Warriors’ Gate
Warriors’ Gate
This Story: Series 18, Story 5. Production Code 5S
Overall: Story 114, Episodes 548-551
Airdates: 3 Jan 1981 – 24 Jan 1981
Written by Stephen Gallagher
Directed by Paul Joyce & Graeme Harper (uncredited)
Notes
- This is the last story for both Romana & K9 as series regulars. K9 would make cameos a few times in the future.
- K9 later appeared in the spinoff attempt “K9 & Company”. He then appeared again in the series proper with a a cameo in “The Five Doctors“. That was his final appearance in classic Who, but did re-appear in Doctor Who in the 2006 episode “School Reunion“. That version (Mk 3) was destroyed, at the replacement (Mk IV) stayed with Sarah Jane and made somewhat irregular appearances in episodes of “The Sarah Jane Adventures”. K9’s final appearances to date in actual Doctor Who were in the 2008 series finale “Journey’s End“.
- I noticed after I posted all the tweets for this story that I have them labeled incorrectly as “Warrior’s Gate”, when it should be “Warriors’ Gate”. Whoops.
Links
[ Wikipedia | Tardis Data Core | SPS Historium | Amazon US DVD | Amazon UK DVD ]#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 548 - Warrior's Gate 1/4 (Serial 5S Story 114) - 3 Jan 1981. #DoctorWho 1/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) January 1, 2023
First ep of 1981. Also the final story for both Romana & K9. This one always was an odd one for me. I never thought it was actually bad, but I always found it confusing as hell, and pic.twitter.com/itLAdcJBbw
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 548 - Warrior's Gate 1/4 (Serial 5S Story 114) - 3 Jan 1981. #DoctorWho 2/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) January 1, 2023
as such I never could quite wrap my head around the story. See if it's any different this time. Felt a bit like story that couldn't be made properly with available tech in 1980. pic.twitter.com/k0V9Up8jui
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 549 - Warrior's Gate 2/4 (Serial 5S Story 114) - 10 Jan 1981. #DoctorWho 1/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) January 1, 2023
Romana II finally says her full name (Romanadvoratrelundar) in her last story. A group of guys with a ship are stuck in E-Space like the Tardis is, and Romana tries to use them pic.twitter.com/DOVqaVFV9R
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 549 - Warrior's Gate 2/4 (Serial 5S Story 114) - 10 Jan 1981. #DoctorWho 2/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) January 1, 2023
to get materials to fix K9. The Doctor is playing around with robot warriors. Basically, two episodes in and I'm confused again. Not sure why most things are happening here. pic.twitter.com/bClBGA8Kp6
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 550 - Warrior's Gate 3/4 (Serial 5S Story 114) - 17 Jan 1981. #DoctorWho 1/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) January 2, 2023
The story seems to revolve mostly around "time winds" and passing through a mirror. Adric is still pretty disconnected from the main story. As much grief as Underworld got for pic.twitter.com/Ek5IYEbTOw
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 550 - Warrior's Gate 3/4 (Serial 5S Story 114) - 17 Jan 1981. #DoctorWho 2/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) January 2, 2023
having entire worlds/areas done on blue screen, this story does much the same. You never hear about it. Still confused as to what is going on - something to do with time zones? pic.twitter.com/GfrVRpSMCF
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 551 - Warrior's Gate 4/4 (Serial 5S Story 114) - 24 Jan 1981. #DoctorWho 1/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) January 2, 2023
This is both Romana & K9's last ep. They stay behind in E-Space leaving just Adric with the Doctor as they return to N-Space. We get the phrase Dwarf Star Alloy, which crops up in pic.twitter.com/G5Hn85VC4l
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 551 - Warrior's Gate 4/4 (Serial 5S Story 114) - 24 Jan 1981. #DoctorWho 2/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) January 2, 2023
Tennant eps. This story was just as confusing as I remember - I basically can't figure out why anything was happening, although ep4 was a tad clearer, since things were wrapped up. pic.twitter.com/l1mWrd4bDx
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 551 - Warriors' Gate 4/4 (Serial 5S Story 114) - 24 Jan 1981. #DoctorWho 3/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) January 2, 2023
Admin note: By doubling up on Warriors' Gate tonight, I've now reached the end of my needing to double up. I will now go back to just one per day, as end date is now 23 Nov 2023. pic.twitter.com/2vDoPz6DSN