The Daleks Master Plan is an epic story. We have the first death of a companion and the introduction of another one before she bites the dust (literally). This is an ambitious project and to try and sustain a story for three months is a difficult task. There are technically thirteen episodes because viewers in 1965 will have seen Mission to the Unknown which aired before The Myth Makers. There is a nice link to that story in Episode three so the viewer is reminded the relevance of that story. But lets start from Episode 1. Sadly only three episodes exist on video and the most recent of them was Day of Armageddon which was found in 2003 to quite a lot of excitement. The story is in twelve parts which makes it the second longest serial behind the 1986 Trial of a Timelord story but this is infinitely better. The Daleks are working on a bomb called the Time Destroyer and the final piece is the Taranium which is very difficult to get hold off as it has taken 50 years to collect the amount they had. The story spends a lot of time with the Daleks chasing the Doctor to try and get it back.
The first thing that strikes me when I started to listen to the audio was how there was a pre-title sequence where the Doctor, Steven and Katarina are in the TARDIS. It’s never done in 1960’s Doctor Who. There are a lot of things going on in the first episode, we are introduced to Bret Vyon, Mavic Chen and the Daleks as well as the immediate trouble with Steven. By the time we move to the second episode that is where it starts to get going. The fragile relationship between Chen and the Daleks is evident from the beginning and it only gets worse. It’s the now familiar character trait of someone like Chen who thinks he has the upper hand over the Daleks but in reality it’s the other way round.
We first encounter The Brigadier, sorry Bret Vyon as played by Nicholas Courtney. It’s definitely a world away from the Brigadier. The character is instantly unlikeable and it’s a great performance. It’s just a surprise that that his time was cut so quickly but it was quite a shocking exit having come at the hands of his sister. We also get to meet Mavic Chen played by superb Kevin Stoney. Chen is the Guardian of the Solar System and his first speech shows he is powerful and also the idea there is something about him. The third major character was Sara Kingdom who believes without question everything that she is told by Mavic Chen because she sees him as an authourative figure that could do no wrong.
There is one episode in particular which doesn’t really fit into the entire story and that is Episode Seven – The Feast of Steven which aired on Christmas Day. It’s the Doctor Who equivalent of movies that have an interlude. To be honest it’s an interlude that I could have done without. This is more of a comedic episode and isn’t really meant to be taken seriously quite like the new series stories that air on Christmas Day. The highlight of the episode is at the very end when the Doctor, Steven and Sara turn to the camera and wish everybody at home a very Merry Christmas. I would love to have seen that episode go out as it would have been totally great to witness.
This story sees the return of Peter Butterworth as the Meddling Monk which is always a good thing. After his great performance in ‘The Time Meddler’ his involvement in this is the necersary pick up that the story needed after weeks of just the Doctor, Steven, Sara, Mavic Chen and the Daleks. A funny moment was when Steven and Sara come across a mummy which turns out to be the Monk. The only slight disappointment is that his exit is too similar to his exit in The Time Meddler.
The first death of a companion is not the dramatic piece that it should have been. The character of Katarina is not a very good character and that’s why she only last five episodes. To be fair to Adrianne Hill, the character didn’t really have much of a shelf life and her exit whilst must have come as a shock to viewers in 1965, it would have had more impact had it happened to Steven. The death of Sara Kingdom is definitely more emotional. Having started out as a hard nosed Space Agent and becomes over the course of the twelve episodes to a member of the TARDIS, her death which now only exists as a couple of telesnaps is quite dark and its amazing that they did this considering it was still considered a kids show in 1965. At the end of the story it was clear that it had taken a lot of out of everyone involved.
The last couple of episodes of the darkest with the death of Sara and off all the Daleks. It’s Steven’s reaction to the death of Sara that is what makes it seem even more sad. If there is a problem with the story is that there is a lot of ‘The Chase’ in this story. The Doctor having the Taranium and the Daleks trying to get it off him. I think that was someone on the show not being totally confident that the story would stretch out over twelve episodes so having a chase theme would pad it out a bit. The fact that The Daleks Master Plan doesn’t exist in its entirety is one of the biggest annoyances about Doctor Who. It’s a story that has pretty much everything with drama, sadness and comedy. The three episodes that exist can be found on the Lost in Time DVD and the entirety can be bought of iTunes. It’s well worth a listen because it’s a great story and the narration by Peter Purves is great. The Daleks Master Plan is a story that every Doctor Who fan especially new ones should be told about and attempt to listen to.
The first thing that strikes me when I started to listen to the audio was how there was a pre-title sequence where the Doctor, Steven and Katarina are in the TARDIS. It’s never done in 1960’s Doctor Who. There are a lot of things going on in the first episode, we are introduced to Bret Vyon, Mavic Chen and the Daleks as well as the immediate trouble with Steven. By the time we move to the second episode that is where it starts to get going. The fragile relationship between Chen and the Daleks is evident from the beginning and it only gets worse. It’s the now familiar character trait of someone like Chen who thinks he has the upper hand over the Daleks but in reality it’s the other way round.
We first encounter The Brigadier, sorry Bret Vyon as played by Nicholas Courtney. It’s definitely a world away from the Brigadier. The character is instantly unlikeable and it’s a great performance. It’s just a surprise that that his time was cut so quickly but it was quite a shocking exit having come at the hands of his sister. We also get to meet Mavic Chen played by superb Kevin Stoney. Chen is the Guardian of the Solar System and his first speech shows he is powerful and also the idea there is something about him. The third major character was Sara Kingdom who believes without question everything that she is told by Mavic Chen because she sees him as an authourative figure that could do no wrong.
There is one episode in particular which doesn’t really fit into the entire story and that is Episode Seven – The Feast of Steven which aired on Christmas Day. It’s the Doctor Who equivalent of movies that have an interlude. To be honest it’s an interlude that I could have done without. This is more of a comedic episode and isn’t really meant to be taken seriously quite like the new series stories that air on Christmas Day. The highlight of the episode is at the very end when the Doctor, Steven and Sara turn to the camera and wish everybody at home a very Merry Christmas. I would love to have seen that episode go out as it would have been totally great to witness.
This story sees the return of Peter Butterworth as the Meddling Monk which is always a good thing. After his great performance in ‘The Time Meddler’ his involvement in this is the necersary pick up that the story needed after weeks of just the Doctor, Steven, Sara, Mavic Chen and the Daleks. A funny moment was when Steven and Sara come across a mummy which turns out to be the Monk. The only slight disappointment is that his exit is too similar to his exit in The Time Meddler.
The first death of a companion is not the dramatic piece that it should have been. The character of Katarina is not a very good character and that’s why she only last five episodes. To be fair to Adrianne Hill, the character didn’t really have much of a shelf life and her exit whilst must have come as a shock to viewers in 1965, it would have had more impact had it happened to Steven. The death of Sara Kingdom is definitely more emotional. Having started out as a hard nosed Space Agent and becomes over the course of the twelve episodes to a member of the TARDIS, her death which now only exists as a couple of telesnaps is quite dark and its amazing that they did this considering it was still considered a kids show in 1965. At the end of the story it was clear that it had taken a lot of out of everyone involved.
The last couple of episodes of the darkest with the death of Sara and off all the Daleks. It’s Steven’s reaction to the death of Sara that is what makes it seem even more sad. If there is a problem with the story is that there is a lot of ‘The Chase’ in this story. The Doctor having the Taranium and the Daleks trying to get it off him. I think that was someone on the show not being totally confident that the story would stretch out over twelve episodes so having a chase theme would pad it out a bit. The fact that The Daleks Master Plan doesn’t exist in its entirety is one of the biggest annoyances about Doctor Who. It’s a story that has pretty much everything with drama, sadness and comedy. The three episodes that exist can be found on the Lost in Time DVD and the entirety can be bought of iTunes. It’s well worth a listen because it’s a great story and the narration by Peter Purves is great. The Daleks Master Plan is a story that every Doctor Who fan especially new ones should be told about and attempt to listen to.
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