Season 18, Episode 1 | 4 parts | First broadcast: 30 August – 20 September 1980 | Writer: David Fisher | Director: Lovett Bickford
Cast
- Tom Baker as the Doctor
- Lalla Ward as Romana
- John Leeson as the voice of K9
- David Haig as Pangol
- John Nettleton as Morix
Summary
Arriving at a struggling leisure resort on the planet Argolis, built by the peaceful Argolin as a monument to tourism after a devastating war left their race sterile and dying out, the Doctor and Romana are drawn into a boardroom power struggle over the resort’s prized rejuvenation technology. When the Doctor is sabotaged and appears to age rapidly inside the resort’s Tachyon Recreation Generator, the pair must uncover which faction, Argolin or outside investor, is manipulating the technology for far more dangerous ends.
Interesting Facts
- This serial opened the Doctor Who era of new producer John Nathan-Turner, who introduced a new title sequence, theme arrangement and more overtly polished visual style.
- Its slower, more atmospheric pacing and striking use of slow-motion, high-production-value visuals marked a deliberate stylistic departure from the preceding season.
- The story tackles war, sterility and generational conflict among the Argolin with unusually serious, adult thematic weight for the series.
- David Fisher’s original draft was extensively reworked by script editor Christopher H. Bidmead to fit the new production team’s harder science-fiction ambitions.
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