An absolutely classic Doctor Who episode, and with my favorite Doctor, the great Tom Baker. And with Leela, one of the Doctor’s most interesting companions, as she is an absolute warrior who runs on instinct and not intellect, and this Episode also introduces the great K-9 who became such a stalwart companion to the Doctor. Not only is this one enjoyable, but how cool is getting to litterally travel into the mind of a time lord. Nice. One of the best, and the disc also includes the pilot to the ill fated K-9 and Company Show, where Sarah Jane Smith got K-9.

In the year 5000 humans have spread across the solar system, and s space shuttle ends up passing through a strange virus, and the virus takes over their minds, and they head to the ships destination, Titan Base. The crew starts taking over the base, but the station manager Lowe (Michael Sheard) manages to get off a distress call, which the Doctor (Tom Baker) and his companion Leela (Louise Jameson) hear the message, and go to help. The Doctor is infected by the Virus, though not completely taken over, but amazingly Leela is immune from infection. The Doctor is meant to be the Nucleaus of the Swarm, taken over by the infections central intelligence. The Nucleus wants Leela killed, and orders the Doctor to do it, but he breaks free, and allows Leela to get him in the Tardis and head to the nearest Medical Center, along with Lowe who has just been secretly infected.

REVEIW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

Lowe sneaks off and starts infecting staff, while Leela takes the Doctor to Professor Marius (Frederick Jaeger) and his computerized robotic dog companion K-9 (the voice of John Leeson). The Doctor has been putting himself in a kind of suspended animation to stem the infection, since it feeds on his mind energy, but he makes a plan with Marius to clone himself and Leela in clones that only last 10 minutes. Meanwhile Leela is defending the lab from Lowe and his new allies.

The clone doctor goes to the Tardis and brings back a piece of it, and uses it to shrink himself and the clone Leela, and they are injected into the real doctor to kill the infection, and to escape from the tear duct. Lowe arrives in the lab, and has himself cloned and shrunk and sent in to fight them. The clone Leela fights off Lowe, while the Doctor goes and gets to the infection. He can’t destroy it though, and it goes out through the Doctor’s escape route, as the clones disappear, there ten minutes being up.

Marius has now been changed, and he extracts something from the Tear duct and has it grown to full size, and it turns out to be the Nucleus (also voiced by John Leeson). The Nucleus and the infected staff head for Titan Base at high speed the so the Nucleus can spawn and take over the galaxy.

The Doctor realizes he is cured, and it was caused by the Leela clone going into his blood stream, and her immunity is now in him, so they replicate it, and save Marius, and the others at the medicatl center.

The Doctor, Leela and K-9 had to Titan Base in the Tardis to go and fight the Nucleus, first with a virus they created from the immunity, but it is destroyed. The Doctor then wires up the base to explode, and destroys the swarm,

They head back to the medical center, and Professor Marius ends up giving K-9 to the Doctor and Leela, as he is heading back to Earth, and will be able to get his own dog.

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A very enjoyable episode, especially the journey into the Doctor’s brain!