The Eleven, a Time Lord criminal who still hears all ten of his murderous prior incarnations as voices in his head, is brought to justice and returned to Gallifrey by the Doctor (in his seventh incarnation). Too dangerous for any normal imprisonment, the Eleven is confined to cold stasis.
The eighth Doctor and Liv Chenka, freshly escaped from their latest crisis, find that the TARDIS is out of their control, recalled to Gallifrey. The Doctor is tersely greeted by both an appointee of the High Council and the head of the Celestial Intervention Agency, reluctantly working together. Their goal: to recapture the Eleven, who escaped from confinement while being interviewed by a student from the Time Lord academy. Liv Chenka is able to spot the Eleven, thanks to his cloaking abilities being keyed to fool the senses of other Time Lords, but not humans. The Eleven tries to install himself as Gallifrey’s ruler in the absence of the President, but what he really wants is the President’s access to Gallifreyan relics of considerable power. His primary interest is in something called the Regeneration Codex, about which little is known, even by other Time Lords. Leaving a trail of death and destruction in his wake across Gallifrey’s Capitol, the Eleven steals a TARDIS and leaves for Earth. All too familiar with this course of action, the Doctor is deputized by the Time Lords to retrieve the Eleven at any cost.
written by Matt Fitton
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Wilfredo Acosta
Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Nicola Walker (Liv Chenka), Mark Bonnar (The Eleven), Ramon Tikaram (Castellan), Caroline Langrishe (Lady Farina), Bethan Walker (Kiani), Robert Bathurst (Cardinal Padrac), John Banks (Captain), Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor)
Notes: The Omega Vault is mentioned, first cited in The Day Of The Doctor (2013) as the storehouse of the Time Lords’ most powerful weapons, though the Eleven seems to be particularly partial to the Sash and Rod of Rassilon, which are relics invested upon the sitting President of Gallifrey (The Deadly Assassin, 1976, and The Invasion Of Time, 1978). Flavia’s tenure as President is mentioned as well; she took office following the Doctor’s hasty retreat from being elected to that office in The Five Doctors (1983). Also mentioned are the current President, Romana, and her policy of allowing students from other time-sensitive species attend the Academy on Gallifrey; these events play out in the spin-off audio series Gallifrey.
Timeline: after Eye Of Darkness and before The Red Lady; before Night Of The Doctor
LogBook entry and review by Earl Green
From Clara’s roof, there arises such a clatter that she wakes up to investigate, finding a man dressed as Santa Claus…and two elves…and a crashed sleigh and wayward reindeer. If that scene isn’t surreal enough, the TARDIS appears, the Doctor emerges, and tells her she must do exactly as he says. They travel to a research base at the North Pole where the scientists live in fear of crab-like alien beings that attach themselves to victims’ heads and consume them; the victims are kept in a dream state, anesthetized from what’s actually happening to them. The beings attack both the base crew and the Doctor and Clara, but does everyone survive the attack, or succumb? written by Steven Moffat
Cast: Peter Capaldi (The Doctor), Jenna Coleman (Clara), Nick Frost (Santa Claus), Samuel Anderson (Danny Pink), Dan Starkey (Ian), Nathan McMullen (Wolf), Faye Marsay (Shona), Natalie Gumede (Ashley), Maureen Beattie (Bellows), Michael Troughton (Professor Albert)
Notes: Michael Troughton is the son of Patrick Troughton, who was the second Doctor from 1966 through 1969; Michael’s brother David appeared in the David Tennant episode Midnight. Nick Frost has co-starred with Simon Pegg (the Editor from The Long Game) in a number of movies co-written and produced by Pegg (Hot Fuzz, Shaun Of The Dead, and The World’s End), as well as co-starring in the series Spaced with Pegg.
