TARDIS Travels No.20

Season 20 - the anniversary year, when there is an element from the past in each story. In case you are wondering, I won't be covering the actual anniversary story, The Five Doctors, until next time.

Journey 206: Heathrow Airport, 1981, to the Arc of Infinity, date unknown.
We don't actually know how long Nyssa and the Doctor have been travelling without Tegan. However, Nyssa talks about her as though they have only recently parted. Some fan fiction has a whole 50 years elapsing - with Trakenites being long-lived. I don't personally subscribe to this nonsense. The TARDIS is idling in a region of space known as the Arc of Infinity. The Doctor fixes the sound on the scanner before being rudely interrupted by Omega's attempt to cross over into this universe. As events on Gallifrey are mirrored by events on Earth, it may be 1982 here as well.

Journey 207: Arc of Infinity to Gallifrey, dates unknown.
The Doctor is forced to return home to find out how the, as yet unknown, entity got his exact bio-data information. The Castellan has the TARDIS diverted to a security holding area. The space-time element is removed from underneath the main console - rendering the ship immobile. This also causes the lights to dim. The Doctor gets a new element later - this time without a recall device fitted. Presumably the recall thing was added after his trial in The War Games. Nyssa's room is close to the console room.
We also get to see Omega's TARDIS - presumably supplied by Councillor Hedin. He goes in for greenish lighting.

Journey 208: Gallifrey, date unknown, to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 1982.
My Dutch friends always tell me off for using "Holland". Tegan has been able to inform the Doctor where Omega is hiding. As the Police Box prop never made it over there, we don't see it landing or get any idea where it is parked.

Journey 209: Amsterdam, 1982, to Manussa, date unknown.
If this civilisation began as an Earth colony then we are in the far future. The TARDIS materialises quite discreetly, tucked away in a corner of the bazaar.

Journeys 210 & 211: Manussa, date unknown, to Earth orbit, 1983.
The ship appears to have materialised in normal space in orbit near Earth - right in the path of a massive spacecraft. The Doctor makes an emergency rematerialisation aboard the ornately decorated vessel.

Journey 212: Alien vessel, 1983, to Brendon School, England, 1977.
The TARDIS travels to Earth but is deflected in time - arriving 6 years before the Doctor, who has travelled to the same geographical location in a transmat capsule. The ship is on a hill overlooking the school where the Brigadier now works, and where the alien Turlough is a pupil. Tegan makes use of the TARDIS locator - as does the future Brigadier.

Journey 213: Brendon School, 1977, to alien vessel, 1983.
With the earlier Brigadier and Mawdryn on board, the TARDIS returns to the alien ship, but now back in 1983. Problem is, the Doctor has brought the later Brig along with him in the transmat capsule.

Journey 214: Alien vessel, 1983, and return.
The Doctor tries to leave the vessel, but Tegan and Nyssa have been infected with the Kastron mutation. The Doctor tries going forwards and backwards in time, but to no avail, and so is forced to return.

Journey 215: Alien vessel, 1983, to Brendon School, 1977.
The earlier Brigadier is taken home.
Journey 216: Brendon School, 1977, to same in 1983.
The later Brigadier is taken home.

Journey 217: Brendon School, 1983, to unknown region of space at the centre of the universe, date unknown.
Turlough, under instructions from the Black Guardian, sabotages the TARDIS. The outer shell is compromised. A safety device causes the ship to latch onto the nearest spacecraft. (The HADS perhaps?). A door appears in Nyssa's bedroom, and this leads to the other ship - an old passenger liner now used to ferry people suffering from Lazars Disease to Terminus. The doorway is not stable, and it comes and goes. The Doctor is able to reconfigure the scanner to show the TARDIS interior. We never know if Nyssa gets her room back, as she leaves in this story. Before that, all her clothes fall off - but it's all done in the best possible taste...

Journey 218: Lazar ship, date unknown, to location / date unknown.
The TARDIS is idling in space again, whilst the Doctor tries to work out what is causing a power drain. Cue very moody lighting in the console room. Shame the lights couldn't be dimmed more often. The White Guardian appears and gives a set of co-ordinates, and a cryptic message.

Journey 219: Date / location unknown, to schooner The Shadow, date unknown.
The TARDIS materialises in the hold of what appears to be an Edwardian sailing ship. This turns out to be floating in space, about to take part in a race round the Solar System. Captain Striker - an Eternal - hides the TARDIS in the Doctor's own mind. When he releases it, it appears on the ship's bridge.
Journey 220: The Shadow to The Buccaneer, date unknown.
To rescue Turlough, and to prevent Captain Wrack - and the Black Guardian - winning the race for "Enlightenment", the Doctor takes the TARDIS to the pirate vessel.

Journey 221: The Buccaneer, date unknown, to Fitzwilliam Castle, England, 1215.
March 4th of 1215 to be precise. The TARDIS materialises in the jousting field outside the castle. French knight Sir Gilles Estram (wonder who he might turn out to be...) orders the ship to be moved inside.

Journey 222: Fitzwilliam Castle to same, 1215.
Tegan takes the ship to the dungeons so that she can rescue Turlough.
Journey 223: Fitzwilliam castle to same, 1215.
The TARDIS is then used to collect the Doctor and Kamelion from the King's bedchamber.

As with the previous season, we end with a bit of a damp squib involving the Master. This anniversary year should really have gone out on a high, but a planned Dalek / Davros story had to be postponed due to industrial action. More on that story next time.