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!"...
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.
- 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.
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