Synopsis:
Ian forces Lobos and his technician at gunpoint to take him into the processing room. He is shocked at what he sees...
The Doctor is there, apparently frozen. Ian coerces the Morok leader into reversing the embalming process, though Lobos claims it is too late. The Doctor soon revives, and reveals that he has been conscious the whole time.
Ian hopes that by rescuing the Doctor they have changed the future - but is told that he could very easily be put back into the machine a second time. He and the Doctor are overpowered.
Vicki insists on going to find her friends, but Tor argues she cannot carry one of the Morok weapons as it will alert them to what they have done at the armoury. Vicki goes anyway, so Tor asks Sita to accompany her.
At the museum entrance, Barbara and Dako have almost reached the doors despite the zaphra gas - unaware that Morok soldiers are waiting outside to ambush anyone who emerges.
Before they can open fire, they are shot and killed by Sita, and Barbara is reunited with Vicki.
Their happiness is short lived, however, as Morok troops attack and shoot the young Xerons, stunning Dako and killing Sita.
Their guns are presented to Lobos, who demands to know how they came by them. When he tries to contact the armoury, there is no response. He asks his Commander if any of their weapons have fallen into Xeron hands recently.
The TARDIS crew find themselves reunited in the processing room, in the very situation they had been striving to avoid. In frustration, Ian wrecks the freezing machine, only to be told that the Moroks may well have others at their disposal.
Vicki argues that they must have changed the future by now, and the Doctor agrees - pointing out all the interaction they have had with the locals and the actions they have initiated.
They may not have changed the future themselves - but they may have helped to do so through others.
It quickly becomes apparent to Lobos that his forces are being overrun by the Xerons, who have raided the armoury and attacked and destroyed the main barracks.
When Tor learns from Dako that Vicki was captured, along with the rest of her friends, he launches an attack on the Governor's office to rescue them.
Lobos orders an escape ship prepared for departure but first he will deal with the alien troublemakers. He and his Commander are about to shoot the time travellers when Tor and his friends rush in and gun the two Moroks down.
The Xerons waste no time in emptying the museum, arguing that they only want on their planet what belongs there. The Doctor cautions against rejecting all of the alien technology.
He has discovered the cause of their earlier problems, when the TARDIS initially jumped a time-track - a faulty piece of TARDIS equipment. There had been a slight delay in the circuit engaging properly.
Ian and Barbara emerge from the ship, eager to know about the strange object which they have seen being installed. The Doctor had found it in the museum and asked Tor if he could have it. He will tell them all about it when he gets it working again...
Vicki says her goodbyes to Tor and his friends and the TARDIS departs.
On the planet Skaro, a Dalek reports that the time machine of their greatest enemies has just left Xeros. It is informed that they are to be pursued and exterminated...
Next episode: The Executioners
Written by Glyn Jones
Recorded: Friday 23rd April 1965 - Television Centre Studio TC4
First broadcast: 5:40pm, Saturday 15th May 1965
Ratings: 8.5 million / AI 49
Designer: Spencer Chapman
Director: Mervyn Pinfield
Additional cast: Peter Hawkins (Dalek voices), Murphy Grumbar (Dalek)
One of Glyn Jones' biggest criticisms of Dennis Spooner's script editing, after the removal of the humour, was the rather lame explanation for the TARDIS jumping the time-track at the start of the adventure.
It is a very disappointing explanation we see on screen - being simply a re-tread of what happened in The Edge of Destruction. Yes, it is just a bit of faulty equipment on the TARDIS.
Jones had made the cause the Morok freezing machine interfering with the TARDIS. His version is at least relevant to his story, growing out of the plot, but it would have caused fandom headaches later as we would have argued how such a machine could interfere with a TARDIS whilst it is in the Vortex - the problems commencing long before they actually land on Xeros.
This is one of those stories where you have to consider what might happen after the Doctor has left. The Xerons have retaken their planet and are now armed - but they are still youngsters with little tactical experience. It is hoped that Lobos was correct in thinking that his empire was no longer interested in the planet, or in conquest in general - otherwise Tor's rebellion could be easily crushed by a new invading force from Morok. Indeed, some form of swift retribution might be more likely when you consider that other planets might be thinking of overthrowing their Morok overlords, and an example needs to be made.
Another question for the future of the planet: where are the female Xerons?
The Space Museum proves to be a transitional story for the Daleks.
In the first and second episodes we saw the original model, as seen in their city on Skaro, but in The Final Phase we get our first look at the final Dalek design - the one which will remain constant until the 1980's. The two broad metal bands around the middle section have been replaced with vertical slats. Ray Cusick reasoned that these would be a means of power generation, like solar panels, to get away from the power-collection discs of their previous story, and to get around the reliance on static electricity which had been established in their first outing.
The planet we see is never stated to be Skaro, but it is the same image which we saw in The Edge of Destruction, and in that the images on the TARDIS scanner were supposed to represent the TARDIS' recent journeys - so presumably this was the Dalek homeworld.
There is some confusion as to the fate of Sita. The Doctor Who wiki entry for the story has him only stunned and surviving, but The Complete History partwork states that he was killed when shot. Vicki's reaction certainly seems to indicate the latter, and he isn't evident in the final scenes.
There is a particularly pungent example of clumsy dialogue in this episode, when the Commander asks of an underling: "Have any arms fallen into Xeron hands?".
The quality of the second, third and fourth instalments, following the promising opening episode, has led to The Space Museum frequently coming out bottom in fan polls. It held that position in 2009 and in 2014, but has just moved up to second from bottom in the 60th Anniversary poll from DWM.
Its problems are not just a modern perception. A BBC audience report at the time had described The Final Phase as "a very poor ending to what promised, at first, to be a much better story". That question about the female Xerons was also posed. Hartnell's grasp of his lines was questioned, sets were criticised, and some of the audience wanted to know what had happened to the Daleks now that they didn't seem to need static electricity.
Glyn Jones wrote the novelisation of his story for Target. By appearing as Galsec astronaut Krans in The Sontaran Experiment he became the only person to both write for, and appear in, the series during its classic period. He featured on the commentary for the DVD release of The Space Museum, in which he voiced his criticisms of Dennis Spooner's editing and claimed to have submitted another story in the 1970's which failed to be picked up by the production team. He died in 2014, aged 84.
- The ratings manage to pause their slide, remaining the same as last week's episode, but the appreciation figure drops by 7 points to a lacklustre 49.
- It's another short episode, at just over 22 minutes (22' 15").
- This episode had the working title of "Zone Seven".
- Salvin Stewart (playing a Morok soldier) once again provided voices for the radio messages heard by Lobos, such as the Commander of K Division.
- Peter Hawkins pre-recorded the Dalek voices on the Wednesday prior to recording.
- William Hartnell was interviewed at home by the weekly publication Reveille. He was photographed posing with some Louis Marx Dalek toys:
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