The Art of... The Macra Terror

The Macra Terror was novelised by its original writer Ian Stuart Black in 1987. Black had been able to adapt all three of his television stories.

The hardback was released in July '87, with the paperback following in December.

The cover art is by Tony Masero. Deprived of any decent publicity images from the production, he used a real crab as the basis for his work.

After the Target novelisation, the first version of the story in other media was its soundtrack, and this was initially released on tape cassette format. released in 1992, it was narrated by Colin Baker. The sole Macra photograph is used, along with a Troughton image from The War Games.

The soundtrack was remastered and re-released on CD format in 2000, still with Baker's narration. This was subsequently released again as part of one of the "Lost TV Episodes" range (Set No.4), this time with new narration by someone who actually appeared in the story - Anneke Wills.

The designer has elected to give the Macra a mouthful of teeth and made the claws look more deadly. The Troughton and Hines images derive from The Wheel in Space, whilst the photo of Graham Leaman's Controller being attacked by the claw is also utilised.

March 2019 saw the story animated and released on DVD and Blu-ray. With no complete episodes and just a handful of very brief off-air clips, the animators took the opportunity to completely reimagine the story, meaning we get lots of Macra which are a lot more mobile than the TV prop could ever have managed. If you look closely you'll see Romana II in one of the Colony group scenes, as they reuse artwork which had been prepared for the Shada animation. Sadly, the story in this form is incomplete as they elected to remove the Refreshing Department sequence all together, but you can still enjoy the complete story through the telesnaps / soundtrack option. Annoyingly, because of the deletion, they make changes to the opening TARDIS scene This is despite the closing scene of The Moonbase still existing. It simply means a mismatch which is really noticeable when you watch them back to back.

The animation was also available in steelbook form with imagery of the TARDIS standing in the mine workings, menaced with a pair of giant shadowy claws. All very atmospheric, though nothing to do with the story itself. 

The steelbook included a bonus disc containing Gridlock - the 2007 episode which saw the return of the Macra.

The Target novelisation was adapted into an audiobook in August 2016, using Masero's original cover art. Anneke Wills was the reader.

Finally, before the release of the animated version, the movie database site created its own colourful photomontage image to illustrate this story.

Birthday Break

It's my birthday next week and I'm off on holiday once again. The blog will therefore be pausing for a week or so after "The Art of..." tomorrow. 

I'll be heading back to London, hopefully avoiding Cybermen on the local bus route and dodging Daleks on Westminster Bridge. No Doctor Who related events to attend this trip (though there will be in early April), but I'll probably be popping into the Who Shop again at some point.

A bit of advance notice: I'm moving house later in March and the internet may not be set up in time for the move-in, so there may have to be another brief pause if there's any delay sorting this out. Will let you know nearer the time.

In the meantime, there won't be any posts between Saturday 1st and Sunday 9th March, unless there's any big news to comment on. As you are no doubt aware by now, the next series commences on Saturday 12th April, and one of the episodes sees Alan Cumming voice the cartoon character seen in the trailer - Mr Ring-a-Ding. he previously played King James VI and I in The Witchfinders.

Inspirations: The Name of the Doctor

Nurse: "Knock, knock..."

Costard: "Who goeth without?"

Nurse: "Doctor"

Costard: "Doctor who?"

Nurse: "Verily, yea!"

Costard: "I doth not get it. Get thee to a nunnery!"

Exeunt, pursued by camelopards.

Source: Loves Labours Won, Act III, Scene V (1599) - the earliest known example of the Doctor Who "Knock, Knock" joke (probably).

It's a question that certainly goes right back to 30th November 1963 - Doctor Who? (though the "Knock, Knock" joke certainly feels as if it's been around since Homer was a lad).

In the episode The Cave of Skulls we have the following exchanges:

Ian: "Just open the doors, Dr Foreman".

Doctor: "Eh? Doctor who?..."

And when Barbara also refers to him as Dr Foreman Ian responds: "That's not his name. Who is he? Doctor who?...".

Later stories played with the question in a jokey fashion, such as in The Curse of Peladon and of The Mutants. In three Gerry Davis era stories it is even assumed that "Doctor Who" really is his name.

Most producers took great pains to stress that it wasn't, and pointed out that there was no question mark at the end of the title, though JNT stupidly plastered his Doctors with the "?" motif.

The climax to Series 6 had seen Dorium Maldovar speak of "the Battle of Trenzalore", and the final lines of dialogue are:

Dorium: "The first question. The question that must never be answered, hidden in plain sight. The question you've been running from all your life. Doctor who? Doctor who? Doctor Who".

At the same time that the Doctor was trying to discover just who the Impossible Girl was, Clara was also trying to find out more about him. She would have seen his name in the book on The Time War, in the TARDIS library - but time was reset and this would have been forgotten.

Choosing for a title The Name of the Doctor for his latest finale, Steven Moffat was very much indulging in what's known as "click-bait". Those are the sensationalist on-line headlines designed to make you click on a link (generally leading to an advert or a story that is actually far from sensational, but you've given it a page view to add to their total anyway.

Fans got worked up about the title, either happily expecting that we would finally know the name, or arguing that it should never, ever be revealed. Of course, most of us recognised it for what it was, and knew that we would be none the wiser come the end of the episode.

It transpired that the Doctor was obliged to speak his name to act as a password to open his tomb, and he would be forced to do this by the Great Intelligence. (The tomb is the TARDIS, but its dimensions are leaching out and it has grown to the size of skyscraper).

Way back when we first met River Song, in Series 4, we saw that she knew his name, and he claimed she could only know this if... The implication being that they were married at some point. We saw a ceremony take place - albeit in an alternate timeline - in that Series 6 finale, the one in which Dorium raised the question.

When the moment comes in this episode, Moffat cheats by having River claim that she's already said the name, off camera. 

It should be noted that this is an already dead River, but Moffat needed her for the episode to get round this whole name issue, so she's a sort of data ghost.

This story marks the conclusion of a brief Great Intelligence trilogy, though it's only a cameo appearance in the middle story - The Bells of Saint John - when revealed as the villain working behind the scenes.

Richard E Grant plays the being once again, and it has new servants which it animates. After robot Yeti and living snowmen, we now have the Whisper Men - Moffat's latest attempt at a creepy monster.

Also returning are the Paternoster Gang. We get to see what Strax does on his days off - indulging in fist fights in Glasgow.

The other principal task of The Name of the Doctor is to finally tell us just who Clara is - in terms of the two people who looked and acted like her in different time zones. There had been futuristic Dalek-convert Oswin in Asylum of the Daleks, and Victorian barmaid / governess Clara in The Snowmen.

The Great Intelligence wants to destroy the Doctor from within his own timestream - entering the temporal scar his death leaves and travelling back to undo all the good he has done. To stop him, Clara follows him into the scar to correct these interventions. We are treated to the sight of both Clara and the Great Intelligence appearing in clips from old classic era stories, encountering past Doctors. We see the Second Doctor running across a Californian beach - the Troughton footage edited in from The Five Doctors. From this story we also see Third Doctor Jon Pertwee in "Bessie". Both clips come from scenes in which the Doctor is about to be captured by the Death Zone Time Scoop. Tom Baker is seen on Gallifrey, in a clip from The Invasion of Time. The Davison clip is from another Gallifrey story - Arc of Infinity. The Colin Baker encounter is newly filmed with an extra in clown costume, whilst McCoy is seen dangling by his umbrella in Dragonfire.

The Hartnell clip comes from The Aztecs, but is edited into a new scene set on Gallifrey "a long time ago" - the First Doctor's initial departure in a stolen TARDIS with Susan. It turns out that it was Clara who diverted them away from a fully operational TT capsule, as it will be more fun. This rather contradicts The Doctor's Wife (another click-bait title if ever there was one). (No sign of the Fugitive Doctor, so stick that in your pipe, Chibnall).

We will later see other Doctors running around a hellish landscape, but these are just extras dressed up.

And then we see someone else - but we'll talk about him next time...

Episode 154: The Macra Terror (2)

Synopsis:

Medok and the Doctor are about to change their hiding place to another empty cabin when they see a huge black shape with glowing eyes, crawling steadily towards them...

The creature vanishes into the night, but the two men have been spotted by Ola. He refuses to listen to Medok's claims about seeing a monster and arrests them both - the Doctor accused of breaching curfew and of being in the company of a wanted man.

The Doctor is taken to see the Pilot who dismisses Ola, intending to question him himself. The Doctor is fascinated by the monitoring system which allows the Pilot to see the entire Colony.

Ola returns with Medok, who wishes to make a statement. He claims that the Doctor was actually trying to get him to give himself up, until Ola interrupted them and refused to let him explain.

The Pilot orders that the Doctor go free whilst Medok is returned to the hospital for "correction".

Concerned when the Pilot talks about everyone in the Colony having to conform, the Pilot explains to the Doctor that it was founded centuries ago by people from Earth, who valued hard work alongside a happy and healthy lifestyle, and they simply wish to uphold their ancestors' values.

After the Doctor has been sent to his rest quarters, the Pilot communicates with Control. It insists that there are no such thing as the creatures Medok claims to have seen - Macra - and the strangers must be conditioned whilst they sleep tonight, in order that they obey the rules of the Colony.

As his companions sleep, they are subjected to a hypnotic voice which accompanies a gas. Jamie wakes before this can affect him, instinctively recognising the voice as "evil", but Ben sleeps on.

The Doctor sabotages the mechanism responsible for this in Polly's cubicle, then goes to do the same for Ben and Jamie. It has failed to work on the young Scot, but Ben angrily challenges him - accusing him of damaging Colony property and breaking its laws, which he is now compelled to report.

Ola and his guards are summoned, and Ben claims that the Doctor needs correction more than Medok does.

He, meanwhile, has been subjected to various hypnotic processes at the hospital, but they have all failed to make him withdraw his claims about the Macra.

As the Doctor and Jamie are taken away, Polly runs off and Ben gives chase. He catches up with her at the building site. Polly sees one of the giant crab-like monsters but Ben refuses to believe her - until he also sees them and they come under attack.

The Doctor discovers that the Pilot is also subjected to mental conditioning through a mechanism in his quarters - which he promptly sabotages.

Ola then brings Ben and Polly to the office as the young man wishes to report what he has just seen outside. However, under questioning Ben begins to change his story - denying that he has seen any creatures.

The Pilot assures everyone that Control looks after the well-being of everyone in the Colony and there can be no threat. The Doctor and Polly challenge this - asking to see Control. The static photograph of the stern-looking man appears on the office screen, but Jamie insists he doesn't really exist. They ask to speak to the Controller in person.

The photograph disappears, to be replaced with live images of a gaunt man in dishevelled uniform. He is clearly terrified and unsure of what he can say - speaking to someone or something out of shot. Suddenly a huge crab-like claw reaches into view, to seize him and pull him away. 

Polly screams that the Macra are in control of the colony...

Data:

Written by Ian Stuart Black

Recorded: Saturday 11th March 1967 - Lime Grove Studio D

First broadcast: 5:50pm, 18th March 1967

Ratings: 7.9 million / AI 48

Designer: Kenneth Sharp

Director: John Davies

Critique:

Only one Macra was built for the story - created at their Uxbridge workshop by Shawcraft Models. Innes Lloyd was shocked to see the invoice for this prop as it cost roughly the same as a small family car at the time. It was some 10 feet in circumference and could only be moved when loaded onto the back of a truck. Colour footage exists of the prop during its construction - the "Follow That Dalek" super-8 mm film which featured on the DVD of The Chase and also appears as an extra on the animated version of this story. Made from fibreglass, it was brown in colour, with inflatable bladders built into the shell which could be used to simulate breathing. Horse hair bristles gave additional texture, and the eyes on stalks contained lightbulbs.

It was designed to be operated by one man - Robert Jewell, who was an experienced Dalek operator - who could manipulate the large claws, as well as a pair of smaller claws on either side of the mouth.

Pipes would be used to pump out slime from the base of the prop.

The prop had not been available for the Radio Times photographer to capture in publicity photographs.

Only one official image of the creature exists - standing outside in a car park in broad daylight. This was taken on 6th March.

Apparently some local children who observed this shoot found the prop funny rather than scary.

Lloyd had wanted some "beauty and the beast" style images, with a couple of young women posing with the creature (just as the female Guardians had bee pictured posing with one of the Monoids as publicity for The Ark). The producer was unhappy when his request wasn't followed - especially once he had discovered the cost of the prop.

Relations with Shawcraft were becoming strained, and would break down almost entirely in the next few weeks.

The draft script differed from the broadcast version in that the Doctor was originally to have been taken to the hospital with Medok (then named Medoc). Various brainwashing techniques were tried on him - all to no effect, so he was instead sent to work in the mines.

The Pilot in this version was known as the "Prime-Minister" of the Colony.

During rehearsals for this episode, Sandra Bryant asked to be released from her contracted role as Chicki to take up another job offer. This was agreed, and the character would be played by another actress in Episode 4.

Frazer Hines missed some of the rehearsals to film at Gatwick Airport for the following story - presumably the shots of Jamie wandering alone around the airport in its second episode.

Recording at Lime Grove took place between 8.30 - 9.45pm on Friday 11th March, starting with a filmed reprise of the Doctor and Medok witnessing the Macra from the end of the previous instalment.

The main new set was the Pilot's office, which had a large back projection screen to show the Controller images, as had the sets from the previous week.

Two of the planned recording breaks allowed the regulars to move between sleeping cubicles, whilst the final one took place after Ben and Polly had been attacked by the Macra.

For this, some of the action was shot via gimballed mirrors, which could be manipulated to make it look as if the largely immobile prop was moving.

All three companion actors reported subsequently that they had to throw themselves into the creature's grasp to make it looked like they had been seized, such was its lack of manoeuvrability. 

At other times the claws, which could be detached, were handled separately by studio crew.

One of the subjects Ian Stuart Black wanted to write about in this story was something he had touched on before. In The War Machines, WOTAN functions by mentally subjugating people - making them wish to work for it and even lay their life down for it, as can be seen when one worker calmly stands and allows himself to be gassed by one of the Machines.

As previously mentioned, Black had contributed to TV spy series, and the subject of brainwashing often arose in this genre. Captured agents might be subjected to mental torture to provide information, whilst others might be made to turn against their own people - most famously seen in Richard Conden's 1959 novel The Manchurian Candidate, filmed in 1962. It forms a significant part of Len Deighton's The Ipcress File (1962), filmed with Michael Caine as spy Harry Palmer in 1965. Indeed, "IPCRESS" proves to be an acronym - Induction of Psychoneurosis by Conditioned Reflex under Stress.

This episode shows Medok undergoing procedures similar to that seen in the Palmer movie, including strobe lighting effects which wouldn't be allowed to be broadcast these days.

The Doctor's view on such conditioning is made very clear. The reasons for him being cut off from his own people are still a couple of years away, but we can start to see possible reasons here, such as his dislike of conformity and authority. 

He tells his companion:

"Polly, I think you've been listening to some very bad advice", and, "Well it's just possible that you've been given a series of orders while you've been asleep. You know, do this, do that, do the other thing. My advice to you is don't do anything of the sort. Don't just be obedient. Always make up your own mind". He's a bit of a rebel.

Unfortunately for him - but not for the narrative - the Doctor is too late to stop Ben falling under the influence of Control. We'll talk about the young Able Seaman next time, as this very much develops to become Michael Craze's story.

Trivia:

• The viewing figures remain stable from the opening episode, though the appreciation index drops two points.
• Doctor Who was the third most watched children's series in March 1967, behind Disney Time and puppet pigs Pinky & Perky.
• Some very brief clips of the Macra attack on Ben and Polly from this episode survive, thanks to those Australian censors.
• Whilst the music for this story was composed by Dudley Simpson, and realised by Delia Derbyshire, the jingles heard throughout - such as at shift changes - were written by vocalist Wilfred Johns.
• One of Doctor Who's competitors at this point was a sitcom about time travel - It's About Time - which was being shown in Wales and the West of England. The main competition remained camp caped crusader Batman.
• One of those "things that make no sense": if the Macra don't want anyone to know what's really going on here, why do they allow the Controller to be seen in his haggard form, and then reveal themselves by dragging him away in full view of everyone?

What's Wrong With... Warriors of the Deep

Let's be kind and point out that some of the problems with this story were outwith the production team's control. Mrs Thatcher announced a surprise General Election in the UK, which meant that TV studios had to be made available for political programming. JNT could have asked for Season 21 to be held back, but elected to push ahead. Added to this, VFX designer Mat Irvine was delayed in joining the production as he was still working on something in Scotland. Instead of the usual 8 - 10 weeks lead time, he had to deliver effects in only 3 - 4.

The biggest issue was the inclusion of the Myrka, which not only had to be built but the two-man team operating it needed time to rehearse in the finished costume. As they were seasoned pantomime horse performers, having worked the horse Dobbin in children's comedy series Rentaghost this wasn't felt to be too big a problem. They were experienced working together in this sort of setup.

Unfortunately, the Myrka simply couldn't be finished in time to allow them the rehearsal they needed. They only got to don the costume on the day it was due to be recorded, when the paint was still wet and the glue hadn't dried properly. 

Janet Fielding would get green paint on her costume, and you can actually see it getting onto the set in the finished programme.

Irvine and director Pennant Roberts urged JNT to drop the creature, rejigging the script to replace it with a Sea Devil vanguard. JNT, intending the Myrka to be a selling point for the story, refused to budge.

The Myrka quickly came to be regarded as a joke, a dodgy costume on a par with the Ergon and the Taran Wood Beast.

It's not just the actual Myrka costume which is a problem. As well as its bizarre off-centre walk, the door it breaks through is obviously not metal. You see it bend.

There are some poor performances. Ingrid Pitt claims that she simply didn't have time to properly rehearse her martial arts attack on the creature, leaving her looking rather stupid.

Tom Adam is wooden, and Ian McCulloch gives the impression of someone not taking things very seriously at all.

Design-wise, writer Johnny Byrne wanted the Sea Base to look dark and dank, with low lighting and rusty surfaces, as though it had been under the see for decades. This would have really helped the Myrka.

The harsh lighting affords no atmosphere whatsoever.

It is often claimed that this was an unused Space: 1999 script by Byrne, or a remake of one of the broadcast episodes. None match, however, though one of the very last shows of the second series - "The Beta Cloud" - sees a large monster moving inexorably through Moonbase Alpha, with the base personnel attempting to stop it.

Warriors of the Deep is supposed to be a direct sequel to The Silurians and The Sea Devils but - despite Byrne having had the chance to see the episodes and read the scripts - the new story does not match up with what went before.

The 1970 story did feature three prominent Silurians - the Old, the Young and the Scientist. They are never named - only in the novelisation - yet here we have a Silurian named Icthar who is supposed to be one of these, and that this group were known as "The Triad". The Old Silurian was killed, and the Young apparently so - shot by the Brigadier before the cave roof collapsed on his head - so Icthar can only be the Scientist. Where has the name come from, and how did the Doctor know that their leadership was known as "The Triad"?

It certainly can't be that the Doctor recognises the scientist, as Icthar looks nothing like him thanks to the costume redesign.

Part of this redesign is the third eye losing all of its earlier powers, reduced to flashing just to let you know who's talking.

Other knowledge which the Doctor gets from nowhere is the recognition of a Silurian battle cruiser, when no such thing has ever been seen before. He also knows about the Myrka, when he has never met that either.

He's not the only person demonstrating knowledge he shouldn't have. Vorshak starts talking about "Sea Devils" when no-one has told them what they are called.

Fans have tried to square the circle by postulating an unseen story in which all these things featured - but the problem with that is that the dialogue here clearly states that the Doctor has attempted peace twice before - which can only refer to the pair of Pertwee stories.

The monster costumes pose problems. The Sea Devil actors trip over their feet and the heads droop to the side or wobble when they move. The costumes come unstuck in places and you get to see the white T-shirts being worn underneath. You can see the eyes of one of the Silurian actors through their mask.

There's some terribly clumsy plotting - like the mention of both reptilian and marine life being susceptible to Hexachromite gas seconds after the Doctor steps out of the TARDIS. How lucky to have a big stock of it when Silurians and Sea Devils are going to attack. And it's one of those coincidences too far when the enemy agents just happen to pick the day the base is invaded by monsters to carry out their sabotage.

Maddox is the back-up Synch-Operator, but is only a student and clearly mentally unfit. If this base is so vital then why was an experienced Operator not jetted in immediately to replace the dead one? That death alone should have been treated as suspicious and acted upon.

The Doctor decides that it would be a good idea to wander around the base and ask for permission to carry out TARDIS repairs - despite knowing that he's in the middle of a war zone and the ship has only just been attacked.

Why leave the ship to carry out the work in the first place? He knows that no-one can get in, unless he's really, really stupid and leaves the doors open... Oh look! He's been really, really stupid and left the doors open...

And when the Doctor does come across some crew, he hides!

Not for the first time, seeing that he really does travel in a weird spaceship makes everyone automatically accept that everything he says must be true.

Not for the first time either - the monsters kill every single person they meet until they encounter a regular or guest star, then switch to just taking prisoners, like they've been working their way up the cast list in Radio Times.

I did notice that Tegan's limp suddenly vanishes in the final episode, but failed to spot that she acquires a bra between episodes...

The Seeds of Gloom...

You have probably been reading in the newspapers or on-line that Doctor Who is facing one of its periodic "Cancellation Crises". This originated with tabloid The Sun, which is hardly the most reliable of sources. It was picked up today by other sections of the press - reported simply as rumour in the quality ones, whilst the Daily Mail went further and gave all its perceived reasons for the potential resting of the series (woke casting / woke storylines / woke agenda).

Such is the buzz that the BBC has released a statement that the series is "not being shelved". They point out that Disney commissioned 26 episodes, with nearly half still to air. 

RTD2 himself claims that he was tasked with making the programme "younger and simpler" - no arguments from me on that one, I'm afraid, if Space Babies is anything to go by. He admits that the ratings are disappointing, but then says that the under 16 and 16 - 34 demographics are good.

(For me, any increase in younger viewers shouldn't mean losing older ones. I'm pretty sure the BBC did intend RTD2 to increase some demographics - but never at the expense of the rest).

These statements haven't soothed matters as the BBC also reiterate that any sixteenth series is wholly dependent on how well Series 15 does, and Disney won't be committing any monies until then (meaning certainly no new series in 2025, and no guarantee of another festive special either).

Those 26 episodes are already accounted for - 3x 60th Anniversary Specials, 2x Christmas Specials, 8x Series 14 episodes, 8x Series 15 episodes, plus the War Between Land & Sea spin-off. A lot of people think the latter might be run across a single week, like TW: Children of Earth, so that would account for the final 5 of the 26 episodes.

Muddying the water is talk of Gatwa wanting to leave because he (a) had to turn down a lucrative fragrance contract and / or (b) wants to move to LA to pursue a Hollywood career. No doubt the move is true, but there's no reason why you can't balance both a British TV show, which now only runs 8 weeks, and the odd movie.

Disney are notoriously bad at letting people know the viewing figures for their productions. We know that they have been suffering badly with the various Star Wars series, which ought to have been guaranteed winners. The Acolyte isn't being renewed and, whilst it has been critically acclaimed, Skeleton Crew has failed to make a dent in the Nielsen ratings. Both Andor and Ahsoka are getting one further season each, but these are supposed to be their final outings. The Marvel movies are also showing diminishing returns, so there's a definite superhero-fatigue setting in. Basically, Disney are getting hit financially, and if they're pulling the plug on big names which they pretty much own outright, then what hope for co-productions - especially one that isn't getting high viewing figures?

Apparently there was zero representation from Disney at the recent big Gallifrey One convention, and they didn't mention Doctor Who at all in their "Coming in 2025" trailers at New Year. Hardly confidence inspiring.

As I've said before, for Disney+ the bottom line is subscribers to their streaming service. If Doctor Who isn't adding new subscribers, or retaining existing ones after a series has ended, then they are unlikely to invest further.

Even if a sixteenth series is greenlit come May or thereabouts, we're probably going to have to get used to this on-going uncertainty year by year.

Episode 153: The Macra Terror (1)

Synopsis:

The Pilot, leader of a human colony on an alien world, is enjoying a Drum Majorette display choreographed by a colonist named Barney when he spots his security chief, Ola, pursuing a young man. This is Medok, who had been on his way for treatment when he broke free.

He manages to get outside the colony complex where he sees a strange blue wooden box appear out of nowhere.

The Doctor's companions emerge from the TARDIS. All are wary, with Jamie arming himself with a sturdy stick after having witnessed the savage-looking claw on the time scanner.

The Doctor points out that the creature they glimpsed was large, so they will easily see it approaching a long way off.

Seeing that he seems to be carrying a weapon, Medok lunges at Jamie. Ben instinctively steps in and wrestles the fugitive to the ground where he is seized by the pursuing guards. Ola questions how the strangers came to be in the vicinity of the colony, then invites them to come and meet the Pilot who will want to thank them in person for helping to capture Medok.

The Doctor is concerned that Medok isn't a criminal, but someone who it is claimed is in need of "treatment".

At the colony, they notice muzak and jingles playing, along with frequent encouraging announcements, which appear to help regulate the day for the colonists. They are invited to attend the Refreshing Department, presided over by Barney, which includes make-overs, sun-bathing and other beauty treatments. The Doctor uses a machine which tidies up his appearance - so then uses a rough-and-tumble machine to get back to the way he looked in the first place.

The Pilot appears to have an unseen superior known as the Controller, whose still photograph appears on screens as announcements are made.

Elsewhere, Ola is escorting Medok to the security centre. A friend named Questa urges him not to resist the help he is being offered. He tries to warn everyone that there are creatures which infiltrate the colony at night.

The Doctor is observing nearby. After everyone has gone he breaks into the centre and frees Medok in order to speak to him - asking for more information about the creatures he has seen.

The captive runs off and the Doctor is arrested by Ola, accused of freeing the prisoner. They should all be sent to the mines. Polly argues that they are unfamiliar with their laws, and it was the Doctor who captured Medok in the first place. The Pilot agrees, and suggests that they should visit the colony's Labour Centre to learn more about their society.

On their way there, the Doctor spots Medok hiding in a building under construction on the edge of the main colony complex.

At the Labour Centre, the travellers meet a man named Alvis who is a shift leader. He explains that the colony mines and refines a gas which is vital to their survival. It is dangerous work, but everyone in the colony is willing to work hard.

The Doctor sneaks away and goes to find Medok at the building site, having him tell him more about the creatures he sees at night. He claims they have claws and crawl around on multiple legs like giant insects.

His companions are searching for them when Ola announces that it is time for the night-time curfew, and they must report to guest quarters. The Doctor reappears and goes with them. Ola warns them that anyone caught outside after curfew can be shot on sight.

However, the Doctor then later sneaks out again after everyone has gone to bed, intending to rejoin Medok and witness the creatures for himself.

Ola is still searching with his men, and they find that they will have to leave their hiding place as they approach. 

They are about to slip into another empty building when they see a dark shape moving towards them through the gloom - a huge crab-like creature with glowing eyes...

Data:

Written by Ian Stuart Black

Recorded: Saturday 4th March 1967 - Lime Grove Studio D

First broadcast: 5:50pm, Saturday 11th March 1967

Ratings: 8 million / AI 50

Designer: Kenneth Sharp

Director: John Davies

Guest cast: Peter Jeffrey (Pilot), Gertan Klauber (Ola), Terence Lodge (Medok), Graham Armitage (Barney), Ian Fairbairn (Questa), Alvis (Anthony Gardner), Drum Majorette (Maureen Lane), Chicki (Sandra Bryant), Graham Leaman (Controller), Denis Goacher (Voice of Control), Richard Beale (Broadcast Voice), Robert Jewell (Macra Operator).

Critique:

Ian Stuart Black had contributed two scripts for the latter part of William Hartnell's third season as the Doctor - The Savages and The War Machines, the latter based on an idea from Kit Pedler.

Black had moved on to other projects, including Adam Adamant Lives!, which had for its hero a Victorian adventurer displaced through time to the present day. Story editor Gerry Davis approached him to contribute a further four part story for Doctor Who.

Davis brought the idea of a seemingly happy and idyllic setting - such as a holiday camp - harbouring a dark secret, with sinister things going on in the background. There were thought of some subterranean creatures which only emerged at night - like the Morlocks in HG Wells' The Time Machine.

Seeking a monster to place in this story, Davis referred to a noticeboard he had set up in the production office. This held brief synopses of every story broadcast to date, with an accompanying photograph. This had been initiated by Davis to ensure there was no repetition of story ideas or concepts. 

They noticed that spiders had never been used in the series.

Black commenced his first draft of what was then known as "Dr Who and the Spidermen", emphasising that the monsters needed a gas to survive which was toxic to humans.

The story was originally scheduled to take place third in the new Doctor's run, immediately following William Emms' "The Imps".

Director John Davies had worked for Innes Lloyd before, whilst designer Ken Sharp had spent the last six months working on children's variety show Crackerjack!. 

The story title was briefly amended to "Dr Who and the Insect-Men", then became "Dr Who and the Macras".

This came about because Davis had gone off the idea of basing a story around spiders, having seen the Zarbi in The Web Planet. It was decided now that the monsters should be based on crabs. Sharp and Davies visited the Natural History Museum in London where they studied a number of crabs through a microscope. The name chosen for the new monsters derived from macrocheira kaempferi - the Japanese spider crab which can measure up to 12 feet.

The construction of the Macra prop was, as usual, farmed out to Shawcraft Models of Uxbridge.

The change from spider-based creatures to crab-like ones resulted in scripting discrepancies, as some pieces of dialogue in the finished episodes still referred to insects. 

BBC Enterprise's synopsis of the story referred to the creatures as "Macras", "crab-like Macra-Men" and "insect men" at different points.

Lloyd had decided that the series should have a new title sequence, which he had hoped would be introduced during Troughton's first story, The Power of the Daleks. Plans were made with graphics designer Bernard Lodge and engineer Ben Palmer to film this on 26th November at Riverside Studios, as part of the recording of the Dalek story's final instalment. 

The session finally took place in Television Centre's Studio 2 on Friday 9th December.

The new titles would include the Doctor's features for the first time. This had been attempted back in August 1963 but experiments using a live image of technician Tony Halfpenny fed into the howlround mix were deemed too scary to use by Verity Lambert - the face taking on a demonic appearance.

Lodge would use a photograph of Troughton's face, lit from the top, as a basis for the new graphics. Roughened polystyrene would be used for the mix from image to image. The text font was changed to Times New Roman.

It had been intended that a new arrangement of Ron Grainer's theme music would accompany the new titles, but this was deferred until the following story.

During the second week of January 1967, Lloyd took a holiday and assistant story editor Peter Bryant was placed temporarily in charge of the series. Costume designer Sandra Reid was still in hospital and was now replaced by Vanessa Clarke, after Daphne Dare had covered the previous few episodes.

Composer Dudley Simpson worked closely with Brian Hodgson of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop on the music cues for the story, creating 11 minutes of highly distinctive music for the story.

Delia Derbyshire created the Chromophone Band track, which tops and tails the story.

Some of the muzak heard in this story had been featured previously in the science fiction anthology series Out of the Unknown.

Filming on The Macra Terror got underway on Wednesday 15th February with scenes of Terence Lodge being pursued across a wasteland by Klauber's Ola and some guards, who included John Caesar. He had played a Monoid in The Ark. Lodge was cast as Davies had employed him previously. Danny Rae, playing another guard, sprained his ankle running over the rough ground. A handheld 16mm camera was employed as well as the fixed 35mm one. The regular cast were not required, their scenes being reserved for the TV studio. The TARDIS prop was taken on location and seen to materialise. It had been intended that its departure in the fourth episode would be filmed at the same time, but this idea was dropped.

It was so cold that the budget included a bottle of brandy to warn cast and crew up. 

The location was the Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers Ltd quarry near Dunstable.

For many, many years, Doctor Who Magazine persisted with the claim that the footage of Patrick Troughton, viewed by the Time Lords in the first episode of The Three Doctors, came from this story.

Friday 17th saw Graham Leaman photographed at Ealing for his stern Big Brother-like appearance as the Controller, shortly before filming his scenes as the older, unkempt character for later in the serial.

On the same day Davies filmed the detached Macra claw, to be seen on the TARDIS Time Scanner at the conclusion of The Moonbase.

On Monday 27th February publicity photos were taken of guest stars Peter Jeffrey and Klauber in costume as the Pilot and Ola. This was earlier than usual in the production process, but Radio Times argued that with only a one week gap between recording and broadcast the publication could no longer wait for the camera rehearsals, on the day of recording, when publicity shots were usually taken.

Rehearsals began the following day, with John Davies complaining about the catering facilities at St Helen's Church Hall, North Kensington. The situation would deteriorate further...

Frazer Hines missed the last day of rehearsals to do some filming at Gatwick Airport for the following story.

Recording got underway at Lime Grove on Saturday 4th March with the new title sequence. This was supposed to be followed by the opening credits playing over shots of the Drum Majorette band, but this was changed at the last minute to a close-up of Medok's face.

Both the Refreshing Department and Labour Centre sets featured large back projection screens on which could be shown photographs of Leaman as the Controller.

The TARDIS was set up on a cliff-face beside the entrance gateway to the colony (pictured above).

The first break came after the Refreshing Department sequence, to allow the regulars to change out of the costumes they had been wearing. Anneke Wills donned a wig to give Polly much shorter hair, whilst Hines and Craze wore tunics with shorts. Troughton briefly donned a smartened up version of his costume.

The second break allowed Klauber to move from the security section set, and the final one was scheduled following the Doctor's first visit to Medok in the empty building which is under construction.

Closing captions ran over a shot of the Macra prop, recorded in darkness and surrounded by dry ice.

We'll save our look at the Macra itself until next time.

Inspirations for Black's story, other than those originally offered by Gerry Davis, might include the Patrick McGoohan spy series Danger Man, which the writer contributed to. It has been theorised that the main character - Drake - is the person who later becomes The Prisoner when he tries to resign from his role. Black was involved with the cult classic as well. The latter's Village is a holiday camp-style setting which harbours dark secrets, being a type of prison in which people are brainwashed amongst other things. One episode of Danger Man featured a holiday camp which turned out to be a mock-up behind the Iron Curtain, designed to train Soviet agents.

The mind control aspects of The Macra Terror we will also come back to.

For such bleak subjects, there's a considerable amount of humour in this opening episode - mainly involving the discomfort felt by the Doctor and his companions as the colonists attempt to involve them in their enforced jollity.

Sadly, the producers of the animated episodes elected to remove entirely the Refreshing Department sequence. It might not add to the overall storyline, but it is illustrative of this society's need for everyone to conform, with seemingly innocent, fun activities actually masking an invidious mental conditioning process. 

The sequence also has some lovely character moments for the regulars - the last time we will really see them as a group of friends who travel together, though that wouldn't have been known at the time. 

There are some humorous exchanges in these scenes:

Ben (looking at the Doctor's 'refreshed' shoes): "Oh they're fantastic! You can see your face in them".

The Doctor: "Precisely. Who wants to see their face in a pair of suede shoes?".

And earlier:

Jamie: "Hey mister, would you call the ladies off. I'm frightened what they might do to me".

Barney: "Oh but you look charming, sir. Charming".

Jamie: "That's what I'm frightened of".

Trivia:

• The ratings remain healthy, despite the minimal publicity. As you can see below, publicity images concentrated on a couple of men in uniforms - visually uninteresting - and there was no trailer made for this story. The new monster was hardly promoted at all, with only a couple of newspapers running the single photograph of the prop.
• The day before broadcast, Junior Points of View showed mostly negative views about the programme, though one young fan thought that the story editor should be replaced, or forced to write better material for such a good actor. The show as also described as being intended for "intellectuals".
• At the weekly programme review meeting on 15th March, BBC Controller of Programmes, Television - Huw Weldon - described this episode as "an agreeable kind of terror".
• Ian Fairbairn was originally going to be cast as a guard, but got the better role of Questa. He will return to the series as one of Douglas Camfield's repertoire of favoured actors, appearing in The Invasion, Inferno and The Seeds of Doom.
• Graham Leaman will go on to play Time Lords in Colony in Space and The Three Doctors, as well as featuring in Fury from the Deep and The Seeds of Death.
• Richard Beale had previously voiced the Refusian in The Ark, and had played Bat Masterson in The Gunfighters. He'll return in The Green Death.
• Gertan Klauber had played the galley-master in The Romans.
• Sandra Bryant had been seen in The War Machines, when she played Kitty, manager of the Inferno nightclub. On the day before recording she requested through her agent that she be released from later episodes due to another job offer. Davies would recast another actress as Chicki for Episode 4.
• Peter Jeffrey's best known role in Doctor Who is as Count Grendel in The Androids of Tara. He was the first ever actor to go on record stating that he took a role in the series specifically to please his children - claiming they wouldn't have forgiven him had he turned the part down.
• Many years later, when Gerry Davis visited the production office to discuss a "Genesis of the Cybermen" storyline with Eric Saward and JNT, he was pleased to see that his story synopsis noticeboard idea was still in use.
• Radio Times previewed the story with a brief synopsis and one of the images of Jeffrey and Klauber: