The Mysterious Planet

143a[1] – The Mysterious Planet
Doctor Who serial
The Doctor and Peri discover the ruins of Marble Arch tube station on the planet Ravolox
Cast
Doctor Colin Baker (Sixth Doctor)
Companion Nicola Bryant (Peri Brown)
Others Lynda Bellingham — The Inquisitor Michael Jayston — The Valeyard Tony Selby — Sabalom Glitz Joan Sims — Queen Katryca Glen Murphy — Dibber Tom Chadbon — Merdeen Roger Brierley — Drathro David Rodigan — Broken Tooth Adam Blackwood — Balazar Timothy Walker — Grell Billy McColl — Humker Sion Tudor Owen — Tandrell
Production
Writer	Robert Holmes
Director	Nicholas Mallett
Script editor	Eric Saward
Producer	John Nathan-Turner
Executive producer(s)	None
Production code	7A
Series	Season 23
Length	4 episodes, 25 minutes each
Originally broadcast	6 September–27 September 1986
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → Revelation of the Daleks The Trial of a Time Lord : Mindwarp

The Mysterious Planet is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 6 September to 27 September 1986. It is part of the larger narrative known as The Trial of a Time Lord, encompassing the whole of the 23rd season.

Plot

Events of the serial are framed on an arcing plot that carries through the other three serials of the 23rd season. In this, the Doctor is forced to land the TARDIS aboard a Gallifreyan space station, where he is brought into a courtroom. The Inquisitor informs the Doctor he is on trial for conduct unbecoming a Time Lord; evidence will be presented by the Valeyard. The first evidence is shown through video footage, taken from the Matrix, of the Doctor's recent involvement in the planet Ravolox, where the Valeyard shows that the Doctor willingly became involved in the affairs of the planet. The Doctor denies these charges as the Valeyard brings them. After showing the video, the Valeyard affirms he has more evidence sufficient to call for the end of the Doctor's life.

As shown by the court evidence, the Doctor and Peri land on Ravolox, both noting a similarity to Earth. The Doctor is aware that Ravolox was devastated by a fireball, according to official records, but the presence of flourishing plant life make him suspicious. As they walk, they are observed by Sabalom Glitz and Dibber, mercenaries on the planet attempting to destroy a "black light" generator in order to destroy the L3 robot deep underground that it powers. The Doctor and Peri find a tunnel and enter to find remains that appear to be that of the Marble Arch tube station on the London Underground Central Line, piquing the Doctor's curiosity further. The Doctor wishes to proceed deeper, but Peri is worried and stays behind.

Peri is soon captured by a local human tribe, led by Katryca, and brought to their camp. Katryca informs Peri that she will need to take many husbands for the tribe, and locks her away with Glitz and Dibber; the two were captured after approaching the tribe to try to convince them to let them destroy the generator which the tribe has taken as a totem. The three manage to overpower the guards and escape, but not before planting a bomb on the black light generator. They are pursued by the tribe.

The Doctor, in exploring the modern underground complex, is also captured by humans under watch by "the Immortal". He is brought before the Immortal, the L3 robot that Glitz is looking for. The robot calls itself Drathro, and is following its instructions to maintain the habitat of the underground system. Drathro orders the Doctor to make necessary repairs, but the Doctor manages to temporarily electrify the robot and make his escape. Drathro sends a service robot after the Doctor.

Peri, Glitz, and Dibber eventually meet up with the Doctor back at the ruins of Marble Arch, trapped between the tribe and the service robot. However, the tribesmen disable the service robot and recapture the group including the Doctor. The Doctor tries to explain the nature of the tribe's totem, but Katryca is unimpressed and placed them in a cell again. While there, Glitz confirms that Ravolox is actually Earth. Drathro reactivates the service robot and sends it into the tribe's village to recapture the Doctor, but the tribe is able to disable it again; Katryca decides they should attack Drathro's "castle" to steal its technology for itself. The Doctor and Peri use the opportunity to escape and re-enter the underground complex, aware that the black light generator is now severally damaged beyond repair, and if it should self-destruct, it could take the whole universe with it.

Katryca and the tribe are easily defeated by Drathro. When the Doctor arrives, he attempts to plead for Drathro to shut himself down in order to disable the black light system, but Drathro refuses. Glitz, Dibber, and Peri arrive after being detained by Drathro, and Glitz offers to take the robot aboard his ship, which has a functioning black light system. Drathro agrees, and departs with the mercenaries. The Doctor finds the black light system is already being to self-destruct, and reconfigures the system so that its explosion would be limited to the underground complex. The Doctor, Peri, and the other humans living underground escape in time. The remains of the tribe offer to take in those humans that were living underground, and the Doctor and Peri say their goodbyes.

Continuity

• The reason why Earth has become Ravalox, as well as the reasons for the Fireball, are explained in The Ultimate Foe, the final part of the Season.
• The relationship between the Sixth Doctor and Peri is less abrasive in this story than in the previous season. Both Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant wanted to show how travelling together had made their characters less combative and argumentative. Both this and the changes in their appearances, particularly Peri's hairstyle and mode of dress suggest a long gap between this story and their previous on-screen appearance in Revelation of the Daleks and allowing for "unseen" adventures in the spin-off media to be placed there.
• Early in Part One, the Doctor appears to be about to reveal his surname for the only time in the entire series but is interrupted (but see The War Machines, and further discussion in "Doctor who?").
• The Inquisitor and the Valeyard refer to the Doctor's earlier trial in The War Games.
• The Doctor's claim that he cannot be on trial as he is Lord President and the Inquisitor's explanation that he had been removed were reportedly added to the script after Colin Baker noticed the apparent plot hole.
• Recovering from unconsciousness, the Doctor briefly slips back into the personality of one of his previous selves, allowing Colin Baker to do an impersonation of Jon Pertwee ("My head hurts abominably, Sarah Jane!"). He even uses the phrase, "Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow."
• In this serial, the First Law of Time refers to the well-documented Time Lord policy of non-interference, as opposed to specifically forbidding a Time Lord meeting a past or future incarnation and therefore interfering with his own history, as stated in earlier serials.

Production

Serial details by episode

Episode	Broadcast date	Run time	Viewership (in millions)
"Part One"	6 September 1986 (1986-09-06)	24:57	4.9
"Part Two"	13 September 1986 (1986-09-13)	24:44	4.9
"Part Three"	20 September 1986 (1986-09-20)	24:18	3.9
"Part Four"	27 September 1986 (1986-09-27)	24:20	3.7
[2][3][4]

Preproduction

In February 1985, the BBC announced that the planned twenty-third season of Doctor Who had been cancelled. After vocal protests by the press and Doctor Who fans (including a charity single, "Doctor in Distress"), the BBC announced that the programme was merely on "hiatus", and would return in September 1986. Several stories which had been planned or commissioned for the original Season 23 were abandoned in favour of an overarching "trial" theme, reflecting the fact that the programme itself was on trial at the BBC.^[5]

This story was the last complete Doctor Who story written by Robert Holmes. Its plot is similar to Holmes' first contribution to Doctor Who, The Krotons. In both stories, an alien machine subjugates a humanoid civilization and forces its brightest young people into its service.^[6]

Production

The opening model shot of the Time Lord Space Station where the trial is held throughout the season was the most expensive model shot from the classic series run (costing more than £8,000).^[7] The sequence depicts the Time Lord Space Station orbiting in space then dragging the TARDIS inside via the use of a tractor beam.

From this serial onwards, all location work would be recorded on Outside Broadcast (OB) tape instead of 16mm film. This practice would continue until the end of the series. The only footage shot on film for this episode was the opening special effects shot of the TARDIS. The BBC had been encouraging the replacement of film cameras with OB cameras since the early 1980s on the grounds that they were cheaper, and mixed with studio-shot material better. John Nathan-Turner had actually wanted to switch to OB shooting as early as Peter Davison's first season in 1982, but met with resistance from the directors working on the show at the time.

Roger Brierley, who voiced the role of Drathro, was originally supposed to wear the robot costume and physically play the role, but it was realised that the costume would not fit Brierley's 6'4" frame. Therefore a special effects assistant, Paul McGuinness, who helped design the costume, was called in to physically play Drathro, while Brierley spoke his lines from off-camera.

Post-production

Dominic Glynn was hired to score the music for The Mysterious Planet, and John Nathan-Turner offered him the chance to rearrange the opening title music. His new score for the opening theme was the shortest lived, lasting this season alone (not counting the unused 1973 version by Delia Derbyshire and Paddy Kingsland).

Cast notes

The actor playing Merdeen, Tom Chadbon, had previously appeared in the 1979 Fourth Doctor serial City of Death.

In print

A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in November 1987.

Doctor Who book
The Mysterious Planet
Series	Target novelisations
Release number	127
Writer	Terrance Dicks
Publisher	Target Books
Cover artist	Tony Masero
ISBN	0-426-20319-4
Release date	19th November 1987 (Hardback) 21st April 1988 (Paperback)
Preceded by	'
Followed by	'

VHS and DVD releases

• In October 1993, this story was released on VHS as part of the three-tape The Trial of a Time Lord set.
• It was released on DVD on September 29, 2008, similarly boxed with the other three stories of this season.

References

1. ^ From the Doctor Who Magazine series overview, in issue 407 (pp26-29). The Discontinuity Guide, which counts the unbroadcast serial Shada, lists this segment of The Trial of a Time Lord as an individual story, number 144. Region 1 DVD releases follow The Discontinuity Guide numbering system.
2. ^ Shaun Lyon et al. (2007-03-31). "The Mysterious Planet". Outpost Gallifrey. Archived from the original on 2008-05-04. http://web.archive.org/web/20080504105158/http://www.gallifreyone.com/episode.php?id=7a. Retrieved 2008-08-30. 
3. ^ "The Mysterious Planet". Doctor Who Reference Guide. http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_7a.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-30. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Sullivan, Shannon (2007-08-07). "The Mysterious Planet". A Brief History of Time Travel. http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/7a.html. Retrieved 2008-08-30. 
5. ^ Howe, David J; Stephen James Walker (1998). Doctor Who: The Television Companion (1st ed. ed.). London: BBC Books. pp. 485–487. ISBN 0-563-40588-0. 
6. ^ Howe, David J; Stephen James Walker (1998). Doctor Who: The Television Companion (1st ed. ed.). London: BBC Books. pp. 495. ISBN 0-563-40588-0. 
7. ^ The Mysterious Planet at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)

External links

• The Mysterious Planet at BBC Online
• The Mysterious Planet at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Trial Of A Time Lord (Segment One) at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)

Reviews

• The Mysterious Planet reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
• The Mysterious Planet reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide

Target novelisation

• On Target — The Mysterious Planet