After falling out of the time bubble in Stockbridge, the Doctor and Nyssa find themselves catapulted through time and space. Well, maybe not so much space, as they wake up in the church of Stockbridge.
Hiding from the cold winter they meet Mrs. Withers in the Green Dragon Inn, who's sister to Alice who seems to be strangely unaware of the surroundings she finds herself in. As they depart, the weather suddenly turns to spring and all the snow is gone.
The Doctor and Nyssa quickly find out that the village might not be all it seems anymore, as a giant spacecraft descends upon the village cricket field. But if that isn't strange enough, an acid rain storm turns the villagers into something that isn't quite human (as far as they were) as a plague spreads and the Doctor finds himself eye to eyestalk with his deadliest enemies once more...
Conclusion of the trilogy taking place in Stockbridge which started in Castle of Fear and The Eternal Summer.
- Anachronism Stew: The Doctor recognizes someone who was alive in the 1960's, but also spots electronic devices.
- Artificial Zombie: The villagers get turned into these with nanotechnology hidden in (literal) acid rain.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: As nasty as she is to him (and everybody else), Mrs. Linfoot does care for her husband.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: The alien Professor Rinxo Jabbery doesn't understand why human beings used to bury their dead, instead of slumping them together in an absorbent nutrient for later sustenance.
- Call-Back:
- Lysette Barclay in her tour, tells about the legend of demons at castle Stockbridge.
- Vincent Linfoot finds the graves of Phillip Withers, Jane Potter and Liz.
- Nyssa met the Daleks before in the audio adventures Renaissance of the Daleks and The Mutant Phase.
- Professor Rinxo believes the Daleks to be extinct.
- The Doctor recites the same poem he did in Circular Time, Oliver Goldsmith's The Deserted Village.
- Captain Obvious: Professor Rinxo after Mrs. Linford faints.Nyssa: How is she?
Rinxo: She is in a state of unconsciousness. - Clone Degeneration: The villagers are all clones of people that used to live in Stockbridge, but the more they get cloned, the shorter their lifespan is.
- Creepy Cathedral: The Doctor and Nyssa arrive in one, at the start of the adventure.
- Creepy Crows: Stockbridge is home to several dozens of them, though they're artificial lifeforms.
- Fun with Acronyms: The Al-Ls (Artificial Lifeforms), and ASPs (Audio Selection Pod), though Isaac's accent makes "Al-Ls" sound like "Owls" so it confuses Nyssa when he calls the crows as such.
- Hold Your Hippogriffs: "Creation" is used instead of "God" such as "Creation's sake" and "Thank creation".
- Humans Are Bastards: Professor Rinxo Jabbery (A many tentacled alien) doesn't think highly of human history.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight:
- Mrs. Linford tries to invoke this to her husband.
- Nyssa later tries this on the Doctor after he's been exposed to Dalek conditioning.
- Last-Second Chance: The Doctor gives the last Dalek a chance to surrender. The Dalek then attempts to force the Doctor to help the Dalek empire to overcome their failures in the past by threatening Nyssa's life. The Doctor then exposes him to the fog left behind by the acid rain.
- More than Mind Control: Isaac and Alexis are infatuated by their current lives as pseudo clones that serve the Daleks.
- Oh, Crap!: In the church crypt Nyssa, Rinxo and Lysette encounter a small blue light in a dark tunnel.Nyssa: No.. Oh no... Why here!? Why Stockbridge!?
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Dobson is referred to repeatedly by Isaac and Alexis but as soon as he shows up he's beset upon by zombies and only manages to get one line.
- Welcome to Corneria: Mrs. Withers has selective amnesia and keeps repeating the same sentences.
- Zombie Apocalypse: A strange acid like storm turns all the cloned villagers into mindless, ravenous zombies.
