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088 – The Deadly Assassin
Doctor Who serial

The Lord President in the sights of the deadly assassin
Cast
Doctor Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor)
Production
Writer Robert Holmes
Director David Maloney
Script editor Robert Holmes (uncredited)
Producer Philip Hinchcliffe
Executive producer(s) None
Production code 4P
Series Season 14
Length 4 episodes, 25 mins each
Originally broadcast October 30–November 20, 1976
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by →
The Hand of Fear The Face of Evil

The Deadly Assassin is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from October 30 to November 20, 1976. Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and also features in Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker (born 20 January 1934 is an English Actor. The Fourth Doctor is the name given to the fourth incarnation of the Fictional character known as the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running This entry is about the television scriptwriter For other people with the same name see Robert Holmes (disambiguation. David Maloney ( December 14 1933 &mdash 18 July 2006) was a British Television director and producer. Philip Hinchcliffe (born 1944 is a former British Television producer, who is probably best known for the overseeing of British television series Doctor This is a list of Doctor Who television serials and episodes. Events 637 - Antioch surrenders to the Muslim forces under Rashidun Caliphate after the Battle of Iron bridge. Events 284 - Diocletian was chosen as Roman Emperor. 762 - Bögü Khan of the Uyghurs, Year 1976 ( MCMLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Hand of Fear is a serial in the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in The Face of Evil is a serial in the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in This is a list of Doctor Who television serials and episodes. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Science fiction first appeared on Television during the Golden age of science fiction, first in Britain (UK and then in the United States Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. Events 637 - Antioch surrenders to the Muslim forces under Rashidun Caliphate after the Battle of Iron bridge. Events 284 - Diocletian was chosen as Roman Emperor. 762 - Bögü Khan of the Uyghurs, Year 1976 ( MCMLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

Contents

Synopsis

The Doctor answers a summons and finally returns to his homeworld, Gallifrey, seat of the Time Lords. Gallifrey is a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who and is the homeworld The Time Lords are a fictional race and civilization in the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' However, when the President of the High Council is assassinated, he becomes the prime suspect, while an old enemy lurks in the shadows, pulling the strings.

Plot

The Fourth Doctor has arrived on Gallifrey after receiving a mysterious summons from the Time Lords. The Fourth Doctor is the name given to the fourth incarnation of the Fictional character known as the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running The Hand of Fear is a serial in the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in Along the way, he has a precognitive vision about the President of the Time Lords being murdered.

As soon as the TARDIS materialises within the Gallifreyan Citadel, an alarm sounds and it is surrounded by soldiers. The TARDIS ( T ime A nd R elative D imension(s I n S pace is a time machine and Spacecraft in the Their leader, Commander Hilred, reports to Castellan Spandrell. Both note that the TARDIS is a type 40, which is no longer in service. Since the arrival is unauthorised, the soldiers are ordered to impound the TARDIS and arrest the occupant. The Doctor overhears this, and realises that the Time Lords did not summon him. Someone has gone to great lengths to set him up.

Spandrell goes to see Coordinator Engin in the Archives Section, leaving Hilred in charge. Hilred and his troops enter the TARDIS, but the Doctor manages to sneak out and make his way to a service lift that leads to the main tower. A soldier is present, and threatens to place the Doctor under arrest. However, the soldier is quickly killed by a phantom-like figure who disappears before the Doctor can get a good look at him. The Doctor sends the lift on its way, in an attempt to fool the soldiers into thinking he has fled deeper into the Citadel. All of this has been observed by the Doctor's old adversary, the Master, who is wearing a black hood that conceals his features. The Master is a recurring character in the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who. "Predictable as ever, Doctor," he snorts, before returning to the shadows.

Chancellor Goth arrives outside the TARDIS to see the situation for himself. This is a list of henchmen, Fictional characters serving villains and/or monsters and aliens in the long-running British science Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor is watching a news broadcast by a reporter he recognises as Runcible (whom the Doctor nicknames "the Fatuous"), a classmate from his days at the Academy. It is revealed that the President is set to retire, and he is to name a successor before he does. Runcible is talking to Cardinal Borusa, one of the Doctor's former teachers. Borusa is a Fictional character in the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who. He asks Borusa who the Presidential successor will be, but Borusa brushes him off.

The TARDIS is transmatted to the museum, and the Doctor takes the opportunity to steal a set of traditional Gallifreyan robes to mingle with the crowds. Meanwhile, deep within the archive tower, the Master, revealed to be horribly emaciated, confers with an unseen accomplice. He says that the trap has been set, and they must make sure the Doctor dies quickly.

At the Panopticon, the disguised Doctor briefly converses with Runcible before the outgoing President makes his entrance. The Panopticon is a type of Prison building designed by English architect Jeremy Bentham in 1785 The Doctor scans the area and notes a camera stationed on an unguarded catwalk. He also spots a sniper rifle next to the camera. In Military and Law enforcement terminology a sniper rifle is a Rifle used to ensure Accurate placement of Bullets at longer The Doctor fights his way to the catwalk, warning that the President is about to be killed. Unfortunately, for the Doctor, the assassin is actually among the delegates. He pulls out a pistol and shoots the President dead. The crowd sees the Doctor on the catwalk with the rifle and assume he is the assassin.

The captured Doctor insists that he is innocent. Eventually, Spandrell starts to believe him and orders Engin to assist him in an independent investigation. Meanwhile, Goth and Borusa debate over the Doctor's impending trial. Goth notes that the election for a new President will occur in forty-eight hours, and he is eager to see the Doctor executed before then. Borusa, however, wants to ensure that the Doctor receive a fair trial, according to law. The Doctor surprises everyone by invoking Article 17: he will run for President, which will mean he can only be tried if he loses the election. The Master and his assassin are not pleased with this turn of events.

The Doctor returns to the scene of the crime with Spandrell. They discover that the sight on the Doctor's rifle was fixed, making it impossible for this weapon to have killed the President. They conclude that the real assassin would have been caught on tape by a nearby video camera, but when they inspect the camera, they find the shrunken body of the technician inside. The Doctor then realises that the Master is behind this. Runcible attempts to take the tape from the camera to the archives for review, but he is killed by a spear to the back.

The Doctor realises that the Master sent the Doctor the premonition of the assassination through the Matrix, a vast computer which turns thought patterns into virtual reality. The Matrix, in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, is a massive Computer system on the planet Virtual reality ( VR) is a technology which allows a user to interact with a Computer-simulated environment be it a real or imagined one He decides to enter the Matrix as a means of tracking the Master. Engin warns him that if he dies in the virtual world, he will die in the real world as well.

The Doctor enters the Matrix and finds himself in a forbidding landscape of crumbling white cliffs and sparse vegetation. The disembodied laughter of some unknown presence echoes off the canyon walls. The Doctor is then engaged in a series of surrealistic sequences. First he nearly walks into the open jaws of a hungry crocodile, who simply disappears into thin air. A crocodile is any Species belonging to the family Crocodylidae (sometimes classified instead as the Subfamily Crocodylinae) He is then attacked by a masked samurai warrior and falls from a cliff into unconsciousness. is the term for the military nobility of Pre-industrial Japan. He revives upon an outdoor operating table with a masked surgeon standing over him. The surgeon tries to inject him with a substance from an extremely large hypodermic needle. A hypodermic needle is a hollow needle commonly used with a Syringe to inject substances into the body The Doctor pushes the surgeon away and runs off to find himself in the midst of a World War I battle. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Shell and machine gun fire is heard and gas canisters explode all around. A soldier and his horse stumble out of the smoke wearing gas masks. A gas mask is a Mask worn over the face to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne Pollutants and Toxic materials The Doctor runs bewildered until he comes upon a train track, the rail of which closes upon one of his boots and traps him. A group of three masked men appear and one attempts to run him down with a mine train.

The train disappears before hitting the Doctor and he works his foot free. The Doctor realizes that his surroundings are but an illusion and tries to deny their existence, but passes out from the strain. An illusion is a distortion of the senses revealing how the Brain normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation Recovering consciousness he becomes aware of the two large black eyes of his unknown adversary in the side of a cliff, telling him that he is the creator of this world and that there is no escape. The Doctor, dehydrated and thirsty, hears the sound of running water, but when he attempts to dig into the ground to locate its source he is greeted by a red-nosed clown peering through a window, laughing at him. Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by their Grotesque appearance colored wigs stylistic makeup, outlandish Costumes unusually He is then strafed by machine gun fire by a masked pilot in a biplane, eventually receiving a bullet wound in the leg. A biplane is a Fixed-wing aircraft with two main Wings The first powered heavier-than-air Aircraft, the Wright brothers' Wright Flyer The Doctor tries to deny the existence of the wound, and it disappears. However, the disembodied voice of the assassin reminds him that this is his reality, and his rules, and the wound reappears. The Doctor declares that he will then fight the assassin in his reality.

In the real world, Engin tells Spandrell that the Doctor’s adversary is using a lot of energy to maintain the virtual environment, so the Doctor can defeat him if he provides an adequate distraction.

Inside the Matrix, the dry barren virtual environment merges to a thick, sticky jungle, and the assassin soon appears dressed as a big game hunter, a meshed veil obscuring his face. The assassin concludes that the Doctor will need water, and, leaving his backpack behind him, goes off to contaminate the local supply with poison from a small bottle. The Doctor finds the assassin's backpack and takes a grenade and some twine, setting up a makeshift booby trap. The assassin returns and trips it, setting off an explosion which wounds him in the abdomen.

Fearing that his protégé might lose, the Master sends a hypnotised guard to kill the Doctor's physical form.

Back inside the Matrix, the Doctor continues to be hunted through the virtual jungle. Coming to the pool of water, he finds dead, floating fish and the empty bottle and realises that the water has been poisoned. He finds a small amount of uncontaminated water and drinks it through a reed, then uses the reed and some thorns off of a nearby tree to make a blowgun, dipping the ends of the darts into the remnants of the poison from the bottle. "Blowpipe" and "blow tube" redirect here For other uses of the terms see Glassblowing A blowgun (also called a blowpipe or The Doctor climbs up into a tree and shoots the assassin in the leg with a dart. The assassin fires his rifle and hits the Doctor in the arm, causing him to fall out of the tree. Ripping his pantleg open to reveal a potentially fatal wound, the assassin injects himself with an antidote while the Doctor again escapes.

In the real world, the hypnotised guard makes his way to the Matrix chamber, but Spandrell manages to shoot him before he can sabotage the Matrix link.

Back in the Matrix, the Doctor has made it to a gas-filled marsh, where the assassin reveals his true identity: Chancellor Goth. Goth tries to shoot the Doctor but ignites the marsh gas, setting himself on fire. Goth falls into the water to extinguish the spreading flames. The Doctor comes out of hiding to confront him, but is caught by surprise by Goth and tackled. Intense hand-to-hand combat ensues, with Goth seeming to gain the upper hand. He attempts to drown the Doctor.

However, the strain of fighting and keeping up the virtual reality overcomes Goth. The Doctor breaks free and hits Goth over the head with a large stick. The Master, realising that Goth has been effectively defeated, decides to hedge his bets and tries to trap the Doctor in the Matrix by overloading the neuron fields, even though this will also kill Goth. Engin manages to get the Doctor out, but Goth is not so lucky. The Master then injects himself with a hypodermic needle. A hypodermic needle is a hollow needle commonly used with a Syringe to inject substances into the body

The Doctor and Spandrell, accompanied by soldiers, manage to make their way to the chamber where the Master and Goth were accessing the Matrix. They find the Master slumped in a chair without a pulse and Goth dying. Goth reveals that he found the Master, near death, on Tersurus. This is a list of planets fictional or otherwise that are mentioned in the British Science fiction Television series Doctor Who and its spinoff The Master was nearing the end of his twelfth and final regeneration. The Time Lords are a fictional race and civilization in the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' Goth went along with his schemes mainly for power: he knew the President had no intention of naming him as a successor, but if a new election was held, he would be the front runner. Before he dies, Goth warns that the Master has a doomsday plan.

When Spandrell relates the story to Borusa, the Cardinal orders that a cover story be created to maintain confidence in the Time Lords and their leadership. The official story will be that the Master arrived in secret to assassinate the President, and Goth heroically tracked him down and killed him but perished in the attempt. The charge against the Doctor will be dropped on condition that he leave Gallifrey.

Attempting to piece together what the Master and Goth were planning, the Doctor inquires as to what becoming the President entails. He is told that the President has access to the symbols of office: the Sash and Great Key of Rassilon. Rassilon is a Fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. As Engin plays the records of the Old Time, which describes how Rassilon found the Eye of Harmony within the "black void", the Doctor realises these objects are not ceremonial. The Eye of Harmony, in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, is the name given The Doctor inspects the hypodermic needle, and realises that it contained a neural inhibitor. The Master is still alive.

The Doctor, Spandrell, and Engin arrive at the morgue, to find that the Master has revived and killed Hilred. Armed with Hilred’s staser pistol, the Master seizes the Sash from the President's corpse and traps the three in the morgue. The Doctor explains what he has deduced: that the Eye is actually the nucleus of a black hole, an inexhaustible energy source that Rassilon captured to power Gallifrey, and the Sash and Key are its control devices. A black hole is a theoretical region of space in which the Gravitational field is so powerful that nothing not even Electromagnetic radiation (e The Doctor deduces that the Master was planning to steal this energy to gain a new cycle of regenerations. However, if the Eye is disrupted, Gallifrey will be destroyed and a hundred other worlds will be consumed in a chain reaction.

Inside the Panopticon, the Master makes his way to the obelisk containing the Eye. He unhooks the coils that connect it to Gallifrey, and is prepared to access the energy. The Doctor makes his way to the Panopticon via a service shaft. The Citadel begins to quake, and cracks appear in the floor. The Doctor and the Master fight, until the Master loses his footing and falls into a chasm. The Doctor reconnects the coils and saves Gallifrey, although half the city is in ruins and many lives have been lost.

The Doctor is now free to return to his TARDIS. He bids farewell to Borusa, Spandrell, and Engin, but also warns that the Master may not be dead. He had harvested some energy from the obelisk before he was stopped, and may have been able to channel it. As the Doctor’s TARDIS dematerialises, Spandrell and Engin witness the Master sneak into his own TARDIS – disguised as a grandfather clock – and make his escape. Spandrell concludes that it is only a matter of time before the two enemies cross paths again.

Cast

Cast notes

Bernard Horsfall guest stars as Chancellor Goth. The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and also features in Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker (born 20 January 1934 is an English Actor. Borusa is a Fictional character in the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who. Angus MacKay is a British actor He has amassed numerous television credits in popular productions such as One Foot in the Grave, The Master is a recurring character in the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who. Peter Pratt ( March 21 1923 &ndash January 11 1995) was an English Actor and singer who started his career in the Gilbert This is a list of henchmen, Fictional characters serving villains and/or monsters and aliens in the long-running British science Bernard Horsfall (born 20 November 1930 in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire) is a British actor Erik Chitty ( 8 July, 1907 in Dover, Kent – 22 July, 1977 Brent, Middlesex) was an George Pravda (1916 in Prague, Czechoslovakia – 30 April 1985 was an actor Hugh Walters (born 2 March 1939) is a British actor He is mostly remembered for his television credits which include Survivors Michael Bilton ( 14 December 1919 &ndash 5 November 1993) was an English Actor best known for his role as Basil Makepeace Helen Blatch is a British actress mostly seen on Television. Her credits include Doctor Who (in the serials The Deadly Assassin He had previously appeared as an unnamed Time Lord (credited as 'Time Lord 1') in the serial The War Games prompting some speculation that they were the same character. The War Games is a serial in the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in ten weekly Other parts played by Horsfall in Doctor Who were Gulliver in The Mind Robber and Taron in Planet of the Daleks. The Mind Robber is a serial in the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in five Planet of the Daleks is a serial in the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast

In print

Doctor Who book
Book cover
Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin
Series Target novelisations
Release number 19
Writer Terrance Dicks
Publisher Target Books
Cover artist Mike Little
ISBN 0 426 11965 7
Release date 20 October 1977
Preceded by Doctor Who and the Mutants
Followed by Doctor Who and the Talons of Weng-Chiang

A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in October 1977, entitled Doctor Who and The Deadly Assassin. Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. This is a list of Doctor Who novelisations, in order of publication Terrance Dicks (born 10 May 1935 in East Ham, Essex (now Greater London) is an English Writer, best known for Target Books was a British Publishing Imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company The Mutants is a serial in the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly The Talons of Weng-Chiang is a serial in the British Science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast Terrance Dicks (born 10 May 1935 in East Ham, Essex (now Greater London) is an English Writer, best known for Target Books was a British Publishing Imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company

Continuity

Notable additions

Production

Working titles for this story included The Dangerous Assassin (which Holmes changed to "deadly" because he thought it "didn't sound right"). The final title is a tautology: a successful assassin must, by definition, be deadly. In Rhetoric, a tautology is an unnecessary (and usually unintentional repetition of meaning using different words that effectively say the same thing twice (often originally However, since Time Lords can in general survive death, and the assassin's victims do not, he is perhaps "deadly" in that sense. Regeneration, in the context of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, is a biological ability exhibited by the

Outside references

Broadcast and VHS releases

See also

References

  1. ^ Doctor Who - Fact File - "The Last of the Time Lords". Simulated reality is the proposition that Reality could be simulated—perhaps by Computer simulation —to a degree indistinguishable from "true" Reality Retrieved on 2007-07-01. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. "July 1st" redirects here For the Ayumi Hamasaki song see H (song.
  2. ^ Doctor Who - Fact File - "The Last of the Time Lords". Retrieved on 2007-07-01. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. "July 1st" redirects here For the Ayumi Hamasaki song see H (song.

External links

Reviews

Target novelisation

Outpost Gallifrey was a popular fan Website for the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Outpost Gallifrey was a popular fan Website for the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.
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