| THE MASTERS OF LUXOR by Anthony Coburn |
| Story ? Synopsis: The TARDIS lands on a seemingly dead world, and is soon drawn inside a strange building that resembles a flower. The Ship loses all power. Susan and Ian explore, finding a luscious banquet, which the travellers tuck into. Robots appear and clear away the empty plates, and whilst exploring, the travellers witness a strange experiment as one being absorbs power from another, who dies. The survivor introduces himself as The Perfect One, who was build by the robots, the Derivitrons. It absorbs energy from criminals sent from Luxor, because it wants to attain life. It plans to take it from Susan and Barbara. There is a circuit malfunction, and the Doctor and Ian see a signal being transmitted outside, which they go to explore. They find Tabon, a scientist in suspended animation. He designed the Perfect One, but realised his mistake and hid away. He agrees to help the Doctor and Ian return to rescue Susan and Barbara. The ladies buy some time by confusing the Derivitrons, but the Perfect One catches on fast. His life is linked to an atomic reactor, so they can't kill him. Ian arrives, but the Perfect One prepares to absorb his energy. The Doctor and Tabon siphon power into the TARDIS, then go to cause trouble. The Perfect One is pleased to see Tabon, but Tabon rejects him. The robots go crazy, and the Doctor and Ian try to save Tabon and the Perfect One. As the latter dies, the travellers enter the ship, where power is nearly sufficient for take-off. As the Perfect One dies, the world is destroyed, and the TARDIS takes off. |
| Review:- So, back almost to the beginning, a script mooted for Season 1 but cancelled at a late stage. The story here is fairly good. The strange opening episode, with the TARDIS being drawn inside the mysterious 'flower', and the mystery of the robots, gives way to a slight, yet still interesting story of scientific experimentation. The Perfect One's ambition is quite reasonable (if futile), it's just the methods that are wrong. Tabon's dilemma and efforts to accept responsibility for his actions give much colour to the second half of the story. On the other hand, this is far from a classic. The Derivitrons may probably be cunningly named, but it's still pretty silly. As for the whole ethical debate about God and science, it would be better handled in many later adventures. It's also rather strange to imagine the regular characters exclaiming "oh God" at regular intervals, and Ian especially seems far more crotchety here than the Doctor does. The old man's quite charming and personable, really (though he often was in the real series, of course). As for the Perfect One's almost b-moviesque intentions towards Susan and Barbara... rather clumsy writing or deliberately hammy homage? Who can say? The whole atomic power angle, and the countdown that comprises the story's conclusion are unfortunately echoed in The Daleks, so that would have needed altering before completion. Quite whether further character changes would have been too drastic to complete, it's hard to say. What there is, is fair enough. But it's not enough. |
| Disclaimer: I have read the script book. |