Four to Doomsday (TV story)

Synopsis
The TARDIS arrives on board a huge spaceship where the Doctor and his companions encounter the frog-like Urbankans and a population of human androids. The androids are drawn from four different ethnic groups - Greek (led by Bigon), Chinese (led by Lin Futu), Mayan (led by Villagra) and Aboriginal Australian (led by Kurkutji) - and perform regular displays of dance and other rituals termed 'recreationals'.

The Urbankans' leader, Monarch, aided by his ministers Persuasion and Enlightenment, is engaged in a complex scheme to plunder from Earth the raw materials needed to enable him to travel back in time and thereby confirm his belief in his own status as the universe's divine creator.

Monarch has a poison that he intends to use to conquer humanity so that Earth can be repopulated with his androids. The Doctor, however, throws a canister of the poison at Monarch, causing him to shrink away to virtually nothing.

Plot
to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Peter Davison
 * Adric - Matthew Waterhouse
 * Tegan - Janet Fielding
 * Nyssa - Sarah Sutton
 * Bigon - Philip Locke
 * Minister for Enlightenment - Annie Lambert
 * Kurkutji - Illarrio Bisi Pedro
 * Lin Futu - Burt Kwouk
 * Monarch - Stratford Johns
 * Persuasion - Paul Shelley
 * Villagra - Nadia Hammam

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Val McCrimmon
 * Choreographer - Sue Lefton
 * Costumes - Colin Lavers
 * Designer - Tony Burrough
 * Fight Arranger - B H Barry
 * Incidental Music - Roger Limb
 * Make-Up - Dorka Nieradzik
 * Producer - John Nathan-Turner
 * Production Assistant - Jean Davis
 * Production Associate - Angela Smith
 * Script Editor - Antony Root
 * Special Sounds - Dick Mills
 * Studio Lighting - Don Babbage
 * Studio Sound - Alan Machin
 * Theme Arrangement - Peter Howell
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer
 * Visual Effects - Mickey Edwards

Story Notes

 * This was the first Fifth Doctor story to be filmed.
 * Working title for this story was Day of Wrath.

Ratings

 * Part 1 - 8.4 million viewers
 * Part 2 - 8.8 million viewers
 * Part 3 - 8.9 million viewers
 * Part 4 - 9.4 million viewers

Myths
to be added

Filming Locations

 * BBC Television Centre (TC6), Shepherd's Bush, London

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * Tegan is able to draw very quickly and incredibly detailed sketches in less than a minute.
 * Tegan is able to speak one of 3000 Aboriginal languages...but also one over 35,000 years old. Maybe she had the use of oral tradition and she was Aborigine-descended
 * The TARDIS is unable to translate Aborigine's language; it is generally assumed that the TARDIS translates all languages for the Doctor and his companions.

Continuity

 * DW: Human Nature mimics the Doctor's amazing abilities with a cricket ball.
 * The Doctor previous displayed an ability to survive exposure to a vacuum in space in DW: Nightmare of Eden.

DVD and Video Releases

 * Region 2 15th September 2008
 * PAL -


 * Region 4 TBA
 * PAL -


 * Region 1 TBA
 * NTSC -

Novelisation

 * Main article: Four to Doomsday (novelisation)


 * Novelised as Four to Doomsday in 1983 by Terrance Dicks.