On (W)holiday

As I mentioned the other day, I'm off on holiday again. I'll be back on Monday 25th when I should have a report on the above event which I'm attending whilst I'm in London. A few more guests have been added since this poster was released - Pik-Sen Lim (Captain Chin Lee from The Mind of Evil), Paul Grist (Bill Filer from The Claws of Axos) and Fernanda Marlowe, who played UNIT's Corporal Bell in both stories. 

As well as all these guests, they'll be screening three Season 8 episodes. I'll also be popping into the Who Shop again at some point, as well as doing lots of touristy stuff.

See you soon.

O is for... Omega

Omega was the stellar engineer who provided the power needed by his people to master time travel. Using a stellar manipulator device, which came to be named after him - the Hand of Omega - he detonated a star. His contemporary Rassilon, leader of the Gallifreyans, would then harness the resulting energy so that experiments could be begin. However, something went wrong and Omega perished in the explosion. He went into the history books of the newly founded Time Lords as a great hero.

Many generations later, the Time Lords found themselves under attack - their energy slowly being depleted. The source appeared to be a Black Hole, despite the fact that nothing could exist within this. A gel-like organism was sent to Earth to seek out the Doctor, then in his third incarnation and working at UNIT. Trapped as he was in the TARDIS, the Time Lords removed his second incarnation from his timeline and sent it to aid him. His first incarnation then followed, in the hope that between them the three Doctors could identify the source of the energy drain and combat it. The Doctors allowed themselves to be transported by the gel organism and found themselves on a bleak world beyond the Black Hole, in the universe of anti-matter.

There they discovered that Omega had actually survived - thrown into this dimension. Over the centuries he had grown his mental powers to the point that he could create this domain. The organism converted matter to anti-matter, which is how they could survive here. Omega believed that he had been deliberately abandoned by his fellow Gallifreyans, and was now in a position to take his revenge. His long isolation had driven him insane.

When challenged by the Third Doctor, Omega fought a mental duel with him - in which the Doctor fought a manifestation of his dark side.

Omega won, and the Doctors learned the reason for him bringing them here. He wished to return to the universe of matter, but in doing so this domain would collapse before he could pass through. He required another Time Lord to take his place - using the power of the Black Hole's Singularity - to maintain the domain as he departed. The power of the Singularity had a corrosive effect over time, and so he had been forced to don a protective costume including mask and gauntlets. The Doctors would need similar gear. When he had them help him remove his helmet, they were horrified to discover that his body had been entirely eaten away. He existed now only as a force of pure willpower. The Second Doctor had noted how he easily lost control of his emotions, during which he became distracted, and they decided to exploit this weakness. It allowed the Doctors and their friends, who had been accidentally transported as well, to escape back to UNIT HQ - the entire building having passed through the Black Hole. There, the Second Doctor's recorder was found to have fallen within the TARDIS forcefield. It had not been converted and remained matter. The Doctor agreed to stay with Omega so long as the others were allowed to go home. They then offered him a means of escape - the recorder held in a portable forcefield unit. Furious, Omega threw this to the ground. The Doctors escaped in the TARDIS as matter and anti-matter collided - obliterating the domain and transforming the Black Hole into a supernova - a new energy source for the Time Lords to harness.

Omega attempted to return from the universe of anti-matter by shifting a cosmic phenomenon known as the Arc of Infinity, anchoring it on the Dutch city of Amsterdam. The Arc lay in a region of space heavy in a rare form of radiation which shielded anti-matter. A member of the High Council of Time Lords - Chancellor Hedin - was a secret devotee of Omega and believed like him that he had been mistreated by his people. He worked as his agent on Gallifrey to enable his transference. In this instance, he would physically take on the form of another Time Lord - the Doctor. Hedin stole the biological data needed for this. He was forced to kill a technician in transmitting it to Omega, and so set about framing President Borusa should the Castellan and his guards investigate too closely.

Once returned to the universe of matter, Omega planned to move the Arc again, anchoring it on Gallifrey, from where he would rule. Hedin was able to supply him with a TARDIS, which he took to Amsterdam. He created a creature called the Ergon to act as his servant. It could convert matter to anti-matter and vice versa using a special weapon, and could also read minds and transmit the information directly to its master.

When the Time Lords attempted to execute the Doctor, to prevent his body being taken over, Omega and Hedin had him hidden in a pocket of time. Omega then took over the Matrix and began the process of transference.

The Doctor traced his TARDIS to Amsterdam and intervened at the crucial moment - meaning that Omega could transfer but the process was unstable. His new form - a duplicate only of the Doctor -  would quickly deteriorate and revert to anti-matter, creating an explosion which would wipe out a vast area of the cosmos. The Doctor and his companions tracked him down and offered him the choice of returning to his own universe or being destroyed. He tried to will his own destruction, but the Doctor used his own weapon against him and he was destroyed - though he had thought him vanquished once before...

Played by: Stephen Thorne, Ian Collier, Peter Davison. Appearances: The Three Doctors (1972/3), Arc of Infinity (1983).

• Omega's 'dark side' creature was played by stuntman Alan Chuntz.
• Bob Baker and Dave Martin created Omega to help launch the Tenth Anniversary season. He was originally going to be a figure named "OHM" - which is "WHO" inverted, suggesting an anti-Doctor character.
• Elements of the character were also inspired by the Wizard of Oz.
• Stephen Thorne had previously played the Daemon Azal, and would portray an Ogron later in Season 10. His final role in the series was as the male version of Eldrad in The Hand of Fear.
• Ian Collier had played lab assistant Stuart Hyde in The Time Monster. He also voiced Omega on audio.
• To conceal his return in 1983, Omega was credited only as "Renegade", though some newspapers had already stated that he would be back months before.
• Future Oscar-winner James Acheson created the original costume, whose mask was based on an ancient Greek theatrical design, whilst the costume for Arc of Infinity was designed by Richard Gregory of the Imagineering company. He included his initials in the circular chest panel. 
• The second Omega costume as displayed at the Worlds of Wonder exhibition when it was in Edinburgh:

Episode 141: The Highlanders (1)

Synopsis:

The TARDIS materialises on a windswept moorland. Emerging from the ship, Ben is sure from the bleak weather that they are back in Britain. They hear a loud bang, and narrowly miss being hit by a cannonball.

In a nearby cottage a group of Scots has gathered. They are led by the elderly Colin, Laird of the Clan McLaren. With him are his son Alexander, daughter Kirsty, and faithful young piper Jamie McCrimmon. They have just fled from the battlefield of Culloden, in the north east of Scotland. McLaren has been injured in the fighting. They are in hiding as the Redcoat soldiers are roaming the area, hunting for survivors. They hear someone approach.

The Doctor and his companions have come across the battlefield, and the Doctor has recognised the Jacobite emblem on a discarded hat.

They are captured by Alexander and Jamie and taken to the cottage.

Their English accents seem to condemn them, as they are suspected of being camp followers of the Duke of Cumberland, out to steal from the dead.

However, on hearing that he is a Doctor, they are asked to help the Laird.

Ben seizes a loaded pistol and holds Alexander and Jamie at bay, whilst the Doctor sets to work helping the wounded man. Once they realise the trio can be trusted, everyone relaxes - but Ben drops the pistol and it accidentally discharges.

The shot is heard by a group of Redcoats, under the command of Lieutenant Algernon Ffinch. As they approach the cottage, Alexander elects to try and lead them away. He is shot dead, and the men in the cottage are captured. Polly and Kirsty had gone out to fetch water, and remain at liberty.

Elsewhere on the battlefield a solicitor named Grey is discussing events with his clerk Perkins. Grey has been appointed Commissioner in charge of overseeing the Scots prisoners. He is unhappy that the wounded men are being slaughtered rather than captured as he has a plan to make money from the captives - by selling them as slaves in the West Indies. He has arranged for a sea captain named Trask, who has a ship at Inverness, to transport them.

Polly and Kirsty decide to try and help the others escape and cause a diversion. Ffinch wants them captured, as there is a rumour that the Jacobite leader may have disguised himself as a woman to flee the area.

Ffinch's sergeant sets about preparing to hang their captives from the cottage but the Doctor argues that he is a foreign civilian doctor, and the law protects him.

Grey has arrived and observes this, and orders that the men not be executed. He tells them that they will instead be going on a sea voyage.

Polly and Kirsty have taken refuge in a cave. They have been arguing about what to do next, with Polly unhappy at Kirsty's pessimism. She storms out onto the moor.

As she walks through the darkness, she begins to regret her impulsive actions. An owl hooting distracts her and she suddenly finds the ground giving way from under her - sending her tumbling into a concealed animal trap.

As she struggles to climb out, she sees a hand reach down towards her, gripping a dagger...

Data:

Written by Gerry Davis and Elwyn Jones

Recorded: Saturday 3rd December 1966 - Riverside Studio 1

First broadcast: 5:50pm, Saturday 17th December 1966

Ratings: 6.7 million / AI 47

Designer: Geoffrey Kirkland

Director: Hugh David

Guest Cast: David Garth (Grey), Hannah Gordon (Kirsty), Frazer Hines (Jamie), William Dysart (Alexander), Donald Bissett (Colin McLaren), Michael Elwyn (Lt. Ffinch), Sydney Arnold (Perkins), Peter Welch (Sergeant).

Critique:

Elwyn Jones had helped to create the police drama Z Cars, for which he wrote many of the episodes. He later became a producer, developing the Z Cars spin-off Softly, Softly, eventually becoming the head of the Drama Department. Unhappy with changes initiated by Sydney Newman, he had decided to step down from this role, to concentrate on freelance writing. With many influential friends in the Corporation, Shaun Sutton contacted various producers and asked them to consider commissioning work from Jones. One of these was Innes Lloyd, who thought that having a writer of Jones' calibre would be good for Doctor Who. 

Lloyd and story editor Gerry Davis were keen to dispense with the purely historical adventures, following the poor performance of The Gunfighters. They had only reluctantly produced The Smugglers, and had intended the historicals to end with it.

However, this was the sort of story Jones wanted to write, and Lloyd felt compelled to accept this. According to Davis it was he who who suggested the Jacobite Rebellion as a setting, though Dennis Spooner recalls it differently. He was around at the time working on The Power of the Daleks rewrites, and remembers Jones already having considerable knowledge of Culloden and its context.

Jones was commissioned to write a story which would use John Prebble's 1961 book on Culloden as a basis, and the production was intended to be Troughton's third adventure. The second was at this point going to be a story involving Atlantis, written by Geoffrey Orme.

Another inspiration was the highly acclaimed docudrama about the battle written and produced by Peter Watkins for the BBC in 1964. Controversial at the time for its violence, it employed non-professional performers and presented events in a realistic newsreel style, including interviews with the combatants in character.

Davis was experiencing all manner of problems with Orme's scripts when he was asked to come and see Sutton, finding him in a meeting with Jones. The BBC had just decided to bring Z Cars back in a new twice-weekly format - and Jones had been asked to write for it, as well as for the continuing Softly, Softly.

He would no longer be able to write for Doctor Who, and had only been able to produce a few notes for his intended story. 

Davis would have to take over the writing himself, though Jones would retain a credit. The story as broadcast is written by Davis alone.

The Jacobite Rebellion is often misperceived as a conflict between England and Scotland, whilst it actually owes its origins to the religious divisions between Catholic and Protestant. King Charles II had died without any legitimate heir, and so the crown had passed to his brother James. It was feared that he was going to turn the nation back to Catholicism, and this eventually led to his ousting in 1688, as Parliament invited his daughter Mary and her Protestant husband William of Orange to come to Britain and take the throne. Several attempts were made to reinstate the exiled Stuarts, including a failed French invasion in 1708 and the first Jacobite rising in 1715 - intended to place James' son on the throne as James III. The exiles eventually settled in Rome, where Charles Edward Stuart was born in 1720. He was the grandson of James II. His father had become known as the "Old Pretender", and he the "Young Pretender".

"Bonnie Prince Charlie" landed in the Hebrides in July 1745 and began raising an army. The campaign was a success initially, with the Jacobite army marching deep into England, as far as Derby. King George II appointed his son William Augustus - Duke of Cumberland - as leader of the loyalist forces. The Jacobites were forced to retreat northwards and, after a series of battles and skirmishes, the Rising came to an end at Culloden, near Inverness, on 16th April 1746.

Gerry Davis opted to use the Battle of Culloden only as a backdrop to his story, preferring to set events after the actual fighting had come to an end (mainly on budgetary grounds). Whilst setting it against a real historical event, Davis preferred to go down the literary-historical route, much as The Smugglers had followed.

The story editor had in mind especially the works of Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson. The latter's 1865 novel Kidnapped was a particular inspiration. 

This adventure story is also set following Culloden, and involves a young Scot threatened by deportation to the Americas to be sold into slavery. We have a scene of Redcoats attacking an isolated cottage, and one of the figures is an old man who is accompanied by his daughter. The hero is a man named Allan Breck - based on a real historical figure. Patrick Troughton had portrayed him in a 1952 TV adaptation.

One of the Scots characters is Jamie McCrimmon - inspired by the real Donald Ban McCrimmon - of a Skye family famed as pipers, who were loyal to the clan McLeod of Dungaven.

Davis was helped in his writing by the director assigned to the serial. Originally slated to work on the Atlantis story, Hugh David had asked to be transferred after considering the impossible technical challenges of producing a story with underwater scenes at Riverside Studios. A successful actor - star of the Knight Errant series - in 1963 he had been first choice to play the Doctor by the programme's then producer, Rex Tucker.

Production on the serial got underway with location filming at Frensham Ponds in Surrey. Its relatively featureless moorland terrain was popular with film and television companies as it could double for almost anywhere. Doctor Who had used it for the plains of Troy in The Myth Makers.

Filming got underway on Monday 14th November. Patrick Troughton, Michael Craze and Anneke Wills had only limited time available - having to give up their day off prior to rehearsals for the Dalek story's fifth episode. As such David had to film all the location shots for episodes 1 and 4 on this day whilst he had the regulars.

Gerry Davis attended the filming, armed with a portable typewriter to make last minute changes if necessary.

The TARDIS landing site was in an area of woodland. Troughton ad-libbed his line "I should like a hat like that" on finding a feathered bonnet - a line which would form a short-lived catchphrase for the Second Doctor.

Filming carried on after dark for night scenes. Tuesday 15th November saw filming continue without the regular cast, including action sequences for this opening instalment supervised by fight arranger Peter Diamond. He had also performed speaking roles in the series - most notably Ian's friend Delos in The Romans, but also the Morok technician in The Space Museum.

Michael Elwyn struggled with his horse riding on this day, as he was filmed approaching the cottage with his soldiers.

Frazer Hines had adopted an authentic Highland accent for the filming - a higher, lilting dialect. Before going into studio he had already been approached about staying on as a regular, and realised that it would be difficult to keep this accent going in the long term. He would retain it for the studio sessions this story, then swap it for a broader Scots accent. He had spent many holidays in Scotland with relatives.

We'll discuss Hines' casting extension when we come to look at the fourth episode.

The episode went into studio at 8:30pm on Saturday 3rd December. At this stage, episodes were being recorded only two weeks before broadcast, leaving the production team very little leeway for covering emergencies. 

A photocall was held earlier in the day for the main guest artist - Hannah Gordon - and for the attempted hanging sequence. A very brief clip from this sequence is one of only a couple of shots that remain in the archives for this episode, thanks to the Australian censors. There is also a clip of Alexander fighting Redcoats.

The opening credits were shown over a film sequence of the fugitive Scots hurrying towards the cottage. A 15 second piece of bagpipe music was used at various stages through the story - a traditional Pibroch lament played by Seumas O'Neill, of the Glasgow College of Piping.

The drum roll for the hanging scene was performed live in studio by extra Ken Garvie.

It was Frazer Hines' suggestion to show the party's feet in close-up - going up on tiptoe to suggest their nooses being tightened.

Troughton provided another ad-lib, abetted by Michael Elwyn. Having introduced himself as "Dr Von Wer", Ffinch asked "Dr Who?", to which the Doctor responded: "That's what I said!".

Wer - pronounced "vair" - is German for Who. This carries on Davis' apparent belief that this was indeed the character's name, as first suggested by WOTAN in The War Machines.

It is clear that Troughton is still experimenting with the role at this time. He will come across as particularly aggressive and arrogant in The Highlanders. He is dismissive of the hopes and aspirations of the Jacobites, referring to their cause as "romantic piffle" - an offensive way to treat deeply felt nationalist / sectarian feelings.

There was a certain caution about the Doctor in the last story, but here he seems to bluster his way through things.

This episode is significant as the first ever appearance by Frazer Hines as Jamie - though of course he is simply a one-off guest artist as far as the audience is concerned. Certain characteristics are already present, in terms of his loyalty and bravery.

Trivia:

• The ratings for the new story begin in a less than satisfactory fashion, losing a million viewers in the week since the final episode of the Dalek story. It should be noted that weekends in December usually see families out shopping or attending festive events. The appreciation figure actually remains stable compared to the previous story.
• This episode was considered at the BBC weekly review meeting on 21st December, at which Shaun Sutton expressed his general approval. It was noted that the episode had gone down particularly well with viewers in Scotland. A sense of realism was noted, and Sydney Newman conceded that the historical stories were not popular, but this one might prove an exception.
• Jamie McCrimmon is inspired by Donald Ban McCrimmon. This family from the isle of Skye were famed as pipers, loyal to the clan McLeod of Dungaven. Unlike Doctor Who's Jamie, the real one was an enemy of the Jacobites since his clan was allied to the Hanoverian cause, and indeed he was captured and killed by Scots rebels.
• Jamie's battle cry of "Creag an tuirc" is first heard - though uttered by Alexander McLaren. It is the name of a grassy knoll near Balquhidder, where the McLaren clan used to gather. The phrase translates as "the boar's rock".
• William Dysart will return to the series in 1970 in the more substantial role of Reegan in The Ambassadors of Death.
• David Garth returned in Terror of the Autons, as the Time Lord who materialises at the radio-telescope to warn the Doctor about the Master.
• Radio Times published a pair of features to accompany the new story - a rare interview with Patrick Troughton, whom it had virtually ignored on his debut - and a piece on the story's setting.

Story 297f: Flux - The Vanquishers

In which Swarm and Azure have invaded the inter-dimensional space station and killed Awsok. They turn their attention on the Doctor...

She is able to rush away, taking the Ood servant with her. In the tunnels near Liverpool, her companions open one of the many doors which Williamson had earlier showed them - one from which multiple laser blasts emitted. These hit and kill the Sontaran invaders.

The tunneller then shows them a door which he claims will lead to December 5th, 2021 - the date which their travels have pointed towards, when the Earth comes under threat.

The Ood helps the Doctor escape back to her universe, and she suddenly finds herself on the spaceship containing Karvanista and Bel. They notice that she appears to be slipping in and out of phase. Not only is she on the spaceship, but she remains on the inter-dimensional space station as well.

Yaz and the others emerge in the tunnels as they appear in the present day, where they are met by Kate Stewart of UNIT. She has brought the TARDIS with her. She traced them here through artron energy emissions. The Doctor then appears, still phasing in and out of existence and now in three different locations simultaneously.

The Sontaran commander, Stenck, sends out a message to the Daleks and Cybermen - offering them an alliance if they come to Earth.

The Doctor takes control of Karvanista's ship and deliberately aims it at the Sontaran spaceships which have assembled at a base in Chile. The craft is caught in a forcefield, but the Doctor has intended this. It is a diversion to allow Bel to find out what they are planning. The Grand Serpent is here.

At the tunnels, Williamson explains to that Doctor how he foresaw Earth's destruction, and so began tunnelling to create escape routes and to provide a subterranean shelter.

Kate tells them of a weakness they have discovered in the Sontarans, and of the psychic experiments which they are undertaking in Chile. Jericho suggests that he and Claire could go there under cover as they have experience in this.

They will use the TARDIS to collect her from 1967. The new weakness for the Sontarans proves to be a chocolate addiction, and this is used to blackmail one of their officers into providing information.

Karvanista reveals to the Doctor in Chile that he was once her companion with the Division, but can say no more as an implant in his brain will kill him should he reveal any information about those times.

On the space station, Swarm reveals that the convergence of the Flux is to be moved away from Earth, to the planet Time. The destruction of the Temple of Atropos will free the captive embodiment of Time.

The Grand Serpent reveals to Karvanista that all of his people have been killed in the Sontaran attack - ejected from the airlocks of their ships into space. He is now the last of his kind.

                              

Inside the Passenger Form, Diane shows Vinder a weakness in the technology. He shoots it and an exit is revealed which allows them to escape.

In Chile, Jericho and Claire discover that Stenck is using psychic humans to determine the exact location and time of the final Flux event. 

The Doctor is being interrogated by the Grand Serpent, held in an immobilising field. His attempts to kill her with his snake creature fail. She is rescued by herself - the Doctor from Liverpool arriving in the TARDIS to free her. The Grand Serpent is trapped in his own immobilising field. Bel, meanwhile, downloads information from the Sontaran database, whilst Dan recues Karvanista.

A conference is held in the TARDIS in which the Doctor learns of the Sontarans' alliance offer. She makes psychic contact with her other self, still on the space station, to work out what the Sontarans are up to.

Stenck learns what he wishes to know from Claire. The Sontarans are ordered to prepare for the event.

The Grand Serpent manages to break free, and scans for artron energy. This points him towards Liverpool where he believes Kate Stewart - leader of Earth's resistance movement - to be.

Vinder manages to contact the TARDIS, after the Doctor had earlier left him a communicator. They discover that it is Bel who he had been searching for. Before they can go and fetch him and Diane, the pair are recaptured by the Passenger.

Kate contacts the Doctor to let her know that the doors in the Liverpool tunnels have begun to act erratically. She believes that they are being influenced by the Flux, but from the future. Williamson is sent back to his own time, to preserve history.

The Grand Serpent is in the city, interrogating suspected resistance members in search of Kate.

One of the Doctors jumps into the Passenger briefly to free Vinder and Diane. 

Yaz realises that the Sontaran offer of an alliance with the Daleks and Cybermen is a trap. Once in position, the Lupari ships which are acting as a shield against the Flux will be moved to destroy their assembled fleets. This proves to be the case.

Claire is able to escape from the Sontaran base in Chile by teleporting into the TARDIS, but Jericho remains trapped when he loses his transport device.

The Doctor on the space station is able to divert Swarm and Azure long enough to enable the Ood to minimise the effects of the Flux.

Karvanista then uses his spaceship to disrupt the Lupari shield - leading the Flux to attack the Sontaran fleet. Unfortunately Jericho perishes in the destruction.

The remains of the Flux are then ensnared in a captured Passenger.

The Grand Serpent finally confronts Kate in the Williamson tunnels - only to be captured by Vinder. He is forced to pass through one of the doors - which leads to a tiny barren asteroid in space.

The Ravagers take the Doctor to the Temple where the Flux event has allowed Time to gain corporeality for a while. It takes on Swarm's form. The failure of the Flux to destroy all of Space has left Time still ensnared by the Mouri, so it destroys the Ravagers. Taking on the likeness of the Doctor, it then warns her that she will face her end very soon. before disappearing, it reunites her three sperate selves into one.

Karvanista will travel the cosmos, adventuring with Vinder and Bel, who is expecting their child. Claire is now back in her own time.

Dan is saddened to discover that Diane wants a break from him, following her traumatic experiences - so he accepts an invite to stay with the Doctor and Yaz in the TARDIS. The Doctor has retrieved the fob watch containing her stolen memories - but elects not to open it...

The Vanquishers was the sixth and final instalment of Series 13 and the overall Flux storyline. It was written by Chris Chibnall, and first broadcast on Sunday 5th December 2021.

It has the unenviable task of tying together all the many elements thrown into the mix by Chibnall, which proves to be an impossible task.

Just trying to edit the synopsis down gave me a headache there is so much going on, very little of it making sense.

It's ironic that one of the principal new characters is Karvanista - because this whole series has been a bit of a dog's breakfast.

The two previous showrunners tended to paint themselves into a corner in their finales, with RTD favouring the Deus Ex Machina as his get-out-of-jail card, whilst Moffat preferred a bit of cheating through timey-wimeyness. Chibnall just plain cheats, by introducing three separate Doctors to help resolve the myriad plot threads. There's also technobabble aplenty.

It looks good - quite spectacular in places - but it's all sound and fury, signifying nothing.

There is one element which we will remember - the demise of Professor Jericho, who has been one of the best things about this entire story / series. It's also nice to see Kate Stewart back again, and the Daleks / Cybermen (even if only seen briefly). The aforementioned canine alien has also been an entertaining character, and Dan makes a welcome addition to the roll call of companions. He's a likeable bloke.

Looking back at Flux in its entirety, the two episodes that could have been repurposed as stand-alone stories remain the better parts - the ones featuring established aliens, and one of which had another writer involved.

We can forgive the first instalment as it has to set up the story and introduce new characters and threats. Parts three and five tread water, with the first of these being a bit of a confusing mess as characters flit through timestreams.

By the time we get to the finale, the story has been allowed to meander too far off the rails to be salvageable.

One problem has been the overcrowding issue mentioned previously. We really did not need Diane, Bel, Williamson or the Grand Serpent. Even Vinder is relatively redundant. 

After rehabilitating the Sontarans after the Strax nonsense, Chibnall screws them up again with the chocolate addiction - one of the most embarrassing sequences in the entire history of Doctor Who.

There was absolutely no point reintroducing Awsok / Tecteun, just to kill her off so easily.

The Ravagers are also despatched far too easily, as Time just snaps its fingers and they crumble to dust.

Chibnall even fails with Time's final words, which should have set up a mystery for fans to try to solve. It simply gives the game away that the Master is going to involved, so clumsily is it written.

So, overall, Flux gets a thumbs down from me. A couple of worthwhile episodes, but the rest drag it down - and the finale is a mess.

Things you might like to know:

• Chibnall claimed there was a deleted scene featuring the Doctor and Karvanista in captivity, in which the Lupar believed that she had named K-9 after him.
• The Sontarans specifically exclude the Rutans from their protective alliance - their interminable conflict having dated back to The Time Warrior.
• Sontarans have entered into an alliance with the Daleks and Cybermen once before - the Pandorica Alliance. The entire universe was threatened back then as well.

Reading material...

Over the last few years, I've noticed that I have been reading less and less of Doctor Who Magazine each month. The last issue I think I only read about a quarter of. The reasons are several. I have less interest in behind the scenes material on new episodes, as you get to see the interesting stuff in the BTS programme which follows each broadcast. Interviews tend to be rather hollow puff-pieces, and previews are obviously never going to tell you anything interesting. I don't do Big Finish, so ignore the Review section as it's almost entirely BF product. And there have been far too many of what I call "peripheral" articles on the series - mainly elements of fandom which I really can't get excited about (cosplaying etc).

It's got to the point that I'm contemplating scrapping the subscription and just buying the Special Editions / bookazines on a case by case basis - as these are the only things which spend any significant time looking at the classic iteration of the series.

Luckily, the latest issue of DWM - in shops tomorrow - is one of the better ones, that might take more than half an hour to read. It has a huge interview with Philip Hinchcliffe, filling a whole third of the magazine.

The issue also has a feature on Blake's 7 / Doctor Who links, as well as a piece on actor / writer John Kane, who played Tommy in Planet of the Spiders. Great cover as well, especially if you are a subscriber.

Already in the shops is the latest of the BBC "coffee-table" volumes - "The Gold Archive" - which usually appear at this time of the year, just in time for Christmas. It's all about UNIT, and is written by Mike Tucker and Steve Cole. I wasn't intending to purchase this as these are usually aimed more at the younger market, and tend to have a lousy design / layout. The preview images which appeared on Amazon had stupid graphics plastered all over the photographs, so I decided against it. However, I saw it in the shops today and had a browse, and those preview images were quite misleading. The graphics are absent, and it has a large number of unpublished images, many from the classic era. Even where I've seen the picture before, we have nice big full-page versions here. 

Interestingly, aliens which UNIT never encountered - and stories in which the organisation never appeared - are featured. A weighty tome - over 300 pages - it has an equally weighty price (£35).

Some of the text comes in the form of memos / letters, which is very old hat, but there is also conventional text as well, though I think you'll be buying it more for the images.

Finally, due out on November 21st from Panini, is another bookazine. It seems like only a couple of months ago that they released the last one ("Into The Vortex") - and then you remember that it was only a couple of months ago that they released the last one. That has only just started appearing in shops, so if you want the new "Daleks: The Ultimate Guide" I'd order it on-line, or be prepared to wait until 2025 for it to get into the shops...

Inspirations: The Rings of Akhaten

The episode opens with a lengthy sequence in which the Doctor rummages around in Clara's personal history. We see how her mother and father first came together, all the way up to her mother's death - but there's nothing to explain the "Impossible Girl".

As RTD used to do, new companions tend to get a contemporary story, with their second usually their first trip in the TARDIS. The second and third stories take in both past and future / alien planet.

Clara gets to go to an alien planet (having already had a jaunt in the TARDIS in her first adventure).

It is to a planet which the Doctor tells her he has been to before. Not only that, but we know when this was as he mentions having been here with his grand-daughter - so probably one of those pre-Totters Lane outings which the First Doctor and Susan used to tell Ian and Barbara about.

The production team were quite open about the inspiration for the market overlooking the titular Rings - it was their chance to have a "Star Wars Cantina" moment.

One of the highlights of the first Star Wars movie was the sequence set in a bar in Mos Eisley, where Ben and Luke go in search of a pilot to take them off Tatooine. As well as a jaunty John Williams swing-style score, this featured a whole host of alien creatures, whereas the rest of the film mainly features humanoid characters.

Almost all of the subsequent "homages" included a similar sequence.

The producer and writer also discussed the speeder chase which featured in Return of the Jedi - which led to the appearance of the bike-like vehicles here.

Of the aliens which feature at the market, some had been seen before in the series only as background figures - in the Maldovarium for example. Others were designs created by Neil Gorton for other projects.

Talk of John Williams leads us on to another aspect of this story - its emphasis on music. This story allowed regular composer Murray Gold to showcase his talents, instead of merely providing the incidentals and theme.

Cast as Merry was Emilia Jones - daughter of singer and presenter Aled Jones, who came to fame singing the The Snowman song - Walking in the Air.

The planet having a face was inspired by the "Man in the Moon" figure seen in George Méliès' A Trip to the Moon (1902) - which has been parodied many times (e.g. by The Mighty Boosh).

Next time: pocket universes, haunted houses, and Quatermass...

Episode 140: The Power of the Daleks (6)

Synopsis:

The Daleks begin to emerge from their space capsule and take up position prior to their extermination of the human colonists.

The Doctor, Quinn and Polly have been arrested by Bragen and sent under guard to the prison block. In the corridor they are confronted by armed Daleks which bar their way. The Doctor leads everyone away from the area.

In the Governor's Office, Janley tells Bragen that the revolt is already a success. He tells her that it is now time to dispose of her fellow rebels, like Valmar and Kebble. They have been useful, but now pose a risk to his new authority. He is prepared to kill Janley if she disagrees.

Valmar has overheard their discussion. He goes and frees Ben, taking him to the guest quarters, then sets off in search of Quinn and the Doctor.

Bragen orders his guards to make sure that the rebels remain isolated, then announces to the entire colony that it is they who have killed Governor Hensell, but he has assumed command and reimposed order.

Having evaded their guards, the Doctor and Polly are reunited with Ben as the Daleks give the order to turn on the humans and begin killing everyone.

Valmar confronts Janley in Lesterson's laboratory and tells her he knows of her talk with Bragen. She still believes that the Daleks can be trusted to act as their weapons, this time against the new Governor and his men.

Bragen learns that the Daleks are now killing his guards, whilst Janley witnesses them exterminating her rebel friends.

The Doctor and his companions decide to hide in the lab where they find Lesterson, his mind gone. He claims that Daleks will take over from humans as the dominant lifeform.

The Doctor learns that the Daleks will shortly no longer need the static electricity supply they laid. The scientist tells him that only Valmar knows where their power supply connects to that of the colony.

Valmar, meanwhile, sees Janley killed by a Dalek, and Kebble is also dead. He rushes to the lab.

Bragen begins to plead with the Daleks to help him, unwilling to face the truth of what is going on. Quinn arrives and confronts him. He convinces him to call upon more security forces from the perimeter to come and fight the Daleks.

Daleks enter the laboratory as everyone hides - apart from Lesterson. He offers to help them, but is killed.

The Doctor has been shown the controls which were set up by Valmar and he engineers a power overload, getting knocked out in the process.

All over the colony, the Daleks begin to explode as they are overloaded with power.

Bragen overpowers Quinn, but is then shot dead by Valmar.

When he wakes up, the Doctor finds that the Dalek threat is over, but Valmar is furious that he has wrecked the colony's power supply to achieve this. Quinn and he will now work together to restore the colony.

The Doctor decides that a discreet departure is called for, and he and his companions slip back to the mercury swamp to find the TARDIS. They see a wrecked Dalek standing outside the ship.

As the TARDIS dematerialises, the eyestalk on the Dalek slowly rises to watch it disappear...

Next time: The Highlanders

Data:

Written by David Whitaker

Recorded: Saturday 26th November 1966 - Riverside Studio 1

First broadcast: 5:50pm, Saturday 10th December 1966

Ratings: 7.8 million / AI 47

Designer: Derek Dodd

Director: Christopher Barry

Critique:

In developing the character of the new Doctor, it had been decided that he would use any means necessary to defeat his enemies - even if it meant leaving a trail of destruction himself in doing so. Confronted by the chaos he had wrought, he would feign surprise, quickly excuse himself, then slip away - running away rather than staying to face the consequences of his actions.

This is certainly the case with this story, and it will be a feature of the final episodes of many Troughton adventures. This was one of the elements of a new character breakdown for the Doctor, released by the production team after this episode had been recorded.

This also highlighted the Doctor's use of disguises, preference for cryptic remarks over plain speaking, use of humour to disarm, and his unpredictability. It was also suggested that he might find himself rejected by the people he has saved - inspired by the Pied Piper fairy tale - but he preferred people to think for themselves anyway, rather than treat him as a hero.

Wednesday 28th September saw the filming of the Dalek destruction at Ealing Studios. The four main props were used, along with a number of lightweight mock-ups put together by Derek Dodd and his team. One scene was to feature a pair of Daleks, operated by John Scott Martin and Kevin Manser, collide. The operators had to wear respirators as smoke cannisters were set off. A spark from one cannister burned a hole in Manser's nylon shirt.

Other Daleks were seen to spin out of control or to crash into walls and machinery. 

The conveyer belt model was used again - with Daleks flying off the end before the whole thing was blown up.

Photographers from the Observer Colour Magazine had been present throughout the Ealing filming.

The BBC were unhappy when a number of colour photographs were subsequently published, as some featured the operators sitting in their Dalek casings. Whilst the operators had always been credited on screen, the Corporation had never talked about how the Daleks functioned, leaving many to think that they might actually be remote-controlled. These photographs rather spoiled the illusion.

Michael Craze re-joined his co-stars for rehearsals after Ben's absence from the previous episode, but not before the trio returned to Frensham Ponds on Monday 21st November to record a new ending scene for The Highlanders.

Unusually, the episode was not recorded onto 405-line videotape, as was the norm. Instead it was recorded directly onto 35mm film as the climactic scenes would require considerable editing.

The studio recording time was also scheduled from 8:30 - 10pm due to the amount of physical effects that would be required in studio.

Kevin Manser was not available for the studio recording, so his place was taken by Nicholas Evans, who had operated a Dalek in The Dalek Invasion of Earth. In that, he had also played the Slyther and, for Christopher Barry, had portrayed slave trader Didius in The Romans.

Five recording breaks were required, mainly to move cast members from set to set, but also to arrange the dematerialisation of the TARDIS in the final scene - achieved through the use of inlay and a still photo of the Police Box superimposed over the swamp set.

The circular camera mask was used frequently throughout the episode to give Dalek POV shots, especially in the battle / massacre scenes.

Troughton once again played Mr Sludge The Snail on the recorder. 

Oddly, the sound of his playing continues after the TARDIS has faded away.

As well as the Doctor's "Did I really do that?" reaction, as mentioned above, an added dimension to his character this week is his tacit approval of the use of the reinforcement guards to fight the Daleks - despite knowing that they are sure to be slaughtered. He sees them only as a diversion to give him more time to defeat the Daleks - exhibiting a new ruthless streak.

The Second Doctor is often defined as a clown - the Chaplinesque "Cosmic Hobo" - but he is actually a darker, more manipulative character right from the outset.

Whilst preparing material for the 30 Years In The TARDIS documentary in 1993, Kevin Davies discovered some film footage from this episode in a BBC Radiophonic Workshop piece - shots of the exploding Daleks. This came from the children's magazine programme Tom Tom, broadcast in November 1968.

The last sighting of complete episodes of The Power of the Daleks was in Singapore in 1972. These were the film copies originally sent to New Zealand.

Trivia:

• The ratings end on a high note, with the episode coming in at 37th most watched programme for the week.
• It had been intended that new opening titles would be recorded at Riverside during the recording of this episode, but this was then deferred to 9th December, for recording at Television Centre.
• Two days after broadcast, the BBC produced an audience research report on the story's third instalment. Overall reaction was not terribly enthusiastic, though the return of the Daleks remained popular - with only some thinking their novelty value wearing thin. Reaction to the new Doctor was mostly negative - "didn't seem right somehow" - and the comedy and costume were disliked. Troughton himself was well enough regarded, but thought wasted in this new role. A small number were prepared to wait and see how he settled into the role.
• It was during the production of The Power of the Daleks that Terry Nation approached the BBC about developing a stand-alone Dalek series, provisionally titled "The Destructors", using elements from The Daleks' Master Plan. In the week that this episode was in rehearsal, the BBC formally declined to take up the project - leaving Nation to look to the USA for support and finance.
• As a missing story, The Power of the Daleks was selected for an animation release in 2016 to coincide with its 50th anniversary - which of course was also the anniversary of Patrick Troughton's debut. A special edition was released in 2020, which took the opportunity to improve some of the animation sequences - namely the opening TARDIS scenes and the Dalek production line sections. Unlike some of the animated releases, it was very faithful to the original episodes in terms of sets and character likenesses. The Special Edition was also only made available in B&W.