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Synopsis
The TARDIS arrives on the space liner Empress which has become locked together with a private ship, the Hecate, after colliding with it on emerging from hyperspace.
The Doctor and Romana meet the scientist Tryst, who has with him a Continuous Event Transmuter (CET) machine containing crystals on which are stored supposed recordings of planets that he and his team have visited.
Someone on board the liner is smuggling the dangerously addictive drug vraxoin, and to complicate matters the interface between the two ships allows some monstrous Mandrels from the mud-swamps of Eden to escape from the CET machine - which does not merely take recordings but actually displaces whole planetary areas into its crystals.
The smugglers are revealed to be Tryst and the Hecate's pilot, Dymond. Vraxoin is in fact the material into which the Mandrels decompose when they are killed. The Doctor thwarts this plan, separates the two ships and returns the Mandrels to Eden.
Plot
to be added
Cast
- The Doctor - Tom Baker
- Romana II - Lalla Ward
- Voice of K9 - David Brierley
- Tryst - Lewis Fiander
- Dymond - Geoffrey Bateman
- Captain Rigg - David Daker
- Stott - Barry Andrews
- Della - Jennifer Lonsdale
- Fisk - Geoffrey Hinsliff
- Costa - Peter Craze
- Secker - Stephen Jenn
- Crewmen - Richard Barnes, Sebastian Stride, Eden Phillips
- Passengers - Annette Peters, Lionel Sansby, Peter Roberts, Maggie Petersen
Crew
- Director - Alan Bromly
- Director - Graham Williams (Graham Williams decided to dispense with Alan Bromly's services toward the end of the story's second studio session and directed the remainder himself, without on-screen credit.)
- Assistant Floor Manager - Val McCrimmon
- Costumes - Rupert Jarvis
- Designer - Roger Cann
- Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
- Make-Up - Joan Stribling
- Producer - Graham Williams
- Production Assistant - Carolyn Montagu
- Production Unit Manager - John Nathan-Turner
- Script Editor - Douglas Adams
- Special Sounds - Dick Mills
- Studio Lighting - Warwick Fielding
- Studio Sound - Anthony Philpott
- Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
- Title Music - Ron Grainer
- Visual Effects - Colin Mapson
- Writer - Bob Baker
References
Story Notes
- Vraxoin was originally called 'xylophilin', but was changed so as not to sound appealing to children.
- This story had the working title of Nightmare of Evil.
Ratings
- Part 1 - 8.7 million viewers
- Part 2 - 9.6 million viewers
- Part 3 - 9.6 million viewers
- Part 4 - 9.4 million viewers
Myths
to be added
Location Filming
to be added
Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors
to be added
Continuity
to be added
Target Novelisations
to be added
See Also
DVD and Video Releases
to be added
External Links
- BBC Nightmare of Eden episode guide
- Outpost Gallifrey Nightmare of Eden page
- The Doctor Who Reference Guide detailed synopsis of Nightmare of Eden
- A Brief History of Time (Travel) Guide to Nightmare of Eden
