Four to Doomsday
| 117 – Four to Doomsday | |||||
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| Doctor Who serial | |||||
The Doctor's tether has been cut leaving him trapped in space
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| Cast | |||||
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Others
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| Production | |||||
| Directed by | John Black | ||||
| Written by | Terence Dudley | ||||
| Script editor | Antony Root | ||||
| Produced by | John Nathan-Turner | ||||
| Executive producer(s) | None | ||||
| Incidental music composer | Roger Limb | ||||
| Production code | 5W | ||||
| Series | Season 19 | ||||
| Length | 4 episodes, 25 minutes each | ||||
| Originally broadcast | 18–26 January 1982 | ||||
| Chronology | |||||
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| Author | Terrance Dicks |
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| Series |
Doctor Who book: Target novelisations |
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Release number
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77 |
| Publisher | Target Books |
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Publication date
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21 July 1983 |
| ISBN | |
Four to Doomsday is the second serial of the 19th season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 18–26 January 1982.
The TARDIS materialises on board a vast and advanced alien spacecraft, observed by a hovering surveillance device which conveys the arrival of the Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric to an observing being that is in control of the vessel. The TARDIS crew become separated and the Doctor and Tegan reach the bridge of the vessel where the green-skinned commander introduces himself as Monarch, ruler of Urbanka, and his associates and fellow Urbankans are the Ministers of Enlightenment and Persuasion. The leader is intrigued by talk of current Earth civilisation and reveals their ship is bound for Earth. Shortly afterwards Enlightenment and Persuasion assume human forms, dressed in garments Tegan designed to demonstrate contemporary Earth fashions.
The TARDIS crew are reunited as guests aboard the ship, and it soon becomes apparent that there are four distinct human cultures represented on the vessel by a small group of humans – Ancient Greeks, the leader of whom is the philosopher Bigon; Chinese Mandarins and their leader Lin Futu; Princess Villagra and representatives of the Maya peoples; and Kurkutji and his tribesmen, of a very ancient Australian Aboriginal culture. The Urbankans have made periodic visits to Earth, each time getting speedier in their journeys. This time they have left their homeworld after erratic solar activity, storing three billion of their species on slides aboard their craft. It seems that the current journey is their last and that they now wish to settle on Earth, which they are due to reach in four days.
The Doctor becomes suspicious of Monarch and soon learns that the Urbankan does not plan on peaceful co-existence. Instead, he has developed a toxin to wipe out humanity, which will be unleashed before the Urbankans disembark. He also learns that the humans aboard are not descendants of the original abductees, but are the original people taken from Earth and converted into androids, like the three Urbankans walking around on board (Monarch's actual status, whether partly cybernetic or completely organic, is not stated explicitly). Monarch describes the era prior to his conversion of Urbankan life forms into cyborgs as the "flesh-time." The four leaders of the peoples have been given additional circuits to help them reason, but this facility can be taken away, as Bigon learns when he rebels against Monarch, and his neural circuit is removed and placed in a container for five centuries. He explained to the Doctor that Monarch strip-mined and destroyed Urbanka in a quest for minerals to improve the ship, and now plans to do the same to Earth. Monarch believes that if he can move the ship faster than the speed of light, he can pilot it back to the beginning of time and discover himself as God.
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