An Ideal World

Early Adventures #5.2

Released: 17 October 2018

Listened: 7/24/22

We head straight into another story with an ethical dilemma, but unfortunately this one is even more heavy-handed. The TARDIS lands on a planet that’s being surveyed for terraforming. The surveyors are making every effort not to disturb the planet’s natural ecosystem until they’re sure there’s no intelligent life. They even have an ethicist in a senior position, which is apparently standard procedure. Unfortunately, the planet doesn’t really have a breathable atmosphere; the surveyors just created a small, temporary one, which tricks the TARDIS crew into going outside without survival gear, with unfortunate consequences. And which splits up the party, because that always has to happen. We learn that both Vicki and Stephen have nanotech in their blood that protects them from alien diseases, although the Doctor does not…which seems very odd, as the Doctor is normally more resilient than his companions when it comes to disease. Much like the last story, there’s a political power play going on here between the Captain and the Ethicist, and it doesn’t play out well. The Doctor insists on standing on his principles no matter what the cost, which brings strong reactions from Vicki and Stephen, and seems somewhat inconsistent with his later behavior. I think author Ian Potter was trying to set up a “both sides are right” argument, but it really doesn’t look that way to me. It’s unsettling, but not in a good, thoughtful way.