547 State of Decay: Part Four

EPISODE: State of Decay: Part Four
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 547
STORY NUMBER: 113
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 13 December 1980
WRITER: Terrance Dicks
DIRECTOR: Peter Moffatt
SCRIPT EDITOR: Christopher H. Bidmead
PRODUCER: John Nathan-Turner
RATINGS: 5.4 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who: The E-Space Trilogy (Full Circle / State of Decay / Warrior's Gate)

"The girl is a Time Lord. One of the ancient enemies of the Great One. She is to be held for sacrifice at the time of Arising!"

Aukon restrains Zargo & Camilla from drinking Adric & Romana's blood. The Doctor persuades the rebels to help him and with K-9 they storm the castle. As the three who rule prepare to sacrifice Romana, The Doctor launches one of the castle's scoutships which falls back to the ground, piercing the great vampire through the heart and killing it. Zargo, Camilla & Aukon, freed from their master's powers, age rapidly and crumble away into dust. The Doctor leaves the rebels and tells the stowaway Adric he's taking him home to Starliner.

Not a bad episode at all!

Lots of the Vampires hamming it up....

AUKON: We stand on the very threshold of our triumph. I have communed with the mind of the Great One and he is ready. Thanks to the blood and souls we have fed to him for so long, his body is healed of wounds, regenerated and whole once more.
ZARGO: And he will arise tonight?
AUKON: It is certain. When all is prepared we will go to the resting place and summon him.
CAMILLA: When he wakes, he will be hungry.
ZARGO: Ivo and his faithful villagers will be able to perform one last service for their masters.
CAMILLA: And when they are consumed
AUKON: We shall leave this miserable space trap for the real universe. Rich, fat worlds teeming with life. We shall suck their life blood until they are empty husks, and pass on to more worlds, and yet still more.
CAMILLA: Countless inhabited planets all waiting to feed our hunger.
ZARGO: I have served a thousand years for this.
AUKON: At midnight, our servitude will end and our glory begin. But the proper rituals must be carried out, or the Great One will be displeased. Zargo, Camilla, you will initiate the boy, after I have sacrificed the girl.

Lots of Tom being Tom....

DOCTOR: Lack of weapons. No experience. Odds almost insurmountable. But! He who outlives this day and comes safe home shall stand a-tiptoe when this day is named and rouse him at the name of E-space!
DOCTOR: Well, that's the problem. There's got to be an answer.
KALMAR: What?
DOCTOR: That's the question.
VEROS: We must join forces with Ivo and attack the Tower. Tarak was right!
DOCTOR: Yes, yes.
KALMAR: Where is Tarak now? We dare not attack the Tower until we are ready.
DOCTOR: You've got to be ready. You people have had a thousand years to rid yourselves of this evil and now all you've got are three hours.
KALMAR: Do you really expect us to believe that some great creature sleeps beneath the Tower and is about to awake and destroy us?
DOCTOR: Where do you think Zargo and his friends got their powers?
KALMAR: I don't know.
DOCTOR: No, and that's the very devil of it. If I had any instruments with me, I could show you.
KALMAR: The scanner.
DOCTOR: Scanner. Scanner?
KALMAR: The console you got working for us. I discovered another facility.
DOCTOR: Range?
KALMAR: It should reach the Tower.
DOCTOR: Right, Now, Kalmar, you'll see I'm telling you the truth. Gather round, gentlemen. Hang on a minute, hang on a minute. It'll take a moment or two for the picture to steady. There we are. Oh, it seems to scan right through the spectrum.
KALMAR: There's the Tower.
DOCTOR: Yes. The spectrum's a bit weak at the moment. Infra-red. Picking up sleeping life forms. Now we're going into x-ray. Watch the area below the Tower.
DOCTOR: Oh.

VEROS: What is it?
DOCTOR: The heartbeat of the Great Vampire.

But how can we slay the monster?

KALMAR: You said your people killed thousands of them.
DOCTOR: Yes, but that was after a long and bloody war, and they had bow ships that fire mighty bolts of steel and pierced each vampire's heart.
IVO: Maybe there's another way to kill them?
KALMAR: Well
DOCTOR: Their cardiovascular system's incredibly efficient. They can just seal over minor wounds. Yes, there's a very practical reason for the traditional wooden stake.
IVO: If we sharpened a tree trunk
DOCTOR: No, I doubt if even that would be big enough, and anyway, how could we propel it? Mighty bolt of steel.
IVO: A catapult?
DOCTOR: Of course. Of course! An arrow of steel, and I've been looking at it all this time.

It's time to take Chekov's Gun down off the wall where Uncle Terrance hung it in episodes 2 & 3!

DOCTOR: Three scoutships, three chances. Now, which one first? This one.

DOCTOR: Come on. Dead as a dinosaur. The circuits must be corroded. Have to try one of the others.

DOCTOR: Come on..... One to go.

DOCTOR: Come on. Come on! What happened to all that Earth craftsmanship, eh? Just because you've been laid up for a thousand years. A scintilla of power left in the energy cells, a few drops of fuel. Oh, lovely Earth craftsmanship. That should do it. Short trip, quick flip. Time to be going, Doctor.

AUKON: The ship!
ZARGO: What's happening?
AUKON: No!
DOCTOR: Romana! Right, time for me to tell you what happened.
ROMANA: You sent the scout ship on a little trip.
DOCTOR: Right. Yes.
AUKON: He rises! See, the Great One rises!
AUKON: He comes! The Great One comes!
DOCTOR: Don't worry, don't worry. Have you ever heard the expression what goes up must come down?
ADRIC: No.
DOCTOR: I wish I hadn't.

The big problem here is the Scout Ship model sequence: you watch it turning round and you hold your head in your hands and weep.

It's a shame because the effects in general have been very very good this story.

They have saved one of the best effects for last: after the scoutship has killed the Great Vampire, his servants age rapidly and crumble to dust!

This was the first story filmed featuring Matthew Waterhouse as new companion Adric. He actually has very little to do in it and his most major scenes are in this episode which seem to imply he's thrown in his lot with the Vampires:

ADRIC: So the vampires in the stories are just pale imitations of the real thing?
ROMANA: If the Doctor's suspicions are right.
ADRIC: Oh yes, the Doctor. Is he coming back from the Tardis?
ROMANA: Well, we were supposed to join him there after we'd rescued you.
ADRIC: Only you didn't, did you.
ROMANA: Didn't what?
ADRIC: Rescue me. Tarak got killed, you got caught, and the Doctor's safely out of it. He can clear off in the Tardis whenever he likes.
ROMANA: How dare you, Adric!
ADRIC: It looks as if this is one time the goodies don't win after all. Still, I'm all right, aren't I.
ROMANA: Oh yes, you are all right. You haven't done so much better yourself. You stow away in our Tardis, you expect us to
ADRIC: Now look! I've been offered a partnership. Power and eternal life, they said.
ROMANA: They are vampires, Adric. Do you want to become one of them?
ADRIC: You said yourself, you're on the menu. If it's a choice between that and joining the diners, I mean, there's no sense in two of us getting the chop.
ROMANA: When the Doctor gets back from the Tardis, he is going to need your help.
ADRIC: Why am I being kept prisoner like this? She's the sacrifice, not me. I'm supposed to be a Chosen One. I'm sorry, Time Lady. One of my family's died for your lot already. I reckon one's enough.
ROMANA: Adric, do you know what happens to vampires when they die?
ADRIC: But they don't die, do they, Aukon.
AUKON: Release him, and prepare him for the ceremony. Prepare the sacrifice also. It is time.

Later a brief, easily missed, line to Romana makes you think he's putting it on:

ADRIC: Listen, I've got a plan. Can you hear me?

I've not spotted this before and indeed later stories where Adric sides with the wrong people reinforced my original view!

There's some more Guards who only appear in this week's episode:

Richard Sheekey had been a a PC & Audience Member/Stagehand/Doorman (Fred) in Talons of Weng Chiang, a Guard in the Armagedon Factor, and a Double for Scaroth (Mask) in City of Death. He returns as a Double for The Brigadier in Mawdryn Undead In Blake's 7's he was a Prisoner in Cygnus Alpha & Federation Trooper in The Harvest of Kairos. In Doomwatch he was a Man in Flight Into Yesterday.

Ian Sheridan was a Patient in the Armageddon Factor and a Guard in City of Death. In Blake's 7's he was a Kairos Guard / Labourer in The Harvest of Kairos and a Federation Trooper / Rebel in Rumours of Death.

Michael Brydon had been a Tourist in the Louvre in City of Death and a Ceremonial Deon Guard in Meglos. In Blake's 7's he was a Kairos Guard / Labourer in The Harvest of Kairos and Guard in City at the Edge of the World.

Barney Lawrence had been seen as a Marshmen in Full Circle, but this appearance was filmed before that, He returns as a Foster in The Keeper of Traken, a Kinda Hostage in Kinda, the Male Android Silhouette in Earthshock, Air Steward Dave Culshaw in Timeflight, Tanha’s Bodyguard in Snakedance, a member of Striker's crew in Enlightenment, a Marine Guard in Warriors of the Deep, and a Trooper in Resurrection of the Daleks. He was in Blake's 7 as a Federation Trooper in Time Squad & Bounty, a Guard in Traitor and Zukan's Technician in Warlord.

It's also a penultimate Doctor Who appearance, as a guard, for Alan Chuntz. Chuntz was previously a UNIT Soldier in The Invasion, Technician Harvey & a Security Guard in The Seeds of Death, one of Collinson’s Men & a UNIT Soldier in the Ambassadors of Death, a Technician, UNIT solider and RSF Soldier in Inferno, during which he was injured when Jon Pertwee ran him over in Bessie, an Auton in Terror of the Autons, a Prisoner in Mind of Evil a Sea Devil & Sailor in The Sea Devils, Omega's Champion in The Three Doctors, a Security Guard in The Green Death, a Guard in Planet of Spiders, a soldier in Genesis of the Daleks, a Vogan in Revenge of the Cybermen, the Doctor's stunt double in Planet of Evil, the Chauffeur in Seeds of Doom, a Horda Pit Guard in Face of Evil and a Coolie in Talons of Weng-Chiang. He returns as a Masked Villager in The Visitation.

He also did stunt work on the Sean Connery James Bond film You Only Live Twice and on The Italian Job.

Over the years I've struggled a bit with State of Decay. My first encounter with it was as an audio cassette of Terrance Dicks' 1982 novel which was read by Tom Baker. I got a copy of it as a youngster and was very disappointed that it wasn't the audio of the story, which I hadn't seen when it was broadcast thanks to watching Buck Rogers in the 25th Century on ITV, and that it didn't have the Doctor Who theme on it. I suspect this biased me against the story for some time..... Watching it twice for blogs, it's easily the most improved Tom Baker story over my expectations. It's quite interesting watching it as it's effectively a Holmes era script but done in the 1980s. You sit there at times thinking "What would be different if it was filmed three years earlier and with Leela instead of K-9 & Romana"?

The E-Space Trilogy, containing Full Circle, State of Decay & Warriors' Gate, was released on video in 1997 and on DVD on 26th January 2009.

Doctor Who Season 18, including State of Decay, was released on Blu-Ray on 18th March 2019.

Following this episode's broadcast we get 2 weeks without Doctor Who over the Christmas period with the show returning on 3rd January 1981.

546 State of Decay: Part Three

EPISODE: State of Decay: Part Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 546
STORY NUMBER: 113
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 06 December 1980
WRITER: Terrance Dicks
DIRECTOR: Peter Moffatt
SCRIPT EDITOR: Christopher H. Bidmead
PRODUCER: John Nathan-Turner
RATINGS: 4.4 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who: The E-Space Trilogy (Full Circle / State of Decay / Warrior's Gate)

"At the time of Arising, we servants will swarm. You could be one of us!"

Aukon offers to share their power with the Doctor, but he refuses. Aukon learns they are Time Lords and has the Doctor & Romana imprisoned to use as sacrifices when their master awakes. While in the cell the Doctor recalls a Time Lord Vampire legend and Romana recommends that he should look it up on the record of Rassilon contained in his Tardis. They are rescued by Tarak, a former Tower guard who now is with the rebels, and he & Romana stay at the tower to seek Adric. The Doctor returns to the Tardis and learns of how Rassilon fought the Time Lords ancient foes the Great Vampires with "Bow Ships", wiping them out but when the bodies were counted one was missing. The Doctor realises that the Vampire must be on the planet, buried beneath the tower. Romana & Tarak find Adric in Zargo & Camilla's crypt, but Tarak is killed when the vampires awake and they advance on Romana & Adric to feed on them.....

That was fab. Top marks to Emrys James for opening the show with a truly impressive piece of barking mad villainship!

DOCTOR: Well, I'm glad to catch someone at home. Are we in time for a guided tour?
AUKON: You're a fool to mock, Doctor. There is power here such as you have never dreamed of. Can you not feel it?
DOCTOR: No.
AUKON: Power, Doctor! It is the only reality. Why fight it when you could share it?
DOCTOR: Me?
AUKON: When I sent my winged messengers to hunt you down, I sensed the power of your mind. We seek such minds for our great purpose.
DOCTOR: What purpose?
AUKON: At the time of Arising, we servants will swarm. You could be one of us.
DOCTOR: I could? Well, you know, I've never been a great one for swarming. It's awfully kind of you to offer, but where were you thinking of swarming to?
AUKON: Out of this universe and back to our own.
ROMANA: You know the way out of E-space?
AUKON: That is the secret of him who brought us here.
DOCTOR: Ah ha! So there was a guided tour.
AUKON: We were summoned, the whole ship, to be his servants.
DOCTOR: Was that when you were just plain Science Officer O'Connor?
AUKON: What?
ROMANA: He was O'Connor?
DOCTOR: Yes. Those officers aren't the descendants of the originals, they are the originals.
AUKON: He has given us unending life. He summoned us here speaking to the others through my mind. We fed and nourished him until now he is ready to arise.
ROMANA: Suppose we pretended to cooperate till we get the data on E-space?
DOCTOR: Yes. No. Too dangerous.
AUKON: Consider well, Doctor. Won't you join us, like your other companion?
DOCTOR: Who's he talking about?
ROMANA: Can't even count on this planet.
AUKON: The boy will be the first of the Chosen Ones.
ROMANA: Boy? What boy?
AUKON: He came here looking for you. The name he used was Adric.
ROMANA: Adric?
DOCTOR: Adric?
AUKON: You will all serve the Great One, Doctor, one way or another. If you do not join us, you will feed him with your blood.
DOCTOR: No. There is a third choice.
AUKON: What is that?
DOCTOR: I can destroy the Great One. Off you go, Romana!
AUKON: Stop, Doctor! By the power that is mine, I command you.
DOCTOR: I will not serve. I will not serve.
AUKON: Come, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Cover your eyes, Romana. That might be all right for half-starved peasantry, Aukon, but it doesn't scare Time Lords.
AUKON: Time Lords! The ancient enemies!
ZARGO: Always so anxious to leave, Doctor?
CAMILLA: Now is the time of our feast.
ZARGO: We shall drain the blood from your bodies slowly.
CAMILLA: Drop by drop.
AUKON: Silence! I hear you, O great One. Your ever faithful servant Aukon awaits your command. Yea, O Great One. Preparations are complete. Sacrifice will be made. At the time of your Arising, you shall drink the blood of Time Lords! You have been chosen. You have both been chosen!

They could have done anything after that and I'd have still been happy!

However the comments about the Time Lords being the ancient enemy send the Doctor down a train of thought while they're banged up in the cell...

DOCTOR: There was once an old hermit from the mountains of south Gallifrey.
ROMANA: Did he lead a very sheltered life?
DOCTOR: Yes. Yes, he did. He used to tell me ghost stories. I like a ghost story. Do you want to hear one?
ROMANA: No.
DOCTOR: It's about a race of giant vampires.
ROMANA: Vampires?
DOCTOR: Mmm. They came out of nowhere, and swarmed and swarmed
ROMANA: What did they do, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Swarmed. That was the word he used.
ROMANA: Oh.
DOCTOR: They swarmed all over the universe. And they were so strong that one single vampire could suck the life out of an entire planet.
ROMANA: One single vampire could suck the life out of an entire planet?
DOCTOR: Yes.
ROMANA: Rubbish.
DOCTOR: Well, he wasn't a scientist. There are other ways of looking at life, you know. Anyway, according to the story, we Time Lords hunted them down across the universe in a war so long and so bloody that we were sickened of violence forever.
ROMANA: So they were all destroyed?
DOCTOR: One of them escaped, I think.
ROMANA: And?
DOCTOR: Just vanished into thin air. Poof.
ROMANA: Like the Hydrax into E-space. When was all this supposed to have happened?
DOCTOR: Hmm? When was all what supposed to have happened?
ROMANA: The legend.
DOCTOR: Oh, that. Oh, in the misty dawn of history, when even Rassilon was young.
ROMANA: I once worked in the Bureau of Ancient Records, for a time.
DOCTOR: So?
ROMANA: Oh, nothing. It's just that I once came across a reference to something called the Record of Rassilon in one of the old data books.
DOCTOR: And?
ROMANA: And it was an emergency instruction. A copy of the book was to be installed in certain time vehicles.
DOCTOR: What time vehicles?
ROMANA: Oh, I don't know. I forget.
DOCTOR: What time vehicles?
ROMANA: Type Forty, I think.
DOCTOR: Psst. The Tardis is a Type Forty.
ROMANA: Is it?

After their escape he is able to return to the Tardis to check his theory:

DOCTOR: Well?
K9: Nothing.
DOCTOR: Well?
K9: Nothing.
DOCTOR: Nothing? What do you mean, nothing?
K9: Nothing, master. There is mention of the Record of Rassilon.
DOCTOR: Have you tried Rassilon, Record of?
K9: Access attempted under all permutations.
DOCTOR: Vampires.
K9: Information on vampires totally absent from Tardis databanks.

DOCTOR: Okay, try your folklore section.
K9: My folklore section contains vampire lore from seventeen inhabited planets. I will begin with Earth, the legend of Count Dracula.
DOCTOR: No, thank you. Not Dracula. Emergency instructions.
K9: There are eighteen thousand three hundred and forty eight emergency instructions. I will now list them in code order. One
DOCTOR: No, no, no, thank you. No, thank you.
K9: There is a magnetic card system on this vehicle, master.
DOCTOR: Well, why didn't you say? Of course!

DOCTOR: Oh, good. The Record of Rassilon.
DOCTOR: Got it! Vampire army. Phew, listen to this, K9. So powerful were the bodies of these great creatures, and so fiercely did they cling to life, that they were impossible to kill, save by the use of bow ships. Bow ships? What are bow ships?
K9: Bow ships, unknown.
DOCTOR: Never mind. Yet slain they all were, and to the last one, by the Lords of Time. The Lords of Time destroying them utterly. Well, that's good news. However, when the bodies were counted... I knew it. Just like the legend said. When the bodies were counted, the King Vampire, mightiest and most malevolent of all, had vanished, even to his shadow, from time and space. Until now.
K9: Continue, master.
DOCTOR: Hence it is the directive of Rassilon that any Time Lord who comes upon this enemy of our people and of all living things, shall use all his efforts to destroy him, even at the cost of his own life.
K9: Query. How may this creature be destroyed?
DOCTOR: What? That's a good question. Let's see what it says about battle.
DOCTOR: Cattle, rattle, battle.
DOCTOR: Got it. Energy weapons were useless because the monsters absorbed and transmuted the energy using it to become stronger. Therefore Rassilon ordered the construction of bow ships. Ah. Swift vessels that fired a mighty bold of steel that transfixed the monsters through the heart. For only if his heart be utterly destroyed will a vampire die.
K9: Query.
DOCTOR: What? What is it?
K9: Is this data of practical value, master?
DOCTOR: Well, it might come in useful, if we can only lay our hands on a mighty bolt of steel.

As we'll see, Uncle Terrance has already prepared us for this one by hanging Chekov's Gun on the wall in part 2!

William Lindsay plays Zargo. You can see him in the Blake's 7 episode Animals as The Captain.

Rachel Davies plays Camilla. New director Peter Moffatt had previously used her on the All Creatures Great and Small episode Bulldog Breed where she played Mary Metcalfe but she can also be seen in The Sweeney episode One of Your Own as Tina Adams and The Professionals as Deborah in Hijack.

Emrys James plays the chancellor Aukon. He's got a CV as long as your arm and obviously impressed writer Terrance Dicks and executive producer Barry Letts as they reuse him on their production of Dombey and Son where he plays Captain Cuttle.

Iain Rattray plays Habris, the Guard sent to select the villagers. He is in Inspector Morse Twilight of the Gods as the Fingerprint Lab Director.

Stuart Blake, playing the guard Zoldaz, is the Commander in director Peter Moffatt's The Five Doctors, and also Scibus in Warriors of the Deep. He was in The Sweeney as Doctor in Feet of Clay and the Flash Gordon film as an Azurian Man.

After an absence of two years this is a reappearance in Doctor Who for Stuart Fell, long term actor & stuntman, playing Roga. Fell had been a UNIT soldier & Auton in Terror of the Autons, UNIT staff member & a photographer in The Mind of Evil and a UNIT Soldier & Axon in The Claws of Axos before he got his first credited appearance as Alpha Centauri in The Curse of Peladon. He then appeared as a Guard, Sailor & Sea Devil in The Sea Devils and a Functionary in Carnival of Monsters, Alpha Centauri in The Monster, the Tramp in Planet of the Spiders part two, who the Doctor drives the hovercraft over, and a Guard later in the same story, a Wirrn Larvae & Wirrn in The Ark in Space, the double for Styre in The Sontaran Experiment, The Kraal in The Android Invasion part three, the Monster in The Brain of Morbius, Forking peasant / Guard / Acolyte in The Masque of Mandragora, a Policeman, Coolie & the Giant Rat in Talons of Weng Chiang, a Guard in The Sun Makers, a Sontaran in The Invasion of Time, and a Shrivenzale in the Ribos Operation. He'd go on to double for Decider Draith in Full Circle, which was shown before this story but filmed after, then plays a Castrovalvan Warrior in Castrovalva, a masked villager in The Visitation and a Cyberman in The Five Doctors. Fell also did stunts in Terror of the Autons, was fight arranger in The Talons of Weng-Chiang, more stunts in The Ribos Operation & Full Circle and served as fight arranger again in State of Decay.

In Blake's 7 he was Dortmunn in Mission to Destiny, a Subterron in Project Avalon, a Goth Warrior in The Keeper, a Sarran in Aftermath, a Labourer in The Harvest of Kairos, a Guard in City at the Edge of the World, a Federation Trooper in Rumours of Death, a Guard in Moloch, a Gunman in Death-Watch, a Link in Terminal & Rescue and a Hommik Warrior in Power plus he was the stunt coordinator for Project Avalon, The Keeper, Aftermath, Volcano, The Harvest of Kairos, City at the Edge of the World, Rumours of Death, Moloch, Death-Watch, Terminal, Rescue & Power. He plays a man in the Doomwatch episode Spectre at the Feast. He's in The Empire Strikes Back as a Snowtrooper and does stunts in Return of the Jedi. He also does stunt work on the Roger Moore James Bond films For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy & A View to a Kill. And so much more.

Also as Guards we have the following:

Brian Moorehead was an extra in Robot, a Guard in State of Decay, and returns as a Dinner Guest in Snakedance. He's in Blake's 7 as a Hooded Figure in Cygnus Alpha and a Federation Officer in Trial. He was previously in Quatermass II as the 1st Guard in The Mark and a Paratrooper in The Destroyer.

Reg Woods had been a Palace Guard in Androids of Tara, a Bearer in Creature fron the Pit, would have been a Krarg in Shada,then played a Pangol Body Part & Member of Pangol Army in The Leisure Hive He has his role as Policeman at Station cut from Black Orchid, and then returns as a Security Guard in Timeflight and a Member of Striker's Crew in Enlightenment. In Blake's 7 he's a Scavenger in Deliverance, a Rebel in Voice from the Past, a Menial in Ultraworld, a Space Rat in Stardrive and a Space Princess Guard / Passenger in Gold. He's also in The Professionals episode Black Out in what IMDB describes as "Bit Part" and the Fawlty Towers episode The Kipper and the Corpse as a Hotel Guest.

Fernand Monast is making his Doctor Who debut He returns in Black Orchid as a Dancer/Cricketer, a Colonist in Frontios and as the Space Station Professor shot dead by Sontarans in The Two Doctors.

545 State of Decay: Part Two

EPISODE: State of Decay: Part Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 545
STORY NUMBER: 113
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 29 November 1980
WRITER: Terrance Dicks
DIRECTOR: Peter Moffatt
SCRIPT EDITOR: Christopher H. Bidmead
PRODUCER: John Nathan-Turner
RATINGS: 5.3 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who: The E-Space Trilogy (Full Circle / State of Decay / Warrior's Gate)

"Let him feed the Great One with his blood!"

The Doctor & Romana are captured by guards and taken to the tower, where they meet the Three Who Rule: Zargo, Aukon & Camilla. Camilla takes a great interest when Romana cuts herself. Theorising that the tower is the remains of the starship Hydrax, the Doctor & Romana explore and find a still functioning scout ship forming the top of the tower. Aukon stages another "selection" and takes Adric from the inn. Descending to the depths of the castle the Doctor & Romana find vats of human blood and hear a pounding heartbeat from elsewhere in the underground cavern. Aukon enters and welcomes them to his domain....

That wasn't bad at all, rather enjoyed that. Some really nice stuff in there, the Castle being the ship.

DOCTOR: Oh yes, this is much more comfortable. What were those Hydrax officers called?
ROMANA: Captain Miles Sharkey, Navigation Officer Lauren MacMillan, Science Officer Anthony O'Connor.
DOCTOR: That's very good. Have you ever heard of the Brothers Grimm?
ROMANA: This is no time for fairy tales.
DOCTOR: They also discovered the Law of Consonantal Shift. How language changes over the years.
ROMANA: You mean the hard sounds softening, B's becoming V's and so on.
DOCTOR: Hmm.
ROMANA: Camilla, Aukon and Zargo. Wait a minute. Sharkey, Zharkey, Zarkey, Zar, Zargo. The same name passed down through generations.
DOCTOR: That's right. And MacMillan becomes?
ROMANA: Camilla.
DOCTOR: And O'Connor becomes?
ROMANA: Aukon. The descendants of the original ship's officers.
DOCTOR: Yes. And this is the original ship. The pilot here, co-pilot there. No, no, no, pilot there, co-pilot here. Instrument banks there, control panels there.
ROMANA: You mean this is the Hydrax, the explorer ship?
DOCTOR: Yes. Do you fancy exploring it?

However the rulers being the descendants of the original officers sort of back tracks on the insinuation of the previous episode that Tark had seen the people whose pictures were in the ship's databank! And not all the ship appears to be dysfunctional either...

ROMANA: We must be right inside the turret.
DOCTOR: Yes. It's an Arrow class scout ship, Romana. It detaches from the main vessel for local exploration.
ROMANA: I wonder why they didn't rip out all these instruments, too.
DOCTOR: Well, why bother? No one comes here. Look! There's even a bit of power left in the energy cells.
ROMANA: So it could still fly?
DOCTOR: Possibly.
ROMANA: Could we possibly jet our way out?
DOCTOR: Getting out is not exactly the object of our mission, is it?
ROMANA: It proved your point that this is a spaceship.
DOCTOR: Shush.
ROMANA: Sounds like a faint engine noise.
DOCTOR: Shush.
ROMANA: What is it?
DOCTOR: More evidence.
ROMANA: Of what?
DOCTOR: I have a suspicion, but it's too horrible to think about.

Oh, what might we use an operational scout ship for? A bit Chekov's Gun, one of his favourite tools, from writer Terrance Dicks here!

Then we get bellow for the blood in the fuel tanks being fed to some giant thing with a heartbeat under the castle/ship and we're into real Hammer Horror territory.

By an odd coincidence Bray Studios, the home of Hammer Films, isn't that far from the locations used in this story. All the exterior scenes here were filmed at Burnham Beaches just north of the M4 at Maidnehead/Slough and Bray is just a little south of the motorway.

Rebel scientist Kalmar is played by Arthur Hewlett and he'll be back as Kimber in Terror of the Vervoids. He appears in Blake's 7 as the Old Man in The Keeper and in The Black Adder episode The Archbishop as both Godfrey, Archbishop of Canterbury and William, Bishop of London.

Rebel Tarak, who disguises himself as a guard, is played by Thane Bettany.

Stacy Davies playing Veros was in The Invasion, playing Private Perkins, the UNIT Soldier cut down by the Cyberman in the sewers. You can also see him in The Professionals as Sammy Blaydon in Backtrack.

544 State of Decay: Part One

EPISODE: State of Decay: Part One
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 544
STORY NUMBER: 113
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 22 November 1980
WRITER: Terrance Dicks
DIRECTOR: Peter Moffatt
SCRIPT EDITOR: Christopher H. Bidmead
PRODUCER: John Nathan-Turner
RATINGS: 5.8 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who: The E-Space Trilogy (Full Circle / State of Decay / Warrior's Gate)

"You're not from the village!"

The Tardis lands on a planet supporting a medieval level civilisation. The population are under the rule of the Three Who Rule who have recently selected young villagers and had them brought to the tower. K-9 picks up a trace of high technology, but is left in the Tardis while the Doctor & Romana investigate. The Doctor & Romana visit the village inn where the headman Ivor tells him that the Lords protect them from the wasting. Adric, who has stowed away in the Tardis, goes looking for the Doctor & Romana. While seeking another village the Doctor & Romana are captured by rebels. Their presence is reported to the Three Who Rule and the Chancellor Aukon dispatches his bat servants to find them. The Doctor & Romana are taken to meet Kelner, a man who is experimenting with some advanced equipment. He tells them they intend to overthrow the Lords. Adric arrives at the inn and is given shelter by the innkeeper and his wife, whose son has recently been taken to the tower. The Doctor is told that all science and knowledge is forbidden by the Lords. The Doctor & Romana discovers that the equipment is from an Earth vessel Hydrax that they think must have passed through a CVE. One of the rebels recognises the faces of the ships officers, found in a database, as the three lords. Leaving the rebel base, the Doctor & Romana are attacked by bats!

We've got bats, we've got a castle, we've got villagers in thrall to their lords, who are nice and pale.

Yup Doctor Who finally does Vampires it would seem. All done very well here.

DOCTOR: Please, don't shout. Splendid, I'm sure. So you serve the Lords, but what do the Lords do for you?
IVO: They protect us from the Wasting.
DOCTOR: Did you say the Wasting?

We're gifted some local history courtesy of the rebels:

ROMANA: How long have things been like this?
KALMAR: Forever. The Lords rule in the Tower, the peasants toil in the fields. Nothing has changed in a thousand years.
TARAK: But it will change when we overthrow the Lords.

And how the rebels came to be formed:

DOCTOR: How long ago was that?
TARAK: Years ago. Some of us were on the run from Zargo and his men. We escaped into the wasteland and discovered this, all kinds of wonderful things just thrown about, half hidden. There was even food, mountains of it.
KALMAR: Some of us could still read. It's forbidden, but the knowledge was passed on in secret.
DOCTOR: What? Reading forbidden?
KALMAR: All science, all knowledge is forbidden by the Lords. The penalty for knowledge is death.
ROMANA: No schools of any kind?
KALMAR: Children start in the fields as soon as they can walk, stay there till they grow up, grow old and die.
TARAK: Those that escape the selection.

But the real revelation here come rather quickly when the Doctor & Romana turn their attention to the ancient technology the rebels found:

DOCTOR: Definitely an Earth device.
ROMANA: Ship's manifest and cargo, flight plan from Earth. So it is Earth. Crew of exploration vessel Hydrax en route from Earth destination Beta Two in the Perugellis sector.
DOCTOR: Instead of which they finish up here.
ROMANA: Hmm, they must have gone through a CVE as well.

What, another crashed spaceship straight after the Starliner in Full Circle?

ROMANA: Ship's officers, Captain Miles Sharkey, Navigational officer Lauren MacMillan, Science officer Anthony O'Connor. Identification pictures follow. It's still legible.
DOCTOR: Yes, not bad after a thousand years in memory.
TARAK: Those faces!
DOCTOR: Yes, long since dead.
TARAK: I was a Tower guard before I joined Kalmar. I saw them every day.
DOCTOR: What?
TARAK: But, as you say, it can't be.
DOCTOR: Who did you see every day?
TARAK: The three who rule. The King, his Queen.
DOCTOR: That's two.
TARAK: And Aukon, the councillor. No, I'm sorry, I see their faces everywhere. If you knew these people, Doctor
DOCTOR: Well, I think it's time we got to know them, don't you, Romana?

Now where were? Ah yes: 3rd September 2017 when we did Horror of Fang Rock part 1. The then script editor Robert Holmes had commissioned his old friend (and former Doctor Who script editor) Terrance Dicks to write a story based on one of the few horror tales they hadn't previously "paid homage to" over the last few years: Dracula. Dicks duly supplied the scripts for "The Witch Lords"/"The Vampire Mutation" only to then have the story spiked (staked?) when high ups at the BBC realised it would be airing at a similar time to the prestigious adaptation of the original story, Count Dracula. So Terrance Dicks was sent away to write another script in an extreme hurry and given the instruction to "set it in a light house". Dicks' original script went into a drawer where it stayed for three years until John Nathan-Turner & Christopher H. Bidmead found themselves with no other script ready to go at the start of this season. Uncle Terrance gets a call and quickly refreshes his script to take into account the change in companions and that we're in E-Space. One quick change of title later and State of Decay was ready to go as the second story filmed that season, straight after the Leisure Hive and before Meglos & Full Circle which preceded it.

This is a first Doctor Who for Director Peter Moffatt who had previously worked with new Producer John Nathan-Turner on All Creatures Great and Small and he does a decent job, with some fabulous little graphical touches like overlaying the bats on Aukon's face.

We'll be seeing him regularly over the next few years as he returns to direct The Visitation, Mawdryn Undead, The Five Doctors, Twin Dilemma and The Two Doctors. He is, equal with Ron Jones and Chris Clough, John Nathan Turner's most used director.

Lots of cast, and we'll cover many of the ones missed here as the story progresses. Clinton Greyn plays innkeeper Ivo. He'll return to Doctor Who in the Peter Moffatt directed The Two Doctors where he plays the Sontaran commander Stike and later appears as another Sontaran in the Jim'll Fix It mini episode A Fix with Sontarans. He appears in UFO as Mark Tanner in The Dalotek Affair.

Ivo's wife Marta is played by Rhoda Lewis. She appeared in the Doomwatch episode Public Enemy as Mrs. Freeman. She's also in the Barry Letts/Terrence Dicks production of Dombey and Son playing Louisa Chick and later has a semi regular role in the BBC Miss Marple stories playing village shopkeeper & postmistress Mrs Brogan in A Pocketful of Rye, 4.50 from Paddington and The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side.

Their son Karl is played by Dean Allen.

Onto the Peasants in the inn:

Ernest Jennings was in The 1st Man in Market in The Romans: All Roads Lead to Rome, a Highlander in Jail in The Highlanders and one of the Old Scientists in Shada. He returns as as the Aged Rebel in The Trial of a Time Lord: Mindwarp.

Dennis Hayward was a Scotsman in Hold/Highlander in The Highlanders, an Auton/Display Mannequin in Spearhead from Space and a Control Room Assistant in The Ambassadors of Death. He's in Blake's 7 as a Federation Trooper in Warlord and Doomwatch as a Man in The Islanders.

Jimmy Mac had been a Refugee Priest in The Underwater Menace, a Man in Pub/Coven member in The Daemons, a Noble in Androids of Tara and a Peasant in the Village Centre in State of Decay. He returns as an Extra in The Awakening. In Doomwatch he's a man in The Islanders. He's a semi regular in Are You Being Served? as Warwick in The Junior, Anything You Can Do, A Personal Problem & Lost and Found. In Dad's Army he's a Platoon Member in Number Engaged and in Hi-de-Hi! he's a Camper At Table in Desire in the Mickey Mouse Grotto.

Eileen Winterton Slave in Day of the Daleks In Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em she's a Parent at Toy Fair in Learning to Drive and in Are You Being Served? she's a Shop assistant in Gambling Fever. There's some discussion if the biographical details and earlier roles on her IMDB entry belong to the same actress!

Laurie Goode was a Mutant in The Mutants, a guard in the Time Monster, a Time Lord in The Invasion of Time, a Bandit in The Creature from the Pit. and a Tigellan in Meglos. He returns as a Tharil in Warriors' Gate, a Sailor on the Shadow in Enlightenment, a Colonist in Frontios, a worker in Trial of a Timelord: Mysterious Planet and a British Unit Trooper in Battlefield. He's in Blake's 7 as a Hi-tech Patient in Powerplay, Survivors as a Looter in The Chosen and Star Cops as a Dealer in Little Green Men and Other Martians. He was a Looter in the Survivors episode The Chosen, the Jogger in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a Pirate Rat in the The Box of Delights episode In Darkest Cellars Underneath and appears twice in The Sweeney as Laurie in Queen's Pawn and the Supermarket Manager in Trojan Bus.

Joe Phillips had previously been a Extra in Robot, had been a Coven Member in Image of the Fendahl. He also is one of the actors playing a Holidaymaker in this episode. He returns as a Peasant in Village Centre in State of Decay, a Patient in Frontios and a Schoolboy in Mawdryn Undead.

Jill Goldston was a Female Guest in The Masque of Mandragora, a Peasant in State of Decay, a Lady in Waiting in King's Demons, a Citizen/Unbeliever in Planet of Fire a Mutoid in Blake's 7: Animals and a Woman in Doomwatch: The Islanders.

Marie Antony was an Audience Member/Dancing Girl/Stagehand in Talons of Weng Chiang

Michael Joseph was a Tourist in Louvre in City of Death. In Return of the Jedi he's Janus Greejatus - Emperor Palpatine's Advisor

Tom Gandl had been a Citizen in Full Circle and returns as a Villager in The Visitation, and a Male Onlooker in Remembrance of the Daleks. In Blake's 7 he was a Kairos Guard / Labourer in The Harvest of Kairos.

Olwyn Atkinson (Alwyn Atkinson) returns as a Gallifreyan in Arc of Infinity, a Lazar in Terminus, aCustomer/Mercenary in Dragonfire and one of the Happiness Patrol in The Happiness Patrol

Leon Lawrence returns as a Miner in Mark of the Rani.

Monty Morris was in Blake's 7 as a Prisoner in Cygnus Alpha Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em as the Extra Patient in Wendy House.

Angela Taylor, Douglas Jones Ruby Buchanan, Vera Lennox, Juliet Darnley, Bob Marshall and Dennis Hewson. have all not reappeared in Doctor Who.

The Peasant in The Wood is Victor Croxford who had been an Auton/Hospital Porter in Spearhead from Space and a Laboratory Technician in Claws of Axos. He returns as a Villager in The Visitation.

The Rebels seen only in the film sequences in this episode include:

Paul Barton was previously a UNIT Soldier and a Silurian in Doctor Who and the Silurians, a Roundhead in The Time Monster, a Courtier in The Masque of Mandragora, a guard in Face of Evil, Marn’s Attendant in The Sunmakers and a Skonnos Guard in The Horns of Nimon. He returns as a Citizen/Unbeliever in Planet of Fire and a Walk on in Remembrance of the Daleks. He was in Doomwatch as a Man in Hear No Evil, Invasion and No Room for Error and appears in Moonbase 3 as a Technician in View of a Dead Planet.

Martin Clark had been a Soldier in Masque of Mandragora and a Time Lord in Invasion of Time. He returns as a Rebel in State of Decay, a Brown Time Lord in Trial of a Timelord: Terror of the Vervoids and The Ultimate Foe and a Husband at Garden Centre in Battlefield.

Timothy Oldroyd had been Pangol Body Parts & one of the Pangol Army in The Leisure Hive. He returns as a Kinda in Kinda, a Passenger in Time-Flight, a Vanir in Terminus and an Officer in Enlightenment. In Blake's 7 he was one of Gerren's Associate in Games.

Mark Middler had been one of the Pangol Army in The Leisure Hive and returns as a Foster in Keeper of Traken.

George Serghe & John Sylvan don't reappear in Doctor Who.