History Recap / DoctorWhoS18E4StateOfDecay

'''Production code:''' 5P

Written by Creator/TerranceDicks. This four-episode serial first aired from November 22 to December 13, 1980.

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: "And certain 'erbs". Creator/TomBaker slips out of his BBC English accent for a second and his scouse accent comes through.

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: "And certain 'erbs". Creator/TomBaker slips out of his BBC English accent for a second.

* WeHaveReserves: Aukon's attitute to his guards.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

The one where the Doctor stabs someone with a rocket.

* ClassicalMovieVampire: The Doctor meets vampires who play the stereotype straight, though a more medieval version (fitting the setting) and without the accents.

* AlienBlood: The Doctor's blood is blue, though in all other stories before and since it's been red. The shot was supposed to be replaced, but time ran out and the shot remains in.

* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Both averted and played straight — one of the guards recognises that the man claiming to be a guard is, in fact, a known deserter. But the other doesn't... and falls for "the old prisoner trick".

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The topic of "The Wasting" comes up several times during the first episode as something the peasants dread and will not discuss. It seems significant, but once episode one ends, it's never mentioned again. This is apparently a hangover from a much earlier draft of the script.

* FeudalFuture / MedievalStasis: Enforced by the Three Who Rule.

* NoImmortalInertia: Aukon, Camilla and Zargo crumble to dust when the Great Vampire is destroyed.

* ShoutOut: The "Making Of" featurette on the DVD is titled "Film/TheVampireLovers." In the interviews, various crewmembers point out that the style of the story is a lot closer to Film/HammerHorror than it is to ''Literature/{{Dracula}}''.
* ShoutOutToShakespeare: The Doctor quotes ''Theatre/HenryV'' to inspire the rebels:
-->Lack of weapons. No experience. Odds almost insurmountable. But! He who outlives this day and comes safe home shall stand a-tiptoe when this day is named and rouse him at the name of E-space!

* CharacterCheck: After several serials of the Doctor's characterisation being unusually dark, grumpy and {{Chessmaster}}ly, this story returns him to the witty and capricious mode he'd been in for the previous three seasons -- but the story itself is written with all the characteristic tropes of his ''first'' three seasons, being a GothicHorror {{Pastiche}} about weakened ancient godlike beings attempting to regain power.

Written by Creator/TerranceDicks. This serial first aired November 22-December 13, 1980.

Creator/TerranceDicks had originally proposed this story several years earlier, for the slot that ended up going to "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E1HorrorOfFangRock Horror of Fang Rock]]"; it was turned down at the time because the BBC was about to air ''Film/CountDracula1977'', and they didn't want anybody to think ''Series/DoctorWho'' was taking the mickey.

* AlienBlood: The Doctor's blood is blue, though in all other episodes before and since it's been red. The shot was supposed to be replaced, but time ran out and the shot remains in.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Camilla is a pretty obvious LesbianVampire and molests Romana. She also describes Adric (who's around fourteen to sixteen years old) as a "handsome child" in a tone reminiscent of an older woman out to "make a man" of an innocent young boy.
** When Camilla says to Romana, "There are compensations," the look on her face clearly says, "like jumping your bones."

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: The Great One being ImpaledWithExtremePredjudice by the Doctor, causing the Three Who Rule to wither away and die.

Creator/TerranceDicks had originally proposed this story several years earlier, for the slot that ended up going to "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E1HorrorOfFangRock Horror of Fang Rock]]"; it was turned down at the time because the BBC was about to air a big-budget adaptation of ''{{Dracula}}'', and they didn't want anybody to think ''Series/DoctorWho'' was taking the mickey.