Doctor Who: Frontios

Frontios is the third serial of the 21st season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts on BBC1 from 26 January to 3 February 1984.

The TARDIS lands in the far future, on the planet Frontios, where some of the last vestiges of humanity are struggling for survival. The planet is being attacked by meteor showers orchestrated by an unknown enemy responsible for the disappearance of several prominent colonists, including the colony’s leader, Captain Revere. After witnessing Revere being “eaten by the ground,” Security Chief Brazen claims Revere died of natural causes. Revere’s son, Plantagenet, assumes the leadership of the colony.

The Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Turlough emerge in the middle of the bombardment and decide to help the colonists. Needing better light in the medical facility, the Doctor sends Tegan and Turlough to fetch equipment from the TARDIS.

However, they find that the ship’s inner door is stuck, preventing them from getting beyond the console room. Norna, Tegan and Turlough obtain an acid-battery from the research room to power the lights. On their way back, however, they are forced to render the Warnsman unconscious to avoid capture. Following a second bombardment, the TARDIS is seemingly destroyed; all that is left is the Doctor’s hat stand.

Plantagenet orders the execution of the Doctor, but Turlough intercedes. Plantagenet tries to attack the Doctor with a crowbar but suffers a heart attack. The Time Lord saves his life using the battery, yet Plantagenet is dragged into the ground.

The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough discover that the culprits are the Gravis and his Tractators, giant insects with incredible powers over gravity. The disappeared colonists are being used to power the Gravis’ machines. Turlough briefly undergoes a nervous breakdown because the Tractators once attempted to invade his home world long ago; his mind contains a deep, horrific “race memory” of the event.

Plantagenet was kidnapped to replace Captain Revere, the current driver who is now brain dead. The Gravis intends to transform Frontios into an enormous spaceship and further spread the Tractators. The Doctor, Turlough, Brazen and his guards rescue Plantagenet by knocking out the Gravis, but Brazen is killed in the process.

Tegan wanders around in the tunnels and comes across bits of the TARDIS’s inner walls. She is chased by the Gravis, who has now regained consciousness, and two Tractators. She comes upon one of the TARDIS’s inner doors and opens it, finding herself in the TARDIS console room, where the Doctor, Turlough and Plantagenet are congregated around the console.

The Doctor ushers the Gravis in and then tricks him into reassembling the TARDIS by using his power over gravity. The Gravis pulls the TARDIS back into its normal dimension. Once fully assembled, the Gravis is effectively cut off from his fellow Tractators, which revert to a harmless state.

After depositing the now-dormant Gravis on the uninhabited planet of Kolkokron and returning to Frontios, the Doctor gives Plantagenet the hat stand as a farewell token and asks that his own involvement in the affair not be mentioned to anyone, especially the Time Lords. Once the TARDIS has left Frontios, its engines start making a worrisome noise.

The Doctor appears to be helpless as the ship is being pulled towards the centre of the universe.

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To view the list of other Doctor Who serials, please click this link

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