S22E7
Cynical
Written by Robert Holmes
View Graph

The Two Doctors Part 1

The Second Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon materialize on a space station, only to find themselves caught in a web of intrigue involving rogue Time Lords, Sontarans, and experiments threatening the fabric of time itself.

The Second Doctor and his companion Jamie McCrimmon arrive on a space station in the Third Zone, where they encounter an Androgum chef named Shockeye and the station's head of projects, Professor Dastari. Their mission is to stop Professors Kartz and Reimer's experiments in time travel, which the Time Lords have deemed too dangerous. However, upon their arrival, they find themselves embroiled in a plot involving a rogue Time Lord, Chessene, who has augmented her Androgum assistant and is working with the Sontarans. The Doctor soon discovers that Dastari's experiments have created a being of mega-genius level intelligence, but at the cost of its original nature. As tensions rise, the Doctor and Jamie navigate through the station, avoiding Sontaran battle cruisers and an evil computer. Meanwhile, the Doctor experiences strange visions, hinting at the approach of his regeneration. The story unfolds with action, suspense, and clever dialogue, setting the stage for the Doctor's next adventure.


Events in This Episode

The narrative beats that drive the story

42
Act 1

The Second Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon materialize their TARDIS on a colossal space station in the Third Zone, tasked by the Time Lords to intervene in dangerous time travel experiments conducted by Professors Kartz and Reimer. The Doctor's TARDIS is equipped with a new Time Lord teleport control, highlighting their oversight. Upon arrival in the galley, they immediately encounter Shockeye, a cannibalistic Androgum chef, who expresses a disturbing desire to consume Jamie. Subsequently, they meet Professor Dastari, the station's Head of Projects, who proudly showcases Chessene, an Androgum he has technologically augmented to a mega-genius level, dismissing the Doctor's ethical concerns. Dastari, however, resists the Doctor's demands to halt the Kartz-Reimer experiments, accusing the Time Lords of hypocrisy. Unbeknownst to Dastari, Chessene is secretly allied with the Sontarans; she sabotages the station's defenses and poisons the scientists, preparing for the Sontaran fleet's arrival. A brief, seemingly disconnected scene introduces the Sixth Doctor and Peri fishing, where the Sixth Doctor experiences a sudden, unexplained collapse, uttering the word 'Regeneration.' Back on the space station, Sontarans attack Dastari's office, killing a scientist and drugging Dastari. Jamie manages to escape, but the Second Doctor is captured, leaving his fate uncertain amidst the Sontaran takeover.

Act 2

Following the Sontaran assault, Jamie evades capture, while Chessene, having secured the Kartz-Reimer module, prepares to leave the now-compromised space station with Shockeye and a Sontaran. Their destination is Earth, primarily driven by Shockeye's persistent desire to hunt and consume humans. Meanwhile, the Sixth Doctor, recovering from his mysterious 'time-slip' and vivid 'regeneration' visions, decides to travel to Space Station Chimera (the same station, but in a different temporal context or simply misremembered) to consult with Professor Dastari about his condition. He and Peri arrive to find the station desolate, permeated by the stench of death. The station's computer, still operational, blames the Time Lords for the destruction, a claim the Sixth Doctor initially dismisses as a deliberate frame-up. The computer then actively attempts to eliminate them, first by depressurizing a section, then by raising the temperature to lethal levels. The Sixth Doctor skillfully bypasses these traps, using his ingenuity to navigate the hostile environment. He discovers Dastari's journal, which corroborates the Time Lords' demands to halt the time experiments, Dastari's refusal, and his apprehension about Time Lord intervention. Despite this, the Doctor vehemently rejects Time Lord culpability for the massacre, speculating that an unknown party is framing them. He resolves to reach the control center to disable the hostile computer, leading him and Peri into the station's cramped, dangerous infrastructure. Concurrently, Chessene, Shockeye, and the Sontaran arrive at a secluded hacienda in Andalucía, Earth, where they capture an elderly woman, Doña Arana, whose mind Chessene intends to exploit.

Act 3

Deep within the space station's infrastructure, the Sixth Doctor and Peri navigate treacherous passages, confronting not only the computer's relentless environmental traps but also an unseen, growling entity. The Doctor, convinced the computer is framing the Time Lords for the station's destruction, works to disable it, while Peri expresses her escalating fear and discomfort. Simultaneously, on Earth, the Sontaran Marshal Stike's battle cruiser makes a dramatic landing near the hacienda where Chessene and Shockeye have taken refuge. Stike's arrival immediately ignites a power struggle, with Shockeye asserting Chessene's leadership and Varl vehemently insisting on Sontaran dominance. Two local amateur moth enthusiasts, Oscar and Anita, become unwitting witnesses to the alien invasion, observing the Sontaran ship's descent. Their curiosity leads them to a pivotal discovery: they observe Dastari and Stike carrying the unconscious Second Doctor into the hacienda. This moment serves as the first direct narrative link between the two Doctors' separate storylines, confirming the Second Doctor's location and predicament on Earth. The act concludes with this significant revelation, leaving the Second Doctor's fate uncertain and the Sixth Doctor still trapped within the hostile space station, setting the stage for their eventual convergence and the unfolding of the larger conflict.