A Doctor, curse his name, threw me down among the dead… but I endure. I am Eldrad… and I must live!
A nuclear icebreaker, foundering in Arctic waters. Seabirds washed up in the fishing resort of Ambermouth, their wings encrusted with crystals. A shining artefact of uncertain provenance, up for sale on an auction site.
All of these things are linked, as the Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Turlough are about to discover. Linked to the rebirth of a genocidal tyrant, presumed dead many years ago…
For the sake of the planets Earth and Kastria alike… Eldrad must die!
Eldrad Must Die! contains examples of:
- Call-Back:
- As a sequel to "The Hand of Fear", there are many references to the events of that episode.
- There are several mentions of Brendon School and Turlough's time there.
- Turlough's hallucinations involve him being on a mission with his old girlfriend, Deela.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: Unlike his first exile, Eldrad's mind didn't go into stasis after "Hand of Fear", and being trapped at the bottom of an empty chasm for untold years has not affected him well.
- The Empath: Nyssa's psychic sensitivity comes into play again, when she is able to sense and soothe Skipper the whale.
- Hero Stole My Bike: Tegan nicks Jim's keys and makes off with his jeep so she can chase after Turlough and Gibbs.
- Human Aliens: Gibbs is an exile from Trion, like Turlough, and it seems they were far from the only two off-worlders in attendance at Brendon.
- Insistent Terminology: It's not an iceberg, it's a ''quartzberg''.
- Jerk Jock: Gibbs was apparently the Brendon School answer to this, and 30 years away doesn't seem to have changed him much.
- More than Mind Control: Mulkris' affect on Turlough sends him into a dream-state, where he imagines he is back at Brendon School.
- My Grandson, Myself: Averted, though Turlough is presented with an ample opportunity to pull this when he runs into one of his schoolmates 30 years after "Mawdryn Undead". He is even asked if he is his own son, but instead thinks nothing of affirming he is who he appears to be, despite the strangeness of a man who should be in his 50s still being extremely youthful, not to mention presumably still in his old school uniform.
- Playing Sick: Tegan pretends to be close to fainting and sends Jim off to fetch the Doctor, so that she can steal the car keys he's dropped.
- Remember the New Guy?: Gibbs is introduced as being a classmate of Turlough's from Brendon School, but wasn't seen in "Mawdryn Undead" or mentioned elsewhere before.
- Sequel Episode: To "The Hand of Fear".
- Shout-Out: Shocked upon seeing Turlough again after 30 years, Gibbs remarks that he must have "a painting in the attic".
- Smug Snake: Charlie Gibbs has a cocky grin so strong it's actually audible. Tegan derisively refers to him as a "smarmy yuppie".
- Speaks Fluent Animal: The Doctor is able to understand the whale Skipper when it says "Eldrad must die", even though the humans in the room only heard squeaks and groans.
- The Virus: The silicone particles act in this way, infecting and spreading over all life they touch.
