Line #31 Recap/DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate


1	[[WMG:[[center:[-''[[Series/DoctorWho Doctor Who]]'' [[Recap/DoctorWho recap index]]\
2	'''Fourth Doctor Era'''\
3	'''Season 18:''' [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E1TheLeisureHive 1]] \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E2Meglos 2]] \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E3FullCircle 3]] \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E4StateOfDecay 4]] \| '''5''' \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E6TheKeeperOfTraken 6]] \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E7Logopolis 7]]\
4	'''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E1DestinyOfTheDaleks <<< Season 17]]''' \| '''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E1Castrovalva Season 19 >>>]]''']]-]]]
5	!Warriors' Gate
6	[[quoteright:345:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gate_2500.jpg]]
7	[[caption-width-right:345:[[Theatre/OurTown Here's some scenery, for those that think they need scenery.]]]]
8	->Written by Steve Gallagher\
9	Directed by Paul Joyce\
10	'''Production code:''' 5S\
11	'''Air dates:''' 3 - 24 January 1981\
12	'''Number of episodes:''' 4
13
14	->''"One good solid hope's worth a cart-load of certainties."''
15	-->-- '''The Doctor'''
16
17	JustForFun/{{The one w\|ith}}here ''Doctor Who'' meets that one part in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]''.
18	----
19
20	The Doctor, Romana, K-9 and Adric are still stuck in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E3FullCircle E-Space]]. While they're trying to figure out a way back into N-Space (our universe), the TARDIS is hijacked by a lion-headed {{Humanoid Alien\|s}} that walks in through the TARDIS doors ''while the TARDIS is still in flight''. The alien brings the TARDIS to land, announces that his name is Biroc and that they should not trust the people they are about to meet, and departs as mysteriously as he came. His arrival also blows up K-9. Again.
21
22	Our heroes find themselves in a BlankWhiteVoid, empty except for the TARDIS, a stranded spaceship (whose crew, led by Captain Rorvik, are indeed untrustworthy, as they are slavers who trade in Biroc's race, the Tharils, for use as time-space navigation devices), and an incongruous ruined stone building.
23
24	Many confusing things happen. And Adric flips coins a lot.
25
26	It turns out that the void is some kind of {{pocket dimension}} that is on (or, perhaps, somehow ''is'') the boundary between N-Space and E-Space. When they eventually find the way out, consequently, our heroes are able to choose which way out to go. The Doctor and Adric return to N-Space in the TARDIS, while Romana decides to return to E-Space and help Biroc in his continuing quest to free his people. The Doctor entrusts K-9 to Romana's care, allowing her to build a new TARDIS to travel E-Space and find all the worlds in which Tharils are being held prisoner.
27
28	----
29	!!Tropes
30	* AdaptationalExplanation:
31	** The novelisation shows how the Privateer came to be damaged; it was attacked by an [[SpacePolice anti-slaver patrol pilot]] who was [[CowboyCop secretly]] aiming his energy torpedoes so the detonation would [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident overload the lightspeed drive]], destroying the slaver when it tries a HyperspeedEscape. He's at too far a range however and the near-miss only cripples it; when the privateer attempts a BlindJump to escape, they end up in their present predicament.
32	** Though the show has never come back to the plot thread, virtually every [[Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse Doctor Who Expanded Universe]] story has run with the idea that Romana eventually made her way out of E-Space and returned to Gallifrey, ultimately running for the title of Lady President (The novel ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresBloodHarvest Blood Harvest]]'' showed the Seventh Doctor having figured out how to travel to and from E-Space at his own leisure, while Big Finish's ''[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho050Zagreus Zagreus]]'' [[HandWave HandWaved]] it by saying Romana found a mirror that could facilitate travel back home, somehow). The closest the show has come to acknowledging it was ''"The Doctor Who Experience"'', a now-defunct museum and interactive experience in Cardiff, which featured a message from Romana recorded by Lalla Ward herself, claiming to be speaking from [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor "the final days of Gallifrey"]].
33	* AgeCut (InUniverse): The Doctor has a vision of a past where he's having a FancyDinner with the Tharils, and it's revealed the Tharils once used their powers to raid other worlds for plunder and slaves. Then axe-wielding {{Robot Soldier}}s burst through the doors and start slaughtering the Tharils; an axe slams down into the table in front of the Doctor, who suddenly finds himself at the same table in the present day, with axe and table covered in CobwebsOfDisuse. [[CliffHanger And surrounded by surprised and angry human slavers...]]
34	* AliceAllusion: When Biroc vanishes during a conversation with the Doctor, the Doctor states that he is gone again, which is "like talking to a Cheshire Cat". Also, the Doctor goes through a looking glass at one point.
35	* AlmostDeadGuy: "The secret to the gateway is... ''[thud]''"
36	* AnimatedArmour: The Gundan robots are designed to resemble decorative suits of armour when they're at rest (and are mistaken for such before their true nature is revealed).
37	* ArbitraryScepticism: Rorvik and his crew are convinced that Romana has to be a time-sensitive like the Tharils despite her explaining that her ship's navigation system operates on a different principle (to be fair, she ''is'' a time sensitive, but that has nothing to do with the TARDIS's ability to work).
38	* ArtImitatesArt: The Gate is '''exactly''' copied from the German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich's ''[[https://www.romantik-referat.de/malerei/kathedrale.html Klosterfriedhof im Schnee]]'' (''Monastery Graveyard in the Snow'').
39	* {{BFG}}: Adric holds off the slave traders with their own giant cannon, the MZ. "I don't know what these levers do...but it's pointing in ''your direction.''"
40	* BigBad: Captain Rorvik.
41	* BitingTheHandHumour: The privateer crew are, according to Creator/JohnNathanTurner, based on Stephen Gallagher's many tribulations while writing at Granada TV, and the poor work ethic he found there.
42	* BlankWhiteVoid: The entire N-space/E-space boundary.
43	* CassandraTruth: K9 keeps warning the slavers and anyone else in earshot that their pocket dimension is collapsing. However, due to his damaged state, his messages come across as gibberish. Only the Doctor realizes what he's trying to say.
44	* ChromosomeCasting: Romana is the only speaking female character in this story. A female Tharil and a slave woman are briefly seen.
45	* CobwebOfDisuse: The banquet hall and the suits of armour (which are actually the Gundan robots) are covered in cobwebs when the Doctor finds them. Particularly noticeable when he and Romana flash-forward in time from the past to the future; with the dinner table suddenly covered in cobwebs.
46	* DeadlyDodging: With a Gundan on either side of him, the Doctor bows down and awaits his fate. The Gundans obligingly whack each other with their axes.
47	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Some of the weirder parts of the story, for thematically-appropriate but difficult-to-summarize reasons.
48	* DeliciousDistraction: Rorvik is trying to brief his men on the very dangerous procedure they're about to carry out with the big laser cannon, but they're more interested in their lunch until their boss draws a gun on them.
49	* DistressedDude: All the Tharil prisoners we see are male.
50	* EnslavedElves: The Tharils have power over time itself, and are enslaved by Rorvik and his ilk.
51	* EvilIsHammy: Subverted; Rorvik has the required scenery-chewing villainy, but he's constantly undercut by his apathetic crew.
52	* ExpoSpeakGag: Rorvik’s crew have trouble communicating.
53	-->'''Packard''': Make safe the hatchway.
54	-->'''Crewmember''': What?
55	-->'''Packard''': Close the door.
56	--> door closes
57	-->'''Packard''': [[SuddenlyShouting AFTER I'VE GONE THROUGH!]]
58	--> door opens again, somewhat sheepishly
59	** And this scene, wherein K9 describes his current predicament.
60	--->'''K9:''' The accuracy of this unit has deteriorated below zero utility.
61	--->'''Adric:''' You mean you're worse than useless.
62	--->'''K9:''' Affirmative.
63	* FeudalFuture: The Tharils' empire in its heyday.
64	* FlatJoy: Aldo and Royce early in the first episode, establishing the general level of enthusiasm among Rorvik's crew.
65	* GalacticSuperpower: The Tharils who used to have an empire spanning many star systems. After a revolt, they were reduced to their current slavery.
66	* GravitySucks
67	* GreyAndGrayMorality: Between the Privateer crew and the Tharils. Rorvik and his crew have the air of [[PunchClockVillain ordinary people just doing their job]]. Of course, that job is ''slavers'', but as it turns out, the Tharils themselves were slavers of humans in the past.
68	* HandSignals: Romana tells Adric not to come out if she gives the danger signal...then mimes putting her hands up. She chooses to go with Rorvik and his men voluntarily but is still suspicious of them, so she makes a stretching gesture that includes the signal.
69	* HeWhoFightsMonsters: According to the backstory, when the Tharils' slaves overthrew their masters, they crushed them under their own heels.
70	* HoistByTheirOwnPetard: The slavers are killed when they attempt to blast open the exit passage with their engines, and the energy is reflected back on them. The only part about this that the Doctor and Romana object to is their slaves are still in the cargo hold. Once they help Biroc rescue them, they step back and let it happen.
71	* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Zigzagged, as the aliens they are enslaving did the same to others.
72	* HumanTraffickers: The VillainOfTheWeek is a crew of humans trafficking in a race of aliens called Tharils. For DramaticIrony, the [[EnslavedElves Tharils]] themselves once kept slaves, including humans.
73	* IChooseToStay: Romana, though this is her official departure on-screen, it is well-chronicled in the Expanded Universe that she eventually comes back and becomes Lady President of Gallifrey.
74	* InTheDoldrums: The titular setting of the serial. A subversion of sorts as doing nothing is the only way to ''get out.''
75	* KarmicDeath: Sagan electrocutes several Tharils to death, and is then himself electrocuted.
76	* KilledMidSentence: The Gundan is beheaded by his ally before he can reveal the secret of the gateway.
77	* KillerRobot: The Gundan robots. Built by those enslaved by the Tharils as a weapon that was unaffected by the time winds.
78	* KilroyWasHere: Written on a wall inside the spaceship. It's later mentioned that one of the crew actually is named Kilroy.
79	* KingOfBeasts: The leonine Tharils were once kings.
80	* LetsGetDangerous: Toward the midpoint of Episodes 3 and 4, the ragtag crew of the ''Privateer'' suddenly lose everything that made them funny and likable, and become incredibly cold and efficient.
81	* LikeFatherLikeSon: Or, rather, LikeDoctorLikeCompanion. Romana, having been influenced by her travels with the Doctor (and, like him, having no desire to ever ''stay'' on Gallifrey) decides she's going to get the hell out of dodge as quick as she can with the dog.
82	* MadeASlave: The Tharils had enslaved people in the past — "The weak enslave themselves" — and now are slaves themselves. The Doctor gives them an IronicEcho, and one concedes the justice, but they have suffered enough.
83	* MadeOfIndestructium: The hull of the slaver ship is made of dwarf star alloy to stop the Tharils from using their powers to escape. This dense matter causes the PocketDimension to [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard collapse in on itself]].
84	* MagicMirror: How the Tharils and the Doctor get out of the void.
85	* MatchCut: During the sequence where the Doctor is seeing the banquet hall at the height of its glory, there are several match cuts between that version of the hall and the run-down, cobweb-festooned ruin the rest of the characters are experiencing.
86	* MeaningfulName:
87	** The Tharils are ''thralls'' to the Privateer crew.
88	** Antonine Killer in the novelisation believes in living up to his name, aiming his shots so as to destroy the slaver vessels he's tasked with capturing.
89	* MindScrew: So, imagine you're in a cubby-hole you found behind a mirror, and that hole is in a different universe from the main room. Seriously, don't think about that too long, or [[YourHeadASplode you know what will happen]].
90	* MythologyGag: The blank white space between the worlds recalls the first episode of "The Mind Robber."
91	* OurGraphicsWillSuckInTheFuture: The privateer's computer shows the TARDIS as a rotating wireframe graphic. According to the DVD commentary, this wasn't even computer-generated; it was done by filming an actual wireframe model.
92	* OutOfFocus: Adric has little to do in this story, and is ordered to stay in the TARDIS during the climax of the final episode.
93	* PlaceBeyondTime: A strange creature forces its way into the TARDIS, steering it to a white void occupied only by the ruins of an old building and a spaceship. This empty space is a gateway to the past and future.
94	* PocketDimension: The is set inside an even smaller pocket dimension than E-Space — small enough to cross ''on foot'' — on the border between E-Space and N-Space.
95	* {{Pun}}: "You were the noblest Romana of them all." (Compare ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar'' V.v)
96	* PunchClockVillain: In the worst sense. The privateer slavers think nothing of using the Tharils as ballast. Once they figure out that Romana is "time-sensitive', [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman they immediately stop treating her like a sentient being]] and toss her into the clink, too.
97	* PutOnABus: Romana makes her last TV appearance; [[AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho Big Finish]] later revealed she found a way out of E-Space and wound up succeeding Flavia as president of Gallifrey.
98	* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: The reason for the Tharils' plight. An army of KillerRobot soldiers attacked them mid-feast.
99	* SheatheYourSword: Doing nothing (Tharils) vs. doing something (Rorvik) becomes an arc over the four episodes. In Rorvik's case, "doing something" resulted in the destruction of his ship and crew.
100	* ShiplessFasterThanLightTravel: The Tharils can travel through the space-time Vortex without needing a ship of any kind. An early scene has the Doctor and Romana being shocked when a Tharil casually walks into the TARDIS console room while they are in flight.
101	* ShoutOut:
102	** Aldo and Royce's interactions are reminiscent of ''Theatre/RosencrantzAndGuildensternAreDead''.
103	** The Doctor's parting words to Romana paraphrases ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar''.
104	--->''You were the noblest Romana of them all.''
105	* SlaveRace: The Tharils, but this wasn't always the case.
106	* SpaceTrucker: The privateer crew embody the spirit, if not the letter, or this trope.
107	* SpeedEchoes: Biroc, heading to and from the TARDIS, to indicate his movement through the time winds.
108	* StiffUpperLip: The Doctor's reply when Adric asks if Romana will be all right. "[[SuddenlyShouting ''All right?!'']] She'll be ''superb''." The little pause in between the two lines subtly shows the Doctor's absolute heartbreak.
109	* StuffBlowingUp: What happens when Rorvik tries to use the ship's exhaust blast against the mirror.
110	* SupernormalBindings: The shackles made from dwarf star alloy, used to prevent the enslaved Tharils slipping away into the timestream.
111	* ThoseTwoGuys: Aldo and Royce, the resident BumblingHenchmanDuo.
112	* TooDumbToLive: Rorvik ignores all advice and ends up crushing his ship into nothing.
113	* UsedFuture: The spaceship clearly comes from one, with the general rundown look and sparse paint.
114	* VillainousBreakdown: Rorvik when the Tharils prepare to rebel with the Doctor’s help. "I'm FINALLY GETTING SOMETHING DONE!"
115	* VisibleBoomMic: When Lane informs Packard of Romana's escape in part three, a boom microphone comes into shot right next to the MZ laser.
116	* VoidBetweenTheWorlds: The main setting. Complete with Gateway for the Doctor to return home.
117	* WeaponizedExhaust: Rorvik tries this to destroy the Gateway. It doesn't end well.
118	* WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: The Doctor eventually realises the way to defeat Rorvik is simply to give him enough rope to hang himself. More specifically, letting Rorvki carry out his stupid plan to try to escape the void, which ends up culminating in the death of him and his crew.

Context Recap / DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate