REVISED Script Synopsis - April 30, 1992. Prepared by Eglin Thompson, from April 25 script by Evan Wales and Ian Levine
**Annotations by Barry Letts**
On board the Tardis, Heart detects a strange fluctuation in the time stream, of history going off the rails. The Doctor narrows it down to Vienna, 1913. He tells Heart and Diamond that they would not fit into this era, and to guard the Tardis for him. He goes out to investigate.
On the streets of Vienna, a well dressed, middle aged man in a prim goatee, carrying a bag of papers, is assaulted by a pair of thugs. The Doctor comes to the rescue, and is amazed to discover that one of the Thugs is Hitler.
The Doctor learns that the man is Freud, and the thugs were trying to steal his papers. Freud tells the doctor of his recent work with Nikola Tesla, taking psychographic recordings - brain readings as the layman would say.
On Board the Tardis, Heart and Diamond review historical materials to determine who Freud is. Can he be at the center of the time distortion?
Meanwhile, the thugs, who we learn are Adolph Hitler and his sidekick Broz, return to the Café Central on the other side of Vienna, where they meet up with their employer - Leon Trotsky and his associate, Josef Stalin. The foursome bicker. Hitler and Broz are sent to break into Freud's office. When they leave, Trotsky orders Stalin to show him what he's brought from Russia. The two descend into the basement where Stalin unveils a large casket standing against the wall. He flings open the casket. Trotsky's eyes widen...
Back at Freud's office, the Doctor interrogates Freud about his psychographic recordings. Freud demonstrates the process. The Doctor is amazed, this is a complete recording. Freud boasts that with further work, the recording can be manipulated, and a mind can be altered. Freud sees great opportunities for the treatment of mental illness.
The Doctor points out that this could never work, the human mind is too resilient to be manipulated that way. Only a blank template would work. If you placed the recording into an empty vessel, then you could rewrite it at will. But of course, there is no such vessel, and no point, since it would not help the original.
Impressed by the Doctor's technical insight, Freud presses until the Doctor reveals that he is a time traveller. Freud accepts this without reservation, disappears for a few moments. He returns with guards and has the Doctor committed to an asylum. As the Doctor is carted away, Freud's next patient, the Archduke Ferdinand arrives.
The Doctor signals Heart and Diamond who are monitoring the situation from the Tardis. They intervene remotely to disable the carriage, allowing the Doctor to escape.
The Doctor spots Hitler skulking about. The Doctor follows Hitler into an adjacent basement where he spies on Hitler and his confederates. The Doctor listens to Stalin and Trotsky lay out a plan to assassinate Emperor Josef. At that moment, the Doctor is discovered. He bluffs his way through, claiming to be a Political Officer from the Central Party in Moscow, a bluff assisted by his historical knowledge of the characters, which he selectively reveals.
Stalin and Trotsky try to sell each other out, inadvertently revealing the project. The Doctor demands to inspect the project. He follows Trotsky and Stalin into the basement. They open the casket, revealing a large silver robot. The Doctor, shocked, identifies it out loud as a metamorphic android, a golem!
On Board the Tardis, Heart and Diamond are looking up Trotsky, Stalin and Hitler, three of the most evil men who have ever lived. But their evil deeds are in the future. What are they doing in 1913?
Afterwards, Hitler approaches the Doctor, having recognized him from the scuffle, and having surmised that he is an agent of the Austrian secret police. He offers to sell out his associates who he describes as 'communists, jews and lower races.' The Doctor warns him to watch the basement.
The Doctor returns to Freud, interrupting his session recording Archduke Ferdinand's brain pattern. Freud is shocked and upset with the Doctor who he is now convinced is an escaped lunatic. But the Doctor, upon seeing Franz Ferdinand, puts it all together. Trotsky and Stalin plan to replace Archduke Ferdinand with a metamorphic robot, programmed with Archduke Ferdinand's brain patterns. Unknown to them, Hitler has followed the Doctor and has learned of the plans.
To prove his bona fides, the Doctor lures Freud and Franz Ferdinand into the Tardis, introducing Heart and Diamond, where he shows them the consequences of Trotsky's plans. The Austro-Hungarian Empire becomes the world's first Soviet Republic, steadily subverting it's neighbors until Europe is a communist empire. The eventual outcome is six world wars, including nuclear wars and the collapse of human civilization in the 21st century. That future must be avoided at all costs. Heart and Diamond exclaim that this is the source of the time distortion that they sensed. Trotsky and Stalin are about to change the course of history.
Now cooperative, Freud, Ferdinand and the Doctor travel to Freud's vault, where they discover it has been ransacked by Hitler. Things have taken an urgent turn. There has been a kidnap attempt on Archduke Ferdinand. Freud and the Doctor are blamed and only narrowly escape arrest by the Archduke's bodyguards.
The Doctor confronts Trotsky. They argue over the inevitability of history, and sacrifices for a greater good. Trotsky reveals that Stalin has already been sent to assassinate the Emperor Josef, in order to place their robotic Archduke Ferdinand on the thrown. Their plans cannot be stopped.
The Doctor and Freud take the Tardis to the Imperial palace. While Freud distracts the guards, the Doctor narrowly saves the Emperor, shoving him out of the way of the assassins bullet.
Stalin flees, but is assaulted by Hitler who has taken control of the metamorphic robot. It stands, solidly, as Stalin cowers. Stalin will be blamed for the assassination, the Robot will become Emperor, and Hitler will be his Chancellor, the real ruler of Austria-Hungary. Hitler commands the robot to dispose of his henchman, Broz, who barely escapes with his life.
Hitler makes his way to the Tardis with the Robot as his henchman, where he finds Heart and Diamond. Through sheer force of personality, he dominates them, taking control of the Tardis.
Broz encounters the Doctor and reveals Hitler's plans. The Doctor and Freud return to the Tardis, re-entering before it leaves. The Doctor confronts Hitler, warning him of his future. Hitler simply laughs, the future and the past, now belong to him. With his robot and with the Tardis, he will rule all of time and space. Hitler begins to rant maniacally. The Doctor struggles with the robot. Suddenly, Hitler struck down from behind by Broz. They secure Hitler. The Tardis materializes in a filthy garret and Hitler is expelled.
The Doctor tells Hitler that he will die alone and surrounded by enemies, with all hope gone, all his dreams crushed, his works in ruins and the whole world hating him. Heart and Diamond ask why he has allowed Hitler to live, when he will go on to do such harm. The Doctor tells them that Hitler is a part of history, and that eventually good will come of the harm he does.
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