The Enemy of the World was the fourth story of Season 5 of Doctor Who. It saw Patrick Troughton play both the lead protagonist and antagonist. It was the only story of that season which did not follow the base under siege monster format. Before 2013, all but episode three of the serial were missing from the BBC archives. However, in October of that year, it was announced that episodes one, two, four, five and six (together with four previously lost instalments and a higher quality copy of the only existing episode from The Web of Fear) had been located in a relay station in Jos, Nigeria, and it therefore became complete. As of October 2013, the story is available for download on iTunes and was released on DVD in Region 2 on 25 November 2013. On Earth in 2018, the Doctor and his companions are enmeshed in a deadly web of intrigue thanks to his uncanny resemblance to the scientist/politician Salamander. He is hailed as the shopkeeper of the world for his efforts to relieve global famine, but why do his rivals keep disappearing? How can he predict so many natural disasters? The Doctor must expose Salamanders schemes before he takes over the world. EPISODE 1 The TARDIS arrives on an Australian beach where the Second Doctor, Jamie and Victorias seaside frolicking is observed by three men in a hovercraft. They are incredulous at the Doctors presence; could it be him? They call their boss, Astrid Ferrier, who urges them to wait while she contacts the main base. Nonetheless the trio resolves that theyll have no better opportunity and ready their guns. Astrid contacts her commander, Giles Kent, and reports the mens observation. It cant be him, Kent exclaims, its impossible. The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria watch as the hovercraft approaches, see the armed men and realise theyre in danger. A deadly cat and mouse game ensues through the dunes before Astrid arrives in her mini-helicopter. She beckons them inside and pilots them to safety, though she is wounded and the helicopter damaged by gunfire. At Astrids private residence, the Doctor tends her wounds. She explains her men have mistaken him for their sworn enemy, Salamander, a man she claims is bent on becoming global dictator. She wants to take advantage of the Doctors apparently serendipitous arrival and urges them to go with her to meet Giles Kent, who will explain everything. The Doctor, dubious at becoming a pawn in some political machination, declines. The three armed men close in. Astrid tangles with one to allow the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria to escape. The attacker is accidentally shot dead by his fellows. When they attempt to pursue in the damaged helicopter, it explodes in a fireball. At his office, Giles Kent looks at the Doctor in fascination – his resemblance to Salamander is uncanny. The Doctor explains theyve been out of touch with world events lately. Kent plays a video-wire of Salamanders latest address to the United Zone General Assembly meeting. Salamander, despite a Mexican accent and swarthy complexion, is indeed a doppelganger for the Doctor. He announces highly satisfactory results from sun conservation tests in the Australasian Zone with sun-catching orbital satellites, resulting in a restoration of the Ukraines corn and flour production which had been devastated by natural disasters two years earlier. Having helped ease global famine in the wake of numerous natural disasters, Salamander is hailed as Shopkeeper of the World. Yet underneath his guise as a public benefactor, Kent cautions, he has been working ruthlessly to solidify his power base. Several high-ranking political figures have died under mysterious circumstances and replaced by Salamander loyalists. Kent himself was Deputy Security Leader for North Africa and Europe before being discredited and forced into seclusion, his place taken by a man named Donald Bruce who has since risen to World Security Chief. With Bruce in place, Salamander is virtually untouchable. Kents only remaining high-ranking ally is Alexander Denes, Controller of the Central Europe Zone. Kent and Astrid urge the Doctor to pose as Salamander and infiltrate his research station at Kanowa to find proof of Salamanders ambitions. The Doctor is dubious, but once Donald Bruce and his men arrive and close in, he has little choice. The Doctor correctly surmises that Kent tipped Bruce off to test the similarity. Bruce enters, a heavy-set, imperious and intimidating man. His armed men are investigating the dead man in Astrids house, as well as the wrecked helicopter. Salamander emerges from an inner room, demanding that a dumbfounded Kent explain his presence. EPISODE 2 Bruce is at a loss at Salamanders presence in Australia. He is supposed to be in a closed-door conference at the Central European Zone, and certainly not with Kent, a man he had denounced. As security chief, he ought to have been told. Salamander refuses to explain his presence, saying he will deal with Kent his own way. He accepts Kents explanation that the dead man in Astrids house was trying to protect her from his treasonous colleagues. Bruce is not satisfied, but leaves. The Doctor still is not fully convinced that one side or the other is good or evil, but agrees to pose as Salamander at Kanowa. Astrid, Jamie and Victoria, using travel passes provided by Denes, travel to Salamanders headquarters in the Central European Zone via rocket. Bruce checks in with Benik, Salamanders deputy, to confirm he left for the Central European Zone. As far as Benik knows, he did and left strict orders not to be disturbed. His attempt to contact Salamander there goes unanswered. The real Salamander is meeting with Denes, trying to persuade him his scientific study confirms that a range of dormant Hungarian volcanoes will erupt soon with cataclysmic results. Denes is dubious at Salamanders suspiciously precise predictions; his own scientists have made no such forecasts. Jamie and Astrid concoct a fake attempt on Salamanders life to win his trust. Jamie is hired on the spot as a member of his personal guard and convinces him to hire his girlfriend Victoria as assistant to Salamanders personal chef. Salamander meets with Denes weak-willed deputy, Fedorin, whom he easily blackmails into a plot to assassinate Denes. The ground shakes as the volcanoes erupt in the distance, just as Salamander predicted; Hungary will be devastated. Denes bursts in, horrified at the destruction. Salamander accuses him of ignoring his warnings and letting thousands die. Denes is certain that somehow Salamander engineered this disaster. Salamander coolly denounces Denes as a traitor and has him arrested, stating that Fedorin will be chief witness against him. Fedorin cannot bring himself to look at Denes. EPISODE 3 Denes is unperturbed at his arrest. He looks forward to facing Salamander in open trial. After Denes is led away, Salamander congratulates Fedorin on his promotion to European Controller and puts his dossier of blackmail documents into a safe. He gives Fedorin a vial of poison to deal with Denes. Bruce is surprised to encounter Jamie, now in Salamanders personal guard. Jamie refuses to divulge any details of what Salamander was doing in Australia with his supposed enemy Kent. Victoria meanwhile fails to impress Griffin, Salamanders chief cook, with her culinary skills. Fariah, Salamanders assistant and food taster, urges her to escape at the earliest opportunity. In Kents caravan near the Kenowa research station, he and the Doctor watch footage of the European volcanoes. Kent strongly suspects that Salamander is somehow engineering these disasters and it was his investigation into how the research station was involved which led to his downfall. The Doctor hides when Benik arrives at the trailer to taunt Kent and smash his possessions. Astrid, Jamie and Victoria try to rescue Denes with Fariahs help. Fedorin intercepts Victoria as she delivers his food. He cannot, however, bring himself to poison the food. He confesses his failure to Salamander, who offers comforting words and a glass of wine to help him relax. Fedorin drinks and slumps over dead; Salamander had poured the poison into the wine. The rescue attempt is a failure: although Astrid escapes, Denes is shot down, and Jamie and Victoria are captured. The light dawns on Bruce when Salamander denies being in Australia with Kent earlier. Someone is impersonating Salamander... EPISODE 4 Salamander returns to the Research Centre. Benik is on the lookout for Astrid. Astrid returns to Australia safely, where she meets Fariah, who claims to have information to expose Salamander – the information he was using to blackmail Fedorin. Kent and the Doctor look over the evidence, but the Doctor claims its not enough to prove Salamander is evil. However, knowing Jamie and Victoria are prisoners, the Doctors impersonating Salamander is their only hope. Fariahs presence, they hope, will help convince people of his identity. The Doctor, however, resolutely refuses Kents demand that he kill Salamander. Benik and his men close in on Kents office. In the chaos, Kent, Astrid and the Doctor escape but Fariah is shot down and the files she took are recovered. Meanwhile, Bruce is growing increasingly disturbed at Salamanders methods. Salamander locks himself into the Records Room. Once hes sure hes alone, he opens a secret panel in the wall, revealing a small elevator capsule. He descends to a vast underground complex where he meets with a team of researchers who have been living there for nearly five years. He has convinced them a nuclear war has devastated the surface, and their efforts to create natural disasters are helping them turn the tide against, in Salamanders words, the enemies of truth and freedom. They cannot return until the radiation levels on the surface fall to safe levels. They hail Salamander as their hero, risking life and limb to bring them food. Back at the caravan, Kent and Astrid prepare the Doctor to infiltrate the station while awaiting the return of Fariah. The door opens: its Bruce, with an armed security guard. EPISODE 5 Bruce demands to know why the Doctor is posing as Salamander. Astrid overpowers and disarms Bruces guard, but Bruce calmly notes there are more outside. The Doctor refuses to resort to violence, handing the guards gun back to Bruce as a sign of good faith. Bruce agrees to escort the Doctor into the station, provided Kent and Astrid stay behind. In the underground complex, Salamander unloads the supplies from the surface. One scientist, Colin, is desperate to get to the surface to see for himself what is happening. Meanwhile Swann, their leader, finds a scrap of newspaper inside a crate bearing the headline HOLIDAY LINER SINKS: MANY FEARED LOST. This appears to indicate that surface life is normal, and Swann angrily demands an explanation. Salamander claims that yes, the war is over, but the survivors are deformed in mind and body and deserve to die. Their efforts to destroy these mutants are necessary for a new start. Swann insists on seeing for himself. Eventually Salamander agrees to take him to the surface. Colin is distraught at the thought of not going. Jamie and Victoria, drugged for their trip back to Kenowa, wake, much to Beniks delight. He anticipates sadistically interrogating them. However, Salamander enters with Bruce and orders him out. Victoria and Jamie confront Salamander with his crimes, particularly the murder of Fedorin and Denes, which apalls Bruce. Victoria lashes out at Salamander, who reveals hes actually the Doctor, come to rescue them. Bruce is still not convinced to turn against Salamander, but enough doubt is planted that he agrees to investigate. Astrid and Kent resolve to sneak into the base to take matters into their own hands. They overpower the guard and escape. As Astrid hides in a field near a cave entrance, she finds Swann, brutally assaulted and left for dead by Salamander. EPISODE 6 Swann tells Astrid of the people underground. He begs her to help free them, then succumbs to his injuries. Astrid reaches the band of scientists and convinces them theyve been fooled by Salamander for all these years and that he killed their leader Swann. Colin is the first to believe her and accompanies Mary and Astrid in the small lift for its journey to the surface. When they reach the Records Room, they meet the Doctor and Kent – the latter is denounced as the person who took them all below ground in the first place. It seems Kent and Salamander were allies all along, and the Doctor reveals he had been slow to support Kent all this time, suspecting — correctly — that he merely wanted Salamanders power for himself. Kent flees into the caves. Bruce asserts his authority and takes over the Research Centre, arresting Benik. The Doctor contacts Bruce and tells him of the situation, then goes into the tunnels to find Kent and Salamander. The two felons meet and grapple; Kent is mortally wounded, but before he dies he sets off hidden explosives in an attempt to destroy the caves. Astrid successfully rescues the scientists to Colin and Marys delight, but the Doctor and Salamanders fates are unknown. Jamie and Victoria wait nervously near the TARDIS. When the Doctor finally arrives, his behavior is puzzling; he orders Jamie to pilot the TARDIS for him — something which neither he nor Victoria were ever allowed to do. Then the real Doctor enters, mocking Salamanders impersonation of him. Salamander grabs the controls, but dematerializes the ship while the doors are still open. He is sucked out into the space-time vortex while the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria hang on for dear life. RATINGS Episode 1 - 6.8 million viewers Episode 2 - 7.6 million viewers Episode 3 - 7.1 million viewers Episode 4 - 7.8 million viewers Episode 5 - 6.9 million viewers Episode 6 - 8.3 million viewers
Posted on: Wed, 27 Aug 2014 06:00:00 +0000
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