The Doctor and Mel land on the Tantane Spaceport, which the Doctor considers one of the busiest he's ever heard of. But the arrivals hall is empty, and a moving wall quickly separates them from the TARDIS.
Exploring the station, it turns out that the station's population have been trapped for centuries, and formed two rival tribes based on the ticket classes they possessed. Business (led by the Director) and Economy (led by Elder Bones) live in primitive societies engaged in a constant war — while both species live in terror of a legendary monster called the Wailer.
The Doctor and Mel are separated, and both make their way towards the control tower so the Doctor can free the TARDIS, stop the war, save the spaceport, and all that. Unfortunately, it looks like the Wailer and its secrets are out to punch the Doctor's ticket once and for all ...
Tropes
- After the End: Not of society as a whole, but things are definitely looking post-apocalyptic on Tantane Spaceport.
- All Hail the Great God Mickey!: The inhabitants have formed a surprisingly coherent society based around hand-me-down memories of airport procedures.
- God Guise: Elder Bones pretends to be a supernatural being among his followers and even has a calendar system named after him!The Doctor: I wish someone named a calendar dating system after me!
- Hidden Villain: Only the final episode reveals that Elder Bones' motives were evil. Up until then, he assists the Doctor, and while several characters suspect his motives, nothing is revealed until the end.
- Irony: After Bones is revealed to be centuries old, and not to be trusted...Mel: Never trust anyone who claims to be 500 years old!
- MacGyvering: The Doctor and Mel pick up a couple of portable video games, and use them to send messages after communications have been cut off. The issue is that the only data it sends is the new global (galactic?) high score, so each message requires them to spend several minutes setting a new world record.
- Mobile Maze: The Arrivals lounge is full of massive automated sliding doors, which quickly frustrates everyone, especially after the TARDIS is hidden behind one and the power goes out, trapping it.
- Playing Both Sides / Let's You and Him Fight: Elder Bones attempts to keep supplies to himself by leading both groups against each other.
- Welcome to Corneria: the PA system's constantly looped greetings quickly gets on Mel's nerves.
