A noble race called the Draconians has a vast space empire in the far future. However, the Earth and Draconian space empires rival each other and they are on the brink of war. With tensions running high, a third party led by the Master and the Ogrons plans to trigger a war between the two empires. The Third Doctor and Jo Grant have to convince the Draconian Emperor that their enemy is really the villainous Master and the disguised Ogrons, rather than the humans. The Third Doctor himself Jon Pertwee famously said that his favourite Doctor Who monsters were the Draconians.

Frontier in Space

★★★★☆

TX: 24/02/1973 – 31/03/1973

Written by Malcolm Hulke   Directed by Paul Bernard

In the far future, the vast space empires of both Earth and Draconia are on the brink of war. This story is partly based on the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Tensions have been heightened due to recent attacks on Draconian spaceships by humans and by human attacks on Draconian spaceships. However, this is all a trick by the Master and the Ogrons, who have been using a device that causes hallucinations, which fools each side into believing that the other is attacking them. The Master and the Ogrons are trying to trigger a war between Earth and Draconia. The Third Doctor and Jo Grant escape capture multiple times, from the Ogrons, the Master, humans and the Lunar Penal Colony (also referenced in Bad Wolf). The Doctor and Jo finally make it to Draconia, where they manage to convince the Draconian Emperor that they are being fooled by the Master and the Ogrons into believing that the humans are their enemy. The Draconians are reptilian and they resemble samurai. Jo and the Doctor have saved the peace between Earth and Draconia. The Master kidnaps Jo and the Doctor and his friends follow them to the Ogron homeworld. There they discover that the Master and the Ogrons are being employed by the Daleks, who want to provoke the war so that they can emerge afterwards as the supreme beings. The Master escapes during a skirmish in which the Doctor is injured. Jo helps the Doctor into the TARDIS where the Doctor follows the Daleks’ signal to the planet Spiridon. The Doctor also uses the TARDIS’s telepathic circuits to send an emergency message to the Time Lords. This adventure leads directly into the events of Planet of the Daleks.