One of the most slippery characters that the Doctor encountered during his travels in Doctor Who was the wheeler-dealing, intergalactic conman, Sabalom Glitz. Glitz and his business partner first encountered the Sixth Doctor and Peri on the planet Ravolox, which was really Earth in the future. Glitz met the Sixth Doctor again when he and Melanie Bush were brought to the conclusion of the Doctor’s trial by the Time Lords. The Seventh Doctor and Mel bumped into Glitz again on the human colony of Iceworld.

The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet

★★★☆☆

TX: 06/09/1986 – 27/09/1986

Written by Robert Holmes   Directed by Nicholas Mallett

The Doctor is put on trial by the Time Lords for his continual interference in the affairs of other life forms. The court prosecutor, the Valeyard presents evidence from the Doctor’s recent past. The Sixth Doctor and Peri arrive on the planet Ravolox, where they discover a Marble Arch Underground tube station sign. Peri deduces that Ravolox is really Earth in the far future. Her theory is proved right after the pair enter some underground tunnels and discover a civilisation that lives in fear of the Immortal. The Immortal is really an L3 Robot called Drathro, who depends on Black Light to function. The Black Light receiver is used as a totem pole in a nearby primitive village, run by Katryca the Queen of the Free. An intergalactic con man called Sabalom Glitz and his business partner Dibber try to shoot the Doctor. Dibber destroys the receiver, which cuts of the supply of Black Light to Drathro. Drathro instructs the Doctor to build his own supply of Black Light. Queen Katryca and the other primitives mount an attack on the underground dwellings. Glitz and Dibber are searching for Time Lord secrets from the Matrix on Gallifrey, which Drathro gives to them in exchange for an escape from the planet. Drathro’s Black Light convertor overloads, which destroys him and his base. The Doctor, Peri and the other survivors escape to the surface. It is later revealed in The Trial of a Time Lord: The Ultimate Foe that the Earth was dragged across space by the Time Lords which created a solar fireball that destroyed all life on the surface of the Earth, forcing the survivors to live underground. The Time Lords did this to prevent Gallifreyan secrets on Earth from being found by a robot recovery mission from Andromeda.

The Trial of a Time Lord: The Ultimate Foe

★★☆☆☆

TX: 29/11/1986 – 06/12/1986

Written by Robert Holmes and Pip & Jane Baker    Directed by Chris Clough

The Sixth Doctor stands accused of genocide in court by the Time Lords. Two friends of the Doctor, Mel and Sabalom Glitz are summoned to the trial secretly by the Master. The Master tells the Doctor that the Time Lords sacrificed the Earth in the future by dragging it across space where it became known as Ravolox, in order to protect stolen Gallifreyan secrets hidden on Earth from being recovered by Andromeda. The Master also reveals that he has conspired with the Doctor’s prosecutor, the Valeyard whom the Master reveals to be an evil potential future incarnation of the Doctor himself! The Valeyard flees into the Matrix and the Doctor pursues him. The Valeyard sets many traps for the Doctor in the nightmare world of the Matrix. Glitz and Mel follow the Doctor into the Matrix. Glitz has been doing a dodgy deal with the Master. The Doctor and Mel confront the Valeyard for the final time. They realise that a concealed machine in the room is a particle disseminator, with which the Valeyard plans to murder the members of the court. The Inquisitor learns the High Council has been deposed. The Master appears on the Matrix screen to offer to impose order in return for power. He loads Glitz’s master tape into his TARDIS systems, but a booby-trap is triggered, paralysing him and Glitz. Mel emerges from the Matrix to warn the Time Lords. They cannot turn off the Matrix screen, but the Doctor sabotages the Valeyard’s weapon and the Fantasy Factory explodes. The Doctor flees the Matrix, back to the courtroom. Back at the courtroom, the Inquisitor reveals to the Doctor that all charges against him have been dismissed and that his companion Peri survived the events of Thoros-Beta and is now alive and happily married to King Yrcanos. The Doctor suggests that the Inquisitor should run to be the President of Gallifrey, before departing with Mel, who has decided to put the Doctor on a diet.

Dragonfire

★★☆☆☆

TX: 23/11/1987– 07/12/1987

Written by Ian Briggs      Directed by Chris Clough

On the human colony of Iceworld, a young woman called Ace is working as a waitress after being swept up by a time storm (by Fenric) and deposited there. I love playing the ice cube game on nights out and I have kissed multiple women (and sometimes men) per night out! Ace meets the Seventh Doctor and Mel who have arrived in the TARDIS. The Doctor and Mel reunite with Sabalom Glitz, who has had his spaceship the Nosferatu confiscated. I have played the ice cube game on nights out and kissed multiple women (and sometimes men) per night out. Iceworld is being controlled by the evil Kane, an ancient being from Proamon who is seeking the Dragonfire – a valuable jewel. Kane orders Glitz’s spacecraft to be destroyed, and Kane also destroys some of his own slaves. At one point, the Doctor hangs from his umbrella into a deep chasm, a meta cliffhanger! The Doctor finds the Dragonfire is located inside the head of a biomechanical dragon living in the catacombs beneath Iceworld. The Doctor, Ace, Mel and Glitz confront Kane where the Doctor reveals to him that Kane’s homeworld of Proamon has long since been destroyed by a supernova and that he has no home to return to. Devastated, Kane commits suicide by exposing himself to intense sunlight, causing his face to melt in a manner similar to that seen in Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. Mel decides to stay with Glitz and go travelling with him. Ace boards the TARDIS to join the Doctor on further adventures in time and space. The Fourteenth Doctor and Mel are later reunited at the U.N.I.T Tower after Melanie was recruited to U.N.I.T in The Power of the Doctor. Mel tells the Doctor that she got a lift off a Zingo after the events of Dragonfire and that Sabalom Glitz lived to a ripe old age (The Giggle).