TIMELASH

Written by Glen McCoy.

Directed by Pennant Roberts.

Transmitted originally: 9 March 1985 to 16 March 1985.

"Save your breath for the Timelash, Doctor. Most people depart with a scream." - Tekker.

THE STORY

The Karfelons suffer under the rule of the Borad, a tyrant who banishes rebels through the Timelash, a tunnel through space and time. The Doctor, who visited Karfel in his third incarnation, is persuaded to travel to Earth to bring back Vena, a woman who inadvertently fell into the Timelash with a precious amulet. The Doctor also brings back Herbert, a man from the 19th century. The Borad turns out to be a scientist who was accidently sprayed with Mustakozene-80, an unstable chemical while experimenting on a Morlox, a savage underground reptilian creature, thus becoming half-Karfelon, half-Morlox.

The Borad plans to murder all the Karfelons through a war with their neighbours, the Bandrils, and repopulate the planet with creatures like himself, starting with Peri. The Doctor uses a Kontron time crystal to defeat a clone of the Borad, and makes peace with the Bandrils. He then banishes the real Borad into the Timelash, where he travels to ancient Scotland. Herbert turns out to be the famous science-fiction writer, H.G. Wells.

CAST:

The Doctor (Colin Baker), Peri (Nicola Bryant), Vena (Jeananne Crowley), Mykros (Eric Deacon), The Borad (Robert Ashby), Tekker (Paul Darrow), Herbert George Wells (David Chandler),Old Man (Denis Carey), Kendron (David Ashton), Brunner (Peter Robert Scott), Sezon (Dicken Ashworth), Katz (Tracy Louise Ward), Aram (Christine Kavanagh), Gazak (Steven Mackintosh), Android (Dean Hollingsworth), Guardolier (James Richardson), Tyheer/Bandril Ambassador (Martin Gower), Maylin Ranis (Neil Hallett).

FACTS:

The story contains many influences from the work of H.G. Wells, Vena and the Morlox from The Time Machine, the invisibility experiments with the Kontron crystals from The Invisible man, the Karfel/ Bandril war from War of the Worlds and the hybrid nature of the Borad from The Island of Dr Moreau.

'Timelash' is a sequel to a untelevised Third Doctor story, in which he visited Karfel with Jo Grant, and at least one other person and saved the planet from a major disaster, he also reported the scientist Magellan to the presidium for unethical experiments on the Morlox creaures.

The story features the TARDIS's infamous colour-coded seatbelts, which seem rather ineffective!

OTHER FORMATS:

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