Parts: 2 (45-minute)
Writer: Philip Martin
Airdates: 19 January 1985 - 26 January 1985
Production Code: 6V
Megalomaniac of the Week: Sil
Story: When the TARDIS stalls in mid-flight, powerless, the Doctor immediately diagnoses the fault - the ship has run out of zeiton-7 ore, and without it, he and Peri are stranded for eternity. While the Doctor is somewhat apathetic and resigned to his fate, Peri talks him into making one desperate attempt. With the reserves of power in the TARDIS, the Doctor inputs a course for the planet Varos, during its mining era.
But Varos is not a pleasant planet. Once a prison planet, where only the people in charge lived in luxury, the status quo has barely changed. Every small dwelling is equipped with a television which constantly airs the latest execution or manhunt for the viewers' entertainment, and viewing is compulsory. Most of the footage is taken from the Dome of Punishment, a torture-and-execution center ruled over by the sadistic Quillam, where real and illusory dangers lurk in every corner.
Into the Dome of Punishment come the Doctor and Peri, where they are immediately caught up in the execution of an innocent man. After freeing him, the Doctor and Peri become fugitives themselves - and the viewers love every minute of it. If they ever want to obtain some zeiton-7 and depart the blighted planet of Varos, the Doctor and Peri must avoid the terrors of the Purple Zone, Quillam's horrendous experiments, and especially the schemes of the power-mad and unscrupulous Sil...