The Tomb of the Cybermen

4 episodes
Aired between 2nd September 1967 and 23rd September 1967

Written by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis
Produced by Peter Bryant
Directed by Morris Barry

Synopsis

The Doctor introduces Victoria to her new home onboard the TARDIS and explains that he's 450 years old, much to both Jamie and Victoria's amazement.

The Doctor sends them off to the wardrobe room whilst he takes them on their next adventure.

On the desolate planet of Telos, an archaeological expedition blows away rocks to reveal an entrance to the long lost city of the Cybermen.

The group all get excited and Kaftan, the only lady in the group, offers £50 to anyone who can get the doors open.

One of the group rushes forward to take the prize, but the doors summarily electrocute them to death.

As the group are still reeling in shock, they hear (and supposedly see) something landing over the ridge.  It's the TARDIS.

The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria soon arrive and are accused of being a rival expedition trying to claim jump and take all the glory.

Upon seeing the dead body and discovering that this is a tomb of the Cybermen, the Doctor insists that he's there to help and indeed uses a simple device from his pocket to isolate the current and make the doors harmless.  Kaftan's bodyguard, Toberman flexes his muscles and makes short work of opening the doors.

Inside, there's a control panel with lots of levers and a dial at the top; there's a door to the bottom and top left, and a strange looking tube with a lid on it at the far right of the chamber.  Everyone rushes in and gazes in wonderment at the stuff, despite the Doctor's warning.  He, Jamie and Victoria have little choice but to follow.

In a dark corner of the chamber, Kleig, the expedition's funder, and Kaftan conspire and suggest that the Doctor's arrival may cause problems for them.  They agree with the help of Toberman to each follow one of the TARDIS crew and keep an eye on them.

Kleig immediately starts examining the controls, but can't figure them out.  The Doctor is on hand to help however, demonstrating that they work on symbolic logic and succeeding in opening the doors (the tube remains sealed).  Kleig is openly resentful of the Doctor's success, and makes it his mission to figure the thing out.

Parry, the lead archaeologist, suggests that they all split up and explore the place, taking notes as they go.

Kleig and the Doctor stay in the main room, trying to figure out the controls.  The Doctor advises that they should leave them alone, but ends up giving advice to Kleig that restores power to the tomb.

Victoria heads to the top left room with Kaftan and the assistant lead, Viner.  They come across a sarcophagus and some kind of radar machine that the group speculate was used to revitalise the Cybermen in some way.  As they look around, Kaftan begins pressing buttons and pulling levers.  Victoria climbs into the sarcophagus for no reason and Kaftan uses the controls to close the lid on her.  The radar machine activates with Victoria inside!

Viner begins to panic and demands that Kaftan reveals which buttons she pressed.  She claims she didn't touch anything and so can't tell him, but the Doctor rushes in and figures the sequence out, subsequently freeing Victoria.

In the bottom left room, Jamie ventures with Peter Hayden.  They find another bank of controls, but this time, it's Hayden that starts messing with them.

Soon, the back wall lights up with hypnotic patterns that puts Jamie in a trance.  He stops the sequence and brings Jamie around, but is fascinated.  He insists that Jamie starts the sequence up again, but this time Hayden wants to be the subject.  Jamie reluctantly agrees and begins pressing buttons, starting the hypnotic patterns up again.

The Doctor shows up and warns Jamie to stop, but it's too late.  From the side of the wall, the body of a Cyberman scoots out, and Hayden is shot dead!  Just as quickly, the Cyberman scoots away again, and everyone is panicked and Viner thinks that the Cyberman killed Hayden.  The Doctor gets Jamie to remember what buttons he's pressed and proves that in actual fact, he was shot from behind by some kind of weapon testing apparatus that was intended to shoot the Cyberman target as it scooted out, but Hayden was in the way.  Elsewhere in that chamber, Victoria finds a tiny metal catterpillar that seems dead.  The Doctor says its a Cybermat and warns her to leave it alone, but she puts it in her handbag instead.

Visibly shaken by Hayden's death, Parry calls everyone together and announces that they're abandoning the dig.  Kleig is furious but is forced to back down when Parry insists that he's the leader of the expedition and Kleig merely funded it.  Before they can act however, Hopper, the team's pilot rushes into the tomb and announces that someone has sabotaged the ship.

He reckons that it will take 72 hours to fix, and until it's done, everyone must stay in the tomb out of the way, especially seeing as the saboteur is among them.   Kleig eagerly suggests that whilst they're all stuck there, they may as well continue exploring.  Parry reluctantly agrees.

Kleig returns to the logic problem of the control panel and finally cracks it (with subtle help from the Doctor).  The tube opens up revealing a set of ladders heading down into a very cold tomb.  Everyone don's cold weather gear (the Doctor wears a cloak which he gets from somewhere) and everyone but the Women go down there, much to Victoria's annoyance.   The Doctor consoles her by suggesting that she keeps an eye on Kaftan for him.

Entering the tomb, the group find a giant ....well...tomb!

It's marked with the Cyber image that's everywhere else and contains the remnants of the cyber race, frozen in suspended animation.

On top, Kaftan slips a pill into Victoria's coffee and puts her to sleep.  With her out of the way, Kaftan closes the hatch, sealing everyone in the tomb.

Down below, Kleig very obviously suggests warming the tomb up, which the Doctor strongly advises against.  Jamie discovers that the hatch above them is shut, and Kleig suggests that the button for opening it should be on the control panel.  The Doctor helps him press buttons and it begins to warm up the tomb.

Inside, the Cybermen begin to awaken.

Kleig gets all excited and watches onwards in triumph.  Viner freaks out and tries to shut the controls off again, but Kleig pulls a gun and shoots him.

Back above, Victoria awakens and asks what happened to her and why the hatch is shut.  She gets short with Kaftan who is giving smart arse answers and tries to rush past her to raise the hatch.  Kaftan pulls a gun on her and holds her hostage.  As the Cybermen are waking up however, so too are the Cybermats.  The one in Victoria's handbag chews its way out and attaches itself to Kaftan's neck, knocking her unconscious.

Victoria grabs the pistol and shoots the little creature, killing it.

Now alone, Victoria tries to raise the hatch but can't figure it out so she runs off to fetch Hopper.

Back down in the tomb, the Cybermen break free of their capsules and descend to the floor.  Once there, they open a cupboard and release the Cyber-Controller who just so happens to have a massive brain.

Kleig introduces himself to the Controller and reveals that he belongs to the Brotherhood of Logicians, a shadowy group who plan to take over the world by making a deal with the Cybermen, figuring that the Cybermen will be grateful for being revived.  The Controller has other plans and after nearly snapping Kleig's arm to prove the point, he announces that they will all become like the Cybermen.

The Cybermen boast that they remember the Doctor, and that the tomb was really a trap, put there to lure beings intelligent enough to release them.  Once they did, the Cybermen could convert them and exploit their intelligence.  And so, this is what is being proposed of the group.

Victoria returns with Hopper and his crewman, Jim Callum.  She tells them what's gone off, and they start pulling up the control panel and tracing the wires around.  They eventually find the right ones, but Kaftan recovers and snatches the gun off the table, holding them all hostage.  Victoria manages to distract her this time, and Hopper disarms her.  He opens the hatch and decides to go down alone, taking the gun and some smoke grenades with him.

Once down there, he uses the grenades to throw everything into chaos.  The Doctor and co. run away into the tunnels surrounding the tomb and the Cybermen give chase, but only manage to capture Kleig and Toberman.

The rest get out just in time and close the hatch, leaving the Cybermen to pound on it from the other side.  As the Cybermen begin converting Toberman however, Kleig sneaks off to the hatch and starts banging on it.  The Doctor recognises that it's him or Toberman from the softness of the thuds.  The hatch is raised and Kleig is released before it's closed quickly again.

Their plans thwarted, Kleig and Kaftan are imprisoned in the weapons testing room, where they soon use their incredible logic to deduce that it's a good location to find weapons.  They find an X-Ray laser on the Cyberman target dummy.

Trapped inside the tomb, the Cybermen resort to using their big Cybermats to harass the control room.

Inside said control room, later that night, the Doctor and Victoria discuss how her father gave his life to save her.  The Doctor insists that it does get easier, and says that he keeps his memories of his family locked away in his mind, but can refer to them whenever he wants.  The rest of the time, he acts like they never existed.

Not long after, the group are surrounded by Cybermats.

The Doctor wakes everyone up and uses the control panel wiring to make a small electrical barrier which everyone hides behind.  The barrier sends the Cybermats mental and they all stop working.

No sooner has this happens, than Kleig and Kaftan emerge, using the gun to cement their authority.  Kleig fires at the Doctor but Jamie pushes him out of the way, hitting Callum in the shoulder.  Happy with the demonstration of their power, Kleig and Kaftan announce that they intend to approach the Cybermen again, this time using the gun as leverage to get what they want.

The Cyber-Controller sends the rest of his soldiers back to their capsules seeing as they are running out of power.  Kleig opens the hatch and calls the Controller out.  He goes out to the top, bringing a docile Toberman with him.

As the Controller emerges, Kleig sees that he too is low on power and bargains the chance for the Controller to revitalise himself on the release of Toberman and the agreement to help him conquer the world.  The Controller agrees and is herded into the revitalisation room with the Doctor, Parry, and Jamie.

The Controller threatens the group to help him revitalise.  The Doctor helps him inside the sarcophagus, but intends to trap him inside when the doors are closed.  Jamie uses some rope and fastens it up, but as the machine completes its cycle, the Cyber-Controller is more powerful than ever before and makes light work of snapping the ropes.

Once free, the Controller telepathically contacts Toberman and gets him to knock Kleig unconscious and release them from the room.  The Controller takes the X-Ray gun, and orders Kaftan to open the hatch to the tomb.  She in turn tries to shoot him with a normal gun.  The Controller says that the gun cannot harm him and shoots her with his own weapon, killing her.

The Controller opens the hatch himself, but is confronted by Toberman who has been snapped out of his trance by the death of his mistress and the help of the Doctor.  They fight and Toberman gets the upper hand, throwing the Controller into the bank of levers.

A couple of the Cybermen are revived from the tomb and try to come up to aid the Controller but are gunned down by Jamie and the X-Ray gun.

The Doctor convinces Toberman to go back down into the tomb with him to destroy the rest of the Cybermen.  As they go down, Kleig regains consciousness and sneaks after them, retrieving the discarded X-Ray gun.  Once inside, Kleig holds them hostage and setting the controls to defrost again.  He captures Jamie who comes down after him and holds them all at gunpoint, announcing that he will be the new Cyber-Controller.  As he rants and raves, a newly revived Cyberman comes behind him and throttles him to death.  It then tries to release the other Cybermen until Toberman kills it by smashing in its chest unit.

The Doctor rushes to the controls and uses them to put the Cybermen back into deep freeze.

They go back to the top and realise that Hopper has returned to the tomb to announce that the ship is finally repaired.  The Doctor seals the tube up again and electrifies the controls as well as the doors.  As they're about to leave, the Cyber-Controller springs up and chases after them.  The group make it outside and try to close the doors behind them, but the Cyber-Controller is strong, and they know that as soon as the doors connect, anyone in contact with them will be electrocuted.

Jamie grabs some wooden shoring planks and they prop against the door but it looks hopeless.  Toberman suddenly bats everyone away and pushes against the door himself.  Thanks to his superhuman strength, the doors are closed and both he and the Cyber-Controller are killed by the electricity.

A forlorn Parry and Hopper say goodbye to the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria, and return to their ship,

 The Doctor predicts that this is the end of the Cybermen, but as they leave for the TARDIS, he doesn't see one of the Cybermats skulking around outside the tomb, very much alive.

Trivia

• This story sees a new script editor Victor Pemberton take over the reins from Gerry Davis himself.

• The giant tomb scene was filmed at Ealing Studio's, with just the base tier being constructed for close up work in other studios later on

• Innes Lloyd had decided that he'd had enough of Doctor Who and began putting his plans in to leave.  He tested Peter Bryant as Producer by going on holiday and leaving the production in his hands.

• As the Doctor and Jamie first enter the control room, the bit where they accidentally hold hands was totally off the cuff and spontaneous,  Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines both knew that Morris Barry would never stand for such nonsense, but if they did it there and then, he wouldn't have time to re-shoot it.

What worked

• The quarry scenes were quite good.

• It's hard to argue that the Cybermen symbols here aren't iconic.

• Actually, the pyrotechnics in the x ray guns were pretty good.  It looked like it was really firing.

• The effects team finally got the goo coming out of the chestplate right

• Some of the humor between Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines is first class and still brought a laugh out of me now.

• Parry's a broken man by the end of the story.  It's nice to see that they showed this angle, not downplaying the fact that there's a pretty high death toll in this story, and that these people mattered to someone

What didn't work

• If you want people to come and wake you up, why electrocute the doors and put lots of traps in the way?

• How to make it painfully obvious on the fact that you're the bad guy and up to no good - ask Kleig and Kaftan.  They wrote the book!

• Everything about the Cybermat's

• What's the point of Jamie putting on an insulated coat if he stays in a kilt? 

• The fact that we're asked to believe that the Cyber-Controller crouched in a cupboard for 500 years

• To say that this story immediately follows on from the Evil of the Daleks, Victoria is pretty calm about her father's death.

• Whilst we're on the subject of Victoria, she doesn't seem to have a problem of wearing a miniskirt either.  She must have been very liberal in her day

• So the logician's plan was to bank on the Cybermen being grateful for someone releasing them.  not very logical given that they've tried to take over the earth twice now

• Probably the biggest thing that doesn't work in this story is that the Doctor repeatedly explains why exploring the tomb is a bad idea, and then goes and helps the team activate the tomb and help explore.  It's safe to say that the majority of deaths in this story were directly the Doctor's fault!

Overall Feelings

For many a year, I've watched this story and enjoyed it.  As with the Moonbase, this is another Cyberman story that gives you every reason to hate this thing.  Everything is just so unbelievable and over the top.  But what's happened, is that the Tomb of the Cybermen is to be celebrated for all it's faults.

From the moment when they've "blown the bl**dy doors off" the quarry, until the very end credits, everything is just so delightfully cheesy, I mean all that's missing is for Kleig to shout "Nothing in zi vorld can stop me now!"

I suppose that despite all the lashings of edam and over the top acting, there's the sliver of something more to enjoy here.  It doesn't take a genius to work out that this story, like a lot of the gothic era Tom Baker stories, is inspired by some of the classic films.  This is a futuristic re-imagining of the Mummy.  And in that, there's a lot of the classic horror tropes that up to now, have been absent from Doctor Who, and the unusually high body count attests to it.

It's a story that really does go a long way to show how good things will become.  Troughton, Hines and Debbie Watling are all great together and the fact that they get on so well on screen is testament to the fact that they did off screen.  Just like the Cybermen are frozen in their tombs, this story captures just a brilliant and fun time for the show to be thawed out again and again.

Rating

6 out of 10

Cheese-tastic but with a high body count and lots of pulp horror tropes about tombs and mad scientists

Rewatchability Factor

9 out of 10

I've watched this loads of times and I would happily come back again


Watch this if you liked...

• The Moonbase

• The Attack of the Cybermen

• Death to the Daleks

Consulting the Matrix

Kleig and Kaftan were both incredibly over the top.  Who is you favourite over the top bad guy?

The Evil of the Daleks

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...

• The Daleks

• Pyramids of Mars

• 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?