The Robots of Death (TV story)

Synopsis

The Doctor and Leela land in the cargo hopper of a Sandminer, whose crew are being murdered one by one. Suspicion falls on the two visitors, but they are freed by Poul. He reveals that he is an undercover policeman sent to locate a mad roboticist named Taren Capel, whom he believes to have infiltrated the Sandminer. Unfortunately, Poul suffers a nervous breakdown upon learning that the murders are being committed by robots reprogrammed by Capel. It is revealed that Capel has assumed the guise of Dask, the ship's engineer. However, the Doctor manages to trick the robots into killing Dask by using helium to alter the madman's voice, so the robots don't recognize him...

Plot

Part 1

On a strange desert planet, the Sandminer Storm Mine 4 hurtles across the planet surface. On the control deck of the Sandminer, the crew are working alongside their Voc Robot servants. They are chasing a sand storm so they can collect their pay at the end of the tour.

Elsewhere, onboard the TARDIS, Leela was fiddling with a Yo-Yo thinking that it is part of the 'magic' that makes the TARDIS travel.

Cast

The Doctor - Tom Baker
Leela - Louise Jameson
Uvanov - Russel Hunter
Toos - Pamela Salem
Dask/Taren Capel - David Bailie
Chub - Rob Edwards
Borg - Brian Croucher
Cass - Tariq Yunus
Poul - David Collins
Zilda - Tania Rogers
D84 - Gregory de Polnay
SV7 - Miles Fothergill
Robots - Mark Blackwell Baker, John Bleasdale, Mark Cooper, Peter Langtry, Jeremy Ranchev, Richard Seager

Uncredited Cast

Crew

References

The Doctor uses a respiratory bypass system to avoid inhaling helium in the story climax.

Story Notes

This is one of the few stories which goes some ways to explain (in relative simplicity) how the TARDIS is dimensionally transcendental. (using a demonstration with two boxes)

There have been several influences suggested for Robots of Death including:

This story was obviously based on Isaac Asimov's Robot mysteries, such as I, Robot. In particular, the human/robot police duo Elijah Bailey and R Daneel Olivaw from Caves of Steel and its sequels may be the inspiration for the Poul/D84 pair. Promiment mention is made of Asimov's First Law of Robotics: "A robot may not harm a human being, or through inaction allow a human being to come to harm."

Another inspiration for the story was Agatha Christie's novel, Ten Little Indians, in which several people on an island are murdered one by one.

The Sandminer setting is based on Frank Herbert's Dune.

Ratings

to be added

Myths

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Location Filming

to be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

to be added

Continuity

This episode is the last one in which the wood-panelled TARDIS control room appears.

The characters from this episode reappear in several of Chris Boucher's later novels, starting with Corpse Marker, and continuing in the Kaldor City spinoffs.

The precise setting of this story is disputed. Some expanded universe material places it on Io, one of the moons of Jupiter, despite the fact the story suggests the atmosphere outside the sandminer is breatheable and the presence of a vast sandy desert is somewhat integral to the plot (neither of which would be the case on Io). One story places it on the planet Kaldor. The Kaldor City spin-offs do not name the planet where the city is located. (NA: Legacy, DWM: Crisis on Kaldor)

DVD, Video, and Other Releases

DVD Releases

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Released as Doctor Who: The Robots of Death, this was the first 'proper' title in the BBC DVD range of Doctor Who DVDs. It marked the debut of the 'roundel' template that didn't prove popular with fans (although it has remained to date as the DVD template) and is the only one in the range not to feature Production Subtitles. The Continuities were meant to be an Easter Egg, but an error was made by the Authoring House and they were included as a regular menu item.

Released: