510 City of Death: Part One

EPISODE: City of Death: Part One
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 510
STORY NUMBER: 105
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 29 September 1979
WRITER: "David Agnew" (pseudonym for Douglas Adams, Graham Williams, and David Fisher)
DIRECTOR: Michael Hayes
SCRIPT EDITOR: Douglas Adams
PRODUCER: Graham Williams
RATINGS: 12.4 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - City of Death

"Help us, Scaroth! Help us! The fate of the Jagaroth is with you! Help us! Scaroth, you are our only hope! Our only hope! Help us! Scaroth! Scaroth! The Jagaroth! The Jagaroth!"

On a barren planet the spaceship carrying the last of the Jagaroth prepares to lift of. It's pilot Scaroth is ordered to lift off using warp thrust, which he objects to. As the ship leaves the ground it is destroyed. In 1979 Paris the Doctor & Romana enjoy the sights. In an underground laboratory Professor Kerensky complains about the lack of money to continue his experiments so his employer, Count Scarlioni, gives him a million francs and orders his servant Hermann to sell one of their Guttenberg bibles. While taking lunch in a cafe the Doctor & Romana become aware of a time disturbance and decide to investigate. An artist painting a picture of Romana depicts her face as a clock, prompting her and the Doctor to argue about art so he takes her to the Louvre and shows her the Mona Lisa. They encounter another time disturbance there, causing the Doctor to collapse onto woman, and then a man, carrying a gun, who follows them. Scarlioni congratulates Kerensky on the success of his experiments. The Doctor & Romana stop for a rest, and the Doctor shows her a bracelet, actually a high technology scanner, that he took from the woman. The man with the gun catches up with them and marches them into a nearby bar. The woman, the Countess Scarlioni, reports back to her husband what has happened and he orders the bracelet recovered. The Count's men catch up with the Doctor, Romana and the Detective Duggan, who had been following the Countess, and retrieve the bracelet. The Doctor tells Duggan that he thinks someone may want to steel the Mona Lisa. The Count orders the Doctor, Romana & Duggan brought to his house. Duggan tells the Doctor of how missing works of art are turning up which appear connected to Count Scarlioni before some more thugs turn up to take them to the Count. In the locked laboratory the count surveys the equipment, pausing in front of a mirror to remove the mask that forms his face and revealing that of Scaroth, the last of the Jagaroth!

What a fabulous ending! The slightly dodgy Count Carlos Scarlioni is revealed to be the very alien we saw at the start of the episode!

He's got a lovely Spaceship too, this and the Movellan ship in Destiny of the Daleks are probably the best bits of model work that are ever done in the show.

Unfortunately the ship isn't on the screen for that long......

JAGAROTH: Twenty soneds to warp thrust.
SCAROTH: Confirmed.
JAGAROTH: Thrust against planet's surface set to power three.
SCAROTH: Negative. Power three too severe.
JAGAROTH: Scaroth, it must be power three. It must be.
SCAROTH: Warp thrust from planet's surface is untested. At power three it is suicide. Advised. JAGAROTH: Ten soneds to warp thrust.
SCAROTH: Advise!
JAGAROTH: The Jagaroth are in your hands. Without secondary engines we must use our main warp thrust. You know this, Scaroth. It is our only hope. You are our only hope.
SCAROTH: And I am the only one directly in warp field. I know the dangers.
JAGAROTH: Three, two, one.
SCAROTH: What will happen if
JAGAROTH: Full power!

JAGAROTH: Help us, Scaroth! Help us! The fate of the Jagaroth is with you! Help us! Scaroth, you are our only hope! Our only hope! Help us! Scaroth! Scaroth! The Jagaroth! The Jagaroth!

That's it from the alien till the end of the episode when he stands revealed as The Count!

How and why the alien is now in 1979's Paris is a mystery that will be revealed as the story progresses.....

But we are in Paris for City of Death, both as a filming location and as a setting. And Paris' most famous art treasure is bang in the centre of the story from the word got:

DOCTOR: There we are, the Louvre. One of the greatest art galleries in the whole galaxy.
ROMANA: Nonsense! What about the Academia Stellaris on Sirius Five?
DOCTOR: What? Oh no. No, no.
ROMANA: Or the Solariun Pinaquotheque at Strikian?
DOCTOR: Oh, no, no.
ROMANA: Or the Braxiatel Collection?
DOCTOR: No, no, no, no, no, no!

We get a brief mention of the Braxiatel Collection there which will spawn a character and location featured in several of the Doctor Who New Adventures books.

DOCTOR: This is the gallery. The only gallery in the known universe which a picture like The Mona Lisa.
ROMANA: It's quite good.
DOCTOR: Quite good? That's one of the great treasures of the universe and you say quite good?
ROMANA: The world, Doctor, the world.
DOCTOR: What are you talking about?
ROMANA: Not the universe in public, Doctor. It only calls attention.
DOCTOR: I don't care. It's one of the great treasures of the universe!
ROMANA: Shush!
DOCTOR: I don't care. Let them gawp, let them gape. What do I care.
ROMANA: Why hasn't she got any eyebrows?
DOCTOR: What? Is that all you can say? No eyebrows? We're talking about the Mona Lisa!

And quite quickly it becomes obvious that someone wants to half inch it!

ROMANA: What's this?
DOCTOR: The woman I bumped into was wearing it.
ROMANA: And you stole it from her?
DOCTOR: Look at it.
ROMANA: It's a micromeson scanner.
DOCTOR: That's right. She was using it to get a complete report on all the alarm systems around the Mona Lisa.
ROMANA: You mean she's trying to steal it?
DOCTOR: It is very a pretty painting.
ROMANA: It's a very sophisticated device for a level five civilisation.
DOCTOR: That? That's never the product of Earth's civilisation.
ROMANA: Do you mean an alien's trying to steal the Mona Lisa?
DOCTOR: It is a very pretty painting.

The Who wants to pinch it seems to be part of a larger mystery:

DUGGAN: What's Scarlioni's angle?
DOCTOR: Scarlioni's angle? Never heard of it. Have you ever heard of Scarlioni's angle?
ROMANA: No, I was never any good at geometry.
DOCTOR: Who's Scarlioni?
DUGGAN: Count Scarlioni.
DOCTOR: What?
DUGGAN: Everyone on Earth's heard of Count Scarlioni.
DOCTOR: Ah, well, we've only just landed on Earth.
DUGGAN: Right, fine, that's it. I give up! You're crazy!
DOCTOR: Crazy enough to want to steal the Mona Lisa?
DOCTOR: Or at least be interested in someone who might want to steal the Mona Lisa.

DUGGAN: So, you can imagine the furore.
ROMANA: The what?
DUGGAN: Furore. The whole art word in an uproar.
ROMANA: Oh, furore.
DUGGAN: Masterpieces that have apparently been missing over the centuries are just turning up all over the place.
DOCTOR: All fakes, of course.
DUGGAN: They've got to be, haven't they? Haven't they?
ROMANA: Are they?
DUGGAN: They're very, very good ones. They stand up to every scientific test.
DOCTOR: Really? What, and the only connection in this is the Count?
DUGGAN: Yes.
DOCTOR: So?
DUGGAN: Nothing dirty can be proved, though. He's clean. Absolutely clean. So clean he stinks.
DOCTOR: He isn't clean any more. The Countess has the bracelet.
DUGGAN: What's that bracelet worth?
DOCTOR: Well, it depends on what you want to do with it

A large part of this episode is spent wandering round Paris showing it off to make best use of the decision to film there.

DOCTOR: It's the only place in the world where one can relax entirely.
ROMANA: Mmm. That bouquet.
DOCTOR: What Paris has, it has an ethos, a life. It has
ROMANA: A bouquet?
DOCTOR: A spirit all of its own. Like a wine, It has
ROMANA: A bouquet.
DOCTOR: It has a bouquet. Yes. Like a good wine. You have to choose one of the vintage years, of course.
ROMANA: What year is this?
DOCTOR: Ah well, yes. It's 1979 actually. More of a table wine, shall we say. Ha! The randomiser's a useful device but it lacks true discrimination. Should we sip it and see?
ROMANA: Oh, I'd be delighted. Shall we take the lift or fly?
DOCTOR: Let's not be ostentatious.
ROMANA: All right. Let's fly then.
DOCTOR: That would look silly. We'll take the lift. Come on.

So we get to see some of it's most famous locations starting with the Eiffel Tower, both outside from ground level and inside the tower at some height!

And because the story heavily features the Mona Lisa it's only right it's home the Louvre Gallery appears.

We also get to see Notre Dame Cathedral and the Sienne River.

Rue Vielle du Temple provides an amazing looking pair of doors complete with heads reminiscent of this story's alien!

Since he's in Paris that Doctor gets to ride on it's famous Metro System, similar to London Underground.

They board Line 6 at the above ground Dupleix station near the Eiffel Tower.

The next time we see the train it's bellow ground for it's call at Trocadéro Metro Station before the Doctor & Romana leave it at Boissière Metro Station which we see at platform and surface level.

There's many other locations round the city used in this episode so have a look at Doctor Who Locations.net's guide for this story. Hurrah, It's our old friend David Agnew again in the writers chair! Except, as we know from Invasion of Time, "David Agnew" is a pseudonym used when the show's staff end up writing a story in a time of crisis.

The original story meant for this slot, A Gamble With Time, was originally written by David Fisher, who had already completed The Creature from the Pit, the third story shown this season but the first filmed. Originally written as a Bulldog Drummond parody, the action was shifted to Monte Carlo. *Then* the cost of location filming in Paris was assessed and found to be within the program's budget so the action would have to switched to Paris. At this point Fisher was experiencing marital difficulties so, as the story goes, producer Graham Williams, one half of the Invasion of Time David Agnew, and Script Editor Douglas Adams locked themselves away for a weekend and wrote the script.

This appears to be the first time that Douglas Adams is locked away until a story is written. It wouldn't be the last and would later prove the most effective method of getting a book out of him with Douglas typing in one room while his editor worked next door!

Adams also makes a cameo appearance in this episode! He can be seen as a man having a drink in the bar, first just behind the Doctor as he gets up to leave the cafe and then sitting at a table as Duggan brings them back in.

Meanwhile the shifty-looking man wearing a cloth cap and carrying a metal case who exits the train at Boissière Metro Station after the Doctor and Romana is the story's director Michael Hayes !

DUGGAN: All right, that's enough. Very cleverly staged, but you don't fool me.
DOCTOR: What are you talking about?
DUGGAN: Your men who were in here just now.
DOCTOR: My men? Those thugs?
DUGGAN: Your thugs.
DOCTOR: Are you suggesting those men were in my employ?

The Thug in the trilby in the gallery who then later deprives the Doctor of the bracelet is obviously Pat Gorman making his only appearance this season so it's time for a ceremonial reading of his full Doctor Who credits: he was a Freedom Fighter/Rebel in Dalek Invasion of Earth, a Planetarian in Mission to the Unknown: Delegate Detective thinks he's Sentreal the black Christmas tree, a Greek Soldier in The Myth Makers, a Guard in Massacre, a Worker in The War Machines, a Monk in The Abominable Snowmen, a Guard in The Enemy of the World, a Cyberman in The Invasion, a Technician in The Seeds of Death, a Military Policeman in The War Games episode two, the Silurian Scientist in The Silurians, a Technician in The Ambassadors of Death, a Primord in Inferno, the Auton Leader in Terror of the Autons, a Primitive and Long in Colony in Space, a Coven Member in The Dæmons, a Guard & Film Cameraman in Day of the Daleks, a Sea Devil in The Sea Devils, a UNIT Soldier in The Three Doctors, a Presidential Guard and Sea Devil in in Frontier in Space, and a Global Chemicals Guard / 'Nuthatch' Resident in The Green Death, a UNIT Corporal in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, a Guard in The Monster of Peladon, a Soldier in Planet of the Spiders, the Gate Guard in Robot part one, a Thal Soldier in Genesis of the Daleks, a Cyberman/Dead Crewman in Revenge of the Cybermen, a Guard in The Seeds of Doom, a Soldier/Brother in The Masque of Mandragora, a Chancellory Guard in The Deadly Assassin, a Medic in The Invisible Enemy, a Kro in The Ribos Operation and the Pilot in The Armageddon Factor. He returns as a Gundan in Warriors' Gate, a Foster in The Keeper of Traken, Grogan in Enlightenment, a Soldier in The Caves of Androzani, a Slave Worker and a Cyberman in Attack of the Cybermen. Of those it' easiest to spot his face in Abominable Snowmen, Planet of the Spiders, Robot and The Armageddon Factor! He's got several Blake's 7 appearances to his name as a Scavenger in Deliverance, Federation Trooper / Rebel in Voice from the Past, Trantinian planet hopper Captain in Gambit, Death Squad Trooper in Powerplay, Federation Trooper in The Harvest of Kyros & Rumours of Death, Hommik Warrior in Power, Helot in Traitor and a Federation Trooper in Games & Blake. We was also in Adam Adamant Lives! as a Guard in More Deadly Than the Sword, a Man at Club in Beauty Is an Ugly Word, a Coven Member in The Village of Evil, a War Office Guard / TA Soldier in D for Destruction and an S.S. Guard in A Sinister Sort of Service. He appears once in The Prisoner as a Hospital Orderly in Hammer Into Anvil and just once in Doomwatch as Man in Hear No Evil. His Porridge appearance in the second Christmas Special The Desperate Hours is another easy spot: he's the Prison Officer who comes into the loos as Fletcher and friends are sampling the contraband home brew. He was in two episodes of The Sweeney as a Flying Squad Officer in Thou Shalt Not Kill (director: D Camfield) & Latin Lady, and two The Tomorrow People stories: Worlds Away as the Vesh Hunter and War of the Empires as a US Marine. In the BBC The Day of the Triffids he played a Blind Man in episode 5 while in Douglas Camfield & Robert Holmes adpation of The Nightmare Man he played The Killer with Camfield using him again as a Legionnaire in Beau Geste. He was in The Professionals five times: as a Golfer in Killer with a Long Arm, a CI5 Agent in Close Quarters & Servant of Two Masters, a Security Man in Weekend in the Country and the Police Superintendant at inquest in Discovered in a Graveyard. He's a Policeman again in The Young Ones: Interesting and towards the end of his career Russell T Davies uses him in Dark Season as a Heavy.

IMDB doesn't name the thug with Gorman towards the end of the episode but Aveleyman reckons it was Peter Kodak who previously an Elite Guard in Genesis of the Daleks.

SCARLIONI: Good. Thank you, you may go.

SCARLIONI: But not good enough. Kill them.
HERMANN: The detective and his friends, Excellency?
SCARLIONI: No, Hermann, those two fools.
HERMANN: With pleasure, Excellency.

Neither return for the next episode!

Meanwhile the two detectives in the Louvre are both regulars: James Muir had been a Soldier in The Time Monster, a UNIT Soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, a Muto in Genesis of the Daleks, a UNIT Soldier in Terror of the Zygons, a Brother in The Masque of Mandragora, a Death Attendant in The Sun Makers, a Technician in The Pirate Planet, and a Druid in The Stones of Blood He will return as a Mandrel in Nightmare of Eden, then would have been the Man Fishing and a Krarg in Shada, after which he was seen as a Foamasi in The Leisure Hive, a Gaztak in Meglos, a Tharil in Warriors' Gate, a Police Driver in Black Orchid, a Policeman in Time Flight, an RAF Driver in Remembrance of the Daleks. He'd been in Blake's 7 as a Federation Trooper in Seek-Locate-Destroy, a Phibian in Orac, a Rebel in Pressure Point, a Monster in Dawn of the Gods, a Link in Rescue, a Helot in Traitor, a Pirate Guard in Assassin & a Federation Trooper in Blake. He was the Vl'Hurg Leader i episode 4 of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and was a technician in Moonbase 3: Castor and Pollux. The other detective was Mike Mungarvan: he'd been a Mutt in The Mutants, a Guard in The Face of Evil, an Outsider/Outcast Time Lord in The Invasion of Time, a Druid in The Stones of Blood, a Gracht Guard in The Androids of Tara and a Dalek Operator in the previous story Destiny of the Daleks. He returns as an Argolin / Pangol Image in The Leisure Hive, a Citizen in Full Circle, Kilroy in Warriors' Gate, the 1st Kinda Hostage in Kinda, Ranulf's Knight in The King's Demons, a Soldier in Resurrection of the Daleks, a Jacondan in The Twin Dilemma, an Extra and the Duty Officer in The Trial of a Time Lord, a Lakertyan / Tetrap / Genius in Time and the Rani, and a Policeman in Silver Nemesis. He's also been in the new series once as a Passer By in The Christmas Invasion. He was in Blake's 7 as a Prisoner in The Way Back & Space Fall, an Alta Guard in Redemption, a Customer / Gambler in Gambit, a Helot in Traitor and a Rebel Technician / Federation Trooper in Blake, making him one of the few people to appear in the first and last episodes of that series. He was also in Fawlty Towers as a Hospital Orderly in The Germans, The Sweeney as a Constable in Victims and The Professionals as Will in Black Out.

LOTS of reused props in this episode!

In the spaceship's control room, there is a 2001: A Space Odyssey spacesuit chest unit painted black as per The Armageddon Factor!

For more see Hello Spaceman: 2001 A Space Odyssey Recycled for more on these props appearances in Doctor Who.

Then there's the consoles on top of the computer tape reels

We first saw those two stories ago in The Armageddon Factor then again last story in Destiny of the Daleks, though their use here was filmed first.

In long shot one of them is upside down!

But we've seen that console Count Scarlioni is standing by before too:

It's the pilot's console from the Marshall's shuttle in The Armageddon Factor.

DOCTOR: Nice, isn't it?
ROMANA: Yes, marvellous.
DOCTOR: Marvellous. Absolutely.
ROMANA: Absolutely marvellous.
DOCTOR: Well, I think it's marvellous.
ROMANA: So do I. Though it's not quite as you described it.
DOCTOR: Really? How did I describe it?
ROMANA: You said it was nice.

What I've written really doesn't do what I've seen this episode justice. This is a fabulous episode, a witty script enhanced by some stunning location footage in Paris and some top performances. You really need to buy the DVD & watch it. And yet it's initial viewing figures - remember ITV are still out on strike - are less than those for any episode of Destiny of the Daleks!

509 Destiny of the Daleks: Episode Four

EPISODE: Destiny of the Daleks: Episode Four
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 509
STORY NUMBER: 104
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 22 September 1979
WRITER: Terry Nation
DIRECTOR: Ken Grieve
SCRIPT EDITOR: Douglas Adams
PRODUCER: Graham Williams
RATINGS: 14.4 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Destiny Of The Daleks

"Do Not Deviate! Proceed As Ordered! The Space Vehicle Must Be Destroyed!"

As the device clicks towards zero the Doctor is stunned by the Movellans. When zero is reached nothing happens: the Movellans had set it not to detonate. Davros is waiting for a Dalek deep space cruiser to collect him but it will not arrive for six hours. He analyses the data on the Dalek Battlefleet's stalemate with the Movellans. The Movellans prepare to lift off leaving Lan behind to manually activate the Nova device and destroy the surface of Skaro. The Doctor challenges the logical robotic Movellans, demonstrating the limits of what you can accomplish with logic using a game of scissor, paper, stone. The Movellans insist that the Doctor reprogram their computers as Davros will for the Daleks. Lan is overcome by the former slaves and reprogrammed. Davros orders the Movellan ship destroyed by attaching explosives to the majority of the Daleks and sending them to the ship to self destruct. Agella is sent to check on the non-responsive Lan and is also reprogrammed by the former slaves. The slaves & controlled Movellans enter the ship, freeing the Doctor and deactivating the Movellan crew. The Doctor goes to the Dalek base to confront Davros, seeing the explosive laden Daleks as he travels. He enters the base, Davros telling him he intends to destroy the Movellan ship with the remaining Dalek threatening the Doctor. Commander Sharrel is found to be missing and Romana goes to look for him, fearing he will activate the Nova device. Daleks approach the Movellan ship and the freed slaves attempt to repel them using Movellan weapons. Romana prevents Sharrel from activating the Nova device and deactivates him. The Doctor blinds the guarding Dalek with his hat, and the Dalek is destroyed by a ricocheting shot. The Doctor detonates the Daleks explosives before they can reach the Movellan ship. Davros is placed in suspended animation in the Movellan ship and taken to Earth by Tyssan as Romana & The Doctor dig the Tardis out of the rubble it is buried in.

I love Destiny of the Daleks, but I'm not blind to it's faults. To me most of the major ones can be found in this episode.

The first concerns the mocked up Daleks created to boost their numbers: while many complain that the Daleks throughout the story look shoddy I don't mind the majority of the props: they're in the middle of a war, you'd expect them not to look pristine. But the extra props made up for this story are just not up to scratch, needing to be lifted up to be moved. The one left with Davros, at the end of the scene where the Daleks are sent to destroy the Movellan ship, is a particularly bad offender.

Thankfully it gets substituted for a real casing for the next scene and all the dodgy ones go up in flames at the story's climax.

Visit Dalek 6388 for more on the Dalek props used in the story.

DAVROS: My safety is to be your primary concern. You will make any sacrifice that is required to protect me.
DALEK: I obey!

DAVROS: Now, understand me clearly. You will not deviate from your objective no matter what the provocation. Let no opposition halt you. When you reach the Movellan space vehicle, position yourselves around the ship as close as possible to the hull. The sacrifice you make will ensure total Dalek victory in the space war! Carry out your orders!

Then there's the Daleks themselves. They're fab at the very end of episode 1, all through episode 2 and at the start of episode three. But the moment they get their hands on Davros they're effectively relegated to being his goons.

DOCTOR: Robots! Of Course, One race of robots fighting another!

The other problem concerns the Daleks being described as robots: They're not, they're cyborgs, with a "living, bubbling lump of hate" inside each one. It's not a one off mistake either as the mistake is repeated later in the episode:

DAVROS: A concise report and a fascinating problem. The Daleks have met a foe worthy of their powers. Another race of robots.

I can just about live with the idea of the Daleks having completely shed their organic origins but it does jar heavily with everything we'd been told about the Daleks to date.

DOCTOR: Have a go at this Davros: All elephants are pink, Nellie is an elephant, therefore Nellie is pink. Logical?
DAVROS: Perfectly.
DOCTOR: You know what a human would say to that?
TYSSAN: Elephants aren't pink.
DAVROS: Humans don't understand logic.
ROMANA: They are not slaves to it, like the Daleks and the Movelans.

The Daleks have never been slaves to logic before, they're more defined by hatred of anything not like them a trait inherited from their cyborg version of Nazis origin!

Ironically when we next see the Daleks they are evidentially part organic and have become susceptible to a virus developed by the Movellans. Do they revert back to their earlier form to get round the difficulties exposed here ironically making them vulnerable?

There's more reused costumes amongst the slaves this episode but we've covered most of them previously. However there's one poor actress, who I think is Penny Casdagli, who had dialogue with Romana in episode 2, who is seriously struggling with her costume in the location sequences.....

Then there's Davros' Compusphere. I think this is the first time we see this prop but it won't be the last!

SHARELL: We function Logically
DOCTOR: My condolences to you

A thought about the Movellans vs the Daleks: is this an attempt to do Cybermen vs Daleks on the cheap? There were several attempts to make a Daleks vs Cybermen story in the sixties, and the central concept here of Daleks vs a logical robotic race seem to be quite similar.

Yes there's a few faults too the story, especially towards the end. But I love it, the first two episodes especially. There are better Doctor Who stories made, but this is my favourite. It's had a diminished reputation amongst fans, especially when held up against the previous Dalek story, Genesis of the Daleks. But it's my first proper encounter with them and nothing can shift the impact it had one me as a child which comes back every time I watch the first episode. When I was the secretary of IFIS, the Royal Holloway Science Fiction and Fantasy society we held a Doctor Who video night to celebrate the show's 30th anniversary in 1993. We showed An Unearthly Child, Destiny of the Daleks & Earthshock and this story went down really well that night!

This is Tom Baker's 128th episode of Doctor Who which brings him equal with Jon Pertwee's total, with only William Hartnell at this point having filmed more episode (134) at this point.

As well as being director Ken Grieve's only contribution to Doctor Who, this is also Terry Nation's final script credit on Doctor Who. He'll continue too work on Blake's 7 till the end of the 1980 season, after which he moved to Los Angeles contributing to, amongst others, MacGyver. In the early 1990s he was involved, with Cybermen creator Gerry Davis, in an attempt to produce Doctor Who independently of the BBC. He died on 9th March 1997.

This story was the first time we'd seen the Daleks since their 1975 appearance in Genesis of the Daleks, four years previously. Another four years would go by before the next Dalek story, Resurrection of the Daleks, though that really should have been made the previous year had things gone to plan. Also if things had gone to plan a Dalek would have seen in season 17's finale Shada but filming was suspended on that story half way through. Instead we have to make do with brief flashbacks in 1981's Logopolis and 1983's Mawdyn Undead before they're next seen in a cameo in 1983's anniversary story the Five Doctors. Although this is the only time we see the Movellans on-screen their presence is felt in the next Dalek story, Resurrection of the Daleks and it's successor Revelation of the Daleks.

DALEK: Dalek superiority will ultimately triumph and the Movellan force will be exterminated.
DAVROS: You have been fighting them for centuries, and still you are not victorious!
DALEK: It is only a matter of time.
DAVROS: No. Two gigantic computerised battle fleets locked together in deep space, hundreds of galactic battle cruisers vying with each other for centuries, and not a shot fired?
DALEK: Our computers are planning the moment of maximum advantage.
DAVROS: And so are theirs. It will never come. You have reached a logical impasse.
DALEK: Understood.
DAVROS: So that is why you have returned to find your creator.
DALEK: You will reprogramme our battle computers for us. The Movellans will be exterminated!

The idea of the Daleks' battle computer needing something will also be returned to, with great effect, in Remembrance of the Daleks nine years later.

This episode produced the highest rating for the story:

Part 1	13.0 million viewers
Part 2	12.7 million viewers
Part 3	13.8 million viewers
Part 4	14.4 million viewers

The 14.4 million viewers for this episode, aided by the strike that had taken ITV off the air, was a record for Doctor Who to date, breaking the one set the previous week by the third episode. It would be broken twice more in the next four weeks!

Destiny of the Daleks was repeated from the 5th to 8th August 1980. The story was novelised by Terrance Dicks and released just 2 months after broadcast in November 1979. It was the first to bear a cover painted by Andrew Skilleter. I can remember borrowing the novelization from my local library and then having to hide the book in the cupboard because I was so frightened by the Daleks on the cover. So naturally it was one of the first two Doctor Who books my parents bought me for my birthday! Having "acquired" a copy of Destiny of the Daleks on video while I was at university, I bought the official video release when it came out in July 1994 just after I graduated. It was re-released in September 2001 in The Davros Collection VHS boxset, a WHSmiths exclusive, which also contained Genesis of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks & Remembrance of the Daleks. Destiny Of The Daleks was released on DVD on 26th November 2007 alongside The Davros Collection DVD Box Set which contained the DVD versions of the five stories in the VHS boxset above.

508 Destiny of the Daleks: Episode Three

EPISODE: Destiny of the Daleks: Episode Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 508
STORY NUMBER: 104
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 15 September 1979
WRITER: Terry Nation
DIRECTOR: Ken Grieve
SCRIPT EDITOR: Douglas Adams
PRODUCER: Graham Williams
RATINGS: 13.8 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Destiny Of The Daleks

"So, the long darkness has ended and the eternity of waiting is over. The resurrection has come, as I always knew it would. Now, where are my Daleks?"

The Doctor, Romana & Tyssan flee with Davros but are trapped in a room. Romana & Tyssan escape through a window leaving the Doctor holding Davros hostage with a bomb that he removed from Dalek control. Romana & Tyssan split up to evade the Dalek patrols. The Doctor is forced to surrender Davros when the Daleks start exterminating human prisoners, but he achieves the captives freedom. Detonating the bomb remotely after he leaves, he is unaware it has destroyed the Dalek that removed the explosive rather than it's creator. Romana returns to the Movellan ship where she finds Lan & Agella alive & well. Commander Sharrel announces their objective now the Daleks have found Davros is to secure the Doctor. The Doctor meets Tyssan, but both are captured by a Dalek. The Dalek is destroyed by a Movellan seeking the Doctor but the Doctor immobilises the Movellan by removing a tube like device from it's belt. He shows that the Movellans are robots and teaches Tyssan how to reprogram them. The Doctor finds Romana entombed in the Nova Device, a Movellan explosive device, with the timer clicking down towards zero.....

Once again Terry Nation reaches into his usual repertoire for the third cliffhanger: It's a nice big bomb with a countdown. See also: The Daleks, Dalek Invasion of Earth, Planet of the Daleks, Death to the Daleks & The Android Invasion!

The main part of this episode is a lengthy chat between the Doctor and Davros:

DOCTOR: Well. Well, now we've a little time to ourselves, I'll fill you in on some of the events that have taken place during the centuries you've been, er, dozing.
DAVROS: Well?
DOCTOR: Well, Arcturus won the Galactic Olympic Games. Betelgeuse came a close second. The economy on Algo's in a terrible state due to irreversible inflation
DAVROS: Doctor!
DOCTOR: What? Yes?
DAVROS: Do you believe your puny efforts can change the course of destiny?
DOCTOR: Well, let's just say I might tamper with it.
DAVROS: Destiny, Doctor.
DOCTOR: What?
DAVROS: Invincible necessity.
DOCTOR: Oh, that, that, yes.
DAVROS: Power. My power. My invincibility. My supreme plan to control
BOTH: The universe.
DOCTOR: Yes, yes, I've heard all that before. Now do be a good chap, eh? Stay quiet. I've got to concentrate.
DAVROS: Errors of the past will be rectified. I will add new design elements to the Dalek's circuitry. They will be armed with new weaponry. Weaponry so devastating that all matter will succumb to its power. I will equip them with all the knowledge of the universe
DOCTOR: Yes, yes, yes, we've heard all that. The Daleks can do all that for themselves.
DAVROS: The Daleks need me.
DOCTOR: What? The Daleks left you for dead centuries ago. You've given them all you've got. What do they want you for now, eh? What's so special about the Movellans that they need your help again, eh?

Ah, now there is a good question!

DOCTOR: There, that should do it. Very good. Well, aren't you going to ask me what it is? All right, I'll tell you anyway. Life insurance. What were we talking about?
DAVROS: Your inevitable destruction.
DOCTOR: No, no, no, we had that conversation last time we met. I'm more interested in your survival. I saw you destroyed. The Daleks blasted you at point-blank range.
DAVROS: Ha! There was damage to my primary life support system. The secondary and back-up circuits switch in immediately. Synthetic tissue regeneration took place whilst bodily organs were held in long-term suspension.
DOCTOR: Blimey, wasn't that outstaying your welcome in rather a big way?
DAVROS: Until the Dalek's universal supremacy is accomplished, I cannot allow myself the luxury of death.
DOCTOR: Oh, poor Davros.
DAVROS: However, it is a luxury I shall delight in bestowing upon you.
DOCTOR: You're very generous.
DAVROS: Since my entombment, I have no knowledge of the advancement of my Daleks. Of course they have achieved great things.
DOCTOR: Oh yes, oh yes. They've wreaked havoc and destruction, destroyed countless innocent lives
DAVROS: Only the beginning! Now I have returned, the campaign will begin in earnest. I have slept but now I have awakened, and the universe will be sorry.
DOCTOR: Davros, you. I have slept but now I have awakened and the universe will be. You're misquoting Napoleon! One day I'll tell you what happened to him, too.
DAVROS: Armed with new technology, I will
DALEK: You will move into the open. If you fail to obey in five seconds, you will be exterminated. One, two, three, four
DOCTOR: Hold it, hold it. Now, tell them what I've got here.
DAVROS: He is holding a primed explosive device.
DOCTOR: And one false move and it goes right down inside his chair. I'll turn Davros and his life-support system into scrap metal. Now spack off!
DALEK: We obey only Davros.
DAVROS: He is simply buying time. Do as he says.
DOCTOR: Do as he says.
DALEK: We obey.
DOCTOR: I believe this is what's called a Mexican stand-off.
DAVROS: Ha. How long do you think you can sustain your advantage, alone and against such odds.
DOCTOR: Ha, ha. Wouldn't you like to know, eh? Wouldn't you like to know? .... Wouldn't I like to know!

This episode is famed for the Doctor's retort of "spack off!" to the Daleks. I suspect Tom Baker was trying to say "Back Off!" but stumbled rather over the line.

DALEK: Attention, attention. The action we are about to take is your responsibility. It will cease only when you agree to total surrender.
DOCTOR: Now what?
DALEK: Exterminate.

DALEK: Exterminate.
DALEK: Exterminate!
DOCTOR: Stop!

Not the greatest acting from the exterminated extras in that sequence, but even so it's quite difficult to watch the Daleks just shooting their prisoners one by one.

The Dalek extermination effect has been modified again. Genesis of the Daleks was he first time it was caused by a visible ray, now the effect is localised round their victim instead of taking up the full screen like it had done since the first Dalek story:

DALEK: You surrender?
DOCTOR: All right. All right. You can have Davros, but only on my conditions.
DALEK: State them.
DOCTOR: All slave workers to be released immediately and allowed to leave the city.
DALEK: Continue.
DOCTOR: Nothing to come in here until I'm out and in the clear.
DALEK: Conditions unacceptable. Exterminations will continue.
DOCTOR: Stop! One more killing and I detonate the device. I'll destroy Davros.
DALEK: Logic unacceptable. Detonation would also destroy you.
DOCTOR: Yes, you hadn't foreseen that one, had you.
DALEK: Self-sacrifice illogical, therefore impossible. Exterminations will continue.
DAVROS: Agree. Agree to his terms. He will do what he says. His logic is impaired by irrational sentiment. Agree. I, Davros, command it.
DALEK: We obey. The workers have been released.
DOCTOR: Good, good. Now, I'll need one minute to get clear. Get back! I told you this was life insurance. I've adapted the device to explode by remote control. All I have to do is squeeze my sonic screwdriver and boom, boom, Davros.
DAVROS: You need not elaborate, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Just so long as you've got it clear.
DAVROS: We'll meet again, Doctor. Never doubt it. We'll meet again.
DOCTOR: Don't you be so sure.
DALEK: Exterminate the prisoners.
DAVROS: Quickly, the explosive. He will detonate.
DAVROS: Remove the explosive!
DALEK: We obey.

Both sides go back on their words here, the Doctor detonates he bomb intended kill Davros, and the Daleks order the extermination of the prisoners!

DAVROS: Come. There is much to be done. You must tell me of all the victories the Daleks have won whilst I have slept. And all the defeats. I shall learn from your mistakes. The Daleks shall be made into perfect creatures. They will be invincible! The Daleks will rule the universe!

This is the second time now that Terry Nation has had to bring back a foe that he conclusively killed at the end of a previous story, the first being the Daleks themselves who were seemingly utterly wiped out at the end of their very first adventure. Nobody will seriously argue that bringing back The Daleks was a bad idea but Davros? Somehow his presence relegates the Daleks to being his goons for the rest of this story and the next two appearances and no matter how hard the actor playing him tries he's never going to live up to Michael Wisher's performance in Genesis of the Daleks.

Wisher was, at the time this story was made, committed to long running theatre work so was replaced by David Gooderson, who has primarily worked as a voice actor. However in recent years he's been regularly seen on ITV playing Pathologist Derek Simpkins in A Touch of Frost. That makes two consecutive Doctor Who stories with prominent ITV Pathologists in them: Armageddon Factor featured Barry Jackson who plays Dr George Bullard in Midsomer Murders.

Regular Dalek Voice artist Roy Skelton once again reprises that role here. He was first heard providing Monoid voices in The Ark episode 4: The Bomb before returning in The Tenth Planet as the Cybermen's voices, with a bonus go as the control room countdown voice. At the end of that season he finally starts work on his most famous Doctor Who role, as the Dalek voice, in The Evil of the Daleks episode 1 before playing the Computer voice in The Ice Warriors and reprising the Cyberman voice in the Wheel in Space, both in the next season. His one appearance in Patrick Troughton's final season as The Krotons' voice in The Krotons after which he didn't feature in the series again until Colony in Space where he's first seen on screen as Norton. Following that he's Wester in Planet of the Daleks, invisible until his death when he is briefly seen, a story for which he also provides Dalek voices. After that he's called back to Doctor Who quickly as an emergency substitute playing James in The Green Death episode five after another actor fell ill. He's the Daleks' voice in Genesis of the Daleks before making two on-screen appearances under make up as Marshall Chedaki in The Android Invasion and Rokon in The Hand of Fear. He's returns to Dalek voices in Destiny of the Daleks, where he also briefly plays K-9's voice too, before providing Dalek voices in The Five Doctors, Revelation of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks. He's got an Out of the Unknown appearance to his name, providing Robot voices in The Prophet, which is the story who's robot costumes were reused for The Mind Robber and features The Stones of Blood's Beatrix Lehmann as Dr. Susan Calvin. Alas no recording of the episode survives so the only trace of it on the Out of the Unknown DVD Set is a series of off-screen images. Despite this mass of Doctor who work the roles which Skelton is most famous for are the voices of Zippy and George in Rainbow and when interviewed for Doctor who: Cybermen: The Early Years he can't resist signing off as his most famous creations!

Dalek Operator Cy Town is on his fifth Dalek story having made his debut as a Dalek in Frontier in Space, and then appearing in the same roll in Planet of the Daleks, Death to the Daleks & Genesis of the Daleks. He returns as a Dalek in Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks. His first Doctor Who appearance was as an Auton in Spearhead from Space returning as a Technician in Doctor Who and the Silurians, a technician in Inferno, a Prisoner, Audience Member & Medical Orderly in The Mind of Evil, a Gel Guard in Three Doctors, a Soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, a Vogan in Revenge of the Cybermen part one, an Android Villager in Android Invasion, a Brother in The Masque of Mandragora, an Bi-Al member in The Invisible Enemy, a Guard in The Sun Makers, a Castrovalvan Warrior in Castrovalva, a Guest Gambler in Enlightenment, a Passer-by in Attack of the Cybermen, Execution Victim Harold L/drone in The Happiness Patrol and a Haemovore in The Curse of Fenric. He's also in Doomwatch: Flood as a Man, all six episodes of Moonbase 3 as a Technician and the final episode of Blake's 7: Blake as a Rebel Technician / Federation Trooper

This story is Mike Mungarvan's only appearance as a Dalek Operator. He made his debut in The Mutants as a Mutant returning as a Guard in The Face of Evil, an Outcast Time Lord in The Invasion of Time, a Druid in The Stones of Blood and a Gracht Guard in The Androids of Tara. He returns as a Plain Clothes Detective/Tourist in Louvre in City of Death, which was filmed before this story, a Pangol Image in The Leisure Hive, a Citizen in Full Circle, Kilroy in Warriors' Gate, a Kinda Hostage in Kinda, one of Ranulf's Knights in The King's Demons, a Soldier in Resurrection of the Daleks, a Jacondan Guard in The Twin Dilemma, a Resistance Fighter in The Trial of a Time Lord: Mindwarp, the Duty Officer in The Trial of a Time Lord: Terror of the Vervoids, a Lakertyan in Time and the Rani, and a comet site PC in Silver Nemesis. He was in Blake's 7 as a Prisoner in The Way Back & Space Fall, an Alta Guard in Redemption, a Customer / Gambler in Gambit, a Helot in Traitor, and a Rebel Technician / Federation Trooper in Blake. In Fawlty Towers he was a Hospital Orderly in The Germans, a constable in The Sweeney: Victims and Will in The Professionals: Black Out.

Absent from the Dalek ranks is John Scott Martin, which perhaps explains Mike Mungarvan's one off appearance inside a Dalek Case. John Scott Martin otherwise appears in every Dalek story from The Chase onwards.

For many year the Dalek Operators in this story bothered me as there's only two listed in the credits but there's 4 moving Daleks in the studio so at least 2 were unidentified. My recent acquisition of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society Production Guide means I know now who the other two operators are!

Tony Starr may have appeared in Doctor Who as far back as Mission to the Unknown where the Production File and IMDB list a Tony Starn as a Varga Plant. Since IMDB lists nothing else for this actor I'm inclined to say it's a typo of Tony Starr's name, especially as he does appear relatively soon after as a Fish People in Underwater Menace and a Mine Worker/Citizen in the Macra Terror. He's then a British Soldier in The War Games and makes his first appearance as a Dalek Operator in episode 6 of Planet of the Daleks where he's the Dalek Supreme who shows up in that episode. He misses out in Death to the Daleks and Genesis of the Daleks but returns here and goes on to play a Dalek Operator in Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks.

Toby Byrne is making his Doctor Who debut here - he also plays a slave in episode 4 - and he returns as a Dalek Operator Resurrection of the Daleks, an Agressor/Miner in Timelash and a Dalek Operator Revelation of the Daleks. He was in Blake's 7 as an Albian Rebel in Countdown and a Zondawl Citizen in Warlord.

Unfortunately the Dalek operators have a rough episode. First one lifts his top section off as they leave with Davros:

Then one of the Daleks on location suddenly acquires a gap between it's skirt panels!

At the time of making Destiny of the Daleks Tim Barlow, playing Tyssan, was deaf having lost his hearing in an army accident in the 1950s. He's since had a Cochlear Implant fitted to "restore" his hearing and detailed the experience for a Radio 4 program: Earfull - From Silence into Sound. I didn't think I'd seen him in anything else but I had: he was Mr Morrow in Mel Smith's directorial debut The Tall Guy, the Boatman in Gormenghast, Mr. Treacher in Hot Fuzz and Wilder in the Sherlock episode The Abominable Bride.

The only think I can see on Peter Straker's CV I recognise is Morons from Outer Space, co-written by and starring the aforementioned Mel Smith, where he's the Choir Lead Singer. You can here him interviewed about his life and career in Toby Hadoke's Who's Round #28

Tony Osoba, playing Lan, is best known as McLaren in Porridge, it's film version and the first episode of it's sequel Going Straight. This isn't his first brush with science fiction having already been in the Space: 1999 episode Space Warp as the 1st Security Guard. He was in The Professionalsepisode Stake Out where he's billed as "Handsome Negro", which you thankfully wouldn't see on a credits list today, and Dempsey and Makepeace as Det. Sgt. Chas Jarvis. He returned to Doctor Who in 1987 playing Kracauer in Dragonfire and featured in the new series playing Duke in Kill the Moon. You can hear him interviewed by Toby Hadoke in Who's Round #9.

Agella is played by Suzanne Danielle she'd been in The Professionals episode Killer with a Long Arm as "Pretty Girl", another credit that I doubt we'd see today, and appears in Flash Gordon as a Serving Girl

I'm unable to identify the Movellan played by Susan Lyle but Cassandra, no surname, is the one who resuces, captures and then is disabled by The Doctor & Tyssan:

MOVELLAN: You will accompany me back to our spacecraft.
DOCTOR: Well, all in good time. There are a few things I want to do first.
MOVELLAN: That is not a request. It is an order. Move!
DOCTOR: I do seem to be in demand today. Come on, Tyssan.

TYSSAN: What the devil? Why did she turn against you?
DOCTOR: I'm not sure she was ever for me.
TYSSAN: What are you doing?
DOCTOR: Just as I thought. Just another race of robots, no better than the Daleks.

Make a note of the silver spikey thing that's Romana passed as she leaves the Doctor as we'll see that a few more times in Doctor Who! It's been seen by many on the wall of Dave Lister and Arnold Rimmer's quarters in the first two series of Red Dwarf!

There's more costume reuse in this episode. It's hard to find a decent shot of him but the chap with the yellow thing on his head is wearing the trousers belonging to SV7 from Robots of Death!

Also from Robots of Death we get Dask's costume, minus it's tabard - look at the striped sleeves and legs. There's a closer clearer view of it in one of the publicity photos but the sleeves & legs are harder to see. However with it we can see a Draconian costume for Frontier in Space!

There's a clearer look at the Planet of Evil costume and it appears to be worn by Marcus Powell - I looked up his Avelyman entry to find out what he looks like and think that's him. He played cantina patron Rycar Ryjerd in Star Wars, appears in the Blake's 7 episodes The Web as a Decima & Dawn of the Gods as The Thaarn, Time Bandits as Horseflesh and The Tripods as the Cook on the boat taking Will & Henry across the English channel.

The big chap with him is much easier to identify, it's Ron Tarr, later known for his appearances in East Enders. He was in Space: 1999: Mission of the Darians as a Survivor, The Professionals: When the Heat Cools Off as the Man in Bar, three episodes of Blake's 7: Deliverance as a Scavenger, The Keeper as the Patrol Leader and Power as a Hommik. He's on the big screen in the final Roger Moore James Bond film A View to a Kill as a guard.

His Eastenders role as Big Ron brings him back to Doctor Who in Dimensions in Time. To this day I'm convinced he should have won the phone vote, rather than Mandy, because he'd been in Doctor Who and she hadn't!

As this story has gone on we've been charting it's rating, something I've not bothered doing until now. Having notched up 13 million viewers for the first episode, and 12.8 for the second, Destiny now records a new record for Doctor Who with 13.8 million viewers, the first time the record for the most viewers had changed hands since The Ark in Space Part Two recorded 13.6 million viewers on 01st February 1975. This new record however would stand for precisely one week, and over the next 5 weeks, thanks to ITV being off the air due to a strike, it will change hands again 2 more times after that!

This is how the record for the episode with the highest viewing figures has changed so far:

Episode #	Story & Episode	Rating (millions)
1	An Unearthly Child 1: An Unearthly Child	4.4
2	An Unearthly Child 2: The Cave of Skulls	5.9
3	An Unearthly Child 3: The Forest of Fear	6.9
7	The Daleks 3: The Escape	8.9
8	The Daleks 4: The Ambush	9.9
10	The Daleks 6: The Ordeal	10.4
46	The Dalek Invasion of Earth 1: World's End	11.4
47	The Dalek Invasion of Earth 2: The Daleks	12.4
53	The Rescue 2: Desperate Measures	13
58	The Web Planet 1: The Web Planet	13.5
387	The Ark in Space Part Two	13.6
508	Destiny of the Daleks Part Three	13.8