The Doctor has promised Jo a holiday on Metebelis 3, but the TARDIS materializes not on the famous blue planet, but in the cargo hold of the SS Bernice, sailing to India in 1926. Despite all appearances, the Doctor insists that they are no longer on Earth, but Jo's not convinced, at least not until a sea dinosaur attacks the ship! Millions of miles from Earth, a traveling showman named Vorg and his lovely assistant have arrived on Inter Minor to bring a little sunshine into the humdrum lives of the Minorian officials and functionaries. The dilapidated device they've brought looks rather unpromising until Vorg explains that the entertainment the Scope offers is "live"- it holds actual, miniaturized, living creatures kidnapped from every corner of the universe. There are Cybermen, Ogrons and even a party of rare Tellurians aboard a quaint steamship.