340 Frontier in Space Episode Three

EPISODE: Frontier in Space: Episode Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 340
STORY NUMBER: 067
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 10 March 1973
WRITER: Malcolm Hulke
DIRECTOR: Paul Bernard
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 7.5 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Dalek War: Frontier in Space & Planet of the Daleks
EPISODE FORMAT: 625 video

"After they'd attacked the cargo ships, the Ogrons returned to their planet, taking their loot with them. Now imagine my surprise, and my delight, when I found that they'd brought me the Doctor's Tardis!"

The Doctor & Jo escape from the Ogrons during the attack and are re-imprisoned. General Williams tries to coerce the President into action against the Draconians by intimating she will be replace. The Doctor is subjected to the mind probe which says he is telling the truth. Williams still doesn't believe him, turning up the power on the mind probe which blows up. The Doctor is taken to the President and sentenced to the lunar penal colony. The Doctor immediately falls out with another prisoner Cross, who works as a trustee. The commissioner from Sirius-4 arrives requesting the transfer of The Doctor & Jo for crimes committed there: It's the Master. The Doctor starts planning his escape with a fellow prisoner, Professor Dale. The Master collects Jo from the prison to his space ship and leaves for the moon to get the Doctor. He is behind the Ogrons and was very surprised when they brought him the Doctor's Tardis. Cross gives Dale information about how to escape which he tells the Doctor allowing the two to leave together. They are to steal spacesuits and walk across the moon to a waiting ship. However when they enter the airlock they find their oxygen cylinders empty, and someone has started the decompression sequence.

Oh look, it's the Master. What a surprise! Actually it is here somewhat: the presence of the Ogrons makes you think their masters the Daleks can't be far behind so to have The Master show up isn't expected!

JO: You! What are you doing here?
MASTER: To coin a phrase. I've come to take you away from all this.
JO: What are you talking about?
MASTER: Well, surely you don't want to spend the rest of your life in here, do you?
JO: Well, I'm not going anywhere with you, that's for sure.
MASTER: Oh, but you are, you know. Believe it or not, I am a fully accredited Commissioner from the planet Sirius 4, and you and the Doctor are two dangerous criminals being handed over into my custody.
JO: So it was you! You ordered those Ogrons to attack the ships and pretend they were Draconians!
MASTER: But of course. Those lumbering idiots could never have thought up such a brilliant scheme by themselves.
JO: Why did you want to start a war?
MASTER: Now, come on, Miss Grant, be reasonable. You want to see the Doctor again, don't you?
JO: Where is he?
MASTER: He's in another prison, on the moon. We're going to collect him.
JO: How do I know you're telling the truth?
MASTER: You don't. And the only way you'll find out is by coming with me. Well?
JO: How did you know we were here in the first place?
MASTER: Well, after they'd attacked the cargo ships, the Ogrons returned to their planet, taking their loot with them. Now imagine my surprise, and my delight, when I found that they'd brought me the Doctor's Tardis.
JO: And why are you taking us with you?
MASTER: Oh, need you ask? How could I leave two dear friends in such dire straights?
JO: Oh, you don't seriously think that I'm going to believe that you want to help us
MASTER: Believe what you like, Miss Grant. I have my reasons. Now, are you coming, or do you really wish to vegetate in this hole for the rest of your natural?
JO: Very well. I'll come.
MASTER: Excellent! The prisoner and I are ready to leave now, guard.

What's otherwise a bit of a slow episode, low on the action, is livened up for just a little bit by dropping The Master into proceedings as Roger Delgado gives his usual excellent performance. There's a nice little replay of the action in episode 1 on a black & white TV screen during the Doctor's interrogation by the Mind Probe (No, Not the Mind Probe!!!!)

WILLIAMS: Well, Doctor, shall we try again?
DOCTOR: You can suit yourself. But I warn you, you're wasting your time.
WILLIAMS: Are you a member of the Draconian secret service?
DOCTOR: No.
TECHNICIAN: No change in the rhythm, sir. He must be telling the truth.
WILLIAMS: How did you get on the cargo ship?
DOCTOR: I came here in my own ship, the Tardis.
WILLIAMS: Tardis?
DOCTOR: Yes, my own spaceship.
(The monitor shows the Tardis whirling through space.)
WILLIAMS: Why did you help the Draconians attack the cargo ship?
DOCTOR: I didn't. In any case, it wasn't the Draconians, it was the Ogrons.
WILLIAMS: Your machine can't be working properly, or else he's controlling it.
TECHNICIAN: I've checked all the circuits, sir. Those are his thoughts.
WILLIAMS: We know that this man is a Draconian agent. He must be lying.
TECHNICIAN: Perhaps he's already been brainwashed, sir. But as far as he's concerned, what he's telling us is the truth.
WILLIAMS: Then we must break through his conditioning. Unless you tell me the truth, the real truth, I shall be forced to use increased power.
DOCTOR: I wouldn't do that, old man. I know these machines. They aren't awfully reliable, you know.
WILLIAMS: You'd do better to worry about the effect on your mind.
DOCTOR: There's just no telling some people, is there, my dear.
WILLIAMS: Step up the power. Increase to twelve. Now! Are you an agent of the Draconians?
DOCTOR: No.
WILLIAMS: When do they plan to attack us?
DOCTOR: They don't.
WILLIAMS: How did you board the cargo ship?
DOCTOR: In the Tardis.
WILLIAMS: Who first recruited you to serve the Draconians?
DOCTOR: No one.
WILLIAMS: Who are the other Draconian agents on Earth?
DOCTOR: I don't know.
WILLIAMS: The truth, man. I want the truth!
DOCTOR: I'm telling you the truth.
WILLIAMS: I will get the truth!

At which point the machine overloads and The Doctor is returned to his cell!

JO: Doctor? Are you sure you're all right?
DOCTOR: Mmm hmm. Apart from a bit of a headache. I like the new outfit. Who are you fighting tonight?

You are left wondering about where Jo's been able to get a new outfit from when she turns up in the black Kung-Fu gear but I suspect it's prison clothes: compare with the outfits the lunar prisoners are wearing, albeit in a different colour and fabric.

I did laugh when the lunar prisoners were served their drinks as they appear to be drinking out of babies sippy cups!

Which brings us back to our imprisoned stakes (currently at 6) We'll ignore being captured by the Ogrons as they don't actually get to sling them in a cell!

7) Thrown back in cell - Jo's there for most of the episode while the Doctor is mind probed and taken to the president.
8) Doctor taken to lunar penal colony
9) Doctor locked in airlock

We're into the second recording block for the series so we get treated to some new actors, several of whom are imprisoned on the Moonbase.

Harold Goldblatt plays Professor Dale. He'd previously been in Pathfinders in Space as Dr. O'Connell. More on this series, and in particular it's sequel, over the next few weeks.

Madhav Sharma plays Patel and although this is his only Doctor Who appearance he has a semi regular role in Barry Letts & Terrance Dicks' Moonbase 3 playing Rao in Departure and Arrival, Outsiders and Castor and Pollux. Frontier in Space is generally seen as a rehearsal for Moonbase 3 and oddly enough when I dug out the Doctor Who Magazine Third Doctor Special Edition to check something to do with this story I discovered an advert for The Moonbase on DVD on the back! He appears in the missing third season Doomwatch episode Deadly Dangerous Tomorrow as Hanif Khan and in The Sweeney episode Golden Fleece as Earle .

Caroline Hunt, the Mind Probe Technician was previously Danielle Renan in The Reign of Terror. She appears in Fahrenheit 451 as Helen.

The President's secretary, previously only seen in a tiny screen on her desk, is played by Karol Hagar has no further association with Doctor Who.

Luan Peters is Sheila, the President's assistant who is massaging her. She's been in Doctor Who before as Chicki in The Macra Terror (in which she was credited as Karol Keyes) but here gets all of her lines cut. She was meant to tell us that he young General Williams had destroyed a Draconian battle-cruiser – not realising that it was unarmed, and merely being used to transport the Draconian envoy. The plot point will resurface later.

Elsewhere she appears in The Professionals as the Lady in Sports Car in Heroes and as Raylene Miles in the Fawlty Towers episode The Psychiatrist.

I can't find anything else that the speaking Earth Prison Guard Ian Yardley has been in but his speaking counterpart on the moon, Lunar Guard Laurence Harrington had previously been Mr Kerr & the Transport Voice in The Mind of Evil. He later turns up in The Sweeney episode Visiting Fireman as a Lawyer and in two Space: 1999 episodes: Journey to Where, where he plays, Jackson, and The Dorcons, where he's Stewart. He also has recurring role as Cyril in Jon Pertwee's Worzel Gummidge

There's three non speaking Lunar Guards in this episode & the next: Leslie Bates is also a Draconian in episode 5 and one of Williams’ Guard in episode 6. Previously he cast the shadow that falls across the Tardis at the end of the first episode, An Unearthly Child and then played a Tribesman in the second, The Cave of Skulls. He's a Man at Lop, Mongol Warrior and Mongol Bandit in Marco Polo, a Guard in The Massacre, a Villager at Inn / Pirate in The Smugglers, an English Soldier in The Highlanders, an IE Guard in The Invasion, an 1862 soldier, Confederate Soldier, foot soldier in The War Games, a Waxworks Visitor/Auton in Spearhead from Space, a BBC3 TV Crewmember in The Dæmons and a UNIT soldier in The Three Doctors. He returns as an Army Corporal & UNIT soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, an Exxilon in Death to the Daleks, a Guard in Planet of the Spiders, a Time Lord in Deadly Assassin and a Bi-Al Member in Invisible Enemy. In the The Andromeda Breakthrough he was a British Soldier in Gale Warning, in Doomwatch he was a man in Hear No Evil, The Islanders & Flood and in Moonbase 3 he's a Technician in Castor and Pollux. He's also in our favourite Adam Adamant Lives! episode D for Destruction as a TA Soldier.

Richard King likewise turns up as a Draconian Emperor Guard in episode 5 and a Williams’ Guard in episode 6. He'd previously been a Monk in Abominable Snowmen, a Cyberman in The Invasion, an Alien Technician in The War Games, Passengers/Plague Victims/Passersby/Ambulance Men/Policemen & a Technician in Doctor Who and the Silurians and a Technician in Inferno. He returns as a UNIT Soldier Typist Invasion of the Dinosaurs, a Technician in Android Invasion and a Time Lord in Deadly Assassin. In Doomwatch he's a Man in In the Dark and in Moonbase 3 he's a Technician in Castor and Pollux & View of a Dead Planet

Steve Tierney, like Leslie Bates & Richard King, is a 3, Draconian Emperor Guard in episode 5 and a Williams’ Guard in episode 6. He's only other appearance in as a Technician Inferno. However I have some doubt as to if most of the other entries on his IMDB page, which are nearly 40 years later in the US, are the same man and also suspect that he might be the similarly named Harry Tierney who was working as an extra on Doctor Who at around this time. I will consult with m'learned colleagues.....

There's also a number of supporting artists plying Prisoners: In order of first appearance in the series: John Moore was one of the People in Square of Troy and later plays a Technician in Pirate Planet. He's also Vanderlyn in The Curse of the Daleks stage play. In Out of the Unknown he was Matthias Granger in Thirteen to Centaurus, and in Porridge he played Spider in A Storm in a Teacup.

Michael Mulcaster was a Highlander in Jail in The Highlanders, and returns as the dying Old Duke in The Masque of Mandragora Part One. In Doomwatch he was a Businessman in The Devil's Sweets, a Tribunal Member in You Killed Toby Wren, a Man in Flight Into Yesterday & Public Enemy and the Governor in Fire and Brimstone.

Nancy Gabrielle was a Woman in Inn in the Highlanders while John Hughman returns as a Robot in Time Warrior. He has an association with Monty Python's Flying Circus playing multiple rolls in the series and then appearing in Time Bandits as The Great Rumbozo and Jabberwocky as the King's Valet.

Nelly Griffiths returns as a Death Grade in The Sunmakers. She was in A for Andromeda as a Nurse in The Murderer. Dana Michie is a Marine Guard in Warriors of the Deep and played Canary in the Red Dwarf episode Cassandra. Jean St Louis was in the Doomwatch episode The Killer Dolphins (1972) as a Woman at Palazzo.

We're entering a run of stories that all use at least one of the most common words in Doctor Who titles. Here it's Space as used in:

The Sensorites #1: Strangers in Space
The Space Museum #1: The Space Museum
The Wheel in Space
The Space Pirates
Spearhead from Space
Colony in Space
Frontier in Space
The Ark in Space

Easy to use: Find something, say it's in Space. Job done. Come back for more of the same during the next few stories.

339 Frontier in Space Episode Two

EPISODE: Frontier in Space: Episode Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 339
STORY NUMBER: 067
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 03 March 1973
WRITER: Malcolm Hulke
DIRECTOR: Paul Bernard
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 7.8 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Dalek War: Frontier in Space & Planet of the Daleks
EPISODE FORMAT: 625 video

"I beg of you to listen to me. Some third party is trying to provoke war between Earth and Draconia. You are both being duped!"

The Doctor & Jo are locked up on the cargo ship again, this time under guard. The Doctor once again wonders who's behind the Ogrons. The Cargo freighter arrives back on Earth with the Doctor & Jo taken to General Williams who locks them up, convinced they are Draconian agents & traitors. The Doctor is told he will be subjected to the mind probe and tells of how he previously fooled one. They are brought before the Draconian Prince who denies they are Draconian agents while the Doctor alleges to both Draconian Prince and Earth President that he believes a third party is trying to provoke war. Williams dismisses their story & they are then taken back to their cell. The Doctor attempts escape but sets off an alarm on the door. The Draconians are suspicious of what they have heard & seen and decide to kidnap the Doctor & Jo to question them. Arranging for them to be questioned in the presence of the President the Draconians seize the Doctor as they're being transported, but Jo is recaptured by her prison guards and questioned by the President & Williams. The Draconians are convinced the Doctor is an Earth agent working for General Williams to provoke war. They too doubt his story that a third party was involved in the attack on the Earth vessel. The Doctor escapes from the Draconian embassy and is immediately re-arrested by the humans and brought back to Jo in the cells. Jo hears the hypnotic sound she heard on the cargo ship as the prison is assaulted by Ogrons whom the guards see as Draconians. They have been sent for the Doctor & Jo.

There's a rather lengthy reprise on this episode taking 2 of the episode's 24 minutes so it takes a while to get going and when it does we get into a round of "Nobody believes the Doctor & Jo's story so they're slung into a cell" leading to several new additions to our Doctor and/or Jo Locked up tally (2 so far from episode 1)

3) Cell on Spaceship again
4) Cell on Earth
5) Cell on Earth after being taken to President & Draconian Prince
6) Cell on Earth after Doctor escapes from Draconian embassy

The Draconians themselves draw attention to General William's warmongering and at this stage he's quite an annoying one dimensional character:

AIDE: You're part of a plot against the Draconian empire.
DOCTOR: My dear chap, I've already been through all this with the President of Earth. She thinks I'm working for you.
PRINCE: You are working for General Williams.
DOCTOR: I'm what?
PRINCE: General Williams hates out people. Once before, he caused war between us and the Earthmen. Now he plans to do so again.
AIDE: Such a war would be madness since both empires would be destroyed.
DOCTOR: Yes, I couldn't agree with you more!

There's more to this plotline but sadly a quantity of it was lost to cuts to further episodes and it's something of a bolt from the blue when we return to it in episode six.

The episode is livened up by some really superb location footage, something Paul Bernard did seem able to do right both here and in Day of the Daleks. The Draconian Embassy is portrayed by the peculiar design of 8a Fitzroy Park, at the time the home of BBC Director Naomi Capon. While Capon never worked on Doctor Who she did direct the Out of the Unknown second series episode The Prophet which features the Mind Robber robots in their earlier black colour scheme.

The prison environs were filmed at the stark concrete South Bank Centre.

Arriving at this later location early one morning and finding several local down & outs asleep they were scared away by the imposing actors wearing Ogron costumes!

We had Polarity Reversal last episode. Now we have more than one threat to use a Mind Probe.

DOCTOR: I'd like to get a message through to your President.
GARDINER: Not a chance. I'm going straight back to my ship. Don't want to get mixed up with security. It's not healthy. Look, I'll give you a piece of advice.
DOCTOR: Yes?
GARDINER: Sooner or later, you're going to tell them everything. They'll use the mind probe. You talk to them now. You'll save yourselves a lot of trouble.

And

WILLIAMS: We should have used the mind probe before we saw the Ambassador. If we'd had a full confession.
PRESIDENT: Has it occurred to you that they might have been speaking the truth?
WILLIAMS: Is it likely? Mysterious alien giants that can change their form? A pocket spaceship that appear inside another?
PRESIDENT: I suppose you're right. It is nonsensical.
WILLIAMS: Just you leave them to me. I'll get the truth out of them, eventually.

The Draconians even get in on the act:

PRINCE: If you tell us the details of General Williams' plan, we shall be able to expose him to your President. There will still be a chance for peace.
DOCTOR: My dear chap, nobody is more devoted to the cause of peace than I am. But I cannot tell you something that I don't know.
AIDE: We have mind probing techniques just as efficient as those employed by you Earthmen. If you do not speak now, we shall force you to confess!
DOCTOR: Don't you realise you're completely on the wrong tack? There is a plot, yes, but the Earthmen are not behind it any more than you are.
AIDE: Take him away!

So all together now: "No, Not The Mind Probe!"

This episode has a major error on the end credits repeating the slides for episode 1 resulting in several actors credits being wrong. Louis Mahoney, the Newscaster, and Roy Pattison, the Draconian Space Pilot, who both only appear in Episode One are incorrectly credited again while Lawrence Davidson, playing the Draconian First Secretary, and Timothy Craven, the Cell guard, both appear in Episode 2 only but are uncredited due to the aforementioned mistake.

This is Lawrence Davidson's only Doctor Who appearance but Timothy Craven returns as Robinson in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Short in Robot and the Tesh in Protective Suit Face of Evil.

Barry Ashton, as Kemp the officer on Earth's table cruiser, is properly credited for both episodes. He played had been a Highlander in Jail in The Highlanders, Scientist Franz Shultz in The Moonbase, the Double for the Doctor’s Hand and The Policeman in the Antique Shop in The Evil of the Daleks, an Auton in Spearhead from Space, a UNIT Soldier in The Silurians, a Technician in Inferno, and Proctor in The Time Monster. He'd been in Out of the Unknown as Frank in The Counterfeit Man, which you can see on the Out of the Unknown DVD Set, Doomwatch as man in You Killed Toby Wren and The Inquest, both of which are on The Doomwatch DVD

Time for the guards, and as we said there are A LOT of them this story, several of whom are played by actors who are playing multiple roles.

There's two Presidential Guards in the studio and we get a good enough look at them to say who is who! Firstly Terrance Denville, who's also an Earth & Prison Guard in this and the next episode and an Earth Guard in episode 5. He had had been a double for Captain Blade in The Faceless Ones, a Cyberman in The Invasion, a Foot Soldier & Alien Technician in The War Games, a Waxwork visitor/replica in Spearhead from Space, a Technician & UNIT Soldier in The Silurians, a UNIT trooper in The Three Doctors, and a Cyberman again, briefly, in The Carnival of Monsters. He returns as a Spiridon in Planet of the Daleks, an an Exxilon in Death to the Daleks and an Ice Warrior in The Monster of Peladon. He plays a Technician in Moonbase 3 Departure and Arrival, Behemoth and Outsider, appears as a Russian Security Council Member in the Pierce Brosnan James Bond film GoldenEye and appears in the Miranda episode Before I Die as an Old Man.

Emmett Hennessey, also a Prison Guard in this episode and an Earth Guard in episode 5, had previously been a Tavern Customer in The Massacre, an Inferno Customer in The War Machines, an English Soldier in The Highlanders, a Roman Soldier in The War Games, a UNIT soldier in Claws of Axos, a primitive in Colony in Space, and a gorilla & an American aide in Day of the Daleks. He returns as one of Irogron's men in The Time Warrior. He also plays a Technician in the Moonbase 3 episode Outsiders. Hennessey appears to have led an interesting life outside of Doctor Who involving the music business and living in the Caribbean!

There are more Presidential Guards listed on location for this episode, so I guess these are the ones escorting The Doctor and Jo TO the Prison. Somewhere in there is Pat Gorman and we'll assume you know who he is! But just in case you don't, and since we've not had them yet this season, now's a good time for a ceremonial reading of his full Doctor Who credits: he was a Freedom Fighter/Rebel in Dalek Invasion of Earth, a Planetarian in Mission to the Unknown: Delegate Detective thinks he's Sentreal the black Christmas tree, a Greek Soldier in The Myth Makers, a Guard in Massacre, a Worker in The War Machines, a Monk in The Abominable Snowmen, a Guard in The Enemy of the World, a Cyberman in The Invasion, a Technician in The Seeds of Death, a Military Policeman in The War Games episode two, the Silurian Scientist in The Silurians, a Technician in The Ambassadors of Death, a Primord in Inferno, the Auton Leader in Terror of the Autons, a Primitive and Long in Colony in Space, a Coven Member in The Dæmons, a Guard & Film Cameraman in Day of the Daleks, a Sea Devil in The Sea Devils, and a UNIT Soldier in The Three Doctors. Here, as well as a Presidential Guard, he plays a Sea Devil in episode six. He returns as a Global Chemicals Guard / 'Nuthatch' Resident in The Green Death, a UNIT Corporal in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, a Guard in The Monster of Peladon, a Soldier in Planet of the Spiders, the Gate Guard in Robot part one, a Thal Soldier in Genesis of the Daleks, a Cyberman/Dead Crewman in Revenge of the Cybermen, a Guard in The Seeds of Doom, a Soldier/Brother in The Masque of Mandragora, a Chancellory Guard in The Deadly Assassin, a Medic in The Invisible Enemy, a Kro in The Ribos Operation, the Pilot in The Armageddon Factor, a Thug in City of Death part one, a Gundan in Warriors' Gate, a Foster in The Keeper of Traken, Grogan in Enlightenment, a Soldier in The Caves of Androzani, a Slave Worker and a Cyberman in Attack of the Cybermen. Of those it' easiest to spot his face in Abominable Snowmen, Planet of the Spiders, Robot and The Armageddon Factor! He's got several Blake's 7 appearances to his name as a Scavenger in Deliverance, Federation Trooper / Rebel in Voice from the Past, Trantinian planet hopper Captain in Gambit, Death Squad Trooper in Powerplay, Federation Trooper in The Harvest of Kyros & Rumours of Death, Hommik Warrior in Power, Helot in Traitor and a Federation Trooper in Games & Blake. We was also in Adam Adamant Lives! as a Guard in More Deadly Than the Sword, a Man at Club in Beauty Is an Ugly Word, a Coven Member in The Village of Evil, a War Office Guard / TA Soldier in D for Destruction and an S.S. Guard in A Sinister Sort of Service. He appears once in The Prisoner as a Hospital Orderly in Hammer Into Anvil and just once in Doomwatch as Man in Hear No Evil. His Porridge appearance in the second Christmas Special The Desperate Hours is another easy spot: he's the Prison Officer who comes into the loos as Fletcher and friends are sampling the contraband home brew. He was in two episodes of The Sweeney as a Flying Squad Officer in Thou Shalt Not Kill (director: D Camfield) & Latin Lady, and two The Tomorrow People stories: Worlds Away as the Vesh Hunter and War of the Empires as a US Marine. In the BBC The Day of the Triffids he played a Blind Man in episode 5 while in Douglas Camfield & Robert Holmes adaption of The Nightmare Man he played The Killer with Camfield using him again as a Legionnaire in Beau Geste. He was in The Professionals five times: as a Golfer in Killer with a Long Arm, a CI5 Agent in Close Quarters & Servant of Two Masters, a Security Man in Weekend in the Country and the Police Superintendent at inquest in Discovered in a Graveyard. He's a Policeman again in The Young Ones: Interesting and towards the end of his career Russell T Davies uses him in Dark Season as a Heavy.

Steve Ismay had been a BBC3 TV Crewmember in The Dæmons, a Guerilla & Stills Cameraman in Day of the Daleks, Sea Devil in The Sea Devils and Varan's Bodyguard in The Mutants. He returns as a Security Guard in The Green Death, a UNIT Soldier in The Time Warrior, an Army Soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, an Exxilon and Exxilon Zombie in Death to the Daleks, a Guard in The Monster of Peladon, a Metebelis 3 Guard in Planet of the Spiders, a Guard in The Deadly Assassin, a Leviathan Guard in Ribos Operation, a Gracht Guard & one of Zadek's Guards in The Androids of Tara, would have been a "Space Monster" in Shada, possibly a Cyberman, then plays a Citizen in Full Circle, a Cyberman in Earthshock and a Security Guard in Time Flight. He had been Man in the Doomwatch episode The Islanders & Flood, and then appears in The Sweeney as a Policeman in Cover Story, a Driver in Golden Boy and a Villain in Stoppo Driver. In Porridge he played a Prison Warden in A Night In and a Gardener in Happy Release while in The Tomorrow People he was in a Vesh Rebel in Worlds Away and an SIS Sergeant in The Dirtiest Business. In Blake's 7 he plays a Scavenger in Deliverance, a Guard in Dawn of the Gods, a Convict in Moloch and a Hommik in Power.

6th Presidential Guard Jim Delaney had been an English Soldier in the Highlanders, an 1862 Confederate Soldier, Resistance Man & American Soldier in The War Games, a UNIT Soldier & Plague Victim in Doctor Who and the Silurians and a Passer-by in Day of the Daleks. He later plays a Time Lord in Deadly Assassin, a Noble in Androids of Tara, a Skonnan Guard in Horns of the Nimon, a Logopolitan in Logopolis and a Time Lord in Trial of a Time-Lord during Mysterious Planet, Mindwipe and Terror of the Vervoids, the later of which he's described as wearing crimson robes. He has an appearance in out favourite Adam Adamant Lives! episode D for Destruction as a TA Soldier / RA Major.

Clinton Morris Was an Axon Monster & Corporal in Claws of Axos He returns as a Mechanic & Android Soldier in Android Invasion, a Peasant & Brother in The Masque of Mandragora and a Technician in Pirate Planet. In Moonbase 3 he's a Technician in Outsiders and in Blake's 7 he's crewman Wallace, who's sent to board The Liberator, in Space Fall.

The fabulously named Wolfgang Von Jurgen, later an Earth Guard in episode 5, had been a Prisoner in The Mind of Evil while Jamie Griffin was down in the DWAS Production File as an Earth Guard in episode 1. Now the Prison Guards: Dennis Plenty was an Earth Guard in the first episode, so see there for his credits, and plays a Presidential Guard in episode 5. Terrance Denville & Emmett Hennessy we spotted as a Presidential Guards above.

Geoffrey Witherick plays an Earth Guard in episode 6. He'd previously been a Cricketer / Reveller in Dalek Masterplan 8: Volcano, a Guard in The Massacre: Bell of Doom, a Worker in The War Machines episode, an Airport Policeman in Faceless Ones, a Villager & Coven Member in The Dæmons, a Sea Devil in The Sea Devils and a Solos Guard in The Mutants. He returns as a Spiridon in Planet of the Daleks, a UNIT Soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, a Guard in Planet of the Spiders, a SRS Member in Robot, a Time Lord in Deadly Assassin and a Security guard in Image of the Fendahl. He was in Doomwatch as a Man in Burial at Sea, one of the missing first season episodes.

6th Prison Guard Derek Hunt was an Atlantean Guards Underwater Menace, a British Soldier in The War Games, a Soldier in Spearhead from Space, a UNIT Solider in Doctor Who and the Silurians, a Technician in Inferno and a U.N.I.T. Soldier in Day of the Daleks. He returns as a Guard in Planet of the Spiders, an Android Mechanic/Soldier in Android Invasion, a Bi-Al member in Invisible Enemy, a Time Lord in Invasion of Time a Technicians/Guards/Citizen in Pirate Planet, a Passenger in Nightmare of Eden, James the footman in Black Orchid, a Worthy in Snakedance, a Guard in Planet of Fire and Time Lord in Mysterious Planet, Mindwipe & Terror of the Vervoids, during which he's wearing orange robes!

David Billa first appeared as a Guard in The Savages then played a German Soldier in The War Games episode one, German / Roman Soldiers / Alien Technician in The War Games episode four and a Time Lord Technician in The War Games episode ten, a Waxworks Visitor/Auton in Spearhead from Space, a Technician in Doctor Who and the Silurians and a UNIT Soldier in Three Doctors. He returns as a Spiridon in Planet of the Daleks, a UNIT Soldier in The Green Death, a Soldier/Thal Soldier in Genesis of the Daleks and a Vogan in Revenge of the Cybermen. In Moonbase 3 he's a Technician in Departure and Arrival and Behemoth while in Doomwatch he's a Man in Flood.

Brian Nolan had already been an IE Guard in The Invasion, a Confederate Soldier & Resistance Man in The War Games, a UNIT Soldier in Spearhead from Space & the Silurians, a Sea Devil in The Sea Devil and a Solos Guard in the Mutants He later plays a UNIT Soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, a Guard in The Seeds of Doom and the TV Cameraman in The Deadly Assassin. He was also in Doomwatch as a Man in Flood.

Onto the Draconians. Participating in the Prison raid we have Raymond Miller and Ken Wade, the later of which also plays a Draconian Emperor Guard in episode 5, but neither of them appear in Doctor Who again outside this story. Kevin Moran was a UNIT troop in Time Meddler. He returns as a Spiridon in Planet of the Daleks, an Army Soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, an Exxilon in Death to the Daleks, an Ice Warrior in The Monster of Peladon part five and a Soldier & Brethren in The Masque of Mandragora. He's also in Doomwatch as a Man in Flood.

There's two Draconians with the Prince and the Ambassador interrogating The Doctor after the raid. One is Terry Sartain, who also appears in the raid sequence on location, and was previously seen as an Alien Technician & American Soldier in The War Games, a Warrior in The Mutants and a UNIT Soldier in The Three Doctors, the last of which was filmed following this story. He returns as an Exxilon in Death to the Daleks, the SRS Bouncer in Robot, a UNIT Soldier Android in Android Invasion, a Brother in The Masque of Mandragora, a Time Lord in Deadly Assassin, a Customer at Art Gallery in City of Death, a Gundan in Warriors' Gate ad a Cave Crowd Member in Snakedance. In Blake's 7 he was a Crewman in Space Fall and a Hooded Figure in Cygnus Alpha. In Doomwatch he is the Minister's P.P.S. / Man in Club / Man at Palazzo in The Killer Dolphins. The other Draconian in the studio would thus seem to be Bill Burridge, whom the DWAS production file has down for appearing in episodes 1 & 2 in the studio only, who was the very poor looking illusionary Draconian that we saw in the previous episode. This is his last Doctor Who appearance.

Finally the Ogrons: Maurice Bush was previously in Day of the Daleks as an Ogron and later appears in both The Empire Strikes Back & Return of the Jedi as the bounty hunter Dengar. His Empire Strikes back appearance is alongside Kenneth Colley who also features in his Inspector Morse appearance in Second Time Around where Bush plays Charlie Hillian and Colley plays Patrick Dawson, two policeman who had worked together.

Bruce Wells was an English amateur boxing champion who was once the holder of the ABA Light Middleweight and European Amateur Boxing Championship titles. He'd previously played a Cyberman in Tenth Planet, an Alien Guard / American Soldier in the War Games and an Ogron in Day of the Daleks. He'd been in the Dr. Who and the Daleks feature film as a Thal.

Geoffrey Todd was previously an Ogron in Day of the Daleks: he can be seen elsewhere in The Sweeney episode Sweet Smell of Succession as Phil Nairn. Lastly Chris Stevens had been a Greek, a Trojan Soldiers & one of the People in Square in The Myth Makers.

338 Frontier in Space Episode One

EPISODE: Frontier in Space: Episode One
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 338
STORY NUMBER: 067
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 24 February 1973
WRITER: Malcolm Hulke
DIRECTOR: Paul Bernard
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 9.1 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Dalek War: Frontier in Space & Planet of the Daleks
EPISODE FORMAT: 625 video

"Many of our noblemen felt it was a mistake to make a treaty with the Earthmen. Perhaps they were right. You attack our ships and when we protest, you trick us with lies and evasions. I give you a final warning. The path you are treading leads only to war. And in that war, Draconia will destroy you!"

In deep space an Earth Cargo Ship narrowly misses the Tardis in space which dematerialises and reappears in the cargo hold. Another ship draws alongside which Jo witnesses shimmer and turn into a different ship when she hears an odd noise. The crew witness it as well and identify it as belonging to the Draconians, Earth's enemies with whom an uneasy truce exists. The Doctor & Jo are found by a ship's crew member who sees them as Draconians while Jo sees him as a Drashig. They are locked in the hold while the ship is attacked and boarded. Earth is alerted while the president hears a complaint from the Draconian Prince, the ambassador to Earth, who is accusing the Earthmen of raiding their ships. General Williams mounts a rescue attempt for the attacked ship. The Draconian Prince accuses the Earthmen of provoking them to war. The Doctor works out that Jo & the crew have been subjected to ultrasonics that affect the fear centres of their brain to make them see what they fear most. The Doctor & Jo are taken to the airlock as hostages as the the aliens break through: Ogrons. The Doctor is wounded in their attack. The Doctor wakes to find Jo imprisoned and the Tardis gone. The Doctor wonders who the Ogrons are working for. They find the stunned crew members as Earth's battle cruiser draws alongside & docks. The Doctor & Jo are arrested for being stowaways & traitors

So two space going races at each other throats along a common border? Do you think it's possible that Malcolm Hulke had seen the classic Star Trek episode Balance of Terror, which introduces the Romulans and first aired in the UK on 25th October 1969, before he wrote this story? The way the Ogron ship shimmers and vanishes at the end as if it's being cloaked also adds some weight to the argument that he had. The major difference between the two stories though is that here a third party is the aggressor, making it appear to both sides as if the other is responsible and bringing them into a position of conflict:

PRESIDENT: But all these charges are false, your Highness. We are not attacking Draconian ships. We never have.
PRINCE: Our soldiers have seen the Earthmen attack us. Our cargoes have been stolen. We are Draconians. We do not lie.
PRESIDENT: The honour of your race is well known, your Highness. That is why I cannot understand your actions.
PRINCE: Actions?
PRESIDENT: You attack our ships, you steal their cargoes, you ignore our protests and just meet them with these counter charges.
PRINCE: Our charges are true but yours are false. We do not attack your ships.
PRESIDENT: This is a transcript of a distress call from one of our ships. From Earth's cargo ship number C982 on coordinate eight nine seven two, six four eight three. We are under attack by a Draconian battle cruiser, galaxy class, equipped with neutronic missiles.
PRINCE: The treaty between our two empires established a frontier in space. We have never violated that frontier. You have invaded our part of the galaxy many times.
WILLIAMS: In pursuit of your ships when they have raided ours! We've been very patient. perhaps too patient.
PRESIDENT: General Williams! I take it a rescue attempt has been mounted?
WILLIAMS: We've established an automatic procedure because of the frequency of these attacks.
PRESIDENT: Then I suggest you go and supervise the matter.
WILLIAMS: There's no need.
PRESIDENT: Please do as I say.
WILLIAMS: As you wish, Madam President.
PRINCE: Your General is insolent. We know the hatred he has always felt for our people. Long ago he caused war. Now he wishes to do so again.
PRESIDENT: He's a soldier, your Highness, and he's angry. The people of Earth are angry.
PRINCE: So are the nobles of my father's court!
PRESIDENT: I must ask you to take my personal appeal to your father, the Emperor. He must put a stop to these attacks. If Draconia has some grievances against Earth, then this is not the way to deal with them.
PRINCE: Many of our noblemen felt it was a mistake to make a treaty with the Earthmen. Perhaps they were right. You attack our ships and when we protest, you trick us with lies and evasions. I give you a final warning. The path you are treading leads only to war. And in that war, Draconia will destroy you!

Oddly years later Star Trek: The Next Generation return the favour: When the Romulans are reintroduced during the episode The Neutral Zone, they & the Federation are brought to the brink of conflict by a third party making raids along outposts on both sides, much like the Ogrons here. We don't get to see who the villains are in that Star Trek: TNG episode and it's left as a hanging plot thread to be resolved early in the next season. A writer's strike intervened and so it wasn't until a year later it's revealed that the Borg, Star Trek's version of the Cybermen, are revealed to be responsible! The TNG episode also has an on-screen Doctor Who reference, showing the names of the first six Doctors in a family tree which makes me think that maybe, just maybe, the borrowing of the story idea is intentional!

Here though the revelation that it's the Ogrons attacking the ship is botched in the worst way possible. Instead of a nice action shot of them storming in through the smouldering door, we're treated to a shot of them trying to cut through the door a minute or so beforehand. Nice one.

What it reminds me of is the reveal in Day of the Daleks that the Daleks are in charge of the Earth half way through the episode instead of keeping them behind the scenes till the end of the episode. The director of both stories is Paul Bernard, one of the few people who I've ever heard producer Barry Letts be openly critical of, so I'm inclined to lay the blame at his feet. Even if Mac Hulke & Day's writer Louis Marks had made similar errors surely the Director should have spotted something that affects the dramatic flow of the story, especially one like this that involves a fully practical special effect with the Ogrons cutting through the door? And, given that the Ogrons previous appearance in Doctor Who was as slaves to the Daleks was it a good idea to draw attention to this in the opening episode?

JO: Hey, Doctor, last time we met the Ogrons they were working for the Daleks, right? Well, you don't suppose that that
DOCTOR: No, not necessarily. No, the Ogrons are mercenaries. Other life forms use them to do their dirty work. Come on, Jo, let's go and find the crew.

Especially considering how the story plays out, albeit with a bit of a diversion on the way..... I've got a book here that says "You've got two guesses as to who's trying to provoke a war between Earth & Draconia. And they're both right!"

Applause please for how the Doctor escapes from the cell:

JO: Doctor, what are you doing?
DOCTOR: I'm reversing the polarity of my ultrasonic screwdriver's power source, thereby converting it into an extremely powerful electromagnet.
JO: Oh. What good will that do?
DOCTOR: You wait and see, Jo.

And while we're mentioning cells..... Frontier in Space has a reputation for the Doctor & Jo spending a lot of time under lock & key. We shall keep track:

1) They are locked up by the crew members on the cargo ship
2) Jo is locked up in the same cell again by the Ogrons.

More later as we progress through the story.....

Obviously an episode spent mainly in deep space is not going to be much location filming. However a still photo of Congresso Nacional in Brazil is used to represent the headquarters of Earth's Government where the scenes between the Draconian Prince and the President & General Williams take place.

Playing General Williams is actor Michael Hawkins. He'd previously appeared in the now missing Out of This World episode The Dark Star as George Chalmers and twice in Doomwatch: as Jim Bennett in the first episode The Plastic Eaters and as Michael Beavis in the Third Season episode Hair Trigger, both of which exist and can be found on The Doomwatch DVD. He later appears in Survivors as Colonel Clifford in Manhunt.

The President of Earth is played by actress Vera Fusek while the Draconian Price is actor Peter Birrel

The commander of the ship sent to rescue the freighter is Ray Lonnen. He would go on to find fame as MI6 operative Willie Caine in the espionage series The Sandbaggers and Harry Brown in Harry's Game. He married Tara Ward, who plays Preston in Warriors of the Deep, and you can hear them both interviewed in Who's Round 27.

John Rees plays freighter crewmember Hardy. He'd been in The Prisoner episode The Girl Who Was Death as the Welsh Napoleon and appears as a Sergeant in Raiders of the Lost Ark

Hi colleague Stewart is played by James Culliford. This is his last acting job: he suffered a stroke in 1972 shortly after this story was recorded. His partner was actor Alfred Lynch who later appears in the Doctor Who story The Curse of Fenric as Commander Millington.

Louis Mahoney appears as the ground breaking black Newscaster, pre-dating Trevor MacDonald's ITN appointment by 16 years. He'll return as Ponti in Planet of Evil. You can also see him in Fawlty Towers as the Doctor in The Germans and he also plays a Doctor in two episodes of The Professionals: the banned and still unbroadcast in the UK Klansmen and a later episode Black Out. In Yes Prime Minister he is the Burandan High Commissioner in A Conflict of Interest and he returned to the world of Doctor Who playing the elder Billy Shipton in Blink.

The Draconian Space Pilot seen on the monitor screen is played by Roy Pattison who returns as Zazzka in The Hand of Fear. Both Roy Pattison & Louis Mahoney only appear in episode 1, but are credited in error at the end of episode 2 due to Episode 1's credits being reused.

The Draconian that appears as an illusion for The Doctor is our old friend Bill Burridge in his final Doctor Who role! He was a Guard in the Romans, a Savage in The Savages, the Executioner Priest in The Underwater Menace, Mr Quill in Fury from the Deep and a Villager & Coven Member in The Dæmons. In Doomwatch he was a Man in Hear No Evil and Flood.

Onto the Ogrons. The DWAS Doctor Who production file says there are two in this episode: Maurice Purvis I cannot find trace of anywhere but Steve Kelly Was a UNIT Soldier in The Invasion and Ambassadors of Death. He returns as the Marshman Leader in Full Circle and a Sea Devil Warrior in Warriors of the Deep. In Blake's 7 he was a Scavenger in Deliverance, a Customer / Gambler in Gambit, a Goth Guard in The Keeper, a Hommik Warrior in Power and a Plantation Bounty Hunter in Blake. In Doomwatch he plays a Man in Re-Entry Forbidden, a Man in The Islanders and the Lieutenant in Flood. He was in two Fawlty Towers episodes: The Germans as an Ambulance Driver and Gourmet Night as a Lorry Driver.

There are a lot of Guards in this story. A LOT of them! In this episode we have one outside the President's office and at least one with Gardiner & Kemp on the rescue vessel.

Down as an Earth Guard for this episode & the next is Dennis Plenty. He'd previously been a Tavern Customer & a Guard in The Massacre, a Worker / Soldier in The War Machines, an English Soldier in the Highlanders, a Submarine Rating & Naval Base Sailor in the Sea Devils and a Solos Guard & Skybase Guard in The Mutants In this story he's also a Prison Guard in episodes 2-3 and a Presidential Guard in episode 5. He returns as a Security Guard in The Green Death, a UNIT Soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, an Exxilon in Death to the Daleks, a Guard in Planet of the Spiders and a Soldier, Brethren member, Entertainer & Guard in The Masque of Mandragora. In UFO he was Lt. David Worth in Identified and one of the SHADO Mobile 1 Personnel in Computer Affair. In Doomwatch he is a Man in Flood and he's in out favourite Adam Adamant Lives! episode D for Destruction playing a RA Camp Guard and appears as a man in a 1901 photo in the later episode Black Echo. His Fawlty Towers episode is A Touch of Class where he plays a PC and he's a Technician in the Moonbase 3 episodes Achilles Heel, Castor and Pollux & View of a Dead Planet. Although he doesn't appear in the final film Plenty served as the model for the original Stormtrooper armour used in Star Wars.

Another Earth Guard is Jamie Griffin. He'd been a Trumpeter/Guard in The Time Monster and plays a 4th Presidential Guard in episode 2 of this story. He's a technician in the Moonbase 3 episode Behemoth.