And is it really Charley!?
- And I Must Scream: The 15 Emperors of Draconia are kept alive but in conscious suspended animation in Tombs.
- Antagonistic Offspring: The Prince planned to murder his father the Emperor. However he died before he got there. Later he seems prepared to kill his mother.
- Call-Back:
- When "Charley" mentions having seen several of the Doctor's face, he quips back:
The Doctor: What, frock coats? Checkered trousers? Velvet jackets? Long scarf, Cricket gear, and me? That sort of thing?- Invoked somewhat, the working title of the previous episode was "Victory of the Daleks" and Mila (as Charley) can't believe they beat the Doctor.
- Dark Secret: The fate of the Deathless Emperors once they're sealed away in their tomb.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Apparently "Nobody" beats the Draconian Emperor at chess. The Doctor almost got executed for this. Also the Draconian Prince kills a guard for insolence, as in not talking to him.
- Empathic Environment: The walls in the Deathless Emperor's tomb react to memories, and drawings come to life.
- Establishing Character Moment: The Prince trying to murder the Emperor.
- The Evil Prince: The Draconian Prince, who kills someone for ignoring him.
- Fate Worse than Death: The Deathless Emperors.
- Feudal Future: Despite Draconia having had a space empire there are still nobles and peasants.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: The Queen is implied to have killed the King. She hasn't, but has sealed him in the Tomb.
- Gratuitous German: The Doctor uses the German for "Mute" to imply Charley should keep quiet most of the time.
- Lockdown: The planet Draconia was placed under Quarantine at the Doctor's advice.
- Heroic Sacrifice: The Captain plunges his sword into the generator, which stops the tombs dead in their tracks.
- Honor Before Reason: The Captain would rather stand and face an army of White Sazou golems rather than turn around, because they adhere to battle customs.
- Improvised Golems: The Deathless Emperors tombs have lifesized origami Sazou made out of origami paper.
- Mother Makes You King: What the Queen Mother is trying to do.
- The Nth Doctor: Part of the start of the story, with the Doctor having played Sazou (a form of Chess involving deception of character) on Draconia in his (according to the pictures inside) First incarnation.
- No Man of Woman Born: Mila (as Charley) employs this to bypass a superstition / curse which would doom "Any man who would break the seal".
- Offing the Offspring: The Queen Mother does this to the Prince, calling it a Mercy Kill.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Mila (as Charley) comes out of her dressing room with one. The Doctor subtly suggests she drops the gloves, bows, and ... well, nearly everything.
- The Plague: The Great Space Plague caused Draconia to be cut off.
- The Slow Path: The Emperor met the Doctor before, but 60 years before.
- Space "X": The Doctor claims he once saved Draconia of a "Space Plague", as well as Draconian Emperor tombs being in space.
- Sssssnake Talk: Well it features the Draconianssss.
- The Undead: The Deathless Emperors title is more than a title.
- Variant Chess: Sazou, which involves human sized pieces, whether actually Draconian or artificial and a stratagem that involves deception of character.
- The Walls Are Closing In: Parts of the tomb can fold in on themselves.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Forever kept in a body that can't die through artificial means, for the sake of their people.
- Wutai: Like "Frontier in Space" Draconian culture is largely based on feudal Japan.
