The Sixth Doctor and Evelyn arrive on Friday, April 14, 1865, and realise they're about to witness the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Joining them for the occasion is Oscar Wilde, which rather disturbs the Doctor, since Wilde is supposed to be just a young boy in 1865. As it turns out, "Wilde" is the Doctor's old enemy Knox, who's taken to impersonating famous playwrights and cashing in on their writing. Before Six and Evelyn can chew him out for upsetting history (and for surviving the power of David Tennant's hugs against all odds), John Wilkes Booth unceremoniously drops dead.
Since that was really not supposed to happen, the Doctor and Evelyn suddenly find themselves involved in a rather intricate plot involving nearly every witness involved in the assassination. It's not long before Knox is forced to reveal the true nature of his plan: he did actually die from being cuddled by David Tennant after all. But he was re-animated by the Indo, who delighted in the idea of Knox's time-travelling history tours. The only problem: the Indo has plenty of family across time and space who also wanted a go at it. And now Knox has one locked up in the centre of his TARDIS, in a metal cage, that he's trying desperately to get rid of. The old familiar Indo promptly starts killing people and possessing key historical figures, so the Doctor consents to having it occupy his own body and taking off with it in Knox' TARDIS for a bit. The Indo is pleased because it has a Time Lord to possess; the Doctor is pleased because he (of course) immediately tricks and captures the Indo; and Knox is pleased from beyond the grave because, as he tells the Doctor in a recording, he pre-set his TARDIS to trap the Doctor forever on Mercury (while it plays the can-can at him on an eternal loop).
The Doctor easily escapes, of course — Knox hadn’t reckoned on him re-setting the TARDIS’s galactic positioning system to read "Mercury’s Southern lava field" as the corner of 8th Street, Washington DC. Also, John Wilkes Booth was just Playing Possum, being an actual good actor and all. He's now inspired, though, to get a bit more violent in his political leanings and maybe kill a president tonight. The Doctor and Evelyn leave, happy that the Web of Time is still intact.
Tropes:
- Adding Insult to Injury: Knox tricks the Doctor and has his TARDIS play the can-can at him.
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Evelyn plants a big kiss on the Doctor.
- Alliterative List: The Doctor calls Knox a meddler. Then a misanthrope. A miscreant. A murderer.
- Always Someone Better: Knox' Type-70 TARDIS has voice control. And an elevator.
- Batman Gambit: Knox pulls one on the Doctor. He makes the Doctor think it's a Thanatos Gambit though.
- The Bus Came Back: Doctor Knox returns after last having fled with his tails in between his legs from Medicinal purposes.
- Call-Back: The Doctor calls Knox a meddler, the Time Meddler being someone who purposefully mucked up time.
- Knox's TARDIS has a Fast return switch as well.
- Knox mentions not having recovered from the virus he contracted in Edinburgh.
- The Doctor mentions again he saw the charge of the Light brigade in the Crimean war.
- Cruel Mercy: Knox arranges it so that the Doctor could potentially end up trapped listening to the Can Can until he dies of old age.
- Deal with the Devil: Knox makes one with the Indo.
- Demonic Possession: The Indo jumps from host to host.
- Energy Being: The Indo.
- Gambit Pileup: Both from the actual historical figures and from the time/space travellers.
- Here We Go Again!: Knox returns, of course, this time posing as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
- Historical Injoke: When Knox arranges that John Wilkes Boothe dies before he can assassinate Abraham Lincoln, so that Lincoln will achieve things later presidents would (Such as Lincoln's "Ich bin ein Berliner."
- Rubber-Band History: The Doctor claims that the removal of one person won't do much, and time will try to patch things up, akin to Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act.
- Smug Snake: Knox ever so much.
- Villain Team-Up: Knox and the Indo.
- You Will Be Beethoven: Invoked, but subverted.
