| FRONTIOS by Christopher H Bidmead |
| Story 132 Synopsis: The TARDIS drifts into the far future. The Doctor wants to avoid landing on a planet, but the ship is brought down by gravitational forces during a meteor storm. The cerw fins that Frontios contains a struggling colony of some of the last surviving humans. Their leader, Revere, has just died, and his son, Plantagenet, is young and weak, manipulated by his gun-happy military expert, Brazen. The Doctor tries to fix the lighting so he can help with the medical operations, but Plantagenet thinks he is a spy for an invading force who have been bothering the colony for 30 years. Another storm appears to destroy the TARDIS. Turlough uses the hatstand to keep some power. Plantagenet wants to kill the Doctor, but he suffers a heart attack. The Doctor saves him, which earns him some respite. Plantagenet later seems to fall into the ground. Turlough and Norna investigate a subterranean passage, and are soon followed by Range, Tegan and the Doctor. Turlough seems to be petrified by 'tractators'. The Doctor and Tegan find the creatures who are causing all the trouble. They are led by a creature called the Gravis. It controls the Tractators, who have been pulling rocks down from the sky, and humans from above the ground. The Doctor manages to escape, and rescue Plantagenet. Finding the remnants of the TARDIS, the Doctor tricks the Gravis into pulling the machine back together. As it does so, his contact with the Tractators is lost. The Doctor drops the Gravis off on Kolkokron. The humans are safe at last. |
| Review:- It's the end! Well, in a way. A last outpost of humanity under threat from perversion of the law of gravity... as well as insurgents. Chris Bidmead's final showing for Doctor Who presents a small straightforward little tale about us and them. It takes a long time to get going, but by the later episodes, it's action all the way. Almost every character has a major part to play in the story. Tegan plays detective, Range tries to keep the peace and his conscience, Brazen tried to keep the colony together, Plantagenet tries to do the best for his people, Norna tries to make differing sides see their folly, Cockerill tries to maintain order of a sort, Turlough tries to exorcise a nightmare, and the Doctor tries to rescue the humans from an untimely fate. The Gravis tries to take everything, and its greed is its undoing. There are lapses. The destruction of the TARDIS hardly becomes serious, and its reformation is fittingly silly. Brazen spends most of the time acting mean, then softens up to become dashing, only to sacrifice himself for no reward. Cockerill's subplot is not really resolved. But on the whole, this is quite a nifty little story. And finally, after almost 2 decades, I see how Frontios got its name... |
| Disclaimer: I've seen the video, and read the book. |