Doctor Who - The Television Stories

Doctor Who - The Stories

The Chase

The Previous Story
(The Space Museum)

The Next Story
(The Time Meddler)

Season
Details

Synopsis

General
Information

The
Episodes

Audience
Appreciation

Archives

Notes

First and Last

The Plot

Quote of
the Story

Release
Information

In Print

Photo
Gallery

Synopsis

A Mechanoid

'We must face the facts - the Daleks are closing in on us.'

… and they are closing in on the Doctor in a chase through both the universe and through time itself. For having created their own time machine, the Daleks are able to pursue the TARDIS from the planet of Aridius, on to the Empire State Building in 1966, on to the Marie Celeste in 1872 and even on into a haunted house within someone's nightmare.

Recognising that he must force a resolution to this desperate chase through time, the scene is set for a confrontation between the Time Lord and his most feared enemy on the jungle planet of Mechanus.

Source: BBC VHS Video

General Information

Season:	2
Production Code:	R
Story Number:	16
Episode Numbers:	72 - 77
Number of Episodes:	6
Percentage of Episodes Held:	100%
Working Titles:	"The Pursuers"
Production Dates:	April - June 1965
Broadcast Started:	22 May 1965
Broadcast Finished:	26 June 1965
Colour Status:	B&W
Studio:	Ealing Television Film Studios and Riverside (Studio 1)
Location:	Camber Sands (East Sussex) and White City Underground Station (London)
Writer:	Terry Nation
Director:	Richard Martin
Producer:	Verity Lambert
Story Editor:	Dennis Spooner
Editor:	Norman Matthews
Production Assistants:	Alan Miller and Colin Leslie
Assistant Floor Manager:	Ian Strachan
Designers:	John Wood and Raymond P Cusick
Costume Designer:	Daphne Dare
Make-Up Designer:	Sonia Markham
Cameraman:	Charles Parnall
Incidental Music:	Dudley Simpson
Special Sounds:	Brian Hodgson
Studio Sounds:	Brian Hiles and Ray Angel
Lighting:	Howard King
Fights Arranged By:	Peter Diamond
Title Music:	Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Delia Derbyshire
Daleks Originally Created By:	Terry Nation
Number of Doctors:	1
The Doctor:	William Hartnell (The First Doctor)
Number of Companions:	4
The Companions:	Jacqueline Hill (Barbara Wright), William Russell (Ian Chesterton), Maureen O'Brien (Vicki) and Peter Purves (Steven Taylor)
Additional Cast:	Robert Marsden (Abraham Lincoln), Roger Hammond (Francis Bacon), Vivienne Bennett (Queen Elizabeth I), Hugh Walters (William Shakespeare), Richard Cox (Television Announcer), Peter Hawkins, David Graham (Dalek Voices), Robert Jewell, Kevin Manser, John Scott Martin, Gerald Taylor (Daleks), Jack Pitt (Mire Beast), Ian Thompson (Malsan), Hywel Bennett (Rynian), Al Raymond (Prondyn), Arne Gordon (Guide), Peter Purves (Morton Dill), Dennis Chinnery (Albert C Richardson), David Blake Kelly (Capt Benjamin Briggs), Patrick Carter (Bosun), Douglas Ditta (Willoughby), Jack Pitt (Cabin Steward), John Maxim (Frankenstein), Malcolm Rogers (Count Dracula), Roslyn de Winter (Grey Lady), Edmund Warwick (Robot Doctor Who), David Graham (Mechanoid Voice), Murphy Grumbar, Jack Pitt, John Scott Martin (Mechanoids)
Setting:	Planet Aridius, Empire State Building (New York City, 1966) Mary Celeste (Atlantic Ocean, 19th century), House of Horrors (Festival of Ghana, 1996), Mechanus (23rd century), London (1965)
Villains:	Mechanoids and The Daleks

The Episodes

No.	Episodes	Broadcast (UK)	Duration	Viewers (Millions)	In Archive
72	The Executioners	22 May 1965	23'25"	BBC One: 10.0	16mm telerecording
73	The Death of Time	29 May 1965	23'32"	BBC One: 9.5	16mm telerecording
74	Flight Through Eternity	05 June 1965	25'23"	BBC One: 9.0	16mm telerecording
75	Journey into Terror	12 June 1965	23'49"	BBC One: 9.5	16mm telerecording
76	The Death of Doctor Who	19 June 1965	23'27"	BBC One: 9.0	16mm telerecording
77	The Planet of Decision	26 June 1965	26'29"	BBC One: 9.5	16mm telerecording

Total Duration

2 Hours 26 Minutes

Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions)

9.4

Doctor Who Magazine Poll (1998)	59.87% (Position = 122 out of 159)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)	60.17% (Position = 157 out of 200)

Archives

All episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings.

Notes

This story was hastily commissioned from Terry Nation when another of his stories, apparently a revival of his abandoned Season One historical "The Red Fort", fell through.

This story is the third adventure featuring the Daleks, and the only story to feature the Beatles.

This story introduces new companion Steven Taylor played by Peter Purves in the final episode, although he is seen earlier in this story playing the role of tourist (Morton Dill, the young man from Alabama) whom the travellers meet at the top of the Empire State Building. This won him the role of Steven.

Earlier drafts of the story used the names "Bruck" and "Michael" for the character of the captured astronaut, before settling on "Steven".

This story features the departure of Jacqueline Hill (who plays Barbara Wright) and William Russell (who plays Ian Chesterton).

Jacqueline Hill, who played companion Barbara Wright, returned to Doctor Who to play Lexa in "Meglos" in the Fourth Doctor's final season. Jacqueline Hill passed away in the late 1990's.

The scenes viewed on The Time Space Visualiser include: Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, William Shakespeare and Elizabeth I discussing Falstaff and The Beatles.

It was originally planned for The Beatles to appear as themselves, but under heavy "aging" make-up, to represent themselves in the future. This though was objected by their manager and so instead a clip of them singing "Ticket to Ride" was taken from an episode of Top of the Pops that was broadcast on the 15 April 1965. In an unusual twist, the original version of the performance has now been junked, and the only surviving footage is the 25 seconds in this story.

Vicki's mention of a statue of The Beatles in Liverpool predicts the real-life memorial that exists there today.

The scenes of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address were realised with an actor in this production instead of with stock footage as initially planned.

William Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I both reappear in the Tenth Doctor story "The Shakespeare Code".

This is the first story in which Daleks sport solar panels around their midsections, thus making them energy-independent; this feature would remain throughout the rest of the show's history. In "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", the Daleks used dishes to receive energy from a central antenna, and in "The Daleks", they drew static electricity from the metal floors of their city.

It is strongly implied in this story that the Daleks have the power of flight; they are seen moving on two levels of the Marie Celeste, and the cliffhanger to the first episode shows a Dalek that has been buried in sand free itself by rising vertically. It would not be until the 1985 Seventh Doctor story "Revelation of the Daleks" that a Dalek would actually be shown airborne.

This is one of the few Dalek stories to incorporate humour, and is the only story to attempt comical performances from the Daleks, including a stammering Dalek who cannot do simple mental arithmetic.

Some of the Daleks appearing in this story were created by Shawcraft Models for the 1965 film Doctor Who and the Daleks. Although the plan had been to refurbish them to resemble the television Daleks, this proved to be impractical, and the borrowed Daleks were therefore used only in the background of shots. As this story was broadcast before the movie was released, this marks the first appearance of the movie Daleks.

The Daleks would return to the Empire State Building in the Tenth Doctor story "Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks".

In the last two episodes the robots the time travellers encounter are called 'Mechonoids' throughout the scripts and in the closing credits of the final episode. However, the name was spelt 'Mechanoid' in the closing credits of the fifth episode. As this is the name first seen on screen it has been adopted as the correct spelling.

The Big Finish Productions Sixth Doctor audio story, "The Juggernauts", features resurrected Mechanoids.

The sequences, in the final episode, with Barbara and Ian back on Earth in the bus were filmed as part of the recording block for the following story, "The Time Meddler" and were directed by that story's director, Douglas Camfield.

In 1966 an audio of the final episode was edited together with new narration (provided by David Graham) and released on a 33 rpm vinyl album by Century 21 Records in the UK and by Astor Records in Australia.

A novelisation of this story, written by John Peel, was published by Target Books in July 1989. It was the first of several Dalek story novelisations John Peel would write after Target came to an agreement with Terry Nation's estate. Because many of the changes made to Nation's original script were for timing and budgetary reasons, rather than artistic ones, John Peel restored most of Nation's original ideas in his novelisation. The one exception was omitting the fifty-year reunion of the Beatles, since by the time John Peel came to write the novel, Beatle John Lennon had been killed.

This story was released alongside "Remembrance of the Daleks" in a special Dalek tin set titled "The Daleks: Limited Edition Boxed Set" on VHS in 1993 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Doctor Who.

First and Last

The Firsts:

The introduction of new companion Steven Taylor played by Peter Purves.

The first Doctor Who story to include music from the Beatles.

The first appearance of the Mechonoids.

The first use of non-purpose built Daleks - These being cinema film Daleks.

The first time a monster would appear in more than one story in the same season. These being the Daleks.

The Lasts (Subject to Future Stories):

Jacqueline Hill's last story as companion Barbara Wright.

William Russell's last story as companion Ian Chesterton.

Dennis Spooner's last involvement in the show as Story Editor.

John Wood's last involvement in the show as Designer.

The Plot

WARNING: May Contain Spoilers

Hide Text

The Doctor in Front of the Time-Space Visualiser

While relaxing on the desert planet Aridius The Doctor and his companions are at first unaware that a group of Daleks equipped with their own time machine are on their trail with orders to exterminate them.

The Doctor first becomes aware of the danger they are in when they narrowly avoid being handed over to the Daleks by the native Aridians. Back within the safety of the TARDIS they learn, from the Time/Space Visualiser taken from the Moroks' museum, that the dreaded Daleks are determined to kill them. The travellers are forced to flee in the TARDIS with the Daleks in hot pursuit and so the chase is on.

In trying to shake off their pursuers The Doctor tries to pilot the TARDIS by taking in a number of stopping-off points. These include the observation gallery of New York's Empire State Building, a 19th Century sailing ship that turns out is the Marie Celeste and a spooky haunted house which, although The Doctor and his friends do not realise it, is actually a futuristic fun-fair attraction.

The Daleks Surround the TARDIS
Eventually both time machines arrive on the jungle planet Mechanus, where the Daleks try to infiltrate and kill The Doctor's party using a robot double of him. However, unbeknown to both sets of time travellers Mechanus is occupied by a group of robots sent some fifty years earlier to prepare landing sites for human colonists. Called the Mechanoids these robots capture The Doctor and his companions where they meet Steven Taylor, a stranded astronaut who has been the Mechanoids' captive for the past two years.

Still pursuing The Doctor the Daleks enter the Mechanoid's city and find themselves engaged in a fierce battle which ultimately results in their mutual destruction. The Doctor and his three companions, along with Steven, seize this opportunity to escape and they all manage to get away as the city burns.

Barbara on the Deserted Marie Celeste
Back at the TARDIS Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton realise that by using the Daleks' now-abandoned time machine that they can at last return home to 20th-century Earth. Once his initial objections have died down, The Doctor reluctantly helps them to do so. After a short trip Ian and Barbara find themselves delighted to be back home, although they quickly realise that they have in fact arrived in 1965, two years later than when they left, leaving them with the difficulty of explaining their long absence!

Meanwhile, The Doctor is left to operate the TARDIS controls with just Vicki accompanying him and, unbeknown to them both, a stowaway.

A Dalek on the Marie Celeste

The Doctor Fights His Robot Double

A Living Plant About to Attack Vicki

The Mechanoid's City

A Mechanoid

The Daleks and Mechanoids Battle it Out

Ian and Barbara Back in Their Own Time

Steven Taylor

Quote of the Story

'Advance and attack! Attack and destroy! Destroy and rejoice!'

The Daleks

Release Information

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Code Number	Cover Art	Remarks
LP	The Daleks	1966			33 rpm LP. Edited version of episode 6. Narrated by David Graham.
VHS	The Chase	September 1993	BBCV 5006	Andrew Skilleter	Part of a Limited Edition Daleks Box Set (BBCV 5005).
CD	30 Years at the Radiophonic Workshop	1993	BBC CD 871	Photo-montage	Sound effects.
CD	Doctor Who at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume One - The Early Years 1963-1969	June 2000			Music and sound effects.
DVD	The Space Museum and The Chase	March 2010	BBCDVD 2809	Photo-montage	Box Set. Released along with "The Space Museum".

In Print

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Publisher	Author	Cover Art	Remarks
Novel	The Chase	July 1989	Target No. 140	John Peel	Alister Pearson	ISBN: 0-426-20336-4
Novel	The Chase	July 1991	Target No. 140	John Peel	Alister Pearson	Virgin new cover reprint. ISBN: 0-426-20336-4

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time)	Issue 16
Doctor Who Magazine Archive	1993 Summer Special
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction	Issue 390 - (Released: December 2007)

Photo Gallery

The Regular Cast

The First Doctor

Barbara Wright

Ian Chesterton

Vicki

Steven Taylor

On Release

LP Cover

AUDIO

VHS Video Cover

VIDEO

Sound Effects CD Cover

AUDIO

Audio - Volume 1: The Early Years

AUDIO

DVD Cover

VIDEO

In Print

Original Target Book Cover

NOVEL

Reprinted Virgin Book Cover

NOVEL

Who's Who

Who Me

Episodes of the
First Doctor

Season 2

References





Doctor Who is the copyright of the British Broadcasting Corporation. No infringements intended. This site is not endorsed by the BBC or any representatives thereof. These pages are best viewed at 800x600x24 bit colour.