Line #98 Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho169TheWrongDoctors


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wrong_doctors.jpg]]
2
3	[[JustForFun/TheOneWith The one]] where we see [[CharacterDevelopment how far]] the Sixth Doctor’s come.
4
5	The Sixth Doctor is lamenting the departure of [[CoolOldLady Evelyn]] [[NoodleIncident Smythe]], as he's eating the last piece of [[SweetTooth chocolate cake]] she'd baked him. As he's feeling blue, he decides to pick up [[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E3TerrorOfTheVervoids Melanie Bush]], someone he knows [[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E4TheUltimateFoe he'll travel]] / [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble have travelled with]] [[TimeyWimeyBall (but hasn't yet)]] and [[Film/AustinPowers oh dear I seem to have gone crosseyed]].
6
7	As the TARDIS [[SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound vwoarps]] in, the Sixth Doctor steps out, and... so does Mel? Ah, of course. Fresh out of his [[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E1TheMysteriousPlanet trial]] the Sixth Doctor took Mel along to bring her back where she would first meet his future self. Hushing her when she mentions [[TimeParadox where that will happen]]. The young Doctor, satisfied, walks off and suddenly notices something very, very wrong. A black truck cab, crushed, driver included.
8
9	As he rushes off, Melanie realizes her pet cat is still alive. [[OhCrap But he was dead]] when she left with the Doctor. Then the Doctor is back at the front door. But he's the older Doctor, who then after a chat realizes that [[TimeyWimeyBall the Doctor]] that meets up with her is older ''still''. The younger Doctor gets knocked off his feet by a [[HaveWeMetYet younger Mel Bush]] who doesn't recognize him... [[FailedASpotCheck and doesn't see the crashed truck behind him]]. As she drives off, making fun of the [[IWasQuiteAFashionVictim coat]], he's beset upon by an old lady, who ''also'' doesn't see the crashed truck. In fact, [[InvisibleToNormals what truck?]] Young Melanie goes to her theatre, where [[ObviouslyEvil Stapleton Petherbridge]] and Jedediah are discussing unsavoury things. Including a BankRobbery.
10
11	The younger Doctor meets up with younger Mel at her job at the Air Traffic Control radar station, and notices a lot of radar equipment for a simple ATC station. But they're not scanning for aeroplanes, it's looking for something way up high. And the echo? Oh that's nothing to worry about, Mel says, it's just the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Time Explosion]]. [[SarcasmMode Perfectly normal]]. This sets the Doctor off to investigate.
12
13	As the older Doctor sees the younger Doctor, he runs to stop him from interfering, and winds up in a snare. The younger Doctor scoffs at the older Doctor, wondering why he didn't see what was ''obviously'' there. After some [[IHatePastMe bickering]] the Sixth Doctor and, uhhh, the Sixth Doctor trace their steps back to their respective [=TARDISes=] only to find them... [[OhCrap gone?]] Meanwhile, Mel is with Mrs. Wilberforce, a friend of the family, when a loud noise alerts them to the backyard. There, they are eye to eye with an ''Iguanadon''. A herbivore. That's good. And a Baryonyx. A carnivore. That's bad. As they run off, Jedediah beckons them into an open building, and barricades the door.
14
15	As the younger Doctor distracts the Baryonyx with a whistle, it starts coming for him. [[DidntThinkThisThrough Oh dear]]. The older Doctor meets up with the younger Mel, [[TimeyWimeyBall for the first time]] and he finds out what his younger self had already found out. It turns out that everybody in Pease Pottage is [[FishOutOfTemporalWater time displaced]], explaining the dinosaurs and why nobody batted an eyelid at why Mel suddenly looks older. Oh, and an alien invasion force has just arrived. The Doctors reunite and hold a quick conference - the younger Doctor and Mel A (the older Mel) go and stop the AlienInvasion, the older Doctor and Mel B (thereafter dubbed "Mini-Mel" because things are confusing enough already) go and confront Mr. [[BigBad Petherbridge]].
16
17	The younger Doctor manages to [[BavarianFireDrill convince the alien Mardacks he's an]] assessor from their MegaCorp and blags his way into the ship while sending the older Mel back into the village. The older Doctor manages to discover that everything leads back to... Mel. He ushers her out of the radar hut, and goes to confront Petherbridge. Petherbridge turns out to be a [[HumanoidAbomination a being who came into existence due to the Time Vortex]], attracted to Mel because Mel's [[TimeyWimeyBall travels with the Doctor are so messed up]]. At the same time, the young Doctor on the Mardack vessel [[StuffBlowingUp is due to blow up]], which [[GrandfatherParadox can't be good]]. Petherbridge takes people from their times and promises them their heart's desire. Lost loves, freedom, riches. And he's getting away with everything!...
18
19	...If [[ItMakesSenseInContext Mel hadn't knocked herself out]]. The younger Doctor discovers that the Mardacks are the cause of it all: their [[{{Unobtanium}} Phalanxium]] ages ''backwards'', creating temporal ripples. And it's akin to 300 tons of gunpowder. [[LikeAWeasel And Petherbridge tries to strike up a bargain with them]]. [[WeHaveReserves The Mardack leader]] considers leaving 25 of her men behind in order to obtain a square mile of Earth, where 2 million years of human evolution can be used as slave labour. The older Doctor suddenly remembers where his younger's TARDIS is... And ''Petherbridge''!
20
21	It's too late though, the Phalanxium has gone unstable, and guess who's fault that was? He snaps a Mardack's neck, and is about to blow everybody to kingdom come!... [[BigDamnHeroes If the older Doctor]] hadn't fished him out of his time and place into his "radar shack", which isn't really an Air Traffic Control station, but an ''Alternate Timeline'' Control station!. The Doctor tries to put Petherbridge back into his regular time, but Petherbridge starts tearing the Doctor's timeline apart, killing him. But wait! Mel the younger shows up, and [[TakeAThirdOption unravels everything for Petherbridge]] and sticks him in a loop where he dies, [[FateWorseThanDeath and lives, and dies, and lives, and dies]]... [[HeroicSacrifice But it burned out Mel's mind]]. She dies in the older Doctor's arms. [[RetCon He promises to one day again wear the coat the younger Doctor wore]] because she liked it so. She [[ImColdSoCold feels cold]]...
22
23	The Doctor meets up with the Doctor, and Mel the older, who still exists due to the [[PocketDimension Time Pocket]] existing out of normal time. The older Doctor says he's dropped off younger Mel in the village. The younger Doctor and Mel A say their goodbyes to the older Doctor.
24
25	[[EurekaMoment But wait]]!! The Doctor realizes that Mel can't have died... The [[CallBack Blinovitch Limitation Effect]]! She must ''merely'' be erased from time! The Doctor runs to the radar room, but realizes he can't do this because he hasn't [[HaveWeMetYet met her yet]]! But who can? Wait, doesn't the Doctor have a [[SapientShip sentient]] TimeMachine? The Doctor dashes into the TARDIS and reassembles Mel, who's put back into her normal time, doesn't remember a thing that happened, [[HappyEnding and the Doctor muses about how he'll love to travel with her, one day.]]
26	----
27	!!Tropes
28	* ActorAllusion: Mel, who's [[InformedAbility actually a programmer]], is first encountered in a panto rehearsal. Actress Creator/BonnieLangford was actually a stage actress before she joined ''Series/DoctorWho''.
29	* AnachronismStew: The Pease Pottage of the story has become one, with people from different time eras and even dinosaurs.
30	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Mardacks, an alien species [[PlanetOfHats dedicated to the worst occupation in the universe]].
31	-->'''Mel A:''' What are they? Robbers? Arms dealers? ''Pirates''?\
32	'''The Younger Doctor:''' Worse. [[EvilLawyerJoke Business consultants]].
33	* BavarianFireDrill: The younger Doctor pulls one on the Mardacks, who think he's a member of Homecorp.
34	* BewareTheNiceOnes: The older Doctor expresses this opinion on Mel when she one-hit-[=KOes=] ... herself.
35	** Who could have thought [[spoiler:the younger Mel]] would have it in her to [[spoiler:trap Petherbridge in a cul-de-sac of death]]?
36	* CallBack: When the Doctor thinks he's crossed his own time stream, he mentions it's not a version with [[Creator/TomBaker scarves]], [[Creator/JonPertwee frills]], or [[Creator/PeterDavison celery]] but rather [[Creator/ColinBaker him]] [[ShapedLikeItself him]].
37	** The Doctor mentions he thought Mel was [[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E3TerrorOfTheVervoids an exercise fan]].
38	** Petherbridge mentions [[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E5TheTimeMonster Chronovores]], [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho016StormWarning Vortisaurs]] and the [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoTLSFDBE1TheFoeFromTheFuture Pantophagen]], all several kinds of ClockRoaches.
39	** The younger Doctor asks why the older Doctor is wearing [[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E6RevelationOfTheDaleks Necros mourning colours]].
40	* CallForward:
41	** For the younger Doctor anyway, the older Doctor suggests he studies a bit of history and go visit [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho006TheMarianConspiracy Sheffield Hallam University]].
42	** The younger Doctor refuses to listen when Mel tells him he should drop her back to where she was taken from, [[Literature/PastDoctorAdventures Oxyveguramosa]][[note]] In the novel ''Business Unusual'', in other words[[/note]], not Pease Pottage. Maybe if he'd listened to her and not ''insisted'' on returning to Pease Pottage...
43	* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: The older Doctor is wearing his blue coat, and his younger self the patchwork one. Given that this is an audio adventure, this isn't as helpful as you might think, but they do make sure to call the Doctor "Indigo Jones" or ask if he's auditioning for ''Joseph'' every so often to make it a bit easier.
44	* ContinuityNod: The Doctor mentions having met Mel at his [[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E1TheMysteriousPlanet trial]].
45	** The younger Doctor uses K9's sub-sonic dog whistle.
46	** The older Doctor mentions the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E1DayOfTheDaleks Blinovitch]] effect.
47	* ContinuitySnarl:
48	** It just wouldn't be Mel without adding some ''more'' ContinuitySnarl. Mel says she's ''supposed'' to meet the Doctor on [[Literature/PastDoctorAdventures Oxyveguramosa]], in the novel ''Business Unusual''. Which is the middle part of a trilogy - ''Business Unusual'' features [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho009TheSpectreOfLanyonMoor an entirely different first meeting between Six and the Brig]], and the third, ''Instruments of Darkness'', [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho073ThickerThanWater an entirely different meeting between Evelyn and Mel.]]
49	*** That said, the timelines are reconcilable, if fans assume that ''Business Unusual'' told of Six and the Brig's first meeting from the perspective of the ''Brigadier'', while ''Spectre'' features their first meeting in that incarnation as far as ''the Doctor'' is concerned (although the Evelyn and Mel paradox relies on someone losing their memory for both stories to work).
50	* CharacterDevelopment: The younger Doctor is described by Mel as a lot more bolshy. The older one tells her (or one her) that it's because he's "learned to ask nicely. Most of the time" since then. He doesn't elucidate, but we know it's because of Evelyn.
51	* ChekhovsGun: The Doctor mentioning [[spoiler: The Blinovitch Limitation effect]].
52	* ChronicBackStabbingDisorder: Nobody should trust Petherbridge.
53	* ChronicHeroSyndrome: The younger Doctor has a quick SherlockScan of the area and suddenly realizes something is very, very wrong. He lampshades this as he dashes into what can only be danger.
54	-->'''The Younger Doctor:''' Note to self -- never, ever drive a taxi.
55	* ClockRoaches: The time pocket is fragile and falling apart in the end, allowing some to creep closer to the Doctor.
56	* DemonicPossession: Stapleton Petherbridge, who died in 1812, is being possessed by a "Time Demon".
57	* DoNotGoGentle: Petherbridge shouts this as the Doctor as he is dying. [[spoiler: Young Mel doesn't either, as she forces Petherbridge to his fate.]]
58	* EurekaMoment
59	* EverythingFades
60	* EvilTwin / EvilKnockoff: The younger Doctor briefly thinks the older Doctor is this, mostly because of the mourning colours, and inability to remember certain things. He changes his tune rather dramatically after a bit of telepathy.
61	* FailedASpotCheck: The Doctor thinks Mel the younger has this when she can't see the wrecked truck.
62	* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Mel, [[spoiler: and everybody else in the story]].
63	* GrandfatherParadox: [[spoiler: The younger Doctor is about to die, causing the older Doctor to become a target for the ClockRoaches]].
64	* GroundHogDayLoop / FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler: Petherbridge's final fate is to die and die again in random places]].
65	* HaveWeMetYet: There's two [[Creator/ColinBaker Sixth Doctors]] with two different Melanie Bushes in this story, one who hasn't met the Doctor yet and one who's already travelled with him extensively.
66	** [[spoiler: Later several of Petherbridge's flunkies are just cut and pasted from a random part in their respective timeline, not knowing when and where they are]].
67	* [[HenpeckedHusband Henpecked]] PlatonicLifePartners: The older Doctor says to Mel at their departure that if anybody can make him (his younger self) listen, it's her.
68	* HumanAlien: The Mardacks are basically purple humanoids. They used to be grey, but bio-engineered themselves to a colour they thought would be more appealing. [[invoked]][[FashionVictimVillain The fact they they shouldn't wear beige suits with this doesn't occur to them, incidentally]].
69	* IHatePastMe: The older Sixth Doctor has undergone quite a bit of CharacterDevelopment, especially after the time he has spent with Evelyn, and as result he has become quite a bit more mellow and down to earth person as a result. He therefore quickly finds the younger and more brash and pompous Sixth Doctor pretty annoying.
70	* InsistentTerminology: The Mardacks speak entirely in corporate bullshit-speak. They're not "slaves", they're "[[ExpospeakGag non-voluntary microbudget fuctionary stakeholders.]]"
71	* TheInspectorIsComing: What Vaneesh thinks is happening with the Doctor. [[spoiler:The pilot Kallak turns out to be the real assessor.]]
72	* InsufferableGenius: Six. Both of him.
73	* InvisibleToNormals: The Mardacks [[spoiler: can't see Mel]].
74	* IronicNurseryTune: Both Mels begin singing different versions of "Pease Pottage Hot" as the Doctor's time runs out, with the time mentioned at the end getting shorter each time, till finally they're singing of it being 5 seconds old.
75	* MeetYourEarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The older, calmer and wiser (if no less prone to righteous indignation) Creator/BigFinish Sixth Doctor meets his brash, aggressively alliterative and just plain ''aggressive'' younger television self.
76	* MegaCorp: The Mardacks have this as their hat.
77	* NeverTheSelvesShallMeet: SubvertedTrope, The older Doctor meets up with the younger Doctor.
78	** This is later enforced with the two Mels, [[spoiler:after Mel nearly ends up erasing herself from the timelines by punching her younger self]].
79	* OlderThanTheyLook: The people from Pease Pottage. [[spoiler: Because they've been plucked out of time]].
80	* PhlebotinumAnalogy: Several.
81	* PhotographicMemory: Mel has this. And it's far more than an InformedAbility in this story. She even mentions that when she was eight she memorised 150 dinosaurs.
82	* PocketDimension: Peas Pottage is stuck in its own little bubble of "cauterised time", according to the Doctors.
83	* PsychicPowers: The older Doctor does this with the younger Doctor to prove his identity.
84	* {{Pun}}: Both the Doctor and Petherbridge launch a few at each other. [[ContinuityNod Amusingly]] the Technicolour Dreamcoat Doctor (who [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness loved wordplay and alliteration]]) does this much more than the older, calmer Indigo Jones Doctor.
85	* TheReveal: This story finally explains why the Doctor was wearing his patchwork multi-colour coat when he travelled with Mel again, instead of his nice blue one.
86	* SanDimasTime: A very odd version of this trope, and one that actually makes sense. Because everything is happening in a pocket of cauterized time, the older Doctor only remembers what happens to the younger Doctor after it happens to him, because "what happens in cauterized time, stays in cauterized time". It also means there's very real possibility of his younger self dying.
87	* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: The Sixth Doctor and the Sixth Doctor.
88	* ShoutOut: Mel thinks [[IWasQuiteAFashionVictim Sixth's Doctor]]'s coat is for an audition of ''Theatre/JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat''.
89	** Mel calls the older Doctor [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inigo_Jones Indigo Jones]], and he keeps angrily correcting her with "It's ''Inigo'' Jones!"
90	** The younger Doctor names the two Mels Mel A (older) and Mel B (younger). The younger Mel asks what if [[Music/SpiceGirls another one shows up? Will she be Mel C?]], the Doctor stops this by saying: "[[TakeThat No! That can not be allowed to happen]]! After all, it's ten years too early for the Music/SpiceGirls." She later gets nicknamed [[Film/AustinPowers Mini-Mel]] instead.
91	** The Doctor namedrops Creator/HarryHoudini.
92	* SkewedPriorities: Vaneesh is more concerned with the Phalanxium and the money that can be made with it than the fact they need to get rid of it ''now'' or they'll all die.
93	* StableTimeLoop: The Mardacks are here due to detecting Phalanxium. However as it decays backwards they are actually the source of the Phalanxium they detect - it's the residue it left on their bodies.
94	* StuffBlowingUp: Phalanxium perforates the time vortex in order to bring things from location A to location B. But is highly volatile. The older Doctor lampshades this that this regeneration blows a lot of stuff up.
95	* TakeAThirdOption: Mini-Mel provides the older Doctor with one.
96	* TapOnTheHead: Mel knocks herself out. Not herself but ''herself'' mind. [[spoiler:In reality, that punch nearly causes a paradox that wipes her from the timelines]].
97	* TheEighties: The older Doctor calls Mel a child of the 80's, after she mentions she prefers his patchwork coat.
98	* TimeMaster: [[spoiler: Petherbridge]] and later [[spoiler: Mel Bush]].
99	* TimeParadox: Paradoxes are actually possible in the Pease Pottage cauterised time pocket, as they won't properly take effect until it's "punctured". Which means the younger Doctor has no guarantees of surviving even though he's teamed up with his older self.
100	* TimeyWimeyBall:
101	** The Sixth Doctor drops off Mel after not having met her yet, so that the Sixth Doctor who knows he still has to meet her comes back to collect her. Except he turns up at the wrong time. So you've got the "present", blue-coated Doctor, his past self in the colourful coat fresh from his trial, the Mel who arrived with him and is from ''both'' their futures, and the "local present" Mel, who's really a Past Mel that hasn't met any Doctor yet to the other three.
102	** The nature of cauterized time means that the older Doctor only remembers what happens to the younger Doctor when it happens to him.
103	* TitleDrop:
104	-->'''Mel:''' You're the wrong Doctors in the wrong place at the the wrong time!\
105	'''The Doctors:''' Story of our lives.
106	* TwinThreesomeFantasy: When [[spoiler: Mel A walks in on the younger Mel B/Mini-Mel making out with Jed]] he says, "Has Christmas come early?"
107	* TookALevelInKindness: The Mels point out the difference in the two Doctors - the older Doctor is much kinder thanks to Evelyn
108	* {{Unobtanium}}: Phalanxium, an element that creates instant teleportation through the time vortex, but due to being chronically unstable (in the most literal sense) it decays ''backwards''.
109	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: There's ''[[spoiler: dinosaurs]]'' about. This only warrants a "Oh they wreak havoc on the rhododendrons!" from Mrs. Wilberforce, though considering the temporal manipulation going on she's seen enough of them for the shock to wear off.
110	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: In-universe: Petherbridge [[spoiler: feeds upon]] this.
111	* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]], both the Mardacks and Petherbridge try to have the Doctor shot the moment they confront him.
112	** Also subverted when the Mardacks try to stop Petherbridge. Unfortunately for them, [[ImmuneToBullets he's immune to laser blasts]]. Ironically, he's defeated almost immediately after being shot anyways.

Context Recap / BigFinishDoctorWho169TheWrongDoctors