The Horns of Nimon

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108 – The Horns of Nimon
Doctor Who serial

Anethans and Romana look on as a Nimon uses its horns to kill the Co-Pilot.
Cast
Doctor Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor)
Companions David Brierley (K-9 Mk. II)
Lalla Ward (Romana II)
Production
Writer Anthony Read
Director Kenny McBain
Script editor Douglas Adams
Producer Graham Williams
Executive producer(s) None
Production code 5L
Series Season 17
Length 4 episodes, 25 mins each
Originally broadcast December 22, 1979–January 12, 1980
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by →
Nightmare of Eden Shada (unbroadcast)
The Leisure Hive (broadcast)

The Horns of Nimon is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from December 22, 1979 to January 12, 1980.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

In the great maze of the Power Complex dwells the dreaded Nimon, a fearsome monster with immense scientific powers. The Nimon has promised to restore the Skonnan Empire to its former glory. But first it demands sacrifice - youths and maidens from the peaceful planet Aneth. The TARDIS collides with the space ship delivering the victims, and the captured Romana is condemned to be sacrificed to the Nimon. Aided by the faithful K-9, the Doctor goes to the rescue - and confronts the horned Nimon at the heart of the maze.

[edit] Plot

The glory days of the Skonnan Empire are long since past, but many of its citizens and soldiers yearn for those days of control and conquest. The arrival of the mysterious horned Nimon to Skonnos has, however, brought hope of imperial restoration. The fearsome creature from within its labyrinth has promised to rebuild the Empire providing it receives a series of tributes from the Skonnans and their fawning, arrogant leader Soldeed. This tribute is to consist of groups of youthful sacrifices from the nearby planet Aneth, as well as a supply of hymetusite crystals with each group. Young people have thus been abducted from there and transferred to the labyrinth of the Nimon. On the final collection, however, the interstellar craft bearing the sacrifices breaks down in space. The ancient war craft has simply worn out, and when the co-pilot over extends the engines, it becomes dangerous and kills the Pilot when one of its control panels explodes.

The Doctor, Romana and K-9 are in the TARDIS console room where he is making modifications to the ship. Various controls are disconnected and unfortunately the area of space he has chosen to materialise the ship in is perilously close to what seems to be the basis of a manufactured Black Hole. They are in danger of being drawn in. He extends the TARDIS door force field to a nearby spaceship – the Skonnan battle cruiser – and he and Romana board the ageing warship. Once aboard the Doctor notices an abundance of radioactive hymetusite crystals and then soon finds a hold full of young prisoners. They are from the peaceful world of Aneth and one of them, Teka, has a seemingly misplaced faith in another prisoner, Seth, to try and free them from their incarceration. The Co-Pilot investigates the hold and there finds the Doctor and Romana among the “weakling scum”. He takes them at gunpoint to the bridge and forces them to help fix the stranded Skonnan ship. Romana offers to repair the ship using a hymetusite crystal and one is brought to her while the Doctor is permitted to return to K-9 and the TARDIS and assist from there. Aboard the TARDIS the Doctor is informed by K-9 about the collapse of the Skonnan Empire in civil war.

With the Skonnan craft repaired the Co-Pilot starts to move his ship away, stranding the TARDIS in space. With the TARDIS still not fully repaired and the gravity increasing, the Doctor and K-9 face obliteration as a vast planetary body advances directly toward them.

Using a cricket ball strategy, the Doctor bounces the TARDIS off the approaching asteroid. He then starts work on repairing the console in order to pilot the ship to Skonnos and confront the evil there. The planet is being dominated by the Nimon, which exists within its labyrinthine Power Complex into which only Soldeed is permitted to venture. The Nimon is angry when Soldeed reports the Skonnan craft with the last batch of sacrifices has not reached Skonnos and says it will withhold the arms that will help rebuild the Skonnan Empire until the ship arrives.

Fortunately for Soldeed, once he emerges from the Power Complex he hears from his guard captain, Sorak, that the ship has been found. The warship soon arrives on Skonnos and Soldeed leads the party of greeting, being unnerved to see Romana aboard. The Co-Pilot then lies that she is the cause of all the problems on the ship, being a pirate who stole aboard and killed the Captain. Soldeed does not believe this and then forces the Co-Pilot into the Nimon Power Complex where he is sure to be killed. Moments later Romana and the Anethans are loaded up with hymetusite and also sent into the maze. Shortly thereafter the TARDIS materializes in the central square of Skonnos and the Doctor emerges. He is taken to Soldeed but soon escapes and heads into the Power Complex to escape his pursuers.

Deep in the Complex – whose walls seem to shift and change creating various patterns of progress that all lead to the Nimon – Romana finds the husks of previous Anethans, the life drained from them. The Co-Pilot also arrives, still pleading for his life, and when the Nimon appears too it despatches the desperate soldier first (as shown in the picture above) before turning its mighty horns on Romana and the cowering Anethans.

The Doctor arrives in the nick of time to distract the Nimon and thus save Romana, Seth and Teka who make a break for it after him, though the other Anethans are too scared to leave. He leads them deeper into the Complex and finds a power source close to the heart of the maze, but he needs a computer to interpret the machine and so blows his dog whistle to summon K-9. When the robot dog emerges from the TARDIS it encounters Soldeed, who immobilises it and takes it away for examination.

Back in the heart of the Complex the Nimon has now reached the power source room and starts manipulating the controls of the machine, which begins to cause the Complex to glow with energy. It also enables a shimmering tunnel to appear, down which comes a travel globe that bears two more Nimon. They announce to the other Nimon that the planet Crinoth is dying and that all the Nimon must continue the Great Journey of Life to Skonnos. Once the Nimon stalk away the Doctor examines the globes and pronounces that they are travelling vessels that have journeyed down a tunnel set between two black holes. By mishap the Doctor sends the globe down the tunnel with Romana in it but before he can reverse this Soldeed arrives and uses his staff to destroy the control panel.

Romana has arrived in the dying world of Crinoth where she encounters many Nimon who live as per their operation on Skonnos. Their equivalent of Soldeed is a broken old man named Sezom, who helped the Nimon establish themselves on his world and now knows they have destroyed it. He compares the Nimon to intergalactic locusts, swarming between planets and draining them of energy. He has also discovered that when jacenite is integrated into the staff that he was supplied with by the Nimon, it has the ability to stun them. He gives Romana an extra piece that he has, but is shortly afterward killed by a Nimon helping her to escape.

Seth shoots Soldeed unconscious, and the Doctor then attempts to repair the transportation system. Just as he is about to complete the repairs, the Nimons return to the power source room and restrain him. However, they finish his work by reversing the tunnel, which brings Romana back in the capsule she had been waiting in on Crinoth. Romana tosses the jacenite to Seth, who now has possession of Soldeed's staff, and he uses it to stun two of the Nimons. Having managed to free himself from Soldeed's laboratory, K-9 arrives just in time to deal with the remaining one. Soldeed, having escaped from the power source room, has seen the multiple Nimons and his faith is badly damaged. He is shot down by Seth but in his death throes manages to trigger a chain reaction which will destroy the Complex. The Doctor and his party make their way out, using K-9 to work out a proper exit path through the labyrinth. They all escape and join up with the remaining members of the Skonnan military council, all of whom evacuate the main square as the Nimon Power Complex explodes.

Later in the TARDIS the Doctor reflects on their adventure and watch as Seth and Teka pilot a spacecraft away from Skonnos, having been granted their freedom. Elsewhere Crinoth can be seen disintegrating. It seems that the Nimon threat is over.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Continuity

  • As Shada was abandoned, this is the final televised serial to use the original 1963 arrangement of the Doctor Who theme music (which had been revised slightly over the years, notably in the late 1960s, but remained essentially Delia Derbyshire's version until this point). Also making its final appearance is the diamond-shaped series logo introduced during the last season of Jon Pertwee's era.

[edit] Outside references

As with the earlier stories The Time Monster and Underworld, elements of this serial owe much to classical Greek mythology, in particular here the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur. Various names are obvious Greek anagrams, such as the planets Aneth (Athens), Crinoth (Corinth) and Skonnos (Knossos). Also, "Soldeed" backwards is similar to his Greek labyrinth-building counterpart "Daedalus", and "Nimon" is a play on the first syllable of "minotaur" (oddly, "Sezom" seems to be a backwards form of "Moses", which is out of place among the Greek references). The Doctor's parting warning to be sure the returning spacecraft is painted white refers to Theseus's tragic failure to remember his father's instruction to fly a white sail on his return voyage.

[edit] In print

Doctor Who book
Book cover
Doctor Who and the Horns of Nimon
Series Target novelisations
Release number 31
Writer Terrance Dicks
Publisher Target Books
Cover artist Steve Kyte
ISBN 0 426 20131 0
Release date 16 October 1980
Preceded by Doctor Who and the Nightmare of Eden
Followed by Doctor Who and the Monster of Peladon

A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in October 1980.

[edit] Broadcast and VHS release

  • This story was released on VHS in June of 2003.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] Reviews

[edit] Target novelisation

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Doctor Who season 17 serials