Episode #34: The Macra Terror

"Doctor, that was it - that thing in the picture! That was the claw!"

Episode 34:   The Macra Terror.
Companions: The 2nd Doctor, Polly Wright, Ben Jackson and Jamie McCrimmon.
Air Date:        Four episodes. 11th March to 1st April 1967.

When the Second Doctor, Polly, Ben and Jamie visit a human colony that appears to be one big holiday camp, they think they have come across a truly happy place. Yet a shadowy presence soon makes them realise that the surface contentment is carefully controlled.

The Macra Terror that is entirely missing, though an audio recording still exists along with a handful of screen images. Unfortunately although I've read two or three different synopsis for this story it is very difficult to tell whether it was a good or bad one. Some elements exist for both approaches. Hopefully one day an intact copy can be found.

The story features as it's villains a race of giant intelligent alien crabs called The Macra. The Macra require certain types of gases to breathe in order to live, and have enslaved the human population of a distant world to mine it for them from deep beneath the surface. At the time of this write up they have only reappeared once more (Gridlock) making them one of the villains with the lengthiest gap between appearances in the show, only beaten by The Great Intelligence.