Time Incorporated
Time Incorporated is the unofficial title of the 13th and 14th parts of the 23rd season of the science fiction television series, Doctor Who, though this segment is also known as The Ultimate Foe. Part 13 was written by Robert Holmes and Eric Saward (uncredited), whilst the transmitted Part 14 was written by Pip and Jane Baker (see below for more details). The Trial of a Time Lord is the name used on screen for a 14 episode story encompassing the entire 23rd season of the original Doctor Who series. Time Incoporated is not so much a story in and of itself, as it is the linking narative that holds together the separate segments of the season. The segments used within evidence are separately known as The Mysterious Planet, Mindwarp, Terror of the Vervoids or The Ultimate Foe and The Ultimate Foe or Time Incoporated.
During production the segment was called Time Incoporated though this title did not appear on the final scripts or screen. However when the story was later novelised the published gave it the title The Ultimate Foe. This has generated some confusion as The Ultimate Foe was in fact a working title for another part of the season, now often called Terror of the Vervoids.
Synopsis
For the only time in the structure of the season the Trial itself becomes the "A" story. In the conclusion of the evidence it is revealed that there might be more than meets the eye to both the Trial itself and to the prosocuting counsul, the Valeyard. The Doctor is plunged into a struggle inside the Matrix itself, where the very fate of all his future lives is thown into chaos.
Main cast for Time Incorporated
Notes
- Robert Holmes was originally commissioned to write the two episodes. Unfortunately he died from a chronic liver ailment after completing a draft of the first and left nothing beyond a plot outline of the second. The series Script Editor Eric Saward resigned around this time due to disagreements with the producer, but agreed to write the final episode based on Holmes' outline, and also rewrite Holmes' draft to tie the two together. The original ending to this segment (and, indeed, the whole Trial story) would have seen the Doctor and the Valeyard in an inconclusive cliffhanger, both (seemingly) falling to their deaths as an extra "hook". However producer John Nathan-Turner felt this was too downbeat, and believed that it was important that the season did not end on an inconclusive note since it was important after the hiatus to prove the series was back in business. Saward refused to change the ending and withdrew permission to use his script very late in the day, by which point the production team had been assembled and the segment was entering rehearsals. John Nathan-Turner commissioned Pip and Jane Baker to write a replacement final episode. For copyright reasons they could not be told anything of the content of Saward's script (and there were lawyers observing all commissioning meetings). The only similariy between the two is the announcement that the High Council of the Time Lords have resigned; however this was a very natural development of the earlier scripts. The new script ended on an optimistic point with the Doctor departing for new adventures.
- Colin Baker was replaced in the following season, and declined the invitation to return for the traditional regeneration sequence in Time and the Rani. Although this is his last story on screen, the last story that he actually recorded was Terror of the Vervoids, and so it is actually there that he gave his last TV performances as the Doctor. Unfortunately, this means Colin Baker's last-ever lines presented on screen as the Doctor (apart from a later return in a charity special) were "Carrot Juice, Carrot Juice, Carrot Juice!"
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