Meeting at Zaggit Zagoo (TV story)

*"Come now. Do you think that your story is believable in the slightest?"
"Ha! Better than yours, isn't it? I mean, you're not even a clone race and you all look the same? How could any species evolve like that?"
"Perhaps we are doing something right. Could you honestly call humans more peaceful than us?"*
―The Sensorite City Administrator and Raven after Raven had finished her story

***Meeting at Zaggit Zagoo*** was the seventh episode of Series 19 of *Doctor Who*.

## Synopsis

"*Tell me if you’ve heard this one before; a Former Politician, a Terrorist and a Time Lord walk into a bar...*"

In the outer reaches of the cosmos, beyond the Shadow Proclamation’s jurisdiction, lies a refuge for space pirates and smugglers, war lords and cut throats.

Within these walls, three of the galaxy’s deadliest criminals gather to swap their stories about their greatest enemy, an intergalactic crusader known only as the Doctor. From the Macra Hives of Strutton to a Research Lab in 1970s Penzance, this dastardly trio share their tales of defeat, unaware that one of them isn’t what they seem...

## Plot

The Fifth Raja arrives at Zaggit Zagoo and sits down at a table, where the Sensorite City Administrator, Raven and a hooded, masked person are already sat. They all look at each other and ask who will go first, before the Administrator coughs and begins.

#### **Story One - The Fallen Administrator**

Trying to survive in the Banished Lands of the Sense Sphere, the former City Administrator is forming a plan to get revenge on the Doctor. We see what the days have been like for the Administrator, hunting for food, building a shelter, fighting for survival against the harsh landscape.He longs for his privileged life back. One night, the Administrator sees a spaceship crashing into the Banished Lands, he goes over to the ship, hoping to get supplies, as a plan forms in his mind. The Elders would send a team to inspect the wreckage, if he can get to the ship before the team arrives, he could kill them, take their craft and arrive back in the city. He races to the ship.

Upon arrival, he searches the craft, finding no survivors. He wanders around the crash site, discovering supplies amongst the wreckage. The Administrator finds a crate of weapons and prepares for the arrival. Many hours later, the inspection team arrives, two Sensorites wearing protective clothing. The Administrator hides, waiting for them to separate. As they do, he stalks one of them, grabs a rock and crushes the Sensorite's head, killing him instantly. The Administrator grabs the dead Sensorite's weapon. The other Sensorite felt the death telepathically and went to see how it happened, holding his weapon in anticipation. He inspects the corpse but his body suddenly begins to swell up as the Administrator fires his weapon, killing the final Sensorite.

The Administrator ransacks the bodies, putting on one of the protective suits and goes to their craft, proud, he leaves the Banished Lands for the final time. He enters the city, still wearing the clothing, he's doing everything he can to not be noticed. Thinking about his plan further, he decides to get off-world to get revenge. The Elders soon discover the dead Sensorites and organise a city lockdown, one guard corners the Administrator at the Sense Sphere space station. An alarm is raised and the civilians become disorganised, the Administrator attacks and kills the guard and slips away quietly into the galaxy.

#### **Story Two - Queen of Queens**

Raven, Fallen Princess of the Sirus Royal Family is banished. Her desire for power and conquest has upset the balance of peace on Sirius. Betrayed and angry, she proclaims revenge on her people, and her most loyal acolytes leave Sirius in search of aid. Upon learning about a mysterious alien race that controlled a human colony, she decides to search them out and force them to help her. Finding a colony of the creatures on an outback planet, believing them to be primitives and savages, the Acolytes believe they can train the creatures to help them while they are young. As night falls, the cult kidnaps several of the colony's youngest, knocking them unconscious and forcing them into their ship. Setting a Course back to Sirius. Raven returns to her chamber, where the Doctor is waiting. He shows disgust at what Raven has been doing. He tells her to return the creatures, she refuses, proclaiming it to be her birthright. He removes a communicator from his pocket and talks into it. As he's finished talking, a massive crash is heard coming from elsewhere in the ship.

She leaves her chamber in search of her followers, the Doctor following, explaining he's persuaded them to form a Draconian Art Museum. She is met by several massive crabs towering over her alongside a smug looking Jayanna IX, demanding to release the young Macra. She offers a deal between the two, the Macra refuse, not wanting anymore bloodshed. Angry, she pulls out a gun but gets knocked back by the creature. The Doctor helps the Macra reunite with the young, they thank the Time Lords for their help and leave the ship. The Doctor and Jayanna go to send a message to the Shadow Proclamation; however, Raven, distressed about her goals being ruined, teleports off the ship, screaming about revenge.

#### **Story Three - Mark of the Flooded**

In 1967, Professor Zaroff's descent into insanity became the story of the decade, his experiments became the subject of intrigue and controversy, subject to mass protest. Zaroff's fish people were free to explore the world's oceans and live their lives to the fullest. That's what the public were told...

Fearing mass panic, the UK Government rehoused as many of Zaroff's fish people as they could in a private location, a castle on the coast, owned by Professor Raja. Unknown to the UK Government and the public, the Raja is conducting strange scientific experiments on the Fish People, the bodies scarred with strange symbols. On the coast, a fish person's body turns up on the shore as the TARDIS arrives. The two leave the ship and discover the body, Jayanna notices the scars while the Doctor recognises the hybrid race. They walk into the castle without issue, noticing the castle's silence; Jayanna suggests they should be careful. The Doctor finds an aquarium filled with the Fish People, he sees they are in pain and wants to free them. The Fish People are freed while Jayanna enters a lab and meets the Raja. He explains that hybrids have a hidden potential that he wants to explore for further research. He knows Jayanna is a Time Lady and that she is travelling with the Doctor. Before she can ask questions, she is knocked out as she and the Raja teleport out of the facility, leaving the Doctor alone in the castle.

Back in the present, the Raja finishes his story on a cliffhanger, saying he has Jayanna held captive and has yet to experiment on her. The Administrator and Raven are confused, they turn towards the silent fourth member of the table who removes his mask, revealing an angry Doctor. A confrontation occurs between the Sensorite and the Doctor, during which, the Judoon enter, apprehending Raven and the City Administrator. The Doctor turns towards the Raja and demand that he tells him where Jayanna is. Refusing, he teleports out, resulting in the Judoon going crazy while the Doctor scrambles to get a fix on the Raja's location. He runs to his TARDIS in pursuit.

The Doctor finds the Raja's new facility just as the Raja is about to experiment on an awake Jayanna. The Doctor runs in and tackles the Raja, resulting in a fist fight. Having lost and pissed off, the Raja disappears as the Doctor hugs Jayanna and the two begin to wander about the facility. Eventually, they find a bomb which forces them to escape in the TARDIS. The two talk about what the Raja could possibly want with his experiments as the Doctor mentions how weird it was seeing the City Administrator again after so long.

## Cast

* The Doctor - Dev Patel
* Jayanna - Jodie Comer
* The Raja - Ariyon Bakare
* Sensorite City Administrator - Hugh Fraser
* Raven - Joan Chen
* The Judoon - Simon Carew, Richard Highgate, Richard Price & Matthew Rohman / Nicholas Briggs (voice)

## Crew

* Writer - Dale Gregory
* Director - Carl Tibbetts

## Continuity

* The Sensorite City Administrator is seeking revenge on the Doctor for foiling his plans to become Elder and being banished from the city. (TV: *The Sensorites*)
* The Raja is experimenting on Fish People, left over from Professor Zaroff's crazed scheme involving Atlantis. (TV: *The Underwater Menace*)
* The Raja claims that the Doctor and Jayanna will meet him again one day, before disappearing. (TV: *Final Destination*)

## Story Notes

* A late addition to the series, this episode replaced an episode scheduled to be written by Blaine Phoenix, who later had to drop out.
* Originally episode sixteen, *Meeting at Zaggit Zagoo* was later swapped with *Cryptomnesia* to become episode seven.

 **Series 19** | Regular Episodes | *The Skithra Entitlement* • *Work Hard, Die Hard* • *Doctor Who and the Dalek Paradigm* / *Escape of the Paradigm* • *Out of Sight, Out of Mind* • *Whatever Happened to the Crew of the SS Dahlia?* • ***Meeting at Zaggit Zagoo*** • *Planet TARDIS* • *Glittering Spheres* • *Submerged* • *Mechanical Heart* • *Oh Hell, It's Tari* • *I Predict a Riot* • *Doctor Who and the Moonmen* / *I Am The Doctor* • *Cryptomnesia* • *Final Destination*