The Apocalypse Element
The Doctor and Evelyn arrive on the planet Archetryx, which is playing host to an unprecedented summit meeting of major powers in the universe with time travel capability…including the Time Lords, represented by the Lord President and CIA operative Vansell, whom the Doctor is less than pleased to see. But despite elaborate security measures taken for the summit, odd things are happening – the gravity wells on Archetryx are acting up, and one of the delegates is practicing mind control on the local security forces. The Doctor is immediately suspicious of the entire situation, especially when the phantom planet of Etra Prime suddenly appears, headed straight for Archetryx. The Daleks are behind this incident, attempting to harness the knowledge of the time-travel-capable species to perfect their new doomsday weapon. But the Daleks don’t count on one thing: a Time Lord named Romanadvortrelundar, who has spent 20 years of her life in the Daleks’ clutches, escapes with knowledge of the Daleks’ plans…as well as the transference crystal they need to focus their new weapon. Romana’s reunion with the Doctor is rushed as they evacuate Archetryx and retreat to Gallifrey, only to find that Vansell’s lust for inside knowledge of the other powers’ time travel vessels has given the Daleks a foothold on the planet of the Time Lords. Even without the focusing device, the Daleks settle for an uncontrolled demonstration of their new weapon – and the resulting massive reaction, if left unchecked, will consume all matter in the entire universe in a matter of hours.
written by Stephen Cole
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Nicholas BriggsCast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Maggie Stables (Dr. Evelyn Smythe), Lalla Ward (Romana), Karen Henson (Monitor Trinkett), James Campbell (Assistant Monitor Ensac), Andrea Newland (Commander Vorna), Anthony Keech (Coordinator Vansell), Toby Longworth (Monan Host), Michael Wade (The President), Alistair Lock (Dalek voices), Nicholas Briggs (Dalek voices), Andrew Fettes (Vrint / Commander Reldath)
Timeline: after The Spectre Of Lanyon Moor and before Bloodtide
LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green
Pompeii, Italy, 1980 A.D.: A UNIT operative hastily takes charge of an archaeological dig at Pompeii when, in the ruins of the city that died in the eruption of Vesuvius, an inexplicable anachronism is unearthed – a British police telephone box, preserved in the ancient ash. The oddity is removed from the site and put in top security storage by UNIT. The Doctor is summoned to investigate, but – in his fifth incarnation – he chooses not to enter the police box. 
The Doctor, Ace and Bernice arrive at a hotel in Kent which is playing host to three simultaneous conventions: one for a cross-stitch club, another for a con artist holding a seance, and the third for the demonstration of a physics experiment that could lead to time travel. But the seance actually does make contact with something otherworldly – an alien group consciousness hell-bent on emerging into Earth’s dimension to feed upon the despair and guilt of the human race. The time travel experiments provide a convenient interdimensional conduit through which the Scourge travel. The Doctor, of course, has orchestrated all of this very carefully…but this time, whether he’s planned it or not, whether he wants it or not, the Scourge have him, and can consume his mind on their whim. With the Doctor out of the way, only Ace and Benny stand in the way of the Scourge…but they, like everyone else on the doomed Earth, have their own personal demons which will render them helpless to the power of the Scourge.
The Doctor and Frobisher are in deep trouble. The TARDIS has “gone on strike,” and the Doctor is forced to surrender control to the ship itself. It brings them to a castle whose occupants live by a bizarre set of rituals: their king isn’t just a monarch, but a living god to be worshipped by his subjects. However, whenever the king dies, the religion built around him is declared false, a select number of subjects are executed for heresy, the rest of the heretics much formally change their religion to follow the new god (the incoming king), and the bible must be rewritten from scratch. But by sheer bad luck, the arrival of the TARDIS is hailed as a miracle, as it occurs on the coronation/ ascension day of the new god-king – a timid man who doesn’t want the position at all. To avoid his fate, the new ruler abdicates and declares Frobisher to be the new god – and since Frobisher is a talking penguin who emerged from a “blue temple” which appeared out of thin air, most of the people have no qualms about worshipping him. To his credit, the well-meaning whifferdill tries to instill a sense of free choice upon his subjects, introducing them to concepts such as democracy and mercy. But deep within the castle, something else is brewing – a devastating evil which some think will be the new messiah. But its true destiny is to murder every last person in the kingdom until it finds one man – and there is nothing the Doctor or Frobisher can do to stop it.
The Doctor and Nyssa are thrust into a deadly situation involving the Thals and the Daleks. An unknown contaminant has invaded the Daleks’ biology, a contaminant which is spreading like wildfire through the interconnected consciousness/data network of the metallic terrors. The Daleks are now asking their arch nemesis for help – but they’re still not beyond their usual brand of treachery, and the Doctor discovers that helping the Daleks could unravel his own history, creating a temporal paradox… assuming that the paradox hasn’t already trapped him.
In the wake of the events surrounding the crash of the R-101, the Doctor and Charley take in a stray time vortex-dwelling creature, which Charley names “Ramsay.” But when Ramsay falls ill, the Doctor steers the TARDIS toward the Garazone system, where he hopes to find a cure. But the Doctor’s stopover at Garazone launches him into an even more perilous adventure. The scrap ship Vanguard is preparing to depart under the command of a mysterious new captain, and the Doctor and Charley are forced to stow away when the TARDIS is mistakenly loaded into the Vanguard’s cargo bay. Matters are made worse when the Vanguard makes a bee-line for a hulking derelict spacecraft. The Doctor and Charley watch helplessly as the crew try to board the enormous ship, and then one by one begin falling victim to that ship’s population of Cybermen, who have received a signal to reactive. But a danger greater than Cybermen may be lurking among the Vanguard’s crew – a danger which threatens the future of the entire human race.
The Doctor barely gets Charley out of yet another near-death scrape, and realizes that they both need a vacation. The Doctor decides to take his companion to the lovely city of Venice…but naturally, overshoots the time frame a little bit and winds up taking her to Venice in the 23rd century, on the day before the fabled city sinks under the water once and for all. But Charley is stunned to see that no evacuation is being carried out – quite the contrary, in fact. Mad Duke Orsino is planning one last revel, and the more inebriated, the better as far as he’s concerned. Other Venetians aren’t taking their last day on Earth quite so calmly. Orsino’s court curator, Churchwell, is all but in a panic about the fate of the Duke’s valuable art collection. Pietro, a member of an amphibious race of gondoliers, has his eye on Charley in hopes of using her in a plot to help his people take over the city. The High Priest of an order that worships the Duke’s late wife means to see an ancient prophecy fulfilled, no matter the cost in human lives. And in his madness, the Duke deputizes someone to the throne, someone who may destroy everyone even before the city crumbles at daybreak. This time, the Doctor and Charley won’t be able to escape by dawn.
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Retired) arrives in the newly-formed American state of Malebolgia, where the locals have requested his advice following his participation in the secession of Scotland from the United Kingdom. But the Brigadier is a little suspicious of events in Malebolgia, and he’s not alone – he has actually been assigned to look into rumors of misuse of a mind scanning/recording/reprogramming device at a local mental hospital. Those rumors turn out to be true when the Brigadier encounters a long-haired man in unusual clothes who claims to have arrived out of nowhere only the night before, and also claims to know the Brigadier. But Lethbridge-Stewart takes the man back to the mental hospital, and doesn’t get to hear the man’s claims that he’s a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey – and another patient at the mental hospital is making precisely the same claims. But whoever the Doctor may be, he’s in no position to stop a confluence of demonic influences from overrunning the 51st state – leaving Lethbridge-Stewart and an equally amnesiac Charley to do battle with darkness by themselves.
The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Turlough to Rio de Janeiro in the year 2080, just in time for the carnival. During the festivities, both of the time travelers become aware of another presence that seems out of place – something lurking, waiting patiently in the dark as it has done for centuries – something that will draw them both into the center of a battle for dominion over the human race.
The Doctor brings Ace to a distant desert world called Duchamps 331 to look for a painting – Edvard Munch’s “Scream” – which he hears will be destroyed under mysterious circumstances. He hopes to rescue it from whatever fate awaits it, but a more serious event is already underway there. A murder has occurred on one of the planet’s refueling stations, and the dust seems to be coming to life. Ace is delighted to see an old friend there – Bev Tarrant, one of the survivors of the Doctor’s clash with the Daleks on Kar-Charrat – but the Doctor is more concerned when he autopsies the murder vicrim and finds no blood and no organs – only dust. In orbit, the patrons of a lavish spaceborne art gallery are unwittingly bringing an evil presence to Duchamps 331 to fulfill one of his most diabolical plans – a plan that can only be foiled by his arch enemy, the Doctor.
The planet Santiny is overrun by a massive invasion by a Canisian fleet. Even suicide runs don’t prevent the Canisians, as their leader, General Tannis, seems to be able to forsee every possible tactic. Almost as if in answer to the prayers of the survivors on Santiny, the TARDIS arrives, and the Doctor and his blue-skinned companion Antimony emerge to begin helping Santiny’s resistance movement. Meanwhile, Ace – planted in a strategic position by the Doctor – has been rescued by a Time Lord named Casmus, who begins training her for the next step in her own evolution. Elsewhere, a group of Time Lords called the Fraction, dedicated to interference in time on the side of good, begin falling one by one to a stealthy killer. Finally, the string of deaths draws the Doctor’s attention away from the Canisian problem, and also gets the attention of Casmus. On Gallifrey, Casmus accelerates Ace’s training, speeding her evolution into a new breed of Time Lord. Time is running out, as Tannis is also revealed to be a Time Lord who is using his conquests to disguise his identity. But will Ace learn to use her powers for good soon enough to confront Tannis, or will the Doctor – having witnessed Antimony’s death at the general’s hands – be forced to use his Time Lord powers to a degree that will not only kill Tannis but himself as well?
The Doctor and Evelyn arrive at the Galapagos Islands, finding a young naturalist named Charles Darwin conducting research and observations there. The Doctor is a bit worried about Evelyn interfering with the development of Darwin’s theories, but he soon has more to worry about – prisoners at the local jailhouse disappear without a trace, and a woman is upset that her brother, whose mind has snapped after what he says was an encounter with “devils,” is scheduled for execution. Though the Doctor is less than impressed with the local governor’s demeanor, he soon realizes that something far more sinister is at work here – a small enclave of hibernating Silurians has awoken in their chambers deep below the islands, and one of them is plotting the destruction of homo sapiens… which may only be fair, since he created homo sapiens.