Andred hurls pool chair at Sontaran

A Sontaran warrior storms into the TARDIS swimming pool area, leading the pursuit for the shapeshifting Great Key. Before Stor can assert control, Andred lunges into the fray and hurls a pool chair at the alien, knocking it violently off balance. The Sontaran stumbles toward the water’s edge, crisis averted for seconds. The Doctor and Borusa seize the moment and slip away into the ship’s depths, gaining the space they need to regroup. Andred’s desperate intervention tilts the balance, turning a certain capture into a narrow escape.

Plot Beats

The narrative micro-steps within this event

1

Andred throws a pool chair at the Sontaran, knocking him off balance, as the Doctor and Borusa escape.

danger to urgency ['TARDIS swimming pool']

Who Was There

Characters present in this moment

5

Adrenaline-fueled resolve masking fear of Sontaran reprisals

Seizing the instant Sontaran soldiers breach the pool area, Andred grabs a nearby pool chair and hurls it with athletic precision, knocking the leading warrior off balance just as Stor begins issuing commands, then fleeing deeper into the ship’s corridors.

Goals in this moment
  • Delay Sontaran pursuit through physical disruption
  • Enable the Doctor and Borusa to escape with the Great Key
Active beliefs
  • Personal survival is secondary to higher mission of Gallifreyan resistance
  • The Doctor’s plans, however unorthodox, offer the best chance of survival
Character traits
Courageous improvisation Tactical awareness under duress Instant recognition of the Doctor’s unspoken cue to create a distraction
Follow Andred's journey

Predatory intent abruptly neutralized by unforeseen physical resistance

Bursting into the pool area at the head of a Sontaran strike force, the warrior advances with weapons raised, scanning aggressively for the shapeshifting Great Key, only to be blindsided by Andred’s flying pool chair that sends it staggering toward the water.

Goals in this moment
  • Capture or destroy the Great Key before it can be used against the Sontarans
  • Neutralize any Gallifreyan opposition blocking the artifact
Active beliefs
  • Force and discipline guarantee mission success
  • Gallifreyan chaos can be exploited through superior martial order
Character traits
Blind aggression Expendable focus on mission priority Mechanical reflexes betrayed by improvised ambush
Follow Sontaran Soldier's journey

Outrage flashing into determination to crush resistance

Commandeering the entrance alongside Kelner, Stor strides into the pool area expecting immediate tactical dominance only to witness his lead soldier sent reeling by Andred’s ambush, forcing a reactive adjustment and exposing the Sontarans’ vulnerability.

Goals in this moment
  • Regain strategic initiative after the failed ambush
  • Eradicate Gallifreyan resistance and capture the Great Key
Active beliefs
  • Personal humiliation demands violent redress
  • The Doctor remains the principal obstruction to Sontaran victory
Character traits
Pride shocked by sudden tactical reversal Reflexive demand for clarity and control Fanatical refusal to acknowledge setbacks
Follow Stor's journey
Supporting 2

Coolly calculating, masking urgency with dry directness

Already in conversation with Borusa, the Doctor calmly reads the Titanic headline and sips a blue cocktail, sliding the newspaper toward Borusa without interrupting their tense exchange about safeguarding Rassilon’s artifacts.

Goals in this moment
  • Evade Sontaran capture while retrieving the Great Key
  • Manipulate Borusa into conceding the need for decisive retreat
Active beliefs
  • Rassilon’s artifacts must never fall into Sontaran hands due to their replication weaponization
  • Institutional caution will not suffice against crenellated cloning threats
Character traits
Understated urgency beneath casual demeanor Quick assessment of tactical shifts Unwavering focus on artifact security
Follow The Fourth …'s journey

Cautious relief that someone else has intervened while confirming institutional procedures are now secondary

Escorting Stor into the pool area, Kelner notes aloud the Doctor’s modifications to Gallifrey’s defenses with cautious precision, simultaneously observing the pool chair strike that sends the Sontaran soldier off balance while keeping his own distance from active combat.

Goals in this moment
  • Assess the present layout and furnishings for institutional advantage
  • Minimize personal risk while documenting Sontaran tactical failures
Active beliefs
  • Institutional survival trumps personal allegiance
  • Observation without intervention preserves long-term flexibility
Character traits
Bureaucratic caution trumping martial instinct Institutional vocabulary masking personal relief Adherence to procedural roles even in hostility
Follow Kelner's journey

Objects Involved

Significant items in this scene

2
Rassilon's Great Key

The Great Key’s presence drives the entire scene but remains unseen in this beat; its existence and importance are conveyed through dialogue and the desperate pursuit of all parties. The Key’s absence from physical action intensifies the battle for temporal control.

Before: Hidden safely away from immediate Sontaran grasp at …
After: Still concealed, but Stor and his forces remain …
Before: Hidden safely away from immediate Sontaran grasp at the Doctor’s direction
After: Still concealed, but Stor and his forces remain dangerously close, their determination sharpened by this narrow setback
Pool Chair

The heavy plastic pool chair, rimmed with algae-stained blue vinyl and reinforced metal armrests, metamorphoses from lounging furniture into a projectile weapon when Andred hurls it with desperate precision. Striking the Sontaran’s chest armor, the chair’s weight and velocity send the soldier stumbling backward, teetering near the water, before collapsing rather than falling.

Before: Stationary poolside furnishing, part of the TARDIS’s eccentric …
After: Knocked askew and knocked over, its functional role …
Before: Stationary poolside furnishing, part of the TARDIS’s eccentric recreational décor in the swimming area
After: Knocked askew and knocked over, its functional role as an improvised weapon exhausted in a single dynamic strike

Location Details

Places and their significance in this event

1
Swimming Pool Area

The cavernous TARDIS pool area becomes a fugitive’s kill zone where the ceiling’s distorted skylights reflect displaced soldiers’ panic. Water gurgles in irregular pulses from irregular gravity, lending an eerie fluidity even to solid footfalls while the suspended grand piano gathers dust in an unplayable corner.

Atmosphere Tense and disorienting with a sense of time itself warping under the Sontarans’ intrusion
Function Open battleground where improvisation and environmental quirks decide survival
Symbolism Embodies the TARDIS’s chaotic hospitality turned against invaders, its anomalous spaces revealing fragility beneath grandeur
Access Theoretically open but guarded by the Doctor’s clandestine modifications
Deformed ceiling reflections flicker off the pool’s chlorine surface Humming pumps and dripping tiles create aural hostility beneath visual grandeur

Organizations Involved

Institutional presence and influence

2
Sontaran Empire

Stor leads the Sontaran Special Space Service detachment into the pool area, enforcing a disciplined wedge formation to secure the Great Key before the Doctor can escape. His forces respond to confrontation with fatalistic obedience, even when humiliated by Andred’s ambush, demonstrating the empire’s rigid hierarchy clamped onto a fluid battlefield.

Representation Through armed soldiers acting on tactical commands under Stor’s direct leadership
Power Dynamics Exercising overwhelming force but exposed to tactical surprise and environmental irregularity
Impact Reveals Sontaran inflexibility when confronting unorthodox Gallifreyan spacetime manipulation and tinkering
Secure Rassilon’s Great Key as a strategic weapon against Gallifrey Eliminate Doctor-mediated resistance using cloned expendability Superior firepower and disciplined formations Exploitation of Gallifrey’s temporal anomalies and institutional confusion
Time Lords

Time Lord officers like Borusa operate under fractured institutional loyalties, cautiously aiding the Doctor’s retreat with vital knowledge rather than resorting to formal protocol. Andred, a rogue operative, embodies the shift from institutional obedience to survival-driven defiance when he hurls the pool chair, highlighting latent dissidence within Gallifrey’s ranks.

Representation Through fragmented allegiances from security officers to renegade agents
Power Dynamics Disparate individuals acting without unified command, relying on intuition and desperate daring
Impact Fragmentation paradoxically strengthens resistance through decentralized adaptation
Protect the Great Key from hostile seizure Neutralize Sontaran occupation through any available means Subterfuge and denial of institutional strategic coordination Use of arcane artifacts and unorthodox tactical action

Narrative Connections

How this event relates to others in the story

What led here 2

"Andred throwing a pool chair at a Sontaran, knocking him into a carnivorous plant (beat_bc5ed214419ad4b4), is immediately followed by Kelner leading Stor into the swimming pool area where they find the Doctor and Borusa have escaped (beat_effa2eb94fc83464), showing tactical disruption leading to pursuit escalation."

Doctor warns Borusa of Rassilon's Key
S15E26 · The Invasion of Time Part …

"Andred throwing a pool chair at a Sontaran, knocking him into a carnivorous plant (beat_bc5ed214419ad4b4), is immediately followed by Kelner leading Stor into the swimming pool area where they find the Doctor and Borusa have escaped (beat_effa2eb94fc83464), showing tactical disruption leading to pursuit escalation."

Sontarans arrive to find TARDIS escape
S15E26 · The Invasion of Time Part …
What this causes 2

"Andred throwing a pool chair at a Sontaran, knocking him into a carnivorous plant (beat_bc5ed214419ad4b4), is immediately followed by Kelner leading Stor into the swimming pool area where they find the Doctor and Borusa have escaped (beat_effa2eb94fc83464), showing tactical disruption leading to pursuit escalation."

Doctor warns Borusa of Rassilon's Key
S15E26 · The Invasion of Time Part …

"Andred throwing a pool chair at a Sontaran, knocking him into a carnivorous plant (beat_bc5ed214419ad4b4), is immediately followed by Kelner leading Stor into the swimming pool area where they find the Doctor and Borusa have escaped (beat_effa2eb94fc83464), showing tactical disruption leading to pursuit escalation."

Sontarans arrive to find TARDIS escape
S15E26 · The Invasion of Time Part …

Themes This Exemplifies

Thematic resonance and meaning

Key Dialogue

"KELNER: Tangential formation has been quite altered. The Doctor has made many modifications over the centuries. We should be by now"
"STOR: Which way?"