The Ultimate Foe (TV story)

Synopsis
The final episode in the season-long 'Trial of a Time Lord' saga, a surprise appearance of the Master reveals the treachery of the High Council of Time Lords, and that the Valeyard is not what he appears to be.

Plot
With the evidence complete, the Doctor learns that the Master has gained access to his TARDIS. The Doctor proves his inocence, when he does a final battle with the Valeyard (Michael Jayston.) The Doctor is informed that all charges against him have been dismissed. The Doctor has saved everybody. He and Mel depart in the Doctor's TARDIS, and at the end, the Keep of the Matrix turns to us, and he revealed as the Valleyard.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Colin Baker
 * Mel - Bonnie Langford
 * The Valeyard - Michael Jayston
 * The Inquisitor - Lynda Bellingham
 * The Master - Anthony Ainley
 * Sabalom Glitz - Tony Selby
 * Popplewick - Geoffrey Hughes
 * Keeper of the Matrix - James Bree

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Karen Little
 * Costumes - Andrew Rose
 * Designer - Michael Trevor
 * Incidental Music - Dominic Glynn
 * Make-Up - Shaunna Harrison
 * Producer - John Nathan-Turner
 * Production Assistant - Jane Wellesley
 * Production Associate - Angela Smith
 * Special Sounds - Dick Mills
 * Studio Lighting - Don Babbage
 * Studio Sound - Brian Clark
 * Theme Arrangement - Dominic Glynn
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer
 * Visual Effects - Kevin Molloy

Story Notes

 * This was Colin Baker's last appearance as the Doctor, though he was unaware of it at the time of filming. Baker was fired by the BBC.  He was invited to come back for a final four-part story which would have ended in his regeneration, but he declined the offer.

Ratings
to be added

Myths
to be added

Location Filming
to be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * Mel leaves with the Doctor at the end of this story, despite being from the Doctor's future. This is extremely odd, since it dramatically increases the probability that this "older" Mel will encounter her younger self at some point, and fall victim to the Blinovitch Limitation Effect.  This possibility was neatly sidestepped by the following story, Time and the Rani.  Since it immediately depicts the regeneration of the Sixth Doctor, there is presumably a wide gap between it and Foe.  The arrival of the Seventh Doctor instantly mooted any televised treatment of the asynchronicity between the Sixth Doctor and Mel.  Nevertheless, the issue has been addressed in other media.  In MA: Time of Your Life, writer Steve Lyons posited that the younger Sixth Doctor immediately took Mel back to his older self.  The issue of the Doctor's knowledge of Mel prior to their first meeting is examined in PDA: Business Unusual''.
 * What the Master said about the Valeyard giving him the remainder of his regenerations to him contradicts the Master's explanation of his regeneration in The Sound of Drums and mostly The Five Doctors.

Continuity

 * An account of what happened to Peri and King Yrcanos after this story was related in The Age of Chaos, a graphic novel written by Colin Baker.

DVD and Video Releases
Video Releases

Released as Doctor Who: The Ultimate Foe

Released:


 * UK October 1993 (Released with the other Trial of the Timelord stories in a Tardis-shaped tin with a random picture of one of the (then) seven Doctors on the base)
 * US October 1993 (Same as the UK release except packed in a cardboard box in honor of Doctor Who's 30th anniversary)
 * Australia October 1993

DVD release
 * Due for release in The Trial of a Time Lord boxset on the 18th August.

Target Novelisations
to be added