Friday 29 January 2016

102 The Daleks' Master Plan Episode 12: Destruction of Time

EPISODE: The Daleks' Master Plan Episode 12: Destruction of Time
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 102
STORY NUMBER: 021
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 29 January 1966
WRITER: Dennis Spooner from an idea by Terry Nation
DIRECTOR: Douglas Camfield
SCRIPT EDITOR: Donald Tosh
PRODUCER: John Wiles
RATINGS: 8.6 million viewers
FORMAT: CD: Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Collection: No. 2

"All we're doing is running to save our own lives. If anything goes wrong and the Daleks recapture the time destructor, we'll have failed for ever!"

Chen escorts Steven & Sara to the Dalek control room. The Daleks proclaim the alliance over, but Chen says he now leads it and attacks the Dalek Supreme. Unharmed, the Supreme has him taken away and exterminated. The Doctor sneaks into the control room freeing Steven & Sara and ordering them back to the Tardis. The Doctor activates the Daleks' Time Destructor and fleeing the Dalek base encounters Sara who has stayed behind. The Time Destructor starts to take effect as the wind howls on Kembel. Steven finds the safety of the Tardis, pursued by the Doctor but Sarah has fallen behind: She is being rapidly aged by the time destructor. The Kembel jungle starts to decay and even the Doctor is now feeling the effects of the Time Destructor. Falling to the ground Sara tries to help him but is turned to dust by the forces unleashed.

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Steven emerges from the Tardis and drags the Doctor inside leaving the time destructor outside the Tardis where it destroys the Daleks before burning itself out. Emerging from the Tardis the Doctor and Steven find Kembel transformed into a desert planet. Steven mourns the friends they've lost in this battle:

Steven: Bret, Katarina, Sara...
The Doctor: What a waste. What a terrible waste.
Oh that sounds superb and suitably epic. I'd love to see what this one looked like. I can imagine the effects sequences and wonder how much it would live up to what I can see in my mind. The ticking, clock like noise of the Time Destructor while it's in operation adds an eerie backdrop to the later stage of the episode.

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Some of the sequence where Sarah ages to death is preserved for us in photograph and looks to be one of the most horrific things the program ever did. It'd surprise me if there weren't complaints made about this at the time! For more take a look at designer Barry Newbery's book The Barry Newbery Signature Collection which has some picture of it, plus a Dalek being consumed by the effects of the Time Destructor.

But while the planet is being ravaged by the Time Destructor The Doctor is being exposed to it as welll. What effect is the Time Destructor having on him? Does this in part contribute to what happens to the Doctor as the end of the Tenth Planet?

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By killing three prominent characters during this story the program feels like it's aiming for a much more adult level than before and it's no surprise that the notably sensitive Australian censors kicked up a stink when the ABC tried (and failed) to show it there. If anyone's got a copy of this out there please let the BBC have it back. Thus far the program has felt like a children's show but in this story the horror and the terror are ramped right up at times.

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Then there's Chen's descent into madness. From what began as a scheming machiavellian character in the earlier episodes he takes a running jump off the deep end as the story goes on, probably around episode 5 when it looks like the Taranium has slipped through his fuingers with the Doctor and Steven's escape to Mira. These later episodes he's completely off the scale believing himself to be invincible and more important to the plans of invasion than the Daleks.

CHEN: Once again, I, Mavic Chen, Guardian of the Solar System, have helped the Daleks with their conquest plan.
DALEK SUPREME: Our alliance has ended.
CHEN: What? But I have helped you time and time again with your absurd incompetence! I, Mavic Chen, will decide when the Alliance is at an end. You, Dalek Supreme, tell them they're to take their orders from me.

CHEN: I assume that this silence means that the orders have been passed. Good. You, bring me the invasion reports. It is essential that I know what stage that countdown has reached. Now, move! You did not pass on my order. Why?

CHEN: Failure to obey the orders of your ruler brings only one reward.

It comes as no surprise that they finally loose patience and exterminate him!
DALEK SUPREME: Take him away and exterminate him, but do not fire in here. You will damage us and some of the controls.
CHEN: You cannot turn against me! I, Mavic Chen, first ruler of the universe, am immortal!
DALEK SUPREME: Pursue and exterminate in safe area. Repeat, in safe area.

CHEN: You will pay for your crimes against your ruler. You cannot kill me!

Having sat through it again, I'm starting to feel the Dalek Masterplan *IS* the twelve (effectively thirteen) episode masterpiece some older fans maintain. I don't know whether it's because I'm in the groove and tuned into the Hartnell episodes now after a few months of doing this but I really got into this this time round and loved it. Even episode five, which I've struggled with previously, I enjoyed much more this time out.

Great stuff.

At twelve episodes The Dalek Masterplan is the longest Doctor Who story to date. It's nearest sixties contenders both occur in Season 6: The Eight Part Invasion and Ten Part War Games. There are extenuating circumstances there. 1986's Trial of a Timelord is numbered as 14 parts on the screen but you can argue that it's a series of stories with 4-4-4-2 episodes and a linking theme. Which I would because it's rubbish.

Sadly we have some goodbyes: This is the last episode to carry a David Graham Dalek Voice. He'll be back in the Gunfighters and City of Death in front of the camera acting and is still going strong today voicing Peppa Pig's Grandpa Pig. It's also the last time Terry Nation would write for Doctor Who in the sixties as attempts to launch the Daleks in the USA and writing for various ITC series absorb his time. This is also the last Doctor Who script credited to Dennis Spooner, although he apparently helped rewrite parts of Power of the Daleks. It's also the last story worked on by designer Raymond Cusick who created the Daleks' design and worked as designer on three of their first four stories. The Dalek Supreme - did he survive the Time Destructor inside the Daleks' base ? - leaves us now with a black Dalek Supreme not being seen again till 1984'a Resurrection of the Daleks. We get an uniquely designed Emperor in Evil of the Daleks, a Gold Dalek in Day of the Daleks & Frontier in Space and a black & gold Dalek Supreme in Planet of the Daleks. Significantly this is the last time William Hartnell's Doctor meets the Daleks, and that does make this story feel like the end of an era and the beginning of the end for Hartnell. The Daleks' are Hartnell's monster returning again and again. It's also the last Hartnell episode directed by Douglas Camfield who would take a break from the program until 1968's Web of Fear.

The making of the story took it's toll on the two men in charge behind the scenes: Both producer John Wiles & script editor Donald Tosh tended their resignations during the production and both were replaced over the next few months with successors who would guide the show into it's next incarnation and set up some of the things we feel are intrinsically Doctor Who to this day. Vicki went just before this story started to be replaced by a couple of temporary companions. We'll see her most permanent replacement very soon but when she and Steven leave in a few stories time they're replaced by Hartnell's final set of companions. In the weeks to come we've got the stories that grew under the Wiles/Tosh regime, Dalek Masterplan having been inherited from Verity Lambert and there's some real oddities in there. But at the end of it the program scores several notably succesful firsts, one of the most important of which (back to the Daleks not appearing with Hartnell again) occurs right at the very end. Although several other monsters have been created during this era with an eye on replicating the Daleks' success, the production team wouldn't strike gold (or perhaps silver might be more appropriate!) again until Hartnell's last story, which I can feel looming towards us now (coming out of the snow) even though there's seven four part stories between now and then.

Some of those involved in this story will be back: As I said director Douglas Camfield returns for 1968's Web of Fear where Nicholas Courtney , seen as Bret Vyon in episodes 1-4, take on his more familiar role in the series. Both are back later that same year for the Invasion when Kevin Stoney, who plays Mavic Chen here, returns as another classic Doctor Who Villain. These stories are key in reshaping Doctor Who for a second time for Jon Pertwee's reign.

The Dalek Masterplan was novelised towards the end of the Target Book range over two volumes - Mission to the Unknown & The Mutation of Time - both written by John Peel. Episodes 5 & 10 were released on Daleks: The Early Years along with interviews, clips and Evil of the Daleks part 2. Following the return of episode 2, all three surviving episodes were released as part of the Doctor Who - Lost In Time DVD set. The Soundtrack to all 12 episodes of The Dalek Masterplan (plus Mission to the Unknown) was released on the Doctor Who - The Daleks' Master Plan CD on 22nd October 2001 which contains narration by Peter Purves but also unnarrated MP3 version. This CD has been recently reissued as part of Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Collection: (1965-1966) No. 2.

Friday 22 January 2016

101 The Daleks' Master Plan Episode 11: The Abandoned Planet

EPISODE: The Daleks' Master Plan Episode 11: The Abandoned Planet
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 101
STORY NUMBER: 021
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 22 January 1966
WRITER: Dennis Spooner from an idea by Terry Nation
DIRECTOR: Douglas Camfield
SCRIPT EDITOR: Donald Tosh
PRODUCER: John Wiles
RATINGS: 9.8 million viewers
FORMAT: CD: Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Collection: No. 2

"The mission has been completed successfully. With guile and cunning, I have been able to repossess the taranium."

The directional unit has burned out, but the rest of the Tardis is fine. However it was enough to get them to Kembel. Steven & Sara become separated from the Doctor in the Jungle. In an argument in the council Gearon is slain by Mavic Chen but the Dalek Supreme has left, sealing the members in the council chamber until Daleks arrive to imprison them. Steven & Sara find the Daleks' city initially deserted, but find and free the council members. The council leave in their ships but Mavic Chen's explodes on take off. Steven & Sara hunt for the Doctor and narrowly avoid a Dalek which they follow to their base inside a mountain where they are captured by a very much alive Chen who has faked his death and taken into the depths of the mountain base.....

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This episode feels a bit odd: very little Hartnell with Steven & Sara carrying the bulk of the action. He just disappears in the jungle. I'm not sure why, did he have a week off? He does appear briefly at the beginning, a bit like that episode of Marco Polo he's in for 20 seconds..... I'm suspecting the absence was unplanned: John Peel's novelization of the second half of this story, The Mutation of Time, restores the Doctor to the middle of the action throughout. There's a lot of fuss about the Daleks switching to a new James Bond villain inside a mountain base? Why? Is their existingbase suddenly not good enough or are they fearing attack from their allies somehow, hence their decision to imprison them? Definitely a bit of paranoia there. The Mavic Chen is "killed" and brought back in less than a few minutes which feels almost like it wastes the idea. It almost feels like this episode is treading water and filling in time before the final confrontation next week. There again watching it might provoke a different reaction: listening to Episode 2 and watching it is a completely different experience.

We've made our final journey of this series and are finally back on Kembel. It's worth looking at all the location's we've covered in the last 11 episodes:

1-2 Kembel
3 Desperus
4-5 4000ad Earth
5-6 Mira
6 Kembel
7 60s Earth - Christmas at the Police Station
7 20s Earth - Silent Movie
8 60s Earth - Cricket Match
8 Tigus
8 London New Year 1966
9 & 10 Ancient Egypt
11 & 12 Kembel
That's a lot of travelling and most of that's without the Tardis!

This is one of those episodes where we have neither a frame of footage or any existing photos. We know what most of it looks like from episode 2 where we saw the jungle and conference room, and episode 5 (and a clip from episode 3) where we saw the control room.

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I'm afraid we must return to the matter of which alien delegate is which.

We know who Zephon & Trantis are from the actors playing them in their prior appearance. Both are now dead in episodes 3 & 8 respectively.

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That leaves Celation, who changed actor between episodes 2, Day of Armageddon, & 8, Volcano, from Ian East to Terence Woodfield, who reappears in the story after next, The Ark, playing Maharis in episodes 3 & 4, The Return & The Bomb.

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Woodfield is again credited as Celation in this episode, so we can be pretty sure which alien speaking is him by comparing the dialogue to what's spoken in episode 8. That leaves us concluding that Celation is the alien with the slight hiss to his voice. The other actor credited as a delegate in this episode is Bryan Mosley as Malpha. Malpha's not been seen since episode 2 where he wasn't credited or spoke but documentation indicates he's played there by "Brian Edwards", a known alias of Mosley. He doesn't speak there, but does in Mission to the Unknown where he's played by a different actor Robert Cartland where he has a very rough voice.

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The problem we have here is that there are at least two other delegates speaking in this episodes in addition to Celation and neither of them is identified as Malpha!

we've two delegates left from Day of Armageddon, Beaus and Gearon. We think Gearon is the one wearing black PVC and Beaus is in the spacesuit - see Mission to the Unknown & Fay of Armageddon for why.

Gearon Beaus

One slight problem: neither character has an actor credited for this episode either inside the costume or providing the voice artist. Yet at least one of them MUST appear to supply the second voice! The camera script indicates that Jack Pitt plays Gearon and that it's him who dies. It also says Beaus is present, but doesn't name an actor, and that Malpha is the only other alien to speak. The evidence of the soundtrack appears to contradict this last part though! It wouldn't be the last time that something changed between camera script and recording though!

The two voices we can hear are a clipped one during the earlier conference room scene, track 5 on my copy of the CD, and then a different one in tracks 16 & 18 in the cell. It doesn't help that the first appearance of this voice coincides with one of the regular dips in audio quality during this episode!

The voice in track 5 doesn't reappear after Chen fires his gun so it's a reasonable assumption that this is the alien that dies. The CD narattion suggets that it's Gearon who dies. Doctor Who Transcripts, an invaluable resource, agrees that Gearon dies but reckons the speaking voice in this scene is Beaus. The Mutation of Time mixes the dialogue up here between Celation, Malpha and Beaus and has Beaus die!

Purely on the basis the narration which had access to the scripts I'm inclined to say that the voice that disappears and probably dies is Gearon, who is uncredited, but the possibility remains that is could be Malpha who is credited.

I'd be inclined to say that Beaus is NOT the delegate killed. Later on in the episode when Steven & Sara are watching the alien ships launch we get this exchange:

SARA: There they go.
STEVEN: Yes, let's hope they'll be in time. Look, there's the ship of Celation and Beaus.
SARA: Chen's ship is still there.
STEVEN: Yes, he must be nearly the last one to take off.
SARA: What about the others?
STEVEN: Those must belong to the dead representatives.
which would indicate that Celation and Beaus both survive and leave together. OK it could be a mis pronounciation of ships but Celation & Beus are previously linked in episodes 2:
ZEPHON: The Daleks needed me. Without my help, they would never have got the co-operation of the masters of Celation and Beaus.
But the indiction from Sara & Steven is that both survive, and that because Steven spots their ship leaving after Sara's already seen something they aren't the only survivors.

So Beaus *could* be the voice in the cell, but the novelization thinks this is Malpha. Surely Malpha must speak somewhere if he's credited? I don't think that the voice in the conference room can be Beaus because it disappears. So here's the options:

1) The voice in the conference room is Gearon who is slain and the voice in the cell is Malpha

2) The voice in the conference room is Malpha who is slain and the voice in the cell is Beaus

3) The voice in the conference room is Gearon who is slain and the voice in the cell is Beaus and Malpha doesn't speak

My head hurts. Recover this episode quick and put me out my misery! I'll bet it'll then shows that Sentreal and Warrien have showed up again further complicating things!

Friday 15 January 2016

100 The Daleks' Master Plan Episode 10: Escape Switch

EPISODE: The Daleks' Master Plan Episode 10: Escape Switch
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 100
STORY NUMBER: 021
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 15 January 1966
WRITER: Dennis Spooner from an idea by Terry Nation
DIRECTOR: Douglas Camfield
SCRIPT EDITOR: Donald Tosh
PRODUCER: John Wiles
RATINGS: 9.5 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Lost In Time

"We want the taranium core back Doctor, and there's nothing you can do to stop us now. "

The mummified figure is the Monk who'd been imprisoned by the Doctor. The Monk, Steven & Sara are held prisoner by the Daleks who demand the Taranium core in return for their release. The Doctor conducts the swap at the Great Pyramid passing the core to Mavic Chen at which point the Daleks are set on by the Egyptians who are swiftly exterminated. The Doctor has stolen the Monk's directional unit, sending the fleeing Monk to a planet of ice, and uses it to attempt to follow the Daleks back to Kembel. However as the Tardis is in flight there's a blinding explosion in the control room......

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Happy 100th Episode of Doctor Who! We celebrate well with the Doctor pitted against one of the best villains the show has produced so far in Mavic Chen, a favourite, but slightly less than serious, adversary in the Monk and the Daleks being the Daleks. They look superb in the pre filmed battle sequences in this episode, their flowing movement showing some urgency.

There's four Daleks here, as there has been all series, but no Supreme so I assume he's had a respray since his appearance in Episode 8. I spot Broken Neck Ring in the back of some scenes with Douglas Camfield again trying to hide the damaged section from view a lot of the time.

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There's another Dalek here showing sins of damage with some chips taken out of his neck rings!

As characters the Daleks do well here with this chilling statement in response to the Doctor's demand that just one Dalek attends the hand over of their prisoners for the Taranium Core:

CHEN: I'm surprised that you met his terms so readily.
DALEK: One Dalek is capable of exterminating all!
Years later that forms the premise for the New Series episode Dalek with a lone stranded Dalek going on a deadly rampage.

Oddly most of Doctor Who's "big round number" episodes from the sixties exist: The 50th (Dalek Invasion of Earth 5), 100th, 150th (Moonbase 2) and 250th (War Games 7). Sadly the 200th (Fury from the Deep 3) doesn't spoiling the pattern somewhat!

STEVEN: If you try any more of your funny business, I'll exterminate you myself.
MONK: Funny business? Me?
Sadly here we say farewell to the Monk and Peter Butterworth. Butterwoth gives top performance on both appearances and superb when acting against Hartnell. It's a big shame that he never came back for a third go. But I suppose you could argue that the Monk is a more mischievous and less evil prototype for another member of the Doctor's, at this point unnamed, race that we'll meet later.

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Confession time: I fell asleep watching this episode on the first go for this blog: I was tired, it was cold and I was in bed. It deserved better as it's not that bad. In it's defence I've slept through better and worse episodes of Doctor Who in my time.

Like last episode there's a fair number of extras involved as Egyptians, but only Valentino Musetti and Anthony Lang return from the previous episode. Of the others three are making their first appearance in Doctor Who before returning later. Barry Noble is another to feature in the next story, The Massacre, appearing in episode 3: Priest of Death as a Parisian Man before returning in the first episode of The War Machines as an Inferno Club Customer and in the Second Doctor story The Moonbase Episode 4 as Cyberman. Andrew Andreas is in more Troughton episodes appearing in The Enemy of the World Episodes 2 & 3 as a Central European Guard and The War Games Episode Three as a German Soldier while Glen Whitter appears in the Pertwee story Day of the Daleks as a Slave in episode 3 and an African Aide in episode 4.

As we said last episode this episode gives us a view of most of the locations used over both episodes. Indeed Camfield treats us to unrestricted views of most of them, without many or any performers visible and that highlights what superb work designer Barry Newbery has done on this second half of the story.

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Indeed the Egyptian sets look so good and by comparison the Dalek control set above pales somewhat.

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Throw in some superb model work of the pyramids, and some decent effects work too with the now establised negative extermination effect capturing the Daleks themselves in it's glow and the episode looks fabulous all round before bringing us back to the familiar surrounding of the Tardis where the Doctor outlines the risk they're taking in trying to stop the Daleks:

STEVEN: Yes, well, I hope the Daleks don't catch the Monk.
SARA: After all that he's done?
STEVEN: Yes, even after all that.
DOCTOR: Oh, I shouldn't worry any more, my dear boy. There's no doubt about it, he's right away by now.
STEVEN: Do you think he'll come looking for revenge again?
DOCTOR: Perhaps, yes. Perhaps one day. At the moment, I should say that he's had quite enough for us for a while. Having taken his directional unit, it will take him quite a time to make the necessary repairs to his ship.
SARA: What about our repairs? Will the unit work?
DOCTOR: Well, I'm not certain. It's a Mark four, remember. There are two possibilities. One, it would work.
STEVEN: Go on, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Number two, the increased energy rate will certainly destroy the centre column.
SARA: But we do have a chance?
DOCTOR: Yes, my dear. A chance. A slim one.
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This is the first time that we, the modern viewer, have seen inside the Tardis during an episode since Time Meddler 1, 21 episodes ago!

Unfortunately that's it for surviving episodes of this story, we're back to CD for the remaining two episodes and all four of the next story.

Friday 8 January 2016

099 The Daleks' Master Plan Episode 9: Golden Death

EPISODE: The Daleks' Master Plan Episode 9: Golden Death
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 099
STORY NUMBER: 021
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 08 January 1966
WRITER: Dennis Spooner from an idea by Terry Nation
DIRECTOR: Douglas Camfield
SCRIPT EDITOR: Donald Tosh
PRODUCER: John Wiles
RATINGS: 9.2 million viewers
FORMAT: CD: Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Collection: No. 2

"The Daleks will reward failure on your part with elimination!"

The Tardis arrives in ancient Egypt where the Doctor sets about repairing the lock. Looking out for the Monk, Steven & Sara are arrested as looters. The Monk is found by Mavic Chen & the Daleks and coerced into helping them: the Daleks will kill him if he doesn't retrieve the Taranium. The Doctor follow the Monk back to his Tardis, and enters it, changing it's shape to match his and then confronting then Monk. Sara & Steven escape but while hiding in a tomb they see a bandaged hand emerging .....

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I'm surprised we've not done ancient Egypt before on Doctor Who as it's such an obvious choice. The Hartnell/Monk and Monk/Chen scenes are superb, but I suspect the rest may have been better with the pictures..... Fortunately we can get an idea what it all looks like by watching the next episode which does exist and shows us many of the characters and the superb sets. That episode also contains a small fraction of this episode, the end where Steven & Sara discover the hand emerging.

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We'll be back to ancient Egypt for the Pyramids of Mars when we play up to the Mummy stereotype a little more, but the Mummy's tomb theme is used before then in Tomb of The Cybermen.

Camfield favourite Walter Randall, on the right, makes his third Doctor Who appearance as the Egyptian warrior Hyskos. He was previously Tonila episodes 2-4, The Warriors of Death, The Bride of Sacrifice & The Day of Darkness of The Aztecs before director Douglas Camfield used him as El Akir in all 4 episodes of The Crusades. He returns as a Patrolman in The Invasion Episode 1 (director: D Camfield), Harry Slocum in Inferno Episodes 1 & 2 (yup you guessed who directed this) and as the Guard Captain Planet of the Spiders: Parts Three to Five (NOT directed by Camfield!) There's also a rare speaking part for Derek Ware as Tuthmos, seen to the right of the leftmost picture which also shows Jeffrey Isaac as Khepren. Ware is the fight arranger for many Doctor Who stories including the very first, An Unearthly Child, which Camfield was working on as an AFM. Camfield used him as the fight arranger on the Crusade and as a bus conductor in the short segment of the Chase that he directed and he'll reuse him for Web of Fear and Inferno. He'll later appear as Rozzer in The Italian Job and found the stunt agency HAVOC used on many 70s Doctor Who stories. He's not the last actor from The Italian Job that Camfield will cast in Doctor Who either!

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There's plenty of extras used as Egyptians in this and the next episode and many of them have prior or future form in Doctor Who!

Prominent amongst them is Dave Anderson playing as Egyptian Warrior. He's been a Caravan Warrior in Rider from Shang-Tu and a Palace Guard in Assassin at Peking, the fifth and seventh episodes of Marco Polo, which Camfield also AFM'd. He was then the Aztec Captain in all four episodes of the Aztecs before appearing as Reynier de Marun in The Lion, the first episode of the Camfield directed Crusade and the then as Sven in The Time Meddler, also Camfield directed! Since this is his last Doctor who appearance it's worth mentioning that his later career included roles in two prominent British films: as Gregory's Dad in Gregory's Girl and as Fraser in Local Hero, both directed by Bill Forsyth. This last film gives him a rare distinction: he's one of the few people to have worked with both William Hartnell, the first Doctor, and Peter Capaldi, the current Doctor! (There's another in this very episode!) David Brewster is another Egyptian Warrior with Marco Polo & The Crusade on his CV: he was a Mongol Bandit in Rider from Shang-Tu, episode 5 of the first story, and a Turkish Bandit in episode 3, The Wheel of Fortune, of the second. Similarly Valentino Musetti was also a Mongol Bandit in Rider from Shang-Tu and appeared in The Lion as a Saracen Warrior. He's back as Prisoners in The Mind of Evil Episode One, Three and Four, and extra in Colony in Space Episode One and an extra in The Time Monster: Episode One. Musetti and Anthony Lang, Egyptian Slave, are surprisingly the only two extras to appear in both this episode and the next. This is Lang's first Doctor Who appearance but he'll be back as an Extra in The Highlanders Episode 1, one of the Airport Personnel on Plane in The Faceless Ones Episode 1, a Time Lord in The Three Doctors Episode One and a Kaled Councillor in Genesis of the Daleks Parts One & Three. IMDB thinks he's also BoShek, the spacer wearing the black Tenth Planet spacesuit in the cantina in Star Wars but other sources disagree, He does however play the Emperor's Advisor Slim Aloo in Return of the Jedi.

Another Egyptian Warrior has a lengthy involvement with the program: John Caesar has already been the 2nd Man in Market in The Romans 1: All Roads Lead to Rome (1965). He'll return as Monoid Four in The Ark episode 4: The Bomb, a Cowboy in all 4 episodes of the Gunfighters, a guard in all four episodes on The Macra Terror, a Pirate in episodes 1, 3 & 4 of The Space Pirates, C.P.O. Myers in The Sea Devils Episode Six and the R / T Soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs Part One (1974). Kevin Leslie was a.so in the Gunfighters appearing as a Lynch mob member in episode 2, Don't Shoot the Pianist, and episode 3, Johnny Ringo. Terry Leigh was a sailor in Flight Through Eternity, episode 3 of The Chase while Gerry Videl was Beaus in episode 2 of this story, Day of Armageddon. Eric Mills returns in Priest of Death, the third episode of the next story The Massacre as a Parisian Man while occasional stuntman Rocky Taylor is also a guard in The Curse of Peladon Episode Four as well as performing stunts in the Blake's 7 episodes Hostage & Countdown. Bruno Castagnoli was a Dalek operator in Dr. Who and the Daleks, the first film which featured two of the Dalek regulars from this story.

Finally the name of one of the actors playing an Egyptian Slave sprang out at me: Lew Russell is the given name of circus owner Luigi Rossini in Terror of the Autons!

Friday 1 January 2016

098 The Daleks' Master Plan Episode 8: Volcano

EPISODE: The Daleks' Master Plan Episode 8: Volcano
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 098
STORY NUMBER: 021
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 01 January 1966
WRITER: Dennis Spooner from an idea by Terry Nation
DIRECTOR: Douglas Camfield
SCRIPT EDITOR: Donald Tosh
PRODUCER: John Wiles
RATINGS: 9.6 million viewers
FORMAT: CD: Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Collection: No. 2

"Our time machine is now in pursuit. Nothing can match Dalek technology. The universe shall be ours. Conquest is assured."

The Daleks test their time destructor on Trantis, which fails due to the fake Taranium Core. So they exterminate Trantis anyway! The Daleks summon a time machine from Skaro to pursue the Tardis and retrieve the Taranium. The Doctor is aware they're being pursued and briefly materialises on the pitch of the Oval in London interrupting an Ashes test match! The time machine arrives on Kembel and collects Mavic Chen to pursue the time travellers. The Tardis arrives on a volcanic planet: the Doctor thinks their pursuer is already there. A short distance away his old adversary the Meddling Monk has materialised and is pleased to have found the Doctor. While the Doctor and friends are exploring the Monk damages the Tardis' lock. The Monk appears to the Doctor, and the Doctor congratulates him on escaping from 1066 where the Doctor marooned him by removing the Monk's Tardis' dimension control. The Monk tells the Doctor he has now stranded them on this planet, Tigus. He uses the sunlight, filtered through his special ring to repair the lock which can then be opened. The Monk vows that the Doctor hasn't heard the last of him! The Daleks and Chen prepare leave Kembel in the time machine as a countdown starts. The Tardis materialises in Trafalgar Square on New Year's eve allowing the travellers to witness the celebrations as the Daleks' countdown finishes.

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More fun in this episode, broadcast on New Year's Day 1966, hence the finale with the New Year countdown chillingly crossed with the countdown to the departure of the Daleks' time ship. In fact the later middle episodes of the Masterplan with the Tardis switching locations pursued by the Daleks are very similar to the structure of the Chase. The episode also brings back The Monk, played by Peter Butterworth, who previously appeared in writer Dennis Spooner's the Time Meddler. The Monk thus becomes the first non companion character to meet the Doctor in more than one story. Since we also get a return for the Dalek Time Machine, previously seen in the Chase, we've now got three time craft pursuing each other upping the ante on the Chase! The Doctor's using a device called The Time Curve Indicator to track their pursuer presumably the same as the Time Path Detector in the earlier story.

There's a lovely little exchange as the Doctor & Monk are reunited:

MONK: Well, hello, Doctor. Keeping well?
DOCTOR: Oh, no complaints, no. And you?
MONK: Oh, so so, you know, just so so.
SARA: Who is it?
MONK: Delighted to see you again, young man.
STEVEN: Thanks. I wish I could say the same for you.
DOCTOR: I suppose congratulations for your escape are quite in order.
MONK: Oh, thank you. Most kind of you, Doctor. Yes, it took a bit of time, but I finally managed to bypass the dimensional controller.
DOCTOR: Yes, a very interesting solution, yes, I'm sure, though I think it would make for rather an uncomfortable ride. However, I don't suppose it affected you very much, being an amateur.
MONK: Yes, it was rather uncomfortable, but then, we can't have everything, can we? As for being an amateur, we shall see. Anyway, it was better than 1066.
DOCTOR: Yes, I suppose so.
SARA: What's he talking about, 1066?
STEVEN: It's all right. We've met the Monk once before. I'll explain later.
DOCTOR: And you returned here for one obvious reason, did you not?
MONK: I'm afraid so, Doctor. Revenge is a strange thing, isn't it?
DOCTOR: Yes, yes, quite, quite. Tell me, any plans?
MONK: And all carried out as well. Oh, ho. Doctor, you remember you left me in 1066? Now I've marooned you on the planet Tigus. Look! Oh, it's funny this. Forgive me laughing, Doctor, but I don't seem to be able to control it. Well, goodbye, Doctor. Perhaps I'll come back one day and rescue you.
I could watch/listen to Hartnell & Butterworth act together for hours.

And the cricket match: I'm forced to ask was Douglas Adams watching? We know Terry Nation was fond of recycling and Malcolm Hulke believed "all you needed to work in television was an original idea, not necessarily your original idea." Well swap the Tardis for a Chesterfield Sofa and the sequence at the start of this episode is very similar to that at the start of Douglas Adam's Life, The Universe & Everything, itself recycled from a potential Adams Doctor Who story - Doctor Who and the Krikketman. when this story was transmitted Adams would have been nearly 14 so it's quite possible that he may have seen while home over the Christmas holidays from his boarding school at Brentwood. This is possibly the Doctor's first encounter with the game, though he may have been aware of it during his stay in 1963. He'll later take it up, claiming to have played for New South Wales and taking 5 wickets bowling Chinaman, a variety of Left Arm Wrist Spin, yet when we see him playing in Black Orchid he's a right arm batsman & bowler.

I have to comment that I feel that the story gets the location of the cricket match a bit wrong though: On the day this episode was broadcast England were playing Australia in the second Ashes test at the MCG in Melbourne and having the Tardis materialise at the game being played that very day would have been a nice little touch. Or, leaving the setting at the Kennington Oval in South London, it might have been nice to have Ian & Barbara sitting in the crowd and seeing the Tardis materialise..... Which makes me think: although the Doctor & friends don't leave the Tardis, this visit is the first time the Tardis has returned to the same vague geographic location in a similar time: They were in London in the 60s at the start of an Unearthly Child and now the Tardis is back again.

new year

This is another episode for which very little visual reference exists, just two pictures of the surface of Tigus from designer Barry Newbery which you can find in his book The Barry Newbery Signature Collection and one of Celation, published in Doctor Who magazine a few years ago. There's a nice behind the scenes photo though:

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To the right of the camera are Jean Marsh and William Hartnell with Peter Purves hidden behind Hartnell. The man seated with a script on his lap is Douglas Camfield and the man stood on the rock is guest star Peter Butterworth.

The ranks of the Daleks' alien allies are diminishing: Having killed Trantis this episode and Zephon in episode 3: Devil's Planet that leaves Mavic Chen & Celation, both of whom witness the test, and Beaus, Malpha & Gearon. No actors are credited for Beaus & Gearon after their appearance in episode 2 but there's some evidence that at least one of them is in episode 11.

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Returning as the now deceased Trantis is Roy Evans, as previously seen in episode 2 Day of Armageddon. Celation, from the same episode, is also back but where he was portrayed by Ian East in the earlier episode he 's now played by Terence Woodfield who returns in the same role in episode 11, The Abandoned Planet. Woodfield returns in The Ark as Maharis in the Ark episodes 3 & 4: The Return & The Bomb

Two new supporting cast members are in this episode: Bruce Wightman is Scott, the Australian summariser on the cricket commentary. He'd previously played William de Tornebu in The Lion & The Knight of Jaffa, the first two episodes of The Crusade, directed by Douglas Camfield. He'll return as a Radio Operator in the first episode of Terror of the Zygons, also directed by Camfield. The English Commentator Trevor is played by Roger Brierley, doing a passable Brian Johnston impersonation although the commentators are apparently meant to be Peter West and Richie Benaud. Brierly will later voice Drathro, the L1 robot, in the first four episodes of Trial of a Timelord.

There's several extras in this episode playing either Cricketers or Revellers, or sometimes both! Some of them have past or future Who form: Ken McGarvie was a Saxon in The Meddling Monk and a Saxon Warrior in Checkmate, the 2nd and 4th episodes of the Time Meddler, directed by Camfield. He'll be back as a Tavern Customer in the first episode of next story, The Massacre: War of God, a Man in Newsroom in the The War Machines Episode 4 and a Soldier in Tracking Room in The Tenth Planet Episodes 1 & 2. Geoffrey Witherick is in the final episode of the Massacre, Bell of Doom, as a Guard, The War Machines Episode 3 as a Man in Market, The Dæmons Episode Three as a Villager and episodes Four & Five as a Coven Member, presumably the same character, Frontier in Space Episodes Two & Three as a Guard and Image of the Fendahl Part Two as a Security guard.