Season 31 - 1994

 

By 1993, Doctor Who was luring back the general public with Richard Griffiths being hugely popular with the general public but now Doctor Who had a TV rival from America pulling in British audiences: Star Trek, the new producer Stephen Garwood and script editor Colin Brake had a lot of work to do to set up their new era and try a make Doctor Who more like Star Trek.

Garwood and Brake decided that Doctor Who would start to focus more on alien worlds as they were competing with Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager which would start the following year, apart from change of setting of stories nothing really changed with Doctor Who apart from a budget increase and increase of stories from 6-7.

This season would see more Sci-fi like stories, Gary Russell would write a story which would see the return of Peladon, Russell T Davies would write a story about the Nazis winning the Second World War, Kate Orman would write a story where democracy fails on a planet, Jim Mortimore and Andy Lane would write the 4th story, Gareth Roberts would write a story about an annual holiday, Paul Cornell would write a story focusing on reality and Colin Brake would write the finale.

Legacy

By Gary Russell

Aired: 23rd July - 6th August

This story would see the return of the planet Peladon and the Ice Warriors, the story would focus on the Doctor pursuing Nic Reese and ancient artifacts being stolen from the citadel and the

Doctor being framed for the crime. In the end the Doctor clears his name and discover an evil intelligence being released by Nic Reese’s crew, in the end Nic Reese is killed and the Intelligence dying.

The Darkest Future

By Russell T Davies

Aired: 13th August - 27th August

This story would see the Doctor, Bernice and David landing in London, 1964 and discovering they’ve landed in time where the Nazis won the war and have taken over the world, part one would’ve seen the Doctor and co. investigating a man named Mr. Stewart and we eventually discover he’s a new incarnation of the Monk (played by Tony Haygarth) and he ends up getting

the Doctor arrested at the end of part two. Part three would see Bernice and David fighting the germans and rescuing the Doctor and framing the Monk, getting him arrested for being in the resistance, the day is saved when the Doctor restores history to it’s proper course.

Shattered Promises

By Kate Orman

Aired: 3rd September - 17th September

This story would focus on the Doctor, Bernice and David landing on the planet Crillee and seeing that the people are unhappy with the democratic government becoming increasingly unpopular and a military coup about to take place, the Doctor dosen’t want to get involved but David decides to help the government and tries to warn them but the Doctor manages to stop him in time and the coup is forced to happen.

Lucifer Rising

By Jim Mortimore and Andy Lane

Aired: 24th September - 8th October

This story would see the TARDIS crew visiting Project Eden in the Lucifer system in 2157. After the death of Paula Engado, the Adjudicator Bishop arrived to investigate. Before the culprit was found, two more people were killed as well. The Doctor figured out the killer was Piper O'Rourke, who was acting as a spy for the Interplanetary Mining Corporation. IMC tried to take over the system to mine Lucifer, but the Angels who inhabited the gas giant closed off the system.

Tragedy Day

By Gareth Roberts

Aired: 15th October - 29th October

The story would see the Doctor, Bernice and David In Empire City on the planet Olleril, the three time travellers arrived during the Tragedy Day celebrations, a day of generosity for the less fortunate, and discovered that the society was being controlled by the cult of Luminus, led by a young boy named Crispin and we see the Doctor trick the Friars of Pangloss into permanently separating their minds from their bodies. This causes the planets in their galaxy to cool down, and allows their slaves to destroy their mindless bodies.

Life and Reality

By Paul Cornell

Aired: 5th November - 19th November

This story would be set on a planet where the Doctor discovers a scientific team have created a world which they call the ‘perfect paradise’ for the less fortunate people in their society and the Doctor, Bernice and David discover that these people actually believe it and they have to try and convince them that this is not reality which in the end they are eventually able to do.

Honour Among Thieves

By Colin Brake

Aired: 26th November - 17th December

This story would see the TARDIS team being chased by a group of aliens mercenaries named ‘the Borkus’ due to them stealing valuable objects from museums as they try and discover the legend of the Universe’s greatest treasure ‘The Orion Vault’ a cave on a deserted planet which houses the lost treasures of the four galaxies. In the end the Doctor defeats the Mercenaries by tricking them into flying into a collapsing galaxy and sealing of the vault forevermore so it stays hidden forever.

And that concludes Season 31 of Doctor Who, a really popular season and one of the best in the Griffiths era and setted up the new era of Garwood and Brake very well, the next season is Season 32 until then thank you for watching and goodbye.

Thank You To:

Our Holy Leader Sylvester McCoy

Opticalspectre

Conbow

Knottyorchid

DonNeutron

Toffa

The Name's Jim