Planet of Paradise (short story)
Planet of Paradise was a short story in the Doctor Who Annual 1982. It relates the typical story of a creation overthrowing the creator. In a strange ending for a Doctor Who story, it ends with the suggestion that stealing could be all right under certain circumstances. It also makes clear that K9 is capable of emotion with the robot feeling "great sympathy".
Summary
The Fourth Doctor takes his companions to Elystria, a planet vastly changed since the Doctor's last visit...
Plot
Landing on Elystria, the Doctor, Adric and K9 venture out. K9 soon detects lifeforms and they find a native Elystrian running from a robot. K9 blasts the robot's heels, scaring it away. The Elystrian introduces himself as Sklar and takes the travellers to the Elystrian hideout.
Once there, the natives tell the Doctor that their former leader Vayla, whom the Doctor met on a previous visit, it responsible for the attacks and is in control of the robots. The peaceful Elystrian society was devastated and the few survivors retreated into hideouts. The Doctor quickly agrees to help the natives solve this problem.
They decide to infiltrate the planet's stronghold. Sklar opts to stay outside on watch. Inside the Doctor and Adric look on as the robots increase their numbers by building more of their kind. The Doctor recalls how Vayla had planned to create such robots and muses that they may have taken control.
Indeed they have, as he discovers in the central control laboratory, where a robot is at the master control panel with Vayla resigned to a cell. The Doctor sneaks to the cell and rescues Vayla while Adric, K9 and some of the natives distract the robots.
Fleeing from the stronghold, the robots suddenly collapse and they manage to get away. Adric explains that he stole the co-ordination control and deactivated it to stop the robots.
Characters
References
- The TARDIS lands with a "soft bump".
- K9 sympathises with dogs on Earth who dislike riding in motorcars with their masters.
- The Doctor has been to Elystria before. He estimates it was 350 years-ago, in Elystrian time, before this visit.
- The Doctor makes comparisons between the humanoid inhabitants of Elystria but claims they were more peaceful.
- The Elystrians have a life span of five-hundred years.
- Sklar uses the call of an Elystrian owl to give warnings.
Story notes
to be added
Continuity
- The robots in this story build more robots. This was also the case with the self-replicating robots in DWM: The Gift.
Timeline
- This story takes place after DWAN: Conundrum
- This story takes place before DWAN: Plague World
