Doctor Who 10x17

Directed by David Maloney

Bernard Horsfall as Taron • Prentis Hancock as Vaber • Tim Preece as Codal • Jane How as Rebec • Roy Skelton as Wester / Dalek Voices

The Doctor and Codal escape from their cell and meet up with the Thal commandos who are trying to get into the Dalek base.

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1. "The Doctor and the Thals are hopelessly trapped deep within Dalek HQ.

2. "The Doctor produces an incredible escape plan - but will it work?" (Radio Times)

3. This episode was first shown on 21 April, 1973 and was seen by 10.1 million people.

4. In the draft scripts, this episode was entitled:

5. PURSUED

6. Like Part 2, this episode features material recorded out of sequence in a later studio session.

7. Most scenes for Parts 3 and 4 were shot in Studio 6 at Television Centre on 5 and 6 February,

8. but we're now in Studio 1, at the recording session mainly devoted to Parts 5 and 6.

9. This meant that they only had to erect the city gates in one session.

10. The scene was edited into its proper place during post-production.

11. This episode was made on colour videotape, but for many years it survived only as a black-and-white film recording.

12. For this DVD edition, the original colour has been electronically restored from minute traces captured on the film.

13. The branch prop was longer than you can see: There was a nine-inch handle at the left end, painted in CSO yellow.

14. After the title 'Return of the Daleks' was shelved, the serial became 'Planet of the Daleks' - but only temporarily.

15. It became clear early on what the initial situation would be:

16. The TARDIS would arrive on the planet not at random but in hot pursuit of the Daleks who escaped at the end of the last serial.

17. 'Frontier in Space' was set up expressly as a lead-in to the Terry Nation adventure to follow.

18. Accordingly, the working title changed to 'Destination Daleks'.

19. Barry Letts found this lacklustre, so it was dropped,

20. but the title reverted to 'Planet of the Daleks' only at a late stage in production,

21. after the graphics slides for the title sequence had been ordered.

22. An allotrope is an variant form of a substance: Diamonds and graphite, for example, are allotropes of carbon.

23. Terry Nation was imaginatively drawn to extremes of environment and climate.

24. It's typical of him to juxtapose ice with things that are normally at the other extreme: Molten lava and a tropical jungle.

25. Another planet with a molten ice core appeared in a story he wrote for The Dalek Outer Space Book (1966).

26. In the story, entitled 'The Dalek Trap', the planet in question was Skaro.

27. The Thals also attempt to penetrate the Dalek city through a cave system in the first Dalek serial.

28. Back now to Terrance Dicks's question: What has Rebec to offer this serial, apart from her physical charms?

29. Dicks proposed some possible lines of character development for her.

30. She should be "a lady of strong character who clashes with Taron about the conduct of the expedition".

31. He didn't want an old-fashioned subservient girlie: Maybe she should be Taron's equal in rank, or even his superior.

32. Doctor Who's current agenda included an acknowledgement of feminism and the rising status of women in the 1970s,

33. and this bore fruit in the character of Sarah Jane Smith, created at around the time this serial was being made.

34. But you'll have noticed that Dicks's ideas for a more proactive Rebec didn't make it into Terry Nation's script.

35. It took time for Nation to assimilate the objective, and his next few serials made strides towards stronger women characters,

36. with the creation of Jill Tarrant in 'Death to the Daleks' (1974) And especially Bettan in 'Genesis of the Daleks'.

37. In this serial, however, even Jo seems to be more independent than Rebec.

38. Nation was a bit more immediately receptive to Dicks's suggestion that he should take "a leaf from Star Trek".

39. Dicks wanted the characterisation to reflect "the complexity of real human beings".

40. He felt this was central to the series' recent development from a morally black-and-white children's show into a family drama.

41. It was also one of the perceived strengths of Star Trek,

42. "whose characters always seem to be involved in a complicated network of personal relationships".

43. He suggested that Rebec might be at the centre of such a network.

44. Perhaps she and Taron had a history, had once been lovers?

45. Perhaps Codal might have a crush on her, admiring her from afar, convinced that she prefers a man of action like Taron?

46. Nation took the point, but chose to give Rebec her romance in the present rather than the past.

47. Can you tell which tunnel is a model and which is the full-size set?

48. The aim was to suggest that the whole tunnel is vibrating.

49. A wind machine was used to agitate the actors' hair.

50. Terry Nation wrote this serial with a broken leg: He heroically continued working at the typewriter with the limb in plaster.

51. He delivered the first episode on 24 July and it was formally accepted four days later.

52. Terrance Dicks was concerned that there was a certain lack of character interplay in the episode.

53. He was reassured a week later when Part 2 came in, with stronger character scenes between Taron and Vaber.

54. That script arrived on 1 August, but didn't get accepted until 3 September.

55. Nation was producing scripts faster than Dicks could read them.

56. Dicks had told him, "None of this 'script in a day' business for the Beeb, please."

57. But the next few scripts were written at high speed, with this episode delivered on 4 August,

58. and Parts 4 and 5 four days after that, on 8 August. Formal acceptance followed on 4 and 5 September.

59. By 18 August, the final script had come in, and it too was formally accepted on 5 September.

60. By then, Barry Letts had returned from his summer holiday and had discussed the serial with Dicks.

61. The Dalek "crashes round the cell like a bee in a bottle," says the script.

62. The sound effects here are designated "Nutty Dalek" in the camera script.

63. Nation's scripts needed some minor revisions, but these were to be undertaken by Terrance Dicks.

64. He didn't get on with the job straight away: In the autumn he was preoccupied with editing 'The Three Doctors',

65. the serial due to be made immediately before 'Planet of the Daleks', whose draft scripts were completed in late August.

66. The Dalek revisions were postponed until November, by which time 'The Three Doctors' had gone into production.

67. It was a relatively straightforward job: Dicks's main contributions

68. were to simplify some minor effects and add "continuity" references to other recent Doctor Who serials.

69. On 5 December, with the serial now in pre-production, he sent Nation copies of the final revisions.

70. The scripts were, he said, "very little changed - mutated? - from when you delivered them".

71. Acknowledging on 11 December, Nation agreed: He had skimmed them and noticed few alterations,

72. "so I think it unlikely that you will hear the dreaded cry of the outraged writer".

73. When 'Planet of the Daleks' was first mooted, the BBC owned only three tatty Dalek props.

74. They had been made in the 1960s and were repainted for use in 'Day of the Daleks'.

75. The first plan was to make the serial with those same three Daleks.

76. But Jon Pertwee, who was never fond of Daleks at the best of times,

77. had been vocally critical of the sequence in 'Day of the Daleks', when a mere three Daleks storm a country house.

78. Next time, they would need a larger Dalek army.

79. Barry Letts suggested using some models, including possibly some full-size ones.

80. Later on, it was recognised that new Dalek props would have to be built, and other ways found to make up the numbers.

81. The issue was: How to do it within the budget?

82. This is "the Dalek equivalent of a public address system," says the script.

83. In September 1972, the Visual Effects Department put its mind to the need for more Daleks,

84. and toyed with the idea of using vacuum-forming techniques to make full-size dummy Daleks in bulk.

85. The joint Head of Effects, Bernard Wilkie, consulted the scenery firm Scenic Craft of Southall about the practicalities.

86. They suggested making the dummies in three sections supported on an internal polystyrene rib,

87. and a base fitted with blocks so that the prop would skid across the floor when required.

88. The start-up investment was quoted at £210 for the moulds, after which each Dalek would cost £30.

89. The department was considering spending between £570 and £810 on vac-formed Daleks, for delivery by 12 December.

90. That would have been twelve to twenty new props - but in the event they were never made.

91. The Dalek's blast strikes before the doors are fully closed,

92. hence the thin scorch mark.

93. Another potential source of extra Daleks was Terry Nation.

94. He owned three Daleks that were originally made for the two Doctor Who cinema films in the 1960s.

95. Might he consider lending them to for use in the production?

96. This dialogue was a late addition.

97. Codal was scripted to add that his gun "doesn't seem to have much effect on them, though".

98. In December 1972, one of Terry Nation's Daleks was picketing the offices of Purple Records in London.

99. It was a publicity stunt to promote Jon Pertwee's single, 'Who is the Doctor? ', which was apparently "unfair to Daleks".

100. On 5 December, the unattended Dalek was reported missing - it had been stolen!

101. In the end, it was decided to borrow only one of Nation's Daleks, for a special appearance in Part 6.

102. All the corridor scenes so far have been shot on videotape in the studio.

103. So why is this particular corridor on film? (Stay tuned for the answer.)

104. It's easy to see the difference between film and video.

105. This is film, shot at Ealing.

106. And this is video, shot in Studio 6 at Television Centre.

107. Video tends to looks "harder" than film, with a stronger colour palette.

108. The difference between the two media was the basis of a joke in a 1970 edition of Monty Python's Flying Circus,

109. in which some characters found themselves trapped inside a room that was "surrounded by film".

110. Some BBC directors disliked the visual discontinuity, feeling it made their productions appear "piebald",

111. but many 1970s viewers accepted the look of film as a visual convention for "out of doors".

112. What looked odd were exteriors shot in the studio, and interiors shot on film, like this one.

113. But interiors had to be filmed when they involved action that was impossible to stage in an electronic studio.

114. Studio floors at Television Centre were covered with live electrical cables, so splurging liquids were a complete no-no.

115. Better do that last corridor scene on film at Ealing, then...

116. Jo is wearing one more ring (on her little finger) Than in the last episode.

117. They were Katy's own rings.

118. The script calls for "a large and very formidable door".

119. Marat, meeting his sticky end here, is played by Hilary Minster (1944-99).

120. He had previously worked with David Maloney on The Last of the Mohicans (1971),

121. and together they had just finished making another classic serial, Woodstock (1973).

122. At the time, he was best remembered for his role as a sinister motorcyclist in The Long Chase (1972).

123. His blond, Aryan looks suited him to play Thals, both here and in 'Genesis of the Daleks' (1975),

124. but they also ensured that he often played World War II Germans, notably in Timeslip (1970).

125. He had regular roles in both Secret Army (1979) And its spoof, 'Allo 'Allo (1984-92).

126. In Secret Army, he was a hauptmann, but for 'Allo 'Allo he achieved astronomical promotion to become General von Klinkerhoffen.

127. The reference to Marat here was unscripted.

128. This episode was discussed twice by the BBC's senior management.

129. First, on 25 April, they commended "another fine edition".

130. Then, on 2 May, the viewing figures came in, and were said to prove "the value of the Daleks in terms of the audience".

131. The script specifies that the chimney walls are "glistening and smooth" - and therefore unclimbable.

132. Once again the serial draws on imagery first seen in the original Dalek serial.

133. Tensile strength is a measure of how much weight a material will support without breaking.

134. The door was made of polystyrene by the contractor Art Ideals.

135. The Dalek appliance cut through it using a heated metal tip.

136. In reality, the bulkhead around the control panel is a piece of carpentry rather than the usual Dalek metalwork.

137. Can you see where it has been nailed together?

138. In the script, the Doctor says that, if he were to explain, "you might consider it so bizarre that you'd refuse to help".

139. Nation was thinking of the heat exchange mechanism of an ordinary domestic fridge.

140. An off-camera fan blows the paper up the chimney.

141. The Dalek cutting gear is always shot in close-up in order to cheat the viewer's eye.

142. Here it's cutting a top "lintel" section - and we saw it was attached to the Dalek where the sucker arm would be.

143. So... was that a hover-Dalek doing the job?

144. When Jon Pertwee heard of how Terry Nation controlled the Daleks and took a cut from all their sales, he got an idea.

145. He set about trying to create his own iconic monster for the Doctor to battle on a regular basis.

146. The Pertwee plan was to use Doctor Who to establish his creation in the popular imagination

147. and then spin off a lucrative run of tie-in merchandising: The usual toys and books and novelty wallpaper.

148. It never came to anything - partly because the Daleks themselves were already too well established!

149. The script calls it "the greatest force of Daleks ever assembled".

150. They were actually miniatures, less five inches high.

151. Some of them were 1960s Louis Marx toy Daleks (still on the market in 1973), and some were moulded plaster replicas.

152. The episode was scripted to end with a low-angle shot of the breached door toppling inwards.

153. Uncredited production contributors

154. Sybil Cave, Eleri Ebenezer, Susan Hopkins (Artists' Contracts)

155. Tex Childs (Grips)

156. Dave Thomas (Film Editor)

157. Graeme Harper (Assistant Floor Manager)

158. George Gallaccio (Production Assistant)