Inspirations: The Bells of Saint John

Three story arcs in play, two of which (spoilers) will merge at the end of this series. The third will take another year to materialise.

The first is Clara. We've seen Jenna Coleman, as she was then, twice so far - with similar names but in quite different time zones and on different planets. The last was a Victorian governess, who moonlighted as a barmaid (or a barmaid who moonlighted as a governess), and this new Clara is a childminder - so there might be a connection there. A barmaid could be said to work in Hospitality, and the first "Clara" we met was an entertainments officer on a spaceship, so Hospitality again.

The second arc is that of the Great Intelligence, last seen in a prequel to the Edward Travers arc of The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear.

That third arc, which won't play out until Series 8, is the woman who gives Clara the phone number for the TARDIS (for the title of this episode refers to the ship's telephone, a Police Box also having a St John's Ambulance badge to indicate that it contains a first aid kit).

I'm sure a lot of people thought that this mysterious woman might be River Song, whilst every female villain is always going be the Rani. (It's been said that the villain of Series 15 is a woman, so might the Rani finally be coming back? A bit redundant after Missy, but you never know).

As with the Troughton stories and The Snowmen, the Intelligence makes use of something 'local' to act as its weapons - Yeti in Tibet and snowmen in a Victorian London winter.

In the first quarter of the 21st Century it's all about digital technology, and everyone is transferring from the old wired connections to Wi-Fi. The latest weapons are therefore mobile Wi-Fi hotspots - dubbed "Spoonheads" due to the concave shape of the back of the head.

Moffat stated that he deliberately wanted to use something everyone used in day to day life as a threat - something he's done often enough before and since.

Quite what the Intelligence wanted with the Earth we never knew. In its first outing it looked as though it was going to physically consume the planet, so perhaps feeding on natural energies of some kind.

It never looked as if it wanted human beings for any purpose, other than to have a single individual to act as its agent - Padmasambhava, Sgt. Arnold, Dr Simeon and now Miss Kizlet.

Here the Intelligence appears to be harvesting - what? Souls? Mental energy? Is it psychically eating people, or just enslaving them? It isn't entirely clear what its goal is.

London landmarks have played a part in Doctor Who's Earth invasions ever since Daleks were photographed on Westminster Bridge. After that we've had St Pauls (Cybermen), the Tower of London (UNIT), the London Eye (Nestenes), Big Ben (Slitheen), Gherkin (Sycorax), Thames Barrier (Racnoss), and Canary Wharf (Torchwood). 

Now the Shard is used.

This story is also the latest to feature a duplicate of the Doctor, companion or both - a feature of the series ever since the Daleks made an android Doctor in The Chase. It almost started even earlier, as the abandoned third story of Season One, "The Hidden Planet" by Malcolm Hulke, was to have featured a double of Barbara. Here, both the Doctor and Clara are copied by Spoonheads.

The story opens with the Doctor continuing his self-imposed exile, initiated by the loss of Amy and Rory. Hiding out in the same city and time zone as the Paternoster Gang probably wasn't a clever idea if you want to avoid adventurous entanglements, so the Doctor has relocated to a monastery in medieval Cumbria. No longer dwelling on the loss of Amy, he's now becoming obsessed with the Impossible Girl.

Once his interest is piqued and he returns to the fray, he abandons old habits (literally) and dons a new outfit. 

We see him admire a bow-tie in a box - one once worn by Patrick Troughton.

There's a topical reference to the London Riots of 2011, and mention of a mix-up at Earl's Court - a reference to the fact that there's a Police Box outside the Underground Station.

Next time: the Doctor faces the music, whilst Clara takes a leaf out of her mother's book...

What's Wrong With... Arc of Infinity

It's one of JNT's "shopping list" stories, which never turn out well. Plot should drive everything, not be driven by the need to include specific locations or characters.

The story opens with an unseen Time Lord communicating with a masked being who appears in negative. The Time Lord's voice is treated slightly - but as soon as you know that Michael Gough is in the cast then the game's up. The reveal that he's the traitor on Gallifrey becomes an anti-climax.

A technician named Talor detects his activities, so Hedin kills him. This draws attention and leads to suspicions, so you have to wonder why Hedin didn't just incapacitate Talor and make it look like a minor accident. He only needs him quieted for a short time, as he expects Omega to return any day now.

It's very lucky for him that he only has a pig-headed Castellan and a vainglorious Chancellery Guard  Captain to contend with.

Yes, the masked figure is Omega, last seen being annihilated in a matter / anti-matter collision big enough to turn a black hole into a supernova - as if one's the opposite of the other.

It's left unexplained how he survived.

Also unexplained is why, if you're going to bring back a popular old foe, you don't retain such an iconic original costume and plump for something over-designed instead.

To stop Omega from transferring into the matter universe, the Time Lords decide to execute the Doctor. It is obvious that he had to have had help from someone on the High Council to make transfer - it's explicitly stated that only someone on the High Council has the authority - but this is ignored by everyone until halfway through the story, once Omega's been revealed, and the second half needs something new to maintain interest.

If the Doctor is the most dangerous person in the universe, and time is pressing, why imprison him in his vast TARDIS and not in a cell which is much easier to guard? Even if he can't pilot the TARDIS away, he could give the guards the runaround long enough for Omega to make his move and thus threaten the entire matter-universe.

The Doctor also gets escorted through public areas of the Capitol - which sadly these days resembles an airport departure lounge. 1980's stories date terribly.

Also, does the Doctor really need to die? Would it not be more efficient to use the Doctor to ensnare Omega and destroy him instead. What's to stop Omega simply trying again and again until eventually succeeding?

In a contemporary interview with Johnny Byrne he thought that the inclusion of Amsterdam made sense and was well-integrated into the plot. I'm afraid he must be the only one. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for this story to be set in that city, other than because JNT wanted the holiday / publicity. (At one point you actually see him ,in a sheepskin coat, herding passers-by away from the filming).

There are locations all over the planet which lie below sea level - ones which are remote and highly unlikely to have the geeky hikers stumble across them.

Picking a major city is just asking for trouble - though at least in Amsterdam something like the Ergon might not actually draw attention - certainly not for those who might frequent certain coffee shops and cafes.

When the script actually draws attention to how bad a costume is then you know you're in trouble.

How on earth did Robin know about that underground crypt in the first place, and that they wouldn't be caught? The house is hardly abandoned if there's a gardener coming in.

My own personal bugbear with this story is Coincidence. All drama depends on it, if you want to wrap up the plot within a reasonable running time or page count, but the level of coincidence in this story is off the scale.

Had the Doctor somehow managed to cross paths with Tegan in London, that's one thing - she lives there, and he visits regularly. But for him to just happen to come across her again in a city we've never seen either visit before is far-fetched. Then we have the fact that a relative of hers just happens to be one of the people who accidentally stumbles into Omega's lair - and she's intending at that very moment to come and visit him.

The Doctor isn't reunited with Tegan when she's working, and so can't rejoin him and Nyssa. No, she just happens to be free right now.

There's also the issue with the Youth Hostel. The idea that the staff just happen to twig that it's Tegan they're looking for, out of goodness knows how many Australians who visit Amsterdam, is also pushing it too far.

The story at least mentions Leela and K-9, but would either really be absent if the Doctor was going to be executed? Assuming they are off on some sort of mission, they'd be using a TARDIS surely, so could get back immediately. Why is Andred no longer commander of the Chancellery Guard? Are the Time Lords racists now, that they victimise someone for marrying an alien? Why did the Doctor miss the wedding? Surely they would have ensured that he could attend, having brought them all together?

Last, but certainly not least, watch the Behind the Sofa for the story when they get to the scene in which Omega looks down at the boy beside the pipe organ and smiles. Everyone watching throws their hands up. This scene was praised back in 1983, with parallels drawn with the Frankenstein Monster and the little girl by the lake in the Universal classic, but watching it today I'm afraid Davison comes across looking like a child molester...

Episode 137: The Power of the Daleks (3)

Synopsis:

The inquiry into the activities of Deputy Governor Quinn has been interrupted as Lesterson and Janley unveil their active Dalek. It claims to be a servant to the humans - repeating this over and over again to drown out the Doctor's warnings...

Hensell is caught up in Lesterson's enthusiasm, seeing only the benefits to the colony which he is promising.

Ben and Polly see that the Dalek seems to recognise the Doctor, who challenges it to deactivate itself. It hesitates before doing so. The Doctor and his companions leave the room, and the Dalek reactivates itself. Lesterson asks it to explain why it refused to obey the order immediately, but it counters that it cannot help the colony if it isn't operational. Hensell is suspicious as to how intelligent it is if it can reason thus, but the scientist reassures him and returns with it to his laboratory.

Quinn's tribunal resumes, and he reveals that it was he who summoned an Examiner in the first place, to tackle the rebel problem - so why would he try to kill him?

Bragen accuses him of carrying out acts against the colony then blaming them on the rebels, in order to undermine Hensell and take over himself.

Quinn is ordered to be locked up, and Bragen is promoted in his place.

In the guest quarters, the Doctor has a dilemma. Destroy the Daleks and they will be locked up as no-one believes his warnings; leave them alone and they will exterminate everyone. He hits on an idea and begins dismantling the metal bed frame.

Polly sees Quinn in the corridor as he is being escorted to the cell block, and he advises her to try to find out where the rebels hold their gatherings.

Lesterson is conducting intelligence tests on the Dalek when the Doctor arrives - claiming it is best to co-operate rather than challenge each other all the time. He offers to help.

Whilst the scientist is distracted, the Doctor uses a piece of metal to sabotage the Daleks' power supply to wreck it. The attempt fails and Lesterson throws him out.

Janley and Bragen meet and it transpires that she is a member of the rebel group - and he is fully aware of this fact. They are both interested in exploiting the Dalek - and its weaponry. With Quinn out of the way, Bragen turns his attention towards the Examiner. 

They will deal with him through his friends...

Polly is then lured to the Communications Room, where she is abducted by a rebel named Valmar.

Ben quickly becomes concerned by her absence though the Doctor advises patience.

The Dalek claims that it can improve the efficiency of the colony's meteorite detection system if given the right materials and a power source. Lesterson goes to get permission from Hensell, and the Dalek enters the capsule. Seeing that the lab should be empty, the Doctor and Ben enter and spot a power cable running into the capsule. They are then confronted by a further two Daleks - both armed. They flee the room.

They go to Bragen to inform him of Polly's disappearance, but he questions the Doctor's motives in being here - accusing him of stirring trouble and being in league with Quinn. He does not believe him to be the Examiner at all, having killed the real one. The Doctor counters by asking him how he knows the real Examiner to be dead.

A short time later, a note is delivered anonymously to their quarters warning that Polly will be safe so long as they don't interfere.

Lesterson returns to his lab to see the three active Daleks - now all disarmed, claiming not to need weapons. Told they will get what they require for the meteorite detection system, they become highly animated, repeatedly chanting "We will get our power!"...

Data: 

Written by David Whitaker

Recorded: Saturday 5th November 1966 - Riverside Studio 1

First broadcast: 5:50pm, Saturday 19th November 1966

Ratings: 7.5 million / AI 44

Designer: Derek Dodd

Director: Christopher Barry

Additional cast: Richard Kane (Valmar), Gerald Taylor, Kevin Manser, Robert Jewell (Daleks), Peter Hawkins (Dalek voices)

Critique:

David Whitaker had not written for the series since the second season, when individual episodes had their own title. This one, he called "Servant of Masters".

His draft differed in several ways from the finished episode. In particular there was a lengthy scene set in a medical bay. The Doctor assumed that he would pass his tests with flying colours - only to find that the machines were stating he was in a bad way. In the same way that the draft opening instalment had stated explicitly that the Doctor's renewal wasn't the first time he had undergone the process, so in this episode he told his companions that he was 750 years old, and had his last check-up 250 years ago.

We wouldn't be given an age for the Doctor on screen until Tomb of the Cybermen, and the idea that there had been earlier, unseen incarnations took until "The Timeless Child" concept to be aired.

In interviews Dennis Spooner mentioned the work he had to do on Whitaker's scripts - singling out a food machine scene which he felt broke the flow of the episode and added nothing to the plot. There is a very strong possibility that it was actually this medical scene that he was actually referring to, as it involved automated devices and the sequence would fit with his criticisms of it.

Another significant difference was that Quinn had temporarily escaped from his guards when he met Polly in a colony corridor.

Something which would no doubt be deleted today was a conversation between the Doctor and Ben regarding Polly's disappearance, when the young man states: "I'll belt her one when she turns up...".

We'll talk about Terry Nation's opinion of Whitaker's Dalek stories next time...

The third episode of The Power of the Daleks was recorded on the evening when Patrick Troughton made his public debut as the Doctor. The actor was so nervous that he refused to watch it.

Three Dalek props were required in studio, and the circular camera mask was employed once again to show their point of view shots. Joining Gerald Taylor, who had operated the Dalek in the second episode are regular operators Kevin Manser and Robert Jewell. The latter had recently worked on the second Peter Cushing Dalek movie, which was in the cinemas at this time.

Troughton performed Oh Can Ye Sew Cushions on the recorder.

The opening credits were shown over a shot of the first Dalek in Hensell's office, with the closing ones over the trio of Daleks chanting, which faded to black.

Three of the five cliff-hangers for this story involve chanting Daleks.

Anneke Wills would not be required for the next episode, but she, Troughton and Craze were needed later that week for filming at Ealing for the following story - The Highlanders.

Trivia:

• The ratings continue to slide whilst the appreciation figure remains stable. The series drops out of the Top 50 programmes for the week.
• This is the shortest of the story's six episodes, with a duration of 23' 31".
• Richard Kane, who passed away in February 2023, is probably best known for his role as Inspector Bottomley in the "Masonic Mysteries" instalment of Inspector Morse.
• There has always been some debate about how the Daleks managed to survive their first encounter with the Doctor, causing some to place The Daleks (aka "The Mutants" 1963/4) later in their timeline (a devolved group left behind) or - more likely - there were other Dalek communities elsewhere on Skaro. This story, however, reveals that Daleks simply become dormant when their power source is removed, and can survive for centuries. It may well be that the Daleks in their city merely went into a prolonged hibernation after the attack by Alydon's people - which just happens to be the scenario for Whitaker's Curse of the Daleks stage play.
• The Listener of 24th November gave the new Doctor a tentative welcome, with their TV critic "not yet fully adapted" to Troughton. JC Trewin did think that the new Doctor was just as capable of tackling the Daleks as his predecessor.
• The Dalek's chant of "I am your servant..." was the inspiration for the "I am your soldier..." of the Ironsides in Victory of the Daleks. This whole story was an influence on Mark Gatiss for the seemingly subservient Daleks in his 2010 story.

O is for... Ogrons

Brutal ape-like beings, they were natives of an obscure planet in a relatively unexplored region of space, on the edge of the Earth and Draconian Empires. Fiercely loyal, though low in intelligence, they made ideal servants for other races – gaining a reputation as mercenaries. When the Daleks changed Earth history in order to make their failed 22^nd Century invasion of Earth a success they employed the Ogrons as a security force. The human Controller wished to employ his own kind, due to the dim-witted nature of the Ogrons, but the Daleks overruled him.
When a guerilla group travelled back to the 20^th Century to prevent their timeline from taking place, Ogrons were sent back to stop them. Though armed with superior weaponry, they preferred brute force to kill or capture their enemies.
The Doctor discovered that they had one physical weakness – being susceptible to a blow on the top of the head.
The Doctor was able to put history back on course, and the timeline was deleted.

In 2540 the Daleks used the Ogrons as part of their scheme to pit the human and Draconian empires against one another, after being approached by the Master. He had created a device which preyed on the fear centres of the mind, causing its victims to see the thing they feared the most.
He used the Ogrons to attack spaceships belonging to both groups, ensuring that there were survivors from every raid. His device made each race see the other instead of the Ogrons. Tensions were always high between the two empires due a bloody space war which had been fought only 20 years before. Initially unaware of who was behind the scheme, the Doctor and Jo witnessed an Ogron raid when the TARDIS arrived on a space freighter – but the Earth authorities refused to believe them. The TARDIS was brought to the Ogron planet along with other spoils of the raid – alerting the Master to the Doctor’s presence. Ogrons were sent to Earth to free him from prison – the Earth people seeing them as Draconians.
Later, on a mission to free the Master from capture by the Draconians, one of their number was left behind and the Draconian Emperor realised the truth of the Doctor’s claims. The Earth authorities were also finally convinced and a mission was launched to the bleak, rocky Ogron planet.

There the Doctor discovered that the Ogrons worshipped a monster which preyed on them. In appearance it was a huge, shapeless orange mass.

Jo stole the Master’s hypnotic device, and the Doctor used it to appear as a Dalek to trick an Ogron guard into releasing his party from a cell, and later to appear as one of the monsters to cause a whole party of Ogrons to flee in terror.

Played by: Stephen Thorne, Michael Kilgarriff, Rick Lester. Appearances: Day of the Daleks (1972), Frontier in Space (1973).

• Both appearances by the Ogrons were directed by Paul Bernard. The script for  Day of the Daleks simply described "monsters" and it was he who decided that they should be ape-like. The description of them as "guard dogs" for the Daleks had led Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks to think of them as dog-like.
• Rick Lester played an Ogron in both stories.
• John Friedlander designed the half-masks, which were made by make-up trainees.
• Some of the non-speaking Ogron extras had heads too large for the masks, and they had to be split at the back.
• The company which made the Ogron-eating monster prop mistakenly called it an "Oberon-eating" monster in their literature.
• The prop was deemed so poor that its appearance was kept to an absolute minimum. It was originally to have been used in studio for the final scenes.

O is for... Ogri

Silicon-based creatures which are native to the planet Ogros. In appearance they resemble large misshapen stone blocks, which glow from within when active. They have the power to move, and feed on certain amino acids in their native, swampy habitat. These same chemicals are to be found in blood, and they hunt and kill mammalian life – including humans - for sustenance.

The criminal Cessair of Diplos removed a number of them from Ogros to utilise as weapons, and they were being transported with her on a prison ship which became stranded in hyperspace. She escaped to prehistoric Earth – arriving in the remote western region of England. The stones were hidden in a neolithic stone circle which came to be known as the Nine Maidens. This circle attained the reputation of being impossible to count - the number changing each time. This was due to the occasional movement of the Ogri.

Cessair set herself up as an authority figure in the district over several centuries, changing her identity to prevent detection.

When the Doctor and Romana arrived in search of the third segment of the Key to Time, she was posing as a woman named Vivien Fay, who had befriended archaeologist Professor Emelia Rumford, who was conducting a survey of the Nine Maidens.

Fay posed as a Celtic deity known as the Cailleach, whose worshippers offered blood sacrifices to the Ogri, unaware of their alien nature.

She used the creatures to dispose of the coven when the Doctor and Romana began to investigate. K-9 was badly damaged when it attempted to defend the Doctor and Rumford from an attack by an Ogri. Once repaired, K-9 could at best hold them at bay with its nose blaster.

One Ogri was destroyed when the Doctor lured it over a cliff and into the sea, whilst another was reduced to rubble by the Megara – justice machines which had been escorting Cessair on the prison ship.

The remainder were captured to be transported back to Ogros, whilst Cessair was transformed into a new standing stone by the Megara.

Appearances: The Stones of Blood (1978)

• It was originally intended that the Ogri would be realised as a man-in-a-suit costume, but VFX designer Mat Irvine insisted that they be props.
• The scene in which an Ogri attacks a pair of campers was added due the episode under-running.

O is for... Odysseus

The Doctor encountered the Greek hero Odysseus on the plains of Troy. Intensely cynical, he refused from the outset to believe that the Doctor was an earthly incarnation of Zeus until he had proof of his divinity. The Doctor had been invited to the Greek camp by Achilles, who had thought him Zeus in the form of a beggar. 

Odysseus was the king of Ithaca, and was a great rival of the younger Achilles. He employed a spy known as Cyclops, because he had only one eye, to monitor the Trojans as well as root out possible enemy agents. Steven was caught near the Greek camp and assumed to be a Trojan spy, and the Doctor fell under Odysseus' suspicion when it became clear that he knew him.

He challenged the Doctor to devise a scheme to capture Troy within three days. Thinking the Wooden Horse an invention by Homer, the Doctor at first suggested tunnels and then launching soldiers into the city by glider. All were dismissed by Odysseus and he was eventually left with the Horse.

The Doctor then discovered that Odysseus expected him to accompany the party who would hide within the Horse under his command.

Troy fell, and Odysseus slew King Priam and his son Paris during the carnage. The prophetess Cassandra was taken as a spoil of war, and she cursed Odysseus that he would not get home until the same number of years as the Greeks had laid siege had passed. He ignored this, then confronted the Doctor who managed to slip into the TARDIS. It dematerialised - leaving the Ithacan to wonder if he hadn't been Zeus after all.

Played by: Ivor Salter. Appearances: The Myth Makers (1965).

• Second of three appearances in the series by Salter. The first was the Morok Commander in The Space Museum, and the last was the police sergeant in Black Orchid.
• Odysseus (Ulysses or Ulixes to the Romans) did get home the long way round as Cassandra had prophesied, or so Homer tells us in, spoilers, The Odyssey. He and his crew had adventures with the Cyclops Polyphemus and the Lotus Eaters amongst many others, and didn't get back to Ithaca for 10 years. His Queen, Penelope, was being courted by several suitors as he was thought to be dead, but she procrastinated for years. A series of challenges were set up, the winner to wed her, and an incognito Odysseus joined this competition - ultimately winning the hand of his own wife.

O is for... Odin

Leader of a Mire raiding party who impersonated the Norse deity in order to manipulate a small Viking community. Like the mythical figure, he wore an eye-patch. The war-like Mire preferred to let their reputation for bloodshed overpower a target population, to avoid actual conflict. Warriors were their chosen victims as they thrived on certain male hormones such as testosterone. 

After a huge projection of his face appeared in the sky above the Norse village, a party of Mire descended from their orbiting spacecraft and lured the best warriors up to it - claiming they were being taken to Valhalla. Once aboard, they were vapourised and their hormones harvested. The ship was about to depart when a girl named Ashildr challenged the Mire to a fight. Odin was forced to accept, conscious of their reputation, but also because their advanced weaponry would make short work of the remaining villagers.

However, the Doctor was also aware of their reliance on reputation and so set up a trap - tricking Odin and the Mire into thinking they were being attacked by a dragon when in fact they were only being confronted by a wooden mock-up. This was filmed, and the Doctor threatened to release the footage galaxy-wide to shame Odin and his warriors - forcing them to depart.

Played by: David Schofield. Appearances: The Girl Who Died (2015)

• Schofield stepped in late in the day to play Odin when the original actor fell ill - Brian Blessed.
• Usually cast as policemen or criminals, one of his best known roles involves neither side of the law. He is the patron of "The Slaughtered Lamb" - the country pub in An American Werewolf in London - who is prepared to tell the psychiatrist (John Woodvine) what really happened to the two US hikers.