The Time Warrior (TV story)

From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference
Revision as of 11:20, 6 September 2007 by David the Wavid (talk | contribs)


The Time Warrior was the first story of Season 11 of Doctor Who. New monsters the Sontarans made their debut in this story, along with Elisabeth Sladen as companion Sarah Jane Smith.

Synopsis

A Sontaran named Linx, trapped in the Middle Ages, uses crude time travel technology to kidnap scientists from the 20th Century to help repair his spacecraft.

Plot

Part 1

File:Timewarrior ep1.JPG
The star warrior arrives

In the Middle Ages, the bandit Irongron and his aide Bloodaxe together with their rabble of criminals find the crashed spaceship of a Sontaran warrior named Linx. The alien claims Earth for his Empire then sets about repairing his ship, offering Irongron “magic weapons” that will make him a king in return for shelter. They strike a bargain, though Irongron remains suspicious.

The Doctor and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart are investigating the disappearance of several scientists from a top secret scientific research complex. They do not know Linx has used an Osmic Projector to send himself forward eight hundred years and has kidnapped the scientists then hypnotized them into making repairs on his ship. The Projector only lets him appear in another time for a brief period. While the Doctor investigates he meets an eccentric scientist called Rubeish and a young journalist called Sarah Jane Smith, who has infiltrated the complex by masquerading as her aunt. Later that evening Rubeish disappears and the Doctor uses the data he has gathered to pilot the TARDIS back to the Middle Ages.- not realising new companion Sarah has stowed away on board.

Irongron is a robber baron who has stolen his castle from an absent nobleman, and relations with his neighbours are appalling. Indeed, the mild Lord Edward of Wessex has been provoked into building an alliance against him and, when this is slow in developing, sends his archer Hal on an unsuccessful mission to kill Irongron. When Sarah follows the Doctor to Irongron's castle, she is seized by one of his guards, while the Doctor witnesses Linx removing his helmet.

Part 2

File:Timewarrior ep2.JPG
Irongron tests Linx's weapon

Irongron is in a foul mood when a captured Sarah is brought before him. His mood improves when Linx presents him with a robot knight which is then put to the test on a captured Hal. The archer is only saved when the Doctor intervenes from afar, shooting the robot control box from Irongron’s hands. The ensuing confusion lets both Hal and Sarah flee, and they head for Wessex Castle. There, Sarah concocts a plan to kidnap the Doctor, who she thinks is working for Irongron rather than against him.

Meanwhile the Doctor has realised both that Sarah is in the time period and has been captured. He finds Linx's lab, where the kidnapped scientists have been hypnotised except for Rubeish. He is caught by Linx, who restrains him using a head device, but Rubeish frees him when Linx leaves. The Doctor then leaves to search for Sarah, but is chased by Irongron and his men. When the Doctor stumbles, Irongron raises his axe...

Part 3

File:Timewarrior ep3.JPG
Irongron's army attacks Edward's castle

Hal shoots the axe out of Irongron's hand, allowing him to escape. The Doctor is able to convince Sarah and Edward that he was trying to stop Linx, and agrees to help construct a defence against an attack on Wessex Castle by Irongron's men.

The next morning, the robber baron and his troops assault the castle using rifles supplied by Linx, scarcely fooled by dummies the Doctor has made to make it appear as though the castle has more soldiers than they do. As they march on forward, the Doctor unleashes smoke bombs, which scares them away. The failure further sours the relationship between Linx and Irongron, which has deteriorated since the robot knight fiasco and the point at which the robber saw the Sontaran’s true visage beneath his helmet.

The Doctor now decides to lead an attack on Irongron’s castle, and he and Sarah enter dressed as friars. He offers to help Linx if he sends the scientists back home, but Linx refuses and zaps the Doctor.

Part 4

The new TARDIS team

The Doctor isn't harmed, and Linx is rendered immobile when a lucky strike from Rubeish hits his probic vent – a Sontaran refuelling point on the back of their necks which is also their main weakness. Rubeish and the Doctor use the Osmic Projector to send the scientists back to the twentieth century. Sarah now inveigles herself into Irongron’s kitchen, using the opportunity to drug the food, thereby knocking out Irongron’s men.

A recovered Linx now determines his ship is repaired enough to effect a departure. Once more he encounters the Doctor, and they wrestle in combat. A crazed and half drugged Irongron arrives and accuses Linx of betraying him: the Sontaran responds by killing him. As Linx enters his spherical vessel Hal arrives and shoots him in the probic vent, and the Sontaran warrior falls dead over his controls, triggering the launch mechanism. Knowing the place is about to explode when the shuttle takes off, the Doctor hurries the last of his allies out of the castle. It explodes moments before the Doctor and Sarah depart in the TARDIS.

Cast

Production Crew

References

Story Notes

  • Working titles for this story included The Time Fugitive and The Time Survivor.
  • The original outline for the serial was submitted to the production office in the form of a "Field report from Sontaran Field Marshal Hol Mes, to Terran Cedicks".
  • This story features the debut of a new opening and closing title sequence designed by Bernard Lodge and realised using a process known as 'slit scan'. The opening title sequence features for the first time the distinctive diamond-shaped logo for the series.

Ratings

  • Part 1 - 8.7m viewers.
  • Part 2 - 7.0m viewers.
  • Part 3 - 6.6m viewers.
  • Part 4 - 10.6m viewers.

Myths

  • There was another actress cast before Elisabeth Sladen. (There was another companion, played by a different actress, originally intended to appear in this story. Sarah was a completely fresh character, and Sladen the first choice to play her, after the production team had second thoughts.)

Location Filming

  • Location shooting of Wessex castle and Irongron's castle was done at Peckforton Castle.

Discontinuity

  • Bloodaxe has lots of horse trouble in episode one.
  • Irongron's gun goes off before he fires it, and surely he would notice that his Robot has a fleshy neck?
  • Nobody tells the serving wenches to leave the exploding castle.
  • 'Wessex' after the Norman conquest is an anachronism.
  • Potatoes were unknown in England until Sir Francis Drake brought them back from the Americas in the 16th Century.

Continuity

DVD, Video and Other Releases

DVD Releases

Timewarrior region2cover.jpg

Released as Doctor Who: The Time Warrior. Released:

Contents:

  • Commentary by Elisabeth Sladen, Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks
  • Beginning the End - The cast and crew of The Time Warrior look back on the making of this story, in this newly produced documentary. Featuring Elisabeth Sladen, Donald Pelmear, Jeremy Bulloch, Barry Letts, Terrance Dicks and Keith Cheatham.
  • CGI Effects - Choose to watch the story with some of the original effects replaced by 16 new CGI sequences.
  • Continuity Compilation - A selection of off-air continuity announcements for the original BBC transmissions of The Time Warrior.
  • Doctor Who Annual 1974 (DVD-ROM PC/Mac)
  • Radio Times Billings - Original listings from Radio Times (DVD-ROM PC/Mac)
  • Photo Gallery
  • Production Subtitles

The DVD Release was also the first time the serial was available complete and uncut.

Target Novelisations

to be added

External Links

Retrieved from "https://tardis.wiki/w/index.php?title=The_Time_Warrior_(TV_story)&oldid=53288"