The Daleks' Master Plan

Dear Gary—

The Daleks’ Master Plan is a 12 part masterpiece; unfortunately only 3 parts survive. Actually I would argue that this is a 13 episode story; I count the prelude single episode story Mission to the Unknown (also missing) as part and parcel of this epic. Mission to the Unknown has no Doctor, no companions, no TARDIS. It aired prior to The Myth Makers, but it sets the stage for The Daleks’ Master Plan, and it is a testament to this sprawling serial, and to this early incarnation of Doctor Who, that this single Doctorless episode exists (or did exist and now is dispersed throughout the time spectrum). The thought and care and preparation that went into this tightly packed and densely constructed classic resounds through the time swirl and echoes back its creative genius.  Three complete episodes only remain, but the inspired residue shimmers about us like the molten silver sprays of Galaxy Four.

Again I have the internet and the diligent work of others who have painstakingly reconstructed The Daleks’ Master Plan to thank for filling in the blank spaces around those 3 surviving episodes. Seeing only those 3 without the surrounding context one gets the feeling that these are from 3 separate stories altogether. As Doctor Who has done on previous occasions, The Daleks’ Master Plan has multiple stories within a single story, yet each separate story taken together as a whole reveals a truly grand Master Plan.

The Master Plan is really quite straight forward and simple, just like the Daleks. Consolidate power, conquer, and exterminate. The Daleks have somehow convinced the various leaders of the Solar System and outer galaxies (including a marvelously malevolent Mavic Chan, Guardian of the Solar System) to form an alliance. Of course the Daleks have no real loyalty to this alliance and will exterminate them all once their usefulness is at an end. And as usual their intent is rather murky. It all hinges on the Time Destructor, but I’m not quite clear on what this Time Destructor will accomplish (other than to destroy time perhaps, which is well within the realm of Dalek mentality, but why do the others go along with the plan when this implies the destruction of them and their own planets as well?). But as in all good Doctor Who stories, none of that really matters. That is merely the Hitchcockian McGuffin.

The Doctor, however, arrives to throw a spanner into the works. Simply stated: “If the Daleks are doing something drastic then we have to stop the Daleks.” This is the fourth meeting between the Doctor and the Daleks and the Doctor by now knows, just as Mavic Chen states, that they have a “genius for war.” However I find it odd, Gary, that the Daleks don’t recognize the Doctor or the TARDIS in this story; but again we have the complications of time travel and who knows what period in Dalek history these Daleks come from (although we know by Earth years that our story takes place in the year 4000 and the previous Dalek Invasion of Earth took place in 2164, even though the Doctor in our present story mistakenly refers back to that invasion as occurring in 2157).

The Doctor steals the critical piece of the Time Destructor, the tiranium core, and off we are led on another merry Dalek chase. From planet hopping to companion swapping, the story takes us on an entertaining joy ride.

The Dalek Master Plan marks another first for Doctor Who. We have had our first companion leave and our first new companion; now we have the first death of a companion, and not just one but three. First to go is the hapless Katarina, the Trojan handmaiden so irresponsibly swept off by the Doctor in our previous story The Myth Makers. Poor Katarina. The Doctor admonishes Steven for asking so many questions. “Look at Katarina over there. She doesn’t ask so many questions; she just looks and learns.” Poor hapless Katarina. Doesn’t ask any questions.  Just looks and learns. And dies. At least it is a noble death, or so it appears from the reconstructed version I viewed. She sacrifices herself to save the others, sending herself and the menacing convict Kirksen adrift in space, always to be remembered as “one of the daughters of the gods.”

Next to go is Bret Vyon, who represents another first in Doctor Who history—the first appearance of Nicholas Courtney, better known in later stories as Brigadier Lethbridge-Steward. Vyon originally locks horns with the Doctor but then allies with him through several episodes, only to be shot down by Sara Kingdom who, as we later learn, is his sister, and who also starts out at odds with the Doctor only to turn ally and eventually to die. One, two, three—all dead, and the Doctor and Steven alone are left to carry on.

The Daleks are not the only repeat antagonist to appear in The Daleks' Master Plan, either. The Monk also makes a return to Doctor Who for several episodes. Somehow he was able to fix his TARDIS and escape 1066 Earth where the Doctor had stranded him back in The Time Meddler, but the Doctor once again gets the better of him, taking the Monk’s directional unit in the process.

Add in a few Egyptians, bungling cops, Christmas cheer, deadly plants, volcanoes, prison planets, invisible enemies, underground cities, crashing space ships, and even a cricket match, and you have one whale of a story.

Of course no Doctor Who story would be complete without a dig or two at the TARDIS, “Now you listen to me, young man; don’t you start to criticize my TARDIS;” and at each other, “As for space travel, you’re still wet behind the ears.” And there are still more gadgets for the Doctor to reveal, like the magnetic chair he has invented with a force field strong enough to restrain a herd of elephants, and the Power Impulse Compass.

We also get repeated several times in this story the Doctor’s abhorrence of violence. “Just you remember, young man, I have no desire to kill anyone.” And later, “You brainless idiot; how many times have I told you about taking lives?” The Doctor is all about the well thought out action. “Brain . . . or brawn, rather, versus brain . . . I’ve got you beaten from the start young man.” And about action without thinking, he states, “I never do and never shall.”

And finally we get yet another definition of the Doctor. “You might say I am a citizen of the universe . . . and a gentleman to boot.”

A citizen of the universe with a destiny in the stars; not a Doc and not a god.

I hope this finds you, Gary, somewhere out there in the Doctor’s stars.