Production Code: 5N
First Transmitted
1 - 30/08/1980 18:15
2 - 06/09/1980 18:20
3 - 13/09/1980 17:55
4 - 20/09/1980 18:15
Plot
The Doctor and Romana visit the Leisure Hive on the planet Argolis, the surface of which is uninhabitable following a twenty minute nuclear war between the Argolins and their enemies the Foamasi. The Argolins themselves are now sterile. Pangol, the youngest, was created by the Tachyon Recreation Generator, a machine that runs games in the Hive.
He now secretly plans to use the Generator, modified by an Earth scientist named Hardin, to recreate himself many times over, forming an army of duplicates to destroy the Foamasi. Pangol's mother Mena, the controller of the Hive, is meanwhile coming under pressure from a supposedly human financier, Brock, to sell it to the Foamasi.
Foamasi agents from their planet's government arrive and expose Brock and his assistant Klout as members of a renegade Foamasi group called the West Lodge. The Doctor then reconfigures the Generator equipment using components from the randomiser device previously linked to the TARDIS's navigation circuits, and Pangol's plan is foiled as he rejuvenates into a babe in arms.
Episode Endings
The Doctor enters the Recreation Generator to investigate but a Foamasi operates the controls, trapping him inside. As Romana tries to open the door, an image of the Doctor appears on a view screen and screams as its arms and lower torso are pulled off.
The Doctor agrees to help Romana and the Earth scientist Hardin test alterations made to the Recreation Generator. He enters the machine. Discovering on returning to Hardin's lab that the experiment is flawed, Romana hurries to stop it. She opens the door to the Generator to reveal the Doctor, who has aged immensely and now has a long white beard.
The Doctor, Romana, Hardin and two Foamasi enter the Argolin boardroom. One of the Foamasi advances on Brock and, despite his cries of terror, rips off his face and clothes to reveal another Foamasi.
The Doctor and Romana leave Argolis to sort out its problems, with Pangol rejuvenated to a baby and his mother Mena back in charge.
Roots
The Godfather and the Mafia.
Greek myth.
Blake's 7's Children of Auron.
Dialogue Triumphs
Pangol : [Speaking of the Recreation Generator.] "How did you get out?"
The Doctor : "Through a hole in the back."
Pangol : "But there isn't one."
The Doctor : "There is now."
Brock : "His scarf killed Stimson."
The Doctor : "Arrest the scarf then!"
Pangol : "I am the child of the Generator."
Continuity
The Doctor undergoes 'treatment' in Hardin's rejuvenator. Romana hopes it will take 10 years off him, but it instead ages him around 500 years. The Doctor and Romana try to see the opening of the Brighton Pavilion but he gets both the century and season wrong. The Doctor observes that this is the second time he's missed this destination [see 'The Horror of Fang Rock'?].
Romana mentions over-riding the randomiser (see The Armageddon Factor), which is eventually left on Argolis. The Doctor again states that Gallifrey is 'an obscure planet in the constellation of Kasterborous' (see Pyramids of Mars).
K9 lists all known recreational planets for Romana, ending with 'Yegros Alpha: speciality, atavistic therapy of primitive asteroids. Zaakros: galaxy's largest flora collection... Zeen 4: historical re-enactments.' He is not immune to the effects of salt water.
Brock predicts bankruptcy for Argolis, citing the counter-attraction of planets like Limus 4 and Avidos (which are said to have 'non-gravity swimming pools', speed learning and robotic gladiatorial games).
QV
Location
Brighton.
The Leisure Hive, Argolis, c.2290.
Future History
Argolis is the first of the leisure planets. In 2250 the planet (led by Theron) was all but destroyed by 2000 nuclear warheads (in 20 minutes) during a war with the reptilian Foamasi. The survivors, made sterile by the radiation, invented the science of tachyonics (this happened '40 years ago') and built the Leisure Hive with its Experiential Grid offering 'variable environments'.
There has been a 20 year moratorium on a reduplication programme which began around 2270 (Pangol was the only non-mutant child produced). Romana says this part of the galaxy doesn't discover 'unreal transfer' (a process for manipulating solid objects) until 2386.
Trivia
K9 appears only at the start of the first episode. Klout, unusually, is credited on screen even though he is a non-speaking character.
There are new opening and closing title sequences, complete with 'neon tube' logo, designed by the BBC's Sid Sutton, accompanied by a new Peter Howell-arranged version of Ron Grainer's theme music.
A new TARDIS exterior prop makes its debut, this time made of fibreglass rather than of wood and, with its stacked roof arrangement, somewhat truer to the design of a genuine police box than the previous version (first seen in The Masque of Mandragora).
K9's original voice returns, actor John Leeson having been persuaded by John Nathan-Turner to reprise the role for this season.
This story features the first use in Doctor Who of the digital Quantel image processing system. Amongst the effects created by the use of this system was a moving shot of the TARDIS materialising on Argolis (whereas the 'roll back and mix' technique by which the materialisation was achieved normally necessitated a completely static shot).
Goofs
The wires pulling K9 along the beach are visible in episode one.
The Doctor and Romana are able to comment on Hardin's experiment, despite having missed the hologram of it.
In episode two the top of the sonic screwdriver is nearly bent off.
Presumably the Foamasi have to put on corsets before they don the skin suits.
Why is everyone taken in by the phoney Brock's sudden acceptance of a seat on the board, and why is he (a West Lodge Foamasi) so interested in Hardin's experiments as a possible source of revenue when his interest is in the running-down of the Hive so that his group can buy it?
Cast & Crew
Cast
The Doctor - Tom Baker
Romana - Lalla Ward
Voice of K9 - John Leeson
Foamasi - Andrew Lane
Generator Voice - Clifford Norgate
Guide - Roy Montague
Hardin - Nigel Lambert
Klout - Ian Talbot
Mena - Adrienne Corri
Morix - Laurence Payne
Pangol - David Haig
Stimson - David Allister
Tannoy Voice - Harriet Reynolds
Vargos - Martin Fisk
Crew
Director - Lovett Bickford
The Leisure Hive