The Caves of Androzani
| 135 – The Caves of Androzani | |||||
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| Doctor Who serial | |||||
The Doctor undergoes a traumatic fifth regeneration
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Others
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| Production | |||||
| Directed by | Graeme Harper | ||||
| Written by | Robert Holmes | ||||
| Script editor | Eric Saward | ||||
| Produced by | John Nathan-Turner | ||||
| Incidental music composer | Roger Limb | ||||
| Production code | 6R | ||||
| Series | Season 21 | ||||
| Length | 4 episodes, 25 minutes each | ||||
| Date started | 8 March 1984 | ||||
| Date ended | 16 March 1984 | ||||
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| Author | Terrance Dicks |
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| Cover artist | Andrew Skilleter |
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Doctor Who book: Target novelisations |
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Release number
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92 |
| Publisher | Target Books |
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Publication date
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14 February 1985 |
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| Doctor Who: The Caves of Androzani | |||||
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| Soundtrack album by Roger Limb and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop | |||||
| Released | 25 March 2013 | ||||
| Genre | Soundtrack | ||||
| Label | Silva Screen | ||||
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| Doctor Who soundtrack chronology | |||||
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The Caves of Androzani is the sixth serial of the 21st season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 8–16 March 1984. It was Peter Davison's last regular appearance as the Fifth Doctor, and marks the first appearance of Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor. In 2009 The Caves of Androzani was voted by fans as the best Doctor Who story in history.
Androzani Minor is the only source of the spectrox drug, produced by bats within the desert planet's cave systems. The citizens of neighboring Androzani Major rely on spectrox for its life-extending capabilities. Spectrox mining is controlled by Trau Morgus's business conglomerate, but is threatened by Sharaz Jek, a masked figure that hides within the cave systems and controls an army of androids that disrupt mining efforts. Morgus has publicly funded the military operation led by General Chellak to defeat Jek, but secretly employs gunrunners Stotz and Krepler to supply Jek with weapons to profit from the war.
The TARDIS lands on Androzani Minor, and the Doctor and Peri start to explore the caves. They both get caught briefly in a sticky substance but move on. The two are captured by Chellak, who believes them to be aiding the gunrunners. Chellak communicates their image to Morgus who does not recognize them and orders their execution. At their execution, Chellak discovers that Jek had been able to replace them with androids.
In Jek's lair, the Doctor and Peri complain about illness, and the android Salateen diagnoses that they had stepped in raw spectrox, which is lethal; the anti-toxin is the milk of the queen bat, but due to the recent war, the bats have descended to the deepest levels of the mine that are devoid of oxygen. Jek explains that he is at war with Morgus as his actions led to his dis-figuration. Jek leaves the two under guard of his androids while he meets Stotz and Krepler. The Doctor reprograms the androids to allow them to escape. They are caught in the middle of one of the battles, and Peri is captured by Chellak, while the Doctor is forced to leave with Stotz and Krepler.
Stotz decides to take the Doctor to see Morgus directly, and communicates with him holographically en-route. Morgus sees the Doctor alive, and believing the military is deceiving him, kills the President of Androzani and makes his own arrangements to travel to Androzani Minor to set things right. The Doctor commandeers Stotz's ship and crashes it back to the surface of Androzani Minor and sets off to rescue Peri before Stotz and Krepler recover.
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