Meglos (TV story)

Meglos was the second serial of Season 18 and so was the second serial in the Nathan-Turner era. Meglos also saw Jacqueline Hill return in the role of Lexa, her first appearance since The Chase.

After the innovative tale of The Leisure Hive, Meglos was somewhat a step back into old ways. The storyline resembled those of Robert Holmes as did the antagonist, Meglos.

Meglos saw Baker take on two roles in the same story, as Patrick Troughton before him had. Doppelgängers of the Doctor had appeared before in The Chase and The Enemy of the World and a Doppelgänger would later take on the Doctor's appearance in Arc of Infinity, a story that saw Colin Baker play a role other than the Doctor.

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.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Tom Baker
 * Romana - Lalla Ward
 * K9 - John Leeson
 * Meglos - Tom Baker, A Cactus
 * 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 Zolpha Thura are horribly 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

Home video and audio releases
Released on VHS in the UK in March 2003.

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".