The Trial of a Time Lord

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

IMDb profile
144 to 147 - The Trial of a Time Lord
Doctor	Colin Baker (Sixth Doctor)
Writer	Robert Holmes (episodes 1–4,13) Philip Martin (episodes 5–8) Pip and Jane Baker (episodes 9–12,14)
Director	Nicholas Mallett (episodes 1–4) Ron Jones (episodes 5–8) Chris Clough (episodes 9–14)
Script Editor	Eric Saward (episodes 1–12)
Producer	John Nathan-Turner
Executive producer(s)	None
Production code	7A, 7B, 7C
Series	Season 23
Length	14 episodes, 25 mins each
Transmission date	September 6–December 6, 1986
Preceded by	Revelation of the Daleks
Followed by	Time and the Rani

The Trial of a Time Lord is the name used on screen for all fourteen episodes comprising the 23rd season (1986) of the original Doctor Who series. Despite the single name, however, it is actually the linking narrative that holds together the separate serials that comprise the season. The serials are separately known as: The Mysterious Planet, Mindwarp, Terror of the Vervoids (or The Ultimate Foe) and The Ultimate Foe (or alternatively Time Incorporated).

With this serial, the series reverted to its original 25-minute episode format, after the previous season's experiment with 45-minute episodes. However, as only 14 episodes were commissioned for the 23rd season, this resulted in the actual amount of storytelling time for the program being slashed by approximately half; the 14-episode season would remain the standard for the remainder of the original series' run.

1 Synopsis
2 Notes
3 External links
- 3.1 Reviews

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

See the constituent serials' articles for full plot details.

The Sixth Doctor is taken out of time, his TARDIS transported to a mysterious space station where it is revealed that his people, the Time Lords, are putting him on trial once again. He is accused of "conduct unbecoming a Time Lord" and transgressing the First Law of Time. The Ultimate Court of Appeal is composed of the High Council of Time Lords, including the Inquisitor (fulfilling the role of adjudicator), and the Valeyard who has raised the charges against the Doctor. Using the evidence presented from the Matrix, which collects data from the various time zones in which a TARDIS lands and records it, three segments of evidence are shown to prove the Doctor's guilt or otherwise: one from his past, one from his (near) present and one from his own future.

During the events recounted in the trial, Peri is apparently killed, but is revealed later to have survived and married an alien warlord. The Doctor is also introduced to a companion from his future, Mel, though the exact circumstances of how she joined him are never revealed on screen.

The TARDIS is summoned to a mysterious space station

[edit] Notes

Although each of the separate segments has been given a name by the fans, based upon working titles, the story is only ever credited on screen as The Trial of a Time Lord. This leads to the single story being 14 episodes long, making it the longest ever Doctor Who story. (Although technically The Key to Time story arc from Season 16 is longer, it is always presented on screen as six separate stories). See also Doctor Who story title controversy.
Many fans have drawn an analogy between the Doctor's trial and the programme itself which, at the time, was under threat of cancellation (although the BBC had on many occasions denied that this was the case).
Producer John Nathan-Turner and script editor Eric Saward drew inspiration from Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol; in that the Doctor sees evidence from the past, present and future.
A frequently used in-joke throughout this serial is that, during the showing of the evidence, the Doctor interjects with protests about the overly violent nature of the scenes. The previous season, Season 22, was frequently criticised for being too violent.
The opening shot of the TARDIS arriving at the space station was the most expensive effects shot in the series' history at the time, costing more than £8,000 for a forty-five second model sequence using the most advanced motion-controlled camera available.
A decade after the story first aired, special effects footage of the TARDIS arriving at the space station, taken from the opening moments of episode one, was used in television promotions for the 1996 FOX Network Doctor Who television movie.
11 of the 13 cliffhanger episode endings fade out on a close-up of Colin Baker's face. The two exceptions are episode 3, which has a character firing a crossbow in the Doctor's direction, and episode 9 which ends with the Vervoids emerging from their pods.
Features guest appearances by Joan Sims, Tony Selby, Honor Blackman, Brian Blessed, Geoffrey Hughes and Christopher Ryan. See also Celebrity appearances in Doctor Who and the individual serials' articles for a full list of appearances.