4 episodes
Aired between 24th April 1965 and 15th May 1965
Written by Glyn Jones
Produced by Verity Lambert
Directed by Mervyn Pinfield
Synopsis
The TARDIS lands of a desolate planet, inhabited only by a single complex. This is the space museum.
The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki are still in their trance like state for a moment before they miraculously change into "normal" clothes in the blink of an eye, and then wake up.
The rest of the crew are concerned, but the Doctor is quite dismissive of it all, saying it's all just a case of time and relativity and that the clothes they picked up from the crusaders will be hung up the wardrobe. Vicki checks and sure enough, there they are. On her way back to the console, she gets a glass of water, and accidentally drops it. The glass no sooner shatters, than it reassembles itself and jumps up, back into Vicki's hand, full with water.
Vicki runs back and tells the others. Again, the Doctor casually says that all will be explained once they explore the planet they've arrived on. He looks through the monitor and guesses that they've landed at a museum, as the space ships outside are all lined up chronologically.
Once outside, the crew encounter another curious thing occurs - the group don't leave any footprints in the dust around them.
Soon enough, they come across the space museum but find the doors shut. As they try to get inside, two men emerge. The group hide from them but Vicki accidentally sneezes as they pass. Curiously, the men don't seem to notice and wander off, leaving the door open for the group to enter. Inside, the group funnily enough find there's lots of relics from different places, including a Dalek from Skaro.
Two more people turn up, this time they are young men, dressed in black with big eyebrows. The group hide once more, and watch the men as they conspire with each other. Strangely enough though, the men make no sound, even though their lips move. More curious things are noticed too, like the fact that the group all of a sudden become incorporeal and can pass their hands through things, and the fact that more men pass the group as if they don't see them.
The Doctor theorises that they may not actually be here at all. The group continue into the museum only to find the TARDIS waiting for them inside. The group decide they've had enough of the weirdness and try to go back into the TARDIS and leave, yet they find they can't because they're incorporeal and the Doctor's hand passes straight through it.
That isn't the only perplexing thing for them, for in the far corner of the room, they find themselves stuffed and placed in glass containers for show. The sight gives the Doctor the impression that they've jumped a time track, skipping ahead in time slightly to glimpse one possible future they might have.
As they are discussing the ramifications of this, time catches up with them and the figures in the cases disapear, along with the TARDIS. Outside the museum, two men dressed in white find the TARDIS, whilst the groups footprints mystically appear in the sand.
The men are guards from an alien empire known as the Moroks (from their actions this seems to be a derivative of Morons). The guards call their discovery into the curator: Lobos. Between moaning about how boring it is on the planet, and how mighty the Morok empire once was, he tells the guards to find and capture the visitors.
Elsewhere, the group of black clothed rebels from a race known as the Xerons (for this is the planet Xeros where they live), discuss the potential arrivals as people who might help them overthrow the oppressive rule of the Moroks.
They begin stealthily following the group, who are still exploring the museum having armed themselves with an exhibited gun.
During this exploration, the group discuss how they can escape the future they've seen. They elect to try and get back to the ship as quickly as possible, so they don't get captured and therefore cannot be stuffed and mounted. This is easier said than done however, because the corridors all seem identical and it's just like a maze. As they tackle this maze, the group don't see the Doctor getting abducted by the rebels. He falls on the floor and pretends to be unconscious. The rebel leader, Tor leaves one of his men, Dako, to watch over the Doctor whilst they go after the rest.
Ian, Barbara and Vicki finally realise that the Doctor has gone, but they decide to carry on for the exit .
Tor comes back to collect Dako, but finds him bound and gagged on the floor. Dako insists that he was hit from behind and didn't see anyone, so the group head off out into the museum to track the Doctor down. Little do they know however that the Doctor never left. He hid himself in a Dalek exhibit all along!
Very pleased with himself, the Doctor sets off to find the group but is immediately captured by the Moroks.
Still hopelessly lost, Ian decides to use Barbara's unpicked cardigan like a breadcrumb trail.
The Xerons find this most unusual but follow it too. The group eventually find the exit, only to discover that the TARDIS has been found by the Moroks and brought to the museum, bringing the group one step closer to the future they're trying to avoid.
Indeed, the Doctor is brought before Lobos who tries to use the mind probe on the Doctor to find the whereabouts of his friends.
Instead of getting the information he needs, Lobos gets images of a penny farthing and the Doctor in a bathing suit!
No in the least bit impressed, Lobos sentences the Doctor to be stuffed and mounted as an exhibit.
Back at the TARDIS a Morok guard finds Ian, Barbara and Vicki discussing their next course of action and holds them at gunpoint. Ian decides to be brave and tackles the guard whilst the girls escape. They all split up, resulting in Vicki being captured by the Rebel Xerons, and Barbara hiding out behind some boxes, whilst Ian (somehow) manages to hide just behind the TARDIS and doesn't get seen.
Vicki is frightened of the Xerons at first, but soon makes friends as they say they are wanting to stop the Moroks. As a gesture of faith, Dako goes off to find Ian and Barbara.
Whilst hiding behind the TARDIS, Ian manages to overpower the Morok guard assigned to protect it.
He assumes the Doctor is a prisoner and grabs the guards gun, threatening to kill him unless he takes Ian to where the Doctor is. The guard begrudgingly agrees and they set off.
Dako finds Barbara, who nearly knocks his block off until Dako says her name. He explains what the Xeron's are trying to do, but suddenly, the museum is flooded with Zapha gas, a paralysing agent. Barbara and Dako try to get out, but succumb to its effects.
Vicki meanwhile is also brought up to date with Xeron history, and the fact that the Moroks only spared the Xeron kids, using them as slaves. The kids have now grown into the rebels, but the rebels are outnumbered and outgunned. Vicki asks them if they can get access to the armoury. Tor tells her that they can get to it, but it's guarded by a lie detector that can only be opened with the correct answers. Vicki insists that they take her to it.
Ian and the guard get to the preparation room, but the guard advises Ian to wait until it's not as heavily staffed. Ian agrees and sure enough, Lobos comes out of the room, questioning the guard as to why he left his post. Ian hides and the guard bluffs his way out of it, only to have Ian spring from the shadows and threaten them both to take him to the Doctor.
Vicki is shown the lie detector lock to the armoury, and tinkers with it, forcing it to accept any truthful answer, not just the one's that the Moroks want to hear.
The Xeron's grab the guns with joy and prepare to start the revolution, sending guards to attack the Morok barracks.
Back in the preparation room, Ian finds the Doctor hooked up to some kind of embalming machine, which he makes Lobos reverse, taking the Doctor's body temperature up from several hundred below freezing.
In no time at all, the Doctor recovers with nothing more than a bit of rheumatism. Ian is happy to have thwarted the future by stopping the embalming, but he talks too soon, as another group of Moroks sneak up behind them and recapture them. Lobos cruelly orders them both to be embalmed whilst he calls the Barracks to send more men after the remaining aliens. Curiously, the barracks don't answer.
In the museum, Barbara and Dako struggle through the paralysis gas until they are out of the complex. A guard orders them to halt, but he's killed by Tor, accompanied by Vicki. Barbara gets filled in on the revolution, and together the rebels and the girls set off to find the Doctor, but are soon captured again. Lobos is handed the Xeron guns, which he works out have come from the armoury that he also cannot get in touch with.
Vicki and Barbara are taken to the preparation room, where they are locked in with the Doctor and Ian whilst the Moroks quell the uprising. In a last, desperate effort to avoid the future, Ian destroys the embalming machine, but the Doctor laughs grimly and says that they will have more than one machine. Ian resigns himself to fate, and Barbara too, but the Doctor has a mischievous glint in his eye. He speculates that ever since they landed, they've changed the fate of the planet, therefore, although they cannot perhaps escape their own personal destiny, perhaps they have put events in motion to allow others to divert the future for them. Vicki excitedly exclaims that it's the revolution that will ensure they stay out of the display cases!
The battle with the rebels doesn't go in the Moroks favour, and Lobos decides to escape with his second in command, ordering the group to be killed before they leave. As Lobos and his deputy get to the preparation room, Tor and his rebels show up, killing the Moroks and diverting the possible future.
A short time later, back at the TARDIS, the Doctor announces that it was another one of the TARDIS' tiny components that caused them to jump a time track.
The group say goodbye to the Xeron's who are busy throwing away everything that didn't come from the planet. Ian remarks on a rather large piece of equipment that the Doctor salvaged. The Doctor explains that it is a time-space visualiser.
Vicki gives a fond farewell to Tor, and the group set off on another adventure...
Elsewhere in the cosmos, an old adversary begins to make plans to find and destroy the Doctor...
Trivia
- William Hartnell is at it again, having episode 3 off from work to go off, no doubt to Butlins.
- This story is a total 180 spin on the fundamentals of time travel laid down in the Aztecs, and in in just about every historical Doctor Who story to this point. That's because the script editor for the previous stories was David Whitaker who established that history shouldn't be changed. However, from The Roman's onwards, it was Dennis spooner who was script editor, and he decided that just being observers in history was boring. Plus, how come you could change the future of an alien planet, but not earth? This story shows how he disregards Whitakers premise and plays fast and loose with the laws of time.
What worked
- I thought Vicki would have had at least a peck on the cheek from Tor before she left, but it's nice to see a companion other than Barbara have a love interest.
- It's nice to see a bit more of a lead in to the next story, it makes me feel like something big is happening.
- The sound of the laser pistols actually works quite well
What didn't work
- Considering all the wacky stuff that went off in the Edge of Destruction, it seems odd that Barbara even questions the glass jumping back into Vicki's hand.
- Could Glyn Jones not find anything more realistic than having Vicki sneeze at the dramatically appropriate moment?
- Why don't the Moroks ever put directional signs up? Are they always late for duty because they get lost in the museum?
- And, speaking of museums, what kind of curator tries to embalm the first bloody visitors they've had to the planet in ages?! Plus, why is there an army guarding it?
Overall Feelings
Some people feel that this story has a great injustice. They feel that it is hard done by, and that it has a lot to offer. Many, many more think that it is pure crap and don't rate it at all. I think my judgement lies somewhere in between.
The sympathisers of the museum take the first episode as a shining example of its brilliance, and in that, I totally agree. This episode brings some of the wonder back to Doctor who that was there in abundance during An Unearthly Child, and again in the Edge of Destruction, but has steadily declined since we've become familiar with the TARDIS crew. This episode would not look out of place in the Twighlight Zone or on the Outer Limits. There's a real sense of mystery, and tension about all the weird stuff going on, and I've got to say that apart from the scene where the Xerons are talking quietly, I was hooked.
Then we get to episode 2...
The rest of the story tries to live up to the opening by offering an intelligent (and almost nihilistic) debate on whether the groups actions can ever change the future, or if they should just accept the fate before them. I don't mind this, but Glyn Jones had to do something to make it interesting and that's where it all comes crashing down. The rest of the episodes are spoiled by the simple premise that Barbara was wearing a cardigan when they saw themselves in the tubes. So the second she takes it off and unravels it; they show that the future MUST be able to change. End of story.
From there, we get lots and lots of annoying space Romans moaning about how good things used to be, and being totally inept, whilst rebels who look like they jumped straight off the set of "Summer Holiday" with Cliff Richard show up and start a groovy 60's style revolution.
Rating
5 out of 10
The scenes concerning the time track are all good, the sound effects are pretty good, but the music is hit and miss. The acting is fantastic from the main cast, but the Morok's and Xeron's feel the need to give us massive information dumps in with their dialogue
Rewatchability Factor
5 out of 10
The first episode is worth watching again for definite, but the rest is an endurance test.
Watch this if you liked...
- Dalek (Doctor Who Series 1)
Consulting the Matrix
Which side of the fence do you sit on? Was the plot thread in the first episode the highlight of the story, or does the Space Museum hold a charm all of its own?
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