Episode 98: Volcano

NB: This episode no longer exists in the archives, nor is there a full set of telesnaps. Representative images are therefore used to illustrate it.

Synopsis:

On the planet Kembel, the Daleks are ready to test their Time Destructor - still unaware that the Core they retrieved from the Doctor is a fake. He, meanwhile, has discovered that there is another time machine following them on the same path. He suspects that the Daleks have discovered his deception and are now pursuing him once more.

With Mavic Chen and Trantis constantly trying to undermine each other, the Supreme decides to eliminate the conflict - by using Trantis to test the Destructor.

Placed in a sealed chamber with the device, the Supreme observes with Chen and Celation. They see it fail to work. Chen is accused of trying to deceive them, but he counters that the Daleks should have checked the Core themselves. A time machine is summoned from Skaro - then the Supreme orders that Trantis be exterminated anyway, sending a message to all of their alien allies that the Daleks can dispense with them if they no longer need them.

The TARDIS briefly materialises on a cricket ground - the Oval in South London - in the middle of a test match between England and Australia. Radio commentators Scott and Trevor worry only about the effect this might have on the home team's chances, and check the records to see if anything similar has ever happened before. The blue box vanishes a few moments later, and play continues.

When the time machine arrives on Kembel, Chen finds himself forced to accompany the Dalek pursuit force. Success or failure to find the Doctor and retrieve the real Core will be his responsibility.

The TARDIS next arrives on the hostile volcanic planet of Tigus. The time machine which has been following them materialises nearby in the form of a huge boulder. It is the TARDIS of the time-meddling Monk.

On escaping from the England of 1066 he has been determined to exact his revenge upon the Doctor. He will strand him here, as he was marooned, by sabotaging the TARDIS lock - leaving the Doctor and his companions shut out of the ship.

The Doctor is able to effect a temporary repair by harnessing the sun's rays through the crystal on his ring - explaining that the star in this system has strange properties. Frustrated, the Monk sees the TARDIS depart and so gives chase.

The ship materialises next in the middle of Trafalgar Square. It is seconds to midnight on New Year's Eve, 1965, and the Doctor, Steven and Sara witness the celebrations as the bells strike, heralding 1966.

They move on - unaware that the Daleks are now also on their trail...

Next episode: Golden Death

Data:

Written by: Dennis Spooner

Recorded: Friday 10th November 1965 - Television Centre Studio TC3

First broadcast: 5:50pm, Saturday 1st January 1966

Ratings: 9.6 million / AI 49

Designer: Barry Newbery

Director: Douglas Camfield

Additional cast: Terence Woodfield (Celation), Bruce Wightman (Scott), Roger Brierley (Trevor)

Critique:

Dennis Spooner now takes over for the second half of the story, though he will be following notes by Terry Nation for some sequences.

From the outset, this episode was to have included a sequence set around a volcano, but was also going to be the instalment to feature the Hollywood film set. Knowing it was going to be broadcast on New Year's Day, it was to have ended with a rendition of Auld Lang Syne, though in what context we don't know.

Landings at a cricket match, a volcano, and finally Trafalgar Square were quickly settled on. Spooner wished to include the return of his Meddling Monk character - a component of his TARDIS allowing the Doctor to later steer his own ship properly. Initially he didn't feature until the ninth episode.

The Monk would add some humour to the story, and it was felt that Peter Butterworth might help lessen the load on Hartnell's shoulders. By this stage he had made his first Carry On... film - Carry On Cowboy, which also featured the future Doctor Jon Pertwee.

Elements of The Chase - script edited by Spooner - were brought back, including the Dalek time machine (still called a "Dardis" in the scripts), and the TARDIS time-path indicator which showed other traffic on the ship's route.

In the draft script, Sara ordered the Doctor to return them to Kembel, whilst he and Steven guessed that the Daleks would pursue them with one of their time machines. On being killed, Trantis was to have decomposed into a large blob on the floor.

The Monk explained how he had overcome the Doctor's sabotage of his TARDIS in 1066. 

The cricket sequence was to have been purely vocal, with the two commentators speaking over a view of the pitch.

Spooner suggested newsreel footage of New Year celebration in Trafalgar Square, ideally one which featured a genuine Police Call Box.

VFX footage of the volcanic surface of Tigus was mounted at Ealing on Monday 27th September, but the main filming took place on 8th October. This involved shooting on a 12 foot square model set. Lava flows were created using polyurethane filler squeezed up and lit from beneath the table. Unfortunately, the TARDIS model supplied by Shawcraft was not to scale with the set, so the footage was rejected.

Problems with this sequence were to continue, and it wouldn't be completed to Camfield's satisfaction until 15th November, on the fourth attempt.

A model TARDIS was filmed at Hammersmith Park on 25th October to show the ship on the cricket pitch.

Other filming of revellers, shot against a street corner backdrop, and of cricketers and an umpire, were completed successfully on 8th October.

The Time Destructor prop was created using a number of red plastic beakers, arranged in a starburst pattern in a circular metal frame. It was specifically designed to be lightweight as it was known that Hartnell was to carry it for much of the final instalment.

It has been claimed in some interviews that Kevin Stoney was given blue make-up to portray Mavic Chen. This came from someone who had seen the story being recorded in studio. However, his make-up was actually of an orange hue.

After being played by Ian East earlier in the story, Celation was now portrayed by Terence Woodfield, who would go on to play Maharis in The Ark. The costume was redesigned slightly to give him a more ghostly black and white face.

During the afternoon of recording, the script was changed to delete the Doctor's explanation of how he managed to open the TARDIS door - changing it to the one seen on screen. Hartnell disliked this change as he didn't think it fitted with established facts about his ring. (However, in The Web Planet, it had been shown to open the TARDIS doors after a light was shone through it).

The "Dardis" was the reused prop from The Chase. The evening's recording breaks were mainly to allow movement, on and off sets, of it and the Monk's disguised TARDIS - a large boulder.

Some stock footage from the BBC's own archives was used to illustrate the cricket match.

Other stock footage was used of volcanic activity. 

As well as using sealing foam as lava, dry ice was used to simulate volcanic geysers. At one point a pipe broke, sending dry ice shooting up Butterworth's cassock. 

After its light-hearted detour the previous week, the humorous content continues with the comedic cricket commentators and the return of the Monk. However, we also have the Daleks back after a week away - and see them exterminate one of their allies, seemingly on a whim, in the first few minutes. 

Trivia:

• The viewing numbers and the appreciation figure bounce back significantly after the Christmas plunge last week.
• Bruce Wightman had earlier been cast by Camfield as de Tornebu in The Crusade. He would use him again as a radio operator in Terror of the Zygons.
• Roger Brierley was later cast to play the L3 robot Drathro in The Mysterious Planet. Suffering a claustrophobia attack, he couldn't wear the costume and so provided the voice only.
• Despite having lived in 1960's London for at least 5 months, the Doctor does not recognise cricket when he sees it. He will later become quite obsessed with the game.
• Assuming that the TARDIS hasn't travelled too far from New Year 1966, the test match must be the one played at the Oval on 13th August 1964 - the last time Australia had visited England on an Ashes tour. That match ended with a draw.
• There's reference to an unseen visit to London by the TARDIS as the Doctor is reminded of the celebrations in Trafalgar Square on news of the lifting of the siege of Mafeking during the Boer War in May 1900.
• Four extras - Peter Holmes, Ken MacGarvie, John Bohea and Geoffrey Witherick - played both an umpire and cricketers, and New Year's revellers.
• We are extremely fortunate in having a number of behind the scenes colour images for this episode, taken in studio during rehearsals. At the top of this post we have Chen, Celation and Trantis with the Time Destructor prop behind them.

Whilst the time-path indicator in The Chase was simply a component on the console, above we see that it is now a large circular perspex unit dominating one wall of the TARDIS.

Above, an out of costume Kevin Stoney, cup in hand, can be seen chatting on the left, with the TARDIS crew rehearsing at the far end of the studio. The large free-standing domed item of Dalek equipment was previously seen in Mission to the Unknown.

Hartnell, Purves and Marsh on the Tigus set. You can see how part of the background is back-projected model footage.

And finally, below, a bird's eye view of studio TC3 as it was on the afternoon of Friday 10th November 1965, allowing us to see how the main four sets for the episode were laid out. The "Dardis" can be seen next to the TARDIS prop top right on the Tigus section, with the TARDIS interior bottom right. The Time Destructor chamber where Trantis meets his fate is top left, with the main Dalek control room bottom left.