Belasz: What are you doing here?
The Doctor: That’s a very difficult question. Why is everyone around here so preoccupied with metaphysics?
Glitz: I think she’s going to kill us, Doctor!
The Doctor: Ah! An existentialist!
The Doctor and Mel visit Iceworld, a waystation for space travellers on the inhospitable ice planet Svartos, where they run into old
friend acquaintance
Sabalom Glitz, who has come in search of a dragon that is rumoured to guard a treasure in the tunnels below Iceworld. They are joined on the quest by Ace, a young woman working as a waitress in one of Iceworld's eating establishments after being stranded on Svartos by a
Negative Space Wedgie.
Along the way, they cross paths with one of Iceworld's long-term inhabitants, a
Humanoid Alien named Kane who must live in sub-zero temperatures to survive, and who is also seeking the dragon's treasure for his own purposes.
The first episode ends with an infamous
Literal Cliffhanger, as the Doctor climbs past a safety railing and dangles himself over a precipice for no apparent reason. (The intention was that he'd found his way blocked by a rockfall — which isn't shown in the episode as aired — and was trying to reach a path that crossed the cliff face — which also isn't shown until Glitz helps him down onto it at the beginning of the following episode.)
At the end of the adventure, Mel — in a front-runner for the hotly-contested title of Most Arbitrary
Doctor Who Companion Departure Ever — decides to leave the TARDIS and travel with Glitz, and the Doctor offers Ace a lift home (via the "scenic route").
Tropes
