7 episodes
Aired between 20th May 1967 and 1st July 1967
Written by David Whitaker
Produced by Innes Lloyd
Directed by Derek Martinus and Timothy Combe
Synopsis
The TARDIS is taken away on the back of a van, but the Doctor and Jamie are unable to catch it. They go and ask one of the airport mechanics where it's going, and after a bit of a convoluted conversation, they find out that it's been taken by a J.Smith for the Leatherman company.
The Doctor thanks the mechanic and leaves, only to confer with Jamie in private. The Doctor says that the mechanic was acting suspiciously, and had false papers on his clip board. They decide that the Leatherman lead is a trap, and that it's better to follow the mechanic instead by means of a taxi.
Meanwhile, Edward Waterfield, an antique dealer thanks his assistant Perry for obtaining the Police Box. He tells him that it is for a very special client. Perry remarks on the wonderful condition all the antiques are in, almost like they're brand new.
A henchman called Kennedy meets up with the mechanic in an abandoned garage. The mechanic demands payment for providing the lead to the Doctor as was requested of him, but Kennedy tries to bribe the man into attacking the Doctor and Jamie as part of the deal. The mechanic refuses and it leads to Kennedy having to knock the mechanic unconscious just before the Doctor and Jamie arrive. They find the mechanic and bring him round, questioning him as to what's happened. He groggily asks "Where is Ken.." before passing out again.
They look around and find more clues in the shape of a book of matches from a cafe bar called the Tri-colour, clearly used by a left handed person. The Doctor concludes that they need to go to the cafe and find a left handed man called Ken.
Kennedy makes it back to his employer, Waterfield. He tells his boss that the book of matches were planted just as ordered. Waterfield asks Kennedy to go and fetch Perry. When he's gone, Waterfield opens up a secret room behind a bookcase and retrieves a jug from it. Perry arrives, and Waterfield hands him the jug saying that it's for a meeting with a client called Doctor Galloway. Waterfield shows a picture of Doctor Galloway and his assistant, Jamie McCrimmon to Perry and instructs him to invite the pair to the shop at 10pm that night. Kennedy listens in on the plan through the door.
The Doctor and Jamie get to the Tri-Colour and ask around but turn up nothing.
They eventually get approached by Perry who hands them the vase and gives them the invite.
Kennedy listens in on the door, and hears Waterfield talking to someone, demanding more information.
Shortly after, Waterfield leaves his office, giving Kennedy the opportunity to pick the lock and explore the office. Presumably looking for a safe, Kennedy accidentally uncovers the hidden room. He finds a futuristic looking machine in there, but cannot work it so begins to loot the safe he finds there instead. As he's doing so, a Dalek materialises in the room and ask him "Who are you?" Kennedy decides to leg it instead of answering and gets exterminated for his troubles (there's a South Park quote in this somewhere!). The Dalek disappears again.
The Doctor and Jamie turn up at the shop half an hour early to snoop around (loudly). They both pick up on the fact that the antiques are in great condition, and even find an invoice dated 1866, but the pages are not yellowed at all.
Meanwhile, Waterfield returns to his study to find the dead Kennedy (is that where the band got their name from?). He contacts the Daleks and berates them for their lack of humanity.
The Dalek does some threatening too, and makes him stick to the plan. Waterfield reluctantly agrees and tears up a photograph of the Doctor. He puts half in Kennedy's hand, and then lays in waiting.
Back in the shopfront, Jamie and the Doctor make so much noise that they alert Perry. He finds them, but doesn't seem to know anything about his boss being involved in stealing things. He happily says that the Police Box is in the back yard and agrees to take them there. It's not long before they stumble upon Kennedy's body in Waterfield's office. Perry is clearly disturbed by it and rushes off to get the Police.
the Doctor and Jamie find the secret room, and begin investigating. They cannot determine what killed Kennedy, but they do find the torn photograph. Jamie sees the other half hanging out of a box in the middle of the room. The Doctor tries to warn him not to open it, but he's too late. Gas shoots out of the box and knocks them out. Waterfield rushes into the room and quickly uses the machine to teleport himself, the Doctor, Jamie and the futuristic machinery away.
The Doctor gradually awakens to find himself in a country house. Jamie is beside him still unconscious. A maid servant gives him some alkaseltzer. He questions the maid (who's name is Mollie) and discovers that he's in the home of Theodore Maxtible, in 1866.
Waterfield enters and apologises, stating that he had to kidnap them because "a higher power" has taken his daughter away to ensure his cooperation.
Waterfield takes the Doctor to meet Theodore Maxtible inside a strange lab.
There they explain that they worked on a way to travel through time by harnessing static electricity using only some light and lots and lots of mirrors. As they were experimenting, they accidentially "summoned" up horrible creatures who took away Victoria, Waterfield's daughter and forced them to obey. The Doctor asks what the creatures looked like, and a Dalek suddenly enters. It orders the Doctor to help them by subjecting Jamie to a bunch of tests, or they will destroy the TARDIS.
Back in the lounge, Jamie wakes up and is given the same treatment by Mollie. This time though, Maxtibles daughter, Ruth also turns up and introduces herself and after Jamie asks about the painting above the fireplace, she explains that it is of Edward Waterfields dead wife, who happens to look exactly like her daughter, Victoria. As Jamie is coming to terms with things, a filthy middle aged man sneaks in and attacks him and Mollie.
The Doctor decides to get back to Jamie as fast as he can before the Daleks get hold of him. As he enters the lounge however, he finds Jamie gone and Mollie unconscious. The Doctor takes a quick look around and finds some straw. He deduces that they're in the stables.
Sure enough, the attacker is in the stables with an unconscious Jamie. It turns out he was hired by Arthur Terrall, Ruth Maxtibles fiance to kidnap Jamie. The thug demands payment but is given short shrift by a strange acting Arthur who starts clutching his head and having violent mood swings.
They fight and it ends with the Doctor turning up just as Arthur sends the thug packing.
Meanwhile, the Daleks order Maxtible to begin the experiments on Jamie. They move Victoria from her prison to the south wing of the house.
The Doctor and Jamie make it back to the house, and Jamie is puzzled by the Doctor's behaviour. He starts talking secretly to Waterfield, and Jamie hears them explaining that the Daleks are in the house and Jamie will be used for their purpose.
Further preparing for the test, Maxtible summons his servant, Kemel - a turkish strongman who cannot speak. He obediently demonstrates his strength for the Daleks.
Kemel is told that Jamie is a terrible killer, on his way to finish off Victoria. Kemel is instructed to wait behind one of the doors in the south wing, a place that Jamie is sure to pass. When he does, Kemel is to attack him.
The Doctor is taken before the Daleks, who reveal that they want to use Jamie to find "the human factor" the thing that is intrinsic in humans that always seems to assure their victory over the Daleks. The aim is for Jamie to run through a series of obstacles, each of which is designed to stimulate certain emotions within Jamie, which will then be recorded on a silver wire (some sort of positronic brain) by the Doctor. The Doctor questions why Jamie, and the Daleks answer that they want him because he's traveled extensively with the Doctor. Once the human factor has been determined, the Doctor supposes that it will be implanted into the Daleks to give them an edge over humanity and thus conquer Earth.
Unfortunately for him, the Doctor has little choice but to agree to help his enemy. He goes back to see Jamie, but Jamie confronts him with knowledge of his conspiracy. He is furious, but the Doctor uses that anger to do some reverse psychology on the Scotsman, forbidding him to find Victoria.
Elsewhere in the house, Terrell and the scruffy thug meet up again, This time, as Terrell has a funny turn, the thug takes advantage of it and hits him over the head, stealing his money. Not content with that though, he begins looting the house. He finds his way to the lab, where he comes face to face with a Dalek and gets exterminated, just like Kennedy.
Once Jamie finds the plans to the house from Mollie, he begins to go off to rescue Victoria. He dodges a spiked portcullis and soon finds himself face to face with Kemel.
They have a long struggle, but Kemel is too strong. Jamie is forced to retreat into one of the rooms. As Kemel charges the door after him, he overcompensates and nearly falls out of the window. Jamie saves his life, and they come together in an uneasy truce.
Further in the south wing, a Dalek sets the next trap for Jamie using Victoria's hanky. As Jamie comes across it, he goes to pick it up. Kemel pushes him out of the way just in time for the giant axe that drops down to miss him.
Back in the lab, Waterfield and Maxtible find the dead thug. The body puts Waterfield at his wits end, and Maxtible talks him down, but it doesn't do much good. Waterfield tells Maxtible that once this whole mess is over, he's going to the Police to confess everything.
Jamie and Kemel determine that the hanky is Victoria's. Kemel communicates that he likes her, and they both agree to help rescue her.
Waterfield and Maxtible hide the dead thug in the barn. As Waterfield turns his back on Maxtible, the old man draws out a pistol and aims at his partner, but Terrell suddenly shows up and stops him, Waterfield is none the wiser and departs back to the house, leaving Terrell and Maxtible in the barn alone. Maxtible is angry, but Terrell (sounding a lot like a Dalek) tells him that killing Waterfield is not part of the plan and he must obey.
Jamie and Kemel watch from cover as a Dalek approaches a balcony. It calls out and makes Victoria come to the edge of the Balcony and shout her name.
Kemel arms himself with a spiked mace, but Jamie thinks it's suicide and begins to think of a better plan.
As the night progresses, the Daleks keep insisting that Victoria comes to the balcony and yells her name. Mollie hears her faint cries and tells Terrell. Arthur isn't sympathetic however, and flies off the handle, yelling and berating the servant girl, and his fiance. Ruth begs him to see reason and leave the house with her, but he refuses.
Elsewhere, Maxtible confronts the Daleks. He explains that he's kept his side of the bargain and demands that they keep theirs by giving him the secret of transmuting metal into gold. A distraught Ruth turns up and tells Maxtible what happened with Arthur. She demands to know why he's acting so strangely, and what's going on. Maxtible answers nothing, too preoccupied with obtaining the secret of wealth.
Meanwhile, the dynamic duo defeat the Dalek guard by using a rope to fling it into a lit fireplace and destroying it. They use the rope to climb the balcony and get to Victoria, but don't see a Dalek coming up behind them. They notice at the last moment, and after a struggle, manage to fling the enemy off the balcony.
This raises the alarm, and forces them to barricade themselves in the cell with Victoria.
The Doctor is happy because the test is effectively over and he's recorded what he needed. He goes off to find Terrell and begins figuring out that the man is under Dalek control, to the point where he's slightly magnetic and doesn't need to eat or drink. After winding him up for a bit, the Doctor decides to leave him alone.
Terrell is disturbed by the truths that the Doctor has shown him, and tries to force himself to drink some wine to disprove it all. When he tires however, his mind is filled by the voice of a Dalek screaming OBEY! OBEY!
Ruth takes Maxtible to see Mollie who is still adamant that she heard Victoria's voice. Maxtible hypnotises her to forget. He then finds the confused Terrell and forces him to agree to Maxtible being his new master. Maxtible instructs him to go and get Vicotria and bring her to him. Terrell sets off.
Waterfield goes to see the Doctor and finds him implanting the recordings of "the human factor" into three test Daleks. The Victorian man pleads with the Doctor to stop and help him defeat the Daleks, but the Doctor refuses, stating that it's too far down the line to stop now.
Back with Victoria and the gang, the Daleks begin to melt the cell door. Jamie and Kemel begin piling more things up against it, and don't see Terrell moving out of a secret door to kidnap Victoria. As the Daleks break the door down, Jamie and Kemel discover the hidden passage and go after them.
Terrell delivers Victoria to the lab, and goes back to fight Jamie. As they struggle, Jamie is helped by the Doctor, who removes a strange black box from the back of Terrell's neck. Arthur returns to normal, and the Doctor urges him, Ruth and Mollie to get out of the place quickly. They agree and rush off to organise a carriage.
Kemel rushed ahead and finds Victoria next to a Dalek. The alien points its gun at the strongman and orders him to take her into the cabinet (where Maxtible's time machine is).
The Doctor and Jamie make it back to the lab. Jamie continues his argument with the Doctor, and says that he doesn't want to go with him anymore because he doesn't trust him. The Doctor seems apologetic and assures him that he only did what he had to do.
As if on cue, the three test Dalek's activate.
Their newly integrated "human factor" turns them into children and they give the Doctor a ride as they play trains. The Doctor is pleased that the Daleks act this way, and he gives them names by marking symbols on their surface. They're called Alpha, Beta and Omega. The friendly Daleks tell the Doctor that they've been summoned back to Skaro now that the experiment has ended, and leave.
Elsewhere, Waterfield looks for his daughter, and overhears Maxtible speaking with a Dalek. They plant a bomb in the country home and order Maxtible to fetch the Doctor and Jamie with them for their trip to Skaro.
In return, Maxtible will be given the secret of transmutation. Waterfield is furious and confronts Maxtible but ends up getting knocked unconscious.
Maxtible goes to find the Doctor as the seconds tick away, but is forced to abandon his search and leave with the Daleks empty handed.
As it happens, the Doctor and Jamie turn up to find Waterfield who explains what's happened. Together, they all make it to the Victorian time travel cabinet just before the bomb goes off and blows the house up.
Jamie, the Doctor and Waterfield find themselves on the outskirts of the Dalek city on Skaro. They locate the cave system that Ian Chesterton used on the Doctor's first visit and enter the city.
Maxtible meanwhile is given a telling off by the Daleks for not bringing the Doctor. He equally has a go at them for destroying his house and keeping the transmutation secret from him.
The Daleks look like they're going to exterminate him, but he is saved by an alarm alerting them to humanoid intruders inside the city.
As the Daleks take up their positions, the Dalek Supreme notices one of them messing about at their post. The Dalek states it's name is Omega and that it's a friend of the Doctor's. Omega is taken away.
Maxtible, Kemel and Victoria are taken from their cells by one of the Daleks and made to scream as a lure for their friends. Jamie, Waterfield and the Doctor hear the screams and push onwards, They come across a Dalek that claims to be Omega, but the Doctor pushes it off a cliff, declaring that he knows his own handwriting!
The rescue party are eventually captured and taken by the Dalek supreme to the centre of the city. There, they meet the Emperor Dalek.
The Doctor gazes in wonder at the terrifying villain, but soon boasts that the Daleks have lost. He reveals that his plan was to use "the human factor" to create a new type of Dalek, but not one that the war-happy Daleks would want. He says that soon the humanised Daleks will begin to question orders and they will cause a civil war.
The Emperor says that he has a secret too, and reveals that the Daleks never wanted the "human factor". They wanted it to in turn derive the Dalek factor from it - an antithesis of everything human. Using the TARDIS as bait, the Emperor demands that the Doctor implants the Dalek factor across the history of Earth. The Doctor refuses and they are all cast into the cell with Victoria, Kemel and Maxtible.
The Daleks begin their final experiment with the "Dalek factor". Once of their order tries to back away and another Dalek questions the orders given.
The Daleks take a transmutation machine to the cells and offer Maxtible payment that is due. He becomes enamored with it and goes out of the cell, despite the Doctor's protests. As he gets under the arch of the doorway, he is zapped by a strange force field and implanted with the "Dalek factor".
The Dalek Supreme goes to the Emperor and tells him that one of the Daleks is questioning orders. The Emperor demands that the Dalek is found.
Things quieten down until everyone is asleep. The Dalek-talking Maxtible enters the cell and hypnotises the Doctor into going through the arch. He is also implanted with the "Dalek Factor". Believing he is converted, Maxtible leaves the Doctor in charge of the machine which implants people. Once he's gone, the Doctor smiles and begins messing around with it, telling Jamie to get everyone through the arch the next time they're made to. With that, he is taken by order to see the Dalek Emperor, but not before giving them a subtle wink. Jamie thinks this might be another Dalek deception though.
Maxtible and the Doctor are taken to the Emperor. There they are told about the human Daleks messing up the system.
In his best Dalek voice, the Doctor suggests recalibrating the machine for Daleks and putting all of them through the archway in order to implant them with the "Dalek Factor" and thus overriding any human ones. The Emperor believes it a good idea and orders it done.
As it turns out, the Doctor wasn't affected by the archway because he's so alien. He managed to reverse the process so that any Dalek passing through the arch is now receiving the "Human Factor".
As time moves on, the human Daleks begin to question orders, and chaos begins to erupt. Soon a civil war is underway. Waterfield is lethally wounded during the fighting, but gets the Doctor to promise to look after Victoria before he dies.
The Emperor's throne room is invaded, and he is destroyed.
The city lies burning and ruined.
As the humans prepare to leave and find the TARDIS, the still Dalek Maxtible shows up and throws Kemel off a cliff. The group leave him there, yelling to the skies that the Daleks will never be defeated.
Jamie, Victoria and the Doctor find the TARDIS. Victoria is told about the death of her father, but the Doctor promises to take care of her.
As they leave Skaro, the Doctor believes this is the final end of the Daleks, but elsewhere in the burning ruins, a single light flickers on in a dead Dalek casing.
Trivia
- The girl who played Mollie also auditioned for the role of Victoria
- A lot of the Daleks in the fight sequence at the end were actually toy Daleks available from most stores at the time
- This is the last story where Shawcraft models did the visual effects before they were taken back in house. Their work includes a lot of the spike traps.
- Also predominantly a budget issue, Innes Lloyd decided that he didn't want to pay Terry Nation twice a year, every time he used the Daleks. He groomed the Cybermen to take over that spot, and asked for a story to kill the Daleks off completely. Sydney Newman still had some sway however, and convinced them to leave the story a little open ended, just in case they ever did want to bring them back.
What worked
- The crime caper in the first episode could have been a nice change of pace for Doctor Who.
- The story at times almost had a feel of an HP Lovecraft story
- The argument with Jamie was a nice touch, and reminded me of Stephen at the end of The Massacre.
- The music was very, very right!
- The end fight had some good bits to it, especially the use of the strobe light
What didn't work
- Why put in the Leatherman lead if they're not going to follow it? In fact, Kennedy's role in this is all a bit daft too.
- Surely Jamie cannot be stupid enough to question why they're turning up to a trap half an hour early
- A lot of the messing around in the Victorian house just wasn't needed. For example, the bit with the thug; and just about every line from Mollie, Ruth and Terrell
- Why did Theodore Maxtible put a painting up of someone else's wife?
- If the Daleks didn't need the Human Factor, then why let the Doctor implant it at all? At least then we'd have been spared the weirdest cliffhanger ever of the Doctor being carried around the room by a Dalek and shouting whoopieee!
Overall Feelings
David Whitaker clearly couldn't decide what kind of story he wanted to do. The first two episodes were a crime caper, but then it turns into a gothic horror mixed with a period piece, before finally ending up with the Daleks Part 2. In each case, the results are sub-standard.
The crime caper has tons of loose ends that just leave you confused after wasting time watching it. The Leatherman lead looked logical, but the Doctor leaves it never to be mentioned again. I still fail to see the point in Kennedy and his attempt to persuade the mechanic, and of course, Perry is totally useless too.
Once you get to the Victorian home, the story gets more promising with almost occult style time travel, and the hint of horrendous beings being summoned up and the meddlers paying a terrible price. Unfortunately, that all goes quite quickly and we're left with more pointless fights by pointless cast and Jamie messing about with spike traps.
This doesn't change at all until the group get to Skaro. There, the plot is bungled ahead until the Daleks begin to fight, and we at least get a cool ending which the kids will have painstakingly waited six weeks to see.
The story felt too diluted, trying to do too many things at once and failing in them all. The only silver lining to this tale was the audio. The Daleks for the most part, sound menacing as they should, the Emperor is downright intimidating, and the music score is brilliant.
Rating
3 out of 10
The music is brill, but do you really want to watch 6 episodes of dross for the odd bit of synthesiser?
Rewatchability Factor
2 out of 10
I'd rather just watch the behind the scenes film of the end battle and be done with it.
Watch this if you liked...
- Ghostlight
- Evolution of the Daleks (Doctor Who, Series 3)
Consulting the Matrix
Did you like the invention of the Emperor Dalek or do you think they should have stuck with the Supreme council? Also, do you think the Dalek Emperor could be Davros in disguise?
