This story marks the debut of Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor in a Big Finish production.
At the end of their trip to Victorian London, the Fourth Doctor and Leela immediately receive a distress signal that takes them to a nearby house. They discover that a battle has taken place between humans and aliens, and although their encounter only ends in loads and loads of death, they decide to investigate further to see if they can't track down the aliens' stolen spacecraft. The TARDIS takes them to Nerva — long before the space dock became an ark.
Nerva's technology is still brand new and full of computer bugs, and its crew are happily mucking about and trying to figure out how everything works. They're interrupted by a Victorian gentleman named Lord Jack, who brings The Plague along with him. Before long, almost everyone on the ship is infected. At which point some friends of the stolen spaceship's alien owner (the Drelloran) show up, and explain that all of humanity will be eradicated, to prevent someone else from making Lord Jack's mistakes. As it turns out, Lord Jack stole the craft way back in the Victorian age, rounded up some soldiers, fiddled around with its machinery until he figured out how to get into outer space, and set out to conquer the galaxy in the name of Queen and Country.
The Doctor manages to convey to the Drelloran that most humans aren't all that interested in making outer space a colony of the British Empire, and saves what little is left of Nerva's crew. Leela asks him to show her more of the galaxy, because she'd love to learn about what the world is like.
Tropes
- Action Prologue
- The Assimilator: Lord Jack and his men have this as their purpose when they arrive on Nerva.
- Body Horror
- The British Empire: Lord Jack believes strongly in the empire, even after becoming an alien. His belief in what he sees as British values leads him to oppress the alien culture whose spacecraft he stole, because they were too "indolent".
- Continuity Nod: Both Nerva Station as well as the opening dialogue spoken by the Doctor and Leela. Their discussion about tea is lifted from the closing scene of "The Talons of Weng Chiang", placing this story directly after that one.
- The Doctor still has Litefoot's matches (Lucifers) that he got from the pathologist in that story.
- Distress Call: An alien distress call draws the Doctor and Leela into the events of the story. It turns out not to be so much a call for help as a desperate warning.
- Evil Colonialist: Lord Jack became this to the Drelloran, to the point that they turned back to their old warlike ways and created an elaborate alien virus for the sole purpose of destroying Earth after Lord Jack and his men stole their ship and virtually destroyed the Drellorans' existing civilisation.
- Foreshadowing / Call-Back: Leela asks the Doctor if they'll ever see Jago and Litefoot again. She appears in the Jago and Litefoot Big Finish spinoff series.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: When the Drelloran spaceship landed, Lord Jack stole it and tried to conquer space.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: The Doctor attempts to remind Lord Jack of who he was. It turns out that he hasn't forgotten, and he believes that he's still upholding the values he had before.
- Patrick Stewart Speech: A mild example, delivered by the Doctor to the Drelloran.
- The Plague: An alien infection that physically alters humans into a gestalt life form.
- Pun: Upon realising that he's back on Nerva station:The Doctor: Well I Nerva!
- Really 700 Years Old: The alien technology has prolonged the life of Lord Jack and his men.
- Space Station: Nerva Station, still partially under construction and not quite working right.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: From the Doctor's perspective, he has visited Nerva in reverse order; this marks his earliest visit to the station while he is at his oldest, but he has already visited the station at different points in its future.
- Was Once a Man: Lord Jack and his crew. They still have human form at first, but they have long since ceased to be human.
