Doctor Who and The Dalek Invasion of Earth

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: The Dalek Invasion of Earth

Micro Talking Daleks Invasion Earth 4 Pack Product Enterprise

Doctor Who 5" First Doctor with Dalek Invasion Of Earth 'Black' Dalek 2 Pack San Diego Comic Con Exclusive

The Official Doctor Who and the Daleks Book

Bring back the Mechonoids!

Doctor Who is a strange television program.

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).

(art by Steve Redfearn)

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…

(see my review of The Chase here)

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!).

Doctor Who and The Smugglers

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.

(Note: The Hartnell thumbnail comes from this etsy store)

Doctor Who – Galaxy 4

Doctor Who and Galaxy 4

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?

Lost Doctor Who episodes found!

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.

Via RadioTimes:

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!”

Doctor Who and The Rescue

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.

Doctor Who: The Rescue / The Romans

It's Time For Tristram Cary

Doctor Who and The Savages

Story 026
Transmitted 28 May – 18 June 1966
Written by Ian Stuart Black

The Doctor has managed to land the TARDIS in the midst of an advanced civilization. They are so far advanced in technology that they not only know of him but have predicted his arrival. Their society seems to good to be true, prompting suspicion from the Doctor’s traveling companions Steven and Dodo. just before he is honored as a respected guest, the Doctor feels compelled to ask how this world has accomplished what appears to be a reality that is too good to be true. The grim reality nearly costs his life.

When Innes Lloyd took over as producer, he inherited a great number of scripts that were already in production including the 13 week-long epic, the Dalek’s Master Plan. The Savages is an unusual script and being that so much of it is lost, an accurate judgement is all but impossible to make. What we do have in regards to information is rather intriguing, however.

The story opens with the Doctor not only aware of the location of his arrival, but he is exuberant about it. Promising an advanced and perfect society, he leaves his companions Steven and Dodo to survey the area and confirm his suspicions. How and why the Doctor knows of this place is never explained nor is it ever touched upon in subsequent stories which makes it all the more intriguing in my opinion. What the Doctor is not aware of is that he is being watched from the bushes by frightened savages dressed in tattered clothing. Bearing similarities to prehistoric man, they are in direct conflict with the sleek Utopian citizens that greet the Doctor. Not only is the Doctor expected, he is to be given a great honor from the governing council of the planet’s civilization. The Doctor mentions his companions as a passing thought which rankles his welcoming party who counted on him arriving alone.

Just how these people can know of the Doctor and are able to track the path of his TARDIS is a complete mystery to me. It remains part of the plot as the society is technologically advanced to the point that it impresses the Doctor and tickles his fancy (hence his continuous giggling). As he is brought before the council, Steven and Dodo are rounded up. However, the pair of companions have gotten bored in the TARDIS and decided to venture outside, narrowly missing a spear hurled from a craggy cliff side.

Once inside the great city, Dodo is hardly relieved and if anything is far more suspicious of her surroundings. During a guided tour, she scarpers off and finds herself in a forbidden laboratory where a deranged man wanders down a corridor, half-blind and unable to communicate. It is a terrifying moment that must have had quite an impact with the viewers at home.

It is clear that there is more going on than meets the eye. Savages are rounded up like quarry through the use of light guns and drained of their life essence, the secret behind the super advanced society that houses the select few chosen to live there. The Doctor is chosen by the council of Elders, but he is disgusted by their practices. The process needed to maintain their society drains the life of so many, leaving them dried up husks of their former selves, living like animals in fear of another attack.

The Savage Chal is as dried husk after having the life force drained from him

Dodo wanders through the halls of the city

Like many of the mid-late 1960’s Doctor Who stories, the companions play a vital role in the Savages, especially Dodo. The Mancunian Dodo takes a lot of flack for being useless, but judged on her behavior in stories such as this she’s not half bad. Rebellious and headstrong, she is dwarfed the massive gangly Steven Taylor but is rarely intimidated by him. She not only gets herself into trouble but can even extricate herself from a tight spot as well. The unfortunate thing is that we only have two whole stories to judge her on and a bit of the War Machines where she barely registers. I’ll throw my vote in for Dodo Chaplet being a decent companion worth re-evaluation.

I’ve often thought of Ian Chesterton as the character that I’d like to think I’d be in the universe of Doctor Who. Brave, intelligent and reliable, Chesterton is a noble hero (he was even knighted!). The reality is that I’d probably be more like Steven Taylor. While Steven is an astronaut from the future, he’s something of a doofus, often stumbling through problems and causing as little mess as he can. He is frustrated by the Doctor and can’t get Dodo to listen to him at all, leaving him with very little positive impact with his traveling companions. I quite enjoy Steven as he is an interesting alternative to the more successful and resourceful  characters on the program, but he is a bit of a waste, isn’t he?

At the conclusion of the Savages, Steven remains behind to help rebuild the society from the ground up. We are shown the Doctor as being supportive and more than a little shaken at losing yet another traveling companion, but what is the likelihood that Steven would make a great leader… or even a good one? Actor Peter Purves jokingly stated that he would have loved to have seen the Doctor return only to find it a shambles.

The most interesting part of The Savages is when the Doctor is subjected to the process and drained of nearly all of his energy, all of it transferred to the Elder known as Jano (played by Freddie Jager, later to appear in the Planet of Evil with Tom Baker). It’s a startling development as it leaves the Doctor a deranged, barely conscious creature whom Dodo and Steven must lead around by the hand. Even more interesting is that Jano takes on the Doctor’s mannerisms and speaking pattern, as well as a disdain for Jano’s world.

In 1966, the BBC were aware that they would have to replace leading man William Hartnell if they wanted to keep the program going. Plans of introducing a younger version of the character could be part of the reason why Jano retains the Doctor’s persona for so long. It’s an interesting theory, but I wager that it is as much a coincidence as the Doctor having his life essence drained in this story while he dies two stories later complaining that ‘this old body of mine has worn thin.’

All very interesting but it implies that not just the production team but the BBC were thinking far ahead… and all of the evidence implies that they were in fact flying by the seat of their pants week to week.

In any case, the mind transference is one of the more striking elements of this story along with its message about imperialism and the subjugation of others to advance society. The plot may sound ham-fisted and awkward at times, but the ideas are incredible and the possibilities of a dark secret lying in the middle of a utopia something that would be revisited several times later in stories such as the Macra Terror.

The Doctor is drained of his life force

Weakened, the Doctor wanders about in a daze

Like many other adventures from this time period, The Savages remains complete with only the audio track and a few still images remaining to give any clue as to what it was like back in the day.  From the little information that we have, the Savages sounds like it was a creepy atmospheric story with some nice location work, skillful camera direction and a number of fantastic supporting actors.

Until we actually get to see more of it, there are only a few ways to experience the Savages, through the magnificent Loose Canons reconstructions:

LC29 The Savages (loose canon 29)

There’s also this:

… and the resources below.

Doctor Who: The Savages

Doctor Who the Savages

The First Doctor: The First Doctor

Doctor Who and the Gunfighters

The Gunfighters

Story 25
Written by Donald Cotton
Transmitted April 30 – May 21, 1966
So fill up your glasses
And join in the song
The Law’s right behind you
And it won’t take long.
So come, you coyotes,
And howl at the moon
Till there’s blood upon the sawdust
In “The Last Chance” Saloon.

After breaking a tooth on a boiled sweet in a previous adventure, the Doctor is in dire need of a dentist. Irony of ironies… the TARDIS lands in the middle of the Old West. Not just any location either, but the eve of the historic gunfight of the O.K. Coral. Ensnared by a case of mistaken identity, the Doctor, Steven and Dodo soon find themselves part of history’s bloody web and are incapable of getting themselves free.

A highly unusual story for many reasons (a comedic historical with musical numbers), The Gunfighters supposedly came about due to the suggestion of actor William Hartnell. On a whim, the actor suggested that a western adventure may prove interesting. Later, Hartnell admitted that this marked the only instance that he made such a suggestion and that The Gunfighters had the lowest viewing figures of his time on the program (actually, this ins’t true). Amused at his blunder, the actor agreed to keep his trap shut regarding plot ideas from that point forward. In 1966, Hartnell was finding himself in the unfortunate position of being against the production team. The only remaining member of the ‘old guard,’ he strongly disagreed with the direction that producer Innes Lloyd and Shaun Sutton wished to take that would see Doctor Who play to a more sophisticated adult audience. Hartnell also found the rise in violence distasteful and yearned for the simpler fanciful tales. In short, he had reached the end of his relationship with Doctor Who.

While I strongly regard Ian Chesterton as the ideal dashing hero that one wishes he could be if he had been chosen to travel with the Doctor, Steven Taylor was the harsh reality of what most of us would be like. Headstrong, clumsy and brave to a fault, Steven is nonetheless entertaining to watch during his short time on screen (most of the stories featuring Steven including the epic Dalek Master Plan are sadly lost). Steven and the Doctor butt heads but on a very basic level. It seems that most of the time the Doctor just wants to be rid of him and wanders off. That’s not to suggest that he and Steven don’t have any chemistry or fondness for each other, but they are chalk and cheese in so many ways; the genius and the buffoon, the brilliant tactician and the brave lone hero, etc.

Acting alongside Peter Purves (who played astronaut and panda bear enthusiast Steven Taylor), Hartnell was dismayed at the steady stream of dolly birds that the producers threw at the program, the latest of which was Dodo Chaplet. While Purves was an experienced TV actor and entertainer, Jackie Lane was a much younger actress and the subject of much hand-wringing at the BBC who could not agree what her character was all about. Her accent and demeanor changed from scene to scene and in the end, she makes very little impact, so little in fact that she disappears off screen in the War Machines a few stories later.

Both Steven and Dodo are overjoyed to find themselves in the Old West and disappear back into the TARDIS to get more appropriately dressed. They emerge in the most flamboyant costume versions of period clothing and the Doctor for a moment forgets his dental agony. In what looks to be a glossy silk Western-style shirt with sewn on stars on the chest, Steven whips out a pair of six-shooters and loudly declares that he is actually Dead Eye Steve… attracting nearby lawman Wyatt Earp who promptly arrests all three to keep them out of trouble.

Seeing no other recourse, the Doctor concocts a cover story for the law that he and his friends are entertainers, providing stage names Steven Regret, Dodo Dupont and Doctor Caligari. This somewhat pleases the sheriff, but they are warned to stay out of trouble. Unfortunately, trouble finds them. Dropping off the Doctor at Holiday’s place of practice, Dodo and Steven giggle to themselves that their friend is on for a shock when he discovers the 19th Century has not seen the advent of aesthetic. Retiring to the nearby saloon, the pair find themselves in the company of the Clanton Brothers, eager to find and kill Doc Holiday for their kid brother’s murder. With very little description of Holiday to go one, they decide to sit and wait it out in the saloon until the boozing gambler shows himself. Meanwhile, Steven and Dodo are forced to live up to their cover stories and perform the dreaded Ballad of the O.K. Coral.

Recovering from his tooth removal, the Doctor is accosted by one of the Clanton Brothers, no doubt tired of waiting for Holiday to show himself. He misidentifies the Doctor as Holiday and challenges him to show his face at the saloon. Being an English gentleman, the Doctor no doubt thinks that he has just been invited for a drink and accepts. Seeing a way out of facing his just deserts and of wiping his past clean away, Holiday arms the Doctor and sends him on his way to the Saloon.

Realizing that the Clanton brothers are in town with only one purpose, Wyatt Earp and Marshal Bat Masterson decide to play their cards close to their chests and use the Doctor as a lure, drawing the Clantons into a trap. Unfortunately, Dodo and Steven get taken hostage and the dreaded gunslinger Johnny Ringo arrives in town for a piece of the action. For once, the Doctor has no interest in preserving history at all, he just wants to get his friends out of trouble to the safety of the TARDIS!

I have to be honest in saying that for the longest time I regarded the Gunfighters as the kind of thing parents threatened their children with if they wouldn’t eat their veggies. But after reading favorable reviews, I was intrigued enough to give a second, third and fourth try. This review took me ages to get to but it had nothing to do with procrastination. It was a test of nerves and I passed… eventually.

Part of the problem is that many of the actors are distracted by trying to stick to their accents, a feat that proves to be too much sometimes as dialog gets garbled and an already strained plot is made nearly unintelligible. The first meeting of the Clanton brothers is intended to be a nail-biting tension-filled moment building up the danger, but the poor actors can barely make it through the scene of exposition for fear of tripping over their ‘authentic’ old west idioms!

A flawed adventure, The Gunfighters is helped by an outstanding cast including the late Anthony Jacobs as the scheming Doc Holiday. As soon as it is established that the story is set in the O.K. Coral of the Old West, the action shifts to Doc Holiday, hardly the vicious character of historical record, as he is depicted a nervous and retired gun-shooter trying to set up business as a (wait for it) dentist. His lady friend and former lady of ill repute Kate watches over him uneasily as Holiday polishes his examination chair and hangs the sign outside of his newly established place of business, just as the local law keeps a watchful eye in his every move, missing the no-good band of hoodlums riding into town to take brutal revenge on Holiday.

Anthony Jacobs is only one member of a superb supporting cast in this story, but some of the other actors may slip you by as they are more well known for their vocal talents than their faces. David Grahan, for instance, who plays the shaky barman Charlie, is the voice behind Brains from Gerry Anderson’s Super Marionation saga, Thunderbirds. An accomplished character actor was almost cast as the ‘deadeye’ Johnny Ringo, but proved unavailable… Patrick Troughton.

Anthony Jacobs as Doc Holiday

I am a big fan of the historical Doctor Who adventures and of the comedic ones as well. Cotton’s other efforts in this direction (The Romans and The Mythmakers) are good examples of how to get this right. Unfortunately, a massive monkey wrench is thrown into the mix in this case in the form of a musical lament played incessantly throughout all four parts. The lyrics were written by Cotton and series director Rex Tucker and while it may be charming and whimsical once, hearing it sung by characters on screen (at gun point) and as part of the narration is far too much. Even Shaun Sutton dismayed the overuse of the tune, stating that the poor American accents and slow direction were further hamstrung by that damned song turning up over and over, causing the action to come to a complete stop each time.

A polished actor with a deep love for the stage, Hartnell clearly relishes the light comedy here and plays the part of the reluctant deputy and of Holiday’s first dental patient (or victim) to the hilt. There are some pearls of dialog throughout the story as the Doctor is handed a firearm at least three times and asks out loud why people keep giving him guns. This is no doubt an attempt to off-set the oncoming violence that the ‘Ballad of the O.K. Coral’ reminds us is coming.

With so many classic adventures missing, it is remarkable that of all stories, The Gunfighters remains perfectly intact (what about Marco Polo, The Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Eve? Galaxy Four, even!). The production values are top notch (with some wonderful camera direction and use of actual horses thrown in to make things interesting), but it is far too long. Classic Doctor Who is no stranger to a contrived run around, but this is a standout case thanks to the repeated Ballad of the O.K. Coral that opens, closes and bridges each of the four installments. A fun and light adventure, The Gunfighters also features some rather chilling gun battles, an oddity for Doctor Who at the time.

Earthstory (The Gunfighters and The Awakening) DVD Trailer

Inexplicably packaged with the Fifth Doctor story, Awakening, the Gunfighters will be released on DVD in the U.K. next week (it will be released on its own in the US on July 12th). I am very interested in revisiting this story in DVD format and am curious what kind of light the production notes, commentary and documentaries can shed on this one.

Pre-order Doctor Who: The Gunfighters (released 7/12/11)

Doctor Who and the Reign of Terror announced for DVD release

Via ATV Today:
The Doctor Who Newspage are reporting that 2 Entertain have confirmed the incomplete William Hartnell story The Reign of Terror is to be released on DVD next year. The 1964 story features the original cast (William Hartnell, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill and Carol Ann Ford) and is set during the French Revolution. Because of the BBC’s wiping policy of the 1970s the story, like other Doctor Who stories (and other television programmes of the time on BBC and ITV) is incomplete in the archives. The Reign of Terror is missing two episodes; four and five.

It will be only the second time that an incomplete Doctor Who story will have been released on DVD. In 2006 the Patrick Troughton story The Invasion was released with its missing episodes re-created in animation form with the original soundtracks from the absent episodes. The release of The Invasion proved popular with fans, especially the animated episodes, and raised hopes that other incomplete serials would be released in the same format. However, five years on and no further stories have been given the same treatment perhaps owing to the costs involved.

It is unclear whether or not The Reign of Terror will be given the same treatment as The Invasion or whether it will be released with just the four remaining episodes.

The final adventure from the first year of Doctor Who, the Reign of Terror is set in one of the most tumultuous and violent periods of history, the French Revolution. Written by veteran scribe Dennis Spooner (script editor and author of the Romans and The Time Meddler), the story is considered by many to be a classic of the original Doctor Who program and a spectacular example of the historical adventure.

During the purge of the BBC Archives, episodes 4 and 5 were destroyed and have yet to surface. According to the 2entertain twitter feed, the forthcoming DVD release will present this classic serial “‘as complete as can realistically be achieved.”

Doctor Who and the Reign of Terror is currently scheduled for release sometime in 2012. More as it comes…

Doctor Who and the Sensorites

Story 007
20 June -1 August 1 1964

Sandwiched between two fantastic historical adventures (The Aztecs and Reign of Terror), the Sensorites has a reputation for being dull and uninteresting. However, there are a number of remarkable aspects to this six-parter that are worth noting. Written by Peter R. Newman, this story reads like a proto-Star Trek script more than Doctor Who with cardboard astronauts and aliens to match. Expositionary dialog is all over the place as characters are more than happy to act as walking encyclopedias, giving whole swathes of data with a smile.

Nevertheless, this story does feature an unusual opening sequence in which the TARDIS crew recount their previous adventures (as if bringing the audience up to speed), a strange decision given that only script editor David Whitaker would have thought to have included this little touch. It also acknowledges that all four characters have changed somewhat from the people they were in the opening episode. Ian and Barbara are no longer whinging prisoners and are now willing companions on the Doctor’s craft while the Doctor himself has warmed to his new passengers and softened from his crotchety and shifty persona into a more heroic figure. The only character who has remained more or less static is Susan, whom neither the writers nor actress Carol Anne Ford can seem to get a handle on.

Following this opening dialog, the Doctor and his companions exit the TARDIS, but rather than simple cutting to the other side of the Police Box prop, this time the cameras follow the actors through the interior doors. It’s a little thing, but it makes a big impact as a visual shift.

Outside the TARDIS, the Doctor is stunned to find that they are not only in a space craft but that the crew are dead. After a thorough examination, the travelers decide to depart from the grim scene but are startled when the astronauts suddenly come back to life.  They soon discover that the craft is an expeditionary mission to investigate a planet called ‘the Sense-Sphere’ which is populated by a xenophobic race of telepaths. Once in orbit, the Earth craft has been frozen in its path, trapped by the Sensorites on the planet below. The two crew members, Maitlaind and Carol have been living a nightmarish existence, dropping in and out of consciousness while the Sensortites hold them in a powerful mental trap. But their biggest problem is a third member of the crew, John, who has been driven insane by the Sensorites’ attacks and sealed in the aft of the ship. Barbara and Susan make contact with him and make a kind of peace with him, but it’s clear that John is lost.

The Doctor soon becomes involved in a very complicated affair between the humans and the Senorites. It appears that after John discovered that the Sense Sphere contained a valuable mineral molybdenum, his greed was like a wild yell to the telepathic race who, in seeking to quiet him, drove him insane. Perfectly understandable… I guess. When a pair of Sensorites arrive to perform a periodical check-up of the astronauts, they find the TARDIS and remove its lock to prevent it from being a threat. This has to be the weirdest plot contrivance to keep the Doctor and his companions in the story and it also flies in the face of previous and forthcoming stories that present the Doctor’s ship as impenetrable. But this is still the early days of the program and analysis of the stories 40 years on was certainly not a possibility that the production team had anticipated.

The Sensorites establish a psychic rapport with Susan, who promptly rebels against her grandfather and attempts to offer herself up as a trade so that the others can be free from harm. Ian and Barbara stand by the Doctor who is furious at Susan’s behavior. Given that Hartnell had a unique perspective of Carol Anne Ford as being a young child, the performance is very strong and convincing! After discussing the matter further, a compromise is made. One of the Sensorites will remain on the spaceship with Barbara and Maitlaind while the rest go down to the planet. It’s not an arbitrary decision that leads to the Doctor travelling to the Sense-Sphere. The Sensorites have been dying off by a mysterious illness that they hope the Doctor can cure. The stolen lock hints at a technology and intelligence far beyond what the alien race can fathom.

The Sensorites are eager to gloss over their mistakes and make peace with the humans so that they can benefit from the Doctor’s superior intellect, but there a lot of internal politics that make this very difficult. The Elders of the Sensorite race are very philosophical, but the City Administrator is driven by what appears to be a strong sense of duty to defend his people. It’s up to the Doctor to make a case for the humans as being misunderstood and harmless and cure their illness while one of the aliens plots a violent revolution during all of the confusion.

When Ian comes down with the mysterious illness that has been killing off the Sensorites, the drama is heightened. The Doctor has to not only find out what is causing the illness, but also avoid the City Administrator’s steadily increasing moves toward power. Beset by problems at every side, it takes all of the Doctor’s wits to solve this problem without ending up as a casualty in a violent coup for power.

The Doctor and Ian confront the Sensorites

The Sensorites themselves are quite impressive costumes for the 60’s and the mouths are cleverly hidden by strange ‘old man hair’ that seems to grow in all the wrong places. The race is very soft spoken and terribly sensitive to light, a weakness that Ian seizes early on to keep them from taking Susan captive. One of the many plot points involves the fact that all of the Sensorites look alike aside from sashes or collars on their uniforms. Quite why a telepathic race would rely on their eyes to recognize each other is a mystery to me, but it allows the wily revolutionary Sensorite administrator the perfect opportunity to strike.

Trailer

As a six part adventure, it’s far too long. In fact, there is a lot of time spent on the spacecraft orbiting the planet that could have easily been cut. The first cliffhanger of a Sensorite creepily hovering by the main view screen must have sent many a child scurrying to his/her bedroom in fear but aside from that there isn’t all that much of visual interest. The character of John the mineralogist is interesting and all, but the poor actor is plagued by endless scenes demanding that he  froth at the mouth and stare off to convey madness. I quite like the explanation that his extreme emotion left his mind open and overly susceptible to influence, but it goes on a bit and looks silly in the end.

The Doctor is depicted as a very heroic and brilliant character in this story which I like. Depicting both otherworldly knowledge and common wisdom, this is exactly the kind of Doctor that I like to see; just as likely to rewire alien technology as he is to use a cricket ball to escape a tight spot. Hartnell is in rare form and while he does fluff a few lines, he still exhibits a commanding air of authority that cannot be denied.

He also looks quite dashing in that long black robe, doesn’t he?

Strangely, the Sensorites are closely related to the Ood of the new Doctor Who series. Writer Russell T Davies stated that he wanted to evoke the classic monsters with the Ood (something  lost on me though I enjoyed the creatures in their first appearance).

The Sensorites has not been released on DVD as yet, but as 2 Entertain is nearing the end of their license, I expect that we will be hearing something soon. It will no doubt be a shame to see the Sensorite masks in a cleaned up image as every tiny flaw will be made all the more clear (a complaint made by Peter Purves regarding the Ark DVD). It’s strange to remember that these stories were initially seen on very tiny grainy black and white televisions, without commentary, documentaries or the like.

Hardly one of the best stories from the 60’s, the Sensorites was the first step toward what would later develop into the ‘hard sci fi’ approach in Doctor Who. There are problems involving the acting, costumes and effects but the inspiration to take what was still considered a children’s program into the realm of a more sophisticated story is worth recognizing.