Spare Parts

This story takes place between the television adventures Time-Flight and Arc of Infinity. Serial 6C/E: 2 Discs, 4 episodes (133 Minutes), recorded on 26-27 March 2002 at Moat Studios, released July 2002, Writer: Marc Platt, Director: Gary Russell, Producer: Jason Haigh-Ellery & Gary Russell, Executive Producer: Jacqueline Rayner

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Pamela Binns (Sisterman Constant), Nicholas Briggs (Zheng), Paul Copley (Dad), Kathryn Guck (Yvonne Hartley), Jim Hartley (Frank Hartley), Ann Jenkins (Mrs Ginsberg), Sally Knyvette (Doctorman Allan), Alistair Lock (Minister / TV Commentator), Derren Nesbitt (Thomas Dodd), Gary Russell (Philpott / Nurse)

Always throws me with early BF having the "wrong" music. But I like it...!

After six years training Crewman Donald Philpott will become the first man to set foot on the surface of the world...

Philpott is overcome by the vastness of the universe, and screams in terror!

Some time later, the 5th Doctor and Nyssa are taking a trip to the pictures... but the cinema's closed down. 

The Doctor tells Nyssa they're in 1950s London, but she points out they're in a huge underground cavern.

Elsewhere, a family are setting about catching a silver "rat" with a "cheeser", an electronic trap.

Mr. Hartley and his daughter Yvonne come across a nest, but some timber and rubble falls on the man.

Nyssa, having set out to explore, encounters the girl, Yvonne, and attempts to free her dad.

There's no pulse, but just when Nyssa tries to break it to Yvonne that her father's dad, the man speaks up!

With curfew approaching, they insist on taking Nyssa home with them.

Meanwhile, the Doctor finds his way into the shop of Thomas Dodd, a dealer in human body parts for transplant.

It seems the Doctor - who says he's never been on a tram - has his suspicions about which planet he's really on...

At the Hartley's, Yvonne's brother Frank is waiting with Sisterman Constant, a medical official.

Constant enquires after Yvonne's breathing and Mr. Hartley's artificial heart. Nyssa piques her interest too...

Nyssa gets a bit snooty with the Sisterman, who is selecting candidates to be "crewmen" to go to the surface...

Although she leaves, the Sisterman takes out a communicator to give a report on "Nyssa O'Traken".

Dodd confirms the Doctor’s suspicion that the planet he has landed on is indeed Mondas...

Outside the shop the Doctor encounters a cybernetic Policeman...

...who's a primitive cyborg, not yet as advanced as a Cyberman. He tries to arrest them for breaking curfew.

Nyssa shares a meal with the Hartley's, and Frank teases his sister about taking a shine on Eric Krailford...

Yvonne shows Nyssa her rusty cybernetic pet, a bird called Trillby - he's a mark 2.

As Nyssa takes a look at Mr. Hartley's artificial heart, they hear a curfew breaker in distress outside.

Elsewhere, the Doctor and Dodd are puzzled by heavy traffic movement.

At the Hartley's, dad has found a tree for them to put up and decorate for Christmas, like the one in the square.

Nyssa is puzzled by Yvonne's "mat", a 'silver worm'. Mr. Hartley catches wild mats for a living. 

In the Church of Former-Day Souls, the Doctor discovers the Police are digging up the graveyard for body parts...

Frank wants to join up to be a crewman, to see the sky when they break through.

Mr. Hartley is dead set against it; no one ever returns.

Yvonne has some form of asthma attack at the news that Eric Krailford has joined up...

The cybernetic police arrive at the Hartley's and Nyssa has to hide.

The Doctor and Dodd are attacked by a Policeman, but they escape by pushing it into the church clock mechanism.

The Doctor sets the bell tolling, to summon the population, to alert them to the horror being perpetrated in their name.

The Doctor hopes the people will force their government to stop development of the Cybermen.

When the cybernetic police rampage through the Hartley house, Frank exposes Nyssa, who has to run for it.

The Doctor and Nyssa are reunited, and make it back to the TARDIS, where they argue about altering history of the Cybermen.

Mondas' Central Committee decides that the Doctor and Nyssa must be found and eliminated as insurgents! End of part one!

Nyssa believes that they should intervene to stop the creation of the Cybermen.

The Doctor hopes his ‘wake-up call’ with the church bell will be sufficient to make the Mondasians change their own future.

The sore point of Adric's death is raised when the two clash about changing history.

The Cybernetic Police use force to crush the unrest.

The Doctor is horrified to learn that the "mat" Nyssa was given by Yvonne, is a Cybermat - and it's aboard his TARDIS!

At the Committee Palace hospital, the cynical Doctorman Allan, the Surgeon-General of Mondas & CMO...

...who's in charge of the Cyberman programme, is increasingly frustrated by the project's failures & rejections.

The TARDIS is trapped on Mondas as "Matty" has gnawed the main energy conduit in the console.

Nyssa offers to work on repairs, but #DoctorWho retorts "it's not a bicycle puncture!"

Doctorman Allan butts heads with the "Committe". She's short of resources & her subjects survive barely a week...

...as their immune systems reject the cybernetic implants. Despite this, the Committee order production stepped up.

Frank arrives at the TARDIS & tells Nyssa that Yvonne has received her call-up papers...

... in other words, she has been taken to be converted into a Cyberman!

The Committee decide to spare Doctorman Allan from conversion for now, while she remains useful.

Constant is horrified by Allan's forecasts of processing for all. Allan seeks her solace in a bottle of wine.

The Doctor attempts to stir up more unrest by causing a truck-load of bones from the graveyard to lose its load in public.

Nyssa & Frank find the TARDIS surrounded by swarms of cybermats. 

Yvonne is confused and afraid as Sisterman Constance ushers her towards the processing...

The Committee summon Commander Zheng from the surface to restore order.

Dodd refuses Mr. Hartley credit for a replacement for his malfunctioning chestbox.

The Doctor approaches Dodd, hoping he knows a way into the Committee Palace...

Nyssa worries that Frank may have left the TARDIS door open, which would allow the cybermats to swarm in...

Dodd locks the Doctor in his freezer, hoping to steal his organs and body parts: "fresh supplies", or Spare Parts if you like...

Nyssa diverts power to the TARDIS' outer shell to shock the cybermats.

His assets frozen, #DoctorWho promises to never be facetious about a strawberry Mivvi again...

Tipped off by a Cybermat, a squad of Policemen arrive, and smash through Dodd's shop. #DoctorWho makes his escape.

#DoctorWho tries to make his escape on a cybernetic horse, but is intercepted by Doctorman Allan.

At the home of the Hartleys, Nyssa observes the new ‘Crewmen’ being paraded on television...

...and is horrified to see that they are fully processed Cybermen.

A sudden power-failure throughout the city causes mass panic, as part-processed Cybermen become disorientated.

DoctorWho realises that Mondas is entering the Cherrybowl Nebula... 

...with the result that the destruction of Mondas is imminent.

"Maybe I was wrong, maybe Mondas doesn't have a future after all..."
End of part two!

Debris crushes the Police Escort of #DoctorWho & Dodd allowing them to escape into the shelter of the Palace.

Constant is attempting to restrain the half-processed Cybermen, but one of them has escaped.

Allan goes to try to restore power to the Central Committee.

The escaped Cyberman encounters #DoctorWho – Dodd having run off in terror – who offers to help.

The Cyberman is Yvonne. Her memories are still in there, as she remembers wanting to show her dad her uniform.

Mondas' situation is dire: without power the Hartleys are unable to offer Nyssa a cup of tea.

#DoctorWho attempts to rescue Allan from a Cyberman escort, but this early version is immune to the effects of gold.

Allan is able to deactivate the freshly converted Cyberman with a failsafe mechanism, and agrees to team up with #DoctorWho.

Nyssa & Frank find #DoctorWho is not at the TARDIS, and have to evade the police.

As they are searching for a way to restore power to the City, #DoctorWho discovers the truth behind the Committee...

In the hospital ward, one of the semi-processed Cybermen, believing that Constant is withholding data, attacks her.

However, Commander Zheng arrives and kills the rogue Crewman.

His squad take the semi-processed Cybermen into custody until processing can be completed...

...and sends an appalled Constant to be cyber-converted as a way of ‘healing’ the injuries caused by her attacker 

...the electronic voice comes from the combined minds of 20 of Mondas’s best thinkers, plugged into a giant computer.

#DoctorWho calls the Committee, "a primitive many headed cybernetic hydra... it's obscene."

When Zheng arrives to oversee repairs to the Committee, #DoctorWho says he's her assistant. "Every Doctor should have one!"

At the Hartley apartment, Nyssa, Frank & Mr. Hartley are horrified as a Cyberman begins to force its way in...

Nyssa is horrified to discover their Cyberman 'attacker' is a distressed Yvonne...

She wanted her dad to see her in her ‘uniform’. When he tries to remove her mask, she flees.

The Committee agrees with #DoctorWho that restoring power to the city must come first and overrules Zheng.

But as #DoctorWho closes the final circuit Zheng reactivates the power before he’s clear.

Mr Hartley tries to calm and comfort Yvonne, and shows her their holiday tree, a symbol of happier times.

But with the power back on the processing automatically starts to complete...

Doctorman Allan is amazed by #DoctorWho's healing capabilities and begins to get a very nasty idea...

Away from the hospital support, Yvonne’s body is unable to cope and she dies.

Allan is horrified to hear that Constance has been taken for processing.

The frozen, poisonous atmosphere begins to flood in through the breach in the dome. Mondas' days are numbered.

With Dodd's help, #DoctorWho is able to phone Nyssa at the Hartley's home...

...but their call is cut short when a Policeman arrives and arrests Nyssa.

A scan has revealed #DoctorWho has an additional brain lobe, not present in humans, which deals with all bodily functions.

Allan can reproduce this in all future Cybermen, which will prevent their bodies rejecting the cybernetic implants.

The Committee instructs her to proceed, declaring from now on the Cybermen will be invincible. "WE WILL SURVIVE!"

PART FOUR! As #DoctorWho is prepared for a scan to produce the necessary template for the new Cybermen...

...the Committee orders the entire population must be processed & work on a planetary propulsion system must quicken

Love that the little communication chime echoes Malcolm Clarke's Earthshock soundtrack there.

Nyssa is brought to Allan & #DoctorWho tries to convince her that Nyssa's bioengineering experience may provide an alternative.

The shocked Allan protests the plan to convert all Mondasians but Zheng relieves her of her duties & takes command.

As #DoctorWho is subjected to a painful scanning process, he rails against the Committee, only to be told "You will be like us!"

To achieve maximum efficiency, the Committee abandons individuality & adopts a single persona, the ‘Cyberplanner’.

Cybermen are despatched to herd the rioting populace – including Mr Hartley & Frank – into the Palace for conversion.

Allan winds Nyssa up, making her believe that the 1st of the new Cybermen is a converted #DoctorWho.

#DoctorWho reappears, and Allan reveals that the Cyberman is actually Thomas Dodd.

Allan says #DoctorWho was the last resort. "You make me sound like Southend-on-Sea!"

Realising every Cyberman he's ever met is based on himself, #DoctorWho's more determined than ever to stop them.

#DoctorWho decides to pour the palace's wine into the nutrient vats which feed the Cyberplanner, causing it to malfunction.

Allan goes to warn the Cyberplanner, but Zheng intervenes...

He's finally decided that the safety of the planet takes priority over the safety of its government.

Another Cyberman tries to stop #DoctorWho & Nyssa, but the Hartleys attack the cyborg and throw it into the nutrient vat.

"What are we waiting for, the football results?"

The Cyberplanner refuses to believe the nutrients have been poisoned... 

...and Allan is taken away to be processed whilst Zheng argues with the Cyberplanner.

Mr. Hartley can convert the generators into a giant ‘cheeser’ causing a swarm that will attack the Cyberplanner.

To give them time, #DoctorWho allows himself to be captured and taken before the Cyberplanner.

As Zheng moves to activate the propulsion unit the Cyberplanner shoots him.

As the Cyberplanner starts to feel the effects of the wine #DoctorWho learns that it intends to seek out Mondas' twin planet...

The Cybermat swarm kills the Cyberplanner, allowing the dying Zheng to activate the propulsion unit

#DoctorWho & Nyssa hope that, whilst they haven't stopped the Cybermen, they've redirected their evolution into something good. 

Mr Hartley's been put in charge of reconstructing the ceiling, with the work carried out by Cybermen including Dodd.

#DoctorWho & Nyssa depart.

Processing has been halted, and #DoctorWho has provided Allan with instructions on how to partially reverse the conversion.

As she works at her desk, however, assisted by the Cyberman version of Constant...

... Zheng – who she believed dead – walks in & announces, “Doctorman Allan. We begin again.”

#DoctorWho & Nyssa have failed to change the future, and the Cybermen WILL survive...
THE END

TTFN! K.

Coming Soon... City of Death

The Face of Evil

Season 14, Story 4/6, Serial 4Q: 4 x 25 minute episodes, 1st to 22nd January 1977
Writer: Chris Boucher, Director: Pennant Roberts, Script Editor: Robert Holmes, Producer: Philip Hinchcliffe

50dw50@50dw50 the story that will always be known as "The one before The Robots of Death"

Cave people? Is this the tribe of gum again? Where's Old Mother?

50dw50@50dw50 a bit of a mean description of Dame Jameson!

Simon Hart@Si_Hart I like how this one starts in the middle of a scene and just gets on with it, no scene setting.

Our story starts on an un-named planet, with the primitive tribe of the Sevateem putting one of their number, Leela, on trial for blasphemy. She's been denying the existence of their god, Xoanon, and is about to be sentenced to take the test of the Horda.

50dw50@50dw50 it's a story I can relate to as people describe me as a hoarder 

KrynoidPodCast@KrynoidPodCast And with all the fake tan, it's like the Smurfs have been creosoted. 

50dw50@50dw50 the planet of the leather men... And one woman.

Leela's friend Tomas tries to make excuses for her, but she stands by what she said.

50dw50@50dw50 thank god they never went with the idea of Leela blacking up, these would be very awkward episodes now if they had. 

The Tribe's "Speaker of Law" and Shaman, Neeva, condemns her, but Chief Andor offers the opportunity for someone else to take the test for her.

Tomas isn't so outspoken now, but Leela's father, Sole, steps forward to take the test of the Horda to save her.

MAW Holmes@MAW_H Just imagine how often Leela's father would have to turn up in the modern series... 

Too late, Leela makes a hollow attempt to recant, but her father is dragged off and dies offscreen.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 Some of the men don't look best pleased, they've just banished the only woman!! 

Leela is cast out. If she's still in th eboundary at sunrise, she'll be thrown to the Horda. Neeva calls her "spawn of the evil one" and tells her to "return to your master."

James Wood@face_4radio these film sequences are absolutely beautiful. Sublime set design as well for this story! 

A tall blue box appears in the forest. The door opens & a tall curly-haired man steps out. 

He wears loose, comfortable clothes with a vaguely Bohemian air. 

A broad-brimmed soft hat is jammed on the back of a tangle of curly hair, and an incredibly long scarf dangles round his neck. Why, it's Doctor Who, of course! 

50dw50@50dw50 Dr Who in an exiting adventure on the forest planet where they grow those tubes that they plug into tumble dryers.

KrynoidPodCast@KrynoidPodCast I wondered where they came from. The shipping costs must be huge. 

Oh blimey, Tom's talking to camera. We are in trouble. 

MAW Holmes@MAW_H"What I need" he mused "is a cabbage to talk to..." 

Simon Hart@Si_Hart Much more of this to come in the next few years...

Seems he's forgotten something important. Never mind, I'm sure it'll be staring him in the face by the end of the episode.

KrynoidPodCast@KrynoidPodCast This picture alone confirms that the Doctor needs a companion. Bits of 4th wall all over the floor... 

Leela's left the tribe as ordered but it seems they've sent people to kill her anyway. 

Leela sees  off one attacker...

...but has a mystery rescuer to thank when another gets the drop on her.

It's Tomas, who tries to persuade her to return...

...but she refuses, determined to prove Xoanan doesn't exist. 

Nearby, the Doctor is whistling Colonel Bogey.

Leela runs from an invisible growling thing...

...whose grumblings don't go unnoticed by the Doctor.

Leela trips and falls...

...right at the Doctor's feet!

She calls him the evil one. Rude. 

The Doctor offers her a jelly baby, which doesn't inspire the confidence it usually does.

"It's true, then. They say the Evil One eats babies!"

As Leela comes round to the concept of Jelly Babies, the Doctor tells her "either you've got four friends with very bad colds, or we're in danger. Which is it?"

She replies that they're his creatures - "phantoms".

Realising that the unseen creatures home in on vibrations, he plans to distract them with an alarm clock. 

KrynoidPodCast@KrynoidPodCast It's a shame Leela apparently doesn't give a sh*t that her dad's just been horda'd.

Invisible monsters, eh? Is this Zeta Minor again, then?

"Saved by the bell!"

Tomas informs the shifty Caleb of Neeva's attempt to have Leela killed.

Great news to the schemer, who sees this as an opportunity to expose Neeva as a Charlatan and Andor as his puppet - so he can seize control of the tribe himself.

The Doctor and Leela have made it to the safety of the studio.

KrynoidPodCast@KrynoidPodCast They just need to survive until 10pm when the lights get turned off. 

Neeva has a hotline to Xoanon, who's none too happy about Leela's return.

The voice of Xoanan sounds awfully like Tom. Must be Jon Culshaw. 

James Wood@face_4radio the mystery is being outlined brilliantly, and skewed with real subtlety; think how much we learn about the Sevateem here.

Quick off the mark, the Doctor has sussed that the creatures don't cross the boundary for technological reasons.

Leela tells the Doctor that the tribe of the Sevateem work towards freeing their god, Xoanon from the "Evil One" and his servants, the Tesh.

Religious nutter Neeva sows seeds of doubt, and manipulates the leader into mounting another attack on "the wall", despite Tomas' warnings.

The Doctor & Leela are back on film...

...and before too long people are shooting at him again. 

When he turns around, the others call him the evil one too. Everyone in this tribe has extremely bad manners. 

MAW Holmes@MAW_H "...in our language, it's a term of endearment... now, feed him to the Horda..." 

"Now drop your weapons, or I'll kill him with this deadly jelly baby!" 

But his bluff is called: "Kill him, then."
His only response is a sulky "I don't take orders from anyone. Take me to your leader."

Blindfolded with his own scarf, the Doctor is brought before Andor.

With the help of her trusty knife, Leela's intruder window.

Neeva shakes a "holy relic" at the Doctor, who identifies it as an ultrabeam accelerator...

Mark@Th3DarkMark don't know how they didn't piss themselves at that bit! 

KrynoidPodCast@KrynoidPodCast We're seeing take 33 ;) 

50dw50@50dw50 the actors must have been very self confident or very unemployed to brave those costumes. They deserve BAFTA's for keeping straight faces.

...and Andor demands that the Doctor releases their god, Xoanon. 

Leela's gone back to save the Doctor. I think they're going to be friends. 

KrynoidPodCast@KrynoidPodCast On screen, maybe... 

Hang on, that "gong" says "Survey Team 6". This lot are definitely the descendants of a more advanced people, aren't they? Unless they just ate the Survey Team...

Leela helps the Doctor escape, but only by paralysing & killing a guy with a poisonous thorn. 

The Doctor's not impressed.

MAW Holmes@MAW_H Doctors nine plus would have rejected her there and then... there must be wisdom in youth... 

50dw50@50dw50 that actor has no luck, he gets encased in foam in Blakes 7 and is the last man killed in WW1 in Sapphire and Steel. 

James Cooray Smith@thejimsmith That's Tom Kelly.

Finding "the evil one" gone, the tribe set out intent on destroying him.

Seems the Doctor's been here before on a previous bender...

...he's carved his face in the wall. Vandal. 

James Wood@face_4radio great first episode with a superb cliffhanger. 

The Doctor speculates that maybe he's been to another part of the planet, but Leela says there's only "beyond the wall".

He decides they need to go back to the village, assuring Leela that the tribe will be busy planning their attack on the wall.

"That's what you said last time."
"Well, you can't expect perfection, you know. Not even from me!"

Neeva wants to tell the tribe that the Evil One has been destroyed so the the tribe will go out on the attack, but Andor is none too pleased with the idea of lying to the tribe.

The Doctor and Leela watch as Neeva dons the rather fetching "Hand of Xoanon".

The Doctor says it's an armoured space glove but it's really a cricket glove. Hang on, is Xoanon going to turn out to actually be the 5th Doctor? 

Neeva claims Xoanon has guaranteed success.

When the Doctor muses that Neeva really expected an answer to his prayer...

...the ever pragmatic Leela replies that "there wouldn't be much point in praying if you didn't get an answer!" 

"I know a few theologians that'd give you an argument on that!" 

Neeva's hotline to "god" is ringing...

"Neeva isn't here right now, can I take a message?" 

"Who are you?"
"Don't I know?"
This Xoanon does sound very familiar, you know...

The Doctor decides that, all in all, he needs a better look at the wall. Turns out it's a time barrier.

The tribe - apart from shifty Calib - attack the energy wall, only to be repelled.

Neeva sees the light.

First back to camp, Calib bitterly reports on the omnishambles of an attack. "More than half the men were killed, and we never even saw the Tesh."

Leela is quick to note that Calib survived unscathed, though.

Calib doesn't think the Doctor is "the Evil One". He doesn't believe in ghosts...

...but that doesn't mean he can be trusted, as he poisons Leela with a Janis thorn.

Calib is ready to make his play against Neeva; capturing the Doctor will prove the shamen a liar. He posioned Leela because she would have opposed him.

Tomas' timely arrival allows the Doctor to get the drop on Calib.

He might be able to create a cure from the techy bobbins in the hut.

Tomas will keep Calib in check while the Doctor works on the cure. 

 50dw50@50dw50 Tom Baker deliberately dragging his feet still hoping for the talking cabbage.

The Doctor adminsisters the anti-toxin just in the nick of time and Leela recovers. Hurrah! Total padding that scene, though, let's be honest.

The Doctor plans to send Leela off with Tomas...

...but Andor and co. return. The Doctor tries to buy his new friends time... 

...but Leela and Tomas barely get three feet away before they're recaptured.

Neeva chats some guff about the Evil One not being completely destroyed so it renewed itself, and Andor fingers the Doctor for wiping out the attack.

"Flapdoodle! I was nowhere near it!" A legal defence that's served the Doctor so well down the years. 

Mark@Th3DarkMark we should try to make flapdoodle a more widely used word! 

Calib helpfully suggests the Doctor should take the test of the Horda in some sort of witch-ducking analogue - "If he can be killed then he is a mortal!"

"10 of them can strip the flesh from a man's arm!" 

"I take it there's more than 10 of them." 

"The pit's full of 'em." 

Basically land piranhas! Much scarier than most man-in-a-suit monsters.

MAW Holmes@MAW_H ...Oh yes... far deadlier than the land sticklebacks, too 

Simon Hart@Si_Hart The Horda look good. Nicely designed and they move well. 

50dw50@50dw50 nudist cybermats 

KrynoidPodCast@KrynoidPodCast They scared me as a kid. Something a bit different too. 

From the masterminds that brought you Ghost Shark and Mega Croc vs. Dino Shark, it's "10 Horda!" 

The Doctor needs to shoot a moving rope, that gets thinner and faster as the test progresses, to stop a weight pulling apart the platform he's stood on, dropping him into the pit.

When Leela tries to drop him some hints, she's slapped across the face by another tribe member. That's a bit much!

The git in question gets his comeuppance though, when one of the Horda gets jumpy.

The Doctor passes the test of the Horda...

...with a little help from William Tell.

MAW Holmes@MAW_H Always making overtures... 

*QI KLAXON* 

When the Doctor returns to the hut, Neeva is in a trance like state, in conference with Xoanon.

Xoanon tells the Doctor he's decided to destroy him; he'll let his "pets" over the boundary, allowing them to kill the Sevateem.

Neeva asks what this means.  "Trouble. Large, deadly and invisible."

As Tomas sets the men to guarding the perimeter, the Doctor reveals to Calib and Leela where the tribe gets its' name: "Sevateem" derives from "Survey Team".

The Doctor has managed to repair a laser to help Tomas and the lads fight back the invisible creatures. 

The Doctor can keep the creatures at the perimeter but needs to figure out a way through the wall. When Leela asks how Xoanon's voice gets through, it seems she's given the Doctor the answer to his puzzle.

The Doctor impersonates Xoanon to get some useful info from Neeva about where the time bridge through the wall is.

Outside, one of the tribe panics and sounds the gong - attracting the invisible monsters.

Leela wants to get up the Doctor's nose but he prefers her to go down his throat.

Andor legs it, straight into danger.

It's an odd feeling for the Doctor, standing in his own throat...

The tribe's latest battle with the invisible monsters is as ill-fated as the last...

...and the face of evil is revealed.

James Wood@face_4radio always thought Episode 2 had a weak cliffhanger but the reveal of the monsters having Tom's face is genius. 

Calib rescues Tomas, and is only too pleased to report that with Andor dead, he's taking over leadership of the Sevateem.

The Doctor and Leela make their way through the tunnels...

...and watch in astonishment as one of the "Tesh" walks through a wall... 

Spotting a familiar looking space ship across the way, the Doctor has a flicker of recall. "I remember now. The Mordee expedition. And I thought I was helping them."

Realizing the wall is just an illusion, the Doctor follows the Tesh.

"Great Xoanon!"

In the inner sanctum, there's a glowing globe, where Xoanon's voice echoes. "We are returned. We are here. Now we shall be one. Now we must destroy us."

Now "he" also has a female voice in the mix. Is Xoanon alone in there?

KrynoidPodCast@KrynoidPodCast The female voice is the gorgeous Pamela Salem, I believe. 

"Another shrine. Seems the Tesh are as ignorant of their origins as your people are."

The Doctor explains that while the Survey Team became the Sevateem, the Tesh were Technicians. 

The Tesh arrive and use their mind powers to disarm Leela. 

KrynoidPodCast@KrynoidPodCast The Tesh look shit, don't they? The only misstep in this story. 

Simon Hart@Si_Hart The costuming is a bit poor. Shame because the Sevateem look so good. 

MAW Holmes@MAW_H Ah, but didn't everyone want a glittery space hat back then...?

KrynoidPodCast@KrynoidPodCast Maybe Tom's companion could've been a glittery space hat? 

Mark ‏@Th3DarkMark he'd have preferred that! 

Simon Hart@Si_Hart It wouldn't have talked back or threatened anyone with a knife! 

The Doctor doesn't care for Jabel's justification for attempting to vivisect Leela...

...but is stared down.

The Tesh give the Doctor and Leela the Goldfinger treatment.

...or try to, anyway. The Doctor knackers the laser with a handy mirror.

"He is not the Lord of Time, the one who will return."
"He is our enemy, and the enemy of Xoanon. Kill him and the savage."

When the Doctor was here before, he programmed Xoanon for the Mordee, but forgot to wipe his personality print from the data core, and now Xoanon has multiple personalities. 

KrynoidPodCast@KrynoidPodCast Should've just turned it off and turned it on again. 

The computer took his personality, and it clashed with its' own emerging consciousness, driving it mad. Hence the original title "The Day God Went Mad". 

I like to think this 'missing adventure' took place when he was trying out costumes in Robot and he was dressed as a viking the whole time. There is the bit when he's in his nightshirt and the TARDIS *does* take off. 

"Us within us! We shall make two one!" Filth.

Tomas' batteries are running out.

Mentioning "the dark side of Xoanon's id" betrays the influence of Forbidden Planet. 

KrynoidPodCast@KrynoidPodCast Yes, much like Planet of Evil. 

Simon Hart@Si_Hart Only far less dull. 

KrynoidPodCast@KrynoidPodCast Wooaah! I like Planet of Evil. All it needed was the complete removal of Prentis Hancock ;) 

Must admit I find Planet far superior. This has run out of plot only half way through. Hard work now. 

The Doctor pretends to be Xoanon to get Neeva to do his bidding, but Neeva susses it's him. 

MAW Holmes@MAW_H You can't pull the wool over this Welshman's eyes you know... 

KrynoidPodCast@KrynoidPodCast David Garfield (Neeva) is excellent in The Changes too. Another religious wrong'un but not creosoted on that occasion.

After a quick sneak around...

...Leela thumps more Tesh guards; the Doctor flicks his scarf sulkily.

Calib and the Sevateem make it over the bridge and into the mouth of the idol.

The Doctor reaches the inner sanctum, where Xoanon is asking the oldest question... 

"Who am I?"

While the Doctor tries to get through to Xoanon, Leela guns down the approaching Tesh.

The cries of "Who am I?" grow increasingly loud and frantic.

 The creepy child voice coming out of the Doctor's distorted face is a great cliffhanger.

Leela makes it past the Tesh...

...to save the Doctor by blasting at Xoanon, and dragging him to safety. 

Xoanon hates the Doctor because "I contradict what he thinks is real. I'm a threat to his world."

Xoanon's shorted all the electrical circuits in the walls.

The Doctor triumphs as his Tesh attacker goes to the (electrified) wall.

Mark@Th3DarkMark why would they get into physical tussles when they have telekinesis powers? Or is that not all of them? 

Neeva & Calib are teaming up against Xoanon, who they now call their enemy. 

"You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common: They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit their views... which can be uncomfortable!"

Xoanon hypnotizes Leela to shoot at the Doctor.

He's able to dehypnotize her, and when she can't remember moving away from the door he tells he she's "just probably tired, that's all." 

Gentek breaks the news of the Sevateem attack with rather more emotion than Jabel can stomach, and receives quite the rebuke: "Is that your reason for behaving like a degenerate animal?"

"Fall back gradually. I will have the heavy duty disrupters set up on level twelve. We will trap the savages there and eradicate them once and for all."

Xoanon tries to have the Doctor and Leela zapped in the corridor.

It may be dormant, but the supercomputer's still keeping an eye on its' soundalike. 

"You wouldn't want an unfair advantage, would you?" "Yes." Classic Leela. 

The Sevateem get ready to press home their attack, with or without Neeva.

Leela worries about something flashing.

Trouble's a-brewing: Xoanan's set the reactors to explode. 

The Tesh set a trap for the Sevateem...

...but Xoanon's taking them over one by one... 

Xoanon rears his head once again. "Destroy and be free! Destroy and be free!"

Now the Sevateem have Xoanon on the brain.

Neeva can't believe his luck when he finds the abandoned disruptor.

"Destroy and be free! Destroy and be free!"

Xoanon has another go at Leela...

...making her attack the Doctor with her knife...

...only for him to dodge it. 

Shocking!

Time is running out, and the Doctor is surrounded by Tesh and Sevateem alike.

Xoanon's really going for it...

But with a little help from the distraction provided by a vengeful Neeva... 

...the Doctor wipes himself from Xoanon's mind, putting himself in a coma in the process. 

With the day saved and Xoanon fixed, the story is over. Except it's still going on. 

Leela tells him he's been unconscious for two days, and that in that time, Xoanon has fallen silent, with neither the Tesh nor the Sevateem daring to rouse it.

Without the Doctor rattling around in his psyche, Xoanon is much more reasonable.

Xoanon tries to spare the Doctor's blushes. "Yours was a mistake anyone could have made." 

"Tell me, Doctor, where do you think I started to go wrong?" 

The Tesh & Sevateem argue about who should be their leader.

The Doctor returns, with a token of faith from Xoanon - his self-destruct button.

The Tesh and Sevateem decide to trust Xoanon putting his power at their disposal and the self-destruct button fades away...

Tomas nominates Leela as the new leader, prompting a hasty departure. 

Simon Hart@Si_Hart I'd follow Tomas. Ahem. 

MAW Holmes@MAW_H I fear, much like it might be in post-apocalypse here, the biggest, most dangerous bastard would end up running the place. 

Simon Hart@Si_Hart Caleb then? 

Leela doesn't want to be leader and instead goes after the Doctor, asking him to take her with him. 

The Doctor refuses to take Leela with him...

...but she dives in the TARDIS anyway.

And with a "Don't touch that switch!" they're off! 

So Leela's the new companion, not a talking cabbage or Miriam Margolyes. Bad luck, Tom. 

James Wood@face_4radio The Face of Evil may go off the rails towards the end but I still rather like it. 8/10 

TTFN! K. 

Coming Soon... The War Machines