Wednesday 6 November 2024

Reading material...


Over the last few years, I've noticed that I have been reading less and less of Doctor Who Magazine each month. The last issue I think I only read about a quarter of. The reasons are several. I have less interest in behind the scenes material on new episodes, as you get to see the interesting stuff in the BTS programme which follows each broadcast. Interviews tend to be rather hollow puff-pieces, and previews are obviously never going to tell you anything interesting. I don't do Big Finish, so ignore the Review section as it's almost entirely BF product. And there have been far too many of what I call "peripheral" articles on the series - mainly elements of fandom which I really can't get excited about (cosplaying etc).
It's got to the point that I'm contemplating scrapping the subscription and just buying the Special Editions / bookazines on a case by case basis - as these are the only things which spend any significant time looking at the classic iteration of the series.
Luckily, the latest issue of DWM - in shops tomorrow - is one of the better ones, that might take more than half an hour to read. It has a huge interview with Philip Hinchcliffe, filling a whole third of the magazine.


The issue also has a feature on Blake's 7 / Doctor Who links, as well as a piece on actor / writer John Kane, who played Tommy in Planet of the Spiders. Great cover as well, especially if you are a subscriber.


Already in the shops is the latest of the BBC "coffee-table" volumes - "The Gold Archive" - which usually appear at this time of the year, just in time for Christmas. It's all about UNIT, and is written by Mike Tucker and Steve Cole. I wasn't intending to purchase this as these are usually aimed more at the younger market, and tend to have a lousy design / layout. The preview images which appeared on Amazon had stupid graphics plastered all over the photographs, so I decided against it. However, I saw it in the shops today and had a browse, and those preview images were quite misleading. The graphics are absent, and it has a large number of unpublished images, many from the classic era. Even where I've seen the picture before, we have nice big full-page versions here. 




Interestingly, aliens which UNIT never encountered - and stories in which the organisation never appeared - are featured. A weighty tome - over 300 pages - it has an equally weighty price (£35).
Some of the text comes in the form of memos / letters, which is very old hat, but there is also conventional text as well, though I think you'll be buying it more for the images.

Finally, due out on November 21st from Panini, is another bookazine. It seems like only a couple of months ago that they released the last one ("Into The Vortex") - and then you remember that it was only a couple of months ago that they released the last one. That has only just started appearing in shops, so if you want the new "Daleks: The Ultimate Guide" I'd order it on-line, or be prepared to wait until 2025 for it to get into the shops...

Tuesday 5 November 2024

Inspirations: The Rings of Akhaten


The episode opens with a lengthy sequence in which the Doctor rummages around in Clara's personal history. We see how her mother and father first came together, all the way up to her mother's death - but there's nothing to explain the "Impossible Girl".
As RTD used to do, new companions tend to get a contemporary story, with their second usually their first trip in the TARDIS. The second and third stories take in both past and future / alien planet.
Clara gets to go to an alien planet (having already had a jaunt in the TARDIS in her first adventure).
It is to a planet which the Doctor tells her he has been to before. Not only that, but we know when this was as he mentions having been here with his grand-daughter - so probably one of those pre-Totters Lane outings which the First Doctor and Susan used to tell Ian and Barbara about.

The production team were quite open about the inspiration for the market overlooking the titular Rings - it was their chance to have a "Star Wars Cantina" moment.
One of the highlights of the first Star Wars movie was the sequence set in a bar in Mos Eisley, where Ben and Luke go in search of a pilot to take them off Tatooine. As well as a jaunty John Williams swing-style score, this featured a whole host of alien creatures, whereas the rest of the film mainly features humanoid characters.
Almost all of the subsequent "homages" included a similar sequence.
The producer and writer also discussed the speeder chase which featured in Return of the Jedi - which led to the appearance of the bike-like vehicles here.
Of the aliens which feature at the market, some had been seen before in the series only as background figures - in the Maldovarium for example. Others were designs created by Neil Gorton for other projects.

Talk of John Williams leads us on to another aspect of this story - its emphasis on music. This story allowed regular composer Murray Gold to showcase his talents, instead of merely providing the incidentals and theme.
Cast as Merry was Emilia Jones - daughter of singer and presenter Aled Jones, who came to fame singing the The Snowman song - Walking in the Air.
The planet having a face was inspired by the "Man in the Moon" figure seen in George Méliès' A Trip to the Moon (1902) - which has been parodied many times (e.g. by The Mighty Boosh).
Next time: pocket universes, haunted houses, and Quatermass...

Sunday 3 November 2024

Episode 140: The Power of the Daleks (6)


Synopsis:
The Daleks begin to emerge from their space capsule and take up position prior to their extermination of the human colonists.
The Doctor, Quinn and Polly have been arrested by Bragen and sent under guard to the prison block. In the corridor they are confronted by armed Daleks which bar their way. The Doctor leads everyone away from the area.
In the Governor's Office, Janley tells Bragen that the revolt is already a success. He tells her that it is now time to dispose of her fellow rebels, like Valmar and Kebble. They have been useful, but now pose a risk to his new authority. He is prepared to kill Janley if she disagrees.
Valmar has overheard their discussion. He goes and frees Ben, taking him to the guest quarters, then sets off in search of Quinn and the Doctor.
Bragen orders his guards to make sure that the rebels remain isolated, then announces to the entire colony that it is they who have killed Governor Hensell, but he has assumed command and reimposed order.
Having evaded their guards, the Doctor and Polly are reunited with Ben as the Daleks give the order to turn on the humans and begin killing everyone.
Valmar confronts Janley in Lesterson's laboratory and tells her he knows of her talk with Bragen. She still believes that the Daleks can be trusted to act as their weapons, this time against the new Governor and his men.
Bragen learns that the Daleks are now killing his guards, whilst Janley witnesses them exterminating her rebel friends.
The Doctor and his companions decide to hide in the lab where they find Lesterson, his mind gone. He claims that Daleks will take over from humans as the dominant lifeform.
The Doctor learns that the Daleks will shortly no longer need the static electricity supply they laid. The scientist tells him that only Valmar knows where their power supply connects to that of the colony.
Valmar, meanwhile, sees Janley killed by a Dalek, and Kebble is also dead. He rushes to the lab.
Bragen begins to plead with the Daleks to help him, unwilling to face the truth of what is going on. Quinn arrives and confronts him. He convinces him to call upon more security forces from the perimeter to come and fight the Daleks.
Daleks enter the laboratory as everyone hides - apart from Lesterson. He offers to help them, but is killed.
The Doctor has been shown the controls which were set up by Valmar and he engineers a power overload, getting knocked out in the process.
All over the colony, the Daleks begin to explode as they are overloaded with power.
Bragen overpowers Quinn, but is then shot dead by Valmar.
When he wakes up, the Doctor finds that the Dalek threat is over, but Valmar is furious that he has wrecked the colony's power supply to achieve this. Quinn and he will now work together to restore the colony.
The Doctor decides that a discreet departure is called for, and he and his companions slip back to the mercury swamp to find the TARDIS. They see a wrecked Dalek standing outside the ship.
As the TARDIS dematerialises, the eyestalk on the Dalek slowly rises to watch it disappear...
Next time: The Highlanders

Data:
Written by David Whitaker
Recorded: Saturday 26th November 1966 - Riverside Studio 1
First broadcast: 5:50pm, Saturday 10th December 1966
Ratings: 7.8 million / AI 47
Designer: Derek Dodd
Director: Christopher Barry


Critique:
In developing the character of the new Doctor, it had been decided that he would use any means necessary to defeat his enemies - even if it meant leaving a trail of destruction himself in doing so. Confronted by the chaos he had wrought, he would feign surprise, quickly excuse himself, then slip away - running away rather than staying to face the consequences of his actions.
This is certainly the case with this story, and it will be a feature of the final episodes of many Troughton adventures. This was one of the elements of a new character breakdown for the Doctor, released by the production team after this episode had been recorded.
This also highlighted the Doctor's use of disguises, preference for cryptic remarks over plain speaking, use of humour to disarm, and his unpredictability. It was also suggested that he might find himself rejected by the people he has saved - inspired by the Pied Piper fairy tale - but he preferred people to think for themselves anyway, rather than treat him as a hero.

Wednesday 28th September saw the filming of the Dalek destruction at Ealing Studios. The four main props were used, along with a number of lightweight mock-ups put together by Derek Dodd and his team. One scene was to feature a pair of Daleks, operated by John Scott Martin and Kevin Manser, collide. The operators had to wear respirators as smoke cannisters were set off. A spark from one cannister burned a hole in Manser's nylon shirt.
Other Daleks were seen to spin out of control or to crash into walls and machinery. 
The conveyer belt model was used again - with Daleks flying off the end before the whole thing was blown up.
Photographers from the Observer Colour Magazine had been present throughout the Ealing filming.
The BBC were unhappy when a number of colour photographs were subsequently published, as some featured the operators sitting in their Dalek casings. Whilst the operators had always been credited on screen, the Corporation had never talked about how the Daleks functioned, leaving many to think that they might actually be remote-controlled. These photographs rather spoiled the illusion.


Michael Craze re-joined his co-stars for rehearsals after Ben's absence from the previous episode, but not before the trio returned to Frensham Ponds on Monday 21st November to record a new ending scene for The Highlanders.
Unusually, the episode was not recorded onto 405-line videotape, as was the norm. Instead it was recorded directly onto 35mm film as the climactic scenes would require considerable editing.
The studio recording time was also scheduled from 8:30 - 10pm due to the amount of physical effects that would be required in studio.
Kevin Manser was not available for the studio recording, so his place was taken by Nicholas Evans, who had operated a Dalek in The Dalek Invasion of Earth. In that, he had also played the Slyther and, for Christopher Barry, had portrayed slave trader Didius in The Romans.
Five recording breaks were required, mainly to move cast members from set to set, but also to arrange the dematerialisation of the TARDIS in the final scene - achieved through the use of inlay and a still photo of the Police Box superimposed over the swamp set.
The circular camera mask was used frequently throughout the episode to give Dalek POV shots, especially in the battle / massacre scenes.
Troughton once again played Mr Sludge The Snail on the recorder. 
Oddly, the sound of his playing continues after the TARDIS has faded away.

As well as the Doctor's "Did I really do that?" reaction, as mentioned above, an added dimension to his character this week is his tacit approval of the use of the reinforcement guards to fight the Daleks - despite knowing that they are sure to be slaughtered. He sees them only as a diversion to give him more time to defeat the Daleks - exhibiting a new ruthless streak.
The Second Doctor is often defined as a clown - the Chaplinesque "Cosmic Hobo" - but he is actually a darker, more manipulative character right from the outset.

Whilst preparing material for the 30 Years In The TARDIS documentary in 1993, Kevin Davies discovered some film footage from this episode in a BBC Radiophonic Workshop piece - shots of the exploding Daleks. This came from the children's magazine programme Tom Tom, broadcast in November 1968.
The last sighting of complete episodes of The Power of the Daleks was in Singapore in 1972. These were the film copies originally sent to New Zealand.

Trivia:
  • The ratings end on a high note, with the episode coming in at 37th most watched programme for the week.
  • It had been intended that new opening titles would be recorded at Riverside during the recording of this episode, but this was then deferred to 9th December, for recording at Television Centre.
  • Two days after broadcast, the BBC produced an audience research report on the story's third instalment. Overall reaction was not terribly enthusiastic, though the return of the Daleks remained popular - with only some thinking their novelty value wearing thin. Reaction to the new Doctor was mostly negative - "didn't seem right somehow" - and the comedy and costume were disliked. Troughton himself was well enough regarded, but thought wasted in this new role. A small number were prepared to wait and see how he settled into the role.
  • It was during the production of The Power of the Daleks that Terry Nation approached the BBC about developing a stand-alone Dalek series, provisionally titled "The Destructors", using elements from The Daleks' Master Plan. In the week that this episode was in rehearsal, the BBC formally declined to take up the project - leaving Nation to look to the USA for support and finance.
  • As a missing story, The Power of the Daleks was selected for an animation release in 2016 to coincide with its 50th anniversary - which of course was also the anniversary of Patrick Troughton's debut. A special edition was released in 2020, which took the opportunity to improve some of the animation sequences - namely the opening TARDIS scenes and the Dalek production line sections. Unlike some of the animated releases, it was very faithful to the original episodes in terms of sets and character likenesses. The Special Edition was also only made available in B&W.

Friday 1 November 2024

Season 25 - The Collection


Before we get on to the content of the discs, a word about the booklet which accompanies this set. I'm afraid that the proof reader must have been on their holiday this time as there are a number of silly errors evident in the text. Lesley Dunlop did not play a character named Norma in Frontios. Fiona Walker did not play a character named Karla in The Keys of Marinus. And Richard Maynarde in Silver Nemesis was most definitely not played by Gerald Taylor.

Anywho, on to the content. All four stories of Season 25 get the Special Edition treatment and, as I've looked at the stories as broadcast elsewhere on this blog, I'll be concentrating on them - plus the numerous new Extras (existing Extras such as the big Davros documentary and the original making-of's are ported over from the DVD releases). Not quite so many of them this time, compared to the 20th Anniversary season, but this reflects the somewhat diminished status of the series in 1988 as compared to 1983.

Remembrance of the Daleks has three versions to chose from - the original, the original with new CGI, or the 2024 Special Edition.
The SE has a few short scenes added - mainly character pieces between members of the Counter Measures Intrusion Group, some of which help sow the seeds of Mike's racism. One nice addition is the change of music playing on the jukebox when Ace first enters the café and meets Mike. It's now "John Smith and the Common Men", as listened to by Susan in An Unearthly Child.
The "I.M. Forman" sign on the gate has been amended to read "Foreman". Sometimes. The "E" comes and goes as the gates are opened and closed.
The main new CGI elements involve the Mothership and Shuttle, as well as Dalek ray effects. A pity they couldn't have painted out those clearly anachronistic buildings which keep appearing in the background of many street scenes.
The Dalek Supreme now melts, rather than disappears in a rainbow swirl.

The Happiness Patrol has the same three options, but this time the Special Edition has seen a major overhaul. There's around 15 minutes of extra material across the three episodes - roughly 5 minutes apiece. Some totally new scenes have been created as well as the inclusion of previously deleted ones, and they have re-edited some sequences. The big visual difference is the CGI expansion to many of the Terra Alpha street scenes, showing them in the context of the larger cityscape.
We see the Kandyman actually being swamped by the hot sugar solution in the pipeline, and the dialogue of the Pipe People has been taken back to the original studio audio so that it is slightly more intelligible. 

Silver Nemesis actually has five different versions on offer. There's the broadcast one, the broadcast one with new CGI, the 1993 VHS version (with a few deleted scenes reinstated), the 2024 Special Edition, and a 55 minute omnibus of the 2024 Special Edition.
Truth be told, I'd go with the omnibus as it cuts out a lot of the pointless stuff from the original episodes (like skinheads and rich Americans). The new CGI effects are mainly the Cyberman fleet in space, and some of their shuttle craft scenes. Nemesis' return to the rocket sled in the third episode has been redone. The Special Edition not only has new effects, it has also been re-edited and restructured to make it flow a little more smoothly. They haven't stuck all of the deleted scenes into it. One scene I always liked as it provides a character moment for De Flores is the one where he talks to his mercenaries in the van. This has been excluded from the SE but is there as an extra. 
Back in 1988, Mike Tucker had wanted to use Cybermats to overpower the policemen when the Nemesis first lands. This was vetoed by Andrew Cartmel, though we did get to see one of the new design on the anniversary documentary 30 Years in the TARDIS, menacing Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant near St Paul's.
They've finally got their scene in the SE.

Finally, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy also has the three options - as broadcast, as broadcast but with new CGI, and the 2024 Special Edition which once again includes previously deleted scenes as well as the new effects.
The main differences here are replacement video effects, though the first and third episodes have a few minutes of deleted material reinstated - which don't add much to the story at all.
Onto the extra material, and the first three stories of the season are given two discs apiece to allow for their Special Editions and extras, whilst the final story is confined to a single disc. Disc 8 covers more general McCoy extras, as opposed to story or season specific ones.
Most of the archive material appears alongside the Dalek and Cyberman stories, as one launched the anniversary season and the other was the actual anniversary story. A lot of this material comprises short appearances on various daytime television shows. Whilst a lot feature McCoy / Aldred, there's another which concentrates on interviews with Jon Pertwee and Verity Lambert, with clips from the very first episode in November 1963. Open Air presents a piece from the "Space Adventures" exhibition by London Bridge, where JNT is interviewed surrounded by monster costumes - nice to see this relatively obscure exhibition.
As always, we have a convention archive feature - two different appearances from McCoy and Aldred at DWAS Panopticon events in the 1990's.

"Behind the Sofa" this time features three panels. Interestingly, the Doctor / companion one sees a guest from each story. McCoy and Aldred are joined by Karen Gledhill (Alison) for Remembrance, Sheila Hancock (Helen A) for Happiness, Mark Hardy (Cyber-Lieutenant) for Nemesis, and Jessica Martin (Mags) for Greatest Show.
Panel Two is Bonnie Langford and Nicola Bryant, and the third comprises Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Wendy Padbury.
McCoy doesn't really say much, so Aldred leads their panel, whilst the third panel isn't heard from too much (which I'm happy about as I've always disliked Fielding's negativity - even if it is sometimes only in jest). The Langford / Bryant panel is quite entertaining, with some interesting impartial insights.
Bonnie obviously relates well to the circus-themed story.
The Dalek story gets a thumbs up, whilst the Cyberman one fails to impress. The Kandyman lets down the second story, as do the sets - though they're watching the broadcast version, obviously. The final story gets a positive response, with the third panel preferring it over the Dalek story.
Everyone agrees that the McCoy opening titles are rubbish.

Matthew Sweet has a busy time, with three "Conversations". The best is with Mr Cartmel. The one with director Chris Clough doesn't really touch on his Doctor Who work very much, whilst Aldred has already been interviewed - so her chat mainly deals with her return in The Power of the Doctor, along with some thoughts on the various contradictory timelines for Ace, post Survival.
The big new documentary this time belongs on Disc 2 - a biography of actor Dursley McLinden who played Mike Smith in Remembrance of the Daleks. A hugely promising theatrical career cut short by the onslaught of AIDS / HIV, he represents a whole lost generation. Friends and family are interviewed, and we see and hear from Dursley himself through home movie footage. Russell T Davies, who knew him, speaks about how he inspired the character of Richie in It's A Sin. Toby Hadoke presents, as one of his "In Search of..." features.

Rumour has it that it's Season 7 next.

Thursday 31 October 2024

What's Wrong With... Snakedance


There's not really a lot to say about this one, despite the difficulties Chris Bailey had in writing it (mainly due to issues he had with Mr Saward).
We have a reasonably well defined society, with a historical backdrop of past empires, interesting characters, and even the snake is a big improvement on the one from Kinda.
The Doctor does not come out of this story very well - having simply brushed off Tegan's earlier concerns about being truly free from the Mara at the conclusion of the Season 19 story.
Everything which happens here could be placed at his door. No-one gets killed, but a lot of people are psychologically harmed. He really ought to have taken Tegan's concerns more seriously.

The story begins with Tegan redirecting the TARDIS to Manussa under the Mara's influence. She doesn't know how to do this, and nor should the Mara itself - so you have to wonder how this was managed.
Once they've arrived on the planet, the Doctor and Nyssa - in a truly dreadful new outfit - very quickly lose Tegan, despite the great danger she poses.
She's wearing a device which is supposed to cut out all extraneous sound - but it's only got one earpiece.
There's a scene in a hall of mirrors where we see the Mara / Tegan / Lon laughing at its own reflection. But it was clearly stated before that Evil (the Mara) cannot face itself - hence its defeat on Deva Loka. 

The Six Faces of Delusion hat sequence is neat - but surely one of the previous Directors should have spotted the solution before now. The audience certainly spots what the sixth face is straight away.
The story is badly structured - probably going back to the issues between Bailey and Saward - as the Doctor spends an entire episode locked in a cell, as though the writer doesn't know what to do with him for a chunk of the story. 
Whilst the world-building of Manussa might work on paper, it doesn't translate to the practicalities of an all studio production. The big ceremony has only a couple of dozen people in attendance, despite it being a massive cultural event.
The Manussans would have been planning the event for months, yet it feels very much like people are making things up as they go along.
If you think Nyssa's outfit is bad, just wait until you see Lon's ceremonial gear. It's no wonder this clip is always dragged out for those "before they were famous" clip shows, designed to embarrass people.
Clunes' regular gear as Lon is pure New Romantic, so dates this story badly.

Tuesday 29 October 2024

Normal service will resume...

A slight pause in posts this week as I'm struck down with one of those winter bugs. Lying in bed enjoying Season 25 on Blu-ray - a review of the Special Editions and extras soon. Hopefully all back to normal by the end of the week.
I did have a planned break coming up soon - away 15th to 25th November. I'll be attending the UNIT Reunion event at Riverside Studios during that holiday.

Sunday 27 October 2024

Episode 139: The Power of the Daleks (5)


Synopsis:
Lesterson looks on in horror as he witnesses a new race of Daleks rolling off a production line within their space capsule...
His already fragile mind finally snaps. Rushing out he meets Janley and tries to warn her - claiming that he intends to melt the Daleks down. He turns off their power supply, but discovers that they are now able to store energy. Lesterson runs off to find the Examiner. Janley is determined that he will not harm the Daleks as her rebel group plans to use them in their uprising.
Kebble and Valmar are going to be working in the capsule to provide the Daleks with their power supply, and Polly is brought there so that they can keep an eye on her.
In the prison block, the Doctor is attempting to find the right sonic frequency to operate the cell locks. After trying his recorder, he is now using water in a glass.
Lesterson bursts in and tells him about the Daleks duplicating their numbers. A guard drags him away to see Bragen.
At the Governor's office, the scientist is not believed - Janley helping convince Bragen that he is mentally unbalanced. Bragen refuses to call Governor Hensell back early from his tour of the outlying areas of the colony.
In the capsule, Polly tries to convince Valmar and Kebble that the Daleks will turn on them at the first opportunity - and they should not trust the ambitious Janley either.
Hensell returns from his tour, and is irritated by the work going on to set up the Dalek power circuit - and the sight of Bragen's armed guards everywhere.
The Doctor finally manages to open the cell locking mechanisms, freeing himself and Quinn.
Hensell confronts Bragen and learns that he no longer follows his orders, and all of his own people have been replaced. Bragen offers him the chance to help with his rebellion by appearing to sanction it. This will avoid bloodshed and lead to a smooth transition of power.
The Governor flatly refuses - and Bragen has a Dalek exterminate him.
The Doctor and Quinn sneak into the laboratory and learn that the rebels have been duped into setting up a static electricity circuit covering the entire colony - and it is almost complete.
Kebble attacks them but Quinn knocks him out and Polly is freed.
They flee the room as armed Daleks emerge from the capsule.
The Doctor, Quinn and Polly come upon Hensell's corpse and Bragen announces that his revolution has begun. The Daleks will obey only him.
However, back in their capsule, the Daleks are waiting for the humans to destroy themselves before exterminating the survivors. 
They begin to stream out of the vessel, chanting: "Daleks conquer and destroy!" over and over and over...

Data:
Written by David Whitaker
Recorded: Saturday 19th November 1966 - Riverside Studio 1
First broadcast: 5:50pm, Saturday 3rd December 1966
Ratings: 8 million / AI 48
Designer: Derek Dodd
Director: Christopher Barry
Additional cast: Robert Russell, Robert Luckham (Guards)


Critique:
Michael Craze was on holiday during the production of this episode as Ben did not feature - though Anneke Wills returns from her break.
Both actors, along with Troughton, missed two days of rehearsal for this episode as they were working on the Frensham Ponds location filming for the next story. It wasn't much of a holiday for Craze, as he had a third day spent at Ealing on other scenes  for The Highlanders.
Four Dalek props were required in studio, along with 10 photographic blow-ups - noticeable in the surviving clip from the close of the episode.
For the scene where Bragen inserts the gun into the servant Dalek, just before it killed Hensell, the recording was allowed to run on and later edited.
The usual mix to negative was used for the Governor's extermination.
The circular camera mask was once again employed to give the Dalek POV shots - including the sequence where Lesterson chases one from Hensell's office.
Now the sole Dalek vocal performer, Peter Hawkins' voice was overlaid multiple times and echoed for the closing sequence, which had involved the four Dalek operators going round in circles to replicate greater numbers - an old trick first used for the Daleks entering their time machine in the opening episode of The Chase.

The Daleks have very much been kept to the background so far, but in this episode they begin to make their mark. We have some well known lines, which just happen to survive in clips (see below), and we also have an interesting philosophical scene in which a Dalek asks of Bragen why humans kill each other. This comes across as a genuine wish to know something of human nature, rather than the on-going servitude deception.
Execution of their own kind is not unknown to the Daleks, of course. We saw the Black Dalek order the destruction of a pursuit ship crew in their last outing.

Two clips from this episode survive thanks to their inclusion in other programmes. The first is a scene of a Dalek moving towards the camera, claiming that "We are not ready yet to teach these human beings the law of the Daleks!". The Dalek bumps over a camera cable - an incident which the animators elected to retain in the DVD / Blu-ray release. This clip derived from the same source as the production line sequence - the Australian Perspectives documentary episode C for Computer.
The closing sequence, featuring the Daleks chanting "Daleks conquer and destroy!" as they pour through a doorway, had been featured in two programmes - an edition of Blue Peter from 27 November 1967; and the Whicker's World instalment I Don't Like My Monsters To Have Oedipus Complexes, from 27th January 1968. 
The latter programme can be seen in its entirety on the Special Edition release of the animated The Power of the Daleks.

Trivia:
  • This is the highest rated of the story's six episodes - both in terms of actual audience numbers and in the appreciation figure.
  • Robert Russell, playing a guard here, is best known for his supporting role in Witchfinder General, in which he plays Vincent Price's henchman John Stearne. To Doctor Who fans, though, he is remembered as the Caber in Terror of the Zygons.
  • On the evening before recording this instalment, the BBC Light Programme broadcast an edited soundtrack of the second Peter Cushing Dalek movie.