The Doctor becomes President of Gallifrey… and almost immediately wrecks the place.
Short Synopsis
The Doctor seizes the Presidency of Gallifrey, acts like the worst despot the Time Lords have ever seen, and invites in alien invaders — only to reveal it was all part of his “master plan.” Unfortunately, that plan also involves a six-part story padded with more corridor-running than should legally be allowed.
Extended Storyline
The TARDIS materializes on Gallifrey, and the Doctor announces he’s claiming his rightful place as President of the Time Lords. (This was technically set up back in The Deadly Assassin, when he was elected by default, but apparently forgot to mention it to Leela, K-9, or literally anyone else.)
From the moment he dons the Presidential regalia, the Doctor starts acting like a power-mad dictator. He snaps orders at the High Council, treats Leela like yesterday’s fish and chips, and generally makes everyone wonder if he’s gone completely bananas. Naturally, Leela objects, but the Time Lords aren’t exactly a “healthy workplace culture,” so she gets banished to the Outlands for being too mouthy.
The Doctor, meanwhile, starts cozying up to a race of alien beings called the Vardans — shimmering green energy waves that look suspiciously like the BBC accidentally smeared Vaseline on the camera lens. He promises them access to Gallifrey’s secrets, while the Time Lords squirm in horror at their President’s betrayal. What they don’t know is that the Doctor is pulling an elaborate con: he’s pretending to collaborate in order to learn the Vardans’ true weakness. (Classic Doctor — he just forgot to tell anyone else about the plan, leading to six episodes of everyone thinking he’s lost the plot.)
While Leela leads a growing resistance movement in the wilds of Gallifrey (because she’s not the sort to sit quietly and wait for orders), the Doctor eventually exposes the Vardans’ Achilles’ heel: they can only invade in physical form if they’re tracked to their home planet. With a bit of technobabble and K-9’s help, the Doctor zaps them back where they came from. Victory, right?
Not so fast. Because just when everyone’s breathing a sigh of relief, second-act twist! The Sontarans invade Gallifrey. (Because why not? If there’s one thing the Sontarans love more than war, it’s turning up uninvited.) Suddenly, Gallifrey goes from “occupied by shimmery green waves” to “occupied by potato-headed soldiers in oversized leather armor.”
The Doctor, still wearing the full regalia of his office like a cosmic prankster, leads the defense. What follows is about two episodes’ worth of running through the endless corridors of the Citadel. And when those corridors get boring? The production team takes the action outside — into a disused hospital in Bristol, standing in for the “inner chambers” of Gallifrey. Nothing screams “seat of Time Lord power” like peeling wallpaper and NHS fire doors.
The climax involves the Doctor luring the Sontarans into the TARDIS itself, where he and K-9 rig a trap to defeat them. There’s some tense button-pushing, a few bangs and flashes, and the invaders are finally wiped out. The day is saved, Gallifrey is liberated, and the Time Lords once again demonstrate why they’re so bad at running their own planet.
But the fallout? Leela decides to stay behind on Gallifrey. Not because she’s suddenly fascinated with Time Lord culture, but because she’s fallen in love with a guard named Andred. (They’ve had about six lines of dialogue together, but in classic Doctor Who fashion, that’s apparently enough for eternal commitment.) K-9 Mark I also stays with her, because he and Leela have bonded, and the Doctor already has plans for a new K-9 model waiting in the wings.
And with that, the Doctor swans off alone, probably quite pleased that his six-episode performance as “Space Tyrant President” ended without anyone voting him out or exiling him permanently.