Day 86: Mission To The Unknown

This story has a whole lot of things going on in it. Set on an alien planet, with the Daleks making a return appearance, it fulfils several interesting roles in the programme.

Firstly, it gives a chance for William Hartnell (the Doctor), Peter Purves (Steven) and Maureen O'Brien (Vicki) to take a holiday, as this story does not feature them at all, instead focussing on some Space Security Agents, here to transmit vital information about the Daleks' next move. So this means that we have a Doctor Who story without the Doctor actually appearing, which is odd. We've had episodes where Hartnell has been absent, yes, but he will always pop up later on in the episode, or at the very least Ian and Barbara would be able to carry the plot forward. Here we're being asked to sit down and watch this space adventure story that just happens to be on when Doctor Who should be on, and features the Daleks. Other than that, it bears little resemblance to any previous story that has gone under the Doctor Who banner. For a start, it's incredibly bleak, with all of the human characters being killed by story's end. With Doctor Who, we've come to expect that at least some characters will survive, at the very least the Doctor and his crew, but in a show that focuses on the Daleks, it's all fair game.

Which brings us to the second role. We've mentioned before about Dalekmania, and Terry Nation happened across the bright idea of giving the Daleks a spin-off series, where they would fight Space Security Agents across the universe. And so, this episode acts as a sort of pilot, a proof of concept, to show people that this idea could, in theory, work. It's an interesting concept, to see a series where space rangers fight metal monsters, but in my opinion, I don't think it's the sort of thing that I would be interested in. As a child, I probably would have lapped it up, but as an adult, I find that the things that I watch Doctor Who for are the storylines, and the sense of wonder that is felt as we discover new worlds. I don't watch the programme to see the Doctor face the Daleks week after week in a series of action set pieces. That said, nothing ended up being produced of the spin-off, so I'm only judging in hypotheticals here, and it would at the very least be interesting to see what direction this proposed series would have gone in.

Third role now, this story acts as a prelude to a future adventure, a trailer that lasts for 25 minutes. It's a nice idea, to show the groundwork for what will become a future adventure, and it allows the audience's appetite to be thoroughly whetted. To allow for a story to have this depth, and allow it to begin by laying the background to the adventure, before the TARDIS arrives is a really cool idea, because it means that when this adventure will happen, we are not only prepared for what is to happen, but also it means that the world now has depth. World building will have to find new ways to thrive, as time limits on stories get shorter and shorter, but to experience this privilege of getting to slowly building up a story is really lovely. If you can call a massacre by the Daleks that.

I should stress that she is trying to light a cigarette from
a live flamethrower. This lies in Health and Safety manger's
nightmares.

And so we've come to the end of this mammoth entry, and so too, we have come to the end of Verity Lambert's time on Doctor Who. One of the true heroes of television, she was not only a driving force in getting this series made, but many others as well. I haven't had much of a chance to talk of her roles in things so far, but her guiding influence has always been ridiculously appreciated, getting people involved who knew how to make a television programme, and more than that, make it well. Over her time, we've seen the programme develop from a curiosity featuring a grumpy old man in the lead role, to a programme full of wonder, as we discover new alien worlds, or experience history for ourselves. Without her, I am sure that this programme would not here today, and I doubt that it would have even made it past the first series, as she has got things done, and made things absolutely wonderful. Check out An Adventure In Space And Time if you haven't already done so, to get a perspective of how important she was, if you haven't already. I'll finish with perhaps the greatest image ever taken of any Doctor Who producer, and a candidate for best Doctor Who image ever taken. Thanks Verity, for all that you did for us.