Episode #21 : The Daleks' Master Plan

"I am a citizen of the universe, and a gentleman to boot!"

 

 

Episode 21:    The Daleks' Master Plan.
Companions: The 1st Doctor, Katarina, and Steven Taylor..
Air Date:        Twelve episodes. 13th November 1965 to 29th January 1966.

 

In the year 4000, the Daleks conspire to conquer the Solar System. Their scheme involves treachery at the highest levels and a weapon capable of destroying the very fabric of time. Only the Doctor and his friends can prevent catastrophe — and there is no guarantee they will escape with their lives.

A massive twelve part story! Unfortunately only three parts of this remain in the hands of the BBC. The Daleks' Master Plan is a sequel, sort of, to the one off story entitled Mission to the Unknown. In this tale we find that the Daleks are working with a handful of aliens to destroy Earth's solar system using a device called the Time Destructor. Seems unusual for the Daleks to be working with non-Daleks but I guess the Dalek hatred for everything else wasn't quite in the show canon as yet.

The story follows a similar pattern as was used in The Chase with the characters pursued across space and time by the Daleks and their agents. Quite why this was done I can't say but the story synopses reads as a rather chaotic jumble that doesn't make a lot of sense anyway. We also have the brief return of the Meddling Monk, who has escaped Earth's past but his presence in the story doesn't add anything and he isn't actually part of the overall plot.

During this story we lose Katarina. The first companion to die while travelling with the Doctor. Apparently it was decided that her character didn't quite work so they killed her off very very quickly.

This story also features a rather odd and random element. One episode fell on Christmas Day 1965. At the time it was customary to make an episode that did into a comedy, and in this case the entire episode has nothing to do with the story at all. The Doctor even breaks the "fourth wall" to wish everyone at home a Merry Christmas!

All in all reading this story it just seems terrible. Only one interesting element to the canonical universe comes from it. The Doctor ends up being drained of life energy by the Time Destructor, and it has become part of the reason why his body is so worn out at the end of his run and a possible cause for his regeneration.