The Church And The Crown
The TARDIS brings the Doctor, Peri and Erimem to the eve of the French Revolution, though they aren’t aware of this at first. As soon as the Doctor realizes what period of history he’s brought his friends to, he tries to round them up to make a quick exit, but it’s too late. Peri has attracted some unwelcome attention due to her striking resemblance to Queen Anne, and Erimem’s usual curiosity has led her to some of the more colorful locals. Peri has become a target of kidnappers plotting against the Queen, and in trying to defend her, the Doctor has made a target of himself as well.
written by Mark Wright and Cavan Scott
directed by Gary Russell
music by Russell StoneCast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Caroline Morris (Erimem), Andrew Mackay (King Louis), Michael Shallard (Cardinal Richelieu), Marcus Hutton (The Duke of Buckingham), Peter John (Delmarre), Andy Coleman (Rouffet), Robert Curbishley (Captain Morand), Wendy Albiston (Madame De Chevreuse)
Timeline: between No Place Like Home and Nekromanteia
LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green
Sarah leaves the country on assignment, ignoring frantic warnings from Natalie that a reporter from Sarah’s former employer, Planet 3, is tailing her. Even when those warnings become even more ominous ones that the Planet 3 reporter is not, in fact, a Planet 3 reporter, and even after Sarah has met the “reporter” and figured out that something doesn’t add up, she forges ahead with her story. Josh is at Sarah’s new home when the place is robbed, and even though the robbers rough Josh up, he sees them take the non-functional K-9. Natalie discovers more evidence about the “reporter” Sarah has befriended, discovering that she has a connection to a group whose former members could be out to destroy Sarah’s career, if not Sarah herself. But Sarah isn’t looking ahead for these signs anymore – only over her shoulder.
The Doctor and Melanie arrive at a most inopportune time aboard space station Dark Space 8, and the Doctor is mistaken for the replacement for the station’s recently-deceased commander – a role into which the Time Lord steps eagerly, to Mel’s dismay. Dark Space 8 is playing host to an intergalactic pop song contest in a matter of days, and station security is stepped up accordingly – but apparently not enough, as one of the contestants turns up dead. As more murders occur, the station’s crew is helpless (and clueless), and when one of the suspects seems to have an unnatural hold over the Doctor, Mel worries that she is on her own in solving the mystery…
The Doctor is giving Erimem a tour around the TARDIS, but begins to lose track of where he is inside his own ship. When the timeship’s power fades, the Doctor knows that some outside force is acting on his TARDIS… or is it something on the inside? The Doctor and Erimem discover that a new life form has evolved within the TARDIS itself, and finally it has gained the sentience and knowledge required to take control. The Doctor hopes he can reason with the being, but the creature seems to have other ideas…
The TARDIS makes a rough landing in what appears to be modern-day England, though a rip in the fabric of time traumatizes the Doctor by showing him events that he doesn’t remember – a bloody war. As he and Evelyn explore, they discover that they’ve somehow landed on an alternate Earth whose “English Empire” is about to celebrate a jubilee in recognition of their defeat of a Dalek invasion force in 1903 – a victory they attribute entirely to the Doctor, a figure they know as a military hero who led them in battle against the Daleks, while history records that the Doctor’s companion Evelyn was a casualty of that carnage. The highlight of the 100th anniversary celebration will be the very public execution of an unarmed Dalek, kept alive in captivity all these years. This time, are the Daleks the downtrodden underclass, waiting for the Doctor to free them from the tyrannical reign of the all-conquering, merciless human race?
The war between the Daleks who have overrun Earth’s solar system and the Daleks from an alternate dimension has not gone well. Kalendorf has taken a position at the head of the combined human/alternate-Dalek fleet, fighting for the liberation of the galaxy. Alby Brook has sought isolation and oblivion, choosing to stay away from the main action as he mourns the fate of Suz Mendes. Suz is also the subject of an intensive search by the Daleks. And Mirana seems to have found her before the Daleks can – but in so doing has delayed a rendezvous with Alby, leaving him in a potentially precarious situation. But what has happened to Suz in the meantime? Is she still dedicated to the resistance…or is she in the thrall of the Daleks?
The Doctor, Peri and Erimem visit an alien market square – Erimem’s first adventure on a world other than Earth – where Erimem stumbles across information that leads her to suggest a visit to the Nekromanteia system. The Doctor goes along with the idea, unaware that he’s landing himself and his companions in the midst of a grim war – between a well-armed corporate entity and a coven of powerful witches – which has been plotted out from the beginning by an unscrupulous businessman seeking immortality for himself.
Mirana, operating in total secrecy, has recovered Suz, rescuing her from the burial in a collapsing star that has been ordained by the alternate universe Daleks for all humans subjected to the Dalek conversion process. Mirana and Kalendorf have discovered a horrifying secret – to avoid capture by the alternate universe Daleks, the Dalek Emperor forced its consciousness into Suz’s mind – a cohabitation she’s unaware of until Mirana tells her. Alby’s ship finally shows up for the rendezvous, but it has been commandeered by Daleks, and Alby and a refugee named Morli are hostages. The Daleks storm Mirana’s ship, taking command swiftly, but they refrain from their usual ruthlessness when Suz threatens to kill herself (which would also destroy the Emperor). At Earth’s solar system, Kalendorf’s Alliance fleet succeeds in tearing down the Daleks’ defenses, but at a high cost. Once in the solar system itself, Kalendorf and his alternate Dalek allies make startling discoveries, not the least of which is that the Daleks have terraformed Jupiter into a massive, human-habitable world by brute force. And in a Dalek laboratory, Suz’s mind is being turned inside-out, as the Daleks try to subjugate her personality permanently to bring the Emperor’s consciousness to the surface. 
Having left Bernice on a research facility on Orbos to visit a colleague of hers, the Doctor and Ace are on their way back to Orbos when an unusually powerful distress call washes over the TARDIS’ telepathic circuits – powerful enough that even Ace picks up on it. The message, which the Doctor believes to come from his old friend Remnex, warns of the Dark Flame…and ends abruptly in a scream of agony. As it happens, Professor Remnex is also conducting research on Orbos, and the Doctor is relieved to find him in perfect health. Bernice, on the other hand, has waited two weeks for her colleague to arrive, to no avail, and no one can account for his whereabouts. The Doctor discovers that a pair of scientists on Orbos are planning to trigger a black light explosion in a nearby star, an ill-advised experiment that could have far-reaching consequences if not properly contained. Soon after his warnings about the impending experiment fall on deaf ears, the Doctor discovers that Remnex has been murdered, having sent his warning through time to the Doctor at the time of his death. The Doctor and Bernice recognize the hallmarks of the Cult of the Dark Flame, a group (thought to be extinct) which worships an energy being from a parallel, but dark, dimension. And if that cult gains control of Orbos and its black light experiment, the universe is in imminent danger. What the Doctor and his friends don’t know is that the cult is already in control.
Suz slowly recovers from her Dalek-inflicted ordeal, which reveals that she is indeed in possession of the Emperor Dalek’s consciousness. In Earth’s solar system, Kalendorf’s crew explores the terraformed Jupiter with disastrous results, and the Mentor – the leader of the alternate universe Daleks – strips him of his command. When his ship is attacked, Kalendorf takes advantage of the confusion to escape, and makes a beeline for Mirana’s ship, which is also returning to the solar system under Dalek control. When he reaches the ship and is reunited with Suz, Alby begins to suspect the same thing of which the Mentor has accused Kalendorf: the leader of the rebellion has switched sides.
Hundreds of years after the Great Catastrophe that reduced many of the galaxy’s civilizations to rubble, Galactic Union agent Sy Tarkov seeks the expertise of Saloran Hardew, a researcher who has a theory that the Catastrophe was caused by one man named Kalendorf. She tells Tarkov of Kalendorf’s seeming betrayal of his own friends and allies, and how Kalendorf even handed Susan Mendes over to the Daleks he had pledged his life to fight, all in a cunning scheme to infiltrate the Daleks’ command network. And she tells Tarkov that, despite Kalendorf’s apparent defeat of the Daleks centuries ago, there are signs that they’re about to return – and this time the decimated galaxy isn’t ready to repel them. 
Evelyn pays a visit to a student of hers named Sally, arriving quite unbidden to tell her the tale of a recent adventure she and the Doctor experienced on the high seas – a tale of pirates, treasure, daring deeds, and terrible tragedies. Indeed, by invading Sally’s home to foist the story upon her, the Doctor and Evelyn are trying to avert another tragedy – but Evelyn worries that even that may be impossible when, during the recounting of their waterlogged adventure, the Doctor decides it would be better to tell the story in song.
On the planet Gallifrey, oblivious to the coming inauguration of the new President of the High Council, an author known only as the Doctor spends most of his days in an illegal Possibility Generator, researching and reliving events from the history of a primitive world called Earth, upon which his books are based. As his robotic drudge Badger tends to his needs, the Doctor stays in seclusion and fends off the recurring visits of his dreaded great-grand-uncle, Ordinal-General Quences, who has long harbored an ambition of maneuvering the Doctor into the presidency to gain prestige and influence for their family. Another member of the Doctor’s family, claiming to be his great granddaughter Susan, appears, and the Doctor learns that Susan is the new President-elect, and Quences hopes to follow her into a life of prestige. Having dreamt for years of stealing a TARDIS and fleeing Gallifrey with Susan under his wing, the Doctor finally rebels against Quences by overloading the Possibility Generator and flooding the Capitol with its alternate realities. Now, at last, perhaps the Doctor can escape his staid life – or perhaps he won’t. And perhaps Susan will come with him – or perhaps she won’t.
The Doctor parks the TARDIS in orbit of the planet Veln to make some minor repairs, when his time vehicle is further damaged by a toxic gas leaking from a nearby freighter on a collision course. He slips the TARDIS forward by a century and sets down on Veln, finding that the atmosphere is saturated with the same deadly gas. He goes to warn the residents of a nearby mansion of the danger, and leaves Nyssa at the TARDIS. A young woman approaches Nyssa, armed with a scalpel and intent on committing suicide. When the authorities arrive, Nyssa is charged with murder, taken to Veln’s central security block, and is interrogated brutally. The Doctor’s attempts to help are blocked by Lady Forleon, who owns the mansion and seems to have a secret of her own to keep – and her agenda may or may not include preventing the Doctor from trying to rescue Nyssa. In the meantime, blood tests have revealed that Nyssa is an alien, throwing Gilbrook, a Veln security officer, into an increasing state of paranoia. Veln’s own past history with alien visitors hasn’t been pleasant, what with the Koteem freighter which, four generations ago, veered off course to avoid a collision and fatally polluted Veln’s atmosphere…