Whilst trying to return Tegan to Heathrow Airport, The Doctor instead lands the TARDIS on a seemingly deserted alien spacecraft, just four days away from its final destination, Earth. The TARDIS crew discover that the ship isn’t as empty as it first appears. On board they find Chinese, Mayan, Greek and Aboriginal crew members and the alien froglike Urbankans. The Urbankan leader, Monarch, invites The Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric to continue the trip to Earth as his guests.
Monarch has returned to Earth every few thousand years throughout history, but now his intention is to stay for good. The Urbankans want to colonise Earth, but what plans does Monarch have for the future of mankind? The more The Doctor learns of Monarch’s grand scheme, the more unsettled Tegan and Nyssa become. But Adric thinks his friends have got the Urbankans all wrong. Who is The Doctor to trust…?
NOTES
The working title for this story was Days of Wrath.
Although Castrovalva was the first story aired which featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, this story was the first in the season to be produced.
Nyssa’s collapse leads to her spending several days resting in the TARDIS While the others have another adventure without her. (Kinda)
It was originally decided that after Castrovalva, The Doctor would only have two companions,Adric and Tegan. As a result, the characterof Nyssa was to be written out of the series at the end of this story.
However, Peter Davison strongly opposed this move because he felt that Nyssa was the companion who was “most suited to his vision of the Doctor.” Given this, producer John Nathan-Turner and the rest of the production team relented and Nyssa was retained.
The Fourth Doctor also carried a cricket ball with him at times. (The Ark in Space)
The Fourth Doctor (unsuccessfully) attempts to return Tegan to Heathrow Airport to catch the flight she was attempting to reach when she first entered the TARDIS. (Logopolis). Order the DVD
