They call him The Pugilist.
It is the dawn of a new century and a vigilante is on the loose. The scourge of the criminal underclass. The saviour of the virtuous and the protector of the weak. The police are baffled, the public enamoured… but Professor George Litefoot and Henry Gordon Jago are on the case. Or at least they will be when they've finished their beer.
What is the source of The Pugilist's spectacular supernatural powers? Is he alone in his noble quest? And what is his connection to the spate of corpses discovered around London?
As they descend further into a nefarious netherworld, the infernal investigators may be out of their depth. They're going to need help if they're to get out of this alive. The help of an old friend and his new assistant. The help… of the Doctor and Romana.
The Justice of Jalxar contains examples of:
- Accidental Misnaming: Henry is furious that a local newspaper review of his show, while otherwise positive, names him as "Gordon Henry Jago". Litefoot says this is his own fault for having two first names.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The Jalxar is a fairly sophisticated (if single-minded) robotic policeman, but it needs to be connected to a living creature, using its organic morality to discern between right and wrong. If this is lost, it starts punishing anyone who feels guilt about literally anything (forgetting someone's birthday, missing a date etc) with death.
- Ambiguously Gay: Henry is quite overcome when he first lays eyes on Romana, but Professor Litefoot can't work out what's the matter with him, and is nothing but cordial and polite to Romana instead.
- Awesome Anachronistic Apparel: Thanks to Jalxar technology, The Pugilist has advanced body armour, an electro-shock weapon and motorized skates to fight crime in Victorian London.
- Bait-and-Switch: When the cabbie abandons Romana and Henry somewhere that a criminal can find them, they assume that the cabbie set them up to be robbed. It turns out that it was a set up, but it was actually for the criminal.
- Big Damn Heroes: The Doctor comes swooping in with his sonic screwdriver seconds before the Jalxar executes Romana and Henry.
- The Bus Came Back: Jago and Litefoot are reunited with the Fourth Doctor, a decade after "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" from their perspective and over 30 years in real life.
- Call-Back:
- The Doctor retrieves the same deerstalker cap he wore in "The Talons of Weng-Chiang", having spent some time searching for it in the TARDIS wardrobe.
- K9 isn't in this adventure, still deactivated after the last story, "War Against the Laan".
- Jago and Litefoot ask if The Doctor is still travelling with Leela, he tells them that she is "otherwise engaged".
- Clark Kenting: Bobby the cabbie wears a small mask and changes his hairdo, and nobody can recognize him as The Pugilist. Subverted as soon as Romana comes along.Romana: In his other persona, he'd simply done his hair a bit differently and put on some spectacles. Hardly the most impenetrable of disguises.
- Deadpan Snarker: Romana is truly on fine form in this story.Romana: Well, now, isn't this nice?Mary: Nice? It's the worst pub in London!Romana: Oh, I don't know. Some of the clientele seem almost genteel. I just saw a man over there remove his ring before punching another man in the face. It was most polite.
- Got Me Doing It: Litefoot (accidentally) and the Doctor (wholeheartedly) start picking up Jago's habit of peppering his sentences with Added Alliterative Appeal. Romana is not amused.
- Ice Queen: Harvey Marsh refers to Romana as this, and she plays up to it very well.Stone: Hand over your money.Romana: A common thief. How marvelous!
- Jumped at the Call: Though he and Henry haven't exactly been idle in the ten years since "Talons", George is ecstatic to be on another adventure with the Doctor.
- Older Than They Look:Litefoot: You look exactly the same as you did when we first met you. That business with Greel, over ten years ago!The Doctor: I do age remarkably well. I'm 758 tomorrow, can you believe it?Litefoot: Um...The Doctor: Well, you'd be wrong. I'm actually 760. Good skin, you see. Beetroot takes years off.
- Percussive Pickpocket: Mary's main contribution to Marsh's business practices.
- Phlebotinum-Induced Steampunk: The Jalxar was originally a fairly standard robot, but when its spaceship crash landed in Victorian England, it had to make do with materials of the time to repair itself with, resulting in a steam-powered robot policeman.
- Powered Armor: The Jalxar shares its technology with Bobby, giving him this so he can adopt his vigilante persona of "The Pugilist".
- Rollerblade Good: The Pugilist has motorized skates, allowing him to zip all around Victorian London much faster than any horse-drawn carriage.
- Taking the Bullet: Bobby throws himself in front of the Jalxar's weapons to protect Mary.
- Vigilante Man: The Pugilist and the Jalxar have no compunctions about brutally murdering criminals.
