The Doomsday Contract

"You can't run away from bureaucracy."

Writer: John Lloyd (Adapted by Nev Fountain)

Format: Audio

Released: March 2021

Series: Lost Stories 6.02

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Romana II, K9

Synopsis

Earth – a small, insignificant planet. Entirely devoid of intelligent life.

At least that's according to the legal documents. The Doctor, Romana and K9 find themselves at the centre of a most unusual trial. 

An intergalactic corporation wants to bulldoze the planet for a development project. Only a previous court's preservation document is standing in their way. The Doctor has been summoned as an expert witness. If he can prove Earth contains intelligent life, the whole world will be saved,

But with a fortune at stake, it was never going to be that simple.

Verdict

The Doomsday Contract was a superb story to conclude the sixth series of Lost Stories! This was a real treat and an adventure I could easily see fitting in with Season 17 or 18 of the original run. The Doctor and Romana were in top form alongside K9 and I thought things started tremendously well. I was a huge fan of part one and I was really hoping that the entire story would be largely contained to the courtroom, and whilst that wasn't exactly the case everything being focused on the trial and the Doctor's position as an expert witness for there being intelligent life on Earth was excellent. I loved how he was positioned in this regard from his old pal Smilax and the way the coordinates were implanted in his mind was eery to start things off. I loved the idea of the Doctor and Romana continuing to holiday with this seemingly set not too far before the events of The Leisure Hive, and Romana deeming none of the gift shops satisfactory for a souvenir after three days searching was a lot of fun. The Cosmegalon Corporation trying to buy Earth and redevelop the planet into essentially accommodation was an amusing prospect and the only thing currently stopping them was a preservation order that was three million years old and on the brink of expiry. The Doctor being warned not to testify that Earth did have intelligent life because that would be proof of his trespassing on a preserved world was brilliant and put him in quite the predicament! His courtroom altercations with his own lawyer in the form of Tragacanth was the Fourth Doctor at his very best. It was wonderful humour and the Judge sustaining the accounts of badgering was marvellous. The arrival of the Children of Pyxis was good as a part one cliffhanger and really shifted us into a different direction than I was expecting, but their existence as backwards in time was a really intriguing concept. People forgot them once they'd left and what ordinary people saw as death they would see as creation. Finding out that they were a failed experiment added a touch of sympathy and hearing them react to the death they were causing was a little sad. The Doctor going into a micro-universe as witness protection was a fun idea and the villagers within actually being a jury from the devastating car park reminder fiasco that the Doctor had earlier told Romana about was glorious. I really didn't see that coming and tied things up nicely. The jury having decided that they wouldn't make a decision because of the conditions provided to them in the micro-universe was pretty fun stuff. The conclusion of the trial was a sham and I loved that the preservation order was backtracked a day, and Romana's involvement in showing the Judge there was intelligent stuff was nicely done. Namedropping a Walkman as signs of intelligent life was very good and timely. Skorpios had made for a decent villain and his escape only led him to death at the hands of the Children of Pyxis which was irony at its finest. Their being trapped in a sound wave was excellent and I loved that the Doctor and Romana combined their sonic screwdrivers to help K9 with holding them there as his power wained. Overall, a fine adventure! 

Rating: 9/10