Viewers at the time, as we've already reported, would have been a little confused about what was going on with Doctor Who at this time. First of all there was this strange episode with no Doctor, TARDIS or companions, which ended with a cliffhanger that wasn't resolved the following week. Instead of more Daleks, they got the TARDIS crew in ancient Troy.
Things went awry on this story from the very outset. It had been planned that Doctor Who would air mostly four episode stories, apart from a 6-parter every six months, which would feature the Daleks. Always keen to make the next Dalek story bigger and better than the last, producer Verity Lambert decided that their fourth outing would be an epic, by combining two the 6-parters for Season Three into a mammoth 12-parter. She went ahead and commissioned this, even though she knew that she would be leaving the show and it would be left for new producer John Wiles to make it happen. He and his new script editor Donald Tosh suddenly found that all their new ideas for the programme would have to be put on hold as this story took up much of their first season.
Terry Nation was keen on the income that the Daleks generated, but was more interested in the ITC adventure series that he was now working on, which he felt to be far more prestigious and would give him entry into American TV. There was no way he could write 12 episodes, so he agreed to collaborate with the outgoing script editor, Dennis Spooner. Director Richard Martin had moved on from the show after The Chase, and it fell to Douglas Camfield to direct this epic.
Six episodes proved still too much for Nation. As the deadline for the scripts loomed, Tosh harassed him to deliver. As he tells it, Nation turned up at his door one morning, on his way to the airport, with a rather flimsy-feeling envelope, claiming that these were the scripts. They turned out to be mostly character notes and story suggestions, rather than the full scripts which everyone was expecting.
When it comes to the televised episodes, most of what you see with the ones credited to Nation is really the work of Tosh and Camfield.
On to the story itself. The Daleks' Master Plan had a prequel of sorts - Mission to the Unknown. Unfortunately that episode was made by a different director and a different producer. Things don't exactly match up. The message which Marc Cory left at the end of Mission isn't the same as the one which gets replayed here (and it isn't the same actor's voice). Of the alien delegates, only Malpha matches appearances in both stories - even though he gets played by two different actors. Most of the delegates change between stories - looking totally different. The thing that looks like a black Christmas tree wearing a witch's hat in Mission doesn't appear at all in Plan, and Trantis loses his facial fronds. Celation wasn't in Mission but he does appear in Plan, only for the actor to change half way through, along with his appearance. Zephon turns up in Plan, but no-one mentioned his absence in Mission. Likewise, there was no mention of the human ally in Mission - Mavic Chen - despite the importance of his role in securing the power source for the Dalek Time Destructor.
The whole alliance is odd. Surely everyone knows the Daleks can't be trusted to keep any sort of bargain. What do the delegates hope to achieve? Mastery over star systems which they already control? Why does the alliance continue as long as it does when the Daleks start killing off its members - first Zephon and later Trantis?
The Doctor has suddenly acquired a magic chair which immobilises people who sit on it. Never seen before and never seen since. Why would the Doctor think he needed such a thing? How often does he expect the TARDIS to be hijacked?
Earth's top security establishment has an alarm system that is easily overlooked - a little flashing light. The security staff manning the vital communications room seem to be permitted to watch TV whilst on duty.
As with Mission, the agents don't know if they're working for the Space Security Service or the Special Security Service.
Why does Chen insist on travelling in his Spar 740 spaceship when it is so recognisable? Isn't he supposed to be trying to keep his alliance with the Daleks secret?
When the alarm sounds at the Dalek HQ, Chen leaves the Taranium Core sitting on the desk when he runs out. It's taken 50 years to produce this thing and it is vital to the entire Master Plan (and Chen's own personal ambitions), and it could so easily be dropped into his pocket in a second, so why does he leave it behind?
One minute the Daleks are using a randomiser to capture an escaping spaceship, the next they are using some kind of space magnet. Why not just use the one thing - the one that would bring the spaceship back to Kembel? Why crashland it on Desperus when they could have brought it back to them in the first place?
Why is Kirksen so keen to go to Kembel? Most escaped convicts want to go somewhere safe where they won't get captured again, but Kirksen wants to go to the most dangerous planet in the galaxy.
The Hollywood sequence is a bit of a mixed bag. Bing Crosby wasn't trying to get into movies during the Silent Era (and Robert Jewell looks nothing like the young Bing).
The Doctor has visited Earth - England in particular - and has even lived there for at least 6 months, yet he doesn't even recognise cricket when he sees it.
The Monk sabotages the Doctor's TARDIS on the planet Tigus - which just happens to be located in the only solar system in the entire universe whose sun can undo the sabotage.
William Hartnell clearly caught a cold this winter, as you can hear he has almost lost his voice in a couple of episodes.
Back on Kembel, the Daleks move out of their HQ and into a subterranean bunker for no apparent reason. They also decide to lock up the remaining delegates, whereas before they were quite happy to exterminate them. Why escort Chen, Steven and Sara to their control room - the one place where it is too dangerous to fire their weapons?
How exactly does the Time Destructor work? How were the Daleks going to deploy such a weapon if it affects all Time around it? There's mention of fitting it to a spaceship, so can it be made to be directional?
Finally, a great Hartnell fluff: "The Daleks will stop at anything to prevent it!".
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