The Ultimate Foe - Plot

Plot

The Doctor acknowledges that he has no further evidence for his defence. He insists that the Valeyard's evidence has been falsified, and that the Matrix has been tampered with. The Keeper of the Matrix, summoned by the court, insists this impossible.

Sabalom Glitz and Mel Bush arrive unexpectedly in the courtroom. The Master appears on the Matrix screen to claim responsibility and to demonstrate that the Doctor's allegation that the Matrix has been breached is, in fact, plausible.

At the Master's insistence, Glitz is allowed to give evidence. He reveals that the data he was trying to obtain on Ravolox included technological secrets from the Matrix, which had been stolen by the Sleepers. The Time Lords, having discovered the theft, traced the Sleepers to their base on Earth and seized the planet, dragging it across space to the location in which the Doctor found it - and nearly annihilating all life in the process.

The Doctor, shocked, denounces the Time Lords as decadent and corrupt. The Master further alleges that the High Council took advantage of the Doctor's blundering into the situation on Ravolox by making an arrangement with a future version of the Doctor - the Valeyard - to falsify evidence against the Doctor in return for his remaining regenerations. The Master claims that the Valeyard is the distillation of the Doctor's darker side, from between the Doctor's twelfth and final regenerations.

The Doctor's demand that the trial be halted, since the same person cannot be both prosecutor and defendant, is turned down by the Inquisitor - but at that moment the Valeyard flees the courtroom. The Doctor and Glitz pursue him into the Matrix, a virtual reality where normal logic does not apply. They emerge in what appears to be a deserted Victorian city. The only sign of life is a building labelled "The Fantasy Factory (proprietor: J. J. Chambers)". The Doctor and Glitz bluster and sneak their way past a number of identical clerks, named Mr Popplewick, who try to obstruct their progress; eventually one ushers them through a door to Chambers's 'waiting room'. Through the door is a deserted wasteland. To the Doctor's horror, hands emerge from the ground and grab him by the ankles, dragging him underground.

Glitz is unable to rescue him, but the Doctor suddenly rises from the ground unharmed, insisting correctly that nothing that happens in the Matrix is real. The Valeyard appears and taunts the Doctor before unleashing nerve gas, forcing the Doctor and Glitz to take refuge in a run-down cottage. As they stumble inside, it dematerialises - it is the Master's TARDIS.

In the trial room, the Inquisitor and Mel look on helplessly. Mel tries to grab the key from the Keeper so that she might enter the Matrix herself, but she trips over him in the attempt.

The Master reveals that he wishes the Doctor to prevail over the Valeyard, since he fears the Valeyard's ability finally to defeat him. He puts the Doctor into a catatonic state and sends him out of his TARDIS to lure the Valeyard out of hiding in the Fantasy Factory. Glitz, opportunistically, now helps the Master, since he believes the Doctor is defeated. The Valeyard emerges onto a balcony but is not fooled and returns fire. The Master flees.

Mel emerges from a tunnel and the Doctor, recognising her voice, emerges from his trance. She leads him out of the Matrix and into the trial room. They agree that she should tell the truth, and she confirms to the court that the scenes of the Vervoids' destruction, the basis of the Valeyard's charge of genocide, are as she witnessed them. The Inquisitor finds the Doctor guilty and declares that his life is forfeit. He accepts the verdict as the fulfilment of justice and is led off to execution.

However, in the real courtroom, this last scene - including the real Doctor - is revealed to be another illusion shown on the Matrix screen. Mel is frantic that the Doctor needs help, this time successfully grabbing the Keeper's key and entering the Matrix. She finds the Doctor and warns him - but he had already realised that the courtroom was a fake and merely wished to reach a final confrontation with the Valeyard.

Bribed by the Master to lead the Doctor to the Valeyard, Glitz returns to the Fantasy Factory. There, he finds the master tape of the data he thought had been destroyed on Ravolox. Mr Popplewick catches him red-handed, and Glitz persuades him to lead him and the Doctor to Chambers. Glitz makes an escape with the data to the Master's TARDIS.

Popplewick proves unable or unwilling to produce Chambers. The Doctor and Mel lay hold of him, and the Doctor peels away his face to reveal that it is the Valeyard in disguise. They realise that a concealed machine in the room is particle disseminator, with which the Valeyard plans to murder all the members of the court via the Matrix screen.

In the real trial room, the Inquisitor learns that the High Council has been deposed. The Master appears on the Matrix screen to offer to impose order in return for power. He loads Glitz's master tape into his TARDIS systems, but a booby-trap is triggered, paralysing him and Glitz.

Mel emerges from the Matrix to warn the Time Lords. They cannot turn off the Matrix screen, but the Doctor sabotages the Valeyard's weapon and the Fantasy Factory explodes.

The Doctor flees the Matrix in time and returns to the court room. There, a grateful Inquisitor drops the charges against him and reveals that Peri Brown survived the events on Thoros Beta and became Yrcanos's queen. She urges the Doctor to stand for Lord President of the new Council, but he suggests she should stand. He urges the Time Lords to be lenient towards Glitz, who is 'not beyond redemption', and departs in the TARDIS - protesting at Mel's insistence that he continue to follow her regime of strict exercise and carrot juice.

As the Inquisitor leaves the trial room, she gives instructions to the Keeper of the Matrix. But as he looks up at the camera, he laughs, and is revealed to be the Valeyard.