A gel-like plasma creature arrives on Earth and hunts down the Doctor, who calls on the Time Lords for help. The Time Lords themselves are facing a crisis as their energy is being drawn off into a black hole. They send the Doctor's earlier selves to join him. The first Doctor, caught in a time eddy and able only to advise, deduces that the plasma creature is a time bridge. The third Doctor and Jo then allow themselves to be captured and are transported to a world of antimatter beyond the black hole. On Earth, the second Doctor is forced to take refuge in the TARDIS, along with the Brigadier and Sergeant Benton. On the advice of the first Doctor he switches off the ship's forcefield, and the whole UNIT building is transported through the black hole.
The power controlling these events is Omega, a figure from Time Lord history whose solar engineering provided the power for time travel. He has been trapped in the black hole ever since and now wants the Doctor to swap places with him. However, the decaying effects of his domain have already destroyed his physical form, leaving only his controlling will. He threatens to destroy the universe but is tricked into touching the second Doctor's recorder - the only thing not converted to antimatter on passing through the black hole - and is consumed in the resulting supernova. Everyone else escapes to Earth.
CAST:
Doctor Who (Jon Pertwee), Doctor Who (Patrick Troughton), Doctor Who (William Hartnell), Jo Grant (Katy Manning), Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney), Sergeant Benton (John Levene), Dr. Tyler (Rex Robinson), President of the Council (Roy Purcell), Mr. Ollis (Laurie Webb), Chancellor (Clyde Pollitt), Time Lord (Graham Leaman), Mrs. Ollis (Patricia Prior), Corporal Palmer (Denys Palmer), Omega ( Stephen Thorne).
FACTS:
This story celebrated Doctor Who's Tenth Anniversary.
This story features a new TARDIS interior set, designed by Roger Liminton, based closely on the original.
At the conclusion of the story, the Time Lords lift the third Doctor's exile, sending him a new dematerialisation circuit and returning his knowledge of time travel.
OTHER FORMATS:
The Third Doctor Novelisations
Third Doctor Videos
Back to the Third Doctor Programme Guide
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