History Recap / DoctorWhoS21E3Frontios

'''Production code:''' 6N

Written by Creator/ChristopherHBidmead. This four-episode serial first aired January 16--February 3, 1984.

->'''Range:''' ''Systems that could rebuild a civilization for us. Failure-proof technology.''
->'''The Doctor:''' ''What happened to it all?''
->'''Range:''' ''[[FailsafeFailure It failed]].''

The one where the Doctor gets stuck with a coat rack.

* HumansThroughAlienEyes: Apparently we're quite pathetic compared to Trions. Says Turlough. And Tractators. Says the Gravis.

* IWasNeverHere: And he means it literally.

* BriarPatching: The resolution of the story - the Doctor persuades the Gravis to use his powers to reconstruct the fragmented TARDIS around himself... which cuts off his telepathic link with the other Tractators.

Written by Creator/ChristopherHBidmead. This serial first aired January 16-February 3, 1984.

* CompanionCube: Rather puzzlingly, the hatstand that's been just standing in the background of the [=TARDIS=] gets a huge spotlight in this story. From the start, the Doctor suddenly acts irritated at its presence and asks Tegan and Turlough if they want to get rid of it. Later, when the [=TARDIS=] is seemingly destroyed, the hatstand is the only thing left from it and Turlough proceeds to use it as an ImprovisedWeapon against an angry mob. At the end, the Doctor repays the Frontosians' kindness... by gifting the hatstand to them. All in all, by some regards the thing was given a more emotional sendoff than the ''Sonic Screwdriver''!

The Doctor, as usual easily talked out of disregarding Time Lord rules about not interfering, tries to help out. The locals, also in the usual way, treat the Doctor as a threat rather than a helper, but Turlough saves him by waving a hatstand in a threatening manner. Then it turns out the problem is giant insect aliens that used to attack Turlough's people too, and he has a prolonged fit of [[ChewingTheScenery scenery chewing]]. Eventually our heroes, together with the more reasonable Frontios-humans, fight the Tractators by [[BriarPatching outwitting]] their only articulate, thinking member, the Gravis. So that's all right. And they'll all get a nice break next, [[BlatantLies promise]].

The Doctor, as usual easily talked out of disregarding Time Lord rules about not interfering, tries to help out. The locals, also in the usual way, treat the Doctor as a threat not a helper, but Turlough saves him by waving a hatstand in a threatening manner. Then it turns out the problem is giant insect aliens that used to attack Turlough's people too, and he has a prolonged fit of [[ChewingTheScenery scenery chewing]]. Eventually our heroes, together with the more reasonable Frontios-humans, fight the Tractators by [[BriarPatching outwitting]] their only articulate, thinking member, the Gravis. So that's all right. And they'll all get a nice break next, [[BlatantLies promise]].

->'''Range:''' ''It failed.''

* AllThereInTheScript: Two of the colonists are called Kernighan and Ritchie, but the scene containing the dialogue establishing this was cut.

* BigCreepyCrawlies: The Tractators

* ColonyDrop: The meteor showers engineered by the Tractators

* PluckyGirl: Norna

The Doctor, as usual easily talked out of disregarding Time Lord rules about not interfering, tries to help out. The locals, also in the usual way, treat the Doctor as a threat not a helper, but Turlough saves him by waving a hatstand in a threatening manner. Then it turns out the problem is giant insect aliens that used to attack Turlough's people too, and he has prolonged fit of [[ChewingTheScenery scenery chewing]]. Eventually our heroes, together with the more reasonable Frontios-humans, fight the Tractators by [[BriarPatching outwitting]] their only articulate, thinking member, the Gravis. So that's all right. And they'll all get a nice break next, [[BlatantLies promise]].

* AllThereInTheManual: In the novelisation, two of the colonists are called Kernighan and Ritchie. They are named for Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie, well known in the computer world for writing the definitive guide to the C programming language.