Doctor Who 10x2

1. "With his 'other self' besieged in the Tardis by the 'hunting organism'

2. "the Doctor, with Jo, passes through the Black Hole in Space,

3. "and arrives in the strange world of anti-matter." (Radio Times)

4. Unfilmed was a scene of the Doctor and Jo tumbling through space towards the Black Hole.

5. Bringing back the two earlier Doctors to meet the latest was a story waiting to happen.

6. With Doctor Who's tenth anniversary due in 1973, this story would mark the start of celebrations.

7. The production team first ensured that William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton were willing to return.

8. Writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin were asked to draw up a storyline in February 1972.

9. They submitted an idea called 'Deathworld', which took place outside of time in Hades,

10. where the King of the Time Lords has chosen the Doctors to take part in a test or ordeal.

11. They are fighting for control of the universe against the minions of death itself.

12. The bare bones of the story were accepted, but the death angle was rejected.

13. William Hartnell's health would also present a major obstacle, and he could not be expected to learn his lines,

14. so all his scenes were reduced to film inserts where he could read his lines from cards.

15. "Hiccups" replaced the scripted ailment - "colic".

16. Baker and Martin next developed a story featuring a character called Ohm, who was the antithesis of the Doctor.

17. Read OHM upside down...

18. Three aspects of Ohm were to appear: One saintly, one evil and one moderate.

19. The idea was felt to be too much of an in-joke and was duly changed.

20. This was envisaged as a sand dune similar to the one at the bird sanctuary in Episode 1.

21. The Doctor and Jo were scripted to materialise there in a reversal of the "Gruyere cheese" vanishing effect.

22. This was take 2. The boom was in shot on the first attempt.

23. The Brigadier first encountered the Doctor in the 1968 Yeti story, 'The Web of Fear', followed by 'The Invasion' later the same year.

24. The Brig then encountered Jon Pertwee's Doctor in 'Spearhead from Space' in 1970.

25. The Doctor isn't the only one who has changed since then: The Brigadier has had a regeneration too.

26. In those early stories he was wearing a different incarnation of his stick-on moustache.

27. Likewise stuck on is Troughton's bow tie, which is attached to his shirt by a large safety-pin.

28. As with the previous episode, there were delays in studio caused by lining up the Gell effect overlay.

29. This time there was no overrun at the end of the day,

30. because there was less material to record: Much was held over to the next recording block.

31. Dropped from here was the Doctor's line commenting that the Brigadier can believe whatever makes him happy.

32. The third "me" was ad-libbed during recording.

33. Animator Bob Rymer created the Black Hole image and Gell "flash".

34. The large Eidophor screen was hired at a cost of £270.

35. The set decoration in the background is made of cut-down plastic drainpipes.

36. The set is furnished with five modern low-back chairs (cream and yellow) and a swivel chair for the Time Lord operator.

37. The blue spots painted on the floor were intended to appear Tardis- like.

38. Immediately after the first episode was recorded, the Time Lord scenes for Episode 3 were completed.

39. Those for Episode 4 were all recorded after this episode, so that the set didn't have to be kept for the next studio session.

40. Time Lord memos are written on round paper.

41. The text is clearly handwritten, but it is not evident if it's in English,

42. or the Greek and formulae-based script featured in The Making of Doctor Who,

43. a behind-the-scenes book written by Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks and published in April 1972.

44. This was the first factual book based on the series. (Many more were follow.)

45. "Temporal transportation unit" was the fuller, scripted phrase.

46. Roy Purcell (the President) Had a long stage and television career.

47. He appeared in shows as varied as Z Cars (1964-74), The Troubleshooters (1966-9), I Claudius (1976),

48. The Professionals (1980), and both the old and New Avengers (1963 and 1977 respectively).

49. Director Lennie Mayne cast him in Doomwatch and Brett (both 1971).

50. Cut from this scene was Jo remembering how everything "fell apart" as the creature attacked them.

51. "Becoming nothing... falling... drifting. There's no time any more is there?"

52. She rues that they will be stuck wherever they are forever.

53. Watch Jo's hair: The piece of gravel stuck to it vanishes as the shot changes from close-up to wide.

54. A sandpit in West Malling, Kent, was considered for Omega's world, but Harefield Lime Quarry was closer to the other locations.

55. Thirty feet of tracks were laid for the camera to move in these scenes.

56. A 12-foot camera tower was used for high shots like the one coming up.

57. This was the first scene filmed with the Gellguard costumes.

58. It was shot the day after the rest of the sequence to save hiring an actor for the day to do just one shot.

59. Notice the flat access road into the quarry.

60. There was restricted vision and movement inside the Gellguard costumes, so they were only able to use flat terrain.

61. The Invisible Man was written by H. G. Wells in 1897.

62. The title character, when invisible, spreads havoc by anonymously attacking his pursuers.

63. The UNIT Lab set introduced in this story lasted for two years, and made its final appearance in Tom Baker's debut story, 'Robot' (1974).

64. Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln were paid their usual nominal fee for the use of the Brigadier, whom they created in 1968.

65. The story was rehearsed in room 402 of the BBC's Acton Rehearsal Rooms.

66. The Doctor is hunting for his recorder. But what he finds seems to be

67. his dressing room key.

68. Dropped on recording was a line from Benton: "I should lay off him for a bit, Doctor."

69. Here's a glimpse of colourful braces similar to those seen during his 1960s stories.

70. The originals had a design of small animals, among other patterns.

71. This area was described in the script as "a wide area of beach",

72. with a Salvador Dali type landscape of out-of-place objects,

73. including the overhanging garage doors from the earlier location sequence.

74. The swing doors in the Doctor's Lab were both open at the time that they were transported by the Gell.

75. So who locked them? And why?

76. This film was played in direct to videotape during the studio recording,

77. as film inserts usually were during the 1960s and 1970s.

78. Meanwhile, the time was used to set up the spark generator prop in place on the Lab set.

79. In the scripted version, the Doctor idly opens the overhead garage doors, to find Bessie parked behind them.

80. This was reworked when the Episode 1 garage sequence was revised.

81. In the rehearsal script, Jo's line was the far less specific, "Oh, just drive around".

82. The square object to the right of Bessie at the bottom of the slope was a fixture in place at the quarry.

83. The original plan was for it to be Ollis who observes the vehicle as it drives off.

84. Note that the Doctor doesn't use the handbrake, nor remove the car keys. You'll see why in Episode 4.

85. Man Friday is the native whose footprint is found in the sand

86. by the marooned title character of Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe.

87. Here's the observant Ollis better late than never.

88. This prop was later recycled to become a sonic lance in 'The Monster of Peladon' (1974).

89. Also being recorded in studio at the same time as the first two episodes of this story

90. were Softly Softly Task Force (in Studio 3), The Television Doctor (in Studio 4),

91. and, down the road in the Television Theatre on Shepherds Bush Green, The Basil Brush Show.

92. The videophone was an indicator that these UNIT stories are set in an undefined "near future",

93. where such devices would be far more commonplace than they were in 1973.

94. One early task for production assistant David Tilley was to choose the locations for filming.

95. He chose a group of locations in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, having recently worked in the area

96. on the 1972 BBC children's serial, Thursday's Child.

97. The catering budget for location was set at 13p per head for tea, coffee and biscuits for tea breaks.

98. Lunch was budgeted at £1.45 per person, falling to £1.30 by the end of the week of filming.

99. Cheaper comestibles now. The chewing gum business you're about to see was worked out during rehearsals.

100. It replaced the scripted sequence in which Benton is more wary of the Gell.

101. He warns it to not so much as quiver or it'll get the full power of the device.

102. This action was described as: "Monster finds paper not to taste and grumbles a bit".

103. The handset is marked from one to ten. Benton turns it to ten.

104. This was a practical spark effect, built into the machine and operated by an off-set visual effects man.

105. The rehearsal script explains that the Gell has now lost its sense of direction,

106. and is blundering about aimlessly, obliterating everything it encounters.

107. The sparking machine is removed during a recording break; the animated flash covered the edit.

108. As scripted, the Brigadier refused to enter the Tardis but the Gell advanced, cutting off his retreat.

109. In the rehearsal script, as the Doctor bustles about, his recorder slips and falls into the workings of the Tardis.

110. The sweets were scripted as gobstoppers.

111. Albert Einstein's formula, propounded in 1905, equates Energy to Mass in terms of the speed of light (C).

112. The speed of light is approximately 186,282 miles per second.

113. According to Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, no object with mass can exceed light-speed.

114. There was originally some dialogue leading up to this moment: Jo comments on how creepy it all seems.

115. Then they walk round a sand dune and see Tyler in front of them.

116. It is the afternoon of 7 November and the weather is brightening.

117. Dropped before filming was some ripe dialogue from Tyler:

118. "Where the Bradley Hill are we? Do you know cos I'm ruddy sure I don't. Bin rackin' me brains."

119. To save erecting the set for one scene, the studio sequence you will see next

120. was recorded from 11:30 a.m. On 11 December alongside Episode 3.

121. The script specifies that Omega's screen was to be a "magic mirror" rather than a technological device like a television.

122. But they used a barely disguised 25-inch colour television.

123. Murphy Grumbar plays this Gellguard.

124. He later described the costumes as "fearful" for the actors who had to wear them!

125. You may recognise upcoming close-ups of the Gellguard "arm".

126. They were filmed at the same time as the similar shots in Episode 1.

127. The Tardis set has been partially rebuilt for this story, including new walls and scanner screen.

128. The cost of Tardis construction was estimated at £89 for 125 hours of work.

129. "Nattering" began as "maundering", then became "twittering".

130. The central console was hired from the prop constructors Magna Models at £70 per story.

131. The scene that follows was a late addition by Terrance Dicks to pad out the episode's running time.

132. In the first draft of the scene, the Pertwee Doctor, Jo, and Tyler discuss the palace's gaudy decor.

133. Then the Doctor confirms that the little man in the Tardis is one of his earlier selves.

134. He explains that the First Law of Time shouldn't allow him to meet himself, but this is an emergency.

135. In the Arabian Nights story (and pantomime), Aladdin's cave was full of unimaginable riches.

136. A week after this story ended, the Birmingham Post published a set of Doctor Who cartoons.

137. One showed the Doctor and Jo in a corridor such as this... which leads to Santa's Christmas grotto.

138. Ricky Newby and Cy Town are playing the two Gellguards in this scene.

139. This is a new design UNIT walkie-talkie, replacing props which had been in use since 'The Invasion' in 1968.

140. In the first draft, the Doctor immediately offers to set up a direct link to the soldiers outside, so that they can keep out of the Gell's way.

141. He does so, "like a mother with a mardy child". (Mardy = recalcitrant.)

142. Wasting time is right:

143. The rest of the scene was part of Terrance Dicks's late rewrites,

144. and the objective was to pad out the episode to its allotted 25 minutes.

145. This is another scene recorded with Episode 3.

146. "Going to stop me, are you?" Asks Tyler in the script. The Doctor replies, "If necessary, yes."

147. For a moment it looks as if they will come to blows.

148. Why all this argument?

149. Because the imperative for these additional scenes wasn't just to extend the running time, but also to avoid moving the story along.

150. Another tried and tested method of padding out time was to introduce an escape attempt,

151. in which a character goes on the loose for some time, but is then recaptured.

152. With that in mind, how do you rate Dr Tyler's chances?

153. Cut from here was a brief snatch of dialogue, as Jo wonders what the Gellguard will do to the rebellious Tyler.

154. The Gellguard coming up is being operated by long-time monster actor John Scott Martin.

155. The restricted vision made it difficult to see where he was going.

156. The Gellguard costumes came in two pieces.

157. The bulk of the fibreglass and plastic bubble-attached body was worn over the shoulders like a giant tent.

158. The separate head and shoulder section fitted over the top.

159. The "eye" was a mirror attached to a crash helmet worn by the operator, and moved as he turned his head.

160. Probably unintentionally, a number of elements in this story echo other, seasonal roots.

161. The transported building and a magician in a glittering palace hail from The Wizard of Oz.

162. There are namechecks for other pantomime favourites, Robinson Crusoe and Aladdin,

163. and the "giant" in his castle recalls Jack and the Beanstalk.

164. And let's not forget the "heroes" of the piece: Jo Grant and seven male characters...

165. Once there were eight: The earliest draft scripts had a main part for Jamie, the long-running companion to Patrick Troughton's Doctor.

166. However, actor Frazer Hines was unable to appear due to his commitment to ITV soap Emmerdale Farm.

167. In the rehearsal script, the voice on the radio belongs to Sergeant Benton, making his penultimate appearance in the story.

168. But then the script was revised so that Benton took the role that Jamie would have filled.

169. Being in studio to record this voice-over is what allowed Denys Palmer to be the soldier in the previous episode.

170. Using a television set for the Tardis scanner screen meant allocating one of the studio's video channels for these scenes.

171. Another problem was the reflection of the studio on the glass of the picture tube.

172. This shot, taken by Camera 3,

173. showed the reflections of Cameras 2 and 4 on the screen.

174. The Brigadier has never seen the William Hartnell Doctor before (and you can see it in his face),

175. but in 1965 Nicholas Courtney played Bret Vyon opposite him in 'The Daleks' Master Plan'.

176. This sequence was additional material that interrupted what would have been a continuous Tardis scene.

177. Stand by for this story's obligatory "moment of charm" for Jon Pertwee.

178. Pertwee had learned some magic tricks while working the Music Halls in the 1950s.

179. Note how Pertwee's holding his left arm, and how carefully he handles the pencil, which is attached to a piece of stretched elastic.

180. On cue, he lets the pencil go and it flies out of sight up his shirt sleeve,

181. while the flowers are pulled out of his other sleeve.

182. And that's magic!

183. Maybe not. It took eight takes to record.

184. Murphy Grumbar brings up the rear, unable to see the way.

185. Filming in the late months of the year means changeable weather,

186. so the vanishing effect coming up will show how quickly daylight changes.

187. The building is on one part of the location, and the empty plot is another part of the location, standing in.

188. A photo saved building a model.

189. This episode was first broadcast on 6 January 1973 and was watched by 10.8 million viewers.

190. Uncredited production contributors were:

191. Dick Weller, Arthur Hill (Lighting Chargehands)

192. Joe Starie, Bob Hignett (Studio Engineers)

193. Laurie de Whalley, Don McGregor (Vision Co-ordinators)

194. Johnny Norris (Show Working Supervisor) ct, I rather envy them.

195. - You what? - Yes.

196. I think they're having a very interesting time.

197. The time to make a getaway is now, while we're still near the entrance.

198. Once they get us down that maze of passageways, we shall never get out.

199. My dear Dr Tyler, I don't want to get out.

200. I want to meet our host.

201. I allowed myself to be brought here for that very purpose.

202. Perhaps you did, Doctor, but we didn't want to come here

203. and we don't want to stay.

204. Don't you understand? You were both brought here by accident.

205. Your only chance of getting back lies in my persuading

206. whoever brought you here to send you home.

207. I prefer to take a chance on my own.

208. How about you, Miss Grant? Are you coming with me?

209. No. No, I'll stick with the Doctor, thank you.

210. Looks like I'll have to go on my own, then.

211. - Dr Tyler, you're not going anywhere. - What?

212. I refuse to allow you to endanger all our lives.

213. No. No, I suppose you're right.

214. Tyler! Tyler, come back! Tyler!

215. Idiot. He'll jeopardise the entire operation.

216. - With his life, probably. - Yes.

217. They might not harm him. You said we were only here by mistake.

218. Yes, that's right, Jo.

219. I'm the one they're after.

220. I'm sure I can persuade our host to send you back.

221. But supposing you can't? Well, they might just get rid of us.

222. Jo, we're dealing here with a creature of great intelligence,

223. and superior intelligence and senseless cruelty just do not go together.

224. Oh, I hope you're right.

225. - Tyler! - Tyler! Come on, get up. Up, up.

226. - Are you all right? - Yes, I think so. Thanks.

227. That was a bit of a waste of time, wasn't it?

228. Here we are, Brigadier. Have a try with that.

229. It's all right, it won't bite you.

230. Corporal Palmer? Come in, Palmer.

231. Corporal Palmer here. Over.

232. Corporal Palmer, this is the Brigadier. Now, listen.

233. We're pinned down in the laboratory. What's the situation there? Over.

234. Ah, sir, we've been trying to reach you. The building is still surrounded

235. and we're just standing by for further orders. Over.

236. Now, listen, Palmer. I want every man to maintain vigilance

237. but no further offensive action, is that clear? Over.

238. - But sir, I thought... - That's an order, Palmer!

239. - Roger, sir. Wilco. - Keep in contact. Out.

240. Doc? - Hmm?

241. - Hey, Doctor, it's the old boy again. - Oh, excuse me.

242. - Made any progress? - No, none at all. And you?

243. Hardly! I'm trapped in this infernal time eddy.

244. - What about our fellow Time Lords? - Growing steadily weaker.

245. They can't seem to check their energy loss.

246. - We can't help you, I'm afraid. - Oh, yes, you could.

247. - Oh? How? - First turn off your force field.

248. - What? But... But I don't... - Off, I said.

249. - But I still don't see... - Oh, use your intelligence.

250. Who in the name of heaven was that?

251. I'm afraid you'd never believe me.

252. It still doesn't make sense, Doctor.

253. We are matter, and you say this place is antimatter.

254. That's right.

255. So, the mere fact of our being here should cause a colossal explosion.

256. Yes, but our bodies have been converted,

257. processed in some way so that we can exist here.

258. Just as that organism thing could exist in our world?

259. - Yes, exactly. - I just don't believe it.

260. This is matter. I can see it. Why, I can feel it.

261. But things aren't always as they seem, you know, Dr Tyler.

262. - Now you take this pencil, for example. - Well, it's just a pencil, isn't it?

263. Ah, but is it? Watch very, very closely.

264. Or is it a bunch of flowers?

265. (CHUCKLES) That's all very well, but that's just a conjuring trick.

266. Yes, that's exactly what this place is,

267. a scientific conjuring trick of a very high order.

268. - (WARBLING) - I think the waiting is over.

269. But you're not going to turn off the force field?

270. Yes, I think so.

271. - But why? - Because he told me to,

272. and I've always had a great respect for his advice.

273. Doctor, if you switch the force field off,

274. that thing out there can get at the Tardis.

275. Precisely! Hold tight, everyone.