THE HORNS OF NIMON

Written by Anthony Read.

Directed by Kenny McBain.

Transmitted originally: 22 December 1979 to 12 January 1980.

"Is this a private party or can anyone join in?" - The Doctor to a Nimon menacing Romana.

THE STORY

The TARDIS, immobilised for repairs, falls into the gravity well of a damaged ship taking a group of young men and women, along with radioactive hymetusite crystals from the planet Aneth to the planet Skonnos, centre of the now largely defunct Skonnan empire. The cargo is a tribute to be presented to the Nimon , a mysterious entity that resides within a huge labyrinth, who has promised to restore the empire to its former glory. Romana is captured and taken to Skonnos on board the ship, while the Doctor follows in the semi-repaired TARDIS. Soldeed, leader of Skonnos and servant of the Nimon sends the sacrifices, Romana and the Doctor into the labyrinth.

The two Time Lords discover the Nimons are race of bull-headed aliens, who move from planet to planet like a plague of locusts. The creatures send a representative to an unsuspectinmg world, in order to establish a bridgehead which is then followed up in force with the aim of draining the planet's resources. The labyrinthine power complex, fuelled by the hymetusite uses a black hole to transport the Nimons from one planet to another. With the help of Seth, a young Anethan, the Doctor succeeds in destroying the complex, stranding the Nimons on the dying planet Crinoth. Thanks to K-9, the Doctor and his friends escape the complex before it is destroyed.

CAST:

The Doctor (Tom Baker), Romana (Lalla Ward), Voice of K-9 (David Brierley), Soldeed (Graham Crowden), Sorak (Michael Osbourne), Co-Pilot (Malcolm Terris), Pilot (Bob Hornery), Teka (Janet Ellis), Seth (Simon Gipps-Kent), Nimons (Robin Sherringham, Bob Appleby, Trevor St. John Hacker), Voice of the Nimons (Clifford Norgate), Sezom (John Bailey).

FACTS:

Janet Ellis, later to become a Blue Peter presenter appears as the Anethan, Teka.

Roger Oldhamstead, the freelance constructor of the Nimon's costumes originally intended for the creatures' masks to look deliberately artificial, later to be removed to reveal the Nimons' even more hideous nature. The idea was vetoed by director Kenny McBain and the 'masks' were used to a less satisfactory extent as the monsters' real appearance.

OTHER FORMATS:

The Fourth Doctor Novelisations

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