Fourth Doctor, Season 18, 1981
So they took Doctor Who off Tubi but thanks to my good friend and occasional Caustic Soda Podcast guest Allan I was able to continue my journey on DVD. And so:
The Fourth Doctor and Adric are visited on the TARDIS by the wizened Keeper of Traken, who warns that a great evil has come to his planet in the form of a Melkur – a calcified statue. The Keeper is nearing the end of his reign and seeks the Doctor’s help in preventing the evil from taking control of the bio-electronic Source that is the keystone of the Traken Union‘s civilization.
The planet Traken is described as a place of such good and niceness that evil cannot exist there. This isn’t explained, and indeed the opposite is shown as some of the people are greedy and manipulative, though this could be explained by the Keeper about to expire causing a time of tumult. Anyway, the Melkur landed in a garden some time ago and one of the leading body on Traken (Kassia) has tended to its paralyzed, inert form (thanks to the goodness) for years, but in that time she has become twisted by it and now seeks to put it in place of the Keeper. She manipulates the council, and the rising evil is blamed on the Doctor, who is imprisoned, but finds an ally in the science-minded consul Tremas (also the husband of Kassia, and the father of the young lady Nyssa). I thought for sure Nyssa was going to leave the planet at the end of the story and join as a second companion, but I was wrong (but not for long, it seems).
Anyway, spoilers – the eye-laser-shooting Melkur is a vessel for the return of Doctor Who’s version of Moriarty – The Master – and for a time his plan succeeds and he becomes the Keeper. However Adric saves the day by sabotaging the bio-electronic Source. But at the very end The Master takes possession of Tremas (notice what that name is an anagram for) and further evilness is teased in upcoming episodes.
All in all this is a skippable, by-the-numbers episode, The Doctor doesn’t actually do much and there’s not much of interest to look at.
Next: Logopolis – the last Tom Baker episode.
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