Doctor Who - The E-Space Trilogy (Warriors' Gate / Full Circle / State of Decay) [VHS] [1963]

My favourite story out of the trilogy is the middle one, "State of Decay". I found this story quite scary when I first saw it as an impressionable child back in the 1980s. "State of Decay" takes place after "Full Circle" but it was actually filmed before "Full Circle", so strictly speaking this is the first time Adric appears in the show. The setting is quasi-medieval, a backwater planet where peasants toil for the sinister Lords - "The Three Who Rule". For over a thousand years things have been the same. A primitive society where learning is forbidden. The vampire Lords rule from a rocket-shaped Tower which looms over the village. Young people are periodically selected from the village to "serve" the Lords. A band of rebels survives in the wastelands. If you look at this story too closely however, you will find plot holes. For example, Lord Aukon could detect the presence of strong alien minds (the Doctor, Romana and Adric), yet he failed to notice the rebellious streak in Ivo's mind. This is especially disturbing when Aukon said "We have bred dullness, conformity, obedience into those clods for twenty generations." Aukon couldn't locate the rebels' hideout either. Nevertheless, the Doctor is up against a formidable enemy in this adventure. Isn't he always?

The trilogy concludes with "Warriors Gate", where the TARDIS literally lands in the middle of nowhere. To be more precise, the gateway that leads back into N-space (our universe). Slavery is dealt with in this adventure, as the lion-like Tharils are cruelly exploited for their sensitivity to Time. Stephen Gallagher wrote this story. Apparently he was influenced by Joe Haldeman's novel "The Forever War". We see some sophisticated special effects (for 1980) as Biroc's mind forms an animated wireframe image of the TARDIS. Look at his "afterimage" as he runs through the white void.

The E-space trilogy is a strong set of stories. This is also where we say goodbye to Romana and K.9. as they decide to help Biroc and the other Tharils fight slavery. K.9.'s departure was a sad loss for fans, but a blessed relief for the technical crew, who sometimes found the robot dog hard to control. It may sound like a cliche, but after "Warriors Gate" things would never quite be the same.

In video 2 "State of Decay" the Doctor meets the Timelords greatest foe the vampires who were banished into exo-space by Rassilon himself. This story is one of my favourites as there is such a great dark secret laying underneath the tower ruled by the three.

In the last story "Warriors Gate" the Tardis is brought to a place by the Tharils who are a being hunted down and enslaved. Can the Doctor help? You'll just have to watch and see.
This story also marks the end of the much loved companions K9 who first appeared in "The Invisible Enemy" and the female timelord Romana who first appeared in the episode "The Ribos Operation" in the "Key To Time Season" it is a very momentus episode and so I would urge anyone to watch it, as well as the two episodes leading up to it.