Slipback
Following a trail of time spillage, indicating carelessly-conducted time experiments, the TARDIS brings the Doctor to the starship Vipod Mor, whose dysfunctional crew includes an undercover cop, a schizophrenic ship’s computer, and a captain intent on creating and unleashing the most virulent disease in the universe. But the Time Lord isn’t in any shape to take on these potential dangers – he’s nearly incapacitated, trying to decipher a cryptic message deliver to him by a disembodied female voice. Soon, he and Peri are caught in the middle of numerous deadly plots, but the Doctor discovers that he can’t interfere with any of them…without derailing the entire history of the universe.
written by Eric Saward
directed by Paul Spencer
music by Jonathan GibbsCast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Jane Carr (Computer), John Glover (Shellingborne Grant), Nick Revell (Bates / Snatch), Alan Thompson (Mutant / Steward), Valentine Dyall (Captain Slarn), Ron Pember (Seedle)
Timeline: after Revelation Of The Daleks and before Trial Of A Time Lord
LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green
Trapped in Victorian England without the TARDIS, the Doctor and Nyssa try desperately to track down the TARDIS, ultimately resorting to – out of sheer desperation – convincing guests in a Victorian sitting room to unwittingly participate in a block-transfer computation to allow the Doctor to peer into the time vortex to look for his missing ship. But instead of a peek, the Doctor, Nyssa and two of their unsuspecting acquaintances find themselves transported into prehistoric Earth – but a prehistoric Earth that shouldn’t exist at all. The dinosaurs are nowhere to be found, and giant insects seem to overrun the planet. Even the insects, however, answer to someone else – someone eager to renew his acquaintance with the Doctor and Nyssa. They’re horrified to discover a wizened, demented old man at the heart of this world, a man they once knew as a boy called Adric. Having somehow managed to survive his fiery fall to Earth, Adric has changed history, and he has a score to settle with the Doctor…and he expects to make Nyssa his queen. But is this really Adric? And if so, can his surprisingly vicious taste for revenge be turned into his own redemption before his rule comes to an end?