The Doctor, Jo, and the Master walk into a Cold War… and everyone else winds up in prison.
Short Synopsis
The Doctor and Jo land smack in the middle of interstellar tensions between Earth and the Draconians. While the two powers squabble toward war, the Master plays agent provocateur with a big toothy ally hiding in the wings. Spoiler: it’s the Daleks, because of course it’s the Daleks.
Extended Storyline
The TARDIS drops the Doctor and Jo into the 26th century, right in the middle of a space Cold War between Earth and the Draconian Empire. It’s not exactly détente, more like “we’ll glare at you from across the neutral zone and maybe lob a missile or two if you blink wrong.”
But there’s a problem: space cargo ships are being attacked by what survivors swear are Draconians. Except they aren’t. They’re actually Ogrons in fancy-dress costumes, hired by the Master. Yes, the Master’s big plan here is literally cosmic cosplay.
Naturally, the Doctor and Jo are immediately accused of being spies. This kicks off a repetitive cycle: they’re arrested, interrogated, thrown in jail, escape, get caught, rinse, repeat. It’s like someone decided to stretch one episode of courtroom drama into six weeks of prime-time television.
The Master eventually pops up to reveal that, yes, he’s the one behind the Ogron masquerade. His goal? To start a massive war between Earth and Draconia, destabilizing the galaxy so the Daleks can swoop in and conquer. Subtle, it is not.
Jo, to her credit, spends much of the story being the only one with common sense. She manages to keep the Doctor alive (more than once) and even resists the Master’s hypnosis — no small feat, considering half the guest cast falls for his “you are feeling very sleepy” routine.
The climax comes when the Daleks finally appear, striding into the story like they own the place. Which, to be fair, they usually do. The Doctor is captured, the Master gloats, Jo gets into trouble (again), and everything ends on a cliffhanger that leads directly into Planet of the Daleks.