Doctor Who (1963) s19e23 Episode Script

Time-Flight, Part One

(DOCTOR WHO THEME) This is Captain Urquhart again.
We're still travelling supersonic, ladies and gentlemen, 57,000 feet.
Just to let you know that we'll be reaching our deceleration point in a few minutes and beginning our descent into London Heathrow.
Good afternoon, London.
Speedbird Concorde 192.
Speedbird Concorde 192, you are cleared to descend to flight level 370.
Roger.
Clear to 370.
Mark 1.
6, 60 miles to subsonic point.
We're spot-on.
Speedbird Concorde 192 level at 370.
Speedbird Concorde 192, you are cleared to continue descent to 280.
Speedbird Concorde 192, will you acknowledge, please? URQUHART: Speedbird Concorde 192, Speedbird Concorde 192 Speedbird Concorde 192, will you acknowledge? Can I take your glass? Speedbird Concorde 192, will you acknowledge, please? I have total RT breakdown on Speedbird Concorde 192.
I don't believe it.
She's approaching London, but the trace is becoming intermittent.
WOMAN ON PA: Ladies and gentlemen, in a few minutes we should Emergency.
We have lost contact with Concorde Golf Victor Foxtrot.
Crew of the freighter safely returned to their own time.
-Cyber fleet dispersed.
-Oh, great.
You make it sound like a shopping list, ticking off things as you go.
Aren't you forgetting something rather important? -Adric is dead.
-Tegan, please.
We feel his loss as well.
Well, you could do more than grieve.
You could go back.
-NYSSA: Could you? -No.
Surely the Tardis is quite capable We can change what happened if we materialise before Adric was killed.
And change your own history? Look, the freighter could still crash into Earth, that doesn't have to be changed.
-Only Adric doesn't have to be on board.
-Now listen to me, both of you, there are some rules that cannot be broken even with the Tardis.
Don't ever ask me to do anything like that again.
You must accept that Adric is dead.
His life wasn't wasted, he He died trying to save others, just like his brother Varsh.
You know, Adric had a choice.
This is the way he wanted it.
We used to fight a lot.
I'll miss him.
So will I.
And me.
But he wouldn't want us to mourn unnecessarily.
-Where are we going? -Special treat to cheer us all up.
What's so special about that, Doctor? Hyde Park and the Crystal Palace.
All the wonders of Victorian science and technology.
Well, the Tardis should feel at home.
How about opening day? Pass the time of day with the foreign Royals.
We could even drop in at Lords, see a few overs from Wisden and Pilch.
-I wonder if the Lion will be bowling.
-Let's get there first.
Yes, all right.
Nyssa, have you touched the dimensional stabilisers? Of course not.
All systems functioning normally.
It could be the relative drift compensator.
-No.
-Some sort of turbulence.
Feedback from the solar comparative.
No.
-Another ship.
-What do you mean, another ship? If it builds up at this frequency, it could draw us into spatial convergence.
We must materialise immediately.
But we're due to land in London in a few minutes.
If we don't materialise, the Tardis will be destroyed.
Look at this, something's just manifested.
The same flight path as 192.
No transponder signal.
Smaller than Golf Victor Foxtrot.
Unidentified aircraft on approach to 10 left, will you acknowledge? -Seems to have done the trick.
-Where are we? Somewhere above Hyde Park.
The view should be spectacular.
That's not Hyde Park, that's Heathrow Airport.
You're right.
Well, I never thought I'd say this, but let's get out of here.
We could be in the path of an oncoming aircraft.
-What are you doing? -Coordinate override.
A sort of anti-collision device.
It's gone.
-Must have been a light aircraft.
-Mmm.
WOMAN ON PA: Air Australia apologises for the delay to all flights which is due to weather conditions at Heathrow Airport.
You've landed us right in the middle of a terminal building.
So I have.
-The authorities will go mad.
-Well, we'll only be here a moment.
I hope.
-Please hurry.
-I am.
Ah! -Doctor.
-I won't be a moment.
-Doctor! -At least we won't be noticed.
What do you mean? Because this is a police box? Well, this is Earth.
For once it's a perfect camouflage.
This is the 1980s, Nyssa.
Police boxes went out with flower power.
Oh, no.
I don't know what English cricket is coming to.
-Doctor.
-Hmm? Doctor! I have just lost a complete complement of passengers and crew, not to mention 30 million pounds worth of aircraft.
As if I want to know about a police box in Terminal 1.
There isn't a police box in Terminal 1.
Landside security's your problem, Jim.
Not to mention all those VIPs waiting for the arrival of 192 in Terminal 3.
-Andrews? -Now, Mr Horton, we need you to explain to us exactly what you saw on the radar when Victor Foxtrot began the deceleration procedure.
That's not possible.
What? All right, I'll be right over.
Something very odd going on in Terminal 1.
Yes, now, you lost contact with the aircraft over the Bristol Channel here.
Yes, the RT started to break up and the transponder signal just faded from the screen.
-Are you responsible for this box, sir? -Well, I try to be.
Doctor, you've done it again.
Nonsense, we'll be away from here in no time.
Would you be so good as to open it up, sir? -Is that a good idea? -I must insist, sir, security.
-Yes, of course, security.
-You have the key, sir? UNIT.
Sir? You'd do much better to check with UNIT, department C19.
Sir John Sudbury is the man you want.
And who exactly are you, sir? Oh, just tell him it's the Doctor.
And do send my regards to Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart.
Unless, of course, he's a General by now.
You see, what did I say? We'll be gone in a couple of shakes.
A doctor with a police box.
Really, Sir John, I hardly Yes, yes of course I appreciate the political ramifications but Yes, but surely that's all the more reason for not wasting time with this doctor.
Yes, I Yes, I beg your pardon.
Of course, if you insist, Sir John.
The party with the police box in Terminal 1 have full security clearance from C19.
That was UNIT.
We are obliged to brief this doctor on the disappearance of Victor Foxtrot.
Always the same with you.
Whenever we stop anywhere, you have to get involved.
Be quiet, I'm thinking.
We were supposed to be going to The Great Exhibition.
-Well, we will eventually.
-That's all you ever say.
You promised.
Tegan, this is your planet.
I would have thought you wanted to help.
I am helping, by wanting to leave the recovery of Concorde to the experts.
-Well, I might be able to help.
-That's what worries me.
-Good afternoon, gentlemen.
-Good heavens.
-Ah, yes, this is the Doctor.
-Oh.
How do you do, Doctor? -Hello, this is Nyssa and Tegan.
-Oh.
-Oh, you're a stewardess.
-That's right.
Now, I believe you're having problems with Concorde.
(STAMMERING) Tell the Doctor, would you, please? Well, this morning's Concorde flight from New York disappeared from the radar just after its deceleration.
-Disappeared? -Yes, it just faded from the screen.
It didn't crash? It was flying on a level course, all systems were working normally.
Indeed.
-I wonder.
-Wonder what? -Remember the turbulence we experienced? -That forced us to materialise? Yes.
I wonder very much indeed.
It sounds as though it could be cross-tracing on the time-space axis.
Exactly.
Are you saying you know where the missing aircraft is? I suspect it's not a question of where, but when.
Any idea what these tests are for, Skipper? All I know is some scientist wants to take up some special equipment to monitor the approach used by Victor Foxtrot when she went through the deceleration phase.
Morning, Skipper.
All ready for loading.
Is the gear on its way? Coming over now.
But why does it have to be another Concorde? We must follow the same route, same height, same speed.
And with my equipment onboard, I can identify what I believe to be an exponential time contour.
And you really believe that Victor Foxtrot flew into a time warp? Exactly.
And we can't have a navigational hazard like that hanging about the galaxy.
(PHONE RINGING) Yes? Thank you.
Golf Alpha Charlie is ready for boarding.
Here they come.
I saw Concorde once on the tarmac at Melbourne.
Morning, Doctor.
I'm Captain Stapley.
May I introduce my first officer, Andrew Bilton? Our flight engineer, Roger Scobie.
And this is Nyssa and Tegan.
Would you mind going back and fasten your seatbelts for takeoff, please? Right.
Golf Alpha Charlie clear for takeoff.
Golf Alpha Charlie is now at 58,000 feet, Scheduled to turn onto its approach in four minutes.
Do you seriously believe that Victor Foxtrot got caught in some sort of time slip? It would seem to be the logical explanation.
-That's a pretty rum idea to me.
-Hang on a moment, though, Doctor.
If we follow Victor Foxtrot's course and end up somewhere over the rainbow, well, we're on a one-way ticket just like Captain Urquhart's lot.
Ah, you're forgetting the Tardis.
Tardis? You mean that police box? That's right.
STAPLEY: Golf Alpha Charlie now at 50 North 20 West.
Request clearance to return to London.
Golf Alpha Charlie, clear to turn to port.
Route is fine here on November 15 West to London.
Roger.
Golf Alpha Charlie turning to port.
They're now on the same configuration as 192.
-It's amazing.
-What? This thing is smaller on the inside than it is on the outside.
Wait here.
(GRUNTING) I wish I'd known about that when we were on Castrovalva.
So useful when you want to maintain a dignified attitude.
Concorde should begin a descent deceleration procedure at any minute.
STAPLEY: Golf Alpha Charlie request permission to descend to 370.
It's happening again.
-Did you feel something? -I'm not sure.
Golf Alpha Charlie, permission to descend to 370.
London, this is Golf Alpha Charlie, do you read? -Doctor, we're time travelling.
-The column isn't moving.
Concorde has just flown into the time contour.
(BEEPING) Captain, the radiation meter's on alert.
-Must be a solar flare.
-Oh, I doubt it, Captain.
It's simply reacting to centuries of galactic radiation through which we're passing.
London, this is Golf Alpha Charlie, do you read? I'm afraid your radio is useless, Captain, by my estimation we're the spatial equivalent to 400 billion miles from air traffic control.
MAN: Golf Alpha Charlie clear to descend to 370.
Fasten your seatbelt, please, Doctor, by my calculations we're 20 minutes from touchdown.
-We've lost them.
-Another Concorde.
-So much for the Doctor.
-But where have they gone? Heathrow, Doctor.
Kinda feel at home getting in and out of aircraft.
It's all a bit unreal after the Tardis.
There's something very unreal about all of this.
That's why this tree doth continue to be since observed by yours faithfully, God.
-What's that, Doctor? -To be is to be perceived.
A naive 18th-century philosophy.
Ah.
Nyssa, what's the matter? Didn't you see them? -There were decaying corpses.
-There's nothing there.
Nothing there.
I wonder, perceptual induction.
What are you talking about, Doctor? I want you all to concentrate very hard.
-You don't give up, do you, Doctor? -Concentrate.
Look at anything.
Observe it in every detail.
-What are you doing to us, Doctor? -Perceptual induction.
And I'm undoing it.
Concentrate! It's the only way to fight it and find out where we really are.
-But we're at Heathrow.
-No, you think you're at Heathrow.
So did I Well, almost, up to a moment ago.
Now concentrate, all together.
It must be a concerted effort.
That plane.
I can't focus properly.
-Nothing's moving.
-It is blurred.
I'm getting cold.
You see? The coherence is breaking up.
Where are we? Just where you thought we were, Captain.
-Heathrow? -Some 140 million years ago.
-I think I'm dreaming.
-Quite the reverse, Mr Scobie, -you've just woken up.
-I don't believe it.
Definitely Jurassic.
There's a nip in the air, though.
We can't be far off the Pleistocene era.
The Ice Age? It's times like this I wish I still had my scarf.
Better watch out for the odd brontosaurus.
Were they the creatures I saw? I doubt it, but I should think they came from this time zone.
Do you really mean we've gone backward down a time contour? -Have you another explanation? -But we were on Concorde.
How did we land on this? -Very violently, by the look of it.
-The touchdown was perfect.
It's like having a tooth out under hypnosis, you don't feel a thing.
But the approach to Heathrow was utterly real.
So was the Indian rope trick.
And, Doctor, somewhere in this wilderness must be the passengers and crew of Victor Foxtrot.
Don't worry, Captain, we'll find them.
-Let's hope no one finds us first.
-What do you mean? Behind every illusion there's a conjurer.
In this case, I shouldn't think he went to all this trouble for our entertainment.
Doctor! -It's the other Concorde.
-Tegan, wait! All of you, stay here.
Sheraaz sheraaz tumal.
Baloor baloor.
Sheraaz sheraaz tumal baloor baloor.
All things come to their appointed end soon.
Soon.
Look, a building.
Are we hallucinating? I doubt it.
The illusion is always one of normality.
Well, that's not exactly Terminal 3.
But who could have built it? I think the answer might be over there.
How much longer have we got to wait here? Why don't we do a bit of a recce? I've developed a very healthy respect for the Doctor and he wants us to stay put.
No! Danger.
-We must find the Doctor.
-Nyssa, what's the matter? Come on, we'd better go after her.
You have your work, go to it.
(CHANTING) Look, it's a motorway.
-It's the M4! -It's an illusion.
I don't care.
It might lead us out of this time warp.
At least it looks like civilisation.
Scobie, stay where you are and that is an order.
-Remember the Indian rope trick.
-I can't see anything.
What was the Indian rope trick? Someone's ship? Been here a long time.
Doctor, can we get out of here? So this fakir throws the rope up in the air and he and his assistant climb up it, hey presto, disappeared.
They've gone.
But some clever devil had taken photographs and the reality is that there's the rope lying on the floor and this Indian juju man and his oppo are hiding behind some bushes -laughing like a couple of skunks.
-Quiet.
Look.
They've got the Tardis.
There's Dave Colshore and Angela Clifford.
-They were on Victor Foxtrot.
-Wait! -Angela, Angela.
-Hey, hey.
You didn't tell me you had a New York stopover.
What are you talking about? Look, old chap, this is all a bit of a snare and a delusion.
Andrew, we've got a few chores to do.
See you in the bar in half an hour.
Look, snap out of it, you're not in New York.
The Captain wants us to try that new Indonesian restaurant he's found.
-We'll have to grab them.
-What's happening? (CHANTING) Doctor, those creatures have taken Bilton and Scobie.
Eevanerab! Tumal tumal.
-Are you sure it wasn't an illusion? -They were real, all right.
-Doctor! -Behind you!
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