OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 070
STORY NUMBER: 015
TRANSMITTED: 08 May 1965
WRITER: Glyn Jones
DIRECTOR: Mervyn Pinfield
SCRIPT EDITOR: Dennis Spooner
PRODUCER: Verity Lambert
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - The Space Museum/The Chase
The Xerons examine the Tardis but are warned away by the Moroks.
"This whole things is becoming a nightmare"
"all we do is stand around..."
Nail, Hammer, hit on head. I thank you Mr Chesterton & Miss Wright.
The Morok's can't get into the Tardis and think it looks strange and uncomfortable. Ian, Barbara and Vicki overhear the Doctor has been captured. One of the Moroks finds them and takes them prisoner but still lets them chat to each other for a few minutes - stupid and underlines the lack of urgency here. Ian attacks the guard allowing Vicki and Barbara escape, followed by himself after a tussle. Barbara gets locked in a store room while Vicki finds the Xeron rebels. Ian overpowers the guard at the Tardis and questions him finding out the location of the Doctor. Barbara is released by the Xeron Dako while Vicki accompanies Tor & Sita. Dako tells Barbara the history of the Morok invasion. The Moroks try to gas the Tardis traveller out of their hiding place. Vicki tries to incite the Xerons into action in order to avoid being trapped in the Tardis crew exhibit seen in the first episode. Vicki, Tor & Sita break into the armoury. Vicki works to override the computer keeping the weapons locked up. Barbara and Dako stumble through the gas but are eventually overpowered. Vicki is successful with the computer allowing the Xerons access to the weapons they need. Ian comes to see Lobos and threatens him demanding to be taken to the Doctor.
Help! I'm loosing the will to live. I'd say the Moroks were the most useless invaders ever but I have seen the Dominators. They look more like a bunch of scientists than an army. By contrast the Moroks are pretty rubbish rebels.
William Hartnell is absent from this episode, save for a brief appearance during the reprise. This was one of the few Hartnell episodes found in the BBC film library during Ian Levine's initial visit.
I have always thought that the Moroks are intended to be rubbish - they are the ones dumped on the Museum Planet to dust the trophies of the glory days of old, which it appears no-one is very much interested in visiting. I always thought there were there because of their rubbishness, not in spite of it.
ReplyDeleteThat said the Xeron rebels have no excuse, Vicki is pretty much doing all the heavy lifting in this revolution so far. (There is a pattern forming here isn't there? Wherever there is arson, poisoning, rayguns and assorted violence we seem to find Vicki more often than not.... and she always seems to be enjoying herself a little too much.....)