Parts: 4
Writers: Robert Holmes
Airdates: 28 December 1968 - 18 January 1969
Production Code: WW

Doctor: second
Companions: Jamie, Zoe

Creature Feature: Krotons

Story: Arriving on an odorous planet, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe come across a large metal door just in time to see a dazed man walk out of it and be vaporized. When they trek to a city that they had spied in the distance, they find an argument being waged in the Hall of Learning. A woman, dressed in similar clothes to the man who was killed, is preparing to enter a similar door to become a Companion of the Krotons; but others are questioning the necessity of what she is about to do.

The woman enters the machine, so the Doctor, Jamie, Zoe, and one of the locals rush to stop her being killed. They arrive at the metal door in the wilderness in time to save her - but she seems weak and drained, almost mindless. The Doctor learns that the native Gonds are educated through the Kroton learning machines, and they allow the Krotons to take their two most promising students to become Companions.

The Doctor and Zoe make a trip back to the Hall of Learning; while the Doctor examines a room underneath the Krotons' machine, Zoe takes a whirl on one of the learning machines. Her scores, the highest ever seen, attract the Krotons' attention...they want Zoe to be one of their Companions. Distraught, the Doctor decides that the only way to save her will be to accompany her, so he takes their test as well. Even if the Doctor and Zoe can figure out what the Krotons' plans are, no-one else has ever come out of the machine alive...