Category: Classic Season 17

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Classic Season 17 Doctor Who

Destiny Of The Daleks

Doctor WhoThe TARDIS brings the Doctor and Romana to a desolate wasteland of a planet, one whose atmosphere is so radioactive that it can be toxic even to Time Lords without proper precautions – the post-atomic-war Skaro, home world of the Daleks. When the two are separated, Romana is trailed by a disheveled human. Convinced that he means her harm, she runs right into a barely-buried chute that deposits her underground in the waiting arms of the Daleks themselves. The Doctor meets the attractive humanoid crew of a nearby space vessel, who call themselves Movellans. At war with the spacefaring Daleks for centuries, the Movellans have followed their enemies back to Skaro to prevent them from unearthing a “secret weapon”: Davros, whose life support system was damaged but not disabled, has apparently survived in a dormant state. His more emotional, cunning strategies could give the Daleks the edge. The Movellans hope that the Doctor and Romana can give them the same edge – and worst of all, the two Time Lords aren’t exactly being given a choice about replacing the Movellans’ battle computers.

Season 17 Regular Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Lalla Ward (Romana), David Brierly (voice of K9)

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Terry Nation
directed by Ken Grieve
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Tim Barlow (Tyssan), Peter Straker (Commander Sharrel), Suzanne Danielle (Agella), Tony Osoba (Lan), David Gooderson (Davros), Roy Skelton, David Gooderson (Dalek voices), Cy Town, Mike Mungarvan, Toby Byrne, Tony Starr (Daleks), Penny Casdagla (Jall), David Yip (Veldan)

Broadcast from September 1 through 22, 1979

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 17 Doctor Who

City of Death

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Romana are paying a visit to Paris in 1979 when they both sense an interruption in time. Dismissing it as a freak occurrence, they visit the Louvre, where the Doctor suffers a dizzy spell as the result of another time interference. The Doctor also uncovers a plot to steal the Mona Lisa, attracting the attention of two parties: a bunch of armed thugs working for the obscenely rich Count Scarlioni, and another armed – though less proficient – thug, detective Duggan, who has been trailing Scarlioni on a hunch that the Count plans to lift the painting. Scarlioni’s men kidnap the Doctor, Romana and Duggan to his mansion, where the Doctor realizes that Scarlioni is embarking on hazardous time experiments with technology that couldn’t possibly exist on 20th century Earth. As it turns out, the alien being that calls itself Count Scarlioni is well on his way to stealing the Mona Lisa, but that is merely a diversion, the tip of the iceberg in a plot to revive his extinct alien species…at the cost of erasing the human race from history itself.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by David Agnew (a.k.a. Douglas Adams & Graham Williams)
directed by Michael Hayes
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Julian Glover (Scaroth/Count Scarlioni/Captain Tancredi), Catherine Schell (Countess Scarlioni), Tom Chadbon (Duggan), David Graham (Professor Kerensky), Kevin Flood (Hermann), Peter Halliday (Soldier), Pamela Stirling (Louvre Guide), John Cleese, Eleanor Bron (Gallery visitors)

Broadcast from September 29 through October 20, 1979

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 17 Doctor Who

The Creature From The Pit

Doctor WhoThe Doctor, Romana and K9 follow an urgent distress call to the planet Chloris, whose ruler, Lady Adrasta, lords over the planet’s resources and meets any challenge with a threat of war. But the greatest threat to Adrasta’s empire is her own short-sightedness in imprisoning an ambassador from another world who only wishes to open a peaceful exchange between their two worlds. The Doctor could help to start the negotiations, but he has been consigned to the pit along with the ambassador.

Download this episodewritten by David Fisher
directed by Christopher Barry
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Myra Frances (Lady Adrasta), Eileen Way (Karela), Geoffrey Bayldon (Organon), David Telfer (Huntsman), John Bryans (Torvin), Edward Kelsey (Edu), Tim Munro (Ainu), Tommy Wright (Guard Master), Terry Walsh (Doran), Morris Barry (Tollund), Philip Denyer, Dave Redgrave (Guards)

Broadcast from October 27 through November 17, 1979

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 17 Doctor Who

Nightmare of Eden

Doctor WhoTwo spacecraft collide in hyperspace, one of them a passenger liner loaded with vacationers. The Doctor and Romana witness it all but, as they try to lend aid, they discover that something more sinister is happening: the captain of the passenger ship was, at the time of the accident, high on a potent and addictive narcotic called vraxoin. When the proper authorities arrive to investigate, they naturally point the finger of blame at the two most recent arrivals – the Doctor, Romana and K-9. But what the Doctor finds out is more disturbing than a mere drug ring. Vraxoin itself is created only from the residue left by the death of humanoid creatures called Mandrels – and someone is transporting live Mandrels undetected, intending to kill them to create more of the drug.

Download this episodewritten by Bob Baker
directed by Alan Bromly
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: David Daker (Rigg), Lewis Fiander (Tryst), Jennifer Lonsdale (Della), Geoffrey Bateman (Dymond), Barry Andrews (Stott), Stephen Jenn (Secker), Geoffrey Hinsliff (Fisk), Peter Craze (Costa), Pamela Ruddock (Computer voice), Richard Barnes, Sebastian Stride, Eden Phillips (Crewmen), Annette Peters, Lionel Sansby, Peter Roberts, Maggie Petersen (Passengers), Billy Gray (Wounded passenger), James Muir, Derek Suthern, David Korff, Jan Murzynowski, Robert Goodman (Mandrels)

Broadcast from November 24 through December 15, 1979

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 17 Doctor Who

The Horns Of Nimon – Part 1

Doctor WhoOne of the last mighty battlecruisers of the Skonnon Empire is being used to ferry a load of young slaves from the planet Aneth, until its already overworked engines are pushed past the breaking point, stalling the ship in space. By coincidence, the TARDIS is also at a dead stop in space nearby while the Doctor disassembles the time rotor for an overhaul. But a singularity in this area of space is drawing both ships together…toward their doom. Despite his reservations about repairing a slaver’s ship, the Doctor decides to err on the side of saving lives and repairs the ship – but as soon as he does, the surviving Skonnon co-pilot ditches the TARDIS and takes off with Romana still aboard.

Order this story on DVDDownload this episodewritten by Anthony Read
directed by Kenny McBain
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Lalla Ward (Romana), David Brierly (voice of K9), Simon Gipps-Kent (Seth), Janet Ellis (Teka), Graham Crowden (Soldeed), Michael Osborne (Sorak), Malcolm Terris (Co-pilot), Bob Hornery (Pilot), Clifford Norgate (Nimon voices), John Bailey (Sezom), Robin Sherringham, Bob Appleby, Trevor St. John Hacker (Nimon)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 17 Doctor Who

The Horns Of Nimon – Part 2

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and K9 find themselves in the path of a massive planetoid being pulled into the singularity, but the Doctor manages to bounce the TARDIS off of the planetoid. On Skonnos, a sycophantic leader named Soldeed begs a creature called the Nimon for more time, as Soldeed’s people continue to search for the missing slaver ship. Thanks to the Doctor’s repairs, the ship does make its way back to Skonnos, where the young slaves – and Romana – are to be handed over to the Nimon as a “tribute.” The Doctor manages to patch up the TARDIS and follow the ship to Skonnos, where he is promptly thrown into the complex of the Nimon.

Order this story on DVDDownload this episodewritten by Anthony Read
directed by Kenny McBain
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Lalla Ward (Romana), David Brierly (voice of K9), Simon Gipps-Kent (Seth), Janet Ellis (Teka), Graham Crowden (Soldeed), Michael Osborne (Sorak), Malcolm Terris (Co-pilot), Bob Hornery (Pilot), Clifford Norgate (Nimon voices), John Bailey (Sezom), Robin Sherringham, Bob Appleby, Trevor St. John Hacker (Nimon)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 17 Doctor Who

The Horns Of Nimon – Part 3

Doctor WhoWhile Seth and Teka worry about finding an exit from the maze, the Doctor and Romana are more interested in finding what is at the center of the maze, and at the heart of the Nimon’s operation. What they find there is a room full of equipment for diverting immense amounts of power to a matter transmitter. He and his friends then have to hide as the Nimon itself approaches, operating the equipment now that it has the tribute from Aneth to bring his complex up to full power. A pod appears in the transmat chamber, carrying two more Nimon, with more to come. The tributes of slaves and material from Skonnos are merely helping the Nimon’s own invasion plans, which will not benefit Skonnos in any way. Once the Nimon have left, Romana sits in the transmat pod to analyze it, and is accidentally sent to Crinoth, the Nimon’s home world.

Order this story on DVDDownload this episodewritten by Anthony Read
directed by Kenny McBain
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Lalla Ward (Romana), David Brierly (voice of K9), Simon Gipps-Kent (Seth), Janet Ellis (Teka), Graham Crowden (Soldeed), Michael Osborne (Sorak), Malcolm Terris (Co-pilot), Bob Hornery (Pilot), Clifford Norgate (Nimon voices), John Bailey (Sezom), Robin Sherringham, Bob Appleby, Trevor St. John Hacker (Nimon)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 17 Doctor Who

The Horns Of Nimon – Part 4

Doctor WhoRomana emerges from the transmat pod on the planet Crinoth, and is immediately surrounded by more Nimon…until she finds that she’s not the only one on Crinoth who isn’t a Nimon. Sezom, Soldeed’s predecessor, has been trapped here, and has spent years evading the Nimon on their home planet – a ruined husk of a world that they now seek to escape by invading another world. Sezom helps her get back to the pod and return to Skonnos. Soldeed has now learned that the Nimon lied when it claimed to be the last of its race, but in the course of trying to do the Nimon’s bidding, accidentally sets the Nimon’s power systems to overload. The Doctor and friends must now rely on K-9 to help them find their way out of the maze before the Nimon complex destroys itself.

Order this story on DVDDownload this episodewritten by Anthony Read
directed by Kenny McBain
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Lalla Ward (Romana), David Brierly (voice of K9), Simon Gipps-Kent (Seth), Janet Ellis (Teka), Graham Crowden (Soldeed), Michael Osborne (Sorak), Malcolm Terris (Co-pilot), Bob Hornery (Pilot), Clifford Norgate (Nimon voices), John Bailey (Sezom), Robin Sherringham, Bob Appleby, Trevor St. John Hacker (Nimon)

Notes: The Nimon return to do battle with the Doctor in the Big Finish audio story Seasons Of Fear. The eleventh Doctor would encounter a species related to the Nimon in The God Complex (2011). Though intended to be followed by the six-part story Shada, The Horns Of Nimon was the final season 17 episode to be broadcast, and therefore marks the end of producer Graham Williams’ tenure, as well as being the final use in the original series of Delia Derbyshire’s arrangement of the theme music, which had been opening each episode of Doctor Who since 1963, sometimes in edited and lightly remixed forms. (It would next be heard at the beginning of The Day Of The Doctor (2013). This is also composer Dudley Simpson’s final musical contribution to the series for which he had been creating music since 1964’s Planet Of Giants.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green