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Tread Perilously


Feb 15, 2018

Tread Perilously continues its Doctor Who month with Peter Davison's swansong in "The Caves of Androzani."

When the Doctor and Peri arrive on Androzani Minor, they find themselves caught up in the complex struggle to control a substance known as Spectrox. Like the Spice Melange, it extends the lives of the humans living on Androzani Major. But it is only produced by the bats living on Minor. The planet is intensely unstable thanks to periodic mud bursts. Androids "mine" the material -- which is deadly to humans before it is refined -- from the bats, but they are led by a terrorist known as Sharaz Jek; who longs to revenge himself upon the CEO of Major's leading business consortium. But is the CEO using Jek for his own ends? And will the Doctor and Peri survive their tour of the caves?

Nicola Bryant's American accent inspires a discussion of Gerard Butler and the recent Mummy movie. Justin stumbles upon the notion of "Doc-splaining" and decides that it is okay to Doc-splain to Jaime. Erik and Justin attempt to explain the economic situation in the Androzani system and immediately start using Dune terms. Erik has a hard time saying "Morgus." Justin has a hard time keeping the factions straight. Both praise the costuming choices and the hot-hot-hot repressed homoerotic tension between the Doctor and Jek. Alien: Isolation gets namechecked again and Justin decides Peri is a camp counselor.