Battlefield (TV story)

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Synopsis

The TARDIS materialises in the English countryside near the village of Carbury, where a nuclear missile convoy under the command of UNIT's Brigadier Winifred Bambera has run into difficulties. Lying on the bed of the nearby Lake Vortigern is a spaceship from another dimension containing the body of King Arthur, supposedly held in suspended animation, and his sword Excalibur.

Ancelyn, a knight from the other dimension, arrives on Earth to aid the King but is followed by his rival Mordred and the latter's mother, a powerful sorceress named Morgaine. They all recognise the Doctor as Merlin - a fact that the Time Lord attributes to events in his own future.

A battle breaks out between UNIT and Morgaine's men. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart has come out of retirement to assist in the crisis and ends up using silver bullets to kill the Destroyer - an awesomely powerful creature unshackled by Morgaine to devour the world - although he himself is almost killed in the process.

Morgaine tries to fire the nuclear missile but is overcome by shock when the Doctor tells her that Arthur is in fact dead. She and her son are then taken prisoner by UNIT.

Plot

to be added

Cast

Crew

References

  • Chess
  • UNIT appears in this story.
  • The Brigadier is married to Doris Lethbridge-Stewart and has been replaced by Winifred Bambera.
  • The Doctor uses Bessie again.
  • The Brigadier talks of how UNIT has been busy, acquiring bullets that would go through a Dalek, and other bullets for Yetis and robots, including gold-tipped bullets for Cybermen
  • The Doctor and Ace use passes that he thought he would never need again. Her pass belonged to Liz Shaw.
  • The Doctor cries out 'Yeti, Autons, Daleks, Cybermen, Silurians' when trying to show Bambera that he was indeed a member of UNIT.
  • The Doctor from Morgaine's reality was called Merlin there is some implication that the Doctor is Merlin (or will be).

Story Notes

Ratings

  • Part 1 - 3.1 million viewers
  • Part 2 - 3.9 million viewers
  • Part 3 - 3.6 million viewers
  • Part 4 - 4.0 million viewers

Myths

  • The incidental music for this story was originally to have been provided by the rock group Hawkwind. (It wasn't.)

Filming Locations

Lake Vortigern, Carbury.

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

  • When Morgaine strikes Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's helicopter, the smoke box used for this effect can clearly be seen attached to the back of the left landing skid.
  • Set several years in Ace's future the serial shows a five pound coin in circulation. However, in the new series (which presumably would be after these events- seeing how in "The Poison Sky" the Brigadier is now a 'sir' and in Battlefield he isn't)there is now reference to it whatsoever.

Continuity

  • Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart last appeared on screen in The Five Doctors.
  • Doris was first mentioned in Planet of the Spiders.
  • The Seventh Doctor meets Lethrbidge-Stewart for the 'first time' (from the Brigadier's perspective) in NA: No Future (and then wipes his memory of the event so he could meet him for the first time in this story).

DVD and Video Releases

This story has been confirmed for DVD release on November 17th 2008.

Target Novelisations

External Links

TVStub.png

Television

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The Greatest Show in the Galaxy 		Next story:
Ghost Light


All Media

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The Greatest Show in the Galaxy 		Next story:
Relative Dementias
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