Quotes
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"By order of the High Council, this is an impartial enquiry into the behaviour of the accused person, known as the Doctor, who is charged that he, on diverse occasions has been guilty of conduct unbecoming a Time Lord. He is also charged with, on diverse occasions, transgressing the First Law. It is my unpleasant task, Madam Inquisitor, to prove to the enquiry that the Doctor is an incorrigible meddler in the affairs of other peoples and planets." ~ The Valeyard"Only that this whole thing is a farce. I am Lord President of Gallifrey. You can't put me on trial." ~ The Sixth Doctor
Peri: Is there any intelligent life here?
The Sixth Doctor: Apart from me, you mean? I don't know. Shall we find out?
"Don't worry. They'll soon be dead. It's just that I wanted the personal pleasure of killing them myself." ~ Sabalom Glitz
"You know, I'm glad I decided to come here. I might stay here for a year or so and write a thesis. Ancient Life on Ravalox by Doctor..." ~ The Sixth Doctor
"Come here you ignorant, maggot ridden peasent! Somehow I always feel foolish saying this...Take me to your leader!" ~ Sabalom Glitz
"But look at it this way. Planets come and go, stars perish. Matter disperses, coalesces, reforms into other patterns, other worlds. Nothing can be eternal." ~ The Sixth Doctor
"I may look old to you, whiskerless youth, but I'll have you know I'm in the prime of my life. I'm only nine hundred years old. Now untie me at once." ~ The Sixth Doctor
"Hear how the Doctor takes pride in his interference. Hear how he boasts. This is not the reaction of a responsible Time Lord." ~ The Valeyard
"That's the trouble with parried little swats like you, Balazar. You can't even organize an efficient stoning." ~ The Sixth Doctor
"The Doctor? Oh, he's probably still down there. For a Time Lord, he's not very good at keeping time." ~ Peri
Dibber: Sent him, did they?
Peri: Who?
Glitz: The Time Lords, my dear. As my friend says, he must be acting on their behalf.
"Never believe what is said, Balazar, only what you know." ~ The Sixth Doctor
The 7th Doctor: Gallifrey, originally, though I travel round a lot.
Drathro: I have heard of Gallifrey. An advanced civilisation.
The 7th Doctor: In some ways.
"I always knew exercise was bad for you." ~ Sabalom Glitz
"Drathro's black light system's highly unstable. Blowing it up is about the worst thing you could have done. I have to shut the black light system down now." ~ The Sixth Doctor
The Inquisitor: Valeyard, are these unpleasant scenes necessary to your case? I find primitive physical violence distressing.
The Sixth Doctor: So do I, ma'am, especially when I'm on the receiving end.
"You're the Time Lord. Haven't you got a ring you can rub? A magic lamp? Something for these sort of emergencies?" ~ Sabalom Glitz
"The Doctor is from Gallifrey. He has been sent to recover the secrets left by the Sleepers. To do that, he has armed the outlaws. Therefore his intention is to ferment a rebellion against my authority." ~ Drathro
The Sixth Doctor: The situation is worse than you image.
Peri: It always is.
Glitz: Don't I look like a philanthropist?
Dibber: Well, how do I know? I've never seen one.
Glitz: A philanthropist, my son, is someone who gives away all their grotzits out of the simple goodness of their heart.
Dibber: Oh, you mean they're stupid? Oh yeah, you probably do look like one, then.
"The crime was in being there, Doctor! Your immaturity was in not realising you had broken a cardinal law of the Time Lords. Your presence initiated the whole chain of events that we have witnessed." ~ The Valeyard
Glitz: Do me a favour, Dibber. The Sleepers found a way into the (beep beep), the biggest net of information in the universe. Do you think they were nicking recipes for making chutney?
Dibber: Yeah, but do you know what the secrets are?
Glitz: Facts, my son, figures, formulas. Travelling faster than light, anti gravity power, dimensional transference. Scientific stuff like that. Worth a fortune.
"Everything in life has its purpose, Drathro. Every creature plays its part, but the purpose of life is too big to be knowable. A million computers couldn't solve that one." ~ The Sixth Doctor
The 6th Doctor: Strange how low cunning succeeds where intelligent reasoning fails.
Sabalom Glitz: Don't knock low cunning, Doctor. You're still here, aren't you?
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Trivia
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"Mysterious Planet" marked the first appearance of Tony Selby as Glitz, as well as introducing Shakespearian actor Michael Jayston as the Valeyard.
A character actor, Selby has done regular guest appearances in a number of TV shows, including "EastEnders" throughout his career. He'd reprise his role of Glitz in season 24's "Dragonfire" for which he was voted best season 24 actor by Doctor Who magazine readers.
Jayston played an "intermediate" future incarnation of the Doctor known as the Valeyard, who was said to be an amalgamation of the darker side of the Doctor's nature, which manifested somewhere between his twelfth and final incarnations (according to The Master in "The Ultimate Foe". For the most part, the Valeyard is a temporal anomaly.
Working titles for this story included Wasteland and Robots Of Ravolox.
The opening shot of the TARDIS being beamed aboard the space station was the most expensive special effects shot in the classic series' history, costing £8,000.
Glen McCoy came up with the idea of The Doctor being on trial, and the season arc itself was inspired by A Christmas Carol, in that The Doctor would see events from his past, present and future.
The trial of the Doctor in this serial was partly meant as a metaphor for the fact the series was on trial following its 18 month hiatus.
Adam Blackwood (Balazar) and Tom Chadbon (Merdeen) found if difficult to look at each other because they thought their costumes were amusing. Blackwood kept the costume of Balazar which he wears at home for DIY!
Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant decided to tone down the acrimony between their characters, believing that the relationship between the Doctor and Peri would have matured between seasons.
"The Mysterious Planet" features a noticeable increase in humour from recent seasons, both in the dialogue and the acting performances. This was put in to please BBC One Controller Michael Grade, who wanted less violence and more humour in the series.
Head of Drama Jonathan Powell took issue with several aspects of "The Mysterious Planet", most notably its humourous content, the level of the Doctor's involvement in the events on Ravolox, and the gradual introduction of the Trial scenario. Robert Holmes-- who by now was ill with liver-related difficulties - was frustrated by Powell's last-minute indictment of his story, as it meant he would have to suspend work on the season finale to return to a set of scripts he believed were long since finished. Eric Saward, for his part, was livid, believing that Powell was demonstrating a lack of respect for the veteran writer. Things were not helped by the fact that Saward's relationship with John Nathan-Turner was deteriorating, with the script editor feeling his producer was expending too much time wooing the show's American fan base.
This story marked the practice of all exteriors being recorded using Outside Broadcast video, rather than film as had usually been the practice for the previous 22 years. The use of OB for exteriors would continue for the remainder of the original series, until its end in 1989.
Beginning with this chapter of Trial of a Time Lord, Doctor Who returned to its original 25-minute episode format, which it retained for the remainder of the original series. However, the total length of the broadcast season remained fixed at about three months annually, resulting in about a 50% drop in seasonal output as compared with previous seasons.
The Doctor in this story states he is 900 years old, the same age given in Revelation, however in an episode of The Ultimate Foe, Mel states the Doctor's age as "900-odd" suggesting this is an approximation. In the revival series however, the Eleventh Doctor also gives his age at 909, suggesting he is either purposely obscuring his true age, or that he has lost count an honestly has no idea how old he is.
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Links (Watch on DailyMotion.com)
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Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Doctor Who: The Trial of a Time Lord DVD is available at Amazon.com,
or download the season from iTunes
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