Episode 138: The Power of the Daleks (4)

Synopsis:

The trio of Daleks exultantly chant "We will get out power" - and Lesterson begins to harbour doubts about them...

He turns off the power supply and reminds them that they are servants and answer to him. He agrees to ration the amount of power they receive, whilst they provide the blueprints for the meteorite detection system which they promised.

Valmar instals a new communications system in the Governor's Office at the behest of Bragen, who has adopted a new uniform to reflect his elevation to Deputy Governor. Hensell has embarked on a tour of the outlying settlements.

The Doctor and Ben arrive and inform him of the disappearance of Polly and the threatening note they received. He dismisses their concerns but allows them to investigate by themselves. A Dalek arrives with a tray of drinks. The Doctor wonders aloud how much longer they will operate without metal floors to travel on.

They leave the office and see Janley pinning a note to a noticeboard, talking to a man named Kebble.

The Doctor explains to Ben about the Daleks' need for static electricity. Seeing them approach, Kebble quickly moves away from examining the board - prompting the Doctor to pay it closer attention.

They then see three Daleks moving down the corridor. They do not include the one they just saw in the Governor's Office, however. 

There are now four of them. 

They make for the laboratory to confront Lesterson. There, Janley has informed the scientist of Resno's death, blackmailing him into helping her and her fellow rebels. They wish to make use of the Daleks.

The Doctor arrives with Ben and demands to know if Lesterson has been manufacturing more Daleks.

On hearing that the creatures can achieve anything if given the right materials, Lesterson begins to worry about what he witnessed earlier. His sanity beginning to fracture, he has the Doctor thrown out before collapsing.

Valmar arrives, to help the Daleks lay a power cable for the new meteorite detection system. As far as Janley is concerned, the Daleks will help the rebels if they are helped in return.

The Doctor and Ben return to the noticeboard and examine it more closely. The Doctor spots a hidden message in the note Janley had added - details of a meeting that evening in one of the rocket rooms.

They arrive in advance of the gathering and witness Janley and Valmar exhibiting one of the Daleks to a group of colonists. The person in charge remains hidden in the shadows. Everyone sees the destructive power of the Dalek's weaponry, and it appears to obey Janley's orders. Valmar has fitted a control device to it.

A noise alerts the rebels to the uninvited witnesses, and Ben allows himself to be captured so that the Doctor can remain at large.

He discovers that the mysterious leader of the rebels is Bragen, and the Doctor knows that he is simply exploiting the movement for his own ends. He in turn knows the Doctor to be an imposter, and that no-one will believe his claims against the man who is now Deputy Governor. He intends to produce the real Examiner's body to prove his case - thus confirming the Doctor's suspicion that it was Bragen who had killed him in the first place.

Bragen has him placed under arrest and he is taken to the prison block where he is locked in a cell adjoining Quinn's.

As he investigates the nature of the cell locking mechanism, he tells Quinn of his discovery of the real Examiner and his death, and of Bragen's involvement with the rebels.

Lesterson has suffered a mild mental breakdown following his confrontation with the Doctor and the slow realisation that his warnings might have been justified. He witnesses two Daleks appearing to conspire in the darkness of his lab, and decides to investigate.

He sneaks onto their space capsule and discovers that more sections have been opened up. He moves deeper into the vessel and soon comes upon a large industrial space in which embryonic creatures are deposited inside new Dalek casings, which roll off a production line at a terrifying rate...

Data:

Written by David Whitaker

Recorded: Saturday 12th November 1966 - Riverside Studio 1

First broadcast: 5:50pm, Saturday 26th November 1966

Ratings: 7.8 million / AI 47

Designer: Derek Dodd

Director: Christopher Barry

Additional cast: Steven Scott (Kebble), Peter Forbes-Robertson (Guard), John Scott Martin (Dalek)

Critique:

The rehearsal script for this episode was titled "The Destiny of Doctor Who" - a name which was also given to the story overall whilst David Whitaker worked on it.

The early scene between Valmar and Bragen was absent, reappearing later in the episode and reworked to include the Doctor and Ben.

At the noticeboard Janley was seen to drop an envelope, and the Doctor later spotted a number of these in her bag in Lesterson's laboratory.

The noticeboard code is broken in the finished episode by the Doctor reading the capital letters. In the draft, it was the final letters of each line which gave away the details of the meeting.

Whitaker's absence from Doctor Who is very obvious with his Daleks' reliance on metal floors and static electricity. These go back to their very first story only, and the Daleks had been seen to be perfectly mobile on any terrain ever since, even if they needed a little help from collection discs on their backs in their second story - Whitaker's final work on the show as Story Editor.

Terry Nation was unhappy with Whitaker's handling of his creations. We know from the documentary about Whitaker on The Collection - Season 2 box set that the two men had some serious fallings-out, including a physical punch-up.

In an interview with DWM, Nation later stated: "I didn't like David's episodes, where he had them being very sweet and very polite; that seemed totally alien to me..." "This is not to say that they were not good episodes; this is just my personal opinion. I didn't like them and I responded very badly to them".

However, Whitaker himself claimed, referring to the changes made after he went abroad: "It was a different kettle of fish when it was broadcast, and I wasn't desperately happy about the whole thing".

The model filming, including the Dalek production line, took place at Ealing between Monday 26th and Wednesday 28th September. A number of Herts Plastic Moulders' push-along Dalek toys were purchased from Woolworths and slightly adapted to make them closer to the full-size props.

The conveyer belt model was some 12 feet long.

Robert James (playing Lesterson) was present for reaction shots as he watched the Dalek activity from behind a window.

Derek Dodd and his team created the tentacled Dalek embryos from green latex, covered with shaving foam. One of the Daleks was fitted with a replacement utility arm which ended in a plastic sieve instead of the usual sink plunger.

One of the Dalek props was a lightweight one created from moulds of one of the cinema Daleks. It was this one, minus gun and utility arm, that was used for the scenes of the casing being lowered onto the base after the mutant had been placed inside.

As the Dalek numbers grew, so an additional operator was required in studio. This was John Scott Martin, who had first operated a Dalek in The Chase.

A small television monitor was added to the Governor's Office set, which allowed Peter Bathurst to be seen talking to Bragen from another part of the colony. The actor simply stood against a painted backdrop for this, and it was his only scene of the episode. 

Anneke Wills was on holiday this week, and Ben was now abducted to allow Michael Craze to have the following week off.

(Despite being on holiday, Wills had filmed some scenes for The Highlanders the day before this studio session).

In editing, there was one small cut to the scene in which the Doctor and Ben go to see Bragen about Polly's disappearance. In this Bragen claimed that discipline in the colony was becoming lax, and fresh leadership was needed, to which the Doctor responded: "It depends on what kind of leadership, doesn't it?".

In 1995 a clip of the Dalek production line turned up in an Australian TV documentary series called Perspectives. The edition, originally screened on 29th May 1974, was titled C for Computer.

In an interview with DWM, Anneke Wills vividly recalled  the scene: "I still have nightmares about The Power of the Daleks, because there was this one scene where you were confronted by an endless row of Daleks, just coming at you! Something about the fact that there was a, sort of, inevitability... This kind of robotic movement. And there were no eyes, and no face - even the Cybermen had mouths and eyes, but the Daleks had nothing but eyes and plungers. They still give me nightmares...". 

Some other clips from this episode turned up in September 2005 when they featured in nostalgia series Sunday Times Past. They had been sourced from an episode of Tomorrow's World, broadcast on 28th December 1966.

Trivia:

• The ratings and appreciation figure rise slightly, with the episode now in the Top 50 programmes for the week - though only just (50th place).
• At the BBC Programme Review meeting on 30th November, Controller of TV Programmes Huw Weldon - a big Dalek fan - had it confirmed that photographic blow-ups were employed in the background to bulk up their numbers. Christopher Barry had first used this technique in their very first story. Often derided these days, though only by people who are ignorant of the fact that Doctor Who used to be watched on small 405-line screen televisions (average screen size in the mid-1960's was 17").
• Unless the Daleks have knocked through to some spacious but unused section of the colony, their space capsule clearly shares its bigger-on-the-inside dimensions with the TARDIS and their own time machines, as seen in The Chase and the second half of The Daleks' Master Plan. The odd thing is that no-one remarks on this - least of all scientist Lesterson.
• The Doctor claims to have solved the rebels' code by spotting that they employ an anagram. This is a mistake. What the Doctor should have said is that they use an acrostic.
• Peter Forbes-Robertson, who features as a guard in this episode, would return to the programme in the Pertwee era, playing one of the Time Lords in the opening scene of Colony in Space, and later the Chief Sea Devil. 
• The Radio Times covering 26th November to 2nd December published the following letters. A thumbs up for Troughton, a thumbs down, and a thank-you to William Hartnell.

• Mike Tucker constructed a model of the Dalek production line for an extra on the DVD / Blu-ray release. It was on display at Gunnersbury Park Museum in 2023/24:

The Art of... The Power of the Daleks

As one of the last of the original run of novelisations, John Peel's Doctor Who - The Power of the Daleks never underwent any reprints, and so we only have the above artwork by Alister Pearson. 

The book was published in July 1993.

Pearson created a special landscape format version of this work for a 2016 convention, taking the same basic image but adding a whole line of identical Daleks stretching off to the left.

Peel used lines of dialogue for his chapter headings, and added an afterward explaining how he had used Whitaker's original scripts for his adaptation. Amongst his changes is a mention of UNIT.

Based in the USA and active in fandom there, Peel had become friends with Terry Nation - hence the decision to allow him to write the book, along with that for the subsequent Whitaker / Dalek story.

The Troughton portrait derives from a publicity shot taken during the making of The Underwater Menace. That distinctive rock arch on the Vulcan surface makes its first background appearance.

The story was one of a handful to have its script published by Titan Books. It preceded the novelisation by only a few months. The artist once again is Alister Pearson. Interestingly, no attention-grabbing Daleks on the cover - no doubt to avoid paying Mr Nation. The Troughton image is based on a photo taken on the TARDIS set during the making of the opening episode, whilst those of Ben and Polly hail from The War Machines publicity. 

There have been a number of audio releases for the story, and the first of these was in cassette form. Unsurprisingly, this also hails from 1993, being a tie-in for the 30th Anniversary. A photomontage cover actually features images from the proper story for a change. The linking narration was by Tom Baker, in character as the Doctor. You can listen to this as an extra on the Special Edition DVD.

The soundtrack was then released on CD in August 2004, this time with the narration provided by Anneke Wills. The same Troughton photo as used by Pearson for the novel is employed - and you can see why he shaped the Doctor's face so oddly there. The Polly image comes from The Moonbase. 

The rock arch takes centre stage, and we also see Bragen and Lesterson along with a few Daleks (from The Chase by the looks of them). Compared to some of these covers it's not too garish or cluttered.

This was rereleased in MP3-CD format - the soundtrack coupled with the telesnaps for use on a PC - in June 2005. A few of the telesnaps are simply plastered over the original soundtrack cover, though Ben and Polly are moved to where they can just about be seen, and we lose the Vulcan colony pair.

The existing fragments of the story were issued on the second disc of the Lost in Time set in November 2004.

The story may have only generated a single edition in book form, but it has been released in animated form on DVD in a number of ways. The first release was in 2016. There was a monochrome only version, and a B&W / colour options version. Region 2 above...

The Region 1 release with both versions...

And the steelbook...

A Special Edition followed in 2020. This was packed with extras, but also took the opportunity to make some improvements to the animation - mainly in the opening TARDIS scenes and Lesterson's discovery of the Dalek production line. This offered a monochrome version only.

Peel's novelisation was released as an audiobook in 2022, with narration provided by Dalek voiceman Nicholas Briggs. Alister Pearson provides new cover art, though based on his original work. We still have the Doctor and Dalek, but the TARDIS is brought forward to be more prominent on the right, we now have the space capsule to the left, and we've ditched the orange background colour scheme.

Finally, we have the photomontage cover from the moviedb site.

Inspirations: The Bells of Saint John

Three story arcs in play, two of which (spoilers) will merge at the end of this series. The third will take another year to materialise.

The first is Clara. We've seen Jenna Coleman, as she was then, twice so far - with similar names but in quite different time zones and on different planets. The last was a Victorian governess, who moonlighted as a barmaid (or a barmaid who moonlighted as a governess), and this new Clara is a childminder - so there might be a connection there. A barmaid could be said to work in Hospitality, and the first "Clara" we met was an entertainments officer on a spaceship, so Hospitality again.

The second arc is that of the Great Intelligence, last seen in a prequel to the Edward Travers arc of The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear.

That third arc, which won't play out until Series 8, is the woman who gives Clara the phone number for the TARDIS (for the title of this episode refers to the ship's telephone, a Police Box also having a St John's Ambulance badge to indicate that it contains a first aid kit).

I'm sure a lot of people thought that this mysterious woman might be River Song, whilst every female villain is always going be the Rani. (It's been said that the villain of Series 15 is a woman, so might the Rani finally be coming back? A bit redundant after Missy, but you never know).

As with the Troughton stories and The Snowmen, the Intelligence makes use of something 'local' to act as its weapons - Yeti in Tibet and snowmen in a Victorian London winter.

In the first quarter of the 21st Century it's all about digital technology, and everyone is transferring from the old wired connections to Wi-Fi. The latest weapons are therefore mobile Wi-Fi hotspots - dubbed "Spoonheads" due to the concave shape of the back of the head.

Moffat stated that he deliberately wanted to use something everyone used in day to day life as a threat - something he's done often enough before and since.

Quite what the Intelligence wanted with the Earth we never knew. In its first outing it looked as though it was going to physically consume the planet, so perhaps feeding on natural energies of some kind.

It never looked as if it wanted human beings for any purpose, other than to have a single individual to act as its agent - Padmasambhava, Sgt. Arnold, Dr Simeon and now Miss Kizlet.

Here the Intelligence appears to be harvesting - what? Souls? Mental energy? Is it psychically eating people, or just enslaving them? It isn't entirely clear what its goal is.

London landmarks have played a part in Doctor Who's Earth invasions ever since Daleks were photographed on Westminster Bridge. After that we've had St Pauls (Cybermen), the Tower of London (UNIT), the London Eye (Nestenes), Big Ben (Slitheen), Gherkin (Sycorax), Thames Barrier (Racnoss), and Canary Wharf (Torchwood). 

Now the Shard is used.

This story is also the latest to feature a duplicate of the Doctor, companion or both - a feature of the series ever since the Daleks made an android Doctor in The Chase. It almost started even earlier, as the abandoned third story of Season One, "The Hidden Planet" by Malcolm Hulke, was to have featured a double of Barbara. Here, both the Doctor and Clara are copied by Spoonheads.

The story opens with the Doctor continuing his self-imposed exile, initiated by the loss of Amy and Rory. Hiding out in the same city and time zone as the Paternoster Gang probably wasn't a clever idea if you want to avoid adventurous entanglements, so the Doctor has relocated to a monastery in medieval Cumbria. No longer dwelling on the loss of Amy, he's now becoming obsessed with the Impossible Girl.

Once his interest is piqued and he returns to the fray, he abandons old habits (literally) and dons a new outfit. 

We see him admire a bow-tie in a box - one once worn by Patrick Troughton.

There's a topical reference to the London Riots of 2011, and mention of a mix-up at Earl's Court - a reference to the fact that there's a Police Box outside the Underground Station.

Next time: the Doctor faces the music, whilst Clara takes a leaf out of her mother's book...

What's Wrong With... Arc of Infinity

It's one of JNT's "shopping list" stories, which never turn out well. Plot should drive everything, not be driven by the need to include specific locations or characters.

The story opens with an unseen Time Lord communicating with a masked being who appears in negative. The Time Lord's voice is treated slightly - but as soon as you know that Michael Gough is in the cast then the game's up. The reveal that he's the traitor on Gallifrey becomes an anti-climax.

A technician named Talor detects his activities, so Hedin kills him. This draws attention and leads to suspicions, so you have to wonder why Hedin didn't just incapacitate Talor and make it look like a minor accident. He only needs him quieted for a short time, as he expects Omega to return any day now.

It's very lucky for him that he only has a pig-headed Castellan and a vainglorious Chancellery Guard  Captain to contend with.

Yes, the masked figure is Omega, last seen being annihilated in a matter / anti-matter collision big enough to turn a black hole into a supernova - as if one's the opposite of the other.

It's left unexplained how he survived.

Also unexplained is why, if you're going to bring back a popular old foe, you don't retain such an iconic original costume and plump for something over-designed instead.

To stop Omega from transferring into the matter universe, the Time Lords decide to execute the Doctor. It is obvious that he had to have had help from someone on the High Council to make transfer - it's explicitly stated that only someone on the High Council has the authority - but this is ignored by everyone until halfway through the story, once Omega's been revealed, and the second half needs something new to maintain interest.

If the Doctor is the most dangerous person in the universe, and time is pressing, why imprison him in his vast TARDIS and not in a cell which is much easier to guard? Even if he can't pilot the TARDIS away, he could give the guards the runaround long enough for Omega to make his move and thus threaten the entire matter-universe.

The Doctor also gets escorted through public areas of the Capitol - which sadly these days resembles an airport departure lounge. 1980's stories date terribly.

Also, does the Doctor really need to die? Would it not be more efficient to use the Doctor to ensnare Omega and destroy him instead. What's to stop Omega simply trying again and again until eventually succeeding?

In a contemporary interview with Johnny Byrne he thought that the inclusion of Amsterdam made sense and was well-integrated into the plot. I'm afraid he must be the only one. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for this story to be set in that city, other than because JNT wanted the holiday / publicity. (At one point you actually see him ,in a sheepskin coat, herding passers-by away from the filming).

There are locations all over the planet which lie below sea level - ones which are remote and highly unlikely to have the geeky hikers stumble across them.

Picking a major city is just asking for trouble - though at least in Amsterdam something like the Ergon might not actually draw attention - certainly not for those who might frequent certain coffee shops and cafes.

When the script actually draws attention to how bad a costume is then you know you're in trouble.

How on earth did Robin know about that underground crypt in the first place, and that they wouldn't be caught? The house is hardly abandoned if there's a gardener coming in.

My own personal bugbear with this story is Coincidence. All drama depends on it, if you want to wrap up the plot within a reasonable running time or page count, but the level of coincidence in this story is off the scale.

Had the Doctor somehow managed to cross paths with Tegan in London, that's one thing - she lives there, and he visits regularly. But for him to just happen to come across her again in a city we've never seen either visit before is far-fetched. Then we have the fact that a relative of hers just happens to be one of the people who accidentally stumbles into Omega's lair - and she's intending at that very moment to come and visit him.

The Doctor isn't reunited with Tegan when she's working, and so can't rejoin him and Nyssa. No, she just happens to be free right now.

There's also the issue with the Youth Hostel. The idea that the staff just happen to twig that it's Tegan they're looking for, out of goodness knows how many Australians who visit Amsterdam, is also pushing it too far.

The story at least mentions Leela and K-9, but would either really be absent if the Doctor was going to be executed? Assuming they are off on some sort of mission, they'd be using a TARDIS surely, so could get back immediately. Why is Andred no longer commander of the Chancellery Guard? Are the Time Lords racists now, that they victimise someone for marrying an alien? Why did the Doctor miss the wedding? Surely they would have ensured that he could attend, having brought them all together?

Last, but certainly not least, watch the Behind the Sofa for the story when they get to the scene in which Omega looks down at the boy beside the pipe organ and smiles. Everyone watching throws their hands up. This scene was praised back in 1983, with parallels drawn with the Frankenstein Monster and the little girl by the lake in the Universal classic, but watching it today I'm afraid Davison comes across looking like a child molester...

Episode 137: The Power of the Daleks (3)

Synopsis:

The inquiry into the activities of Deputy Governor Quinn has been interrupted as Lesterson and Janley unveil their active Dalek. It claims to be a servant to the humans - repeating this over and over again to drown out the Doctor's warnings...

Hensell is caught up in Lesterson's enthusiasm, seeing only the benefits to the colony which he is promising.

Ben and Polly see that the Dalek seems to recognise the Doctor, who challenges it to deactivate itself. It hesitates before doing so. The Doctor and his companions leave the room, and the Dalek reactivates itself. Lesterson asks it to explain why it refused to obey the order immediately, but it counters that it cannot help the colony if it isn't operational. Hensell is suspicious as to how intelligent it is if it can reason thus, but the scientist reassures him and returns with it to his laboratory.

Quinn's tribunal resumes, and he reveals that it was he who summoned an Examiner in the first place, to tackle the rebel problem - so why would he try to kill him?

Bragen accuses him of carrying out acts against the colony then blaming them on the rebels, in order to undermine Hensell and take over himself.

Quinn is ordered to be locked up, and Bragen is promoted in his place.

In the guest quarters, the Doctor has a dilemma. Destroy the Daleks and they will be locked up as no-one believes his warnings; leave them alone and they will exterminate everyone. He hits on an idea and begins dismantling the metal bed frame.

Polly sees Quinn in the corridor as he is being escorted to the cell block, and he advises her to try to find out where the rebels hold their gatherings.

Lesterson is conducting intelligence tests on the Dalek when the Doctor arrives - claiming it is best to co-operate rather than challenge each other all the time. He offers to help.

Whilst the scientist is distracted, the Doctor uses a piece of metal to sabotage the Daleks' power supply to wreck it. The attempt fails and Lesterson throws him out.

Janley and Bragen meet and it transpires that she is a member of the rebel group - and he is fully aware of this fact. They are both interested in exploiting the Dalek - and its weaponry. With Quinn out of the way, Bragen turns his attention towards the Examiner. 

They will deal with him through his friends...

Polly is then lured to the Communications Room, where she is abducted by a rebel named Valmar.

Ben quickly becomes concerned by her absence though the Doctor advises patience.

The Dalek claims that it can improve the efficiency of the colony's meteorite detection system if given the right materials and a power source. Lesterson goes to get permission from Hensell, and the Dalek enters the capsule. Seeing that the lab should be empty, the Doctor and Ben enter and spot a power cable running into the capsule. They are then confronted by a further two Daleks - both armed. They flee the room.

They go to Bragen to inform him of Polly's disappearance, but he questions the Doctor's motives in being here - accusing him of stirring trouble and being in league with Quinn. He does not believe him to be the Examiner at all, having killed the real one. The Doctor counters by asking him how he knows the real Examiner to be dead.

A short time later, a note is delivered anonymously to their quarters warning that Polly will be safe so long as they don't interfere.

Lesterson returns to his lab to see the three active Daleks - now all disarmed, claiming not to need weapons. Told they will get what they require for the meteorite detection system, they become highly animated, repeatedly chanting "We will get our power!"...

Data: 

Written by David Whitaker

Recorded: Saturday 5th November 1966 - Riverside Studio 1

First broadcast: 5:50pm, Saturday 19th November 1966

Ratings: 7.5 million / AI 44

Designer: Derek Dodd

Director: Christopher Barry

Additional cast: Richard Kane (Valmar), Gerald Taylor, Kevin Manser, Robert Jewell (Daleks), Peter Hawkins (Dalek voices)

Critique:

David Whitaker had not written for the series since the second season, when individual episodes had their own title. This one, he called "Servant of Masters".

His draft differed in several ways from the finished episode. In particular there was a lengthy scene set in a medical bay. The Doctor assumed that he would pass his tests with flying colours - only to find that the machines were stating he was in a bad way. In the same way that the draft opening instalment had stated explicitly that the Doctor's renewal wasn't the first time he had undergone the process, so in this episode he told his companions that he was 750 years old, and had his last check-up 250 years ago.

We wouldn't be given an age for the Doctor on screen until Tomb of the Cybermen, and the idea that there had been earlier, unseen incarnations took until "The Timeless Child" concept to be aired.

In interviews Dennis Spooner mentioned the work he had to do on Whitaker's scripts - singling out a food machine scene which he felt broke the flow of the episode and added nothing to the plot. There is a very strong possibility that it was actually this medical scene that he was actually referring to, as it involved automated devices and the sequence would fit with his criticisms of it.

Another significant difference was that Quinn had temporarily escaped from his guards when he met Polly in a colony corridor.

Something which would no doubt be deleted today was a conversation between the Doctor and Ben regarding Polly's disappearance, when the young man states: "I'll belt her one when she turns up...".

We'll talk about Terry Nation's opinion of Whitaker's Dalek stories next time...

The third episode of The Power of the Daleks was recorded on the evening when Patrick Troughton made his public debut as the Doctor. The actor was so nervous that he refused to watch it.

Three Dalek props were required in studio, and the circular camera mask was employed once again to show their point of view shots. Joining Gerald Taylor, who had operated the Dalek in the second episode are regular operators Kevin Manser and Robert Jewell. The latter had recently worked on the second Peter Cushing Dalek movie, which was in the cinemas at this time.

Troughton performed Oh Can Ye Sew Cushions on the recorder.

The opening credits were shown over a shot of the first Dalek in Hensell's office, with the closing ones over the trio of Daleks chanting, which faded to black.

Three of the five cliff-hangers for this story involve chanting Daleks.

Anneke Wills would not be required for the next episode, but she, Troughton and Craze were needed later that week for filming at Ealing for the following story - The Highlanders.

Trivia:

• The ratings continue to slide whilst the appreciation figure remains stable. The series drops out of the Top 50 programmes for the week.
• This is the shortest of the story's six episodes, with a duration of 23' 31".
• Richard Kane, who passed away in February 2023, is probably best known for his role as Inspector Bottomley in the "Masonic Mysteries" instalment of Inspector Morse.
• There has always been some debate about how the Daleks managed to survive their first encounter with the Doctor, causing some to place The Daleks (aka "The Mutants" 1963/4) later in their timeline (a devolved group left behind) or - more likely - there were other Dalek communities elsewhere on Skaro. This story, however, reveals that Daleks simply become dormant when their power source is removed, and can survive for centuries. It may well be that the Daleks in their city merely went into a prolonged hibernation after the attack by Alydon's people - which just happens to be the scenario for Whitaker's Curse of the Daleks stage play.
• The Listener of 24th November gave the new Doctor a tentative welcome, with their TV critic "not yet fully adapted" to Troughton. JC Trewin did think that the new Doctor was just as capable of tackling the Daleks as his predecessor.
• The Dalek's chant of "I am your servant..." was the inspiration for the "I am your soldier..." of the Ironsides in Victory of the Daleks. This whole story was an influence on Mark Gatiss for the seemingly subservient Daleks in his 2010 story.

O is for... Ogrons

Brutal ape-like beings, they were natives of an obscure planet in a relatively unexplored region of space, on the edge of the Earth and Draconian Empires. Fiercely loyal, though low in intelligence, they made ideal servants for other races – gaining a reputation as mercenaries. When the Daleks changed Earth history in order to make their failed 22^nd Century invasion of Earth a success they employed the Ogrons as a security force. The human Controller wished to employ his own kind, due to the dim-witted nature of the Ogrons, but the Daleks overruled him.
When a guerilla group travelled back to the 20^th Century to prevent their timeline from taking place, Ogrons were sent back to stop them. Though armed with superior weaponry, they preferred brute force to kill or capture their enemies.
The Doctor discovered that they had one physical weakness – being susceptible to a blow on the top of the head.
The Doctor was able to put history back on course, and the timeline was deleted.

In 2540 the Daleks used the Ogrons as part of their scheme to pit the human and Draconian empires against one another, after being approached by the Master. He had created a device which preyed on the fear centres of the mind, causing its victims to see the thing they feared the most.
He used the Ogrons to attack spaceships belonging to both groups, ensuring that there were survivors from every raid. His device made each race see the other instead of the Ogrons. Tensions were always high between the two empires due a bloody space war which had been fought only 20 years before. Initially unaware of who was behind the scheme, the Doctor and Jo witnessed an Ogron raid when the TARDIS arrived on a space freighter – but the Earth authorities refused to believe them. The TARDIS was brought to the Ogron planet along with other spoils of the raid – alerting the Master to the Doctor’s presence. Ogrons were sent to Earth to free him from prison – the Earth people seeing them as Draconians.
Later, on a mission to free the Master from capture by the Draconians, one of their number was left behind and the Draconian Emperor realised the truth of the Doctor’s claims. The Earth authorities were also finally convinced and a mission was launched to the bleak, rocky Ogron planet.

There the Doctor discovered that the Ogrons worshipped a monster which preyed on them. In appearance it was a huge, shapeless orange mass.

Jo stole the Master’s hypnotic device, and the Doctor used it to appear as a Dalek to trick an Ogron guard into releasing his party from a cell, and later to appear as one of the monsters to cause a whole party of Ogrons to flee in terror.

Played by: Stephen Thorne, Michael Kilgarriff, Rick Lester. Appearances: Day of the Daleks (1972), Frontier in Space (1973).

• Both appearances by the Ogrons were directed by Paul Bernard. The script for  Day of the Daleks simply described "monsters" and it was he who decided that they should be ape-like. The description of them as "guard dogs" for the Daleks had led Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks to think of them as dog-like.
• Rick Lester played an Ogron in both stories.
• John Friedlander designed the half-masks, which were made by make-up trainees.
• Some of the non-speaking Ogron extras had heads too large for the masks, and they had to be split at the back.
• The company which made the Ogron-eating monster prop mistakenly called it an "Oberon-eating" monster in their literature.
• The prop was deemed so poor that its appearance was kept to an absolute minimum. It was originally to have been used in studio for the final scenes.

O is for... Ogri

Silicon-based creatures which are native to the planet Ogros. In appearance they resemble large misshapen stone blocks, which glow from within when active. They have the power to move, and feed on certain amino acids in their native, swampy habitat. These same chemicals are to be found in blood, and they hunt and kill mammalian life – including humans - for sustenance.

The criminal Cessair of Diplos removed a number of them from Ogros to utilise as weapons, and they were being transported with her on a prison ship which became stranded in hyperspace. She escaped to prehistoric Earth – arriving in the remote western region of England. The stones were hidden in a neolithic stone circle which came to be known as the Nine Maidens. This circle attained the reputation of being impossible to count - the number changing each time. This was due to the occasional movement of the Ogri.

Cessair set herself up as an authority figure in the district over several centuries, changing her identity to prevent detection.

When the Doctor and Romana arrived in search of the third segment of the Key to Time, she was posing as a woman named Vivien Fay, who had befriended archaeologist Professor Emelia Rumford, who was conducting a survey of the Nine Maidens.

Fay posed as a Celtic deity known as the Cailleach, whose worshippers offered blood sacrifices to the Ogri, unaware of their alien nature.

She used the creatures to dispose of the coven when the Doctor and Romana began to investigate. K-9 was badly damaged when it attempted to defend the Doctor and Rumford from an attack by an Ogri. Once repaired, K-9 could at best hold them at bay with its nose blaster.

One Ogri was destroyed when the Doctor lured it over a cliff and into the sea, whilst another was reduced to rubble by the Megara – justice machines which had been escorting Cessair on the prison ship.

The remainder were captured to be transported back to Ogros, whilst Cessair was transformed into a new standing stone by the Megara.

Appearances: The Stones of Blood (1978)

• It was originally intended that the Ogri would be realised as a man-in-a-suit costume, but VFX designer Mat Irvine insisted that they be props.
• The scene in which an Ogri attacks a pair of campers was added due the episode under-running.

O is for... Odysseus

The Doctor encountered the Greek hero Odysseus on the plains of Troy. Intensely cynical, he refused from the outset to believe that the Doctor was an earthly incarnation of Zeus until he had proof of his divinity. The Doctor had been invited to the Greek camp by Achilles, who had thought him Zeus in the form of a beggar. 

Odysseus was the king of Ithaca, and was a great rival of the younger Achilles. He employed a spy known as Cyclops, because he had only one eye, to monitor the Trojans as well as root out possible enemy agents. Steven was caught near the Greek camp and assumed to be a Trojan spy, and the Doctor fell under Odysseus' suspicion when it became clear that he knew him.

He challenged the Doctor to devise a scheme to capture Troy within three days. Thinking the Wooden Horse an invention by Homer, the Doctor at first suggested tunnels and then launching soldiers into the city by glider. All were dismissed by Odysseus and he was eventually left with the Horse.

The Doctor then discovered that Odysseus expected him to accompany the party who would hide within the Horse under his command.

Troy fell, and Odysseus slew King Priam and his son Paris during the carnage. The prophetess Cassandra was taken as a spoil of war, and she cursed Odysseus that he would not get home until the same number of years as the Greeks had laid siege had passed. He ignored this, then confronted the Doctor who managed to slip into the TARDIS. It dematerialised - leaving the Ithacan to wonder if he hadn't been Zeus after all.

Played by: Ivor Salter. Appearances: The Myth Makers (1965).

• Second of three appearances in the series by Salter. The first was the Morok Commander in The Space Museum, and the last was the police sergeant in Black Orchid.
• Odysseus (Ulysses or Ulixes to the Romans) did get home the long way round as Cassandra had prophesied, or so Homer tells us in, spoilers, The Odyssey. He and his crew had adventures with the Cyclops Polyphemus and the Lotus Eaters amongst many others, and didn't get back to Ithaca for 10 years. His Queen, Penelope, was being courted by several suitors as he was thought to be dead, but she procrastinated for years. A series of challenges were set up, the winner to wed her, and an incognito Odysseus joined this competition - ultimately winning the hand of his own wife.

O is for... Odin

Leader of a Mire raiding party who impersonated the Norse deity in order to manipulate a small Viking community. Like the mythical figure, he wore an eye-patch. The war-like Mire preferred to let their reputation for bloodshed overpower a target population, to avoid actual conflict. Warriors were their chosen victims as they thrived on certain male hormones such as testosterone. 

After a huge projection of his face appeared in the sky above the Norse village, a party of Mire descended from their orbiting spacecraft and lured the best warriors up to it - claiming they were being taken to Valhalla. Once aboard, they were vapourised and their hormones harvested. The ship was about to depart when a girl named Ashildr challenged the Mire to a fight. Odin was forced to accept, conscious of their reputation, but also because their advanced weaponry would make short work of the remaining villagers.

However, the Doctor was also aware of their reliance on reputation and so set up a trap - tricking Odin and the Mire into thinking they were being attacked by a dragon when in fact they were only being confronted by a wooden mock-up. This was filmed, and the Doctor threatened to release the footage galaxy-wide to shame Odin and his warriors - forcing them to depart.

Played by: David Schofield. Appearances: The Girl Who Died (2015)

• Schofield stepped in late in the day to play Odin when the original actor fell ill - Brian Blessed.
• Usually cast as policemen or criminals, one of his best known roles involves neither side of the law. He is the patron of "The Slaughtered Lamb" - the country pub in An American Werewolf in London - who is prepared to tell the psychiatrist (John Woodvine) what really happened to the two US hikers.

Story 297d: Flux - Village of the Angels

In which the Doctor and her companions have escaped from the Temple of Atropos, only to discover that a Weeping Angel has taken control of the TARDIS...

This Angel had previously been interfering in their timelines.

In the Devonshire village of Medderton, Professor Eustacius Jericho is conducting experiments with a young woman named Claire who has been suffering terrible visions. It is November 1967, but she claims to have been born in 1985. Sure enough, the Doctor and Yaz had met Claire in present day Liverpool - just before she encountered a Weeping Angel. Claire is somehow aware that an Angel has taken control of the TARDIS.

In the ship, the Doctor performs a reboot which ejects the Angel, but leaves the TARDIS powered down on landing. They have arrived in Medderton, 1967.

The TARDIS has been mistaken for a real Police Box by an elderly couple named Gerald and Jean. Their grand-niece, Peggy, has gone missing - though Gerald is more angry that concerned. The Doctor picks up strange signals on her sonic screwdriver and goes off to investigate by herself, whilst Dan and Yaz elect to join the search for Peggy. An elderly villager named Mrs Hayward warns that an event from recent history - 1901 - is going to repeat itself, and warns the local vicar to count the headstones in his graveyard. He discovers one extra - a life-size angel...

The Doctor traces the signals to Prof. Jericho's home where she meets Claire, whom she recognises from Liverpool in 2021. Feeling ill, the young woman goes to the bathroom where she is shocked to see stone wings on her back when she looks at her reflection.

The Doctor meanwhile tears up Claire's drawings of her visions as they contain Weeping Angels - knowing that the image of an Angel can become one.

Dan and Yaz are walking across a field when they discover that the scarecrow ahead is actually an Angel. Their torches begin to fail, and then the Moon goes behind a cloud. They are attacked.

Meanwhile, far across space and time Bel continues to search for Vinder in her captured Lupari spaceship. Arriving on the planet Puzano she meets a man named Namaca, who tells her of a gathering where refugees can be taken to places of safety away from the Flux.

The Doctor, Jericho and Claire discover that the professor's home has now come under siege by an army of Angels. Claire tells them both that she has been having visions of the creatures since she was a child. She knows that the entire population of Medderton is about to disappear - just as it had done in 1901.

After their encounter with the Angel, Dan and Yaz have found themselves elsewhere in Medderton - but in broad daylight. They find the village to be deserted except for a young girl, who proves to be the missing Peggy. They are shocked to learn from her that they have been thrown back in time some 66 years. I 1967 Gerald and Jean have discovered that the village has been cut off - quite literally. At the end of a country lane they find themselves on the edge of space. An encounter with an Angel throws them back to 1901 as well. They come upon Peggy, Dan and Yaz, and the girl warns them not to go near another Angel which appears. They ignore her - and are reduced to dust. One touch from an Angel can send you back in time, but a second is fatal.

Dan and Yaz also discover that the village seems to be floating isolated in space, and Peggy recalls a phrase which an Angel placed in her mind - "quantum extraction".

Professor Jericho finds his home under attack from both within and without. Angels are breaking down the doors and windows, whilst Claire's drawings, even when burned, can become Angels. A rudimentary CCTV system put together by the Doctor allows another Angel to emerge from the TV screen.

Claire is convinced that the Angels are coming for her, due to her lifelong visions of the creatures. In order to learn more, the Doctor decides that she must make a psychic link with her to discover the truth.

Jericho will have to keep the creatures at bay as the Doctor links minds with the young woman.

She finds herself on a remote, windswept beach. Claire is here, accompanied by an Angel. It explains through her that it is an outcast from its kind - a fugitive being hunted by the others. It has possessed Claire in order to hide and now intends to use her to keep her pursuers at bay. If they let it go free, it will give them something which they are even more desperate to obtain - the Doctor.

It was this Angel which infiltrated the TARDIS, as it actually wanted the Doctor's help. It has been hiding from the main force of its kind, who want to capture the rogue as it was part of an Extraction Squad employed by the Division.

On Puzano, bel discovers that the person helping refugees flee the Flux is actually Azure, who is accompanied by a Passenger form. People are not being rescued - they are being imprisoned.

Bel manages to escape the collection field, taking Namaca with her. He is distraught at being left behind.

In 1901 Medderton, Dan and Yaz discover that the village is slowly being reduced in size as the boundary falls away into space.

Jericho is forced to break the mental link between the Doctor and Claire as the Angels are about to break into the basement where the professor's laboratory is situated. He tells them of a tunnel from this area to the open countryside. They enter this - only to find that there are Angels here as well which they will have to avoid - including stone arms emerging from the rock walls.

Peggy tells Dan and Yaz that a stone age monument on the edge of the village only appeared in 1901. They go there and discover a temporal barrier - with 1901 on one side and 1967 on the other. They cannot pass from one to the other. Mrs Hayward appears, and reveals that she is Peggy, grown-up. She had been spared by the Angels in order to stand witness to their actions.

Jericho is touched by an Angel and transported to 1901 where he joins Dan and Yaz, whilst Claire manages to stay in 1967. They have exited the tunnel at the monument.

When the Doctor emerges she is confronted by the whole Angel force, who capture her. She has fallen into a trap concocted by the Division, which is recalling her. her companions are horrified to see her transformed into an Angel...

Village of the Angels was written by Chris Chibnall and Maxine Alderton, and was first broadcast on Sunday 21st November 2021. It is the only instalment of Flux to have a co-writer credit.

It's also the best episode of the season-long story.

Other episodes might have Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans and spectacle, and ultimately feel shallow for it - but this instalment has mood and atmosphere and a sense of substance.

It also has a cracker of a cliffhanger as the Doctor is transformed into a Weeping Angel.

There's actually a final sequence featuring Namaca and Vinder / Bel but it rather dilutes that cliffhanger as, for me, I'm really not at all interested in the couple.

Alderton had previously written The Haunting of Villa Diodati - another stronger episode of its particular season. The rustic setting of Medderton would not be out of her comfort zone, as she has written extensively for both Emmerdale and the revived All Creatures Great And Small.

The other thing of note is the appearance of Kevin McNally as Professor Eustacius Jericho. He had previously featured in the series as Lt Hugo Lang in The Twin Dilemma - from the ridiculous to the sublime.

Another returnee from the 1980's is Vincent Brimble, who plays Gerald. There's no way you would have recognised him, however, as he played the Silurian Tarpok in Warriors of the Deep.

You will recognise both his brothers - Nick and Ian - from many UK TV series and movies.

Playing Jean is Jemma Churchill. She is best known for school drama Waterloo Road and the revamped Upstairs Downstairs. 

Mrs Hayward is Penelope McGhie who is also a freelance drama coach. She appears in the final two Harry Potter films, in which she is one of the Death Eaters.

Peggy is Polly Polivnick. 

Already introduced briefly in The Halloween Apocalypse, we finally get to spend some quality time with Claire, who is played by Annabel Scholey. One of her many credits is providing voices for the Final Fantasy video games.

Also appearing in this episode is Blake Harrison, playing Namaca. he is the second of The Inbetweeners to be cast during Chibnall's spell in charge, following James Buckley's turn as Nevi in Orphan 55. Harrison clearly got the better deal.

Overall, probably the best single episode of the Whittaker / Chibnall era. The better ones are often those not written exclusively by the showrunner, which should have rung alarm bells had he not stood down the following year. 

Things you might like to know:

• The closing credits are split in two, with the Namaca / Vinder scene inserted.
• This is the only episode of Flux in which Karvanista, Joseph Williamson and Swarm are absent.
• This is the second instalment of Flux to be set of the date of transmission, though unlike The Halloween Apocalypse it's just the day and month - 21st November - in this case.
• Jemma Churchill and Vincent Trimble have a Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin connection. He featured in the classic BBC comedy, whilst she is the daughter of Pauline Yates, who played Reggie's long-suffering wife Elizabeth.
• Annabel Scholey was in the running to play both Amy Pond and Clara Oswald.
• The Doctor utters a couple of phrases better associated with previous incarnations: "When I say run, run!" and "Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow".

Episode 136: The Power of the Daleks (2)

Synopsis:

Having entered Lesterson's laboratory at dead of night, the Doctor has opened an inner compartment in the space capsule found in the mercury swamp. He introduces Ben and Polly to a pair of inert Daleks within - but then they see a small tentacled creature scuttle across the floor.

It disappears through a narrow gap in the wall.

Exploring, the Doctor notices a dust-free area on the floor - the exact shape and size as the base of a Dalek. It is obvious that Lesterson has already been inside this part of the capsule and has removed one of the occupants.

When Ben points out that the creatures are dead, the Doctor explains that they are only as dead as his torch - before switching it on. These Daleks are simply dormant, awaiting power to reanimate them.

Back at their guest quarters, Quinn attempts to enter but is stopped by a guard. Bragen arrives and explains that no-one is permitted to see the Examiner until morning. The two argue and come to blows. They then discover that the quarters are empty.

Lesterson enters the laboratory and is angered by the Examiner's presence, though the Doctor points out that his status gives him carte blanche to investigate any part of the colony. 

He accuses the scientist of having removed a Dalek. Bragen soon arrives and the Doctor demands to speak with Governor Hensell. He plans on demanding that he order an immediate halt to Lesterson's work. However, Bragen refuses to disturb the Governor.

From him they learn that there have been some problems in the colony - acts of sabotage and other disturbances, including an underground opposition group spreading dissent.

Back in their quarters, the Doctor discovers that apartment has been bugged - presumably by the security chief.

In the laboratory, Lesterson and Janley are assisted by colleague Resno in their experiments with the Dalek which was removed from the capsule. Lesterson believes it to possess a positronic brain and to be purely robotic. By reactivating it he hopes it may prove a useful tool for the colony.

As power is fed into it, Resno is alarmed to see that it appears to be looking at him. His superior dismisses the idea that it possesses any form of intelligence.

Unable to talk to Hensell because of Bragen, the Doctor decides to go to the Communications Room to warn Earth authorities directly of the Dalek threat. He finds the equipment wrecked, and the technician in charge unconscious, with Quinn bending over him. 

Bragen arrives with armed guards and they immediately arrest the Deputy Governor, who claims that he had walked in only seconds before the Doctor.

In the lab, the Dalek opens fire on Resno - killing him instantly. Janley realises what has happened but keeps quiet - telling Lesterson that Resno received an electric shock from the Dalek and is merely injured. She removes the Dalek's gun.

An inquiry into Quinn's actions gets underway in the morning, presided over by Hensell. The Deputy is accused of being involved with the rebel group, and of trying to kill the Examiner. It was one of Quinn's buttons which the Doctor found in the mercury swamp.

The Doctor seems oddly reluctant to speak up for Quinn, despite Polly's belief that he is innocent.

The proceedings are interrupted by the arrival of Lesterson and Janley, who have something important to show the Governor.

The Dalek glides in after them.

As the scientists argue about how useful such a machine might be, the Doctor tries to alert everyone to the great danger it poses.

The Dalek homes in on him, and everyone is shocked to hear it speak.

"I am your servant", it claims - repeating the phrase over and over again, drowning out the Doctor's warnings...

Data:

Written by David Whitaker

Recorded: Saturday 22nd October 1966 - Riverside Studio 1

First broadcast: 5:50pm, Saturday 12th November 1966

Ratings: 7.8 million / AI 45

Designer: Derek Dodd

Director: Christopher Barry

Additional cast: Edward Kelsey (Resno)

Critique:

In the original version of this episode, Ben continued to question the Doctor's identity. The line about the Doctor "always going on about Daleks" is given more emphasis - that the Doctor is deliberately focussing on the creatures to convince his companions that he really is the Doctor.

(Of course, we have to wonder just when it was that the Doctor told them all about the Daleks, when Ben and Polly only had two trips in the TARDIS with the 'old' Doctor - stories which very much link one into the other).

At one point the Doctor stated quite emphatically "I am Doctor Who". He talked about the destruction of his home planet, though he and Susan left before the final end. The suggestion is that it was the Daleks who attacked his world. He claimed that he couldn't remember where he last saw his grand-daughter.

Ben teased Polly about her standing up for Quinn, claiming she had a crush on him ever since he carried her away from the mercury swamp.

The location of Vulcan is placed very much within the Solar System, though not where early scientists hypothesised it to be: mention is made of the "Plutovian night" - so Whitaker was actually positioning the colony in the outer Solar System, on a moon of Pluto.

Joining the cast for rehearsals was actor Edward Kelsey, who had previously appeared as the slave buyer in the opening episode of The Romans. This had also been directed by Christopher Barry, and the pair were good friends. Barry would use him often (casting him as Edu, one of the bandit gang in Creature From The Pit, for instance).

The "Lesterson Listen" tongue twister was an ad-lib worked out in rehearsals between Patrick Troughton and Anneke Wills.

Episode two opened with a shot of the two inert Daleks, covered in cobwebs. A third Dalek, operated by Gerald Taylor, was used for the laboratory scenes. This was one of the original 1963 props. Peter Hawkins provided the Dalek voice for the closing scene.

A circular camera mask was used to give Dalek POV shots.

Troughton played a tune titled Mr Sludge the Snail on his recorder - a piece written by a BBC Schools radio producer. The actor had first taken to the instrument in 1960.

Neither Taylor nor Hawkins were credited on the episode, and Tristram Cary's musical contribution was once again omitted, the titles for Episodes 1 and 2 having been compiled at the same time. The BBC continuity announcer had to add the credit verbally on broadcast.

A small cut was made to the opening of the first laboratory scene in which Lesterson and his colleagues worked on the Dalek.

The Dalek space capsule throws up a few questions. Firstly, how can anyone know that it has been in the mercury swamp for  200 years? Mercury cannot be dated, unless it's one of two isotopes of the element. The most commonly occurring is stable and does not decay - so where Lesterson got 200 years from is anyone's guess. The capsule could not have been found with other artifacts as there's no reference whatsoever to any previous civilisation on Vulcan, and the colony certainly isn't that old.

The second question concerns the cobwebs covering the inert Daleks. The capsule has to be perfectly sealed to travel through space and then to survive in the swamp, so were there spiders already living in it when it left Skaro?

Lastly, we've already seen that the capsule appears to be really quite roomy - and we'll shortly see that can hold an entire production line. The Doctor and companions might be familiar with the concept of transcendental dimensions - but why does Lesterson fail to comment on this astounding aspect of the capsule?

Nowadays, Earth colonies on alien worlds are a bit of a cliché in Doctor Who. Certainly since 2005 there was a deliberate policy to ensure that people on alien worlds would be "relatable" for viewers. RTD insisted that the audience would be turned off by the "Zogs from planet Zog", and this is why everyone in the far future or on alien planets looks pretty much like a contemporary Earthling.

The "Earth Colony" concept took quite a long time to establish itself in the series. Vulcan is actually the very first seen on screen. The Daleks' Master Plan had mentioned Bret Vyon's birthplace as being an Earth colony on Mars, and Desperus was being used as a penal colony by Earth authorities. Had the Doctor stuck around longer we might have seen a colony being established on the planet Refusis. But an already established settlement as the backdrop to a story had not yet been done until The Power of the Daleks. It will very much open the floodgates, and there will be another along in just four stories time.

Interestingly, some fans theorise that every alien society which looks human is human - colonists from Earth in the far future, as dates are rarely ever given.

Trivia:

• The ratings see only a very small drop, but the appreciation figure begins a generally stable trend.
• Several short clips from this episode exist as 8mm off-air recordings, including the "Lesterson Listen" tongue-twister.
• Edward Kelsey is best known as the voice of Joe Grundy in radio soap The Archers - a role he performed for 34 years.
• After very much ignoring him last week, Radio Times did publish a small photograph of Troughton in the TARDIS to accompany the episode listing.
• At the weekly programme review meeting following this episode, Troughton's performance was praised - but it was also claimed that this tended to show up weaknesses in less experienced cast members.
• Television Today, on 17th November, was positive - liking the clownish new Doctor with his "bizarre clothes and 500 Year Diary". The feeling was that, after only two episodes, the character was already established and well defined.
• Last week we mentioned the theorised planet Vulcan which was supposed to lie between Mercury and the Sun. Scientists had more recently identified a new Vulcan, but this time it was an exoplanet orbiting the star Eridani A. This is where Star Trek fans have placed Mr Spock's homeworld - hence the name. It's just been announced, however, that the fluctuations in light emissions from Eridani A (the main way exoplanets are identified) aren't due to the passing of an object in orbit, but some feature of the star itself.
• The Communications Room made use of the Snowcap Base radar screen (left), seen only a couple of weeks before in The Tenth Planet. The upper part of the main control unit was filled with lava lamps, as can be seen in the colour image above. These had been very popular with the Daleks in their movie incarnation.