The Space Museum

The Space Museum is the seventh serial of the second season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by Glyn Jones and directed by Mervyn Pinfield, it was broadcast on BBC1 in four weekly parts from 24 April to 15 May 1965. In the serial, the First Doctor (William Hartnell) and his travelling companions Ian Chesterton (William Russell), Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill), and Vicki (Maureen O'Brien) arrive in a Space Museum on the planet Xeros, where they seek to change their fate after seeing themselves turned into museum exhibits in the future. They also become entangled in a conflict between the militaristic Moroks who run the museum, and the servile indigenous Xerons who work for them.

Jones was not familiar with the show or science fiction when asked to develop the storyline. Story editor Dennis Spooner edited out much of the humour from the original script as he felt that it was more intellectual; Jones was unhappy with the changes. Pinfield and the production crew hoped that The Space Museum could be made cheaply to offset more expensive serials, using a small cast and limited sets. Pinfield also used stock music recordings for the incidental score. The Space Museum received mixed reviews, with praise directed at its opening episode and the performances of Hartnell and O'Brien, but criticism of the remaining episodes, the formulaic nature of the story, and the performances of the supporting cast. The story was later novelised and released on VHS and DVD.

The TARDIS arrives near a vast Space Museum on the planet Xeros, but has jumped a time-track. The First Doctor (William Hartnell), Ian Chesterton (William Russell), Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill), and Vicki (Maureen O'Brien) have a series of bizarre experiences as they venture outside and into the Museum; they see but cannot be seen by the militaristic Moroks who run the museum, and the servile indigenous Xerons who work for them. The museum contains fascinating exhibits, including a Dalek shell, and the four travellers discover that they and the TARDIS are on display. A few moments later, the time track slips back and the exhibit with themselves and the TARDIS vanish, but the travellers are still inside the Museum.

The head of the Moroks, Lobos (Richard Shaw), is a bored and desperate museum administrator and colony governor, who reflects sourly that the Morok Empire has become decadent and declined. The Moroks find the TARDIS and start tracking down the occupants who have become separated. The Doctor is the first to be found, but evades their interrogation tactics. Meanwhile, Vicki has made contact with the Xerons and, hearing of their enslavement, aids them in their plans to stage a revolution. They attack the Morok armoury and Vicki outwits its controlling computer. With their new weapons, the Xerons are able to begin a revolution, which slowly takes hold.

Ian has meanwhile freed the Doctor from Lobos, who had begun the process of freezing him and turning him into an exhibit. Ian and the Doctor are quickly recaptured by the Morok guards, and Barbara and Vicki are captured shortly thereafter. Help comes from the Xeron revolutionaries, who kill Lobos and the other Morok captors. The Xerons destroy the Museum. The Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Vicki take a time/space visualiser as a souvenir and leave in the TARDIS. On the planet Skaro, their departure is noted by the Daleks.

Around early October 1964, outgoing story editor David Whitaker asked South African writer Glyn Jones to develop a story for Doctor Who; Whitaker had seen Jones's play Early One Morning (1963) and later encountered him at a dinner party. Jones had never seen Doctor Who, nor was he particularly familiar with science fiction. After Whitaker left the series and was replaced by Dennis Spooner, Jones was asked to develop a four-part serial of his story. By late 1964, the serial was titled The Space Museum; the first episode was originally named "The Four Dimensions of Time", and by early 1965, the fourth episode was called "Zone Seven". Spooner edited out much of the humour from the original script, which Jones was unhappy with; Spooner felt that the serial was more intellectual.

Mervyn Pinfield was assigned to direct the serial in January 1965. The production crew hoped that The Space Museum could be made cheaply to offset more expensive serials like The Web Planet (1965), doing so with a small cast and few sets, and using Pinfield's technical experience to achieve visual effects without need for excessive filming. To save on cost, Pinfield used stock music recordings for the incidental score, including pieces from Trevor Duncan, Erik Nordgren, and Eric Siday. The sound effects provided by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop originated from previous recordings. The Dalek prop used in the first two episodes was one of those constructed for the first Dalek serial, The Daleks (1963–1964), while the one used at the end of the final episode had modified shoulder slats by Shawcraft Models. Several other set elements were borrowed from previous serials, such as the lecterns from The Sensorites (1964). The dummies in the third episode wore stock spacesuits from Quatermass II (1955). The visuals of the ray guns firing was achieved using a photographic flash.

The script for the third episode was structured to omit the Doctor, as William Hartnell was scheduled to take a week's holiday. For the second episode, despite being in poor health, Hartnell insisted that Jeremy Bulloch grab him roughly to make the kidnap sequence look authentic. Maureen O'Brien felt uneasy working with Pinfield due to his old-fashioned approach, feeling that he did not provide sufficient direction to the cast. The Moroks were named for their moronic behaviour, and the name of their leader Lobos is derived from the word "lobotomy". The Xeron actors wore fake eyebrows, with make-up covering their own eyebrows; the fake eyebrows often fell off.