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The Chase (TV story)

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The Chase was the eighth story of season 2 of Doctor Who. As well as featuring the first use of time travel by the Daleks, it saw the departures of original companions Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, played by William Russell and Jacqueline Hill respectively, and the first appearance of new companion Steven Taylor, portrayed by Peter Purves.

It saw the same story style as Nation's The Keys of Marinus, with the TARDIS crew in different locations nearly every episode. A similar style would later be used in The Daleks' Master Plan and The Infinite Quest. The Chase also saw fictional characters making appearances; while they are robotic duplicates in this story, similar appearances would occur throughout the programme's history. It also saw the program's take on the mystery of the Mary Celeste, a story that would be contradicted by other in-universe media. Later, the story Carnival of Monsters would feature a mysterious ship, albeit a fictional one.

Synopsis

The travellers learn from the Time-Space Visualiser taken from the Moroks' museum that Daleks equipped with their own time machine are on their trail with orders to exterminate them. They flee in the TARDIS.

The chase begins on the desert planet Aridius and takes in a number of stopping-off points, including a spooky haunted house which is actually a futuristic fun-fair attraction.

Eventually both time machines arrive on the jungle planet Mechanus, where the Daleks try to infiltrate and kill the Doctor's party with a robotic double of him. The travellers are taken prisoner by the Mechonoids - robots sent some fifty years earlier to prepare landing sites for human colonists who never arrived - and meet Steven Taylor, a stranded astronaut who has been the Mechonoids' captive for the past two years.

The Daleks and the Mechonoids engage in a fierce battle which ends in their mutual destruction. The Doctor's party seizes this opportunity to escape. The Doctor reluctantly helps Ian and Barbara to use the Daleks' time machine to return home.

Plot

The Executioners (1)

As the Daleks place the Doctor's position in time and space there is a period of malaise for the Doctor and his companions. The Doctor is spending all his time fixing the Time-Space Visualiser, Barbara is making a dress, Ian is reading, and Vicki is at something of a loose end. Eventually this peace is broken by an ear-splitting shriek from the Time and Space Visualiser. The Doctor explains to his companions that the machine is something like a Time Television, which allows you to see any event that has happened in the past. They each choose an event to witness: Ian picks Abraham Lincoln giving his Gettysburg Address, Barbara elects to look into Elizabeth I's court and sees the genesis of William Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and Hamlet; and Vicki sees the Beatles performing "Ticket to Ride", but is surprised that they should play "classical music". This experimentation is interrupted when the TARDIS begins to materialise. The four travellers find themselves on an arid and desolate planet which possesses two suns that move quickly across the firmament. The Doctor suggests that days and nights must be very short here. Ian and Vicki head into the desert wilderness, the former entrusted with the "TARDIS magnet" in case they should get lost. Vicki investigates some formations in the shape of humans similar to seaweed, which Ian knows is impossible. They find a trail of what appears to be blood in the sand, which Vicki runs off to follow. As they move off, they do not notice a tentacle rise up from the sand where they were.

 
Daleks on the Time-Space Visualiser reveal their evil intent to chase the TARDIS

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Barbara sunbathe. Barbara is distracted by the sound of the Visualiser, which has not been shut off. She sees a "broadcast" of the Daleks preparing a report. The Doctor enters and hears to his horror the Daleks' plan to follow "the enemy time machine" (the TARDIS) to the Sagarro Desert on the planet Aridius which is where the Doctor has found himself. The Dalek assassins plan to use their time machine, find the Doctor and his companions, and exterminate them due to the fact that the Doctor is the only person that stands in the way of their ambitions to take over Earth. The Doctor and Barbara watch a group of Daleks embark into the machine and dematerialise. The Doctor informs Barbara that these events must have happened in the past for the Time and Space visualiser to be able to show it which means that the Daleks are already on their way. The Doctor and Barbara agree they need to find Ian and Vicki and leave the planet immediately.

 
Barbara and the Doctor lost in the hostile Aridian desert

Tiring from their walk, Ian and Vicki take a rest as the "blood" trail ends; by this time night has fallen very quickly. They find a large metal ring. At first, Vicki is reluctant to disturb it for fear of what might happen (due in no small part to a myth from her childhood wherein pulling a ring in a field would lead to a drawbridge on a mysterious castle to open). However, they decide they should pull it loose. At first, nothing happens and they prepare to leave, but an ancient trap door creaks open in the sand. They enter the newly-opened cavern to have a look. Once inside, the door closes behind them - they are trapped - and another tentacle looms out of the darkness. As they turn they see a mysterious figure looming in the darkness.

The Doctor and Barbara have had no luck finding their friends, night has fallen, and the wind has begun to pick up, covering all tracks, including their own. They decide to return to the TARDIS, not entirely certain of the direction. A sandstorm breaks out, and the Doctor and Barbara fall to the ground. When the suns come back up again they look around for the TARDIS but to no avail. They speculate that it has been covered in sand. They are about to leave when they see a Dalek, buried by the sandstorm, emerging from the sand.

The Death of Time (2)

 
The Daleks' Aridian slaves work to open the Doctor's TARDIS

As Barbara and the Doctor duck out of the way two more Daleks appear, but cannot find the time travellers. As the two Daleks leave to look for the time travellers the Doctor and Barbara get up to go. As they mount the crest they have been hiding under, they are faced by a group of bipedal lizard-like creatures.

Meanwhile under the surface of Aridius, Ian and Vicki escape the oncoming horde of lizard-like creatures that pursue them through the labyrinthine passage ways - often having to attack the creatures with rocks in order to escape their clutches.

Back on the surface the creatures introduce themselves as Aridians. They explain that the whole of Aridius used to be under water but as the two suns got closer to the planet the water evapourated leaving only the Aridians and the Mire Beasts. The Aridians explain that the Mire Beasts have taken over the Aridians' underground cities and left them to die out in the harsh sunlight. When the Doctor deduces that Ian and Vicki must be in the subterranean Aridian cities, the Aridians state that they cannot go there as the Aridians are launching an assault on the Mire Beasts blowing up some of their underground strongholds. The Doctor and Barbara are insistent, so the Aridians try to get them to the entrance before the explosion. Unfortunately they do not make it in time.

The explosion proves a mixed blessing for Vicki and Ian. Just as the explosion resonates throughout the tunnels Vicki is grabbed by a Mire Beast. The beast is instantly killed by the explosion but a rock lands on Ian's head knocking him unconscious. Vicki goes to find the Doctor, leaving Ian prone in the tunnel network.

The Daleks search for the time travellers, killing or enslaving any Aridians that get in their way. They use a horde of Aridian slaves to dig out the TARDIS which they have located using a seismic resonator. Once they have released the TARDIS, the Daleks kill the Aridian work force and guard the machine, waiting for the Doctor to return to his ship.

Meanwhile the Doctor and Barbara are being protected from the Daleks in one of the Aridian subterranean strongholds, but one of the Aridians comes to the Doctor to inform him that the Daleks have made contact with them and have vowed that they will stop the killing of their people if they hand over the Doctor. The Aridians tell the Doctor they can stall for two hours but will then have to hand him over.

In another part of the cave system Vicki searches for a way out. She finds an opening and clambers through it only to see the Dalek guarding the TARDIS. She soon meets up with the Doctor to inform him of this fact. No sooner has she done this but the Aridians come to hand the Doctor over to the Daleks. At this moment a Mire Creature breaks through a walled off section of the cave and seizes one of the Aridians. The trio of travellers use this opportunity to escape. Vicki leads the Doctor and Barbara back to Ian who is now conscious. He too has located the TARDIS but has come up with a plan as to how to get to it. He covers a hole with Barbara's cardigan and the Doctor's jacket. The travellers then tempt the guard Dalek towards them by calling and hiding. The Dalek falls down the hole into the Aridian cave network. The Doctor and his companions rush into the TARDIS just as the Daleks fire at them. As the TARDIS dematerialises, the Daleks vow to follow their enemy across eternity in order to destroy him.

Flight Through Eternity (3)

The Doctor and his companions celebrate getting the better of the Daleks and set off for their next destination. Their celebrations are short-lived when they discover that they are being pursued by another time machine.

The Daleks on their machine have managed to track the Doctor's TARDIS and can follow him wherever in time and space he may be, however, to the Doctor's advantage the Daleks are fifteen minutes behind the TARDIS.

Back on the TARDIS the Doctor notices that the TARDIS is landing. He checks the scanners and discovers that they are in New York City.

Atop the Empire State Building a group of sightseers are being informed of the scenic panorama of New York when a young man from Alabama, Morton Dill, becomes separated from the group. Whilst his back is turned the TARDIS materialises. He informs Barbara and Vicki that the year is 1966 on their emergence from the TARDIS. When the Doctor and Ian also come out of the TARDIS he assumes that the police box is part of a film set and assumes that the travellers are actors. As he goes to fetch his camera to take a photo the companions re-enter the TARDIS and dematerialise. No sooner have the Doctor and his companions left then the Dalek time machine materialises. Morton takes the Daleks to also be props from the film and interacts with them very brazenly. He informs the Daleks that the other machine has just left. As he goes to take a photo again the Dalek time machine disappears. Eager to discover the mystery of the 'film set' Morton looks for a trap door in the floor only to be discovered grovelling on the floor by a suspicious tour guide who hurries away to fetch a police man.

In the TARDIS the Doctor is making allowances for what will happen if the Daleks were to catch up with them. He begins to tinker with a machine that Ian and Barbara bring to him when the ship starts to materialise again. Ian and Barbara go out to explore and find themselves on an old sailing ship. Barbara is fascinated by sea travel and goes to look around, Ian, feeling queasy, returns to the TARDIS. Whilst Barbara looks around she is discovered by a sailor who takes her to be a stowaway. He accosts her and refuses to let her go. Luckily Vicki leaves the TARDIS and sees Barbara in distress. She sneaks up on the sailor and knocks him unconscious. By this time the Doctor has readied the TARDIS to carry on and Ian is sent to collect the girls. As Ian approaches, Barbara warns Vicki another sailor is coming. As Ian rounds the corner Vicki knocks him unconscious too. Feeling guilty the two girls take Ian back to the ship which dematerialises just in time for the sailor to come to and witness the disappearance of the ship. The sailor alerts the rest of the crew that there is a stowaway on the ship and they fan out to find her. As they search for Barbara the Dalek ship lands. The sight of the Daleks combined with the fact that they are desperately seeking information from the crew sees the terrified sailors jump ship. The Daleks discover that the travellers have left and return to their craft in pursuit of the Doctor, leaving the ship silent and empty. It is the legendary Mary Celeste.

Back in the TARDIS the Doctor breaks the news to his companions that the gap between the TARDIS and the Dalek ship has lessened to eight minutes and that with every stop the Daleks get closer and closer to catching them.

Journey into Terror (4)

The TARDIS lands in a mysterious old house. Each traveller is scared by the creepy appearance of the house but tries to hide it from the others. The Doctor and Ian go upstairs to explore while Barbara and Vicki remain downstairs. As they explore they notice that the fireplace has eyes that follow them around the room, and there are bats that mysteriously fly down from the rafters and skeletons that drop from the ceiling.

Upstairs the Doctor and Ian are making similar discoveries. The Doctor stumbles upon a laboratory and, as he explores, Frankenstein's Monster rises up from the slab as if to grab at the Doctor and Ian. The Doctor runs away in terror followed by Ian. As they retreat the Monster quietly returns to his slab.

A similar apparition appears to Barbara and Vicki downstairs also. As they are exploring, a vampire appears to them and introduces himself as Dracula before disappearing again. Barbara investigates the patch of wall that Dracula appeared from to find out how it might have been achieved, but when she turns back Vicki has disappeared. A woman from the upper balcony of the house screams at Barbara and as Barbara backs up in shock the wall rotates taking her with it.

Upstairs the Doctor has rationalised where they have landed. He speculates that the house and its contents are so much like what one would expect from a creepy house that they have landed within a world of dreams - where terrors and thoughts have been magnified into a tangible place. Ian asks whether this means that the Daleks cannot chase them here, to which the Doctor agrees due to the fact that they are safe from time and space as they reside in the psyche. This gives them new hope, but as they return downstairs they find Barbara and Vicki have disappeared. They go back upstairs to look for them.

However the Doctor is wrong. The Daleks have zoned in on the Doctor's whereabouts and are preperaring to materialise. They state that he is still on Earth and has just changed the year and the geographical location. The Daleks materialise in the house.

The Doctor and Ian cannot find Barbara and Vicki anywhere and, in their desperation, they go back into the room with Frankenstein's Monster. As they go down into the room they are met with the dual terrors of the approaching monster coupled with the arrival of a Dalek. Thinking quickly Ian traps the Dalek in a cage in the laboratory, and the Doctor and he escape. With the two men gone the monster continues to approach the Dalek who tries to exterminate him, only for the monster to be immune from the Dalek's weaponry. The monster opens the cage and destroys the Dalek, immune to the fact that it insists that it is indestructible.

As the Doctor and Ian return downstairs they discover Barbara and Vicki who have reunited. The travellers' joy is short-lived when a group of three Daleks corner them. When it looks like the travellers have no chances left Dracula reappears and distracts the Dalek that was about to kill them. The travellers run for the TARDIS. As they do Frankenstein's Monster reappears and begins to destroy the Daleks. Marvelling at this for a split second, Vicki does not make it into the TARDIS. Unsure of what to do and panicking she sneaks into the Daleks' time machine.

In the TARDIS the Doctor and Ian tinker with the weapon they plan to use on the Daleks whilst they discuss the planet they have just been on. The Doctor speculates that they shall never know quite when it was. As they talk we discover that they were actually in an advanced form of a haunted house from the Festival of Ghana in 1996. It is only when Barbara joins them that they realise that Vicki has been left behind.

On the Dalek time machine, the Daleks further track the Doctor's progress through time and space - they state he is headed towards the planet Mechanus. It is also revealed that the Daleks have a secret plan. The Daleks have been building a machine that they refer to as a "reproducer" and they plan to "reproduce" the Doctor. As the Daleks disperse Vicki emerges from her hiding place. She tries to contact the TARDIS using some radio equipment that she discovers, but it doesn't work. Curious as to how the reproducer works she sneaks up to it and is shocked when she sees what appears to be the Doctor standing inside the machine.

Back on the TARDIS the Doctor is blaming himself for the disappearance of Vicki but states that there is nothing that he can do about it due to the fact that the TARDIS cannot interrupt its own timestream and visit the same place twice even if the time mechanism allowed them to pinpoint where they could go. Eventually Ian hatches a plan. If they were to seize the Daleks' time machine, they could use that to return and rescue Vicki. The Doctor agrees and states that the next place they land will be the area of the inevitable battle that must take place. When they land they discover that they are on a largely swampy planet with dense undergrowth. They decide to go and explore so as to best use their time to destroy the Daleks.

As the Daleks approach Mechanus the Daleks decide to animate the robot. They power up the reproduction machine and the simulated version of the Doctor comes to life. The Daleks ask the simulated version of the Doctor whether it knows its mission. The robot responds with, "To infiltrate and kill."

The Death of Doctor Who (5)

 
The TARDIS trio get surrounded by fungoids in the Mechanus jungle

The Doctor, Ian and Barbara are exploring the planet Mechanus. They soon discover that the dense undergrowth of the planet is made up of living fungoids that are constantly trying to attack them. They are soon cornered by the fungoids and as it looks like they might finish off second some lights flash on which cause the fungoids to vanish away. Ian investigates the lights and discovers they form a corridor through the jungle. The travellers follow the pathway.

Meanwhile the Daleks have landed on Mechanus and have fanned out in search of the Doctor, not before releasing their deadly doppelganger to "infiltrate, divide and kill." Vicki leaves the Dalek time machine and attempts to seek out the Doctor.

As the Doctor, Ian and Barbara make their way through Mechanus they are being stalked by the robot Doctor who never lets them far out of its sight. They soon reach the end of the corridor of lights and find themselves in a cave. Unsure as to why the complex system of lights leads to such an innocuous locale, they begin to look around, hoping they will either discover the significance of the cave or find a way of turning off the lights so as to allow the fungoids to kill the Daleks. In their exploration, they discover a weapon for keeping the fungoids at bay. Barbara is confident that, with the combination of their newly-found weapon and the bomb that the Doctor has been working on, the Daleks are done for. The Doctor warns her that the bomb can't be used under cover so they'll need to think of another tactic.

Meanwhile Vicki, in a desperate search for the Doctor, finds herself almost being crushed by one of the fungoids. She screams out, which alerts the Doctor and Ian who rush out to rescue her. The robot Doctor uses this to swoop in and take advantage of Barbara's isolation. The robot Doctor informs Barbara that Ian has been killed by the fungoids, and that he needs her help out in the jungle. Confused and worried she complies.

The Doctor and Ian find Vicki who has fainted from the shock of her near escape with the fungoids. Ian deduces that she must have hitched a ride with the Daleks in order to catch up with her friends. They carry her back to the cave and discover Barbara missing. Ian goes back out to look for her. Whilst Ian is gone, Vicki regains consciousness but, on seeing the Doctor, reacts wildly, suspecting him to be the robot version. When Ian returns, she calms down and apologises to the Doctor before explaining about the robot clone and his plans to kill them. Ian deduces that this is why Barbara must have left the cave. The three friends go out and look for her in a panic.

As they walk through the jungle Barbara hears Ian calling her name. This leads to the robot Doctor attacking her. It knocks her to the ground before Ian arrives and fights the robot off her. Ian explains the situation to a confused Barbara. Ian and Barbara meet up with Vicki - the humans are then shocked by the appearance of two Doctors, each of whom tries to convince them that he is the true Doctor. Ian makes his mind up and attacks one of the Doctors. They grapple wildly whilst the other Doctor gives Ian tips on how to finish off his adversary. However, the Doctor with Vicki and Barbara slips up and calls Vicki "Susan," revealing himself to be the robot. Barbara informs Ian that he has the wrong version, and the four unite in battle against the robot. Eventually the robot Doctor is pushed off a cliff leaving the real Doctor victorious. An exhausted Doctor and his companions return to the cave where they sleep. Little do they know, whilst they sleep, a camera falls from the roof of the cave and observes their slumber.

Meanwhile, the Daleks have seized the Doctor's TARDIS and intend on keeping it hostage as an insurance policy for them not killing him. They head off to the area they suspect the Doctor to be in.

Come morning, the travellers are shocked to see a large city risen up across the jungle that they missed due to last night's darkness. They leave to investigate it. They have not gone far when they spy some Daleks heading right for them. The travellers run back into the cave and suggest ways of escaping their certain doom. Ian suggests that the Doctor try to convince the Daleks that he is the robot version, but Vicki and Barbara say that this is too risky. Ignoring their advice, the Doctor sneaks away in order to try this plan. However it is unsuccessful, and the Daleks try to exterminate the Doctor. He dives back in the cave as the Daleks make directly towards them. In their panic they try to find somewhere in the cave where they can hide. They are shocked when one of the walls slides back to reveal a large multi-sided robot that bids them enter. The travellers have no choice but to accompany the robot.

The Planet of Decision (6)

 
The Daleks and Mechonoids fighting

As the travellers escape into the lift, the Daleks enter the cave and find that their enemies have disappeared. They soon discover that they disappeared behind the hollow wall and begin the process of opening the lift door.

Inside the lift, the Doctor tries to get information from the machine as to where they are going; however, it gives them none. The lift soon opens its doors and the travellers find themselves in the Mechonoid City. They are led to a large room, and the door behind them is closed and locked. Once in the room, they discover a dishevelled human survivor named Steven Taylor, an astronaut from Earth who crash-landed on the planet two years earlier and has been kept as a prisoner by the Mechonoids. In his period of solitary confinement, he appears to have gone slightly mad with only his "mascot" Hi-Fi, a small stuffed panda, for company. He explains to them that many years ago humans began a process of colonising the planet and that the robots were originally devised to clear the area. However, Earth got caught up in an interplanetary war and the planet was forgotten. Ever since the crash, he has been held captive by the robots because he did not know the proper computer access codes that would identify him as one of the now never coming colonists; they keep him in this room as a kind of experiment.

Steven shows his guests round his cell, and takes the Doctor and Ian to the top of the roof. When questioned as to why he has never escaped using the roof, he states that it is too high to survive the drop. He also shares an experience whereby he escaped once before and was nearly killed by the fungoids; he was soon recaptured by the Mechonoids and returned to his cell. Ian and the Doctor examine the roof and find a large drum with cabling wrapped round it, deciding that this could be used as a way of scaling the roof of the building. Steven states that he has tried this before, but wasn't strong enough to pull the wire on his own, though it could work with all five of them. The Doctor is doubtful, and goes to talk it through with the girls, However, his decision is made for him when the window onto the corridor is opened and the sight of a Dalek exterminating a Mechonoid is revealed. The humans all run up to the roof to escape; however, just before scaling to the roof, the Doctor leaves his device on the floor of the cell. As the Doctor escapes, two Daleks enter the room. Seeing that the humans have escaped to the roof, more Daleks are ordered to cut them off. One of the Daleks knocks the Doctor's weapon, which explodes instantly, immobilising the two Daleks and setting the building on fire.

Atop the city, Ian and Steven are preparing the wire. However, Vicki is unsure as to whether she can do it due to her fear of heights. This phobia is so debilitating that at one point she faints. Much against her protests, she is blindfolded and tied to the wire whereby she is lowered down the side of the building. The smoke from the building begins to billow up out of the gap in the roof. Seeing this, Steven drops the wire in order to go back and save Hi-Fi. This causes Vicki to drop wildly until Ian and the Doctor catch the wire.

Steven scales back down into the cell and begins to make his way through the building amidst a full out-and-out battle between the Daleks and the Mechonoids that seems fairly evenly pitted.

Outside, the four travellers have all made it down the side of the building. They are unsure as to what to do about Steven when the cable starts to burn, leaving Steven trapped. As they flee back to the TARDIS, the city is consumed by flames and collapses. Steven, however, has survived the city's destruction and is stumbling around the forest, avoiding fungoids and looking for the Doctor.

En route to the TARDIS, the companions and the Doctor stumble across the Dalek time machine. They are reticent to explore, but Ian lightens the mood by imitating a Dalek. Vicki shows the Doctor round the machine while Ian and Barbara come to the realisation that the machine is fully functioning and could return them home. They rush in to explain this to the Doctor. The Doctor is initially flabbergasted at the humans' stupidity, refusing to even contemplate the idea due to it's dangers. Vicki, however, convinces the Doctor that it is only fair to allow them to try if they know the risks that they are undertaking. Reluctantly, the Doctor leads them back into the machine to explain what they need to do.

 
Ian and Barbara find a real police box back home in 1965's London

Later on that day the Doctor and Vicki watch on as the Dalek ship dematerialises.

The Dalek time machine materialises in a disused garage in London, 1965, where Ian and Barbara activate the ship's auto-destruct mechanism on leaving, as the Doctor had instructed them to do. Ian and Barbara, while sad at having to leave the Doctor, enjoy being back at home again and go sight seeing where they visit Trafalgar Square, the Embankment and even encounter a police box; however, this time it's a real one.

Ian and Barbara then catch a bus, where they discover that the fares have gone up during their absence. The bus conductor asks whether they've been on the Moon, and can't understand it when the pair start laughing at this comment.

Back on the TARDIS, the Doctor and Vicki witness a conversation between Ian and Barbara on the Time-Space Visualiser, with a mixture of joy at their safe arrival and sadness for having lost them. The two depart in the TARDIS.

Cast

Crew

References

Books

Daleks

  • The robots in the funfair are impervious to Dalek firepower.
  • This is the first example of the Daleks having time travel.
  • This is the first use of the Dalek using replicant technology.
  • The Daleks appear to be under the impression that the Doctor is from Earth, as they refer to "the Earth time machine" in "Flight Through Eternity", and in "The Death of Time", the Supreme instructs his comrades to "find the humans."

Locations

TARDIS

  • The first reference is made to the time rotor.
  • The Doctor uses the time path indicator.
  • The Doctor explains to the others it takes twelve minutes for the TARDIS's flight computer to re-orientate itself and 'gather power', thus limiting the speed with which they can make each new jump.
  • The Doctor references a scanner that has been in the TARDIS "since I constructed it". The "it", however, isn't very specific. It could be that the Doctor is referencing that the scanner has been in the TARDIS since he built the scanner, or he could be implying that he actually built the TARDIS, although later stories would appear to contradict this.

Story notes

  • All episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings.
  • Negative film prints were recovered for all episodes in 1978.
  • This story went under the working title The Pursuers.
  • The story was commissioned at late notice when another of Terry Nation's stories fell through. It is believed that the slot was originally to be filled by his planned historical The Red Fort.
  • The scenes in episode 6 with Ian and Barbara celebrating their return to London were made as part of the production block for The Time Meddler and the director for these is consequently Douglas Camfield.
  • This is one of the few Dalek stories to incorporate humour. Examples include: a stammering Dalek who cannot do simple mental arithmetic (in the first two episodes); Daleks nodding their eyestalks to confirm a plan (in the fifth episode); and Daleks showing a trait for deviating from the subject at hand (during their deliberations in the first episode).
  • Morton Dill, the young man from Alabama whom the travellers meet at the top of the Empire State Building, was played by Peter Purves, who appeared in the last episode as Steven Taylor.
  • The story also features the Beatles in a film clip. Ironically, considering the number of lost Doctor Who episodes, the Beatles performance from which this clip was taken now only survives in this story. (In a double irony, the scene has once again been 'lost' as licensing restrictions forced it to be edited out of the Region 1 DVD release.)
  • The Beatles were originally planned to appear as old men performing in the 21st century but this proposal was vetoed by their manager Brian Epstein.
  • This story includes the joke that, in the future, contemporary pop musicians such as the Beatles would be considered classical music. This joke was repeated in the series 40 years later in The End of the World. While not contemporary at the time of airing, the Beatles are once again referred to as "classical" in the story 42.
  • The Daleks are particularly poetic in this story: Dalek - "Advance and attack! Attack and destroy! Destroy and rejoice!"
  • This is the final television story featuring Ian and Barbara.
  • This is the first appearance of Steven Taylor. Actor Peter Purves became the first actor to play two completely different roles (without the use of heavy makeup or prosthetics) in the same story. He also became the first actor to appear in a guest-starring capacity before being offered a regular role. This next occurred when Ian Marter appeared in Carnival of Monsters two years before joining the series as a different character, Harry Sullivan, in Robot. This occurred in the revived series with Freema Agyeman and Karen Gillan, who both played minor characters before going on to play Martha Jones and Amy Pond, respectively. The fact that Purves played two different roles, one to become ongoing within the same story, however, remains a unique circumstance.
  • The Chase was earmarked to form the basis for a third "Dr. Who" film starring Peter Cushing, to follow Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., but the film was never made.
  • Episode 5 carries the title "The Death of Doctor Who"; this is one of only two occasions in which the technically incorrect name "Doctor Who" is used in an on-screen title (the other occasion being the seven episodes of Doctor Who and the Silurians in 1970).
  • During rehearsal the three fungoid costumes were given nicknames to avoid confusion: Fungoid Fred, Toadstool Taffy and Mushroom Malone. [1]
  • The three main pillars of the Mechanus forest set were referred to in the script as the "Gubbage Canes".[1]
  • A later novel, EDA: Interference - Book One, would establish that the Dracula and Frankenstein robots were built by Microsoft, although the company wasn't established until a full ten years after The Chase was broadcast.
  • Episode six features the first use of the Dalek battle cry of "Exterminate!" (Previously, The Daleks mentioned the term "extermination", and in The Dalek Invasion of Earth, the Supreme Dalek ordered his subordinates to "exterminate" Ian, but this is the first time the word is used as a singular exclamation.)
  • In DWM, The Chase was voted the readers' least favourite Dalek story. [additional sources needed]
  • The episode "Flight Through Eternity" contains a rather morbid first (remembering that Doctor Who was originally considered a children's program and still is marketed towards children as of 2011): the first depiction of the death of a child. This refers to the baby being carried by the woman who jumps off the Mary Celeste (and, though no deaths occur on-screen, history records that the passengers of the vessel were never found).
  • This was the second serial to consist of several mini-adventures linked by an overall story arc. The first was DW: The Keys of Marinus, also written by Terry Nation.
  • This story also shares a trait with DW: The Keys of Marinus in as much as it features a planet replete with sentient flora.
  • The Frankenstein Monster's makeup is based upon the original design created by Jack Pierce for the original Boris Karloff films.
  • The Dalek dialogue from the battle scenes in Episode 6 is reused from Episode 1's scene of the Dalek Supreme sending the Executioners.
  • In November 1986, it was hoped the story could be repeated as part of TV 50, a celebration of fifty years at the BBC, but because of contractual problems this much-hoped-for repeat screening did not happen. However, Doctor Who was well-represented with a wide selection of clips from various adventures which was shown during the main TV 50 documentary.
  • Hugh Walters (William Shakespeare) would later play Runcible in DW: The Deadly Assassin, Vogel in DW: Revelation of the Daleks and Roderick Allingham in BFA: The Fearmonger.

Ratings

  • "The Executioners" - 10 million viewers
  • "The Death of Time" - 9.5 million viewers
  • "Flight Through Eternity" - 9.0 million viewers
  • "Journey into Terror" - 9.5 million viewers
  • "The Death of Doctor Who" - 9.0 million viewers
  • "The Planet of Decision" - 9.5 million viewers

Myths

  • The scene showing Ian and Barbara on the bus was shot on location. (The scene was actually shot at Ealing Studio with a back projection active behind the bus to give the impression of movement.)
  • A third Dalek film starring Peter Cushing, based on DW: The Chase and titled Daleks vs. Mechons, was filmed but subsequently lost in a fire. A trailer was discovered in the basement of a church in northern England in 2009. (The supposed "trailer" was fanmade, as the graphics were too advanced for circa 1967. Although a third film was planned as an adaptation of The Chase, it was shelved with no work done following the second movie's failure at the box office.)
  • One of the props in this story was converted from a movie Dalek. (It couldn't have been as the film was still being made at the time.)

Filming locations

to be added

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
  • At the beginning of "The Executioners", Ian seems to know the words to the Beatles' song, "Ticket to Ride". This would seem to be inconsistent, as he left England in 1963 and "Ticket" wasn't released until April 1965. While it's possible he learned the song at some point during his travels, this is inconsistent with a major plot point that Ian and Barbara have been away from present-day Earth for two years. Ian could have learned the lyrics from Vicki, who loves the Beatles.
  • Later in "The Executioners", Vicki and Ian cast shadows across the backdrop painted like a desert.
  • An Aridian can be seen getting up and sneaking off camera after being knocked over by Vicki in "The Death of Time". Perhaps he's running off to get help or tell the elders what's happened.
  • In "The Death of Time," when Ian discovers the TARDIS and its two Dalek guards, he ducks back down underground. He does not see the scene where one of the guards is pulled off to search, so he should be unaware that there is now only one Dalek guard when he meets his friends.
  • When the travellers are trying to lure the Daleks away from the TARDIS in "The Death of Time", there is poor continuity as the scene is set at night yet one shot shows a Dalek falling down in daylight. This has been altered for the DVD by Doctor Who Restoration Team by regrading the shot, however the production notes subtitles were not updated and reference the error.
  • At the beginning of "Flight Through Eternity" in the Dalek time machine two of the Daleks are missing their bases. These are "movie" Daleks with alterations made to more closely resemble the "TV" models.
  • In "Flight Through Eternity," Vicki is shown climbing on top of the ship's cabin to knock out the sailor and (accidentally) Ian. A few moments later the camera moves to reveal that she was in direct line of sight of the sailor manning the ship's wheel and should have been spotted.
  • When the Mary Celeste model is moving no water is displaced.
  • At the end of "Flight Through Eternity" a Dalek is clearly seen upstairs on the Mary Celeste, when at this stage of the Daleks' evolution, they were unable to negotiate stairs. While Ian appears to make this assumption in "Journey Into Terror", the Dalek levitating out of the sand in "The Executioners" demonstrates clearly that this is not true. Ian did not observe this, however, the Doctor agreeing with him is incongruous as he did observe the Dalek levitating.
  • As the TARDIS lands at the beginning of "Journey Into Terror," a candelabra moves a few feet to the left.
  • The string controlling the bat that lands on the stairway railing is very obvious. But as the bat is fake within the storyline in any case, it suffices that the string may be less obvious to the characters than it is to the TARDIS crew.
  • As Ian and the Doctor descend the stairs where Frankenstein lies, a camera and operator can be seen clearly in shot at the top of the stairs.
  • One of the Daleks can be seen in Frankenstein's lab before they have supposedly arrived. Vicki can also be heard talking in the background just before the scene ends.
  • Frankenstein's Monster has no jacket in one scene, then has a jacket in the next scene.
  • Whilst moving across the screen in "Journey Into Terror," a countdown is projected across one of the Daleks as it trundles "behind" the display. This has been corrected on the remastered DVD release.
  • In long-distance shots, the Daleks' "exact duplicate" of the Doctor actually looks very little like him. Up close, William Hartnell plays the duplicate as well, but at the end of "Journey into Terror" the camera cuts to a closeup of Hartnell delivering the final line of the episode, with a completely different background than that in the previous shot. Also, the robot double's lip movement is not at all in sync with the pre-recorded Hartnell dialogue. This could be passed off with the fact that it is a robot trying to fabricate speech poorly.

Continuity

Timeline

Home video and audio releases

VHS releases

This story was initially released to VHS video as part of The Daleks Box Set, alongside DW: Remembrance of the Daleks. In both the United States and United Kingdom, The Chase was never sold separately from Remembrance.

  • UK cover for The Chase alone

  • US cover for the boxed set

UK Release: September 1993 / US Release: October 1993
PAL - BBC Video BBCV5005 (2 tapes)
NTSC - CBS/FOX Video 4795 (2 tapes)
NTSC - Warner Video E1145 (2 tapes)

DVD releases

  • UK DVD 2010 Cover

  • UK DVD 2010 Boxset

  • AUS DVD Box Set

This story was first released on DVD in the UK on 1 March 2010 as part of a boxset with The Space Museum. The two disc set includes a restored version of the story, as well as the following special features:

  • Editing for the DVD release was completed by the Doctor Who Restoration Team.
  • Due to the licensing issues surrounding the Beatles song, it has been announced that non-European (Region 2) releases of The Chase will be edited to remove the scene.

Audio releases

April 1966 saw the release of "The Planet of Decision" (episode six) as a 7" mini album by Century 21 Records and Pye Records as part of their "21 Minutes of Adventure" series. Some editing was done and linking narration was provided by the Dalek voice actor, David Graham. This was the first Doctor Who audio release of either an existing or original story, predating both Doctor Who and the Pescatons and the LP release of Genesis of the Daleks by a little over a decade.

  • The Century 21 release

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Howe, David J., Stammers, Mark, Walker, Stephen James, 1992, Doctor Who: The Sixties, Doctor Who Books, an imprint of Virgin Publishing Ltd, London, p.44


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