The verdict: the worst enemy

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Episode of the Doctor Who series
title The verdict: the worst enemy
Original title The Trial of a Time Lord: The Ultimate Foe
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
length 2 × 25 minutes
classification Season 23, episodes 13–14
652nd - 653rd episode overall ( list )
First broadcast November 29, 1986 to
December 6, 1986 on BBC One
German-language
first broadcast		 February 23, 1995 to
February 24, 1995 on VOX
Rod
Director Chris Clough
script Robert Holmes Episode 13
Pip Baker and Jane Baker Episode 14
production John Nathan-Turner
music Dominic Glynn
occupation
chronology

←  Predecessor
The verdict: Vervoid Terror

Successor  →
Terror on Lakertia

The worst enemy (The Ultimate Foe) is the fourth part of the 143rd story arc entitled The Judgment (The Trial of a Time Lord) of the British science fiction - television series Doctor Who . It consists of 2 episodes that aired on November 29th and December 6th, 1986.

action

Shortly before the chairman of the high court can decide the doctor's fate, the doctor accuses the prosecutor of falsifying the images of Gallifrey's matrix to portray him in a bad light. However, the guardian of the matrix steps in and claims that no one can enter the matrix without an access key or even change recordings. At the same moment, the master (in the original master) appears on the matrix screen to demonstrate that it is very possible to enter the matrix without the guardian noticing. In the exchange of words between the Master, the High Court and the Prosecutor, the Master mentions that the Prosecutor is a future incarnation of the Doctor, out to steal any remaining regenerations from his younger self.

When Sabalom Glitz and Mel appear in the courtroom and testify to the statements of the master, the prosecutor flees the courtroom into the matrix of Gallifrey. The doctor and Glitz follow the prosecutor into the matrix and suddenly find themselves in front of a building called "The Fantasy Factory". Inside, the two of them meet Mr. Popplewick, who sends them through a door through which the doctor and Glitz end up in a desert. Once there, the doctor is surprised by hands from the ground that pull him under the sand and apparently dies.

When Glitz begins to mourn the doctor, he appears again as if by magic, without a scratch on the body. The doctor explains that everything that happens in the Matrix is ​​not real and therefore nothing can happen to him or Glitz. At the same moment, the prosecutor appears, who attacks the doctor and Glitz with fatal nerve gas. The two can still escape into a dilapidated building in the desert and have to find inside that it is the master's TARDIS . The master wants to help the doctor, since even he would have no chance against the prosecutor, but in an attempt to surprise the prosecutor in the Fantasy Factory, the group is separated and the doctor escapes the matrix, while Glitz and the master stay behind. Back in the courtroom the doctor is found guilty by the high council and as punishment he is to be executed.

As it turns out, this guilty verdict is just an illusion of the Matrix and Mel has to watch in reality how the Doctor is brought back to the Fantasy Factory, where he is to be executed. Since she cannot stand the sight, she snatches the access key from the guardian of the matrix in order to save the doctor. After Mel rescues the doctor from the false Gallifrey guards, it turns out that the doctor knew that the guilty verdict was just an illusion and that he wanted to get closer to the accuser. Together with Mel, the doctor goes back to the Fantasy Factory, where he meets Mr. Popplewick again. When Popplewick is briefly distracted, the doctor catches his chin and tears his face off his head. It turns out that Popplewick is a masked accuser.

The Prosecutor confirms the Doctor's worst fears: The Fantasy Factory acts as a bomb within the Matrix designed to wipe out the high council of Gallifrey. Mel escapes from the matrix to the high council to warn the members and the chairperson, but there is nothing they can do. At the last minute, the doctor manages to reverse the polarity of the bomb so that only the building of the Fantasy Factory inside the matrix explodes and everyone outside the matrix is ​​saved. Before the explosion, the doctor also escapes from the matrix, but leaves the accuser behind, who is still trying to cause greater damage. The prosecutor appears to have been killed in the explosion and the presiding judge drops all charges against the doctor. As it turns out, the death of Peri and King Ycranos was also a fake and the two lived happily ever after on Ycrano's home planet as a royal couple.

After the Doctor and Mel have gone back to the TARDIS, the chairman orders the Guardian of the Matrix to clean it up, but when he turns around, it turns out that the Guardian is also the Prosecutor.

production

Robert Holmes was originally supposed to write both episodes but died of liver failure before he could complete both scripts. While episode 13 was a first draft, episode 14 only had a rough draft of the plot. At the same time, the then script editor of the series Eric Saward quit because of differences of opinion with series producer John Nathan Turner, but agreed to finish the script for episode 14 and to revise the script of episode 13 so that both fit better together. According to Robert Holmes' drafts, both episodes should deal with the Whitechapel murders and Jack the Ripper , in the finale the doctor and the accuser should face each other and fall into a bottomless hole, a cliffhanger that should not be resolved until season 24. However, John Nathan Turner found this ending too depressing and demanded that there be a definitive ending for this season, which Saward declined and withdrew from production. In addition, he now refused to make his scripts available to the production team, which meant that a completely new script was needed for episode 14.

Then Pip and Jane Baker wrote a new script for episode 14, but were not allowed to read Robert Holmes' draft plot for the episode for legal reasons. As the season ended in a more positive light, John Nathan Turner also decided that it should be clarified at the end that Peri did not die in Mindwarp , but married King Ycranos.

Audience ratings

  1. The Trial of a Time Lord - Part 13: 4.4 million viewers
  2. The Trial of a Time Lord - Part 14: 5.6 million viewers

Cast and dubbing

The dubbing of the story was done by HW Film in Munich, directed by Hendrik Wiethase , who also wrote the dialogue book.

role actor Voice actor
The (6th) doctor Colin Baker Michael Schwarzmaier
Melanie "Mel" Bush Bonnie Langford Michaela Amler
Prosecutor (Valeyard) Michael Jayston Fred Maire
Chairperson (Inquisitor) Lynda Bellingham Marion Hartmann
Master Anthony Ainley Reinhard Glemnitz
Sabalom Glitz Tony Selby Holger Schwiers
Mr. Popplewick Geoffrey Hughes Fred Maire
Guardian of the Matrix James Bree Leo Bardischewski

publication

In England, a novel version of the story, written by Pip and Jane Baker, was published by Target Books in April 1988. The title The Ultimate Foe was used for the two episodes . In 1993 it was released on VHS , along with the other ten parts of the storyline, as The Trial of a Time Lord Box Set and on September 29, 2008 a DVD box of all 14 episodes followed under the same title.

In Germany, the two episodes were shown in German for the first time on February 23 and 24, 1995. The episodes were released on DVD on July 29, 2016 as part of the Doctor Who DVD set - The Sixth Doctor: Volume 3 . They received the title The Worst Enemy .

Trivia

  • An early production title of the episodes was Time Incorporated (in German Zeit AG ).
  • The last episode with Colin Baker as a doctor. He was originally supposed to show up at the beginning of the following season to film his regeneration scene, but declined because the BBC fired him after the 23rd season was completed.

Web links

  • Worst Enemy on BBC Official Site with Photonovel with Telesnaps to illustrate the episode
  • The Worst Enemy - Detailed Roundup in the Doctor Who Reference Guide. (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/feature/a667888/13-scrapped-doctor-who-storylines-you-will-never-see/
  2. ↑ https://drwhointerviews.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/pip-and-jane-baker-1988/
  3. ↑ https://www.synchronkartei.de/serie/17557
Doctor Who Serials and Episodes
First doctor

The Child of the Stars  (1963)  • The Daleks  (1963/1964)  • The Daleks' Master Plan  (1965)  • The Tenth Planet (1966)

Second doctor

The Power of the Daleks  (1966)  • The Tomb of the Cybermen (1967) 

Third doctor

The Three Doctors (1972/73) 

Fourth doctor

City of Death (1979) 

Fifth doctor

The Five Doctors (1983)  • The Androzani Caves (1984)

Sixth doctor

Attack of the Cybermans (1985)  • Planet of the Dead (1985)  • The Judgment: The Enigmatic Planet (1986)  • The Judgment: Mindwarp (1986)  • The Judgment: Vervoid Terror (1986)  • The Judgment: The Worst Enemy (1986)

Seventh doctor

The Hand of Omega (1988)

Eighth doctor

Doctor Who: The Movie (1996)

Ninth doctor

Rose  (2005) 

Tenth doctor

The girl in the fireplace  (2006)  • The nature of man  (2007)  • Blood ties  (2007)  • Don't blink  (2007)  • The red garden (2009)  • The end of time (2009/2010)

Eleventh doctor

Doctor's Day (2013)

Twelfth doctor

Fallen Out of Time (2017)

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