The Fifth Doctor, thinking he's just vworping back to Amsterdam to pick up Nyssa and Tegan, ends up on a ship which is bringing a prince to an arranged marriage, hoping to bring peace to two warring families who've spent an eternity fighting one another.
But the ship harbours a secret, prince Kylo a bigger one, and his betrothed Aliona? The worst one of all.
War is about to break out, and the Doctor can only hope to survive.
This is the start of the Drashani trilogy, that continues with “The Acheron Pulse” and concludes with “The Shadow Heart”.
Tropes:
- And Now For Some One Completely Different: The Doctor travels alone in this episode, and all his supporting cast comes from the ship he's on.
- Bait-and-Switch: The story starts with a ship carrying an Igris, a sabretoothed monster which is unstoppable for the forces on board, end of part one the ship crashlands on the planet below where there are thousands of them, but the plot turns around to be a political murder with the intention to kill the entire royal family of an empire for the sake of "peace". The monsters don't become a factor again until The Stinger.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Aliona does her absolute best to present herself as a Princess Classic but, once her true plans are revealed, she wastes no time in being needlessly cruel to everyone around her and all too happy to murder whoever gets in her way.
- Bittersweet Ending: Thanks to Tuvold's manipulations, the threat of war between the houses of Gadarel and Sorsha is fully averted, but almost every single named character apart from the Doctor is dead. The only one who survives is Kylo, but his mental state has taken a turn for the worse and he is stranded on a planet of monsters.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Ambassador Tuvold to save the day, and Captain Shira in the beginning.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Aliona dies when her uncle Tuvold shoots himself with her weapon. Because the gun can be calibrated to kill anything with an inputted DNA structure, it kills them both.
- In Love with the Mark: Subverted by Aliona. She makes Kylo think this when he turns his power on her, but it's just an act to save her own skin.
- In the Blood: Prince Kylo's pyrokinetic abilities are a genetic abnormality passed down through the royal line. Though not everyone in his family has the power, there's a chance that any of them could manifest it.
- Kick the Dog: Aliona spells out to Kylo that her DNA reader requires nothing more than a few strands of his hair. So she cuts off his hand instead.
- Lampshade Hanging: The Doctor gets captured, straight into the story. He snarks that at least they got it over quickly.
- Master Race: Aliona believes that her people, the Gadarels, are this, and will do anything to establish their dominance.
- Mistaken for Spies: The Doctor, almost immediately. He lampshades that it happens incredibly quickly even by his standards, as he had barely been on the ship for a minute before accidentally wandering into the armory.
- Moral Myopia: Aliona rants to Kylo that his people deserve to die for all the deaths they have caused among the Gadarels over the course of the war. When Kylo tries to counter that the Gadarels have done the same, Aliona has this to say in response;"That's different. Your people deserved it.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: The Doctor is surprised to learn that Kylo and Aliona are very much in love, despite being paired together just to unite their two races. Unfortunately, Aliona is lying through her teeth.
- Phlebotinum Bomb: Aliona's Pulse Gun, which can scan a target's DNA and then seek out and destroy any living being who shares it.
- Playing with Fire: Prince Kylo, who can set both himself and other objects on fire when he's worked up enough.
- Power Nullifier: Aliona fits Kylo with a psychic inhibitor to prevent him from using his powers against her. However, when she goes too far and murders his entire family, it's not enough to hold him back anymore.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Kylo's powers come with a hefty dose of Unstoppable Rage, causing him to go off on one of these whenever he's upset. He really goes for it after Aliona kills his family, though.
- Sequel Episode: This takes place immediately after "Arc of Infinity" and "Omega".
- Sequel Hook: The adventure ends on the planet, where prince Kylo miraculously survived a fall from orbit, and takes over the Igris creatures.
- Spotting the Thread: The Doctor starts to wise up to Aliona when he notes how odd it is that she is carrying a gun with her on the day she is supposed to get married. Her later comments about certain people deserving death only confirm his suspicions.
- Taking You with Me: Tuvold shoots himself with the DNA targeting gun, ending his life and taking out his niece Aliona at the same time in order to stop her insanity.
- Thrown Out the Airlock: Kylo and Aliona go back and forth threatening each other with one; ultimately Kylo is the one who is thrown out.
- Widowed at the Wedding: Aliona plans to widow herself on her wedding day.
- With Friends Like These...: The Doctor realises towards the end that he might not be quite emotionally prepared enough to travel with Tegan again, and decides to go on a "round trip" before getting back to Amsterdam to pick her and Nyssa up.
- Written-In Infirmity: Peter Davison had a cold during the recording of this story, so a scene was added where the Doctor is hit hard on the nose, explaining why he sound so stuffed up and nasal.
