6 episodes
Aired between 10th April 1971 and 15th May 1971
Written by Malcolm Hulke
Produced by Barry Letts
Directed by Michael Bryant
Synopsis
On Gallifrey, home of the immortal Time Lords, the High Council discover that the renegade known as the Master has stolen some top secret plans to a doomsday weapon. They deliberate how they are going to stop him and eventually decide to send someone expendable i.e. the Doctor to sort it out.
On Earth, the Doctor finally manages to complete his work on the dematerialisation circuit.
He goes to place it into the TARDIS and Jo Grant tells him to stop joking about now, totally disbelieving that the TARDIS is in fact a time machine. The Doctor invites her inside the machine, where she says the good old "it's bigger on the inside" line. They are discussing the dimensionally transcendental factors of the ship when suddenly the doors close and the time rotor begins its rise and fall indicating they're in flight!
Jo is terrified by it all, but the Doctor makes her think about the prospects of traveling the cosmos and the time vortex. He watches the monitor as they close in on a planet that he believes to be called Uxarieus. He knows full well that he's on this trip at the whims of the High Council, but he's prepared to go along with it just for a chance to get away from Earth. He convinces Jo to have a cautious wander outside.
The landscape is predominantly desolate and barren. It's odd then that Jo comes across a single flower growing out of the hard ground. As they investigate it, a bunch of armed men take them prisoner and escort them back to their agricultural colony, led by a man called Ashe.
It turns out that the colony have been really struggling to grow anything since their arrival on this planet from an overcrowded and polluted Earth, and their ship board supplies are running dangerously low, especially because Ashe has ordered that they turn a proportion of them over to the strange green skinned natives as a peace offering.
This all piques the Doctor's curiosity as there is no reasonable explanation why the crops are failing. Ashe agrees to put them up for the night and his daughter, Mary, makes fast friends with Jo.
During the night, an outlying farmstead owned by a colonist named Leeson is attacked by a giant reptile. Both he and his wife are killed.
The morning comes and the Doctor and Ashe head out to investigate the Leeson farmstead, finding tell tale scratches at the scene. The only problem is that it's illogical for a creature that size to fit through the doors without breaking them, which clearly it must have.
Back at the main colony base, a man named Norton arrives in camp, scruffy, dehydrated and full of scratches. He claims he's from another colony many miles away and they've all been wiped out by the giant reptile. He's the only survivor because the Uxarian primitives killed the few that made it.
The Doctor continues to investigate the Leeson farmstead as Ashe heads back. Whilst he's on his own, he's suddenly menaced by a large robot. It turns out the robot is controlled by a member of the Interplanetary Mining Corporation (IMC) called Caldwell.
He is surprised to see the Doctor and stops the robot, claiming that he didn't know anyone lived on the planet. The Doctor explains the situation and Caldwell agrees to take him back to the IMC ship and explain things to the IMC Captain.
At the ship, the Doctor is asked to wait in a lounge whilst Caldwell fetches the Captain. The Doctor agrees and waits where asked. Caldwell goes to the command deck and demands and explanation from Captain Dent about the colonists killed.
It's revealed that IMC have been using the long arm mining robots and visual trickery to fool the colonists into believing they're being attacked by huge reptiles. The plan was only ever to scare them off the planet, not kill them. Dent's henchman, Morgan soberley says that he had to kill them because they were firing at him and Dent reminds Caldwell just how much of the precious ore - duralinium - is on this planet. It's enough for them all to retire filthy rich.
Captain Dent calms Caldwell down and tells him he's dealing with it. He meets with the Doctor to get the measure of him.
It's obvious that the Doctor sees right through the IMC's intent and makes noises like he's going to oppose them. Once out of earshot, Dent orders Morgan to drive the Doctor back to the homestead and have him meet with an "accident".
Back at the colony base, Mary explains to Jo how it's the year 2472, not 1972. Likewise, one of the main colonists - Winton - shows the freshly recovered Norton around the base. They call in on the chief engineer Jim who is working on the base's power generator with one of the primitives.
The Doctor and Morgan set off in one of the IMC vehicles to go back to the Leeson farmstead. On the way they're attacked by a bunch of the primitives. The Doctor takes care of them all with his Venusian Karate before they drive onwards.
When alone, Norton mysteriously goes back to visit Jim and the primitive, killing them both and making it look like the Primitive attacked his friend.
When Caldwell finds out what Captain Dent has ordered, he begins to protest, but Dent reinforces the idea that they're all going to be rich if they can just keep calm and quiet.
The Doctor and Morton arrive back at the farmstead, and Morton summons one of their mining robots, equipped with reptile looking hands, and sends it to kill the Doctor.
The Doctor thinks fast and overpowers Morton with Venusian Karate. He manages to grab hold of the remote at the last minute, deactivating the killer robot. This move allows Morton to escape and flee back to the IMC ship.
Dent in the meantime travels over to the colony base with a group of his men and meet with Ashe. The Captain says he will send for an adjudicator to resolve their differences as both parties are claiming they're legally allowed to be on Uxarieus. The Doctor shows up in the middle of the meeting and reveals that it was IMC using the robot to attack and kill the colonists, employing some kind of holographic projector to convince them all that it was giant lizards. Dent naturally denies this and says they will abide by the Adjudicator's decision.
Once he's gone, the colonists debate over how things will be resolved. Winton is adamant that the adjudicator will be bought off by IMC and they will not have a chance. The only way they can make sure is if they can break into the ship and get proof of IMC's actions.
The Doctor goes with Ashe to try and repair the power supply. As he works on it, Ashe tells him that Norton had been trying to sort it out. The Doctor says with some concern that it looks like he's gone and made it worse.
Little does the Doctor know that Jo has agreed to go with Winton to get some of the proof.
On cue, Norton pulls out a secret walkie talkie and warns the IMC ship what they're up to. Needless to say, Winton and Jo are captured.
The Doctor is angry and desperate when he finds out what Jo has done. He plans to go after her but Captain Dent radio's the Doctor and tells him they are both prisoners for trespassing and have been attached to a bomb that he's quite prepared to blow up unless they concur with IMC and leave the planet.
Luckily, Jo had taken a course in escapology once and she's soon slipped her bonds. Winton urges her to run but she refuses, helping him to escape instead.
Once they're both free, an alarm signal goes off from the explosive, alerting Captain Dent to their escape. The guard rushes in and captures Jo, shooting Winton in the shoulder as he's forced to run away. He's pursued across the barren landscape until he runs into Caldwell who stages a fake execution. Once Winton's pursuers have accepted the story and left, Caldwell takes Winton into his work space and fixes him up.
Caldwell helps Winton back to the colony base, but warns him that they need to leave Uxarieus or they'll end up dead at the hands of the murderous Dent and Morton. Winton's one man who's ready for a fight however and he is certain that the only way to resolve the situation is to attack IMC head on. The Doctor thinks this is foolish and begs with Winton to reconsider, especially as it could end up in Jo being executed. Winton will not change his mind however, even with Ashe's pleas.
Plan B for the Doctor is to go and see Caldwell. He convinces him to try and free Jo and warns him of the impending attack. What they don't know however is that Jo is taken from the IMC by the primitives and led off into the wastes.
Fearful of their being a pointless slaughter, the Doctor decides if he can't change Winton's mind, then he can help him attack the IMC in a smarter way, and without informing Norton of their plans. Together, they head off to the ship and overpower some guards, taking their uniforms. They get to the command centre and hold Dent at gunpoint.
Caldwell demands that Jo is released, but the news arrives that Jo has been taken. the Doctor races off to find the Uxarian's and ask them to release her, whilst Winton and the colonists search the ship for evidence. It isn't long before the find proof that the IMC lot have been using holo transmitters of giant reptiles to fake murders of colonists.
As they discuss what they intend to do, word is received that an adjudicator has arrived on the planet. He meets with Ashe and demands that the IMC personnel and the colonists return to the colony base for trial. As the orders come in however, Morgan manages to overpower Winton and the tables are turned.
The Doctor finds that Jo has been taken inside a secret mountainside entrance to a great underground city. Together, they decipher some old cave paintings and realise that there are actually different species of Uxarians living on the planet, mutations that communicate telepathically. They also discover that the city holds some kind of giant power source and they are intended to be sacrificed, to it. Using their wits, the Doctor and Jo quickly overpower the almost blind Uxarian elder and race out of their cell, but are eventually recaptured and taken to the main control room of the city.
Once at the control room, they are brought before the third mutated race - a shrunken fetus type creature that can talk and is some kind of guardian of the city.
The Doctor appeals to its better nature to spare them, and the Guardian agrees, but warns them that if they ever return again, they will be sacrificed. The Doctor thanks him and they both leave.
When they head back to the Colony base, they are shocked to discover that the adjudicator is none other than the Master!
The IMC crew have threatened the colonists with a slaughter unless they keep quiet about the murders and as a result, the adjudicators vote swings in their favor.
The Doctor is angry at the Master but is powerless to convince anyone of the Masters malicious intent, as he has absolutely no ID or travel papers, whereas the Master has forged ones that will stand up to scrutiny.
Captain Dent orders the colonists to prepare their ship to leave and takes his men away. As everyone leaves, Winton refuses to accept the verdict and plans to raid the IMC ship once again with the aim of forcing them off the planet, but killing everyone if they have to. Ashe disagrees and instead of violence, tries to appeal to the Adjudicator, who reckons they haven't got an argument unless there's something of historical value on the planet. Ashe of course mentions the Uxariean primitives and their city.
As indicated, the IMC return to make sure everyone gets on the colony ship but the colonists open fire on them. Lucky for them, Norton reveals himself as a traitor to shout a warning to the approaching IMC guards. A big firefight ensues and as bullets fly about and everyone is distracted, the Master pulls out a pistol and says he's going to shoot the Doctor and Jo and make it look like stray bullets killed them. Ashe turns up just at the right moment which forces the Master to hide his weapon. The Doctor tries to call the Master's bluff by outing him as a fake adjudicator, but of course, the Master has all the (forged) paperwork to clear his name, whereas the Doctor has none.
The colonists gain the upper hand and capture the IMC guards. The Adjudicator overturns his verdict and allows the Colonists to deal with the IMC. They take the guards back to their ship and force all of the IMC group to leave the planet.
With no proof to out the Master, the Doctor and Jo decide to snoop around the adjudicators spaceship, finding out that it is in fact the Master's TARDIS. They manage to get inside using the TARDIS key that the Doctor obtained when the Master first arrived on Earth (see Terror of the Autons), and narrowly avoid an alarmed trip beam. Once inside, they discover the real adjudicators credentials.
As they leave however, Jo sets off the beam and they are stunned by a cloud of gas that shoots out at them.
On the IMC spaceship, Captain Dent receives another transmission about the real adjudicator and realises they've been duped. As a result, the IMC ship does take off, but flies to another part of the planet, where they intend to creep back to the colonists base and kill them all.
The Master, pleased with himself for disposing of the Doctor in his TARDIS, receives a map from Ashe to the Uxariean city. He learns however that noone save for the Doctor and Jo have ever been inside it. The Master curses and rushes to his TARDIS, reviving the Doctor and Jo just in time. He imprisons Jo inside a perspex chamber on his TARDIS and forces the Doctor to help him find the city but refuses to reveal why it's so important to him.
As they leave, the Doctor drops the Master's TARDIS key on the floor.
As the Doctor and Master make their way through the wastes, the IMC guards get back to the base and overpower the colonists guards. Another gun fight breaks out but this time the IMC win through. With the colonists as prisoners, Captain Dent holds another trial and tells the colonists they must board their ship and leave. Ashe and his daughter Mary protest, stating that the ship is so old that it will likely rupture the fuel tanks and explode on take off. Dent doesn't care, indeed he wants that.
The Doctor and Master, although delayed by the primitives throwing boulders at their moon buggy, finally arrive at the city but are stymied again to see the door shut.
Back at the colony base, Caldwell and Morgan are ordered to search the Adjudicators spaceship. They find the TARDIS key and get inside, totally unaware that they have tripped the alarm beam.
The Master realises what's happening and prepares to kill Jo. The Doctor uses some more of his Karate and knocks the Master's device out of his hands. In the ensuing scuffle, the primitives capture the Time Lords and take them into the city as prisoners.
They escape once more and find their way to the Guardian's chamber, where the Master explains that he's found out about the existence of the city from the Time Lord files he stole. He reveals that he knows the city is actually part of a planet sized doomsday weapon that causes suns to go supernova (indeed the Crab Nebula was a result of this weapon being tested). The controls for the weapon just so happen to be in the Guardian's chamber.
He offers the Doctor a chance to be his partner in crime, using the weapon to dominate the universe through fear. Appalled at the prospect, the Doctor refuses. As the Master prepares to kill the Doctor, the Guardian appears, and tells the Doctor he should not have returned,
Back at the base, Caldwell is left to free Jo, which he does. Jo tells him what's happened and he agrees to go with her to the Uxarien city.
Elsewhere, the colonists are forced on board of their ship. They are told they must blast off, or they will be shot if they ever try to leave their ship. Thankfully, Winton escaped the herding and manages to take out the guard overlooking their ship. This allows the colonists to disembark and get to safety. Ashe, knowing that the IMC will expect the ship to take off, makes his peace with Winton and takes the colony ship into the air.
As predicted, the ship blows up, killing him.
Out in the wastes, Caldwell and Jo see the ship destroyed. Caldwell is sad as he was the one who told the colonists the ship would be alright when he really knew it wasn't.
Back in the Uxarien city, the Master tries to make a deal with the Guardian. The Doctor explains that the radiation and power of the doomsday weapon is what has mutated the Uxarien race and led to its decline. The Guardian is convinced by the Doctor and once again allows the prisoners to leave. Once they're gone, the Guardian sets the weapon to self destruct and blows up the city so none like the Master can ever gain access to it.
The Doctor and Master escape the city and find Caldwell and Jo only to be cornered by Morgan and his IMC guards. They are saved thanks to one final shootout and punch up with Winton and the colonists. Unfortunately, the Master manages to retreat to his TARDIS in the fray and escapes.
The IMC personnel are rounded up and all the evidence of their treachery is collated. The colonists intend to present everything to the real Adjudicator when he arrives and Caldwell agrees to testify against them, deciding to become a colonist himself.
The Doctor congratulates them and says that the radiation from the doomsday weapon was what caused the crops to fail. He's confident that now it's destroyed, the crops will thrive.
Together, the Doctor and Jo return to their TARDIS and travel back to Earth, mere seconds after they left.
Trivia
- This story marks a welcome return from Bernard Kay who played Caldwell. The last time we saw him was in monochrome when he played Saladin in the Crusade.
- The moon buggies were obtained by Assistant Floor Manager Graeme Harper, He saw an advert for them and talked to the company. It turned out that they only had prototypes and agreed to loan them to the production team on the proviso that they came back immaculate. In the event, the team lost their hefty deposit when the special effects lot rolled a polystyrene boulder filled with iron weights into one and put a great dent on the side!
- The location filming for this story took place at the Old Baal Clay Pit in Cornwall, probably the worst place to film in the torrential rain that had plagued them since they were filming Claws of Axos. As a result, the fight in the clay swamp with Winton was completely ad libbed just to show off a bit.
- As well as Bernard Kay, we also get to see someone we're more used to hearing. It is of course the ever lovable Zippy A.K.A.. Roy Skelton. I could make you guess who he play, but I doubt you ever would. He plays Norton, the undercover IMC agent.
- Come to think of it, other now familiar faces pop up in this story that would later go on to be household favourites on the soap circuit. Mary and Morgan are the two main ones.
- Oh, and it bears mentioning that both the Doctor's and the Master's TARDIS suddenly pop in and out of the shot because Michael Bryant hadn't ever seen it done and so he thought that's how it always disappeared.
What worked
- The buggies when they go at full speed look quite effective
- The distinction between three mutations of the same race.
- The fact that the supervisor Uxarian's are nearly blind. Totally irrelevant to the plot, but makes it feel like this is a real alien culture
- The parallels between Caldwell and Ashe and Dent and Winton
- Engineer Jim is hilarious
What didn't work
- The Venusian Karate display in episode 2 was totally irrelevant
- If Morgan drove to the farmstead to kill the Doctor, where did the robot come from and who gave it reptile hands?
- The visual trickery of the giant reptile
- The Master has a two minute chat with the Doctor in a back room and then tells everyone that he's carefully considered all the options
- Even after the Doctor tells Winton that Norton is a plant, they still believe him and let him run around with guns unsupervised
- The Guardian's sudden decision to kill himself and all his race
- Oh and the man who acts as the Guardian leaves his real body in full sight of the cameras as he pokes his head through a hole in the throne
Overall Feelings
So, we get the first episode of Jon Pertwee's run set somewhere other than Earth. Some reviews say that seeing as this was the first alien planet to be shot in colour, we should have been watching something as vibrant and "alien" as Spirodon (see Planet of the Daleks). I disagree. This story takes the expected and subverts it in a similar vein as to what Terry Nation did way back in The Daleks. Plush alien jungles might have been good, but I think it's equally interesting to bring in blasted soggy white clayed landscape as it gives the story more gravitas and feels more realistic than many others (at least until the Guardian shows up).
Its hard to discount this story has a wild west feel to it. The desperate situation of the colonists comes through admirably, and costume design (except for the primitives) very much helps to sell this. In fact, the primitives themselves are not just run of the mill people in leotards. There are three different species of Uxarians. This gives a great back story to them and makes you genuinely feel like this is a living, breathing world we've just been cast into.
And not only that. For once, the Master actually ups the stakes and makes things better by showing up. And this is where we begin to discuss the shows few downsides. It feels like two shows. The first three episodes are all focused around the colonists and their struggles with the IMC. Some of these bits are great, but many more scenes are clumsy and by episode three, all the to and fro is frankly exhausting. Once the Master shows up, we get to the nitty gritty of it all, but his plot is too easily resolved so they had to eek it out over three full episodes of more to and fro between now secondary characters.
Clearly this is one of the better stories to see, but could have done with a bit of a cull on the irrelevant scenes and spent more time beefing up the ending and making the Guardian's decision for suicide at least believable.
Rating
7 out of 10
The first three episodes drag a bit, episode 4 is great, and then it dips again
Rewatchability Factor
6 out of 10
Watch this if you liked...
Consulting the Matrix
Your thoughts on the Guardian?
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