The Seventh Doctor again visits Artaris, some two centuries after his last visit. Excelis has become an Orwellian military dictatorship, on the verge of societal destruction.
Grayvorn, now going by "Lord Vaughan Sutton", is the scientific advisor to the war-state of Artaris, which is at war with... well, the rest of the galaxy. He's stolen himself a new body and molded it into his old shape through sheer force of will. Seven hangs out with the local populace for a bit and gets to know the dictatorship, eventually realising that Grayvorn is building a Super-Soldier army. The soldiers are golems, entire legions of which can be animated using the souls of just a few people, And since the Relic is acting as a replacement for whatever afterlife is out there, the Relic is enabling Grayvorn's plans.
The Doctor saves the day by diving headfirst into the fake afterlife of the Relic, fetching the Mother Superior (whom Grayvorn had gotten rid of between bodies) and unleashing her on Grayvorn. Sadly, the end result has Artaris turning into a desolate wasteland — just as Grayvorn saw all those centuries ago.
Tropes:
- Continuity Nod: This is chronologically the first episode with the TARDIS interior of the TV movie.
- Downer Ending
- Mad Doctor
- Mad Scientist: Grayvorn/Sutton is now the embodiment of this trope.
- Motive Decay: After spending centuries rising to power vowing to prevent the desolate future he saw when Iris took him into the future by accident, Grayvorn causes this future rather than lose his chance at universal power.
- Really 700 Years Old: Grayvorn is technically 1200 years old, even though the body he inhabits is not.
- Self-Deprecation: Seven says never to trust a scientific advisor.
- Shout-Out: A few to Nineteen Eighty-Four and Fahrenheit451.
- Super-Soldier: Vaughn Sutton is producing genetically modified soldiers who are little more than animals.
- Took a Level in Badass: Grayvorn has become a very different man from the Conan the Barbarian-style warlord he started out as.
