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Doctor Who : Season 23
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Air date: 06 Sep '86 - 14 episodesThe Trial of a Time Lord is a 14-part British science fiction serial of the long-running BBC series Doctor Who. The serial, produced as the twenty-third season of the Doctor Who television series, aired in weekly episodes from 6 September to 6 December 1986. The only Doctor Who presentation of its kind, it contains four mini-adventures, The Mysterious Planet, Mindwarp, Terror of the Vervoids and ended with Colin Baker's final story The Ultimate Foe. The idea for the serial stemmed from several production changes to Doctor Who, such as reduced screen time for the season and a request from BBC controller Michael Grade that the series contain less violence and more humour. Several problems occurred during production, including the death of scriptwriter Robert Holmes, and the resignation of script editor Eric Saward.
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List of Episodes (14)
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Doctor Who (1963)
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1. The Mysterious Planet, Part One
06 Sep '86The Doctor is taken "out of time" by the Time Lords and made to face an enquiry into his meddling in the affairs of others, overseen by the Inquisitor. The prosecutor, the Valeyard, soon has the proceedings upgraded to a trial for the Doctor's life. Evidence takes the form of recordings of the Doctor's recent adventures, beginning with his visit to the mysterious world of Ravalox and an encounter with Andromedan space pirates...
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Doctor Who (1963)
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2. The Mysterious Planet, Part Two
13 Sep '86The Doctor finds that the subterranean UK Habitat is run by a cloistered robot named Drathro, whom the inhabitants call "The Immortal." Their black light energy converters are destabilizing, unaware that it's the result of two space pirates mucking about on the surface with designs on looting their dwelling.
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Doctor Who (1963)
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3. The Mysterious Planet, Part Three
20 Sep '86The Doctor escapes to rejoin Peri on the surface but shortly becomes the prisoner of a surface-dwelling tribe called The Free. Ravalox isn't Ravalox after all, but before the Doctor can learn much more an irresistible agent from UK Habitat comes to fetch him back.
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Doctor Who (1963)
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4. The Mysterious Planet, Part Four
27 Sep '86All those on Ravolox are in exponentially greater peril than anyone can comprehend. If anything in the entire universe is to survive, it may come down to the Doctor arguing against machine logic over the value of life.
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Doctor Who (1963)
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5. Mindwarp, Part One
04 Oct '86The Doctor's trial continues. The Valeyard's next piece of evidence for the prosecution concerns the Doctor's recent trip to Thoros Beta. Though originally investigating arms dealing, the Doctor and Peri become embroiled in their old enemy Sil's alarming neurological experiments...
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Doctor Who (1963)
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6. Mindwarp, Part Two
11 Oct '86Having been put through a makeshift truth extractor, the Doctor appears damaged, apt to mimic the personalities of those with whom he has eye contact. He eventually abandons Peri and a gung-ho warrior king in favor of joining in with Sil and Dr. Crozier in the latest of their perverse projects.
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Doctor Who (1963)
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7. Mindwarp, Part Three
18 Oct '86While the Doctor helps Dr. Crozier transfer Lord Kiv's brain into a new host skull, Peri accompanies King Yrcanos as he searches for the Alpha Resistance fighters whom he feels, most certainly, will follow him into glorious battle against the Mentors and the Doctor.
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Doctor Who (1963)
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8. Mindwarp, Part Four
25 Oct '86The first transfer is flawed, so Dr. Crozier needs to transfer Lord Kiv into another host body. Unfortunately, Peri meets all the requirements for the subsequent candidate. Since the Doctor's been helpful and has somewhat of a personal interest in Peri, he's permitted to locate an equally suitable substitute candidate, if he can. The prosecution rests.
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Doctor Who (1963)
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9. Terror of the Vervoids, Part One
01 Nov '86With the prosecution case concluded, the Doctor begins his defence, an adventure from his own future. Aboard the starliner Hyperion 3 in the year 2986, trouble is brewing. A murderer is aboard - and something very nasty's stirring in the hydroponics bay...
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Doctor Who (1963)
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10. Terror of the Vervoids, Part Two
08 Nov '86A lethal booby-trap in the Hydroponic Center awakens the genetically engineered fruit pods in storage, and passengers and crewmen alike start disappearing without trace. There's a murderer on board and the Doctor means to find out who he or she is.
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Doctor Who (1963)
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11. Terror of the Vervoids, Part Three
15 Nov '86A course change that takes the Hyperion III closer to a black hole could prove unwise when there are so many aboard ship with hidden agendas. Disappearances continue, a murderer remains at large, and one person finally crumbles under the strain of harboring a guilty secret.
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Doctor Who (1963)
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12. Terror of the Vervoids, Part Four
22 Nov '86With factions vying for control of the ship, the Vervoids are found to be responsible for the many disappearances. Only the Doctor sees the fundamental but missed point as to why they can't be reasoned with or why they can't be allowed to arrive on Earth.
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Doctor Who (1963)
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13. The Ultimate Foe, Part One
29 Nov '86With the Doctor now reluctantly admitting to genocide, things look bad. But the Doctor's nemesis, the Master, intervenes, and the real truth behind the trial comes to light - and with it, the shocking secret of the Valeyard's true identity...
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Doctor Who (1963)
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14. The Ultimate Foe, Part Two
06 Dec '86So much ado by the Valeyard and the Master over the Doctor's death makes the Doctor wary of being made decoy for some other, truer target. Continuing in the Matrix itself, he may find both them and the answers he seeks.
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