And now, the thrilling conclusion...
EPISODE SIX (24th May 1969)
Jamie, too, falls victim!
The Doctor and Zoe are stunned. Surely Jamie can't be dead?
In the Security Room, the Scientist is aghast at the suggestion that the Doctor and co. arrived on the planet without being brought by them.
There are guards in their way, but the Doctor has an idea.
In the nearby clothing store, he starts to ruminate that the hastily assembled pre-fabricated nature of this War Base may play to their advantage, with the metal elements embedded into the pre-formed plastic walls held together by magnetic forces.
He has his friends cut off pieces of a roll of tape he produces from his bottomless pockets in order to hold the metal wiring in place even if the plastic weren't there...
The Scientist scans the brain of one of the resistance.
The Doctor just needs a way to reverse the magnetic field. Zoe suggests using the Sonic Screwdriver. What a good idea!
Zoe is anxious that if he trips one panel, the whole wall might come down. The Doctor decides to chance it.
Success! The Doctor has isolated the panel, and lifts it away to peer into the Processing room.
Jamie's alive! Thank goodness! So the alien guards' guns have a stun setting, too.
The Scientist's scan reveals that Jamie has never previously been processed, just as the Security Chief had suggested.
The Doctor and Zoe are powerless as Jamie is taken away.
The War Chief is intrigued to learn of the Security Chief's interest in Jamie.
The Scientist admits it's because Jamie's brain pattern is different to the others.
The War Chief demands to be kept appraised of any unusual developments.
When Von Weich asks for some water, Moor is rightly wary, and warns him he'll be shot if he goes for the communication device again.
The Security Chief begins interrogating Jamie, but finds it hard to believe that the travellers are here accidentally.
Telling the Security Chief to squeal to the War Lord if he doubts his loyalty, the War Chief gives it a bit of 'you best not miss' with "I warn you, be absolutely sure of your suspicions because if you accuse me without positive proof, I shall crush you."
Carstairs' pistol is rapidly pressed into service.
Carstairs takes out another guard to buy more time.
He then forces the Doctor to give up on the machine, helping him away through the removed panel in the wall.
More guards approach the Processing room but they've already cleared out the other side.
At the barn, Moor makes the mistake of allowing Von Weich to reach for his monocle.
But Von Weich wears him down. "The year is 1871, you're in the British army and I'm your commanding officer. Now untie me!"
"There's your space time machine!"
Jamie comes round with a start, spooked by a figure in a gas mask!
It's not his mummy, though, it's the Doctor!
Jamie is ushered into the corridor and kitted out with his own WW1 great coat from the stores, matching the Doctor and Zoe's.
The resistance are on the march!
They soon overpower the technician in the landing bay, and the Doctor works the controls to direct the enemy time machines.
He has to activate a force field sharpish when a group of guards spot them.
The Doctor sets the controls to send Russell and co. back to the barn, and although zoe tags along, Jamie and Carstairs volunteer to stay when the Doctor announces he's going back for the processing machine.
...but he's not that daft; they hide while the guards see their stricken comrades and then run out again.
Russell and Zoe emerge, and the soldier tries to talk Moor round.
Russell tussles with Moor, and eventually the young private hits the hay.
Having had sense knocked into him by Russell, Moor has picked up his rifle in the nick of time.
"Logic seems to be your weak point."
"Wherever they are, I shall find them."
The Doctor successfully bags the processing device.
The Scientist sneaks back into the room, and discovers his machine has gone walkies.
Re-entering the landing bay, the Doctor and co. use some half-inched gas valves as makeshift smoke bombs and make a dash for the waiting travel machine in the bay.
The Security Chief's voice comes through the intercom, demanding their surrender, and naturally enough the Doctor ignores him.
It's not long before Carstairs and Jamie notice the walls are closing in.
The War Chief warns them that if they don't surrender, they'll be crushed to death.
"You have thirty seconds to decide!"
Cliffhanger! (Or Ceiling dropper, anyway).
EPISODE SEVEN (31st May 1969)
The lads look like they're flat out of options.
It looks like they'll have to surrender.
"Twenty seconds!"
The War Chief prepares to reduce the dimensions even further.
The Doctor stumbles out waving a white handkerchief as a makeshift white flag.
Jamie and Carstairs watches as the Doctor insists on humane treatment for his friends, only to be told by the Security Chief that he's in no position to make demands.
But the Doctor still has one of the gas filled valves he pinched from the processing room and smashes it open.
He reverses the dimensional shrinkage and legs it back to the craft. Jamie and Carstairs are relieved to find themselves with more head space as the Doctor sets the co-ordinates.
By the time the War Chief gets to the controls they've already left.
The Doctor managed to nick the master control rods for the travel machine's directional unit, meaning he can direct it from on board without having to rely on the control unit in the landing bay.
This has the added advantage of meaning the aliens can only guess where they're headed. The War Chief suggests they pay special attention to the 1917 zone.
When Jamie asks where they're going the Doctor says they'll head for anywhere except the 1917 zone! They are heading there, but they'll set down somewhere else and cross the barrier on foot to avoid detection.
The War Chief finally names the travel machines out loud - apparently they're called "SIDRAT"s. Well, that's pretty much just a backward version of...
The Security Chief advises that the War Lord is on his way, and complains when the War Chief blocks him from joining the welcoming committee.
"The War Lord will expect everything to be running smoothly and under control, which , at the moment it isn't."
He leaves the Security Chief to take out his frustrations on the technicians. "I want to know the moment that capsule arrives in a time zone!"
In a development that will surprise only Carstairs, the Doctor and Jamie have raided the capsule's food stores and are making short work of some apples.
They soon arrive at their destination... wherever that is.
According to the Security Chief's map, they've come down in the Roman zone. He's relieved to have some good news to report, because here comes the War Lord.
It's a quiet, still, and thoroughly menacing performance from Philip Madoc.
"So my information is correct. I've heard disquieting rumours of serious trouble here. Are they true?" he asks, almost daring the Security Chief to make an excuse.
The War Chief enjoys watching his rival squirm, as the Security Chief is forced to admit that although the Scientist rectified the defective processing machinery, it's been stolen by a resistance raiding party.
The Security Chief insists that it's only a matter of time till they're captured.
The War Lord oozes threat. "Then I hope time is on your side."
Having disembarked from the capsule, the lads on tour check the map.
Sure enough, they're in the Roman zone.
This is the same mob that chased them at the end of episode 2.
When the War Chief points out that the processed Roman legions won't be able to cross the time zone barrier, the Security Chief proposes to send his guards.
The War Chief shoots this down, as the anachronistic guards will mess with the processed humans' minds, and they don't have the machine with which to re-process them.
Instead they should be looking for the Doctor's TARDIS. "It's a simple enough conclusion. You might have even reached it yourself."
The Security Chief is barely keeping a lid on things now. "I have reached a number of conclusions about you, and about this man the Doctor."
"This Doctor arrived here on this planet we have chosen for the war games. He brought with him companions who have not been subjected to our mental processing."
"They came in a space time machine. The secret of space time travel is known only to you and to your people. You have shown us how to operate these machines, but not how to construct them. These people were summoned by one who is in league with his own kind, plotting to betray us!"
The War Lord has had enough of their bickering.
"Your inability to work together is endangering our whole plan. You have a choice. Co-operate or be replaced."
In the misty time zone barrier, the fugitives are hidden from the aliens' scanners. The Doctor is pleased to note that Carstairs is free from the processing machine's effects.
They arrive in the 1917 zone to the sound of machine gun fire.
At the British command post, Sgt. Major Burns reports that the fugitives have emerged nearby.
Music to Smythe's ears, he's been itching to get his revenge on the Doctor for blotting his copybook with that escape all those episodes ago.
"How very convenient. Right next to a machine gun emplacement!"
The friends have to dive for cover.
They're pinned down...
...until Zoe and some resistance fighters arrive behind the machine gun nests and knock out their attackers.
They're a little too late, however, as the fugitives are surrounded, and hauled away.
The Doctor is very pleased to hear that he's caused the General a great deal of trouble.
Carstairs is having none of Smythe's bleating about King and country. "You can drop all that nonsense, we know what's going on."
When Carstairs tries to get through to Sgt. Major Burns, out come the hypno-specs.
"The prisoner is delirious, Sergeant Major. He's talking nonsense."
"Yes, sir, delirious, sir. Talking nonsense, sir."
Smythe makes no secret of his desire for revenge. He doesn't even care that his superiors will want to question the Doctor.
The Doctor's protestations fall on stony ground, as the firing squad is ready for him.
With that, Smythe reports that he has recaptured his escaped prisoners.
Slight hitch: The War Chief wants the prisoners returned to him for questioning, just as the Doctor said.
Worse: "Did you recover the machine? Didn't you receive your instructions? They took with them the new processing machine. It must be recovered!"
Jamie and Carstairs try to identify weaknesses in the guarding arrangements.
Smythe returns, and has noticeably changed his tune, demanding to know where the machine is. Carstairs twists the knife: "Only the Doctor knows where it is, you kill him and you'll never get it back."
Smythe has no choice than to order the firing squad to stop. They do, but gunfire rings out all the same, as the resistance have arrived.
Smythe is soon outgunned, and makes a break for his room.
The friends are reunited, but there's no time for niceties, as Smythe is no doubt calling for help.
Sure enough he's on the blower to the War Chief, but his only priority is the processing machine. When it seems that Smythe is a lost cause he barks out a last order to deactivate the area control.
Smythe attempts to obey, but Russell bursts in and shoots him down before he can complete the task.
It's bad news for the aliens. The Doctor has the processing machine, knows how to use it, and now the resistance have taken the Chateau.
The War Lord spots on opportunity, though; the resistance forces are converged on the Chateau, so there's the chance to get them all at once.
The Security Chief proposes to send in his guards but the War Chief prefers to keep it simple and not ruin his experiment; an artillery barrage will do the job just as well in his eyes.
The War Lord is not impressed with either plan, and prefers to send in conventional troops so as not to risk the control units being damaged. He seems to relish the thought of a more involved skirmish. They don't call him the War Lord for nothing.
The Doctor and Zoe examine the control unit and begin to theorize that this has something to do with the time zone barriers. Jamie breaks the news that they're surrounded.
Russell and Carstairs pull back the troops as the enemy closes in on them, but the Doctor has a plan.
The Doctor starts dismantling the control unit with his sonic screwdriver.
The Security Chief is starts to brick it as the siege takes longer than expected.
The War Chief assures him that the resistance will all die, but the Security Chief's suspicions remain rampant, as he notes that the Doctor seems to have a charmed life. "Only when you have a hand in his fate," retorts the War Chief.
Things are getting desperate at the Chateau, with Russell hauling in one of the attacking French soldiers as Carstairs returns a grenade that makes it through their barricade.
Carstairs is just on the verge of evacuating the Doctor and Zoe when their tinkering takes effect, and the guns fall silent.
They've rigged a barrier specifically around the Chateau, meaning they can come and go as they please, but none of the processed fighters will be able to make it through the barrier.
The Doctor has designs on the French soldier. Ooh la la.
The War Lord dishes out the burns, then takes charge of the action. "Now listen carefully, this is what I plan to do."
Seems it's done the trick; the French soldier, Du Pont recognizes straight away that he's no longer in his own war.
Carstairs goes all 'Englishman abroad' with a bit of "Nous sommes le... le resistance. Resistance? Do you speak English?"
Russell cottons on that it'll take till doomsday if they have to de-process everyone one by one, but the Doctor's exasperated protestations are interrupted by the sound of a SIDRAT materializing.
Russell tries to position his men to repel the invaders...
...but the alien guards race out with their superior firepower.
As the resistance fall back, the processing machine is left behind.
The Doctor dives out to rescue the machine, but is easily captured by the guards.
Jamie and the resistance fighters are powerless to stop him being hauled away.
The alien raiding party leaves victorious.
It's a disaster for Jamie and Zoe. With the Doctor captured, and no way to de-programme their foes, is this the end of the resistance? Cliffhanger!
As Episode Eight begins, the Doctor is captured from a slightly different angle.
The result is the same: the Doctor and the machine both spirited away by the Security Chief's raiding party.
The SIDRAT returns to base.
The guards rough handling of the Doctor is met with a whimsical "Oh, don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you!", as the Security Chief marches off to present his prize to the War Lord.
Jamie wonders if Zoe could use the control unit to summon another SIDRAT, but Russell doesn't want any more guards flooding in and sets about setting up a machine gun to repel any further incursions.
This is all well and good, but as Jamie points out, it's not going to bring the Doctor back.
The War Lord gives orders for the Scientist to return to "the home planet" to begin mass producing the processing machine.
The Security Chief tries to interrogate the Doctor, urging him to confess that the War Chief sent him as part of a plot to betray them to the Time Lords.
He cranks up the intensity when the Doctor's passive resistance gets on his nerves, warning him that if he doesn't answer his mind will be totally destroyed.
With their defences set up, the resistance start to plan a recruitment drive.
Zoe of the photographic memory reels off the commanders they need to contact: Marcus Octavius in the Roman zone, Ivan Petrov from the Crimean War, and Arturo Villar (leader of the largest group) from the Mexican Civil War zone, to name but a few. Perhaps thankfully, she's interrupted by the sound of another SIDRAT arriving.
Russell gives the attacking guards a taste of machine gun.
The guards are able to take out some of Russell's troops with their energy weapons.
The tables finally turn when Carstairs chucks a grenade inside the SIDRAT.
Job done... for now.
Russell's off to recruit Arturo Villlar, and puts Jamie in charge in his absence.
The Security Chief is still getting nowhere with the Doctor's interrogation.
The War Chief arrives to shut him down.
The War Chief says his people can resist the truth machine, which the Security Chief takes as confirmation that they know one another - not something the War Chief was trying to deny.
The War Chief pulls rank to take the Doctor off the Security Chief's hands.
Straight away, the Security Chief is on the blower to the War Lord, telling tales.
In the War Room, the War Chief dismisses the guards so as to speak to the Doctor in private. "You may have changed your appearance, but I know who you are."
When the subject of the TARDIS comes up the Doctor is touchy. "I had every right to leave," he says, with the War Chief's "Stealing a TARDIS? Oh, I'm not criticizing you." acknowledged with a curt "I had reasons of my own."
These are seismic changes to what little we thought we knew about the Doctor. Didn't he once claim to have built the TARDIS himself? That he and his granddaughter were exiles, cut off from their own planet?
These are seismic changes to what little we thought we knew about the Doctor. Didn't he once claim to have built the TARDIS himself? That he and his granddaughter were exiles, cut off from their own planet?
The War Chief also had his reasons for leaving their home planet, but those are only too obvious - power and conquest.
The Doctor is not terribly interested in the War Chief's attempts to justify transplanting soldiers from Earth to these War Zones to slaughter one another.
The War Chief tells him that the War Games themselves are just a means to an end, an exercise to find the most suitable recruits for an army that will conquer the entire galaxy.
The Doctor wants to know why they've chosen the people of Earth in particular, though.
The War Chief tells him it's because we're "the most vicious species of all." What, worse than the Daleks? Harsh?
"For a half a million years they have been systematically killing each other. Now we can turn this savagery to some purpose. We can bring peace to the galaxy, and you can help. You see, I'm not the cold-hearted villain you suppose me to be. My motives are purely peaceful." Aye, right.
At the Chateau, everyone is settling down for the night. Jamie pulls his jacket over the exhausted Zoe, and the soldiers all start to nod off.
In the silence of the night, an interloper appears: None other than Arturo Villar himself.
Villar wakes Zoe, demanding to know where Russell is.
"Who are you?" says she of the photographic memory.
Villar has rather primitive ideas about women knowing their place: "Women should never think. For such a little woman your mouth is too big!"
Villar has rather primitive ideas about women knowing their place: "Women should never think. For such a little woman your mouth is too big!"
Zoe goes to wake Jamie, who teases her by saying Villar "sounds a nice chap!"
If they're going to persuade Villar while Russell is away, Jamie's going to have to play along with a plan cooked up by Zoe.
Villar begins to grow impatient, until Zoe announces their leader...
...James Robert McCrimmon!
Jamie's officer's cap and double bandolier of ammo is much more to Villar's taste.
Villar challenges him as to why a meeting has been called, and Jamie has to assure him he's no designs on his territory.
With some prompting from Zoe, Jamie explains that "Unity is strength!" and that a united resistance can attack the aliens in force.
Villar is sceptical that the different resistant forces can work together, pointing out that what successes the resistance forces have had have come by virtue of them being hard to catch in small raiding parties.
Zoe admonishes him that they'll never win unless they work together.
Villar immediately wants to know why Jamie lets Zoe speak for him. "Well, why not? Only of she's right, of course."
In the War Room, the War Chief outlines how the War Zones are helping them to cultivate the most disciplined and courageous fighters.
The Doctor is outraged. "You have given these aliens our science and our knowledge to carry out this disgusting plan!"
The War Chief is unrepentant. "We are going to bring a new order to the galaxy, one United Galactic Empire."
The War Lord arrives, alerted by the Security Chief's squealing.
The War Lord wants to know why the War Chief is interrogating the Doctor solo, and how he got here. The War Chief assures him that the Doctor dare not contact the Time Lords. "That would betray him."
While the Security Chief unsurprisingly calls for the Doctor's death, the War Lord seems to accept the War Chief's word that the Doctor has his uses, however "Failure will mean death, to both of you."
The Doctor is incensed that the War Chief expects him to help people like that conquer the galaxy, but the War Chief shows his hand. "Not people like that, people like us. I intend to take over as Supreme Galactic Ruler. You can help me to rule, if you will cooperate."
At the Command Post, Villar is still sceptical, but Petrov is on board. "Alone, we annoy them a little, together we wipe them out!"
Carstairs proposes getting together a large disciplined army to strike at the alien headquarters. They just need to capture a SIDRAT from one of the landing sites.
This is only part of the plan though, as small strike units start to take out the alien communication units, starting with the Roman Zone.
There, a redcoat gets the jump on a sentry...
...while his comrades blow up the communication unit with dynamite.
More guards are sent out.
The resistance start to get reports of the alien forces descending on the war zones to investigate their attacks.
One by one, the communication units are knocked out, with the Security Chief sending ever increasing numbers of guards to quell the insurrections.
Soon there won't be any guards left in the alien HQ, exactly as planned.
Now for phase two of the plan: Villar's men take the barn.
The War Chief is quick to point out the Security Chief's faulty tactics. "You've left the base weakened for a possible mass attack."
The Security Chief reports that the attack is coming from the American Civil War Zone, judging by that being the last active communication unit, and proposes to wipe out the resistance with a neutron bomb.
The War Lord favours a more subtle approach, one that demands the Doctor prove his loyalty in order to save his life.
The resistance leaders congregate in the barn, with their main forces secreted in the nearby woods.
Suddenly, the communication device bursts into life, and the Doctor comes on the screen, telling them that if they just send the leaders, they can take the alien control centre.
As he promises, a SIDRAT arrives to collect them.
Villar suspects a trap and requires cajoling into the SIDRAT.
Petrov watches as Russell, Carstairs, Jamie, Zoe and Villar depart in the SIDRAT.
The Doctor greets them, and tells them to follow him to the War Room.
Suddenly, though, he turns. "Stand still, don't move! You are completely surrounded!".
The War Chief, Security Chief and an entourage of guards sweep in. The War Chief thanks him: "A nice, neat little package for us to dispose of."
The Doctor has betrayed them all! Cliffhanger!
EPISODE NINE (14th June 1969)
The Doctor's friends can't believe that he's betrayed them.
Russell threatens to kill the Doctor for this, but the War Chief dismisses this as an idle threat and orders the guards to disarm the resistance fighters and take them away.
The Security Chief wants the Doctor included, but the War Chief says he's proved his loyalty, and besides has great knowledge of time travel mechanics.
The Security Chief orders Jamie, Zoe and the others to be taken away to the processing room. He says the War Lord will decide the Doctor's fate.
The War Chief reassures the Doctor that the War Lord will welcome his assistance.
The War Chief tries to change the subject, telling him that it doesn't do to keep the War Lord waiting."
But the Doctor isn't so easily deterred. "I must congratulate them, you know. You've achieved a remarkable degree of control."
The War Chief passes this off as a simple variation on the old models.
The Doctor presses his point. "Dimensional flexibility? Remote control? In my day these things were impossible to achieve without shortening the life of the time control units."
"There have been many advances made in space time technology," the War Chief dissembles. Of course the Doctor isn't fooled. "Your machines have a limited life span. Sooner or later they're going to be useless. Now I understand. It's my TARDIS you're after, isn't it?"
The War Chief comes clean. "If we hold the only space time travel machine, we can rule our galaxy without fear of opposition, and without my influence, these aliens will surely kill you."
In the processing room, the resistance are still stunned. Russell and Villar are getting bloodthirsty, but Jamie and Zoe know the Doctor must have had a reason for getting them to come here.
The War Lord also has his doubts over the Doctor's sudden heel turn.
The Doctor claims he changed his mind when he realized how small and weak the resistance groups were. "You have a silver tongue, just like your friend the War Chief," chuckles the War Lord.
He wants to know what the Doctor can bring to the table.
The Doctor claims that he can fix their existing processing machines so they don't have to wait for the Scientist to come up with new ones.
The War Lord challenges him to prove it by processing his friends.
"They are no longer my friends. They are our enemies."
"Of course they are."
It seems the War Chief had been hoping that with the emergency over his 'boss' would return to his home planet, but no such luck.
Just as the resistance are speculating that the aliens are going to brainwash them, the Security Chief arrives to dump the Doctor in their midst.
The Security Chief confirms their fears, and that the Doctor will be the one to do the brainwashing. This doesn't go down too well with Russell.
Now the Doctor is at the mercy of the very men he 'betrayed'!
The War Chief is directing the alien forces to mop up the resistance forces, who have fallen into disarray without their leaders, when the Security Chief returns.
The War Chief wants to know why the Doctor hasn't started processing the resistance yet, but the Security Chief dodges the question, raising the War Chief's suspicions.
Instead, he demands to know where the War Lord is.
But the War Chief has grown anxious for confirmation that the Doctor was taken to the processing room.
"I don't trust you," snarls the War Chief, as he leaves.
"The feeling is mutual," says the Security Chief to his departing rival..
With the War Chief departed, the Security Chief instructs a technician to play back a recording made in that very room...
In the processing room, the Doctor is under attack, until Jamie is able to wrestle Russell and Villar away and demand they let the Doctor explain himself.
The Doctor tells them they - and all the other resistance forces in the War Zones - would be dead now if he hadn't lured them here, because the aliens would have dropped the neutron bomb on all of them. Villar, as usual, is not easily convinced.
Luckily for the Doctor, the War Chief and hs guards arrive to rescue him from a throttling.
The Security Chief's recording gets to the juicy bits, as the War Chief's earlier conversation with the Doctor rings around the room: "I will take over as Supreme Galactic Ruler. You can help me rule, if you will cooperate."
Victory for the Security Chief. "I... KNEW IT."
Under the watchful eyes of the War Chief and his guards, the Doctor has Jamie in the brainwashing machine.
The Doctor says that Jamie will believe himself to be fighting the Redcoats in 1745.
"You are in my castle," says the Doctor. "I am the McCrimmon of McCrimmon, your hereditary Chieftain". Jamie confirms his agreement, but it's clear he hasn't been brainwashed at all, and is just playing along.
"Well, that is a friendly Chieftain. You will obey his orders as you will mine."
"Oh aye, I'll obey you."
Zoe is up next. "You will obey us, it is for your own good." WINK WINK.
The War Chief storms into the War Room to confront the Security Chief. "What a stupid fool you are, you deliberately disobeyed the War Lord's orders." He orders the guards to arrest the Security Chief but they do not move.
The Security Chief stops him in his tracks. "YOU are no longer in command."
He has the incriminating recording played back...
...then triumphantly retorts, "What a stupid fool YOU are!"
The guards obey when ordered to take the War Chief to the Security Bay, and to collect the Doctor en route. "If they offer any resistance, shoot them both!"
In the Processing Room, Villar is slow on the uptake.
Exasperated, Jamie sighs "Can you not pretend like the rest of us, you great loon!"
Russell is also not quite up to speed with what it would have mean if the neutron bomb had been dropped. "You were better alive here than dead out there!"
Now the Doctor has the upper hand he makes his feelings clear to the War Chief. "Did you really think I'd take part in your disgusting scheme?"
The Doctor intends to use the War Chief to take over the War Room, but he points out that their little arrangement has been discovered and he came here under arrest.
The War Chief says the personnel in the landing bay may not be aware of his fall from grace yet, though, meaning they could make their escape, but the Doctor still intends to go to the War Room first - and put an end to the War Games once and for all.
Having stopped off to recover their weapons from the armory, the resistance make short work of the guards in the War Room.
As a cowering technician sounds the alarm, Villar is in his element. "I told you - my guns best!"
The Security Chief makes a break for a weapon, but is shot down by the War Chief.
The War Chief hands the alien weapon to Carstairs. "It's alright. It was a personal debt I had to settle."
Russell turns off the alarm so the Doctor can think, and Zoe asks how he's going to get all the captured humans back home.
With the alarm sounded, the War Chief is anxious to leave, but the Doctor wants the fighting halted first, and everyone sent home.
The War Chief tells him that the latter part will not be possible. There are only two machines left, neither with enough life left in them.
The Doctor is out of options, it seems. Unless...
The War Chief's eyes widen in horror. "You mustn't call them in or it will be the end of us. They'll show us no mercy!"
Whoever "they" might be, the fighting must still end, and the War Chief is compelled to give the necessary order.
As the Doctor begins to take a stack of white squares from deep in his pockets, the Doctor explains that the Time Lords are his own people.
Jamie thinks this makes everything alright. It doesn't, but the Doctor has no alternative if he's to save lives here.
He sits down with the squares in front of him, arranged in a circle, and closes his eyes. Jamie and Zoe watch, as he begins to concentrate.
The War Chief's final pleas go ignored by the Doctor as the others restrain him.
As the Doctor goes deeper into his trance, the squares begin to twitch, and move of their own accord, forming a regular pattern.
The squares slide together, some flipping, some climbing, as they slot together to form a perfect cube.
The Doctor explains that the box now contains all the information about what's been going on that the Time Lords will need to consider his appeal for help.
Whilst everyone was watching the Doctor's box, the War Chief has done a runner.
He's in the landing bay, trying to summon one of the remaining SIDRATs.
His escape is impeded by a couple of guards... and the arrival of the War Lord.
The War Chief tries to persuade him that they need to leave to bring reinforcements, but the War Lord wants to know where the Security Chief is.
The War Chief tries to claim that the prisoners killed him whilst taking over the War Room, but it's too late - the War Lord has heard the recording.
The War Chief's protests grow increasingly desperate. "He wanted to stop the War Games. He was a incompetent fool, jealous of my position. Surely you realise that? He forged that recording you heard!" Ah, the old 'fake news' excuse. Always reeks of bullshit, have you noticed that?
Needless to say, the War Lord is unmoved, and orders his execution.
The guards shoot him down.
He doesn't make it as far as the door, and collapses off the ramp.
Of course, we all have our own theories about whether he's really dead...
Doesn't look like the War Chief will be regenerating, then. Wonder if the aliens' weapons use Time Lord technology.
The War Lord is just about to set off for his home planet to bring back an army to quell the revolt when Villar catches up with him.
The other resistance fighters attack from the other side of the bay to complete the pincer movement.
One particularly unfortunate guard gets successive blows from Jamie, Carstairs, and Russell. By the time he's been spun around for Jamie's second turn, he's already slumping, unconscious, to the floor.
The bloodthirsty Villar wants to finish the War Lord off, but the Doctor says that they can leave him for the Time Lords to dispose of.
He's going to send for them now, and he wants the others to stay here and wait for them, so they can be returned to their various homes.
Zoe and Jamie are horrified to learn that that includes them.
Once the Doctor sends the box to them, they'll know where he is.
Jamie is confused. If the Time Lords are the Doctor's own people, what's the problem? The Doctor will only say that it'd take too long to explain.
Jamie says that if the Doctor's going to be in trouble, then he'll need him to look after him. Deciding he doesn't have time to argue, the Doctor relents.
They have to head back to the 1917 Zone, to find the TARDIS. Carstairs asks to tag along so he can get back to Lady Jennifer (remember her?!).
With the SIDRAT co-ordinates set, the Doctor sits on the floor once again, and as he concentrates, the white cube fades away, much like the TARDIS.
As usual, Villar is the hotheaded fly in the ointment, getting in the way as they try to make their escape because he thinks they're being left to die.
The Doctor just hasn't got the patience now. Russell restrains Villar as the Doctor, Jamie, Zoe and Carstairs leave in the SIDRAT.
The War Lord tells Villar not to worry, when the Time Lords catch up with the Doctor, he'll wish Villar had killed him.
A haunting howling rush of air begins to descend on them. "They're coming."
In No Man's Land, the Doctor and his friends hear that the fighting has stopped.
As Carstairs waves farewell to the time travellers, he too begins to fade away.
The same ghostly howling heard in the War Room begins to swirl around them as they approach the TARDIS.
Worse, their movements become slower and slower, as if they're wading through treacle, as time is used against them.
Through sheer force of will they force their way to the TARDIS, but the planet's gravity seems to be increasing as time slows down, and the Doctor can barely lift the key to the lock.
"We must get away!" cries the Doctor, in long, distorted sounds, but although he's got the key into the lock, he no longer has the strength to turn it and his hand begins to slip down. Are they doomed? Cliffhanger!
With a titanic effort, Jamie is able to lift the Doctor's arm just enough for him to turn the key, and the three friends fall into the TARDIS.
Inside the friendlier conditions of the TARDIS interior, the Doctor finds it somewhat easier to haul himself to the console so as to shut the doors, and shield them from the effects of the force field that the Time Lords are dropping on the alien planet.
If the Doctor can boost the power enough, the TARDIS should be able to break free, and they can make their escape at last.
Soon enough, the TARDIS is on its way. Phew!.
Now that they're out of immediate danger, it's time for the Doctor to come clean.
The Doctor ran away from the Time Lords many years ago - because he was bored!
The Time Lords are an immensely civilized race, able to control their own environment, and they can live forever "barring accidents". Of course, they also have the secret of space/time travel.
When Jamie asks what's wrong with that, the Doctor comes over all sheepish. "Well, It is a fact, Jamie, that I do tend to get involved with things." Talk about a bit of an understatement! Jamie has him bang to rights: "Whenever there's any trouble, he's in it right up to his neck!"
Zoe protests that his interfering has saved lives, but that's no excuse in their eyes.
The Doctor's plan now, as it was all those years ago, is to run away. He's set the controls for the TARDIS to take them to the outermost fringes of the galaxy. Jamie predicts that they'll probably land right in the Time Lords' laps in that case!
No sooner have they spoken than the TARDIS begins to materialize - far too early.
Whichever planet this is, they find themselves forced down through the atmosphere, slowing to a halt on the surface of a sea.
The TARDIS is immobilized, just on the surface of the waves, a bit like that time it arrived near the gas refineries where the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria encountered a mind-controlling parasitic seaweed creature.
But no, he's still claiming they're safe in the TARDIS when water begins to leak in.
He realizes that this is the Time Lords' doing; they're manipulating the external environment to weaken the structural integrity of the TARDIS' exterior. There's only one thing for it, they'll have to dematerialize again, and hide somewhere else.
The barren deeps of space are no better, though, as the Time Lords immediately detect the TARDIS and begin to cocoon it in cobwebs, much as the Great Intelligence did at the start of that business with the Yeti in the Underground.
An ethereal, soothing, voice fills the TARDIS, calmly appealing to the Doctor to give himself up without any more fuss. "There is no escape, Doctor. Return the TARDIS immediately to our home planet."
Although the Doctor protests that he hasn't done any harm, the voice, sounding reasonable yet firm, responds that he has broken their laws and must face trial. "You will do better to return of your own accord," it says.
The trio are thrown to the floor as the TARDIS lurches.
The controls begin to move of their own accord, now under Time Lord control.
At first Jamie thinks the scanner is broken...
But the picture slowly resolves itself to reveal a long chamber filled with space/time machines. Not SIDRATs, but TARDISes - this is the Doctor's home planet. Wonder what it's called...
The voice speaks again: "You have returned to us, Doctor. Your travels are over."
Jamie asks why they can't just leave again...
...but the Doctor is now resigned to his fate. "Not this time. Come along."
Outside the TARDIS, they are met by a man in a simple robe, who instructs them to follow him.
They arrive in a large chamber, where the War Lord is already standing trial.
The Doctor tells his friends that it's very rare for the Time Lords to hold a trial. Funny, they seem to get quite a taste for it after this story.
One of the Time Lord tribunal sets out the charges against the War Lord.
"In every one of these time zones, thousands of human beings fought and died in the belief that they were on their own planet. The survivors have now all been returned to their own times on the planet Earth, but the death toll is beyond counting."
"These lives were squandered in the course of a vicious and diabolical scheme to gain control of the entire galaxy; a scheme originated and devised by a race of which the accused is the leader."
"It was a was a highly organised scheme with an utterly callous disregard for the lives of the humans involved and for the liberties of all the other species in the galaxy which the accused would have dominated with his tyranny. In the pursuit of this scheme, brutal methods of mental processing were used which entirely contravened all the galactic laws."
They call upon the Doctor to give evidence.
He confirms that everything in his report is the result of his direct personal observation.
He also confirms that the man before them is the War Lord himself.
The War Lord refuses to speak in his own defence, much to the Time Lord's consternation. "Do not make us force you to speak. We would not cause you unnecessary pain."
The Time Lord affects a blank stare, and his eyes drill into the War Lord's brain.
The War Lord falls to his knees, clutching his head and removing his glasses as the Time Lords' glare becomes the actual glare of a harsh white light from above. It's not long before the War Lord concedes.
He composes himself, replacing his glasses before he turns to face them again. Come to think of it, all of the aliens wear some form of glasses or visor, don't they? So it seems this sensitivity to light is a trait they all share. (Having said that, Smythe and Von Weich only seemed to use theirs for hypnotic purposes, but then they'd spent longer in the field so maybe acclimatised over a longer period of time?)
However, the War Lord refutes the authority of their court. When pressed for a defence, he answers that the humans who died in the War Games would always have died anyway.
When asked if his defence is that the ends justifies the means, he agrees...
...and adds that members of the Time Lord race agreed and collaborated with him, namely the War Chief - and the Doctor!
While the Doctor protests that he never supported the War Lord's scheme for even a moment, the villain says he's guilty by association for collaborating with the War Chief.
Meanwhile, inside the TARDIS, a couple of Time Lord technicians are disconnecting the materialization circuit.
One goes outside when they hear the sound of a SIDRAT materializing, only to be met by the alien guards and their energy weapons.
He's soon mowed down by their sonic blasts.
His hapless colleague soon follows.
The sadistic guards survey their handiwork with satisfaction.
The Time-Lords have seen straight through the War Lord's attempts at deflection and pronounce him guilty. "Your attempt to incriminate others is an obvious fraud."
"Oh, good, says the Doctor, "I'm glad to see your sense of justice still prevails", before adding to Jamie and Zoe, "Even though they've lost their sense of humour."
It's at that moment, though, that the invading guards arrive to free their leader.
The War Lord crows that the Time Lord court no longer has any power to pass sentence, and takes the Doctor and his friends hostage to guarantee his safe passage to the TARDIS. Pained at the thought of innocent lives being endangered, the Time Lords allow the departure.
The Doctor is horrified to see the dead technicians, and warns the War Lord that the Time Lords are too powerful for him, but he ushers them into the TARDIS.
The War Lord dismisses Jamie's protests that the Doctor can't even steer the TARDIS.
The War Lord tells the Doctor that he will make them many more time machines, and gives the co-ordinates of his home planet.
With the information the Time Lords need now out in the open, the Doctor flips a switch on the console...
...and the aliens reel as the TARDIS' lights blind them.
They rush outside the TARDIS, and are trapped behind a force field by the Time Lords.
A force field also surrounds their planet "so that your warlike people will remain prisoners forever." The War Lord and his men are condemned to be dematerialized. "It will be as though you had never existed."
The War Lord's pleas, much like the man himself, fade away into nothingness.
"Ah, well, that's put an end to them. Well, we'll be on our way. Come on, Doctor. Cheerio!" Yeah, nice try, Jamie. He soon finds himself running nose first into another force field.
Resignedly, the Doctor tells him that the Time Lords are not going to let them leave.
It's time for the Doctor to stand his own trial.
The charges against him are that he has repeatedly broken their most important law of non-interference in the affairs of other planets.
Not only does he admit these actions, he is proud of them. "While you have been content merely to observe the evil in the galaxy, I have been fighting it."
The Doctor demands a "thought channel" to show them the evils he has fought.
The Time Lords acquiesce.
The Time Lords declare the Quarks, and the Yeti "irrelevant".
What about the Ice Warriors? The Cybermen? Or worst of all, the Daleks "a pitiless race of conquerors exterminating all who came up against them." Do the Time Lords take note here? Has the Doctor just put the natives of Skaro on the Time Lords' radar, and in doing so, sowed the seeds of the Time War...?
The Doctor goes for the jugular. "All these evils I have fought while you have done nothing but observe. True, I am guilty of interference, just as you are guilty of failing to use your great powers to help those in need!"
"Is that all you have to say?" asks the Time Lord.
"Well isn't it enough!"
Whilst their admission that he has "raised difficult issues" could be taken as encouragement, the Doctor isn't getting his hopes up, as he's sent away while they consider their verdict.
When one of the Time Lords tells Jamie and Zoe that it's time for them to be sent home, they demand to see the Doctor.
"You have become attached to him?"
"Aye, we've been through a lot, you know."
Perhaps fittingly for a Time Lord, the Doctor is killing time with a game of clock patience.
Jamie and Zoe object to having to say goodbye through a force field. The Time Lord relents, and the friends are reunited.
When the Doctor speculates that the Time Lords will make him listen to "a long boring speech about being a good boy", Zoe tells him it's time he left again. Jamie points out that they've been in tighter spots before.
They can't believe their luck when it turns out the Time Lord "forgot" to put the force field up again. In fact, the Doctor literally can't believe it, though he agrees to make a break for it.
They pick their way through an eerie cloister...
...only to fin the Time Lords waiting for them at the TARDIS. Jamie tries to double back, only to run smack into a force field again.
"There must be something we can do!" protests Zoe, but the Doctor shakes his head sadly. "No, Zoe, not this time."
Although Jamie, too, resists, the Doctor is firm that this is goodbye.
"I won't forget you, you know," says Jamie.
"I won't forget you. Don't go blundering into too much trouble, will you?" replies the Doctor.
"Och, you're a fine one to talk."
Zoe is cretsfallen. "Goodbye, Doctor. Will we ever meet again?"
A typically magical reply. "Again? Now, Zoe, you and I know, time is relative, isn't it?"
Jamie and Zoe pause one last time on their way to the waiting SIDRAT, and the Doctor waves goodbye.
"They'll forget me, won't they?" sighs the Doctor.
The reply is some small comfort: "Not entirely. They will be returned to a time just before they went away with you. They will remember their first adventure with you, but nothing more."
The Doctor is brought before a screen where he is able to watch Zoe on board The Wheel in Space, where they first met during that business with the Cybermen.
Tanya Lernov is asking if the Doctor and Jamie have left, and tells Zoe that there's work to be done if they're to get the Wheel back to normal.
Zoe hesitates for a moment. "I thought I'd forgotten something important, but it's nothing."
It seems that something is still tugging at the corners of her mind as she walks away, and the Doctor seeks reassurance from the Time Lords that she'll be alright.
Satisfied that Zoe is safe, he asks about Jamie, and the scene on the screen shifts to Culloden Moor, and the sound of bagpipes fills the air.
Jamie is disorientated when he finds himself on the highland battlefield. A redcoat soldier lifts his musket and aims at Jamie's back.
Jamie drops just as the shot is fired, then turns, enraged, to face his attacker. "Try to murder a McCrimmon, would you? Well, I'll show you!"
The Doctor gives an affectionate, but hearty, chuckle as Jamie roars his traditional war cry of "Creag an Tuire!" as he swings his sword and chases the redcoat away.
But what about the Doctor? "We have accepted your plea that their is evil in the universe that must be fought, and that you still have a part to play in the battle." Are they really going to let him go free?
Not exactly. "We have noted your particular interest in the planet Earth. The frequency of your visits must have given you special knowledge of that world and its' problems." The Doctor concedes that the Earth seems vulnerable.
"For that reason you will be sent back to that planet."
"Oh... good..."
His mood quickly changes as they get to the punchline. "In exile."
You will be sent to Earth in the 20th Century, and will remain there for as long as we deem proper, and for that period the secret of the TARDIS will be taken from you."
The Doctor is fewmin! "But you... you can't condemn me to exile on one primitive planet in one century in time! Besides, I'm known on the Earth. It might be very awkward for me!"
The Time Lords have already planned for this problem. "Your appearance has changed before, it will change again. This is part of the sentence." You what, mate? It's a death sentence on top of the exile? Literally overkill, mate.
The Time Lords say they'll give him the opportunity to choose, but he's determined to be picky right from the start. "Oh he's too old! Well he's too fat, isn't he. No, he's too thin. That one's too young. Oh now, that won't do at all. It's ridiculous!"
The Time Lords tire of his prevaricating. "Since you refuse to take the decision, the decision will be taken for you."
The Doctor protests, but to avail, and a darkness begins to descend on him...
...and his face begins to contort.
On the screen, the Time Lords watch as his face continues to twist. "The time has come for you to change your appearance, Doctor, and begin your exile."
Multiple images of the Doctor spin around and fade as he continues to howl at the Time Lords. "Is this some sort of joke? No, I refuse to be treated... What are you doing? No!".
He raises his hands to his face, as his whole body begins to spin into oblivion, and he cries out "No! Stop! You're making me giddy!"
As his body begins to spin further and further into the darkness, you can just about make out that he now seems to have no head at all!
His cries of "No, no, no, no, no!" still ringing out, the Doctor, at least in this incarnation, is gone...
So it's goodbye to the Second Doctor, and the rather wonderful Patrick Troughton. I wonder Who'll be next when the Doctor begins his more colourful exile on Earth...
TTFN! K.
Coming Soon: TBC
