Underworld - Part One
The TARDIS avoids getting sucked into a space nebula by teleporting onto the nearest spaceship. It is a Minyan spacecraft and has been traveling throughout the universe for 100,000 years. The four remaining crew members are searching for the P7E, a spacecraft which carries the only hope for their rebirth of their people.
The Minyans (Jackson, Herrick, Orfe, Tala) react negatively when they discover that they have crossed paths with a Time Lord. They have some knowledge of the Time Lords whom they refer to as gods. They use a pacifying ray on Leela when she threatens to shoot them with a weapon (Liebemann laser) she found in the store room in which the TARDIS materialised.
The spaceship starts to veer into the nebula. The Doctor offers to help. He hooks K-9 up to the ships computer and K-9 gets the spaceship to veer away from the nebula.
Jackson has the ship change course when they pick up the signal of the P7E coming from within the nebula. The Doctor tries to convince Jackson to not head back into the nebula but the captain won't listen. The ship is quickly surrounded by smaller bits of debris which cling to the hull. The thickness of the debris increases quite quickly. Herrick tries firing the ship's main gun but it doesn't seem to do any good.
Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, and Bob Baker are on the commentary track. Jason and the Argonauts was one the influences on this story, according to Bob Baker. It is pointed out in the commentary that P7E is a pun of sorts.
"The quest is the quest" is a saying that the crew members have. I think that this saying more or less explains itself. It is their quest. They must go on. They can never give up. It is their quest.
The crew of the spaceship have been aboard for 100,000 years. They have had their lifespans extended at least a 1,000 times in that span. Jackson says 1,000 times but I would think that it would have to be more than that. Tala has to be regenerated in this episode and she looks like she is in her twenties once she has regenerated. Unless they were living to 120 to 125 before each regeneration then it has probably been more than 1,000 times.
Are the Minyans descendants of humans? They look human but the way the Doctor talks about them brings that lineage into question. Part of the Minyans' distrust of the Time Lords is due to the fact that the Time Lords interfered in the development of Minyan civilization. This led to war and the ultimate destruction of the Minyans people, with a few exceptions of course.
I think this a pretty good episode. I have seen other promising beginnings that have not worked out spectacularly. I know that I have seen at least parts of this story before but I don't have much in the way of memory of where this story goes next or how it winds up.
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