Blog Pause

Due to a family bereavement I won't be posting for a few days.

Daleks @ Peterborough

To be honest there are only a handful of Daleks from "Nu-Who" in the exhibition - a red New Paradigm one, the standard bronze model, and black Dalek Sec - so this latest post concentrates on the Daleks seen in the series 1963 - 1988, along with some related characters and models.

Just to give an idea of the layout, the exhibition sees you enter a room in which some Time Lords face the Silurian / Sea Devil group I showed you previously. They are lined up either side of a TARDIS console. Beyond this is the Cyberman section, with classic era models facing the newer ones.

You then move into another room in which there are lots of masks, models and costumes.

This then leads into a very big room, half of which contains Daleks, and the other half contains miscellaneous monsters from both eras of the programme.

Our first group of Daleks all made their debut in the Hartnell era - the city-based model seen in their very first story, the distinctive "Saucer Commander" from The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and then the standard Dalek with the vertical slats, which was first seen in the closing moments of The Space Museum, and ran through to a cameo in the final episode of The War Games.

Unusual to see that someone has made a Saucer Commander as it only features in a single episode, but I suppose the uniqueness was the attraction. I love the way they have included the little repair job to the middle ring beneath the dome. This ring got broken during the production of the story and they added a little piece of wood to act as a support, purely as a temporary measure. However, it was never replaced, and you will be able to spot this repair in various episodes throughout the 1960's. It was even included on the Eaglemoss figurine.

Before we move on to another unique Dalek, some models...

This little lot all come from The Daleks' Master Plan and represent the spacecraft of the alliance members, or Planetarians / Universal Council. The silver one, bottom left is the Dalek pursuit ship, whilst Mavic Chen's Spar 7-40 is third from left on top row.

That other unique Dalek is one of the highlights of the exhibition, and worth the £5 entry fee alone in my opinion...

It's a very impressive reproduction of the Emperor, from The Evil of the Daleks. It fills a whole corner of the room as they've provided it with a suitable backdrop, rather than just have it free-standing. As anyone who owns the Eaglemoss figurine knows, it simply doesn't look right in isolation.

the smaller lights surrounding the dome turn off and on in sequence.

Standing next to it is the first of our Dalek related characters - an Ogron, as first seen in Day of the Daleks, and then again in Frontier in Space.

For some reason these guys seem to be popular to recreate for fan-made video productions, and I'm afraid they don't always look that great. Here, I think they may have gone a bit overboard with the hairy arms... I think the problem here is also the fact that they've used a standard mannequin for display, so the head doesn't look bullish enough. For their TV appearances they sometimes had to split the masks at the back as the extras (often people overly familiar with the criminal justice system) were such big, bulky guys.

We next get a couple of 1970's Daleks, who flank the original version of Davros...

The Daleks either side of Davros are the silver / black model from Death to the Daleks, and the standard gunmetal grey version which first appeared in Day of the Daleks, and which also featured alongside their creator in Genesis of the Daleks. Two of my favourite colour schemes.

The final set of Daleks hail from the 1980's - from Resurrection and Revelation. We also get one of Lytton's troopers from the former story.

Next batch - some miscellaneous old skool monsters...

P is for... Parry

Professor Parry was an archaeologist from Earth who mounted an expedition to find the tombs of the Cybermen on the planet Telos. This had become their home following the destruction of Mondas. After plaguing the galaxy, the Cybermen had vanished several hundred years ago, and it was believed they had died out. Parry wanted to find their city in order to study it. The expedition was being backed by a pair named Kaftan and Klieg, who had ulterior motives for financing it. Eric Klieg was a member of the Brotherhood of Logicians, who sought to establish a pact with the Cybermen. Also in the party were Kaftan's manservant Toberman, and fellow archaeologists Viner and Haydon.

They had travelled to Telos in a chartered spaceship, commanded by Captain Hopper.

Kaftan and Klieg had elected to fund Parry's expedition as they regarded him as disorganised and a little scatter-brained, despite his dedication - someone who would not have looked into their background too closely.

He was forced to watch as first Haydon then Viner were killed - the first accidentally by a Cyberman weapons test and the latter murdered by Klieg. He had wanted to scrap the expedition after the first death, but Hopper reported that their spaceship had been sabotaged so they would need to stay. 

He then discovered that the Cybermen were not extinct - merely dormant and awaiting revival.

Once the Cybermen had been defeated, Parry was the only surviving member of the expedition, returning home to Earth with Hopper and his crew.

Played by: Aubrey Richards. Appearances: The Tomb of the Cybermen (1967).

• Richards (1920 - 2000) had a long career in British television. including roles in The Avengers, Dixon of Dock Green, Doomwatch and I, Claudius. He also featured in a number of Welsh dramas, including two versions of Under Milk Wood, 14 years apart.

P is for... Parks, Rosa

Rosa Parks was a seamstress from the town of Montgomery, Alabama, who in 1955 was targeted by a racist criminal from the future. Krasko intended to change history by ensuring that Rosa's protest against racial segregation on the town's bus services did not take place.  The subsequent bus boycott resulting from her arrest was a pivotal moment in the American Civil Rights movement.

The Doctor and her companions had to sabotage Krasko's efforts and ensure that history was allowed to run its course, without alerting Rosa to what was going on.

She numbered Martin Luther King among her friends.

By riding the bus on the fateful evening - 1st December - to ensure her safety, Graham O'Brien inadvertently helped trigger events. It was for him that Rosa was expected to give up her seat. On refusing to do so she was arrested, and history remained on track.

Played by: Vinette Robinson. Appearances: Rosa (2018)

• Robinson had previously played doomed medic Abi Lerner in 2007's 42.
• Parks (1913 - 2005) was given the Congressional Gold Medal by President Clinton in 1999 in recognition of her work in advancing the rights of black people in the USA. She had been active in the cause since 1943. After her arrest, she and her husband had found themselves unemployed and so moved to Detroit in 1957, where she remained active in civil rights and anti-apartheid work.
• She has a railway station in Paris named after her, and the Doctor tells her companions that she has also given her name to an asteroid.

P is for... Parker, Henry

Henry Parker was a reclusive millionaire who collected objects of extra-terrestrial origins. Dying of heart failure, he was obsessed with one item in particular - the Pulse - as he felt that it was keeping him alive. When operated, it caused a massive radiation spike which was detected by the Torchwood team in Cardiff. Fearing an explosion they planned to break into his mansion and retrieve the source, which they suspected might be a weapon.

Amongst Parker's security arrangements were heat sensors, so Owen Harper was selected to infiltrate his home. Owen had recently been brought back to life by the Resurrection Glove and did not have any body heat.

The old man revealed to Parker that he knew a lot about Torchwood, as he had been keeping them under observation - whilst they had dismissed him as a harmless eccentric.

Owen was able to deactivate the Pulse before it could become dangerous, and Parker passed away. Owen believed that it had been his faith in the object which had actually sustained him, rather than any special properties it had.

Played by: Richard Briers. Appearances: TW 2.8: A Day in the Death (2008)

• Briers had previously played the Chief Caretaker in Paradise Towers.
• His wife Ann Davies had played Jenny in The Dalek Invasion of Earth.
• Nephew of comic actor Terry-Thomas, Briers is best known for comedic performances - finding fame in the BBC sitcom The Good Life - though he had a late career in more dramatic roles thanks to Kenneth Branagh.

P is for... Paris

Paris was the middle son of Priam, King of Troy. He was a huge disappointment to his father, who thought him vain, cowardly and not a little dim. His judgement on these matters was sound. It was Paris who had run off with Helen, wife of Menelaus - the event which had triggered the decade-long siege of the city by the Greeks, who were commanded by Agamemnon.

Priam insisted that his second eldest go out and find Achilles and engage him in mortal combat, in revenge for his killing of Hector, his heir. Paris couldn't get out of this, but ensured that Achilles would not hear his challenge. He met instead the Greek warrior Diomede - really the Doctor's companion Steven. He was surprised when Steven surrendered so readily (he wished to be captured in order to rescue Vicki from Troy), and was easily flattered by him.

He also came across a gigantic wooden horse, which he assumed to be a parting gift from the Greeks, who had withdrawn overnight. He had it brought into the city, despite the protestations of his sister Cassandra, who was a prophetess.

That night Greek soldiers led by Odysseus - who was accompanied by the Doctor - emerged from the horse and opened the gates for the besieging army. Paris was killed by Odysseus, along with his father.

Played by: Barrie Ingham. Appearances: The Myth Makers (1965).

• No proper photographs of Ingham as Paris are known to exist, so this piece is illustrated by an image from a Loose Cannon reconstruction of the story.
• Ingham played the Thal Alydon in Dr Who and the Daleks.
• He was also considered for the role of Arthur Terrall in The Evil of the Daleks.
• In 1967 he played the title role in the film A Challenge For Robin Hood.
• He spent the last years of his life in the US, having featured regularly in Broadway musicals, as well as appearing in TV series such as Murder She Wrote. Hart to Hart and The A-Team.
• He also guest starred in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation ("Up The Long Ladder"), one of only a handful of actors to have appeared in both Doctor Who and Star Trek.
• Priam is supposed to have had a lot more than 3 sons - 50 of them.
• Homer presents Paris as cowardly and no great fighter. He also has him fire the arrow which kills Achilles, and he is mortally wounded by Philoctetes, rather than killed by Odysseus.

P is for... Panna

Elderly matriarch of the Kinda tribe of the planet Deva Loka. Blind, she was constantly attended by a young woman named Karuna. Only female Kinda had the power of speech. 

The Doctor met them both after encountering a party of humans who had come to assess the planet for colonisation. One of their number - Hindle - had suffered a mental breakdown and threatened to destroy their base, which would wipe out the whole area. The Doctor and a scientist named Todd escaped the base and met Karuna, who took them to a nearby cave to see Panna. The old woman was able to show them how the society here passed through a repeated cycle of destruction and rebirth, and this was about to happen again due to the re-emergence of an ancient evil force known as the Mara, which manifested itself in the form of a snake and could possess people.

The strain of showing them mental images was too much, and Panna died. However, her consciousness survived by passing into Karuna.

Played by: Mary Morris. Appearances: Kinda (1982)

• Morris, who died in 1988, lived in Switzerland and drove from there to the UK to appear in the programme.
• She played scientist Professor Madeleine Dawney in A For Andromeda and its sequel The Andromeda Breakthrough.
• She also played the only female No.2 in The Prisoner - in the episode "Dance of the Dead".
• Another appearance with Peter Davison, in his detective series Campion, was screened posthumously.