051 The Dalek Invasion of Earth Episode 6: Flashpoint

EPISODE: The Dalek Invasion of Earth Episode 6: Flashpoint
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 051
STORY NUMBER: 010
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 26 December 1964
WRITER: Terry Nation
DIRECTOR: Richard Martin
SCRIPT EDITOR: David Whitaker
PRODUCER: Verity Lambert
RATINGS: 12.4 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - The Dalek Invasion Of Earth

"One day I shall come back, yes I shall come back. Until then there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove that I am not mistaken in mine."

Ian interferes with the capsule stopping it's descent: a team of Robomen are tasked with hauling it to the surface. He escape through the base of the capsule into the shaft. Barbara & Jenny arrive in the control room - yay we get the Dalek door noise! The Daleks plan to exterminate all the humans in the explosion when the Earth is penetrated. While trying to control the Robomen using the Daleks voice command systems they are restrained - in a piece of very bad scenery we find them having to hold their own bonds closed. The Doctor and Tyler penetrate the Dalek control area as Ian does the same from the tunnels: he barricades the shaft which prevents the bomb from reaching it's destination. The Daleks leave for the Saucer to avoid being destroyed narrowly missing the Doctor & Tyler who release Barbara and Jenny. Susan and David work to immobilise the power supply transmitting to the Daleks. A patrolling Dalek enters the control room but, due to their efforts of David & Susan, looses power. They use the Daleks control mechanism to get the Robomen to assault the Daleks, which the prisoners are only too happy to join in. Ian is reunited with the Doctor & Barbara and they flee the mine before the bomb explodes destroying the control area and the Dalek saucer.

The episode is a game of too halves, so I'm going to treat it as such. The first half is a compressed quick ending to the Dalek invasion, with the Daleks and their plan being defeated 16 minutes & 15 seconds into the episode, when the fade to black for the overseas ad break occurs. Yes it's the majority of the episode but finishing just over half way through unbalances the episode slightly and gives a little bit of an unsatisfactory ending to the Invasion storyline with the Daleks just leaving and they & their saucer being destroyed off screen.

There's some more World War II imagery in this episode, especially this bit of dialogue:

BLACK: Then arrange for the extermination of all human beings.
DALEK 4: Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!
DALEK 5: The final solution! Clear up this planet!

The words "Final Solution" have very Nazi connotations.

Barbara then tries to bluff the Daleks with some nonsense involving a lot of names she recalls from her history classes:

BARBARA: Right. This revolt is timed to start almost immediately. As in the case of the Indian mutiny, which I am sure
BLACK: Indian mutiny? We are the masters of India!
BARBARA: I was talking about Red Indians in disguise! The plan will run parallel with the Boston Tea Party. Naturally, you already have information about this.
BLACK: Wait! Why have I not been informed of this?
DALEK: There has been no information.
BARBARA: Good! That means the first part of the plan is a success. Now, I warn you, General Lee and the four, the fifth cavalry are already forming up to attack from the north side of the crater. The second wave, Hannibal’s forces, will of course come in from the Southern Alps. The third wave

Terry Nation then tries something here that he returns to again a few years later. After witnessing the Daleks tests their system to command the Robomen she seizes it and tries to instruct them:

BARBARA: Robomen, this order cannot be countermanded. You must

But before she can complete the instruction she's stopped by the Daleks. The same trick, including the word countermanded, is used as the Doctor forces Davros to order the destruction of the Dalek production line in Genesis of the Daleks. There the instruction is interrupted by the Doctor being overpowered.

Barbarar's attempt at seizing control of the Robomen leads to her & Jenny being imprisoned in the Dalek control room in a similar manner to how the Doctor & Susan were in The Daleks episode 7.

Another bit of knowing observation from the Doctor on the budding romance between David & Susan: he sends them off to destroy the mast on the site, unfortunately without clarifying to the audience that it supplies the Daleks power, with these words:

DOCTOR: Off you go, and don’t stop to pick daises on the way.

He then admonishes Tyler for committing a cardinal sin:

TYLER: I’ll say one thing, Doc. Life’s never dull with you around.
DOCTOR: Thank you, but don’t call me Doc, I prefer Doctor. Do you mind?

Later, in the Time Meddler, Steven does the same thing and is met with a similar response:

STEVEN: Should have? I never stopped! Say, this is quite a ship you've got here, Doc. Never seen anything like it.
DOCTOR: Now listen to me, young man. Sit down. Now, there are two things you can do. One, sit there until you get your breath back, and two, don't call me Doc! Now do I make myself clear?

We then get the Daleks circling their Leader before they process out of the control room. This is the last time we see the Daleks in force in this episode which is sort of disappointing. But we are treated to a superb Dalek's eye view of the Doctor as one returns to the control to check what's going on before it's power supply is cut off.

Looking at it now I can see that the reason why the Dalek is overcome is that it's power supply has been cut off and that in turn is due to Susan and David destroying the mast which you assume must have been supplying the power: echoes of cutting off the static electricity in the Dalek city in the first story. But this could have been made a little bit more explicit. Stating during the planning that the Doctor thinks that the mast supplies the Dalek's power and that's why Susan and David have been sent to destroy it would have helped. Is David Whitaker being a little lazy on his last day in the job of Script Editor?

Gaining access to the vocal command system again Barbara attempts to impersonate a Dalek to order the Roboman around. The Doctor however is a tad more impatient:

BARBARA: Well, look. That thing over there controls the Robomen. We discovered that earlier. Er, maybe we could give it new orders?
DOCTOR: Yes! That’s brilliant, my dear! Good. Carry on.
BARBARA: (as a Dalek) Robomen, this is your last order. Obey it and no other.
DOCTOR: Turn on the Daleks, turn on the Daleks, kill the Daleks, do you hear?

This then leads to the slaves revolting against their masters: IMDB credits Stenson Falke , playing the Revolting Prisoner (uncredited), for episode 1 but I suspect he's more likely to be in this episode. IMDB think he's in The Silurians episode 6, again uncredited.

Not the fake flat bottom to the Dalek prop the slaves are hefting around!

We're seeing more footage filmed at John's Hole Quarry near Dartford in Kent on Friday 28th August 1964 during this episode, mixed with some stock footage to show the volcanic eruption and the explosion.

This section of the episode ends on the cliff top surveying the devastation:

DOCTOR: The saucers were caught in the upward thrust of that explosion.
JENNY: Do you think any Daleks escaped?
DOCTOR: In that, my dear? Impossible. There’s something new for you, Tyler. A volcanic eruption in England.
TYLER: It’s unbelievable.
DOCTOR: Yes, it’s unbelievable.
JENNY: It’s over.

Returning to London the Tardis is freed allowing the travellers to depart. As the Doctor bids farewell to Tyler the chimes of Big Ben ring out

TYLER: Listen.
DOCTOR: Just the beginning. Just the beginning.

But Susan seems reluctant to leave. Having worn out her shoe the Doctor goes inside to repair it, joined by Ian & Barbara.

Susan lingers to talk to David who she has fallen in love with. She feels torn between David and her Grandfather.

DAVID: Susan?
SUSAN: Yes, David?
DAVID: Please stay. Please stay here with me.
SUSAN: I can’t stay, David. I don’t belong to this time.
DAVID: But I love you, Susan, and I want you to marry me.
SUSAN: You see, David. Grandfather’s old now. He needs me. Oh, don’t make me choose between you and him, please!
DAVID: But you told me! You said that you’d never known the security of living in one place and one time. Look, you said it was something that you always longed for. Well, I’m giving you that, Susan. I’m giving you a place, a time, an identity.
SUSAN: No, David! (crying) I’ve lost my shoe. Oh David, I do love you! I do, I do, I do!

The Doctor realising this purposely locks Susan out of the ship.

He says goodbye to her, speaking to her over the scanner

DOCTOR: Listen, Susan, please. I’ve double-locked the doors. You can’t get in. Now move back, child, where I can see you. During all the years, I’ve been taking care of you, you in return have been taking care of me.
SUSAN: Oh, Grandfather, I belong with you!
DOCTOR: Not any longer, Susan. You’re still my grandchild and always will be, but now, you’re a woman too. I want you to belong somewhere, to have roots of your own. With David, you’ll be able to find those roots and live normally like any woman should do. Believe me, my dear, your future lies with David, and not with a silly old buffer like me.

He bids her farewell with a promise:

One day I shall come back, yes I shall come back. Until then there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove that I am not mistaken in mine. Goodbye Susan, Goodbye my dear.

The Tardis dematerialises leaving the Doctor's granddaughter on 22nd century Earth.

"Susan? Susan? He knew. He knew you could never leave him."

She drops her TARDIS key in the rubble and leaves with David.

Susan's farewell then dominates the episode with a scene lasting from 16:15 till the end of the episode at 25:32. She struggles to make the choice between David and her Grandfather and in the end that decision is taken out of her hands by the Doctor who lock her out of the Tardis in a curious echo of the first episode where one of the first things he says is "Close the doors Susan" getting her to seal the two of them, plus the intruding teachers Ian & Barbara, inside the Tardis. Separated from each other he can see and hear her but she can't see him and the performance Hartnell gives in this section is possibly one of the best he gives in the entire series. When the 20th anniversary story The Five Doctors was made in 1983, eight years after Hartnell's death, it was this the clip that was used to represent him opening the story as a pretitle sequence.

Susan leaving changes the Tardis crew for the first time, but in this case it results in her replacement by an effective clone. However it sets in motion a chain of events that will future proof the show. That the companions can be replaced with others soon becomes common place with nine companions accompanying the first Doctor. But eventually Hartnell too would need to leave and the path to that change effectively starts from here.

It would be another eighteen years before we would see Susan again in the anniversary special, The Five Doctors but Susan's character has popped up in several Doctor Who books. I do need to bring to your attention the excruciating Legacy of the Daleks which attempts to do a Dalek Invasion of Earth sequel featuring, and I'm not making this up, the Master as a villain trying to reactivate the Daleks leading to an ending with the Master lying scarred & injured marooned on an alien planet for the Time Lord Chancellor Goth to find him in the run up to Deadly Assassin and Susan wandering the Universe in the Master's Tardis. Seriously. The book reads like bad fan fiction of the highest order, avoid at all costs!!! Here endeth the warning

This episode marks the end of the first recording block of Doctor Who episodes, after which the remaining cast members had a holiday. Behind the scenes Mervyn Pinfield, the associate producer, departs with Verity Lambert having proved her credentials to the powers that be. Also departing is script editor David Whitaker, who would be back as a writer the very next story (starting a "tradition" that Terrance Dicks would later claim to follow in The Robot) and returning to write The Crusade, Power of the Daleks, The Evil of the Daleks, The Enemy of the World, The Wheel in Space and The Ambassadors of Death.

52 weeks after Survivors, the Daleks first full appearance, they find themselves defeated again in this episode which was shown on Boxing Day 1964 and thus is the last episode shown that year, the first full year of Doctor Who's broadcast. This is episode 51: six were shown in 1963 so of the 52 Saturdays in 1964 Doctor Who was shown on 45 of them!

So Dalek Invasion of Earth: a complete game changer for the series. Location Filming, bringing back an old enemy and changing the established crew of the Tardis. The story is fabulous, with it's World War II undercurrents of resistance, work camps, collaborators and a ruined London presenting a vivid picture. Personally I feel the contribution of the location work is a huge one, especially in the first and third episodes. From this point Doctor Who uses it occasionally but it isn't in regular use till the Patrick Troughton era. It establishes that the Daleks can be used again and indeed are in a few months time. The first half of the story might be better than the second but that's only because Doctor Who is punching so far above it's weight during it to produce something that's completely unlike anything we've seen before.

Like The Daleks, Dalek Invasion of Earth was filmed for the cinema and released on the big screen. It was a showing of this Movie on television that was my first exposure to Doctor Who. The Daleks blowing the shed up and the bomb chasing Roy Castle down the corridor scared a 4ish year old me silly.

Dalek Invasion of Earth is the second Hartnell book produced by Target books: The Daleks, The Zarbi & The Crusade, reprints of earlier sixties volumes, launched the range on 2nd May 1973, two days before I was born. The Tenth Planet, significantly the last first Doctor story and the first Cyberman story so an ideal candidate for release, was published on 19th Feb 1976 followed by the Dalek Invasion of Earth on the 24th March 1977. Keys of Marinus follows on 28th August 1980, followed by An Unearthly Child on 15th October 1981. It wouldn't be until The Aztecs, the first historical novel written for Target, was released on 20th September 1984 that the floodgates to further Hartnell stories appearing in book form would be opened. The Dalek Invasion of Earth caused me to have a complete melt down as an Eight year old: in the WHSmiths in Richmond I found both Dalek Invasion of Earth and Tenth Planet. Mum said I could have one, I wanted both. And couldn't decide. I was led away with the Tenth Planet in floods of tears that I might be leaving behind the only copy of Dalek Invasion of Earth I would *EVER* see. Mum sneaked back, bought it, and gave it to me as a present to keep me quiet at a wedding a few weeks later!

Dalek Invasion of Earth was an early Hartnell video release, only the third Hartnell story to appear. I can remember vividly buying this story to watch the same day I went on my second ever date! The story would later become the second Hartnell DVD which features some optional CGI extras and enhancements. I think it would benefit from a Revisitation expanding the enhanced CGI. I'd be tempted to repaint the odd Dalek in episode two with all black skirt panels like the Black Dalek in the remaining episodes as part of an alternate angle edition with the CG effects and the removed van plus a soundtrack with properly modulated or redone by Nick Briggs Dalek Voices.

050 The Dalek Invasion of Earth Episode 5: The Waking Ally

EPISODE: The Dalek Invasion of Earth Episode 5: The Waking Ally
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 050
STORY NUMBER: 010
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 19 December 1964
WRITER: Terry Nation
DIRECTOR: Richard Martin
SCRIPT EDITOR: David Whitaker
PRODUCER: Verity Lambert
RATINGS: 11.4 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - The Dalek Invasion Of Earth

"Is that what it is? They dare to tamper with the forces of creation?"
"Yes. And we must dare to stop them!"

Ian & Madison jump into an excavator bucket overhanging the drop and the pursuing slither plummets to it's death as the bucket starts moving downwards. David & Tyler struggle with Robomen who've pursued them into the sewers. The survive with a little help from the Doctor & Susan, who then leave with them for the mine. Barbara and Jenny shelter from a storm in a house with two women living in it. The women works making clothes for the slaves in the mine, they give the Barbara and Jenny shelter in exchange for food. The elder one looks after them while the younger goes to deliver some clothes. Ian & Madison are transported into the depths of the mine, but Madison is injured leaping out of the excavator bucket. Barbara talks to the older woman about the ruin of London as the younger one returns with Daleks: Barbara and Jenny have been betrayed by the women in return for food. Ian is worried about the mine and wonders what it's for. Madison tells him that his brother Phil, obsessed with the mine, had a theory that they were mining for Earth's Magnetic core. They encounter Wells who tells them to move because they're hiding place is being cleared. Joining Wells' working party they are stopped by a Roboman who recognises the party is too large, but Madison is shocked to see that it's Phil, his brother, who has fallen victim to the Daleks transfer process and is now a Roboman. Larry Madison talks to Phil about his family but they end up struggling and kill each other. Phil's death sets off an alarm: Wells hides the body while Ian escapes. Susan is cooking a meal of rabbit for their party when she is surprised by David and they struggle playfully before discussing the Doctor. They've completed their journey to the mine: The Doctor thinks the mine is the reason why the Earth was invaded and think they are digging for something unique to Earth. Ian spots Barbara in a work party in the tunnels. Jenny is despairing of them ever escaping. It's Wells' party and Ian asks him to tell her that he's here. However before Wells can speak to her, she approaches the Dalek guard claiming to have information on a forthcoming uprising presenting the information on the bombs as evidence. She and Jenny are taken to the Black Dalek. The Daleks report that they are within four miles of the Earth's outer core and need to place their explosive in position to release the core eliminating it's gravitational & magnetic forces - during this sequence the Black Dalek is described as the Supreme controller. He announces that this will allow the Daleks to pilot the Earth anywhere in the Universe. Ian has sneaked into the chamber where the bomb is being prepared. Seeking to hide from the Dalek he hides in the bomb's capsule and is trapped within it as it is moved out ready to be dropped into the mine working fissure....

This is the Fiftieth broadcast Doctor Who episode and was shown a year (OK 52 weeks) after The Dead Planet gave the world it's fist glimpse of the Daleks so is the closest episode to the Daleks first birthday.

Our episode title relevance meter wonders who or what the Waking Ally was? I haven't got a clue!

The episode rolls along nicely but there's just a few things about it that bother me.

There are a rather large number of coincidences involved. Have travelled down for nearly 20 minutes who's the first person Ian & Larry run into? Wells, who they left at the top of the shaft at the end of the last episode. Then they run into a Roboman who just happens to be Phil the converted brother of Larry. And *THEN* the captured Barbara & Jenny get assigned to Wells' work party!

What this episode does do is conclusively resolve *why* the Daleks have invaded Earth, a plot point that's been running since episode three. During that episode Larry tells Ian about his brother Phil's theory:

LARRY: My brother Phil's working at the mine, and he said if we can find out what the Daleks are up to, we might be able to beat them.
IAN: Makes sense, doesn't it.
LARRY: His theory is that the Daleks want the magnetic core of Earth.

Which is referred to again in episode four:

IAN: I don't know how you're going to find your brother here, Larry.
LARRY: I'll have a darned good try.
IAN: Even if you do find him, what are you going to do for him?
LARRY: Get him away. He's obsessed with whatever it is the Daleks are doing. Look!

And then again here.

IAN: Don’t worry. We’ll stay here for a while. You know, Larry, this mine doesn’t make sense to me. Where’s all the modern machinery?
LARRY: The Daleks brought machinery from all over the world. All they seem to be shifting is rocks.
IAN: Yes. I suppose they could be processing it somewhere.
LARRY: Who knows what the Daleks are up to? I told you what my brother Phil said, all they want is the magnetic core of Earth.

Quite how Phil's arrived at this theory we're never told. Perhaps he's previously been for a look at the Dalek mines because as soon as the Doctor sees it he reaches exactly the same conclusion:

DAVID: Now that you’ve seen the Dalek base, what do you think?
DOCTOR: Well it’s quite obvious to me its the centre of their operations.
SUSAN + DAVID: Centre?
DOCTOR: Yes, quite. You know, you surprise me, Tyler. Why didn’t you concentrate your efforts here?
TYLER: We’ve been fighting the Daleks everywhere. Well, the fact that they started mining operations didn’t seem all that important.
DAVID: Yeah, well, we assumed that they were just digging for minerals, you know, something they could use to make
DOCTOR: No, I think perhaps it might be the answer to the question as to why the Daleks are here.
DAVID: But why, Doctor? Surely they’ve invaded us?
DOCTOR: Oh no, it goes much deeper than that. You see, man, to them, is just a work machine. An insignificant specimen that is not worth invading. Absolutely useless. It doesn’t matter to them whether you live or die.
TYLER: Yeah, that’s true enough.
DAVID: Well, what are they digging for?
DOCTOR: Well, at the moment, my boy, I’m not quite sure, but let us say something that this planet contains. Something that no planet has.
TYLER: And you think if it was something on the surface, they’d have just collected it and gone?
DOCTOR: Yes, quite, quite. Instead, there they are, burrowing like moles down and through the crust of the Earth.
TYLER: But isn’t that impossible? I mean, without causing an eruption, a huge earthquake no one could survive.
DOCTOR: Not unless they know how to control the flow of living energy, hmm?
DAVID: Is that what it is? They dare to tamper with the forces of creation?
DOCTOR: Yes, they dare. And we have got to dare to stop them.

Sure enough the Supreme Dalek confirms as such a little while later

DALEK SUPREME: Give me your report.
DALEK: The main drills have penetrated the quartz strata. We are within four miles of the Earth’s outer core.
DALEK SUPREME: When will the final breakthrough occur?
DALEK: The slave parties are clearing the top of the fissure now.
DALEK SUPREME: What remains to be done?
DALEK: Only to put into position the penetration explosive. The charge is in the fissure capsule now. When positioned, the charge will strike the fissure in the Earth’s crust here.
DALEK SUPREME: The fissure will expand, the molten core be released.
DALEK: We will then control the flow until all the gravitational and magnetic forces in the Earth’s core are eliminated.
DALEK SUPREME: Excellent. I will now announce to the Dalek Earth force, completion of Project Degravitate in two hours time.

The science here is dreadful!

I'm not sure if it was known at the time if other planets have a magnetic core but even so it's a big leap to assume Earth is the only one. I wouldn't have thought that Bedfordshire was the best place to drill through Earth's crust, I thought the UK was on a pretty thick & stable part of the crust and that there were much thinner points. Yet the Daleks are drilling here and we get another project drilling into the Earth in Inferno.

More is to come:

DALEK: Attention all units. Stand by for an announcement by the Supreme Controller.
DALEK SUPREME: This is the Supreme Controller. Our mission to Earth is nearly completed. We were sent here to remove the core of this planet. Once the core is removed, we can replace it with a power system that will enable us to pilot the planet anywhere in the universe.

WHAT ????? They want to turn the Earth into a giant spaceship ????

And yet, somehow, this mad plot point is actually picked up many years later in The Stolen Earth/Journey's End! In between the Time Lords move the Earth in Trial of a Timelord and the Cybermen take Earth's twin Mondas for a wander round the galaxy by installing a propulsion system!

There seems to be some confusion as to what the Dalek's leader is called here.

DALEK: The Black Dalek will see you, but if you are lying, you will be killed. Follow me.

Yet above another Dalek refers to him as Supreme Controller. I'm using the term Dalek Supreme throughout.

Another oddity here is that one of the standard Daleks in the control room is sporting a black eye ball as opposed to the silver ones the rest of the regular troops have! Dalek 6388 think this is the other prop returned from Barnados and it's been like that all along but this is the first time I've spotted it.

Playing Ian's companion Larry Madison is Graham Rigby but I'm not sure who plays his brother Phil. He should be credited, as he gets a line of dialogue, but isn't. I'm presuming it's one of the credited Robomen for this episode, Peter Badger or Martyn Huntley, who both appear in all six episodes of the story. Huntley has already been in Doctor Who in The Sensorites: A Desperate Venture as the First Human and will return as Warren Earp in The Gunfighters episodes Johnny Ringo & The O.K. Corral.

Playing the women who capture Barbara and Jenny are Jean Conroy & Meriel Horson. They take up a sizeable portion of the first half of the episode and are another example of humans collaborating with the the Daleks.

There's another hint in this episode towards Susan's forthcoming departure as the Doctor catches her and David, actor Peter Fraser fooling about together:

SUSAN: Just in time for food.
DOCTOR: Ah, yes, my dear.
DAVID: Ah, we were just, er, well, I was just, er.
DOCTOR: Quite, quite. I can see something’s cooking.

I think The Doctor may be a little bit more observant than he lets on and has spotted the budding romance, hence the actions he takes next episode.

As well as being the first Earth Invasion this story gives us the first glimpse of an Earth in the future. OK apart from the calendar in the first episode there's little to date this serial any later than the date it's filmed. All the characters look like they're dressed straight out the sixties. We've already met future humans in space in The Sensorites and we'll meet them again in the Rescue (next up), the Chase and Mission to the Unknown before seeing the Earth of the year 4000 in The Dalek Masterplan. The Earth's destruction is seen in the year 10 million in the Ark. The Tenth Planet offers an Earth of 1986, at the time a futuristic setting but one the series would eventually overtake, but Troughton visits the near future Earth several time plus a visit to a far future Ice Age. Pertwee's visits without the aid of the Tardis in Day of the Daleks and again with the Tardis during Frontier in Space, but Tom, surprisingly, only turns up once in the Sontaran Experiment. Davison visits in Earthshock & Warriors of the Deep, Colin during Trial of a Timelord and Sylvester McCoy in Paradise Towers and the near future (and quickly overtaken) Battlefield. Coupling these visits with encounters with humanity all over the Universe presents some problems resolving a future history for humanity. However in several of these stories The Dalek Invasion of Earth remains a crucial event.

This episode survives as a 35mm film negative which was used to make the print from which this episode was transmitted. Why the episode was transmitted from film isn't 100% clear.

049 The Dalek Invasion of Earth Episode 4: The End of Tomorrow

EPISODE: The Dalek Invasion of Earth Episode 4: The End of Tomorrow
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 049
STORY NUMBER: 010
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 12 December 1964
WRITER: Terry Nation
DIRECTOR: Richard Martin
SCRIPT EDITOR: David Whitaker
PRODUCER: Verity Lambert
RATINGS: 11.9 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - The Dalek Invasion Of Earth

"Intercept rebels and destroy!"

Our episode title relevance meter reports that since this story is set in the future and a big bomb has been produced then the title is relevant!

The Doctor passes out as the bomb nears detonation point. David burns through the casing with the contents of one of Dortmun's bombs and removes the detonator. Barbara and Jenny prepare to steal a dust cart from the museum to drive out of London as Ian & Larry Madison search for Madison's brother at the vast mine in Bedfordshire where the humans are being worked as slaves. They are found by Wells, who gives a Roboman guard an excuse for them being there. They save Wells from a beating by the Roboman and end up killing the Roboman. Wells has come to meet Ashton, a black marketeer who Ian wants to meet to arrange his escape. Having hidden the Doctor, Susan & David investigate escaping through the sewers, but they are held at gunpoint. Barbara and Jenny drive straight through a line of attacking Daleks, but are detected by a Dalek saucer which intercepts them destroying the vehicle just as they bail out. Susan & David have been found by Tyler, who has been attacked by alligators in the sewers. David talks to Susan about her staying to rebuild Earth when the Invasion is over. An alien beast roars at the mine-working alarming Ian & Madison. They hide in a shed which is already occupied by Ashton who won't take Ian without payment. Wells arrives and tells them of the alien Slyther which the Black Dalek uses as a guard. Susan is trapped on a damaged ladder in the sewers and is about to be attacked by an alligator when David & Tyler save her. Tyler has fetched the Doctor. Ashton tells of deserted villages with lots of food but Wells refuses to leave wanting to help those in the camp. The Slyther attacks killing Ashton while Madison & Ian are trapped by it on the edge of a sheer drop.

Somehow the episode feels down a little on the previous few episodes, lacking so much location filming and the action of the attack on the saucer. There's not so much Dalek in this episode either, just the ones that Barbara & Jenny run down and a short sequence on a saucer involving just five lines of dialogue. I've always felt that Dalek Invasion on Earth is a game of two halves with the second half being the weaker of the two, an impression not helped by the title being split into 3 episode chunks on two tapes when it was released on VHS, which was how I first experienced it.

Yet what little location filming there is really helps the episode. Ian & Larry get there first look at the Dalek mines where a mix of stock footage of mining operations and new location footage, filmed at John's Hole Quarry near Dartford in Kent on Friday 28th August 1964, really helps to set the tone and give you an idea of the scale of what's going on:

Hang on, notable land mark! This is Doctor Who's first quarry!

We return to Engineer's Way in Wembley for the footage of Barbara & Jenny escaping the museum. Note the presence of Dortmun's body in one shot which earns actor Alan Judd a credit on this episode in which he doesn't otherwise appear!

The same sequence, on the Doctor Who - The Dalek Invasion Of Earth DVD includes another piece of replacement CGI special effects where the shot of the saucer over the van is replaced by one of the saucer firing the energy bolt that causes their van to explode:

The location work isn't the only element of the episode helping to paint a picture of the world the Tardis crew find themselves in. The dialogue in the sewers paints a picture of both human and animal survivors of the Dalek invasion

SUSAN: David, could the Robomen get down here?
DAVID: No, I don't think so.
SUSAN: Well, it must be friends then.
DAVID: Not necessarily. Not all human beings are automatically allies. There are people who will kill for a few scraps of food.
SUSAN: Survive at all costs.

TYLER: I wasn't shooting at a man. These sewers are full of alligators.
SUSAN: Alligators? In the sewers of London?
TYLER: A lot of animals escaped from zoos during the plague. Most were killed but reptiles thrive down here.
DAVID: Well then, I think the quicker we get going, the better?
SUSAN: What's worse, the alligators down here or the Daleks up there?

These sequences are helped by some really superb sewer sets. In fact the set work throughout this story has been top notch so full marks to designer Spencer Chapman. Again sneaking some stock footage into this sequence helps:

The sequence into the sewers leads into another conversation where Susan is challenged to cease her wanderings by David:

DAVID: Bah. One day this will be all over. It'll mean a new start.
SUSAN: A new start? Rebuilding a planet from the very beginning. It's a wonderful idea.
DAVID: You could always help.
SUSAN: Yes.

Another facet of human life in Dalek occupied England is shown when Ian & Larry encounter Wells in the work camp at the Dalek mine:

LARRY: Ashton?
WELLS: The black marketeer. No one knows how he gets into the camp or out again, but he does, and smuggles in food as well.

As in every desperate situation there are those seeking to profit from it.

Wells, who first appears in this episode, is played by Nicholas Smith, later to find fame as Mr Rumbold in Are You Being Served? He is the last surviving major cast member from that series. Sadly his distinctive appearance does rather take you out of the story a bit!

Black marketeer Ashton is played her by Patrick O'Connell, later to appear in 82 of the 94 episodes of The Brothers, many of which were alongside future Doctor Who Colin Baker. His character proves quite prophetic here:

LARRY: What was that thing we saw out there?
WELLS: It's called a Slyther.
IAN: A Slyther? What's that?
ASHTON: Where do you come from, mate? Fairyland?
WELLS: The Black Dalek, he's the commandant of the camp, regards it as a sort of pet.
IAN: You mean it's on some sort of a guard duty?
WELLS: Yes, well, in a way. Mainly it roams the mine area at night in search of food.
LARRY: What sort of food?
ASHTON: People.

Moments later the Slyther, played by Dalek Operator Nick Evans enters the shed in which they're hiding and kills him. The Slyther can best be described as one of Doctor Who's less successful monsters and was removed from film version of Dalek Invasion replaced by a squad of Daleks who blow up the shed which Ashton is in, there played by the late great Philip Madoc. I saw this sequence from the film as a young child and it scared me of the Daleks for years after!

The start of the episode also has some unsuccessful element to it: The ticking bomb does rather sound like the Trumpton clock and note the shadow of a studio light falling over the box behind the Doctor. The Doctor himself collapses shortly after: he'd injured his back during camera rehersals and had to be written out! His substitute here is Edmund Warwick who was Darius in The Keys of Marinus 3: The Screaming Jungle and would later play a robot double of the Doctor in The Chase.

It may seem odd today now that the Doctor fights alien menaces invading Earth nearly every week but it took until the second year for the Doctor to fight an alien invasion of Earth. Earth's previous appearances in Doctor Who has been in the setup in An Unearthly Child or in the form of the peril to the shrunken Tardis crew in Planet of Giants but mainly as a setting for a historical adventure Unearthly Child, Marco Polo, Aztecs & Reign of Terror. There's more historical stories to come but slowly Earth Invasions will become a norm: It's an intention in Dalek Masterplan to invade Earth but the next real Earth Invasion is in Hartnell's final story The Tenth Planet. There's a few more invasion attempts during the Troughton era (2 in the first year, two in the second and two in third) but it isn't until Jon Pertwee's reign that they start happening with any regularity.

As well as it being Doctor Who's first Earth Invasion it's the first time London is invaded too. London Invasions are probably rarer than you might think. Using the word "Invasion" loosely we get the following Doctor Who stories with action in London

War Machines
The Faceless Ones
Web of Fear
The Invasion
Spearhead from Space
Invasion of the Dinosaurs
Terror of the Zygons
Talons of Weng Chiang
The Visitation
Resurrection of the Daleks
Attack of the Cybermen
Remembrance of the Daleks
Ghost Light
Survival

Other stories featuring England's capital, but not a direct threat there include:

The Chase
The Dalek Masterplan
The Evil of the Daleks
Ambassadors of Death
Terror of the Autons
Mind of Evil
Claws of Axos
Colony in Space
The Daemons
Day of the Daleks
The Time Monster
The Three Doctors
The Green Death
The Time Warrior
Planet of the Spiders
Robot
Pyramids of Mars
The Five Doctors

Of course many of these are by virtue of including a brief scene set in UNIT HQ which is definitely in London during it's earlier appearances and would seem to be close by in it's later ones!

This episode has the distinction of being the 50th episode of Doctor Who that was filmed. However it's 49th episode broadcast due to the combining of Planet of Giants 3 Crisis and 4 Urge to live into a single episode. 3.