Season 20, Episode 4 | 4 parts | First broadcast: 15–23 February 1983 | Writer: Stephen Gallagher | Director: Mary Ridge
Cast
- Peter Davison as the Doctor
- Sarah Sutton as Nyssa
- Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka
- Mark Strickson as Vislor Turlough
- Valentine Dyall as the Black Guardian
Summary
Turlough’s continued sabotage, orchestrated by the Black Guardian, sends the TARDIS crashing into a decaying space station called Terminus, a quarantine hospital of last resort for those suffering from an interstellar plague called Lazar’s disease. As Nyssa selflessly volunteers to help the desperate patients at great personal risk, the Doctor uncovers the station’s connection to the very origins of the universe itself.
Interesting Facts
- This story marks the departure of companion Nyssa, who chooses to remain behind on Terminus to help find a cure for the afflicted.
- It continues the season’s Black Guardian Trilogy, following Mawdryn Undead and preceding Enlightenment.
- The story’s grim, industrial space station setting and disease-ravaged patients gave it an unusually bleak tone for the series.
- Its script ties the station’s origins to a cosmic event linked to the creation of the universe, a rare instance of the show engaging directly with big-bang cosmology.
No Responses