04 Dalek Master Plan

[cuisle]

Production Code V



First Transmitted:
1-13/11/1965 17:50
2-20/11/1965 17:50
3-27/11/1965 17:50
4-04/12/1965 17:50
5-11/12/1965 17:50
6-18/12/1965 17:50
7-25/12/1965 18:35
8-01/01/1966 17:50
9-08/01/1966 17:50
10-15/01/1966 17:50
11-22/01/1966 17:50
12-29/01/1966 17:50



Cast
Philip Anthony : Roald
Roger Avon : Daxtar
Albert Barrington : Professor Webster
Roger Brierly : Trevor
Maurice Browning : Karlton
Peter Butterworth : The Meddling Monk
Brian Cant : Kert Gantry
Dallas Cavell : Bors
Geoffrey Cheshire : Garge
Nicholas Courtney : Bret Vyon
Sheila Dunn : Blossom Lefevre
Clifford Earl : Station Sergeant
Roy Evans : Trantis
David Graham : Dalek Voice
Leonard Grahame : Darcy Tranton
Pamela Greer : Lizan
Michael Guest : Interviewer
James Hall : Borkar
William Hartnell : The Doctor
Peter Hawkins : Dalek Voice
John Herrington : Rhymnal
Adrienne Hill : Katarina - until The Traitors
Jeffrey Isaac : Khepren
David James : Arab Sheikh
Robert Jewell : Dalek
Robert G Jewell : Clown
Steve Machrin : Cameraman
Kevin Manser : Dalek
Jean Marsh : Sara Kingdom/Sara
John Scott Martin : Dalek
Bill Meilen : Froyn
Norman Mitchell : First Policeman
Conrad Monk : Assistant Director
Bryan Mosley : Malpha
Bryan Mosley and Buddy Windrush are the same person
Reg Pritchard : Man in Macintosh
Peter Purves : Steven Taylor
Walter Randall : Hyksos
Malcolm Rogers : Second Policeman
Mark Ross : Ingmar Knopf
Douglas Sheldon : Kirksen
Julian Sherrier : Zephon
Kevin Stoney : Mavic Chen
Gerald Taylor : Dalek
Keneth Thornett : Detective-Inspector
Royston Tickner : Steinberger P Green
Paula Topham : Vamp
Derek Ware : Tuthmos
Bruce Wightman : Scott
Buddy Windrush : Prop Man
Bryan Mosley and Buddy Windrush are the same person
Terence Woodfield : Celation




Crew
David Anderson : Fight Arranger
Michael E Briant : Production Assistant
Douglas Camfield : Director
Tristram Cary : Incidental Music
Catherine Childs : Assistant Floor Manager
Raymond P Cusick : Designer
Daphne Dare : Costumes
Ron Grainer : Title Music
and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, arranged by Delia Derbyshire
Peter Hamilton : Film Cameraman
Brian Hodgson : Special Sounds
Sonia Markham : Make-Up
Terry Nation : Writer
Barry Newbery : Designer
Tony Pearce : Costumes
Mervyn Pinfield : Associate Producer
George Pollock : Special Photographic Transparencies
Keith Raven : Film Editor
Viktors Ritelis : Production Assistant
Dennis Spooner : Writer
from an idea by Terry Nation
Caroline Walmsley : Assistant Floor Manager
Derek Ware : Fight Arranger
David Whitaker : Story Editor
John Wiles : Producer



Plot Outline from Wikipedia

Some six months after the events of Mission to the Unknown, the TARDIS arrives on the planet Kembel, and the Doctor leaves the TARDIS to try and find medical aid for the wounded Steven, leaving him with the Trojan servant girl Katarina.

Meanwhile, two Space Agents, Bret Vyon and Kert Gantry are also on the planet trying to find out what happened to their agent, Marc Cory. Gantry, who is injured, tells Vyon to go on without him, as he will slow him down. Seconds after Vyon leaves, a Dalek finds Gantry and kills him. Vyon spots the Doctor leaving the TARDIS, and takes the key from him at gunpoint before knocking him out. Vyon demands that the occupants take him off the planet, but Katarina barely understands what's going on, much less how to work the ship. Steven briefly recovers and knocks Vyon out after seeing him threaten Katarina. The Doctor returns and places Vyon in a restraining chair, then goes back outside.

On Earth, Mavic Chen, Guardian of the Solar System, announces to the people that he will be going on a break. However, in reality he is joining the alliance that has been formed by the Daleks, and arrives on the planet soon afterwards.

Seeing Chen's spaceship arrive, the Doctor returns to the TARDIS, only to find it surrounded by Daleks. Katarina had released Vyon, who cured Steven with some field medicine, and the four meet up soon after just as the Daleks set fire to the jungle, in order to drive out any further intruders. While the alliance prepares for a meeting of its leaders, Chen and another leader, Zephon, watch the jungle burn. Chen goes to the meeting, but Zephon refuses to go with him, saying that he will go when he feels like it.
The Doctor and his companions infiltrate the city, and spot Zephon going to the meeting. They knock Zephon out, tie him up, dress the Doctor up in Zephon's large cloak and send him to the meeting while the other three break into Chen's spar.
Arriving at the meeting, the other leaders express irritation at the lateness of "Zephon". The meeting begins, and the Dalek Supreme reports that their ultimate weapon, the Time Destructor is now complete. Chen reveals that he has procured a sample of the extremely rare element taranium, necessary for the Time Destructor's operation. Meanwhile the real Zephon has managed to untie himself and sounds the alarm. In the resulting confusion, the Doctor steals the taranium and flees, managing to get to Chen's spar just in time for take-off. The Daleks blame Zephon for the situation, saying that his tardiness caused the Doctor and companions to find him, but Zephon defends his actions and accuses Chen of arranging to have it stolen back. Chen says that Zephon's accusation is nonsensical and the Daleks concur, concluding that Zephon is the one who's responsible. Zephon tells the Daleks that two of the other leaders will also leave if he does, only for the leaders in question to swear allegiance to the Daleks. Finally, Zephon announces that he is leaving the alliance. He does not get the chance - a Dalek kills him as he goes to leave.

On course for Earth, the Doctor reveals that he found a tape while he was in the jungle. The group plays it back, and it turns out to be from Cory, whose brief statements confirm what they already know. As they near the prison planet Desperus - where convicts are simply left, without having any guards or means of escape - the Daleks use a randomiser to disable the controls of the ship, and send it crashing down towards the planet below causing minor damage to the ship upon landing. Realising that the impact should have totally destroyed the ship, the four realise that the Daleks want them alive and quickly begin repairing it. Upon seeing the landing, a group of prisoners attempt to get on-board, but the Doctor electrifies the entrance and the prisoners are killed. A Dalek ship arrives, but misjudges its landing and suffers a crippling crash. The ship manages to take off again, and Katarina goes to check the airlock but finds a convict who managed to get onboard just before take-off, the other prisoners having discharged the electricity in the ship's entrance. The convict, Kirksen holds her at knifepoint and threatens to kill her unless they take him to the nearest planet - Kembel. The group eventually decides to comply, but their decision soon proves irrelevant as Katarina activates the airlock, blowing her and Kirksen into space. Stunned, Steven suggests that she must have done it accidentally, but the Doctor thinks that it was deliberate.

Upon seeing the events, the Daleks remotely destroy the pursuit ship for their failure to land properly, but seem satisfied that the delay caused by the crash will allow Chen enough time to get to Earth and have the trio arrested when they arrive.

Arriving on Earth, the three evade detection, and go to see Vyon's old friend, Daxtar. Daxtar initially seems co-operative but the Doctor realises he's allied with Chen when he mentions the Taranium before anyone else does. Vyon quickly kills him, much to the Doctor's annoyance, but there's little time to dwell on this as Chen's security agents, led by Sara Kingdom, arrive. Vyon allows the Doctor and Steven to get away by throwing himself at Kingdom, but she overpowers and kills him. She chases the Doctor and Steven to a laboratory, where they get caught up in a molecular dissemination experiment and are transported to the planet Mira.

Chen pretends that he planned this, and tells the Daleks where to find the Doctor and Steven. On Mira, Kingdom (who turns out to be Vyon's sister) is forced to join forces with the Doctor and Steven as they are attacked by savage invisible creatures. They manage to convince Sara of Chen and the Daleks' true intentions, just as a Dalek ship arrives. The Daleks fend off an attack from the invisible creatures, and demand that the three surrender. Fortunately for the Doctor and his companions more invisible creatures attack, allowing the three to escape and steal the Dalek ship. They try to return to Earth, but the Daleks first take control of the ship remotely, then use a magnetic beam to draw it to Kembel. Realising that they don't have much time, the Doctor decides to build a fake Taranium core, which he can give to the Daleks while keeping the real one. Steven then gets the idea to charge it up with gravitic energy, but in the process encloses himself in a forcefield and is left barely conscious.

Upon landing, the three negotiate with Chen (who has since returned to Kembel) to be allowed to conduct the handover at the TARDIS. The Daleks refuse, but Chen persuades them that they don't have anything to lose, thinking that the Doctor will be unable to stop them after the core has been handed over. The Doctor and Sara return to the TARDIS, while Steven hands over the core. The Daleks try to kill him, but the forcefield manages to protect him, though is exhausted in the process.

After leaving Kembel, the three return to Earth in the 1960s, land outside a Police Station and get themselves arrested, later managing to escape and then ending up on the set of a silent film, causing many problems for the film crew (such as the Doctor being mistaken for a cultural advisor and the lead actress nearly quitting because she thinks the director wants to replace her with Sara) before escaping. Upon their escape they toast Christmas, and the Doctor wishes a happy Christmas to the viewers.
Meanwhile, back on Kembel the fake core is fitted to the Time Destructor which is then tested on another representative, Trantis, who has proven useless to the Daleks. However, there is no effect and the fake core quickly exhausts itself, leaving Trantis totally unharmed. The Daleks accuse Chen of lying about the Taranium, when Chen realises that it was the Doctor that switched the cores. They send a request for a time machine, in order to pursue the Doctor. Trantis is then killed by a Dalek.

The TARDIS briefly lands back on Earth during a cricket match, then landing on a volcanic planet. They have been followed by the Meddling Monk who damages the TARDIS's door lock, then mockingly informs the Doctor and companions that they are stranded on the planet for the rest of their lives. Not to be deterred, the Doctor performs makeshift repairs to the lock, and gets back inside the TARDIS. The Monk is surprised by this, but follows the Doctor to his next destination - Ancient Egypt. The Daleks and Mavic Chen also arrive in this time zone, and begin looking for the Taranium.

Realising that the Monk and someone else has arrived, Steven and Sara go to find out who it is while the Doctor repairs the lock, but are arrested as looters by the guards of the nearby pyramid and accused of being in league with the Daleks, who have killed a number of other guards. While the two make their escape the Monk tries to find the Doctor, but is instead found by Chen who offers him an ultimatum - help them find the Taranium or the Daleks will kill him. Unsurprisingly, the Monk accepts.

While he cannot find the Doctor, he finds Steven and Sara inside a pyramid and is captured by them. They don't get far before being caught by the Daleks and Chen, who demands the taranium. In desperation, the Monk suggests using Steven and Sara as hostages. Chen accepts this, and tells the Daleks that the Doctor will not allow the two to be killed.

As the Doctor breaks into the Monk's TARDIS and steals something, Chen announces over a loudspeaker that unless he hands over the Taranium, Sara and Steven will be killed. The Doctor is dismayed, but has little choice but to comply. When he hands over the core, the Daleks try to kill them and the Monk but they all escape, helped by an attack by the Egyptian guards. While the guards disable some of the Daleks, most of them escape and return to their time machine with Chen.
Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor admits that he did not have time to build another fake, and had to hand over the real taranium. But he's stolen the Monk's directional controller - evidenced when the Monk lands on an ice planet and realises that without having any control over the direction of his TARDIS he now has little chance of ever catching the Doctor.

The directional control burns itself out almost instantly (due to the Monk's TARDIS being a later model than the Doctor's), but it's enough to get them back to Kembel. The three leave the TARDIS, but Sara and Steven lose the Doctor in the jungle and proceed to the city alone. Upon arrival they find the Dalek city deserted, and the alliance leaders imprisoned. They agree to turn on the Daleks, and in exchange are released from the prison cell. They take off in their ships - apart from Chen, who is apparently killed when his spar explodes just after take-off.

Searching the jungle, they find the entrance to a second, underground city which the Daleks are now currently using. As they prepare to enter, Chen returns, having faked his death and takes the two prisoner. He leads them into the underground city and into the control room in grandiose fashion. Thinking that he was still imprisoned in the first city, the Dalek leader announces that their alliance is over. Chen refuses to accept this, and believes that he is actually the leader of the alliance. He tries to kill the Dalek leader, but his blast simply diffuses off the Dalek's shield. The Dalek orders Chen taken outside and killed, causing Chen to flee boasting that he is immortal. He's quickly proven wrong when a Dalek patrol corners him and guns him down.

Taking advantage of the distraction, the Doctor enters the control room and activates the Time Destructor. The Daleks return, but are powerless to do anything due to the danger of the Doctor increasing the Destructor's power. He orders Sara and Steven back to the TARDIS, but Sara refuses to go. The two flee with the Time Destructor through the jungle, which rapidly begins to deteriorate and die. The Daleks pursue them, but seem immune to the effects. The Doctor and Sara reach the TARDIS but have been aged massively by the Destructor. The two collapse, and Sara disintegrates. Steven rushes outside and tries to deactivate the Destructor, but cannot do anything. As he begins to rapidly age, he tries to help the Doctor, but is ordered to get back into the TARDIS. Fortunately, when trying to deactivate the destructor he managed to reverse it, thus causing the two to revert to approximately their previous ages. The pursuing Daleks try to destroy the Destructor with their weapons but instead cause it to run uncontrollably fast, destroying the Daleks and reducing the planet to a lifeless, barely habitable wasteland.

The Doctor and Steven emerge from the TARDIS some time later, the Destructor having burnt itself out. "What a terrible waste..." mutters the Doctor, referring to the death and destruction that has taken place.





Analysis by Cuisle

This episode, which is one of the missing ones, was in twelve parts. Hence the complicated plot. One of the key criticisms of it was that it was TOO long, and it might have been told in half as many episodes with less exposition and less chasing around with mere scenery. But for its time it was considered a success. It had high ratings for each episode with very little sign of the public flagging as the story went on. The fact that people at this time still went to the cinema regularly to see serials like Flash Gordon in as many episodes may have made them more inclined than a modern audience to stick with the story. Given that the least popular of the stories in the 2005 series were the two parters, I suspect it just would not work now. Some might put it down to the MTV generation having a short attention span. The 2005 producers in their Confidential behind the scenes show put it down to there being too many other things for people to do now, with computer games, the internet, etc. People committing to watching 12 episodes just isn't to be expected.

It was very ambitious in its sets, from the familiar TARDIS se, the jungles of Kembel, the Dalek headquarters, spacecraft interiors, the prison planet Desperus, Earth Control, the steaming tropics of Mira, a police station in Liverpool, a pyramid in Egypt and so on. This is an incredible contrast in itself to stories based in two or three sets or even Edge of Destruction which was set entirely in The Tardis. This and the 12 episode length very much show the commitment and confidence the BBC now had in the show.

One criticism at the time by members of the public rather than professional critics was that although the Daleks were in the title they took a long time coming and were not seen often enough. The story centred far more around the Human characters. Again, fans of The Doctor felt he and his companions were not in it enough. The 12 episodes allowed for guest characters to be fleshed out so much more. This allows for the story to be far less one dimensional than earlier stories were.

A disturbing aspect of this story is the death of Katarina, who everyone expected to be a new long term companion. She had only joined the crew in the Mythmakers with the departure of Vicki. She and Adric, much later, as still the only TARDIS companions to die on the series.

It is unusual in that two writers, Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner worked on the show together, taking alternative episodes, with David Whitaker as overall story editor. This could have been a disaster.

Incidentally, it was in one episode of this story, transmitted on Christmas Day, that the show broke the 4th wall and The Doctor wished everyone a happy Christmas. There was never a Christmas Day episode again until 2005 with The Christmas Invasion.





http://www.rdwf.org.uk/doctors/D1/s3/04daleksmasterplan.htm

[caringcara]

i am in two minds about this. was it a fantastic idea,a real epic, or a drag and a waste of time?

[ImpoverishedDalek]

I think I would have hit the jackpot if i heard that these missing episodes were found. This is an epic. i would love to see it intact.