The Sins of the Time Lords

The Sins of the Time Lords is the twelfth episode of the first season of the BloodLoomis Productions' Lego Doctor Who Series, which was first uploaded on 2nd June 2016. It was written and directed by Cameron Hughes.

In the episode, the Doctor discovers that a number of planets and races are being wiped from existence, and he knows of only one race capable of doing that: a race of nigh-omnipotent beings that he helped imprison using Time Lord technology years before. These monsters, known as the Vultures, now plan on getting revenge on both the Doctor and his people.

This was the first of a two part story. The concluding part, 'The Dawn of Time' was uploaded on 3rd July 2016.

Plot
On Gallifrey, the Lord President and the Castellan call in the Doctor to help them in disposing of the Vultures, creatures able to remove anything from time. The Fifth Doctor arrives, and only agrees to help them if he is allowed to not murder the Vultures, but seal them in the Quantum Ark, and leaving them on the asteroid Titan 6. In the next 100 years, the Time Lords should work on finding a way of holding the Vultures indefinitely. He and the Castellan take the Ark to Titan 6 and leave them there. The technology of the Ark is not developed, and so in 100 years, the Vultures escape.

On the planet Tarquan, the Doctor and Jess are looking around the market, but are accosted by two Chendaki soldiers, who want to know what happened to the Chendaki who became the Headless Horseman. Before any blood is shed, the Chendaki disappear, and no one in the market can remember seeing them, even claiming to not know who the Chendaki are. The Doctor is concerned, and as they are leaving in the TARDIS, Tarquan itself is also wiped from existence. The Doctor knows what race is responsible: the Vultures.

He goes to Titan 6, and finds the Quantum Ark open. Suddenly, he and Jess are captured by a passing Vulture warship and taken aboard. The Vulture Commander reveals that the ship is on course for Gallifrey, and that they plan to make the Doctor watch his own home being destroyed. Jess runs back to the TARDIS, which starts to dematerialise. The Doctor manages to race there just in time and gets inside. He realises the TARDIS is caught in the Time Scoop, taking them to Gallifrey.

On Gallifrey, the President enlists the Doctor's help in stopping the Vultures. He and Jess also meet the new Castellan, Caldril. The Vultures attack the defence room, wiping the shields surrounding the Citadel from ever existing. The President unveils his new plan: to call in some help from outside. Making their way to the recall room, the Doctor, Jess, President and Caldril look on as the Doctor's TARDIS appears, and a mysterious new incarnation emerges.

Continuity
The Fifth Doctor appears as a small cameo. Titan 6 is part of the same asteroid belt as Titan 3, seen in The Twin Dilemma. The Chendaki are seen here in their true form, and mention the prisoner who would be known as the Headless Horseman in the 19th Century. The Cloister Bell sounds for the first time in the series. The Time Scoop was first used in The Five Doctors  to bring the four incarnations of the Doctor and his companions to the Death Zone. The Shalka Doctor is also present, though for what reason is unknown.

Writing
The Vultures were an idea longheld. A race of monsters so powerful that they were imprisoned by the Time Lords out of desperation, and as a result they would try and get revenge on the people that put them away. It was decided that this episode, and its follow up would bring a number of ideas from the season into one story. Here, the Chendaki are revisited, this time they are seen as they truly are.

Filming
The story required a number of sets and characters, possibly the largest of Season 1. Tarquan was one of the most complex: full of a number of aliens. Gallifrey itself was deliberately decaying and poorly lit to give it the effect of a city in ruins as a result of being attacked.

Trivia

 * The Type 50 TARDIS was actually the Jabba's Palace set with a custom console added.
 * The alien that gropes Jess on Tarquan was the second monster in the series to be made up only of play-doh (the Mara was the other).