Meglos

110 – Meglos
Doctor Who serial
Meglos takes on the Doctor's form.
Cast
Doctor Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor)
Companions Lalla Ward (Romana) John Leeson (Voice of K-9 Mk. II)
Others Jacqueline Hill — Lexa Bill Fraser — General Grugger Frederick Treves — Lieutenant Brotadac Crawford Logan — Deedrix Edward Underdown — Zastor Colette Gleeson — Caris Christopher Owen — Earthling Simon Shaw — Tigellan Guard
Production
Directed by	Terence Dudley
Written by	John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch
Script editor	Christopher H. Bidmead
Produced by	John Nathan-Turner
Executive producer(s)	Barry Letts
Incidental music composer	Paddy Kingsland (1) Peter Howell (2-4)
Production code	5Q
Series	Season 18
Length	4 episodes, 25 minutes each
Originally broadcast	27 September – 18 October 1980
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → The Leisure Hive Full Circle

Meglos

Author	Terrance Dicks
Cover artist	Andrew Skilleter
Series	Doctor Who book: Target novelisations
Release number	75
Publisher	Target Books
Publication date	5 May 1983
ISBN

Meglos is the second serial of the 18th season in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 27 September to 18 October 1980.

The Prion star system contains two habitable planets which have supported civilisations: Zolfa-Thura, a desert world devoid seemingly of life structures bar five giant screens; and Tigella, a jungle world inhabited by the humanoid, white haired Tigellans. The structure of Tigellan society is based on two castes: the scientific Savants, led by the earnest Deedrix; and the religiously fanatical Deons, led by Lexa. The latter worship the Dodecahedron, a mysterious twelve-sided crystal which they see as a gift from the god Ti. The Savants, however, have utilised its power as an energy source for their entire civilisation. The planet’s leader, Zastor, mediates between the two factions, whose tensions have grown greater as the energy source has begun to fluctuate. When Zastor’s old friend the Fourth Doctor gets in touch, the weary leader invites him back to Tigella to investigate and help. When the Doctor, Romana and K-9 try to land the TARDIS on Tigella someone intervenes, trapping them in a time bubble known as a Chronic Hysteresis Loop, causing them to repeat a small "pocket of time" over and over again.

The culprit is Meglos, the last Zolfa-Thuran, a cactus creature who has remained hidden below the surface of his planet in a secret structure. He has summoned a band of ramshackle space pirates called Gaztaks to help him in an audacious plan, and their leaders Grugger and Brotadac are greedy enough to try. Meglos wants to steal the Dodecahedron back from Tigella, as it is a Zolfa-Thuran energy source of immense power. To aid him, Meglos uses an Earthling captured for him by the Gaztaks to occupy and take on humanoid form: and the humanoid form he chooses is the Doctor, whom he has trapped in the bubble. While the hysteresis persists Meglos gets the Gaztaks to take him to Tigella, and infiltrates the city in his new identity. Zastor greets “the Doctor” warmly as an old friend, asking him to examine the Dodecahedron, but others are less sure, especially Lexa.