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.

Episode #17 : The Time Meddler

"That is the dematerializing control, and that, over yonder, is the horizontal hold. Up there is the scanner; those are the doors; that is a chair with a panda on it. Sheer poetry, dear boy! Now please stop bothering me."

Episode 17:   The Time Meddler.
Companions: The 1st Doctor, Vicki, and Steven Taylor.
Air Date:        Four episodes. 3rd to 24th July 1965.

The Doctor, Vicki, and new companion Steven Taylor arrive in Saxon Northumbria on the eve of the Viking and Norman invasions. It is 1066, a pivotal moment in British history. The hand of a mysterious Monk is at work in the nearby monastery, intending that history takes a different course.

The Time Meddler is the sort of story that fits the show perfectly. A fellow time traveller seeking to alter the course of history in a significant way. In this case we are introduced to a new individual villain, a fellow Time Lord refered to as the meddling monk (though the term Time Lord isn't used for a few years yet). I am surprised that this sort of thing didn't crop up more often.

The Monk is somewhat different adversary for the Doctor in that really he isn't that much of a villain. He's a meddler trying to alter history to make things better and more interesting under his guiding hand. You can certainly see him as a precurser to the villianous Master later on in the show. The Monk was played by Peter Butterworth who would go on to become famous in the Carry On movies.

Despite all the references to non interference in the time line there is one small issue in the story that never gets resolved on screen and is thus open to interpretation. At one point Vicki and Steven find a futuristic atomic cannon set up overlooking the coast, but never tell the Doctor so there is every chance that it was left there.

All in all a very enjoyable tale. The mix of science fiction and historical combined works very well and is far better in my opinion than the pure historical stories.