Parts: 4
Writer: Robert Holmes
Airdates: 27 January 1973 - 17 February 1973
Production Code: PPP
Creature Feature: Drashigs
Story: On the planet Inter Minor, entertainers Zorg and Shirna are struggling to allow their attractions to be seen by the populace. Despite being the first aliens ever allowed to set foot on the planet, they find themselves victims of a power struggle within the xenophobic elite race. Zorg and Shirna are quite put out, in more than one sense.
Meanwhile, the TARDIS arrives on Metebelis 3 - or so the Doctor thinks until he actually steps outside. Jo is convinced that they have arrived on Earth - after all, atop a crate bound for Singapore is a box of chickens, and what more evidence should the Doctor need? But the Doctor is not so sure, despite the fact that they soon learn they have landed on the S S Bernice, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, in 1926. Jo thinks the Doctor is stubbornly refusing to admit that he was wrong.
But as events unfold, Jo realizes that the Doctor might not be so wrong after all. For one thing, why is there a plesiosaur in the ocean outside the ship? Why are the people aboard the ship unable to see the anachronistic metal hexagon that has been affixed to the floor in one of the corridors? Why does time seem to be repeating? And, more importantly to the Doctor and Jo, where is that giant hand taking the TARDIS?!