1. "What sinister future is promised Adric?
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2. "What is draining
the life of the planet?
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3. "What is the secret of the Tower?"
(Radio Times)
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4. This episode was first shown
on 29 November, 1980,
and was seen by 5.3 million viewers.
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5. During location filming,
Tom Baker suggested that
when the Doctor was bitten by a bat,
his blood should be blue.
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6. When producer John Nathan-Turner viewed
the film rushes he disapproved of this,
and requested that the scene be re-shot.
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7. However, time ran out and the re-shoot
could not be fitted in.
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8. A close-up of the Doctor's blue blood
was duly removed, but it can still
be spotted (just) in this shot.
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9. Tom Baker's whimsical idea flies in
the face of the other occasions on which
we've seen the Doctor bleed.
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10. It's definitely red in
'The Deadly Assassin'
and 'The Two Doctors', for example.
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11. The script has the Doctor using his hat
to fend off the swooping bats.
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12. This was dropped when Tom Baker decided
against wearing the hat.
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13. The reprise ends with a different piece
of bat footage from the shot
that concluded Part One.
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14. The script explains that the bats are
now flying away, their attack over.
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15. An effects shot of the Doctor and
Romana gazing up at the Tower
was abandoned.
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16. Here the Doctor was to quote from
Robert Browning's 1855 poem
'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came'.
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17. "Dauntless the slug-horn to his lips
he set, and blew.
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18. "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came!"
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19. Terrance Dicks was a fan of this poem.
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20. Browning's image of the Dark Tower
and the horn later helped inspire
his 1983 script 'The Five Doctors'.
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21. This scene was heavily rewritten
between drafts, and was again reworked
by actors and director.
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22. The "rococo" line was added in
rehearsal. It's an elaborately
ornamental style of architecture
popular in 18th-century Europe.
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23. Director Peter Moffatt choreographed
Zargo and Camilla in a series
of stylised, symmetrical moves.
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24. In the script Zargo says,
"Forgive the delay. You've managed
to amuse yourself, I see."
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25. The introductions and Camilla's
"We know everything here"
were added in rehearsal.
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26. The rest of the dialogue
was reworked and re-ordered.
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27. A cut line has Zargo saying, "You must
not judge us by our peasants.
They are ignorant and superstitious."
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28. And Camilla says, "That is why
it's such a pleasure to entertain
visitors of culture and refinement."
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29. In the script,
both the Doctor and Romana
accept some of the proffered food.
Romana "takes a small piece of meat".
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30. The Doctor "picks up a baby roast
chicken and starts eating heartily".
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31. Their hosts don't touch the food.
Zargo "recoils noticeably"
when the Doctor offers him the dish.
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32. The Doctor's remark about Bull's Blood
was another addition in rehearsal.
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33. The original line was "A disarming
little wine. Not unlike Venusian Tokay".
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34. The appropriately-named Bull's Blood
is a Hungarian red wine
that had become popular in the 1970s.
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35. The sequence of Romana cutting her
finger was a late addition.
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36. It pays homage to a traditional moment
that appears in most versions
of Bram Stoker's Dracula.
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37. In the original 1897 novel, Dracula
reacts exactly like Camilla
when Jonathan Harker
cuts himself shaving.
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38. In the 1922 silent film adaptation
Nosferatu, Count Orlok gets excited
when Hutter cuts his thumb
peeling an apple.
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39. And in the 1931 film, Bela Lugosi's
Dracula has a funny turn
when Renfield cuts himself
with a paper-clip.
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40. Marta is played by Rhoda Lewis.
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41. Since the early 1960s she'd been
a regular fixture on British television.
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42. Her credits range from Z Cars and
Coronation Street to The Wednesday Play
and Armchair Theatre.
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43. But perhaps her greatest achievement
came eight years after 'State of Decay'.
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44. In 1988, together with her husband and
son, she founded the world-famous
Literary Festival in Hay-on-Wye, Wales.
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45. Over the years the festival has played
host to everyone from
Norman Mailer to Stephen Fry,
John Updike to Bill Clinton.
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46. One of the guests at the 2007 festival
was Lalla Ward's husband,
Professor Richard Dawkins.
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47. He was preceded a year earlier by
the renowned television writer
Russell T. Davies.
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48. This is the only scene to feature one
of the Three Who Rule
braving the daylight.
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49. Perhaps this adds credence to the
theory that the "selection" of Adric
alters the direction
of the original script.
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50. In the 1977 version, with no Adric in
the Tardis crew, Ivo's son Karl
might have gone on
to become the Chosen One.
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51. So there'd be no need for a second
selection scene.
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52. When asked many years later, neither
Terrance Dicks nor Christopher Bidmead
could confirm this piece of guesswork.
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53. But they both thought
it sounded quite convincing.
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54. Come to think of it,
why is it daytime here?
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55. The Doctor and Romana have only just
been captured - at nightfall.
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56. Perhaps it was just a long walk back to
the Tower.
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57. This exchange is a play on Alexander
Pope's 1733 poem Essay on Man.
The original line is
"Whatever is, is right."
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58. Socio-energetics was a fashionable area
of scientific theory
that interested Christopher Bidmead.
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59. It concerns the relationship between
social development
and technological progress.
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60. The lines about a "yawning chasm"
and a "sociopathetic abscess"
were added at a late stage.
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61. So was the Doctor's line about
"a state of decay",
to match up with the story's new title.
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62. The "ship of state" is a political
metaphor proposed by Plato
in The Republic, written around 360 BC.
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63. The image has remained popular over the
centuries and is evoked in many works
of politics and literature.
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64. The poets Horace (65-8 BC)
And Longfellow (1807-1882)
Both wrote poems called 'Ship of State'.
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65. In 'State of Decay' the ship is both
a metaphor and a literal truth.
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66. It's thus one of the few Doctor Who
titles that offers a double meaning:
"State" means both
"condition" and "nation".
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67. The biggest revision to the rehearsal
script came here.
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68. In the original version, Habris doesn't
enter. Instead, Zargo and Camilla lose
patience with the Doctor's insinuations.
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69. Camilla says, "You see!
Nobody can be trusted.
These fools must know everything."
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70. And Zargo calls out, "Guards!
Throw these two in the High Cell!"
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71. The scene then cuts abruptly to
the Doctor and Romana locked
in a "small, empty, bronze-lined room".
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72. Romana recites the names of the Hydrax
officers, and the dialogue then
continues much as it does on screen.
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73. The Brothers Grimm were
Jacob (1785-1863) and
Wilhelm (1786-1859) who together
pioneered the study of folklore.
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74. They spent years compiling traditional
fairy tales from their native Germany.
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75. Their famous collection of over
200 stories was published in 1812-14
and was translated into many languages.
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76. The book was responsible for
popularising such tales as 'Rapunzel',
'Snow White' and 'Hansel and Gretel'.
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77. The Brothers Grimm were also leading
scholars in law, language and philology.
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78. In 1852 they began the Deutsches
Wörterbuch, the German equivalent
of the Oxford English Dictionary.
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79. As the Doctor points out, Jacob also
formulated Grimm's Law,
about the mutation of consonants
in European languages.
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80. In the "cell" version of this scene,
Romana tries out the consonant trick
on Macmillan as well as Sharkey.
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81. While she's doing that,
the Doctor polishes a wall panel
and uncovers a stencilled legend:
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82. "Inspection Panel HH.03 Sector 7.
Authorised removal only.
Earth Federation Starship Hyperion".
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83. To maintain continuity with the rip
they sustain in 'Full Circle',
Adric's trousers have a patch
on the right knee.
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84. Oddly, after 'State of Decay' the patch
vanishes for good.
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85. Perhaps Alzarian trousers heal as
quickly as their owners do.
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86. And while we're nit-picking...
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87. Aukon's line about 20 generations is
a little odd. Throughout the story,
reference is repeatedly made
to 1,000 years.
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88. Even at a generous estimate of 25 years
per generation, 20 generations add up
to a mere 500 years.
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89. But only a pedantic killjoy
with a sociopathetic abscess
would bother to point this out.
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90. Camilla's name derives from the vampire
protagonist of Sheridan Le Fanu's
1871 novel Carmilla.
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91. Her Sapphic tendencies were brought to
the fore by Ingrid Pitt in the 1970
Hammer adaptation The Vampire Lovers.
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92. This aspect is not dwelt on
in 'State of Decay'.
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93. Here, Camilla seems just as interested
in Adric as she is in Romana.
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94. The inspection shaft scenes were filmed
on location in Acton, West London,
on 2 May, 1980.
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95. Tom Baker and Lalla Ward spent the
afternoon climbing up and down
a ventilation tower at a company
called C. A. V. Lucas.
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96. Visually, Doctor Who has always
reflected the times
in which it was made.
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97. 1980 was the year in which the
role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons
gripped the adolescent youth of Britain.
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98. There was an accompanying surge in the
popularity of the fantasy fiction of
J. R. R. Tolkien and his many imitators.
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99. So the quasi-medieval trappings of
'State of Decay', and in particular
its Tolkienesque Tower,
are remarkably timely.
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100. 1980 was also the year that the cult of
the New Romantics burst into
the mainstream of British pop music.
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101. The extravagant eye make-up
in 'State of Decay' wouldn't look
out of place in a 1980 video
by Visage or David Bowie.
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102. And then there are the beards.
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103. Scholars have long noted that the
season is the most intensively bearded
in Doctor Who history.
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104. Well over half of the season's male
characters are bewhiskered.
In 'The Leisure Hive',
even the Doctor joins them.
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105. But few stories can rival 'State of
Decay' in the stubble stakes.
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106. Zargo boasts arguably
the most magnificent beard
ever seen on television.
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107. While Tarak's simply defies description.
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108. C. A. V. Lucas donated
the BBC's location fee to
its Children's Christmas Party Fund.
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109. The company, which has since closed
down, made fuel injection pumps
and other industrial machinery.
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110. In the original script, this scene
takes place in the High Cell
where the Doctor was to have found
the inspection hatch.
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111. In this version, Camilla now refers to
Zargo by his original name.
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112. She says, "We have forgotten much -
Captain Sharkey."
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113. Zargo observes that the hatch "gives
access to the maintenance tunnels.
They could be anywhere in the ship!
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114. "We must tell Aukon. He will find them."
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115. Camilla replies,
"Yes, O'Connor will find them."
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116. A scripted exchange was cut from one of
the earlier inspection shaft scenes.
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117. Romana was to say, "So that's where
the rebels' junk came from."
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118. "The whole ship's been gutted," replies
the Doctor. Hence Romana's line here.
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119. In the script, the Doctor remarks that
the scout ship would fly
"straight up and down probably!"
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120. This obvious telegraphing
of the denouement was cut.
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121. There was more dialogue at the end of
the scene. The Doctor says he wants,
"evidence to prove me wrong."
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122. "You want to be wrong?" asks Romana.
"Yes," he replies.
"Because if I'm right,
there's nothing much we can do."
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123. Tarak is played by Thane Bettany.
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124. He's the father of Hollywood
star Paul Bettany.
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125. Young Paul celebrated
his tenth birthday two days
before his dad recorded this scene.
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126. During the recording of these scenes,
there was some tension
between Tom Baker and Lalla Ward.
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127. When the director suggested that
the Doctor should lift Romana
down to the ground, Tom Baker declined.
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128. Lalla Ward was appalled
by the gruesome corpses prepared
by the visual effects department.
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129. She argued strongly with the director
that they were
too horrific to be seen in close-up.
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130. And sure enough, the camera doesn't get
any closer than this.
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131. Graeme MacDonald,
the BBC's Head of Series and Serials,
had also expressed concern about
this scene after reading the script.
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132. But he was more worried about the blood
than the bodies.
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133. During editing, it became apparent that
Part Two was under-running,
and needed to be extended.
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134. This is the original scripted ending of
Part Two.
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135. To balance out the running time, it was
decided to include the next sequence
at the end of this episode.
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136. This scene was recorded
in the second studio block,
two weeks after the previous sequence.
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137. Tensions had now evaporated and
Tom Baker suggested that he should
lift Lalla Ward down to the ground.
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138. The joke was improvised in the studio.
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139. The vampires of ancient folklore bear
little resemblance to the popular image
exploited by 'State of Decay'.
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140. The folkloric vampire is a hairy,
ruddy-faced creature just as partial
to sheep and cows as to humans.
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141. The pallid, elegant, aristocratic
vampire with a taste for young ladies is
largely a creation of the 19th century.
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142. He made his first appeal to the popular
imagination in a short story called
The Vampyre, published in 1819.
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143. It was written by John Polidori,
sometime physician to Lord Byron.
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144. Byron himself came up with the idea
during the same ghost story session
that inspired Mary Shelley
to write Frankenstein.
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145. The Vampyre was a huge success,
and a major influence
on later examples of the genre.
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146. Polidori's creation sired a literary
tradition whose heirs include
both Dracula and 'State of Decay'.
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147. Some of the other vampire lore
that we take for granted
isn't as old as we might think.
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148. Running water, wooden stakes and
decapitation are ancient traditions.
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149. But fangs and sunlight
are relatively new.
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150. The sprouting of fangs was an innovation
of the 19th-century novelists.
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151. And the idea that vampires are
killed by sunlight doesn't appear
until the 1922 silent film Nosferatu.
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152. The pulsating floor
of the Resting Place
is another miniature, pre-filmed on
the Visual Effects model stage.
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153. A close-up of Aukon's eyes was inserted
to add impact to the revised
episode ending. It was actually
shot for a scene in Part Three.
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154. Also appearing in this episode were:
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155. George Serghe, Mark Middler,
John Sylvan
(Rebels)
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156. Alwyn Atkinson, Juliet Darnley
(Peasants)
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157. Dennis Hayward, Bob Marshall
(Peasants)
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158. Dennis Hewson, Michael Joseph
(Peasants)
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159. Leon Lawrence, Tom Gandl
(Peasants)
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160. Uncredited production contributors
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161. Gordon Phillipson
(Grams Operator)
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162. Paul del Bravo
(Vision Mixer, Block 1)
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163. Lesley Rouvrey, Sula Loizoo
(Make-up Assistants)
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164. Now where are we?
Right in the bowels of the ship.
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165. Disused fuel tanks, I think.
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166. - I can hear that sound again.
- Yes.
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167. - What are we looking for?
- A way out.
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168. Ah!
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169. I doubt very much
that the creature lives in the Tower,
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170. but since the Tower feeds it,
I imagine it lives close by.
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171. Creature? What creature?
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172. - We'll know that when we find it.
- That's nice.
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173. They've been completely drained.
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174. Pipe lead...
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175. I was wrong, Romana.
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176. The fuel tanks aren't disused.
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177. Only this isn't rocket fuel, it's blood.
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178. - You all right?
- No, I'm frightened.
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179. Good, good. We'll soon be there.
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180. - That's what frightens me.
- Come on.
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181. What is it? What is it?
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182. - You jumped on my toe.
- Oh, I'm so sorry.
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183. What?
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184. It's that sound again.
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185. - That's not an engine.
- No.
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186. Sound of a giant heartbeat.
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187. - Doctor?
- Yes?
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188. Look.
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189. Do you know what that is?
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190. A feeding system for something
that lives on human blood.
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191. Exactly.
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192. - What is it?
- Do you know, it just occurs to me.
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193. There are vampire legends
on almost every inhabited planet.
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194. - Really?
- Yes.
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195. Creatures that stalk in the night
and feast on the blood of the living.
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196. Creatures that fear sunlight
and running water and certain herbs.
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197. Creatures that are so strong
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198. they can only be killed by beheading
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199. or a stake through the heart...
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200. Or?
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201. Please, say something.
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202. Whatever it is,
we want to find it, don't we?
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203. - No.
- Good. Come on, then.
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204. Where are we, Doctor?
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205. You are in the resting place.
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206. Where?
- The resting place.
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207. Ah.
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208. I am Aukon.
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209. Welcome to my domain.
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