R is for... Rassilon

The founder of Time Lord society. A scientist, engineer and later politician, it was he who had harnessed the nucleus of a Black Hole to provide the power source for Gallifrey's initial experiments in time travel. This Black Hole had been the result of an artificially created supernova - detonated by fellow engineer Omega. He had apparently perished in the process, and it was Rassilon who would become known as the first and greatest of the Time Lords - the premier Lord President of the High Council.

He invented a number of objects which would bear his name - some ceremonial and some practical. These included items used in the inaugurations of future Presidents, such as the Sash and Coronet. The President also bore a sceptre-like device known as the Great Key, but the real key was actually the controlling mechanism for a powerful weapon and it was entrusted to the Chancellor.

The Sash was actually designed as a protection against the energies of the captured Black Hole nucleus, whist the Coronet gave its wearer the power to control the minds of others.

In its earliest days, Gallifrey was an interventionist power. Rassilon led campaigns against a race of giant vampires, devising Bow Ships as a weapon against them, and the spider-like Racnoss.

Whilst he went on to become a much loved, almost legendary figure, there were rumours that he abused his power. Another of his creations was the Time Scoop, and this was used to abduct alien beings to fight barbaric games, held in a region known as the Death Zone. He would come to be buried in the Dark Tower at the centre of this region - and it was even said that the other Time Lords had actually deposed him because of his tyranny and imprisoned him there.

Whilst Rassilon had died physically, his life force persisted. On his body was his ring, which it was claimed could bestow upon its wearer immortality. 

Future President Borusa discovered the Time Scoop and - wishing to become President Eternal - used it to hijack various incarnations of the Doctor to clear a path to the Dark Tower for him. 

An image of Rassilon appeared above his funeral bier, which could interact with Borusa and the assembled Doctors.

He granted Borusa his wish - but this was to turn him to living stone, imprisoned for all eternity on the bier.

During the Last Great Time War, the Time Lords resurrected Rassilon to lead them against the Daleks. This was in a younger incarnation, and he was as much a warrior as a scientist and politician. He armed himself with another of his artefacts - a death-dealing gauntlet - and wore armour under his robes.

With defeat on the horizon, he devised an elaborate plan. The Time Lords would ascend to a higher plane of existence, relinquishing their physical forms. Gallifrey remained locked within the Time War, so a bridgehead would be formed with Earth. Here were the last remaining Time Lords out with the time lock - the Doctor and the Master. A secret message was hidden within the Master's mind - a drumming sound composed of four notes, the heartbeat of a Time Lord. He would grow up with this sound in his head, and it would eventually drive him insane. On the last day of the war, just before the Daleks could destroy Gallifrey, Rassilon despatched a physical link to Earth - a gemstone from his staff which the Master would recognise as it was native to their planet. He could then use this to create the bridgehead that would draw Gallifrey out of the time lock and into normal Time / Space - putting the Earth at risk due to its proximity.

The Doctor was able to convince the Master that Rassilon's scheme would spell disaster - helped by the fact that the Lord President showed only arrogant contempt for the Time Lord who had just helped free Gallifrey. The Master fought Rassilon, and forced him back into the time lock, along with Gallifrey.

The planet was not destroyed, however. The combined TARDISes of twelve of the Doctors were able to save the planet by depositing it in a pocket of time at the end of the Universe. 

Rassilon continued to rule. He became obsessed by an ancient legend that stated that Gallifrey would be destroyed by something known only as "the Hybrid". He suspected that the Doctor knew what this was, and so entered into a bargain with the immortal Me to trap him. He would be imprisoned within his own Confession Dial - an object which Time Lords used to store their last will and testament.

After billions of years in a recurring nightmare world, the Doctor was finally able to break free and found himself on Gallifrey. He sought revenge more for the death of companion Clara Oswald - killed during the effort to ensnare him - than for his captivity.

Rassilon sent troops to capture him, but they remembered his actions during the Time War and refused to arrest him. The High Council were then sent to try diplomacy - but the Doctor rejected this. Eventually, Rassilon went to confront the Doctor personally, accompanied by a squad of troops who were ordered to kill him when he refused again to comply.

They rebelled, and Rassilon's power was broken. The Doctor forced him, and the rest of the High Council, into exile.

Played by Richard Mathews, Timothy Dalton, Donald Sumpter. 

Appearances: The Five Doctors (1983), The End of Time (2009/10), Hell Bent (2015).

• Rassilon is first mentioned in The Deadly Assassin, so is the creation of Robert Holmes - though he didn't appear on screen until the 20th Anniversary story, written by Terrance Dicks.
• In his novelisation of The Five Doctors, Dicks stated that Rassilon still lived, but on another plane of existence.
• Spin-off material has a triumvirate leading Gallifrey in its earliest days - Rassilon, Omega and "the Other", who may or may not be the Doctor, but probably is. Though never stated on screen, behind the scenes it was intended that the trio of Time Lords seen briefly in The Timeless Children are they.
• Richard Mathews was a character actor who appeared in the TV classic Children of the Stones and The Satanic Rites of Dracula in a career that spanned almost half a century (1948 - 1993).
• It had originally been hoped that Rassilon would be played by Charles Gray in The Five Doctors - Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever and Mocata in The Devil Rides Out.
• Timothy Dalton will be best remembered as the fourth official James Bond, playing 007 in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill. He was unavailable to reprise Rassilon in Hell Bent due to working in Dublin on Penny Dreadful.
• Donald Sumpter had previously played Enrico Casali in The Wheel in Space, and Submarine Commander Ridgeway in The Sea Devils. He also played the alchemist Erasmus Darkling in The Eternity Trap, one of The Sarah Jane Adventures.
• On audio, Rassilon has also been played by Don Warrington (Rise of the Cybermen and Death in Paradise), Terrance Hardiman (The Beast Below and The Demon Headmaster), and Richard Armitage (Robin Hood and The Hobbit trilogy).

R is for... Ransome, Thea

A scientist employed by industrialist Dr Fendelman, who sought to study the human race's earliest origins. During an expedition to central Africa, a skull had been unearthed which analysis showed to be millions of years older than the date currently accepted for the appearance of the human ancestor. 

The skull was brought back to a secluded mansion near the village of Fetchborough, which Fendelman had recently bought to use as a research centre. Along with Thea, he also employed scientists Adam Colby and Max Stael. With the latter, he was conducting secret experiments with a time scanner. He hoped that this would let him see into the distant past, but it was highly unstable.

With the humourless Stael busy with Fendelman, Thea bonded with Adam. 

She began to suffer blackouts, during which she was drawn to the skull. It had a crack in the shape of a pentagram at its crown - a feature which Thea also had.

At one point she collapsed, and several small slug-like creatures appeared briefly on her body. The Doctor recognised these as embryonic Fendahleen which, when fully grown, comprised a gestalt creature with a humanoid core - the Fendahl. 

This creature devoured the life force and if left unchecked would destroy every living thing. The Time Lords thought they had trapped and destroyed it on the fifth planet of the Solar System, blowing up the entire planet and confining the remains within a time loop. However, the core had escaped to prehistoric Earth, wiping out life on Mars on its way there.

The skull from Africa was all that was left of it - and Thea was fated to become the new core.

She was abducted by Stael, who secretly led a local coven devoted to the Fendahl.

Thea was transformed into a golden skinned being who could turn people into Fendahleen.

The Doctor used the time scanner to set up a controlled implosion which destroyed the new Fendahl, then dumped the skull into a supernova to prevent it from ever being resurrected again.

Played by Wanda Ventham. Appearances: Image of the Fendahl (1977)

• Second of three appearances for Ventham in the series. She had previously played Jean Rock in The Faceless Ones, which also featured Donald Pickering. The pair were reunited in 1987 for Time and the Rani.
• She was also considered for the roles of Todd in Kinda, Dr Solow or Lt. Preston in Warriors of the Deep, Jane Hampden in The Awakening, and Queen Katryca in The Mysterious Planet.
• Another notable sci-fi role was as Colonel Virginia Lake in Gerry Anderson's UFO.
• Horror roles include The Blood Beast Terror (1968) and Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter (1974).
• She is the mother of actor Benedict Cumberbatch, and featured in Sherlock as the consulting detective's mother.

R is for... Ransome, John

Senior salesman with the firm of Auto Plastics. He had helped develop a new doll and had embarked on a sales trip to the USA - only to find himself out of a job on his return. His boss, George Hibbert, had previously promised to make him Sales Director. He went to the factory to protest in person to Hibbert, but was told only that the firm was moving in a new direction. His old laboratory was now a high security area, out of bounds.

Suspicious, he decided to break into the factory later and made it into his old lab. It had strange machinery installed, and one wall was lined with crudely fashioned dummies. He was horrified to see one of these stir to life. Its hand dropped away to reveal a weapon, but he managed to flee. He was spotted by a man named Channing who had taken over the firm by mentally dominating Hibbert. Channing was actually an Auton replica, agent of the Nestene Consciousness which sought to invade the Earth.

Ransome was found by UNIT troops and taken to their HQ where he was interviewed by Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart and the Doctor. They decided to investigate the factory, taking Ransome with them but leaving him at their forward command post. His return to the area was detected by Hibbert, who sent an Auton to destroy him.

Played by Derek Smee. Appearances: Spearhead From Space (1970)

• Whilst he made small appearances in a number of TV series and films, Smee's real passion was for theatre work. He left his personal archive, detailing his 49 year stage career, to the Victoria & Albert Museum.

R is for... Ranquin

Leader of a tribe of Delta Magnans, who had been forcibly relocated from their planet onto its third moon - displaced by colonists from Earth. His people were green-skinned humanoids, whom the colonisers nicknamed "Swampies" due to their natural, marshy habitat. It was the similarity in environment which led to them being placed into a reservation on the third moon.

Ranquin acted as high priest to their god Kroll, who had the form of a gigantic squid-like creature. Legend had it that Kroll had once swallowed a previous high priest, along with their sacred totem.

The entity was now said to sleep beneath the waters of the moon's lagoon.

When the colonists began taking an interest in the rich methane supplies of the satellite, building a refinery offshore close to his village, Ranquin entered into a partnership with a gun-runner named Rhom-Dutt, to supply weapons with which to attack the installation. He was unaware that the gun-runner was really in the employ of refinery manager Thawn, who sought an excuse to wipe out the "Swampies" whom he hated. The weapons would be defective, but still provide the provocation he wanted.

Part of Ranquin's sacred duties were human sacrifices to Kroll. Behind a wall, hidden from view, the victim would be killed by a tribesman dressed as the creature. This fate almost befell Romana, who had come here with the Doctor in search of the fifth segment of the Key to Time.

Kroll proved to be a real creature - wakened from hibernation by the activities of the refinery. The Doctor deduced that it was the cause of the rich methane supply.

Threatened with sacrifice, the Doctor discovered that Ranquin wasn't susceptible to hypnotism.

He eventually led his warriors on an attack on the refinery, and Thawn was killed. Kroll attacked the rig and Ranquin attempted to appease it - only to fall victim to it.

Played by John Abineri. Appearances: The Power of Kroll (1978/9)

• This was Abineri's fourth and final appearance in the programme. He first played Dutch engineer Van Lutyens in Fury From The Deep, before taking on the more substantial role of General Carrington in The Ambassadors of Death. His third appearance was as Railton of the Marine Space Corps in Death to the Daleks. 
• He played Herne the Hunter in Robin of Sherwood, and took on the role of Blake's uncle in the Blake's 7 episode "Hostage" after the death of Duncan Lamont (his co-star in the Dalek story).
• Late in his career, he became well known for playing the butler in a popular Ferrero Rocher advert - ironically set at an ambassador's ball.

Inspirations: Extremis

Extremis did not start life as the first episode of a trilogy. Toby Whitehouse was working on a script involving an Orwellian society similar to 1984, whilst Peter Harness had an idea involving Kung-Fu monks.

Steven Moffat himself was pondering something big for the middle of the series - the destruction of the Earth, until he realised how that would impact future storytelling.

Moffat had then agreed to carry on Jamie Mathieson's idea of having the Doctor remain blind after the conclusion of his episode Oxygen.

The showrunner decided to bring these various threads together.

Basically, alien monks would almost bring about the end of the world, but usher in instead a dystopian Orwellian society. The Doctor's disability would - at least initially - prove a handicap to countering this threat.

Bill's role in events would be pivotal in the trilogy's development. It was also planned to make this the time to reveal who was in the Vault.

Moffat needed a starting point which he would write himself, and that's where this episode comes in...

Much of the episode is set in the Vatican's secret library - the Archivum Secretum. Part of the Vatican Library, it contains papal documents including letters to and from international leaders, as well as historic artefacts such as the trial record of Galileo, the Bull excommunicating Martin Luther, and Henry VIII's petition to have his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled.

It also contains documents regarded as heretical, and many believe that it holds secret evidence which would actually undermine the Vatican's authority - or even destroy the very foundations of Christianity, deliberately suppressed.

This takes us into Dan Brown territory. He has written a number of potboiler thrillers, some made into movies starring Tom Hanks, which were themselves inspired by supposedly factual books written by - amongst others - the co-creator of the Great Intelligence and the robot Yeti.

A court case cleared Brown of wilfully plagiarising The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, a 1982 work by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln, despite The Da Vinci Code (2003) clearly being inspired by its hypothesis - namely that Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene and eventually founded the Merovingian dynasty. The Vatican allegedly knows all this but suppresses it, but it is knowledge preserved by a secret society known as the Priory of Sion.

Instead of a murder in a museum triggering a story, here we have a bizarre suicide in a library - which turns out to be one of a series of similar deaths. All are people who have read a book - the Veritas. 

The story's title Extremis can mean "at the point of death" (Missy's execution and the "deaths" of the virtual Doctor and companions), or to refer to an extremely difficult situation - something pushed to its furthermost limit.

Another literary inspiration, involving murder in an ecclesiastical library and the suppression of secret knowledge, is Umberto Eco's 1980 novel The Name of the Rose. This has also been adapted for cinema (1986) as well as a 2019 TV mini-series.

Whilst Presidents and Prime Ministers were fair game in drama, Moffat was concerned about the inclusion of the Pope in the episode, not wishing to cause offence, and he actually had the BBC clear this in advance. Whilst scenes involving the fictitious Pope are humorous, he is not himself made a figure of fun. Unlike other figures of authority over the years, the Doctor shows him respect.

The Doctor claims to have known Pope Benedict IX, who was Bishop of Rome in 1045. Benedict - real name Theophylact of Tusculum, reigned three times between 1032 and 1048. One of the "Bad Popes" he was deposed, resigned and sought to enrich himself from the position - even selling the Papacy at one point.

His life was reputedly one of scandal, including murder, rape and sodomy. He may possibly have been the youngest ever Pope, as one record claims he was only 11 or 12 when he ascended the Papal throne, though others claim he was aged 20.

A woman was alleged to have become Pope in the 9th Century, known as Pope Joan. This story only surfaced in the 13th Century and is believed to be pure fiction.

She was only found to be a woman when she gave birth during a procession, and future Popes avoided the spot where this was supposed to have happened. Belief in her existence was such that, until 1600, she had a statue amongst all the other Popes in Siena Cathedral. It was remodelled to make it masculine.

A ritual was created to ensure that no other woman could ever become Pope. During their coronation, an official would physically check their genitalia on a special chair.

One other area Moffat wanted to include in the episode was the notion of reality being an artificial construct. This had featured in several scientific and philosophical theories, but became famous through The Matrix film franchise.

Basically, we are all living in a Virtual Reality simulation, and occasionally there are glitches which reveal this fact.

The VR reveal takes place at CERN - the European Laboratory for Particle Physics. The organisation behind it was founded in 1954 and it was originally based at the University of Copenhagen under Niels Bohr. It later moved to Switzerland. It is best known for the Large Hadron Collider - a circular tunnel 27km in circumference, inaugurated in 2008. Some people at the time believed that it would create a Black Hole and destroy the planet. (Its opening was marked by a BBC radio Torchwood drama).

Moffat's son Joshua had just served a summer internship at CERN prior to studying Physics at university.

The oval-shaped doorways to other simulated locations were based on the video game Portal.

Nardole likens this to the Holodeck in Star Trek: The Next Generation, which was based on an episode of the animated series.

The story ends with a confrontation between the Doctor and one of the Monks in the Oval Office in the White House - a location which had featured prominently in The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon.

The idea that a would-be invader might use a simulation as a precursor to invasion goes back at least as far as the Cold War. It was claimed that fake English villages were built behind the Iron Curtain to train spies.

This crops up in a number of TV dramas, such as Danger Man and The Avengers.

In Doctor Who we had seen it most notably in The Android Invasion, where the Kraals create a mock-up village of Devesham to test out their androids.

Before the Flood, just the season before this one, had been set partly in a fake Russian village in a Scottish valley in the 1980's.

After considering various characters such as Davros for the Vault inhabitant, Moffat had quickly decided on it being Missy. He knew that the mystery could not be sustained for the entire series, so opted to have her revealed at the mid-point. Moffat wanted to examine a new dynamic between her and the Doctor, which would feed into the later stages of the season. Missy is beginning to question her previous lifestyle and is apparently seeking redemption and a change from her evil ways.

The flashback sequences to the Executioners' planet also allowed the audience to see how Nardole came back into the Doctor's life - sent by his wife River Song. He has her journal - first seen in Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead.

It is said that Time Lords have three brain stems, which confirms Missy's advice that Kate Stewart use two additional snipers in The Magician's Apprentice.

She claims to have known about the Doctor's retirement to Darillium from the Daleks - referencing both The Husbands of River Song and The Witch's Familiar.

Next time: the Monks set up a pyramid scheme, and we learn of the dangers of going to work with a hangover...

Episode 219: The Mind Robber (5)

Synopsis:

The Doctor looks on helplessly as White Robots trap Jamie and Zoe between the pages of a gigantic book...

The Master explains that they have been turned into fictional characters, but if the Doctor consents to take his place then he can release them from this fate.

He once again refuses, and the Master summons two White Robots.

The Doctor flees by clambering up a bookcase, and finds himself outside on the battlements of the citadel.

He is confronted by Jamie and Zoe - but his initial relief turns to sorrow as he notes that they keep repeating things they said earlier.

He finds a skylight which looks down into the Apparatus Room and sees a typewriter there, connected to the master tape which is narrating all that happens here. If he can use it then he can manipulate things to his own advantage.

He cannot get the window open and states aloud that he would need the strength of Karkus to get it free. The Germanic superhero suddenly appears, and tears the whole window off when ordered to open it. The Doctor then wonders how he is going to get down into the room - and a young woman offers him a rope. 

He discovers that it is Rapunzel, offering her hair.

He uses it to climb down into the room below, and begins typing. This is being observed by the Master, who is pleased by his actions.

The Doctor suddenly realises that what he has written so far will make things worse - as he has nearly fictionalised himself.

A Clockwork Soldier enters the room, and the Doctor rapidly ascends Rapunzel's hair back up to the battlements.

He looks for Jamie and Zoe but they are no longer here. Gulliver and the six children, whom he had met earlier in the forest, arrive.

His companions are in the control centre, standing impassively by whilst the Master concocts a new narrative in which they have realised that the Doctor is evil and must be opposed.

Unable to think of a way out of this predicament, the Doctor is being pestered by the children whilst Gulliver and Rapunzel attempt to advise him.

The TARDIS suddenly appears, and Jamie and Zoe emerge to usher him inside.

The Police Box turns out to be fake - another photographic cut-out. It falls away to reveal that he is trapped within a glass cube with a transparent helmet covering his head, connected to electronic components. His limbs are constrained.

Jamie and Zoe rub their hands with glee at having ensnared him, whilst the children mock him.

The cube transports itself into the control centre.

The Master explains that, as he had refused to help willingly, he has been forced to incorporate him into the Master Brain itself.

The Doctor demands to know the reason for all this, and is told that the Brain wishes to conquer the Earth by mentally enslaving its inhabitants. They will be transferred here, leaving behind all of the planet's natural resources to plunder.

Now that he is part of the computer, the Doctor realises that he can exploit this. It can create whatever he thinks - a situation which alarms the Master.

They prepare for a mental duel.

First he urges Jamie and Zoe to free themselves and return to reality.

His companions wander away from the others on the battlements.

Realising the danger, the Master summons White Robots to protect the Master Brain, and sends Soldiers to stop Jamie and Zoe, who have now freed themselves from the giant book they had been trapped in.

The Doctor summons the Karkus, who destroys the Soldiers with his ray gun. The Master counters by having him then train the weapon on Jamie and Zoe.

The Doctor quickly has the gun's energy depleted.

The Master then sends the poet-swordsman Cyrano de Bergerac to attack his companions - against which the Doctor has them protected by the young Musketeer D'Artagnan.

As the pair duel, Jamie borrows Rapunzel's hair so that he and Zoe can descend into the citadel.

The Master replaces Cyrano with Blackbeard the Pirate, whose cutlass easily knocks aside the rapier of D'Artagnan - so the Doctor has him replaced by Sir Lancelot, on horseback and in full armour.

He easily overpowers the pirate.

The Master Brain then decides that the Doctor is expendable and no longer suitable - despite the Master's protestations. His own, gentler, personality is sometimes showing through.

However, he is compelled to order the White Robots to switch their weaponry from hypnotic beam to destructor ray.

The Doctor finds it impossible to extricate himself without fictionalising himself in the process. The robots remove him from the glass cube and prepare to kill him.

He then sees Jamie and Zoe enter - and orders them to overload the computer.

As they begin punching buttons randomly, the White Robots - which are programmed to defend the Master Brain - open fire on them. Ducking out of the way, the robots begin wrecking the computer instead.

The Doctor reminds his companions that the White Robots have been ordered to destroy - and they are destroying everything.

They rush from the control centre, taking the bewildered Master with them - now free of the computer's influence. He is quite confused and asks if they are in the offices of the Ensign magazine. They find themselves in a dark void, and the Doctor hopes that they will be sent back to where they came from the moment the Land of Fiction collapses.

They vanish as the realm explodes around them.

As it does so, the exploded TARDIS reassembles itself...

Next time: The Invasion 

Data:

Written by Peter Ling

Recorded: Friday 19th July 1968 - Television Centre Studio TC3

First broadcast: 5.20pm, Saturday 12th October 1968

Ratings: 6.7 million / AI 49

VFX: Jack Kine & Bernard Wilkie 

Designer: Evan Hercules 

Director: David Maloney 

Additional cast: John Greenwood (D'Artagnan & Sir Lancelot), David Cannon (Cyrano de Bergerac), Gerry Wain (Blackbeard)

Critique:

Of the four new characters introduced this week, to fight the climactic battle of wills, three are actually based on real individuals. However, they had been the subjects of works of fiction and in some cases are better known through those works rather than as genuine historical figures - see Trivia below.

The fictionalised versions of Jamie and Zoe mostly spoke lines from earlier in the story.

A number of cuts were made to the script prior to recording, to get it reduced in length. These included a scene in which Gulliver and the children first appear on the battlements, a scene between Gulliver and the companions, the Master observing the Doctor working at the typewriter, and a couple of scenes between the pair in the control centre.

On Monday 15th July, Derrick Sherwin wrote to Peter Ling to apologise for not keeping in touch recently - due to being busy working on the upcoming Cyberman story The Invasion. He was able to tell the writer how well his work was being handled by David Maloney, and they discussed further story ideas. Sherwin suggested other fantastical premises, whilst more straightforward sci-fi stories with monsters be left to writers "with unoriginal minds"...

Filming for this episode began at Ealing on Wednesday 12th June. This included the appearance of the Karkus, firing upon the Clockwork Soldiers on the battlements of the citadel. Shots were then captured of the White Robots for the sequence in which they begin attacking the Master Brain.

The following day, work began on the big battle of fictional characters. This was arranged by John Greenwood, who would be playing both D'Artagnan and Sir Lancelot in the sequence. Greenwood was an actor and fight arranger who had worked on Olivier's Richard III (1955) as well as the BBC productions An Age of Kings (Shakespeare's run of plays from Richard II to Henry VI Part 2) and The Spread of the Eagle (comprising the playwright's Roman plays Coriolanus, Julius Caesar and Anthony and Cleopatra). He was working on a stage production of Hamlet when invited to join the programme by Maloney, who knew him from An Age of Kings.

Joining Greenwood were stuntmen Gerry Wain and David Cannon, and a number of publicity shots were taken of their characters - other than Sir Lancelot.

The filming on the battle sequence was completed on Friday 14th June.

 

For the final week of the fifth recording block of Doctor Who, recording returned once more to Studio 3 at Television Centre. This came about purely by chance as an edition of the monthly astronomy programme, The Sky At Night, had been cancelled.

Martin Baugh stepped down from designing costumes, to be replaced by Susan Wheal.

Recording began with the sequence in which Jamie gets transformed into a cardboard cut-out after attacking a Redcoat soldier - rescheduled from 28th June due to Frazer Hines' illness that week. This would be edited into Episode 2.

As the episode would need a great deal of cross cutting and editing, it had been decided to capture it on 35mm film.

The reprise of the cliffhanger was remounted and shown on a large Eidophor projection screen on the control centre set, which could be fed images from different cameras.

Christopher Robbie, returning as the Karkus, removed a lightweight prop skylight, whilst a camera run-on allowed Troughton to move to the Apparatus Room set. It was originally intended that a Clockwork Soldier would be stationed there the whole time - feeding images to the Master.

Maloney had hoped that the picture could have been split diagonally, showing the Doctor typing in the upper section whilst we saw what he was typing in the lower one.

The close-up of the Doctor's hands were actually performed by typist Trish Philips. She typed as the lines were read to her by a production assistant.

The entrapment of the Doctor in the glass cube required three recording breaks. The first was to remove the actual TARDIS prop and replace it with the cube, which had a photographic blow-up of the Police Box placed in front. The cube and Troughton then transferred to an area with black drapes so that it could be seen to fade away when superimposed on the vacated battlements set. The last was to then set the cube in the control centre set.

The next recording break allowed Hines and Wendy Padbury to move from the battlements to the giant book set.

A huge fan of the composer, Maloney used Bruckner's Symphony No7 in E Major to back the filmed fight sequence.

As the Master Brain overloaded, the Eidophor screen showed quick clips of Medusa and the unicorn from earlier episodes, some in reverse.

The final recording break was to have the regulars and Emrys Jones move to the black drape area, which had a fog loop superimposed over it to simulate the fires from the exploding computer.

The characters then faded away, and the clip of the TARDIS breaking up from Episode 1 was reused, played back in reverse.

With the episode completed, the regular cast then embarked on their summer break which, for Troughton and Hines especially, was much needed. They had been working almost continuously since location work in Snowdonia for The Abominable Snowmen.

When they returned at the beginning of September, it would be for the final time.

This would prove to be the only Doctor Who story to be written by Peter Ling. He and Terrance Dicks did discuss a second story in which the Doctor visited a world where everything ran backwards, but this didn't come to anything.

In 1983 the writer was approached by John Nathan Turner, who had a proposal to revive his Compact fashion magazine soap - under the title Impact. JNT invited Ling to submit a story idea, presumably to help sweeten the deal, and he came up with a six part story titled "Hex". In this, the Fifth Doctor encountered the bee-like Hexagorians. Much work was done on it, cutting it down to four episodes, and then as two 45 minute episodes for the Sixth Doctor, before it was finally abandoned. Whilst JNT was keen on it, Eric Saward was not. 

Compact never did get revived.

The Mind Robber was sold to the usual territories - North America, Australia, Singapore, Gibraltar, New Zealand and Hong Kong. The BBC kept the 35mm recording of this final episode, but the original video tapes of the other four instalments were wiped by the early 1970's. 

In 1977, it was discovered that 16mm prints of the missing episodes had been retained by BBC Enterprises.

The big question about The Mind Robber is: did this adventure really happen? If yes, was it all of it - or only episodes 2 to 5, after the TARDIS appears to break up? Or is it everything from the moment the Doctor activated the emergency component?

As far as the five episodes themselves go, there's nothing to say that any of this isn't real. It's more with hindsight. For a start we will see the Doctor and his companions back in the TARDIS at the beginning of The Invasion, and they talk of the closing moments of the previous week - "Hey Doctor, it's alright. It worked" says Jamie, whilst Zoe asks if they are actually on their way, or stuck somewhere.

The thing no-one mentions is the Master, who was with them at the end. Presumably he has been sent back to where he started - at his desk on a hot summer's day in 1926.

There's also Zoe's complete lack of knowledge about candles in The Space Pirates. She literally doesn't know what they are or how they work - yet in Episode 3 of this story, on first entering the labyrinth, she says: "Well there must be someone here. These candles are alight...". 

It's no doubt due to the fact that Terrance Dicks did a lot of work on the later story, and none at all on this, that we have this discrepancy - but we do have to go by the on-screen evidence, and it's contradictory.

It looks like Jamie's quote above refers to the operation of the emergency unit, and Zoe's talk about getting on their way also refers back to only the opening moments of The Mind Robber - when the TARDIS fails to dematerialise due to the overheating fluid links.

This suggests that everything from the moment the Doctor operates the unit is purely in his mind - or possibly a shared dream.

I've mentioned before the theory that the White Robots and the Clockwork Soldiers might be manifestations of the Daleks or Cybermen. The Doctor has encountered deadly robots and dangerous computers in the past, so the material for his own personal nightmare is all in there. He is also well-read and familiar with Earth literature and mythology.

Being manipulated and trapped - no longer able to travel and explore - would be real fears for the Doctor. We'll hear in the next story how much he hates computers. Redcoats and unkillable robotic enemies would be Jamie's. Dimly lit caverns full of monsters would certainly be amongst Zoe's, coming from her well-ordered, high-tech society.

If it is a shared dream, it's one which all three immediately forget.

But what did the production team themselves intend? The answer lies in Sherwin's notes for The Invasion Episode 1: " We see the Dr seated in his chair where we left him before the TARDIS broke up in the previous story".

He, therefore, seems to have intended that the whole white void section of the opening episode actually happened. The next episode also begins with a replay of the TARDIS coming back together again, with the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe all then seen in the positions they were in at the point just before the ship breaks apart.

The lines of Jamie and Zoe mentioned above fit this version equally well. They're talking about the increased power working - not the emergency unit. It is only the actual Land of Fiction itself (the forest of words, the citadel and the various literary characters we met) which never existed - in which case there is, somewhere in another dimension, a white void that is still populated by White Robots, with some powerful controlling force which tries to lure unwary travellers outside. (Might it have actually been the Toyroom...?).

The episode itself rattles along at a (very) brisk 18 minutes. Maloney has since said that he felt there was a lack of incident and too much dialogue in the last two instalments - but I don't see that here.

We have a mental duel between the Doctor and Master, and physical duels between Cyrano, D'Artagnan, Blackbeard and Sir Lancelot. Jamie and Zoe get to be evil for a few minutes, and most of the nicer fictional characters we met earlier make a final appearance. The White Robots get more to do as well, and actually turn out to be instrumental in the story's denouement - destroying the Master Brain. Finally, the isn't-really-a-villain-at-all is redeemed and gets to go back to his old life. The Doctor and his companions have actually carried out a rescue mission, whilst saving themselves.

Overall, it's one of the very best Troughton stories. A brilliant first episode, made in the face of adversity. The clever way of getting round Hines' illness. An eclectic mix of fictional characters - some genuinely scary, and an interesting villain. We don't even know if what we saw was real or not. 

If the Land is real, we are left wondering who lay behind it - machines have to start with someone building the first one. Even an artificial intelligence has to have an initiator.

The only story anything like it is The Celestial Toymaker, which also sees the TARDIS travellers trapped in a bizarre domain, populated by unreal characters but overseen by a powerful lone protagonist. There, however, the threats were not terribly well realised - just silly games to be played. Failure in the Toyroom rendered you a plaything, whilst failure here renders you fictional - both nightmare scenarios.

Of the two, The Mind Robber is the superior fantasy.

Trivia:

• The ratings see a fall this week of around half a million viewers, and with the appreciation figure dropping below 50 once again.
• ITV opposition to the show was now Joe 90 in southern regions including London, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea in the North West, and Tarzan in the Midlands and North East.
• This is the shortest ever regular instalment of Doctor Who.
• Thursday 5th December saw the publication of a BBC Audience Research Report on this episode, comprising the views of some 238 respondents. Around a third thought the acting to be below standard - other than the performances of Troughton and Hines. Many thought that the fantasy element was "getting out of hand", and this story was "too silly for words". Some believed that the programme had had its day.
• The Mind Robber was selected for a repeat screening on BBC2 in early 1992, representing the Troughton era. Episode 1 was broadcast on Friday 31st January, with subsequent episodes running over the next four Friday evenings. Episodes 1, 2 and 5 were shown at 6.50pm, with 3 and 4 at the later time of 7.40pm due to coverage of the Winter Olympics. 
• Viewing figures for the repeats were (1) 2.57m, (2) 2.64m, (3) 1.5m, (4) 1.5m and (5) 3.46m. The story had already been released on VHS, which may have impacted the audience.
• Evan Hercules based the battlements set on Knole House, which is located near Sevenoaks in Kent. It has literary connections, being the birthplace, in 1892, of writer Vita Sackville-West.
• Blackbeard was the nickname of Henry Teach, who was born in Bristol in 1680. It is believed that he had been a sailor on privateer ships, who had settled in the Bahamas. It was in this region and along the eastern seaboard of America that he was most active, after being promoted by the pirate Benjamin Hornigold to command one of his captured ships. Hornigold retired in 1717, but Teach carried on with two of his ships. One of these he made his flagship - the slave vessel La Concorde, which he renamed Queen Anne's Revenge. After accepting a royal pardon and settling in North Carolina, Teach was soon lured back to his old ways. The Governor of Virginia arranged for a party of soldiers to hunt him down, and he died in the skirmish - on 22nd November 1718. Subsequently he became a stereotype for bloodthirsty pirates (though he always tried to avoid violence wherever possible), and gets a mention in Treasure Island - one of the books in the Apparatus Room.
• The D'Artagnan we see here is clearly based on the fictional character created by Alexander Dumas for The Three Musketeers (1844). But he was inspired by the real life Count D'Artagnan - Charles de Batz de Castelmore d'Artagnan. Born in 1611, he was commander of the Musketeers of the Guard under King Louis XIV. His political protector was Cardinal Mazarin, for whom he carried out various espionage assignments. He was actually a contemporary of Cyrano de Bergerac and fought alongside him in the 1640's. He was killed in June 1673, at the siege of Maastricht. He has a statue in the Dutch city.
• Edmond Rostand's 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac centres of the title character attempting to woo a young woman named Roxane through a handsome young proxy, as he is ashamed that she will reject him because of his prominent nose. Being a poet as well as a soldier, he feeds the young man the words to say to Roxane - but she falls in love instead with his stand-in, not so much because of his looks but because of his poetry. As we've seen, the character was based on a real figure - Hector Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac - who did indeed have a prominent aquiline nose. Born in 1619, he was a poet, playwright and novelist as well as following a military career. He was also a libertine who was notorious for duelling. The circumstances of his death in 1655 are unclear. One theory is that he was badly wounded in a failed assassination attempt, his health already compromised after a long spell in an asylum into which he had been forced by his enemies - who included his own brother. 
• Sir Lancelot was one of the Knights of the Round Table in Arthurian myth, of which there are many versions. His first appearance is in the 12th Century romance novel Erec, by Chretien de Troyes. Though a close friend of Arthur, he entered into an affair with Queen Guinevere. Lancelot was supposedly the orphan son of King Ban, and was raised by the Lady of the Lake but kept unaware of his true parentage. Seduced through witchcraft, he became the father of Galahad, who had all of his strengths but none of his flaws. It is these flaws, including his adultery with the queen, which helped contribute to the fall of Arthur's kingdom. Different versions of the myth have him going into self-imposed exile after the death of Arthur.
• A White Robot was one of the figures to be collected in the first Weetabix promotion:

• And a robot based on one featured in the frontispiece of the final Troughton annual (note also the Dominators' drilling machine):

TARDIS Log: An Unearthly Child

Where and When:

The story begins with the TARDIS in London - standing in a junkyard at 76 Totter's Lane, which is close to Coal Hill School. We know it is London as Ian says so in The Cave of Skulls.

But where is the Coal Hill district?

We will find out later, but for now the exact part of the city is unclear. All we have to go on is when the local area appears on the scanner as the ship takes off. Large buildings, in crescents and terraces can be seen. As the programme is made in West London, we could be forgiven for thinking that's where Totter's Lane is situated. (Things aren't helped by the fact that the BBC's most famous junkyard at the time - at 26a Oil Drum Lane and home to Steptoe and Son - is located in Shepherd's Bush). However, these buildings look more like office blocks than the residential terraces and crescents of areas like Notting Hill or Ladbroke Grove.

For now, all we can say is that it is probably in the inner suburbs of the city.

As for the 'When', Ian also states that the year is 1963 in the second episode. We can work out from the homework on Ian's blackboard that it is a Thursday when he and Barbara first enter the TARDIS. The Science homework is for Tuesday and Thursday in that order - so those are the days on which Susan attends this class. It can't be a Friday anyway as Susan says she'll return the borrowed book the next day.

If this was a Tuesday, then the homework would have been for Thursday first, and then for the following Tuesday - so this must be Thursday. Barbara's classroom also has History homework set for a Tuesday.

The month is harder to pin down. We know it is winter as it is dark so soon after school finishes (4pm in those days). We're looking at October to February as most likely, and it tends to be accepted that it is November as that is when the series started.

A potential issue with that is Susan's mention of the last five months being the happiest of her life, straight after stating that she loves the school. Is she talking about staying in London in general, or is she specifically referring to that time spent at the school?

As the new school year would have begun in September, she can't be saying that she's been at the school for five months if it's only November - unless she joined around Easter and spent the school summer holiday in London before rejoining Coal Hill for the Autumn term.

One other option is that this isn't the end of the year at all, but the beginning of 1963 (February perhaps) - which would allow her to have attended the school for the whole five months.

The problem with this is Ian and Barbara. Surely they would have questioned Susan's odd behaviour before now, if they've been teaching her for five months?

One explanation could be that they are the newcomers - just joined the school in a recent intake of new staff. That might explain the way they seem to have bonded, and don't involve any other teachers or the headmaster in their concerns about Susan.

A problem of this being the start of the year is the Big Freeze of 1963 - which lasted through January and February and saw many school closures.

(One other issue about Susan's mention of a five month residency in London, whether in general or at the school, is how could she not have known that the UK used pounds, shillings and pence before now?).

At the end of the opening episode, the TARDIS makes its first televised journey. It is no longer in the junkyard, but sitting on a scrubby plain. It is observed by a man dressed in animal skins. Ian and Barbara discover that the sand is near freezing.

The TARDIS has a "year-o-meter", but this isn't working - it registers "Zero". Writer Anthony Coburn stated in a draft script that the ship had travelled in time only - some 195,000 years. David Whitaker also used this date in paperwork. But Coburn and the production team gave the story an overall title of "100,000 BC". The Doctor also states that they have gone back in time, and he'll know when once he's collected a few samples - so as far as he is concerned this is prehistoric Earth.

As the instruments aren't working properly, and he will be shown to be an unreliable navigator, we have to take his word that this is not actually some alien planet where a similar humanoid race has evolved (Mondas, anyone?).

Assuming it is Earth, as the tribespeople are clearly Homo Sapiens then it can't be more than 40,000 years ago. If it is an Ice Age which is approaching, then the last was around 10,000 years ago. It's unlikely that the tribe would have survived very long without fire, so it is more likely that Za's father died only recently and it is winter which is approaching. But then Horg goes and talks about fire and meat joining together as though it was some distant memory...

One other theory to consider is that this is not the past at all, but the far future, when humans have degenerated following some great cataclysm that has thrown civilisation back to a new Stone Age.

The TARDIS must have moved geographically as well as through time, as the London area was mostly marshland in prehistoric times, and there's no evidence of this sort of terrain. Indeed, there is much talk of a mountain near the cave of the tribe, if the cave itself isn't part of the mountain instead of some rocky outcrop. (It's odd that the tribe don't use the Cave of Skulls as a living space, as it ought to be warmer and provide better protection - but then palaeontologists and archaeologists have argued for years about 'Ritual' in prehistoric societies, and it is simply the place of their ancestors).

We learn quite quickly that the Doctor and Susan haven't come to London straight from their home planet. Susan mentions that the ship has disguised itself as a sedan chair and an ionic column in the past. This suggests two potential trips into Earth history - though they would have had such columns in the days of sedan chairs, what with the neo-classical architectural movement. 

Then there's her reaction to the book on the French Revolution which she is borrowing - implying she has first hand knowledge of the event. Not necessarily a third previous trip, as they would have had both sedan chairs and ionic columns in late 18th Century French cities.

The TARDIS makes its second televised journey at the end of the story - but we'll talk about that next time.

The TARDIS:

In outward appearance, the TARDIS resembles a Police Public Call Box, blue in colour and with white window surrounds and emergency instruction panel. When Ian touches it, he feels a strange vibration, as though it's alive. (He may mean live, as in having electrical power, as he walks all round it and states that it doesn't appear to be connected to anything - unless it's through the floor).

Susan seems unaware that her teachers are prowling around outside, but then she's wearing different clothes and is probably off changing - so there has to be a living space with a wardrobe somewhere.

The Doctor opens the door with an ordinary Yale-style key.

It can also be opened from within as Susan opens it - allowing Barbara to push her way in.

Within, the dimensions are far greater than the exterior box would suggest. 

Susan is standing in the middle of a brightly lit, futuristic space, next to a six-sided control console topped by a glass or clear plastic cylinder. The panels are covered in buttons and switches.

Various bits of furniture, some practical, some purely decorative, are dotted about.

(The Doctor places his coat and scarf on a chair, and the scarf falls on the floor. Perhaps he should get a nice hatstand one of these days...).

Most of the walls, as well as the doors, are covered in large inset roundels.

The ship has a faulty filament, but the Doctor has found what he thinks to be a suitable replacement - though it is amateurish by his standards.

He instructs Susan to close the wide double doors using one of the controls on the console.

(Presumably bewildered by all this, Ian claims to have seen the Doctor do this).

The Doctor then explains that this is a time machine, and Susan claims to have made up the name 'TARDIS' from the initials of "Time And Relative Dimension In Space". (Note the singular of Dimension).

As far as we know this craft is unique, but the Doctor didn't necessarily build it himself - otherwise why not replace the filament with one of his own manufacture?

The Doctor and Susan state that they come from another world, so the TARDIS is not of human construction.

One of the controls allows at least one part of the console, or a specific switch, to become electrified - presumably some sort of defence mechanism to prevent unauthorised use.

The Doctor pilots the TARDIS from the console, a process involving operating several controls.

He and Susan then look up at a scanner, resembling a TV screen, which is suspended about 8 feet above floor level against the wall opposite the doors. This wall is fronted by glass panels, behind which are instruments.

This shows a cityscape receding, as though the ship is flying up into the sky. 

This first ever take-off will be like no other, as it renders the teachers unconscious - and even the Doctor and Susan appear physically discomfited by the process. The take-off is accompanied by a loud mechanical wheezing-groaning sound, as well as various electronic beeps and bleeps.

The lights dim, and a mechanism within the glass cylinder glows as it begins to rise and fall.

Could this debilitating take-off be the result of that make-do replacement filament?

The effect on Ian and Barbara appears to be only momentary - for the TARDIS reaches it's destination very quickly.

The light level returns to normal.

The Doctor has Susan take some environmental readings from the console, but he decides to bring a handheld radiation meter with him when he goes out to explore.

The open double doors lead directly to the new landscape outside. What then does Barbara see when she steps outside and looks back inside the ship? (Note the exterior of the doors are patterned like the interior of the ship, and not like a Police Box).

From the outside there are only the narrow Police Box doors, and people are only seen to emerge through one of these (the one without the instruction panel and telephone cabinet).

Susan is surprised to see that the TARDIS still looks like a Police Box - something which irritates the Doctor as it suggests something else to be repaired.

The implication is that it is only from this point on that the TARDIS will be stuck in this shape, and it has always camouflaged itself on landing before this (see above).

The portable radiation meter gets damaged when Kal abducts the Doctor, and Susan finds his notebook which she claims contains vital information about the ship's operations - codes for different machines.

This suggests that the Doctor is not entirely familiar with the ship - or, as Susan states, he's simply becoming forgetful. It's another hint that he did not build the TARDIS.

At the end of the story we see how the TARDIS travels, when it dematerialises - fading away before the startled eyes of Za and his men.

It again arrives swiftly at its next destination - and we'll talk about its dodgy built-in radiation meter next time...

What is most significant is the Doctor's statement that the TARDIS "...isn't operating properly. Or rather, the code is still a secret" - which pretty much confirms that he cannot have built it.

He goes on to say that if you feed in precise data at the beginning of a journey, then you can set your destination - but in this instance he did not have the information he needed.

When Ian asks him outright if he can fly the TARDIS, the Doctor says "Well of course I can't. I'm not a miracle worker".

Behind The Scenes:

We discussed the creation of the set in the Origins post. The main thing to note here is that Peter Brachacki was hospitalised not long after the pilot episode was made, and designer Barry Newbery took over - though he stuck faithfully to Brachacki's designs for the opening episode.

Most changes between the pilot and broadcast versions of An Unearthly Child were to do with character and dialogue, though there were slight changes made to the TARDIS. One of the photographic blow-up walls was replaced, and the furniture rearranged, but the biggest difference was in the soundscape.

There is a loud, intrusive hum in the TARDIS throughout the pilot, which they got rid of for the second version. It would have been very annoying to have retained this throughout.

The dematerialisation sound is also simplified, with a lot less beeps and bleeps.