives. The Doctor concludes his testimony, satisfied with the results. But the Valeyard gleefully acknowledges the original charge the Doctor is facing is moot. He now faces a much greater charge, GENOCIDE!

WHO: Melanie Bush

PLANET OF ORIGIN: Earth, circa 1986

REASON FOR JOINING: There is no televised encounter of Mel and the Doctor's first meeting.

Dr. Who (The Early Years) - Part 66 "Mindwarp"

As further evidence against the Doctor, the Valeyard reveals another example of the Doctors meddling. This time, the Doctor and Peri are visiting Thoros Beta, the home world of Sil; a creature they previously met. (Vengeance on Varos) Last time, Sil turned Peri into a half-bird creature. The Doctor is on the planet investigating how a warrior race acquired advanced technology. But it isn't long before they are captured and identified by Sil.

As the Doctor is being interrogated, he's rescued when another prisoner, (King Yrcanos; played by Brian Blessed) escapes and wrecks havoc in the science lab. He frees the Doctor and all three escape. They then run into Dorf, Yrcanos' companion, who has been experimented on by the mad scientist Crozier. He's now more of a dog/wolf-like creature.


With his swiss-cheesed brain, the Doctor is having problem remembering events the way the matrix is showing the rest of the court room. So he's surprised to watch himself betray both King Yrcanos and Peri. King Yrcanos swears vengeance on the treacherous Doctor, who has now sided with Sil and Crozier. Crozier's aim is to remove the mind of the dying leader Kiv, to that of another body. The Doctor announces to the court, though he can't remember, it was likely a ploy to discover more information.

King Yrcanos soon gets his chance to avenge himself on the Doctor but is thwarted by Peri, who refuses to see the Doctor die. She's uncertain of why the Doctor turned on them, but knows he's a good guy. Yrcanos is confused, but soon forgives Peri when he discovers an underground movement to rebel against Kiv and Sil. Yrcanos believes it will be a glorious fight, but they are soon captured.

The mind transplant is successful, to some degree. It works, but has to be perfected. Crozier is determined to try one more time, under pain of death (or so decreed by Kiv). When Crozier makes it know he wishes to use Peri, the Doctor is given the option of finding a better candidate. As the Doctor heads off to a slave conversion room, Crozier orders Peri brought to him anyway, unbeknownst to the Doctor.

The Doctor next goes to release the King Yrcanos and the rest, but Peri is already gone. Though he has sworn to kill the Doctor, Yrcanos agrees to let the Doctor live and accept his help. As the fighting commences, Dorf is killed in battle. Making their way to free Peri, the Doctor is suddenly drawn out of time and space by the Time Lords, which is how he appeared at the beginning of the first Trial Story. The Doctor demands to know why they pulled him out of space and time at such a crucial time.

This time the Inquisitor informs the Doctor of the reason. The High Council of the Time Lords felt things had gotten out of hand and that Croziers experiments could alter the balance of the universe. Having frozen King Yrcanos in time temporarily, the Doctor is shocked to learn the Time Lords are using him as an executioner. But the biggest shock of all is when the Doctor sees Crozier has successfully implanted Kiv's mind into that of Peri. The Time Lords then release King Yrcanos who goes on to exterminate everyone in the room, including Peri (Whom ). The Doctor refuses to believe it, but knows the Matrix can not lie.

WHO: Perpugilliam Brown

DEPARTURE LOCATION: Thoros Beta, 2379

REASON FOR DEPARTURE: Assassinated by King Yrcanos after the mind of Kiv had been superimposed onto her mind.

Dr. Who (The Early Years) - Part 65 "The Mysterious Planet"

Drawn by an unknown force, the Doctor's Tardis is brought to a station in space. Oddly, he no longer has Peri with him. Seeing the only door available to him, he walks into a courtroom. The High Council of Gallifrey is putting the Doctor on trial once again at the behest of the Valeyard, a character bent on finding the Doctor guilty of serious crimes of intervening in other planets affairs. The Doctor claims that as President of Gallifrey, he can't be put on trial. He's then informed because he refused to return to Gallifrey, he was deposed. Reluctantly, the Doctor sits down, allowing the trial to continue.

The Valeyard is utilizing the Matrix to illustrate the point of how the Doctor willingly gets over involved in the affairs of others. Using a visualizer in the courtroom, we see the Doctor and Peri materialize on a mysterious planet. The Doctor says the planet is named Ravalox and was to have been destroyed by a fireball, but it's evidently not true. To add further mystery, it's the same size and angle as the Earth. As they continue to investigate, they are being watched by a pair of rouges who want to kill the Doctor, claiming they hate 'competitors'. The man in charge is Sabalom Glitz, a mercenary.

As the matrix continues to follow Glitz and his companion, it bleeps out phrases of their speech to which the Doctor cries fowl. The Inquisitor allows the edited version for now, turning back to the visualizer. The Doctor and Peri have split up when they discover an abandoned "Marble Arch" underground station, which seems to confirm to the Doctor this is actually the planet Earth. As he continues to investigate Peri is captured by a local tribe who have also captured Sabalom Glitz and partner. Meanwhile, the Doctor is captured by the underground dwellers who think he's stealing water. After being stoned, he manages to escape and is also captured by the outside tribe. But there is an 'immortal' living below who wants the Doctor recaptured so he sends a L1 robot to recapture him. While the Doctor is captured, Peri and Glitz are able to escape.

While underground, the Doctor meets Drathro, a robot designed to help maintain order in the facility, but has gone a little mental. And when the Doctor tries to tell it, a faulty black light converter needs to be shut down before there is a cosmos shattering explosion, Drathro refuses to let him do so, realizing that means it will cease to function.

After destroying the L1 robot, Katryca, leads the rest of her tribe into the underground station to steal the secrets within. They believe the service robot was in fact the immortal. Before too long, she realizes her mistake when she storms into Drathro's lair where he kills her by electrocution. Drathro orders everyone else outside to awate being 'culled'. They obediently do as they are told. This gives the Doctor one last chance to disable the converter, but still fails to do so.

Trying once more, this time with Glitz' help, the Doctor is able to stop the catastrophe. Glitz has tricked Drathro into thinking he can support it with black light from his ship. Realistically though, Glitz was trying to steal away the secrets Drathro was carrying. When the Doctor averts most of the explosion, Drathro is destroyed, taking the secrets Glitz so desperately wanted. The crisis is averted, and back in the courtroom, the Doctor gleefully says he's won the case because he averted the destruction of the universe. But the Valeyard contents his meddling possible initiated it and has one more case to show the court.



Bonus Photo: The Valeyard

Who is the Valeyard, and why is he so determined to see the Doctors demise?

Dr. Who (The Early Years) - Part 63 "The Twin Dilemma"

While the Doctor is still recovering from his regeneration, this episode begins with a set of highly intelligent twins working on computations. They are not surprised to discover their mother has gone out again, but are rather disappointed when their father goes out. Once they are left alone, a strange visitor stops by claiming to look for their father. They persuade him to leave, but he places hypnotic disks on their arms so they lose their memory. He has both of them grab his arms as he activates a teleportation ring and they disappear.

Inside the Tardis, the Doctor is having trouble stabilizing after his regeneration. He doesn't feel quite like himself and finds himself very paranoid. Stabilizing for a bit, he attempts a change of cloths, to which Peri find hideous. But the Doctor is also having fits of rage. During one such fit, he accuses Peri of being a spy and attempts to choke the life out of her. Peri succeeds in fending off the Doctor when she uses a mirror to blind him. The Doctor is barely able to apologize when again he destabilizes and claims Peri is a coward when she does not want to search for a survivor from a crashed ship they discover.

Peri thinks no one could have survived the ship wreck, so when the Doctor finds a survivor he degrades Peri for wanting to give up so quickly. They take the survivor to the Tardis, then go to investigate a building they see off in the distance. When they are captured, the Doctor hides behind Peri in terror and claims it was Peri's fault they are there. Taken inside, the Doctor meets Azmael, a fellow renegade Timelord and friend. The Doctor is shocked to discover Azmael barely remembers the Doctor and leaves him and Peri locked in a building which one of Azmael's lackeys rigs to detonate. Azmael seems to be involved in a radical plot, which is very unlike his nature.

Under pressure, the Doctor is able to use his wits to escape the exploding room. He safely teleports both of them back into the Tardis where a now conscious Hugo is waiting for answers. He's been investigating the disappearance of the twins and thinks the Doctor is involved. Peri is able to convince him they are innocent. Somewhat reluctantly, they team up to find who kidnapped the twins and why. The Doctor realizes his old chum Azmael is involved, but not sure to what degree. Initially he's furious, thinking Azmael knew about the explosion.

The real villain is a creature called Mestor whose been pressuring Azmael into helping. Azmael has agreed, thinking he's protecting the people of Jaconda. But Mestor's plans are more shocking than Azmael has bargained for. Mestor has a fully stocked armada of larva which can only hatch in intense heat. The Doctor shows Azmael that Mestor plans to explode the sun surrounding Jaconda in hopes of spreading the larva throughout the entire galaxy. Now knowing this, Azmael agrees to help the Doctor thwart Mestor's plans.

The problem is, Mestor is too well protected, as demonstrated when the Doctor tries to destroy him. Mestor's mental abilities put up a strong defense. To further prove his point, he places his own conscious inside Azmael's. This time it's Mestor who is tricked, as Azmael has distracted the gastropod long enough for the Doctor to attack his body once more. This time the attack works, but Azmael is killed int he process, having used up all his regenerations. As he dies, he tells the Doctor he does indeed remember the last time the two met.




Bonus Photo: The Doctor selects his outfit.