The Daleks' Master Plan (episodes 1 - 7)

Alternative cover from DeviantArt

Fearing for Steven's life after he was wounded at Troy, the Doctor goes looking for help. The TARDIS lands on the planet Kembel, where months earlier Marc Cory was murdered by the Daleks, ensuring that their plot to attack the solar system with the help of hostile systems stayed secret. Space Agent Bret Vyon has come looking for Cory and joins with the Doctor, Steven and Katarina as they steal a vital component of the Daleks' doomsday device - the time destructor - and go on the run not only from the Daleks but from Guardian of the Solar System Mavic Chen, the traitor from Earth who has sided with the Daleks. The pursuit across the galaxy sees both Bret and Katarina killed, and Space Agent Sara Kingdom joining the fight against the Daleks and her own government's highest official.

Massive is a word that comes to mind when one mentions The Daleks' Master Plan as it was until 1986 the longest adventure in the series at 12 episodes (13 if Mission to the Unknown is included). The goal was to make a space opera type of adventure and it succeeded alright, and it gave the audiences of the time all the Daleks they could handle as they were in every episode aside from episode 7. That episode in itself was noteworthy as the very first Christmas episode, being broadcast on December 25 of that year, and served to take a break from the horrors of the Dalek plan, and in the final moments of the serial William Hartnell famously broke the fourth wall by wishing the viewers at home a happy Christmas.

This one not only broke the record for longest (at the time) but was also the first adventure to see a companion die; Katarina was the first series companion casualty at only five episodes. Her status as a companion is a bit shaky given that she did not really stay that long, and after bringing her on board as a historical character saved from the sacking of Troy the writers quickly realized that they were not going to be able to do much with her given her lack of knowledge about ... well, anything. This isn't to say she was stupid or necessarily naive, but she just had no comprehension of anything she was seeing and believed that she was actually dead and the Doctor was transporting her to a place of perfection. So they blew her out of an air lock.

Bret Vyon on the other hand, lasted only one episode less than Katarina and was gunned down aiding the Doctor and Steven in escaping from Earth security, and he gets no companion status. Not to worry, though; actor Nicholas Courtney would be back in a few years in one of the most memorable roles in the series next to the Doctor himself. But Vyon's mission is to find out what happened to Marc Cory and his crew, and after initially distrusting the Doctor and company joins up once the Dalek threat is revealed.

The big disappointing thing about this one is as usual the lack of available visual material; out of 12 episodes there are only 3 left - episodes 2, 5 and 10 - and a handful of clips. The audio exists as well but it's a really long listen in one go unless you are on a long car ride somewhere, like through New Brunswick, and you desperately need the distraction. Episode 2 was the most recent one from this serial to be found and when it was it revealed a few things had changed on Kembel that wouldn't get noticed on audio: the Dalek base was now bigger and the lineup of alien delegates had changed, with only two of the originals now on set. Gone was the tall mystery creature I liked in Mission to the Unknown and in here more humanoid things, including one bald creature in a bodysuit covered in large round lesions.

The lineup, from DeviantArt once again

Given that I was going to have to jump between DVD and MP3 to enjoy this story, I decided to split my enjoyment into two chunks, stopping at episode 7 after the Christmas pause for a couple of reasons, the biggest of which is about new companion Sara Kingdom who is introduced in episode 5.

Like Katarina before her, Sara does not get a long innings as a companion, and she'll be gone by the end of this one. When the script was made into another so-so novel by lacklustre author John Peel he claimed to have deliberately broken the story into two parts so the time with Sara on the TARDIS crew might get fleshed out better by future writers, although at the time there was not a lot of mention of original  fiction in the works (and Target Books did not want to publish a supersized novel anyway). It was not until Big Finish came along and twigged to that notion and started including Sara in their range, recruiting the wonderful Jean Marsh to reprise the role alongside Peter Purves as Steven Taylor. But what we know about Sara from her first couple episodes is that she is fiercely loyal to her commission in Space Security and will do anything to uphold the law. The revelation that her own commander in chief is a traitor and has aligned with the most evil beings in the universe throws her for a loop and the Doctor and Steven offer her a chance to redeem her blind following and do some good.
Doctor Who


So with the Daleks temporarily behind then, the new TARDIS crew resume their travels together...

NEXT EPISODE: THE ANACHRONAUTS