A Midsummer's Nighmare

A Midsummer's Nightmare was the fourth episode of Season 18 It featured the Fourth Doctor, Romana II and K9 Mark II.

Plot
The Doctor asks Romana if she has read 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. She replies that she prefers 'A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'. When she asks why, he tells her he is taking her to see the land of the midnight sun in Norway. However, before the TARDIS lands it is shaken by a disturbance and the control room glows briefly orange. K9 announces that normal flight has resumed but when they land the world is dark outside. K9 tells them that they have arrived on January 21st. The air is cold and the landscape barren. In the distance is an orange glow.

They follow this glow and find a large cavern. Within is a bright orange light that continually shifts in shape. Around it are twelve people dressed in black. The Doctor realises that they are not alone, a small boy is watching with them. The Doctor catches hold of the boy and asks who he is. The boy gives his name as Sven Larsen. He says that four of the figures in the cavern are his family. The orange entity took them because they were afraid but he says that he is safe because he does not fear the light. When the twelve figures leave the cavern, their eyes glowing like fire, the boy approaches the light but he is soon taken over and follows the others out.

The Doctor and Romana approach the shifting light and speculate about its origins, deciding that it must be alien. The thirteen people return and tell the Doctor that he will be a sacrifice; the entity will occupy his body and take human form. Romana says that the Doctor is too old for that, and the people surround her instead. The Doctor whispers a few instructions to K9 and then enters a battle of wills with the entity.

Just as he fears he has lost the mental duel, the entity diminishes in power. The thirteen people lose their purpose and Romana breaks free of them. As she runs away, K9 shoots the ceiling of the cavern and it collapses onto the light. The other people flee the cavern, wondering why they are there. The Doctor and Romana decide not to explain and make their way back to the TARDIS

Characters

 * Fourth Doctor
 * Romana II
 * K9 Mark II
 * Sven
 * Aliens (A Midsummer Nightmare)

Continuity
to be added