Season 38 - 2001

 

This season would be the last for Jonathan P. Llewelyn as producer who would leave at the end of the season, which now meant Ann Harrison-Baxter was the sole producer of the show.

This season would also introduce a new companion due to the departure of Alison last season, the new companion would be Samantha Poole played by Tamzin Malleson and she would debut

in episode one.

For this season Lambert, Llewelyn and Cornell decided to have a story arc, story arcs had not been seen since Season 16 of Doctor Who with the ‘Key to Time’ arc, this story arc would span the course of the whole season.

In May 2001, the BBC announced a new spin-off show named ‘Earth Defence’ starring Lisa Bowerman as Bernice Summerfield, the series would air mid 2002.

Apart from Llewelyn leaving and Malleson joining nothing really changed and as such the season would air ten stories over thirteen episodes from 22nd September - 15th December.

Storm Warning

22nd September

By Alan Barnes

This story would introduce Samantha Poole and the story arc. The story sees the Doctor arrive on the British airship R101 during the 5th October 1930, the Doctor soon meets Samantha and the two soon become involved in a conspiracy aboard the ship involving a race of alien known as

the Triskele and the government. It turns out the R101 had a mission to return the Triskele to it’s people after one crash landed on Earth, as Well as this, the Triskele want to find a new Lawgiver, the embodiment of wisdom and free will. However after the Lawgiver is accidentally shot, the Uncreators were able to break free and wreak havoc, using the British spy Peter Rathbone as their medium. Rebelling against their control, Rathbone shot the Uncreator Prime, with Lord Tamworth, captain of the R101, being declared the new Lawgiver. Tamworth decided against taking the ship back to England or becoming the official Lawgiver. Instead, he stayed on-board to assist in rebuilding the Triskele and their society. This story sees the Doctor try to keep history on course and make sure the R101 crashes which it does and Samantha becomes his new companion.

Sword of Orion

29th September

By Nicholas Briggs

This story sees the Doctor and Samantha land In 2503, where they discover a human plan to salvage Cyber-Technology from derelict ships to defeat the androids was usurped by an android double agent. They found one near the Garazone system. However, the Cybermen and the

Cybermats were revived, and began converting the crew. The Doctor, Samantha and Jensen was able to defeat the Cybermen, allowing them to be destroyed by an Ion storm.

The Stones of Venice

6th October

By Paul Magrs

This story sees the Doctor and Samantha take a trip to Venice in 2294 where the city is expected to finally sink into the sea, some people see it as a natural disaster and some see it as a curse made a hundred years ago by a woman named Estella, the wife of an aristocrat named Orsino, it

is said that before she seemingly drowned Orsino was cursed with Immortality and Venice was cursed to sink. The story sees Samantha being kidnapped by Gondoliers, a race of mutant people who have adapted to live underwater and Samantha is forced to pretend that she is Estella resurrected and trick Orsino to make him believe that she is Estella so that his people can have Venice returned to him, it turns out Estella was in fact an alien from an unknown world and that she didn’t drown but stayed in Venice and went by the name of Ms Lavish.  

At Orsino's end of the world party, she sat at the throne and it was revealed that she was Estella. The curse was a side effect of the technology of her people. Due to her and Orsino’s sacrifices, the curse is reversed and Venice is saved.

Minuet In Hell

13th October

By Alan W. Lear and Gary Russell

This story is set in the fictional US state of Malebolgia in 2003 and would see the return of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, the story would be about a religious evangelist named Brigham who works with a demon-like creature named Marchosias to empty the human race of their minds to provide ready-made vessels for the Psionovores. The story is a cheesy B-movie type of story,

many things happen in it with the Doctor losing his memories and believing he’s in hell and a person named Gideon believing that he’s the Doctor himself due to his mind being fused temporarily with the Doctor and Samantha being forced to work in the Hellfire club.

Invaders from Mars

20th October - 27th October

By Mark Gatiss

This story covers the famous Orson Welles radio play of ‘War of The Worlds’ broadcasted in 1938

and asks the question of what if there were aliens that day, it would’ve been about a race of aliens known as the Laiderplacker trying to invade the Earth however the Doctor convinces them a bigger invasion is happening and uses the War of The Worlds radio broadcast to trick them into believing an invasion is taking place on Earth.

The Chimes of Midnight

3rd November - 10th November

By Robert Shearman

The story sees the Doctor and Samantha inadvertently creating a temporal paradox by arriving at Edward Grove on Christmas Eve 1906. Investigating the temporal phenomena, including a time loop where servants were killed in a series of bizarre murders, led to them discovering the house itself had become sentient and the Doctor decided it was too dangerous to remain and attempted to flee in the TARDIS. Edward Grove overtook the TARDIS however, trapping them in the loop.

The Doctor talked to Edward as he possessed a servant and learnt the origin of the paradox was the maid Edith, who committed suicide in 1936 after hearing about Samantha’s disappearance but now lacked a reason to do so due to now having met her in 1906. He has a servant strangle him to reach the place where the dead went before the loop reset, enabling him to talk to Edith and Samantha. Together he and Samantha convinced Edith of her self-worth, un-doing the paradox as she now never committed suicide. As he and Samantha left she revealed she could remember her death on R101, which he said to leave to solve for another day.

Seasons of Fear

17th November

By Paul Cornell and Caroline Symcox

This story sees the Doctor returning Samantha to her rendezvous in Singapore 1930, the Doctor

met the immortal Sebastian Grayle, who was working for the Nimons and gloated about having killed the Doctor. The Doctor and Samantha went back in time to 305, 1055 and 1806, each time meeting Grayle, and in the end stopping him and the Nimons.

Embrace The Darkness

24th November

By Nicholas Briggs

This story sees the Doctor and Samantha visited Cimmeria IV. The Cimmerians feared light so burned out the eyes of everyone on the base, including Samantha. When the Doctor got the

artificial suns working, the Solarians came to the system and healed the crew's and Samantha's eyes.

The Time of The Daleks

1st December

By Justin Richards

This story sees the Doctor and Samantha discovering the Daleks are manipulating Mariah Learman, dictator of England in 2050, to detonate a temporal extinction device in the Vortex. They foiled their efforts, discovering William Shakespeare had been caught up in events by

rebels opposed to Learman. After the Daleks were trapped in a time loop, the Doctor and Samantha set out to take Shakespeare home however before they departed the Doctor confessed he’d realised Samantha’s survival was creating temporal problems and wasn’t sure how to fix it.

The Cracked Web

Aired: 8th December - 15th December

By Paul Cornell

This story sees Samantha freaking out as she now realises that her not dying is a bad thing, the Doctor and Samantha were captured by the Celestial Intervention Agency and brought before Lady President Romana, now played by Jenny Agutter, on Gallifrey. She revealed to the Doctor

that Samantha's survival of the destruction of the R101 had caused a crack in the Web of Time, but because of the time vortex had many cracks in it which if gone through one would find themselves in a realm known as Oblitus Tempus: a realm where criminals of Time Lord society have been erased from history and only exist here, it also where the Doctor can find ‘The Thread’ which can repair the Web of Time and can make Samantha exist without her survival causing any more trouble.

Throughout the story we see the Doctor and Samantha try to find the Thread and explore the realm, however they come across a plan which sees the criminals, that the Time Lords have placed here, plot to return to Gallifrey and take their revenge and the cliffhanger to Part One sees the criminals, led by Taris, lead his army through the crack, we then see a war on Gallifrey between the Time Lords and the criminals and the Doctor and Romana  using the Thread to save time and Samantha, in the end Taris and the criminals are defeated and sent back to Oblitus Tempus and Samantha and time are saved.

And that concludes Season 38 of Doctor Who, It received mixed receptions as some fans liked the story arc but another set of fans didn’t really approve and wanted the series to be ‘normal’ however this season got more popular over time, the next season is Series One of Earth Defence until then thank you for watching and goodbye.

Thank You To:

Our Holy Leader Sylvester McCoy

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