Time-Flight
Encyclopedia
Time-Flight is a serial in the British
science fiction television series Doctor Who
, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 22 March to 30 March 1982. Companion
Tegan Jovanka
, played by Janet Fielding
, leaves the Fifth Doctor
for the first time at the end of this serial.
s lead the Fifth Doctor on a curious mission back in time where a deadly foe is seeking to seize control of the ancient powers of the Xeraphin.
to London
, Concorde Golf Victor Foxtrot
is nearing Heathrow Airport when its signal begins to break up. Before long all trace of the aircraft is lost - the Concorde has disappeared. Arriving at Heathrow shortly afterward, though still grieving for the death of Adric
(Earthshock
), the Doctor
, Nyssa and Tegan, are enlisted by Department C19 to help in the investigation of the missing craft.
The trio board a similar Concorde, Golf Alpha Charlie, and follow the same flight path to try and discover the cause of the disappearing Concorde. The TARDIS is stowed on board. Stapley, the Captain of the Concorde, and his senior crew welcome them aboard. The Doctor finds traces of disturbance and, although they arrive safely at Heathrow (as shown in the picture above), they discover that they have travelled 140 million years into the past. The crew believe they have landed in modern Heathrow until the Doctor and Nyssa urge them to challenge this perception and realise the reality of the empty landscape, which has been distorted by huge amounts of psychokinetic
energy. They soon spy Victor-Foxtrot on the empty plain, and an impressive citadel
beyond it in the far distance, with the remains of an alien spacecraft nearby. When the Doctor and his friends discover the crew and passengers of the first Concorde they are moving his TARDIS toward the Citadel on the instructions of an alien entity, all totally immersed in the illusion of a modern Heathrow. All, that is, apart from one passenger, Professor Hayter, who has resisted the illusion. Bilton and Scobie, Stapley’s flight crew, are less lucky and succumb to the illusion, heading off for the Citadel with the TARDIS and the other confused passengers. Their progress is marshalled by the Plasmatons - blobs of protein agglomeration from the atmosphere assembled of random particles, which are held together by the same kinetic energy.
The force in charge of this strange domain is Kalid, a seemingly oriental mystic who uses a glowing green globe to control vast amounts of psychokinetic energy and shape the prehistoric landscape of Earth. Nyssa too has a particular empathy
with this energy and starts getting visions and voices in her head that are so unwelcome to Kalid that he tries to cut her off from the others with a protoplasmic shield. Tegan stays with Nyssa while the Doctor ventures on to the Citadel with Hayter and Stapley. There they find the crew of Victor-Foxtrot, blindly trying to remove the walls to a sealed chamber. Stapley and Hayter work on trying to free the others from the mental illusion while the Doctor heads to the heart of the Citadel and encounters Kalid. The green-tinged magician has evidently brought a slave force to prehistoric Earth, tapping into the already existent psychokinetic powers of the place. He then channels the energies into menacing Hayter, Stapley and the others to try to secure the Doctor’s cooperation in getting into his TARDIS.
This exertion has broken Kalid’s mental hold over the plasmatons around Nyssa and they disperse. Nyssa and Tegan follow the former’s instincts as they enter the Citadel and they are soon provided access to the chamber that has been closed to Kalid and the mentally deluded passengers. Nyssa acts on instinct and throws an artefact into the centre of a tank-like structure in the centre of the sealed room, and the results are immense. Kalid’s mental channelling is interrupted and he collapses in agony, his disguise falling away to reveal the Master
. The renegade is trapped in this time zone, having damaged his TARDIS while escaping from their previous encounter on Castrovalva, and needs a new source of power to escape this time zone. The power in the closed chamber could provide an alternative source, but the Master is frustrated that the passengers are taking so long to break down the walls and access it. He forces the Doctor to give him the key to the TARDIS and steals the craft to try to enter the chamber another way, and the Doctor and Hayter race off to the Chamber to try to reach it first. Their arrival coincides with the Concorde passengers finally breaking through the wall.
Inside the sanctum the Doctor and Hayter are reunited with Nyssa and Tegan. The sarcophagus
at its centre contains a being of immense power but a split personality, which has let itself be used by the Master and Nyssa respectively. Nearby are small shrunken bodies which the Doctor identifies as a missing species, the Xeraphin, a race of ancient beings believed destroyed in the crossfire during the Vardon/Kosnax war. Instead, the entire race seems to have transformed itself into a single gestalt intelligence within the tank which has phenomenal psychic abilities. Hayter sacrifices himself to the creature to provide it with a means to communicate and is absorbed into the entity. The Xeraphin manifest itself in the being Anithon, who explains the entity came to Earth in the crashed spaceship on the plains to escape the war, but were so plagued with radiation they shed their bodies and became a single bioplasmic entity. The Xeraphin built the Citadel and planned to re-emerge from the sarcophagus once the radiation danger was over. The Master’s arrival disturbed the balance of the Xeraphin and has caused the gestalt to develop a split personality of good and evil, each side competing for their tremendous power while yearning to become a proper species once again.
As a result of the Doctor leaving the coordinate override switched on, and some sabotage by Captain Stapley, the TARDIS fails to take the Master into the central Chamber. His next gambit is to build an induction loop
which he uses to remotely access the sarcophagus and exert his will over it. The bad Xeraphin responds and within moments the sarcophagus is transported into the centre of the Master’s own TARDIS to serve as a new power source. The Master attempts to flee in his ship, taking those passengers still deluded with him as a slave crew, leaving the Doctor and his friends stranded. But due to the earlier sabotage by the Captain, the Master is unable to leave prehistoric earth. After some to-ing and fro-ing over missing parts, the Doctor manages to gain the release of all the passengers and some parts stolen from his own TARDIS in return for the Master getting a new temporal limiter.
There is now a mass departure from prehistoric Earth. First, the second Concorde is made serviceable and transports Stapley, his crew and the passengers from the other Concorde back to Heathrow. The Doctor reverses the track of the time contour and brings the plane back to Heathrow along with his TARDIS. The Doctor programmed the temporal limiter that he provided the Master with to arrive after he did, so when the Master attempts to land, the Doctor's TARDIS is already in the spot. He bounces the Master's TARDIS away from its intended destination, and the evil Time Lord
is sent back to modern-day Xeriphas, where the Doctor hopes the Xeraphin will exact their revenge.
In a rush to leave, the Doctor and Nyssa head off in his TARDIS, assuming that now Tegan is back in her beloved Heathrow she will be happy to stay. Her sadness as she sees the TARDIS dematerialise tells a different story.
, was published by Target Books
in January 1983.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 22 March to 30 March 1982. Companion
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...
Tegan Jovanka
Tegan Jovanka
Tegan Jovanka is a fictional character played by Janet Fielding in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. An Australian airline stewardess and a native of Brisbane who was a companion of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, she was a regular in the programme from 1981 to...
, played by Janet Fielding
Janet Fielding
Janet Fielding is an Australian actress, known for her role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who as Tegan Jovanka, a companion of the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker, and the Fifth Doctor, played by Peter Davison. She was born in Brisbane...
, leaves the Fifth Doctor
Fifth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....
for the first time at the end of this serial.
Synopsis
Missing ConcordeConcorde
Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport . It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation...
s lead the Fifth Doctor on a curious mission back in time where a deadly foe is seeking to seize control of the ancient powers of the Xeraphin.
Plot
On a standard flight from New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Concorde Golf Victor Foxtrot
Call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...
is nearing Heathrow Airport when its signal begins to break up. Before long all trace of the aircraft is lost - the Concorde has disappeared. Arriving at Heathrow shortly afterward, though still grieving for the death of Adric
Adric
Adric is a fictional character played by Matthew Waterhouse in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was a young native of the planet Alzarius, which exists in the parallel universe of E-Space. A companion of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, he was a regular in the...
(Earthshock
Earthshock
Earthshock is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 8 March to 16 March 1982...
), the Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
, Nyssa and Tegan, are enlisted by Department C19 to help in the investigation of the missing craft.
The trio board a similar Concorde, Golf Alpha Charlie, and follow the same flight path to try and discover the cause of the disappearing Concorde. The TARDIS is stowed on board. Stapley, the Captain of the Concorde, and his senior crew welcome them aboard. The Doctor finds traces of disturbance and, although they arrive safely at Heathrow (as shown in the picture above), they discover that they have travelled 140 million years into the past. The crew believe they have landed in modern Heathrow until the Doctor and Nyssa urge them to challenge this perception and realise the reality of the empty landscape, which has been distorted by huge amounts of psychokinetic
Psychokinesis
The term psychokinesis , also referred to as telekinesis with respect to strictly describing movement of matter, sometimes abbreviated PK and TK respectively, is a term...
energy. They soon spy Victor-Foxtrot on the empty plain, and an impressive citadel
Citadel
A citadel is a fortress for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. The term derives from the same Latin root as the word "city", civis, meaning citizen....
beyond it in the far distance, with the remains of an alien spacecraft nearby. When the Doctor and his friends discover the crew and passengers of the first Concorde they are moving his TARDIS toward the Citadel on the instructions of an alien entity, all totally immersed in the illusion of a modern Heathrow. All, that is, apart from one passenger, Professor Hayter, who has resisted the illusion. Bilton and Scobie, Stapley’s flight crew, are less lucky and succumb to the illusion, heading off for the Citadel with the TARDIS and the other confused passengers. Their progress is marshalled by the Plasmatons - blobs of protein agglomeration from the atmosphere assembled of random particles, which are held together by the same kinetic energy.
The force in charge of this strange domain is Kalid, a seemingly oriental mystic who uses a glowing green globe to control vast amounts of psychokinetic energy and shape the prehistoric landscape of Earth. Nyssa too has a particular empathy
Empathy
Empathy is the capacity to recognize and, to some extent, share feelings that are being experienced by another sapient or semi-sapient being. Someone may need to have a certain amount of empathy before they are able to feel compassion. The English word was coined in 1909 by E.B...
with this energy and starts getting visions and voices in her head that are so unwelcome to Kalid that he tries to cut her off from the others with a protoplasmic shield. Tegan stays with Nyssa while the Doctor ventures on to the Citadel with Hayter and Stapley. There they find the crew of Victor-Foxtrot, blindly trying to remove the walls to a sealed chamber. Stapley and Hayter work on trying to free the others from the mental illusion while the Doctor heads to the heart of the Citadel and encounters Kalid. The green-tinged magician has evidently brought a slave force to prehistoric Earth, tapping into the already existent psychokinetic powers of the place. He then channels the energies into menacing Hayter, Stapley and the others to try to secure the Doctor’s cooperation in getting into his TARDIS.
This exertion has broken Kalid’s mental hold over the plasmatons around Nyssa and they disperse. Nyssa and Tegan follow the former’s instincts as they enter the Citadel and they are soon provided access to the chamber that has been closed to Kalid and the mentally deluded passengers. Nyssa acts on instinct and throws an artefact into the centre of a tank-like structure in the centre of the sealed room, and the results are immense. Kalid’s mental channelling is interrupted and he collapses in agony, his disguise falling away to reveal the Master
Master (Doctor Who)
The Master is a recurring character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is a renegade Time Lord and the archenemy of the Doctor....
. The renegade is trapped in this time zone, having damaged his TARDIS while escaping from their previous encounter on Castrovalva, and needs a new source of power to escape this time zone. The power in the closed chamber could provide an alternative source, but the Master is frustrated that the passengers are taking so long to break down the walls and access it. He forces the Doctor to give him the key to the TARDIS and steals the craft to try to enter the chamber another way, and the Doctor and Hayter race off to the Chamber to try to reach it first. Their arrival coincides with the Concorde passengers finally breaking through the wall.
Inside the sanctum the Doctor and Hayter are reunited with Nyssa and Tegan. The sarcophagus
Sarcophagus
A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...
at its centre contains a being of immense power but a split personality, which has let itself be used by the Master and Nyssa respectively. Nearby are small shrunken bodies which the Doctor identifies as a missing species, the Xeraphin, a race of ancient beings believed destroyed in the crossfire during the Vardon/Kosnax war. Instead, the entire race seems to have transformed itself into a single gestalt intelligence within the tank which has phenomenal psychic abilities. Hayter sacrifices himself to the creature to provide it with a means to communicate and is absorbed into the entity. The Xeraphin manifest itself in the being Anithon, who explains the entity came to Earth in the crashed spaceship on the plains to escape the war, but were so plagued with radiation they shed their bodies and became a single bioplasmic entity. The Xeraphin built the Citadel and planned to re-emerge from the sarcophagus once the radiation danger was over. The Master’s arrival disturbed the balance of the Xeraphin and has caused the gestalt to develop a split personality of good and evil, each side competing for their tremendous power while yearning to become a proper species once again.
As a result of the Doctor leaving the coordinate override switched on, and some sabotage by Captain Stapley, the TARDIS fails to take the Master into the central Chamber. His next gambit is to build an induction loop
Induction loop
Induction loop is a term used to describe an electromagnetic communication- and detection system, relying on the fact that a moving magnet will induce an electrical current in a nearby conducting wire. Induction loops are used for transmission and reception of communication signals, or for...
which he uses to remotely access the sarcophagus and exert his will over it. The bad Xeraphin responds and within moments the sarcophagus is transported into the centre of the Master’s own TARDIS to serve as a new power source. The Master attempts to flee in his ship, taking those passengers still deluded with him as a slave crew, leaving the Doctor and his friends stranded. But due to the earlier sabotage by the Captain, the Master is unable to leave prehistoric earth. After some to-ing and fro-ing over missing parts, the Doctor manages to gain the release of all the passengers and some parts stolen from his own TARDIS in return for the Master getting a new temporal limiter.
There is now a mass departure from prehistoric Earth. First, the second Concorde is made serviceable and transports Stapley, his crew and the passengers from the other Concorde back to Heathrow. The Doctor reverses the track of the time contour and brings the plane back to Heathrow along with his TARDIS. The Doctor programmed the temporal limiter that he provided the Master with to arrive after he did, so when the Master attempts to land, the Doctor's TARDIS is already in the spot. He bounces the Master's TARDIS away from its intended destination, and the evil Time Lord
Time Lord
The Time Lords are an ancient extraterrestrial race and civilization of humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' eponymous protagonist, the Doctor, is a member...
is sent back to modern-day Xeriphas, where the Doctor hopes the Xeraphin will exact their revenge.
In a rush to leave, the Doctor and Nyssa head off in his TARDIS, assuming that now Tegan is back in her beloved Heathrow she will be happy to stay. Her sadness as she sees the TARDIS dematerialise tells a different story.
Continuity
- The Doctor name-drops UNITUnited Nations Intelligence TaskforceUNIT is a fictional military organisation from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures...
early in the story, and is recruited to help deal with the missing aircraft situation as a result. UNIT does not otherwise feature in the story.
- In this episode, the Doctor activated a feature in the TARDIS to shift the interior of the ship so it is the right way up. Nyssa mentions that she wished that they knew about this feature back on Castrovalva.
- The Doctor wishes he'd brought his scarf, a piece of clothing he wore predominantly in his previous incarnation.
- When Nyssa and Tegan see the image of Adric, they realise he's an illusion as he's wearing a badge the Doctor had destroyed in the previous storyEarthshockEarthshock is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 8 March to 16 March 1982...
.
- Nyssa and Tegan also see the images of Melkur from The Keeper of TrakenThe Keeper of Traken-Cast notes:Denis Carey, who plays the Keeper, also played Professor Chronotis in the uncompleted Fourth Doctor serial Shada, and the Old Man in the Sixth Doctor story Timelash....
and a Terileptil from The Visitation.
Production
- The working titles for this story were Zanadin, Xeraphin and Time into Flight.
- Doctor Who was the first television show allowed to film at Heathrow Airport. As for airports, the 1967 serial The Faceless OnesThe Faceless OnesThe Faceless Ones is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from April 8 to May 13, 1967. The story concerns a race of identity-stealing aliens known as the Chameleons...
was filmed, and took place, at GatwickLondon Gatwick AirportGatwick Airport is located 3.1 miles north of the centre of Crawley, West Sussex, and south of Central London. Previously known as London Gatwick,In 2010, the name changed from London Gatwick Airport to Gatwick Airport...
. - The ConcordeConcordeAérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport . It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation...
used for the production was G-BOAC, the flagship of the BA fleet. The registry can be read from the radar screen in the ATC scenes. The other registry, G-BAVF, was not a Concorde, but a Beechcraft 58 twin-engined light executive aircraft - Although Adric had been killed in the previous episode, Matthew Waterhouse's contract extended into the filming of Time-Flight, the reason for Adric's illusory appearance in Part Two.
- Tegan's apparent departure from the series was never intended to be permanent. It was planned to provide a sort of cliffhanger ending to the season. She returned in the second episode of the next story, "Arc of InfinityArc of InfinityArc of Infinity is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 3 January to 12 January 1983...
".
Cast notes
- In order to hide the Master's involvement in this story, the first episode did not credit Anthony Ainley as the Master. Instead, the credits and Radio TimesRadio TimesRadio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
listed "Leon Ny Taiy" (an anagramAnagramAn anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
of "Tony Ainley") as playing Kalid. - Keith DrinkelKeith DrinkelKeith Drinkel is a British actor, born in York on 14 November 1944. He was educated at St Michael's College, Leeds and is now based in Brighton....
later played Henry Hallam in the audio play Catch-1782Catch-1782Catch-1782 is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Plot:The Sixth Doctor and Mel attend the centenary celebrations for the National Foundation for Scientific Research...
.
In print
A novelisation of this serial, written by Peter GrimwadePeter Grimwade
Peter Grimwade was a British television writer and director, best known for his work on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who....
, was published by Target Books
Target Books
Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well known for their highly successful range of...
in January 1983.
VHS and DVD releases
- This story was released on VHSVHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in July 2000. - A double-pack DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
featuring both Time-Flight and Arc of InfinityArc of InfinityArc of Infinity is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 3 January to 12 January 1983...
was released on 6 August 2007.