Full Circle (TV story)

Tell Dexeter, we've come full circleDecider Draith

Full Circle
Doctor:	[[doctor::Fourth Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Romana II K9 Mk2 Adric (introduction)
Main enemy:	None
Main setting:	Alzarius
Key crew
Writer:	Andrew Smith
Director:	Peter Grimwade
Producer:	John Nathan-Turner
Release details
Story number:	112
Release number:	Season 18
Premiere broadcast:	25th October - 15th November 1980
Format:	4 25-minute episodes
Production code:	5R

Synopsis

The TARDIS falls through a CVE into E-Space and arrives on the planet Alzarius. There the inhabitants of a crashed Starliner and a group of young rebels called the Outlers, led by a boy named Varsh and including his brother Adric, are being terrorised by a race of Marshmen who emerge from the marshes at a time known as Mistfall.

The Doctor discovers that the Starliner's inhabitants are not the descendants of its original crew, as has been claimed by their leaders the Deciders, but evolved Marshmen. With the Time Lord's help and encouragement, the Starliner is repaired and able to leave the planet.

Plot

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Tom Baker
• Adric - Matthew Waterhouse
• Romana - Lalla Ward
• Voice of K9 - John Leeson
• Dexeter - Tony Calvin
• Draith - Leonard Maguire
• Garif - Alan Rowe
• Keara- June Page
• Login - George Baker
• Marshchild - Norman Bacon
• Marshman - Barney Lawrence
• Nefred - James Bree
• Omril - Andrew Forbes
• Rysik - Adrian Gibbs
• Tylos - Bernard Padden
• Varsh - Richard Willis

Crew

• Assistant Floor Manager - Alex Bridcut, Lynn Richards
• Costumes - Amy Roberts
• Designer - Janet Budden
• Executive Producer - Barry Letts
• Film Cameraman - Max Samett
• Film Editor - Mike Houghton
• Incidental Music - Paddy Kingsland
• Make-Up - Frances Needham
• Producer - John Nathan-Turner
• Production Assistant - Susan Box
• Production Unit Manager - Angela Smith
• Script Editor - Christopher H. Bidmead
• Special Sounds - Dick Mills
• Studio Lighting - Mike Jefferies
• Studio Sound - John Holmes
• Theme Arrangement - Peter Howell
• Title Music - Ron Grainer
• Visual Effects - John Brace

References

• The TARDIS enters E-Space via a Charged Vacuum Emboitment.
• Alzarius occupies the same coordinates as Gallifrey in E-Space.
• The Doctor and Romana are summoned to Gallifrey.
• As they're travelling to Gallifrey the Doctor comments to Romana; "Yes, well, you only came to help with the Key to Time.".
• The Doctor says that he's looking forward to seeing Leela and Andred again and that the K-9 Mark II can meet its twin (K-9 Mark I).

Alzarians / Terradonians

This is a short explanation of the Terradonians / Alzarian's history on Alzarius

• A ship from Terradon crashed on Alzarius, a planet of hyper-evolutionary creatures. The Terradonians were replaced by the humanoid Alzarians (i.e. the marsh men), but were unable to make the starliner take off.

• The evolving society lived in fear of Mistfall, a period every 50 years or so, when the influence of another planet takes Alzarius away from the sun's warmth. This acts as a 'trigger' to the marsh creatures to emerge onto the land. During this period the people, ignorant of their true heritage, shut themselves away in the starliner. The spiders will eventually evolve into marsh men (their poison establishes a symbiotic link with the marsh creatures).

• The people believe that they are Terradonians, and that they have been stranded there for 40 generations, but are gradually mending their ship. In actual fact, the ship is completely operational, and successions of advanced Alzarians have lived around the starliner for 4000 generations (approximately 140,000 years).

Story Notes

• This is the first story in the 'E-Space Trilogy'.
• The story has a working title of The Planet that Slept.
• Adric's name was suggested by script editor Christopher H Bidmead as an anagram of that of eminent physicist P A M Dirac (who in 1930 was the first to predict the existence of antimatter).
• Alan Rowe makes his final Doctor Who appearance, as Garif. He had previously appeared as Doctor Evans and the voice of Space Control in The Moonbase, Edward of Wessex The Time Warrior and as Skinsale in Horror of Fang Rock.

Ratings

• Part 1 - 5.9 million viewers
• Part 2 - 3.7 million viewers
• Part 3 - 5.9 million viewers
• Part 4 - 5.5 million viewers

Myths

to be added

Filming Locations

• Black Park, Black Park Road, Fulmer, Buckinghamshire
• BBC Television Centre (TC3 & TC6), Shepherd's Bush, London

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

• When the TARDIS is seen drifting through E-Space, the background stars appear in front of the TARDIS.
• Romana says that the TARDIS weighs 5x10⁶ kilos 'in your gravity' (i.e. 50,000 tonnes), which doesn't really explain firstly how the Marshmen can easily pick it up and also numerous references in other stories (DW: Marco Polo, Army of Ghosts, etc.) to the TARDIS being light enough to be lifted by a group of men. It is possible that the gravity is different to Earth's or that the TARDIS's mass is variable
• How did Adric get to the Rebels without passing The Doctor or any Marshmen? And how did the Rebels get back without seeing them?

Continuity

to be added

DVD, Video and Other Releases

• Full Circle was released by BBC Worldwide in 1997 as a boxed set with State of Decay and Warriors' Gate.
• Full Circle has been released in a box set alongside State of Decay and Warriors Gate. The box set in titled The E-Space Trilogy.

Novelisation

Main article: Full Circle (novelisation)

• Novelised by Andrew Smith in 1982.

See also

to be added

External Links

• BBC Episode Guide Page for Full Circle
• Outpost Gallifrey Episode Guide: Full Circle
• Doctor Who Reference Guide: Detailed Synopsis - Full Circle
• A Brief History of Time (Travel): Full Circle
• The Locations Guide to Doctor Who - Full Circle