S19E26
Tragic
Written by Peter Grimwade
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Time Flight Part 4

The Doctor and his companions must stop the Master from using the Xeraphin's power to become invincible, while also rescuing passengers and navigating through time.

The Doctor, Nyssa, and Tegan find themselves in a battle against the Master, who has gained possession of the Xeraphin, a powerful artifact. The Master plans to use its energy to make his Tardis virtually unstoppable. The Doctor's goal is to prevent this and find a way to stop the Master. Along the way, they team up with Captain Stapley and his crew, who are trying to repair their damaged Concorde aircraft. The Doctor uses his Tardis to help the passengers escape and to deal with the Master. As the story unfolds, the Doctor and his companions face numerous challenges, including navigating through time, dealing with the consequences of the Master's actions, and finding a way to stop him before it's too late. In the end, the Doctor manages to outsmart the Master and send him to the planet Xeraphas, where he will be stuck.


Events in This Episode

The narrative beats that drive the story

39
Act 3

The final act commences with the Doctor, Nyssa, and Tegan trapped in the Sanctum, the Master having absorbed the Xeraphin and dematerialized his Tardis with the remaining Earthlings. Unexpectedly, Captain Stapley and Bilton return in the Doctor's Tardis, having been guided by a telepathic projection of the deceased Professor Hayter. The Doctor quickly enlists Stapley to pilot his Tardis to rescue Scobie and pursue the Master. They discover the Master's Tardis, disguised as 'Victor Foxtrot,' an identical Concorde, and realize he has disintegrated the passengers into protoplasm. The Doctor devises a plan: Nyssa takes the Tardis back to the Concorde cargo hold, while Stapley and his crew prepare their damaged aircraft for takeoff. The Doctor and Tegan search for the Master, who has stolen components from the Doctor's Tardis. The Doctor realizes the 'Victor Foxtrot' Concorde is actually the Master's chameleon-circuited Tardis, containing the real Victor Foxtrot inside. To counter the Master's enhanced power from the Xeraphin, the Doctor plans a risky maneuver: materializing his Tardis around the Master's. Before he can execute this, Stapley reveals he swapped components in the Master's Tardis earlier, limiting its temporal range. This unexpected sabotage allows the Doctor to negotiate with the Master, demanding the return of passengers and components in exchange for a temporal limiter. The Master agrees, releasing the passengers, but holds back the quantum accelerator. The Doctor stalls the Master by withholding the correctly programmed temporal limiter, while the Concorde crew works frantically to repair their aircraft using parts from the Master's disguised Tardis (which is actually Victor Foxtrot). The Doctor then exchanges the temporal limiter for the quantum accelerator, but reveals his limiter is programmed with an 'inhibition factor,' ensuring the Master arrives at Heathrow *after* them. Concorde, with its passengers and the Doctor's companions, successfully takes off and is then dematerialized by the Doctor's Tardis, which reverses the time contour to return them to their original flight path. They reappear at Heathrow, surprising air traffic control. The Doctor then uses his Tardis to occupy the Master's intended landing coordinates, forcing the Master's Tardis into time-space and sending him to Xeraphas millions of years in the past, where the Xeraphin can regenerate safely, and the Master is stranded. Tegan, contemplating her future, decides to remain with the Doctor, while the Concorde crew faces a bewildered Airport Controller, trying to explain their impossible journey.