The Caves of Androzani (S21 - The Collection)

Disc 7 contains what has often been voted the greatest Doctor Who story of all time. More recent polls might favour some of the post 2005 episodes like Blink or Heaven Sent, but The Caves of Androzani still holds its own as arguably the best of the classic era.

It had a reissue in one of the "Revisitations" box sets, so we've already seen most of the extras. 

What we get here new is a version of the story with optional new VFX - the fifth story to feature this on the set.

Other than establishing shots of the twin planets and the Monument Valley-like TARDIS landing site, these effects mainly deal with the Magma Beast and spaceships.

The monster is a lot more mobile than the very static costume, though that hasn't been replaced totally here. It's primarily close-ups which benefit from the new CGI, giving it more animated features.

Model work of Stotz's ship is replaced on a couple of occasions.

There has been a lot of criticism regarding the use of AI in the recent box-sets. This has been used to sharpen the image, but on occasion has interfered with actors' faces.

Its use is particularly noticeable in Part One of this story, in the scene set in Morgus' office where he has his video-link chat with Chellak. Morgus' face loses all movement, the lips hardly matching his dialogue.

Quite unnecessary to have employed this at all, especially if it is actually going to spoil the image rather than improve it. You'll notice the AI in operation on other stories, especially in TARDIS scenes.

Luckily the Behind the Sofa panellists are only watching edited highlights of the regular version, so director Graeme Harper's thoughts on this go unrecorded.

He joins the Fifth Doctor sofa, and unlike other guest viewers so far has a lot more involvement in the discussions about what they are watching. 

Everyone comments on how adult and dark this story is, with Aldred and Padbury stating they would have liked to have seen at least a little humour to lighten the mood occasionally.

As a story it is unrelentingly bleak, like Logopolis having an ominous feel throughout. (We go into these knowing that the Doctor is going to "die" at the conclusion, and this mood permeates the entire story in both cases).

Other than the Magma Beast costume, which was never all that prominent in the original broadcast, you really can't fault the story. Casting is perfect for every role - no stunt casting this time; the lighting is kept low and atmospheric; and - despite rehashing elements from the less than perfect The Power of Kroll - the writing is some of Robert Holmes' best. It just goes to show the difference it makes when the same material, more or less, is given to an innovative director.

Interestingly, it's not Davison who gets teary-eyed at the regeneration scene, but Colin Baker, who has nothing but praise for his predecessor's Doctor.

Of the extras we've seen before, this being Davison's last story, they have included the regular stuff like "Tomorrow's Times" and "Stripped For Action" covering the Fifth Doctor era. 

That big documentary presented by Davison's son-in-law (what ever happened to him?) is also included here.

This is the last time we'll see Davison watch his own stories. Hopefully he'll be back on a sofa for some of the Troughton ones when they finally get round to releasing them, as that was his favourite Doctor.

Planet of Fire (S21 - The Collection)

Disc 6 of the set could be described as the runt of the litter.

If you want a Special Edition of Planet of Fire then you have to look to Disc 9, one of two Extras discs in this set, for the previously released 75 minute omnibus version. As well as new VFX, director Fiona Cumming drastically edited it down and added a prologue featuring the crash of the Trion spaceship carrying Turlough's father and brother.

As for the main story disc, apart from the Behind the Sofa there are no new extras either - and this doesn't even have a guest viewer on the Fifth Doctor sofa.

Personally, I wasn't too keen on the SE as too much detail was cut, and the prologue rather jarred with the broadcast version in its look and feel.

The similar re-edit on Cumming's Enlightenment worked a lot better.

As for the story itself, Peter Grimwade was given a huge shopping list of things to include - writing out Turlough, including providing some background to the character; writing out Kamelion; writing in new companion Peri; having the Master involved (and potentially writing him out as well); plus making extensive use of a foreign location.

He argued that he should have been invited to the location recce, as he could have fed this into his writing. But JNT didn't want another director possibly interfering with Cumming's ideas for shots. Also, JNT had fallen out with him by this stage due to his perceived snub following the postponement of "Warhead", when Grimwade didn't invite him to a meal.

Saward did attend the recce, but claimed he was employed as little more than a chauffeur.

This will prove to be the writer / director's final contribution to the series.

Considering the shopping list, Grimwade does well incorporating everything in a fairly satisfactory manner. Turlough gets his background (the writer having introduced him and already plotted a backstory for him) and it's fitting that the Master be involved in Kamelion's demise as he was there in the beginning. Peri takes some getting used to, as initially she's a bit of a spoiled brat.

The plot is a bit clichéd, with a society worshipping an ancient alien visitor, and there's the obvious inspiration from She, which had already inspired The Brain of Morbius. (I find it hard to believe the similarity in planet names is just coincidence).

The location looks great - just a pity they couldn't have used a British location for the opening to act as contrast. It looks like the TARDIS has simply moved elsewhere on the island.

The Art of... Fury From The Deep

Victor Pemberton was quite insistent that he be the only one to novelise his story, and managed to convince Target to allow him to do so with an increased page count, usually only 127 or so pages. Range editor Nigel Robinson worked with Pemberton to try to reduce it but found this impossible, so it went out as a "Bumper Volume" with 189 pages - but at a higher price.

Pemberton gave some of the characters first names - such as Harris being Frank, Van Lutyens being Pieter and Price being David. Background motivation is added for Robson - his wife died in a car crash whilst he was at the wheel some 20 years beforehand. Blaming himself, he has thrown himself into his work to the point of obsession.

Interestingly, despite Pemberton's claims to have invented it, the sonic screwdriver does not appear in the opening beach scene with the pipeline inspection hatch.

The cover is a rather low-key affair by artist David McAllister, depicting a conventional drilling platform far out at sea, with tendrils of seaweed rising in the foreground. Perhaps more ominous weather conditions might have given the cover more atmosphere.

Paul Mark Tams had put forward an art concept following his commission to provide the cover for the novelisation of Doctor Who radio drama Slipback, but this was not taken up as it featured a Doctor other than the current one. (Tams, who was also involved in the music industry, had previously contributed artwork for the Doctor Who and Dalek annuals, and would go on to be one of those responsible for the single "Doctor In Distress". He later championed attempts to get K-9 back on screen, collaborating with Bob Baker).

The novel was published in 1986. A reprint was scheduled for June 1994, but the reprint range was discontinued before this could happen.

The soundtrack was first released as part of the BBC Audio Collection in cassette format, featuring a photomontage cover depicting images from the location filming of the opening episode - Troughton wearing his distinctive woolly hat.

The narrative was linked by Tom Baker, in character as the Fourth Doctor recalling this adventure.

This was released in October 1993.

February 2004 saw the soundtrack re-released on CD, this time with narration by Frazer Hines. The colourful cover montage once again relied on location images from Episode One, but also found room for Mr Quill from the recovered Australian censor clips, as well as an entirely made-up gas rig design.

Those censor clips had featured on the Lost In Time DVD set, released in 2004. This also included film trims from Episode 6 as well as some colour home movie footage of the climactic scenes.

The story was animated and released on DVD / Blu-ray in September 2020 on Region 2, though US fans had to wait until the following March for the Region 1 version. (Australia only had to wait two months).

As usual there was an expensive steelbook release to accompany the regular one. Its artwork opted to concentrate on the sequences added to the story depicting giant tentacles of seaweed threatening the helicopter - scenes which never appeared in the televised programme. We also see them grabbing the TARDIS, something which doesn't even appear in the animation.

The novelisation was released as an audiobook in July 2011, read by David Troughton, and using the McAllister artwork.

And finally, another photomontage piece of artwork used to illustrate the story on the moviedb website prior to the animation being released. This actually uses the correct sea fort locations used for the rigs as filmed by Hugh David.

Resurrection of the Daleks (S21 - The Collection)

The first of the Season 21 stories to have had a Special Edition release on DVD with lots of extras, so Resurrection of the Daleks covers Discs 4 and 5. 

On the first we have the original two part, 45 minute episode version - necessitated at the time due to the BBC's coverage of the 1984 Winter Olympics.

The four part version - how it was meant to be screened had it not been for Torvill & Dean - is on Disc 5. Whichever version you choose to watch, the option to do so with new VFX applies to both.

The most noticeable changes are that the Dalek battlecruiser and the prison space station have been replaced, so the brief attack by the former on the latter looks much better. Their final destruction is also new.

Other than that, new effects work is light - mainly weaponry energy beams. The Daleks now have a slight blue outline added when hit by a gun - suggesting some sort of forcefield or the energy is simply bouncing off their armour.

The Supreme no longer appears against a bright white backdrop on the TARDIS scanner. It's now backed by the red-lit control room.

Leela has now been included in the flashback sequence as the Doctor's memories are being drained.

Resurrection of the Daleks is a story which was fairly rapidly reappraised after being repeatedly voted second best of the season (after The Caves of Androzani, though one Australian fan poll placed it top).

It was popular for being the first Dalek story for several years, the new iteration of Davros, and lots of action. It was always claimed it had more on-screen deaths than The Terminator.

However, it soon began to be looked upon less favourably - mainly due to the script. It simply had too much crammed into it, with subplots which weren't terribly well developed - the main one being the sudden plan to have a duplicate Doctor assassinate the High Council of Time Lords.

The violence isn't really an issue - even though it includes the use of non-fantasy pistols and machine guns. The toxic gas effects are a different matter, however.

Eric Saward has himself claimed it's the worst script he ever contributed to the series. (In the new documentary he steps back a bit from that comment).

Watching it again (the two part version) some of the violence does stand out, and not always in a good way - and you can see problems with pacing and those non-starter subplots.

Tegan's departure isn't terribly well set up. It's a lovely scene, but there's just no build-up to the moment - it just comes out of nowhere. Fielding herself now claims to be okay with it - arguing that motivation for actions often lies beneath the surface, and only seems to spring from nowhere.

The Behind the Sofa is on Disc 4, and the guest viewer for this one is Rula Lenska, who played prison medic Styles.

They all comment on the fact that one of the characters is seen smoking. There's regret from Padbury, Waterhouse and Sutton that they never got to do a Dalek story - but then they are all pleased to see themselves included in that flashback sequence.

This disc also has a brand new Making-Of documentary (50 mins), with Davison and Fielding interviewed at the Butler's Wharf location. "Terror on the Thames" includes contributions from Saward, Mark Strickson, Terry Molloy, director Matthew Robinson and surviving guest cast members, plus an archive appearance from JNT.

The rest of the material is a collection of brief TV spots. One of these is the odd Walrus piece - a BBC Wales series, in which a housewife talks with the Dalek Invasion of Earth Supreme.

A compilation of clips from Saturday Superstore all deal with JNT's threatened scrapping of the Police Box TARDIS.

Disc 5 is given over to Janet Fielding, this being her final story. As well as a couple of archive interviews we have her in conversation with Matthew Sweet. The most interesting part of this is the story of her journalist ex-husband and his arms dealing. There's also much talk about her days with experimental theatre companies. She speaks about her cancer diagnosis, though this is covered more in the latest Toby Hadoke "Weekend With..." feature. Usually recorded over a weekend as the name implies, Fielding only had limited time to film this so it's simply "48 Hours of Fielding".

Recorded in and around her current home town of Ramsgate, she introduces Hadoke to some of her friends oveer coffee, visits the local wildlife sanctuary, and they pay a call on the youth club which she is involved with. There's a bit more mention of Doctor Who this time.

I've been critical of Fielding in the past, but this has been when she has been part of a larger group - on the sofa, in documentaries, or as part of the DVD commentaries, especially if Peter Davison is also present. She tends to dominate in such settings and others - notably Sutton - tend to be frozen out.

I enjoyed a lot more seeing her speak just on her own - showing more of a vulnerable side. Like her companion co-star, it's a remarkably eventful life she has led.

Frontios (S21 - The Collection)

Disc 3 covers Frontios, and it also has the option to watch with new VFX. 

The first thing you notice is the view of the planet on the TARDIS scanner. It was grey originally but is now red, to match the studio establishing shot of the crashed colony ship. This looks a lot better. We also have new meteorite effects.

For the scenes where Tegan, Turlough and Norna go up to the top of the ship with the acid battery, the sky is now reddish. It was an annoying brilliant white in the broadcast version.

Victims of the Tractators are still bathed in a purple light, but the creatures themselves now have a purple glow at the tip of their antennae when they use them. 

The biggest change comes with the sequence in which the Gravis reconstitutes the TARDIS in Part 4. As well as an overlaid video effect we have some CGI scenes of the rocks dissolving. We also get a glimpse of other parts of the TARDIS interior.

As well as a hitherto unseen area - almost TV Movie-ish - there's actually a glimpse of Kamelion in one of these. It was always an annoyance that he was never even referred to in any of the stories between The King's Demons and his departure in Planet of Fire, with one scene in The Awakening being deleted. He should certainly have been talked about when the TARDIS is seemingly destroyed in this story.

As far as the extras are concerned, the sofa panels all seemed to like this one. On the Fifth Doctor sofa for this story is Jeff Rawle, who played Plantagenet.

There is a short (3' 53") interview with Verity Lambert from the Did You See? programme as well as other TV spots and trailers.

A series I used to watch due to its sci-fi trappings was The Adventure Game. The butler always reminded me of the First Doctor. We have an instalment of it here, featuring Janet Fielding as one of the trio of competitors. I shan't say how she got on...

The Awakening (S21 - The Collection)

On to Disc 2 of the Season 21 Blu-ray box set, and The Awakening also offers viewers the chance to watch with new VFX. But if you're expecting any new Malus - big or small - you're in for disappointment. The only new effects concern the apparitions, getting rid of the blocky BBC Micro computer graphics and replacing them with twinkling lights. The phantoms also fade in and out in more satisfying fashion - but that's your lot. There's not a lot you could have done with the big face in the church, other than to give it more expression, but I did think they might have replaced the smaller creature which appears in the TARDIS. Even the church's destruction remains intact from the broadcast version - a none too bad model sequence.

This two-parter had a larger than usual percentage of location filming, and this is where this new remastered version really impresses. The footage looks great, and there's not really much more to say about this one - other than I think it is the best of the three Davison two-parters.

As the Behind the Sofa teams say, everyone really looks like they enjoyed making this. After the overly-lit studio work in the season opener, we have a lot more atmospheric lighting in the secret passages and church crypts designed by Barry Newbery - his final contribution to the show after joining it for the very first story back in November 1963. The BBC always excelled at historical costume drama, and this little story certainly benefits from that expertise.

Keith Jayne, who played Will Chandler, joins the Fifth Doctor sofa line-up for this one. Sadly he doesn't contribute much. Waterhouse and Padbury get competitive as to who was the greater genius - Adric or Zoe. It's a shame no-one pointed out to Padbury that writer Eric Pringle had Peter Bryant for an agent - the producer who cast her as Zoe.

This disc is the new home to The (TV) Centre of the Universe - originally split across two DVD releases.

A highlight of this disc - and of the set as a whole - is the Matthew Sweet conversation with Mark Strickson. Fascinating mainly due to the fact that he has led such an eventful life. As with all these items, there isn't a great deal of talk about Doctor Who, but in Strickson's case this is no big deal as his career, and personal life, have been so full of incident - especially his later vocation as a wildlife filmmaker. Definitely one of Sweet's more memorable interviews.

Warriors of the Deep Special Edition (S21 - The Collection)

On previous occasions, when it's come to The Collection box sets, I've waited until I've watched all the stories plus the extras before posting one big review of the whole set. This meant me not reviewing until almost 2 weeks had passed, by the time I'd worked through everything.

This time, as most of the stories of Season 21 have been given updated VFX and there is a lot of additional material, I thought I'd do it differently and post individually on each disc.

We start with Warriors of the Deep, which not only gives you the option of watching new effects but has been quite radically reworked.

Usually, new VFX means replacing model shots with CGI versions, but in this case all of Mat Irvine's model work is preserved. They've simply overlaid new effects to make the models look as though they really are underwater. The only CGI added is an exterior shot of Sea Base 4 with the missile silos opening in Part 4, plus internal shots of the base seen on the control room screen, depicting the missiles in their bay and a small internal harbour in which a mini-submarine can be seen.

The biggest change to the broadcast episodes is the total replacement of the Myrka. The only time you see the original costume is when the beast is already dead, and Nilssen falls on top of it.

The Myrka does other things now as well. Its first victim is killed by it lashing out its tongue to electrocute him.

The notorious scene in which Ingrid Pitt's Dr Solow attempts to kung-fu it is now quite different. We see only her begin her moves, then the Myrka lurches forward and snatches her up in its jaws. This scene was followed by a shot of the command disc lying on the floor, with the dead Solow's outstretched arm. The arm is now seen to be detached from the rest of her!

If you've read the recent DWM Chronicles 1984, you'll know that additional Silurian and Sea Devil material was filmed and edited into the episodes. This comprises mostly close-ups, either of them speaking or of their weaponry in action. All the weapons now fire VFX shots.

One thing you'll notice right away on watching is that the Silurians' third eyes no longer light up when they speak, and the rather squeaky voices have been deepened to make them sound more menacing.

The only time a third eye lights up is when Icthar uses it to show some clips from their previous stories on the control room screen, when he tells the Doctor about their earlier disastrous encounters with humanity.

The episodes have also been reedited to tighten up the pace, so there are fewer scenes of the Sea Devils ambling rather slowly down corridors.

We no longer see any wardrobe malfunctions either, of which there were several on view back in 1984. CGI has also been used to add the occasional eyeball movement to the Sea Devils.

One thing this Special Edition might have benefited from was an omnibus version, if they really wanted to make it feel more fast paced.

Of course, no amount of CGI and reediting can fix all of the problems. The sets are still over-lit, the performances variable, and the continuity errors with those earlier stories persist. Actually, The War Between the Land and the Sea now fits chronologically between this and The Sea Devils - but as that didn't feature the Doctor, the Myrka or Silurian battle-cruisers then those problems remain.

Apart from trailers and other brief TV spots, the only new extra for this story is its Behind the Sofa. They're doing it differently this time by having a guest actor from each story on the sofa with Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton. For this story we have Tara Ward, who played Preston.

The two other sofa line-ups comprise Matthew Waterhouse, Sophie Aldred and Wendy Padbury forming a companions one, and Colin Baker with his two companions, Bonnie Langford and Nicola Bryant, making up the third.

Having just watched the Special Edition, it is a little jarring to watch them watching the original broadcast version. It would have been nice to see their reaction to the new Myrka, but of course these panels will have been recorded long before that work was completed.

Personally I found the Aldred / Waterhouse / Padbury one the most entertaining. When one of them observes "Look at them trying to look macho, in their camp outfits", Waterhouse replies that they've just summed up 1980's Doctor Who in a nutshell...

It's a long time since I watched Warriors of the Deep, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I actually enjoyed watching it again, thanks to this new version. I know there are a lot of purists out there who are only interested in watching the original versions, but I really can't see myself ever revisiting the broadcast version.

Worth the price of the box set alone? Maybe not quite, but there are another 9 discs to come...

Episode 200: Fury From The Deep (3)

Synopsis:

The Doctor warns his friends not to touch the piece of seaweed they have found on the floor of the Harris' living quarters, pointing out that Victoria has said that it can move. He sends Harris back to the compound to arrange for Maggie to be transferred to its medical bay, then carefully collects up the seaweed - intending to take it to the TARDIS to examine it properly there.

As they leave, they fail to notice fronds of seaweed sprouting from the comatose Maggie's sleeve.

Van Lutyens informs Robson and the Chief Engineer that he is sure there is some living organism at the base of the impeller shaft, and it is this which is causing the blockages. Robson dismisses the idea and sticks to his own belief that it is a mechanical fault - even though they have all heard the heartbeat sound.

The TARDIS has drifted to shore. The seaweed sample has been taken into the Doctor's laboratory where Victoria is running some tests on a small piece of it - the rest being placed in a glass tank. They have discovered that it emits a toxic gas, and under the microscope see movement.

Harris learns from Price that their doctor still hasn't returned from D Rig, and communications are still down. Harris begins organising his wife's transfer to the medical bay, telling Van Lutyens and Robson that she has been poisoned by some form of gas. The latter is more concerned that Harris has lost their prisoners, whom he still believes to be saboteurs.

The impeller starts up again - only to stop moments later. Robson is becoming increasingly agitated by events and continues to ignore the Dutchman's advice to shut off the gas flow and conduct a thorough inspection. He accuses Harris and Van Lutyens of deliberately trying to damage his reputation.

He goes off to rest in his cabin for half an hour, and Van Lutyens lays out his plan for what they ought to do next - including locking down the compound and evacuating the rigs.

The Chief reluctantly agrees to approach Robson with their plan, hoping he will listen if they all present a united case.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor has found an old book which has an illustration of a ship being attacked by tentacles rising from the sea. It dates back to the 18th Century. Showing it to Victoria, she confirms that this resembles what she saw in the oxygen storeroom.

The main mass of seaweed they brought has been fed natural gas, and they suddenly discover that it has grown in size and is emitting toxic fumes. It threatens to climb out of its tank. Victoria screams and it retreats before the Doctor seals it in. He deduces that the creatures feed on natural gas, converting it to a toxic form.

Robson refuses to listen to Van Lutyens, Harris and the Chief, and they see that he is becoming increasingly unhinged. Van Lutyens approaches Price and asks him to contact his superiors in The Hague. He will ask them to put pressure on Robson's own superiors in London for action to be taken.

Mr Oak creeps along the corridor and locks Robson in his room, before operating the ventilation controls. Robson cries out for help as he smells the room begin to fill with gas.

Luckily Harris is nearby and he frees his boss - and spots seaweed tentacles and foam emerging from the vent just before he slams shut the door. Robson runs off.

The Doctor and his companions return to the Harris home and find it once again full of gas. The Doctor and Victoria go to the bedroom and find it full of foam, with a seaweed tentacle lashing around in its midst. Victoria screams and it retreats. They notice that the bed is empty, and assume that Maggie has been taken to the medical bay already.

They then hear a shout from Jamie, who had gone to the kitchen to check for the gas source. He has been forced to climb up onto a table as the room is filling up with foam. Another tentacle is reaching for him. The Doctor and Victoria mount an external set of stairs to the roof and open the kitchen skylight. They are able to pull Jamie to safety.

Harris takes Van Lutyens to Robson's room, but there is no trace now of gas or the creature responsible for it. The Dutchman still accepts his story, however.

He orders Harris to take charge and suggests Robson be found before he harms himself or causes any damage.

Harris notifies the Chief and Price that he is taking control, and instructs the latter to contact Megan Jones in London, British director of ESGO.

As they head back to the compound, Victoria expresses her disquiet about their lifestyle to the Doctor - how they are seemingly always being put in danger.

Harris announces that Jones will be here in a few hours, but worries how he is going to justify taking over. Robson was placed in charge here at Jones' insistence and she regards him highly.

The Doctor arrives and informs them of his findings regarding the seaweed creature. It is a parasite, which latches onto other organisms - including people - and produces the toxic gas as a means of defence.

Harris is then shocked to learn that his wife wasn't brought to the medical bay after all - and the Doctor tells him she wasn't at their home.

She is on the beach with Robson, her hands and face now covered in weed-like fronds. She confirms with him that he knows what he must do, before calmly walking out into the sea.

Robson watches silently from the shoreline, until she disappears beneath the waves...

Data:

Written by Victor Pemberton

Recorded: Saturday 9th March 1968 - Lime Grove Studio D

First broadcast: 5.15pm, Saturday 30th March 1968

Ratings: 7.7 million / AI 56

VFX: Peter Day

Designer: Peter Kindred

Director: Hugh David

Critique:

In the third of his scripts Victor Pemberton outlined the fact that seaweed was feeding on natural gas, which it then converted to a toxic form. Maggie was said to be transforming into a weed creature at the conclusion. Her infection was described as a "frond-like weed formation growing down her exposed arm", and later "a small formation of hair-like weed on her neck and face".

When the Doctor examined the weed sample in the TARDIS - "its tendrils hanging menacingly over the side of the edge of the tank, covered in foam" - he pressed a button and "the lights dimmed to near darkness as a flap on the wall reveals a projector screen. He presses another button and the microscope slide appears on the screen".

In his radio drama The Slide, the scientist Gomez (Roger Delgado) had examined some of the sentient mud in similar fashion using the local school's aquarium.

Derrick Sherwin rewrote a number of sequences including the rescue of Jamie from the kitchen, Robson's near breakdown in the impeller room, and Van Lutyens urging Harris to take charge.

This episode included more filming than the previous week.

On Tuesday 5th February the sequence was filmed at Botany Bay of Maggie (June Murphy) walking out into the sea, watched by Robson (Victor Maddern) which would form the cliff-hanger to the episode. Murphy, wearing latex seaweed make-up, did not realise that the shallows were so extensive and so had to go quite a way out into the freezing waters. She eventually had to go down on her knees and duck down under the water to fully submerge. She was then unable to hear the crew calling the end of the action, and someone had to wade out and fetch her.

Later that week filming moved to Ealing and the scene with the foam retreating from Victoria's scream at the Harris home was recorded - the film being reversed to show it withdrawing.

Use of the BBC foam machine in the TV studio would be difficult to manage (and dangerous, as the foam was water-based) so any scene involving it was mounted at Ealing where conditions could be better controlled. This included the sequence where Jamie is threatened by the foam in the Harris' kitchen, and his rescue by the Doctor and Victoria through the skylight. Putting ceilings on sets was a problem in studio as well, due to the need to light sets from overhead rigs and get microphones into position.

During the period of rehearsals for this instalment, additional filming took place at Ealing on Monday 4th - Wednesday 6th March for scenes which would go towards the climax to the final episode.

Doctor Who's 200th episode went into studio on the evening of Saturday 9th March. The session began with a re-enactment of the ending to the previous instalment, but then the episode proceeded with recording out of order. All of the scenes in the Harris' living quarters were recorded first.

The weed emerging from the vent in Robson's cabin as seen by Harris had been filmed earlier at Ealing along with the similar shot seen at the cliff-hanger to part one.

A new set this week was the TARDIS laboratory, seen for the first time. This was simply a small set with a television monitor on which the microscope slide could be shown - actually the same footage which had represented the fungus in The Web of Fear - plus a fish tank in which the latex weed prop could be held. Sherwin had reworked this scene just before recording.

Shortly after completing this episode Patrick Troughton accompanied Frazer Hines and Debbie Watling to a pub and told them about his wish to leave the series. However, he needed the regular income due to having two families to support, plus a large tax bill to pay. He already knew that Watling was leaving, and learned that Hines was also looking to go soon. Troughton then decided that he would stay in the role for one more year, by which time he would be financially stable. With his contract up for renewal that week, he asked for some better conditions such as an extra week for filming, to avoid giving up days off, and hopefully a reduction in the number of episodes each year. These were some of the things he had previously discussed with director Barry Letts during the making of The Enemy of the World. 

In the end he would be granted an extra week's holiday, and be excused location filming on two of the stories planned for Season 6.

Another famous scene from the story, noted for its creepiness, is when Maggie Harris calmly walks out into the sea as Robson watches from the beach. It's certainly a striking image and the viewers of the day would have assumed that Maggie might be committing suicide. You'll recall last time that the script had been amended to ensure that the audience knew that she wasn't killed by the toxic gas - for fear they would assume she was some sort of zombie in this episode.

Considering that they cut one short scene where you saw the seaweed fronds on someone's arm later in the story, I'm surprised that the Australian censors did not eliminate this sequence, or at least trim it down a bit.

The suggestion in the dialogue is that the creature isn't actually the seaweed itself - Victoria talks of microscopic things wriggling on its surface - and the Doctor claims he hasn't worked out the relationship between the creature and the weed yet. This implies that the real threat comprises millions of tiny organisms which simply use the seaweed as a host and manipulate it.

It is unusual at this time to feature a TARDIS scene in the middle of a story. Some recent stories such as The Ice Warriors and The Web of Fear didn't have a TARDIS interior scene at all, whilst the console room only featured at the beginning of The Abominable Snowmen, or at the conclusion of The Enemy of the World. In the first Yeti story, the Doctor does return to the TARDIS mid-story to fetch some equipment, but there wasn't an interior scene accompanying this. Usually, if the TARDIS interior is going to appear, it is only at the start of the opening instalment, designed to introduce viewers to the new storyline and deliver the regulars to their latest destination.

The reason for this is generally the desire not to have to erect the TARDIS console room set for an episode, freeing up studio space for that week's sets.

This week we are actually being treated to a brand new room in the TARDIS - the Doctor's laboratory. The only time we had seen anything similar was in The Web Planet, when an alcove off the main console room seemed to be used as a work area for the Doctor.

As mentioned previously, one of the main rewrites Sherwin carried out on Pemberton's story was to pave the way for Victoria's departure. In the opening episode she was unhappy at having to go and wait in the crew cabin whilst the Doctor and Jamie went off investigating - leading to her coming under attack by the weed creature. 

In this instalment she begins to voice her desire for a quieter life:

Victoria: "Doctor, why is it that we always land up in trouble?"

Doctor: "Well Victoria, it's the spice of life, my dear".

Victoria: "Oh well, I'm not so sure. I don't really like being scared out of my wits every second".

Doctor: "Is something wrong?"

Victoria: "Well I just wish that once... Oh, never mind".

Trivia:

• The ratings continue their gradual slide - but the appreciation figure actually improves.
• In interviews Frazer Hines would always claim that his reason for leaving was due to pressure from his agent to return to higher profile - and more lucrative - movie work. He had appeared in films as a child actor - including Hammer's X... The Unknown (1956) and A King In New York (1957), starring Charlie Chaplin.
• Watling, on the other hand, hoped to do more theatre work - though her agent stated that they were working on a film role for her.
• The animated Episode 3 includes a little visual in-joke. In the Doctor's laboratory is a test tube labelled RR-200 - "RR" being the production code for Fury From The Deep and this being the 200th episode.

The Master Plan Find

The finding of the two missing episodes was announced by the Film is Fabulous team. They were in the collection of someone who has recently died, and who is said to have mostly collected transport material - dealing with trains and canals. His family wished the collection catalogued and preserved. Some films were water damaged, but the collector seems to have looked after The Nightmare Begins and Devil's Planet.

How they came into his possession, no-one knows.

We already have the second episode of The Daleks' Master Plan, so these now give us the whole first quarter of the story.

As well as having more Daleks material, and more of William Hartnell's performance as the original Doctor, these episodes are significant for being among the very few to feature companion Katarina, as played by Adrienne Hill. She joins Peter Purves as Steven. The Nightmare Begins also provides us with the very first appearance by Nicholas Courtney in the series, as he plays space security agent Bret Vyon throughout.

We can also look forward to more of Kevin Stoney as Mavic Chen, and the alien Planetarians.

Devil's Planet, meanwhile, introduces the criminal inhabitants of Desperus, including Kirksen.

If you're familiar with the soundtrack then there'll be a lot of sequences to look forward to actually seeing, be they the Doctor's magnetic chair in action, the Dalek spaceport or the execution of Zephon.

What will the Screamers look like, if they are seen at all, and are there any spaceship model shots other than at the spaceport?

With five episodes now in the archive, it would be nice to see this story animated for completion and released, as Season 3 is likely to be the last to be added to The Collection due to the amount of missing material and absence of telesnaps.

Update: Apparently the episodes will be available from Saturday 4th April on the BBC iPlayer.

More Master Plan!

It's been announced this morning that two more episodes of The Daleks' Master Plan have been found, and will be released on the BBC iPlayer at Easter. The episodes are the first and third of the adventure - The Nightmare Begins and Devil's Planet. 

This brings the missing episodes total down to 95.

What's Wrong With... Silver Nemesis

When you've only got four stories to produce in a season, you would think that the producer and script editor could at least make them different...

The first thing that strikes you about Silver Nemesis is its similarity to the season 25 opener, Remembrance of the Daleks. 

Once again we have the Doctor revisiting something he did a long time ago - though we never got to see it - which is going to have an impact on the present. It's the Earth which will be affected once again. The threat revolves around some ancient Gallifreyan device which can be used as a super-weapon, which the Doctor was somehow able to take away with him when he left the planet with Susan.

The Doctor basically tricks the villains into using said device, so that it destroys them instead.

By screening the Dalek story first, this looks like a weak imitation.

Remembrance of the Daleks featured the junkyard at 76 Totters Lane and Coal Hill School and other references to An Unearthly Child - yet Silver Nemesis is supposed to be the anniversary story?

There's cameo appearances by a number of people associated with the show - actors, writers and directors, including Nicholas Courtney - but they all appear in group shots with their backs to us, so what was the point? If you hadn't read about this somewhere, you'd never know they were there - just a bunch of extras.

The story really isn't very good, and certainly isn't well regarded - so why give it to someone who had never written for the show before and was relatively new to the business anyway?

As for the plot, we're told that the Doctor sent the Nemesis statue into space to stop it falling into the hands of Lady Peinforte in 1638 - though she clearly must have possessed it at some point for her to have fashioned the living metal into a likeness of herself. Did the Doctor deliberately put it into an orbit which meant it passed the Earth every quarter century?

As each orbit results in some major upheaval on Earth, then isn't the Doctor responsible for centuries of death and destruction? If launching it into space was just to get it out of Peinforte's hands, then why not simply move it somewhere else afterwards - like parking it on the dark side of the Moon or in orbit around Pluto? Why leave it going round the Earth for 350 years?

And why have it land in 1988? It can't have been in a decaying orbit as its passing was too regular. It must have been programmed to come back in November 1988 - but the question is why.

How could the Doctor have known that Lady Peinforte would be able to time travel to her home in that year, or that the Cybermen were going to turn up looking for the statue? Or that a bunch of mercenaries led by an old Nazi war criminal would come looking for it. Is it all just coincidence? A very big one if it is.

If it's been going round and round for 350 years, why did the Cybermen not simply hijack it in space?

And one everyone knows - the mathematician employed by Lady Peinforte couldn't possibly have known that the calendar was going to be amended, losing 11 days on the adoption of the Gregorian calendar by Great Britain in 1752. His calculations ought to be out.

Do we know if major upheavals actually occurred every 25 years between 1663 - its first pass - and 1963 - it's last pass? JFK was assassinated in '63, but the world was much closer to disaster two years before that with the Cuban Missile Crisis.

If the statue only reaches critical mass when complete, you also have to ask why the Doctor didn't do anything sooner about the bow and the arrow.

There's mention of Roundheads being about when the Doctor first launched the statue into space, and it's the Doctor who says this early in Episode 2. But the Roundheads weren't founded until 1641. (It refers to their haircuts, not their helmets, and was initially a term of abuse).

When the Doctor first visits Lady Peinforte's home with Ace he states that it has been months since he was last there - so it has to already be 1639. But all the dialogue, and even captions, state it's 1638.

Another timing issue is the speed with which De Flores and his mercenaries manage to get from South America to Windsor - managing it in a matter of hours when they've only just worked out the date and location of the landing.

And did they book into their hotel and hire the van dressed like that?

It's looking unseasonably warm for late November in England, and an awful lot seems to happen in broad daylight, which would only be about 8 hours maximum at that time of year.

As for the Cybermen - they are at their weakest here (until their heads start exploding due to the power of Love). Their spaceship manages to land and move around without the military swarming the area - considering they're next door to Heathrow Airport and Windsor Castle, and the Queen in is residence.

(Talking of which, the Doctor and Ace manage to get extremely close to the monarch before security bother doing anything about it).

The Cybermen are actually scared just to be in the vicinity of gold now, and are easily despatched by gold coins fired from a catapult - despite having armoured bodies.

Why do the Cybermen bother capturing De Flores and Karl - why not just shoot them? De Flores is given the earmuff-like devices, presumably to mentally condition him, yet they don't appear to have any effect on him.

The silvered coating on the new helmets of the Cybermen oxidised and turned a golden colour, rather defeating the whole "silver" theme of the story.

The Cybermen falling from the gantry are all too obviously dummies.

Another big problem for me is that there are far too many incidental characters in what is only a three part story - and yet it still feels padded. The skinheads are utterly pointless and add nothing to the story, as does Dorothea Remington. Dolores Gray was only cast in this so that JNT could have a big Broadway / West End star in the show for publicity value - even though she wasn't terribly well known to the general public. The peak of her career was in the 1950's. Her scenes with Lady Peinforte are at least funny.

P is for... Pritchard, Mrs

Stern, cold-hearted housekeeper of Gabriel Chase, a gloomy mansion in Perivale. The Doctor and Ace visited here in 1883 when it was in the possession of a man named Josiah Samuel Smith. Pritchard only assumed her role at night, after the day staff had left - unwilling to remain there after dark. Smith lived in the house with his ward Gwendoline, a guest named Redvers Fenn-Cooper, and a butler named Nimrod - identified by the Doctor as a Neanderthal. Fenn-Cooper had been an adventurer who had explored Africa, but now appeared to be mentally unstable.

Mrs Pritchard treated him cruelly and disliked Nimrod, but was kinder towards Gwendoline. She resented Ace's influence over the girl.

Hidden beneath the house was a spaceship belonging to an entity known as Light, which was hibernating after conducting a survey of life throughout the galaxy. It had been contact with Light's energies which had deranged Fenn-Cooper. Nimrod had been a specimen collected by it during its survey. Locked up in the ship was another creature called Control. She and Smith had been agents of Light. One would interact with the environment, allowed to be influenced by it, whilst the other remained behind as an experimental control subject.

Smith had assumed the role of an English gentleman but he sought even greater status - by having Fenn-Cooper assassinate Queen Victoria. 

It transpired that the housekeeper was actually Lady Margaret Pritchard, wife of the house's owner Sir George, and Gwendoline's mother. Smith had killed Sir George and hypnotised his wife and daughter. They recalled their true identity and were reunited, just before Light turned them both to stone to prevent them evolving. 

Played by: Sylvia Syms. Appearances: Ghost Light (1989)

• Syms was a huge star of British cinema throughout the 1950's and '60's, appearing in such classics as Ice Cold In Alex (1958) and Victim (1961). She guested in many TV series in the 1960's including The Saint (multiple times in different roles), The Baron, Danger Man, Paul Temple and The Strange Report. Latterly (she died in 2023) she was a regular in EastEnders.
• William Hartnell played her father in the drama The World Ten Times Over (1963).

P is for... Prisoner Zero

In its natural form, a huge snake-like creature with jagged fangs, it had the ability to shape-shift and take on the appearance of other beings with whom it had formed a psychic link. It derived its name from its captivity by the Atraxi in their maximum security jail. The explosion of the Doctor's TARDIS caused a crack to appear randomly across the universe, and one of these occurred in its cell - linking it to the bedroom on Earth of a girl named Amelia Pond, who lived in the village of Leadworth with her aunt. The Doctor met her there in 1996 as a child when the TARDIS crash-landed in her garden just after he had regenerated.

Prisoner Zero escaped through the crack and lived undetected in Amelia's home for 12 years, concealing itself in a bedroom whose door it hid behind a perception filter.

It was discovered by the Doctor and an adult Amelia - now Amy - in 2008. It had caused several inhabitants of the village to fall into comatose states, using their likenesses to move around unnoticed. When the Doctor opened the crack in the bedroom wall, it alerted the Atraxi to Prisoner Zero's location. They lay siege to the Earth, threatening to destroy it if their captive was not handed over. Prisoner Zero knew that this would mean certain execution.

The creature could not only assume the form of an individual but multiple beings - even of different species. The effort to maintain the illusion was great and it often revealed itself through the appearance of its fangs or by speaking through the wrong body - such as when it impersonated a man and his dog, and a mother with two children.

The Doctor eventually lured the creature to the local hospital, where Amy's fiancé Rory worked as a nurse. Here, the Atraxi recaptured it before they could destroy the Earth. Before it was taken away, it cryptically warned the Doctor to beware "the Silence"...

Voiced by: William Wilde. Played by: Olivia Colman, Edin and Merin Monteath, Marcello Magni.

Appearances: The Eleventh Hour (2010).

• William Wilde had previously played a Draconian captain in Frontier in Space (credited as Bill Wilde).
• Now one of Britain's most popular actors, Colman would go on to win an Academy Award for her portrayal of Queen Anne in The Favourite. 
• She would also play Queen Elizabeth II, in the third and fourth seasons of The Crown.
• She first came to prominence in a number of comedic roles, in Peep Show, Green Wing and the film Hot Fuzz.
• A breakout role was opposite David Tennant in Chris Chibnall's Broadchurch.
• She appears, as herself, in The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, made for the 50th Anniversary.
• Marcello Magni was the voice of Pingu the Penguin in the CBBC series.

P is for... Primords

When human beings came into physical contact with a strange green slime, released from deep within the Earth's crust, a genetic mutation took place. They reverted to a primordial state - hirsute and savage. With some individuals, the process took time. First the skin would begin to turn green and they would experience a crippling ringing sound in their heads. They would crave increasing levels of heat. 

The Doctor and UNIT encountered these creatures at a drilling project - nicknamed "Inferno" - in central England. Professor Stahlman believed that a gas found only deep underground could be exploited as a new source of cheap energy and he refused to heed scientific advice in his pursuit of it. A technician named Slocum was the first to be infected by the slime, and he became homicidal. Anyone attacked who survived became infected and would begin to mutate. It took multiple bullet wounds to kill a Primord, though they were susceptible to cold temperatures.

Stahlman recklessly handled some of the slime and became infected as well, though he was able to keep the mutation in check for a time due to his obsessive nature.

As the animalistic behaviour took over and they mutated fully, victims felt compelled to make others like themselves as well as kill - deliberately exposing them to the slime. This fate befell the Sergeant Benton from an alternative Earth. Here, the professor's project was much more advanced and the Doctor encountered several fully mutated Primords.

They perished along with the planet - destroyed by the natural forces unleashed by the drilling.

The Doctor was able to return to the normal universe where only one person fully mutated - Professor Stahlman. Stunned by CO2 fire extinguishers, he was shot dead by the Brigadier.

Played by: Olaf Pooley (Stahlman), Walter Randall (Slocum), Derek Ware (Private Wyatt), Ian Fairbairn (Bromley), Dave Carter, Pat Gorman, Walter Henry, Philip Ryan, Peter Thompson. 

Appearances: Inferno (1970)

• The Primords are never named on screen. The name was given to them by producer Barry Letts - derived from "primordial".
• The script suggested ape-like creatures - a devolved version of humanity - but director Douglas Camfield opted to make them more like werewolves.
• Olaf Pooley was resistant to wearing the full Primord make-up.
• Walter Randall was one of Camfield's stock repertory of actors. After playing the priest Tonila in The Aztecs he was El Akir in The Crusade, and then Egyptian warrior Hyksos in The Daleks' Master Plan. He was also an IE guard in The Invasion, and finally one of the human overseers in Planet of the Spiders.
• Ian Fairbairn was another of the Camfield rep company - appearing in The Invasion as Gregory and The Seeds of Doom as Dr Chester. He had earlier played Questa in The Macra Terror.
• Dave Carter was, like Pat Gorman, a regular extra / monster performer in the series. He had already played the Old Silurian in Season 7, as well as a plague-infected ambulance driver in the same story.

P is for... Primitives

The somewhat derogatory name given to the inhabitants of the planet Uxarieus by a group of colonists from 25th Century Earth. Initially hostile to the newcomers, they co-existed uneasily by bartering with each other. Sometimes the Primitives would abduct a colonist and they would have to be ransomed back by providing food. 

They painted their bodies using dyes made from rocks and roots and armed themselves with spears and knives. Their city lay close to the colony, but was in ruins. Most dwelt in a nearby underground complex ruled by a diminutive priestly caste which worshipped a powerful weapon. The Primitives were the devolved survivors of a once great technological civilisation, but now they used pieces of their ancient technology to adorn their bodies.

One Primitive assisted the colony's chief engineer, Jim Holden, who discovered that they had telepathic abilities. Despite this, the Doctor was at one point able to distract one of them with a disappearing coin trick.

A man named Norton turned up one day, claiming to be a survivor of another colony. He said that the Primitives had killed most of his people, who had also come under attack by giant lizards. He murdered Holden and his Primitive assistant before sabotaging the colony's power supply - making it look like the Primitive had attacked Jim first. This was because Norton was really an agent for IMC - the Interplanetary Mining Corporation - which wanted to exploit the planet's rich mineral resources and was prepared to kill to get them.

Found tied up in the ruined city by IMC guards, the Doctor's companion Jo Grant was kidnapped by the Primitives and taken to the underground complex - to be sacrificed to the weapon and its Guardian. The Doctor went to fetch her back.

Later, he was forced to return with the Master who wanted control over the weapon. The Guardian elected to sacrifice itself rather than see the device used for evil. The Doctor tried to save the Primitives and the priests, but without the Guardian to guide them they wandered aimlessly through the complex, and were destroyed when the weapon exploded. Some may have survived on the surface.

Played by: Pat Gorman, Derek Chafer, Les Clark, John McGrath, Stewart Anderson, Emmett Hennessy, Walter Turner, Mike Stephens. Appearances: Colony in Space (1971).

• The actors playing the Primitives are clearly wearing thin body suits, but they are supposed to be naked save for a loincloth. 
• Gorman, who appeared in the series regularly as an extra / monster performer (from The Dalek Invasion of Earth in 1964 to Attack of the Cybermen in 1985) played a colonist and an IMC guard as well as a Primitive in this story.
• A number of stuntmen also portrayed Primitives for action sequences, including Terry Walsh, Alf Joint and Dinny Powell.

Episode 199: Fury From The Deep (2)

Synopsis:

Locked in the oxygen supply store, Victoria screams as she sees foam pour from a vent in the wall - with tendrils of seaweed squirming within it...

The Doctor and Jamie rush to her aid. They manage to unlock the door and pull her from the room just as Robson, Van Lutyens and the Chief Engineer arrive. Robson accuses Victoria of emptying the oxygen tanks and refuses to heed her description of the creature she had seen, thinking it her imagination. The Doctor confirms that she was locked in, from the outside. 

Van Lutyens points out that it was not oxygen filling the room when they arrived, but some other, possibly toxic, gas. The person Victoria claimed to have seen in the room - the tall thin man - must have opened the vent.

In the family quarters, Harris is visiting his wife and is concerned about her health. As she becomes agitated, he is unaware that a piece of seaweed on the patio outside is becoming animated as though responding to her state of mind, continuing to emanate foam. Harris decides to seek the Doctor's help as the ESGO medic is out on Rig D at present. After he returns to the control centre, Maggie opens the patio door and stares at the weed, a pounding heartbeat sound filling her head.

The gas flow pressure drops once again. The Doctor tells Robson and the others about the heartbeat sound he and Jamie had heard in the impeller room, and Van Lutyens reminds them that this is what the control rig had reported. Robson points out that beneath the impeller shaft is a huge gasometer which acts as an echo chamber, and this is why the same sound can be heard here at the compound and out at sea on the rigs. He blames a mechanical fault, but the Doctor claims the sound is organic in origin. He insists they shut down the flow to investigate thoroughly but Robson once again refuses. Van Lutyens warns that his stubbornness could result in a gas explosion.

Jamie and Victoria, meanwhile, are chatting to Price, who handles communications. He explains to them the process connecting the compound with the rigs, showing them an illuminated plan.

Harris arrives back from his quarters and seeks out the Doctor, telling him of Maggie's illness.

Robson reluctantly allows the Doctor to go back with him - reminding him that they are still his prisoners.

Maggie receives a pair of visitors - technicians from the control centre named Oak and Quill. The latter is the man whom Victoria saw tamper with the oxygen tanks. The shorter, portly, Mr Oak speaks for the pair, claiming they have come to inspect an issue in the kitchen. 

Van Lutyens and the Chief decide that the latest blockage must involve the impeller itself. The gas flow is coming in from the rigs - but not transferring outwards to distribution centres beyond the compound.

They notify Robson, who orders only a release of gas to reduce the pressure build-up.

Oak and Quill are working in the kitchen. They have seaweed-like growths emerging from their collars and sleeves. They open the patio door and calmly observe the mass of foam and weed, which moves towards the house. They then go to Maggie's bedroom where she is sitting at her dressing table. Seeing them in the mirror, she demands to know what they are doing there. 

They open their blackened lips and emit a toxic gas which overpowers her.

Out on the beach, the gas release seems to have solved the immediate crisis - but the impeller still needs to be inspected. Price then reports that he is unable to contact Rig C.

The Doctor arrives at the Harris home, along with his companions, and they immediately smell the toxic gas. They find Maggie unconscious and smash the window to let the fumes escape.

The impeller is almost at a standstill, and the Chief thinks that it may be jammed at the base. It then stops, and he hears the heartbeat sound coming from the shaft.

The Doctor is told by Harris that his wife reported being stung earlier that morning, after finding a piece of seaweed in a folder. Victoria then spots a piece on the floor and the Doctor warns against anyone touching it. He suggests to Harris that someone must have placed the seaweed in the folder, intending himself to be the victim.

Jamie cannot see the threat from seaweed, after all the beach by the pipeline was full of it - a thought which alarms the Doctor.

Unable to get Robson to listen to his advice, Van Lutyens tries to get the Chief on his side. He is loyal to Robson, however, having worked with him for many years. They do agree that the impeller intake is the only place where something could get into the system unnoticed by CCTV.

They both hear the heartbeat sound, and the unnerved Chief decides to approach Robson with Van Lutyens' ideas after all - no longer able to dismiss the sound as mechanical.

They fetch Robson from his cabin but argue over what to do next - until all hear the sound again.

Van Lutyens warns "It's down there, in the pipeline, in the darkness, waiting...".

Data:

Written by Victor Pemberton

Recorded: Saturday 2nd March 1968 - Lime Grove Studio D

First broadcast: 5.15pm, Saturday 23rd March 1968

Ratings: 7.9 million / AI 55

VFX: Peter Day

Designer: Peter Kindred

Director: Hugh David

Additional cast: John Gill (Mr Oak)

Critique:

The original draft for this episode seems to suggest that Oak and Quill (then named Swan) come from outside the compound.

Maggie asks her husband to fetch the Doctor to help her when she falls ill - puzzling Harris as to how she knew about him.

When everyone later arrived at her home they believed her to be dead.

The cliff-hanger was different - with Van Lutyens accusing Robson of being a murderer when they lose contact with the rigs, and he still refuses to turn off the gas flow.

One new character was omitted altogether - the Piston Engineer. His dialogue was given to the Chief.

Derrick Sherwin subsequently rewrote several dialogue scenes, mainly those involving Van Lutyens arguing with Robson and the Chief.

Only a small amount of filming was required for this instalment. This included more VFX shots of the seaweed and foam in the patio area.

For the sequence where the excess gas was released and burnt off, a section of pipeline was set up and filmed at Denham Airfield. This took place on Monday 12th February whilst close-up shots of various characters in the helicopter's cockpit were being recorded for later instalments.

John Gill, who joined the cast from Episode 2 as Mr Oak, was an old friend of the director and had appeared in several of his productions.

Sherwin was rewriting the instalment up to the day before recording, including reworking the scenes between Harris and the Doctor and the introduction of the sinister technicians.

The attack on Maggie was originally scripted to be on film. Gill and Bill Burridge chewed charcoal biscuits just before recording, to blacken their mouth and lips. The camera zoomed in on their open mouths and the director cross-faded between them and Maggie - the sequence ending with a fade into the burning gas shot filmed at Denham. 

Gill and Burridge also had latex fronds resembling seaweed attached to their arms.

Frazer Hines smashed a prop window with a chair, and the dialogue was amended on the day to make it clear that the toxic fumes were not the natural gas viewers would have in their home. It was also made clear that Maggie had survived the attack on her.

The opening credits began over a filmed reprise of the cliff-hanger to the previous week, whilst the closing credits rolled over a close-up of the impeller shaft window following Van Lutyens' ominous words.

Two of the episodes will end on pieces of dialogue rather than visual threats / incidents - pointing to the fact that Pemberton's script was geared more for radio, as Sherwin and David had complained.

When the censor clips were recovered from Australia towards the end of 1996, courtesy of fan Damian Shanahan, included were many scenes from episodes which no longer exist. All were welcomed, but one sequence in particular stood out amongst the drowning mad scientists, murderous pirates and rampaging Yeti.

It was the scene from this episode in which Mr Oak and Mr Quill attack Maggie Harris. It was there in the soundtrack and in the telesnaps, but no-one knew just how disturbingly creepy it looked. The fact that it's one of the longest censor clips shows just how frightening the Australian censors thought the whole thing.

It's partly the fact that the technicians remain silent and seemingly benign until they open their blackened lips and hiss out the toxic gas. Their comic appearance, based as they were on Laurel & Hardy, juxtaposes with the horrific nature of their attack - the victim an ordinary housewife sitting alone in her bedroom. The close-up on the cadaverous Mr Quill's face is particularly disturbing, and I'm sure viewers were freaked out by it at the time.

This will prove to be a rare example of an "Everybody Lives" story, but the audience weren't to know that on 23rd March 1968.

Interestingly, the fan produced publication An Adventure in Space and Time, which looked at each story of the 1960's in turn, does not single out this scene in its two page review (Issue 049). It does mention that victims of the weed can exhale toxic gas from their mouths - but not this sequence in particular. Considering that reviews were mainly written by people who recalled seeing the episodes on broadcast, it's surprising that it didn't stand out in the memory more.

Apart from this sequence, it continues to be a slow build, relying on atmosphere and developing the mystery. Other than the wriggling seaweed there's still no real hint as to the nature of the threat (the expected monster). Perhaps there are too many scenes of men arguing in rooms about the same thing over and over again at present, even if they are well acted - another pointer to Pemberton's background in radio drama.

Trivia:

• The ratings begin their slide this week, though the appreciation figure remains constant.
• Competition on ITV was very mixed, with different shows in just about every region. These included cartoons and several reruns of old adventure serials, some dating back to the 1950's.
• John Gill appeared in the 1963 film This Sporting Life - which also had in its cast William Hartnell, giving a performance which would help win him the role of the Doctor.
• Later in life Gill worked with director Roman Polanski, appearing in both Tess and Pirates.
• Radio Times published a small photograph of guest artist Victor Maddern, as Robson, to accompany the listing for this episode: