From: nsmith@tms390.micro.ti.com (Neal Smith)
Subject: Re: Leena
Organization: Texas Instruments, Houston
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 16:43:32 GMT

das0@quads.uchicago.edu (donald andrew smith) writes:

>Ok, as I recall from the Face of Evil, the idea was that shortly after 
>his regeneration, while his mind was still unstable, he took a quick
>jaunt and happened to land on this planet where the new settlers were
>having problems with their computer.

To the best of my knowledge, nowhere is it stated that he went to the planet
while his mind was unstable.  The instabilities in Xoannon (the computer
in Face of Evil), resulted from...

>He did some kind of mind link to 
>fix it, but since the computer was quasi-sentient, and since he forgot to
>wipe his brain-print, not recognising the sentience, the computer went
>MPS.

He even states that he did not realize at the time that Xoannon was sentient.
If he had, he would have done things differently.  Therefore, I don't think
there is direct evidence that he was any more unstable than usual when he
first arrived at this planet.

  Now I went back and scoured _Robot_ for when this little jaunt
>could have happened, and the best explanation I could see, is that when
>Sarah came into the lab, and heard the noise of the TARDIS, he was 
>actually taking off *and returning* at the exact same moment, so it looked
>like he was never away.

It still is possible that this is where it was; I do think that there are other
options, though, if you can accept that he wasn't necessarily unstable from a
recent regeneration.  During the days he's still with UNIT after this, for
instance, he could have took off by himself.  Or, after the events in "The
Deadly Assassin", he travels for a while without a companion before "The Face
of Evil".  He could have travelled to this planet for the first time, gone
away and had many adventures [possibly even another companion - whom he later
loses.  Perfect ground for a "New Old Adventures" novel, for those who would
read them], and then come back.  The weakness in this idea is that FoE is the
next aired episode, but it is as possible as him doing it during Robot.

  I know that's a little weak, but look at it this
>way.  It couldn't have happened after this point because his mind stabilised.
>It couldn't have happened before this point, because he had just slipped
>out of sick bay, and it was his first chance back in the TARDIS since the
>regeneration.  Now, we don't know how much time elapsed between him sticking
>harry in the cupboard and Sarah coming in the room, so I suppose he could have
>taken off, gone to Leela's planet, come back to double-check coordinates
>or something, and then been ready to take off again when Sarah started banging
>on the door, but I'm not as happy with that for a couple of reasons.
>1. It's more complicated, and I prefer to use Occam's razor when possible.
>2. I have a hard time believing he would really hear her. Although I'm sure 
>there are countless examples of similar occurances that I am simply not
>remembering.

>So anyway, that's the conclusion I came to.  Any other ideas?

Actually, I don't think it is stated in FofE that he didn't have a companion
at the time; it is possible that he went there with Sarah Jane, even.  Just
some thoughts.

>Don Smith

-----------------------------------------------------
From Neal Smith (nsmith@sassy.micro.ti.com)
"You know you are safe... with ME."
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