The Daleks' Master Plan: The Traitors

THE DALEKS’ MASTER PLAN:  THE TRAITORS

Me:  So.  We’re currently a quarter of the way through and after this episode we’ll be a third.  Anything you’d like to say?

Him:  Third?  Oh – The Daleks’ Master Plan.  I thought you meant William Hartnell.  It’s a really long one, isn’t it?

Me:  Yes.

Him:  What made them make it in twelve parts?

Me:  Right.  Basically, The Dalek Invasion of Earth was really successful and ran over Christmas in six parts.  Therefore, it followed that running a Dalek story over Christmas would be a successful thing to do.  And doubling the length of said Dalek adventure would make it twice as successful.  You with me?

Him:  Uh-huh.

Me:  That’s if it wasn’t actually extended because Huw Wheldon’s mother-in-law wanted to see more Daleks.  That’s the explanation I prefer, which is why I flailed at a hint to it earlier on.

Him:  Who was Huw Wheldon?

Me:  BBC Dalek Supremo.

At this piece of information, the Him starts spelling Ode to Joy ("E-E-F-G-G-F-E-D-C-C-D-E-E-D-D/E-E-F-G-G-F-E-D-C-C-D-E-D-C-C/D-D-E-C-D-EF-E-C-D-EF-E-D-C-D-G/E-E-F-G-G-F-E-D-C-C-D-E-D-C-C"), which, in fairness, I wasn’t expecting.

Me:  Lovely.

We recap.  Katarina’s in trouble.  Kirksen insists on heading to Kembel and not Earth.

The Doctor:  Kembel?!

I’m not expecting you to believe me, but this whole scene is really intense.  Even though it’s essentially a radio play with a slideshow it hooks us in and we’re really quiet.  Possibly because we know how it’s going to pan out, which of course the original viewers wouldn’t have.

And so, leaving Katarina in trouble, I hope you don’t mind if we detour for a moment.

Reading between the lines, it seems that The Traitors is the episode of The Daleks’ Master Plan that’s most likely to be recovered.  No-one seems willing to admit it, but it sounds like the full episode is the only one that can safely be said to have been ‘borrowed’ rather than destroyed.  Time will tell, I guess.

I really hope that more of the Wiles/Tosh episodes are recovered because I’ve personally been amazed by quite how thrilling they are.  I’m using that ‘thrilling’ in a very particular way there. 

I made an observation, on the page that no-one reads, about how childhood offers a different viewing experience of Doctor Who than you get when you become cobwebbed and jaded in your twenties.  Here’s a link.  You won’t follow it, and I don’t blame you. 

Anyway, it’s worth noting that a lot of Doctor Who is better than the rest of it is.  Which is a nice way of saying that we’ve started this journey at a point where it would be unfeasible to pretend that the Him’s watching these recons and stories in awestruck silence and not being rude.  Those days are gone the way of all flesh.  Consequently, the less we say, the more it’s grabbed us.  I’m also conscious that we’re expecting something from what’s essentially another culture to be able to play within today's televisual rules.  That’s only to a degree of course.  And now there’s an animated Dalek gliding across a control room.

Me:  That looked good.

The Dalek pursuit ships are back on the Spar’s course.  On the Spar, Bret Vyon pretends to change course.  Kirksen doesn’t believe anyone.  He drags Katarina into the airlock and locks it.  The picture begins to move…

Him:  Oh…

I’ve said it before, and here you go again: this seems like a really weird choice of scene to highlight how Peter Purves used to be in Doctor Who for the Blue Peter audience.  There’s a struggle in the airlock.

The Doctor:  Take him back to Kembel!  Take him back to Kembel!

Katarina reaches for a switch – it's either desperation, or she's the bravest and most unselfish companion that the Doctor has ever had the honour of travelling with.  Of course, it's more likely she's barking by this point and it's a total accident, but let's go with the Noble Sacrifice theory, shall we?  It's a Terry N tale after all.  Katarina opens the airlock, sucking herself and Kirksen into the vacuum of space.  Katarina’s gone.  

It’s really quiet.  Both on screen and here.

Me:  The Doctor’s losing people frequently now.

"Kataaaaaaarinaaaaaa..."

There’s a moment of quite tasteful animated drifting and William Hartnell knocks a speech out of the park.

Me:  That’s good.

Him:  Slowed down trampoline isn’t it?

Me:  That’s how they did it when they filmed it.  Really changes the mood of the story.  And seeing it in context makes a massive difference.  It’s quite powerful.

Him:  First of the TARDIS crew to be gone forever.  Maybe when the Doctor looked back on Katarina he did it before he met her.

Me:  Maybe.

The Daleks are quarrelling with Trantis, a runny-faced delegate, about the trustworthiness of Maaavic Chen.  The Daleks are convinced they’ve got this one licked.

Dalek Supreme:  NO-THING-WILL-BE-AL-LOWED-TO-STAND-IN-THE-WAY-OF-OUR-PLAN-TO-CON-QUER-THE-U-NI-VERSE!

Bret Vyon has a friend on Earth he thinks will help our hero fugitives.  

Meanwhile, Mavic Chen’s back on Earth, lying to anyone who’ll listen – especially his fan Lizan.  There’s a smug, bald, fellow named Karlton also in attendance.  Bret Vyon’s massive animated head floats around in the background.

Master of the Universe figure sold separately.

Me:  That’s pretty good as well.

Him:  The giant floating head?

Me:  That’s the one.
 

Blinded by Mavic Chen’s way with political rhetoric, Lizan sets the quest for Bret Vyon in motion.  Karlton slides up to Mavic Chen and oozes obsequiousness in his ear.

Mavic Chen:  You must do better than that.  I would hate to have to lose you.

The Spar is approaching Earth.  Mavic Chen awaits reports whilst sitting behind a most curious piece of furniture.

Him:  ‘A large rotating desk’.

Mavic Chen reveals that he wants to govern the universe next to the Daleks.  His grasp of how this situation’s going to play out is not great.  The only thing in his way (apart from being power-crazed right round the bend) is Trantis.  But the Daleks “don’t like Trantis”, so they’re bound to exterminate him and then…

Mavic Chen:  It will be me, Mavic Chen, who will be next in line.

Karlton reveals that the quest for Bret Vyon is being led by one of his very best agents: Kingdom.

Mavic Chen:  Kingdom!

Me:  ‘Kingdom’.

A call comes through.  Karlton takes it so Mavic Chen doesn’t damage a nail.  It turns out that the ‘traitors’ have arrived.  Or rather, crashed at the experimental station Bret Vyon mentioned earlier.  

We join our chums as they slink around apparently deserted corridors.  I say ‘apparently’ on account of there being a shadowy figure watching them slink.  

Mavic Chen is delighted when Kingdom arrives to meet him.

KINGDOM!

Him:  Sara Kingdom.

Me:  Well spotted.

Sara Kingdom offers her report.  Our heroes are trapped and she’s off to go get them.  However…

Mavic Chen:  Before you do that, there is something you have to know...

Back in the experimental station, our heroes are hanging around waiting for Bret Vyon’s chum.

The Doctor:  I think we’re just wasting valuable time sitting around here waiting for this man Baxter or Daxtar or whatever he calls himself.

The Doctor points out that they’ve landed in a bit of rum situation that may very well be nothing more than the setting for an ambush.  At that moment, or thereabouts, Daxtar arrives.  

Back with Mavic Chen and Sara Kingdom and the briefing’s wrapping up.  Sara has to recover the vital emm of taranium.  Sara leaves.

Mavic Chen:  A good security agent.

Back in the base.

Daxtar:  Mavic Chen?  The Daleks?  I can’t believe it!

Stuff happens and I notice that we’re both actually watching it again.  Suspicions aroused, the Doctor succeeds in exposing Daxtar (or Baxter, or whatever he calls himself) as a traitor.

The Doctor:  Long acquaintance is no guarantee for honesty.  Ask him!  Ask him how he came to know that the core of the time destructor was taranium!

Me:  Oh dear.

This exposure leads, as you might well imagine, to a tense confrontation and an odd observation, which you might well not imagine.

Me:  God, this is good.

Him:  “Tooooooby…”

Daxtar dies as a result of being shot by Bret Vyon.  This leads to another confrontation as the Doctor harangues Bet Vyon for cutting off their one line to finding out who can actually be trusted.  

Animated Daleks have a quick chat about how the story’s going for anyone who’d forgotten about them.  

Back on the experimental base things happen all at once.  Sara Kingdom arrives, demands the taranium and is attacked by Bret Vyon.  He tells the Doctor and Steven to run while he buys them time.  Bret Vyon and Sara Kingdom confront each other briefly, before she kills him with shooting.  That’s two companions in one episode failing basic ‘Escape to Danger’.  Tch.  It’s a bloodbath.

Him:  Oh.

Suddenly, there’s movement!  Sara strides to the front of the frame and delivers a fantastic cliff-hanger line, that’s almost as good as ‘and there’s blood on it’, namely:

Sara:  The others must be killed as well.  They will be shot on sight – but aim for the head.

Me:  Blimey!

Him:  There’s not many left – don’t take them away.  What’s the one after The Massacre?

Me:  The Ark.

Him:  And after that?

Me:  The Celestial Toymaker.

Him:  Then The Gunfighters and then The

To be continued…

The Daleks' Master Plan: Devil's Planet

THE DALEKS’ MASTER PLAN:  DEVIL’S PLANET

Me:  So, John Wiles wanted to put his own stamp on the show and make it quite a serious drama.  He felt constrained by this story though – and didn’t have a great time.  All the paperwork that I’ve read that was written by him makes him sound alright but he’s got a bit of a reputation.

Him:  So, he was only there for three stores?

Me:  He’s responsible for a few more, but about that, yeah.

Him:  Steven Moffat’s the producer now, isn’t he?

Me:  Yeah.

Him:  So, he’s got the same job that Verity Lambert and John Wiles had?

Me:  Um…  Yes.

Him:  Oh.  So, was he chosen?

Me:  Ummm…  Sort of.  Russell T Davies kind of asked him.

Him:  And Russell T Davies was the previous producer?

Me:  Yes.  To be fair though, The Empty Child, The Doctor Dances, The Girl in the Fireplace and the Vashta Nerada epic all act as a pretty good CV.  And if you throw in Blink as the covering letter then I think that’s a successful application package right there.

Him:  What does a producer actually do?

Me:  That’s a very good question.  I’ll explain later.

Him:  Tell me now!

Me:  It’s a bit different now to what it used to be.  After Doctors, the change of producer is often when an era shift becomes noticeable.  Letts to Hinchcliffe and-

Him:  Blue whales are heavy.  Blue whales are very heavy.

Me:  On to the Devil’s Planet then.

We recap. 

Me:  This’ll give you an idea of how hard the recons must’ve been to put together because we’ve seen what this bit actually looked like.  They’ve made a good go of it.  Impressive stuff.

Him:  This is where Katarina goes, isn’t it?  Episode three?

Me:  This is episode three, yes.

Him:  And this is where she goes?

Bret Vyon orders a countdown but then notices that someone’s forgotten to close the door.  The Doctor boards the Spar, fortuitously before take off.  There’s a sudden moment of animation as the Spar leaves Kembel, and then we’re watching Daleks glide around like they’re at the ballet.  Tradition is observed.

Him:  They’re watching Doctor Who again.

The Dalek Supreme is quite keen to track the Spar.

Him:  “I-AM-ONLY-ON-THE-CAVE-OF-SKULLS!-LEAVE-ME-BE!”

The Spar isn’t to be destroyed – mostly because it took ages to get the taranium core in the first place.

Him:  What’re those Daleks actually doing?  Do they have shifts?

Me:  I don’t think they get lunch breaks.

Bret Vyon, Steven, Katarina and the Doctor catch up on what they’ve missed.  The Doctor explains the Daleks’ master plan - Earth to be destroyed first (as always) and then all the other planets.  Katarina’s finding all this modern talk quite baffling.

Me:  Poor Katarina.

Finally we discover where taranium’s found.

Him:  ‘Uranus’?

Me:  That’s where taranium’s found: Uranus.  Bwah ha ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Boom!  Boom!

Him:  Such a stupid laugh.

Me:  Luckily, it’s not mine.

Him:  Such a mindless fox.

Mavic Chen and his Evil Funkers are playing a dangerous gig back on Kembel.

Me:  Boba Fett’s making a guest appearance as Zephon there.

"I really don't see what all the fuss is about."

Zephon’s unhappy with how his day’s gone.  It gets worse when the Daleks exterminate him.  More background information is supplied and the Evil Christmas Tree makes a reappearance.  Our heroes are approaching the planet Desperus (more on this later) and checking the taranium.  Katarina looks and learns.  Perhaps the Spar could be used to play Marc Cory’s tape?

Him:  Why would it have a tape player?

Me:  Every classy Spar comes equipped with a quadraphonic 8-track player with walnut finish, so why wouldn’t it?

Him:  What about the future-telling octopus?  The one they used in the World Cup?  I recall there being a fortune-telling octopus at one point.

Me:  There was but he didn’t team up with the Daleks.  He was called Clever Hands or something.  I’m pretty sure he was a German octopus.

Him:  That’s right – maybe he changed the future.

Me:  So – you’re saying that the octopus policy of non-interference needs more rigorous reinforcing?

Him:  Uh-huh.  There’s one definite way to win a derby.

Me:  Ok.

Him:  You drug all the other horses.

Me:  ‘The Curious Incident of the Octopus in the Night-Time’.

Him:  What?

Me:  It’ll make sense when you’re older.  Or read Silver Blaze.

Him:  ‘Silver Blade’?

Me:  Silver Blaze.

The tape is played.

Him:  It’s different.

The Doctor:  The Daleks will stop at anything to prevent us!

Me:  Ummm…?  Should be quite easy then, shouldn’t it?  “OO-A-FLOW-ER!-AH!-A-CABB-AGE-WHITE!”

Him:  That’s only the Architect Dalek that collects butterflies.  I suppose if they were going to make a film of every Dalek story they’d have to make one of Mission to the Unknown.

Me:  It’d probably be an internet-only trailer.  Or released in Imax only, tacked on to the start of a useless sequel to boost audiences.

Him:  There are no weird museums in Scotland but there is a museum of the mouse trap in Wales.  Bedwas.  Where’s Kent?

Me:  Kent’s where the Daleks had reached according to Marc Cory’s improved maps.

Anyway…  The Spar’s approaching Desperus.  The Daleks operate their randomiser and suddenly there’s…

Me:  Movement.

Him:  No… no… no…

The Spar is being pulled into the gravitational point of Desperus, the penal planet of the solar system.  Bret Vyon reveals that they can’t land there as it’s full of criminals.  Back on the Dalek control ship a soft landing for the Spar is engineered.  Pursuit ships are launched.  Mavic Chen congratulates the Dalek Supreme.

Dalek Supreme:  DA-LEK-TECH-NOLOGY-IS-THE-MOST-AD-VANCED-IN-THE-U-NI-VERSE!

Mavic Chen:  You still haven’t recovered the taranium.

Me:  “SHUT-IT!”

Mavic Chen returns to Earth.  The Spar is landing on Desperus and we meet some of the planet’s, rather horrid, inhabitants - Bors, Garge and Kirksen who are fighting over women and a knife.

Me:  Bit grim.  Again.

"It's..."

The sound of random geese fills the leaden Desperus landscape.  Whilst Bors is sleeping an unsuccessful knife grab is attempted by Kirksen.  The sound of a landing Spar is heard above the geese.  The convicts head off to the swamp to say hello.

Him:  How is a knife better than a point-ed stick?

Bret Vyon:  What’s the matter with Grandpa?

Me:  Nice.

Our heroes pop out for a look around the swamp.  In the distance – lights.

Me:  What’s the deal with the geese?

Him:  It’s music.

The Daleks pursuit fleet is now on the way to collect their taranium.

Me:  Almost like a chase, you might say.

Him:  It’s not a chase; it’s a ‘follow’.

Me:  Hmmm….

On Desperus the noise continues.

Me:  Oh – they're bats!

There’s a sudden bat attack on Kirksen and then a roar!

Me:  What the hell was that?

The Doctor comes back inside the Spar and tells Katarina to prepare to hold a switch.

The Doctor:  Just do as you’re told.

The Doctor takes a cable out into the swamp.  Bors and Garge creep closer.

Katarina:  Something moved.

On the Doctor’s signal, Katarina pulls the switch and Bors and Garge are electrocuted into unconsciousness.  Katarina confides in the Doctor.

Katarina:  With you I know I’m safe

All of a sudden there’s a lot of baffling noise.

Me:  What’s going on?

A manual take off is prepared and the Spar leaves just as the Dalek ships land.  The escape is mostly successful – right up to the point that Kirksen suddenly emerges and grabs Katarina…

Him:  Katarina doesn’t have a last name.

Me:  No, she doesn’t.

NEXT:  THE TRAITORS 

The Daleks' Master Plan: Day Of Armageddon

THE DALEKS’ MASTER PLAN:  DAY OF ARMAGEDDON

Me:  Weirdly, this episode more than survives, because the original film inserts still exist.

Him:  Film?

Me:  Yeah, the bits that were pre-recorded and played in when the episode was being recorded.

Him:  That’s the bit that Babelcolour recoloured.

Me:  That’s right.  And the picture quality’s amazing. 

Pause.

Me:  John Wiles was really put out by having this story dumped on him.

Him:  Oh.

Me:  And before it was finished, he’d handed in his resignation.  Donald Tosh went too.

Him:  Right.

Pause.

Me:  Hartnell and Wiles didn’t hit it off and, according to scuttlebutt, Wiles was looking for ways of writing him out when they were preparing the story that became The Celestial Toymaker.

Him:  William Hartnell?

Me:  Yeah.

Him:  But why?  He was the Doctor.

Me:  He was.  But he wasn’t very well and I think he’d become quite difficult for some people to work with.

Him:  So what was John Wiles planning on doing?  Cancelling the series?

Me:  I’m pretty sure it was just recasting.  Or making the Doctor into a gas or something.

Him:  Did he come up with the regeneration idea then?

Me:  Not entirely.  He was more of the ‘Please rid me of this troublesome Who’ idea.  But that’s a little while off.

Him:  Right.  Press play.

We recap.  The Doctor returns to the TARDIS.

Me:  Hang on a minute.  Notice anything different?

Him:  What do you mean?

Me:  The recap.

Him:  It’s moving.

Me:  Yeah.  And?

Him:  I don’t know.  William Hartnell’s ear blends in with his hair?

Me:  Well – no.  This episode was only recovered in 2004, so the recons had already been made.

Him:  Right.

It’s an interesting moment, for me if for no-one else, as it shows just how close the team who sweated out the recons managed to get to the original show.  It’s also interesting in that certain directorial decisions simply vanish.  There’s some lovely camerawork later on in this episode that even a camera script wouldn’t hint at.  I’ve read a review of Airlock, the recently recovered third episode of Galaxy 4, which reports that there’s a moment where Maaga delivers a chilling speech straight down the lens and into our souls.  Haven’t seen it yet myself, of course. Anyway, the Doctor’s returned to the TARDIS to find it being worshipped by Daleks.1

Me:  They don’t recognise the TARDIS.

Him:  Maybe these are different Daleks.

Me:  Interesting.

Dalek:  IN-TRU-DERS-TO-BE-LO-CA-TED-AND-DE-STROY-ED!

Me:  “IN-THAT-OR-DER!”

The Doctor shuffles off into the foliage.  The worshipping Daleks receive a message from the Dalek Supreme that Operation Inferno is go go go.  Following an abbreviated countdown.

Him:  Foreshadowing.

Me:  ‘Inferno’?

Him:  Yeah.

Elsewhere, Mavic Chen’s busy composing his scurrilous muck-raking memoirs.

Him:  He’s just scribbling.

Me:  Oo- a delegate.

Zephon oozes into the room like a rock star.  According to my copy of Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Zephon was also the cherub dispatched by Gabriel to find Satan after his expulsion in Paradise Lost.  As to whether or not this counts as canon, I’ve no idea.  I suppose it’s possible that The Impossible Planet is a sequel to Milton.2

Me:  Bit Lovecraft.  He gives me the creeps.

Mavic Chen and Zephon exchange pleasantries and exposition.  It seems that the Daleks have had their eyestalks on taking over everything for a while now.  And greed’s still as prevalent in the year 4000 as it was in 1965. I guess Zephon doesn’t quite get this, even though he’s turned up at the conference as well, because he asks Mavic Chen why he’d become a traitor.

Mavic Chen:  Traitor?  Bwah ha ha ha ha ha!

Me:  Yes.

Greed, megalomania and just general wrong ‘un insanity revealed as his main interests, Mavic Chen thunders on with more exposition.  It’s entertaining stuff.  Elsewhere, the Daleks are plotting a double-cross that should really come as a surprise to no-one except Katarina.  Speaking of Katarina: she’s looking after Steven in the jungle.

Me:  Steven’s looking better and Katarina’s moving.

The Doctor finds our chums.

Me:  I couldn’t work out if Steven had heard of the Daleks or not.

Following a recap, the Doctor gives Steven’s leg a solid pat.

Me:  Steven’s wooden leg.1 

The Him cracks up at this.  Suddenly – film occurs.  A Dalek deforestation team are preparing for a long night’s conflagration.

Me:  Big jump in picture quality there.

Him:  That one on the right’s got some difficulty getting his flame going.

The Doctor, Steven and Katarina continue their ramble.  Bret, having observed the Pyro-Daleks, catches up with the others.  The Doctor’s still being a bit cantankerous and wants to leave.  Some other members of the group are keen on being heroes.  Bret Vyon does something very brave here.

Me:  Has anyone dared tell the Doctor to shut up before?

Him:  No.

The Daleks burn and burn and burn and burn in a scene that seems to last forever.  Bret still wants to warn Earth, and so our friends begin to make their way towards civilisation.  The smoke from the burning jungle drifts across the Dalek city.  Mavic Chen and Zephon are having a Kemblelit chat about this and that.  Slightly later, back in the conference room, the other delegates arrive, in various forms of non-musical movement.

Him:  What’s wrong with that guy?  It’s like he’s checking for landmines.

Me:  I think it’s to do with coming from a world with higher gravity.

The Daleks announce that after coffee, exterminating the traitor Zephon and reading the minutes from the previous meeting, the conference will get underway.  The Doctor, Bret, Steven and Katarina have made their way to Eavesdropper Point.  Bret notices a familiar Spar.

Bret Vyon:  It’s Mavic Chen’s!

Our heroes decide to steal the Spar belonging to the Ultimate Head of the Solar System.

Me:  “Master of the Universe!"

Zephon lurks out of the dark.

Me:  Urgh.

Him:  What’s wrong with it?  Whoah – that’s cool!

As he prepares to haunt a doorstep or two, Zephon’s claw twists through and shifts some sawdust.

Me:  It reminds me of Dunwich.  And where we used to live.

Zephon gets jumped by Bret Vyon.  Rather him than me.

Me:  Douglas Camfield directed all of The Daleks’ Master Plan.

Him:  Oh.

Me:  I’ll keep trying.

The delegates have finished their coffee and are waiting patiently for the meeting to get underway.

Him:  It’s that guy again.

Me:  He had a freak accident playing squash.

A Dalek is sent to search for Zephon who’s having his robes removed elsewhere.  Katarina’s descent into lunacy isn’t being helped by this turn of events.

Me:  There’s a lot more going on with Katarina than I’d realised.

Him:  Yeah.  It’s showing how much she’s from the past.  I don’t like her as much as Vicki, but…

Me:  Well, she thinks she’s passing through the underworld – and it must seem like that.  Of course, she might have already gone mad at this point.

The Doctor plans to disguise himself and crash the conference.  He also hasn’t forgotten Bret Vyon telling him to shut up earlier.

Him:  The Doctor keeps prodding him.

Me:  It shows he trusts him.

The Doctor gives Bret Vyon Marc Cory’s final tape before disguising himself as an eldritch salad.  The Daleks, totally fooled, direct ‘Zephon’ to the conference chamber whilst our heroes prepare to twoc a Spar.  Zephon wakes up and undulates against his viney restraints.

Me:  Uuurgh.

‘Zephon’ joins the conference, acting like he’s got concussion.

Him:  The Doctor isn’t convincing in the slightest.  And he’s wearing high heels.

Me:  Elf-kickers.

Mavic Chen:  Here’s your place - next to me.

Him:  Did that Dalek just hesitate there?

Me:  I don’t know. It doesn’t match the subtitles.

The Daleks reveal that the time destructor is almost ready.

Dalek Supreme:  IT-ONLY-RE-QUIRES-THE-CORE-TO-BE-FIT-TED!

Him:  The core of the Earth?

Me:   I think it’s a taranium core this time.  The whole, mine-Bedfordshire-in-order-to-hollow-out-the-core-of-the-Earth-and-take-it-for-a-quick-spin idea has been quietly dropped.

The delegates are so delighted that the meeting’s finally underway that they start some rhythmic pounding.

Him:  His hands look horrible.

Me:  That’s Malpha.

The Dalek Supreme calls the meeting to order.

Dalek Supreme:  MAAAA-VIC-CH-EN!

Me:  Magic.

The core of the time destructor is revealed.  It isn’t a tin of dog food.  Teeth are bared.

Him:  Whoah!

Mavic Chen:  I, Mavic Chen, give you the core of the time destructor!

PARP! goes the core of the time destructor.

Me:  Makes quite a noise when he puts it down.

Him:  Like iron in Look Around You.

Zephon struggles to free itself.

Me:  The salad’s almost escaped.

Whirr click goes the Spar.  Bret Vyon pops in and takes it over.

Me:  Nice.  No messing

Zephon raises alarums.

Him:  Did you see his head?

Me:  Hideous.

Him:  I know someone who looks like that.

In the confusion the Doctor grabs The Taranium Core and makes a hasty exit.

Me:  “I’ll have that!”

On the Spar, Katarina prays for the Doctor’s safety as Bret prepares to lift off…

Me:  So – she needs the Doctor to guide her…

Him:  To the Place of Perfection.

Me:  Yeah.

NEXT: DEVIL’S PLANET

Me:  I enjoyed that episode.  It finally makes sense.

Him:  Yes.

1. I’d better offer my thanks to Tachyon TV who, to the best of my knowledge, first pointed this out.

2. No, it isn’t.