History Recap / DoctorWhoS37E10TheBattleOfRanskoorAvKolos

* HostageForMacGuffin: Tzim-Sha murders one of Paltraki's crew, then tells him that he has until lightfall to deliver the MacGuffin if he wants the other two alive and in one piece.

** The Doctor [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWOmanWhoFellToEarth yet again]] mentions that Stenza technology doesn't make very much sense.

* SingleSpecimenSpecies: The Ux are almost this. According to the Doctor, there have only ever been two of them.

* CruelMercy: Tzim-Sha lives through the episode, but is trapped in one of his own stasis pods and, according to the Ux, the shrine is sealed so that no-one will ever be able to free him.

* RecycledScript: An evil alien targeting planets and compressing them into small balls that they keep on display? Sounds a bit like an classic series story called [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E2ThePiratePlanet "The Pirate Planet"]].

3,407 years later, the Doctor and her companions pick up no less than nine distress signals coming from the planet Ranskoor Av Kolos, which the Doctor notes translates as "Disintegrator of Souls", prompting Graham to snark about how cheerful that sounds. Before they head off to see if they can help, the Doctor gives everyone neural stabilizers that will keep them safe from the mind-altering influences of the atmosphere. The TARDIS lands on a parked spaceship, where they find a confused man with no memory and a mysterious, impossible crystal. After he starts to remember things once the Doctor gives him a neural stabilizer, it transpires that his name is Paltraki and that he and his crew came to this planet for a reason. The ship is contacted by Andinio, who demands that Paltraki return the "object". She is followed by a masked Stenza warrior who murders one of Paltraki's remaining crewmembers, who are hostages, telling him that he has until lightfall to return what he stole or the other two die. The Doctor and her friends are shaken, wondering if the Stenza warrior is, in fact, the long-vanquished Tzim-Sha.

Gathering gear, they set out to rescue Paltraki's crew. Graham pulls the Doctor aside and tells her that if the Stenza is Tzim-Sha, he's going to kill him. The Doctor warns him against doing that, telling him that he's better than that. Their destination is a mysterious floating building, surrounded by a heap of crashed starships. Paltraki remembers that he and his crew were sent to get something from that building. When they reach the edge of the lake beneath it, the Doctor distributes gear. Ryan asks her why she's brought grenades if she's so against weapons, and she tells him that destroying things that can be rebuilt is different from using the weapons on people. The Doctor tasks Ryan and Graham with freeing Paltraki's crew, and Yaz and Paltraki with finding out where the crystal came from. She herself heads off to deal with the Stenza. Sorted, they all teleport into the building and split up.

Graham and Ryan, after fleeing from sniperbots, discover not two but dozens of people in stasis chambers. Yaz and Paltraki discover a room with several more crystals just like the first, and Paltraki remembers that his mission was to retrieve those crystals. The Doctor, meanwhile, runs into Andinio and recognizes her as one of the Ux, an incredibly rare RealityWarping species only found on three planets, and only consisting of two members at a time. It turns out that the Stenza is, in fact, Tzim-Sha, who wound up on Ranskoor Av Kolos after his recall device was somehow altered. The Ux, or at least Andinio, mistook him for their creator god, which he abused to the extent that he now believes himself to really be a god. He's had the Ux create and power a superweapon, and he's having Andinio start it up right now. Delph has spent a rather long time chained up as a power source, since he harbours doubts about Tzim-Sha's alleged divinity. It turns out that the crystals contain captured and stolen ''planets'', including five of the Nine Planets that Paltraki and his crew come from.

The Doctor is horrified, since that many shrunken planets, with their mass suspended by technology that doesn't make sense, could destroy the universe. As Graham and Ryan work to free the prisoners and Paltraki goes to help them, the Doctor tries to persuade Andinio to stop what she's doing, as Tzim-Sha has decided — since he wants revenge upon the Doctor — that the next target of his superweapon should be Earth, the site of their first meeting. Eventually, the Doctor and Yaz use their neural stabilizers to cut off the Ux's powers, stopping them in their tracks. The Doctor manages to break Andinio out of believing that Tzim-Sha is the Creator and, trying to figure out how to get the planets back to their proper locations before their containment crystals fail, summons the TARDIS to her. Combining the TARDIS' telepathic circuits, both Ux's powers, and the Stenza technology allows all the planets to be restored to their proper places. Meanwhile, Tzim-Sha discovers that Ryan and Graham are releasing his prisoners and confronts them after Paltraki has led most of them out of the building. Graham considers shooting Tzim-Sha, but decides against it and, with Ryan's help, puts the villain in one of his own stasis pods. Ryan and Graham tell Tim he's not worth killing and leave Grace's name as the last thing he hears before the pod is activated.

* AgonyOfTheFeet: Graham shoots Tzim-Sha in the foot to get him to shut up.
* AndIMustScream: How Tzim-Sha ends up. Don't feel too sorry for him, though; he ''really'' [[AssholeVictim had it coming]].

** Indeed, Tzim-Sha's Ux-assisted planetary theft via stealing them from time and space is quite reminiscent of what Davros and the Daleks were doing in "Journey's End". The fact that the planets were shrunk down also echoes the Fourth Doctor serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E2ThePiratePlanet The Pirate Planet]]".
** The Doctor connects cables inside the TARDIS to machinery outside. It works out much better than it did in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E11Utopia Utopia]]".

** The Doctor yet again mentions that Stenza technology doesn't make very much sense.
** The communication devices the team use are explicitly compared to the commdots seen in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E5TheTsurangaConundrum The Tsuranga Conundrum]]".
** Paltraki and his crew come from the Nine Planets, presumably the same as the Nine Systems that Tzim-Sha mentioned the Stenza as ruling in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth The Woman Who Fell to Earth]]", hinting that maybe the Stenza's empire has fallen in the millennia since.

* CruelMercy: Tzim-Sha lives through the episode but is trapped in one of his own stasis pods and, according to the Ux, the shrine is sealed so that no-one will ever be able to free him.
* DarkLordOnLifeSupport: Tzim-Sha, as a result of the DNA bombs that the Doctor tricked him into absorbing the last time he appeared and never making it back to his homeworld thanks to the Doctor unintentionally corrupting his recall teleport.

* NotWorthKilling: Graham and Ryan both decide against killing Tzim-Sha, with Graham using the exact phrase.

* RecycledScript: An evil alien targeting planets and compressing them into small balls that they keep on display, sounds a bit like an Orginal series story called ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E2ThePiratePlanet The Pirate Planet]]''.

3,407 years later, the Doctor and her companions pick up no less than nine distress signals coming from the planet Ranskoor Av Kolos, which the Doctor notes translates as "Disintegrator of Souls", prompting Graham to snark about how cheerful that sounds. Before they head off to see if they can help, the Doctor gives everyone neural stabilizers that will keep them safe from the mind-altering influences of the atmosphere. The TARDIS lands on a parked spaceship, where they find a confused man with no memory and a mysterious, impossible crystal. After he starts to remember things once the Doctor gives him a neural stabilizer, it transpires that his name is Paltraki and that he and his crew came to this planet for a reason. The ship is contacted by Andinio, who demands that Paltraki return the "object". She is followed by a masked Stenza warrior who murders one of Paltraki's remaining crewmembers, who are hostages, telling him that he has until lightfall to return what he stole or the other two die. The Doctor and her friends are shaken, wondering if the Stenza warrior is, in fact, the long-vanquished Tim Shaw.

Gathering gear, they set out to rescue Paltraki's crew. Graham pulls the Doctor aside and tells her that if the Stenza is Tim Shaw, he's going to kill him. The Doctor warns him against doing that, telling him that he's better than that. Their destination is a mysterious floating building, surrounded by a heap of crashed starships. Paltraki remembers that he and his crew were sent to get something from that building. When they reach the edge of the lake beneath it, the Doctor distributes gear. Ryan asks her why she's brought grenades if she's so against weapons, and she tells him that destroying things that can be rebuilt is different from using the weapons on people. The Doctor tasks Ryan and Graham with freeing Paltraki's crew, and Yaz and Paltraki with finding out where the crystal came from. She herself heads off to deal with the Stenza. Sorted, they all teleport into the building and split up.

Graham and Ryan, after fleeing from sniperbots, discover not two but dozens of people in stasis chambers. Yaz and Paltraki discover a room with several more crystals just like the first, and Paltraki remembers that his mission was to retrieve those crystals. The Doctor, meanwhile, runs into Andinio and recognizes her as one of the Ux, an incredibly rare RealityWarping species only found on three planets, and only consisting of two members at a time. It turns out that the Stenza is, in fact, Tim Shaw, who wound up on Ranskoor Av Kolos after his recall device was somehow altered. The Ux, or at least Andinio, mistook him for their creator god, which he abused to the extent that he now believes himself to really be a god. He's had the Ux create and power a superweapon, and he's having Andinio start it up right now. Delph has spent a rather long time chained up as a power source, since he harbours doubts about Tim Shaw's alleged divinity. It turns out that the crystals contain captured and stolen ''planets'', including five of the Nine Planets that Paltraki and his crew come from.

The Doctor is horrified, since that many shrunken planets, with their mass suspended by technology that doesn't make sense, could destroy the universe. As Graham and Ryan work to free the prisoners and Paltraki goes to help them, the Doctor tries to persuade Andinio to stop what she's doing, as Tim Shaw has decided — since he wants revenge upon the Doctor — that the next target of his superweapon should be Earth, the site of their first meeting. Eventually, the Doctor and Yaz use their neural stabilizers to cut off the Ux's powers, stopping them in their tracks. The Doctor manages to break Andinio out of believing that Tim Shaw is the Creator and, trying to figure out how to get the planets back to their proper locations before their containment crystals fail, summons the TARDIS to her. Combining the TARDIS' telepathic circuits, both Ux's powers, and the Stenza technology allows all the planets to be restored to their proper places. Meanwhile, Tim Shaw discovers that Ryan and Graham are releasing his prisoners and confronts them after Paltraki has led most of them out of the building. Graham considers shooting Tim Shaw, but decides against it and, with Ryan's help, puts the villain in one of his own stasis pods. Ryan and Graham tell Tim he's not worth killing and leave Grace's name as the last thing he hears before the pod is activated.

* AgonyOfTheFeet: Graham shoots Tim Shaw in the foot to get him to shut up.
* AndIMustScream: How Tim Shaw ends up. Don't feel too sorry for him, though; he ''really'' [[AssholeVictim had it coming]].

** Indeed, Tim Shaw's Ux-assisted planetary theft via stealing them from time and space is quite reminiscent of what Davros and the Daleks were doing in "Journey's End". The fact that the planets were shrunk down also echoes the Fourth Doctor serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E2ThePiratePlanet The Pirate Planet]]".

** Paltraki and his crew come from the Nine Planets, presumably the same as the Nine Systems that Tim Shaw mentioned the Stenza as ruling in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth The Woman Who Fell to Earth]]", hinting that maybe the Stenza's empire has fallen in the millennia since.

* CruelMercy: Tim Shaw lives through the episode but is trapped in one of his own stasis pods and, according to the Ux, the shrine is sealed so that no-one will ever be able to free him.
* DarkLordOnLifeSupport: Tim Shaw, as a result of the DNA bombs that the Doctor tricked him into absorbing the last time he appeared and never making it back to his homeworld thanks to the Doctor unintentionally corrupting his recall teleport.

* FateWorseThanDeath: Tim Shaw ends up trapped in a Stenza trophy pod while still conscious. What's more, the last thing he ever hears is "Grace" from both Graham and Ryan for him to dwell on forever.
* FingerInTheMail: Threatened by Tim Shaw; if Paltraki doesn't cooperate, his crew will be teleported onto his ship, piece by piece.
* AGodAmI: Tim Shaw has been suffering delusions of godhood as a result of the Ux worshipping him. [[DramaticIrony Ironically]], it's the humble, pious Ux who actually have godlike powers — which Tim is all too happy to exploit.
* HateSink: Tim Shaw is even worse here than in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth The Woman Who Fell to Earth]]". When he's not endangering planets and forcing the innocent Ux to do his dirty work, he's being an insufferable SmugSnake who enjoys taunting the heroes; for example, he tells the Doctor that [[NeverMyFault she's responsible for his atrocities]] because she let him live last time.
* HiveMind: According to Tim Shaw, the Stenza have one, which allows him to recreate their technology.

* HostageForMacGuffin: Tim Shaw murders one of Paltraki's crew, then tells him that he has until lightfall to deliver the MacGuffin if he wants the other two alive and in one piece.

* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: The Doctor uses this argument when she learns that Graham is planning to kill Tim Shaw.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: The Doctor straps a pair of grenades to the MacGuffin, intending it as a precaution if Tim Shaw tries anything. When she finds out that the MacGuffin is a planet, shrunk to a fraction of its size and kept in crystal as one of Tim Shaw's trophies, she's clearly horrified by how close she came to committing planetary genocide.

* NotQuiteDead: It turns out that Tim Shaw survived his previous encounter with the Doctor, though only barely. While the rest of the team are surprised that he's alive at all, the Doctor is only confused as to how he ended up here, at this point in time, as opposed to his home planet, confirming that she never intended to let him die when giving him back his recall teleport.
* NotWorthKilling: Graham and Ryan both decide against killing Tim Shaw, with Graham using the exact phrase.
* PoweredByAForsakenChild: Tim Shaw uses the Ux's abilities to power a weapon strong enough to destroy planets.
* RealityBreakingParadox: The presence of four planets, shrunk by Tim Shaw's technology into trophies and kept in close proximity to each other, threatens the stability of the universe.
* RealityWarper: The Ux have the power to affect the shape of the universe through thought. Tim Shaw melds Stenza technology with this ability to enable them to place entire planets in a stasis crystal that can be carried by a person.
* Really700YearsOld: The Ux are stated to be almost immortal, and the same pair have been alive for the 3407 years between Tim Shaw teleporting onto their world and the Doctor receiving multiple {{Distress Call}}s at the start of the episode.

** A major motivator for Tim Shaw, who plans a co-ordinated weapon attack against every planet that has ever wronged or defied the Stenza. When the Doctor shows up, he targets Earth just to get back at her.
** Also for Graham, who is initially intending to kill Tim Shaw for his part in Grace's death earlier in the season.

* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: Tim Shaw ends up frozen in one of the stasis pods he used to hold his trophies. Graham uses the trope name as he leaves him in the pod.

** Even though he decides against killing Tim Shaw outright, Graham still puts a shot into his foot for good measure.
* ThouShaltNotKill: Graham intends to kill Tim Shaw. Both the Doctor and Ryan try to talk him out of it. Eventually, Graham decides to be "the better man" and lets Tim live, although Tim probably wishes that he was dead considering [[AndIMustScream what happens]] [[FateWorseThanDeath to him]].
* TranquilFury: Graham is eerily calm about seeing the Stenza again, and about wanting to kill Tim Shaw.

3,407 years later, the Doctor and her companions pick up no less than nine distress signals coming from the planet Ranskoor Av Kolos, which the Doctor notes translates as "Disintegrator of Souls", prompting Graham to snark about how cheerful that sounds. Before they head off to see if they can help, the Doctor gives everyone neural stabilizers that will keep them safe from the mind-altering influences of the atmosphere. The TARDIS lands on a parked spaceship, where they find a confused man with no memory and a mysterious, impossible crystal. After he starts to remember things once the Doctor gives him a neural blocker, it transpires that his name is Paltraki and he and his crew came to this planet for a reason. The ship is contacted by Andinio, who demands that Paltraki return the "object". She is followed by a masked Stenza warrior who murders one of Paltraki's remaining crewmembers, who are hostages, telling him he has until lightfall to return what he stole or the other two die. The Doctor and her friends are shaken, wondering if the Stenza warrior is, in fact, the long-vanquished Tim Shaw.

Gathering gear, they set out to rescue Paltraki's crew. Graham pulls the Doctor aside and tells her that if the Stenza is Tim Shaw, he's going to kill him. The Doctor warns him against doing that, telling him he's better than that. Their destination is a mysterious floating building, surrounded by a heap of crashed starships. Paltraki remembers that he and his crew were sent to get something from that building. When they reach the edge of the lake beneath it, the Doctor distributes gear. Ryan asks her why she's brought grenades if she's so against weapons, and she tells him that destroying things that can be rebuilt is different from using the weapons on people. The Doctor tasks Ryan and Graham with freeing Paltraki's crew, and Yaz and Paltraki with finding out where the crystal came from. She herself heads off to deal with the Stenza. Sorted, they all teleport into the building and split up.

Graham and Ryan, after fleeing from sniperbots, discover not two but dozens of people in stasis chambers. Yaz and Paltraki discover a room with several more crystals just like the first, and Paltraki remembers that his mission was to retrieve those crystals. The Doctor, meanwhile, runs into Andinio, and recognizes her as one of the Ux, an incredibly rare RealityWarping species only found on three planets, and only consisting of two members at a time. It turns out that the Stenza is, in fact, Tim Shaw, who wound up on Ranskoor Av Kolos after his recall device was somehow altered. The Ux, or at least Andinio, mistook him for their creator god, which he abused to the extent that he now believes himself to really be a god. He's had the Ux create and power a superweapon, and he's having Andinio start it up right now. Delph has spent a rather long time chained up as a power source, since he harbours doubts about Tim Shaw's alleged divinity. It turns out that the crystals contain captured and stolen ''planets'', including five of the Nine Planets that Paltraki and his crew come from.

The Doctor is horrified, since that many shrunken planets, with their mass suspended by technology that doesn't make sense, could destroy the universe. As Graham and Ryan work to free the prisoners, and Paltraki goes to help them, the Doctor tries to persuade Andinio to stop what she's doing, as Tim Shaw has decided — since he wants revenge upon the Doctor — that the next target of his superweapon should be Earth, the site of their first meeting. Eventually, the Doctor and Yaz use their neural stabilizers to cut off the Ux's powers, stopping them in their tracks. The Doctor manages to break Andinio out of believing that Tim Shaw is the Creator, and, trying to figure out how to get the planets back to their proper locations before their containment crystals fail, summons the TARDIS to her. Combining the TARDIS' telepathic circuits, both Ux's powers and the Stenza technology allows all the planets to be restored to their proper places. Meanwhile, Tim Shaw discovers Ryan and Graham are releasing his prisoners and confronts them, after Paltraki has led most of them out of the building. Graham considers shooting Tim Shaw, but decides against it, and with Ryan's help, puts the villain in one of his own stasis pods. Ryan and Graham tell Tim he's not worth killing, and leave Grace's name as the last thing he hears before the pod is activated.

On Paltraki's ship, the Doctor offers to spare him a trip by taking some of the people home, but he refuses, as he's fine doing it himself. Delph and Andinio decide they ought to travel the universe so they understand it better. The Doctor heads off with her "fam" to see more worlds.

** When talking about the capabilities of the TARDIS, the Doctor mentions that she [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd once pulled the Earth halfway across the universe]], and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E11BoomTown turned a Slitheen into an egg]].
** Indeed, Tim Shaw's Ux-assisted planetary theft via stealing them from time and space is quite reminiscent of what Davros and the Daleks were doing in "Journey's End". The fact that the planets were shrunk down also echoes the Fourth Doctor serial [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E2ThePiratePlanet "The Pirate Planet"]].
** The Doctor connects cables inside the TARDIS to machinery outside. It works out much better than it did in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E11Utopia "Utopia"]].

** The communication devices the team use are explicitly compared to the commdots seen in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E5TheTsurangaConundrum "The Tsuranga Conundrum"]].
** Paltraki and his crew come from the Nine Planets, presumably the same as the Nine Systems that Tim Shaw mentioned the Stenza as ruling in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth "The Woman Who Fell to Earth"]], hinting that maybe the Stenza's empire has fallen in the millennia since.

* DarkLordOnLifeSupport: Tim Shaw, as a result of the DNA bombs the Doctor tricked him into absorbing the last time he appeared and never making it back to his homeworld thanks to the Doctor unintentionally corrupting his recall teleport.

* HostageForMacGuffin: Tim Shaw murders one of Paltraki's crew, then tells him he has until lightfall to deliver the MacGuffin if he wants the other two alive and in one piece.

* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: The Doctor uses this argument when she learns Graham is planning to kill Tim Shaw.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: The Doctor straps a pair of grenades to the MacGuffin, intending it as a precaution if Tim Shaw tries anything. When she finds out the MacGuffin is a planet, shrunk to a fraction of its size and kept in crystal as one of Tim Shaw's trophies, she's clearly horrified by how close she came to committing planetary genocide.

* NotQuiteDead: It turns out that Tim Shaw survived his previous encounter with the Doctor, though only barely. While the rest of the team are surprised he's alive at all, the Doctor is only confused as to how he ended up here, at this point in time, as opposed to his home planet, confirming that by giving him back his recall teleport that she'd never intended to let him die.

* ThouShaltNotKill: Graham intends to kill Tim Shaw. Both the Doctor and Ryan try to talk him out of it. Eventually, Graham decides to be "the better man" and lets Tim live, although Tim probably wishes he was dead considering [[AndIMustScream what happens]] [[FateWorseThanDeath to him]].

The Doctor is horrified, since that many shrunken planets, with their mass suspended by technology that doesn't make sense, could destroy the universe. As Graham and Ryan work to free the prisoners, and Paltraki goes to help them, the Doctor tries to persuade Andinio to stop what she's doing, as Tim Shaw has decided -- since he wants revenge upon the Doctor -- that the next target of his superweapon should be Earth, the site of their first meeting. Eventually, the Doctor and Yaz use their neural stabilizers to cut off the Ux's powers, stopping them in their tracks. The Doctor manages to break Andinio out of believing that Tim Shaw is the Creator, and, trying to figure out how to get the planets back to their proper locations before their containment crystals fail, summons the TARDIS to her. Combining the TARDIS' telepathic circuits, both Ux's powers and the Stenza technology allows all the planets to be restored to their proper places. Meanwhile, Tim Shaw discovers Ryan and Graham are releasing his prisoners and confronts them, after Paltraki has led most of them out of the building. Graham considers shooting Tim Shaw, but decides against it, and with Ryan's help, puts the villain in one of his own stasis pods. Ryan and Graham tell Tim he's not worth killing, and leave Grace's name as the last thing he hears before the pod is activated.

** Paltraki and his crew come from the Nine Planets, presumably the same as the Nine Systems that Tim Shaw mentioned the Stenza as ruling in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth "The Woman Who Fell to Earth"]], hinting that maybe the Stenza's empire has fallen in the millennia since.

** The communication devices the team use are explicitly compared to the commdots seen in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E5TheTsurangaConundrum "The Tsuranga Conundrum"]].

** Ryan finally [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E3Rosa returns]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E5TheTsurangaConundrum Graham's]] fistbump.

* DarkLordOnLifeSupport: Tim Shaw, as a result of the DNA bombs the Doctor tricked him into absorbing the last time he appeared.

Graham and Ryan, after fleeing from sniperbots, discover not two but dozens of people in stasis chambers. Yaz and Paltraki discover a room with several more crystals just like the first, and Paltraki remembers that his mission was to retrieve those crystals. The Doctor, meanwhile, runs into Andinio, and recognizes her as one of the Ux, an incredibly rare species only found on three planets, and only consisting of two members at a time. It turns out that the Stenza is, in fact, Tim Shaw, and he wound up on Ranskoor Av Kolos after his recall device was somehow altered. The Ux, or at least Andinio, mistook him for their creator god, which he abused to the extent that he now believes himself to really be a god. He's had the Ux create and power a superweapon, and he's having Andinio start it up right now. Delph has spent a rather long time chained up as a power source, since he harbours doubts about Tim Shaw's alleged divinity. It turns out that the crystals contain captured and stolen ''planets'', including five of the Nine Planets that Paltraki and his crew come from.

The Doctor is horrified, since that many shrunken planets, with their mass suspended by technology that doesn't make sense, could destroy the universe. As Graham and Ryan work to free the prisoners, and Paltraki goes to help them, the Doctor tries to persuade Andinio to stop what she's doing, as Tim Shaw has decided that the next target of his superweapon should be Earth. Eventually, the Doctor and Yaz use their neural stabilizers to cut off the Ux's powers, stopping them in their tracks. The Doctor manages to break Andinio out of believing that Tim Shaw is the creator, and, trying to figure out how to get the planets back to their proper locations before their containment crystals fail, summons the TARDIS to her. Combining the TARDIS' telepathic circuits, both Ux's powers and the Stenza technology allows all the planets to be restored to their proper places. Meanwhile, Tim Shaw discovers Ryan and Graham are releasing his prisoners and confronts them, after Paltraki has led most of them out of the building. Graham considers shooting Tim Shaw, but decides against it, and with Ryan's help, puts the villain in one of his own stasis pods. Ryan and Graham tell Tim he's not worth killing, and leave Grace's name as the last thing he hears before the pod is activated.

The Doctor is horrified, since that many shrunken planets, with their mass suspended by technology that doesn't make sense, could destroy the universe. As Graham and Ryan work to free the prisoners, and Paltraki goes to help them, the Doctor tries to persuade Andinio to stop what she's doing, as Tim Shaw has decided that the next target of his superweapon should be Earth. Eventually, the Doctor and Yaz use their neural stabilizers to cut off the Ux's powers, stopping them in their tracks. The Doctor manages to break Andinio out of believing that Tim Shaw is the creator, and, trying to figure out how to get the planets back to their proper locations before their containment crystals fail, summons the TARDIS to her. Combining the TARDIS' telepathic circuits, both Ux's powers and the Stenza technology allows all the planets to be restored to their proper places. Meanwhile, Tim Shaw discovers Ryan and Graham are releasing his prisoners and confronts them, after Paltraki has led most of them out of the building. Graham considers shooting Tim Shaw, but decides against it, and with Ryan's help, puts the villain in one of his own stasis pod. Ryan and Graham tell Tim he's not worth killing, and leave Grace's name as the last thing he hears before the pod is activated.

* NoodleIncident: The Doctor isn't sure, but she might have half-invented wellies.

* AgonyOfTheFeet: Graham shoots Tim Shaw in his foot to get him to shut up.

** Paltraki and his crew come from the Nine Planets, presumably the same ones that Tim Shaw mentioned the Stenza as ruling in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth "The Woman Who Fell to Earth"]], hinting that maybe the Stenza's empire has fallen in the millennia since.

* BigDamnHeroes: Patralki, saving Ryan, Graham, and his crew from the sniperbots.

* FingerInTheMail: Threatened by Tim Shaw; if Patralki doesn't cooperate, his crew will be teleported onto his ship, piece by piece.

* HostageForMacGuffin: Tim Shaw murders one of Patralki's crew, then tells him he has until lightfall to deliver the MacGuffin if he wants the other two alive and in one piece.

* DarkLordOnLifeSupport: Tim Shaw, as a result of the DNA bombs the Doctor tried to kill him with the last time he appeared.

* NotQuiteDead: It turns out that Tim Shaw survived his previous encounter with the Doctor, though only barely.

* BigDamnHeroes: Patralki, saving Ryan Graham and his crew from the sniperbots.

** Indeed, Tim Shaw's Ux-assisted planetary theft via stealing them from time and space is quite reminiscent of what Davros and the Daleks were doing in "Journey's End".

* HumanAliens: Paltraki and his crew, as he doesn't recognize the name of Earth. The Ux also qualify, with the only distinguishing trait being their FacialMarkings.

''On the planet of Ranskoor Av Kolos, lies the remains of a brutal battlefield. But as the Doctor, Graham, Yaz and Ryan answer nine separate distress calls, they discover the planet holds far more secrets. Who is the mysterious commander with no memory? What lies beyond the mists? Who or what are the Ux?''

''The answers will lead the Doctor and her friends towards a deadly reckoning.''

* CallBack: When talking about the capabilities of the TARDIS, the Doctor mentions that she [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd once pulled the Earth halfway across the universe]], and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E11BoomTown turned a Slitheen into an egg]].

* FateWorseThanDeath: Tim Shaw ends up trapped in a Stenza trophy pod while still conscious. What's more is the last thing he ever hears is "Grace" from both Graham and Ryan for him to dwell on forever.

* AGodAmI: Tim Shaw has been suffering delusions of Godhood as a result of the Ux worshipping him. [[DramaticIrony Ironically]], it's the humble, pious Ux who actually have godlike powers--which Tim is all too happy to exploit.

* HostageForMacguffin: Tim Shaw murders one of Patralki's crew, then tells him he has until lightfall to deliver the MacGuffin if he wants the other two alive and in one piece.

* SingleSpecimenSpecies: The Ux are almost this. according to the Doctor, there have only ever been two of them.

* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: The Doctor uses this argument when she learns Graham is planning to kill the Stenza.

* RealityBreakingParadox: The presence of 4 planets, shrunk by Tim Shaw's technology into trophies and kept in close proximity to each other, threatens the stability of the universe.
* RealityWarper: The Ux have the power to affect the shape of the universe through thought.

* {{Revenge}}: A major motivator for Tim Shaw, who plans a co-ordinated weapon attack against every planet that has ever wronged or defied the Stenza, starting with Earth. Also for Graham, who is initially intending to kill Tim Shaw for his part in Grace's death earlier in the season.

* AGodAmI: Tim Shaw has been suffering delusions of Godhood as a result of the Ux worshipping him.

* ThouShaltNotKill: Graham intends to kill Tim Shaw. Both the Doctor and Ryan try to talk him out of it, with the Doctor arguing that IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim. In the end, Graham decides to be "the better man" and lets Tim live, although Tim probably wishes he was dead considering [[CruelMercy what happens]] [[FateWorseThanDeath to him]].

This episode first aired on December 9, 2018. Written by Creator/ChrisChibnall. Guest-starring Creator/MarkAddy and Phyllis Logan.

* AGodAmI: Tim Shaw has been suffering delusions of God-dom as a result of the Ux worshipping him.

* NotWorthKilling: Graham and Ryan both decide against killing Tim Shaw.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: It's not yet clear what the "deadly reckoning" will be, but if the [[https://io9.gizmodo.com/theres-no-doctor-who-christmas-special-this-year-its-a-1830439545 synopsis]] for the New Year's special is any indication, all of the companions will be fine. Unless it's a {{subversion}}, [[NeverTrustATrailer of course]].%% Basically, if the episode hints or otherwise teases the possibility that one of the companions will die, only for them to survive at the end, this trope stays. If one of the companions really does bite it, we take this trope off and put NeverTrustATrailer on the recap for the New Year's special, capische?

* FateWorseThanDeath: Tim Shaw ends up trapped forever in a Stenza trophy pod while still conscious. What's more is the last thing he ever hears is "Grace".

* FateWorseThanDeath: Tim Shaw ends up trapped forever in a Stenza "trophy" pod while still conscious.