Friday 30 March 2018

200 Fury from the Deep: Episode Three

EPISODE: Fury from the Deep: Episode Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 200
STORY NUMBER: 042
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 30 March 1968
WRITER: Victor Pemberton
DIRECTOR: Hugh David
SCRIPT EDITOR: Derrick Sherwin
PRODUCER: Peter Bryant
RATINGS: 7.7 million viewers
FORMAT: CD: Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Volume 5 (1967-1969)
TELESNAPS: Fury from the Deep: Episode Three

"Seaweed! Not the sort that you'd normally find on the beach. This seaweed happens to be dangerously alive"

Welcome to Doctor Who episode 200!

Victoria thinks she's seen the seaweed in the Harris' quarters move like a spider so the Doctor pops it into a specimen bag for analysis. He sends Harris away to fetch medical help then he, Jamie & Victoria leave for the Tardis, not noticing the weed growing up Maggie's arm. At the Tardis, now washed up on the shore, the time travellers discover the weed is moving at a molecular level. Van Lutyens tries to get Harris' support, but Robson is furious with Harris for leaving the prisoners unattended and being preoccupied with his wife. The impeller starts working then stops again. The stressed Robson retires to his quarters. The weed growing in the Tardis emits toxic gas but Jamie & The Doctor trap it in a tank. Van Lutyens contacts his superiors in the Hague, and advises Harris to contact his at the gas company. Mr Oak locks Robson into his quarters and opens the vent control filling the room with the toxic gas. Once he has been exposed to it he is allowed to escape, nearly knocking Harris over who has heard his screams. The time travellers discover gas, foam and weed in the Harris quarters. The Doctor tells Harris & Van Lutyens the weed is alive. He is alarmed to hear that Maggie Harris hasn't been taken to the medical centre as planned.

3v 3x

Maggie stands on the beach looking out to sea. Robson joins her: they are both under the control of the weed creatures.

MAGGIE: There is little time. You know what you must do?
ROBSON: Yes.
MAGGIE: You will obey?
Leaving Robson behind on the beach, Maggie walks into the sea.

3y 3z

You know what really strikes me about this episode? The ending. When I first listened to it on the train to Stoke year ago now, the eerie music played over the beach scene stuck in my head. It's far far spookier than stuff usually used in Doctor Who, sounding almost like a piece of 1960s Pink Floyd. Now I can see the telesnaps for this episode and I can see the stark emptiness of the beach matches what I can hear. I've talked about episodes and stories I'd like back and, make no mistake, I would love the whole of this episode and story returned, but if I could have just ONE scene from it, then it would be this one.

An unsual feature of this episode is The Doctor using both of his friends as lab assistants:

JAMIE: What are you doing, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Well you see, Jamie, these two cylinders contain a small amount of natural gas. It should be quite interesting to see what sort of effect it has on the weed. How are you doing, Victoria?
VICTORIA: I don't know, I think you ought to have a look.
DOCTOR: Oh yes, well, that's got the natural iron content.
VICTORIA: Well, I did the Bunsen test, like you told me, but I found something which worried me.
DOCTOR: Oh yes, I'm not surprised. Is this hot?
VICTORIA: No, no.
DOCTOR: You see this rusty stuff here.
VICTORIA: Yes?
DOCTOR: Well, it means that the weed's giving out a gas. Probably toxic.
VICTORIA: Toxic?
JAMIE: Hey, Doctor! What are these little wriggly things in the weed?
DOCTOR: Now just a minute, Jamie. I'm looking at. Little wriggly things? Where?
JAMIE: Here, look. Look in there.
DOCTOR: Jamie, this is it! There's molecular movement! Come and see, Victoria. There. Why, that's amazing!
JAMIE: What does it mean?
VICTORIA: It means, Jamie, that the weed is just as much alive as you and me.
3a 3b
The Doctor shows them a picture from a book he has:
VICTORIA: That's it, Doctor. That's the creature I saw back at the Compound.
DOCTOR: Yes. Yes, I was afraid it would be.
VICTORIA: But how did it get in this book?
DOCTOR: Well, I told you, Victoria, this is a book of legends and superstitions. This particular drawing was supplied by ancient mariners in the North Sea in the middle of the eighteenth century, Jamie.
JAMIE: That's my time. You mean to say this is the creature that Victoria saw back at the Compound.
DOCTOR: Yes I think there's no doubt about it.
JAMIE: Well, what about these great clumps of weed.
DOCTOR: Well there's obviously some connection between the weed and the creatures themselves.
VICTORIA: Oh, no!
DOCTOR: Gas!
VICTORIA: What?
DOCTOR: Jamie! Jamie, help me get the lid on! Oh, no. Quickly!
The seaweed has started to escape causing Victoria to scream. The Doctor & Jamie get it back into the tank.
DOCTOR: I was right. The weed formations are feeding off the natural gas beneath the North Sea and giving off toxic gas. Come on. We must get back to Harrises' quarters. Come along. Just a minute. That weed went back in its tank very suddenly, didn't it? I wonder why? Never mind.
This exchange has not only provided answers to their immeadiate questions but also hints at the eventual final solution to their problems!

The episode also provides the first hint that not all is well with one of the Doctor's companions.....

DOCTOR: Are you all right, Jamie?
JAMIE: Oh, I've come over dizzy.
DOCTOR: Well, you just rest a while.
JAMIE: I'll just get my breath back.
VICTORIA: Doctor, why is it that we always land up in trouble?
DOCTOR: Well, Victoria, it's the spice of life, my dear.
VICTORIA: Oh, well I'm not so sure. I don't really like been scared out of my wits every second.
DOCTOR: Is something wrong?
VICTORIA: Well, I just wish that once. Oh, never mind.
DOCTOR: Are you right, Jamie? Come on then.
JAMIE: What's the matter with Victoria?
The other notable feature of this episode is Robson's breakdown. We've had stressed base leaders before, idiots that won't see sense and pay for it with their lives, but nobody has lost it quite how Robson does:
HARRIS: Price!
PRICE: Yes, sir?
HARRIS: Is Doctor Patterson back?
PRICE: No, we've heard nothing from D Rig, sir.
HARRIS: Right. Get on to the Matron at the Medicare Unit and tell her to send a couple of orderlies over to my quarters with a stretcher to bring my wife in. She's ill. You know the extension.
PRICE: Yes, sir.
ROBSON: What's the panic now, Harris?
HARRIS: Go on, get on with it.
ROBSON: Harris, I asked you a question.
HARRIS: My wife is ill. She needs medical attention.
ROBSON: What's the matter with her, she got a hangover?
HARRIS: She's very ill, Mister Robson.
ROBSON: Who says so, that Doctor fellow? Incidentally, where is he and the two kids?
HARRIS: Oh, well, I left them in my quarters when I found my wife was ill.
ROBSON: You what? Those three prisoners were in your charge and you left them there?
HARRIS: I was worried about my wife. I didn't have time to think about it.
ROBSON: That's your trouble you never do think, do you, Harris, when you should. Those three prisoners were in your charge.
HARRIS: I don't care. Don't you understand? My wife was lying on the floor when I got there. She was unconscious and that smell of toxic gas was there. She's been poisoned, Robson, poisoned!
VAN LUTYENS: And this toxic gas, where does it come from?
HARRIS: Oh, I don't know.
ROBSON: And none of us will know now you've let them loose.
HARRIS: How could they possibly have anything to do with it?
ROBSON: That still doesn't alter the fact that you let those prisoners go without my authority.
HARRIS: Prisoners? A harmless old man and a couple of teenagers?
ROBSON: That harmless old man is probably a saboteur. It's probably him that's been tampering with that release valve on the shoreline. Creating all those variations in pressure you got so excited about!
HARRIS: Oh don't be so ridiculous, Robson. You're clutching at straws, stupidly blind to the real facts!
ROBSON: Don't shout at me, boy!
3c 3d

CHIEF: Mister Robson, sir. Mister Robson. The impeller, it's moving again.
ROBSON: Good man. I told you it was only a mechanical fault, didn't I.
CHIEF: It just started quite suddenly.
ROBSON: Keep it going, man.
CHIEF: I don't know if we can hold it.
ROBSON: Don't lose it now. You fools! You stupid fools!
CHIEF: Well, the faults not this end! It must be jammed at the base.
ROBSON: You wanted this, didn't you? It's just what you wanted!
VAN LUTYENS: You should have listened to me, Robson.
ROBSON: What, turned off the flow? Ruined a reputation of thirty years?
VAN LUTYENS: Reputation! Don't you realise that what is going on here is beyond your comprehension? That whatever it is that is in the pipelines, that's jamming the impeller, has taken over the rigs, is a menace and a threat to us all?
ROBSON: The only menace and threat around here is you, Van Lutyens. And you Harris. Listen. What are you staring at! I want that impeller working in half an hour. I'll be in my quarters. Let me know as soon as the impeller starts moving again.
VAN LUTYENS: Dwaas. He's cracking up, Harris.
HARRIS: Look. I've got to get back to my wife.
VAN LUTYENS: Harris, you can't go now. He's losing control.
HARRIS: My wife's been poisoned.
VAN LUTYENS: She's in good hands, ja? She'll be brought into the Medicare Unit. What can you do?
HARRIS: But I ought to go and see her.
VAN LUTYENS: To hang about and worry, that's all. Robson is cracking up. You are the only man with authority to take over. We need you here.
HARRIS: Chief.
CHIEF: Sir.
HARRIS: Mister Robson, you know him better than any of us. How do you? Do you think he's all right?
CHIEF: Well, he's under a lot of pressure, I think he's nerves are a bit.
VAN LUTYENS: Ja, pressure, strain. He's cracking up, I tell you.
CHIEF: Well, you're not helping him you know.
VAN LUTYENS: That's not my job. I am here to give technical advice which he ignores. All right, he knows a lot about engineering, but not all. And what he does not know is the state of mind of those men out there on the rigs.
CHIEF: He ought to know. He was out on those rigs himself long enough.
VAN LUTYENS: Oh, ja, ja. He has plenty of professional experience of normal conditions, but these are not normal conditions. There is something very strange going on here, but he refuses to accept the new factor.
CHIEF: So what do you think he should do?
VAN LUTYENS: I know what I would do. Close the compound, evacuate the rigs.
CHIEF: He'd never do it.
VAN LUTYENS: We have lost contact with two rigs. We have a major blockage in the main pipeline. The impeller is jammed, and we still don't know what is causing the trouble.
HARRIS: But we regained contact with Baxter on Rig D and he said everything was under control.
VAN LUTYENS: Ja, and we've not heard from him since. And what about Rig C?
CHIEF: Oh, that could be a telecommunications fault somewhere.
VAN LUTYENS: J., it could be, but we have to check that it is and we have to check the valve at the base of the impeller. But what does Robson do? Nothing! Nothing!
HARRIS: Well, I suppose he might listen if we all put it to him. What do you think, Chief?
CHIEF: You're absolutely right of course. We must check.
3g 3h
ROBSON: No, I will not listen. It's you, Van Lutyens, isn't it? Isn't it? You've been undermining my authority ever since you came here. You and Harris. You've been stirring up trouble just to get at me, haven't you? You've even got the Chief on your side now. One of my oldest and trusted friends.
CHIEF: Mister Robson.
ROBSON: At least I thought I could trust you.
CHIEF: Mister Robson, all we want to do is
ROBSON: I know what you want! I know what you all want! You're going to get at me, just so I'll give up. I'm not going to give you that pleasure! Why don't you go and join him? Go on, join Van Lutyens! Go on, join him! What are you standing around for? What are you starring at? I'm in charge! I'm in charge here!
HARRIS: Mister Robson.
ROBSON: I'm in charge of this Compound, Harris! It's my responsibility! Mine! My responsibility!
VAN LUTYENS: Do you still think he's capable of running this place? You do what you like. I'm going to get in touch with my people in the Hague.
HARRIS: What can they do?
VAN LUTYENS: I don't know. They might push your people in London into some sort of action. Give me a direct line to Van der Post, Hague Central,
PRICE: Yes, sir.
This isn't a man under alien control, this is someone who has completely lost their grip on what's going on. It's a very adult and mature thing for Doctor Who to be looking at, and coupled with the chilling ending makes this episode superior to a great many we've seen.

Playing Robson is Victor Maddern a famous British film & TV actor. I didn't know till I saw his IMDB credits that he'd been in The Beiderbecke Tapes. If you've not seen the Biderbecke Affair/Tapes/Connection then buy The Beiderbecke Trilogy on DVD as it's one of the best things that's ever been on television. You can also find him in The Prisoner: Hammer into Anvil as the band leader

0_Robson 0_VanLutyens

John Abineri is making his first Who appearance here as Van Lutyens but he'll be back in the Ambassadors of Death as General Carrington, Death to the Daleks as Captain Railton and The Power of Kroll as Ranquin. He's probably mopst famous for appearing as Herne the Hunter in Robin of Sherwood but he's been seen by most people as the buttler at the ambasaador's reception inthe long running Ferrero Rocher adverts. Science fiction fans may recognise him as Rimmer's Dad in Red Dwarf or as Hubert Goss in Survivors or even Col. Chalmers in Thirteen to Centaurus, one of the surviving first season episodes of Out of the Unknown which you can see on the Out of the Unknown DVD Set but go have a look at his IMDB entry for his roles in numerous other TV productions!

One more thing does spring out off of Abineri's credit list: the 1989 adaptation of Around The world In 80 Days, in which he plays Father Gruber, because it reunites him with Victor Maddern who plays the Liverpool Ticket Agent!

Roy Spencer appearing as Harris had previously been Maynak in The Steel Skyand The Plague, the first two episodes of The Ark. I can see another Robin Hood adaptation on his CV, The Legend Of Robin Hood. He plays Brother Bertram in the 6th episode but it's yet another television performance by John Abineri as Sir Kenneth Neston. The series featured Paul Darrow, Avon from Blake's 7 and a pair of Doctor Who storis, as The Sheriff of Nottingham in what I'm told is a rather becalmed role for him! I can also see Stephen Whitaker, Craftsman Weams in the Web of Fear, and William Marlowe, Harry Mailer in The Mind of Evil and Lester in Revenge of the Cybermen, in the regular cast there!

0_Harris 0_MrsHarris

It's a first Doctor Who role for June Murphy, playing wife Maggie Harris, who'll be back as Jane Blythe in The Sea Devils. In his acting days, this story's director Hugh David had appeared in a BBC Sunday-Night Play, Sparrow in a Cage with her.

On Doctor Who debut as well is Hubert Rees as the Chief Engineer. He'll be back as Captain Ransom in The War Games and The Seeds of Doom as John Stevenson.

0_ChiefEngineer 0_Leaman

Having previously played The Controller in The Macra Terror Graham Leaman returns in this story playing Price, who seems to be in charge of the base's communications. He'll be back as The Grand Marshall in The Seeds of Death episode five & six and a Time Lord, presumably the same Time Lord, in both Colony in Space episode one and The Three Doctors. He also has Doomwatch on his CV appearing in the second season opener You Killed Toby Wren as Professor Eric Hayland, which exists and can be found on The Doomwatch DVD, and Cause of Death as Wilfred Ridge, the father of one of the leading chracters, John Ridge. Sadly this appearance is one of the many later Doomwatch episodes which is missing.

Yes there's control panels in some of those cast shots, but they've all turned up in previous episodes so go and have a look at the blog entries for episodes one and two to see what they are!

As I said this is the 200th episode of Doctor Who, which is significant, but it's the only episode numbered with a multiple of 50 that doesn't exist. The first five 50 episode milestones are:

Milestone
Story
Episode
50
The Dalek Invasion of Earth
5
100
The Daleks' Master Plan
10
150
The Moonbase
2
200
Fury from the Deep
3
250
The War Games
7
Beyond episode 244 ALL episodes of Doctor Who exist. In fact we'll see a significant increase in the amount of watchable material shortly. Just 14 further episodes of Doctor Who are missing and 7 of those are within the next 9 episodes forming the remainder of this season.

While reuse in The War Games and the Australian Censor have given us a peak at previous episodes, no moving footage from this one survives. In fact it's the only episode this story with no surviving footage!

Friday 23 March 2018

199 Fury from the Deep: Episode Two

EPISODE: Fury from the Deep: Episode Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 199
STORY NUMBER: 042
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 23 March 1968
WRITER: Victor Pemberton
DIRECTOR: Hugh David
SCRIPT EDITOR: Derrick Sherwin
PRODUCER: Peter Bryant
RATINGS: 7.9 million viewers
FORMAT: CD: Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Volume 5 (1967-1969)
TELESNAPS: Fury from the Deep: Episode Two

"There is something alive in the pipeline. It's down there, in the darkness, in the pipeline, waiting....."

The Doctor and Jamie rescue Victoria from the weed and foam. Robson doesn't believe her story and accuses her of sabotage. Maggie Harris tells her husband that the seaweed stung her before passing out. Out on the veranda the sea weed is producing foam. The Doctor and Robson are arguing about the sound the Doctor heard. The Doctor says it was a heartbeat, Robson says it's a propeller mechanism. Harris asks The Doctor to come and see Maggie. She in turn is opening the door to Mr Oak, a short fat man, and Mr Quill, a tall thin man. They claim to be from maintenance but are revealed to have arms covered in seaweed which they cover with white gloves. They breathe toxic gas at Mrs Harris rendering her unconscious again. Gas is vented from the pipeline to reduce pressure. Once more Van Lutyens argues with the stubborn Robson as the main impeller stops moving cutting off the gas flow. The Doctor and Harris find Maggie unconscious: he tells them about the seaweed. Van Lutyens seeks support from Chief Baxter to investigate the problems but Robson won't listen to him either when Van Lutyens' name is mentioned. The Impeller starts again as Van Lutyens explains his concerns:

It's down there, in the darkness, in the pipeline, waiting.....
Oh what a wonderfully creepy bit of dialogue to end with, that's superb.
JAMIE: What happened?
DOCTOR: Deep breaths. Take deep breaths.
CHIEF: Mister Robson, in here. Gas.
ROBSON: Check it then. Find out what it is.
VICTORIA: Oh, Doctor, a horrible creature.
DOCTOR: Creature?
VICTORIA: Didn't you see it? It was in there. It came straight towards me covered with seaweed and foam and this horrible hissing sound, and then I screamed. I didn't know.
DOCTOR: All right, Victoria.
ROBSON: Creature? The girl's hysterical.
Robson's a stubborn old goat, doesn't listen to anything anyone says to him preferring to back his own experience.
ROBSON: So what's the panic?
CHIEF: It's the pump, sir. The revs have dropped.
VAN LUTYENS: The pump is slowing down?
CHIEF: Yes, she's not holding steady even now. I don't understand it.
ROBSON: Well, don't stand there thinking about it, man. Do a complete check.
DOCTOR: Excuse me, may I say something? When I was in the pipe room a short while ago, I'm sure I heard a movement coming from inside the pipe.
VAN LUTYENS: What kind of movement?
DOCTOR: Well, the same as I heard on the beach. A sort of thumping sound.
VAN LUTYENS: But that's what they heard out at the rigs.
ROBSON: What you heard and what everybody else heard was a mechanical fault somewhere along the line.
DOCTOR: Then why did they hear it out at the rigs?
ROBSON: Because, my friend, underneath this impeller shaft is a vast steel gasometer buried in the earth. It acts like an echo chamber. It'll make the sound of a pin dropping sound like that of a thunder clap. It travels along the pipe.
DOCTOR: Oh, this wasn't a mechanical sound.
ROBSON: All right then, suppose there is something in the pipe. A fish or something. What do you expect me to do about it?
DOCTOR: Turn off the gas flow. At least until you've had a chance to investigate.
ROBSON: That's out of the question.
VAN LUTYENS: Mister Robson, if there is something in the pipeline
ROBSON: We do not turn off the flow and that is final.
CHIEF: Mister Robson, sir.
ROBSON: Yes?
CHIEF: Down another half.
ROBSON: It must be a mechanical fault. Get a couple of men and check, man, check.
VAN LUTYENS: If you allow the pressure to build up in the pipeline, you'll blow the whole rig sky-high.
DOCTOR: And blow us with it.
VAN LUTYENS: All because you're too stubborn to turn off the gas.
ROBSON: All right, what do you think it is? One of these creatures the hysterical girl thought she saw?
DOCTOR: Well, who knows.
The controlled Oak & Quill are obviously meant to be a sort rift on Laurel & Hardy and because of that are all the more sinister for it

2w 2x

A brief clip from this episode exists courtesy of the Australian censors showing Oak & Quill breathing out the toxic gas.

2y 2z

Control panel time:

The first panel here with the row of 3 dials and then a row of 2 dials we saw in Dalek Masterplan 5: Counterplot and later in The War Machines in the Warehouse:

2_1 2_7

The next panel we got 2 partial views of last episode, here we can see all of it:

2_3 2_4

There's two panels in what looks like one of the side rooms.

The first is obviously another one from Dalek Masterplan 5: Counterplot:

2_5 cp 2_6

The second there's less to go on but it could well be this third panel along from The Faceless One. We saw the second panel in the previous episode.

Friday 16 March 2018

198 Fury from the Deep: Episode One

EPISODE: Fury from the Deep: Episode One
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 198
STORY NUMBER: 042
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 16 March 1968
WRITER: Victor Pemberton
DIRECTOR: Hugh David
SCRIPT EDITOR: Derrick Sherwin
PRODUCER: Peter Bryant
RATINGS: 8.2 million viewers
FORMAT: CD: Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Volume 5 (1967-1969)
TELESNAPS: Fury from the Deep: Episode One

"Something seems to have got inside the pipe line. We've all heard it. This sound. At first I thought it was something to do with the pumps but it isn't. It's a peculiar sound. A sort of regular thumping, pulsating, like a heart beat......"

The Tardis materialises at sea causing it's crew to row a dingy to shore. Seeing the cliffs they realise they are back on Earth and in England. The Doctor is curious about the foam he finds on the beach. Finding a pipeline marked Euro Sea Gas the Doctor locates a black box which he opens using his brand new Sonic Screwdriver. He puts a stethoscope to the pipe and hears a pumping sound just before they are shot with tranquilliser darts. They wake in the control room and are interrogated by Robson & Harris who suspect them of sabotage. They have lost contact with one of their gas drilling rigs. Harris' Wife, Maggie, is prevented from leaving the base by a guard under Robson's orders. The Doctor tells Harris he heard something in the pipe. The missing rig briefly makes contact. Harris wants to turn off the gas flow and investigate but Robson won't let him: the gas has never been turned off while he's been in charge. Harris' notes are stolen from his bag by a white gloved man. Believing he's left them at home he goes back to find them. The Doctor, Jamie & Victoria have been locked in a bunk room and are trying to escape. When they do the Doctor asks Victoria to stay behind but she wanders off exploring. Harris meets Maggie and asks her to fetch the file. She finds it on his desk but is stung by a piece of seaweed within which she throws onto the veranda outside. Robson argues with Van Lutyens, the technical advisor from the Dutch government. Robson is contacted by Chief Baxter at the control rig: he can hear something in the pipes. Maggie is reacting badly to the weed sting. Victoria hides in the Oxygen store room but a white gloved gas masked saboteur is opening the gas cylinders. He locks Victoria in and opens the ventilation system where something lies in wait. While Jamie & The Doctor explore white foam and seaweed pour into the store and Victoria's screams echo round the base.

1y 1z

Welcome to "the one with the foam and the seaweed". This initial episode is OK but what I mainly take from it is lots of people arguing with Robson. Those who've seen a few base under siege stories will recognise the "Leader who doesn't get on with the Doctor" type and indeed his character's name isn't that far from Hobson, another base chief we saw in The Moonbase, which happened to feature this story's writer, Victor Pemberton, in an acting role.

There's a nice piece of dialogue here illustrating Robson's character that also mentions Megan Jones, the company head, prefiguring her appearance in a few episodes time:

ROBSON: You're here to offer me your expert advice, not to spread alarm amongst my crews.
VAN LUTYENS: How dare you say that to me?
ROBSON: I didn't ask you to come here. It was Megan Jones and those fools on the board. I said it wouldn't work and it never has.
VAN LUTYENS: Only because you are too proud to accept advice.
ROBSON: Let's get one thing straight, my friend. When I need your advice I'll ask for it.
Fury from the Deep is the last story which has no complete episode existing, but there's quite a bit of material that survives in various ways. From this episode a brief clip of the opening showing the Tardis materialising at sea exists which I first saw on one of Blue Peter's many Doctor Who articles. Said clip is actually taken from episode 10 of the War Games which reuses the footage from the episode. This is the first time the Tardis doesn't materialise on dry land, although it did land on it's side in the Ice Warriors.

1_A 1_B

The War Games 100 also reuses another unusual Tardis landing from the previous story, The Web of Fear, when it materialises in space in episode 1 and is covered in the web.

Famously this episode sees the first appearance of the Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver. Here it's just a penlight torch which will evolve over subsequent appearances into a more familiar form. For once it is actually unscrewing something here!

I can remember a full page pinup of Troughton using it to open the pipeline box in an early episode of Doctor Who Weekly too. This would seem to come from a series of publicity photos taken of the three regulars on location atBotany Bay in Kent which is used as the location for all the beach scenes in this story.

FFTD Sonic FFTD

Other memories I have of Fury from the Deep involve reading the oversized book when I was younger and enjoying it a lot. I bought the CD the day it came out and listened to it on the train to Stoke where my friend Naomi was living at the time (co-incidentally her surname is Harris like the couple in the story) and that will provide another memory later in the story that strongly sticks in my mind! Naomi will provide us with a top Doctor Who story when we get to Robots of Death!

John Garvin briefly appears in this episode as Carney, on Rig D. He'd previously appeared in Out of This World, the forerunner to Out of the Unknown, as Jim Thurgood in The Dark Star and the previous year had appeared in Adam Adamant Lives! as a Passer-by in The Tunnel of Death.

0_carney 0_guards

The same Adam Adamant episode also features Peter Ducrow, playing one of the guards here, who has a more regular role in Adam Adamant appearing as Adam's nemesis The Face in A Vintage Year for Scoundrels, A Slight Case of Reincarnation, Black Echo, Face in a Mirror, The Tunnel of Death, The Resurrectionists and A Sinister Sort of Service. He had previously appeared in A for Andromeda as Doctor Hunter in The Murderer & The Face of the Tiger.

As with most "Base under siege" stories there's a large control room set here, which is surrounded by lots of smaller room with pumping equipment in. To furnish them the BBC props department has got loads of my favourite control panels in!

Here's what I spotted this episode!

The first one isn't 100% obvious but I think it could be this panel from Dalek Masterplan 5: Counterplot:

1 1 1 2 cp6

The next panel also appears in the same episode:

1 3 1 4 cp5

You can see the edge of that again here, along with a much more familiar one from The War Machines:

1 5 1 6

Friday 9 March 2018

197 The Web of Fear: Episode Six

EPISODE: The Web of Fear: Episode Six
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 197
STORY NUMBER: 041
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 09 March 1968
WRITER: Mervyn Haisman & Henry Lincoln
DIRECTOR: Douglas Camfield
SCRIPT EDITOR: Derrick Sherwin
PRODUCER: Peter Bryant
RATINGS: 8.3 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - The Web of Fear
TELESNAPS: The Web of Fear: Episode Six

"It isn't me! It isn't me, don't you understand! I'm not the Intelligence! The Intelligence is him!"

Evans and Arnold escape the fortress' destruction with Evans fleeing from the sergeant. The Doctor returns his Yeti to Intelligence control until it's needed. They meet first the Colonel & Jamie then Arnold and move towards Piccadilly Circus. They are soon captured by Yeti as is the lone Evans. Arnold manages to escape. Travers and Victoria are brought to the ticket hall at Piccadilly Circus where they catch sight of a figure in the shadows. Dominating the hall is a large glass pyramid which Travers thinks the Intelligence will use to drain the Doctor's mind. Arnold find the long missing journalist Harold Chorley in the tunnels and takes Chorley with him. Evans is brought in to the prisoners and The Doctor taken away. He immobilises the Yeti and alters the helmet apparatus they're carrying before reactivating the Yeti and continuing. Everyone is brought to the ticket hall. Chorley enters propelled into the room by the Intelligence's servant: Staff Sergeant Arnold. Jamie is brought in by a Yeti. The Doctor is placed in the pyramid and the machine activates. Jamie orders his Yeti guard, the one brought under control earlier, to attack the Pyramid and the Yeti. The Doctor is rescued and the Pyramid destroyed, killing Arnold and immobilising the Yeti. The Doctor is distraught: he'd altered the device so the intelligence would be drained into him and not the way the Intelligence had planned. Now it's free to wander again. The Travers praise him as a hero. Making their farewells the time travellers return through the now clear tunnels to Covent Garden.

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A great final episode:Raise the tension as it goes on to a climax that reveals the traitor and yet is very different to anything else in Doctor Who in that it's not a clean win, a victory for the Doctor but a plan the Doctor has cooked up a plan that gets ruined by his companions! In fact this whole story is cracking, looks and sounds superb!

I've been convinced for a while that Haisman & Lincoln are better writers than given credit for and with this episode they prove they know their craft of writing for television. Even the little details show some skill: by destroying the HQ at the end of the previous episode it makes room in the studio for the Booking Hall set which features something rarely seen in a Doctor Who interior: a roof!

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It's in this set that we see the Pyramid, which the intelligence is to use to drain the Doctor's mind, and the shadowy figure in the background, a last throw of the dice in the mystery of who the intelligence's pawn is!

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Of course the figure in the booking hall is actually Chorley. He's been missing since episode 3 and hardly mentioned since so there's a good chance that by now, 3 weeks later, the viewers at home will have forgotten who he is and his absence is even referred to in the script when he runs into Arnold:

CHORLEY: Sergeant! Oh, thank heavens I found you. I've been wandering down here by myself for ages.
ARNOLD: Well, well, well. Quite forgotten about you we had, Mister Chorley.
CHORLEY: Tried to get out over the surface, but there are Yeti everywhere. And there's this fungus and fog, all around, you see, and it's hopeless! I tried to get back to HQ, I tried, but all the stations were locked, you see, and I couldn't get back in. And all the time I kept seeing more and more Yeti, and they were closing in on me. I was retreating. I was always retreating, and then, at last I found I could get into Piccadilly, but when I got down there, there was this machine and that Professor, and a girl. And more Yeti. They're everywhere!
ARNOLD: My, my, my. We are in a state, aren't we, sir.
CHORLEY: Yes. All right. So, I'm frightened. Well so would you be if you'd been up there.
ARNOLD: It's all right, sir. Nothing to be ashamed of.
CHORLEY: Yes.
ARNOLD: There's just one thing that puzzles me though, sir.
CHORLEY: Oh, what's that?
ARNOLD: How you managed to exist all this time. Why didn't the Yetis get you?
CHORLEY: Look, Sergeant, what are you suggesting? You're not suggesting that I
ARNOLD: Oh no, sir, I was just wondering, that's all. I think perhaps you'd better come along with me, don't you, sir? Come on now.
Our other coward, Evans, meanwhile has finally snapped and fled from Arnold into the tunnels.
EVANS: What are we going to do now, Staff?
ARNOLD: The main door should keep the fungus out of the tunnels for a bit. We must warn the others that HQ's had it.
EVANS: Right.
ARNOLD: Well, come on, then.
EVANS: Oh, oh no, not me.
ARNOLD: You're not disobeying an order, are you, Evans?
EVANS: Now look here, Staff. If we go up there, and this stuff breaks out, we'll be trapped.
ARNOLD: Now look, lad, you're scared, that's understandable. But you've been in the Army long enough to know that orders is orders. There's four people up there. If we don't warn them, they're for the chop.
EVANS: So? Four of them's getting the chop. There's no reason to make it six, is there?
ARNOLD: I've had enough of your lip for one day. Come on. Follow me. Evans! Come back here!
EVANS: Not on your nellie! Cheerio, Staff!
ARNOLD: Right, then. I'll get you for this!
Unfortunately almost as soon as he does he's cornered by two Yeti, perfectly illustrating Arnold's point that it's suspicious that Chorley has evaded them for so long:

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TRAVERS: It can't be!
ANNE: Oh, it's too horrible. I don't believe it!
ANNE: Arnold.
ARNOLD: No, merely Arnold's lifeless body in which I have concealed myself. But let us to work. There will be time for discussion later. In fact, all the time in the world.
ANNE: Oh, so you weren't going to let us go then afterwards.
TRAVERS: Did you think he would?
It's Arnold, controlled by the intelligence, a very different performance from Jack Woolger to what he's delivered earlier as Arnold. The difference is incredible!

The clues are there is you know where to look that Arnold is the Intelligence's pawn:

How did the Yeti know where the explosives were in the first episode?
Needs to be one of the team that planted them.
How did Arnold know that the Doctor hadn't been caught by the Yeti in episode 2?
He'd have had access to everyone's battle gear to plant the statues.
Most importantly how did he survive going into the web in episode 4?
The suggestion here is that Arnold was one of the first caught in the web - has he been a lifeless Zombie for the whole story or has he only been the Intelligence's control till it needs him?
TRAVERS: What's he going to do?
COLONEL: What's happening?
ARNOLD: Soon your mind will be absorbed by the Great Intelligence. You should be very proud, Doctor. Your knowledge of the past will help to shape the future of this planet.
DOCTOR: Just get on with it, please.
ARNOLD: You seem very anxious suddenly.
DOCTOR: I just want it over and done with.
ARNOLD: Submission is essential. You must understand, Doctor, that without your complete cooperation this transference would be of no value. Should you offer any opposition, either physical or mental, I shall be forced to punish you, or rather your friends. Prepare for a great darkness to cloud your mind.

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JAMIE: Attack now! Attack the Yeti!
DOCTOR: No, you don't understand. You'll ruin everything! No!
JAMIE: Professor! Anne! Give us some help!
DOCTOR: No! No! No! Leave me be! You don't understand. I've got to stay here!

You feel sorry for The Doctor at the end as his plan goes down the tubes!
EVANS: Well, that's that then, innit?
DOCTOR: You blithering Welsh imbecile! Why can't you do what you're told!
JAMIE: Hey, now just a minute, Doctor. If we hadn't pulled you out of that, you'd have been a heap of dust by now.
DOCTOR: You're just as bad. I told you to leave it to me! Now you've gone and ruined everything.
JAMIE: Ruined everything? How can we? We we've won, haven't we?
DOCTOR: No!
TRAVERS: What do you mean, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Oh, why didn't they leave it to me? I had crossed those wires on that helmet thing. The Intelligence wouldn't have drained me, I would have drained the Intelligence! As it is, all we got was a crossed circuit.
ANNE: You mean, all we've done is cut off its contact with Earth? It's still out there in space somewhere, flying around?
DOCTOR: Precisely!
But on the other hand he's known Jamie long enough to know this is exactly what he'd do given the opportunity!

This is the last we see of the Great Intelligence until it's return in the 2012 Christmas Special, The Snowmen, that contains lots of hints to this story. Enough hints that makes me think that Steven Moffat may have had an inkling that it could be returned soon. We'll see other similar beings in the series: the Nestene Conciousness, Mara and Fenric spring to mind as do the Guardians, Eternals and Celestial Toymaker. An attempt to link these beings together as the survivors of another universe can be found in the New Adventures novel All Consuming Fire. It's also the last full appearance of a Yeti though we'll see cameos in both the War Games and Five Doctors with a flashback in Mawdryn Undead.

We get to the end of the story and you get the feeling that there's been a lot of deaths, and the closing moments of the story give us another as Arnold is killer resulting in a lingering shot of his blackened body:

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But actually the number of main characters that survive is quite close to the number that die:

Dead: Captain Knight, Staff Sergeant Arnold, Corporal Lane, Corporal Blake, Craftsman Weams, Silverstien

Survivors: Lethbridge-Stewart, Chorley, Evans, Professor Travers, Anne Travers

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Of the survivors we were meant to see Anne and Professor Travers again in The Invasion but plans changed at a late stage. However it's obvious that the characters of Professor Watkins and his niece Isobel are essentially substitutes for Travers. The Invasion does feature the return of Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier.

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The Yeti in the Underground is, when you think about it, such a bonkers idea. Foam and or Web, yes, but Yeti who you'd expect to see up a Himalayan slope? Possibly this is some of the reason the story works so well placing an unfamiliar element into familiar surroundings. As Jon Pertwee observed there's nothing as scary as a Yeti on the Loo in Tooting Bec! Both of the Haisman and Lincoln six parters are cracking, probably the best Doctor Who stories I've encountered so far. They're great 6 part stories, the best examples in Doctor Who where instead of sagging in the middle or suddenly changing direction they just increase the tension a some more. I had wavered between the two though as to which is better! Before the return of the Web of Fear episodes I would have said Abominable Snowmen probably had a narrow edge, that being no slight on Web of Fear. But now I have four more episodes of Web of Fear it's no longer a level playing field and Web's going to win every time especially as all four episodes turned out to be better than I expected. But both stories are magnificent: I only hope Phil Morris can find more of Abominable Snowman so that story is not at a disadvantage in a fight between them and help me make a more considered judgement.

Web is of course helped by the presence of Doctor Who's finest director, Douglas Camfield, behind the scenes. He too will be back for The Invasion.

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Next episode Fury from the Deep 1 represents the start of an eight episode missing run through to Wheel in Space 2. But after that there are just 9 missing episodes: Wheel in Space 4 & 7, Invasion 1 & 4 and Space Pirates 1 & 3-6.

Web of Fear was novelised by Terrance Dicks, who had made his Doctor Who début on this story as assistant script editor, and was released in August 1976. All six episodes of Web of Fear were issued as a soundtrack cd with narration by Fraser Hines which was released on 6th March 2002. The Soundtrack was re-released in a 2-pack with the previous Yeti story, The Abominable Snowmen, called Yeti Attack in 2003. In November 2003 the surviving first episode was released on video with the remaining two episodes of the Faceless Ones as part of The Reign of Terror boxset with the four surviving episodes of that story. In early 2004 the surviving episode 1 was released again as part of Doctor Who - Lost In Time.

While searching Africa for missing episodes Philip Morris discovered copies of Enemy of the World 1-6 and Web of Fear 1, 2 & 4-6 at a television station in the Nigerian city of Jos. It hasn't yet been revealed exactly when he found it but a report in Doctor Who Magazine 486 has Morris talking about a church being blown up in the city while he was there. Paul Vanezies of the Restoration Team had his hands on the episodes on 31st May 2013 at the BBC's archive in Perivale. Peter Crocker started work on the picture restoration on 16th August 2013 and delivered it on the Friday 4th October. After much rumour the recovery, along with that of Web of Fear, was announced at a press conference on Thursday 10th October 2013 news of which was embargoed till midnight when the episodes were released on iTunes. The Web Of Fear wasreleased on DVD on 24th February 2014, the 46th anniversary of the broadcast of episode 4.

Unlike the vast majority of the Doctor Who DVDs the 2013/14 discs for Enemy of the World and Web of Fear were missing the usual set of extensive special features the Doctor Who fans have got used to, and instead just contained the episodes. Fantom Films has attempted to plug one of these gaps with with it's Who Talk commentary CDs moderator Toby Hadoke is joined by people who worked on the story.

The participants on the Web of Fear discs are:

EPISODE ONE: Ralph Watson & Roger Bunce
EPISODE TWO: Deborah Watling & Ralph Watson
EPISODE THREE: Sue Malden (BBC Archives)
EPISODE FOUR: Ralph Watson & Derek Martin
EPISODE FIVE: Deborah Watling & Roger Bunce
EPISODE SIX: John Levene & Sylvia James
Recently an Enemy of the World Special Edition DVD has been announced for release on March 26th 2018. I very much hope that a Web Of Fear special edition is also in the works but suspect that such a thing won't happen before the currently missing episode 3 is returned.

The return of four episodes of this story brings the number of existing sixties episodes helmed by Douglas Camfield up to 20 out of the 35 that he made. The missing episodes are The Crusade 2 & 4, The Dalek Masterplan 1, 3 & 4, 6 - 9 and 11 & 12, The Web of Fear 3 and Invasion 1 & 4. It's a shame that so much work by Doctor Who's greatest director is missing but I'm glad that so much of this story which I'd longed to see for many years does now exist. Even now, a month and a bit later whenever I watch an episode I still can't quite believe it's really back. When asked which story I'd most like back in the run up to the returns being announced I had Web of Fear at number 2 - Abominable Snowmen was my number one choice and it was followed by Power of the Daleks, Evil of the Daleks and Dalek Masterplan. Now I'm having to rethink my top 5 most wanted list to work out what the new number 5 is: Galaxy 4 ? The Myth Makers? The Smugglers? The Faceless Ones? Fury from the Deep? I can't make up my mind.

What I am almost certain of is that the Philip Morris/Doctor Who returns story isn't over yet. The piece in Doctor Who magazine 466 was very optimistic to the point of being "nudge nudge wink wink more on the way". So I'm very hopeful he'll find some more and return them to the BBC. Popular rumour claimed that Marco Polo was going to be returned with these two stories and, given the number of prints of that sold, I could well believe that has been found. There's 3 significant dates coming: tomorrow, the 50th anniversary itself, Missing Believed Wiped at the NFT on 21st November and the 50th anniversary of the broadcast of Marco Polo next year. Any of those might make a good point to announce a recovery. Another point to bear in mind is that Enemy of the World & Web of Fear were sold to the TV station in Jos as part of a package with the Abominable Snowmen and Wheel in Space. As yet I've not seen anyone answer what happened to those two sets of film prints.

As to what else might come back....

97 Doctor Who episodes as missing from the archives.

This table lays out which stories have missing episodes and, where applicable, the countries which bought prints and hasn't returned them/passed them on/confirmed them as destroyed.

FIRST DOCTOR
STORY MISSING EPISODE COUNT EPISODES COUNTRY
Marco Polo 7/7 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Ethiopia
Jamaica
Malta
Thailand
Mauritus
The Reign of Terror 2/6 4, 5 Gibraltar
Ethiopia
Jamaica
Malta
Thailand
Aden
Trinidad & Tobago
Rhodesia
The Crusade 2/4 2, 4 Gibraltar
Ethiopia
Jamaica
Galaxy 4 3/3 1, 3, 4 Sierra Leone
Mission to the Unknown 1/1 1 NOT SOLD ABROAD
Myth Makers 4/4 1, 2, 3, 4 Sierra Leone
Dalek Masterplan 9/12 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 ,9, 11, 12 NOT SOLD ABROAD
The Massacre 4/4 1, 2, 3, 4 Sierra Leone
Celestial Toymaker 3/3 1, 2, 3 Sierra Leone
The Savages 4/4 1, 2, 3, 4 Sierra Leone
The Smugglers 4/4 1, 2, 3, 4 Sierra Leone
The Tenth Planet 1/4 4 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
SECOND DOCTOR
STORY EPISODE COUNT EPISODES COUNTRY
The Power of the Daleks 6/6 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Highlanders 4/4 1, 2, 3, 4 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Underwater Menace 2/4 1, 4 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Moonbase 2/4 1, 3 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Macra Terror 4/4 1, 2, 3, 4 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Faceless Ones 4/6 2, 4, 5, 6 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Evil of the Daleks 6/7 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ALL PRINTS ACCOUNTED FOR
The Abominable Snowmen 5/6 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 Gibraltar
Nigeria
The Ice Warriors 2/6 2, 3 Gibraltar
The Web of Fear 1/6 3 Gibraltar
Nigeria*
Fury from the Deep 6/6 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Gibraltar
The Wheel in Space 4/6 1, 2, 4, 5 Gibraltar
Nigeria
The Invasion 2/8 1, 4 Gibraltar
The Space Pirates 5/6 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 Gibraltar

* Prints for Web of Fear 1, 2 & 4-6 found. We don't know what happened to Nigeria's part 3 yet - it was missing from the archive when Phil Morris found the other episodes there.

Date Source: Wiped! Doctor Who's Missing Episodes 2nd edition

Obviously that means that the possibility of certain stories being found in TV stations abroad is greater for some stories than others. So for me the probability of recovery looks something like this starting with the least likely and working up in probability:

Dalek Masterplan 7: The Feast of Stevennever telerecorded
Mission to Unknown
remaining Dalek Masterplan episodes
never sold abroad
Tenth Planet
Power of the Daleks
The Highlanders
The Underwater Menace
The Moonbase
The Macra Terror
Evil of The Daleks
sold but all prints accounted for
Galaxy Four
Myth Makers
Massacre
Celestial Toymaker
The Savages
The Smugglers
all sold to Sierra Leone
Ice Warriors
Web of Fear
Fury from the Deep
Invasion
Space Pirates
all sold to Gibraltar and unaccounted for
Abominable Snowmen
Wheel in Space
sold to Nigeria (with EotW and WoF)
and to Gibraltar and unaccounted for
The Crusadesold to Three countries which are unaccounted for
Macro Polosold to Five countries which are unaccounted for
Reign of Terrorsold to Eight countries which are unaccounted for.

Of course this relies on the BBC's paperwork being correct: there have been some recent suggestions that certain stories not known to have been sold to Africa may have been passed there by another broadcaster. And, as we've seen many times, individual collectors can have almost anything in their possession! Anyway well done to Phil Morris and his team for this incredible find of nine missing episodes and here's to many more recoveries to come.