S20E15
Tragic
Written by Stephen Gallagher
View Graph

Terminus Part 3

The Doctor and Kari navigate the deadly Terminus space station to prevent a catastrophic explosion, while Nyssa and Olvir face their own struggles against the station's ruthless Vanir overseers.

The Doctor, Kari, Nyssa, Olvir, and Turlough find themselves on the Terminus space station, a facility shrouded in mystery and danger. The Doctor and Kari escape from Valgard, a Vanir, in a stockyard and enter the Forbidden Zone, where they encounter Bor, an unstable individual with knowledge of the station's inner workings. Bor reveals that Terminus was once a time-traveling ship that had an enormous explosion, potentially creating the universe. However, another explosion is imminent, threatening to destroy the universe. Meanwhile, Nyssa and Olvir try to survive against the Vanir, led by Eirak and Sigurd, who are obsessed with the drug Hydromel. Turlough and Tegan work to find a way to escape the station. The Doctor and Kari aim to stop the impending explosion, while Nyssa and Olvir face their own challenges in the Lazar's Pen. The Garm, a mysterious creature, plays a crucial role in the story, ultimately helping Nyssa and contributing to the fate of the station.


Events in This Episode

The narrative beats that drive the story

35
Act 1

The Doctor and Kari navigate Terminus, escaping Valgard's pursuit and entering the Forbidden Zone, a highly radioactive sector of the station. Concurrently, Nyssa finds herself confined within the Lazar's Pen, quickly discerning the Vanir overseers' brutal nature and their profound dependence on the drug Hydromel. Vanir leaders Eirak and Sigurd confront a diminishing Hydromel supply, prompting Eirak to challenge Valgard: locate and apprehend the 'intruders'—the Doctor and Kari—within the Forbidden Zone. Valgard accepts, driven by ambition for leadership. Elsewhere, Turlough and Tegan explore a newly accessed spaceship corridor. There, a sentient crystal influences Turlough, reactivating his latent mission to eliminate the Doctor and guiding him to seek an escape route via an emergency bypass. The Doctor and Kari encounter Bor, an unstable but informed individual, who reveals the station's engines are critically unstable, with one having previously exploded. Their investigation leads them to a mummified pilot and a severely damaged second engine. The Doctor deduces Terminus was a time-traveling vessel. Its jettisoned fuel, released into a void, detonated in the 'Event One,' creating the universe—the Big Bang. He then realizes a second, imminent explosion from the damaged engine would undoubtedly destroy the universe. This profound revelation transforms their immediate survival struggle into a mission to avert universal catastrophe.