The Space Museum (TV story)

The Space Museum was the seventh story in the second season of Doctor Who. It was the first story to deal with the dimensions of time as well as space. While it presented many original science fiction elements, it still retained the elements of a typical story of the era.

The story's cliff-hanger also presented fans with a preview somewhat of the Daleks' third appearance. Their return was awaited impatiently, a fact that was baited by the appearance of a Dalek shell in part one. This shell was the final appearance of the original Dalek design. The Daleks at the end of The Final Phase do not have the metal band of their predecessors.

Synopsis

The TARDIS jumps a time track and the travellers arrive on the planet Xeros. There they discover their own future selves displayed as exhibits in a museum established as a monument to the galactic conquests of the warlike Morok invaders who now rule the planet. When time shifts back to normal, they realise that they must do everything they can to try to avert this potential future.

Vicki helps the native Xerons to obtain arms and thereby to revolt against the Moroks. The revolution succeeds and the travellers go on their way, confident that the future has been changed.

Plot

The Space Museum (1)

The Doctor examines the TARDIS exhibit.

The occupants of the TARDIS find themselves materialising on a planet replete with many different specimens of space technology. The Doctor states that they landed far quicker than he ever has before. Ian and Barbara discover that they seem to have switched clothes since just before they landed as previously they had been in their crusade clothes of the twelfth century. Whilst this concerns his companions, the Doctor explains this away as being merely "time and relativity" and states that their old clothes will be hanging up in the wardrobe. Vicki confirms this is the case. Following the Doctor's orders she also fetches a glass of water from the food machine As she does so she is startled by something that cause her to drop the drink. To her suprise as the glass smashed on the floor it immediately reforms itself and leaps back into her hand. She reports this to the Doctor who states that all should be explained when they explore the planet, which he now postulates to be a museum due to the fact that the space craft are all lined up in chronological order.

Once they leave the TARDIS they discover that the planet is entirely extinct and has nothing living on it. Ian discovers that their footprints make no tracks in the dust. They head towards a large building in the middle of the spacecraft.

Once there they find the doors impenetrable, however they soon open to reveal two men. The travellers hide from the men, but as they pass Vicki sneezes loudly. To the travellers' surprise the two men do not appear to hear her. The Doctor says this is unexplainable but begins to explore the building. As they walk through the many corridors they are startled by a Dalek, which they soon discover is nothing more than a museum piece. As they discuss Daleks, a species that Vicki has only read about in books, they soon see two different men coming. They hide from them but are surprised to see that although they appear to be speaking to each other it remains inaudible to the travellers. Ian wonders if they speak at a different frequencey to humans. The Doctor doubts this but says that he has no other explanations at the moment.

As they continue to explore the museum Vicki discovers that they cannot physically touch any of the museum pieces on display and that their hands simply pass through them. The Doctor speculates that this may suggest that they are not actually where they think they are. Yet again they encounter three men who go about their business unaware of the presence of the travellers. This further confims the Doctor's theory.

They continue to explore the museum and are shocked to find the Doctor's TARDIS as a display in one of the rooms. Barbara, Ian, and Vicki, although confused as to how the ship came to be here, state that they think they should leave the planet. The Doctor soon proves this to be impossible due to the fact that the TARDIS also cannot be touched. The Doctor then points out a display case containing the bodies of the four travellers. He states that the TARDIS must have jumped a time track when they materalised meaning that they now temporarily occupy a fourth dimension. This enables them to be simultaneously in the cases in one reality as well as standing looking at themselves in the fourth dimension. The Doctor suggests that the only course of events is to wait at the museum until such time as they arrive in the real reality. He suggests that what they are seeing in front of them is merely a possibilty as to what may happen at some point in the future and that it can still be combatted. He notes that the versions of them in the display cases are wearing the same clothes as they are wearing now so it is only a matter of time before the two realities merge again. No sooner does he say this than Barbara notices a strange feeling. The reel of time seems to rewind and two men discover the TARIDS. At the same time as this occurs the display cases disappear leaving the Doctor to announce, "We have arrived."

The Dimensions of Time (2)

The Doctor emerges from hiding.

The curator of the museum, Lobos, receives news of the alien ship that has landed on the site of his planet. Whilst concerned he is also rather pleased to have the monotony of his day broken by an intruder. He orders his men to find the visitors before the rebels find them. However he is too late - a group of three rebels have already heard about the arrival of the travellers and intend on intercepting them before Lobos' men do in order to befriend them and overthrow the opressive rule that Lobos, who is a representative of the Moroks, has over them.

Meanwhile in the museum the travellers have liberated a gun from the exhibition in order to help them bluff their way out of the museum, The four friends have a discussion as to how best to avoid the future that they saw in the fourth dimension. It is suggested that they do the opposite of what they would normally do, but they decide to try to escape because if they escape then they will never be captured in the first place. They begin to navigate the labyrinthine corridors searching for escape. As they make their way through the corridors they are pursued by the rebels who decide that, so as not to startle the travellers, the best course of action will be to capture one of them in order to explain the situation that they find themselves in. It is not long before the opportunity shows itself. As the travellers walk through the corridors the Doctor is distracted by an exhibit and falls behind his friends. The rebels grab him and carry him away. The Doctor plays dead and the rebels decide to split up. One of the rebels, called Darko, elects to stay behind and watch the Doctor while the others go to track the rest of the travellers.

The remaining trio of travellers, now aware of the Doctor's disapperance, argue how best to continue in order to reunite themselves with the Doctor as well as save them from their possible future. They decide that it is best to push on for the exit.

By the time the two rebels return they discover that Darko has been tied up. They question him as to what happened but he has no memory after being knocked unconscious. They go to seek the Doctor who they assume escaped back into the museum, however he is hiding in the hollowed out shell of the Dalek. As he escapes he is accosted yet again, but this time by the Moroks.

Barbara, Ian, and Vicki, now tired and cranky, decide to use a piece of yarn to ensure that they are not crossing over the same paths. They destroy Barbara's cardigan in order to do this. Eventually they find the exit. As they pull back the doors they see that the TARDIS has been captured.

The Doctor finds himself in a room with nothing in it other than a chair. As he sits on it bars come across locking him in place. A wall slides up to reveal Lobos sitting in a chair. Lobos explains that the museum is a homage to the great history of the Moroks and that it remains silent due to the fact that the Moroks are now peace loving creatures. Lobos begins to question the Doctor as to who else he came here with. The Doctor refuses to disclose this information but Lobos somehow knows anyway. He explains that the chair that the Doctor sits in allows his thoughts to be transplanted into a video screen on his desk. When Lobos continues to question the Doctor he uses the strength of his brain to confuse and misdirect Lobos. Lobos tires of this and summons his guards to take the Doctor away to the preperation room where he will be turned into an exhibit.

The Search (3)

Ian confronts a Morok.

Barbara, Ian and Vicki look on as the Moroks decide to try and force their way into the TARDIS. One of the Morok soldiers is sent away to fetch cutting equipment. As the three humans discuss what they should do they are found by a member of the Morok army who holds them at gunpoint. The trio of humans discuss what they should do as the Morok gunman edges towards them. Ian decides that if they are to be put in the exhbition cases in the future the Morok soldiers must have been told not to kill them so the gun must be a deterrent instead of a threat. Ian calls the soldier's bluff and gets close enough to him to overpower him. The rest of the Moroks overhear the kerfuffle and rush to try and catch the travellers however in th ensuing panic the three humans escape in different directions. Barbara runs into a section of the museum to hide behind a stack of boxes. As the Morok's search the room she hides. The Moroks leave without seeing Barbara, however she discovers that they have locked the door, trapping her in place.

Meanwhile Vicki escapes from the Moroks another way and gets captured - however not by the Moroks but by the rebel faction. She is initially terrified of her captures, especially when she hears that they were th ones who captured the Doctor, however the rebels insist they wish her no harm. This is proved when they send one of their number, Darko, to find Barbara.

Ian elected to hide behind the TARDIS when escaping from the Morok onslaught. He overheards a conversation between a Morok guard and Lobos over instructions to guard the TARDIS while the rest of the army track down the "aliens." Using a stone to distract the guard, Ian overpowers him and holds him at gunpoint. He orders the guard to take him to where the Doctor is being held. The guard informs him that it will be too late for the Doctor but Ian still demands that he be taken.

Lobos is tired of the aggrivation that he is getting from high command what with the aliens running loose on his planet coupled with the every growing population of Xeron rebels on his base. He elects to flood his museum with Zaphra Gas. Zaphra Gas paralyses anyone that inhales it and would make all the Moroks enemies easy pickings.

Darko eventually finds the room where Barbara is being held but is on the point of being knocked unconcious by a terrified Barbara before he says her name which calms her down. Darko explains to Barbara that his race is called the Xerons. Thy are the original occupants of this planet but the war-loving Moroks took over their planet in order to establish their museum. The Moroks swept away the Xeron civilisation and killed all the Xeron people, except for the children that they kept on as slaves. These are the Zeron's that now live underground in the museum.The conversation is soon interupted by the Zaphra Gas that starts flooding into the room. Barbara and Darko try and escape before falling foul of the gases paralytic effects. Thy have not got far before Darko collapses.

Vicki is also being given a history lesson on Xeron history. The Xerons admit that whilst they are greater in number they do not have the artillery they desire that would enable them to overpower the Moroks. Vicki enquires if there is an armoury that they would be able to raid. The Xerons say that there is, howeverit is protected by a type of lock that is developed by a lie detector, unless you answer a series of questions truthfully then you are not allowed to enter. Vicki asks to be taken to this machine and the Xerons willingly oblige, happy to have a new member to their revolutionary force.

Meanwhile Ian and the Morok guard have arrived at the Preperation Room where the Doctor is being held. The guard suggest waiting until a less busy hour to enter. Ian agrees to this. They are soon interupted by Lobos. Ian hides while the two Moroks talk. Ian discovers that his friends have not yet been captured but also learns that there is gas to be used on them. They hide away until such a time as the Preperation Room may be more accessible to them.

Sita and Tor have arrived with Vicki at the armoury. Vicki listens to the string of questions that the complex telekinetic lock asks of the potential entrant. As soon as she has heard the full cycle of questions she lifts the front of the machine off and begins to tinker with the machines workings.After a short while she gets the machine to ask her the questions again. When asked what her name is she responds with "Vicki" and when asked what the guns are to be used for she responds "revolution." Much to the suprise of the Xerons the doors open. While the Xerons begin arming themselves Vicki explains that she wired the machine to accept any truthfull answer not just the ones that the Moroks were looking for.

Lobos is soon interupted by Ian, who has gained access to the Preperation Room. Ian holds Lobos at gun point and demands to see the Doctor. Lobos obliges stating that there is no point. As Lobos leads Ian to a room Ian stops in his tracks shocked at the state that he see's the Doctor in.

The Final Phase (4)

The Xerons take action.

Ian has meanwhile freed the Doctor from Lobos, who had begun the process of freezing him and turning him into an exhibit. They find Barbara and Vicki in the Museum’s endless corridors, but are soon all captured together. It looks like the time track prediction of their future as museum exhibits will soon be realised after all.

Help comes from the Xeron revolutionaries, who kill Lobos and the other Morok captors. The Xerons begin dismantling the hated Museum as the TARDIS crew slips away. They take with them a time/space visualiser as a souvenir.

On the planet Skaro, their departure is noted by the Daleks.

Cast

Crew

References

The Doctor claims he was with James Watt when he discovered steam power.
The Moroks used a paralytic called Zaphra gas during the creation of their Empire.
The museum has a Dalek in it. The sign claims it comes from Skaro, which would mean the Moroks had successfully landed there and taken trophies.
In the museum, the Doctor finds (and is given) the Time-Space Visualiser.
"Time, like space, although a dimension in itself, also has dimensions of its own." says Vicki.
The Doctor calls up an image of a Penny-farthing and African Buffalo.

Story notes

All episodes exist in 16mm telerecordings
Episode 3 was held in the BBC Film & TV Library when it was audited in 1978
Negative Film Prints of all 4 episodes have been found
A clearer print of episode 1 was returned to the BBC in 1981
The episodes of this story went by different titles during the production stage. Episode 1 was originally known as The Four Dimensions of Time and Episode 4 was originally known as Zone Seven.
William Hartnell does not appear in Episode 3.
Of all the William Hartnell stories with individual episode titles, this is the only one for which only one overall story title has ever been used. See also Disputed story titles.
Episode 1 begins with a brief reprise of The Crusade episode 4, which is currently the only surviving film footage of that episode
Features a guest appearance by Jeremy Bulloch who is better known for his appearance as Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi
Richard Shaw, who spoke with a Cockney accent, was cast as Governor Lobos, but was asked to deliver his lines with a BBC accent. His accent slips only once, when he bellows at an underling use "maximum securi'ee!" He later appeared as Cross in Frontier in Space with his own accent
The incidental music was all from stock recordings rather than being specially composed for the story
In a nice piece of internal continuity, William Russell starts gently banging his fists together as he leaves the TARDIS interior set and carries this through to the next scene, following a recording break, as he emerges from the police box onto the Xeros surface set; this gives the effect of a continuous piece of action, and helps maintain the illusion that the TARDIS interior really is inside the police box shell.
This was one of the stories selected to be shown as part of BSB's Doctor Who Weekend in September 1990.
In episode two a character refers to the Doctor's friends as his companions. This is one of the earliest, and possibly the very first time, that the Doctor's associates are referred to on screen as companions.
Episode 1 features a rare use (for the 1960s) of a filmed insert of an interior location, specifically a room in the TARDIS, due to the need to show a special effect (Vicki dropping a glass and the glass repairing itself) that at the time could not be rendered on videotape. The switch from video to film was rendered unnoticeable in the filmed recordings of the serial that were circulated after its UK broadcast and when the story was recovered in the 1980s, but is once again quite noticeable following the serial's vidFIRE remastering for DVD release in 2010.
The four episodes were produced at the same time the Dr. Who and the Daleks film was in production.

Ratings

The Space Museum - 10.5 million viewers
The Dimensions of Time - 9.2 million viewers
The Search - 8.5 million viewers
The Final Phase - 8.5 million viewers

Myths

This was a low budget due to the high cost of some of the other stories this season (The story had a similar budget and cost about the same to make as the other 4 part stories at the time)

Filming locations

Ealing Television Film Studios

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.

When they exit the TARDIS, the main characters cast shadows across the mountains in the distance.

Continuity

The Doctor manages to fix the Time/Space Visualiser in DW: The Chase and uses it again in BFA: The One Doctor.
The Faction Paradox use a similar device in EDA: The Ancestor Cell to show Fitz his future.
A device like the Time/Space Visualiser is seen in TN: Ghost Ship.
The TARDIS jumps its own time track again in PDA: Festival of Death and NSA: Prisoner of the Daleks, and the Doctor considers at first that this may have occurred in DW: Amy's Choice.
In NA: No Future it is revealed that the Monk was once an adviser to the Moroks.
The Doctor also visits a literal "space museum" in DW: The Seeds of Death and visits a similar museum in DW: Dalek.

Timeline

This story takes place after DW: The Crusade
This story takes place before PDA: The Eleventh Tiger

Home video and audio releases

DVD releases

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

Commentary by William Russell (Ian), Maureen O’Brien (Vicki), Glyn Jones (Writer) and Peter Purves (Moderator).
Defending the Museum
My Grandfather, the Doctor
A Holiday For The Doctor
Coming Soon Trailer
Radio Times Billings
Production Subtitles
Photo Gallery

Editing for DVD release completed by Doctor Who Restoration Team.

UK DVD 2010 Cover
UK DVD 2010 Boxset
AUS Box Set Cover

VHS releases

The Space Museum was released on VHS together with the surviving episodes of DW: The Crusade.

UK Release: July 1999 / US Release: January 2000

PAL - BBC Video BBCV6805

NTSC - CBS/FOX Video 2000020

NTSC - Warner Video E1399

Novelisation and its audiobook

Main article: The Space Museum (novelisation)

Novelised as The Space Museum by Glyn Jones in 1987.

External links

The Space Museum at the BBC's official site (with video clips}}
The Space Museum at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
The Space Museum at Shannon Sullivan's A Brief History of Time (Travel)
The Space Museum entry in Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film and Television