The Spare-Part People (unproduced TV story)
The Spare-Part People was an seven-part unproduced TV story written by Jon Pertwee and Reed De Rouen for Season 8. It was also known as The Brain Drain and The Labyrinth.
The story was submitted in the summer of 1970,[1] but it was rejected after the production team decided they wanted the Master to feature in every story of that season. Rouen was attached to the original version and stepped down from the project when it was rejected. Pertwee tried to rework it but ultimately abandoned the script.
Synopsis[[edit] | [edit source]]
There were several versions of the script with slight variations. In the first version, the Doctor investigates a series of disappearances at Cambridge University. This leads him to Antarctica, where he discovers a crew of dying aliens who have been replacing their own body parts with human limbs and organs. In this version, the Doctor would have faced a monster made from discarded body parts in a subterranean labyrinth constructed by the aliens.
In Pertwee's attempt at a second draft, the Doctor is drawn to Antarctica whilst searching for the Master, now stranded on Earth. This version of the script indicated that the Master was summoned to Earth by the alien crew, who hoped he would distract the Doctor and prevent their discovery. It also alluded to some familial connection between the Doctor and the Master.
Both drafts of the story contained a similar ending, as the Doctor uses an artificial bacteria to make the alien crew allergic to human DNA and forces them to leave Earth.
