The TARDIS arrives in a white void after making an emergency escape from the volcanic eruption on Dulkis.The TARDIS arrives in a white void after making an emergency escape from the volcanic eruption on Dulkis.The TARDIS arrives in a white void after making an emergency escape from the volcanic eruption on Dulkis.
Photos
- Director
- Writers
- Sydney Newman(uncredited)
- Derrick Sherwin(uncredited)
- Donald Wilson(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis story was planned as a four-part serial, but was increased to five after the previous adventure, The Dominators, was reduced from six to five episodes. As a result, the first four episodes were only between 19 and 22 minutes in length and episode five was the shortest Doctor Who episode ever at just over 18 minutes. For this to happen, the first episode was cobbled together by the production team, making Peter Ling very unhappy.
- GoofsWhen the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe re-enter the TARDIS, a caption on the scanner reads "Producer Peter Bryant". The scanner screen is showing the output of the camera that was due to film the episode's end credits.
- Quotes
Jamie: Come on, back to the TARDIS.
Zoe Heriot: Is that the right way?
Jamie: Of course it's the right way... Oh... Err... No, it could be... erm... oh.
Zoe Heriot: We're lost, aren't we?
Jamie: No, I wouldn't say that. We're just err... well, the... um... We're just a...
[beat]
Jamie: You want to know something?
Zoe Heriot: What?
Jamie: I think we're lost.
Zoe Heriot: Oh, this isn't a joke, Jamie!
Jamie: No, you're right. The Doctor was saying that those images we saw on the scanner were put here to tempt us out.
Zoe Heriot: Well, if somebody was trying to tempt us away, where are they? And who are they?
Jamie: Aye. Aye. Well, let's not be in too much of a hurry to find that out, ey?
Zoe Heriot: But, what are we going to do?
Jamie: Well, the TARDIS can't be that far away. No, if we stand here and shout for The Doctor, when he hears us, he can guide us back. Doctor!
Zoe Heriot: Doctor! Can you here us?
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Fact of Fiction (2005)
This story is very similar in type to the William Hartnell era story The Celestial Toymaker (although this is quite a lot better). It is, like that story, a whimsical trip into a weird make believe world controlled by a sinister power. This idea was returned to again later in the classic series to some extent with aspects of a couple of stories (e.g. Warrior's Gate) and again in recent Moffatt/Matt Smith era series with Amy's Choice and to some extent The Doctor's Wife being derived from the same template.
The excellent first episode has a surprise element with some dramatic and brilliantly unusual happenings such as an exploding TARDIS and an endless white void. It is very well done and provides an enticing, fascinating start to the story. Then there is a thoroughly enjoyable if not quite as brilliant second episode where ideas such as the land of fiction, characters like Gulliver (speaking only lines he spoke in original text, a great idea very well executed) and a maze-like forest of words provide a good amount of interest. After that there is a still very good third episode then a slightly disappointing and occasionally silly 4th episode and a decent but rather unremarkable and not wholly successful 5th episode.
This has a disappointing lack of development after such a promising start. It must go down as a missed opportunity which would have been better as a 3-parter. Great first episode though.
My Ratings: Episode 1 - 10/10, Episode 2 - 9/10, Episode 3 - 8.5/10, Episode 4 - 6.5/10, Episode 5 - 7.5/10
- A_Kind_Of_CineMagic
- Sep 17, 2014
Details
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- Runtime22 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1