Episode guide
Doctor Who: Season 18
28 episodes · premiered Aug 30, 1980
The season featured a story arc involving E-Space and the return of the Master who had stolen a new body rather than regenerate. The stories were darker and more adult in tone than those during the Graham Williams era. They also attempted to emphasise science, much to the satisfaction of both script editor Christopher H. Bidmead and executive producer Barry Letts. Notably, this season revolves around the theme of entropy, linking together all of its stories in a rare phenomenon for the show (while other story arcs would be linked together via people, objects, etc, the use of an overarching theme for a season was unprecedented). This theme would eventually foreshadow and culminate in the Doctor's regeneration at the end of the season.
- Episode 1: The Leisure Hive (1) Aug 30, 1980 · 24m The planet Argolis, around the year 2290. The Argolins live in a huge shielded city, protected from the irradiated wasteland outside. The planet's survival depends on the tourists their…
- Episode 2: The Leisure Hive (2) Sep 6, 1980 · 21m Another man is found dead, strangled by the Doctor's scarf, so the Doctor is put on trial. By some of the archaic rules of law, he's made to "prove" his innocence by becoming a test…
- Episode 3: The Leisure Hive (3) Sep 13, 1980 · 22m With the Doctor suffering from the time experiment, the clandestine schemes of others start coming to light, along with the secreted purposes to which the tachyonic generator has been used.
- Episode 4: The Leisure Hive (4) Sep 20, 1980 · 22m With the saboteur and murderer revealed and arrested, peace should now be restored, but a new threat emerges - a war-monger who's both ready and eager to aggress upon other worlds with a…
- Episode 5: Meglos (1) Sep 27, 1980 · 25m The desert planet Zolpha-Thura, the 1980s. Giant intelligent megalomaniac cactus Meglos is planning to conquer the galaxy but first it needs the dodecahedron, a powerful energy source…
- Episode 6: Meglos (2) Oct 4, 1980 · 22m With the TARDIS occupants trapped in a chronic histeratic loop (forever reliving the same moment in time), the devious Meglos - disguised as the Doctor - gains the trust of the Tigellans…
- Episode 7: Meglos (3) Oct 11, 1980 · 22m Can Romana escape the Gaztaks? What has become of the Dodecahedron? What pressing appointment awaits the Doctor?
- Episode 8: Meglos (4) Oct 18, 1980 · 20m With the Doctor about to be ritualistically sacrificed to appease the god Ti for stealing the dodecahedron, Meglos and the pirates return to Zolfa-Thura with the dodecahedron to fire up an…
- Episode 9: Full Circle (1) Oct 25, 1980 · 25m Deep space, an unknown time - on course for Gallifrey, the TARDIS passes through a strange disruption. When they materialise, the scanner shows the Time Lord homeworld... but the…
- Episode 10: Full Circle (2) Nov 1, 1980 · 23m As the humanoid community takes refuge in their crashed spaceship, venomous marsh spiders begin to hatch from the local fruit while bestial marshmen emerge from the waters to walk the…
- Episode 11: Full Circle (3) Nov 8, 1980 · 22m Infection from a spider bite causes Romana's personality to change. Meanwhile the Doctor, after discovering that the spaceship society is in a perpetual state of repair and upgrade, has…
- Episode 12: Full Circle (4) Nov 15, 1980 · 25m Marshmen invade the Terradonian ship thanks to Romana, who seems to be in communion with them. While the ship's inhabitants flee for their lives, the Doctor discovers a crucial fact why…
- Episode 13: State of Decay (1) Nov 22, 1980 · 23m Still trapped in negative E-Space, the TARDIS lands on an unnamed world to find a society sliding back into feudalism. What is the secret of the Three Who Rule? And what ancient enemy of…
- Episode 14: State of Decay (2) Nov 29, 1980 · 24m The Doctor and Romana are escorted to the tower to meet the royal leaders, hoping they can find answers to why this society evolves backwards. The Doctor recognizes the tower as an old…
- Episode 15: State of Decay (3) Dec 6, 1980 · 25m The Doctor finds archive material in the TARDIS that tells him he's dealing with an ancient enemy of the Time Lords, a nearly indestructible king vampire who's ready to revive and reenter…
- Episode 16: State of Decay (4) Dec 13, 1980 · 25m The Doctor joins the villagers' revolt against their vampire rulers, unsure how to kill the king vampire. Meanwhile Adric is first in line to join the new vampire order while Romana is…
- Episode 17: Warriors' Gate (1) Jan 3, 1981 · 23m The TARDIS is drawn into an empty white void, somewhere between universes. But they are not the only ones trapped there.
- Episode 18: Warriors' Gate (2) Jan 10, 1981 · 24m When Rorvik learns that Romana is a time sensitive, he takes her prisoner, forcing her to find a way out of the void. The Doctor attempts to discover what lies beyond the mirror.
- Episode 19: Warriors' Gate (3) Jan 17, 1981 · 23m While Biroc leads the Doctor to a view of the Tharil's lordly past, Romana learns more about the damaged freighter and the cold-heartedness of its crew. Meanwhile Commander Rorvik…
- Episode 20: Warriors' Gate (4) Jan 24, 1981 · 25m The Doctor deduces that the freighter is a slave ship loaded up with Tharils to be sold as time machine components, but the immense weight of Rorvik's damaged ship, designed to contain the…
- Episode 21: The Keeper of Traken (1) Jan 31, 1981 · 25m The planet Traken. The Traken union is a society living in perfect harmony, watched over by the powerful but benign Keeper. But now the Keeper is dying, and he senses a great evil within…
- Episode 22: The Keeper of Traken (2) Feb 7, 1981 · 25m Tremas claims consular privilege to protect the Doctor and Adric from execution, though it binds his fate to theirs if they're found guilty of murder. Melkur strengthens his hold over…
- Episode 23: The Keeper of Traken (3) Feb 14, 1981 · 24m With Tremas falling under suspicion, due to his association with the Doctor, a new Keeper Nominate is named. Now, with everything in place, Melkur has only a short wait before his full…
- Episode 24: The Keeper of Traken (4) Feb 21, 1981 · 26m With the merciless Melkur in control of The Source, the Doctor and his allies have only a slim chance of deposing him, which also puts the peace of the Traken Union in severe jeopardy.
- Episode 25: Logopolis (1) Feb 28, 1981 · 25m Deciding to repair the TARDIS' chameleon circuit, the Doctor goes to Earth to find a real police box. But an old enemy is one step ahead of him.
- Episode 26: Logopolis (2) Mar 7, 1981 · 25m The Doctor, aware that his time may soon be ending, travels to the Logopolis where a series of fateful events are set in motion.
- Episode 27: Logopolis (3) Mar 14, 1981 · 25m With Nyssa from Traken unexpectedly rejoining the group, Adric aids the Monitor of Logopolis in trying to save the Doctor before time runs out. The Master, at liberty to prepare, is…
- Episode 28: Logopolis (4) Mar 21, 1981 · 26m With the universe collapsing, the Doctor forms an uneasy alliance with the Master to save it. In case all does not go well, the Watcher takes the Doctor's companions to a safe place, but…