Season 17, Episode 4 | 4 parts | First broadcast: 24 November – 15 December 1979 | Writer: Bob Baker | Director: Alan Bromly
Cast
- Tom Baker as the Doctor
- Lalla Ward as Romana
- Lewis Fiander as Professor Tryst
- Geoffrey Bateman as Captain Rigg
Summary
Two spaceships collide and become fused together in hyperspace, and the Doctor and Romana find themselves investigating a smuggling operation hidden aboard, in which a device for miniaturising entire ecosystems is being used to conceal a deadly narcotic called vraxoin. As savage, escaped Mandrel creatures roam the merged ships and the true scale of the smuggling ring’s reach becomes clear, the Doctor must separate the vessels and expose the trafficking network before the drug’s addictive, deadly effects claim more victims.
Interesting Facts
- The story tackles drug addiction and trafficking directly, an unusually dark and topical subject for the family-oriented series at the time.
- Production difficulties, including director Alan Bromly’s contentious departure partway through filming, led to producer Graham Williams having to complete the story himself.
- The Continuous Event Transmuter device for miniaturising ecosystems was one of the more ambitious science-fiction concepts attempted within a tight production budget.
- Its chaotic, two-ships-merged setting gave the story an unusually claustrophobic and disorienting structure compared to more straightforward serials of the era.
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