Nightmare of Eden

107 – Nightmare of Eden
Doctor Who serial
Mandrels from the planet Eden kill passengers and crew aboard the Empress.
Cast
Doctor Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor)
Companions Lalla Ward (Romana) David Brierley (Voice of K-9 Mk. II)
Others Lewis Fiander — Professor Tryst Jennifer Lonsdale — Della Geoffrey Bateman — Dymond David Daker — Captain Rigg Stephen Jenn — Secker Barry Andrews — Stott Geoffrey Hinsliff — Officer Fisk Peter Craze — Officer Costa Richard Barnes, Sebastian Stride, Eden Phillips — Crewmen Annet Peters, Lionel Sansby, Peter Roberts, Maggie Petersen — Passengers
Production
Directed by	Alan Bromly, Graham Williams (uncredited)
Written by	Bob Baker
Script editor	Douglas Adams
Produced by	Graham Williams
Executive producer(s)	None
Incidental music composer	Dudley Simpson
Production code	5K
Series	Season 17
Length	4 episodes, 25 minutes each
Originally broadcast	24 November – 15 December 1979
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → The Creature from the Pit The Horns of Nimon

Doctor Who and the Nightmare of Eden

Author	Terrance Dicks
Cover artist	Andrew Skilleter
Series	Doctor Who book: Target novelisations
Release number	45
Publisher	Target Books
Publication date	21 August 1980
ISBN

Nightmare of Eden is the fourth serial of the 17th season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 24 November to 15 December 1979.

The TARDIS arrives close to an unstable area on the interstellar cruise ship Empress, which has emerged from hyperspace at the same co-ordinates as the trade ship Hecate, causing a dimensional crossover that the Doctor and Romana realise must be repaired. The Doctor offers his services to detach the two craft. Rigg, captain of the Empress, is suspicious of the Doctor’s alias as a representative of Galactic Salvage but nevertheless agrees to let him try and separate the two craft by reversing the smaller craft at full thrust. The Doctor is accompanied on this task by Rigg's co-pilot, Secker, who, it becomes apparent, is a drug addict. He is hooked on the organic substance Vraxoin, whose origins are unknown, but whose properties are lethal and dangerous. Secker heads off alone into the unstable area and while there is attacked by a clawed monster and left for dead. K-9 arrives from the TARDIS and is tasked with cutting through the locked ships.

Also aboard the Empress are a zoologist named Tryst and his assistant Della, with their CET (Continual Event Transmuter) Machine, which stores portions of planets on electro-magnetic crystals. Their collection is large and ethically dubious. Their most recent stop was on the planet Eden where one of their expedition was killed, but both Tryst and Della are reluctant to provide too many details. Romana, however, examines the Eden projection when she is on her own and is sure she has seen eyes staring out at her from the dark and forbidding jungle. When she later looks at the projection again an insect appears from within it and stings her.

The Doctor and Rigg find the wounded Secker and send him to the sickbay where he dies. When the Doctor finds Secker's drugs stash he is prevented from acting when someone stuns him and steals the evidence. Once he has recovered, he returns with Rigg and K-9 to cut through the power source. Once a hole is made a roaring creature appears, flexing its vicious claws.

K-9 repels the creature with blaster fire while the Doctor and Rigg refit the segment of the craft. The Doctor continues to try to separate the two ships while also trying to source the Vraxoin on the craft. Rigg is positive there are no drugs on his craft, but events soon take a sinister turn, which proves him wrong. When Romana wakes up an unseen hand spikes her refresher drink with the drug, but it is Rigg who ends up drinking it. He soon starts to show signs of addiction and altered perception and heads off alone as his cravings grow.