Doctor Who: The Emerald Terror

The Emerald Terror was a 18-minute mini-episode produced for the 55th Anniversary of Doctor Who by CBS and featured the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors teaming up. It was written by Jane Espenson and directed by John Dahl.

Plot

The Fourteenth Doctor and Raleigh teleport into Civil War-era D.C. They are dishevelled and tired. Suddenly, the world stops around the Doctor, everything is frozen in a split second, including Raleigh. The Doctor looks around and calls out, asking what they want. However, a door, in reality, opens, as a beam of light falls out it of and the Fifteenth Doctor steps through. Fifteen tells Fourteen that she needs her help, and the universe is at stake. 

Through the door, the two Doctors arrive in an intergalactic hub, whereby the Fifteenth Doctor explains that she is her next incarnation and that something or someone is taking out their past incarnations, and it won’t be long until they will cease to exist, as they are living on borrowed time, themselves. Fifteen selects a destination and the two are transported to Chicago in the 1880s.

Fourteen asks why they are there, but Fifteen tells her that as far as she can tell, it’s the enemy’s base of operations. Fourteen asks who it is: Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, the Master? But Fifteen says that she doesn’t think any of them are likely, as this isn’t their style. The two walk through the streets, getting some very strange looks, to which Fourteen quips that she should’ve brought the perception device and Fifteen says that it’s gone missing, over the years. 

The two arrive at an abandoned building, which Fifteen tracks them to with a device in her pocket. Inside they find nothing, as it’s completely empty – apart from a suitcase on the floor. Fourteen opens the suitcase to find small figures of all 13 of their past incarnations inside. The two suddenly realise just who and what has taken them. 

They return to the intergalactic hub and Fifteen says that they’ve got to cross their own timestreams and return to Gallifrey before the fall. The two cross through a barrier and arrive in Gallifrey’s Death Zone, at the foot of the Tower of Rassilon. The two journey through it, encountering phantoms as they go, before making it to the Tomb of Rassilon, where they find Borusa standing in the centre of the chamber, having escaped from the tomb, aiming a staser at the two Doctors. He says finally he shall have his revenge – but Fifteen tells him that it was his own lust for power that trapped him there in the first place and the two of them are happy for him to be freed if he learnt his lesson. Fourteen goes onto tell him that she forgives him, and says that Gallifrey’s days are numbered, and it would be in his interest to leave and make a home somewhere else. Borusa says that he wants true immortality, but Fifteen softly says that no such thing exists. Borusa breaks down and drops his weapon (with Fourteen quickly picking it up). Fifteen holds Borusa in her arms and tells him that everything will be okay, but he must let all their other incarnations go. Borusa taps a button on his arm and suddenly, the two Doctors become rejuvenated as they feel their past incarnations return.

Later on, Fifteen returns Fourteen back to Civil War-era D.C. and the two say goodbye. Fifteen nearly tells Fourteen to be weary of Raleigh, but stops herself, and just says ‘spoilers’, as time unfreezes and Fifteen leaves.

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