After Cuthbert’s forces capture a live Laan, Cuthbert decides he no longer needs the Doctor’s reluctant expertise, and leaves the Doctor and Romana to their fate – a fate that isn’t as fatal as Cuthbert expects, thanks to Romana’s telepathic rapport with the Laan. The two Time Lords demand an audience with Earth President Sheridan Moonkurk, and the Doctor insists that she put an end to the slaughter. But Cuthbert has plans that he does not intend to bring to a stop – not for any government and not for any life form.
written by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Richard Fox & Lauren YasonCast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Mary Tamm (Romana), Hayley Atwell (President Moorkurk), David Warner (Cuthbert), Toby Hadoke (Mr. Dorrick), Jane Slavin (The Laan)
LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green
Review: Delving into the parasitic political relationship between the Earth government and Cuthbert’s conglomerate, War Against The Laan slyly illuminates the relationships between politics and money that are present in the real world. David Warner continues to make Cuthbert a truly nasty character, and Hayley Atwell brings both steely and helpless dimensions to Earth’s president.
Huge authenticity points are score by the true-to-the-sounds-of-’70s-Who music, and while that may seem like a silly thing upon which to fixate, it does so much to place the story in the proper period of Doctor Who history. While not as strong as The Sands Of Life, War Against The Laan resolves the immediate story and sets up a few hints of Cuthbert’s involvement the season finale to come.