E-Space Trilogy.We've met the 'Creatures from The Black Lagoon' in Full Circle, vampires in State Of Decay and now the E-Space Trilogy concludes with wolfman-like Tharils in Warriors' Gate.
The Doctor (Tom Baker), Romana (Lalla Ward) and Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) are still trying to find a way out of E-Space when the TARDIS becomes lodged in the void between E-Space and Normal (N-)Space, along with a bulk freighter with a hold full of Tharil slaves.
Once a dominant species, the time-sensitive, leonine Tharils are now reduced to being traded by humans as reluctant (but valuable) navigators for their hyperspace starships.
The two ships are all trapped in a shrinking, white void where the only feature is a medieval archway which leads into a dusty, web-coated dinning hall - complete with robotic guardians and 'magic' mirrors (which allow some people through into a different dimension).
The white void of this null-point (N-Space has positive co-ordinates, E-Space has negative co-ordinates, but the void has zero co-ordinates) bears a great resemblance to the set-up for superb Second Doctor story The Mind Robber and I wonder if there is any connection between the two?
Once you get your head around the awful, dated CSO/green screening, the misfiring moments of 'comedy' and the occasional trippy time jumps and temporal technobabble, Warriors' Gate stands up as a cerebral and surreal Doctor Who story - while allowing The Doctor and Romana to strike back against the evil of slavery (a plot point every viewer could understand).
This is a story without classic, obvious villains but instead has several parties with different objectives trying to cope in a strange environment. Even the slavers are too workman-like and jobsworth to be seen as wholly villainous (although their captain does go a bit mental right at the climax).
Warriors' Gate is a strange ending for the E-Space Trilogy as superficially it is so unlike the previous two stories, but it's a thought-provoking departure point for Romana to leave the TARDIS crew, taking poor K-9 with her (who had suffered numerous injustices and breakdowns since John Nathan-Turner took the reins of the show anyway).
Adric is almost incidental to the story and barely registers, which is no bad thing.
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