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...
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)
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.
- 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.
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