Day 591: Mawdryn Undead Part 4

The driving thrust of the plot of Mawdyn Undead is that a group of aliens, wishing to become Time Lords, stole some Gallifreyan equipment and attempted to give themselves the ability to regenerate. It went wrong, unfortunately, and they are now walking mutations, condemned to live forever whilst their bodies remain in a state of constant decay and renewal. The reason that they seek out the Doctor is so that they can allow him to use give up the rest of his regenerations to allow them to die.

It's a complex moral issue, and one that I actually kind of wish that the story explored a bit more. If it were a story about the Doctor giving up the rest of his regnenerations to allow people to live, it would be far more obvious that the solution that the Doctor would consider would be allowing people to live in exchange for his death. This case, although it seems to be the opposite, is really much the same. These people are living in constant torment, and need the Doctor's help to set them free. But, perhaps because the loss of the Doctor's regenerations wouldn't go to any new life, he's a bit more hesitant to do it and allow them to die.

Eventually he does it, but because of extraneous events that are affecting Nyssa and Tegan, and the process ends up not working as planned, due to the intervention of two Brigadiers meeting, which causes a large amount of energy to be dispersed for plot related reasons. Despite all of this, and the fact that the most interesting part of the plot was barely explored, this was still a surprisingly good story, and one that I'm sure that I'll be able to look back on fondly as one of the better Fifth Doctor stories.