Meglos (TV story)

Meglos was the second serial of season eighteen of Doctor Who and so was the second serial in the Nathan-Turner era. It featured Jacqueline Hill's return to the program for the first time since The Chase in 1965.

The serial also afforded Tom Baker a chance to take on the both villainous and heroic roles in the same story, as had both Patrick Troughton and William Hartnell before him, and Peter Davison afterwards. (DW: The Enemy of the World, The Massacre, Arc of Infinity)

Meglos came into being after Bidmead purposely sought out Flanagan and McCulloch as new talent. Nathan-Turner was unimpressed with the ideas put forward and the serial had to be shuffled to various placements in the season, largely because it didn't feature Adric.

Behind the scenes, Meglos was highly innovative for being the British Broadcasting Corporation's first use of Scene Sync, a motion control technology that improved the believability of composited shots that used CSO. In the end, it would turn out to be the only Doctor Who serial to avail itself of that technology. Nevertheless, several other BBC productions would use Scene Sync based on this successful test, such as Barry Letts' Gulliver in Lilliput, starring Elisabeth Sladen. (DOC: The Scene Sync Story)

Synopsis
On Tigella, two opposing faction are irrevocably divided over one fundamental issue: the Dodecahedron, a mysterious object which provides the entire planet's energy.

With the Savants and the Deons locked in a crippling stalemate, and their civilisation on the brink of collapse, the Tigellan leader, Zastor, seeks the Doctor's help. But the Doctor and Romana have been trapped aboard the TARDIS in a time loop by Meglos, the last of the Zolfa-Thurans, who will stop at nothing to steal back the awesome power of the Dodecahedron.

Part one
In the TARDIS, the Doctor and Romana are once again repairing K9. They land on the planet Tigella and the Doctor remembers a previous visit there. He befriended a man named Zastor, leader of the Tigellans.

On Tigella, a loss of power occurs after a transformer breaks down. The inhabitants, living under the surface, find it hard to compensate.

Arguments continue between the Deons and the Savants as to ownership of the Dodecahedron, Tigella’s power source and the Deon’s deity. The Deons refuse the workers access to the Dodecahedron. Zastor, unable to decide, orders the Doctor to be sent for. He hopes him to help in decisions. Deedrix leads the workers in the belief that the Dodecahedron is merely an artefact while Lexa, leader of the Deons, holds firm her faith that the Dodecahedron is a god.

On Zolfa-Thura, a ship touches down. A party of Gaztaks, led by General Grugger, emerges. They bring forth an Earthling whom they stun. They brought him to the planet on the promise of reward. A hidden room emerges from the ground. A door opens and the party enters. Within they meet Meglos, a Zolfa-Thuran.

Meglos outlines his new plans to the Gaztaks. He wants them to attain the Dodecahedron so that he can use it to power the galaxy. He tells them of the recent power fluctuations the Tigellans have been experiencing. The Earthling and Meglos are placed in adjacent chambers.

Grugger plans to steal the machinery but Meglos traps him and his aid, Brotadac, within the room. They agree to comply with his plan.

They transfer Meglos’ conscience into the Earthling. His skin becomes cactus-like in appearance. Predicting the Doctor to be a threat, Meglos traps him in a time loop. He then takes on the Doctor’s appearance.

Part two
Onboard the TARDIS, the Doctor and Romana continue around the loop. There only respite is a small period of freedom between the loops. Meanwhile, Meglos leaves with the Gaztaks in their ship. On Tigella, Lexa tells Zastor that she will allow the Doctor access to the Dodecahedron if he swears the Deon oath.

Outside, the Gaztak ship lands. The Gaztaks stay with their ship whilst Meglost introduces enters the Tigellan city and introduces himself. The Doctor and Romana throw the loop out by repeating the actions before they happen, freeing themselves. Meglos swears allegiance to Ti in the Deon ceremony. He tells the Tigellans that it is not safe for them to remain near as they are not Time Lords like him. They agree to leave him to work alone. Meanwhile, the TARDIS lands on Tigella and the Doctor and Romana emerge. They begin to traverse the surrounding area when Romana is attacked by Bell Plants. The Doctor and K9 continue on their way, unaware of her troubles.

Meglos inspects the Dodecahedron and places a device upon it. Lexa and Caris hide outside, having stayed behind the secretly observe the goings on. After Meglos leaves. the enter to find the Dodecahedron gone. The Doctor and K9 arrive at the Tigellan city. The guards tells him he didn't see him leave. Confused, the Doctor shrugs it off. He orders K9 to go find Romana after noticing her absence. Meanwhile, Romana frees herself from the plants, she notices large amounts of scorching to some of the vegetation. Lexa and Caris report their finding to Deedrix and Zastor. They order the capture of the Doctor. The real Doctor is taken prisoner.

Romana stumbles upon the Gaztak ship, she finds it responsible for the burning. Noticed by the Gaztaks, she runs from them. K9 heads back to the city as his batteries start to become low on charge. The Gaztaks corner Romana and Brotadac orders her death.

Part three
Grugger grabs Romana and questions her as to her origins. She tells him that he wouldn't believe her. Grugger orders her to lead him to her craft.

In the city, Deedrix and Caris theorise as to the Dodecahedron's disappearance. An announcement informs them that the power loss has reached critical. This means the city will collapse.

Outside, Romana leads the Gaztaks round in a circle, back to their own ship. The Tigellans attempt to stop the damage. They manage to gain two hours in which to prevent the collapse. Lexa and Zastor question the Doctor and he realise that they saw him as the thief. Meanwhile, Romana convinces the Gaztaks to give her another chance at getting them to her ship.

Zastor agrees to allow the Doctor to see the power room. Meglos is harassed by the Earthling who he took over. The man's being fighting his. Meglos approaches Caris and tells her that he will obey him. He shows her an impossible thing to prove his power, the shrunken Dodecahedron. Lexa returns to her Deons and gives them orders.

The Deons stage a revolution. They capture the Doctor, Zastor and Deedrix in the power room. Lexa proclaims that, in order to pacify Ti, all non-believers will be sent to the surface. Lexa tells Zastor that his belief was only words, not actions and so he too is given the sentence. Lexa then tells the Doctor that he is to be prepared for sacrifice.

Outside, Romana leads the Gaztaks to the Bell Plants. Stamping on a root, she instigates an attack and runs away. The city doors begin to close.

Romana finds K9 in a bush and carries him inside. The Gaztaks break free but are too slow to get indoors. Caris tells Meglos that he can no longer escape but he disagrees, telling her their are ventilation shaft. He is again troubled by the Earthling. While distracted by this, Caris pulls a gun on him and leads him through the city. The Gaztaks batter down the door and a fight with the Tigellans ensues. The Gaztaks force the Tigellans back.

Romana see Meglos, who she believes to be the Doctor. She hits Caris dazing her and Meglos runs away. The Gaztaks ransack the city and Grugger kicks K9 proclaiming him "useless". Caris tells Romana that it was not the Doctor whom she saw.

Meglos emerges from the city and talks to Grugger. He shows him the shrunken Dodecahedron. Meanwhile, Lexa continues her ceremony, hoping that the sacrifice of the Doctor will return the Dodecahedron. The Gaztaks and Meglos board their ship again and prepare for take off. Romana and Caris begin to search for the real Doctor.

A large stone hangs above the Doctor. It is suspended by three ropes. A Deon burns through two of them. He then moves to the third.

Part four
Zastor and Deedrix meet up with Caris and Romana. The Deons guarding the former are told of the attack and head for the surface. The new party heads for the power room. They rush in and Deedrix grabs the flaming torch from a Deon, preventing him from burning the final rope. Zastor and Romana tell Lexa of the Gaztak attack and how Meglos was the guilty one.

On their ship, the Gaztaks and Meglos approach Zolfa-Thura. Meglos promises Grugger and Brotadac all the power they can have. The Doctor questions Meglos' motives it taking the Dodecahedron to Zolfa-Thura. Romana reminds him of the screens of Zoltha-Thura and he concurs. Back of Zolfa-Thura, Meglos buries the Dodecahedron in the ground with the boundary of the Screens of Zolfa-Thura. He then activates it using a device. The Dodecahedron rises atop of Meglos' room.

On Tigella, the Doctor and Romana bid farewell to the Tigellans before heading back to the TARDIS. However, as they move to leave an apparently dead Gaztak rises and shoots at Romana, Lexa takes the shot. She falls, injured and Romana rushes to her aid. Romana is saddened at her death as she saved her life. The Doctor tells her they must leave and so Romana grabs K9 and follows him. Caris and Deedrix go with them.

Meglos tells Grugger and Brotadac that the Dodecahedron can be amplified by the screens to fire a beam capable of destroying planets. He asks them to choose a planet to be destroyed and Grugger picks Tigella, angry of the loss of life sustained there. The Dodecahedron powers up as the TARDIS lands nearby.

The Doctor decides to trick the Gaztaks by pretending to be Meglos. He leaves the others with the TARDIS. Within the room, Meglos takes of his coat and heads out to check the screen alignments. The Doctor sees him and takes his own coat of. Grugger decides he no longer needs Meglos and tells Brotadac he can wear the Doctor's coat as he always wanted to.

The Doctor enters and interrupts them. He stalls the countdown, telling the pair that preparations need to be made. A Gaztak walks in carrying the real Doctor's coat. The Doctor plays it off telling Grugger it is a present for hi. Grugger is unimpressed and pressures him to activate it.

Outside, Romana, K9, Caris and Deedrix decide to have a closer look at the screens. The Doctor tells Brotadac that the screens require two minutes to power up, he then heads outside. Grugger tells Brotadac to take the Doctor a prisoner, deciding that he can be kept in their spacecraft as he is no longer needed. Brotadac instructs two Gaztaks to capture him. The Doctor hides and they take Meglos prisoner. However, Brotadac and some Gaztaks find the real Doctor and capture him also, still believing him to be Meglos. The take him to their ship.

Romana and her party see the Doctor being taken in. The Doctor is thrown in with Meglos. He tells Meglos that he has inverted the controls so that the Dodecahedron will destroy Zolfa-Thura and all on it. K9 distracts a guard posted to the Gaztak ship. Deedrix then fails to knock him out so K9 shoots him. They then rush inside. K9 begins to cut down the Door to the Doctor and Meglos' cell.

Deedrix and Caris detain Meglos but he exits the body, leaving the Earthling behind. He then shuffles out of the ship. Grugger and Brotadac begin the countdown. At zero the beams will converge and the Dodecahedron will activate. The Doctor, Romana, K9, Caris, Deedrix and the Earthling leave in the TARDIS. Meglos enters the room and returns to his cactus form. Grugger realises that something is wrong but is unable to stop it before detonation.

The Doctor returns to Tigella where he bids farewell to Zastor. Romana informs the Doctor that Gallifrey want them back immediately.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Tom Baker
 * Romana - Lalla Ward
 * K9 - John Leeson
 * Meglos - Tom Baker
 * Lexa - Jacqueline Hill
 * Zastor - Edward Underdown
 * General Grugger - Bill Fraser
 * Earthling - Christopher Owen
 * Lieutenant Brotadac - Frederick Treves
 * Caris - Colette Gleeson
 * Deedrix - Crawford Logan
 * Tigellan Guard - Simon Shaw

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Val McCrimmon, Karen Loxton
 * Costumes - June Hudson
 * Designer - Philip Lindley
 * Executive Producer - Barry Letts
 * Incidental Music - Paddy Kingsland, Peter Howell
 * Make-Up - Cecile Hay-Arthur
 * Producer - John Nathan-Turner
 * Production Assistant - Marilyn Gold
 * Production Unit Manager - Angela Smith
 * Script Editor - Christopher H. Bidmead
 * Special Sounds - Dick Mills
 * Studio Lighting - Bert Postlethwaite
 * Studio Sound - John Holmes
 * Theme Arrangement - Peter Howell
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer
 * Visual Effects - Steven Drewett

K9

 * As a result of his brief swim at Brighton Beach, K9's batteries are damaged and now require a recharge every 2 hours.

Objects

 * The Doctor wasn't allowed to see the dodecahedron on his previous visit (but did as he remembers seeing it).

Races and species

 * The Tigellans know of the Time Lords.
 * Time Lords are Time sensitive enough to be aware of being in a Time loop.

Romana

 * Romana knows martial arts, and has heard of the Screens of Zolfa-Thura.

Story notes

 * Jacqueline Hill previously played Barbara Wright.
 * The working titles for Meglos were: The Golden Pentangle, The Golden Pentagram, The Golden Star, The Last Sol-Fataran and The Last Zolfa-Thuran.
 * The end title's music of each of the episodes has been reduced by 2 or 1 octaves.
 * With the obvious exceptions of season one's The Edge of Destruction and single episode stories (Season Three's Mission to the Unknown), the The Five Doctors, 1996 TV movie and the new BBC Wales series), this is the only story in the series' history in which all the credited cast members appear in all the episodes.
 * The sound effect created for the approach of the Fendahl in Image of the Fendahl is re-used as background atmosphere for the Tigellan jungle.
 * The scenes set on the surface of Zolfa-Thura were realised by way of a new effects technique referred to as scene-sync - a development of the established CSO process. This involved two cameras being electronically synchronised to follow identical movements so that they could be made to track in unison and maintain the composite image (created in the usual way), whereas previously CSO shots had almost invariably been static.
 * Bill Fraser agreed to play Grugger only if he could kick K9.

Ratings

 * Part 1 - 5.0 million viewers
 * Part 2 - 4.2 million viewers
 * Part 3 - 4.7 million viewers
 * Part 4 - 4.7 million viewers

Myths
to be added

Filming locations
to be added

Production errors

 * In part one the wires holding the planet up over Zolfa Thura are obvious.
 * The cactus gloves show Tom Baker's wrists quite often.

Continuity

 * The Gaztaks appear in PDA: Warmonger.
 * The Doctor previously faced a villainous doppelganger of himself in DW: The Enemy of the World.

Timeline

 * This story takes place after ST: Checkpoint
 * This story takes place before DW: Full Circle

VHS Release
Released on VHS in the UK in March 2003.

DVD Release
It was released on DVD on the following dates:
 * Region 2 - 10th January 2011
 * Region 1 - 11th January 2011
 * Region 4 - 20th January 2011

It had several bonus features. In particular it had a documentary exploring the writing of the serial titled Meglos Men.

Novelisation and its audiobook

 * Main article: Meglos (novelisation)


 * Novelised by Terrance Dicks in 1983.
 * The novel answers the question of how Meglos's species would be able to advance technologically as immobile cacti by their ability to take over the minds of other beings, implying that, despite what was shown, they are able to do it without technological adjuncts.
 * Also explained is why Meglos asked for an Earthling to use as a Host body rather than a (much closer) Tigellan? The novelization claims that Meglos considers Earthlings to be more "malleable".