Doctor chooses urgent action over caution

The Sonic Time Scan Device is dismissed by the Doctor as a secondary priority after the Fendahl Skull's immediate psychic threat is neutralized. Though calibrated by Fendelman for temporal research, the Doctor prioritizes direct confrontation with the old woman over the device's potential analytical insights, illustrating the acceleration of the crisis beyond routine procedure.

The Fendahl Skull, once a dormant artifact, becomes a predatory entity through the Doctor's contact, draining his life force and bending his will. When Leela flips a wheeled chair into him, the sudden separation breaks the psychic grip, returning the skull to inert stillness. The Doctor's revelation that it is indestructible underscores the escalation of threat and forces a strategic pivot toward seeking outside knowledge rather than containment.

Leela seizes the wheeled chair as an improvised tool, flipping it into the Doctor to break his contact with the skull. The chair's momentum and weight topple him, disrupting the psychic link; its wheels screech across the lab floor before rolling free except for one leg still caught in Leela's grip. This mundane object briefly becomes an instrument of crisis intervention.

The Doctor hurls a Fendahl skull rib back onto the laboratory bench after breaking free from its contact. This minor action emphasizes the physical and palpable danger of the skull's remains, though the rib itself poses no immediate threat. The gesture signals a move from analysis to action, reinforcing the skull's indestructible horror as an unavoidable hazard.