OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 368
STORY NUMBER: 072
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 09 March 1974
WRITER: Terry Nation
DIRECTOR: Michael Briant
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 10.5 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Death To The Daleks
EPISODE FORMAT: 625 video
"Our people had created a monster. They tried to destroy it. Instead it destroyed them and drove out the survivors."
Sarah is helped by Bellal, an Exxilon that doesn't share the majority's religious beliefs who shelters her from the pursuing Daleks.
The Doctor is saved from the metal snake creature by the two pursuing Daleks which the snake destroys. The Doctor deduces the snake is a root of the city. Bellal & his friend Gotal take the Doctor to safety. Bellal tells The Doctor of the origins of the city and how it destroyed it's creators. The Daleks make preparations to destroy the city's beacon after exploring the city to gain knowledge. One of the Daleks is destroyed by another city root at a pool in the quarry workings. The Doctor recognises Exxilon markings from an temple in Peru on Earth. The Doctor & Bellal go to the city to attempt to stop the power drain. Jill is sent by the Daleks to assist the Exxilon miners while Galloway & Hamilton are taken for another task. The Doctor sends Sarah to get the Earthmen to load the Parrinium into their ship while the Doctor & Bellal enter the city, gaining entry narrowly in front of two Daleks and brave the brain teasing test & traps within.
You can't beat Daleks in tunnels and they're great during the first part of the episode, thought I note that the first Dalek has orange dome lights when moving but white when attacked.
Another detail that jumped out on me was the badge on the MSC uniforms. It's the Federation Badge from Blake's 7, as seen behind the original series logo.
I doo like the city model, looks fabulous.
BELLAL: Exxilon had grown old before life had even begun on other planets. Our ancestors solved the mysteries of science, built craft that travelled through space. They were the supreme beings of the universe.
DOCTOR: What destroyed their power, war?
BELLAL: No. They created their own destruction. Using all their knowledge, they built a city that would last through all of time.
SARAH: And they succeeded. It looked as though it was built only yesterday.
BELLAL: They used their sciences to make the city into a living thing. It could protect itself, repair itself, maintain itself. They even gave it a brain.
DOCTOR: I see. So the city became an entity, though greater and more powerful than the many small parts that had created it.
BELLAL: Yes, it then had no need of those who had made it. Our people had created a monster. They tried to destroy it. Instead it destroyed them and drove out the survivors. Now we, and the other Exxilons you met, are all that remain.
SARAH: What separates you from the others?
BELLAL: They have made the city their god. They worship and fear it. They even make sacrifices to it.
SARAH: Yes, we almost qualified for that ourselves.
DOCTOR: Yet you don't fear the city, Bellal. Why?
BELLAL: Yes, we do fear it, but we don't worship it. Our aim is to destroy it. Unless we succeed, our race will vanish from this planet.
DOCTOR: Yes. Well, I think the time has come to do something about this city.
DOCTOR: You say that markings like these are cut into the walls of the city?The idea that Earth may have been visited in ancient times by alien astronauts isn't new: it was proposed in 1968 by Erich von Däniken in his book Chariots of the Gods? and later followed up in the BBC Horizon documentary The Case of the Ancient Astronauts in 1978.
BELLAL: Yes, these are as I remember them.
SARAH: I saw them too, Doctor. Do they mean anything to you?
DOCTOR: No, not fully. But I do have a rough idea of what they're intended to convey. You see, I've seen them before.
SARAH: Seen them before? Where?
DOCTOR: On the walls of a temple in Peru.
SARAH: Oh, that's impossible!
DOCTOR: Yeah, that's what they said about the Peruvian temple as well. Yes, it's one of Earth's great mysteries, that no primitive man could possibly have built such a structure. Well, now we've solved it.
SARAH: Solved how a temple was built in Peru?
DOCTOR: You say that your ancestors were travelling in space when other worlds were still primitive?
BELLAL: Why, that is true.
DOCTOR: Then they almost certainly visited Earth and taught the people there how to build.
BELLAL: Our city supports itself in two ways. Through roots in the ground and through the air.
SARAH: The air?
DOCTOR: Yes, they must drain their electrical energy from the atmosphere, probably via that beacon.
SARAH: So that's what put the mockers on the Tardis?
DOCTOR: Well, you seem to have a crude grasp of the general idea, yes.
I have a question about the ending of this episode: what possessed the Doctor to yell stop when he saw the pattern on the floor? He didn't know it was dangerous..... unless he's encountered something similar before that we haven't seen. And given the number of times he runs into similar traps in the next few years that wouldn't surprise me. Come back next week for some more raving on this subject.
Bellal is played by Arnold Yarrow who had appeared in three episodes of The Andromeda Breakthrough as The President of Azaran. He also worked as a script editor on a number of BBC series including the Z-Cars spin off Softly, Softly and it's spin offs Softly, Softly: Taskforce, Barlow, Barlow at Large and Second Verdict, many of which he also wrote for.
Gotal, the Exxilon accompanying Bellal in the tunnels, is played by Roy Heymann who was previously an Alien Priest in Colony in Space, directed by (you've guessed it) Michael Briant. Heymann also plays Jebal, the Exxilon only seen on location observing the Daleks.
The Exxilon Messenger who reports the Dalek's destruction on the surface is Tex Fuller who returns as a Bodyguard, Soldier, Brethren Member and Stuntman in Masque of Mandragora. He's also in Blake's 7 as a Menial in Ultraworld and The Professionals as Pat Weaver in You'll Be All Right.
All the exterior sequences in this story were filmed at ARC Sand Pits at Gallows Hill, Dorset close to similar sites that are used for The Underwater Menace, Destiny of the Daleks, Caves of Androzani, Greatest Show in the Galaxy and Survival. Throw in Curse on Fenric's Lulworth Cove and it seems that Dorset might be the place to go for a locations visiting holiday!
We looked at the Exxilons used exclusively in the studio last episode: onto those on location and we'll start with those who worked on the studio sessions for episode 1 & 2 and the location sequences for episodes 2-3:
Bob Blaine had previously been a Gatekeeper in Ambassadors of Death, an Auton Daffodil Man in Terror of the Autons, a Prisoner & UNIT Soldier in The Mind of Evil, a Colonist & IMC Guard in Colony in Space, a Chateau Guard in The Sea Devils and a UNIT Trooper in The Time Monster. He returns as a Guard in The Monster of Peladon.
Leslie Bates 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, a UNIT soldier in The Three Doctors, a Lunar Guard, Draconian & Williams Guard in Frontier in Space, a SecurityGuard & UNIT Soldier in The Green Death and an Army Corporal & UNIT soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs. He returns as a Guard in Planet of the Spiders, a Time Lord in Deadly Asssasin 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.
David Rolfe is on Doctor Who debut here: He's back in the next story as a Guard in The Monster of Peladon then plays a Crew Member in Planet of Evil, a Courtier in The Masque of Mandragor, one of the Doctor's Body Parts & a Pangol/Doctor in The Leisure Hive.
Derek Chafer had been a Saxon in The Time Meddler, a Greek Soldier in The Myth Makers, a Guard in The Massacre, a Lynch Mob Member in The Gunfighters, a Cyberman in The Moonbase, a Guard in Fury from the Deep, a Cyberman in The Invasion, a Technician in Seeds of Death, an Issigri HQ Miner in The Space Pirates, a UNIT Soldier in Doctor Who and the Silurians episode, a Military Policeman & UNIT Soldier in Ambassadors of Death, a Prisoner in The Mind of Evil, a Primitive in Colony in Space, a Guard in The Curse of Peladon and a Warrior in The Mutants. He returns as a Guard in The Monster of Peladon, a Soldier/Armourer/Brethren Guest in The Masque of Mandragora, a Leviathan Guard in Ribos Operation, a Gracht Guard in Androids of Tara, a Skonnan Elder in Horns of the Nimon, Doctor Body Parts/Pangol Doctor in The Leisure Hive and a Gundan in Warriors' Gate. And on the way the production paperwork will; spell his names several different ways! He was in Doomwatch as a man in Project Sahara, Re-Entry Forbidden & The Red Sky and played a man in the missing third season Out of the Unknown episode 1+1=1.5.
Then we have the Exxilons that only appear in the location sequences for episodes 2-3:
Dennis Plenty had 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,a Solos Guard & Skybase Guard in The Mutants, Earth, Prison & Presidential Guards in Frontier in Space, a Security Guard in The Green Death and a UNIT Soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs. He returns as 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.
Mike Reynel is on Doctor Who debut. He returns as an SRS Bouncer/SRS Officers/SRS Audience in Robot, a Kaled Scientist in Genesis of the Daleks, a Council Member in Face of Evil and a Guide in The Leisure Hive. In the The Sweeney episode Golden Boy he's a Customs Officer, while in the Sweeney! & Sweeney 2 films he plays a Detective, and in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin he's a Restaurant Patron in Elizabeth's New Admirer. In Blake's 7 he's a Prisoner in Space Fall while in The Empire Strikes Back he plays an Imperial Officer. In Octopussy he's an Auction Patron, in Morons from Outer Space he's the Policeman Collecting Matteson and in he's a Man in Street in A Fish Called Wanda.
Terry Sartain was an Alien Technician / Union Recruit in The War Games, a Warrior in The Mutants, a UNIT Soldier in The Three Doctors, and an Earth Prison Guard / Draconian Guard at Embassy in Frontier in Space. He later plays 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 only identifiable Exxilon on location is the one in the water who the root sets on fire and that's series regular stuntman Terry Walsh, whose credits we listed in episode one.
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