HORROR OF FANG ROCK

BY: TERRANCE DICKS

Part Four

Original Air Date: 24 September 1977
Running time: 23:49

VINCE: Reuben! You all right now? You shouldn't have come up here. I'll hang on till morning. You go and get some sleep.

VINCE: No, no.

LEELA: This alien must have great power to change its shape at will.

DOCTOR: It has. But it needed to study the human life pattern first.

LEELA: That is why it took the engineer.

DOCTOR: Organic restructuring is elementary physiology for Time Lords.

LEELA: Then there is nothing we can do.

DOCTOR: What?

LEELA: Well, if this creature is a Time Lord

DOCTOR: No, not a Time Lord. Elementary physiology for us is something that lesser species might master after a few thousand centuries.

LEELA: Oh. Then we have nothing to worry about.

DOCTOR: We don't?

LEELA: No. You will easily dispose of this primitive creature, Doctor. You are a Time Lord.

DOCTOR: Yes, but it took Reuben's form for a reason.

LEELA: To k*ll us stealthily, one by one. Doctor!

DOCTOR: What is it?

LEELA: Suppose we pretend that we still think Reuben is Reuben, and not the alien, then we can get close enough to it and k*ll it.

DOCTOR: No, no, no, no. We can't. If we got within touching distance of it, we're d*ad. It packs too many volts.

LEELA: What is it?

DOCTOR: It's some kind of power relay.

LEELA: Does it belong to the alien?

DOCTOR: Yes, yes. Rule one after surviving a crash landing, set up distress beacon. To do that it would have needed a power source. That's why it came here. There must be a signal modulator somewhere, transmitting. To whom? To it's own kind. Leela, get the surviving humans to the lamp room.

LEELA: To the lamp room.

DOCTOR: Yes, that's the easiest place to defend.

LEELA: Oh, but Doctor, where shall we look for this mognal sigulator?

DOCTOR: I'll do the looking. Hurry, there isn't much time.

ADELAIDE: Do keep still! It's like some terrible dream.

SKINSALE: Pity it's not a dream. We'd stand a chance of waking up.

SKINSALE: Is Harker d*ad?

LEELA: Yes. Like the others. The creature has got into the lighthouse. Now we must fight for our lives.

SKINSALE: Come on, Adelaide, drink this. Come on, drink it.

LEELA: Hurry. The Doctor wants us to go to the lamp room.

SKINSALE: Why the lamp room?

LEELA: It is the easiest place to defend ourselves.

SKINSALE: Right. Come on, Adelaide.

ADELAIDE: No.

SKINSALE: Come on.

ADELAIDE: No.

SKINSALE: Come along.

LEELA: Back! Back! Get back!

LEELA: Run! Run!

SKINSALE: Adelaide, Doctor. It's got Adelaide.

DOCTOR: Where's Leela?

LEELA: Doctor, the creature! Behind us. We must find w*apon.

DOCTOR: Shush. Now listen. When you reach the service room, you'll find a locker full of maroons. I want you to break them open and scatter the powder down the lamp room stairs. Vince'll help you. Off you go.

SKINSALE: Right.

LEELA: It's coming.

DOCTOR: May I help you? Having trouble, Reuben, hmm? Not easy holding a human form s*ab, is it.

REUBEN: No longer necessary. We can abandon this ridiculous shape.

DOCTOR: Good idea. You'll find it a lot comfier.

SKINSALE: Just like the others.

LEELA: Then there is nothing we can do. The maroons.

SKINSALE: This terrible thing will destroy us all. Poor chap.

LEELA: You must forget him now.

LEELA: It is time for us to fight.

LEELA: Listen.

DOCTOR: Now I remember. Reuben the Rutan.

RUTAN: You know our form?

DOCTOR: Well, when you've seen one Rutan, you've seen them all.

RUTAN: We are a Rutan scout. We are specially trained in the new metamorphosis techniques.

DOCTOR: Well, I expect you'll get better at it in time. What are you doing in this part of the galaxy anyway?

RUTAN: That doesn't concern you. You are to be destroyed.

DOCTOR: Got it! You're at last losing that interminable w*r with the Sontarans.

RUTAN: That is a lie!

DOCTOR: Is it? You used to control the whole of the Mutter's Spiral once. Now the Sontarans have driven you to the far fringes of the galaxy.

RUTAN: The glorious Rutan army is making a series of strategic withdrawals to selected strong points.

DOCTOR: Rutan, that's the empty rhetoric of a defeated dictator, and I don't like your face, either.

RUTAN: Your mockery will end with your race, Earthling, when the mighty Rutan battle fleet occupies this planet.

DOCTOR: Why inv*de an obscure planet like Earth? It's of no value to you.

RUTAN: The planet is obscure, but its strategic position is sound. We shall use it as a launch point for our final as*ault on the Sontaran rabble.

DOCTOR: But if you set up a power base here, the Sontarans will b*mb it with photonic m*ssile.

RUTAN: That is unimportant. It will serve the cause of our final glorious victory.

DOCTOR: And what about its people?

RUTAN: Primitive bipeds of no value. We scouted all the planets of this solar system. Only this one suits our purpose.

DOCTOR: I can understand your military purposes, but why m*rder a hatful of harmless humans?

RUTAN: It is necessary. Til we return to our mother ship, and the mother ship informs the fleet, no one must know of our visit to Earth.

DOCTOR: But you crashed, didn't you, just as you made your discovery. You failed.

RUTAN: Failed? We are sending a signal to the mother ship with the power from the primitive mechanism below.

DOCTOR: You're not, you know.

RUTAN: It's of no importance. The ship will home in on the primary signal.

DOCTOR: I'm sorry to disappoint you. I fixed that as well, oyster face.

RUTAN: All your interference is useless. The beam was transmitting long enough for the mother ship to trace the signal.

DOCTOR: You can't be certain.

RUTAN: It will come.

DOCTOR: But by then, you'll be d*ad.

RUTAN: What could you Earthlings possibly do to us?

DOCTOR: Well, if you'll just step this way, I'll show you.

LEELA: Here he comes!

DOCTOR: I've brought someone to see you. Give me one of those fuses, quickly.

SKINSALE: Is this advisable, Doctor?

DOCTOR: Probably not, but we've no choice. I'm so sorry to bother you. Could you oblige me with a light?

SKINSALE: A what?

DOCTOR: A match.

SKINSALE: Oh yes, of course, here.

DOCTOR: Thank you. Move over.

LEELA: How did you hold it back on the stairs?

DOCTOR: Oh, a little militant chit-chat.

DOCTOR: What kept you?

RUTAN: The time for talk is over.

DOCTOR: Correct.

LEELA: Where is it? Have you k*lled the thing?

DOCTOR: Unlikely.

SKINSALE: That's the most horrible thing I've ever seen. What the devil is it?

DOCTOR: It's an intelligent, highly aggressive species from Ruta Three.

LEELA: Was it a sea creature?

DOCTOR: It evolved in the sea, adapted to land. Any more g*n, Colonel?

LEELA: We are lucky that it fears flame.

DOCTOR: Well, Ruta Three is an icy planet. Its inhabitants find heat intensely painful. Now, if we had a flame-thrower.

SKINSALE: Well, there is this, Doctor.

DOCTOR: What?

SKINSALE: I carried it up from the service room. It looks like a kind of mortar.

DOCTOR: It's an early Schermuly.

SKINSALE: An early Schermuly?

DOCTOR: Yes, an early Schermuly. A Schermuly box that fires a rocket and line.

SKINSALE: A projectile w*apon.

DOCTOR: Yes. It won't do, though. Stay calm, Skinsale.

DOCTOR: Here, take this.

SKINSALE: Right, got it.

DOCTOR: Loaded with a few odds and ends it should cover the stairs. Empty your pockets, and mine.

DOCTOR: Of course, it's not just this Rutan I'm worried about, it's the others.

SKINSALE: Others?

DOCTOR: Yes.

SKINSALE: You mean to say there are more of these beasts?

DOCTOR: There's a whole battle fleet out there. By the time the Rutans and the Sontarans

SKINSALE: Sontarans?

DOCTOR: Yes. By the time they've finished with it, this planet'll be like a cinder hanging in space.

SKINSALE: You mean to say that there's a whole battle fleet coming here?

DOCTOR: Yes. Unless, of course, we could knock out both the mother ship and the scout ship. If we could do that, they just might conclude that this section of space was too dangerous.

LEELA: How can we do that?

DOCTOR: I don't know. We've nothing here that would stop a Rutan spaceship in its tracks. Rutan ships have a crystalline infrastructure, you see. Shielded, of course. Still, landing on a planet like this, they might just cut off the energy fields to save power. No, I'd need an amplified carbon oscillator.

LEELA: What is an am, what did you say?

DOCTOR: It's like a laser beam but much more destructive.

SKINSALE: A laser beam?

DOCTOR: Yes.

LEELA: Yes, that's some kind of very powerful light, isn't it, Doctor?

DOCTOR: Well, yes, put in it's simplest terms.

LEELA: Why don't we use this?

DOCTOR: What?

LEELA: This.

DOCTOR: That? Are you suggesting I convert the carbon arc beam?

LEELA: Well, obviously.

DOCTOR: Leela, that's a beautiful notion. Unfortunately I'd need a focusing device, a fairly large piece of crystalline carbon.

LEELA: Crystallised carbon?

SKINSALE: A diamond.

DOCTOR: Yes.

DOCTOR: No, that's too small. I'd need a much bigger one for the primary beam oscillator.

SKINSALE: Palmerdale.

DOCTOR: What?

SKINSALE: Palmerdale. He always carried diamonds.

DOCTOR: He did?

SKINSALE: He called them his insurance.

DOCTOR: The crew room.

SKINSALE: Yes.

DOCTOR: Yes. Yes. Well, let's get this working first.

DOCTOR: Are you sure you've got it?

LEELA: Mmm hmm.

DOCTOR: Good.

SKINSALE: Doctor, I'm coming with you.

DOCTOR: That's not necessary.

SKINSALE: I want to. You'll need someone.

DOCTOR: All right. Remember, Leela, don't f*re until you see the green of its tentacles.

LEELA: Doctor, how are you going to get past the Rutan?

DOCTOR: With discretion. Come on, Colonel.

DOCTOR: (quietly) Hurry. Hurry!

DOCTOR: (quietly) Body belt. Body belt!

DOCTOR (OOV.): Ready, Leela?

LEELA: Yes.

DOCTOR (OOV.): Now!

LEELA: Are you all right?

DOCTOR: You singed my scarf.

LEELA: And the Colonel?

DOCTOR: d*ad with honour.

LEELA: Then at least we have avenged him.

DOCTOR: Yes.

LEELA: And the diamond?

LEELA: It is here, Doctor. I did it! Finished!

RUTAN: Your triumph will be short, Earthling. Our mother ship will blast this island into molten rock.

LEELA: Empty thr*at, Rutan. Enjoy your death as I enjoyed k*lling you.

RUTAN: We die for the glory of our race. Long live the Rutan empire!

DOCTOR (OOV.): Leela? Leela!

LEELA: They are hard to k*ll, these Rutans.

DOCTOR: Been celebrating, have you?

LEELA: It is fitting to celebrate the death of an enemy.

DOCTOR: Not in my opinion. I haven't got time to discuss morality. Look out there.

LEELA: Is that the Rutan mother ship?

DOCTOR: It is. When it gets within range, this will lock onto its carbon resonator and knock out its anti-grav, I hope. We've got about a hundred and seventeen seconds to get out of here. Understand?

LEELA: Perfectly.

DOCTOR: Good. So when I switch on, you run for it, all right?

LEELA: Yes. It's getting nearer, Doctor.

DOCTOR: Come on. Whatever you do, don't look back. I said don't look back! Let's go. Now!

DOCTOR: Leela, come on!

DOCTOR: Leela!

DOCTOR (OOV.): Leela!

LEELA: Come on!

DOCTOR: That'll teach them.

DOCTOR: I thought I told you not to look back.

LEELA: Slay me, Doctor.

DOCTOR: What?

LEELA: I'm blind. Slay me now. It is the fate of the old and crippled.

DOCTOR: You're neither old nor crippled. The effects of the flash will pass.

LEELA: You are sure?

DOCTOR: Mmm. Blink. That's interesting.

LEELA: What is?

DOCTOR: Pigmentation dispersal caused by the flash. Your eyes have changed colour. Leela, stop blinking now. Let's go.

LEELA: What colour are they?

DOCTOR: Blue. 'Aye, though we hunted high and low, and hunted everywhere.'

LEELA: What?

DOCTOR: The Ballad of Flannan Isle, by Wilfred Gibson.

LEELA: Who?

DOCTOR: Wilfred Gibson. 'Aye, though we hunted high and low, and hunted everywhere, of the three men's fate we found no trace'

DOCTOR (OOV.): 'In any time, in any place. But a door ajar and an untouched needle and an over-toppled chair.'
{"type": "series", "show": "Doctor Who", "episode": "15x04 - Horror of Fang Rock - part 4"}