Mission to the Unknown (TV story): Difference between revisions

{{Infobox Story SMW

|image                  = <!-- This story can't have an image in its infobox, per [[T:IPER]] and [[T:MISS EP PIC]] -->

|season number          = Season 3 (Doctor Who 1963)|

|featuring              =  

|enemy                  = The [[Black Dalek Leader]]

|setting                = [[Kembel]], [[4000]] AD

|writer                = Terry Nation

|broadcast date        = 9 October 1965

|network                = BBC1

|thwr2=194}}

'''''Mission to the Unknown''''' was the second serial of [[Season 3 (Doctor Who 1963)|season 3]] of ''[[Doctor Who]]''. It is the only ''Doctor Who'' television story not to feature [[the Doctor]], any of their [[companion]]s, or [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]]. This story was also notable for being the only one-part serial in the classic era except for ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]''.

Though the episode is currently [[Missing episode|missing from the BBC Archives]], it was reconstructed in an animated format through a private project led by [[Ian Levine]].

Cory and Lowery go into the spaceship, leaving Garvey's body. Once inside the ship, Cory reveals to Lowery that he is an agent from the [[Space Security Service]] and possesses a licence to kill. He explains they are all there on a mission to stop the Daleks. Lowery states that he is confused due to the fact that the Daleks have not been heard from for a thousand years. Cory reveals that the Daleks have started to seize planets in different galaxies and that a Dalek spaceship has recently been spotted in the [[Solar System]]. Cory also informs Lowery that Varga plants are indigenous to the Daleks' home planet [[Skaro]], so he believes that it is proof positive that the Daleks have established a base on this planet.

In the Dalek city on Kembel, the [[Black Dalek Leader|Dalek Supreme]] waits to be updated on the latest developments. He is told that the representatives from the seven planets will arrive soon and their meeting can start. The Dalek Supreme then sends out a troop of Daleks to destroy the human ship.

After reaching the conclusion that they will not fix the ship on time, especially now they suspect that the Daleks will be aware of their location, Cory takes drastic measures. He plans to use a small rocket containing a recorded message to report their position to any rescue vessels. They leave the ship only to see a large group of Varga plants slowly descending upon them.

As they have this conversation the two men see a large spaceship looming above them. They realise it is nothing that can be seen in the Solar System and decide it must be something hostile. As they start to prepare the message, the Varga plants are the least of their worries — some Daleks start to descend upon them. Unseen, the men hide in the underbrush and watch as the Daleks destroy their ship completely. The two men slink away with their small rocket and their recording device but as they do so, Lowery slips and his hand is impaled on a Varga thorn.

* [[The Doctor|Dr. Who]] - [[William Hartnell]] ''(credited, but does not appear)''

* [[Director (crew)|Director]] - [[Derek Martinus]]

=== Animation Crew ===

 

== Worldbuilding ==

* This episode came about because the previous season's ''[[Planet of Giants (TV story)|Planet of Giants]]'' was shortened from its planned four instalments to just three. An extra episode was slotted in to compensate. Possibly for contractual reasons, it was specified that the regular cast were not to appear.

* [[First Doctor|The Doctor]], [[Steven Taylor]] and [[Vicki Pallister]] do not appear and are not mentioned in this episode. Instead, its central character is [[Marc Cory]]. Despite this, [[William Hartnell]] is still credited on-screen because his contract specified that he would be credited for every episode — even those in which he appeared only in the reprise or did not feature at all. [[Peter Purves]] and [[Maureen O'Brien]] are not credited because, unlike Hartnell, their contracts did not guarantee an automatic credit. The ''Radio Times'' programme listing credits "William Hartnell as Dr. Who, and Maureen O'Brien, Peter Purves", but omits their characters from the actual cast list. While the revived series frequently would produce "[[Doctor-lite]]" episodes, to date these have all featured the Doctor in cameos. Discounting spin-off series and specials, the only later BBC productions to feature neither the Doctor nor a companion were assorted [[prequel]] minisodes produced in 2006 (a.k.a. the [[Tardisode]]s) and periodically since [[Series 6 (Doctor Who 2005)|Series 6]] in 2011.

* [[Terry Nation]] wrote this episode partially as an attempt to develop and sell the idea of a Dalek television series divorced from the larger ''Doctor Who'' universe. The proposed series would have followed the adventures of the [[Space Security Service]], an elite organisation tasked with hunting Daleks. This approach can be seen in short stories and comic strips written for 1965's ''[[The Dalek Outer Space Book]]'' (cover dated 1966). An unmade pilot titled ''[[The Destroyers (TV story)|The Destroyers]]'' was written, but the series concept was never sold. ''[[The Destroyers (audio story)|The Destroyers]]'' was later produced as an audio play by [[Big Finish Productions]].

* Both ''Mission to the Unknown'' and ''The Daleks' Master Plan'' were the only 1960s ''Doctor Who'' stories offered for overseas sale but never purchased. ''The Daleks' Master Plan'' was intended for sale as an eleven-parter, omitting its Christmas episode "[[The Feast of Steven]]". As such, chances of recovering ''Mission to the Unknown'' are extremely slim.

** According to documents, Singapore at one point received a batch of 85 episodes when they were supposed to receive 84, meaning it's entirely possible that ''Mission to the Unknown'' was included as a bonus episode, being aired after they had already finished airing [[Third Doctor]] serials. Since every print sent to Singapore that wasn't bicycled to another country or returned to the BBC is unaccounted for, its fate is unknown.

* This is one of three missing 1960s ''Doctor Who'' stories — the other two being ''[[Marco Polo (TV story)|Marco Polo]]'' and ''[[The Massacre (TV story)|The Massacre]]'' — which exist only as audio recordings, with not one frame of footage known to survive either on 16mm black-and-white film or 8mm cine film taken from a television screen. Given there are also no telesnaps, only production stills taken on-set by the crew still exist for visual reference. Many key visual moments, such as the costumes of the space security agents, are seemingly lost forever. However, photographs of the actors in said costumes might exist in private hands.

* Marc Cory was conceived by [[Terry Nation]] as a space-age [[James Bond]]. [[Edward de Souza]] would later make a cameo in ''The Spy Who Loved Me.''

''Mission to the Unknown'' generates further confusion because some documents do not refer to it as a serial but rather as a "cutaway episode". As the story was produced alongside ''Galaxy 4'', the two appear to have been referred to together. Several of the production codes offered are either Serial T or Serial T +, an appendage.

* This is the only episode not to feature the Doctor. ''(That's not strictly true. There are episodes — such as the third and fourth instalments of ''[[The Keys of Marinus (TV story)|The Keys of Marinus]]'', titled "The Screaming Jungle" and "The Snows of Terror" respectively — which do not feature the Doctor because Hartnell was on holiday. In such situations, the Doctor was sidelined from the main action by being described as ill, on a mission or captured. But this is the only one in which the narrative explicitly fails to include the Doctor in any way. Moreover, it is true to say that this is the only episode where neither the Doctor nor any of his companions are around.)''

* Lowery recalls that the Daleks had [[2150s Dalek invasion of Earth|invaded]] [[Earth]] "a thousand years ago." ([[TV]]: ''[[The Dalek Invasion of Earth (TV story)|The Dalek Invasion of Earth]]'')

** The story was recreated by [https://www.uclan.ac.uk/news/lost-episode.php The University of Central Lanchasire] ([[University of Central Lancashire|UCLan]]), with the Dalek voices provided by [[Nicholas Briggs]]. It was released on the official Doctor Who YouTube channel on [[9 October (releases)|9 October]] 2019.

* The story was released as part of ''[[The Daleks' Master Plan (TV story)|The Daleks' Master Plan]]'' by BBC Audio, with linking narration by [[Peter Purves]], on [[22 October (releases)|22 October]] 2001.

* A [[Telegraph Audio Giveaways|voucher to redeem a free copy]] of ''The Daleks' Master Plan'' from branches of [[W H Smith]] or by post, was given away with ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' newspaper on [[30 April (releases)|30 April]] [[2010 (releases)|2010]].

* Both stories were re-released in 2011 as part of the boxset ''[[Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes - Collection Two]]''.

* Both stories were released again on Vinyl by Demon Records, also with Peter Purves's narration, on [[1 March (releases)|1 March]] [[2019 (releases)|2019]].

The Daleks Masterplan.jpg|2001 CD release

Lost TV Eps coll2 cover.jpg|''The Lost TV Episodes - Collection Two''

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[[Category:Sources with disputed titles]]