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The Daleks' Master Plan
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The Daleks' Master Plan
The Daleks' Master Plan is the fourth serial of the third season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner and directed by Douglas Camfield, the serial was broadcast on BBC1 in twelve weekly parts from 13 November 1965 to 29 January 1966. It was the show's longest serial until 1986 and remains the longest with a single director. In the serial, the First Doctor (William Hartnell) and his travelling companions Steven Taylor (Peter Purves) and Katarina (Adrienne Hill) become embroiled in the Daleks' scheme to design the ultimate weapon. They are joined by Bret Vyon (Nicholas Courtney) and Sara Kingdom (Jean Marsh).
The serial was commissioned due to the Daleks' popularity, and was preceded by an additional episode, "Mission to the Unknown". Nation shared the workload by writing six episodes while former script editor Spooner wrote the other six. The seventh episode's Christmas Day broadcast prompted the production team to write a self-contained comedic story, which ends with the Doctor addressing the audience. The Daleks' Master Plan is the first story to feature companion deaths: Katarina, proving difficult to write, was killed and replaced by Sara, who was also later killed. It marks Courtney's first appearance in Doctor Who ; he returned in 1968 to portray recurring character Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.
The Daleks' Master Plan received an average of 9.35 million viewers across the twelve episodes, an increase from the preceding serial but lower than the previous year. Contemporary reviews were mixed, with interest in the Daleks waning as the serial progressed and some viewers critical of its violence. Retrospective reviews praised the direction, writing, and production design, but criticised the serial's length, incongruous seventh episode, and violent deaths of female companions. The serial's videotapes were wiped by the BBC in the late 1960s; three episodes were subsequently discovered and released on DVD, but the rest remain missing. Audio recordings exist for all episodes; they were later released as an audiobook, and the story was novelised in two volumes by John Peel.
On the planet Kembel, the Doctor (William Hartnell) searches for medical aid for the wounded Steven Taylor (Peter Purves), who he leaves with the Trojan servant girl Katarina (Adrienne Hill). The Doctor encounters Bret Vyon (Nicholas Courtney), a Space Agent. They discover the Daleks have established an alliance with galactic powers to conquer humanity by using a Time Destructor, a weapon that can destroy life on a planet by accelerating time. The Guardian of the Solar System, Mavic Chen (Kevin Stoney), has provided the weapon's power core, which the Doctor steals before escaping in Chen's ship with his companions and Bret.
The ship temporarily lands on a prison planet. After it takes off, a stowaway takes Katarina hostage. Katarina activates the airlock door and ejects them both into space, where they die. The ship returns to Earth, where Bret contacts his old friend Daxtar (Roger Avon), who unwittingly reveals he is working with Chen. Bret kills Daxtar, before being killed by his own sister, Space Agent Sara Kingdom (Jean Marsh), on Chen's orders. The Doctor, Steven, and Sara are transported to the distant planet Mira. Sara agrees to work with them, and they steal a Dalek ship. The Daleks force the ship to return to Kembel. The Doctor and Steven create a fake core, which they dupe the Daleks into accepting before fleeing in the TARDIS with Sara. They briefly land in a police station and a silent-era film set, and celebrate Christmas.
The TARDIS travels to the Oval, Trafalgar Square, a volcanic planet—where the Monk (Peter Butterworth) seeks revenge after the Doctor left him stranded—and Ancient Egypt, followed by Chen, Daleks, and the Monk who, forced to help the Daleks, takes Steven and Sara captive until the Doctor relinquishes the real core. The Doctor steals the directional control from the Monk's TARDIS. On Kembel, Chen captures Steven and Sara and takes them to the Dalek base. When he tries to give the Daleks orders, they turn on and kill him. The Doctor steals the Time Destructor, which activates. Sara ages to death, while Steven and the Doctor survive and reach the TARDIS. The Daleks try to destroy the Time Destructor but it kills them, wiping out all life on the planet. The Doctor and Steven remark on the senseless deaths of Bret, Katarina, and Sara.
In early 1965, Doctor Who script editor Dennis Spooner asked Terry Nation to write a six-part serial featuring the Daleks, wanting to recreate the success of The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964). The Daleks' return was expected to boost related toy sales in the Christmas period. Nation was granted an additional episode in February to act as a "trailer" for the serial, which became "Mission to the Unknown" (1965). Spooner departed Doctor Who in April to work with Nation on The Baron (1966–1967); his successor, Donald Tosh, commissioned Nation's six-part serial under the provisional title Dr Who and the Daleks in May. The BBC's director of television, Kenneth Adam, suggested the serial be expanded to thirteen episodes; head of drama Sydney Newman formally requested an expansion to twelve, to which producer Verity Lambert agreed if Nation and Spooner could share writing duties due to their work on The Baron. The twelve-part serial was confirmed by mid June. Lambert's successor, John Wiles, was unhappy with the extension and threatened to resign; Tosh, who was also unhappy, persuaded him to stay.
Following the extension, in July, Tosh commissioned Nation to write the first six episodes, and Spooner to write the remaining six; they soon swapped the sixth and seventh episodes, allowing each to write a cliffhanger for the other to resolve. Tosh advised Spooner to write standalone sequences to link to Nation's cliffhangers later. Nation and Spooner met to discuss the storyline but mostly worked independently; their outline varied in length, with two pages for the first episode, a paragraph for the tenth, and a brief sentence for the twelfth. Nation's six draft scripts ran to 150 pages; however, Tosh recalled that Nation's drafts were short—running to around 15 minutes each, with the seventh episode at 21 pages (far shorter than the average 45)—and required expansion. Spooner had more time to work on his scripts, and Tosh felt they required less work as Spooner was a former script editor. Nation's scripts were delivered in August, and Spooner's in September. The prison planet—Desperus, dubbed "Devil's Planet"—is a reference to the French penal colony Devil's Island.
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The Daleks' Master Plan
The Daleks' Master Plan is the fourth serial of the third season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner and directed by Douglas Camfield, the serial was broadcast on BBC1 in twelve weekly parts from 13 November 1965 to 29 January 1966. It was the show's longest serial until 1986 and remains the longest with a single director. In the serial, the First Doctor (William Hartnell) and his travelling companions Steven Taylor (Peter Purves) and Katarina (Adrienne Hill) become embroiled in the Daleks' scheme to design the ultimate weapon. They are joined by Bret Vyon (Nicholas Courtney) and Sara Kingdom (Jean Marsh).
The serial was commissioned due to the Daleks' popularity, and was preceded by an additional episode, "Mission to the Unknown". Nation shared the workload by writing six episodes while former script editor Spooner wrote the other six. The seventh episode's Christmas Day broadcast prompted the production team to write a self-contained comedic story, which ends with the Doctor addressing the audience. The Daleks' Master Plan is the first story to feature companion deaths: Katarina, proving difficult to write, was killed and replaced by Sara, who was also later killed. It marks Courtney's first appearance in Doctor Who ; he returned in 1968 to portray recurring character Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.
The Daleks' Master Plan received an average of 9.35 million viewers across the twelve episodes, an increase from the preceding serial but lower than the previous year. Contemporary reviews were mixed, with interest in the Daleks waning as the serial progressed and some viewers critical of its violence. Retrospective reviews praised the direction, writing, and production design, but criticised the serial's length, incongruous seventh episode, and violent deaths of female companions. The serial's videotapes were wiped by the BBC in the late 1960s; three episodes were subsequently discovered and released on DVD, but the rest remain missing. Audio recordings exist for all episodes; they were later released as an audiobook, and the story was novelised in two volumes by John Peel.
On the planet Kembel, the Doctor (William Hartnell) searches for medical aid for the wounded Steven Taylor (Peter Purves), who he leaves with the Trojan servant girl Katarina (Adrienne Hill). The Doctor encounters Bret Vyon (Nicholas Courtney), a Space Agent. They discover the Daleks have established an alliance with galactic powers to conquer humanity by using a Time Destructor, a weapon that can destroy life on a planet by accelerating time. The Guardian of the Solar System, Mavic Chen (Kevin Stoney), has provided the weapon's power core, which the Doctor steals before escaping in Chen's ship with his companions and Bret.
The ship temporarily lands on a prison planet. After it takes off, a stowaway takes Katarina hostage. Katarina activates the airlock door and ejects them both into space, where they die. The ship returns to Earth, where Bret contacts his old friend Daxtar (Roger Avon), who unwittingly reveals he is working with Chen. Bret kills Daxtar, before being killed by his own sister, Space Agent Sara Kingdom (Jean Marsh), on Chen's orders. The Doctor, Steven, and Sara are transported to the distant planet Mira. Sara agrees to work with them, and they steal a Dalek ship. The Daleks force the ship to return to Kembel. The Doctor and Steven create a fake core, which they dupe the Daleks into accepting before fleeing in the TARDIS with Sara. They briefly land in a police station and a silent-era film set, and celebrate Christmas.
The TARDIS travels to the Oval, Trafalgar Square, a volcanic planet—where the Monk (Peter Butterworth) seeks revenge after the Doctor left him stranded—and Ancient Egypt, followed by Chen, Daleks, and the Monk who, forced to help the Daleks, takes Steven and Sara captive until the Doctor relinquishes the real core. The Doctor steals the directional control from the Monk's TARDIS. On Kembel, Chen captures Steven and Sara and takes them to the Dalek base. When he tries to give the Daleks orders, they turn on and kill him. The Doctor steals the Time Destructor, which activates. Sara ages to death, while Steven and the Doctor survive and reach the TARDIS. The Daleks try to destroy the Time Destructor but it kills them, wiping out all life on the planet. The Doctor and Steven remark on the senseless deaths of Bret, Katarina, and Sara.
In early 1965, Doctor Who script editor Dennis Spooner asked Terry Nation to write a six-part serial featuring the Daleks, wanting to recreate the success of The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964). The Daleks' return was expected to boost related toy sales in the Christmas period. Nation was granted an additional episode in February to act as a "trailer" for the serial, which became "Mission to the Unknown" (1965). Spooner departed Doctor Who in April to work with Nation on The Baron (1966–1967); his successor, Donald Tosh, commissioned Nation's six-part serial under the provisional title Dr Who and the Daleks in May. The BBC's director of television, Kenneth Adam, suggested the serial be expanded to thirteen episodes; head of drama Sydney Newman formally requested an expansion to twelve, to which producer Verity Lambert agreed if Nation and Spooner could share writing duties due to their work on The Baron. The twelve-part serial was confirmed by mid June. Lambert's successor, John Wiles, was unhappy with the extension and threatened to resign; Tosh, who was also unhappy, persuaded him to stay.
Following the extension, in July, Tosh commissioned Nation to write the first six episodes, and Spooner to write the remaining six; they soon swapped the sixth and seventh episodes, allowing each to write a cliffhanger for the other to resolve. Tosh advised Spooner to write standalone sequences to link to Nation's cliffhangers later. Nation and Spooner met to discuss the storyline but mostly worked independently; their outline varied in length, with two pages for the first episode, a paragraph for the tenth, and a brief sentence for the twelfth. Nation's six draft scripts ran to 150 pages; however, Tosh recalled that Nation's drafts were short—running to around 15 minutes each, with the seventh episode at 21 pages (far shorter than the average 45)—and required expansion. Spooner had more time to work on his scripts, and Tosh felt they required less work as Spooner was a former script editor. Nation's scripts were delivered in August, and Spooner's in September. The prison planet—Desperus, dubbed "Devil's Planet"—is a reference to the French penal colony Devil's Island.