Wednesday 4 May 2011

163 The Evil of the Daleks: Episode One

EPISODE: The Evil of the Daleks: Episode One
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 163
STORY NUMBER: 036
TRANSMITTED: 20 May 1967
WRITER: David Whitaker
DIRECTOR: Derek Martinus
SCRIPT EDITOR: Gerry Davis
PRODUCER: Innes Lloyd
FORMAT: CD: Doctor Who: The Evil of the Daleks
TELESNAPS: The Evil of the Daleks: Episode One

The Doctor & Jamie see a lorry carrying the Tardis drive off from a hanger. The man minding the hanger, Hall, knows not where the Lorry has gone but tells them the name of the company that took the Tardis. A man called Kennedy listens to their conversation in a nearby field. The Doctor & Jamie follow Hall in a taxi while Kennedy reports events to his superior, Edward Waterfield, a man dressed in Victorian garb. Waterfield's assistant Perry arrives telling him "the object has arrived" and commenting on how authentic the brand new Victorian clocks Kennedy has look. The delivery is a Police Box - The Tardis. Hall and Kennedy meet at a warehouse and fight: Hall is knocked unconscious. The Doctor finds him and takes from his person a matchbox for the Tricolour coffee bar while Hall mutters the name "Ken". Kennedy reports all that has happened to Waterfield who shows him photos of the Doctor & Jamie: Kennedy confirms it was them. Kennedy spies on Waterhouse as he accesses a secret room from his study. Waterfield sends Perry to the Coffee bar where he meets The Doctor and Jamie, instructing them to meet Waterfield at his shop at 10pm. Perry confirms the arrangements have been made to Waterfield before leaving to go home. Kennedy is ordered to return later in dark warm clothing. Waterfield slips into the secret room and confers with unseen masters. After Waterfield leaves Kennedy breaks into the study and then into the inner chamber, which contains some advanced equipment. As Kennedy looks for something to steal a Dalek appears and advances on the terrified Kennedy demanding to know "WHO ARE YOU?"

We're back in mystery territory again here: who has taken the Tardis and why? The who is obvious: people acting for Waterfield who in turn is obeying the Daleks who seem to have set some trap for the Doctor. The Why will take some while to become clear.

The Beatles' 'Paperback Writer' and the Seekers' 'Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen' were used in the Cafe scenes. They've been substituted for the CD release.

Although this episode is long since destroyed, a small section of footage remains from the last few moments, embedded in a different episode on Doctor Who. In 1968 The Evil of the Daleks became the first complete Doctor Who serial to be repeated in the gap between the close of Season 5 and the start of Season 6. It was prefigured at the End of Wheel In Space 6 by The Doctor displaying events on the Tardis scanner: Kennedy's encounter with the Daleks. Episode 1 of Evil, repeated the following week, then had some extra voice over on top of the opening scenes. For some while this footage was thought to be taken from the reprise in episode two (also sourced from this episode) but it's been discovered that what's used in Wheel 6 is fractionally longer than the material found in Evil of the Daleks 2.

The Dalek voices here are provided, for the first time, by Roy Skelton who has previously voiced the Monoids and the Cybermen. He will contribute Dalek voices to most of their appearances from here onwards.

It's my Birthday today. Happy Birthday me! Yes I have heard the Star Wars joke! I had a look on the excel spreadsheet to see which episode I should be doing this time next year and it said "Shada 4". Hmmm, that might be a little difficult.

1 comment:

  1. Karl Thurgood5 May 2011 at 20:57

    My other joint favourite Dalek story begins! (Strange that Troughton is traditionally associated with Yeti and Cybermen, but for me is indelibly the "proper dalek fighting" Doctor. I love the way this story opens with strange skullduggery afoot (thugs haf'inching a police box. One wonders what on Earth they thought of that particular caper?) and gives no real hint of where it might be going. Waterfields odd manner tips the story off-kilter again and then a Dalek arrives to bring yet another different shading of tone. I was listening to this again recently and I was struck by own different the various parts of this story is. It may be seven episodes, but in some ways it is very much a three-act story.

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