Doctor Who 112: Full Circle directed by Peter Grimwade, written by Andrew Smith (1980)
Tom Baker to me is the Doctor, so of course I am excited to have all of his adventures, and this, the start of the 3 part E Space Trilogy which answers some things I have wanted to see, such as where did Adric come from, and where did Romana go! And I also really enjoy overarching story-lines, so the 3 part E-Space Trilogy is right up my alley, and Full Circle is a fun and enjoyable way to start it off. As a Tomb Baker adventure this is a must see. And his interaction with Romana is always fun to watch (You can see they had something going on in their relationship). Fun Fun Fun!
Galifrey is demanding Romana’s return, so The Doctor (Tom Baker) has set the course to return to his home planet, against the wishes of the brilliant Timelord Romana (Lalla Ward) who does not wish to Return home. The Doctor is excited to see how Leela and her husband, and the previous K-9 (John Leeson) are doing, but it is not to be, as the Tardis passes through a CVE or Charged Vacuum Enoitment which sends them out of N-Space into the smaller E-Space, a pocket universe. And even more strangely, the scanner on the Tardis shows they have arrived on Gallifrey, but they are in fact in a forrest on the planet Alzarius in E-Space. On Alzarius live a small group of Humanoids living by a starship called the Starliner, which crashed there, and the people are living off the land, while they attempt to repair it. The people are ruled by a 3 member council knows as the Deciders. A boy named Varsh (Richard Willis) have rejected the ways of the people, and do not believe in Mistfall, and period of cataclysmic change in the atmosphere of the planet, where the people must retreat into the starship. Varsh’s brother, the super intelligent Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) wants to join his brother, though he has been trained for great things, and goes to steal fruit for them, but is caught by the head of the Deciders council, Draith (Leonard Mguire) just as Mistfall hits, and the elder is dragged into the swamp. Adric runs through the forrest and finds the Tardis. The Doctor and Romana take him in and fix his leg wound, and then head off to investigate the planet. Adric goes out and ends up coming back to the Tardis with Varsh and his compatriots to hide out from Mistfall which legend says could kill them all since the Starliner has already been sealed, and they force their way past Romana at knife point.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

The remaining 2 Deciders Garif (Alan Rowe) and Nefred (James Bree)have ordered the Starliner sealed, and the people have been evacuated into the Starship, and set to work repairing the ship. They have also chosen a prominent citizen named Login (George Baker) to join them as the 3rd decider, though he is saddened that his daughter Keara (June Page) has not come to the ship because she is out with Draith.
Humanoid Marshmen begin to come out of the water, and the Riverfruit the people eat begin to hatch into Marshspiders. The Marshmen beat on the starliner trying to gain entry. The Doctor though easily gets in using his sonic screwdriver, though he leaves the door open, allowing a Marshman to enter. Both are found by the people, and a scientist names Dexeter (Tony Calvin) begins plans to vivisect the Marshman, which is in reality only a child.
Meanwhile another group of Marshmen have taken the Tardis, shaking it’s occupants, and placed it into the cave that Varsh had help with his friends, and was filled with Riverfruit, and now Marshspiders. The Marshmen had planned to use the Tardis as a ram to get into the Starliner, but they were scared off by the Spiders. Romana gets bitten by a spider, and starts to change. Adric panics, and manages to transport the Tardis into the Starliner, where Keara is re-united with her father Login.
The Doctor takes the Tardis to find Romana in the cave. He finds her, but she does not remember much. He takes her and a Marshspider and returns to the Starliner.
Dexeter though has tried to cut into the Marshchild, causing it to attack and kill him as well as itself. This causes the Doctor to denounce this society, revealing that the ship has in fact been ready to be piloted for centuries, and that they have been repairing things that already work. The Deciders tell him that they understand the technical aspects, but no one knows how to pilot the ship.
The Doctor examines the cells of the marshpider and the marshchild, and realizes they have the same DNA. Romana though has opened the emergency exits allowing the Marshmen into the Starliner. They are more curious than violent, but the colonists run in terror.
Terradon is killed, but as he dies he admits that they colonists cannot return to Tarradonia because they have never been there, they are descended from the Marshmen, who in fact wiped out the crew of the Starliner.
The Doctor uses a protein serum to cure Romana, and they determine that they ship has been maintained for 40,000 generations by a species that has a 3 part lifecycle, the Spiders, the Marshmen and then Humanoids, which is why they go full circle, the secret that was in the computer banks, for only the head Decider to know.
It is realized that pure oxygen will make the Marshmen leave, as they cannot cope with it, so it makes them leave without hurting them. Varsh is killed in the retreat, and Adric decides to stow away on the Tardis, as he has nothing left on Alzarius. The collonists pilot their ship away from Alzarius as the Doctor and Romana leave.
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Quite enjoyable fun. And cool to see Adric’s origin, and we even see that his pin was for his math skills.
