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[ Index for this story ]
Frontios
by Christopher H. Bidmead
Part One
1, INT: MINES
(A group of men, led by Captain Revere, are digging in the mines. Captain Revere removes a rock and hands it to Chief Orderly Brazen, who examines it and goes over to the entrance to call out to the outside. Captain Revere watches as parts of the ground are sinking further down by themselves - almost like something is sucking it down. Meanwhile Brazen talks to the two Orderlies at the entrance.)
BRAZEN: The answer's buried here somewhere. The Captain will find it.
(More earth gets sucked down further into the ground and a beam holding up the mine shifts out of place, threatening the collapse of the entire mine. Brazen hurries to hold up the beam.)
BRAZEN: Get out everybody! Come on, move! Captain Revere!
(He watches as earth and rocks fall from the ceiling and the orderlies see Captain Revere unconscious and trapped under rubble. Brazen attempts to lift a big slab of rock off him, but it proves too heavy.)
BRAZEN: Block and tackle! Quickly!
(He runs to the Orderlies who bring down the chain amidst another falling of rocks. The next time Brazen moves over, there is no sign of Captain Revere. There is just the pile of rubble.)
BRAZEN: I want no mention of this to anyone. Did you hear me?! Not to anyone!
2, INT: TARDIS CONSOLE
(Turlough is standing at the interior door - he seems to be trying to listen through it. There is a loud banging noise coming through the door. Tegan walks up.)
TEGAN: The Doctor's alright. He gets like this sometimes. Nothing to worry about.
(More loud noises.)
TURLOUGH: Well I suppose it's none of my business if... I think he must be coming.
(They move out of the way of the door and the Doctor appears, a manic look in his eyes.)
DOCTOR: Not hat people are you? Either of you?
TEGAN: What?
DOCTOR: Wear them much I mean. I only do when I go out. It's...er...silly to have this thing, getting in everyone's way.(He hurries over to the hat stand and picks it up.)
TEGAN: I don't believe it. There's so much to do aboard this ship and all you're worried about is tidying away the hat stand!
DOCTOR: Well, I have to start somewhere.(Turlough is at the console, and a beeping starts.)
TURLOUGH: Doctor? Something's happening to the controls.
(There is a screen on the console which reads "BOUNDARY ERROR, TIME PARAMETERS EXCEEDED")
DOCTOR: Oh, we must be on the outer limits. The TARDIS has drifted too far into the future. We'll just slip into hover mode for a while.
(He presses some buttons. Tegan is reading from another screen.)
TEGAN: We're in the Veruna System, wherever that is.
DOCTOR: I had no idea we were so far out. Veruna - that's irony for you.
TEGAN: What is?
DOCTOR: Veruna is where one of the last surviving groups of mankind took shelter when the great...er... Yes, I suppose you've got all that to look forward to haven't you?(He's clearly said more than he meant to and he walks off with an embarrassed smile.)
TEGAN: In the great what, Doctor?!
DOCTOR: All civilizations have their ups and downs...(Turlough theatrically reads from a screen, deliberately to annoy Tegan.)
TURLOUGH: 'Fleeing from the imminence of a catastrophic collision with the sun, a group of refugees from the DOOMED planet Earth...'
DOCTOR: (annoyed) Yes, that's enough, Turlough.(Tegan looks at the scanner, a planet is shown in the centre.)
TEGAN: You mean, some of the last surviving humans are on this planet?
DOCTOR: Yes.
TEGAN: Can we land? Can we visit them?
DOCTOR: Laws of time.
TEGAN: Since when has that ever stopped you?
DOCTOR: We mustn't interfere. Colony's too new; one generation at the most. The future hangs in the balance.(He attempts to change the subject, and points at the hat stand that he has been carrying.)
DOCTOR: Now, I've got another one of these somewhere. Put them side by side. We'll have a pair.
3, INT: RESEARCH ROOM
(The hole leading to the mines is being closed up. Brazen looks on, standing with another man, Mr. Range.)
RANGE: There is enough distrust already of the long path back to knowledge. An enquiry into Captain Revere's death is vital.
BRAZEN: I've said, there's no requirement for an investigation! 'Distillation vessel exploded here in the Research Room.'
RANGE: And that's your childish reason for closing down the whole of the Research Room?
BRAZEN: Captain Revere was quite specific. The research centre was to be closed down in the event of his...dying. I've nothing else to say on the matter!(He angrily walks off but Range follows him. There is an Orderly, Cockerill who wears headphones connected to some sort of communication system.)
RANGE: You're throwing away 40 years work. Don't you care?
BRAZEN: Simply obeying orders.
RANGE: Look, we lost all our technology when our ship crashed here. Now, don't you think our struggle has been hard enough without this added foolishness?!
BRAZEN: The only foolishness that I know is to disobey an order!(This seems to end the argument, and the matter is finished.)
BRAZEN: Right, that's enough of that Cockerill.
(Cockerill removes his headphones.)
RANGE: What, you're abandoning the communication scan too?
BRAZEN: Everything.
COCKERILL: Forty years and nothing's come through on that set. I don't think it's any great loss.
BRAZEN: Nobody asked for your opinion on the matter! Get back to corridor duties!(Cockerill salutes and moves off.)
RANGE: On whose authority?
BRAZEN: Plantagenet himself!
RANGE: Oh the boy's distraught!
BRAZEN: Are you suggesting the son of Captain Revere is unfit to rule?
RANGE: Look, as Chief Science Officer...
BRAZEN: (interrupting) Oh, don't go waving your title at me. From now on, this research centre is under military jurisdiction!
RANGE: But the research into the bombardment, now you must see the urgency of that!(They leave the Research Room as they talk.)
4, INT: CORRIDOR OUTSIDE RESEARCH ROOM
(Outside the Research Room, there are two guards on the door.)
RANGE: The attacks are coming almost daily.
BRAZEN: There will be no more talk about this in front of our people, Mr. Range. The desertion rate is already unacceptable. Now, with or without your permission, this research room will be sealed!
5, INT: TARDIS CONSOLE
(Tegan and Turlough continue to look at the scanner.)
TEGAN: I can't believe it.
TURLOUGH: It would be interesting to go down, wouldn't it. Um...Doctor, we were just...
DOCTOR: Impossible. Time's up.
TEGAN: What happens to them, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Knowledge has its limits. Ours reaches this far, and no further.(The Doctor tries to operate the TARDIS, but there is a loud noise and the console shakes.)
DOCTOR: Stabilizers are failing. Have to get out ___.
TURLOUGH: It's a meteorite storm!(On the scanner, large red meteorites land on the planet.)
DOCTOR: The TARDIS should be able to resist this sort of thing.
(The Doctor is jerked towards the console by some force.)
DOCTOR: Console's jammed!
TURLOUGH: We're being dragged towards the planet!
TEGAN: How?
DOCTOR: Gravitational pull?!?
6, EXT: FRONTIOS
(Alarms sound. A crashed space-ship seems to be the shelter for the people. Many people run around trying to get under cover. Some are caught up in explosions.)
7, INT: TARDIS CONSOLE
(The Doctor, Turlough and Tegan are all leaning heavily on the console, which is still shaking violently.)
TEGAN: Doctor, do something!
DOCTOR: Don't panic!(He punches the console, and the TARDIS stops shaking.)
8, EXT: FRONTIOS
(Another explosion knocks over two people, and more people run to cover. The TARDIS materializes. The storm seems to have finished. Out of a door comes a young lady, Norna. She is joined by Mr. Range - her father - in helping an injured person. The Doctor sticks his head out of the TARDIS door.)
DOCTOR: My least favourite sort of weather.
(There is an injured woman nearby. The Doctor goes over to help, followed by Turlough and Tegan.)
DOCTOR: Come along.
TEGAN: This way.(One woman, supported by the Doctor and Turlough, and the other by Norna and Range, follow Tegan back inside.)
9, INT: MEDICAL SHELTER
TEGAN: In here...over here.
DOCTOR: It's alright, it's alright.(Tegan leads the Doctor and Turlough to a bed where one woman is placed, while the other is sat on the ground for a minute. Then the Doctor and Range carry him over to another bed.)
RANGE: We shall need the emergency supplies.
DOCTOR: Leave it to me.
RANGE: Oh, thank-you sir.
DOCTOR: I'll need some antiseptic and bandages.
RANGE: Antiseptic?
DOCTOR: Yes. How else am I to clean this wound hmm?(The Doctor takes off his coat and throws it at Range, who looks totally bemused. The Doctor clearly doesn't want to waste time on pleasantries.)
RANGE: Look, um, I'm the Chief Science Officer. Who are you...?
DOCTOR: (interrupting) It would help if we could see what we're doing.(Range gets the picture and clicks his fingers. A man with a small green lamp comes over. It doesn't seem to have any effect whatsoever.)
DOCTOR: Phosphor lamps?!
(Turlough and Tegan have left the other patient in the hands of the medics, and have come over to join the others. Turlough grabs the lamp from the man.)
TURLOUGH: These are a terrible fire hazard in this sort of container, you know?
DOCTOR: You'd better hold it steady then, hadn't you.
TEGAN: How does it work?
TURLOUGH: Well...it's electron excitation. If you give them a shake...(He does so, which alarms the Doctor.)
TURLOUGH: ...they get a bit brighter.
DOCTOR: Aaaa... Stop that would you?! (to Range) Is this the best you can do?
RANGE: Yes, I'm afraid it is.
DOCTOR: I'll need some proper lighting. Turlough, the TARDIS. I'll need the...portable mu-field activator...
TURLOUGH: Doctor, you did say that we weren't...
DOCTOR: (deliberately not listening) ...and five of the argon discharge globes.(Turlough, clearly unimpressed, gives the lamp to Tegan and leaves without a word. The Doctor calls after him.)
DOCTOR: Oh, and all the medical supplies!
TURLOUGH: (sarcastic) Anything else?(The Doctor gives him an annoyed look.)
DOCTOR: Yes, you'd better give him a hand, Tegan.
TEGAN: Righto, Doctor.(Norna comes up with the bandages, which the Doctor takes grumpily.)
RANGE: Here, this is my daughter Norna, and you are...
DOCTOR: (interrupting) Time for the social niceties later. Better get started, hmm?
NORNA: Yes, well, you'll want soap and water first.
DOCTOR: Yes...good idea.
10, INT: TARDIS CONSOLE
(Tegan runs up and goes to open the interior door. It doesn't budge.)
TEGAN: This door's locked.
(Turlough comes and gives it a try, without success.)
TURLOUGH: No it isn't. This could be serious.
(They both run back.)
11, INT: MEDICAL SHELTER
RANGE: It's very good of you to help us, Mister...er...
DOCTOR: I'm not helping - officially. And if anyone happens to ask whether I made any material difference to the welfare of this planet, you can tell them I came and went like a summer cloud.(Range looks confused. There are a group of people standing at the entrance to the shelter.)
RANGE: Oh, they're curious to know who you are.
DOCTOR: Perhaps you could ask them to move, they're rather blocking the air. It's interesting, how often do you have meteorite showers?
RANGE: Intermittently, although the attacks have become more frequent over the last few weeks.
DOCTOR: Yes...the attacks?
RANGE: Oh yes, we're at war!
DOCTOR: Really? With whom?
RANGE: Well, that is yet to be determined - as you can see, we're helpless.
DOCTOR: Not if I have anything to do with it.(Finally, after Range has already tried about five times, the Doctor extends his hand.)
DOCTOR: How do you do? I'm the Doctor.
RANGE: Oh, hello. My name is Range. I'm the Chief Science Officer.(The Doctor though is distracted by something behind Range.)
DOCTOR: Hello...You've been keeping us unnecessarily in the dark, Mr. Range. You didn't tell me you had a hydrazine steam generator.
12, INT: STATE ROOM
(Brazen walks purposefully through a pair of doors, and walks up to where a small man is sitting on a chair on a raised platform. He is Plantagenet, the leader of Frontios and the son of Captain Revere. He doesn't seem to notice that anyone is there, so Brazen clears his throat.)
BRAZEN: There's a development, sir, that I am not happy with.
PLANTAGENET: Development? Yes?
BRAZEN: An arrival, simultaneous to the last bombardment - three persons of undetermined origin.(Plantagenet stands up - doing his best to look and act like a leader.)
PLANTAGENET: So, it's come at last.
BRAZEN: Yes. This could be the beginning of the invasion.
13, INT: MEDICAL SHELTER
(The Doctor is behind the generator, examining parts of it.)
DOCTOR: It's very interesting.
RANGE: It used to generate a basic form of energy but, er...we no longer have any fuel. This planet is without wood, or any combustible material.
DOCTOR: What about the colony ship? Must've been brimming with gadgetry.
RANGE: (laughing) Systems that could re-build a civilization for us. Failure proof technology.
DOCTOR: What happened to it all?
RANGE: It failed. And nothing survived the crash.(Suddenly, Tegan and Turlough run in.)
TEGAN: Doctor! Doctor! Something's happened to the TARDIS!
DOCTOR: Mmm?
TEGAN: The interior door's jammed!
TURLOUGH: It's as if some tremendous force-field's pulled it out of shape.
TEGAN: It couldn't be the impact of landing, could it?(The Doctor either doesn't care or is not listening at all.)
DOCTOR: The TARDIS? No, no, no. Probably just some spatial anomaly. You're getting carried away again, Turlough. One thing at a time. Where's the...mu-field activator.
TURLOUGH: I'm trying to tell you! It's behind the...
DOCTOR: It's behind the interior door. Yes of course...excitation.(He vigorously shakes the phosphor lamp he is holding.)
TURLOUGH: You told me not to do that.
DOCTOR: Oh, it's risky, but then so is operating in this gloom.(He stops shaking the lamp.)
DOCTOR: You ever tried putting a higher voltage across these things?
TEGAN: Doctor! The TARDIS!
DOCTOR: (not listening) Yes, there must be something on this planet capable of sustaining a steady voltage.(Turlough walks over and talks to Norna.)
TURLOUGH: How can you work - do research, without electricity?
NORNA: Well, we used to use an acid jar, charged by wind power.
TEGAN: Acid jar?
NORNA: A sort of - large battery.
TURLOUGH: That's a thought - with some sort of interrupter to raise the voltage.
NORNA: Well, it's in the research room - but I'll need some help carrying it.
TEGAN: Okay, come on.(She indicates to Turlough - who is deep in thought. Then they all hurry out.)
14, EXT: FRONTIOS
TURLOUGH: We seem to have lost our news value.
TEGAN: There's a counter-attraction, look!(A group of colonists are receiving food rations from two Orderlies.)
NORNA: Food is rationed on Frontios. That's why the colony ship is guarded.
(She leads them away from the door.)
NORNA: We'll have to be careful, the ship's out of bounds.
TURLOUGH: It sounds dangerous.
NORNA: Do you mind?
TURLOUGH: No, it isn't that. It's just that I wouldn't want us to get...
NORNA: (interrupting) Quick, hide!(Turlough and Tegan run off to hide. Out from a tunnel come Plantagenet and Brazen. Plantagenet readies himself for a speech.)
BRAZEN: Stand steady, sir. They look to you.
(Plantagenet notices Norna.)
PLANTAGENET: Norna? You're needed in the hospital, surely?
NORNA: I've come to ask for more bandages and water.
BRAZEN: You think we have unlimited supplies?
NORNA: You have supplies, what's the use in hoarding them? Leader Plantagenet, the wounded need your help.(Plantagenet turns to an Orderly.)
PLANTAGENET: Make sure this woman is allowed access to the medical supplies room.
ORDERLY: Yes sir.(With that, Plantagenet, Brazen and two Orderlies walk past Norna. Norna goes over to where Tegan and Turlough have been hiding.)
NORNA: Come on.
(Norna walks past the remaining guard down the tunnel. A loud bang comes from where Tegan and Turlough are, the guard goes to investigate, and as he leaves his post, Tegan and Turlough sneak around the other side to join Norna without being seen. Brazen also heard the noise.)
BRAZEN: Orderly? Where you responsible for this noise?
ORDERLY: No sir.
BRAZEN: Somebody is.(He turns and strides down the tunnel.)
15, INT: COLONY SHIP
(Norna, Tegan and Turlough move along a narrow walkway - the roof is far above them as they walk through the dark ship.)
TEGAN: It's huge!
NORNA: It brought thousands of people from Earth, remember.
TEGAN: Thousands?
NORNA: Well the crash killed most of them, and then there was an outburst of disease.(They hear Brazen's footsteps.)
NORNA: Someone's coming!
(They hurry off.)
16, INT: MEDICAL SHELTER
RANGE: Well, Captain Revere assumed that the barrage was some sort of softening-up process - 'heralding an invasion,' he said.
DOCTOR: Hmm, someone else thinks this is their territory.
RANGE: Well, Frontios was quite deserted when we arrived.
DOCTOR: Oh, so you did nothing to provoke an attack?
RANGE: No! The few who survived the crash had no time for anything but bare survival. We worked to raise food.
DOCTOR: Dangerous, surely, out in the fields, with the risk of bombardment?
RANGE: No, there was no bombardment then. No, we had ten years of clear skies to stock the wreck of the colony ship with food. And then it began. Yes, the first missile fell, oh, a little over thirty years ago.
DOCTOR: Thirty years?! Your unknown invaders are certainly taking their time.(Plantagenet has arrived unnoticed.)
PLANTAGENET: Unknown no longer, perhaps. Could it be that one of them calls himself...the Doctor?
17, INT: COLONY SHIP
(Norna, Tegan and Turlough have reached the door of the Research Room, but it is locked and barred up.)
NORNA: They sealed the room.
TURLOUGH: Now what?
TEGAN: We go back?
NORNA: No. There's another way in. This way.(She goes over and climbs a ladder.)
18, INT: MEDICAL SHELTER
DOCTOR: Look, I'm not really here at all, officially. And as soon as I've helped Mr. Range with the arrangements, I...I'll be on my way.
PLANTAGENET: You feel free to come and go as you please?
DOCTOR: Going yes, coming no - we were forced down.
PLANTAGENET: I see - you landed during the bombardment and yet you appear...unharmed.
DOCTOR: I'm sorry. We didn't know there was a war on. At first we thought it was some sort of meteorite storm.
PLANTAGENET: And what do you think now?
DOCTOR: I think your shelters are totally inadequate and your warning system does nothing but create panic.
PLANTAGENET: I did not ask...!
DOCTOR: (interrupting) Your population's already falling below the critical value required for guaranteed growth and you're regularly losing new lives! I think...and you did ask what I think - I think your colony of Earth people is in grave danger of extinction.(Plantagenet is totally out of his depth and he doesn't know what to say.)
19, EXT: TOP OF COLONY SHIP
(Norna, Tegan and Turlough are walking on top of the ship.)
NORNA: Be quiet, they can here us walking on the hull of the ship.
20, INT: MEDICAL SHELTER
(The Doctor stands with Range. Plantagenet is angry and he yells at the Doctor.)
PLANTAGENET: Who are you to give me advice?! I am the son of Captain Revere. The people of Frontios will not be cowed by these muling(?) words of defeat, Doctor. We may lack the outward appurtenances of might, but we carry our strength within us! We will win the war with the invisible aggressors whose missiles batter on our planet, and we will win the greater battle - the struggle for the future...of our race!
DOCTOR: Absolutely. I wish you all the luck in the world. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to give you anything much in the way of help.
PLANTAGENET: We're under no illusions about that Doctor. We can see for ourselves the results of your...help.(He points around to all the injured and dying people.)
RANGE: But the Doctor has helped - he's been caring for the sick, and he's going to arrange for some proper light by adapting the...
(He indicates the generator - but he knows he's said too much. The generator seems to be seen as some sort of relic of Captain Revere.)
PLANTAGENET: The hydrazine engine! This invader has interfered with the great gift my father bestowed upon the people of Frontios.
DOCTOR: (frustrated) I'm sorry, I was working out a way of getting some decent light in here.
PLANTAGENET: We people of Frontios are vulnerable, Doctor...desperate...frightened even. But we are not...fools.(The Doctor looks at him like he is just that - a fool.)
21, EXT: TOP OF COLONY SHIP
(Norna and Turlough are trying to open a small hatch in a wall, while Tegan keeps watch. She ducks down quickly when she sees Brazen and some Orderlies come out from the door.)
TEGAN: They're coming.
(Turlough and Norna manage to get the hatch off the wall, and they climb in. Brazen and the Orderlies stand a short distance away - out of sight.)
BRAZEN: Check the solar-drive panels. They've got to be hiding somewhere.
(Turlough climbs in and shuts the hatch just as the Orderlies pass by.)
22, INT: RESEARCH ROOM
(Turlough is the last of the three to climb out of the other end of the entrance, he locks it and then goes over to join the others. The acid battery - a big silver box with a large green jar on the top - is sitting on the bench nearby. Tegan and Norna each take one end and start to carry it.)
TEGAN: Smells lethal!
NORNA: It is.(Turlough is operating a pulley to which he will attach the acid jar to pull it up.)
TURLOUGH: So please don't spill it.
23, EXT: TOP OF COLONY SHIP
(Brazen stands on the main part of the ship. He calls over his Orderlies.)
BRAZEN: Guard the hatch. I'll inform the leader.
(He leaves.)
24, INT: RESEARCH ROOM
(The jar is attached to the pulley. Norna and Tegan stand back, and Turlough prepares to lift it.)
TURLOUGH: Be careful.
(He lifts it almost up to where he is, when something snaps and a lot of the acid goes out onto the floor. It immediately burns a hole through the floor.)
TEGAN: Turlough...
25, EXT: TOP OF COLONY SHIP
(The Orderlies are not guarding the hatch. They are chatting to each other. Turlough comes out to check the situation, then goes back to help the girls get the acid jar out. It's now about half full of acid. Cockerill comes out of the main door and goes to join the other Orderlies.)
COCKERILL: I got it, but only just.
(He takes some food from his pocket and gives one of whatever it is to each of the two Orderlies. Tegan, Turlough and Norna are deciding their next plan.)
TEGAN: How are we gonna get it past them?
TURLOUGH: I'll think of something.(The Orderlies all sit down and start eating.)
TEGAN: Are you sure this is going to work?
TURLOUGH: Have you got a better idea?(They pick up the jar again.)
26, EXT: FRONTIOS
(Brazen walks out of the ship and goes over to the Warnsman, the man who raises the alarm of bombardments.)
BRAZEN: Warnsman.
WARNSMAN: Sir?
BRAZEN: I don't like the look of this sky.
WARNSMAN: No sir.
BRAZEN: Keep good watch.
WARNSMAN: Very good, sir.
27, INT: MEDICAL SHELTER
PLANTAGENET: No craft the size of yours is capable of traversing the universe.
DOCTOR: (sarcastic) If I had a spare millennium, I'd bring you up to date on time mechanics. Unfortunately, we have this lighting problem, and a ward full of people needing medical attention.(Brazen has arrived, and he talks in private to Plantagenet. The Doctor and Range look towards the sky, where they can hear a bombardment.)
RANGE: Another bombardment.
DOCTOR: Again?
RANGE: Yes, there's darkening of the sky. Oh, it's alright, the Warnsman will sound his klaxon at the first sign.(Plantagenet is ready for another dramatic speech.)
PLANTAGENET: You came with two accomplices! They have been seen on the colony ship! (To Range) Aided by your...treacherous daughter.
28, INT: COLONY SHIP
(Tegan and Norna are descending a ladder. Turlough lowers the acid jar, via the pulley, down with them. The Warnsman runs up to them.)
WARNSMAN: Hey, you're not allowed up there!
(Turlough seems to lose control of the pulley.)
TURLOUGH: LOOK OUT!
(The acid jar swings and hits the Warnsman, who is knocked over.)
29, INT: MEDICAL SHELTER
RANGE: Paranoia! Your minds are being eaten away by this daily disaster we call Frontios. Can't you see, this man is here to help us!
PLANTAGENET: I SAY TREACHERY, Mr. Range! Are you guilty too?(Range has had enough, and he walks off shaking his head.)
DOCTOR (to Plantagenet): You know, we can sort all this out in no time at all if everyone just stays calm. Now please, come and see the TARDIS!
(Plantagenet and Brazen follow him.)
DOCTOR: As an invasion weapon, it's about as offensive as a chicken vol-au-vent.
30, INT: COLONY SHIP
(The bombardment can now be heard. Turlough and Tegan are at the bottom of the ladder. Norna is looking after the Warnsman.)
TURLOUGH: The bombardment's started again.
NORNA: We'd better get him back to the medical shelter.
TURLOUGH: Come on.(Turlough grabs the Warnsman, leaving Norna and Tegan to carry the acid jar.)
31, EXT: FRONTIOS
DOCTOR: Its, uh...its lack of armaments can be a positive embarrassment at times. Just a minute...get back!
(They jump back, noticing the sky and the probability of bombardments.)
BRAZEN: Don't be alarmed, we haven't heard from the Warnsman yet.
DOCTOR: Oh. Well this way.(They see Turlough and the Warnsman.)
DOCTOR: Oh dear. What have we here?
PLANTAGENET: It's the Warnsman.
BRAZEN: Take him to the medical shelter.(The Doctor goes over to Tegan and Norna.)
DOCTOR: Now what's this?
NORNA: The battery - for the lighting.
DOCTOR: Brilliant! Ah, take it inside, hurry along.(Two Orderlies come and take it away.)
DOCTOR: Now, where's the mu-field activator?
TEGAN: We told you, Doctor, we couldn't get any further than the console room.
TURLOUGH: Doctor! Can't we continue this conversation undercover.
DOCTOR: Yes, indeed. The TARDIS.(They walk forward, and an explosion occurs just in front of them. The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough hide on one side. Brazen and Plantagenet hide on the other side.)
BRAZEN: This bombardment...it could be a tactical diversion, on the part of the Doctor.
PLANTAGENET: No, I think not, Brazen. But he has some connection with these attacks.
32, INT: MEDICAL SHELTER
(The Orderlies carry the acid jar in, Norna follows them.)
NORNA: Careful.
RANGE: Gently with that now, gently, over there.
33, EXT: FRONTIOS
DOCTOR: A swift exit, I think. We've had enough of this planet.
(They try and run out, but another explosion forces them back undercover.)
34, INT: COLONY SHIP
(Plantagenet staggers inside, clutching his chest. Brazen follows him.)
BRAZEN: You hurt?
(He shakes his head quickly, and stands up straight when a couple of injured people come inside.)
35, EXT: FRONTIOS
TEGAN: It's getting lighter.
DOCTOR: The attack's nearly over. Let's get out of here. Come on - the TARDIS.(They get up and move out of their shelter, and all walk very slowly over to where the TARDIS was.)
TEGAN: The TARDIS - what's happened?!
(All that seems to be still remaining of the TARDIS is the hat-stand. It stands alone amongst a pile of rubble.)
TURLOUGH: It's gone.
(The Doctor goes over and touches the hat-stand.)
DOCTOR: The TARDIS has been destroyed...
The Doctor
PETER DAVISONTegan
JANET FIELDINGTurlough
MARK STRICKSONBrazen
PETER GILMORENorna
LESLEY DUNLOPRange
WILLIAM LUCASPlantagenet
JEFF RAWLECockerill
MAURICE O'CONNELLOrderly
RICHARD ASHLEY
Incidental Music
PADDY KINGSLANDSpecial Sound
DICK MILLS
BBC RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP
Production Manager
ALEX GOHARProduction Associate
JUNE COLLINSProduction Assistant
VALERIE LETLEYAssistant Floor Manager
JOANNA GURITZ
Visual Effects Designer
DAVE HAVARDVideo Effects
DAVE CHAPMAN
Technical Manager
ALAN ARBUTHNOTTCamera Supervisor
ALEC WHEAL
Vision Mixer
PAUL WHEELERVideotape Editor
HUGH PARSON
Lighting
JOHN SUMMERSSound
MARTIN RIDOUT
Costume Designer
ANUSHIA NIERADZIKMake-Up Designer
JILL HAGGER
Script Editor
ERIC SAWARDTitle Sequence
SID SUTTON
Designer
DAVID BUCKINGHAM
Producer
JOHN NATHAN-TURNER
Director
RON JONES©BBC MCMLXXXIII
Transcribed by
Robbie Parkes 2006