Wednesday 13 May 2015

TARDIS Travels No.24


Season 24, and Colin Baker has unwillingly departed the TARDIS.  The Sixth Doctor is still there, however, along with Mel - so to viewers it looks as though very little time has elapsed since the end of last season. If the books and audios are canon for you, then you know what they have been up to in the intervening time. Apparently Big Finish are going to release the final Sixth Doctor story later this year. However that goes, it has to end with him lying on the floor of the TARDIS as it is attacked by the Rani and dragged towards  Lakertya.


Journey 363: Location and date unknown, to Lakertya, date unknown.
The TARDIS is bombarded by laser fire and the Doctor appears to be injured enough to trigger a regeneration. This takes place after the ship has materialised on the rocky planet. Later, the Seventh Doctor will return to the ship to fetch a piece of equipment which the Rani (posing as Mel) needs for her work. The Doctor takes the opportunity to raid the costume store for his new outfit. Items worn by most of his previous incarnations are seen.


There are at least 9 unseen journeys after the Rani has been defeated, as the Doctor takes all of the genii back to their correct places and times.


Journey 364: Date and location unknown to Paradise Towers, planet and date unknown.
Some have suggested that the Towers is on Earth, and this is the 21st Century, but this is not clear from what we see on screen. The TARDIS materialises in a dilapidated square in the complex.


Journey 365: Paradise Towers, date unknown, to Space Toll Port G715, date unknown.
The Doctor and Mel find they are the 10 billionth customers to have passed through the toll, so win a prize of a holiday with the music-loving, time-travelling Navarino. Delta mentions some higher authority she can turn to in order to punish the Bannermen for their acts of genocide. This might well be the Time Lords. They may also hold a watching brief over the Navarino time travelling.


Journey 366: Toll Port G715, date unknown, to Earth orbit, 1959.
The Doctor is shadowing the Navarino craft and is forced to intervene when it collides with an American satellite. The Doctor employs the ship's tractor beam to stabilise the coach-shaped vessel.


Journey 367: Earth orbit to Shangri-La Holiday Camp, North Wales (in England...), 1959.
Yes, best joke of the season, especially for those of us from parts of the UK other than England - and I am sure there are Americans who don't get it. Instead of arriving at Disneyland, the TARDIS helps the Navarino craft land just outside a holiday camp near Llandrindod Wells. The Doctor is able to force grow an energy crystal in the TARDIS for the Navarino ship.


Journey 368: Shangri-La Holiday Camp, North Wales, 1959, to Iceworld, date unknown.
Some time in the very far future (two million years hence) unless Sabalom Glitz can time travel. (Actually, his presence on Ravalox might have been down to the Master, and he really comes from a time much closer to our own). The TARDIS materialises in a frozen foods shop section of this complex. There must be more to Iceworld than just cheap frozen prawns, or Crab Nebula Pasties, though it not terribly clear on screen what. May just be a cosmic motorway service station.

Mel bids farewell here, and the Doctor will travel on into Season 25 with new companion Ace.

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