History Recap / DoctorWhoS16E4TheAndroidsOfTara

'''WARNING! THERE MAY BE UNMARKED SPOILERS!'''

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: "Gracht" is Dutch for "city canal" or "moat". The actors make a valiant attempt at pronouncing it, but only get the "a" and "t" right and noticably struggle with the "ch" throughout the story. (The "g", "r" and "ch" should actually ''all'' be guttural/rolling.) As later heard in "Arc Of Infinity" and "Vincent And The Doctor", this started a time-honoured tradition of no ''DoctorWho'' actor ever being able to pronounce Dutch. Of course, since the story takes place on another planet altogether, this comes with an easy HandWave here.

* RecycledInSpace: Based on ''ThePrisonerOfZenda''.

* YouLookFamiliar: The Archimandrite is Professor Clegg, the ill-fated psychic from the beginning of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E5PlanetOfTheSpiders Planet of the Spiders]]".

* YouLookFamiliar: The Archimandrite is Professor Clegg, the ill-fated psychic from the beginning of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E5PlanetOfTheSpiders Planet of the Spiders]].

* BilingualBonus/VisualPun: Dutch speakers will note that Grendel escapes by jumping into the gracht (moat) of castle Gracht.

The search for the [[CosmicKeystone Key to Time]] takes the Doctor and Romana to the planet Tara, where feudalism and chivalry have endured. They split up to search, and Romana finds the fourth segment a few minutes in -- it's part of a statue. However, she's promptly TrappedByMountainLions and captured by the villainous Count Grendel of Gracht, who thinks she's an android double of Prince Reynart's betrothed, Strella. The actual double was created for Grendel by his IgnoredEnamouredUnderling, Lamia. This way, Grendel is trying to usurp the throne, and will succeed if Reynart doesn't show up for his coronation. Which shouldn't be a problem, because Grendel has Reynart locked up and poisoned in his dungeon (as well as Strella).

The search for the [[CosmicKeystone Key to Time]] takes the Doctor and Romana to the planet Tara, where feudalism and chivalry have endured. They split up to search, and Romana finds the fourth segment a few minutes in -- it's part of a statue. However, she's promptly captured by the villainous Count Grendel of Gracht, who thinks she's an android double of Prince Reynart's betrothed, Strella. The actual double was created for Grendel by his IgnoredEnamouredUnderling, Lamia. This way, Grendel is trying to usurp the throne, and will succeed if Reynart doesn't show up for his coronation. Which shouldn't be a problem, because Grendel has Reynart locked up and poisoned in his dungeon (as well as Strella).

* TrappedByMountainLions: The "monster" (guy in a furry suit and bad mask) chasing Romana at the start of episode 1 serves no purpose to the plot and is never seen or mentioned again.

The search for the [[CosmicKeystone Key to Time]] takes the Doctor and Romana to the planet Tara, where feudalism and chivalry have endured. They split up to search, and Romana finds the fourth segment a few minutes on -- it's part of a statue. However, she's promptly captured by the villainous Count Grendel of Gracht, who thinks she's an android double of Prince Reynart's betrothed, Strella. The actual double was created for Grendel by his IgnoredEnamouredUnderling, Lamia. This way, Grendel is trying to usurp the throne, and will succeed if Reynart doesn't show up for his coronation. Which shouldn't be a problem, because Grendel has Reynart locked up and poisoned in his dungeon (as well as Strella).

Grendel, a little annoyed at this, commissions a Romana android to kill the Doctor, but K-9 sees her for what she is and saves the day, while Romana herself escapes. Finally, the Doctor rows across the moat to Grendel's castle and swipes the Key segment just before the Prince's men attack the castle, leading to the Doctor and Grendel having an absolutely magnificent SwordFight. It's ended by the latter diving into the moat and escaping.

* WTHCostumingDepartment: To quote the BBC's webpage for this episode, "The Archimandrite's hat has to be seen to be believed."

The search for the [[CosmicKeystone Key to Time]] takes the Doctor and Romana to the planet Tara, where feudalism and chivalry have endured. They split up to search, and Romana finds the fourth segment fairly quickly - it's part of a statue - but is promptly captured by the villainous Count Grendel of Gracht, who thinks she's an android double he's created of Prince Reynart's betrothed, Strella. He's trying to usurp the throne, and will succeed if Reynart doesn't show up for his coronation.

The Doctor, meanwhile, also gets captured, by Prince Reynart's men. He's taken off to the Prince's hunting lodge and made to repair the Prince's android double, used as a decoy. Grendel's men kidnap the Prince, but the Doctor is able to modify the decoy android so it can attend the coronation in his place.

Grendel, a little annoyed at this, commissions a Romana android to kill the Doctor, but K-9 sees her for what she is and saves the day, while Romana herself escapes. Finally, the Doctor rows across the moat to Grendel's castle and swipes the Key segment just before the Prince's men attack the castle, leading to the Doctor and Grendel having a swordfight, ended by the latter diving into the moat and escaping.

* AffablyEvil: Count Grendel

* HighDiveEscape: Count Grendel

* IdenticalStranger: Romana and Strella

* RecycledInSpace: Based on ''ThePrisonerOfZenda''

* StellarName: Princess Strella

* SwordFight: The Doctor vs. Count Grendel
* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Strella is working on an embroidery frame in her cell, and she and Romana are mildly discussing the work when the Doctor finds them.

* TrapIsTheOnlyOption: Lampshaded

* WholePlotReference: ''ThePrisonerOfZenda''

* WhatTheHellCostumingDepartment: To quote the BBC's webpage for this episode, "The Archimandrite's hat has to be seen to be believed."

* PrisonerOfZendaExit: Count Grendel

* GuiseWillBeGuise

* SwordFight

* YouLookFamiliar: The Archimandrate is the ill-fated psychic from the beginning of "Planet of the Spiders"

* ObviousTrap: Lampshaded

* MagnificentBastard: Count Grendel

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tara_6284.jpg
-->''Would you mind not standing on my chest? My hat's on fire."
--->-- '''The Doctor'''

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Several
* CrowningMomentOfFunny: "Good dog. Good dog."
** The ending shot of [[spoiler: poor K-9 stuck on the raft in the middle of the moat]] is guaranteeds to get a grin or two as well.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: The 'Taran Wood Beast' that menaces Romana at one point is notably awful, though one fan theory is that it's actually an in-story fake - an android for [[BigBad Count Grendel]] to rescue attractive women from.

--->'''The Doctor'''

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