"I've genuinely missed your constant criticism." "Have you?" "No."
IN THIS ONE... The Doctor and Tegan get a message from Turlough.
REVIEW: There's unfortunately no way to square the Fifth Doctor's older appearance here (but Theories will try), but either post-Power Tegan has met up with him again and the TARDIS has brought them back to Butler's Wharf where they'd originally said goodbye. The time corridor still leads there, as it seems their era's Daleks are using it as a staging post to invade Trion, from which Turlough sends a "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi" message. We're basically in the middle of untold adventures, and leave the story the same way we came in, no knowing what's on the other side. The pair will obviously be taken to Trion where they'll take down the Daleks.
The banter between the two has evolved thanks to the friendship between Fielding and Davison, and is funnier than what they were given in the 80s. I always felt like it SHOULD have been funnier, but Nathan-Turner was evidently running from the "silliness" that had grown too much in the Fourth Doctor era, so it all came out as complaining. Not here, even though that's what it's scripted to be. Punchlines matter.
THEORIES: There are a few possibilities when it comes to an older Fifth Doctor. One is the rather fantastical RTD notion put forward in Tales of the TARDIS, that the Doctor's past selves have been allowed to age and travel the universe, either in dreams, or in an alternate universe, or in reality. Tegan, Nyssa and Adric were in Five's episode, so Tegan could have kept going for a bit. It might even be a dream (and yet reality), just like her previous appearance in The Passenger. The other possibility is the one from Time Crash, but this would require more explanation (which arguably, could have taken place just before they exit the TARDIS, since we're in such an in medias res situation). Here, the Doctor is the victim of a time differential which COULD be caused by the time corridor. And like many Big Finish stories point to, the Doctor COULD have gone back to pick up a former companion for more adventures (Five did this specifically with an older Nyssa, for example). Seems Ten isn't the only Doctor who likes a "farewell tour".
REWATCHABILITY: Medium - Continuity problems aside, this is a fun little mini-sode (or part of one).
Comments