Line #18 Recap/DoctorWhoS18E2Meglos


1	[[WMG:[[center:[-''[[Series/DoctorWho Doctor Who]]'' [[Recap/DoctorWho recap index]]\
2	'''Fourth Doctor Era'''\
3	'''Season 18:''' [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E1TheLeisureHive 1]] \| '''2''' \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E3FullCircle 3]] \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E4StateOfDecay 4]] \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate 5]] \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E6TheKeeperOfTraken 6]] \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E7Logopolis 7]]\
4	'''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E1DestinyOfTheDaleks <<< Season 17]]''' \| '''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E1Castrovalva Season 19 >>>]]''']]-]]]
5	!Meglos
6	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/meglos_5505.jpg]]
7	[[caption-width-right:350:Just... just look at the panic in Tom's eyes, there...]]
8	->Written by John Flanagan and Andrew [=McCulloch=]\
9	Directed by Terence Dudley\
10	'''Production code:''' 5Q\
11	'''Air dates:''' 27 September - 18 October 1980\
12	'''Number of episodes:''' 4
13
14	->''"First things first, but not necessarily in that order."''
15	-->-- '''The Doctor'''
16
17	JustForFun/TheOneWith an evil cactus and trypophobia. Plus the return of a former companion, but not in the way you'd expect.
18	----
19
20	On the planet Tigella, life revolves around the Dodecahedron, a mysterious alien artifact which powers Tigellan civilization. Some Tigellans worship it as a gift from their god, while others consider it just an object to be scientifically studied. With tensions between the two groups running high, the Tigellan leader sends a message to the Doctor, who has visited Tigella once before, inviting him to come and arbitrate between them.
21
22	The message is intercepted by Meglos, the last survivor of the neighbouring planet Zolfa-Thura; the scientifically-advanced Zolfa-Thurans created the Dodecahedron shortly before wiping themselves out in a massive war. Meglos uses his technology to trap the TARDIS in a time loop and then to disguise himself as a double of the Doctor, and travels to Tigella himself. He manages to steal the Dodecahedron and is about to leave when the real Doctor, having escaped the time loop, arrives and is promptly accused of the theft. There is much confusion, and although it becomes clear that there are two Doctors roaming about, the fake Doctor manages to get away with the Dodecahedron. Meglos returns to Zolfa-Thura, where he plans to use the Dodecahedron to power a superweapon capable of destroying entire planets.
23
24	The Doctor and Romana follow, and the Doctor attempts to turn his trick against him by telling Meglos's hired henchmen that ''he'' is Meglos and that any other Doctor they see about the place is the real Doctor and should be locked up. This works long enough for him to mess around with Meglos's superweapon, and when it is fired it explodes, taking Meglos, his henchmen, and the planet of Zolfa-Thura with it.
25
26	Oh, and the Dodecahedron, leaving Tigellans of all ideological persuasions to work together to rebuild their civilization using some other power source.
27
28	The Doctor and Romana are all set to continue on to more adventures, at least until Romana suddenly receives a message from Gallifrey... [[{{Cliffhanger}} demanding her return]].
29
30	----
31	!!Tropes:
32	* AccentOnTheWrongSyllable: Grugger’s name was written with the intent that it would be pronounced like “cougar”, but the actors all pronounce it like “mugger”.
33	* BadBadActing: The solution to the time loop is to reenact the events being looped on purpose. Neither the Doctor nor Romana seem to care for delivery (and the Doctor can’t even remember what he said)
34	* BigBad: Meglos.
35	* CactusPerson: The villain is a cactus-like alien from a desert planet. His default form looks pretty much just like a cactus, without a face or much in the way of limbs. During the story, he uses technology to develop a humanoid form as a disguise; when the disguise is working properly he looks fully human, with smooth pink skin, but at several points the disguise glitches and his skin goes green with spikes sticking out of it.
36	* ChekhovsGun: Romana is attacked by killer plants. Not only does this separate her from the Doctor for most of the story, she leads Meglos's henchmen back to the plants, and uses them attacking as a distraction to escape.
37	* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Meglos anticipates his allies' betrayal, and establishes the ground rules straight off.
38	* FightingFromTheInside: Meglos kidnaps a mild-mannered, terrified human from 20th century Earth and possesses his body. Unfortunately for Meglos he proves to be tougher than he looks.
39	* GenreSavvy: Romana is attacked by killer plants, ''remembers this particular fact'', and leads some of Meglos's henchmen, knowing they'll end up distracted (if not ''dead''). She's right.
40	* GroundhogDayLoop: {{Defied\|Trope}}. The two Time Lords solve a time loop within 5 minutes before starting the adventure proper. But then, they are ''Time Lords'', it should be easy for them.
41	* HeroicBystander: George Morris (aka The Earthling) proves that despite his {{geek}}iness and NerdGlasses, that he's just a pinch TooSpicyForYogSothoth.
42	* HumanSacrifice: The Doctor is offered up to Ty — almost.
43	* ImpersonatingTheEvilTwin: The Doctor impersonates Meglos. Unfortunately, he does it just as the Gaztaks have [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder decided to betray]] Meglos anyway, so they just lock them both up.
44	* KickTheDog: Literally when the mercenary kicks K-9. According to the commentary, the actor, who was best known for playing hammy villains, added this business himself because he figured the fans would be expecting it.
45	* {{Leitmotif}}: The titular angry cactus is signalled by a vibraslap scream, with increasing distortion as he approaches VillainousBreakdown.
46	** This was used to cue the audience on when it's Meglos and not the Doctor.
47	* ManEatingPlant: The plants that attack Romana and later, Meglos's henchmen.
48	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Meglos
49	* OneWordTitle
50	* OurMonstersAreWeird: Meglos. A dangerous and psychotic alien DiabolicalMastermind, technocrat and shapeshifter, who accomplished all this despite being a sessile cactus with no discernable sensory organs.
51	* PinballProtagonist: The Doctor spends much of the first half of the story trapped in a GroundhogDayLoop, then immediately gets arrested when he arrives at Tigella, before largely spending the third episode held captive and protesting his innocence. It's not until the final episode that he finally does anything, namely reprogramming Meglos' weapon to backfire and destroy Zolfa-Thura. Though this can be partly chalked up to RealLifeWritesThePlot, as the logistics of having Tom Baker play both the Doctor and Meglos meant giving the former a more limited role than usual.
52	* PlantAliens: The titular Meglos, an evil shapeshifting ''cactus'' who wanted to take over the universe. [[{{Pun}} What a prick]].
53	* PlayingPossum: One of the pirates.
54	* ProtagonistCentredMorality: The Doctor's decision to kill Meglos and the band of thieves he was working with (who didn't even know they were involved in a genocidal scheme up until the end) is never explained or even questioned. More alarmingly, the underground city leaders thank the Doctor for saving their planet from destruction and stopping the criminal who stole their power source, but never question whether it was really necessary to destroy the power source. They now have to evacuate untold cubic miles of powerless underground dwellings, set up new homes in a horrible writhing jungle, and somehow find the power to make it all work. Assuming this is even possible, it will be a long and difficult process in which many lives will no doubt be lost. The Doctor may have had no alternative to destroying the artefact, but we wouldn't know because the subject is never discussed at all.
55	* RecycledSoundtrack: The sound effect created for the approach of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E3ImageOfTheFendahl the Fendahl]] is re-used as background atmosphere for the Tigellan jungle, as well as effects used in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan The Daleks' Master Plan]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E4PlanetOfTheDaleks Planet of the Daleks]].
56	* SignificantAnagram: Brotadac is an anagram of "Bad Actor". The writers assumed that was who would be playing the role and were disappointed by the eventual choice of Frederick Treves (who they felt was actually a good actor)
57	* SingleBiomePlanet: Tigella is a jungle planet. Zolfa-Thura is a desert planet (although it has the excuse of having suffered a life-extinguishing catastrophe).
58	* TerminallyDependentSociety: The people of Tigella live in a city where everything is powered by a single alien artifact, which gets destroyed at the story's climax; although they're initially horrified by having to manage without it, it's presented as ultimately being an opportunity rather than a disaster.

Context Recap / DoctorWhoS18E2Meglos