Because sometimes the Doctor saves the world… and sometimes he just moonlights as his own evil twin.
Short Synopsis
The Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria land in 2018 (aka “the distant future”) and discover that a dictator named Salamander, who just happens to look exactly like the Doctor, is trying to take over the world. Cue six episodes of mistaken identity, dodgy accents, and a villain who apparently never heard of delegating.
Extended Storyline
The TARDIS materializes on a beach in sunny Australia, which is such a novelty that the Doctor immediately strips down to his long johns for a swim. Within minutes, he’s nearly shot at by men chasing him in a hovercraft, proving once again that the Doctor can’t even enjoy a paddle without triggering international incidents.
The twist? The Doctor’s face is the spitting image of Salamander, a powerful and sinister figure who has maneuvered himself into global control by “predicting” natural disasters — predictions he makes possible thanks to secretly causing them with his underground tech toys. Because if you’re going to take over the world, why not play Weather God while you’re at it?
Naturally, the Doctor gets dragged into the political chaos when rebels mistake him for Salamander, giving us one of Doctor Who’s earliest “evil double” plots. While Jamie and Victoria sneak around in their usual “helpful hostages” capacity, the Doctor reluctantly impersonates Salamander to investigate. This mostly involves him putting on a dodgy Mexican-Spanish accent and glowering at people, which Troughton does with unnerving enthusiasm.
Things get even soapier when Salamander’s empire turns out to be built on a ridiculous secret: an underground bunker full of people who think they’ve been living through a nuclear apocalypse for years, all because Salamander told them so. He pops down occasionally to demand they keep blasting at the Earth’s crust to create “natural” disasters, then scampers back upstairs to continue his tyrannical weather service.
Eventually, Salamander’s scheming unravels. His enemies close in, the Doctor exposes the underground charade, and Salamander makes one last desperate move by sneaking aboard the TARDIS and trying to impersonate the Doctor himself. Unfortunately for him, he forgets to close the doors mid-flight — a rookie mistake that ends with him being sucked into the time vortex. Bye-bye, bargain-bin Bond villain.