Synopsis:
As an alarm sounds across the Dalek city, Bret informs Katarina and Steven that he cannot wait any longer for the Doctor. He prepares for lift-off...
The Doctor hurries onboard at the last minute, and the Spar 7-40 speeds away from the surface of Kembel.
The Dalek Supreme orders that the ship must not be destroyed. A device called a Randomiser is to be used instead, which will disrupt its controls.
The Doctor informs Bret and his companions of what he learned whilst in the Dalek conference hall. He explains about the Taranium Core, and the Time Destructor weapon it powers. It must be kept from the Daleks at all costs.
On Kembel, Zephon is accused of threatening their entire scheme by the Black Dalek, thanks to his negligence. The delegate from the Fifth Galaxy attempts to shift the blame onto Chen, pointing out that his attackers appeared to be human. He threatens to take other delegates - Beaus and Celation - with him if the Daleks turn against him. Realising his threats are not enough, he tries to flee back to his ship but is surrounded by Daleks and exterminated.
On the Spar, the Doctor is demonstrating the power of the Core. He then asks Bret to locate a tape player, remembering the recording which he found in the jungle beside the skeletal remains.
They play this back and hear the message from doomed Space Security agent Marc Cory.
This is evidence which can be taken to the authorities on Earth, possibly to Chen's deputy - a man named Karlton. Steven warns that he may also be involved with Chen's treason.
As the ship passes the planet Desperus, it suddenly goes out of control. The Daleks have operated their Randomiser device, forcing the Spar to crash-land.
Bret explains that Desperus is the penal world of the Solar System, a harsh jungle environment full of hostile wildlife, where prisoners are confined for life. Worst of the creatures are the Screamers - huge flying reptiles which emit a screeching noise which can eventually drive people mad. There are no guards here, and only prison ships delivering new convicts ever land.
The Daleks will send a pursuit ship to find the Spar crew, exterminate them, and retrieve the Core, well away from any Earth authorities.
To allay suspicions back home, Chen agrees to return to Earth. The Supreme furnishes him with a craft similar to his stolen one.
On Desperus, the arrival of the Spar is seen by a trio of convicts - Bors, Garge and Kirksen. Bors rules the group as he is the only one with a knife. They decide to steal the ship and make their escape.
As Bret carries out repairs, the Doctor sets up a defence by laying a power cable around the ship's hatch area.
This succeeds in knocking out Bors and Garge.
The Dalek pursuit craft approaches as the Spar lifts off - and they are pleased to see it crash-land more heavily than they had.
The Doctor asks Katarina to check that the inner airlock door has been closed properly.
However, Kirksen has made it onto the ship. Katarina screams as he seizes her and drags her into the airlock, sealing them both inside...
Next episode: The Traitors
Written by: Terry Nation
Recorded: Friday 5th November 1965 - Television Centre Studio TC3
First broadcast: 5:50pm, Saturday 27th November 1965
Ratings: 10.3 million / AI 52
Designer: Barry Newbery
Director: Douglas Camfield
Additional cast: Douglas Sheldon (Kirksen), Dallas Cavell (Bors), Geoffrey Cheshire (Garge)
Barry Newbery takes over design duties from Ray Cusick for the third instalment of The Daleks' Master Plan as the action moves away from Kembel. When we do cut back to the planet, it will be to a different Dalek control room setting until the closing episodes of the story.
The main setting for this episode is the planet Desperus - Terry Nation employing his usual naming convention once again. The planet is full of desperate convicts - hence Desperus.
We have very few images from this episode - other than photos taken on the Spar set - so can't see how different Newbery might have made Desperus look in comparison to the jungles of Kembel.
The soundtrack suggests that the setting was primarily at night, or that the planet was very dark, as there is a lot of reference to lights moving towards the crashed ship.
Another thing we can't know is the quantity or quality of the model work. I suspect that much of the spaceship action was achieved as "noises-off" - either through sound effects or characters simply describing what they see, like when the Dalek pursuit ship crash-lands.
The Screamers were achieved mainly through sound and lighting effects, though a large bat-like prop was also briefly seen.
The story moves onto a quest footing from this episode onwards, Nation revisiting the format he had employed in both The Keys of Marinus and The Chase.
This will become even more apparent once the TARDIS is retrieved in the sixth instalment - though the episodes which most resemble The Chase are ones written by Dennis Spooner.
One change from the draft script was the resolution to the threat from the convicts. Originally, they were to have been distracted by the arrival of the Dalek craft, enabling the Spar to escape.
Describing Desperus to the others, Bret explained that there had been a sudden leap in the crime rate 50 or 60 years before, which had prompted the Earth authorities to adopt the old "Devil's Island" model of imprisonment (see Trivia).
The principal convicts were named Breton, Wingate and Kirkland.
Cast as Kirksen was Doug Sheldon, who also used his full name of Douglas at times. He came from a carnival family background, so showbusiness was in the blood. In 1961 he had landed a small part in the classic war movie The Guns of Navarone. At the time he was sharing a flat with other hopeful young actors by the names of Michael Caine and Sean Connery.
A theatre performance led to Sheldon being offered a recording contract with Decca, despite the fact that he had never sung professionally. He released a handful of singles between 1961 - 64, the highest ranking of which reached 29 in the charts. A couple never charted at all, which led him to turn his back on the pop music business.
Concentrating more on acting, he then had small roles in many of the popular series of the 1960's, including The Avengers, Dixon of Dock Green and Softly Softly: Taskforce.
He later became a novelist.
Publicity images of Bret on the Spar flight deck were taken on the afternoon of recording, as were the photographs of Mavic Chen with Zephon and a Dalek lurking behind him.
Marc Cory's message was different to that heard in Mission to the Unknown. It is also delivered by someone else - Dalek voice man Peter Hawkins.
A camera script error had the "Next Episode:" caption read The Daleks' Master Plan, which had to be changed to The Traitors.
There was one brief cut for timing before broadcast. In this, the Supreme assured an underling that it would personally oversee Chen's destruction once his usefulness was at an end, which led into a scene with the Doctor and Katarina looking at an image of Desperus on a monitor in the Spar.
Like many other episodes, this one had the actors re-enact afresh the closing scene from the previous instalment as the reprise. This was not always the case. Some directors opted to simply edit in the footage from the previous episode close. As well as some different choice of shots or camera angles, this is noticeable in the poorer picture quality when you watch the material back on VHS or DVD.
- The ratings continue to increase, rising to over 10 million, whilst the appreciation figure remains the same.
- The episode title refers to Cayenne - Devil's Island - the notorious penal colony off the coast of French Guiana. Established during the reign of Napoleon III in 1852, this became infamous due to the Dreyfus affair, as a result of Emil Zola's J'accuse!.
- A sequence featuring the Daleks' use of their Randomiser and the reaction of the crew of the Spar exists from this episode, thanks to its inclusion in an edition of Blue Peter.
- Dallas Cavell had previously played the roadworks overseer in the second instalment of The Reign of Terror. He would go on to appear in stories featuring the Second, Third and Fifth Doctors, as well as JNT's Who-themed pantomimes (as one of the Ugly Sisters).
- Geoffrey Cheshire had previously played the Viking commander in The Time Meddler. He was one of Camfield's rep of actors, and would later feature in The Invasion.
- On Monday 29th November, the name of self-appointed guardian of the nation's morals - Mary Whitehouse - first became attached to Doctor Who. Newspapers were picking up on comments from some parents about how (in)appropriate the show was for children - especially the Daleks' propensity for death-dealing. Whitehouse tried to argue that the Daleks' chant of "Kill, kill, kill!" might incite a child to go out and do so... Radio Times featured a response from the BBC that programmes broadcast between 5 - 6pm were not necessarily intended for children. A parent also responded to Whitehouse, claiming she was talking "Twaddle".
- This episode was the first of this story to get an Audience Research Report. There were 340 respondents and the reactions were mostly positive. Some people were critical of William Hartnell's performance, however.
- Outside of the letters pages, for the third week running the programme had some attention from Radio Times:
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