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