Enlightenment is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from March 1 to March 9, 1983. The serial was the third of three loosely connected serials known as the Black Guardian Trilogy. Peter Davison (born April 13, 1951) is a British actor, most commonly associated with playing Tristan to Robert Hardys Siegfried in All Creatures Great and Small and as the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, whom he played from 1981 to 1984. ... Barbara Clegg was a veteran scriptwriter for BBC Radio, but her television experience was limited when she was invited to submit ideas for Doctor Who in 1981. ... Eric Saward was born in December 1944 and became a script writer and script editor for the BBC, resigning from the latter post on the TV programme Doctor Who in 1986. ... John Nathan-Turner. ... This is a list of Doctor Who television serials. ... March 1 is the 60th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (61st in leap years). ... March 9 is the 68th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (69th in Leap years). ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Terminus is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in four weekly parts from February 15 to February 23, 1983. ... The Kings Demons is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in two parts on March 15 and March 16, 1983. ... This is a list of Doctor Who television serials. ... A broadcast of the long-running and popular British science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... List of Doctor Who serials Doctor Who audio releases Doctor Who spin-offs - includes a discussion of the many novelisations and original novels based on the series History of Doctor Who The Doctor (Doctor Who) List of supporting characters in Doctor Who, including villains and aliens List of robots in... March 1 is the 60th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (61st in leap years). ... March 9 is the 68th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (69th in Leap years). ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Synopsis

An Edwardian yacht in a deep space race around the planets. A double agent in the TARDIS crew. The White Guardian warns the Doctor of great danger, Turlough must finally choose sides, and at the end of the race lies the prize of Enlightenment. The White Guardian is a character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Mark Strickson as Turlough (from Mawdryn Undead). ...

Plot

Docking at the harbour of the Enlighteners.

The White Guardian appears in the TARDIS, warning the Fifth Doctor of great danger and giving him a set of co-ordinates. Before the White Guardian can explain further, the Black Guardian appears and interrupts the communication. The Doctor sets the co-ordinates and the TARDIS materializes in what appears to be a ship's hold. Leaving Tegan in the TARDIS in case the White Guardian tries to contact them again, the Doctor and Turlough leave to explore, barely avoiding one of the officers, dressed in an Edwardian naval uniform and having a mechanical, blank expression. Image File history File links A space-faring sailing ship docks at the harbour of the Enlighteners, advanced beings who offer [[Enlightenment (Doctor Who)}Enlightenment]] - from the television series Doctor Who. ... Image File history File links A space-faring sailing ship docks at the harbour of the Enlighteners, advanced beings who offer [[Enlightenment (Doctor Who)}Enlightenment]] - from the television series Doctor Who. ... The Third Doctor emerging from the TARDIS (from the 1970 serial Spearhead from Space). ... Peter Davison (born April 13, 1951) is a British actor, most commonly associated with playing Tristan to Robert Hardys Siegfried in All Creatures Great and Small and as the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, whom he played from 1981 to 1984. ... The Black Guardian (Valentine Dyall) The Black Guardian is a character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... The Doctor is the only known name of the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and also featured in a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series. ... Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka (from The Visitation). ... Mark Strickson as Turlough (from Mawdryn Undead). ... The Edwardian period or Edwardian era in the United Kingdom is the period 1901 to 1910, the reign of King Edward VII. It is sometimes extended to include the period to the start of World War I in 1914 or even the end of the war in 1918. ...

Speaking with the crew, the Doctor discovers they remember nothing of coming aboard, have been below decks the whole time, and that the ship they are on has been entered in some sort of race. Meanwhile, Tegan leaves the TARDIS and encounters the ship's first mate, Marriner, who offers to take her to her friends, whom he knows about even though he's not met them yet. An officer with the same distant look escorts the Doctor to see Captain Striker, who offers them dinner. However, the dinner is interrupted when the wind picks up and the officers announce that the race has begun. Going to the wheelhouse, the Doctor sees a map of the race course, complete with "marker buoys" which he recognizes as the planets of Earth's solar system. Marriner then operates anachronistic electronic controls and a viewscreen activates to show the other contestants - a Greek trireme, a 17th Century pirate ship, and other vessels from other times, all floating in deep space and using solar winds for propulsion. A planet (from the Greek πλανήτης, planetes or wanderers) is a body of considerable mass that orbits a star and that produces very little or no energy through nuclear fusion. ... Earth, also known as the Earth, Terra, and (mostly in the 19th century) Tellus, is the third planet outward from the Sun. ... Mosaic of Solar System planets except Pluto, including Earths Moon (not to scale). ... An anachronism (from Greek ana, back, and chronos, time) is something that is out of its natural time or that appears to be so. ... A Greek trireme A Roman trireme Triremes were ancient war galleys with three rows of oars on each side. ... A pirate is one who robs or plunders at sea without a commission from a recognised sovereign nation. ... A solar wind is a stream of charged particles (i. ... Concept image of a solar sail spacecraft in the process of unfurling sails. ...

The Doctor speaks to Striker and discovers that he and his officers are Eternals, beings who live in the "trackless wastes of eternity," as opposed to the Doctor and his companions, who are "Ephemerals." As the ships round Venus, the trireme captained by Critas the Greek explodes when it tries to overtake the pirate ship. Striker believes that it was the gravitational pull that did it, but the Doctor suspects otherwise. Tegan feels ill, so Marriner escorts her to a room which she soon realizes is a mixture of her room in the TARDIS and her rooms in Brisbane - they have been reading her mind. Marriner seems quite taken by Tegan, finding her mind fascinating and full of life. (*min temperature refers to cloud tops only) Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 9. ... Brisbane by night Brisbane is the capital city of the state of Queensland, Australia. ...

In conversation with Striker, the Doctor finds out that Eternals use Ephemerals for their thoughts and ideas. The Eternals have lived for so long that they are unable to think for themselves and need human minds to give them existence, and entertainment - that is why the ships use human crews. The purpose of the race, however, is more than entertainment. The prize is Enlightenment, the wisdom to know everything. The TARDIS is discovered by the Eternals, who make it vanish. Trapped on board the Edwardian ship for the moment, the Doctor and his companions go on board deck in space suits. Turlough hears the voice of the Black Guardian taunting him and unable to take the strain, he leaps overboard into space.

Turlough is rescued by the Buccaneer, the pirate ship commanded by Captain Wrack. She toys with Turlough sadistically with a knife, but he manages to convince her that he jumped overboard to throw in his lot with her, to find out the secret of how she will win the race. Wrack sends her first mate to present Captain Davey, one of the other competitors with a jewelled sword, and party invitations to the other captains. On board the Edwardian ship, Striker refuses the invitation, but the Doctor accepts, wanting to retrieve Turlough. Marriner offers to escort Tegan and the Doctor to the Buccaneer as an asteroid storm hits the ships. As Davey's ship draws level with the Buccaneer, Wrack takes Turlough down in the hold and shows him the entrance to a locked chamber with a vacuum shield, but leaves him outside when she enters. Through the door, however, Turlough hears the voice of the Black Guardian as Davey's ship explodes, apparently hit by an asteroid. The Doctor, though, again suspects otherwise, especially since like Critas's ship, Davey was also challenging the Buccaneer. An asteroid is a small, solid object in our Solar System, orbiting the Sun. ...

Arriving on board the Buccaneer for the party, the Doctor and Tegan mingle while Turlough sneaks off to examine the locked chamber. He finds an eye-shaped grid open to space, but a pirate locks the door and turns off the vacuum shield. Fortunately, the Doctor finds Turlough before he suffocates. The Doctor then notices the eye-shaped projector above the grid, and theorizes that this must be how Wrack transmits the power to destroy the other ships, using some sort of focus. He remembers Critas was wearing an out-of-period clasp with a red crystal, and Turlough tells him of Wrack's gift to Davey and the Doctor realizes the red crystal is the focus. Before they can act on it, however, they are captured by Wrack's first mate. Meanwhile, Wrack has managed to lure Tegan away from the party to her wheelhouse and freezes her in time while she plants a red crystal in her tiara. Quartz crystal A crystal is a solid in which the constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are packed in a regularly ordered, repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. ... Red is a color at the lowest frequencies of light discernible by the human eye. ...

Brought before Wrack, Turlough accuses the Doctor of being a spy and claims was trying to capture the Doctor. Wrack sends the Doctor, Tegan and Marriner back to the Edwardian ship. The Doctor believes that Turlough is trying to prove himself trustworthy by stopping Wrack. Unfortunately, Wrack sees into Turlough's mind and is about to sentence him to walk to plank when Turlough tells her that he, too, serves the Black Guardian. As the ships near the crystalline space station of the Enlighteners, the Buccaneer pulls level with the Edwardian Ship, and Wrack brings Turlough once again to the chamber, this time letting him witness her summoning the power of the Black Guardian. The Doctor, seeing the Buccaneer pull close, realizes that the focus must have been smuggled aboard somehow, and as he describes it, Tegan tells him about the crystal in the tiara. The Doctor smashes the crystal, but only manages to multiply the power by the number of fragments. He gathers up the pieces, rushing up to the deck and just in time hurls them overboard as they explode.

Suddenly, the wind dies, and Wrack pulls ahead of the Edwardian ship. The Doctor demands that the TARDIS be released to him to stop Wrack from winning, and Marriner reveals that it was concealed within the Doctor's own mind. Travelling in it to the Buccaneer, the Doctor tries to reason with Wrack, but her first mate shows up with Turlough, and she orders that the Doctor be thrown into space. As Tegan watches from the Edwardian ship, two bodies are ejected into space, and the Buccaneer reaches the finish. The human crew of the Buccaneer vanish as Tegan, Striker and Marriner board to give their respects to the victor.

The Enlighteners turn out to be the Black and White Guardians, and the winner is the Doctor, who brought the ship in with Turlough's help when Wrack and her first mate met with an "accident." The Doctor, however, refuses the diamond crystal containing Enlightenment, saying that he's not ready for it, and the White Guardian dismisses Striker and Marriner, who vanish back into eternity. As Turlough helped the Doctor bring the ship in, he is entitled to a portion of the prize. The Black Guardian reminds Turlough of their bargain, and says that he can give up the diamond, or sacrifice the Doctor to gain both Enlightenment and the TARDIS. Turlough struggles with a decision, and hurls the diamond at the Black Guardian, who vanishes in screams and flames. The Doctor points out that Enlightenment was not the diamond, but the choice itself. The White Guardian warns once again that the Black Guardian will return, even angrier now that he has been thwarted twice, and vanishes himself. Turlough asks the Doctor to take him back to his home planet, and the Doctor agrees. A scattering of round-brilliant cut diamonds shows off the many reflecting facets. ...

Notes

1. The working title for this story was The Enlighteners.
2. Every story during the Twentieth Season of Doctor Who was to have the Doctor face an enemy from each of his past incarnations. As with the previous story, the enemy was the Black Guardian, who last faced the fourth incarnation of the Doctor at the conclusion of the Key to Time saga in The Armageddon Factor (1979). This story was the third and final story in the Black Guardian Trilogy.
3. This story marked Valentine Dyall's final appearance as the Black Guardian. Dyall would return to the world of Doctor Who as the character Slarn in the BBC Radio 4 serial Slipback before his death in 1985.
4. This story also marks the final appearance of Cyril Luckham as the White Guardian, who was last seen in The Ribos Operation (1978). Luckham passed away on February 8th, 1989.
5. Guest star Lynda Baron (Captain Wrack) first appeared in Doctor Who in the 1966 serial The Gunfighters. See also Celebrity appearances in Doctor Who.

The Black Guardian (Valentine Dyall) The Black Guardian is a character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... The Key to Time is the umbrella title for a story arc that links all six serials of Season 16 of Doctor Who. ... The Armageddon Factor is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from January 20 to February 24, 1979. ... Valentine Dyall (7 May 1908–24 June 1985) was a British actor, known for many years as The Man in Black, narrator of the BBC Radio horror series Appointment With Fear. ... BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of chiefly spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. ... The Ribos Operation is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from September 2 to September 23, 1978. ... February 8 is the 39th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Lynda Baron (born 24 March 1942 in Urmston, Manchester) is a British actress. ... 1966 was a common year starting on Saturday (link goes to calendar) // Events January January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. ... The Gunfighters is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from April 30 to May 21, 1966. ... Several celebrities have made guest appearances in Doctor Who. ...

External links

• Cast and Crew list, on the BBC website