Overview of Season 30 of Doctor Who
The Doctor: “Alright, let’s get you back home. Vancouver, you said?”
*The TARDIS shakes violently*
Lucie: “What was that?”
The Doctor: “Vancouver. We just bounced off of Vancouver.”
Lucie: “What do you mean? Where are we going now?”
The Doctor: “Quite frankly, I have no idea. Best hold onto something.”
- The Doctor attempts to return Lucie home after she appears in the TARDIS, supposedly placed there by the Time Lords.
Confederacy
Lucie Miller, a Canadian student, appears in the TARDIS, claiming to have been put there as some sort of “protective custody” by the Doctor’s people. The Doctor has no knowledge of this arrangement, but agrees to return her home. However, the TARDIS has difficulties in flight “bouncing” off of Vancouver, landing in what will become Pennsylvania in 1754, just before the start of the French and Indian War.
The TARDIS refuses to take off, leaving the Doctor and Lucie stranded. The Doctor decides to investigate what could be causing the issue, telling Lucie to remain in the TARDIS while he performs maintenance. Lucie, however, decides to investigate the local area, encountering a British unit, led by a young George Washington. Lucie also meets a young Mohawk girl, named Kahn-Tineta, who is travelling with an allied band of Iroquois, primarily Mingo.
The Doctor determines that the TARDIS cannot take off due to a temporal nexus forming, which is also what drew it there. He ventures back to the console room, finding that Lucie has left the TARDIS. He leaves the TARDIS, trying to follow her footsteps.
Lucie tags along with the Iroquois band for protection, becoming more acquainted with Kahn-Tineta. Kahn-Tineta reveals the rising tensions between British and French colonists, with Lucie realising that this will imminently lead to a war. Many of the soldiers comment of Lucie’s clothing, and the fact that she was travelling alone, with one of the British troops, Harding, keeping a close eye on her.
The Doctor manages to catch up with the unit, reuniting with Lucie. He chastises her for leaving the TARDIS, as there could be any number of dangers. He tells her about the temporal nexus, revealing that one can only form when a pivotal event in history is altered, creating a point where many timelines diverge. This means that they are either not the only time travellers there, or their presence risks altering history.
Harding is also suspicious of the Doctor, accusing him and Lucie of being French spies sent to undermine their mission. The Doctor figures out that they are on their way to the Battle of Jumonville Glen. If the battle goes differently, the Seven Years War and all events afterwards will play out differently. He tells Lucie that they must keep the timeline the same at any cost, for the sake of the Web of Time. Lucie begrudgingly agrees, on the condition that she be returned to Vancouver afterwards.
The Doctor and Lucie enlist Kahn-Tineta's help, revealing the truth about themselves to her. Harding uses this meeting to convince Washington that the Doctor and Lucie are trying to turn the Iroquois against them, and Washington has them detained and left at the next outpost they come across. The Doctor realises that Harding must be the time traveller, and wants to get him out of the picture before he can thwart his plans.
The Doctor, Lucie and Kahn-Tineta escape from British captivity, stealing horses to catch up with Washington’s unit. They arrive just before the battle is due to begin, noting that the British unit has already taken position. Their arrival is noted by the unit, and Harding leaves to sneak up on them. He manages to knock Lucie and the Doctor off of their horse while Kahn-Tineta goes to ensure that all is well with the Iroquois troops.
Harding reveals that he is a pro-British imperialist from the future that has stolen a “Vortex Manipulator”, a crude time travel device. He is determined to stop the American Revolutionary War, and had decided that the best way to do that is to kill George Washington. When the battle begins, he will shoot Washington dead, and prevent him from leading the Continental Army in the war.
Kahn-Tineta eaches the Iroquois group, during which time the battle begins. She urges the Iroquois to go in to prevent the British from slaughtering the French colonists, which they do. She returns to the Doctor, and they rush into the midst of the battle to prevent Harding from killing Washington. The Doctor manages to knock Harding’s gun out of his hands just before he fires at Washington. The shot flies past Washington’s ear, and sees that it was Harding who fired it. Accusing him of treachery, Washington has Harding detained.
Washington thanks the Doctor for saving him, bidding him safe travels. The Doctor and Lucie set off back to the TARDIS. Kahn-Tineta asks if she can come too, and the Doctor accepts. Arriving back at the TARDIS, Lucie asks if she can stay, provided that the Doctor promises to return her home safe. The Doctor accepts this as well, happy to be travelling with companions once more.
Blood of the Daleks
The TARDIS lands on the planet Red Rocket Rising, which is in the middle of a civil uprising after the planet has been hit by a meteor. There, the Doctor, Lucie and Kahn-Tineta discover the disgraced scientist Martez, who claims to have found a new way for the population to survive, while the colony is offered assistance by one of the Doctor’s oldest and most hated enemy, the Daleks. The Doctor follows Martex, seeing that she has created a new race of Daleks from a fusion of human remains and reverse engineered Dalek technology. The Doctor realises that the Daleks have come to Vasquez to destroy these new Daleks, which they see as an affront to their purity.
Memories of Days to Come
The Doctor, Lucie and Kahn-Tineta arrive on Cassandra, a resort planet in the far future where people come to see visions of “their future”. The Doctor deduces that these visions are procedurally generated from the client’s memories and wishes. The Doctor decides to make use of the other facilities at the resort. While he warns them that the “visions” aren’t reality, he says that there should be no harm in either Lucie or Kahn-Tineta using the machine. While Lucie is in the machine, it malfunctions. The Doctor investigates, and finds that the staff are using the client’s memories to entertain a being called the “Kallis”, and keep it from awaking and rampaging across the galaxy. With the malfunction, the device is no longer functional, and the Doctor, Lucie and Kahn-Tineta have to stop the Kallis.
Death to the Sontarans by
@The Chimera Virus
The Sontarans are poised to lose their eternal war with the Rutan Host. Desertion is at an all-time high - which isn’t supposed to happen at all. When the Doctor, Lucie, and Kahn-Tineta arrive at one of these AWOL colonies, they find that not much is different aside from the Sontarans fighting amongst themselves. They claim this is at the behest of General Sontar himself… who is supposed to be dead, yet speaks to these Sontarans with some regularity.
The late Sontar appears in the sky and informs these deserters they must reach a state of total frenzy, then commit mass suicide. As the travelers investigate, they find that the Sontarans are being duped into this by a race known as the Mire, who feast specifically on adrenaline and testosterone, and are impersonating Sontar. Other AWOL colonies slowly blip off the map, and as much as he hates doing so, the Doctor must save the Sontarans if possible to prevent any changes to the Web of Time.
Guest Stars: Christopher Ryan as General Sontar/Mire Leader, Toby Aspin as Major General Sklant, and Tim Raynham as First Lieutenant Vrull
Fragments
The TARDIS arrives at The Codex, the largest archive in all of the universe, apart from the Time Lords’ Matrix, in order to find information that the Doctor is looking for. While there, the Doctor finds evidence of a cover-up involving one of the largest starliner accidents in all of history. He begins to piece the fragments of information together, but soon discovers that he is not the only person there to have an interest in the accident, and certainly not the most dangerous. Kahn-Tineta is accosted by a man from the Juras Corporation, one of the companies involved in the accident. Lucie comes to her aid, and they tell the Doctor what happened. The Doctor has found evidence that the starliner was operating an experimental drive that malfunctioned during the flight, and that Juras is trying to cover it up to avoid litigation, willing to go to extreme lengths to ensure that anybody who finds out the truth is silenced.
A Thousand Ships
The Doctor takes Lucie and Kahn-Tineta to see Troy before its fall. While there, they hear that Helen of Troy has arrived in the company of Paris. Knowing that this will lead to the destruction of Troy, Lucie tries to warn the populace, but the Doctor says that it will do no good. He confesses his part in the fall of Troy, but that the event is too important to alter. But when the Greeks don’t come, the Doctor worries that history may need a helping hand once more, to Lucie’s dismay.
The Demons of Hampton Court by
@Drorac
The Doctor, Lucie and Kahn-Tineta arrive in Hampton Court in the year 1534 to find a heavily pregnant Anne Boleyn being tried for witchcraft. However there are sinister goings on at the palace, like why does the Duke of Norfolk have a gun, and why does Henry VIII seem intent on protecting his daughter Mary?
Monumental
The TARDIS lands on Earth in the year 3138, in what was once London. At the centre of the city, they find a large monument to “The Great Conquest”, which the Doctor has no recollection of. With the recent changes to history, the Doctor realises that somebody may be playing games to get his attention. While he investigates what “The Great Conquest” was, he also searches for a connection between recent events. Meanwhile, Kahn-Tineta discovers that this new utopian society may not be what it seems at face value.
They Shoot Time Lords, Don’t They? by
@The Chimera Virus
A Celestial Intervention Agency outpost in Galactic Sector Nine-Seven-Three summons the Doctor under the table. The outpost’s team requests his help in dealing with the resurgent War Lords. They have recently shown immense societal progress that shouldn’t be possible under the terms of their species’ imprisonment. Given the Doctor’s involvement with the events that led to this situation, he has been selected to head behind the isolating null-time field. His mission: to spread misinformation and sow enough dissent to get the ball rolling and make it easier for a proper follow-up. Lucie and Kahn-Tineta will need to stay behind at the outpost. While deeply suspicious, the Doctor begrudgingly accepts on the condition his companions are allowed to remain with him. The Time Lords say only Kahn-Tineta is allowed. Lucie will stay with them. The Doctor uncomfortably accepts.
Once on War World, however, he finds he’s not the only Time Lord hidden among the War Lords. The Monk is stranded here as well, having hit the null-time field which killed his TARDIS and turned it to stone. He has manipulated events to this point and gotten in well over his head. Should the War Lords find out who he really is, he’ll be shot on sight… That said, he’s not above taking the Doctor down with him. A game of wits ensues between him, the Doctor, and Kahn-Tineta as both parties attempt to gain control of the situation. This is compounded by the War Lords’ plans for freedom advancing at a much quicker schedule than previously surmised, spearheaded by a hideous affront to life. One with a particular vendetta against the Doctor and his people. Meanwhile, at the outpost, Lucie’s snooping produces equally shocking results.
Guest Stars: Eric Idle as the Meddling Monk, Dawn French as the Interfering Nun, Philip Madoc as the reanimated War Lord, Meera Syal as the Chief Strategist, Ian Hart as the Head Scientist, and Christine Ebersole as CIA Agent Majolica
Underneath
The TARDIS lands in a small town in England, during the modern day, finding that the people are being stalked by a strange shadowy figure that abducts people and takes them to the “underneath”. The Doctor and Kahn-Tineta meet the one survivor, who claims that “it feeds on what you were, and takes it for itself”. Soon, the Doctor and Lucie are targeted by this creature, but for some reason, it seems to be ignoring Lucie.
The Sword of Orion
In the year 2503, humanity is locked in a war with “Android Hordes”. The TARDIS lands on a derelict cruiser, and the team find themselves apprehended by human officers, who plan to kill them. But there is more danger on this derelict cruiser than fanatical humans, as the Doctor encounters an old and weakened enemy, who only want one thing: for humanity to be upgraded.
Storm-Blind
Following the revelation that the Time Lords have no knowledge of who Lucie is, with her not appearing anywhere in their archives, the Doctor decides that they should try to find out more about Lucie’s history first hand. Before they can cross back into Lucie’s time stream, however, the TARDIS is temporarily disabled by an attack from a nearby planet. The trio are unharmed, but an old enemy of the Doctor is here, and worse, he wants to talk.
The Master apprehends the Doctor, and reveals that he has been made aware of a coalition of aliens that wish to take out the Time Lords, but that he has managed to broker a truce with them in exchange for the Doctor’s life. He hands the Doctor over to the coalition, leaving Lucie and Aarushi alone in the TARDIS. With the help of emergency systems, the two must try to find and release the Doctor, and figure out how to fly the TARDIS.
Guest Star: Sir Derek Jacobi as the Master