Serial V, in twelve parts:
- The Nightmare Begins - 11/13/65, 9.1m viewers
- Day of Armageddon - 11/20/65, 9.8m
- Devil's Planet - 11/27/65, 10.3m
- The Traitors - 12/4/65, 9.5m
- Counter Plot - 12/11/65, 9.9m
- Coronas of the Sun - 12/18/65, 9.1m
- The Feast of Steven - 12/25/65, 7.9m
- Volcano - 1/1/66, 9.6m
- Golden Death - 1/8/66, 9.2m
- Escape Switch - 1/15/66, 9.5m
- The Abandoned Planet - 1/22/66, 9.8m
- Destruction of Time - 1/29/66, 8.6m
Sound Bytes:
"Received wisdom has it that when Huw Wheldon was managing director of BBC television in the 1960s, he viewed his mother-in-law's tastes as a barometer for those of the general public at large. Her fondness for the Daleks, therefore, led him in 1965 to call for their increased presence in Doctor Who [...] Their fourth serial was already in commission, but Wheldon's influence ensured that its episode count doubled from six to twelve." - production background from the liner notes of The Daleks' Master Plan (BBC Radio Collection, 2001).
"The Dalek Master Plan [sic] is notable for its vicious, cutthroat qualities. Indeed, the effort to return the Daleks to their former level of evil is quite evident here. Although the Daleks lose in the finale, no less than three heroic figures are killed in the process. Katarina, Sara Kingdom and Bret Vyon all pay for this victory with their lives. These deaths are quite shocking, but they certainly prove the point that the Daleks are still a dangerous foe." - John Kenneth Muir, A Critical History of Doctor Who on Television (McFarland & Company, 1999)
"I knew I was going to be killed off before I joined." - Adrienne Hill (Katarina), quoted in Doctor Who: Companions by David J. Howe and Mark Stammers (Virgin, 1995)
Comments:
Weighing in at a hefty twelve episodes, and featuring the gruesome deaths of three prominent good guys, The Daleks' Master Plan has acquired a semi-legendary reputation in Doctor Who fan circles.
I have mixed feelings about it. I recognize that the serial features some quality sets and special effects, and imaginative direction by Douglas Camfield. But the plot is thin. Early in the story, the Doctor steals a 'taranium core' from the Daleks, thereby preventing them from completing a super-weapon called the Time Destructor. The Daleks then pursue him through time and space, at great length, in what is clearly a more serious re-hash of The Chase.
Mission to the Unknown, the prologue to The Daleks' Master Plan, works well because it's short. Unfortunately, the main event is simply a padded-out version of the introduction. We get more scheming Daleks, more freaky alien delegates, and more creepy jungle scenes, but not much more character development or depth.
I suspect that the first two Dalek serials -- The Daleks and The Dalek Invasion of Earth -- are great because they were edited by David Whitaker, who was probably responsible for making the Thals and the human freedom fighters into three-dimensional characters. Without Whitaker's guidance, the subsequent Dalek serials suffer. Here, all Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner can do is serve up a cast of boring "space people," who never seem, for even a moment, anything like real people.
Despite the lousy characterization, The Daleks' Masterplan still packs an emotional punch on occasion due to the writers' willingness to kill off major heroes (see, they were wasting good guys on TV way before Kiefer Sutherland's 24). Indeed, the deaths of Bret Vyon, Katarina and Sara Kingdom are all saddening, and they effectively raise the stakes of what is arguably the Doctor's most desperate battle against the Daleks.
But even these powerful moments get watered down by some questionable writing. I frankly think it's a little disturbing that Katarina, a nice, mild-mannered handmaiden from Troy who practically worships the Doctor, gets viciously pawed by a convict and then blown out of an airlock simply because the production team couldn't figure out what to do with her character. In a similar vein, I think it's pretty ridiculous that Sara Kingdom murders her own brother, and then is redeemed just minutes later after realizing that he was on the side of the angels after all.
My divided feelings about the serial also extend to its much-praised villain, Mavic Chen (Kevin Stoney). Once again, Doctor Who features an apparent 'fake Asian' character played by a Caucasian actor, but he doesn't even speak with any kind of Asian accent (so why give him that name in the first place?) On the plus side, Stoney gives a great performance, coming across as an oily, arrogant and manipulative megalomaniac. However, his downfall is utterly predictable, and it annoys me that he doesn't have a contingency plan for dealing with the Daleks once they turn on him.
Before I forget, I should say a few words about the notorious Christmas episode, "The Feast of Steven." For this one installment, the whole Dalek plot-line is dropped while the Doctor and friends engage in some light comedy back on Earth. The first half of the episode, in which the Doctor gets picked up for vagrancy by some policemen, is reasonably funny and entertaining. But the second half, involving a trip to 1920s Hollywood, comes across in audio form as shrill and annoying in the extreme.
Still, the part where Hartnell turns to the camera and wishes viewers a merry Christmas is quite charming (I have to wonder, though -- why is this moment so much more infamous than the Doctor's direct-to-camera addresses in The Face of Evil and Remembrance of the Daleks? Do fans just look for excuses to take pokes at the Hartnell era's credibility?)
Aside from the Christmas episode, the serial's most notable installment is the final one. It sounds great -- the conclusion, which involves the Time Destructor ravaging an entire planet, makes for thrilling listening. Everything about the episode is intense, from the music to the sound effects to Hartnell's forceful performance. It's too bad that the earlier parts of the serial aren't nearly as good.
In the final analysis, The Daleks' Masterplan is simply too long and too simplistic to hold my attention. But I admire its serious intentions, and its portrayal of the Daleks as a threat to the entire Universe. I can understand why it captures the imaginations of so many fans, but it doesn't fit my model for classic Doctor Who.
Grade: B-
Next Serial: The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve