The Aztecs Special Edition DVD arrived in the post today. Why am I excited about a story that I have already watched several times over?
Because of the enhanced audio and video as well as the astounding extras including a documentary on Doctor Who toys and collectibles called Beyond the Celestial Toyroom and this superb gem… a restored version of Galaxy 4.
One of the many incomplete stories, a casualty of the BBC Archive junking back in the 1970′s, Galaxy 4 is missing almost all of its four parts. Using small clips of the remaining material, computer generated imagery and the recently discovered third part entitled Airlock, fans can now watch a story from 1965, an era when the program was at its most inventive and strange (featuring the comedic Myth Makers, the epic 12 part The Daleks’ Master Plan, the historical The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve, and the musical western Gunfighters). I enjoy nearly all of Doctor Who, but I have a soft spot for this era, especially as the Big Finish audio range has fleshed out the period with new stories.
I have read the Target novelization and listened to the audio CD, but actually watching this story is a delight. The script by William Emms is very basic compared to many other stories. The Doctor and his companions arrive on an alien world on the brink of destruction. Two warring factions are pitted against each other, the Drahvins and the Rills. The Amazonian Drahvins are a constructed warrior race led by the coldly cruel Maaga. They continually describe the Rills are monstrous and deadly, which the Doctor finds rightly suspicious. The Drahvins squad are childlike with barely any thoughts or personality of their own.
When a Rill is finally revealed, it is a horrifying sight that must have gotten viewers scrambling for the back of the couch. Yet, typical to form, the Rills are the benign aliens while the beautiful if cruel Drahvins are the true monsters. The Doctor has very little time to assist the Rills before the planet explodes while the Drahvins attempt to destroy the weird aliens once and for all.
The big take away from Galaxy 4 are the cute and bizarre robotic servants of the Rills nicknamed ‘Chumblies’ by the Doctor’s young companion Vicki. Bernard Lodge’s sound effects are so evocative that the Chumblies are not just another silly Dalek replacement attempt, but have a truly weird dreamlike quality. The story is reminiscent of the Web Planet, another adventure that divides fans due to its sheer oddness and child-like fantasy qualities.
Galaxy 4 was a ratings winner back in the day, attracting between 9 and 11 million viewers each episode. A story that is mostly overlooked by even the most devoted of Whovians, it is once more back in the hands of the fan community to be judged once more. We may never get the opportunity to view Galaxy 4 in its entirety, but the people at 2 Entertain have painstakingly created a unique opportunity to step back in time to 1965 and watch a rare relic of the past.
The most iconic episode of Doctor Who (after the introduction of the Daleks) is the changeover from William Hartnell to Patrick Troughton in ‘The Tenth Planet.’ The four part adventure set in a secluded polar base under siege from strange cybernetic aliens is a classic in its own right, but the final part includes a moment that would go down in TV lore when lead actor Hartnell fell to the floor of the TARDIS and was fazed out of existence via a video effect, leaving an entirely new face on the screen.
Sadly, all but a few short clips still exist in the BBC vault from this story, but shortly fans will have the opportunity to review this adventure in its entirety thanks to a new process of animating the missing episode. This will mark the second incomplete story to be released on DVD with animated segments filling in the gaps (Invasion and Reign of Terror being the other two). If this avenue is explore more fully, there are many more incomplete stories that could once more see the light of day and gain exposure to a new audience!
I only just learned that surviving clips and part three of Galaxy Four will be included in The Aztecs Special Edition (only the existing parts, no animated sequences), so it is an exciting time for fans of classic Doctor Who!
Currently, there are 106 missing episodes from 1963-69, mainly impacting the run of Patrick Troughton who played the Doctor from 1966-69.
The following stories from the First Doctor era starring William Hartnell are still incomplete: Marco Polo, The Reign of Terror, The Crusade, Galaxy 4, “Mission to the Unknown”, The Myth Makers, The Daleks’ Master Plan, The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve, The Celestial Toymaker, The Savages, and The Smugglers
(click to visit artist hansbrown-77′s deviantart page)
From the Second Doctor era starring Patrick Troughton, these gems are lacking material: The Power of the Daleks, The Highlanders, The Underwater Menace, The Moonbase, The Macra Terror, The Faceless Ones, The Evil of the Daleks, The Abominable Snowmen, The Enemy of the World, The Web of Fear, Fury from the Deep, The Wheel in Space, Invasion and The Space Pirates.
Even more exciting news is that The Ice Warriors may be next in line!
Australian fans attending Whovention: Gold this weekend were fortunate enough to see a world premiere preview of the animated fourth episode of the forthcoming The Tenth Planet DVD.
To rounds of very enthusiastic applause, a warm and appreciative crowd saw clips from the animated episode, during panels hosted by Dan Hall (Pup Ltd and commissioning editor of the Doctor Who DVD range) and Austen Atkinson of Australian based animation company Planet 55 Studios. During the panels a number of animated clips were shown, including the famous William Hartnell regeneration scene (see images below) and other behind the scenes material. Video from the animated episode will be available next week on doctorwho.tv. Fans reacted very positively to the material, as well as to queries from Dan Hall as to whether more missing episodes should be subject to similar animation in the future. Mr Hall noted however that while the existing business model for BBC Worldwide DVD releases did not currently allow more than two episodes a release to be animated that future options for allowing the release of more animated material may become more feasible at some later stage.
Also featured on the panels were Planet 55 Studios animators Colin Bennett, Josh Campbell & Chris Chapman who discussed the painstaking hours of work required to recreate the missing episode of The Tenth Planet as well as the two animated episodes from the newly restored Reign of Terror DVD. Austen Atkinson confirmed that work on the animated Tenth Planet episode was likely to be completed in the next month with the DVD release due in the second half of 2013. Dan Hall also confirmed that an announcement on whether the missing episodes of the forthcoming The Ice Warriors DVD would be similarly animated will be announced in the near future, also on doctorwho.tv.
In its third year, Doctor Who was running into a few problems. Several change overs in the cast and production crew along with the ailing health of the lead actor William Hartnell threatened to accomplish what several monsters and mad scientists failed to do, destroy Doctor Who forever.
However, an inspired decision was hatched that prolonged the program’s life by replacing William Hartnell with another actor playing the part of the Doctor. Previously, there was some thought of replacing Hartnell earlier in another adventure, The Savages, but that came to pass. Instead, a story was written in which the Doctor defended a polar military base from alien attack at the cost of his own life. At the conclusion of the fourth part, William Hartnell underwent a bizarre transformation and arose as a new man. Actor Patrick Troughton was cast as the second Doctor (a move that even Hartnell himself supported).
Due to the loss of many classic episodes of Doctor Who, all but a few clips of the Tenth Planet’s final part exist, robbing fans of the most important moment in the program’s history. All of that will change when later this year this adventure will be released in is near-entirety with an animated finale.
The Tenth Planet is to have its lost fourth episode animated for a new DVD release, BBC Worldwide has announced.
Commissioning editor of the classic DVD range Dan Hall spoke about the news at the Gallifrey One convention this weekend.
He said: “It’s a real thrill to be bringing such an iconic Doctor Who episode back to life. Without the events established in The Tenth Planet episode 4, there would be no Doctor Who as we know it!”
The missing episode features the departure of First Doctor, William Hartnell. It has been missing from the BBC Archives since the mid-1970s, and will be reconstructed using the same Thetamation process used to recreate The Reign of Terror episodes 4 and 5.
The DVD will also feature a special making-of featurette called ‘Frozen Out’ that tells the full story of the arrival of the Cybermen and the first regeneration.
The exact release date is still to be confirmed, but is expected late 2013.
Story 009
Written by Louis Marx, directed by Mervyn Pinfield and Douglas Camfield
Transmitted: 31 October – 14 November, 1964
A man is murdered to cover the secrets of a pesticide and its deadly side effects. The TARDIS malfunctions and becomes miniaturized in the middle of the situation. If the dangers of a country garden and common kitchen fail to kill the travelers, the deadly DN6 could spell certain doom for not just them but all of humanity. The Doctor and his friends must use all of their cunning to expose the conspiracy surrounding the pesticide and survive the experience of being shrunken in size.
An unusual tale at the time, Planet of the Giants is a clever story told on two levels; one in which two men endeavor to cover up a murder and forge certification for a deadly pesticide and the other in which our heroes survive a bizarre experience. The two threads meet in the conclusion as the Doctor and friends become instrumental in the exposure of the plot, and also manage to restore themselves to their proper size. Its part Incredible Shrinking Man, part suspenseful eco-thriller.
The story deals with the nefarious dealings of industrialist Farrow and his attempts to force his pesticide DN6 through to the market. When a government representative makes it plain that he intends to squash his plans, Farrow murders him and entraps his business partner Smithers in the act. The murder is witnessed, in a fashion, by the reduced TARDIS crew, who perceive the attack as a cannon explosion. They also encounter a number of indications of the full power of DN6 as they travel through the garden and find it all but lifeless.
The Planet of the Giants has much in common with The Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, a cautionary tale spotlighting the dangers of DDT. It also has a genesis tracking back to the seminal days of Doctor Who. When Doctor Who was in its earliest stages, the first adventure was to revolve around the time/space travelers being shrunken, after a brief encounter in Totter’s Lane. The craft was to have malfunctioned and placed the crew at the mercy of everyday pests as the struggled to cross through a conventional home. When this was judged as far too costly, the idea was shelved, but it would return a year later.
The story goes that script editor David Whitaker was taken with the idea of shrinking the Doctor and tried to reintroduce the concept several times. The end result from Louis Marks was not just a science fantasy, but also functioned on a much more sophisticated level, displaying the dangers of DN6 visually as the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan fought off insurmountable odds only to be almost done in by a man made threat. The very real danger that was posed by industrialists looking to make a fortune at the expense of the health of the planet and its people is well represented here.
In 1964, the program was on the edge of cancellation or some other drastic action as Carole Ann Ford had decided to leave and the three remaining cast members were making demands. The Beeb was considering the possibility that they were all replaceable, but lucky for us all producer Verity Lambert succeeded in charting the course to a successful second series. What was intended as a four parter was reduced at the last minute to three parts with episodes three and four heavily edited down to one. However, that situation has since been rectified.
Released on DVD this year, The Planet of the Giants received the five-star treatment. Surviving cast members Carole Ann Ford and William Russell were joined by Katherine Mount as Jacqueline Hill and John Guilor who practically raises William Hartnell’s voice from the grave! The missing third episode is recreated using stills, footage from the program and computer generated imagery. It’s very strange, but an audacious attempt to do something new. Directed by Doctor Who enthusiast Ian Levine, it is a very special feature that adds a certain amount of luster to the program.
The Planet of the Giants is often overlooked by fans (including yours truly) which is frankly a crime as it is a smart adventure story with an important message. It’s rare that Doctor Who can be so relevant and entertaining at the same time while also innovative in television techniques and storytelling.
A rare gem, The Planet of the Giants is well worth a second look.
Story 010
By Terry Nation (and David Whitaker)
Transmitted from 21 November to 26 December, 1964
“I have been to many planets in several solar systems. Always as an impartial observer. I shall put myself against you and defeat you.”
The Doctor has finally managed to return his two companions Ian and Barbara to their home. The TARDIS has landed just next to the Thames on what appears to be a lazy Sunday afternoon. There’s no sound of traffic, no sign of people at all. When the travelers realize they are not in peaceful London of the 1960′s, it is far too late. The Daleks, the dreaded menaces of the far off planet Skaro, have come to Earth and conquered it completely… or so it may seem. Defiantly, the Doctor instructs the Daleks not to underestimate the humans. While one free human lives, the Daleks have not succeeded in their invasion. Against impossible odds, the human race makes a final stand against the alien invaders with the entire universe hanging in the balance.
Terry Nation’s epic introduction of the Daleks in 1963′s ‘The Dead Planet’ is a brilliant piece of television that still stands up today. It launched a thousand spin-offs, sequels, and plenty of merchandise. But while their first appearance is iconic in the history of Doctor Who, the first sequel raised the bar for the Daleks and set the high standard for every subsequent appearance. The Dalek Invasion of Earth was bigger, bolder and more lavish than the first Dalek story and brought the monsters to Earth for the first time.
After displaying how strange and terrifying the creatures were on Skaro, it was terrifying to see them roaming around Trafalgar Square. This is a tactic that the current BBC Wales program has attempted to do straight away and frankly it missed the mark each time. Rather than establish and tell the story of a monster’s threat, they simply appear in a contemporary setting and fall flat. But that is not the case here. In the Dalek Invasion of Earth, the monsters are seen to be just as powerful and deadly as they were before, if not moreso. Not only have they overcome their restriction of movement but they have increased in numbers and also have a massive flying craft.
Around the same time that The Dalek Invasion of Earth was on the screen, the comic strip was impressing young readers with out of this world adventure, unhindered by budget-related constraints or the inevitable failure ever week against the forces of good. Until The Daleks’ Master Plan aired in 1965, this was the most impressive and innovative adventure that the program had attempted with the Daleks. It cemented their reputation with the viewing public with images that would burn into the retinas of every viewer as it pushed the phenomenon known as Dalekmania into the fore. Ranking among the most watched programs on TV at the time, the Dalek Invasion of Earth raked in over 12 million viewers during its run, a figure rarely topped in its long history.
But never mind the importance of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, is it a good Doctor Who story?
In a word, yes, it’s a classic.
The Dalek Invasion of Earth was an invasion story told over six episodes, which usually means that there are slow points and that the story appears strained. Not so here. Nation takes his time in setting up the situation, layering exposition with tension as the Doctor and Ian investigate an abandoned warehouse only to find a corpse smuggled into a cardboard box, an alien mind-control helmet strapped yo his head. When they attempt to return to Susan and Barbara by the TARDIS, they are ambushed by a squad of similar men, blank-faced robotic slaves holding whips and truncheons. The revelation of the Dalek presence, a Dalek rising from the Thames to block the Doctor and Ian’s escape, is one of the most amazing images in Doctor Who and explains the why of the situation while wetting the audience’s appetite for more.
The Dalek Invasion of Earth is a vast adventure that separates the TARDIS crew into their own stories, Susan and Barbara get involved with Dortmun and the resistance, Ian and the Doctor get captured by the Daleks and are nearly transformed into robotic slaves.
The action rarely stops (again, unusual for a 1960′s Doctor Who story) with several outside location scenes cleverly filmed to appear as chase sequences as Susan, Dortmun and Jenny evade capture. While Dortmun is stubbornly confident that his specialized bombs can destroy their foes, others have appear to have lost their will to fight. Supporting characters can be seen cowering in shock while others such as Jenny are just emotionally dead inside. It’s not that odd that Jenny (initially an young girl of Indian descent named Saida) was intended as the new companion as she bears much of the story and serves as an ersatz fourth companion in places. Even the heroic fighter Tyler (played by Bernard Kay who would become a regular guest actor on Doctor Who) is brave yet only in it for himself.
After a successful raid on the saucer releasing the Doctor and Ian from the Daleks, the resistance is ferreted out. The wheelchair-bound Dortmun’s carefully laid plans come to nothing and the entirety of London is nearly destroyed in a fiery blaze when the Daleks activate a fire bomb. The reasons behind the Dalek invasion lie in the mines of Bedfordshire where slave labor toils underground. It’s a horrifying and chilling sight for the audience who narrowly escaped destruction during WWII not long before this story was screened. It seems that the Daleks are commonly tied to WWII-era iconography and it crops up here as the Daleks seem to perform the Nazi salute around the conquered city.
William Hartnell’s Doctor is usually described as an anti-hero and a crotchety old man uninterested in the plight of others. That may be true for his first appearance and for parts of his second story, but here we see a man who challenges the forces of darkness and tyranny, his hands grasping his lapels in a declaration of importance. The Doctor in this story triumphs against the Daleks, but faces a rather crippling blow as he chooses to let his granddaughter Susan go. He knows that she will not be a little girl any longer and while it is painful for her to be deposited in a post-apocalyptic world… she needs to be her own person.
Behind the scenes, Carole Ann Ford had been attempted get released from her contract as she felt the character of Susan had become a dead end for her as an actress. The other three regulars were chafing as well as their contracts were due for renewal, making this a very tenuous time for Doctor Who.
This story also displayed a grander scale of studio recordings as seen in the Dalek saucer interiors, the rebel base, subterranean tunnels and other locations, all thanks to the much larger facilities at Riverside. Four refurbished models were brought on screen along with two new models built by Shawcraft, making this one of the largest assemblage of Daleks on TV. It also introduced the first of many variations on Dalek livery with the ‘Black Dalek’ who commanded the others. A partially painted Black Dalek can be seen briefly in an earlier episode, donning a zebra stripe of black and white and being mistaken as the Saucer Commander.
The Dalek Invasion of Earth was not without its flaws, which often happened when the program attempted to stretch beyond its standard limitations. One particular example is the worrisome ’Slyther,’ what was intended as a blood-churning and fearsome monstrosity but resulted in a rather strange cousin to Sigmund the Sea Monster, quivering with delirium tremens. So embarrassing was the Slyther that Verity Lambert insisted that Shawcraft give it another go for the following week… without much better results.
Personally even knowing that the Slyther was a man in a massive rubber suit with deely bobbers stuck to his head didn’t make its awkward launch after Ian onto the mine car any less scary and shocking. It was a very weird effect in any case.
Script writer David Whitaker, one of the few members of the production staff to have been involved with Doctor Who nearly since its beginning, departed at the conclusion of The Dalek Invasion of Earth. It can be argued that Whitaker, who would later contribute two of the finest Dalek scripts for the series to date (Power of the Daleks and Evil of the Daleks) was instrumental in the success of the first two Dalek adventures.
The Dalek Invasion of Earth is one of my personal favorite Doctor Who stories as it functions on several levels narratively, tells a gripping adventure and features some of the best production values (aside from the hub cap flying saucer) seen at that time. A sterling entry into the annals of Doctor Who.
One of the most chilling opening sequences in Doctor Who history
The Doctor faces the Daleks and dares them
The Daleks have conquered London
A Roboman
Barbara, Jenny and Dortmun race through a deserted London
The Black Dalek administers orders
Dortmun explains his plan to Tyler
William Hartnell and Bernard Kay
The fearsome Slyther, enjoying a tea break
A new life ahead of her, Susan listens to the TARDIS depart
Fan trailer
Recommended:
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Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth [Audiobook, CD
The result of deep research and development in order to craft a polished children’s program that educated as well as entertained without pandering to the audience (imagine!) or relying on stock concepts (the nerve!), it has nevertheless gone through several changes. Despite series creator Sydney Newman’s insistence that there be no BEM’s (Bug Eyed Monsters), the program was only a true success after the screening of Terry Nation’s The Daleks. The program often varied from historical drama to science fantasy and even comedy, but the monsters kept viewers coming back, specifically the Daleks. This prompted the quest to recapture this success again (and the BBC would own the rights this time).
The first attempt at recreating the Daleks was the Mechonoids (often mis-spelled as Mechanoids), a line of robotic servants who lived in a futuristic city on the planet Mechanus. Space pilot Steven Taylor crash-landed on the planet and luckily found his way to the ‘White City’ where the man-eating fungus and plants could not thrive. There he became the prisoner of the Mechonoids. He was looked after, but not allowed to leave. Soon, he started to go a bit nutty (witness his excitement over his pet ‘mascot’ panda bear doll). With no inhabitants to look after, the Mechonoids became somewhat mad too and became aggressive. This was actually quite lucky as the Daleks invaded the White City looking for the Doctor and his companions and a battle for robotic supremacy erupted.
The Dalek/Mechonoid sequence is the high point of an otherwise light and silly adventure and was obviously very expensive. Armed with pincers and flame-throwers, the Mechonoids made short work of the Daleks, but the Frankenstein Monster and Dracula also had no trouble in that regard earlier on, so maybe these were reject Daleks…
The three Mechonoids were costly to build and only really functioned on the much more spacious Pinewood Studios. Toys were created, but with only a brief moment on screen, they became curiosities rather than rivals for the Daleks. (vintage image from Skaro.org)
After only appearing in a single TV adventure, 1964′s The Chase, the Mechonoids (or Mechanoids) disappeared into obscurity, only resurfacing in audio format in the Big Finish drama ‘The Juggernauts’ and in the comic strips.
Just released in a stunning box set by Character Options along with two Daleks, the Mechonoid has finally been recreated in all of its awkward glory (complete with a flame-thrower arm!).
The set is available from Forbidden Planet in the UK and from Mike’s Comics in the United States.
But with the excitement over the revival of a classic monster, I challenge the BBC Wales team to recreate the Mechonoids for the 21st Century. I dare them, even!
As a side-note, I strongly advise readers to buy Dalek toys as I find them quite calming and comforting. They even sooth the most cantankerous of us!
I leave you with this amazing trailer for a third Doctor who feature film with Peter Cushing as the Doctor (and Christopher Lee as Dracula!).
Story 028
Written by Brian Hayles
Transmitted 10 September – 1 October 1966 “This is Deadman’s secret key, Ringwood, Smallbeer, Gurney.”
The Doctor has just bid farewell to his companion Dodo, a traveler who arrived and left with almost equal parts lack of impact. After defeating the War Machines and shutting down the monstrous computer with designs on world domination, WOTAN, the Doctor was eager for some solitude. Unfortunately, both Ben and Polly, a pair of youngster who had proven instrumental in his previous travails, have stumbled into the TARDIS and become unsuspecting crew-mates in the ship of time and space.
Despite his most heartfelt attempts, the Doctor cannot convince Ben or Polly that they have entered the time/space vortex and will soon land in an unpredictable place and time. Ben insists, in his cockney way, that the Doc is having a laff and walks outside to see that they have moved from the city of London to the seaside. Nevertheless, Ben is determined to find a bus or cab and get back to his ship before he is declared AWOL. Polly is less sure of her surroundings, but finds Ben’s explanation the more reasonable.
The Doctor clicks his tongue in annoyance and tries his best to be patient with these youngsters. They have in fact landed on the coast of Cornwall sometime in the 17th Century. They are about to get wrapped up in some devious developments that will threaten their lives and place them at the mercies of some of the most unscrupulous villains of the high seas.
Sailor Ben Jackson and office clerk Polly join the Doctor on his travels
New companions Ben and Polly are actually quite good in this one and handle equal parts of the ‘heavy lifting’ of the story, possibly in part to Hartnell’s poor health or in an effort to more firmly establish them as cast members in anticipation of the lead actor’s leave in the following story. In any case, they are grand. Ben is the perfect ‘lad’ of the 1960′s, brash and brave if a bit hard-headed. Polly, on the other hand, is achingly attractive and feisty if a bit of a screamer. Actress Aneke Wills had decided to play Polly against type and be more of as scaredy cat than a brave heroine. It’s an odd decision but does result in some humorous situations, especially with Ben teasing her.
It’s a shame that so little material has survived of Ben and Polly as companions on Doctor Who as it makes any opinion on their effectiveness almost entirely random. I do enjoy actor Michael Craze’s energy and his devilish attitude that often leads him headfirst into trouble and Wills is the ideal lady in distress, playing up her vulnerability to perfection.
In a turn of tradition, the entire program was actually filmed in Cornwall, far from the studio. This gave the program a different air and (working from amateur behind the scenes footage) also provided the cast a much-needed sense of a holiday. The few surviving sequences of the seaside establish a mood and setting that would have been lost had the crew filmed anywhere else.
The Doctor meets 'Holy' Joseph Longfoot and receives a cryptic clue
Finding themselves at a lighthouse, the TARDIS crew meet the very suspicious Joseph Longfoot who begrudgingly accepts them into his limited accommodations. When the Doctor helps Longfoot with an old wound, the grizzeled old man sees in the time traveler a worthy kind soul and leaves him with advise on lodgings on the mainland and a strange piece of verse that puzzles the Doctor immensely.
After the strangers depart, Longfoot is visited by Cherub, a blood-thirsty menace who interrogates and threatens Longfoot to explain who the strangers were and what he told them. Cherub is determined to find the location of Captain Avery’s treasure, some ill-gotten gold that is hidden somewhere on the mainland. As Longfoot is the only surviving member of Avery’s crew, Cherub deduces that he must know. Longfoot refuses and is soon the victim of Cherub’s blade. I must say that Cherub, played George A. Cooper, is an exquisite villain.
His dialog is superb but more importantly drips from the actor’s lips with such venom that it is caustic; ‘Just say the word, Cap’n and I’ll gut him. It’ll be like stripping the fat from a whale!’ After killing Logfoot, Cherub notices that the strangers have entered a nearby tavern and follows keenly.
Arriving in town, the Doctor and his two young companions (because Polly is dressed in slacks and a shirt she is mistaken as a boy… yep… a boy) are treated with similar contempt and suspicion but they are in a tight spot. With the tide in, the TARDIS is out of reach as it had landed on the beach. Thus, they must do their best to lay low, try not to draw attention, and stay safe. The townsfolk seem unusually unsavory and dangerous, but they must do their best. When Longfoot is discovered dead, the three strangers are the most likely suspects.
Cherub and some of his fellow shipmates arrive and rough up the Doctor and Ben, leaving Ben badly wounded and taking the Doctor to meet their Captain, the dreaded Pike. Left to her own, Polly is interrogated by the local magistrate, an officious Squire (played by Paul Whitsun-Jones who would later return in the Pertwee adventure The Mutants) and all looks grim. Ben and Polly are locked up and the Doctor comes to at the presence of Captain Pike, who earned his name on account of a long blade where his hand used to be.
Cherub threatens the Doctor with a rather cruel-looking blade
The Smugglers is loosely based on the works of Russell Thorndyke Doctor Syn: A Tale of the Romney Marsh (developed for the small screen by Disney back in the day starring a very young Patrick McGoohan, criminally out of print on DVD). As such it is a wonderful tale of piracy, double dealings, cryptic codes and distrustful civil servants.
Hartnell may have been in the end of his career, but we should all have such talent as he. The actor positively glows in this adventure, charming Pike as a ‘gentlemen’ with flowery language and curtsies so much so that he stalls the pirate almost indefinitely from killing him! It’s the usual case where the Doctor knows nothing but the villain simply assumes that the Doctor knows some important piece of information, so our hero simply bluffs his way as far as he can, knowing that this misunderstanding is the only life-line he has!
Jamaica has no idea of the grisly fate awaiting him at the end of Captain Pike's clawed hand
Cherub may be little more than a rabid dob on two legs, but Pike is a cultivated and cultured man of violence, cutting down even members of his own crew to get at Avery’s lost treasure. Pike is a bloody piece of work, at once intelligent and reasonable yet blinded by his quest for Avery’s treasure. He also comes into contact with the Squire who, as it turns out, is running a very lucrative, very illegal smuggling operation. Both see an opportunity in their meeting and conspire a partnership.
The Doctor successfully keeps himself just out of danger while his companions play on the superstitions of the time to escape their cell, convincing their young jailer that they are in fact witches. It’s a clever and well constructed scene (if a bit cruel on their part). They encounter Josiah Blake a revenue man who is tracking the smuggling ring. Yes, their best bet is to team up with internal revenue… dark times.
Fittingly in a graveyard, the entire affair comes to a violent end
The clues that Longfoot initially gave the Doctor soon becomes useful when all parties find themselves in a graveyard full of hastily laid headstones left in memory of Avery’s crew. Thinking that part of everything is not enough, Cherub turns on Pike and it’s a shoot-out between them and the Squire. There’s so much violence in this story that many sequences were cut by the New Zealand censors. Lucky thing, too, as the cuts were retained and consist of most of the surviving material of the Smugglers.
A rollicking seafaring adventure, this would mark the second to last true historical adventure of Doctor Who (with the Highlanders closing the book on this genre in the program). As one of the many ‘lost’ stories, a fan is left with few options to enjoy this story. An excellent novelization by Terrance Dicks is available as is an audio CD. Strangely, the BBC Wales story ‘The Curse of the Black Spot’ is presented as something of a prequel to the Smugglers as it involves Captain Avery… but that really doesn’t wash with me as it’s mainly bollocks.
Fan-made Trailer
As this is old Billy’s birthday, I wanted to add an image that asserts there was more to the old man than his often criticized ‘crotchety’ persona. Below is a rare behind the scenes snapshot from the Daleks’ Master Plan.
By William Emms
Story 18
Transmitted: 11 September – 2 October 1965
The third series of Doctor Who is a strange time for the program as it branched away from the somewhat traditional science fantasy into absurd space drama. This period was rife with changes in front of and behind the camera as Vicki was unceremoniously written out and Adrienne Hill (Katarina), Jean Marsh (Sara Kingdom) and Jackie Lane (Dodo Chaplet) arrived as the replacement companions. Peter Purves (Steven Taylor) shared the anxiety and frustration exhibited by William Hartnell at the frantic nature of these changes in addition to the revolving door that seemed to from the producer’s officer after the departure of Verity Lambert. Both John Wiles and Innes Lloyd served as producers and the script editing duties were split between Donald Tosh and Gerry Davis (co-creator of the Cybermen).
Hartnell was growing increasingly frustrated by the quality of the scripts and the level of violence. The fact that he viewed himself as intrinsic to the program’s future no doubt gave fuel to his fury and aided his reputation as being short-tempered and crotchety at times. Nevertheless, he was the longest lasting regular on the program and felt that his opinion carried some weight.
Bearing all that in mind, a story like Galaxy 4 makes perfect sense. It’s a science fiction opera with a morality tale, rocket ships, robots, bug-eyed creatures and beautiful lady warriors set on a planet about to explode, yet it seems to be missing some element. This could be on account of the changes around the production team, but in the end Galaxy 4 feels like it could have benefited from other characters, plot complications… anything.
Even so, Galaxy 4 is a charming story with an astounding musical score by Les Structures Sonorés (the same glass-tube music that graced The Web Planet), some inspired design and a talented guest cast. It’s even hauntingly close to having at least one, if not two, classic-worthy monsters.
Steven, Vicki and the Doctor encounter a robot nicknamed 'Chumblie'
After giving Steven a much-needed hair-cut (?), the TARDIS crew emerge on a blasted heath of a planetary terrain. The Doctor is unsure if it’s a planet that he had previously visited, but no dice. The first encounter with any intelligent life comes in the shape of roving robotic creations making an incessant humming mechanical noise. The weirdest part of Galaxy 4 is these robotic creatures nicknamed ‘Chumblies’ by Vicki. I know that the BBC were anxious to replicate the success of the Daleks with something similar, but… really? These creatures are just bizarre, roll about like inflated beehives then expand to make bleeping noises. The sound effects are haunting and very intriguing, but… they don’t really do much in the end.
Before the Doctor can investigate one of the Chumblies, it is attacked a band of Amazonian-like soldiers who use a sophisticated array of weaponry designed specifically to destroy it. Of course the attack proves useless and the indomitable Chumbly rolls away. The Doctor, Vicki and Steven are taken by their rescuers back to a damaged spacecraft. Inside is the leader of these woman warriors called Drahavins, the cold and conniving Maaga. She unravels a story of space-combat with the Rills who are using the Chumblies as mechanized muscle. The Rills and Drahvins are stranded on a planet that is due to explode in just ‘fourteen dawns.’ The Doctor and Steven are anxious to check Maaga’s story with the Rills, agreeing to leave Vicki behind as security.
The Drahvins that had attempted to subdue the Chumbly are actually vat-grown soldiers, designed only to kill in the unending wars that the Drahvins are engaged in. It’s surprising that they seem rather childish and emotional rather than cold and robotic as their handler, Maaga behaves. It’s unclear exactly what Emms was trying to say here aside from not judging a book by its cover, but there seems to be some kind of anti-war statement nestled within the nature of the Drahvins that I can’t manage to unwrap.
The Drahvins of Galaxy Four
The Doctor and Steven discover that the planet has far less than ‘fourteen dawns’ after realizing that the planet has multiple suns orbiting it, leaving them only two days. Strangely, their return to the Drahvin ship results in a change of hostages and Steven is left behind while the Doctor and Vicki venture forth to contact the Rills. They discover that the truth behind the Rills/Drahvins conflict is far more complex than they imagined. The reclusive Rills, described by Maaga as hideous murderous creatures, claim that they were attacked when aiding one of the Drahvins. Maaga not only attacked the Rill, but also killed her own soldier, later blaming the death on her foes.
The lack of time to resolve any of the conflict and the problem of Steven being held hostage raises some difficult choices for the Doctor. Luckily, Steven is far from helpless and manages to manipulate the Drahvins to get out of his cell… and into an airlock. Oh well. Ian Chesterton, he’s not. Actor Peter Purves retains a bitterness about this story and how it treated him as rather useless while the Doctor and Vicki wandered off and had a grand adventure. But… turn about is fair play, mate. It’s about time the male companion was shuttered away for an episode while the female took on the bulk of the leg work.
Of course, much later another male companion would receive far worse treatment when Turlough was locked in a closet of left wandering around a Dalek spaceship. Maybe male companions just aren’t as easy to write for?
The Doctor and the devilish Drahvins
Maaga is a real piece of work, wonderfully played by actress Stephanie Bidmead (no relation to the future author/script editor). Her every movement and delivery of dialog is calculated and frosty yet backed with a kind of practical manner that makes her seem trustworthy. After all, she’s the first person that the Doctor meets who has all the answers. Nevertheless, her mistreatment of her soldiers and fierce distaste of the Rills shows her horns, as it were.
By contrast, the Chumblies are downright adorable. Even though they are armed with flamethrowers and such, the Doctor and Vicki erupt into a fit of giggles every time they meet one. It’s only at the conclusion of part two when a Rill is glimpsed (if only for a moment) that the real danger becomes clear. The Doctor is always putting his nose into other people’s business, despite his claim that he ‘seldom interferes,’ but in this case he is so much in the dark and there is so much to lose. His time is limited and he is cornered by two armies determined to zap each other until the planet itself is destroyed.
Hartnell is in fine form in this story, acting every part the gentleman scientist and adventurer, standing the higher moral ground when dealing with the Rills, yet content to let the Drahvins expire in a cataclysm if their own making. I do enjoy his interactions with the pixie-like Vicki who simply sparkles on screen. Maybe it is on account of her undeniable cuteness that everyone else in the program refers to the Chumblies after she has coined the nickname?
So little is known about this story due to the almost total lack of surviving material. The lack of enthusiasm from the fan community doesn’t help, so when part three emerged last week there was a roar of confused excitement online. Fans are of course overjoyed at new material from the 1960′s, but did the finds have to be from Galaxy 4 and the Underwater Menace? No dice on Evil of the Daleks, Marco Polo or the Macra Terror? Ah well.
One of the dreaded Rills from Galaxy Four
Galaxy 4 ended rather unusually with the Doctor yearning for a rest and Vicki wondering about the events taking place on a nearby planet. The point of view then shifted to the planet Kembel where a deranged soldier mutters to himself ‘I must kill… kill!’ and stalks through the strange alien jungle.
A fan-made short film depicts this ending to the final installment of Galaxy 4 “The Exploding Planet,” bridging to “Mission to the Unknown:”
It’s worth noting that while this story stirs little to no reaction to fans today, it was ratings stunner back when it was screened, earning the highest figures between The Web Planet (yes, I know) and The Three Doctors (again… I know). You never can tell what kind of reception these episodes had when they were shown versus their reputation in the fan community today.
When Tomb of the Cybermen, previously regarded as a lost classic, was unveiled as a complete story, it was judged as a disappointment (though I still adore it). Maybe the discovery of these missing episodes will alter the reputation of Galaxy 4 and the Underwater Menace?
The first Doctor Who regeneration from William Hartnell to Patrick Troughton, lost in its entirety, recreated here by clips and stills
Much to the shock of some Doctor Who, currently the darling of the BBC and sci-fi TV realm, lasted for over 30 years before anyone had even said the name David Tennant. However, due to the short-sightedness of the BBC, several episodes from the BBC Archives were destroyed with some narrowly escaping the incinerator including the initial Daleks story!
Of the 253 aired installments in the 1960′s, 106 are still missing. This constitutes a large portion of the first two eras of the program and leaves a massive gap in the reign of the second Doctor Who played by Patrick Troughton. Some of the most important episodes of Doctor Who are still missing, from the first regeneration to two of the reportedly finest Dalek adventures. There have been attempts to fill these gaps with off-air clips and audio recordings, novelizations and even animations, but despite these sterling efforts, it’s not the same as the real thing.
But rejoice, as the number of missing episodes of Doctor Who dropped by two as a pair of orphaned adventures was unearthed!
Every fan has his/her dream episodes that they’d like found, such as the remainder of the epic 12 parter the Dalek Master Plan or the legendary Web of Fear, but in the end we should be happy for anything and in this case it’s part 3 of ‘Galaxy 4′ starring William Hartnell and the second part of ‘The Underwater Menace,’ a somewhat derided Patrick Troughton story.
This marks the first complete episode from the bizarre Hartnell story featuring the unlikely mechanical menaces the Chumblies and the Amazonian Drahvins. Prior to today’s announcement, there was little remaining footage of this story but what I have seen is very strange indeed.
The Drahvins of Galaxy Four
‘The Underwater Menace,’ a weird story set in Atlantis under the control of a mad scientist named Zaroff, is now only missing the first and last parts (based on the novelization, these could be the best bits!). The story is full of the most elaborate padding ever used on Doctor Who as mer-creatures swim past the screen on wires for several minutes. I hope that an additional episode will help boost the reputation of this one.
A rare vintage newspaper clipping from The Underwater Menace
The discovery of any missing episodes is cause for celebration as it serves to renew hope that somewhere out there is a complete film can of ‘Marco Polo,’ but in the meantime we can enjoy an early Christmas gift and look forward to a nice DVD release from the folks at 2 Entertain.
So how did they come to light?
“Through me,” says Ralph Montagu, Radio Times’s head of heritage and a lifelong Doctor Who fan. “I occasionally meet up with a group of film collectors and retired TV engineers at a café in Hampshire.
“A few months ago I spoke to Terry Burnett, who used to be an engineer at TVS [the former ITV franchise based in Southampton]. Somehow Doctor Who was mentioned in passing, and Terry said, ‘Oh, actually I think I’ve got an old episode.’
“I thought it was bound to be something we’ve got already,” says Ralph. “I tried not to get too excited, but he came back the next day and brought this spool with him. It had no label, so I had a look at the film leader and it said ‘Air Lock’. I thought, ‘What’s that?’ I checked online and saw that Air Lock was an episode of Galaxy 4 – a missing Hartnell serial. So then I got very excited.”
Ralph met Terry again a couple of weeks later, “And he said, ‘Guess what I’ve got.’ It was another episode of Doctor Who! Again not labelled on the can, but it turned out to be The Underwater Menace part two.”
The film collector
When I called Terry Burnett last month, he told me: “I’ve been interested in film since about 1947. I’ve built up a modest collection. I buy and sell, and keep the films I like.” So how did he come by these prints? “In the mid-80s, an electrician at TVS was organising a school fête over Marchwood way [near Southampton].
“Everybody down there knew I was a film buff, and he just mentioned to me, ‘I’ve got a box of films if you’re interested.’ So I said, ‘Bring ’em in.’ We did a suitable deal, I took them home and found two Doctor Whos among them. I cleaned them up, showed them in my ‘old Hollywood’ [home cinema] and then they went into my archive. There they stayed until I mentioned them to Ralph.”
It’s likely these prints were returned long ago to the BBC from ABC (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation), were subsequently disposed of, but “pulled out of a skip” by an enthusiast. Thanks to Terry they’re in generally good condition, but they do have several unfortunate glitches.
Restoring the film
I looked over the shoulder of Paul Vanezis, a BBC producer involved in their recovery, who pointed out the problems. “Like any old film, Air Lock has a bit of muck and dirt on it, which we can clean.”
Somewhat trickier is “a ‘tramline’ scratch, a vertical line caused in the past by someone who didn’t maintain their projector. On a big close-up [of villainess Maaga] it can be quite distracting, but we’ll try to get rid of it.”
Even more of a challenge is a film break right at the cliffhanger, where companion Steven (Peter Purves) is suffocating in the eponymous air lock. “We’re missing 27 seconds of action completely, as well as the closing credits,” says Paul. “It’s a few shots and one line of dialogue from Maaga. But luckily we have the soundtrack and by using other visual material within the episode, we can re-create it.”
The TARDIS crew encounter a robot nicknamed 'Chumblie' by Vicki
A clip from the newly rediscovered Galaxy Four part 3
The Underwater Menace suffers from 20 seconds of cuts made by ABC censors – a scene where a surgeon is trying to inject companion Polly with a syringe. Amazingly, those snippets surfaced separately in 1996 and Paul is hoping to reinsert them where they belong. “My job is liaising with the ABC archive in Sydney because their original transfer was a bit lopsided and zoomed in. They’re rescanning the frames at greater-than-HD quality, so we can match the material.”
The film “wobbles up and down all the way through because of worn sprockets”, plus there’s a tear in the spool halfway through a crowded cave scene. It means one line is missing where companion Jamie says, “How about me, sir?”
“It’s only two seconds, but because it’s one shot with no cutaways, it’s awkward to fix. But it’ll look quite presentable when it’s finished,” promises Paul.
A clip from The Underwater Menace part 2
How do the episodes stand up?
Galaxy 4, a four-part season opener from 1965, is fondly remembered by those fans old enough to have watched it. Various factions vie to leave a barren world before it explodes – a race of bad girls called Drahvins, cute domed Chumbley robots and the benign warthog-like Rills.
To me, listening to the surviving soundtrack, it’s always sounded like a leaden plod, but now we can see fledgeling director Derek Martinus utilising the space and camera flexibility at BBC Television Centre. There are high-angle shots of the Doctor (William Hartnell) and companion Vicki (Maureen O’Brien) running through the Rill Centre.
A neat flashback sequence, with a wobble effect, shows Maaga executing one of her warriors. Surprisingly for the time there’s a shot of the Drahvin’s blood-streaked forehead.
It’s a treat to see one of the rarely glimpsed Rills in action (well, it rocks from side to side behind a sheet of polythene). “It looks like a sort of creepy tree you’d see in a pantomime but it’s quite well done,” says Ralph.
One of the dreaded Rills from Galaxy Four
There’s also ample corroboration of Peter Purves’s complaint that space pilot Steven was particularly wet in this story. He spends most of episode three pretending to be asleep or overcome by the women warriors and trapped in their air lock. “I was appalled because that was not the character I’d agreed to play,” moaned Purves.
Actor Peter Purves who played astronaut Steven Taylor
The Underwater Menace part two is arguably the more intriguing find. Not only is it the first Troughton film print since the recovery of The Tomb of the Cybermen 20 years ago, it’s actually now the earliest surviving episode to feature the second Doctor.
His first 11 programmes are still lost (episode three of this four-parter has been around for a long time). It’s also the earliest featuring Frazer Hines as Jamie. He teams up here in a very fit threesome with Polly (Anneke Wills) and Ben (Michael Craze), while the Doctor takes on a mad professor trying to raise the sunken city of Atlantis.
Patrick Troughton plays the impish Doctor in the Underwater Menace
Recorded in January 1967 at Riverside studios in Hammersmith, The Underwater Menace is a blend of B-movie material and camp nonsense – an early work from Julia Smith, then a rare woman director at the BBC who, two decades later, created EastEnders.
When I interviewed Julia in 1987, she recalled: “There were awful arguments about how Patrick Troughton should play the part; how quixotic the character should be, whether he should play his flute or not.”
This episode contains a now rare example from the 60s of the second Doctor playing the recorder he was so renowned for. Troughton also indulges in some comedic mischief that is a delight to see. If you didn’t get a ticket to the BFI event, the episodes could be on DVD before too long. Paul Vanezis says, “We’ll probably do a second volume of Lost in Time” – a DVD compiling archival odds and ends.
Further finds?
Sadly, Terry Burnett doesn’t have any other spools secreted away, “but I’ll always keep an eagle eye open in case any do turn up, which of course I’ll pass on to Ralph.” He’s only too happy to have returned this pair. “A lot of effort went into making those programmes and it was very short-sighted of the BBC to throw them out. It’s our television heritage.”
“All Doctor Who fans have dreamed of finding a missing episode and you never know how it’s going to happen,” says Ralph. So does he believe any more film prints are out there? “Well, one or two other leads are being pursued at the moment. More than that I’m not saying!”
Story 011
Transmitted 2 and 9, January, 1965
Written by David Whitaker
On the far off planet Dido, the shattered remains of an Earth spacecraft lays by the opening of an ancient cave. The only two survivors of the crew, Bennet and Vicki, live under the constant threat of Koquilion, a savage and vicious creature who stalks the land, regarding them as possessions. When the TARDIS arrives, the Doctor and his traveling companions are drawn into a strange battle of wills with the life of ther fair Vicki hanging in the balance.
I adore The Rescue, always have. The two-part format suits this story very well, allowing ample opportunity for the relatively simple plot to unfold, traps sprung and resolutions delivered at the eleventh hour. It’s a wonderful slice of 1960′s Who. The main point of The Rescue was to introduce the new teenage companion who would replace Susan Foreman, Vicki. Actress Carole Ann Ford had grown frustrated with the limitations that her character was saddled with. Reportedly she was promised a strangely intelligent psychic character and instead found herself playing the part of the screamer week after week. Sure that there was a better role for her out there she left and the production team of Verity Lambert, Dennis Spooner and David Whitaker had a long hard think about what the next companion should be like.
A spritely young thing, Vicki is bubbling over with energy and exuberance. A child from the future, she is amused by the aged fossils Ian and Barbara who are so backwards that they identify the Beatles as Rock N Roll rather than Classical music. The success of Vicki is down to the actress herself, Maureen O’Brien. Along with her acting skills, O’Brien played the part of peace-keeper with the aged William Hartnell who famously lost his temper and grew irascible at the slightest provocation. Maureen O’Brien was just what the program needed.
After establishing the predicament of Bennet and Vicki, the story switches to the TARDIS. Having just seen Susan off to her future in a post-apocalyptic London (nice one, Doctor), the ship seems far too large for her loss. The Doctor suddenly appears to be the doddering old man that he resembles, even drifting off to sleep in transit. Concerned that the old boy has gone a bit off the rails, Ian and Barbara take to some exploring only to find themselves face to face with the porcupine-faced Koquillion.
Vicki is terrorized by Koquillion
A formidable foe, Koquillion is suitable menacing and deadly while not actually doing anything. His voice shoots daggers through the purrings of a cat played through a distorter. He’s a brilliant villain as so little is known about him but everything is assumed. Both Barbara and Ian assume that he is a native, for instance and therefore let down their guard even though their instincts scream to get clear.
When Ian leaves to get the Doctor, Barbara and Koquillion have a conflict, resulting in her apparent fall off of a steep cliff side. The sets are so wonderfully designed by Raymond Cusick, using the minimal resources at hand that they are strangely surreal and unsettling. It is easily apparent that the cave is a set, but the discomfort that Koquillion exudes is real enough.
Barbara grapples with Koquillion
Separated from the Doctor and Ian, Barbara finds her way to Vicki and the downed spacecraft. Exuberant that she must be rescue, Vicki welcomes the TARDIS crew member into her home only to find that instead of escape she has gained another inmate. Vicki tells the sad tale of the vicious slaughter of the crew, including her parents, and how the only brave survivor of massacre, Bennett, has taken care of her. Badly wounded, Bennet is bed-ridden and weak. The only other company is creepy Koquillion who stalks the plains and checks in on them now and again. Being a forthright woman, Barbara schemes an escape almost immediately and sets her survival skills high. Unfortunately, this results in the death of Vicki’s pet Sandy, when in a moment of confusion Barbara slaughters the beast with a flare gun. I don’t care who you are, that is hardcore.
Desperate to find Barbara (why’d Ian leave her with that creep at all?), Ian and the Doctor embark on a slow and delicate trip through the dark caverns, making their way carefully along narrow paths looking down a deep pit where growling fires up at them. The interplay between William Russell (Ian) and Hartnell is just outstanding and no doubt genuine. A straight-forward actor of stage and screen, Russell is suited to the part of intelligent action hero while Hartnell is almost a complete enigma. So deeply embedded in his character is Hartnell, that it often appears that he has forgotten his lines, lost his way or is completely senile. Only when he played the double act of the Abbot in the Massacre of St. Bartholemew’s Eve did it become apparent that it was a carefully constructed performance and one that he reveled in.
It’s treacherous and deadly (and realized on a 2 pence budget), but two death traps and a monstrous beast is just par for the course for the Doctor.
Ian narrowly escapes a deadly trap
When the Doctor and Ian escape the clever traps and pitfalls of the caverns and find their way to the spacecraft, there is an awkward moment of happiness tinged by Vicki’s understandable outburst of anger at Barbara. In a moment of tenderness, the Doctor explains that Barbara only wanted to protect her from what she thought was a deadly beast and that twinkle in his eye comes back as she responds. It’s a testament to Hartnell’s acting ability that he conveys so much in these little scenes. He may often come off as gruff and mean, but deep down he’s a teddy bear. The Doctor needs a surrogate Susan of some kind and this relationship hits that mark almost immediately. If only the new series understood this dynamic.
The Doctor is of course decidedly suspicious of Bennett. Barging his way into the man’s private quarters, he finds an elaborate reel-to-reel system that plays back pre-recorded statements deluding anyone into thinking that someone was in the cabin when it was actually vacant. The Doctor also discovers a hidden hatch leading directly into the caves.
When the Doctor realized where he had landed, he describe the planet Dido as a peaceful, sparsely populated world. The behavior of Koquillion challenged that assessment, but after all the Doctor had been acting odd so perhaps he had gotten it wrong. When he comes face to face with Koquillion, he calls the bluff. This is no native of Dido at all, it is Bennett. A convict in transport to a far off prison on board the craft, Bennett murdered the crew and the small group of natives who greeted them on arrival. However, Vicki knew none of this and only thought of Bennett as the brave survivor who helped her get by and protected her from Koquillion. When the rescue craft finally does arrive, her testimony will release him from the punishment for his crimes.
Of course the Doctor had figured out Bennett’s ruse, but being clever and right doesn’t necessarily stop you from getting your head crushed. Mad with blood-thirst, Bennett strikes at the Doctor, throttling the old man bit is stopped by a pair of spectral figures. It’s never explained who the strange figures are, but Bennett seems to think that they are ghosts of the natives of Dido, killing him in revenge.
Written by the incomparable former script editor David Whitaker and directed by Christopher Barry, The Rescue has a lot going for it right off the bat. Brilliantly designed and written, this two parter was a massive success, garnering ratings that beat out the previous story, the Dalek Invasion of Earth! Utilizing the soundtrack by Tristram Cary (reused from The Daleks) is simply amazing and forever encapsulates my love affair with these black and white stories.
Following on the heels of the Dalek Invasion of Earth, a story that challenged the scope and capabilities of the program, The Rescue is a much smaller and simpler story, but a psychologically gripping one. An adventure rich in atmosphere, drama, The Rescue is a short but amazing story that serves as a high standard for the program.
The following stories from the First Doctor era starring William Hartnell are still incomplete: Marco Polo, The Reign of Terror, The Crusade, Galaxy 4, “Mission to the Unknown”, The Myth Makers, The Daleks’ Master Plan, The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve, The Celestial Toymaker, The Savages, and The Smugglers
Story 009
