The one where a loose end is tied...for now.
The Sixth Doctor is once again forcibly brought in front of a Time Lord court. However, this time, he's not the one on trial. Some time after his escape at the end of The Ultimate Foe, the Valeyard has been found and put on trial for crimes. And for some reason, he's asked for the Doctor to be his defence lawyer.
The Doctor is extremely reluctant to involve himself in the Time Lord legal system again, but curiosity, as well as an opportunity to learn who and what the Valeyard really is, get the better of him and the Doctor agrees to defend the Valeyard...
Tropes:
- Batman Gambit: The Valeyard lures the Doctor and the Inquisitor to the moon, hoping the Doctor will open the container, which will blow up. The Doctor works this out and throws the container into the mud.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: The Hermit 13th Doctor. Subverted, when he turns out to be the Valeyard.
- Continuity Nod: The last Doctor on the moon has dialogue full of this, referring to Foreman and Totter's Lane, Monks and the Yeti.
- Future Me Scares Me: Obviously.
- Gratuitous Greek: The planet Eta Rho, which the Valeyard points out are the letters before Theta Sigma, which is the Doctor's old nickname from his time at the Time Lord Academy.
- Obfuscating Insanity: The Hermit/13th Doctor, who turns out to be the disguised Valeyard.
- Sequel Hook: The story ends with Valeyard escaping from the Time Lords (again), but it is clear he makes sure to stay away from Gallifrey from here on out. He ends up resurfacing in "The Last Adventure".
- Shout-Out: When the Doctor meets the Hermit on the moon orbiting Eta Rho, he refers to him as Ben Gunn.
- Unreliable Narrator: The Valeyard, though the Doctor says there may be some truth to his story.
