123: Time-Flight

Publish Post8/9/08

I absolutely loved this episode. Again, I can't really discuss it without spoilers, so proceed with caution.

This picks up immediately after the death of Adric following the events of Earthshock. Tegan asks the Doctor why he couldn't go back in time to save Adric, to which he answers that there are some rules that even the TARDIS can't disregard, and never to ask him to do such a thing again. Well, Doctor, I don't know what rules that would be. You could have taken him off the ship and let it crash without affecting anything other than letting the poor boy live...not that I wanted him back on the ship, but come on. Give a decent excuse, please.

The TARDIS materializes above Heathrow airport, where planes have been disappearing. The Doctor is apprehended by airport security, prompting him to tell them to contact UNIT, which they do, and they find that he has full access and is to be informed of all the details of the missing airliners.

They set up a flight with the Doctor and TARDIS aboard and end up going back in time through a time warp above Heathrow. There on this planet, we learn that there are several things going on. First, there are all the survivors of the previous missing flight, but they have been tricked by illusions into thinking that they are still back at Heathrow.
Second, there is an entity that materializes out of thin air, who we later learn are the Xerophin, and alien race who has combined their forms into one collective to survive an apocalypse, and who want to be released.
Third, there is a stereotypical Asian wizard-type man who is trying to manipulate things here.

Skipping ahead to the big surprise, the Asian wizard is none other than The Master in disguise. Anthony Ainley, that's twice you've been in an episode and I had no idea it was you. Bravo, sir. His goal was to come to this time and place and steal the Xeraphin collective to power his TARDIS. He actually almost succeeds, gets access to the Doctor's TARDIS, and nearly gets away with it all.

I was really floored by some of the surprises in this episode. It was incredibly well thought out, and I was captivated the entire time. What a way for a season to end. The Doctor really feels like he's come into his own in this incarnation, Nyssa doesn't annoy me at all anymore and I'm becoming attached to her, and we have no Adric mucking up the works anymore. Plus, we get the return of a great villain, we get mention of UNIT without actually having their military presence in the episode, and we get more intelligent science fiction.

I give this episode an 8/10.