Doctor Who 8x16

Directed by Michael E. Briant

Nicholas Pennell as Winton • John Ringham as Ashe • Roy Skelton as Norton • Helen Worth as Mary Ashe • Pat Gorman as Primitive and Voice

The Doctor discovers an Interplanetary Mining Corporation ship has landed on the planet in order to mine its duralinium, while Norton begins causing trouble at the colony.

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1. "The Doctor and Jo are caught up in the struggle between IMC and the Colonists for possession of the alien planet.

2. "The Doctor risks his life to discover the secret of the lizard monsters."

3. This episode was first broadcast on Saturday 17 April 1971 and was watched by 8.5 million viewers.

4. This is a new performance of the same scene at the end of the previous episode.

5. "Caldwell is a tough, hardbitten man in his late thirties. An experienced minerologist."

6. "He wears the uniform of IMC - the Interplanetary Mining Corporation."

7. You may notice that the robot looks slightly different in studio.

8. It was left out in the rain while on location, having been removed from a storage shed hired for the week.

9. The plywood-and-cardboard construction broke on the way back to London.

10. In the process, the robot lost the large scanner attachment seen on location.

11. Caldwell is concealing his alarm here.

12. Caldwell stops him, "in a seemingly friendly manner".

13. As scripted, the immobile man-shaped robot comes to life and takes a step towards the Doctor.

14. "Caldwell is genuinely appalled, he didn't know of the deaths."

15. There followed a recording pause to set up the film insert next.

16. The dome was set up ready to record by 8:45 on 10 February 1971.

17. The buggy has been repositioned.

18. Filmed immediately before was a scene of the Doctor arriving.

19. For a largely uninhabited planet, there are a lot of tyre tracks!

20. They're heading towards the location area used for the primitive city exit in Episode 4.

21. "Norton is ravenously eating surrounded by intrigued colonists."

22. The make-up designer was kept busy supplying a wide range of postiche on this story.

23. This included not just face fungus for the hairy hippies but a remarkable blond wig coming up in a few moments.

24. Winton's line was originally scripted to be a general rabble-rousing address to the other colonists.

25. With all the hair work taking a lot of application time, it was probably decided early on

26. to avoid doing extensive full-body make-up jobs on the primitives.

27. Up to six were to be seen on screen at any one time: That's a lot of make-up time.

28. Playing the single primitive in this episode is Pat Gorman.

29. He has the unique distinction of playing three different credited roles in this story.

30. He was also credited for a "voice", but this was an error.

31. The voice will be heard in a few moments - watch this space!

32. Gorman had been a regular contributor to Doctor Who since the second Dalek serial back in 1964,

33. in which he was a member of a human resistance organisation after the Daleks invaded Earth.

34. Ashe picks up some small packets of processed food.

35. This line was added in rehearsals.

36. It replaced the scripted action, where he just brushes Winton aside.

37. And we reach another recording break to redress the set.

38. We now move to the opposite end of the site, where the Tardis landed.

39. The area at the right was known as "Big Island".

40. This was scripted as "A small black ultra-modern spacecraft,

41. "very different from the battered colonists' space ship which we saw earlier."

42. You are about to see an ingenious effect.

43. A thin sheet of gauze is stretched across the back of set.

44. A blue light turned it into a CSO screen.

45. Note the edge of the blue-lit gauze at the top right.

46. One problem of using CSO was that the actor on set couldn't see the image,

47. which is why Morgan reacts to something which hasn't happened yet.

48. One question we haven't raised: Why is the Doctor is driving Caldwell's "Teddy" buggy?

49. There's no answer to that!

50. Perhaps car-loving Jon Pertwee seized his opportunity to drive!

51. The role of Morgan was written with an actress in mind: "Miss Morgan".

52. The BBC management quickly got cold feet about the possible "kinky", dominatrix connotations of such a character,

53. so the serial reverted to the usual stock male villain, with Tony Caunter cast on 29 January.

54. We see what appears to be news film of the Nigerian civil war in January 1970.

55. Malcolm Hulke often used this kind of on-screen info-dump in Doctor Who.

56. It was a quick and easy way to explain the context in visual form.

57. Recorded but cut for time was the Doctor changing channels and finding some music.

58. Producer Barry Letts was not amused and insisted that the cast take their work more seriously.

59. Letts mistakenly assumed that the blond wig was more comical campery - not part of his actual costume!

60. Dent walks out into a recording break.

61. "With every square foot of the Earth's masses now with building complexes..."

62. Hulke wrote that we see "an architect's drawing of high-rise flats on floating island in the sky".

63. The voice belonged to former child actor Michael Briant.

64. He often supplied off-camera voices for the Doctor Who serials he directed.

65. Hulke described this set as: "A small room. The wardroom of the space ship.

66. "It is used only by the handful of ship's officers for meals and information."

67. The "bucket chair" design was very popular in the early 1970s.

68. Morris Perry is about to struggle with the scripted phrase:

69. "Extremely high concentration"

70. Dent is about to paraphrase one of the twentieth century's most misquoted quotes:

71. "What's good for General Motors is good for America".

72. It's often understood to be an admission of greed by the company.

73. They meant the opposite: When America makes money, so does General Motors.

74. Battery hens are reared in small enclosed boxes indoors and never see daylight or fresh air.

75. Sometimes, for reasons of economy, sets end up being decorated with simple curtains and very few props,

76. The Doctor is apparently not a connoisseur of the refreshing taste of Ribena.

77. Dropped at the end of this scene was scripted business of the Doctor trying the door and finding it locked.

78. Substances such as coal, iron, gold, copper, oil, duralinium,

79. or boom microphones...

80. The rest of this scene was heavily rewritten to clarify the nature of the IMC men further:

81. They will stop at nothing to get what they want.

82. Coincidentally, the Western movie shown on BBC-1 the same evening as this episode had a similar theme:

83. refusing to let anything that they faced get in their way.

84. Construction of sets for this episode cost the budget £627.

85. £642 was spent on specialist prop hire.

86. The opening of this scene was revised, making the Doctor less irascible.

87. "The Doctor is striding up and down impatiently.

88. "He rattles angrily at the door handle, when suddenly the door is opened by Morgan."

89. You may be starting to think that this story is just a Western in space. And you'd be right.

90. The primitives take the role of the native Americans (or Indians, to be politically incorrect),

91. and the colonists are the settlers in the old West.

92. So in Western terms, Dent's off to have a pow-wow with the local mayor.

93. the strangers who turn up making unwanted trouble for the local townsfolk.

94. Guess that'll be the men from IMC...

95. Time for another recording break.

96. The Doctor isn't driving this time. Morgan probably wouldn't let him.

97. Morgan's line was unscripted, and was ad-libbed around the situation.

98. The three primitives are Havoc stuntmen Terry Walsh, Dinny Powell and Alf Joint.

99. Joint was a seasoned sword and staff fighter.

100. He worked on a number of blood-and-sword costume films and television series, notably Dick Turpin (1980-2).

101. Now for a favourite stunt by the Havoc team at the time.

102. Since the previous scene on this set , several hours have passed.

103. The breakfast tureen is now getting ready to provide a mid-day meal.

104. before returning to studio to start recording at 7.30.

105. The recording then ran until completed. Or 10.30 p.m. Whichever came sooner.

106. We are in "a small area containing the main junction control panel and fuses of the colony.

107. "This should look a make-shift rigged up job. The panel consists of big high voltage switches."

108. The octagonal switch point was provided by Magna Models for £67.

109. Hulke indicated that this exchange between Holden and Winton is cheery and a regular occurrence between them.

110. You may have noticed that the primitive is more colourful than last week.

111. The script indicates that he is a youngster. Perhaps the brighter colours fade with age?

112. He had previously appeared in Doctor Who as Rhynmal the scientist in 'Counter Plot',

113. the fifth episode of an epic-length Dalek story in 1965-6.

114. Viewers with even longer memories might have recalled him from appearances opposite Tony Hancock

115. in both Hancock's Half Hour (1957) And the prestige play The Government Inspector (1958).

116. A few weeks earlier in 1971, viewers could have seen him in a small role in ITV's children's serial Timeslip.

117. In response, he cited this sequence to illustrate how responsibly they handled violence:

118. "We never show a spear going in or blood coming out."

119. This is not a reference to Jim'll Fix It.

120. Holden is lying dead, a spear beside him. The primitive is also dead.

121. Hardly worth them coming in to work today, was it?

122. Back now to Jim'll Fix It, a request programme hosted by the peculiar disc jockey Jimmy Savile.

123. Between 1975 and 1991 he "fixed it" so that viewers could fulfil their fantasies.

124. They might meet a famous pop group or their favourite actors, or achieve other more quotidian dreams.

125. Savile "fixed it" with the aid of Doctor Who several times.

126. We now look aghast into a recording break.

127. The script calls for a "slow zoom" towards the IMC spaceship.

128. Numbers are hard to recall from memory.

129. "Code 239" was written in the script.

130. Captain's Log, Stardate Wednesday 4th March 2472.

131. The American series Star Trek had the most familiar spaceship set on television at the time

132. (discounting the Tardis control room, of course).

133. BBC-1 had been transmitting regular episodes since July 1969,

134. but by Spring 1971 they were coming to the end of the series: There were no more new episodes to show.

135. So they began a long-running schedule of repeats that lasted well into the 1980s.

136. Star Trek and Doctor Who often covered similar stories in their own individual ways.

137. Both had featured the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Doctor Who in 'The Gunfighters' in 1966,

138. and Star Trek in 'Spectre of the Gun' in 1968.

139. The IMC men seem to be similar to the alternative universe Enterprise crewmen in the episode 'Mirror, Mirror'.

140. Earth's population in 1971 was estimated as 3.7 billion people.

141. At the current rate of increase, it may be 30 billion by 2472.

142. Give or take a few colonists who escape to another planet.

143. Or "up to your eyes in debt", as it was scripted.

144. You may be surprised to learn that there was another recording pause here.

145. So here is the moment you've all been waiting for.

146. He's parked on the kerb there.

147. The sandy area outside the door appears bone-dry, unlike what we saw in that location scene.

148. The filming experienced the same freak weather problems

149. that befell the location work for 'The Claws of Axos' a few weeks earlier.

150. Aside from very heavy wind and rain, there was also some snowfall.

151. Even on that first day, the ground was starting to get very wet.

152. There was a recording pause here to set the robot.

153. Note that the two false animal claws are both right-handed.

154. Morgan's lines and the ensuing action were written for the start of Episode 3.

155. The episode was supposed to end with a close up of the Doctor as the robot entered.

156. Studio recording continued with the opening scene of Episode 3, to save re-erecting the set.

157. Voice Michael Briant Are you crazy?

158. What do you think you're doing?

159. No!

160. Dinner's ready, Father.

161. Ah.

162. Oh, here we go again.

163. Don't worry, Jim'll fix it.

164. You've got to come with me.

165. That's all right, it's only a power failure.

166. No, you don't understand. Please, come with me.

167. What happened?

168. I was just coming by. I saw it all.

169. He didn't have a chance.

170. The primitive killed him?

171. He went for me, too. I grabbed a spanner and hit him.

172. It was self-defence. I had to.

173. I don't understand it.

174. They were such friends.

175. They're all the same. Treacherous.

176. Get your confidence and then they turn on you.

177. The relay circuits have been destroyed!

178. Your man must've caught him messing about with the controls.

179. Unless we get this repaired, the whole colony will come to a standstill.

180. He was the only one who could fix it.

181. Warp this message direct to IMC Headquarters, Earth.

182. Put it on scramble.

183. Code 2-9-3.

184. Survey ship 4-3 to IMC Headquarters Earth. Captain Dent speaking.

185. Preliminary survey confirms rich deposits of duralinium on this planet.

186. Complications occasioned by previously arrived colonists can be dealt with.

187. I've been checking out the survey results.

188. - Well? - Well, you were right.

189. This is a big strike.

190. The biggest we've ever had.

191. And I want you to radio Earth your requirements for mining equipment.

192. Right.

193. What about the colonists?

194. Oh, they'll have left by the time it gets here.

195. You can't be sure. That Doctor seemed pretty determined to me.

196. He can be dealt with.

197. How do you mean?

198. Where is he?

199. On his way back to his friends.

200. - With Morgan. - You're the captain, why didn't you go?

201. He isn't going to get back to his friends, is he?

202. Morgan's completely reliable.

203. Yes, that's what I mean.

204. Where do you think you're going?

205. Look, scaring people is one thing and I don't mind lying to Earth government

206. - but murder... - Stay where you are!

207. - Now, get out of my way! - May I remind you

208. that I am captain of this ship and we are on an alien planet?

209. If you strike me, I can have you executed without trial.

210. We can persuade these people to go. We've done it before.

211. That man you brought here was some kind of government spy. He was suspicious.

212. Well, it's still murder.

213. Back on Earth, tens of thousands of people die every day.

214. Traffic accidents, suicides, pollution, epidemics...

215. No, that's not the same thing and you know it!

216. Caldwell!

217. The exploitation of this planet can make us both rich.

218. You could enjoy luxury for the rest of your life

219. if you go along with the Corporation.

220. I could exist without IMC.

221. You get on our blacklist, you'll never work again. For anyone.

222. You're up to your ears in debt.

223. I checked.

224. Don't worry about the colonists, Caldwell, just get on with your work.

225. And let Morgan get on with his.

226. Well, here we are.

227. Well, I must say, I still don't quite understand why you wanted to come here.

228. I wanted to see how much damage these creatures can cause.

229. You'll find some claw marks over there and some more over there.

230. And you say these same marks were found on the two colonists?

231. That's right.

232. Yes, it was all very efficiently done.

233. What do you mean?

234. Well, I think the whole thing was faked

235. by somebody who wanted to frighten the colonists away.

236. These claw marks, I mean, something made them.

237. Yes. They could have been faked by some sort of mechanical device.

238. You mean, with something like this?

239. Yes.

240. Yes, exactly like this.

241. By the time they find you, the monster will have claimed another victim.

242. Keep back.

243. Purely business, you understand. Nothing personal.