With the TARDIS occupants trapped in a chronic histeratic loop (forever reliving the same moment in time), the devious Meglos - disguised as the Doctor - gains the trust of the Tigellans along with full and private access to their power chamber.
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1. One problem script editor
Christopher H. Bidmead faced
on this story was that the draft scripts
of all four episodes ran too short.
2. He addressed this by writing in
new scenes and extending existing ones
to pad out the action.
3. An example of this in Part 1 was the
opening scene with the Doctor and Romana
trying to repair K9 in the TARDIS.
4. Another was the sequence where General
Grugger contemplated stealing equipment
from Meglos's laboratory.
5. In the end, that episode ran to almost
25 minutes - the length of the then
standard Doctor Who transmission slot.
6. However, even with Bidmead's additions
and extensions to the script,
7. and even with the unusually long opening
reprise of the end of Part 1 seen here,
8. Part 2 still ended up having a very
short duration of less than 22 minutes.
9. So did Part 3 - and Part 4
was shorter still.
10. The preceding story, 'The Leisure Hive',
also had exceptionally short episodes.
11. However, 'Meglos' just pipped it
to the post to become the shortest ever
four-part Doctor Who story.
12. The reprise finally ends over
two minutes into the episode,
with an additional reaction shot
of Grugger and Brotadac...
13. although it is almost immediately
followed by another iteration
of the familiar time loop sequence.
14. The hat-stand on which the Doctor hangs
up his leather apron was a regular
feature in the TARDIS control room
of this era.
15. Also on the hat-stand here are the
burgundy coat and hat of the Doctor's
current regular costume,
16. plus the brown hat he wore earlier
in his fourth incarnation and the hat
Romana wore in 'The Leisure Hive'.
17. In this scene, Romana refers to the
TARDIS's "time rotor" - the first use
of that term since 'The Chase' (1965).
18. The term later came to be associated
with the column that rises and falls
at the centre of the console,
19. but in 'The Chase', the Doctor seemed
to be indicating an instrument
on one of the control panels -
and that is not contradicted here.
20. As in Part One, the barren surface
of Zolfa-Thura is represented
by a large-scale model depicting
its distinctive screens.
21. The Gaztak spaceship model was flown
by means of a broom handle
fixed horizontally at the back.
22. This was hand-held by the visual effects
team; hence the rather uneven motion.
23. The script described this scene
slightly differently, as follows:
24. "We are in the cramped cockpit of a ship
that has more of the feel of a Lancaster
bomber than the Starship Enterprise...
25. "Meglos is now fully disguised as the
Doctor, only needing the scarf and hat.
26. "Brotadac is at the controls.
27. "Through the transparent bridge window
we see an expanse of darkness
and the fast enlarging outline
of the planet Tigella."
28. The idea of showing a transparent bridge
window was dropped for reasons
of cost and practicality.
29. John Nathan-Turner had decided
to dispense with the services of
Doctor Who's previous regular incidental
music composer Dudley Simpson.
30. Instead, he asked the
BBC's Radiophonic Workshop to
provide the scores for this season.
31. Peter Howell was the composer assigned
to 'Meglos'.
32. In the end, though, Paddy Kingsland
stepped in to provide the score
for Part 1, as Howell was ill
with 'flu at that time.
33. Howell felt the story had an intimate
quality and aimed to develop this
into a claustrophobic feel.
34. He also tried to achieve a "monk-like"
atmosphere. He used percussive
and vocal sounds, realising
the music entirely on synthesisers.
35. In this shot, the foreground foliage
was depicted partly by a glass painting,
36. and partly by some leaves held
just in front of the camera.
37. The non-speaking Gaztaks in all four
episodes were played by walk-on artists:
38. James Muir, Bruce Callender, Tony Allef,
Ranjit Nakara, Hi Ching
and John Holland.
39. Not all of these artists were used
in every scene featuring the Gaztaks.
Consequently, there are
occasional lapses in continuity.
40. This scene sets up a running joke of
Brotadac admiring - and subsequently
coveting - the Doctor's coat,
41. or rather, in this instance,
Meglos's copy of it...
42. The four non-speaking Savants seen in
this scene were played by Howard Barnes,
Stephen Kane, John Laing and David Cole.
43. The Tigellan interior scenes
were recorded mostly toward
the end of the first of the two
Television Centre studio sessions.
44. Colette Gleeson, playing
the female Savant named Caris,
had begun acting in the mid 1960s.
45. She went on to appear as Unity Mitford
in the Ned Sherrin/Caryl Brahms musical
The Mitford Girls
at the 1981 Chichester Festival -
46. the same festival in which Tom Baker
took his first post-Doctor Who role, as
Oscar Wilde in Feasting with Panthers.
47. Gleeson gained further TV credits in
1986 on an episode of Just Good Friends
and the award-winning BBC classic drama,
Hotel du Lac.
48. She then worked mainly in the theatre.
49. Crawford Logan, playing Deedrix,
was inexperienced in TV, although
he had appeared in a 1978 episode
of the BBC's Secret Army.
50. In later years he specialised
in voice work, including
with a rock band called the Martians.
51. From 2006 he took on the role
of Paul Temple in the BBC's series
of radio adaptations
of the Francis Durbridge crime novels.
52. Zastor's comment that he hasn't changed
much implies that the Doctor's
first visit to Tigella came earlier
in his Tom Baker incarnation.
53. Terence Dudley took on the assignment
of directing 'Meglos' at the invitation
of John Nathan-Turner.
54. Nathan-Turner knew of and respected
Dudley's earlier work, including
as a director and writer
on All Creatures Great and Small -
55. another BBC show on
which Nathan-Turner had earlier been
production unit manager.
56. Dudley had a long career at the BBC,
in the three different capacities
of writer, director and producer.
57. His first credit as a producer/director
came on The Men from Room 13 (1961)
And his first as a writer
on The River Flows East (1962).
58. In 1963, he was invited by Doctor Who
producer Verity Lambert to write the
new show's opening story, but declined.
59. To science fiction fans, he is best
known for producing, and sometimes
writing and directing, the 1970s
BBC series Doomwatch and Survivors.
60. He retired in the mid-1980s and died
of cancer on Christmas Day 1988.
61. Romana is still wearing her outfit
from 'The Leisure Hive'.
62. It's a swimsuit - 19th century style -
chosen for an abortive outing to see
the opening of the Brighton Pavilion.
63. Romana's dress sense often led her
to favour period garments,
especially children's clothes.
64. Tom Baker was not in good health
during the early part of production
on this season of Doctor Who.
65. His hair, normally naturally curly,
had gone straight, and prior to
recording had to be curled with rollers
by the show's make-up artists.
66. Fortunately, Baker's health started
to improve again in the weeks
following the making of 'Meglos'.
67. The notion of breaking out of a time
loop by throwing it "out of phase"
was a novel one in Doctor Who terms.
68. The idea of the Doctor "forgetting
his lines'was scripted as:"There is
an awful silence. The Doctor has dried."
69. The stage directions continue:
"As they come up against the hysteresis
their re-enactment begins
to encounter resistance.
70. "Their voices and movements slow down
as they work against the time stream."
71. The end of the sequence was envisaged
as being more spectacular:
72. "For a moment time seems to come to a
stop. The TARDIS judders. The tool kit,
manual etc. Fly across the room.
73. "Suddenly the Doctor and Romana
break free and fall forward."
74. The non-speaking Deons were played
by the following walk-on artists:
75. Terence Creasy, Eddie Sommer,
Ray Knight, Chris Marks, Stephen Nagy,
Sylvia Marriott and Lewis Hooper.
76. Other walk-ons featured in all four
episodes, playing the Tigellan
guard characters, were as follows:
77. Michael Gordon Browne, Harry Fielder,
Laurie Good, Peter Gates Fleming
and Geoff Whitestone.
78. Christopher H. Bidmead wanted
this season's stories to rely on the
realistic solution of problems,
without use of "technobabble".
79. He felt that characters should use their
wits and intelligence to work their way
into and out of story situations.
80. This is seen here, with Meglos's
disingenuous arguments to ensure
that the Tigellans leave him alone
with the Dodecahedron,
81. turning against Lexa her insistence
that he swear allegiance to Ti,
the god from whom the planet
presumably derives its name.
82. The script envisaged that the erratic
pulsating light of the Dodecahedron
would be seen throughout this scene,
coming from the Power Room.
83. The TARDIS finally materialises
on the surface of Tigella,
in what the script described as
"a particularly dense patch of jungle".
84. The script went on:
"The door opens a few degrees,
but its handle is caught in a creeper."
85. The studio set was simpler
for cost and practicality reasons.
86. As usual, K9 is not shown
actually leaving the TARDIS -
the radio-controlled dog
could rarely cope with the step!
87. Note the TARDIS door is left ajar here.
88. The script originally envisaged that
the Power Room would be a cave rather
than a constructed underground chamber.
89. You'll remember that the object inside
the Power Room was not originally
a Dodecahedron.
90. Here's how the authors imagined
the Pentagram:
91. "Beneath its receptor panels,
on a plinth-like rock,
stands a five-sided golden object
throbbing with light and power.
92. "It is five feet in height,
depth and width,
filling the cave with its splendour."
93. The instrument Meglos places on the
Dodecahedron is the redimensioner,
established in Part 1
when Brotadac tried to steal it.
94. As first scripted, only the Doctor
and Romana had dialogue in this scene.
It was rewritten to give some lines
to K9 too.
95. The large leaves in the background
were made of vacuum-formed plastic.
96. Romana's costume was inspired
by the image of the title character of
Frances Hodgson Burnett's children's
book Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886),
97. and in particular by the way
the character's clothes were drawn
by the book's original illustrator,
Reginald Birch.
98. Blue was ruled out as a possible costume
colour due to all the blue-screen
CSO effects involved in this story.
99. Designer June Hudson therefore had
Romana's costume made mainly out
of a red, foam- backed velvet material,
antique printed and fretwork cut.
100. The shirt was of white Brussels lace.
101. The Savants' black trousers
were bought off the peg from a shop,
as were the boots.
102. Their tops, however, were specially
designed, and made of a white quilted
cotton with silver edging.
103. Hudson wanted them to have a "very
crisp and clean" look, recalling the
starched white lab coats of scientists.
104. Lexa's robes, like those of the other
Deons, were made from a quilted
curtain material with foam backing
to add weight and body.
105. Peter Howell reuses the "rattle"
musical motif that Paddy Kingsland
established for Meglos in Part 1.
106. This serves as a reminder that Tom Baker
is playing Meglos in this scene -
not the Doctor.
107. The blonde hair emerging from Lexa's
headpiece emphasises that she
and the Savants are of the same race.
108. The guards' uniforms were similar to,
and their helmets identical with,
those used by Hudson for Skonnon guards
in 'The Horns of Nimon' (1979-80).
109. Costumes were reused because 'Meglos'
had been planned as a low-budget story.
110. The aim was to save money for other,
more expensive stories in the season -
particularly those
with location filming.
111. The need to economise is reflected
in the sets, which are mostly small
and sparsely dressed.
112. The most costly was the Tigellan jungle.
113. The bell plants that Romana fends off
were made of polyurethane foam.
This proved expensive -
114. their cost significantly exceeded the
budget allocated to them.
115. The jungle sounds used by special
sound designer Dick Mills in this scene
were stock effects from the
BBC Radiophonic Workshop's library.
116. Long-time viewers may have recalled
hearing them before in other Doctor Who
stories with jungle settings,
such as 'Planet of the Daleks' (1973).
117. Zastor's purple robes were made
of a polyester jersey material, chosen
because it was a lot lighter and cooler
than it appeared -
118. an important consideration
because of actor Edward Underdown's
very poor health.
119. The control panels were again adapted
from Visual Effects Department stock,
including some from
'Nightmare of Eden' (1979).
120. It was routine for the Visual Effects
Department to supply such elements
for Doctor Who.
121. The effects and set designers would
liaise to ensure visual consistency.
122. Tom Baker's make-up here
was achieved in the same way
as the Earthling's earlier on,
123. with a green latex appliance over his
face and gloves over his hands, finished
with needles from ears of barley.
124. The incidental music again uses the
distinctive Meglos leitmotif.
125. The following sequence of Meglos
playing cat-and-mouse with the guards
is another that serves to pad out
this under-running episode.
126. Again, maximum use is made
of a relatively small set, depicting
the cave-walled Tigellan under-city.
127. This scene also presents an example
of what is now a media cliché about
Doctor Who, but is actually rare
in the televised stories:
128. A wobbling set wall.
129. The wall in question is the one on the
right of Meglos's hiding place.
130. It visibly wobbles both
when the guard touches it
131. and when Meglos retreats
back out of sight.
132. Here, Peter Howell's incidental music
quotes the Doctor Who theme tune,
133. thus establishing that it is now
the Doctor, rather than the disguised
Meglos, that viewers are seeing.
134. This technique will be repeated later
to help distinguish clearly between
the Doctor and his doppelganger.
135. It was fashionable in BBC drama series
generally at this time for the
incidental score to quote the theme tune
when the star was featured.
136. The white plaits emerging from the
Deons' hoods represent their blond hair,
137. allowed to grow long, in contrast
to the Savants' close-cropped style,
but not left loose like Lexa's.
138. Again, this emphasises the cultural
divide between Deons and Savants.
139. As scripted, the Doctor was to have
asked "What about Romana and K9?" -
hence Lexa's seemingly odd retort,
"Never mind about them."
140. The entrance was the only part
of the Gaztaks' spaceship exterior
to be constructed in the studio.
141. The relevant section of the model
spaceship was designed to match.
142. This figure-creeps-up-behind-heroine
type of shot has created a brief scare
in many a horror film.
143. K9 was fitted with new
caterpillar tracks for this season
to make him more mobile.
144. Here, though, he finds himself
losing power.
145. It's another example of the writers
sidelining the robot dog to remove
a too-easy solution to the situation.
146. Flanagan and McCulloch were not happy
with how the Gaztaks looked.
147. They later described the costumes as
"something out of
a Gilbert and Sullivan opera".
148. This sequence is a further instance
of material added to pad out
the seriously under-running episode.
149. Romana tries to avoid
the pursuing Gaztaks...
150. and effectively runs in a circle,
ending up back where she started.
151. This episode was originally transmitted
at 6.17 p.m. On BBC One
on Saturday 4 October 1980.
152. It had a dismal rating of 4.2 million
viewers - even worse than
the previous one - with a very poor
TV chart position of 139th.
153. The drop may have been partly
due to ITV regions moving
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
forward to start at 5.45 p.m. -
154. thus gaining an advantage
by hooking viewers
before they could tune in to Doctor Who.
155. This episode's Appreciation Index figure
was better than the previous week's,
at 64%.