The Daleks' Master Plan is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in twelve weekly parts from November 13, 1965 to January 29, 1966.

Contents

1 Synopsis 2 Plot 3 Notes 4 External links

Synopsis

In the year 4000, the Daleks launch their plan to conquer the Solar System. The key to this is a traitor at the highest levels of the System's government and a device known as the Time Destructor. The First Doctor and his companions must stop them, but at what cost?

Plot

The TARDIS arrives on the planet Kembel, and the Doctor leaves the TARDIS to try and find medical aid for the wounded Steven, leaving him with the Trojan servant girl Katarina.

Meanwhile, two Space Agents, Bret Vyon and the injured Kert Gantry are also on the planet trying to find out what happened to their agent, Marc Cory. Eventually Gantry tells Vyon to go on without him, as he will slow Vyon down. Seconds after Vyon leaves, a Dalek finds Gantry and kills him. Vyon then spots the Doctor leaving the TARDIS, and takes the key from him at gunpoint before knocking him out. Eventually finding the TARDIS, Vyon demands that the occupants take him off the planet, but Katarina barely understands what's going on, much less how to work the ship. Steven then briefly recovers and knocks Vyon out after seeing him threaten Katarina. The Doctor returns and places Vyon in a restraining chair, then goes back outside.

On Earth, Mavic Chen, Guardian of the Solar System, announces to the people that he will be going on a break. However, in reality he is joining the alliance that has been formed by the Daleks, and arrives on the planet soon afterwards.

Seeing Chen's ship arrive, the Doctor returns to the TARDIS, only to find it surrounded by Daleks. Katarina had released Vyon, who cured Steven with some field medicine, and the four meet up soon after just as the Daleks set fire to the jungle, in order to drive out any further intruders. While the alliance prepares for a meeting of its leaders, Chen and another leader, Zephon, watch the jungle burn. Chen goes to the meeting, but Zephon refuses to go with him, saying that he will go when he feels like it. The Doctor and his companions infiltrate the city, and spot Zephon going to the meeting. They knock Zephon out, tie him up, dress the Doctor up in Zephon's large cloak and send him to the meeting while the other three break into Chen's ship, The Spar.

Arriving at the meeting, the other leaders express irritation at the lateness of "Zephon". The meeting begins, and the Dalek Supreme reports that their ultimate weapon, the Time Destructor is now complete. Chen reveals that he has procured a sample of the extremely rare element taranium, necessary for the Time Destructor's operation. Meanwhile the real Zephon has managed to untie himself and sounds the alarm. In the resulting confusion, the Doctor steals the taranium and flees, managing to get to The Spar just in time for take-off. The Daleks blame Zephon for the situation, saying that his tardiness caused the Doctor and companions to find him, but Zephon defends his actions and accuses Chen of arranging to have it stolen back. Chen says that Zephon's accusation is nonsensical and the Daleks concur, concluding that Zephon is the one who's responsible. Zephon tells the Daleks that two of the other leaders will also leave if he does, only for the leaders in question to swear allegiance to the Daleks. Finally, Zephon announces that he is leaving the alliance. He does not get the chance - a Dalek kills him as he goes to leave.

On course for Earth, the Doctor reveals that he found a tape while he was in the jungle. The group plays it back, and it turns out to be from Cory, whose brief statements confirm what they already know. As they near the prison planet Desperus - where convicts are simply left, without having any guards or means of escape - the Daleks use a randomiser to disable the controls of The Spar, and send it crashing down towards the planet below causing minor damage to the ship upon landing. Realising that the impact should have totally destroyed the ship, the four realise that the Daleks want them alive and quickly begin repairing it. Upon seeing the landing, a group of prisoners attempt to get on-board, but the Doctor electrifies the entrance and the prisoners are killed. A Dalek ship arrives, but misjudges its landing and suffers a crippling crash. The Spar manages to take off again, and Katarina goes to check the airlock but finds a convict who managed to get onboard just before take-off, the other prisoners having discharged the electricity in the ship's entrance. The convict, Kirksen holds her at knifepoint and threatens to kill her unless they take him to the nearest planet - Kembel. The group eventually decides to comply, but their decision soon proves irrelevant as Katarina activates the airlock, blowing her and Kirksen into space. Stunned, Steven suggests that she must have done it accidentally, but the Doctor thinks that it was deliberate.

Upon seeing the events, the Daleks remotely destroy the pursuit ship for their failure to land properly, but seem satisfied that the delay caused by the crash will allow Chen enough time to get to Earth and have the trio arrested when they arrive.

Arriving on Earth, the three evade detection, and go to see Vyon's old friend, Daxtar. Daxtar initially seems co-operative but the Doctor realises he's allied with Chen when he mentions the Taranium before anyone else does. Vyon quickly kills him, much to the Doctor's annoyance, but there's little time to dwell on this as Chen's security agents, led by Sara Kingdom, arrive. Vyon allows the Doctor and Steven to get away by throwing himself at Kingdom, but she overpowers and kills him. She chases the Doctor and Steven to a laboratory, where they get caught up in a molecular dissemination experiment and are transported to the planet Mira.

Chen pretends that he planned this, and tells the Daleks where to find the Doctor and Steven. On Mira, Kingdom (who turns out to be Vyon's sister) is forced to join forces with the Doctor and Steven as they are attacked by savage invisible creatures. They manage to convince Sara of Chen and the Daleks' true intentions, just as a Dalek ship arrives. The Daleks fend off an attack from the invisible creatures, and demand that the three surrender. Fortunately for the Doctor and his companions more invisible creatures attack, allowing the three to escape and steal the Dalek ship. They try to return to Earth, but the Daleks first take control of the ship remotely, then use a magnetic beam to draw it to Kembel. Realising that they don't have much time, the Doctor decides to build a fake Taranium core, which he can give to the Daleks while keeping the real one. Steven then gets the idea to charge it up with gravitic energy, but in the process encloses himself in a forcefield and is left barely conscious.

Upon landing, the three negotiate with Chen (who has since returned to Kembel) to be allowed to conduct the handover at the TARDIS. The Daleks refuse, but Chen persuades them that they don't have anything to lose, thinking that the Doctor will be unable to stop them after the core has been handed over. The Doctor and Sara return to the TARDIS, while Steven hands over the core. The Daleks try to kill him, but the forcefield manages to protect him, though is exhausted in the process.

After leaving Kembel, the three return to Earth in the 1960s, land outside a Police Station and get themselves arrested, later managing to escape and then ending up on the set of a silent film, causing many problems for the film crew (such as the Doctor being mistaken for a cultural advisor and the lead actress nearly quitting because she thinks the director wants to replace her with Sara) before escaping. Upon their escape they toast Christmas, and the Doctor wishes a happy Christmas to the viewers.

Meanwhile, back on Kembel the fake core is fitted to the Time Destructor which is then tested on another representative, Trantis, who has proven useless to the Daleks. However, there is no effect and the fake core quickly exhausts itself, leaving Trantis totally unharmed. The Daleks accuse Chen of lying about the Taranium, when Chen realises that it was the Doctor that switched the cores. They send a request for a time machine, in order to pursue the Doctor. Trantis is then killed by a Dalek.

The TARDIS briefly lands back on Earth during a cricket match, then landing on a volcanic planet. They have been followed by the Meddling Monk who damages the TARDIS's door lock, then mockingly informs the Doctor and companions that they are stranded on the planet for the rest of their lives. Not to be deterred, the Doctor performs makeshift repairs to the lock, and gets back inside the TARDIS. The Monk is surprised by this, but follows the Doctor to his next destination - Ancient Egypt. The Daleks and Mavic Chen also arrive in this time zone, and begin looking for the Taranium.

Realising that the Monk and someone else has arrived, Steven and Sara go to find out who it is while the Doctor repairs the lock, but are arrested as looters by the guards of the nearby pyramid and accused of being in league with the Daleks, who have killed a number of other guards. While the two make their escape the Monk tries to find the Doctor, but is instead found by Chen who offers him an ultimatum - help them find the Taranium or the Daleks will kill him. Unsurprisingly, the Monk accepts.

While he cannot find the Doctor, he finds Steven and Sara inside a pyramid and is captured by them. They don't get far before being caught by the Daleks and Chen, who demands the taranium. In desperation, the Monk suggests using Steven and Sara as hostages. Chen accepts this, and tells the Daleks that the Doctor will not allow the two to be killed.

As the Doctor breaks into the Monk's TARDIS and steals something, Chen announces over a loudspeaker that unless he hands over the Taranium, Sara and Steven will be killed. The Doctor is dismayed, but has little choice but to comply. When he hands over the core, the Daleks try to kill them and the Monk but they all escape, helped by an attack by the Egyptian guards. While the guards disable some of the Daleks, most of them escape and return to their time machine with Chen.

Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor admits that he did not have time to build another fake, and had to hand over the real taranium. But he's stolen the Monk's directional controller - evidenced when the Monk lands on an ice planet and realises that without having any control over the direction of his TARDIS he now has little chance of ever catching the Doctor.

The directional control burns itself out almost instantly (due to the Monk's TARDIS being a later model than the Doctor's), but it's enough to get them back to Kembel. The three leave the TARDIS, but Sara and Steven lose the Doctor in the jungle and proceed to the city alone. Upon arrival they find the Dalek city deserted, and the alliance leaders imprisoned. They agree to turn on the Daleks, and in exchange are released from the prison cell. They take off in their ships - apart from Chen, who is apparently killed when The Spar explodes just after take-off.

Searching the jungle, they find the entrance to a second, underground city which the Daleks are now currently using. As they prepare to enter, Chen returns, having faked his death and takes the two prisoner. He leads them into the underground city and into the control room in grandiose fashion. Thinking that he was still imprisoned in the first city, the Dalek leader announces that their alliance is over. Chen refuses to accept this, and believes that he is actually the leader of the alliance. He tries to kill the Dalek leader, but his blast simply diffuses off the Dalek's shield. The Dalek orders Chen taken outside and killed, causing Chen to flee boasting that he is immortal. He's quickly proven wrong when a Dalek patrol corners him and guns him down.

Taking advantage of the distraction, the Doctor enters the control room and activates the Time Destructor. The Daleks return, but are powerless to do anything due to the danger of the Doctor increasing the Destructor's power. He orders Sara and Steven back to the TARDIS, but Sara refuses to go. The two flee with the Time Destructor through the jungle, which rapidly begins to deteriorate and die. The Daleks pursue them, but seem immune from the effects. The Doctor and Sara reach the TARDIS but have been aged massively by the Destructor. The two collapse, and Sara disintegrates. Steven rushes outside and tries to deactivate the Destructor, but cannot do anything. As he begins to rapidly age, he tries to help the Doctor, but is ordered to get back into the TARDIS. Fortunately, when trying to deactivate the destructor he managed to reverse it, thus causing the two to revert to approximately their previous ages. The pursuing Daleks try to destroy the Destructor with their weapons but instead cause it to run uncontrollably fast, destroying the Daleks and reducing the planet to a lifeless, barely habitable wasteland.

The Doctor and Steven emerge from the TARDIS some time later, the Destructor having burnt itself out. "What a terrible waste..." mutters the Doctor, referring to the death and destruction that has taken place.

Notes

1. According to the credits, the serial was written by Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner , with the credit "From an idea by Terry Nation" on Spooner's episodes. In fact, the work done by Nation on the serial amounted to less than 20 pages of work, with script editor Donald Tosh writing most of his episodes.
2. Possibly because of the multiple authors and/or typists, virtually every conceivable variant of The Daleks' Master Plan was used in contemporary documents, though this version is on a plurality of camera scripts and is the most grammatically correct form. During production the story was referred to as Twelve Part Dalek Story on some documents.
3. The series' regular composer, Dudley Simpson , did not work on this serial owing to a serious dispute between him and director Douglas Camfield . Some time after the production of the serial The Crusade , the two had a small falling-out. On the next serial that Camfield directed (The Time Meddler ), Camfield elected to use percussion music, feeling that it lent to the story's atmosphere. However, Simpson interpreted this as a snub by Camfield, causing the dispute to escalate. By the time this serial had entered production, relations between the two had grown so bad that Camfield refused to even consider Simpson, instead hiring Tristram Cary. The dispute was still unresolved at the time of Camfield's death in 1984.
4. Tosh and producer John Wiles would later claim that the scene where the Doctor and his companions celebrate Christmas wasn't in the script originally, and the scene was hastily written by Camfield when the episode ran short due to Hartnell omitting some of his dialogue. However it was common practice at the time for BBC shows to have a direct address to camera for a Christmas episode.

External links

• Cast and Crew list, on the BBC website