And now, to celebrate the return of a classic story to the BBC Archives,
and to celebrate the 29th Anniversary of the first broadcast of the best
and longest running science fiction series in the world, I proudly present
a new plot synopsis...."The Tenth Planet," in four episodes. This is
episode one, and the other three will appear soon over the next few weeks,
hopefully episode four will be posted on November the 23rd.
One note about credits....
Some of the opening and closing credits on this story contained spelling
errors. I have preserved those errors for this synopsis.
Another note about the credits....
On "The Tenth Planet," the usual way of displaying the credits was not used.
This time, each new set of words would appear in white captial type against
a black background, and then be absorbed and taken away by a scrambled code
of certain letters of the alphabet, which then stops and reveals the next
credit.
But now, on to the first appearance of the Cybermen, and the final story
of the First Doctor.....
DOCTOR WHO
A round-headed rocket rises slowly off its takeoff pad toward the bright
sky above and towards the outer space beyond....
...A technician's hand types instructions into a takeoff computer from a
ground base, and the computer begins tabulations and tracking of the newly
launched rocket and its space capsule passenger....
THE TENTH PLANET
BY KITT PEDLER
EPISODE 1
A small blip of light appears on a radar screen dominating the back of
a large tracking control room. The room is on two main levels, the high
command deck, and the lower technician's deck, with a raised platform allowing
access to both by technicians entering from without.
A slightly crackling voice with a French accent speaks over the waves and
is received in the tracking room, the voice asking this Polar Base to take
control of Zeus Four now.
A tightly built, strong-looking American General responds into a control
desk, confirming that they now have control and he thanks Geneva.
A small, balding Englishman on the technical deck radios out to the space
capsule orbitting the Earth above and asks them to switch to their local
control channel, and the voice of the Captain responds and acknowledges
the request.
The General taps in to the communications and says good morning to the
astronauts. He calls them "lucky devils," and wishes them a nice trip.
A more junior-sounding voice calls back and asks why he doesn't come up
and join them, and the General says it's because the penguins might miss him.
Laughter breaks out both in space and in the tracking room for a few moments
as the General hands over control to a Doctor Barclay, a nervous-looking
bearded and bespectacled thin man. However, he clealy knows his stuff as
he orders orbital tracking and contacts the Zeus Four capsule himself.
He says good morning, and the men in the capsule respond in kind and say
how they have a nice view of the base's weather. The more junior voice
asks how things are on their end, and Barclay tells him there's a blizzard
and a gale force wind.
Barclay orders a ground check of the capsule's velocity, and it is confirmed
at 18240 at 0132.
On board the capsule, we get our first look at the two crew of the small,
cramped capsule. A small, balding white American man in his forties
named Schultz, and a taller, younger black American named Williams
who seems to be the one calling the shots as he tells the Polar Base that
their cosmic ray scans are complete and he asks if the Base is ready to
receive data. Barclay's voice crackles over the ether and tells them they
are, and Williams tells Schultz to let them have it. Schultz pulls a small
lever and the data is transmitted downto the Base on Earth, who confirm
that they have received.
Outside the base is a complete and total Antarctic snowscape, with a very
high wind indeed blowing over the glaciers, whipping up snow in all directions.
Five soldiers sit idly in a sort of combination barracks room and watch room.
An Italian-accented man flips lazily through a comic book whilst another
balding white American peers through the eyepiece of a sort of periscope
at the snowscape outside. He tells anyone who is interested, which isn't
anyone at all, that the wind is really blowing out there and that all he
can see is snow, snow, and more snow.
Outside on the surface, the periscope can be seen to be turning back and
forth as the man inside turns it from the snowscape to take a quick look
at an array of antennas poking out of the snow to the periscope's right.
The scope turns away again, and as it does so, a solid dark shape begins
to materialise silently out of thin air.
As it solidifies, a light on its top flashes on and off and we can now see
that this is the TARDIS...
Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor loks up at the out-of-our-view scanner on
the wall and tells Ben and Polly that there's quite an arctic storm
blowing out there. He pulls a few controls on the console as Ben and Polly
help each other into heavy winter clothing. Polly compliments the Doctor
on his most fantastic wardrobe, and as she helps him into his cloak he
tells her he's glad she approves. She looks at his comparitively lighter
clothing and asks if he'll be warm enough in all that and he tells her
"like toast, my dear."
The Doctor tells them they should now go out and investigate, and so he
opens the doors from the main console....
Ben, Polly, and the Doctor stumble a little awkwardly through the heavy
snow and keep their scarves close to their faces to guard against the
biting wind. Polly at once notices the antenna aerials and steps over to
investigate them. She then sees something moving and leads Ben and the
Doctor over to the periscope. Ben warns her not to touch the thing, as
it could be dangerous, and so she doesn't touch the thing. She then
asks them if there could be some sort of submarine beneath them.
The American lazily continues to survey the bleak wintery snowscape,
turning the scope to and fro, being bored to tears with nothing but snow,
and snow, and more snow, and Polly, and some more snow, and....
He stops suddenly and blinks, turns the scope back, and sees all three
of the time travellers outside.
The American calls over to the Italian Tito for him to come over here
and look because there's people outside. Tito doesn't take this at all
seriously..until his friend says one of them is a woman.
Tito suddenly gets a lot more excited,slams his comic book on the bunk he
was sitting on and rushes over to the periscope along with the other three
soldiers to get a look outside.
Tito certainly sees Polly as he calls out Italian "terms of endearment"
at her image focussed in the crosshairs of the scope.
The American pulls his rank of Sergeant and takes the scope back again
fromPrivate Tito and looks more to the right, spotting the TARDIS.
"Looks like some kind of a hut!" he exclaims, and then he orders Tito
to take these other three moron soldiers (his words, not mine) and bring
those people down.
A door opens from out of the snow-covered ground, a door more like four
rising flaps than a conventional door.
The four soldiers now dressed in thick parkas step out into the snow,
each of them armed with pistols.
Ben, Polly, and the Doctor turn to look at the menacing figures and Ben
reads their intent, telling Polly and the Doctor that he thinks they had
better go with them.
"Move it! Will you move it! Come on Pop! Will you move it!!" shouts the
Sergeant as the soldiers herd the TARDIS crew down a spiral staircase from
the snows above.
As the three travellers and the soldiers brush snow off themselves, the
American Sergeant demands, very loudly, and demands to know who they are
and what they are doing here. Polly tells them they just landed outside
in a sort of spacecraft. The Sergeant tells her to cut the jokes and
shouts for the truth, quick.
The Doctor ignores the question with one of his own, asking the Sergeant
if he could tell them where they are. The Sergeant tells them they're at
the South Pole Base of International Space Command, and starts to call
the Doctor "Pop" again until the Doctor testily corrects him with "Doctor,"
and then demands to hear their real story, and warns that it had better be
"awful good."
Polly asks if they are on Earth, and the Sergeant gives up, yelling at
Tito to get the CO.
"Why don't you speak up? I'm deaf," says the Doctor. He turns to Ben and
asks what CO means, and Ben defines the term as "Commanding Officer" for
the Doctor's benefit.
Tito calls out to another part of the base on a small black telephone near
the bunks and asks to speak to General Cutler and that this is an emergency.
The person on the other end tells him the General is not there, and just
after Tito asks where the General is then, the General himself steps into
the room and says, "Right here, Private."
He surveys the scene and is clearly not amused. He asks the sergeant what
is going on, and the sergeant explains that these three people just
appeared outside. He needs to explain it twice after the General doesn't
quite believe it the first time. The sergeant also explains that they seem
to have come from some sort of a hut that had never been out there before.
The Doctor, Polly, and Ben are lined up rank-and-file style in front of
the General, and he looks them all over with the typical General's withering
looks. He stops at Ben and asks who he is. Ben replies "Able Seaman
Ben Jackson, Royal Navy." The General quickly asks why he isn't with his
ship, and as Ben tries to explain that it's all difficult to explain,
the General steps back to the Doctor and complains that he'll bet his
sweet life that it is. The Doctor looks into the General's eyes and does
his best to assure the General that they don't intend him any harm, but
the General isn't impressed and replies, "You can assure me all you like,
but whether I'll belive you or not is another question."
He turns back to the Sergeant and tells him he doesn't have time to deal
with these people now, then turns back to the Doctor and warns that when
he does have time, they had better have a good explanation.
"I don't like your tone, sir!" warns the Doctor....
..."And I don't like your face, nor your hair!" replies General Cutler.
The Doctor splutters to himself as the General orders the Sergeant to
bring the travellers to the tracking area and to keep them under guard
in the observation room there, and that he'll deal with them when he has time.
The Sergeant replies, "Yes, sir!"
Cutler leads the way into the tracking room, with the travellers and the
Sergeant following behind. The entire room turns and cries in "admiration"
at the sight of Polly until the General tells them to quit acting like a
lot of frustrated penguins and to get on with their work.
Polly remarks how the room looks like "that rocket place in America"
and Ben wonders why there are so few people running this one, and that
the whole room doesn't quite look like what you see on the telly.
The Sergeant tells Ben he doesn't know what Ben's been seeing on his TV
but that this is General Cutler's outfit, and goes on to explain how
Cutler doesn't like a lot of personnel, how he cuts staff down to a bare
minimum and works them into the ground, but they have the relief of only
having to spend one or two months there.
Polly wonders if they could somehow get a lift back to England from here,
but Ben doubts the General will give them a lift anywhere.
The Doctor turns to them after having taken a long look around the entire
room and says he doesn't think they are where Ben and Polly think they are.
He points them at a calendar on the wall, and Polly's hopes sink in the
sight that they are in December of 1986.
"We're still at sea," moroses Ben, but then lights up a little again as he
realises now how they can get away with so few staff as now computers must
be doing all the work. He wonders out loud if they've gotten to the Moon
yet, and the Sergeant buts in "sure, don't you listen to the news?"
He further explains how an expedition has just returned. Polly asks what
they're doing now, and the Sergeant shrugs and says this is just a normal
atmosphere testing probe.
"I see, a rocket testing site," remarks the Doctor.
The Sergeant, however, has turned his head sharply behind him and is looking
out the window of the observation room they are all inside at the main
control room outside, as something seems to be going on.
"An error? Where?" asks Barclay to the space capsule.
Williams' voice comes over the radio reporting that they are reading a
height of 1100 miles. Barclay asks Dyson to check where the capsule
should be, and Dyson says it should be at only 980 miles.
Barclay doesn't want to believe Dyson, so he pushes in and checks the numbers
himself, and confirms Dyson's figures. The capsule _is_ out of position
by over a hundred miles.
He then opens the radio channel again to Zeus Four and asks if they can
make some visual checks on Mars to establish their position.
In the already cramped capsule, the atmosphere has become even more tense.
Williams confirms to the Polar Base that they wil make the checks, and then
Schultz begins looking through a tele/periscope affair to check their
position relative to Mars. Williams tells him the co-ordinates should be
about 420, but Schultz has to disagree with that, as the numbers he is
reading are 432. Williams can't believe it, so he tells Schultz to try
again, and tells him to hurry up since the capsule will be back on the
sunny side of Earth momentarily.
As Schultz rechecks the numbers, Williams asks the Polar Base if they heard
their conversation, and Barclay says that they have, and that they too are
trying to get a Mars fix.
Schultz then gets Williams' attention again, and warns Williams to "take it
easy" as he listens to what Schultz has to tell him. It wasn't Mars Schultz
was looking at....
Williams laughs and says, "Well, that explains it then!" and tells Schultz
to try again. Schultz tries again to explain what he means to Williams,
and says, "There's something else out there."
"What do you mean?" asks Williams.
"There's another planet out there," says Schultz.
"Another planet?" asks Schultz, and he then looks in an eyepiece for the
scope over his seat, and says "Hey, you're right! As if it's in orbit
between Mars and Venus."
Schultz remarks that the planet seems kind of familiar somehow, but then
any further observations they may make are spoiled by the capsule's
moving to the day side of the Earth.
"Came the dawn," says Schultz at the sight of the bright sunlight pouring
in through the small observation window.
Williams calls to Snowcap (the Polar Base) and tells them they are now over
San Francisco and asks if they can read this object from where they are.
Barclay's voice comes back asking Zeus Four to put up its power output.
Williams says it is up. Barclay says they're only reading their messages
at strength three. Williams speaks more loudly and asks if the Polar Base
can get this object on their retinascope.
Barclay replies that they'll try and breaks contact.
Williams sits back and tries to relax a bit until his gaze passes over the
capsule's instruments, and he worriedly tells Schultz that the fuel cells
are showing a power loss.....
The Doctor steps forward in the observation room and tries to force a piece
of paper into the American Sergeant's hand and practically orders the
Sergeant to take this paper to the General. The Sergeant says, "Me? Are
you crazy?"
"Very well then, take me to the General!" demands the Doctor, "I believe
I can help him. This is urgent. I insist!"
The Sergeant finally cracks a little and leads the Doctor out of the observation
room down on to the tracking room's technical floor where Barclay and the
General are clustered around Dyson's control desk.
The Sergeant calls to Cutler and says the old boy would like a word with him
and he's claiming its urgent. The General seems to only half-hear the
Sergeant and tells the Sergeant, "Yeah, OK, bring him over."
The Doctor steps down to the General with the piece of paper in hand and
tells him he thinks he knows what they will see on the retinascope.
The General explodes, "How can you possibly know?" and then orders the
Sergeant to put him back in the observation room.
The Sergeant grabs the Doctor and the Doctor tells him to take his hands
off him, and at the same time manages to give the paper to Barclay, telling
him he's written down what they will see.
The Sergeant pulls the Doctor back, whilst Barclay and the others get their
first look at the new planet on the retinascope.
Dyson notices that this planet appears to be approaching quite fast, and
Barclay theorizes that this new planet is influencing Zeus Four, and
that they must get the capsule down as soon as possible.
"Emergency splashdown?" asks the General, and Barclay says yes as he goes
back to the control platform and attempts to make contact with the capsule
again.
Williams' voice comes back, very faintly, and says that they are receiving
Snowcap loud and clear. Barclay tells them they are only reading them at
strength two, so they had better speak up.
Williams shouts to be heard and says their fuel cells are showing a power loss.
Barclay worriedly asks how much, and Williams says they're down about twenty
percent.
On the capsule, Williams listens as Barclay tells them they are going to
bring them down. Williams asks for co-ordinates to correct orbit.
Whilst Barclay computes the new co-ordinates, Schultz turns to Williams
and asks "What the heck is going on?" Williams says he doesn't know but
he can't wait to get back down to find out.
Barclay's voice comes back at them, reading off a long series of new
co-ordinates, and Williams enters them in to the capsule's guidance system,
and confirms that the computers on-board are now correct.
He asks Schultz is he's ready, and then says "Go," and Schultz floats his
arm down to the retro-rocket controls and fires them.
Schultz and Williams lean forward in their seats against their seat-belts
under the acceleration. After the first burst dies off, Williams tells
Schultz to fire them again. And Schultz fires them again.
After that burst wears off, he looks worriedly outside the window and
exclaims, "We're tumbling!"
In the window, the Earth outside can be seen to be circling wildly as the
capsule spins out of control.
Williams shouts for Schultz to try to use the manual controls, and
Schultz is surprised and very alarmed to find he doesn't have the strength
to reach the controls. Williams tries to help and finds that he too is
feeling very weak at this moment. They both do manage to reach the
controls and pull the main levers back.
They manage to stabilize the capsule, and Williams says he feels absolutely
clapped out. Schultz says he feels he's losing all the power out of his
body.
In the Snowcap Polar Base, General Cutler is issuing new information on
the capsule's splashdown time to the naval recovery teams over the radio,
and orders all available helicopters to the anticipated landing zone.
While Barclay orders additional computers activated, Williams radios in
and tells the base their flight path is now correcting. Schultz cuts in
and says how they are both having difficulty in moving.
Barclay becomes visibly more nervous at this news and pushes his glasses
tighter to his face. He tries to tell the men that they've been up there
a fair time and it's probably just space fatigue.
Schultz comes back and says that this feels quite different from that, and
that they had to operate the manual controls together.
Barclay stammers a nervous, "Well..." not really knowing what to tell them
to do about this, until Dyson hands him a new set of papers.
With something concrete to focus on again, Barclay steadies and he tells
the capsule crew that they now have their new computed descent path ready.
Williams is looking very strained and desperately almost pleads the ground
staff to bring them in _this_ time because they can't hand on any longer.
Barclay tells them they have to hang on because they can't bring them in
this orbit. If they did, the capsule would overshoot.
Williams resigns to this, and to keep up both Schultz's morale and his own
he tells Schultz to check the re-entry controls with him.
They run down a checklist of equipment and controls, and everything here
seems OK. Williams looks over some other instruments and worriedly (again!)
asks Schultz what he makes their position.
Schultz worriedly says, "Swinging away again!"
"Emergency! Emergency!" cries Williams, "We've lost flight path again!
Give correction!"
"Will do," replies Barclay back at the Base. He looks at the picture on
Dyson's monitor of the new planet and says it must be the planet doing this.
Its gravity is affecting the capsule. Dyson asks what they can do about it.
Barclay looks down at him and asks him to get a new correction path ready,
and then he looks at the retinascope technician and asks him to get a better
fix on the planet. Then Barclay turns round and enters the observation
room behind him.
As he steps inside, he looks at the Doctor and asks him what this new planet
it. The Doctor says he's not quite sure and asks to have another look at
the planet on the monitor in the observation room. Barclay goes to a wall
intercom and tells the tracking room to pipe the picture in to the observation
room, and the new planet appears on the screen.
General Cutler steps inside and tells Barclay they should just concentrate
on getting the capsule down, but the Doctor interrupts him as he points
out something on the planet, saying its just as he suspected.
He tells the General to look at the landmasses on the planet and if they
remind Cutler of anything. At first Cutler can't see them and then he
does, but doesn't see anything familiar about them.
Polly thinks she does, and she certain that one of the masses looks like
Malasia. Ben spots one that definitely looks like South America, and Barclay
agrees with him. Cutler can now see it too, and Cutler protests that it
must be some reflection off Earth. Barclay says it can't be as there's
nothing to reflect on. The rather rapid spinning of the planet also gives
that conclusion away.
"And now, Doctor Barclay, I suggest you look at that paper I gave you!"
shouts the Doctor in truimph. Barclay at first doesn't know what he means,
then remembers and takes out the crumpled piece of paper out of a pocket,
and looks at it in disbelief.
"You knew!" he says in confusion, and the Doctor replies, "Certainly."
Cutler asks what he knew and Barclay says the Doctor has correctly written
down what they've just seen and that he gave the paper to him before he
saw it. Cutler dismisses it as a simple con trick, but Barclay protests
that he remembers when the Doctor gave him the paper.
He looks at the Doctor with new respect and asks the Doctor to tell them
what he knows about this planet. "Can you be more explicit?"
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can," replies the Doctor.
"Millions of years ago there was a twin planet Earth...."
"Oh, for heaven's sake!!!" shouts Cutler at what he obviously thinks is a
waste of time and space and he storms back into the control room.
Back in the control room, Cutler and Barclay resume their positions and
a technician acknowledges radio transmission from Geneva.
Polly notes that the Doctor is looking terribly worried. The Doctor
says that he is, and Ben asks him why.
"You see, Ben, I know what this planet is," he says, "and what it means to
Earth."
"What does it mean to Earth?" asks Ben.
"Pretty soon, we shall be having _visitors_."
"Visitors here?" asks Ben, "And who will be bringing them, Father Christmas
on his sledge?"
"Quiet boy, quiet!" snaps the Doctor.
General Cutler picks up a telephone and speaks to someone in Geneva, asking
to speak to the General Secretary immediately.
The Doctor asks the American Sergeant who Cutler's talking to, and as the
Sergeant prepares to leave now that a relief guard has arrived, he tells
the Doctor again how he doesn't "know nothing about what's going on. That's
the General Secretary of International Space Command, Mister Wigner."
Mr. Wigner sits in behind a large desk in an operations room somewhere in
Geneva, surrounded my secretaries, technicians, wall maps, and computers.
He is listening to Cutler's report from the Polar Base on the telephone.
After Cutler is finished, Wigner says this story is a little hard to believe
and asks Cutler if he is sure. When Cutler says he is sure, he asks Cutler
to hold a moment while he issues orders to his staff.
He tells one person to get on to Mount Palomar observatory to get a picture
of this new planet as soon as possible. He tells another to ask Jodrell Bank
to get an exact fix on this object, that they must quickly have more data.
He turns back to his telephone and orders Cutler to let him know the moment
he has any more information.
Cutler says he will do that, but there's more to tell now. He says they have
three intruders.
"Intruders? At the Pole?" asks the Frenchman, "Where did they come from?"
Cutler says he hasn't fully interrogated the intruders yet, but that one
of them seems to know a good deal about this new planet.
"How could he possibly know?" asks Wigner. "I don't know," replies Cutler,
"But I'm gonna find out!"
Wigner again tells Cutler to relay any further information to him.
Cutler replies to Wigner, "Yes, sir, " sets the receiver back in its cradle
and then turns and walks into the observation room.
Cutler strides up to the Doctor and says "Now suppose you tell me how you
really got here."
"That's going to be rather difficult," answers the Doctor.
"Just a minute," says Cutler, "You turn up out of nowhere, a routine space
shot goes wrong, a new planet appears and you tell us you know all about it.
That puts you slap-bang in the hot-seat, right?"
The Doctor finally hears a word he hasn't heard a million times before and
asks Cutler quizically, "Hot-seat?"
Polly protests that they've got nothing to do with it all, and Cutler
turns to her and says that they're going to have to prove that.
The Doctor suggests that if the General would only allow them to return
where they came from that they will be no further trouble, but the General
grumbles that they aren't going anywhere.
This exchange reminds the General of something too, and he steps to the
wall intercom and contacts the periscope room. He asks the Sergeant if
they've broken into that hut yet, and the Sergeant begins to protest that
they haven't had any orders to do so, when the General cuts in and says
there aren't any excuses and that they should get outside and do it
immediately. The Sergeant says he'll get to it and the General shuts off
the intercom and steps back to stare down the Doctor again.
"Now perhaps we'll get to the bottom of this..."
"Come on Tito, we have to go break into a hut," grumbles the Sergeant.
Tito asks if he means that thing outside and the Sergeant says yes.
He then tells Tito to get dressed up and give him a hand.
Outside, in the snowscape, something else arrives.....
A large, solid bullet-shaped metal thing descends slowly out of the sky
accompanied by a low thrum of electronic power. The thing hovers a moment
over the snow, and then settles itself to a landing in the soft snows
beneath.....
The doors leading out of the base open and the American Sergeant and Tito
trudge their way outside. The storm seems even worse now as they struggle
to reach the TARDIS. After a moment or two of trying to force the door
open, the Sergeant turns to Tito and tells him they'll need a welding torch
to get inside this thing, and orders Tito to go back inside to get one and
to bring one of the other soldiers along too to help.
"Hurry up, will ya!" he yells as Tito heads back inside, "Before I freeze to
death!"
The Sergeant turns back to the TARDIS and pushes uselessly against the doors
again.
And approaching the man from the back stride three tall figures.
They are dressed, or at least seem to be dressed, completely in white, and
so it makes it difficult to tell what they look like against both the
snowy landscape and the near white-out conditions themselves.
All that is clear, is that they are very _big_ men, stepping slowly and
methodically through the snow towards the man as though the cold and the
wind do not bother them at all....
The Sergeant turns from the lock and sees them.
"What the heck?" he says in surprise, "Tito? Is that you Tito?"
The three tall things make no response, and continue to approach the Sergeant,
seeming to move more rapidly now that they are closer....
"What's going on?!" shouts the man, "Who is that?"
He is able to get a closer look now at the three men as are we, and it is
now clear that these are definitely not ordinary men.....
"Who the heck are you?!!" shouts the Sergeant.
He panics, draws his pistol and fires two shots at the leading man, hitting
him directly.....
...the man notices nothing....and with giant strides steps right up to
the Sergeant's side....raises a dangerously largely built arm....and
chops the Sergeant to the ground with a single blow to the base of the neck...
Tito and another soldier now have the aceteline torch gear ready and set
off up the stairs to go back outside....
The two men open the doors and rejoin the blizzard outside.
They see a man dressed in a parka turned away from them looking at the TARDIS,
but the man is noticeably larger than their Sergeant.
Tito and the second soldier reach him, and Tito taps the Sergeant on the
shoulder to ask what is going on.
The "Sergeant" turns, and pulls back his hood...to reveal a decidedly non-human
face....
The man steps forward to Tito and one of his fellows steps from behind the
TARDIS and grabs the second soldier.
As one, the two giants smash their arms into the necks of the two soldiers,
and both broken men crumple to the glacier-covered ground.
The giant not in a parka silently regards the corpse at his feet, and
bends down to pull the man over on to his back.
As the giant straightens up, we see his face in terrible detail for the
first time...
...his face is blank...with no nose...a dark hole for a mouth.......
...a lantern-like lamp permanantly attached to the crown of its head....
...two hoses leading to the lamp from where ears should be......
...and completely blank eyes that aren't eyes at all...just dark holes...
...and he stares blankly into our eyes.....
END EPISODE 1
DR.WHO
WILLIAM HARTNELL
GENERAL CUTLER
ROBERT BEATTY
DYSON
DUDLEY JONES
BARCLAY
DAVID DODIMEAD
SCHULTZ
ALAN WHITE
WILLIAMS
EARL CAMERON
TITO
SHANE SHELTON
AMERICAN SERGEANT
JOHN BRANDON
POLLY
ANNEKE WILLS
BEN
MICHAEL CRAZE
WIGNER
STEVE PLYTAS
RADAR TECHNICIAN
CHRISTOPHER MATTHEWS
TITLE MUSIC BY
RON GRAINER AND THE
BBC RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP
STORY EDITOR
GERRY DAVIS
DESIGNER
PETER KINDRED
PRODUCER
INNES LLOYD
DIRECTED BY
DEREK MARTINUS
BBCtv
(first transmitted 8th October 1966, no copyright date or notice on screen)
this synopsis by Steven.K.Manfred@uwrf.edu
Regular readers of my synopses may notice a trick I use where I smetimes
will directly quote passages of dialog and indent it from the rest of the
synopsis for emphasis. I usually only do this at the story's climax or
at cliffhangers, but there is some very historic dialog in this story and
thus I have offset that.
Sad to hear that "blank tape" news, so perhaps many of you will now
ignore the spoiler warnings and keep reading this.
One note about credits....
Some of the opening and closing credits on this story contained spelling
errors. I have preserved those errors for this synopsis.
Another note about the credits....
On "The Tenth Planet," the usual way of displaying the credits was not used.
This time, each new set of words would appear in white captial type against
a black background, and then be absorbed and taken away by a scrambled code
of certain letters of the alphabet, which then stops and reveals the next
credit.
DOCTOR WHO
The giant not in a parka silently regards the corpse at his feet, and
bends down to pull the man over on to his back.
As the giant straightens up, we see his face in terrible detail for the
first time...
...his face is blank...with no nose...a dark hole for a mouth.......
...a lantern-like lamp permanantly attached to the crown of its head....
...two hoses leading to the lamp from where ears should be......
...and completely blank eyes that aren't eyes at all...just dark holes...
...and he stares blankly into our eyes.....
THE TENTH PLANET
BY KIT PEDLER
EPISODE 2
Cutler is telling the Doctor that this is the most fantastic story he's
ever heard. The Doctor can only repeat what he's already told the General,
that they can expect visitors from that other planet.
Cutler dismissed this as nonsense and steps out into the capsule tracking
control room.
Cutler asks for and receives an update on the capsule's position and course.
He then calls Zeus Four himself and assures the astronauts that everything's
under control and that they'll get them down as sure as God made little
apples. He signs off and rebukes Barclay for moving a little slowly.
Barclay kneads his forehead as though he has a headache and Cutler asks
if he's alright, to which Barclay replies yes.
Outside in the snow, the three white "men" dress themselves in the parkas
of the dead soldiers, covering themselves sufficiently to at least create
some confusion in anyone who sees them. Now clothed, they stride to the
doors to the base set in the snow-covered ground....
In Geneva, Secretary Wigner asks his staff to get him the Polar Base.
His secretary/technician informs him that they're having trouble there.
Wigner tells her to keep trying, and she acknowledges the order.
Wigner turns slightly worriedly to a television sitting on his desk,
and turns on the current news bulletins. An American anchorman is telling
the world about the discovery of the new planet from the South Pole base,
and that its existence is being confirmed by observatories all over the
world. A stagehand hands the man a bulletin on paper and he tells the
audience that now they have their first picture of their new neighbor
on space (courtesy of Mt. Palomar).
A still image of the new planet appears on the broadcast as the newscaster
goes on to say how some people have noticed its landmasses resemble those
of Earth, but that this is being hotly disputed in astronomical circles,
and that no general agreement has been reached yet.
The newscaster makes a special point to calm the audience with the fact
that Jodrell Bank is predicting the planet isn't on a collision course,
and that there is no danger whatsoever from this new planet.
Wigner turns off his set and hopes aloud that the newsman is right.
He asks his secretary about the Polar Base again and she tells him they
still can't get through, as there is some sort of interference.
Wigner asks what sort and the secretary says they don't know, but that
it seems to be coming _from_ the base.
Wigner again says that they *must* get in touch with the base.
Dr Barclay is telling the control staff to listen carefully, as the final
orbit is due to start in four minutes and ten seconds. This is going
to be a very difficult job, and if the capsule's power falls too low,
he wants to take control from the base and for that he'll need the entire
team behind him. "Base Reference One commencing now."
The Doctor looks up from a notebad scribbled with calculations and says
that the team must bring the capsule down _now_ and storms out of the room,
responding to Polly's "Why?" with the fact that the capsule can't last
another orbit.
The Doctor storms out of the observation room with his calculations in
hand, heading for Dr Barclay. He looks at three men in parkas stepping
into the room in alarm and changes course for General Cutler.
He grabs the General on the shoulder and demands the General's attention.
Cutler just tells him, "Get away old man!" and orders who he thinks
is the Sergeant stepping into the room to take the Doctor away whilst
the Doctor turns to Barclay.
The parka-covered man pays the General no attention, and the General
leaps out of his chair barking his orders again at the insubordinate
Sergeant.
The man turns round to face the General, and pulls off his hood....to
reveal the non-human robotic head underneath....
Polly screams as the other two men remove their parkas as well.
Technicians leap out of their chairs in alarm until the General orders
everyone back to their places.
A soldier storms at the tallest of the three men, but is stopped in his
tracks when the man takes hold of a large lantern-like affair attached
to the base of an integrated chest apparatus. The device glows brightly
in the soldier's direction accompanied by a high-pitched sound, and
the soldier falls dead to the ground.
Polly cries, "Oh no," as the Doctor herds both her and Ben back toward the
door to the observation room.
General Cutler seems to have been attempting some subterfuge of his own
as the tall man is threatening Cutler with the back of his arm.
Cutler resigns and the man lowers his arm, and Cutler tells him he
doesn't know who they are or what they are, but they have two men in
space and if they don't act now they won't get them back alive.
"They will not return," says the man.
The man's voice is very odd, medium-pitched with each new syllable at a
new pitch and speed as though each sound was recorded at a different
directory in a speech dictionary. The man's slit-mouth opens completely
wide when he speaks, stretching the man's flexible cloth-like face
with each sentence.
Cutler asks why the men won't return, and the tallest responds,
"It is unimportant now."
Cutler protests that they simply must get them back.
"They could never reach Earth now," replies the silver giant.
"Don't you care?" asks Polly.
"Care?" queries the man, "No, why should I care?" as though
he doesn't understand Polly's question.
"Because they're people, and they're going to die!" cries Polly.
"I do not understand you," he answers, "There are people dying
all over your world yet you do not care about them."
Polly begins to protest again, but the man ignores her and begins striding
the room as though he owned it, from the control platform down to the
technician's level, and he speaks again in his uneven timbre....
"You will be wondering what has happened.
"Your astronomers will have discovered a new planet, is
that not so?"
Barclay confirms that it is so.
"That is where we come from. It is called Mondas."
"Mondas?" asks Barclay, "isn't that one of the ancient names for the Earth?"
"Yes," replies the man, "Aeons ago the planets were twins, and
we drifted away from you on a journey to the edge of space.
"Now we have returned."
Ben tells the Doctor that he was right after all.
Barclay asks who they are, and what they are.
"We are called Cybermen."
"Cybermen?" asks Barclay.
"Yes, Cybermen," he replies, "We were exactly like you once,
but scientists realised that our race was getting weak.
"Weak?" asks Barclay, "How?"
"Our lifespan was getting shorter," answers the Cyberman,
"so our scientists and doctors devised spare parts for our
bodies until we could be almost completely replaced."
"That means you're not like us!" cries Polly, "You're robots!"
"Our brains are just like yours," defends the Cyberman,
"except that certain weaknesses have been removed."
"Weaknesses?" asks Barclay, "What weaknesses?"
"You call them emotions, do you not?"
"That's terrible!" exclaims Polly, "You wouldn't care about
someone in pain?"
"There would be no need," explains the Cyberman,
"we do not feel pain."
Polly begins to protest that we do, but Cutler cuts her off by leaping
for the control for the radio link to Geneva. He looks up triumphantly
at the Cyberman and tells him Geneva will now know there is an emergency.
"That was really most unfortunate," says the Cyberman,
"You should not have done that."
In Geneva, Wigner is conferring with his staff, and he sums up the situation.
"1) a new planet appears. 2) the Earth is losing its energy, 3) As the
planet gets nearer, the energy loss gets worse. This in my mind connects
the two, exactly how I don't know."
Suddenly one of his secretaries interrupts and says there's an emergency
signal from the Pole. Wigner asks what it said, and she says there was
nothing, that the signal went out again. Wigner tells him to get them
on the emergency microlink.
Wigner's signal is being received in the base, and the leading Cyberman
orders Cutler to answer it and say that nothing has happened and that all
is well at the base. Cutler refuses, and the Cyberman tells him that it's
an order. "Go take a jump," spits Cutler.
The Cyberman raps out an order to one of its fellows, and the underling
steps forward to the General. He presses his fingers into the skull of
the General, and the General slips into unconsciousness.
Members of the team move to assist the General but the leading Cyberman
tells them to all stay where they are. Polly protests that they've
killed the General, but the Cyberman tells her that he will recover.
He points out that someone must still answer their commander in Europe.
The Cyberman looks at Barclay, and Barclay also refuses to obey.
The Cyberman now turns around and points at Dyson, asking which set of
equipment is the communication controls. Dyson nervously points them out,
to Barclay's dismay.
The Cyberman disconnects its lantern-weapon and raises it free of his body
and takes aim on the controls Dyson indicated.
Barclay hurriedly asks what he intends to do, and the Cyberman only says,
"You will see."
Barclay protests that if they destroy the controls, they won't be able
to contact the space capsule. The Cyberman provides the alternative to
this when he reminds Barclay that their commander is still waiting for an
answer. Dyson adds his voice and tells Barclay to do it, or else the place
may be destroyed.
Barclay agrees to their demands and opens the radio channel. Instantly
Wigner comes on demanding to know what is going on. Barclay assures him
it was all just a fault that they're working on now.
Wigner asks where all the interference is coming from, and that he can
hardly hear Barclay even on this band. Barclay lies that they had the
moderator rods out of their nuclear reactor for a little while earlier
and that's what's causing the interference.
Wigner says he sees and instructs Barclay to radio as soon as they have
any further reports. Barclay signs off.
Barclay looks incredibly guilty, but Dyson consoles him, telling him that
this way the space capsule will have a chance.
Barclay steps down to the technical deck and approaches the Cyberman,
telling him that they must let them try to get through to their astronauts.
The Cyberman turns to him and tells them again that it is impossible for
the capsule to get back now, as the pull of Mondas is too long.
Barclay asks him to let them try, and the Cyberman replies that this is
a foregone conclusion and they are wasting time, but if they do wish to
contact the capsule, he has no objection.
The technicians race into a flurry at their controls whilst the Cyberman
leader tells his soldiers that the crew may use their controls, but if
there is any attempt at deceipt they are to be killed at once.
He also orders the corpse of the unfortunate soldier to be removed whilst
he carries on detail.
As the Cybermen obey their orders and Barclay tries to contact the capsule,
Ben suggests to the Doctor that they make a break for it now for the TARDIS.
The Doctor sarcastically asks how they will do that, and Ben goes for
the dead man's discarded machine gun on the floor.
Ben picks it up but before he can bring it to bear, the Cyberman leader
shouts for him to stop. Ben stops. The Cyberman orders him to "come here."
Ben steps to the Cyberman as told.
"You do not seem to take us seriously," says the leader, and he motions
for his soldier to confiscate the weapon.
Not only does he take the gun from Ben, but he bends the weapon to a ninety
degree angle. All Ben can say is "Blimey."
The Cyberman orders his soldier to take Ben out and look after him.
As the soldier escorts Ben out of the room, the leader speaks to everyone
in the control room:
"It is useless to resist us.
"We are stronger and more efficient than your Earth people.
"We are to be obeyed."
The Cyberman escort opens a door and throws Ben into a small white-walled
room, where he trips over something sitting near the doorway and lands on
the floor to the sound of clattering metal. Ben gets to his feet and
looks to see where he's been put, and it appears to be the base's theatre's
projection room as a film projector and numerous film cans litter the
place.
On board the Zeus Four space capsule, the tired and distraught astronauts
are given a final time to reentry by Barclay at the Polar Base.
Williams says they'll need a forward correction of seven degrees, and
so they fire their retro rockets to reorient the capsule slightly.
The new orientation checks out and Snowcap tells them to fire their retro
rockets to land in precisely twenty seconds. Williams signals they're
ready and they begin a countdown to firing.
On time, Schultz fires the retro-rockets and both men are thrown against
their seat belts as the capsule rapidly changes direction. The acceleration
stops with the end of the rocket firing and Williams tells Schultz to check
their velocity. Schults looks at his instruments and says, worriedly,
that they're not down to re-entry velocity. They're at 145 and they should
be down to 112. Williams is almost panicked now and he tells Schultz
to fire the retros again, and quick. Schultz pulls the lever and the
rockets begin to fire, when suddenly the cut out......
"Fuel's gone!" says Schultz, and Williams manically calls down to Snowcap
and tells them their fuel's gone, and frantically asks if they have any
ideas. As the capsule begins to pick up even more velocity, Schultz and
Williams struggle to put on their space helmets....
Dyson looks in concern at the base's radar screen and reports that the
capsule is accelerating. Polly asks Barclay if there's anything they can
do and Barclay hopelessly shakes his head and says no, because the capsule's
retro fuel is completely gone.
Dyson reports that the capsule is heading out of orbit now with an enormous
acceleration. It passes escape velocity, and all watch the figures of
the astronauts on the video monitors being squeezed by tremendous forces
of accleration. Dyson begins to say, "They can't possibly...."
...when the monitors cut out.
The base crew slowly turn away from the screens with the silence of
empathisized tragedy.....
Polly asks the crew what happened, but no one answers her.
The Doctor steps to her side, places a hand on her shoulder, and tells
her gently, "I'm afraid the spaceship...exploded, my dear."
"You mean they're dead?" asks Polly.
The Cyberman Leader speaks up again, and says "Now perhaps you can see
that your planet is in great and imminent danger."
He strides across to the still-stunned Dr. Barclay and says, "In order to
save you we shall require information to be transferred to Mondas."
The Cyberman holds out a device to Barclay's face resembling a microphone
as the Doctor repeats his words, "Save us?" and as Polly asks "What about
those poor men?" The Cyberman responds to the Doctor's question and says,
"If you will co-operate." To Polly he says, "Mondas drew the ship away.
It was unavoidable."
Barclay seems to come out of his daze now, and asks "Why? What is happenning?"
The Cyberman steps down to Dyson's control area and points his microphone
in Dyson's face. "I will require your name," he says.
Barclay cries at him, "Tell us!"
The Cyberman turns almost reluctantly to face Barclay and he replies,
"The energy of Mondas is nearly exhausted and now returns to it's twin and
will gather energy from Earth."
"Gather energy?!?" demands the Doctor.
Barclay asks for how long, whilst Dyson finally answers the question posed
to him and speaks his name and position into the microphone.
"Until it is all gone," says the Cyberman off-handedly and then he asks
for Dyson's age.
Dyson just looks at the Cyberman and says, "But that means that the Earth
will, will die!"
"Yes, everything on the Earth will stop," says the Cyberman dispassionately.
"You can't calmly stand there and tell us we're all going to die!" shouts
Barclay.
"You are not going to die," says the Cyberman.
"How are you going to stop this draining of energy to Mondas?!?" demands the
Doctor.
"We cannot, it is beyond our power," answers the Cyberman Leader.
"How are we going to survive?!?" thunders the Doctor.
"By coming with us," answers the Cyberman.
The Cyberman has now stepped to Barclay's side and asks for his name and age.
All Barclay can say is "With you?"
"Yes, we are going to take you all to Mondas," says the Cyberman,
"Age, please....."
Ben contemplates the metal screwdriver in his hand and imagines how ludicrous
it would be to attack "one of them geezers" with one. He looks around the
room again for something to use on his captor, and finds the film projector.
He comes up with a plan. He hopes to blind his guard by turning the
projector on the door. Satisfies of a reasonable chance of success, Ben
douses the room's main lights and turns on the projector. A Western
shines up on the door and surrounding wall that Ben recognizes, since he
saw it thirty years ago.
Ben steps to the side of the door and knocks on it hardly, shouting "Hey,
come in here!" repeatedly. His Cyberman guard opens the door quickly and
immediately puts his hand to his eyes to shield against the bright light.
When he does this, Ben reaches over and grabs the Cyberman's lantern-weapon
from the base of his chest unit and says, "Now then Fred!"
The Cyberman recovers his vision and strides dangerously towards Ben.
Ben circles behind a small chair and the Cyberman flings the chair out of
the way with one swoop of his arm. "Do not resist, give me that weapon,"
he orders. "Sorry mate, I'm giving the orders now!" insists Ben.
The Cyberman continues to approach rather quickly even though Ben has the
gun trained directly on the Cyberman's chest. Ben is almost pressed
against the wall now and he warns the Cyberman worriedly to get back.
The Cyberman ignores him and in fact readies a chopping blow to Ben's neck
when Ben fires the gun.
The Cyberman is bathed in light, and it falls dead to the floor.
Ben looks down sadly at the man's body, and almost weeps "You didn't give
me any alternative!"
Barclay is protesting the Cyberman leader's death sentence for the planet.
He notes that he hasn't seen any scientific evidence that Earth is now a
dying planet. Dyson tells the Cyberman that they all prefer to take their
chances here.
"You must come with us," states the Cyberman.
Polly tells him that they cannot go with them as they're so different from
them. "You've got no feelings!"
"Feelings?" asks the Cyberman, "I do not understand that word."
"The emotions!" shouts the Doctor, "Love, pride, hate, fear!
"Have you no emotions then?"
"Come to Mondas and you will have no need of emotion," says the Cyberman,
"You will become like us."
"Like you?" Polly almost screams.
"We have freedom from disease. Protection against heat and cold.
"True mastery! Do you prefer to die in misery?"
"Surely it's possible for us not to die if we remain here," protests Polly.
As she says this, the form of General Cutler begins to stir on the floor.
"It is inevitable," says the Cyberman.
"You don't mind if we all die then?" asks Polly.
"Mind?" queries the Cyberman, "No, why should I mind?"
The Doctor jumps to his feet, and *roars* "Mind?!?, MIND?!?!?!"
"Millions of people will suffer and die horribly!" cries Polly.
"We shall not be affected," states the Cyberman.
"Don't you think of anything except yourself?" asks an incredulous Polly.
"We are equipped to survive. We are only interested in survival.
"Anything else is unimportant."
"Your deaths will not affect us."
At this moment, Ben creeps into the room up on the entryway on his hands and
feet, carrying the Cyberman's weapon. General Cutler sees him and crawls
closer to Ben, reaching up to Ben and motioning for him to hand him the
weapon, and Ben begins to.
"I can't make you understand!" shouts Polly, "You're condemning us
all to die! Have you no heart?"
"No," replies the Cyberman, "It is one of the weaknesses we have removed."
Cutler grasps the weapon firmly and swings it round on the leader, shining
its death-glow straight on him. The Cyberman raises his hands and falls to
the floor. Cutler quickly swings it round and fires and hits the second
Cyberman, and it too collapses dead to the floor.
With both Cybermen dead, Cutler seeks to regain control of his base again
and orders someone, anyone, to get him Geneva quick. He also orders one
of his soldiers to get rid of the bodies of these things.
The Doctor looks down in slight disapproval at one of the bodies and he
tells the General he doesn't think he should have done that as they could
still have learned a very great deal.
Cutler tells him they may also have lost a very great deal, their lives.
He then asks if Zeus Four is down yet, and Barclay tells him they lost them.
Cutler's call to Geneva is ready and he speaks directly to Wigner.
Wigner tells him they observed the tragedy of Zeus Four from there.
Cutler tells Wigner they've had some problems, they've had more visitors:
part-men and part-robot that come from the tenth planet. He tells Wigner
that three of them broke into the base and overpowered them.
Wigner asks what's happened to them now and Cutler says they overwhelmed them,
but that there will be more on their way.
Wigner immediately turns away from his phone and orders that all military
bases all over the world be placed on immediate alert. He then turns back
to Cutler's voice and asks if he can handle another attack with his limited
resources. Cutler says they can.
Wigner now changes the subject and says that they in Geneva sent up a single
astronaut in another capsule to help Schultz and Williams down.
Cutler asks if they want Snowcap to handle the tracking, and Wigner says yes,
but also that since this was a dangerous mission, they wanted volunteers.
Cutler's son volunteered.
Cutler looks as though someone has just walked over his grave, and tells
Wigner, "You've sent my son to his death, you realize that I hope."
Wigner tells him they can bring him down, and that this capsule has double
the energy reserves of Zeus Four. Cutler says that he's going to need it.
Wigner asks him good luck and hangs up his hone. He looks around his
staff and tells them, "If Cutler's right, we are about to fight the first
interplanetary war."
Military bases around the world go onto immediate alert and radars and
radio telescopes all turn on to Mondas and wait and watch for signs of
the ships from the Tenth Planet...
Cutler finishes updating his staff with the new information and tells them
all to get cracking. He first gives technical instruction on the capsule
tracking and then contacts the security divisions, telling them to
double the guard on the main entrance, to set a trap outside using the
captured weapons, and to place guards on the fuel tanks.
He then contacts the base;s missile control and orders that all Cobra
anti-missiles be readied for launch.
Polly watches the cavalier and bullying manner with which Cutler gives
his orders and tells Ben she thinks he's a terrible man.
Ben agrees with her and tells her he wouldn't want him on the bridge.
Cutler steps over to the three and tells them they'll soon have this base
sealed up like a bottle. The Doctor quietly doubts the General and
says, "I think you underestimate the Cybermen, General."
"That's what you reckon is it old man?" grumbles the General, "Well,
you're entitled to your opinions, so long as you keep them to yourself."
He then turns to Ben as if to make up for what he's just said and tells
him, "You did wll boy, killing that soldier." Ben shrugs and morosely
says he had no choice. "Well don't apologize!" shouts the General,
"He's dead isn't he?" The General begins to turn and walk away when
Polly whispers to Ben, "He seems to be enjoying all this."
Cutler hears her and he turns and asks, "What's that? What's that you said?"
Polly repeats what she said, and then Cutler cuts into her saying,
"Look missey, I've got a personal stake in this emergency. That's my
son up in that capsule, and you know what happened to the last one."
Polly reconsiders now and says meekly, "I'm sorry."
Suddenly a technician across the room shouts "Sir! General Cutler Sir!"
Cutler turns and looks at the radar technician, asking "What is it?"
"Early warning sir. Unidentified!" he reports.
"Well identify it man!" orders the General.
The technician retunes his screen a little and speaks with a noticeable
quaver in his voice..."There's hundreds of them sir!"
"Hundreds of what man?" demands the General.
"Spaceships sir! In formation!" cries the technician....
..and on his screen...dozens and dozens of small white dots approach the
base and the entire Earth.....
END EPISODE 2
DR.WHO
WILLIAM HARTNELL
BARCLAY
DAVID DODIMEAD
DYSON
DUDLEY JONES
GENERAL CUTLER
ROBERT BEATTY
RADAR TECHNICIAN
CHRISTOPHER MATTHEWS
KRAIL
REG WHITEHEAD
TALON
HARRY BROOKS
SHAV
GREGG PALMER
BEN
MICHAEL CRAZE
POLLY
ANNEKE WILLS
WIGNER
STEVE PLYTAS
GENEVA TECHNICIAN
ELLEN CULLEN
T.V. ANNOUNCER
GLENN BECK
WILLIAMS
EARL CAMERON
SCHULTZ
ALAN WHITE
CYBERMAN VOICE
ROY SKELTON
TITLE MUSIC BY
RON GRAINER AND THE
BBC RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP
STORY EDITOR
GERRY DAVIS
DESIGNER
PETER KINDRED
PRODUCER
INNES LLOYD
DIRECTED BY
DEREK MARTINUS
BBCtv
(first transmitted 15th October 1966, no copyright date or notice on screen)
this synopsis by Steven.K.Manfred@uwrf.edu
One note about credits....
Some of the opening and closing credits on this story contained spelling
errors. I have preserved those errors for this synopsis.
Another note about the credits....
On "The Tenth Planet," the usual way of displaying the credits was not used.
This time, each new set of words would appear in white captial type against
a black background, and then be absorbed and taken away by a scrambled code
of certain letters of the alphabet, which then stops and reveals the next
credit.
DOCTOR WHO
The technician retunes his screen a little and speaks with a noticeable
quaver in his voice..."There's hundreds of them sir!"
"Hundreds of what man?" demands the General.
"Spaceships sir! In formation!" cries the technician....
..and on his screen...dozens and dozens of small white dots approach the
base and the entire Earth.....
THE TENTH PLANET
BY KIT PEDLER
AND GERRY DAVIES
EPISODE 3
Cutler predicts to all in the Control Room that this radar sighting means
only one thing, more Cybermen.
He orders the R/T technician to make contact with Zeus Five.
Behind him, near the observation room door, the Doctor suddenly collapses
face-down on the floor, crying out slightly as he falls into unconsciousness
and into Ben and Polly's concerned arms.
They lower him slowly to the surface of the floor while Ben informs the
General of what has happened. He says he already has enough to worry about
and he orders Ben and a soldier to take him down to one of the cabins where
he can be looked after.
While Ben and Polly assist the Doctor out of the room, the base makes contact
with Zeus Five, and General Cutler hurriedly takes the technician's mike
to speak directly to his son, Lieutenant Terry Cutler.
He says hello, and then asks if the capsule is experiencing any power loss.
After a brief "hey that voice sounds familiar" exchange between the two,
Lt. Cutler reports that there is indeed some loss of power when he's on
the same side of Earth as this new planet, but it picks up again on the
other side, making him think the Earth itself is shielding him there.
He then asks what happened to Williams and Schultz, and the General tells
him he won't be docking with them as there has been "a little trouble"
and their priority now is to get Zeus Five down.
Ben regards the Doctor's unconscious form lying on the lower of two bunks
in a vacant soldier's quarters. With the Doctor still out cold, Ben
resigns to this and tells Polly to come with him back to the control room.
She initially protests, but Ben points out that the Doctor's pulse and
breathing are normal and that there's nothing else they can do until
the "quack" arrives, and she finally agrees. She also puzzles over what
could be wrong with the Doctor, but notes that he looks just plain "worn
out."
General Cutler tells his son to let them know if there's any change in
the position of the capsule, and then asks if he's seen any sign of
the large formation of spaceships they are picking up from the ground.
The Lieutenant reports negative, but reminds them he's on the dark side
of Earth making any visual sightings of any kind rather difficult.
The General tells him to keep his eyes open and to report any sightings
and then he signs off.
The General turns to address his staff, and he sums up the three major
problems they currently face, one: his son has been sent on a foolhardy
mission and they must get him down. Two: another visit from the Cybermen
is almost certain, and three: the Earth is being drained of its energy
by Mondas.
Dyson moroses that there's nothing they can do about any of these problems,
but the General tells him he's wrong. They can destroy Mondas.
Barclay asks how he proposes to do it, and Cutler tells him they'll use
the Z Bomb (pronounced with an American Z).
Dyson asks him "What about the radiation effect on Earth?" and the
General says that that's just a risk they'll have to take.
Barclay protests that to use the bomb Cutler must first get authority from
Geneva, and Cutler tells him he will, and then he orders someone to get
Geneva over the radio for him.
Ben asks what the Z Bomb is, and the General stares him in the face and
explains that it's the Doomsday Weapon. Rightly primed it could split
Mondas in half. There are two or three in strategic positions all around
the globe, and they have one of them, not to mention the means of delivering
it to Mondas.
The call to Geneva is ready and the General speaks directly to Secretary
Wigner.
In Geneva, the pace is indeed frantic and at a sort of professional panic
level: everyone is in their shirtsleeves rather than dress coats.
After Cutler tells Wigner of the imminent attack on the base, Wigner tells
him that they too have been receiving reports on the CyberFleet from all
over the world, and to make matters worse, the energy drain is increasing
rapidly. Wigner turns away for an instant to issue orders to his chief
assistant in French and then turns back to Cutler and tells him he must
hold on as long as he can.
Cutler tells Wigner he will, and then requests permission to take offensive
action, by using the Z Bomb mounted on a Demeter rocket.
Wigner is worried by this as this could have disastrous effects on both
the earth and the atmosphere. They would have to consult their top
scientists before they tried anything like this.
Cutler protests that there isn't time for consultation in this emergency.
Wigner repeats his concerns again, and Cutler repeats himself again,
saying that they have to take the chance.
Wigner tells the General flatly no, and that he is to take no precipitous
action. This idea is quite out of the question.
Cutler finally appears to resign to this, and then asks Wigner if he does
want him to take any action necessary against the Cybermen. Wigner
tells him of course he does, and that the General must do all he can.
Cutler smiles and thanks Wigner as he signs off.
He looks up in triumph at the base crew and tells them to prepare to
start the countdown.
Barclay protests and says Cutler can't possibly have the authority,
but Cutler says Wigner just gave him authority to use any means necessary
against the Cybermen.
Ben explodes in the General's face and shouts that he bets that didn't
include using the Z Bomb. Cutler shouts back that these are his orders.
Ben turns to Barclay and pleads with him to tell the General that they
can't use the bomb or they'll all go up with it.
Barclay looks nervous, but he doesn't look Ben in the eye.
The General, however, does. He grabs Ben by the shirt and virtually spits
the words into Ben's face.
"Look you. Ever since you came into this base, you and that old man have
poked your noses into things that don't concern you. You've done it for
the last time." He then orders a soldier to take him out and lock him
up with the Doctor.
Polly intercedes with a question: she asks if they are sure this bomb is
the only way of dealing with the Cybermen.
Cutler says that since the Cybermen are about to attack them, yes this is
the only way. But Ben tells them there is another way, to wait.
Barclay asks what for, and Ben tells them what the Doctor told him,
that not only is the Earth in danger, but Mondas itself is in far greater
danger, otherwise why would the Cybermen have bothered coming to the Base?
Cutler asks how the Doctor figures this to be the case, since the Earth
is being bled of its energy.
Ben tells them that eventually Mondas will absorb too much energy and
burn itself out, even shrivel up to nothing. So all they have to do is wait.
Cutler says, "Wait? Sure, wait until those Cybermen friends of yours get
here and take over the planet. No Mister, we're not going to wait. We're
going to accelerate the process a little. We'll just make it disappear
a little sooner, that's all."
Barclay steps into the fray at this point, and warns the General that a
nuclear explosion on Mondas would deliver an enormous radiation blast
to the Earth, enough to destroy all life on the same side as the Earth,
not to mention Cutler's son's space capsule.
Cutler replies that all this is just a risk they'll have to take, and
as far as the capsule is concerned, Barclay is to arrange for the missile
to strike at a time when the capsule is on the opposite side of Earth.
Barclay still says there are no guarantees of success, and Cutler says
he's not arguing that.
The radar technician tells them that the ships are coming closer, and
Cutler and Barclay take their attention over to the monitors.
With a moment to themselves, Polly asks Ben what they'll do about the Doctor,
and Ben tells her not to worry, that he'll look after him.
He also tells her to work on Dr. Barclay since he seems scared and thus
easier to get on their side. The soldiers finally wake to their orders
and escort Ben out of the control room.
After looking at the radar pictures, Cutler tells Barcaly to get moving
on getting the Bomb ready, and Barclay tells him a little gladly that
the General will have to present at the fusing himself, as Dyson isn't
allowed to do it without him.
Cutler waves Dyson to follow him out of the room, but as they leave, Polly
steps forward and asks if there's anything she can do to help.
Cutler asks her what she thinks she can do, and she suggests she could
make some coffee. Cutler says they probably could do with some.
He tells the radar technician to keep a close watch on the Cybermen
and to let him know the instant an attack is imminent.
As the General and Dyson leave the room, Polly looks over in slight hope
at Doctor Barclay running his hand wearily through his hair...
Ben tries to wake the Doctor, but he remains dead to the world, faced
away from Ben towards the wall.
He straightens up, giving up, and starts looking around this excuse for
a cell for a way out.
He steps to the door and tries to pick the lock, but gives up on this soon
too as he realizes aloud that this is lock is a little more advanced than
those he knew in 1966.
He looks around again and spots a large vent on the wall near the ceiling
that looks like he could squeeze through. He climbs the top bunk and
begins trying to loosen the covering with his pocket knife.
General Cutler, clad like everyone else in the room in a bright radiation
suit, surveys Dyson and other technicians as they prepare a Demeter rocket
and the Z Bomb. The rocket itself looks rather small by rocketry standards,
not much larger in diameter than say two men. The silo area they are in
is on two levels, a ground level, and a platform level on which the rocket
stands.
Dr Barclay enters the room and steps up a small staircase and checks some
figures on a clipboard he is carrying with those the technicians have.
Cutler asks what they're waiting for, as they were about ready to fuse
the bomb to the rocket, and Barclay tells him it's just a last-minute check.
Barclay looks things over one more time and then steps off the platform
and out of the silo area.
Cutler tells Dyson that this little baby is going to solve all their problems,
and Dyson replies with a half-hearted "Yes, sir."
Cutler also tells Dyson that at least he isn't arguing with him.
And then Dyson asks Cutler that if they do get this rocket away if they
will stand any chance themselves. Cutler asks what he means, and Dyson
tells Cutler that the old man could be right. It might be safer to wait.
Cutler tells him history is littered with guys who waited, and their waiting
got them nowhere. Dyson asks again about the radiation effects, and
Cutler deflects this with the observation that he's never seen Dyson talk
so much since he came to the base. He then asks if Dyson's scared.
Dyson says he isn't exactly, then Cutler tells him to admit it. "I am.
I'm scared for that son of mine. That's why we've gotta fire this thing,
otherwise we'll never get him down. Come on, let's get moving!"
And Dyson then goes down the bomb fusing checklist....
Barclay leans over the R/T Technician and tells him to continue to try
and gain contact with Zeus Five, which they have just lost contact with.
Barclay suggests they try via the Hawaii relay, and then steps back
to the center of the room where Polly is serving coffee from the command
platform staircase.
Polly asks him if they're trying to raise Cutler's son, and Barclay angrily
tells her to keep her mind on making coffee. He then apologizes for his
rudeness and sits wearily on a table. He says she must be scared stiff
with all this happening, and she says she is rather while she privately
wonders how scared Barclay is.
Polly asks him if Mondas does turn into a sort of sun, what effect the
radiation will have on Earth.
Barclay tries to convince her and himself that is might not happen at all,
but she reminds him that that isn't what he said just a while ago.
He retreats a little and says he isn't certain what would happen. The
radiation could affect them, there could be a certain loss of life, and
the vegetation might suffer for many years.
Polly asks him is he's prepared to just let all this happen, and he looks
at her with anguish on his face, asking what he can do since Cutler holds
all the cards here.
A technician reports there is now only thirteen minutes to the missile launch
as Polly asks him if they can just wait and fight off the Cybermen until
Mondas is finished. That would probably mean the end of Cutler's son
but that's one life against millions.
Barclay asks her what he can possibly do, since if he doesn't follow the
General's orders, he'll just carry on without him as he's so ruthless.
Polly asks him if they could just pretend to follow his orders but
really make sure that the rocket doesn't go off.
Their conspiracy conversation breaks off as Julius himself strides back
into the room and asks if there;s anything new to report.
The radar technician tells him the signals from the Cybermen are still there
and have been stationary for the last ten minutes. Cutler tells him to
inform him the moment they start to move. He asks if there's been any word
from his son, and the R/T technician tells him they can't raise him.
The General looks very pained for a moment, but his emotions are pushed
aside by news from the radar technician, telling him that a signal from
the fleet is coming in fast on a heading directly for them.
Cutler says it's the Cybermen, and Barclay asks if they'll use the anti-
missile batteries. cutler says no, as he has a better idea. They'll
let them land and then ambush them with their own weapons.
He orders the entire base to Red Alert, and as the R/T Technician turns
on the tannoy and calls out "Red Alert" to the entire base, the General
calls up the Security section on an internal telephone and orders section
one of the guards to be places under snow camouflage and to be issued with
the captured Cyberweapons, and to inform him when they are complete and
ready. He turns and asks Barclay how long it will be till countdown
and Barclay says ten minutes.
Cutler predicts the Cybermen will be here by then and they'll just have to
hold them off. He tells Barclay to proceed with the normal launching.
The security section reports in that the unit outside is ready, and
the General leaves to inspect them before the battle commences.
Polly rushes to Barclay's side and tells him this is their chance.
They can now go and see Ben as he may be able to help before it's too late.
Ben almost has the vent prised completely open when Polly and Barclay
enter the bunk room, surprising and alarming Ben in the process. He
tells the "Duchess" that she gave him quite a turn.
Polly asks how the Doctor is and Ben says he's still out, but that the
"quack" had been in and said the Doctor would be alright.
Polly tells Ben that Barclay is going to help them, and Ben asks him
if there's anything they can do to stop the rocket.
Barclay says it can be stopped very simply but they first have to get into
the rocket silo.
Ben asks why Barclay can't do it, and Barclay tells him because the silo's
under constant guard. If he or anyone else tries to tamper with the rocket,
they'd be discovered instantly.
Ben asks if there is another way in, and Barclay gets an idea.
He tells them how he himself designed this part of the base, and that
the vent Ben was breaking into should lead straight to the rocket silo,
but he doubts he himself could fit inside. Ben says he thinks he could,
but is worried that he'd need a radiation suit. Barclay tells him not
to worry as the top half of the silo is screened.
He looks over the silo in his mind, and tells them there will be a guard
outside, and an engineer inside. Polly asks if Barclay could somehow
distract him, and Barclay agrees that he could.
He brings Ben over to a table and begins to write down what Ben has to do.
On the side of the rocket there is a panel marked "Plug Servo Leads"
and warns Ben that he'll need a screwdriver. Ben shows him his trusty
pocket knife, and Barclay says that it will do.
Inside the panel there are four small plugs. All Ben has to do is take
out any one of them, snip off the pin inside, and put the plug back.
Ben asks what this will do and Barclay says that it will cause the fuel
pump pressure to fall to zero at blast-off.
Ben doubts this a little, asking if this will be easily discovered,
and Barclay says it wouldn't be discovered in six months, as it's not the
sort of fault they'd look for.
An alarm siren sounds and can be heard in the bunk room, and Barclay
exclaims it's the Cybermen. He hurriedly writes down more directions
and instructions for Ben....
Another bullet-shaped CyberShip, like the first one, rests itself slowly
on the snow-covered tundra outside the base.
But near the base, the soldiers are ready this time, with nothing but the
three captured Cybermen lantern-weapons poking out of from their
camouflage.
A larger party of Cybermen, seven or eight, stalk purposefully across the
snow headed for the base....
...and all three weapons fire as one.
The two leading Cybermen topple over dead to the snow-covered ground,
and the others look for the source of the attack.
The weapons fire again, and another Cyberman falls dead.
And again, and another falls.
The remaining pair of Cybermen get the hint and run back toward their ship...
Ben Jackson crawls as silently as he can through the cramped confines of
the ventilation shaft. He stops for a moment to consult Barclay's directions.
He decides on an exit point from the three or four vent coverings ahead of
him, and begins to unscrew the screen...
Polly too tries to shift the Doctor awake to no avail whatsoever, and
wishes aloud that he would wake up. She hears something coming her way,
and fears a guard, so she decides to impersonate Ben by climbing into
the top bunk and covering herself with a blanket.
A guard steps into the room and surveys the room for a few seconds.
All seems well to him, and then he leaves. Polly gets up out of the
bunk and breathes a sigh of relief.
Ben accidentally drops the screen on the floor beneath in the rocket silo
and is at first worried that the noise has been heard. But he need not
worry as Barclay has got the engineer outside and is talking to him.
Ben climbs down a nearby ladder and steps surrepticiously over to the
rocket. He consults his piece of paper and begins to unscrew a panel
on the side of the rocket.
Three soldiers in heavy parkas trudge out into the snow and begin removing
the lantern-guns from the dead bodies of the Cybermen.
General Cutler watches the scene outside on a TV monitor with approval
and then orders that the captured weapons be taken to the guard room.
He looks around for Barclay, and not finding him, he asks Dyson where
he's got to. Dyson tells him he wasn't back here in the control room,
and that perhaps he's in the rocket silo. Cutler leaves for the silo
area while Dyson begins to check over the control room.
Cutler arrives at a control board outside the silo where Barclay is
consulting with the engineers. The General asks him what he's doing here,
and Barclay says he's just checking things over.
Cutler is suspicious and he storms into the rocket silo. There he finds
Ben with his head deep inside the side of the rocket fiddling around.
Cutler grabs Ben by the neck and pulls him out of the rocket and throws
him over the side of the platform on to the story below.
Cutler orders the guard who followed him in to get Ben down to the tracking
room. Cutler orders the technicians to check the rocket and see if Ben's
done anything. Barclay begins to try to explain what's been happening,
but the General won't hear any of it. He knows Barclay is partly behind
this, but he says he needs him anyway right now and they'll talk about
this after the rocket is launched.
Polly, and her two unconscious friends, Ben and the Doctor, are crouched
in the back of the control room where General Cutler is warning them
that is the rocket doesn't take off, if his son's life is placed in
jeopardy because of them, he'll take the law into his own hands.
He turns to Barclay standing beside him and tells him that this goes for
him too, so he'd better make a good job of this.
He orders the countdown to be started.
Barclay tells him the preliminary checks are not yet completed, and
while he works on this, Cutler tries again to make contact with his son.
This time they succeed, and Terry Cutler reports in. He still hasn't
seen any spacecraft yet, yet the General warns him to watch it as they
can move very fast. Terry asks when they're going to bring him down,
and the General tells him they can't do it until they deal with Mondas.
Terry suddenly breaks in and says the capsule's starting to get slow on
the controls. The General asks about his power status, and Terry says
it loses and then picks up again. The General tells him it's Mondas
affecting it, and not to worry as they'll have him down as soon as
they're able. He wishes him good luck and and signs off.
As Barclay runs down the final checklist with the crew, Polly tries
unsuccessfully to shake Ben awake from his head injury from his fall.
Fire control checks OK.
Fuel control checks OK.
Search monitors check OK.
Bomb fuse checks OK.
Booster guidance checks OK.
The countdown begins at T-2:00
Ben shakes awake and and asks what the noise is about, and Polly nervously
tells him to keep his voice down. He asks her what happened.
And the countdown reaches T-1:50
Polly asks Ben is he managed the sabotage, but Ben only says that he can't
seem to think.
And the countdown reaches T-1:40
Barclay orders the silo to be cleared, and the booster gyros to be activated.
A voice sounds over the tannoy that there has been a fault detected, on
one of the range computers.
Barclay orders the circuits to be checked and he holds the countdown at T-1:35
General Cutler warns Barclay that this had better be a minor fault.
The tannoy voice says the fault is clear, and Barclay orders the countdown
to be resumed.
Polly despairs at this, as it looks like Ben's work has been for nothing
and the missile will fire after all.
And the countdown reaches T-1:25
Barclay orders the missile to be raised.
Outside, from out of the frozen wasteland rises the round-tipped Demeter
missile, until it is almost completely over the level of the ground....
And the countdown reaches T-1:05
Barclay orders the land lines away.
Small, almost invisible wires and cables attached to the rocket detach
themselves and lower down into the ground, leaving the missile free-standing
and ready to be launched into space, into Mondas, and into oblivion....
And the countdown reaches T-:50
Barclay orders the firing controls to auto-action. He also orders the
timing controls to auto-action.
And the countdown reaches T-:40
Worry reaches the faces of all in the control room.
And the countdown reaches T-:30
The dangerous gaze of General Cutler reaches the worried face of Dr. Barclay.
And the countdown reaches T-:20
The confused looks of Ben Jackson echo the worry on Polly's face.
And the countdown reaches T-:10..
...9,
...8,
...7,
...6,
...5,
...4,
...3,
...2,
...1,
...And the missile's engines ignite into propulsive fury...
END EPISODE 3
DR.WHO
WILLIAM HARTNELL
GENERAL CUTLER
ROBERT BEATTY
RADAR TECHNICIAN
CHRISTOPHER MATTHEWS
R/T TECHNICIAN
CHRISTOPHER TUNHAM
POLLY
ANNEKE WILLS
BEN
MICHAEL CRAZE
BARCLAY
DAVID DODIMEAD
DYSON
DUDLEY JONES
TERRY CUTLER
CALLEN ANGELO
WIGNER
STEVE PLYTAS
GENEVA TECHNICIAN
ELLEN CULLEN
TITLE MUSIC
BY RON GRAINER
AND THE BBC
RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP
STORY EDITOR
GERRY DAVIS
DESIGNER
PETER KINDRED
PRODUCER
INNES LLOYD
DIRECTED BY
DEREK MARTINUS
BBCtv
(first transmitted 22nd October 1966, no copyright date or notice on screen)
this synopsis by Steven.K.Manfred@uwrf.edu
In the absence of its real existence, I am being forced to make do for
this synopsis with the novelization and a Part Four substitute I have in
my posession put together by some Australian fan group called the West
Lodge where some rather poor actors/really-fan-club-members read out the
script to the accompaniment of some music and still pictures from the three
existing episodes.
Neither of these sources are what I would consider "canon" though I suppose
the West Lodge version is as close as we're going to get until the very
last scene which does still exist and which I have seen and thus that
is described canonically.
Another by-product of this is that I will not be able to "colorfully"
describe the action, acting, and pacing of a scene as the director wanted
it, which in this case doesn't seem to mean much as the rest of the story
could do with some tightening up in all departments listed....
Well, anyway, here we go...
One note about credits....
Some of the opening and closing credits on this story contained spelling
errors. If any such errors occurred in this episode I cannot tell as I
haven't seen its credits, so I will spell them correctly.
Another note about the credits....
On "The Tenth Planet," the usual way of displaying the credits was not used.
This time, each new set of words would appear in white captial type against
a black background, and then be absorbed and taken away by a scrambled code
of certain letters of the alphabet, which then stops and reveals the next
credit.
DOCTOR WHO
And the countdown reaches T-:10..
...9,
...8,
...7,
...6,
...5,
...4,
...3,
...2,
...1,
...And the missile's engines ignite into propulsive fury...
THE TENTH PLANET
BY KIT PEDLER
AND GERRY DAVIS
EPISODE 4
...And the ignition calms...
The engines cut out.
General Cutler storms out of his seat and demands to know why the rockets
have cut out, while Polly congratulates Ben for succeeding. She says
that now everyone will have a chance to live, even the Cybermen.
Cutler turns to them and he tells Ben, "Your new friends the Cybermen might
have a chance for life, but not you sailor."
He then turns to the finally rousing Doctor, and says, "And as for you old
man...."
The Doctor gets to his feet and puts his hands to his lapels and tells
the General how he notices the rocket has not gone off.
Polly asks him if he's alright now, and he tells her he is for the moment.
All are interrupted by an incoming signal from Terry Cutler on Zeus Five.
He's shouting over a faint signal to ask if they can read him, and General
Cutler takes the mike and tells him how faint he is.
Terry reports on what he's seeing, that Mondas is now brightening and
darkening suddenly in a throbbing pattern.
The Doctor steps forward at this and reminds them he told them Mondas couldn't
absorb much more energy.
Suddenly Terry Cutler shouts, "A Cyberman spaceship!"
...and his voice contact cuts off.....
A look of utter terror encamps on the General's face and he twiddles every
knob imaginable trying to regain contact with his son.
Nothing will tear him away from his hopeless task, not even news from the
Radar Technician telling them that another Cyberman spaceship is heading
straight for the base at very high velocity.
Cutler gives up on his try to pull back his son from certain death, but
is still in personal rage as he rounds on Barclay, Ben, Polly, and the
Doctor. He picks out Ben and tells him, "This is your fault sailor!
You and your Doctor friend! You've killed my son!"
And thus Cutler moves to do the same to them...he pulls a gun from his
belt and trains it on the three men.
Polly shouts that he can't shoot them, but need not worry about Cutler
shooting them much longer as a party of Cybermen break into the control
room. With Cutler distracted, the guards did not have any defenses ready
hence the easy break-in.
(*The novel says the leader of this party is a CyberLeader with a black
helmet, but this may have been changed. However, the West Lodge version
does at one time refer to a CyberLeader but does not say whether or not
his helmet is black. As such a creature was never seen again until
"Revenge of the Cybermen" I would tend to think he looks like the others.*)
The CyberLeader orders his soldiers to kill General Cutler, and they
blast him down with their lantern-weapons....
The Leader then tells them "Anyone who moves will be killed instantly."
Ben mutters about the Cybermen's non-massive gratitude to them for saving
their cruddy planet, and the Leader hears him. He asks "Saved Mondas?"
and then adds, "I do not believe you. We have seen the rocket missile
aimed at Mondas."
With the General out of the count, the Doctor steps forward and easily
takes charge of at least the human side of the situation, and he tells
the CyberLeader, "That is so, but we have prevented it being fired.
General Cutler was responsible for that act, now I suggest you help us in
return."
The Leader asks what the Doctor wants for this help, and the Doctor
suggests that the Cybermen come here and stay to live in peace with "us."
Ben whispers to the Doctor not to bargain with these "geezers" and
the Doctor whispers back that they must plat for time to give Mondas
time to burn itself out.
The CyberLeader orders those present to remove the Z Bomb warhead from the
rocket, and to make sure this happens, they will take "the girl" as hostage.
Polly and Ben protest this, (particularly Polly), but the Doctor tells them
to go along with them and do as they say.
Before they take her, the Doctor makes the Leader promise that she will
be returned safely when the warhead is removed.
"Yes, I give my word," says the CyberLeader in its uneven tones.
One Cyberman escorts Polly out of the control room while two more take
Ben, Barclay, and Dyson out to the radiation room/silo area to
commence dismantling the nuclear warhead.
But the Doctor remains behind...
Once they are gone, a voice comes over the control desk's loudspeaker.
The French accent of Secretary Wigner is heard to be trying to make contact
with the base, and the CyberLeader orders the Doctor to answer him.
The Doctor tells Geneva hello, and Wigner asks where General Cutler is.
The Doctor says he isn't here at the moment, and that he has been left in
charge temporarily.
Wigner asks the Doctor to tell Cutler that there have been reported Cyberman
landings all over the world, but that they have no report for....
...and his voice cuts off suddenly.
Sounds of gunfire and Cyberman weapons can be heard over the speakers,
and a new voice transmits, that of a senior CyberLeader.
"Geneva is now ours," he says, "The Earth is now under our control."
The CyberLeader behind him tells the Doctor to get out of his seat and
so the Doctor does to allow the Leader to make contact with his superior.
He tells him that the South Pole takeover is now complete.
The senior Leader tells its junior that Mondas is now in great danger
and cannot absorb much more energy from Earth.
The Doctor suggests that the Cybermen must now "Proceed with your second
objective," and the CyberLeader tells him that everything is proceeding
according to plan.
The Doctor smiles at the CyberLeader and says, "It's obvious then isn't it?
Your second objective is the destruction of Earth."
The Leader turns to him and tells him that the close proximity of the
two planets means that one must be destroyed for the safety of the other.
"The one to be destroyed will be the Earth....if you help us, we will take
you back to Mondas. You will be safe."
The Doctor suddenly realizes something else, and lunges at the P/A switch
shouting to the entire base, and more importantly to Ben, Barclay, and
Dyson, that the Cybermen intend to use the Z Bomb to blow up the Earth.
The CyberLeader throws the Doctor aside and tells him he has been most
foolish.
"Mondas will not explode. You will be taken to our spacecraft."
The Doctor protests that he must stay, that they need him there.
"The Cybermen need help from no one."
The Leader turns to the P/A switch which is still on and he tells the
humans in the radiation room to start removing the bomb from the missile
or they will never see their friends alive again....
With a television camera trained on them, Ben, Barclay, and Dyson are
reluctant to talk conspiracy, until Ben smashes up the camera that is...
After he explains his actions, Ben asks Dyson and Barclay if they have
noticed that the Cybermen have yet to come into the radiation room.
Dyson and Barclay agree with him, and Ben goes on to ask why this is,
why the Cybermen don't disarm the missile themselves. He tells them
he thinks it's because they're afraid of radioactivity.
Ben looks around the room and notes that the warhead itself is too heavy
to carry, and then asks Barclay if there's anything else in this room
that is radioactive.
Barclay says that there is, that the entire base is powered by tiny uranium
rods that they can get to from this room, and Ben says that this will
definitely do.
Polly sits unconscious inside the silver-walled Cyberspaceship in a rather
uncomfortable-looking chair. She stirs awake and looks around herself
and is rather startled to see the Doctor sitting in the chair next to her.
She is further startles by a high-pitched whining noise that echoes
through the ship and then subsides, echoes throug the ship and then subsides,
and again a further time, and again a further time...
She asks the Doctor if it is the engines and if they are about to take off,
and he replies that he doesn't think so, he thinks it's Mondas causing it.
He theorizes that the ship gets its energy directly from there and that
Mondas must be nearing saturation point now...
Clad in radiation suits, Ben, Barclay, and Dyson each hold out in front
of their bodies tiny uranium rods, and get ready to lay their ambush...
The CyberLeader is logically concerned at the loss of contact with the
radiation room and he orders his soldiers to investigate armed with not
only their weapons but also cylinders of tear gas.
Ben shouts to the other two that the Cybermen are coming and the three
of them hide behind the door. As the door opens, billows of white smoke
tumble inside and the three begin to choke on the gas.
They cough and they can't see, but still the three men try to stumble
forward, each holding out the uranium rods. At last they manage to
see a Cyberman, and see him stumble to the floor under the effects of
the radiation. Ben shouts to Barclay (*could be Dyson*) to get his gun,
and he does, which he then uses to shoot down the other stumbling attacking
Cybermen as well as the one to which the gun belonged.
Ben shouts out for them to look out for the CyberLeader who fires at them,
and misses. They return fire and the Leader crumples to the floor.
Ben, Barclay, and Dyson reach the end of the hallway where the air is
clearer and Ben proclaims that to be "the lot." He finds the Cyberman
who was carrying the gas and turns off the tank, and then the three
of them head up to the control room.
Ben proclaims things to be much better now he's out of his radiation suit
and back in the control room, whilst Barclay and Dyson tell him to look
at the image of Mondas on the screens...
Mondas throbs very brightly and very frequently now...making them hope its
end is near.
Dyson hopes there aren't any more Cybermen back at their ship, and
Barclay nods and prepares to make the base secure when Ben shouts that
it's too late, for through the door steps another force of Cybermen...
Their leader tells speaks, "Further resistance is useless. Drop your
weapons. Your bomb must be detonated immeditiately or we will kill
everyone in this room."
Before anyone can respond to the new threats, Barclay calls their attention
to the screens where Mondas is disintegrating....
"It's blowing to bits," exclaims Ben, and he is correct, for on their
screens the landscapes crack asunder, the oceans boil away into space,
the rock vaporizes and merges with the storm clouds, and the whole
of Mondas breaks out into cataclysmic volcanic eruptions, melting away
into the ash and dust it was at the beginning of time when the Tenth Planet
had a twin...
Dyson tells them to look at the Cybermen, and behind them, the Mondasians
shrivel and die as does their home...
Barclay, by way of an epitaph, theorizes that these Cybermen must have been
totally dependent on power from Mondas. They must not have had time to
transfer their power units to Earth.
The base crew look around in confusion and wonder for a brief moment what
to do next, but need not wonder very long as a voice crackles loud and
clear over the radios, from Zeus Five trying to call Snowcap.
Barclay takes the radio and asks Zeus Five to report his feul position.
Terry Cutler tells them it's OK and asks if they can get him down now.
Barclay tells him they will just as soon as they get full power back from
the base reactor.
Another radio crackles into life, and Secretary Wigner calls in to tell
them that the Cyberman menace appears to have ended all over the world
and that they're still picking up the pieces. He asks Barclay to make
a proper report as soon as possible.
Ben looks forgotten with the sudden flurry of activity, but takes the
opportunity to remember that Polly and the Doctor are still in the
Cybermen's spaceship and leaves for the Antarctic wilderness outside to
find them...
Polly and the Doctor sit shivering in their chairs, the Doctor beginning
to look sleepy and weak again.
Polly tells the Doctor she's cold, and then jumps slightly in her
restraints as she hears something. She looks worriedly over her shoulder
and is then relieved to see Ben creep inside and shout, "Hallo Duchess!"
He frees the two from their chairs as Polly chastizes him for sneaking
up on them, and the Doctor struggles to his feet, telling them they
*must* get back to the TARDIS immediately.
Polly asks, "Doctor are you alright?"
The Doctor says, "The TARDIS!"
The three travellers stumble out of the spaceship and out into the snow
again, the Doctor in the far lead making for his Police Box like he'll
never see it again...
Ben and Polly take a moment to look around the white wilderness once more
as they trudge the snow themselves, and Polly tells Ben how
beautiful it is here, but she supposes they'll never see it again.
Ben warns her that if they don't get moving they'll become part of it
as the Doctor is already at the TARDIS now...
He further worries about the Doctor's condition, how he's starting to look
*very* old, and he hopes he's alright.
They step inside the doors to the TARDIS and the Doctor is already ahead of
them at the console, his back turned to them. He motions back to his
companions to close the doors, and Ben obliges, both he and Polly turning
to take one last look at the snowcapped South Pole outside.
Once closed, they turn back to the console, to find the Doctor collapsing
on his knees and then falling face-upward to the floor.
Ben and Polly look down at him in worry, and Polly kneels beside him.
She reaches out to his face to get a better look at it as it is partially
covered by a piece of his scarf. She pulls it back slowly and looks...
................................and watches...................................
...the temporal thunder of the TARDIS' engines sounds through the chamber.....
...........as something begins to change about it's owner's face..............
...........tiny white speckles appear to mottle the Doctor's face.............
.............the hawklike features of the old man begin to blur...............
................the speckles shine into a vibrant white glow..................
.and the symphony of Time And Relative Dimension In Space reaches a crescendo.
..............and the glow subsides to the speckles once again................
...................showing to Polly and Ben a new conductor...................
...................the speckles fade, and the face is whole...................
............a smiling face, younger but lined with ancient wisdom.............
............and something hidden before, visible now in the smile.............
..........................the wisdom of foolishness...........................
............The music fades to be replaced by the pianissamo hum..............
............until the new conductor awakes and begins to compose..............
DR.WHO
WILLIAM HARTNELL
GENERAL CUTLER
ROBERT BEATTY
POLLY
ANNEKE WILLS
BEN
MICHAEL CRAZE
TERRY CUTLER
CALLEN ANGELO
RADAR TECHNICIAN
CHRISTOPHER MATTHEWS
KRANG
HARRY BROOKS
JARL
REG WHITEHEAD
GERN
GREGG PALMER
WIGNER
STEVE PLYTAS
BARCLAY
DAVID DODIMEAD
DYSON
DUDLEY JONES
CYBERMAN VOICES
ROY SKELTON
PETER HAWKINS
TITLE MUSIC
BY RON GRAINER
AND THE BBC
RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP
LIGHTING
*
SOUND
*
COSTUMES
SANDRA REID
MAKE-UP
GILLIAN JAMES
STORY EDITOR
GERRY DAVIS
DESIGNER
PETER KINDRED
PRODUCER
INNES LLOYD
DIRECTED BY
DEREK MARTINUS
BBCtv
*- incomplete credits due to episode being missing, i.e. I don't know
who did them. It is traditional, however, for these additional credits
to appear on the final episode of the serial.
(first transmitted 29th October 1966, no copyright date or notice on screen)
this synopsis by Steven.K.Manfred@uwrf.edu
synopsis copyright 1993
you may copy this synopsis all you like provided it is not for reasons
of profit