Doctor Who Nightmare of Eden Part 1

The TARDIS arrives near an unstable area on the interstellar cruise ship Empress, which has emerged from hyperspace at the same co-ordinates as the trade ship Hecate, locking the two ships together. The Doctor offers his services to detach the two craft. Rigg, captain of the Empress, is suspicious of the Doctor, but agrees to let him try and separate the two craft. Also aboard the Empress are a zoologist named Tryst and his assistant Della, with their CET (Continual Event Transmuter) Machine. The CET stores portions of planets on electromagnetic crystals and displays them as projections. Their most recent stop was on the planet Eden, where one of their expedition was killed, but both Tryst and Della are reluctant to provide too many details.

The Doctor discovers the crew are being menaced by clawed monsters called Mandrels, who in turn have a mysterious connection to a drug known as Vraxoin. The Doctor incinerates one of the Mandrels, which disintegrates into raw Vraxoin, revealing that the beasts' bodies are the source of the drug. It is revealed that the Mandrels were brought to the ship from Eden.

The Mandrels, on display at the Doctor Who Experience.

With the help of The Doctor's companions, the ships are finally parted. In the process, the Doctor gets caught aboard the Hecate, where he finds evidence that its captain, Capt. Dymond, is complicit in the drug running project. Tryst is his accomplice on board the Empress and they are planning to use a laser to transport the Eden projection between the two crafts.

The Doctor rounds up the Mandrels using K9's dog whistle, having worked out they are pacified by ultrasonics. He leads them back into the projection and then slips out, leaving the creatures trapped. His next task is to reverse the CET transfer process to stop the smugglers getting away with the Vraxoin supply. After allowing Tryst and Dymond to transport the Eden projection to the Hecate, he activates the CET and traps them within a new projection – they are ready for the Customs Officers to walk in and arrest them. With the ships separated and the drug runners caught, the Doctor and friends slip away back to the TARDIS with the Eden project.