4 episodes
Aired between 11th March 1967 and 1st April 1967
Written by Ian Stuart Black
Produced by Innes Lloyd
Directed by John Davies
Synopsis
In a colony on a faraway planet, a troop of majorettes practice for an upcoming festival. The colony leader, referred to as the Pilot, compliments the band leader.
Suddenly, an escaped prisoner called Medok bursts through the procession and escapes out of the colony. Ola, the colony's Chief of Police gives chase with a handful of his officers.
One outside in the rocky wilderness, Medok hides until he see's a strange blue box appear from nowhere. He watches as from it, Jamie, Ben, Polly and the Doctor emerge. Jamie is carrying a big wooden stick, conscious of what they saw on the time scanner. Ben teases him until Medok jumps on Jamie out of nowhere. Jamie and Ben sort him out in short order and capture him, just in time for Ola and his guards to show up.
The Chief of Police assumes that the TARDIS crew are from another colony, and thanks them for assisting him in capturing Medok who has refused to obey orders. Ola invites the crew back to the colony where they will be thanked by the Pilot. The Doctor is a bit curious about all this, so agrees to go with Ola and the guards.
When they get to the colony, they are thanked indeed. The Pilot is overjoyed and makes a big show of how happy everyone is to both work and play in the colony. Even the shift change is signaled by a happy jingle and a song!
As Medok is dragged back into the colony, his old friend, Questa approaches him and begs him to just conform, hinting that the man has been hallucinating. Medok looks disdainfully at his friend and insists that there are things, horrible things in the colony that come out at night. He refuses to conform and Ola drags him away.
The Pilot insists the TARDIS crew forget all about Medok and hooks them up with all manner of luxuries. Polly gets a shampoo and a haircut, Ben and Jamie get a massage by beautiful women...
and the Doctor settles for a dry clean of his clothes. Ben and Polly are loving it, Jamie is intimidated by all the women and wants them to leave him alone, and the Doctor is upset when his suede shoes are buffed to a shine.
The Pilot arranges a reception party for the strangers, at which the Doctor manages to slip away and visit the prison where Medok is being held. He sneaks his way into the cell and questions Medok about what he's seen. Medok is suspicious of the Doctor but does reveal that he's seen creatures that crawl around the colony at night. He gets panicked talking about them and takes advantage of the Doctor's visit, shoving him aside to escape. Alarms go off, and the Doctor is confronted by Ola and the Pilot, and joined by Polly, Jamie and Ben. Ola wants the Doctor punished for releasing Medok, but Polly convinces them to give him the benefit of the doubt because he didn't know the law. The Doctor thanks Ola for being lenient, but slips in a phrase about people crawling about the complex. Ola reacts paranoid to the phrase and warns the Doctor that he will end up in the hospital for "correction" if he's not careful.
The Pilot diffuses the tension by suggesting that the visitors should learn more about the colony, and orders that they are taken to the labour centre. On their way, they pass a new construction site, where the Doctor spies Medok hiding, but says nothing. Once there, the group are told about how the colony work in shifts to capture and refine poisonous gas. The Doctor asks why they do it, but they can't seem to get a straight answer. As they are discussing this, an intercom noise comes over unseen speakers and they see an image on a nearby monitor of a man.
It turns out that the Pilot isn't the overall ruler of the colony, it's this guy - the Controller. He informs the rest of the colony about Medok's escape and warns that there will be a curfew that night to protect everyone.
Two of the workers suddenly stagger in, suffering from gas poisoning. Polly is distraught but Ola and Questa brush it off, insisting that the work must be done.
The Doctor meanwhile, used the commotion of the poisoned workers to slip away and go back to the construction site. He finds Medok, who explains that the things are giant insect like creatures with big claws (just like the one's seen on the time monitor when they were on the Moonbase). Medok also tells him that others have seen the creatures, but anyone who claims they have are sent to the hospital for correction.
Medok gets anxious and forces the Doctor to leave him alone and get back to the group. The Doctor reluctantly agrees and rejoins his friends just as the curfew is put into effect.
The TARDIS crew are put up for the night in the refreshment department (the place where they got pampered), but it's not long before the Doctor has sneaked out again to find Medok. On his way, he hears another announcement by the Controller to the guards insisting that anyone found out after curfew may be shot on sight. As the Doctor moves through the colony, he does indeed see Ola and his guards patrolling, looking for the escaped prisoner, but the Doctor finds him first in a half built house. The guards net closes in and it looks like Medok and the Doctor are surrounded until they find an escape route. They are about to take it when Medok sees a hideous crab like creature below them. Medok is so excited that he begins shouting about it, which ultimately leads to them getting captured by Ola. Medok insists to the Police that he's seen a Macra, but Ola dismisses it out of hand and drags him off to correction whilst the Doctor is taken before the Pilot.
The Pilot is disappointed in the Doctor, and asks for an explanation. The Doctor begins to reveal what he's found out, but is interrupted by Ola's arrival. Ola announces that Medok has made a confession stating that the Doctor was trying to convince Medok to give himself up. In light of this, the Pilot allows the Doctor to return to the refreshment dept. whilst Medok is sentenced to correction. As the Doctor leaves, the Controller calls the Pilot and decrees that the visitors must be "adapted". The Pilot decides to do this before the Doctor can get back and stop them.
Sure enough, hypnotic gas is pumped into the refreshment dept, and subliminal speeches are played through the speakers. Jamie doesn't sleep too good, so begins to resist the commands. He tries to wake Ben, but Ben is too tired, and says that they must work in the morning so they need sleep.
The Doctor hears the messages as he passes Polly's room, and decides to break in and stop them. He does this by smashing a circuit embedded in the wall. The procedure wakes Polly up and stops her being brainwashed. He makes sure she's free from control by making her promise to disregard anything she might have heard in her dreams, before rushing off to Ben and Jamie's room. Once there, he smashes the circuits there, which really, really angers Ben.
He reckons it's an insult to the colony and after having a quick set to with Jamie, he rushes off and tells Ola what the Doctor's done. As a result, the Doctor and Jamie are arrested.
Polly is furious and give Ben a piece of her mind before she legs it to get away from him. Ben pursues her to the construction site and grabs hold of her, violently dragging her back towards the refreshment dept. He's stopped when she begins to scream hysterically, insisting that she saw a large crab. He is dubious until he spots it himself, albeit too late.
The Macra grabs hold of Polly and starts to eat her, leaving Ben to fight desperately to rescue her.
He manages to wrestle her free, but they soon find that they are surrounded by the giant crabs. Despite this, they use their size to their advantage and manage to duck away and run back to the colony.
Jamie and the Doctor are once again brought before the Pilot. The Doctor proudly owns up to what he's done and even smashes the circuit near the Pilots own bed. As they argue, Ben and Polly arrive. She tells everyone what's just happened and looks to Ben to back up her story. Ben however denies it.
Left with no option, the Doctor, Jamie and Polly begin to demand answers from the Pilot, insisting that if the colony have nothing to hide then there's no reason why the Controller should not show himself, rather than just the still image that normally accompanies his announcements. This gets Pilot questioning the stuff he's been taught to believe, and indeed prompts the Controller to show himself.
The Controller before them is not a powerful young man, but an old, unkempt one.
He can barely speak, and when he does, it's clearly not the same voice as the announcements. He looks terrified towards the edge of the screen as a large claw suddenly looms into view and drags him away.
Polly screams that the Macra are in control.
The screen quickly changes back to the young leader. the Controller orders that the Doctor, Jamie and Polly are all sent to the pit to work in the Danger Gangs. Once they're taken away, the Controller then orders the Pilot to forget everything he saw. The Pilot obeys, and in turn, orders Ben to keep an eye on his friends and report what they say and do to him.
Once at the pit (a mine entrance), they meet Officia who with a name like that, can only be the one in charge of the mining and gas refinement processes! He tells them that they will go underground and help mine the gas, where it's most poisonous (hence the name - danger gang). He calls the shift leader out of the mine to lead them, and it turns out to be Medok. He says that the hospital deemed him incurable, and so he was sentenced here.
Medok insists that if they are to work down in the pit, then they are to be allowed someone to supervise their work from up top. Officia thinks it tedious, but agrees to let one of them direct their efforts from above ground using the machinery. The Doctor agrees to do this whilst Medok, Jamie and Polly get to work. As he's examining the controls, the Doctor sees Ben hanging around. He tries to reason with Ben, but the boy is clearly obeying orders from the Controller now.
Down in the pit, Medok reiterates that although they're harnessing all this gas, they've no idea why. As he explains, a strong leak breaks out and they work to contain it.
The Doctor meanwhile has been making use of the machinery readouts to workout the chemical formula of the gas.
He smiles and gives himself 10 out of 10 for showing his workings out in chalk on the wall. The Pilot enters and sees the formula. He's angry and insists that the Doctor has been snooping around and found the secret formula. The Doctor is overjoyed that he's figured it out exactly and changes the 10 to an 11! The Pilot insists that the Doctor wash the chalk off the wall immediately.
With the gas leak contained, Medok, Jamie and Polly begin searching for another pocket of gas. Jamie discovers a newly constructed door, but it's locked. Officia turns up to inspect their work and as he meddles with Medok's pipe, the gas bursts out again, momentarily knocking him out.
Jamie takes full advantage of this and steals Officia's keys. Ben quickly turns up and helps Officia back out of the pit.
Fearing that Ben saw him take the keys, Jamie decides to skulk off right away and use them to unlock the door.
Back up top, Officia recovers and realises that his keys are gone. Ben suggests that he must have dropped them. Officia is forced to leave the pit area to get it sorted. When he's gone, the Doctor gets Ben to confess that he actually saw Jamie take the keys but decided not to rat him out. Despite this, Ben fights the ugly truth and decides to go and correct it by informing the Pilot.
Polly and Medok notice that Jamie has gone, and so decide that Medok should go after him, whilst Polly helps the Doctor. When she gets back up top, she begins helping him analyse the gas.
Medok in turn finds only a Macra and is killed.
Officia raises the alarm about Jamie escaping, and orders guards to the old shaft area, but the Controller countermands that order, insisting that no guards are to go anywhere near the old shaft area. Instead, a large proportion of the gas is to be directed into the old shaft. The Doctor overhears this and theorises that this maybe some sort of food supply as well as a poisonous agent.
Inside said shaft area, Jamie is searching around and soon finds the body of Medok and one of the Macra that is unusually still.
He throws a rock at it, but all it does is open its eyes briefly before going back to sleep. The gas begins to pour into the old shaft, which awakens the creature. Jamie coughs and splutters his way back down the corridor, but soon comes face to face with another Macra.
The Doctor's aware that Jamie is in trouble, and in desperation, begins spinning wheels and flicking switches in the vain hope of stopping the gas. Officia turns up and makes the Doctor stop, accidentally revealing the purpose of said devices, thus giving the Doctor a clear idea of which controls to mess with.
He wastes no time and begins reversing the flow (not the polarity), and pumps fresh air instead of gas into the old shaft. Officia is furious and runs off to get some guards. Unfortunately for him, Polly has retrieved the keys from the old shaft door, and as soon as he leaves, she locks Officia out of the room.
Back in the shaft, Jamie's only hope of escape is to flatten himself into a crevice in the rock face. The Macra pinch and dig their claws in after him, eventually dragging him out but causing a landslide in the process that buries them. This, combined with the sudden inflow of oxygen makes the crabs drowsy, which gives Jamie the opportunity to escape.
Ola and his Police have been sent to beat down the door and reverse the oxygen flow. The Doctor and Polly know it's just a matter of time before they succeed, so they in turn close the door to the pit shaft and lock themselves in it, leaving their only option to go into the old mine shaft.
Jamie meanwhile finds his way out of the shaft by using a grate unusually leading to a cupboard. As he exits this, he finds himself in the middle of the majorette troop rehearsing for the upcoming festival. As guards wander past, Jamie is forced to pretend he's an auditioning dancer and does the highland fling, much to everyone's joy.
Unfortunately for him, Ben sees him doing it and leads the guards in to capture him. As Jamie is led away though, Ben is clearly struggling and full of regret.
Inside the shaft, the Doctor and Polly wander around until they discover a chamber. Inside they see one of the Macra operating a bank of controls and speaking into a microphone with the voice of the Controller.
The Doctor confirms that they are really in control of the colony, and use the gas to survive - it's food to them.
Ola takes Jamie to the Pilot, but begins criticizing the leaders incompetence at all these escapes. He points out that two of the strangers are still missing and pose a threat, but as he does so, the Doctor and Polly simply walk into the room and greet everyone with a smile! Jamie is horrified and Ola demands that they be arrested, but the Doctor insists that they can't be arrested if they give themselves up. He manages to get the ear of the Pilot and convinces him to follow the Doctor into the old shaft. The Controller appears on screen, shouting and screaming orders for the Pilot not to obey the Doctor.
The Pilot and the Doctor leave for the old shaft, refusing to stop. The Controller takes command from the Pilot and gives it to Ola, but by the time he organises enough guards to go after them, the Doctor and the Pilot have reached the Macra's chamber. Eventually, they are captured along with Jamie and Polly and they're all shoved into a pipe room which is sealed. The Controller announces that everything will be back to normal in exactly four minutes. The group ponder why the Controller was so accurate in his timing, but soon find out when gas begins to hiss into the room.
Despite their best efforts, the Doctor and his friends cannot escape and begin succumbing to the gas. Luckily they hear a knock from outside. It's a fully recovered Ben! Wasting no time, the Doctor talks Ben through the process of reversing the gas flow, pumping oxygen rather than the vital gas into the Macra chamber.
The Controller appears on screen and desperately pleas with Ben, insisting that the process will cause an explosion, killing everyone, not just the Macra. Ben hesitates for a moment, but ultimately pulls the lever, destroying the gas pipes and killing the Macra.
Much later, the colony gathers for the festival, and the TARDIS crew get to enjoy the colonies idyllic hospitality once more. The Doctor is happy to lounge around a bit longer until Ben tells him that the colony plan to make him the new Pilot.
The Doctor nearly has a heart(s) attack and picks himself up off the floor. Together he, Jamie, Ben and Polly all dance the highland fling and continue dancing until they dance their way out of the colony, back to the TARDIS.
Trivia
- This was the very first Doctor Who story to have the Doctor's face in the title. It would become a staple from this point until the end of the seventh Doctor's run in 1989.
- The Macra creatures cost 500 quid to create. Given that each episode was budgeted at £2500, it shows they were a major cost. As a result, questions were being asked whether they needed to stay with Shawcraft Models anymore.
- The production company were forced out of Riverside Studios and back into the minuscule furnaces of Lime Grove.
What worked
- The suspense of "things crawling" around the colony at night
- The screams and pleas of Polly as she's being eaten by a Macra really add tension
- The screams and pleas of the Macra as they're being blown up add a humanistic character to them, which really puts a darker edge on the Doctor
- The happy lyrics for shift changes are brill. I want them in my work!
- Ben's brainwashing added a bit of depth to his character
- No better time to do the highland fling than when you're hiding from guards - this must have been brilliant to watch!
What didn't work
- The way everyone discusses their plans at normal volume in front of brainwashed colonists. They can hear and react you know
- The way Officia just stands by whilst the Doctor screws up his entire gas flow machinery
- The bit where Jamie is going through the secret door.
- It suffers from Bond Villain syndrome, where the people who cause most trouble for the bad guys are consistently kept alive to mess around another day
- It's a bit quick for Medok to become shift leader in the mine isn't it? Especially since he's been such a liability
- Where does the Doctor's logic of gas as food come from?
Overall Feelings
My initial reaction is that this is almost identical to the Savages. It's by the same author, and deals with outsiders revealing ultimate truths to a false paradise and thus overcoming evil at it's heart. But then again, I loved the Savages, so....great!
Despite it being a copy, it's not necessarily better, just different. William Hartnell was given the opportunity to relax and be out of it for a bit, but Michael Craze is positively thriving on his chance to be a bad guy. Ben suddenly goes from a one trick cockney pony to a character with a bit more depth, especially when it looks like he's going to do the unthinkable to Polly when he's trying to drag her back to the colony in episode 2. The only disappointing bit in this, was that Polly didn't show as much concern about him as I would have liked, especially when the earlier stories before Jamie hinted at them being a sort of couple.
The Macra are built up nice and spooky, and I love the authority that they command people with.
The soundtrack is strange but welcome too. It's like something more at home in the Pertwee era, or on a Super Mario game, but it delivers when it needs to.
The best bit about it is that it keeps all the tension and mystery of the Moonbase, but has more logical decisions about it. With the exception that almost all of episode 3 is filler scenes, the rest of the downsides are mainly cosmetic. They were forced back to lime grove, so the sets were limited, and they unnecessarily went waaay over budget on the Macra themselves, and even then didn't do them justice.
Rating
8 out of 10
Great story, only slightly let down by its appearance
Rewatchability Factor
7 out of 10
Watch this if you liked...
- The Happiness Patrol
- Delta and the Bannermen
- 1984
- Any episode of the Prisoner
- Logan's Run
- They Live
Consulting the Matrix
Was Butlin's ever this scary for you?
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