With the Third Doctor and Jo having been disappeared, the Second Doctor thinks the SFX monster has "gone off the boil" so he and Benton cautiously venture out of the TARDIS.
The Brigadier arrives and does a glorious double-take when he sees the Second Doctor is there instead of the Third. We get our second instance of the Brigadier's komedy buffooning when he refuses to accept the Second Doctor's explanation of what happened, not even when backed up by Benton.
"It's quite obvious to me what's happened. You've been mucking around with that infernal machine of yours, and somehow or other you've changed back your appearance and shot poor Miss Grant off to heaven knows where."
So, is the Brigadier very powerful or is he very stupid? I know which one I'd put my moneys on. If I had moneys, which I don't because I am a cat. It does lead to some funny lines though, such as
"As long as he does the job, he can wear what face he likes."
The following scene with the Time Lords doesn't do anything to advance the plot, it is essentially a recap of the events of the first episode for the benefit of any Time Lords (or viewers at home) who missed it or perhaps weren't paying attention. This was probably a good idea because a lot had to happen in part one so that we could see all three Doctors by the end of it.
The Third Doctor and Jo wake up from having sleeps in a quarry. Jo thinks they are both ded and, as it is only two episodes since she mistaikenly thought exactly the same thing at the end of The Time Monster, the Doctor doesn't put up with her nonsense for long this time, saying sardonically "it's not much like heaven, is it?"
They explore the strange world they find themselves in, and soon find the things that were disappeared from UNIT HQ by the SFX monster have been sent here too. This includes Bessie, so they get in to save themselves the walk.
They get out again when they find the pawprints of a manny to follow, and then we see (although they don't) that Mr Ollis is following them, stealthily.
Back at UNIT HQ, the Brigadier needs the Second Doctor to go on a Zoom call (well, after all, the UNIT era is supposed to be set in the near future) with his superiors at the "Security Council" but tells them that this Doctor is the Doctor's assistant because
"I decided the truth was too much for them. Assistant it will have to be."
Suffice to say, this doesn't go down well with the Second Doctor. It also gets in the way of his testing the gadget he had made to "confuse" the SFX monster, so he leaves this to Benton while he and the Brigadier are away on the call.
Benton unwisely throws a wrapping paper at the dormant SFX monster, which wakes it up. Oh Jesus Christ, Benton!
He turns the Doctor's machine on, but it doesn't help even when on full. The Doctor, the Brigadier and Benton are forced to run into the TARDIS to escape being disappeared. This is also the Brigadier's first time inside the TARDIS, and his reaction is quite different from the usual "bigger on the inside" response:
"So this is what you've been doing with UNIT funds and equipment all this time? How's it done, some sort of optical illusion?"
The Third Doctor and Jo find Dr Tyler. The Doctor tells him and Jo where they are:
"On a stable world in a universe of antimatter. An anomaly within an impossibility."
As they wonder who has brought them to this impossible planet, we see they are being watched on TV by a cloaked manny, who commands the waddling jelly creatures. We only get a glimpse of this manny for now, as his full reveal is obviously being saved for a dramatic moment. His voice is that of the unmistaikable Stephen Thorne, so it is probably Azal returning from The Dæmons.
Back in the quarry, the creatures surround the Doctor, Dr Tyler and Jo. we see that Mr Ollis is still hidden and nobody is aware of his presence, so he avoids being captured along with the others.
Jo describes the studio set they are taken to as looking like "Aladdin's* Cave," but the BBC budget can't stretch that far at the best of times. The tinkly incidental music does its best at trying to create a sense of wonder and mystery, but it is fighting a losing battle. Dr Tyler spends a scene trying to run away, but he only ends up arriving back where the Doctor and Jo are. As if to emphasise how this is just padding out the episode so that the cliffhanger can come at the right place, he even says
"That was a bit of a waste of time, wasn't it?"
A more significant scene takes place in the TARDIS, when the First Doctor again appears on the scanner and tells the Second Doctor to turn off the TARDIS forcefield. The Brigadier, who has never met the First Doctor before (although Nicholas Courtney did back when he was Bret Vyon), asks
"Who in the name of heaven was that?"
The Second Doctor, knowing how the Brigadier has been characterised in this story so far, replies
"I'm afraid you'd never believe me."
Lol.
He turns the forcefield off, and we see what happens from the point of view of the UNIT soldiers who are still waiting outside their HQ - first the creatures disappear, then a moment later the entire building vanishes. and Corporal Palmer makes a face.
Now that's what I call a facepalmer.
* If any Disney film is going to be referenced, surely it should be The Black Hole?
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