The Nightmare Fair

by: Graham Williams
Episodes: 4
Companions: Peri
Submitted for: Season 23

Story: The Doctor takes Peri to Blackpool to visit the amusements and illuminations. While there, the Doctor is led by a strange voice in his head to an amusement arcade where he meets the mother of small boy, Tyrone, who has gone missing. They find Tyrone wandering about in a daze unable to remember where he has been.

Later, they run into Kevin, whose brother went missing in the same arcade some time ago. The Doctor hears the voice in his head again and it leads him to a service tunnel in the Space Mountain ride. Peri and Kevin lose the Doctor and report his disappearance to the ride boss, who takes them to the security office where they are taken prisoner. They manage to escape through a mining ride, but the dummy miners come to life and knock Kevin out, but Peri is able to escape. After some time she meets up with Kevin again and finds out that he was able to escape by playing dead.

Meanwhile the Doctor has been taken prisoner and is held in a cell. He hears a rattling on the pipes in the cell and realises that someone is trying to communicate with him. Before he is able to reply a figure dressed in Mandarin attire enters and reveals himself to be his captor; the Doctor immediately recognises him as the Celestial Toymaker. With a wave the Toymaker makes the wall separating the two cells disappear, on the other side is a terrifying giant crab like creature which begins to advance towards the Doctor. Thinking on his feet, he uses the pipes to communicate with the crab creature and convince it of his friendship.

Pleased and amused, the Toymaker magically transports the Doctor to another cell with Kevin, Peri and an arcade game, which kevin has been told to practice on. The doctor is able to fix the video cameras in the cell so that they show a false image while he dismantles the video game for parts so that he can build a machine that will open the doors to the cell.

Meanwhile the Toymaker and his cohorts have almost completed work on an ultra realistic and deadly video game. The Toymaker invites the technician Yatsumoto to try out the game. When all his lives are lost a creature from the video game climbs out of the screen and kills him. Pleased with his work, the Toymaker and his team prepare for the mass production of the game.

By this time the Doctor has finished his machine, however when he turns it on he finds that instead of removing the force field his contraption joins all the cells together. Looking around the newly joined cells they see that a cyborg and a Venusian mechanic were occupying the other cells. The mechanic has a look at the Doctor's device, and redesigns it adding some pieces from the circuitry of the cyborg warrior, however before they can use it Stefan, the Toymaker's henchman, arrives and takes the Doctor away

The CD cover for the Argolis audio production of 'The Nightmare Fair'

The Toymaker invites the Doctor to play the newly finished video game, but the Doctor refuses until he threatens him with Peri's life. Through playing the game the Doctor realises that the Toymaker is from another universe and has been trapped in this one for millions of years, he has taken to playing games to distract himself form the fact that he will be alive for many millions of years more.

In the cell, the Mechanics frustration at Peri's inability to get the doctor's machine to work boils over and he attacks her. Her scream is heard in the Toymaker's mind, which temporarily disorientates and distracts him. Seizing his opportunity the Doctor is able to turn one of the monsters in the video game on to Stefan, which kills him. the Toymaker falls unconscious and the creature disappears. The Doctor runs to the cells and disabling the telepathic unit that controls the force field, collects the prisoners. Before the Toymaker wakes he is able to put him in the cell and rewire the telepathic forcefeild unit so that as long as the Toymaker is conscious he will be imprisoned inside it. He is unhappy with having to take this course of action, but realises that he had no choice.

Notes: This story was commissioned from former producer Graham Williams under the working title ‘Arcade’. Its director had been announced as Matthew Robinson ('Resurrection Of The Daleks' and 'Attack Of The Cybermen') and scripts had been given out to the main cast, with Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant both being enthusiastic about them. Following the hiatus, the scripts were revised into twenty-five minute episodes, but were abandoned by the end of June as the Trial format was devised. The story was novelised in 1990 as part of Taget's 'missing season' range and In 2003 it was released on CD by the fan group Argolis Productions, with a written introduction by Anthony Read. All profits from the sale went to the charity Sense. Recently this version of 'Nightmare Fair' has been re-released as a free download which is available here

The Ultimate Evil

by: Wally K Daly
Episodes:
Companion: Peri
Submitted for: Season 23

Story: In the TARDIS the doctor discovers that all the ships systems are functioning perfectly for once and he has nothing to fix. Bored, he decides that he and Peri should have a holiday, and to this end consults a holiday globe where would be the best place to go for peace relaxation and good fishing. the globe suggests tranquila, a planet that has had peace for 50 years since the two opposing continents ended a bitter war.

Little does the doctor know that the Evil Dwarf Mordant is using the globe to spy on the doctor, and isn't happy about the globe's suggestion that the Doctor goes to Tranquila. The Evil Dwarf Mordant has been causing havoc in the peaceful planet of tranquila by directing an energy beam located on his roving planetoid which causes the inhabitants to go into a rage, so much so that they have to chain themselves up in order to keep from killing each other.

The Kings advisor Escoval is convinced that the beam is coming form the neighboring continent of Ameloria, and is determined to break the 50 year peace, open their armoury and go to war. The king however, is more cautious, requiring proof before committing the country to war. To this end he give the task of finding out the cause of the madness to woo and gah, a husband and wife team of scientists.
During the most recent madness wave, Abatan's son kills his girlfriend and, after coming to, is so wracked with guilt that he offers himself up for trail. Just before he is to be sentenced Ravlos and Kareelya burst in and proclaim that they have found the source of the madness, a wave. Abatan's son is spared, and goes to the beach to contemplate his fate.

On the beach the TARDIS arrives and when Peri emerges Locas mistakes her for his departed. Through the holiday ball Mordant has tracked the Doctor and fires his hate ray at the beach. The people on the beach instantly turn on the Doctor and Peri and throws stones at them, one of which hits Peri and knocks her unconscious. the Doctor flees for the TARDIS, however the once inside the Doctor absorbs the hate rays thought the holiday ball and goes in search of his friends Meh and woo to take it out on.

Escoval Transports himself to Mordant's Planetoid to warn him that the hate ray has been discovered. Mordant gives him a hypnogun which can hypnotize anyone it was pointed at. Escoval then transports back and destroys the scientists lab in order to prevent them from detecting the source of the ray. The Doctor arrives in the lab at the same time as meh and woo and still under the effects of the ray, attacks them. In the scuffle meh is able to attach a protective helmet shield to shield his head, and he returns to his senses.

Mordant orders Escoval to arrest the Doctor. Escoval goes to the armory and tries to get the guards to come with him to arrest the Doctor, but the Guards are only allowed to leave the armoury on express permission of the first family. Incensed by the insubordination Escoval turns the hypno ray on the guards and orders them to come with him.

Back on the beach Locas fills Peri in on the troubles of Tranquila, however, Mordant has his gun trained on him,. and when he fires Locas tries to kill Peri. The blast does not last long and soon Locas comes to his senses, however Peri is more anxious than ever to find the doctor and safety. They teleport to the castle where meh and woo are, but arrive at the armoury. they enter to see if the Doctor is there and are caught by Abatan who has them arrested, the penalty for being inside the armoury is death.

At the lab, Meh is slowly removing the protective helmet from the doctor's head to see if the rage has passed just as Escoval returns. The guards attempt to arrest the Doctor but Ravlos has taken the helmet off enough for the rays to get to the Doctor and he goes berserk again and knocks out the guards. In the struggle Ravlos puts the helmet back on the Doctor, and they deduce that the rays must be coming from the holiday ball in the TARDIS.

Outside Escoval shoot Ravlos and Kreelya with the hypnogun and orders them to confess to treason. Viewing events on the TARDIS scanner, the discovers Escoval's plan to go to war with Amorila and decides to go to the opposing continent to warm them of the impending danger.

Escoval brings the guards, Kerreyla and Ravlos man to the armoury where Peri and Locas are. Peri quickly realises that there is something wrong. Because they are hypnotized they can only answer truthfully to Peri's questions and Escoval's plot is revealed. Locas decides to teleport out of the room with Peri so that he can expose Escoval's plan, even though the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden on Tranquila. When Abatan arrives to question Locas and the others, he finds to his horror that Locas has teleported out. His family now disgraced, Abatan must hand over power to Escoval.

Arriving on Ameliora the doctor is captured and tortured. He is able to tell the Ameliorans of the impending threat from Tranquila. The Amelorians tell the Doctor that if attacked they will not hesitate to retaliate and bring the Tranquilans under control of their central computer which is able to control the morality for the entire Amelorians population. While the doctor is unguarded Peri and Locas arrive and locate TARDIS.

Escoval visits Mordant, and between them cut a they cut a deal. Mordant will provide arms to Escoval, along with an addictive drug that will keep
Ameliorans under control. Escoval will in turn provide Mordant with his prisoners of war to sell as slaves. Mordant then fires a fear ray on to Ameloria to weaken any resistance to the attack. On Ameloria the Doctor is able to fight the fear ray and get to Peri and Locas to the TARDIS and find the source of the attack through the transmissions of the holiday ball.

The Doctor Forces Mordant to use a peace ray on the two continents, if he refuses the Doctor threatens to report him to the Time Lords for spying on them, the punishment for which is to be erased from history. Mordant relents and makes his escape and destroys the holiday balls. Locas is able to diffuse the situation between the two continents and the armories are closed.

Notes: After being abandoned by the production office after the 1985 hiatus this story was novelised in 1990 as part of Target's 'missing season' range.

Mission to Magnus

by: Phillip Martin
Episodes:
Submitted for: Season 23

Story: The TARDIS is suddenly pulled off course and dragged through time into orbit around the planet Magnus Epsilon, a former Earth colony at a time "mid way through the twenty-third century". There, a massive warship holds another TARDIS in a force beam while it fires energy bolts at the planet. It is the second TARDIS that brought the Doctor’s ship to Magnus. Its owner, Anzor, is a Time Lord and former school mate of the Doctor’s. Anzor was the class bully and the Doctor is still afraid of him, so afraid that he meekly lets Anzor use the trans-replicator mode in his ship to move the Doctor’s TARDIS into the warship's force beam, allowing Anzor’s TARDIS to escape.

On Magnus Anzor meets with Sil, a Thoros-Betan who is acting as intermediary for Rana Zandusia, the ruler of Magnus. The Rana wants the Time Lords to give them time-travel weaponry to defeat a neighbouring planet, Salvak, from invading. Anzor refuses stating that the Time Lord High Council will not make an exception in their policies. The Rana takes Anzor prisoner intending to take the secrets of his TARDIS from Anzor's mind.

Through much prodding from Peri, the Doctor decides to do something about being trapped by the strangely familiar warship. Taking advantage of the warship's low energy reserves after firing on the planet the Doctor is able to free the TARDIS. The ship re-materializes in an underground tunnel on Magnus. Upon exiting the time-machine the Doctor and Peri are greeted by a group of boys who believe the Doctor to be a god who will lead them to freedom. Vion, the groups leader, explains that the men of Magnus cannot live on the surface of the planet because of the gases there that when mixed with sunlight become deadly to males. At that moment two matrons happen upon the group. To protect the boys (who shouldn’t be in the tunnels) the Doctor confronts the women. He is summarily stunned and dragged away.

The matrons bring the Doctor to the Rana. Anzor’s mind has proven to be a disappointment, so the Rana orders the Doctors mind to be probed. Using the information she gains, the Rana forces Anzor to open his TARDIS and orders him to use the information from the Doctor to travel in time. Anzor pulls a weapon and forces everyone out of his TARDIS. The Doctor shouts a warning, but Anzor ignores him and his TARDIS dematerializes. The Doctor tells the Rana he played a trick on her, the information he gave will send Anzor’s TARDIS on a very slow ride back to the beginning of time. The Rana must try again to get the information she needs.

The Rana’s attempts at probing the Doctor’s mind fail. Sil suggests they find Peri and use her to convince the Doctor to cooperate. The Doctor asks Sil what he is doing on Magnus, but Sil is evasive. The Rana takes the Doctor to the TARDIS. She will break in and force him to help her. At that moment, Peri and Vion appear and rescue the Doctor.

The Doctor, Peri and Vion decide to head north in the tunnels where the matrons are less likely to find them. The Doctor notices it is cooler. Vion tells him that most of the major cities are to the South, populated exclusively by women because of the poisoned air. The Doctor asks to be taken to the ice-cap region. When there, the group discovers a nuclear detonator that is large enough to set off a bomb that could destroy Magnus. Suddenly, an Ice Warrior bursts through a wall of ice. The Warrior knocks the Doctor and Vion aside, activates the detonator and leaves, with Peri in his arms.

The Warrior takes Peri to his leader, Vedikael. Peri is put in a cell with a group of men from the planet Salvak. The group's leader, Ishka tells Peri that his team came to invade Magnus, but were captured by the Ice Warriors instead. The Doctor rescues the prisoners. Ishka tells the Doctor that Vedikael plans a massive, accelerated nuclear blast, but he doesn’t know why.

Meanwhile, the Rana has gained entrance to the TARDIS and she, along with some of her underlings and Sil, have entered the craft. Sil in his glee at the thoughts of profits he will make, activates the TARDIS and sends the time-ship a few hours into the future. Outside the cities of Magnus have turned to rubble. One of the Rana’s assistants suggests that what is outside is only a possible future and that if they traveled back in time they might the avert the disaster. The Rana decides it is safer to remain where they are and wait then to try to move the TARDIS.

The Ice Warriors detonate their bombs, shaking the whole of Magnus. The Doctor tells Peri that the Ice Warriors wanted to change the climate of Magnus by altering its orbit, sending the planet farther away from its sun. This will send the world into a perpetual winter. Perfect weather for the Ice Warriors.

Sil and the Rana and her group leave the TARDIS and meet up with the Doctor. They are soon captured by Ice Warriors. Sil reveals that he was in league with the Martians and demands to be taken to Vedikael. The Doctor and Peri accompany him. The Ice Warriors at Ice Station Control ignore Sil's demands. It seems the Ice Warriors have no further use for him.

The Doctor uses bombs that the Ice Warriors held in reserve to return Magnus to its proper orbit. Sunlight and heat destroy Vedikael and his Warriors. Vion worries that he will die also, but Ishka says that he has an antidote. The Doctor theories that the cold probably killed the virus anyway. The Rana threatens to fight the men of Salvak, but Ishka wonder how with the planet in ruins. He offers aid to rebuild and his own services as a husband to the Rana. Sil decides that Magnus will not be the profit centre he had hoped.

Notes: Philip Martin was commissioned to write a second serial featuring Sil and featuring the return of the Ice Warriors, last seen in 'The Monster Of Peladon'. With a working title of 'Planet Of Storms', Martin had only completed the script for most of Part One (up to the disappearance of Anzor), and the rest in storyline form only by the time of the hiatus in February 1985. It was to have been directed by Ron Jones. The story was abandoned as the new Season 23 was planned. In 1990, Martin novelized his script/storyline for Target Books as part of their ‘Missing Episodes’ series, adding references to Lord Kiv (who appeared in the subsequent serial ‘Mindwarp’).

Yellow Fever and How to Cure it

by: Robert Holmes
Submitted for: Season 22

Story: The Doctor shows Peri an image of the Statue of Liberty on the TARDIS scanner. Venturing outside, they find that they are not in the United States of America, but in a collection of miniature famous landmarks from around the world situated in Singapore. Walking around, they notice statues which then begin to move, revealing them to be Autons.

The Master, The Rani and the Autons terrorise Singapore

As the story progresses they discover that the Rani has allied herself with the Autons who are now armed with bullets that could bounce around corners and hands that can melt over the nose and face of an advisary. They have also developed an affinity for rubber as well as plastic. The Master is also in Singapore, jealous that the Rani is working with the Autons who he had previously allied with (Terror Of The Autons), and he determines to stop her plans. Both Time Lords are disguised as members of a travelling street circus. The Doctor and Peri are aided by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, who is in the area on holiday.

Note: Singapore was mooted as a location following the use of the country by the BBC for its wartime drama Tenko. Producer John Nathan-Turner and production manager Gary Downie visited Singapore to scout locations and returned with footage of suitable places to film. Robert Holmes was then commissioned for the first of three episodes in October 1984, but requested confirmation of the location and use of the Rani before continuing. The scripts were then commissioned in early February 1985. Holmes completed the storyline shortly before the hiatus, but asked to be removed from the project in May. Had it been made, it would probably have been directed by Graeme Harper (The Caves Of Androzani, Revelation Of The Daleks, Rise Of The Cybermen, Age Of Steel) and would have featured Cyberleader-actor David Banks as the leader of the Autons.
In 1993, Eric Saward was commissioned by Virgin Books to novelize Holmes’ storyline/scripts along with his own two Dalek stories, but the projects were never completed.

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Conquest of the Daleks

by: Glen McCoy
Episodes: 4
Submitted for: Season 22

Story: The Doctor and Peri meet author H G Wells. Their subsequent battle against the Daleks provides the inspiration for some of his future novels (The Time Machine and The War Of The Worlds).

Notes: McCoy submitted this idea on spec to the production office in 1983. Script editor Eric Saward was taken with the idea, but asked McCoy to rewrite it without the Daleks and to add more original characters of his own. The resulting efforts became Timelash.


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Space Sargasso

by: Phillip Martin
Episodes:
Submitted for: Season 22

Story: The TARDIS is pulled to a ‘ship’s graveyard’ in space, where a goblin-like
creatuer called the Engineer is constructing a super warship at the bidding
of the Master.

Notes: This was one of three storylines submitted by Martin in early 1984. Script
editor Eric Saward noted that it was too vague in its present form, and
although he proposed a discussion after completion of Vengeance On Varos,
nothing came of it.


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The Children of January

by: Michael Feeney Callan
Episodes:
Submitted for: Season 23

Story: The Doctor and Peri encounter the Z'ros, a race of runaway proto-humanoids
(a form of 'human bees'). The Children of January of the title are renegade
outcasts of a dawning 'parallel universe' civilization that was abandoned.

Notes: Michael Feeney Callan submitted this story idea in 1984, and it was
considered as a possibility to close the original Season 23. Following the
hiatus, Callan was invited to rewrite it from two 45 minute episodes into
four 25 minute episodes, but it was abandoned when the Trial format was
developed in June 1985.


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Valley of Shadows

by: Phillip Martin
Episodes:
Submitted for: Season 22

Story: The Doctor and Peri travel back to Ancient Egypt to investigate an alien
landing and its effects on the Pharaoh Akhenaton and his people.

Notes: The second of the three storylines submitted by Martin in early 1984. Interstingly it is also the second lost script to include Pharaoh Akhenaton, the first being Brian Hayles 'The Hands of Aten'


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Doomwraiths

by: Phillip Martin
Episodes:
Submitted for: Season 22

Story: It is revealed that the human race is an amalgam of coded genetic
information sent from space by the Doomwraiths, who decide that something
has gone wrong with this experiment and plan to bring it to an end by way of
a deadly plague.

Notes: The third of the three storylines submitted by Martin in early 1984.

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Strange Encounter

by: Ian Marter
Episodes: 2
Submitted for: Season 23

Story: A satire involving hospital overcrowding somehow linked with miniaturization.

Notes: Since playing Harry Sullivan in 1974/5, actor Ian Marter had retained his links to the show by novelizing a number of stories for Target Books. He had also penned the aborted screenplay for 'Doctor Who Meets Scratchman' with Tom Baker. He submitted story ideas first to Christopher H Bidmead, and later to Eric Saward. He was commissioned for this story idea, the first episode of which was then commissioned as Volvox/Volovox (spelling uncertain). It was abandoned when the series was put on hold in 1985. At the time of his death in 1986, Marter was hoping to novelize the scripts, although it was not until 1989 that Target’s ‘Missing Episodes’ series started to cover the stories intended for the original Season 23.


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FlipBack

by: David Banks
Episodes:
Submitted for: Season 22ish

Story: At Snowcap Tracking Station, military scientists under the command of General Pamela Cutler prepare for a natural, devastating reversal of the Earth’s magnetic polarity. Through a project labelled FLIPback, they hope to nullify this shift and save Earth.

Meanwhile, journalist Ruby Duvall sets off to report on the SS Elysium’s tour of the Antarctic. In the Elysium’s engine roo, she meets the Doctor. The Doctor realizes that the Elysium is near the site of his first battle with the Cybermen [The Tenth Planet].

In their secret base nearby, a group of Cybermen hope the magnetic reversal will allow them to capture Earth in the confusion. To restock their numbers, they invade the Elysium and force the Doctor to take the ship’s 2000 passengers and crew in his TARDIS to their base. By pretending to volunteer for Cyber-conversion, the Doctor eludes the Cybermen and saves Ruby.

The Cybermen plant a bomb to destroy FLIPback, but when Ruby activates FLIPback prematurely, the sudden polarity shift catches the Cybermen by surprise and incapacitates them. Ruby then destroys the Cybermen’s base with their own bomb and the Elysium passengers are returned. The Doctor uses the Cybermen’s hypnotic tranquilizer to make the Elysium passengers forget being hijacked.

The Doctor agrees to take Ruby with him in the TARDIS, but she runs back for her special dictation machine and loses her chance as it dematerializes.

Note: Actor David Banks, who had played the CyberLeader in three 1980’s serials, submitted this storyline in 1984. Following the trend in recent stories, he relied heavily on previous Cybermen stories, particularly The Tenth Planet. He also introduced a new companion, Ruby Duvall, rather than using Peri. He later adapted his storyline for his Virgin New Adventure, Iceberg.


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Point of Entry

by: Barbara Clegg
Episodes: 2
Submitted for: Season 22

Story: There was once a race of beings, the Omnim, who could create vibration at will. They inadvertently destroyed their own planet and, in order to survive, projected their mind energies into a last fragment of it - an asteroid which became their prison for millenia. Part of the rock fell away as a meteorite and landed on Earth, and was carved into the blade of an Aztec knife. The hilt was carved in the shape of the horned, feathered serpent known to the Aztecs as the god Queztacoatl.

The knife began to call for blood in order for the Omnim to achieve materialization – but an astute High Priest separated blade and hilt. The latter found its way aboard a Spanish treasure ship. It resurfaces in Eliabethan London, where the Omnim achieve form in the body of Spaniard Velez.

Some years later, the TARDIS is thrown off-course by the asteroid, and the Doctor and Peri, dressed as a boy, emerge in the props room of the Lord Admiral’s Men, a theatre company whose main playwright is one Christopher Marlowe. London’s theatres are closed due to the plague. Rioting if rife; only Peri, listening to her Walkman, is unaffected by random bouts of violence.

The Doctor and Peri meet Marlowe’s friend, Tom, plus Alys, the daughter of The Bell Tavern’s landlord. Marlowe is writing ‘Dr Faustus’, about a man who sells his soul to the Devil; he tells the Doctor of a great necromancer who helped him in his research, taking him overseas in a disembodied state. This man, Velez, is an alchemist who has the secret of eternal life.

Marlowe is summoned by Velez – a hideous, decomposing figure – and told to obtain an engraved casket from a recently-docked privateer. The Doctor gains entry to the Spaniard’s house and sees him restored to handsome health when a dwarfish henchman cuts a prisoner’s throat. Exploring further he finds the next victim: the captured Peri. Given a leather bag, they are helped to escape by the dwarf, who tells them that Velez is a Devil who has stolen his master’s body.

The bag contains a golden image of Quetzacoatl and a parchment with calculations for different resonating frequencies. The Doctor tries to convince Marlowe and Tom that Velez is possessed by an alien, and asks them to go ahead and obtain Velez’s casket. Peri dresses up as Queen Elizabeth, and they dupe the captain of the privateer into presenting the casket to his ‘queen’.

Inside they find the knife blade; when blade and hilt are fitted together, a piercing humming fills the room, followed by silence as the knife resonates at a frequency lower than the human ear can detect. A violent argument escalates among the group; outside, a man is killed in a brawl.

The Doctor plots the position of the Omnim asteroid with Marlowe’s astrolabe, and the importance of the full moon to Velez’s plan becomes clear. At that time the moon does not interpose between Earth and the asteroid, and the way is clear for an energy transfer – an invasion. He and Peri attempt to take the knife back to the TARDIS, but Velez and the cut-throats are waiting for them in the props room. The Doctor throws the knife to Tom, who escapes with it. The Bell Tavern’s bell tolls; the Doctor notices it has an odd effect on Velez.

Ordered drowned in the river, the Doctor is rescued by Marlowe. They head back to The Bell as riots break out over London. The Doctor surrounds the knife with touching goblets which will resound with the pealing of the Bell’s bell on a frequency lethal to the Omnim. Energy from the asteroid will amplify the vibrations, creating feedback. The last goblet is added as Marlowe and Tom hold back a violent crowd outside.

Velez transforms into the living Quetzacoatl – an Omn. But the knife explodes and the Omn flickers out of existence, Velez’s body decomposing rapidly. The Doctor explains to Peri that he knew the correct destructive frequency from an Aztec gong he once heard.

Notes: ‘Enlightenment’ writer Barbara Clegg submitted this idea around 1984 and, like many of the serials of the era, draws on a previous serial, in this case 1964’s The Aztecs. It was not taken any further. She later submitted several ideas to Andrew Cartmel around 1987, but again to no avail.

Attack of The Mind

by: David Halliwell
Episodes: 2
Submitted for: Season 23

Story: Part One
The Valeyard announces, much to the Doctor’s chagrin, that the next piece of evidence will come from the accused’s future time stream; ably demonstrating that his meddling will continue if something isn’t done. The Doctor protests but the Inquisitor allows the evidence to proceed.

Inside the TARDIS workshop, the Doctor is absorbed in his hobby – clocks. He is busy tinkering with some alien timepiece when Melanie enters bringing the Doctor a stick of raw carrot. The Doctor, unimpressed, refuses and goes back to work, infuriating Mel who stomps back to the console room.

Suddenly the TARDIS starts to disappear and Mel and the Doctor find themselves standing in a flower-filled meadow. Ethereal music fills the air whilst beautiful white-clad men and women dance about in the distance. Mel is delighted with the peaceful panorama and queries where they could be. The Doctor replies by telling her that they’re still in the TARDIS; what they’re experiencing is some kind of projection.

Just as suddenly as it appeared, the idyllic background vanishes and the pair find themselves back in the console room. Checking the instruments, the Doctor identifies the planet that the projection has come from and much against his own wishes but urged on by Mel, he agrees to land the TARDIS.

Stepping out onto the planet, the travellers look around and slowly their orchard surroundings fade away to reveal that they are actually standing in a dank, dimly lit underground vault. The Doctor concludes that the planet surroundings were designed as a lure. As they start down a passage, they hear a faint sound.

Further down the passage are three large rodent-like creatures. On their heads are various pieces of equipment. One has a large boring device with which he’s cutting a tunnel whilst the other two have lighting rigs. At first, the creatures (Drid, Brud and Krod), elect to ignore the Doctor and Mel, believing them not to be real. However, deciding to give them the benefit of the doubt they begin to answer the questions put to them.

They are on the planet Fred – which stands for Free Equal Democracy, the social system of their world. The mirages they’ve experienced are side effects from a massive war centuries previous. Deciding that they don’t like their surroundings, the Doctor and Mel are about to leave when the Doctor realizes that the creatures must be used to having mirages projected at them as well.

The creatures pull guns on the travellers and force them to climb into long, low tubular vehicles. Followed by Brud in a third tube they are transported toward the Fred base for execution. As the subterpedes disappear, two female Freds appear, one with an oven on her head, the other with a washing machine. Drid and Krod are intrigued.

The Doctor and Mel arrive at the Freds’ underground base and are met by three more of the creatures: Srud, the squad foreman, Gred and Prad, both of whom have gun attachments on their heads. Srud orders them to be chained up.

Back in the tunnel, Krod and Drid are besotted by the females’ grotesque beauty as they perform a writhing dance. Brud suggests that they join them in the hope that the mirage will disappear leaving them to get on with their work.

Gred and Prad approach the manacled Doctor and Mel. They’ve been elected to be the executioners and as such have removed the guns from their heads to reveal large pairs of pincers. The Doctor asks how they are to be killed only to be told that they are about to have their heads snipped off. The two creatures lower their pincers around the Doctor and Mel.

In the passageway, Drid and Krod stop dancing and the female Freds vanish.

As the pincers close, the travellers rapidly shrink down to a few inches in height. The executioners snap shut on nothing. As they run through the Freds’ legs, a tiny door opens in the wall. The Doctor dashes through but Mel is snatched up by Srud’s giant hand and put into a glass jar.

As the Doctor regains his normal size, he finds himself in a dazzling chamber full of light. Seated on thrones are two beautiful fur-covered lemur-like creatures – one male, one female. The queen welcomes the Doctor to their planet, a planet they call Penelope – an acronym of Penultimate Elegance Order and Poise.

The Freds draw sticks to see who gets to kill Mel. Gred pulls the shortest and decides to pull her arms, legs and head off. As he pulls Mel from the jar, she sinks her teeth into one of his fingers. In surprise and pain, he drops her onto the floor.

The King and Queen explain that though the Penelopeans longed for perfection, they realized that they could never physically achieve it. However, by using their potent imaginations they could conceive it within their own heads. They therefore developed a technology enabling them to disappear physically from the planet to exist in perfection within their own imaginations. Should they wish to return to their physical existence, they could achieve it by using special re-entry points along the vault walls. These points, the king explains, are controlled by various centres within the planet. Activation of a centre would cause a whole group of Penelopeans to return. To protect themselves they had developed a ‘supra-imagination’ which which they could affect outside beings, causing them to hallucinate. The Doctor is curious to know about the Freds and is told that they are nothing more than a squalid and murderous race. They have been endeavouring to discover the whereabouts of the control centres. By destroying them, they would make sure that the Penelopeans could never return to a physical existence. It’s been by using the power of their ‘supra-imagination’ that they’ve been able to deal with the Freds’ excavations for so long. However, by chance they’ve stumbled across the Royal control centre and even at that moment, they are boring towards it through the wall.

Prad scoops up the mini-Mel and hands her to Gred. Gred takes hold of one of her arms and starts to pull. Mel screams…

Suddenly Mel explodes back to her normal size with such force that Gred flies backwards. She disappears…

To reappear by the Doctor’s side. The Doctor questions why the Penelopeans don’t just return to physical existence and fight the Freds. They respond by explaining that they are a totally peaceful race, unskilled in the arts of war. That is why they had to summon the Doctor to them. They need his help. The Doctor agrees and asks to be directed back to the TARDIS.

In the passage, Drid is drilling ever closer to the Royal control room with Krod and Brud on guard at the bore entrance. The TARDIS materializes and the Doctor and Mel step out. Convincing the guards that they are only illusions, they pull out a pair of laser guns. Brud advances on Mel who fires in panic, killing him. Krod drops his weapon and shouts a warning to Drid not to come out. The Doctor orders him into the TARDIS.

The Doctor plans to take Krod back 200 years so as to allow the Penelopeans a chance to develop a protection against the Freds. As he puts his hands on the console, he vanishes to reappear in the passage next to Drid. Pulling his gun, Drid forces the Doctor to wear the head-boring equipment and start tunnelling.

Krod meanwhile orders Mel to take the TARDIS back in time so that he can locate the entrance to the Royal control centre. Mel bluffs him into believing that she’s moved the Ship and when Krod steps outside, he sees Srud and Prad arrive. Each party is confused, believing the other to be an illusion. Taking her chance, Mel escapes in a subterpede hotly pursued by Prad.

During the chase she speeds off down a seemingly dead end tunnel. Just as she’s about to crash, the wall slides away and she, followed by Prad, comes to a halt in the Royal re-entry control centre. Prad is overjoyed and starts manipulating the control mechanism. Mel tries to fight him off but is knocked unconscious. A triumphant Prad finally disables the system which vanishes to reveal an ordinary blank vault – another illusion. Angrily, Prad turns on Mel.

The Doctor bores through the last of the wall and into the real control chamber. As Drid comes in behind, the Doctor takes him by surprise and seizes the gun from him. Drid hurls himself at the Doctor who shoots him dead.

In the vault, Prad fires his gun, killing Mel. Picking up her body, he bundles it into a subterpede.

Drid’s dead body slams into the Doctor and forces him back against the re-entry mechanism. The system begins to activate. The King, Queen and various courtiers materialize. The Doctor apologizes for his failure but the royals are very forgiving, thanking him for what he’s tried to achieve. Krod emerges from the tunnel and the King, pulling a sonic laser from his robes, shoots him dead. The Doctor is shocked. The King reveals that the Penelopeans are really a highly aggressive species, even towards their own kind. Therefore the only way they could live in peace was to retreat into their own imaginations. Over the course of time, boredom had set in and using the power of their ‘supra-imagination’, they had located Fred, a planet populated by dense plumbing rodents. They had decided to have some fun.

Mel is thrown into a grave along with the bodies of Gred and Brud. Srud and Prad begin shovelling earth back into the hole, covering the three corpses.

The Doctor demands to know where his companion is. Suddenly, Mel, Srud and Prad appear by the Doctor’s side, no worse for their experience. The Freds explain that they were always a quiet and peaceful race. Then weird illusions began to happen resulting in the death of millions. Eventually, they worked out the source of their affliction and had come to the planet in order to end it. The Doctor apologizes to the Freds – obviously he’s been fighting for the wrong side. The King and Queen imagine away their guns and head-tools and transport them into a cell whilst they think of an imaginative way to dispatch them.

In the prison, the Doctor begins to search for a door but the walls are completely smooth. Suddenly the wall slides up and the royal entourage enters, all carrying sonic lasers. Their fate has been decided. Slowly the prisoners start turning to wax and as they transform, the Queen tells them that their feelings will remain so that they can still suffer the maximum amount of pain. The effect creeps up their bodies until they are totally waxen. At the King’s command, heaters are positioned around the prisoners and turned on. Rivulets of wax begin to run down their faces when Mel suddenly turns back to flesh and blood again. Taking the Penelopeans by surprise, she grabs the Queen’s weapon and calls to the others to come back to life. Whatever they can imagine – she can unimagine. The Doctor elects to take the Queen with them as cover but the King informs him she is expendable. A massive row starts between the Penelopeans and in the melee, the Doctor and his companions escape.

In the passageway, Srud calls for reinforcements.

The battle between the royals has become bloody, the King’s supporters firing at the Queen’s supporters. In the barrage of shooting, the King and his group are killed, leaving the Queen triumphant. They pursue the escaped prisoners.

Hurtling down a passageway, the Doctor’s group are brought to a sudden stop as the Queen’s party advances on them. Behind them, at the other end of the tunnel, several subterpedes appear, packed with the relief Freds. Srud and Prad join their own as weapons are handed out. The Doctor desperately tries to call a truce but the two sides refuse to listen. Now all they want is the Doctor out of the way. The Doctor grabs Mel, pulls her into the TARDIS and dematerializes as the Freds and the Penelopeans begin to mercilessly slaughter each other.

In the court room, the Valeyard recounts how untold numbers will perish in the battle. How the High Council themselves will have to intervene to restore order by forever sealing the Penelopeans within their own imaginations whilst handing the planet over to the Freds to colonize. But once again they will be outraged that due to the Doctor’s meddling, they will be forced to set things straight. As the Doctor stands looking shocked and worried, the screen plays out the carnage. The Inquisitor reminds him that if the Valeyard’s accusations are borne out, the only penalty can be death.

Notes: In July 1985, David Halliwell was invited to script Parts nine and ten of the forthcoming season of Doctor Who, in which the Doctor would be on trial. This would be followed by Parts Eleven and Twelve to be scripted by Jack Trevor Story, and both stories would utilize the same sets. Halliwell’s story went through several rewrites, during which the ‘Freds’ were renamed ‘Trikes’, but by October 1985 it was decided that the story was not working, lacking the energy and humour they were looking for. It was abandoned on 18th October.

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The Second Coming

by: Jack Trevor Story
Episodes: 2
Submitted for: Season 23

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Hydrogratz

Story: Telos is destroyed and the Cybermen adopt a new planet as their base.

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Gallifrey

by: Pip and Jane Baker
Submitted for: Season 23

Story: The Doctor and Peri return to the Doctor’s home planet in a story rumoured to have climaxed with the destruction of the planet.

Notes: Pip and Jane Baker were commissioned for this storyline (also referred to as ‘Gallifray’ (sic) shortly after the show went on hiatus in 1985. The Bakers recalled that the idea was not developed at all, possibly due to the decision to make the new Season 23 a linked season.

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Dark Labyrinth

Story: The Sixth Doctor and Peri encounter the Master in Ancient Crete, as well as a contingent of Cybermen.

Notes: David Banks, who had played the CyberLeader in three serials in the early 1980’s, submitted this storyline around the time that ‘Attack Of The Cybermen’ entered production in 1984. Script editor Eric Saward liked the idea, but felt that it would prove too expensive to film.

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In The Hollows Of Time (or Pinacothica)

by: Christopher H. Bidmead
Episodes: 4
Submitted for: Season 23

Story: The Doctor is called upon to investigate the deadly goings on on Pinacothica, a museum planet that is a repository of 'special times and places in the universe'.

Notes: The First attempt at a conclusion of the trial adventure.


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Paradise 5 (or End of Term)

by: PJ Hammond
Episodes: 4
Companions: Mel
Submitted for: Season 23
Story: The planet of Paradise 5 is a long dead world. Some time ago it's nine moons were converted into a leisure complex for the hideously wealthy. The Doctor has decided to investigate the planet after finding 5 humanoid corpses floating in space. Strangely, the bodies weren't wearing space suits, only business suits. the doctor hides himself in a vacant room of Paradise 5 while Mel works undercover as a pleasure hostess.

The pairs arrival does not go unnoticed. Gabriel, the head of paradise 5, senses that there is something amiss with the new girl Mel, and instructs two of his three subordinates, Stella and Bella to keep an eye on her while he goes to the administration moon Paradise One, to check the employment records.

With Gabriel gone, the Doctor comes out of hiding where he meets two of the holiday makers, Tapp, a successful businessman, and Aht, a scientist. the Doctor asks the pair about how they came to be on Paradise 5 and Tapp tells him that he was given a sup rise holiday by an unknown benefactor and whisked away without even being able to collect his clothes or effects. Aht gives a similar account and mentions that the surprise is supposedly part of the service. This sounds highly suspicious to the Doctor, who has a theory that people are being taken to Paradise 5 to be disposed of. This alarms the pair somewhat who have noticed that the complex has been gradually getting emptier, but the collection ships haven't been leaving.

Deciding to look for more evidence to support his theory, the Doctor checks out a collection ship which is used to ferry the holiday makers back to their homeworlds. He finds that the ship is not of Earth construction. While wandering round the freezing cold ship Mel sees what she thinks is an angel-like being and tells the doctor, who dismisses it as nothing more than an optical illusion.

Gabriel returns from Paradise One, having found out that Mel's papers are fake and sends Lorelei to capture her. He also dispatches two orderlies, mute half humans called Cherubs, to take the doctor to the collection ship. The Doctor is taken to the cargo ship where he finds Gabriel waiting for him. Gabriel reveals that the holiday makers are to be sold as slaves to the angel like owners of the craft. While being taken to the cargo hold the Doctor manages to escape, while at the same time Mel convinces Lorelei to set her free.

Arriving back at the complex the Doctor meets up with Mel, Lorelei and Tapp and Aht. They decide to steal a shuttle craft and pilot it to Paradise One and retrieve the TARDIS, but before they can Lorelei metamorphoses into a grotesque angel like creature and holds them while Gabriel arrives with a troop of cherubs who haul them back to the cargo hold of the ship. The Doctor tries to get the prisoners in the cargo hold to revolt,but meets with little success. Aht however, has a plan. He realises that the angel beings need an environment temperature of near zero to survive in their ethereal gaseous state and if the can raise the temperature of the ship, they may be able to destroy the creatures. The Doctor, Mel Tapp and Aht get the prisoners to block up the ventilation ducts with their trousers and jackets and start exercising. Their combined body heat raises the temperature of the ship, and the creatures dissipate in the warmer air. The prisoners are then able to get out of the ship and make their way to the shuttle port to make their escape.

Notes: After 'Attack of the Mind's replacement 'The Last Adventure' had fallen thorough, fan consultant Ian Levine suggested to Eric Saward that 'Sapphire and Steele' creator PJ Hammond should be approached. A storyline was submitted, but John Nathan Turner didn't like the idea and it was dropped.

Tinkering with Time

by: LJ Scott
Episodes:
Submitted for: Season 23

Story: The Doctor is asked by another renegade Time Lord 'The Tinker' to investigate his impending murder, in the hopes of preventing it. The Doctor goes through the list of suspects trying to figure out who will be the killer only to discover, after the fact, that it was himself (The Doctor). But all is not what it seems....

Notes: Scott was asked to submit story ideas following a meeting John Nathan Turner in America, however the show was placed on hiatus and the stories were lost. Scott went on to pen 'The Lost' for the Short Trips anthology 'The Centenarian'.

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The Reality of Illusion

by: LJ Scott
Episodes:
Submitted for: Season 23

Story: The TARDIS lands in what at first seems to be a stone age environment where a number of natives are fighting with a large, hungry lizard only to have it revealed to be a virtual reality role playing game. Unfortunately the presence of the TARDIS in the game causes a software glitch where most of the players and the Doctor are ejected back to reality while one of the players and Peri are trapped in the game with the lizard hunting them down...

Notes: Notes: See entry for 'Tinkering with Time'.

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Untitled (Doctor Whom)

by: LJ Scott
Episodes:
Submitted for: Season 23

Story: The Doctor arrives in an alternate dimension where there is a T.V. show called 'Doctor Whom' and the Doctor is mistaken for an actor named Peter Collins. The story concludes with the Doctor and Peri teaming up with their actor doubles to get the TARDIS back from the prop department so they can return to the correct dimension.

Notes: See entry for 'Tinkering with Time'.

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Time Inc.

by: Robert Holmes
Episodes:
Submitted for: Season 23

Story: Having learned from the Master that the Valeyard is the thirteenth and final incarnation of himself, the Doctor follows the escaping Valeyard into the Matrix through the Seventh Door, along with rogue Sabalom Glitz. There they encounter the clerk Mr Popplewick, after which the Doctor finds himself on a beach, where hands drag him under the shifting quagmire.

The Valeyard has captured Glitz in his TARDIS control room, where he watches the Doctor sinking in the mud. The Doctor claims that the High Council will not keep their contract to award his remaining lives to the Valeyard, and is rescued from the mud by the Master who promises to help before vanishing – his appearance in the Matrix depleting his power.

The Doctor emerges from the mist back to the Victorian alleyways where he encounters Popplewick, dressed as a monk. The clerk informs him that he is needed to rescue a friend of his, and takes the Doctor onto a giant circular walkway where Mel is waiting, before vanishing. Mel explains that there is no way off the platform, it is endless, and the Doctor realizes the Valeyard is trying to condition them into a circular trap. He deduces that this is not the real Mel, and is released by Popplewick who reveals that he is just an illusion created by ‘Mr Chambers’.

In the court room, news of the High Council’s resignation arrives, and the Keeper and Inquisitor fear for their positions in civil unrest. The Master appears on the screen to inform the court that the Valeyard’s TARDIS is in the Matrix, materialized around a Time Vent. If this is opened for more than seventy-two seconds, the mix of matter and anti-matter will wreck the time-continuum. This is how the Valeyard aims to hold the Time Lords to ransom in exchange for the Doctor’s death now that his contract is void.

Approaching the Fantasy Factory, the Doctor encounters the Master, who reveals that he has been asked by the Time Lords to kill his old enemy in exchange for a pardon for his crimes. However, the Master refuses to comply and wishes the Doctor good luck. The Doctor appears to submit to the Valeyard and enters the TARDIS to find the bolts on the Time Vent door have been blown. The Valeyard is a pathetic old man, scared of death, and as the Doctor advances on him he opens the doorway – to a blinding white flash. The Doctor struggles with his future self, and both fall into the Vent. The Master instructs Glitz to close the door, and then rescues the criminal from the Matrix, gloating that the Doctor is now out of the way. Mel asks to go home, and learns that the Doctor could still be alive. As the two enemies tumble endlessly on the screen, Mel says, “I’m sure the Doctor’ll succeed – he must!” to which the Keeper replies, “If he doesn’t the Vent will remain his prison forever!”

Notes: Inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Final Problem', Robert Holmes envisioned a final battle between the Doctor and the Master to round off the Trial season at the end of which the viewer would not be sure if the Doctor survives. Unfortunately Robert Holmes died in May 1985 before completing the script, which was hurriedly finished by Eric Saward. After a heated argument between Saward and John Nathan Turner, the script editor resigned and refused permission to use his elements of the script. It was then abandoned and replaced by Pip and Jane Baker's 'The Ultimate Foe'. A full PDF of the script is available here

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Cats Cradle

By: Marc Platt
Submitted for: Season 24

Story: In London, the TARDIS is invaded by an information-munching datavore in the form of a slimy monopod mollusc. Meanwhile, in the past during Gallifrey’s so-called ‘Dark Time’, two factions compete for power. Rassilon and his band of neo-technologists compose one side, the Pythia and her mystical order form the other. Whichever group wins will determine whether Gallifrey will follow the path of science or mysticism. When Rassilon launches a Time Scaphe, one of his earliest time-travel experiments, Scaphe crewman Vael – an agent of the Pythia – sabotage the flight. The erratic Time Scaphe jumps to the future and time-rams the Doctor’s TARDIS, annihilating both ships.

Mel awakens in an alien City in a strange limbo, where the TARDIS datavore slug has grown to 100 times its previous size and calls itself ‘the Process’. She sees a black-robed ‘ghost’ that looks like the Doctor, but finds the real Time Lord seated in a rocking chair, holding a silver cat.

Both the Doctor’s ‘ghost’ and the cat are manifestations of the TARDIS’ Banshee Circuits, a fail-safe device that keeps the Ship alive in the event of catastrophe. The collision not only activated the Banshee Circuits, but disrupted the TARDIS so badly that it reconfigured itself as an entire City.

The Doctor communicates with the Pythia across the millenia and learns that she’s grooming Vael, a Scaphe crewman, to succeed her, based on predictions that the next ruler of Gallifrey will be a man. But the Doctor tells her that the predicted ruler will indeed be a man – named Rassilon. The Pythia, incensed, refuses to listen.

Two incarnations of the Process from different time zones find themselves at odds with each other, and the elder Process returns to its beginning to alter time and change its younger self – it lays a big egg. Vael tries to kill the Doctor with pyrokinesis, but torches the egg instead. Destroyed before it was born, the Process retroactively ceases to exist.

Vael cracks under the stress of the Pythia’s plans for him, rejects her and commits suicide. Defeated, the Pythia flings herself into a dealy abyss, but not before cursing Gallifrey to suffer eternal sterility. Faced with a population crisis, Rassilon eventually creates the life-giving Gallifreyan Looms and crafts regeneration technology.

The Time Scaphe’s crew returns home and the Doctor reaches the heart of the TARDIS and restores it with his personal control devices. Meanwhile, the silver cat that represents the TARDIS circuits bathes itself in a mound of TARDIS bric-a-brac.


Notes: Marc Platt submitted this story idea to Eric Saward around the time he left the show, and later to his successor Andrew Cartmel. Cartmel noted that it would have used the whole budget for one year just on the first episode. Platt later adapted the idea for his Virgin New Adventure ‘Cat’s Cradle: Time’s Crucible’, replacing the Sixth Doctor and Mel with the Seventh Doctor and Ace.