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Full Circle

From TARDIS Index File, the free Doctor Who reference.

"That's not scientific understanding, it's cold-blooded murder!"
―The Doctor
Full Circle
Series: Doctor Who -
TV Stories
Season Number: Season 18
Story Number: 112
Doctor: Fourth Doctor
Companions: Romana II
K9 Mk2
Adric (introduction)
Enemy:
Setting: Alzarius
Writer: Andrew Smith
Director: Peter Grimwade
Producer: John Nathan-Turner
Broadcast: 25th October - 15th November 1980
Format: 4 25-minute episodes
Prod. Code: 5R
Previous Story: Meglos
Following Story: State of Decay


Contents

[edit] Synopsis

The TARDIS falls through a CVE into E-Space and arrives on the planet Alzarius. There the inhabitants of a crashed Starliner and a group of young rebels called the Outlers, led by a boy named Varsh and including his brother Adric, are being terrorised by a race of Marshmen who emerge from the marshes at a time known as Mistfall.

The Doctor discovers that the Starliner's inhabitants are not the descendants of its original crew, as has been claimed by their leaders the Deciders, but evolved Marshmen. With the Time Lord's help and encouragement, the Starliner is repaired and able to leave the planet.

[edit] Plot

to be added

[edit] Cast

[edit] Crew

[edit] References

[edit] Alzarians / Terradonians

This is a short explanation of the Terradonians / Alzarian's history on Alzarius

  • A ship from Terradon crashed on Alzarius, a planet of hyper-evolutionary creatures. The Terradonians were replaced by the humanoid Alzarians (i.e. the marsh men), but were unable to make the starliner take off.
  • The evolving society lived in fear of Mistfall, a period every 50 years or so, when the influence of another planet takes Alzarius away from the sun's warmth. This acts as a 'trigger' to the marsh creatures to emerge onto the land. During this period the people, ignorant of their true heritage, shut themselves away in the starliner. The spiders will eventually evolve into marsh men (their poison establishes a symbiotic link with the marsh creatures).
  • The people believe that they are Terradonians, and that they have been stranded there for 40 generations, but are gradually mending their ship. In actual fact, the ship is completely operational, and successions of advanced Alzarians have lived around the starliner for 4000 generations (approximately 140,000 years).

[edit] Story Notes

  • This is the first story in the 'E-Space Trilogy'.
  • The story has a working title of The Planet that Slept.
  • Adric's name was suggested by script editor Christopher H Bidmead as an anagram of that of eminent physicist P A M Dirac (who in 1930 was the first to predict the existence of antimatter).
  • Alan Rowe makes his final Doctor Who appearance, as Garif. He had previously appeared as Doctor Evans and the voice of Space Control in The Moonbase, Edward of Wessex The Time Warrior and as Skinsale in Horror of Fang Rock.

[edit] Ratings

  • Part 1 - 5.9 million viewers
  • Part 2 - 3.7 million viewers
  • Part 3 - 5.9 million viewers
  • Part 4 - 5.5 million viewers

[edit] Myths

to be added

[edit] Filming Locations

[edit] Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

  • When the TARDIS is seen drifting through E-Space, the background stars appear in front of the TARDIS.
  • Romana says that the TARDIS weighs 5x106 kilos 'in your gravity' (i.e. 50,000 tonnes), which doesn't really explain firstly how the Marshmen can easily pick it up and also numerous references in other stories (DW: Marco Polo, Army of Ghosts, etc.) to the TARDIS being light enough to be lifted by a group of men. It is possible that the gravity is different to Earth's or that the TARDIS's mass is variable. The gravity is clearly similar to Earth's, as everyone moves around just as on Earth and has an Earth-type physique - and water waves are the same shape as on Earth too. It's possible that Romana is referring to the mass of the TARDIS's internal spaces. If the exterior of the TARDIS weighed 50,000 tonnes it would sink deeply into the soil or destroy floors at most of its landing-points - and could not possibly float as seen in Fury from the Deep.
  • How did Adric get to the Rebels without passing The Doctor or any Marshmen? And how did the Rebels get back without seeing them?

[edit] Continuity

to be added

[edit] DVD, Video and Other Releases

[edit] Novelisation

Main article: Full Circle (novelisation)

[edit] See also

to be added

[edit] External Links


Season 18
The Leisure Hive  • Meglos  • Full Circle  • State of Decay  • Warriors' Gate  • The Keeper of Traken  • Logopolis

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