Television - Doctor Who – Episode Guide Season 8 (1971)

Television - Doctor Who – Episode Guide Season 8 (1971)

Doctor Who is one of the longest running British Television Shows and in this article I am going to explore the episodes from Season 8.

Title: Doctor Who Season 8
Dates: 1971
Number of Serials: 5
Total Number of Episodes: 25
Doctor Regeneration: The Third Doctor
Doctor Actor: Jon Pertwee

055 - Terror of the Autons (4 episodes)
The Master comes to Earth and steals a dormant Nestene Energy unit. He manages to reactivate it and takes control of a local plastics firm. Through the plastics firm he creates evil Auton dolls, chairs and daffodils to aid his master plan. He gets the Auton dolls to give away the daffodils for free which spray a suffocating plastic film over the victim's nose and mouth. The Master plans to activate the flowers to bring the central Nestene Consciousness back to Earth. Once the Doctor persuades the Master that the Nestene Consciousness has no ultimate use for him he agrees to help the Doctor send the Nestene Consciousness back to space. The Master is now also trapped on Earth and The Doctor looks forward to meeting him again.

056 - The Mind of Evil (6 episodes)
The Doctor and Jo Grant travel to Stangmoor Prison where they witness a demonstration of the Keller Machine which can apparently remove negative emotions from criminals. Whilst being demonstrated on a prisoner called Barnham, Barnham collapses halfway through the treatment. The Brigadier is in charge of a peace conference where documents go missing and the Chinese delegate dies in strange circumstances. Captain Yates is on another mission, transporting the banned Thunderbolt missile across country to be destroyed. The Doctor joins the Brigadier in time to save the American delegate from being killed by the Chinese delegate's aid Captain Chin Lee who is under hypnotic control of the Master. The Master is using the stored violent impulses of the Keller Machine to cause unrest at the Stangmoor prison. The Keller Machine actually contains an alien parasite which feeds on emotions. The Master enlists the convicts to help him steal the Thunderbolt missile so he can blow up the Peace Conference and start a new World War. Barnham, now immune to the effects of the alien parasite helps the Doctor transport the machine to an airfield where the missile is being held. The Doctor distracts the Master with the Keller Machine as he activates the missile's self destruct sequence. The Doctor gets clear as the Brigadier triggers it. The alien parasite is destroyed but the Master escapes in a van.

057 - The Claws of Axos (4 episodes)
An alien space ship approaches Earth and is detected by Unit headquarters. The ship eventually lands in England and beautiful golden skinned aliens called Axons emerge. The Axons claim their ship Axos is heavily damaged and they need time to fix it. They offer Axonite in exchange, a substance that will make animals grow to a huge size and will help end the global food shortage. In reality the Axons, Axos and Axonite are hideous alien parasites that have come to Earth to feed on the planet's energy. It is revealed the Master bought them to Earth. The Doctor and The Master travel in the Tardis to the centre of the ship Axos. The Doctor makes a deal with the Axons, and tricks them into getting stuck in a time loop. The Master seems to escape the time loop as well as the Doctor and most likely returns to Earth.

058 - Colony in Space (6 episodes)
The Time Lords discover the Master has stolen classified information about the Doomsday weapon and they send the Doctor to go retrieve it. The Doctor and Jo travel in the Tardis to the desolate planet Uxarieus in the year 2472. Two parties are fighting over the planet, the beleaguered colonists and the Interplanetary Mining Corporation. The Doctor learns the primitive colonists are ruled over by a high priest, and they worship a machine tended over by a creature known as the guardian. The Master also arrives on the planet claiming to be an Earth official who can help solve the dispute. The Master takes the Doctor deep within the colonist’s territories to the machine which is actually the Time Lord's Doomsday Weapon. The weapon is capable of destroying planets and is highly radioactive which has killed most of the Guardians race and affected the Colonists crops. The Doctor persuades the Guardian to destroy the weapon as if the Master took possession of it the consequences would be dire. The Master manages to escape in the Tardis as war erupts again between the two rival parties.

059 - The Daemons (5 episodes)
The Doctor sees coverage of an archaeological dig near the village of Devil's End. He rushes there with Jo Grant. The Master is acting as the local Vicar and is using Black Magic to summon Azal, the last of a race called the Daemons who has a ship buried deep in the Barrow. A Unit helicopter approaches to assist but is cut off by a heat barrier that appears and isolates the village. It is revealed the Azal will appear three times, and on the final time decide whether to destroy the planet as a failed experiment or transfer power to another. The Master hopes to get the powers, but Azal offers them to the Doctor who declines them as he believes the human race should be able to decide their own fate and develop at their own pace. Azal attempts to kill the Doctor, but Jo offers to take his place which confuses Azal and forces him to self-destruct. The Master is captured by Unit and taken away for a trial due to his crimes against the Human Race.