I decided to watch the first three episodes of "The Dalek's
Master Plan", which encompasses the two newly recovered
episodes (1 & 3), as opposed to just the two newly returned
episodes.
"The Dalek's Master Plan" was originally broadcast in
November 1965 back when I was a tiny baby in nappies...
and we didn't even own a television. (I'm told we got one
in 1969... black and white obviously.)
First observations; the recently recovered episodes look a
little bit better than the ones the BBC already had! Episodes
one and three look a bit cleaner and less 'noisy', picture wise.
Even in these first episodes, this story feels really epic,
atmosphericly grim, and just a little bit unhinged... in the
best possible way. This is no isolated adventure in time and
space for The Doctor and his companions, this is the beginning
of a galaxy spanning conspiracy!
The story begins with Steven ill in the TARDIS, the lovely
Katarina is tending to him, whilst The Doctor is searching for
somewhere to land the TARDIS to get help. The Brigadier, I mean
Brett Vyon... is in the jungle on Kembel with an injured comrade
trying to call home. On Earth, the 'Guardian of the Solar
System' Mavic Chen is giving a speech on the TV and being
swooned over by a young blonde female technician. Blondie is
also neglecting her job chatting to the office bore whilst
watching Mavic Chen on the TV screen... so she is (of course)
missing the SOS call from Brett Vyon on Kembel. Tut, tut, tut.
And so begins this epic adventure that was to run for twelve
weeks. These first three episodes are a strong opening to a very
ambitious serial, one that is dense, dramatic, and delightfully
charming as only old school "Doctor Who" can be. There’s
betrayal, pursuit, secret plotting, and plenty of backstabbing.
The Doctor is like a charming rogue - that's always rubbing his
chin. The Daleks are ruthless and as bonkers as ever. Whilst
Mavic Chen (aka 'The Chief Betrayer of Everyone') is probably
one of the best villains of the early years of the show.
I enjoyed watching "The Nightmare Begins" and "Devil's Planet"
episodes for the first time. It's just a pity there's so many
episodes missing as the story has only just got going. For 1965
this was well made TV though... I'm inclined to give the first
two episodes a rating of 8/10 whilst "Devil's Planet" deserves a
9/10 as it's the strongest of the three episodes for me.
Everything is just falling into place.
I decided to watch the first three episodes of "The Dalek's
Master Plan", which encompasses the two newly recovered
episodes (1 & 3), as opposed to just the two newly returned
episodes.
"The Dalek's Master Plan" was originally broadcast in
November 1965 back when I was a tiny baby in nappies...
and we didn't even own a television. (I'm told we got one
in 1969... black and white obviously.)
First observations; the recently recovered episodes look a
little bit better than the ones the BBC already had! Episodes
one and three look a bit cleaner and less 'noisy', picture wise.
Even in these first episodes, this story feels really epic,
atmosphericly grim, and just a little bit unhinged... in the
best possible way. This is no isolated adventure in time and
space for The Doctor and his companions, this is the beginning
of a galaxy spanning conspiracy!
The story begins with Steven ill in the TARDIS, the lovely
Katarina is tending to him, whilst The Doctor is searching for
somewhere to land the TARDIS to get help. The Brigadier, I mean
Brett Vyon... is in the jungle on Kembel with an injured comrade
trying to call home. On Earth, the 'Guardian of the Solar
System' Mavic Chen is giving a speech on the TV and being
swooned over by a young blonde female technician. Blondie is
also neglecting her job chatting to the office bore whilst
watching Mavic Chen on the TV screen... so she is (of course)
missing the SOS call from Brett Vyon on Kembel. Tut, tut, tut.
And so begins this epic adventure that was to run for twelve
weeks. These first three episodes are a strong opening to a very
ambitious serial, one that is dense, dramatic, and delightfully
charming as only old school "Doctor Who" can be. There’s
betrayal, pursuit, secret plotting, and plenty of backstabbing.
The Doctor is like a charming rogue - that's always rubbing his
chin. The Daleks are ruthless and as bonkers as ever. Whilst
Mavic Chen (aka 'The Chief Betrayer of Everyone') is probably
one of the best villains of the early years of the show.
I enjoyed watching "The Nightmare Begins" and "Devil's Planet"
episodes for the first time. It's just a pity there's so many
episodes missing as the story has only just got going. For 1965
this was well made TV though... I'm inclined to give the first
two episodes a rating of 8/10 whilst "Devil's Planet" deserves a
9/10 as it's the strongest of the three episodes for me.
Everything is just falling into place.
On 03/04/2026 19:54, Blueshirt wrote:
Even in these first episodes, this story feels really epic,
atmosphericly grim, and just a little bit unhinged... in
the best possible way. This is no isolated adventure in
time and space for The Doctor and his companions, this is the
beginning of a galaxy spanning conspiracy!
It's the BBC's attempt to do it's own Flash Gordon or Buck
Rogers comic strip serial with Daleks but it isn't as well
done.
At the time it was competing against The Avengers which was
being made on colour film and which had far better writing as
did the Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon comic strips and movies
staring Buster Crabbe.
[Snip]
I enjoyed watching "The Nightmare Begins" and "Devil's
Planet" episodes for the first time. It's just a pity
there's so many episodes missing as the story has only
just got going.
It's also a pity that the BBC did not make any effort to
summarise what happens between the episodes it still has
and those that are still missing so people can still follow
what happening.
For 1965 this was well made TV though... I'm inclined to give
the first
Nope. This was not well made. It falls massively behind The
Avengers which was being made at the same time.
from the mid 1920s was far better made, written, directed, and
thought out. Except for stuff that was made by Lew Grade for
the US market, British television has always been 40 years
behind its competitors in the US.
The script for this story should have underdone multiple
rewriters but it appears that it was being made up week by
week as they were going along with filming it. Terry Nation
had more or less had enough of it and let someone else finish
the writing for him based on his initial idea.
two episodes a rating of 8/10 whilst "Devil's Planet"
deserves a 9/10 as it's the strongest of the three episodes
for me. Everything is just falling into place.
I cannot agree. There are too many flaws in the writing.
This was basically a Dalek story the Doctor was inserted into.
On 03/04/2026 19:54, Blueshirt wrote:
I decided to watch the first three episodes of "The Dalek's
Master Plan", which encompasses the two newly recovered
episodes (1 & 3), as opposed to just the two newly returned
episodes.
"The Dalek's Master Plan" was originally broadcast in
November 1965 back when I was a tiny baby in nappies...
and we didn't even own a television. (I'm told we got one
in 1969... black and white obviously.)
All that needs to be done to recover the lost episodes is to send the
crew of Artemis II 61 light years away from Earth and wait for the
original TV signal to reach them and then they can record it and come back.
First observations; the recently recovered episodes look a
little bit better than the ones the BBC already had! Episodes
Yes they do, but not as good as the episodes the BBC have from later on.
one and three look a bit cleaner and less 'noisy', picture wise.
And little to no scratches or dropout from the original video signal.
Even in these first episodes, this story feels really epic,
atmosphericly grim, and just a little bit unhinged... in the
best possible way. This is no isolated adventure in time and
space for The Doctor and his companions, this is the beginning
of a galaxy spanning conspiracy!
It's the BBC's attempt to do it's own Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers comic >strip serial with Daleks but it isn't as well done.
At the time it was competing against The Avengers which was being made
on colour film and which had far better writing as did the Buck Rogers
and Flash Gordon comic strips and movies staring Buster Crabbe.
The story begins with Steven ill in the TARDIS, the lovely
Katarina is tending to him, whilst The Doctor is searching for
somewhere to land the TARDIS to get help. The Brigadier, I mean
Brett Vyon... is in the jungle on Kembel with an injured comrade
trying to call home. On Earth, the 'Guardian of the Solar
System' Mavic Chen is giving a speech on the TV and being
swooned over by a young blonde female technician. Blondie is
also neglecting her job chatting to the office bore whilst
watching Mavic Chen on the TV screen... so she is (of course)
missing the SOS call from Brett Vyon on Kembel. Tut, tut, tut.
Which is probably the worst scene in the entire story. All the female
are written as imbeciles. Why is Mavic Chen treated as some kind of pop >idol? He doesn't even look human so what is he doing as Guardian of the >Solar System? Why isn't this explained instead of having a bimbo
swooning over him instead of doing her job as a radio operator?
What was so great about what he was spouting out? You might get away
with drawing this in a comic strip in a newspaper but there's no
substance in the dialogue to establish the character as anything more
than a simple melodramatic villain. The simplest way to justify a bimbo >falling for another character it to make him look handsome and
attractive and he is neither.
And so begins this epic adventure that was to run for twelve
weeks. These first three episodes are a strong opening to a very
ambitious serial, one that is dense, dramatic, and delightfully
charming as only old school "Doctor Who" can be. There’s
betrayal, pursuit, secret plotting, and plenty of backstabbing.
The Doctor is like a charming rogue - that's always rubbing his
The Doctor spends most of the time talking to himself. In a comic strip
this would normally be done using a narrative box. Copying this format
in a 1920s silent movie by showing a narrative card might have been
alright back them but in the talkies, explaining the narrative needs to
be done using action and inter character interactions, which is the
point of giving the Doctor a companion. The Doctor had two of them but
went off all by himself. He could have met up with someone and he does
but this person Vyon just takes the TARDIS key from him and then leaves
to go inside. Why does he want access to a small blue box? Why does he
leave the Doctor to go off alone after stealing the key from him when he >knows there are Daleks on patrol and the Doctor could lead them to him?
The writing has not been very well thought out.
chin. The Daleks are ruthless and as bonkers as ever. Whilst
Mavic Chen (aka 'The Chief Betrayer of Everyone') is probably
one of the best villains of the early years of the show.
He's completely two dimensional.
I enjoyed watching "The Nightmare Begins" and "Devil's Planet"
episodes for the first time. It's just a pity there's so many
episodes missing as the story has only just got going. For 1965
It's also a pity that the BBC did not make any effort to summarise what >happens between the episodes it still has and those that are still
missing so people can still follow what happening.
this was well made TV though... I'm inclined to give the first
Nope. This was not well made. It falls massively behind The Avengers
which was being made at the same time. Metropolis from the mid 1920s was
far better made, written, directed, and thought out. Except for stuff
that was made by Lew Grade for the US market, British television has
always been 40 years behind its competitors in the US.
The script for this story should have underdone multiple rewriters but
it appears that it was being made up week by week as they were going
along with filming it. Terry Nation had more or less had enough of it
and let someone else finish the writing for him based on his initial idea.
two episodes a rating of 8/10 whilst "Devil's Planet" deserves a
9/10 as it's the strongest of the three episodes for me.
Everything is just falling into place.
I cannot agree. There are too many flaws in the writing.
This was basically a Dalek story the Doctor was inserted into. From the >episodes that still exist the only direct interaction between the Doctor
and the Daleks is in the penultimate episode.
The basic story is the Doctor has discovered something the Daleks need
and the Daleks chase him around to try to get it back undamaged. When
they catch up with him they threaten to kill his companions unless he
gives it to them so he does as they demand in exchange for their
freedom. You don't need 12 episodes for that. One episode would have
been enough. The same basic idea is used in The Key to Time series with
the Doctor collecting all the segments which the Black Guardian wants
for himself, but you get 6 different independent stories out of it each
with a beginning and middle and an end. Examples of this kind of liked
story telling include Llana of Gathol by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and E E >Smiths The Vortex Blaster(s)/Masters of the Vortex. There don't seem to
be any independent sub-stories in The Daleks' Master Plan. It's just the >Doctor being chased by the Daleks. It's still better than the shit
written by RTD though. At least there is a plot and not political
lecturing and the sick and perverted sexual grooming of children.
----
The True Doctor https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCngrZwoS0n21IRcXpKO79Lw
"To be woke is to be uninformed which is exactly the opposite of what it >stands for." --William Shatner
The True Doctor wrote:
On 03/04/2026 19:54, Blueshirt wrote:
Even in these first episodes, this story feels really epic,
atmosphericly grim, and just a little bit unhinged... in
the best possible way. This is no isolated adventure in
time and space for The Doctor and his companions, this is the
beginning of a galaxy spanning conspiracy!
It's the BBC's attempt to do it's own Flash Gordon or Buck
Rogers comic strip serial with Daleks but it isn't as well
done.
I think for a show aimed mainly at children the BBC didn't
do a bad job. Doctor Who wouldn't have had a relatively
big budget in 1965 - in fact the budget has always been one of
the shows limitations.
At the time it was competing against The Avengers which was
being made on colour film and which had far better writing as
did the Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon comic strips and movies
staring Buster Crabbe.
It may not have been Shakespeare but those opening episodes
were typical Terry Nation!
[Snip]
I enjoyed watching "The Nightmare Begins" and "Devil's
Planet" episodes for the first time. It's just a pity
there's so many episodes missing as the story has only
just got going.
It's also a pity that the BBC did not make any effort to
summarise what happens between the episodes it still has
and those that are still missing so people can still follow
what happening.
I only did the first three episodes on the iPlayer. I then
resisted the temptation to dig the BBC CD's out to finish
the story as I kind of know how it goes... a lot of running
around... conspiracy and backstabbing ... Daleks kill people ...
the Monk shows up... more back and forth... etc.
The BBC soundtrack and two Target novels have been available
for years so I assume the BBC think fans will be familiar with
the actual story... well, to a degree anyway.
For 1965 this was well made TV though... I'm inclined to give
the first
Nope. This was not well made. It falls massively behind The
Avengers which was being made at the same time.
I'm not comparing it to The Avengers as the BBC didn't make
that. I'm comparing it to the Doctor Who of the 1960's! Which is
the only TV show from the mid-1960's that I have seen episodes
of.
from the mid 1920s was far better made, written, directed, and
thought out. Except for stuff that was made by Lew Grade for
the US market, British television has always been 40 years
behind its competitors in the US.
The script for this story should have underdone multiple
rewriters but it appears that it was being made up week by
week as they were going along with filming it. Terry Nation
had more or less had enough of it and let someone else finish
the writing for him based on his initial idea.
two episodes a rating of 8/10 whilst "Devil's Planet"
deserves a 9/10 as it's the strongest of the three episodes
for me. Everything is just falling into place.
I cannot agree. There are too many flaws in the writing.
I think it's a good Doctor Who story for its time. The flow is
spoilt because so many episodes are missing from the archive.
Compared to the stories we have recently rewatched from 1975/76
it is a bit basic, but that's how the First Doctor era was.
This was basically a Dalek story the Doctor was inserted into.
Well, yes... it was. As Dalekmania was a thing back then. 1965
had seen the release of the first Peter Cushing "Doctor Who"
movie, and the second one was in production. So the BBC wanted
to capitalise on the popularity of the Daleks.
The True Doctor wrote:
The script for this story should have underdone multiple
rewriters but it appears that it was being made up week by
week as they were going along with filming it. Terry Nation
had more or less had enough of it and let someone else finish
the writing for him based on his initial idea.
I think it's a good Doctor Who story for its time. The flow is
spoilt because so many episodes are missing from the archive.
Compared to the stories we have recently rewatched from 1975/76
it is a bit basic, but that's how the First Doctor era was.
Blueshirt battled against bloodymindedness :
The True Doctor wrote:
The script for this story should have underdone multiple
rewriters but it appears that it was being made up week by
week as they were going along with filming it. Terry Nation
had more or less had enough of it and let someone else finish
the writing for him based on his initial idea.
I think it's a good Doctor Who story for its time. The flow is
spoilt because so many episodes are missing from the archive.
Compared to the stories we have recently rewatched from 1975/76
it is a bit basic, but that's how the First Doctor era was.
Poor Aggy. He finally gets a a Doctor Who story with a straight,
white, male Doctor, no wokeness, no preaching, no mention of
the Timeless Child.
Everything he’s been longing for.
And he still isn’t happy.
Can you imagine going through life being that miserable all
the time? I don’t know how he copes!
----
solar penguin
Blueshirt battled against bloodymindedness :
The True Doctor wrote:
The script for this story should have underdone multiple
rewriters but it appears that it was being made up week by
week as they were going along with filming it. Terry Nation
had more or less had enough of it and let someone else
finish the writing for him based on his initial idea.
I think it's a good Doctor Who story for its time. The flow
is spoilt because so many episodes are missing from the
archive. Compared to the stories we have recently rewatched
from 1975/76 it is a bit basic, but that's how the First
Doctor era was.
Poor Aggy. He finally gets a a Doctor Who story with a
straight, white, male Doctor, no wokeness, no preaching,
no mention of the Timeless Child.
Everything he’s been longing for.
And he still isn’t happy.
Can you imagine going through life being that miserable
all the time? I don’t know how he copes!
solar penguin wrote:
Blueshirt battled against bloodymindedness :
The True Doctor wrote:
The script for this story should have underdone multiple
rewriters but it appears that it was being made up week by
week as they were going along with filming it. Terry Nation
had more or less had enough of it and let someone else
finish the writing for him based on his initial idea.
I think it's a good Doctor Who story for its time. The flow
is spoilt because so many episodes are missing from the
archive. Compared to the stories we have recently rewatched
from 1975/76 it is a bit basic, but that's how the First
Doctor era was.
Poor Aggy. He finally gets a a Doctor Who story with a
straight, white, male Doctor, no wokeness, no preaching,
no mention of the Timeless Child.
Everything he’s been longing for.
And he still isn’t happy.
I am not the biggest fan of 1960's Doctor Who as it wasn't
'my' era, but I can appreciate the William Hartnell era for
laying the foundations of what comes later.
A lot of it was a bit basic compared to what came in the
1970's with Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker.
I'm sure the children of the mid-1960's enjoyed hiding behind
their sofas when Doctor Who was on though!
Can you imagine going through life being that miserable
all the time? I don’t know how he copes!
He needs to eat some more toasted hot cross buns and relax...
it's Leela next week!
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