The Doctor faces his worst nightmare - boring bureaucracy.
A story for the Fifth Doctor and Peri Brown, set between Planet Of Fire and The Caves of Androzani. Written by Tony Jones, and read by Nicola Bryant.The Ellani of Beadledom 3 lived their lives in regulated harmony until they were invaded by the Valtor. Of course the Doctor and his new companion Peri were delighted to help out, but they didn't know their biggest challenge wouldn't be the Valtor army, but the Rulebook...
Rulebook contains examples of:
- Bothering by the Book: Peri tries, but her attempts to exploit the fact of her and The Doctor's "death" to get them out of the trial only succeeds in getting the TARDIS impounded by the state, as it cannot legally belong to people who are dead.
- Clipboard of Authority: To begin with, Yorvell's clipboard is an essential part of her identity.
- Cyborg: The Valtor. The Doctor saves the day by setting the invading fleet to "maintenance mode".
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: The Doctor saved the Ellani from the invading Valtor fleet and is subjected to a trial because his efforts rendered the summoned repelling force completely unnecessary, wasting billions of government credits.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The Doctor ultimately deals with the Ellani's rules by using the Valtor ships to transmat the entire fleet and moving the TARDIS to the hold of the ship he and Peri are currently on, leaving the crews to deal with the legal implications of them being technically "dead" by their own rules while the Doctor and Peri leave.
- Insane Troll Logic: Some of the Ellani's slavish devotion to rules results in this. After Peri and The Doctor were involved in a mad battle that nobody could have survived, Ellani logic dictates that they didn't survive, even when Peri and The Doctor are standing right in front of them.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Peri plays a platonic version for Yorvell. In ordinary circumstances, Peri isn't this kind of character at all, but because Yorvell and the other Ellani are so rule-bound and repressed, all Peri has to do is offer even a mildly different point of view to have this effect.
- Planet of Hats: The population of Beadledom 3 are completely governed by and devoted to rules and regulations, to the extent that nobody on the planet puts any thought into their actions whatsoever. Naturally, The Doctor and Peri shake things up a bit.
