Ep. 102 The Destruction of Time

"You think I don't know?"
   
   Mavic Chen is off the rails.  He still thinks that he can rule beside the Daleks despite the fact that they put him in prison to rot.  He is convinced that the Doctor and his companions are trying to usurp his status as right plunger man to the Daleks.
   The Daleks take Chen and the two sane humans into custody.  The pepper pots are cruel enough to let Chen think that he's working with them until they tell him off.  It's embarrassing "watching" Chen try to order the Daleks around and getting all bent out of shape when his blaster pistol does squat.
   Like so many megalomaniacs in Who history he dies like a dog in an explosion of double exposure.
   While Chen is getting his comeuppance, the Doctor reveals himself to Steven and Sara.  He snuck down here some time last episode and has been working on his plan for some time.  He gives Steven the key to the TARDIS and tells the pair to leave.
   The Doctor then pulls off something clever.  I'd say that this was Spooner's part of the plot, mostly because Nation was a very lazy writer.
   The Doctor holds the Daleks off with the active Time Destructor.  The Daleks can't fire on him for fear of destroying their precious uber-weapon.  The Doctor gets them to send over a Dalek to act as a shield for the two companions.  They precede the Doctor.
    He follows a short while behind, using his cloak to jam the door.
    Sara lacks Steven's faith in the Doctor's plan, ditches the space jockey in the Kembal jungle and doubles back to help stop the Daleks.  She catches up with the Doctor and helps him make his way back to the TARDIS.
    It sounds like they really went all out with this one and I really wish that this survived on video.  The Time Destructor is aging the Doctor and Sara, turning the jungle into a dessert, all the while the wind is picking up speed.
    Steven makes it back to the TARDIS before the worst of the effects have hit him. 
    The Doctor and Sara fight on against the elements and their own rapidly aging bodies.  Daleks, safe inside their metal shells, search the dying landscape for the Time Destructor. 
   The Doctor and Sara collapse yards from the TARDIS.  The Doctor's alien nature keeps him going longer, but even he succumbs.
   Steven, seeing them on the scanner, leaves the protection of the ship and tries to save them.  He's too late for Sara.  Her ravaged elderly body becomes a dessicated corpse, and then bones, and then dust.  Steven barely manages to get the Doctor into the ship in time.
   In trying to save the Doctor, Steven made an adjustment to the Time Destructor, reversing the effect.  Time came rushing in and kills the Daleks.
   After the core of the Destructor has run itself out, the two remaining time travelers survey the scene.  The Doctor is triumphant, until Steven reminds him of the cost of this victory, Katarina, Bret, and Sara.


Next up: War of God