Synopsis:
As the Doctor and his companions leave their cell, with Ian hidden inside the Dalek's casing, its previous occupant tries feebly to claw its way out from beneath a cloak.
The travellers move along the corridor until they come to a lift. Ian informs the guard that he is escorting the prisoners to the Dalek council. Susan pretends to attempt an escape to divert the guard, and Ian gets everyone into an antechamber which lies between the corridor and the lift. The guard checks on the prisoner escort and is told that no such order has been given. The Doctor has disabled the door. However, Ian finds himself trapped in the casing as the catch has stuck. Additionally, they cannot move him into the lift as the Daleks have magnetised the floor.
In the forest by the TARDIS, the rest of the Thals have arrived. They include Ganatus' brother Antodus, and friends Elyon and Kristas. Dyoni questions Ganatus about his brother's fear of the dark, which greatly upsets him. Temmosus explains to all that he will lead a group to the city to collect the promised supplies, despite Alydon's concerns.
The Daleks begin cutting their way through to the antechamber. The Doctor, Barbara and Susan use the lift to travel to a higher level. The Daleks break in and destroy the casing - but it is already empty. Ian had got out at the last minute and is now ascending in the lift. He gets out before the Daleks can bring it down again. The Daleks use the lift themselves, but the travellers push a stone sculpture down the shaft, wrecking it.
From their high vantage point, the travellers see movement down below and realise that it must be the Thals, come for the food. They will be walking into a trap. They must get down to ground level and warn them.
Ian elects to remain behind to do this, whilst the Doctor, Barbara and Susan must flee into the forest to the TARDIS landing site.
Temmosus offers the Daleks the friendship and co-operation of the Thals, but his hopes fall on deaf ears. Ian tries to warn him but the Daleks emerge from hiding and shoot him down. Other Thals are killed or injured, but most manage to flee back into the forest.
At the camp, the Thals try to comprehend why the Daleks acted as they did. Ian suggests that they simply hate anything which is not like themselves. Whatever, the Thals will not fight to defend themselves as memories of the neutronic war have led them to adopt a pacifist philosophy.
The Doctor dismisses his companions' thoughts on the nature of the Thals as none of their business. They must return to the TARDIS and get on their way. He asks Ian for the Fluid Link, and the schoolteacher suddenly recalls that he no longer has it. It was taken from him by the Daleks, and is still down there in their city...
Next Episode: The Expedition.
Written by: Terry Nation
Recorded: Friday 13th December 1963.
First broadcast: 5:15pm, Saturday 11th January, 1964.
Ratings: 9.9 million / AI 63
Director: Christopher Barry
Designer: Raymond P Cusick
Additional cast: Marcus Hammond (Antodus), Gerald Curtis (Elyon), Jonathan Crane (Kristas).
It ought to be remembered that viewers at the time had no idea of how long a story was going to last. The one with the cavemen had lasted four weeks, so they might have been forgiven for thinking that all stories were going to be of this length. It looks like this story is over when the Doctor and his companions are about to head back to the TARDIS and leave. The Daleks are plotting the destruction of the Thals, but they are pacifists who will not fight, even to defend themselves. It would have made for a most unsatisfying conclusion had it ended like this, with threads hanging.
The biggest thread, we would have forgotten all about.
It's only at the last minute that the Fluid Link is mentioned. You would need a very good memory indeed to recall that it was last seen in the laboratory back in Part Two, just before the travellers were captured.
Whilst suspenseful, the story has hardly been action-packed up to this point. Things are more than made up for here as we have the tense escape, which takes up most of the running time, then the ambush of the episode's title - the first time we really see the Daleks as actively evil beings. They've only really been untrustworthy up until now, but Ian nails them when he points out their "dislike for the unlike". They are racist and genocidal - showing their roots in the Nazis of World War II. Nation spoke more about this inspiration when it came to their second story but it was obvious from the start.
Within the story we learn that Skaro is one of at least 12 planets in its solar system. We'll later get at least two different versions of their genesis but here we discover that the Daleks' predecessors were known as Dals, and were known as philosophers and teachers. The Thals were the belligerent, militaristic ones.
The Daleks have had a huge impact on the general public - note that viewing figure of almost 10 million, and a high audience appreciation figure. It was at this point that the fan mail started to arrive at the BBC in earnest, generally from youngsters and most of which was forwarded to Nation.
- Christopher Barry returns to direct. He had directed the remount of The Dead Planet the week before recording this.
- The remount allowed some filming of the Daleks to take place at Ealing. These were the scenes of the Daleks cutting through the door. When the story's pre-filming had taken place in October, the Dalek props had not been available.
- Retaining the cast for an additional week to cover the remount had implications further down the line. Jacqueline Hill, expecting the series to end after 13 weeks, had a film role lined up for January 1964, which she had to drop out of.
- The magnetisation of the floor was a late script addition, to explain why they simply couldn't have pushed Ian's Dalek into the lift.
- Antodus was originally to be called Ven.
- Photos were taken of the travellers and Thals at the campsite. These were for the Dalek scanners in the following week's episode.
- Oh dear... Ian, the ever so polite Englishman, waits for Temmosus to deliver his stirring speech before warning everyone - allowing the Daleks time to exterminate him and at least one other of his people.
- A scripted line by one Dalek was "They are to be destroyed..." but this was amended to "They are to be exterminated...". Their famous catchphrase is on its way.
- How does Ian know that the Daleks are led by a council? This has never been mentioned in any dialogue.
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