Welcome to the second Act!
And it’s already off to a bad start for Biff, who simply cannot understand why there is a second act at all. The Professor they came looking for is safe, and the villain has been apprehended. Normally, that means you’ve won and the story is over. And he’s sure that the villain must have been arrested. He went into a box that said “Police Box” on the outside, so obviously it must have been full of Police. How should Dr. Dutchman Fu have escaped? You always have to assume that a box contains what it says on the outside – the Professor made sure Biff learned that lesson, after that one time he handled that box labeled “Danger! Fissible material!”
But of course Dr. Dutchman Fu has escaped – in time. And into time. That’s why the act is off to a bad start for all of the other team members, as well, as they watch in astonished horror how much the world around them has been changed due to the manipulation of history Dr. Fu is just now about to have done a long time ago. Obviously, any such change would probably result in our heroes not even existing, or at least not having come to London to save Professor Chronometricos – which would have resulted in Dr. Dutchman Fu not managing to get the formula to complete his time machine, which would have averted the change, which would have meant that our heroes would have existed after all, and have come looking for…well, you know the drill. Time paradox. Fortunately, Professor Chronometricos knows the ultimate antidote against that sort of thing – the “stable time bubble”. Therefore, the temporal existence of our friend is safe for the moment, no matter how badly the rest of reality suffers under the new pontiff which Dr. Dutchman Fu’s machinations have resulted in, amongst other things.
Which role does this appointment play in Dr. Fu’s larger plan? Or is it just a cruel joke? Or does he perhaps only like that sort of music?
With any luck, we will never know.
More on Monday.