All six episodes of The Power of the Daleks are missing from the BBC Archives. For the purposes of this marathon I watched Loose Cannon’s reconstructions, links for which appear below.
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 1 Part 1
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 1 Part 2
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 2 Part 1
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 2 Part 2
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 3 Part 1
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 3 Part 2
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 4 Part 1
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 4 Part 2
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 5 Part 1
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 5 Part 2
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 6 Part 1
Loose Cannon’s The Power of the Daleks, Episode 6 Part 2
“The Doctor was a great collector, wasn’t he”, the strange little man with the ill-fitting, improvised clothes said as he rummaged through the large chest. “But you’re the Doctor” exclaimed a confused Polly. “Oh, I don’t look like him” quipped the man.
So began the journey of the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton, as he recovered from his “renewal” as though he’d been on an LSD trip. In fact, the reference to LSD comes directly from the production notes. This was 1966, of course. When Ben had told the “old Doctor” that the ordeal in the Cyberman ship was “all over” (The Tenth Planet) the Doctor had replied by saying “What did you say, my boy? It’s all over. It’s all over. That’s what you said. No, but it isn’t all over. It’s far from being all over”. The “new” Doctor had strangely chuckled “It’s over. It’s over” as he scrambled to his feet upon regenerating. Whilst the Doctor’s “renewal” may have been over, his journey to be understood by his companions was only beginning.
Upon renewal the Doctor is in a confused state, as if he’d been tripping on LSD
Quietly hostile and prone to referring to himself in the third person, the Doctor evaded answering uncomfortable questions by playing a recorder retrieved from the chest. The sceptic Ben was infuriated by the Doctor’s behaviour and didn’t believe the man before him to be the same person as the “old Doctor”. Polly, however, was more willing to believe and recalled the old Doctor’s comment to the effect that perhaps his old body was wearing a bit thin. No one had exited or entered the Tardis so surely this stranger must be the Doctor. It would take a Dalek to recognize the Doctor by sight, towards the end of episode two, for Ben to finally believe that the “new” Doctor was one of the same as the “old Doctor”.
Ben, Polly and the new Doctor with his 500 Year Diary
The Dalek’s recognition of the Doctor, and the Doctor’s visible fear of his oldest foe, was a superbly climatic scene which undoubtedly influenced Rob Shearman as he wrote Dalek, the pepper pots’ debut in Season 1 of the 2005 series. Watch the short clip from Dalek below and marvel at the Ninth Doctor’s fear when he hears the monotone voice of the Dalek say “Dock Toorrr”. The Doctor’s fear as he runs to the door is just palpable. Were The Power of the Daleks not lost and we could watch the serial in its full glory, then I suspect that the Second Doctor’s fear, as he backs into a chair as the Dalek focuses his eye stalk onto him, would be just as unmistakeable.
That The Power of the Daleks should be an influence on the writers of new series Whoshould come as no surprise. The serial is critically lauded as perhaps the best Dalek story ever and is undoubtedly held in higher regard as a consequence of its missing status. The soundtrack is smashing and the few fragment clips of the Daleks absolutely superb. You can even excuse the production team for the reasonably obvious cardboard cut-out Daleks used to swell the numbers in crowd scenes. We hear much chanting of “exterminate, annihilate, destroy” and “Daleks conquer and destroy”, whilst also seeing the construction of Daleks for the first time. Whilst proceeding down the conveyer belt their mutant insides are plonked inside and seen by viewers for the first time in their live state. The Dalek mutants seen in episode of 12 of the Daleks’ Master Plan were in a regressed form. What makes the Daleks all the more frightening is that they are initially so compliant and obliging.
The Power of the Daleks – Surviving Dalek clips
The similarity between the Series 5 episode Victory of the Daleks and The Power of the Daleks is remarkable. In both stories the Daleks originally portray themselves as servants of humans. In Power the Dalek chants “I am your servant”, whilst in Victory their incantation is “I am your soldier”. In both stories the Doctor is increasingly frustrated at everyone’s refusal to take his concerns about the Daleks seriously. Wildly cognisant of the Dalek’s evil reputation, similar fear and frustration would be instilled into the viewers as well. As Toby Hadokestated in Running Through Corridors, “… with us, the audience, more aware than most of the characters involved in this adventure just how deadly these creatures are. It’s like watching kids playing with a hand grenade, but being stuck behind soundproofed glass and unable to issue a warning”.
Victory of the Daleks Trailer
Victory of the Daleks’antecedents can be seen in The Power of the Daleks
Many of the humans in The Power of the Daleks are not particularly likeable. A rebel group within the community are planning a rebellion, however their grievances are unclear. Unlike the young double eye-browed rebels in The Space Museum whose oppression one could empathise with, even though they were the most useless revolutionaries ever portrayed on TV, these rebels are bullish and ignorant. Prepared to sacrifice anyone to achieve their ends, they make the Daleks in earlier episodes appear positively gentlemanly. Whereas the humans were unable to fathom the Cybermen’s lack of empathy in The Tenth Planet, it is in The Power of the Daleks that the monsters express the very same disbelief about the humans. A Dalek innocently asks, “Why do human beings kill human beings?”
It’s invariably the ignorance of humans, and the Rebels’ preparedness to co-opt the Daleks to their cause, which is the reason for their downfall. After using the humans to acquire the materials necessary to construct new Daleks, they have no further need for humans and destroy them. The Daleks are at their evil best and it’s a great shame that the visuals have been lost because the telesnaps make the massacre at the end look magnificent. Ultimately, however, the Doctor saves the day by destroying the Daleks. Or does he?
The Daleks are at their frightening best in The Power of the Daleks
What puzzled me was why the Daleks needed to be charged in Power of the Daleks whenever they were not on metal, yet the Daleks seen in The Chase and The Daleks’ Master Plan didn’t. Wood and Miles in About Time 2 posit cheekily that these Daleks must have been exhausted from their 200 years spent at the bottom of the mercury swamp or not fully-charged as they were fresh models straight off the production-line. One wonders how viewers can pick up these continuity discrepancies in the early years of Doctor Who, and yet the writers could not. Perhaps it was because the serial was written by David Whitaker and was the first Dalek serial in which Terry Nation had no input.
Loose Cannon’s VHS cover art for The Power of the Daleks. The Power of the Daleks was originally broadcast in the UK between 5 November and 10 December 1966
As the months countdown to Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary on 23 November 2013, so the rumour mill concerning lost Doctor Who episodes escalates exponentially. To the best of fans’ knowledge 106 episodes remain missing from the BBC Archives, however the blog site Bleeding Cool has today reported two new rumours. One unnamed person associated with the Doctor Who production team is said to believe that there have been at least 40 episodes returned to the BBC, whilst another alleges 93. These rumours can be added to the pile which also includes claims that 90 episodes have been discovered somewhere in Africa. Dubbed the omnirumour (or omnirumor for those in America), the Africa 90 story has been circling for months and has set Who internet forums alight.
The 12 part Daleks’ Master Plan is one of the most sought after missing Doctor Who serials
Unfortunately absolutely no evidence has been forthcoming of any finds, not even one single screen capture. Hearsay is the sole testimony offered, with information only forthcoming from friends of friends. There has been talk of the BBC having compelled the signing of non disclosure agreements, delicate negotiations with film collectors and/or dictators, and all manner of other theories to justify the complete absence of evidence. The BBC has issued at least one statement denying that it has lost episodes in its possession, however the rather ambiguous nature of the statement did little to stem the flow of rumours.
The first Doctor Who regeneration (although it was not so named at the time) is among the 106 missing episodes
Having watched 11 straight missing episode reconstructions in the last several days, and with another two tomorrow before a one episode breather (episode three of The Underwater Menace), there’s not much more that I’d love than for a hoard of missing episodes to turn up. I won’t be holding my breath, however. Here’s hoping, though, that one day the hardened Doctor Who marathon viewers will be watching a lot fewer of the brilliant Loose Cannon Reconstructions.
The triple DVD Lost in Time contains many orphan Doctor Who episodes from the First and Second Doctor’s tenures
Known to most as the first Doctor Whoregeneration and the premiere appearance of the Cybermen, it has been persuasively argued by Phil Sandifer in Tardis Eruditorum that The Tenth Planet represents neither. Rather than signalling the First Doctor’s end, Sandifer states that it is rather the demise of the Doctor, per se. Save for his appearance in The Three Doctors, William Hartnell never played the role of the First Doctor. He was always merely “the Doctor” – the original, and some may say, the best. Killed by the energy draining force of the planet Mondas, the Doctor collapses to the floor in his terrifying end. Not only is it the death of the Doctor, but also the death of Doctor Who. Sandifer explains it thus:
The Tardis Crew are ready to brave the cold. Polly chooses a highly impractical mini skirt
“And this is part of being a Doctor Who fan. You are absolutely guaranteed to see the show die in front of you, and then get replaced with a strange, different show using the same name. Eventually, everything that Doctor Who is comes to a crashing halt and something new happens instead”.
The Doctor dies
The sense of the television series named Doctor Who dying would have been very real to viewers on 29 October 1966. Doctor Whowas William Hartnell and William Hartnell was the Doctor. There was no precedent for the change of the lead character in such a radical fashion. Certainly the actor playing a role in a show, whether it be on television or stage, may have changed, but the character remained roughly similar in respect of personality type and more often than not, physical appearance. The most frequently cited similarity, that of the film version of Ian Fleming’s James Bond, was still being played by the first actor to do so, Sean Connery. It would not be until 1969 that George Lazenby would have his one and only outing as 007. Incidentally, it was that very same year that the American series Bewitched saw the character of Darrin Stephens played by a different actor, also with the unfortunate name of Dick. Dick Sargent replaced Dick York, but as in the case of James Bond, Darrin remained ostensibly the same character.
The face of a stranger replaces the familiar form of The Doctor
Doctor Who was different, however. This wasn’t the case of a quick change of lead actor, with the series continuing unchanged. This was actually the death of the lead. Although the new lead actor played the role of a character bearing the same name, the Doctor, his personality was remarkably different. There was very much a sense of re-birth and complete renewal. This was particularly evident in The Tenth Planet’s setting. This was the first “base under siege” story, a genre which would come to dominate Patrick Troughton’s tenure as the Doctor. A “base under siege” involves circumstances where the Doctor and his companions find themselves caught in a confined space or remote geographic location and are confronted by monsters that threaten everyone’s lives, the “base’s” existence, or both. The Series Seven story Cold War, in which the Doctor and Clara find themselves on a Soviet era submarine confronted by an Ice Warrior, is a classic example of the “base under siege” genre.
The Series 7 episode Cold War is a classic example of a “Base under Siege” story
From its very opening sequence, where a rocket is launched, it is apparent that The Tenth Planet is a very different story. The Doctor and his companions are not seen until more than three and a half minutes after episode one’s commencement. Prior to that an array of international characters, not seen before in Doctor Who, are shown. Staffing the South Pole base are Americans, Italians and British, and manning the space shuttle are an Australian and a West Indian (or a resident of another Caribbean country). There’s a sense of confinement and it’s twenty years in the future – 1986. Once inside the base the Doctor is quick to be able identify a hitherto unknown planet hurtling towards the earth as Mondas, the Earth’s upside down twin. For the first time the Doctor shows that he knows not only the past’s history, but also its future. Five minutes before the episode’s conclusion we catch our first glimpse of a Mark 1 Cyberman and it’s on its harrowing features that the episode ends on a classic cliff hanger.
The Doctor and his companions find themselves in a base under siege
These are not the metal villains that the Cybermen are later portrayed as, but rather a far more frightening creation. A race of humanoids whose body parts have been replaced as they wear out, they still retain the vestiges of a human form. Their hands are human and ungloved, and their faces almost mummified in a cloth stocking. Instead of moving their lips as they speak, their featureless mouths open and their sing-song voices spew forth. There is no hint of the monotone voices of the later Cybermen, nor is there a predilection to shout one word threats such as “delete”. The Cybermen in The Tenth Planet are almost gentlemanly in their manners and until the fourth episode not intent on causing havoc to the Earth. Devoid of all emotions, they are entirely logical and see their transformation to Cybermen as a great advance. They are free from illness, heat and cold and wish the humans to travel to their home planet, Mondas, where “You will become like us”. The Cybermen are concerned only for survival, and a race for survival it is as Mondas careers towards the Earth. Only one planet can survive, but which will it be?
The Tenth Planet – A Cyberman extols the virtues of their form
Created by Kit Pedler, an unofficial scientific adviser to Doctor Who, the Cybermen arose from Pedler’s fear of humans being artificially transformed. A medical scientist by profession, Pedler wrote The Tenth Planet more than a year prior to the first heart transplant in December 1967. As displayed in the clip above, the Cybermen have their hearts removed. When Polly questions whether they have a heart at all, the response is entirely literal. That humans may one day become like the Cybermen was a genuine fear held by Pedler.
The Cybermen are at their frightening best as their humanoid antecedents are still evident
Cybermen through the ages
The selfish concern of American General Cutler for the well being of his astronaut son, Terry, is a particularly frightening aspect of The Tenth Planet. Cutler is prepared to detonate the Z Bomb and destroy Mondas merely to save his son’s life. Terry has been sent on a rescue mission by Geneva for the space shuttle which unbeknownst to the United Nations, has already disintegrated. The deaths of all on Mondas, and the possibility of immense radioactive damage to Earth, is of absolutely no concern to Cutler. The loud and bullying American makes the Cybermen and their quiet extolling of Mondas’ virtues appear almost palatable.
The American, General Cutler
Unfortunately illness caused William Hartnell to be absent for episode three. A stand-in faked his collapse to the floor and for the whole of the episode the Doctor is confined, unconscious, to quarters. Given his death in episode four, the Doctor’s absence in episode three provided a sense of continuity to the serial’s conclusion. Quite shocking and unexpected, the Doctor’s collapse upon his return to the Tardis otherwise bears very little reference to the rest of the story. In retrospect fans have read the events of previous serials into the Doctor’s weakening, although given the nature of Hartnell’s departure it’s just as likely that these “signs” were unintentional.
Polly tries unsuccessfully to reason with a Cyberman. The Doctor looks on
You may recall that the Doctor was subjected to the Daleks’ Time Destructor in episode 12 of The Daleks’ Master Plan. Although Sarah Kingdom aged quickly and died, the effects on the Doctor were not so great. He nonetheless suffered the Time Destructor’s effects to some degree, although these were reversed when Steven accidently discovered the means of reversing the Destructor. In The Celestial Toymaker the Doctor was rendered incorporeal by the Toymaker and in The Gunfighters he had a tooth removed by Doc Holliday. Finally in The War Machines an unsuccessful attempt was made to hypnotise him. Did these events precipitate the Doctor’s decline? It’s a question that is unlikely to be answered, although Phil Sandifer, whom we opened with, is adamant that the cause is without doubt the energy draining forces of the planet Mondas. When Polly asked the Doctor at the opening of episode four what had happened to him he responded by saying, “Oh, I’m not sure, my dear. Comes from an outside influence. Unless this old body of mine is wearing a bit thin”. It’s usually only the latter part of this answer that is remembered, rather than the “outside influence”.
The planet Mondas is the Earth’s twin
I will really miss the irascible old Doctor as Who continues Season four with Patrick Troughton at the helm. Join me for my next review as Doctor Who enters a new era with The Power of the Daleks.
The Doctor collapsed on the floor of the Tardis
The Tenth Planet was originally broadcast in the UK between 8 October and 29 October 1966. The DVD of the three episodes held in the BBC Archives, together with an animation of missing episode four, is to released by the BBC in November 2013
In terms of seasons, I’m now an eleventh of the way through my Doctor Who marathon – three seasons down and only 30 to go! William Hartnell has only two serials remaining as the Doctor, The Savages and The Tenth Planet, before Who’s first ever regeneration. I look forward to continuing my marathon with the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton, even though every serial in Season 4 is incomplete. Thank goodness for Loose Cannon’s superb reconstructions and the orphan episodes on Lost in Time. Please join me for Season 4, as my journey through Doctor Who continues.
The Romans is the first of only two Doctor Who stories set in ancient Italy. It would take a further 43 years, until 2008’s The Fires of Pompeii, for the Doctor to again visit the region. Perhaps in a nod to the First Doctor’s inability to navigate the Tardis, the Tenth Doctor and Donna landed in what they had initially thought was Rome, but soon discovered was Pompeii. The Tenth Doctor referred to his earlier adventures in Rome by stating that his role in the Great Fire of Rome was almost “nothing”.
The Tenth Doctor and companion Donna in “The Fires of Pompeii”
The Romans is perhaps the only Doctor Who story to have ever been conceived as a farce. Unapologetically in the English tradition of ribald comedies, such as Carry On movies, The Romans does not lack the “slap and tickle” school boy humour of the genre. Barbara is chased around by Caesar Nero for most of episode 3, in a slapstick game of sexual catch in which she is an unwilling participant. Seen as a threat by Nero’s wife, Barbara is the victim of yet another attempted poisoning. Unlike the first poisoning conspiracy in The Aztecs, it is not Barbara who thwarts the attempt on her life but Vicki, albeit unknowing of the intended victim.
Nero plays a game of “slap and tickle” with a reluctant Barbara
The story begins with the Doctor and his companions living it up in a Roman country villa. For the first time since the show’s commencement, the Tardis Crew are holidaying and have been leading a leisurely existence for the last month. Although never stated, but clearly implied, Ian and Barbara are very much a couple. Together they play harmless practical jokes and Barbara restyles Ian’s hair. Ian would be happy to continue this lifestyle indefinitely, however the young Vicki is easily bored. She complains to Barbara that she is not getting the life of adventure that the Doctor had promised. Vicki shows no ill effects from the psychological trauma suffered at the hands of Bennett/Koquillion in her first serial. Given that the term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was not coined until the 1970s, it’s perhaps not surprising that the writer, Dennis Spooner, was not conversant at the time with psychological trauma and its effects.
The Tardis Crew living it up in a country villa
The irascible Doctor decides to visit Rome and is begged by Vicki to be allowed to accompany him. Although accepting Vicki’s request, the Doctor refuses to allow Ian and Barbara to join him. He doesn’t need people to fuss over him and suggests instead that they make their own way there. Little does the Doctor know that his fellow companions will eventually make it to Rome, but not by their own free will. Even at the story’s conclusion the Doctor is blindly unaware of his two companions’ adventures.
Ian as a galley slave
The farce continues as the Doctor is mistaken for the famous Corinthian lyre player, Maximus Pettullian. Initially unable to remember his assumed name, the Doctor and Vicki are taken to Nero’s palace where the real, but now decidedly dead, Maximus was due to play a recital. Being bereft of all lyre playing skills does not prevent the Doctor from performing at a feast for Nero in a hysterical example of what today might be described as “Air Lyre”. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Vicki continuously, but ever so slightly, miss running into Barbara and Ian, who are unaware that their fellow Tardis crew members are also in Nero’s palace. After being captured in the villa and taken as slaves, Barbara is sold to Nero’s household as a servant and Ian finds himself as a galley slave in a boat. After again being knocked unconscious, this time by a beam, Ian escapes upon the boat’s wreck. Making his way to Rome to save Barbara, Ian eventually finds her in Nero’s household.
The Doctor and his non-existent lyre playing skills
Almost every conceivable cliché of Roman life is played in this story. When shopping in a market for fabric Barbara reminds Vicki that “when in Rome, do as the Romans do”. Ian quotes Latin texts whilst lounging around the villa eating grapes, is trained as a gladiator, and almost ends up as a lion’s meal. The Doctor gets the corniest lines when, in reference to playing lyre amongst the lions, he states that his performance is bound to be a “roaring success” and “something to get your teeth into”. Slave traders abound, and the “good guy” in Nero’s household, Tavius, is a closet Christian. Rome burns whilst Nero plays the lyre, but not before the Doctor inadvertently gives him the idea that a fire is a good way of circumventing objections to Nero’s rebuilding plans. Even the episode naming is clichéd, with the second entitled All Roads Lead to Rome.
Barbara and the “guy guy” of Nero’s household, Tavius
Nero conceives of the idea to burn Rome
Relations between Vicki and Barbara have softened following the killing of Sandy in the The Rescue. Vicki goes as far as asking Barbara to make her a dress while the pair are shopping in a Roman market. Dressmaking is a skill frequently assumed of Barbara. The Doctor continues to be decidedly amoral and exhibits how much he relishes a good fight. Upon being confronted by a would-be assassin, the Doctor smashes a pot plant over his head and then wraps a blanket around him. He then throws wine over the assassin’s face, hits him over the head with a jar and very athletically dodges a swinging sword. Just as Vicki picks up an object to hit the assailant, he jumps out of an open window. Frustrated by Vicki’s intervention the Doctor regales the girl with tales of his fighting prowess.
The Doctor displays his finely tuned fighting skills whilst in battle with a would-be assassin
DOCTOR: Young lady, why did you have to come in and interrupt? Just as I’d got him all softened up and ready for the old one, two.
VICKI: You’re all right then?
DOCTOR: All right? Of course, I’m all right, my child. You know, I am so constantly outwitting the opposition, I tend to forget the delights and satisfaction of the arts, the gentle art of fisticuffs.
VICKI: I realize you’re a many of many talents, Doctor, but I didn’t know fighting was one of them.
DOCTOR: My dear, I am one of the best. Do you know it was I that used to teach the Mountain Mauler of Montana!
VICKI: The what?
DOCTOR: Do you remember? Have you never heard? No, of course, no, no, of course you haven’t, have you?
Barbara continually resisted Nero’s advances, notwithstanding the gift of a gold bracelet. The bracelet will be of significance in the next story, “The Web Planet”
The Doctor, who in later serials such as Galaxy 4 is keen to advise all that neither him nor his crew kill, clearly has no such inhibitions when it comes to fighting. Will the Doctor entertain us with his combat skills in the next serial, The Web Planet? Stay tuned for the next review where perhaps this question will be answered.
The Romans was originally broadcast in the UK between 16th January and 6th February 1965
“The Romans” DVD was released in a Box Set with “The Rescue” entitled (unsurprisingly) “The Rescue The Romans”
The Doctor Who Mind Robber 