Doctor Who: The Daleks' Master Plan + Mission to the Unknown - REVIEW - Dalekcember

[@MrTARDIS]

Yes, this is the serial where the 1st Doctor complains about a place being "full of Arabs". It...it was a different time. Anyway, be sure to "like" the video, share it around and leave a comment to appease the almighty algorithm!.

[@ftumschk]

I love that line. I think it's the way Hartnell says "This is a MAADhouse" that really cracks me up.

[@benw4409]

Do we know if it was a flubbed line or actually in the script? Either way... O_O

[@ftumschk]

@@benw4409 It's in the script. Our heroes find themselves in an old-time Hollywood film studio where they're shooting a scene set in an Arab sheikh's tent.

[@davidbanan.]

cut ep 7, condence 5 and remove 1 episode else and u would have something better, remove alot of filler scene given they are not memorable or important and you'd have an absolute classic

[@scl1332]

That episode also features someone telling Sarah to take off her cloths. Could we just forget episode 7 ever happened?

[@MichaelHickerson]

Fan legend has it that Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner traded off writing some of the middle episodes and would leave each other with cliffhangers to see if and how the other writer would resolve it. I have to admit of the lost stories from the Hartnell era, this one intrigued me the most. I'd love to see more of it returned to the archives.

[@diegovargasdiego]

Too bad Feast of Steven is the only episode that is probably impossible to find. It was never sent overseas.

[@DarthAzabrush]

I think the Monk's appearance makes it clear for the first time just how far the Doctor is willing to go to defeat the Daleks. Not only is he willing to sacrifice one of his fellow Time Lords for a tiny tactical advantage but he's willing to do it to a schoolfriend who's unfortunate antics he partly blames himself for.

[@kiarash608]

"You make your incompetence sound like an achievement" Ouch

[@MrThorfan64]

Well, once we get Brexit done... its really Corbyns fault... we should collaborate with Trump.

[@GeriatricFan1963]

A) How is it Corbyn's fault? B) What does this have to do with 1960's Doctor Who?

[@MrThorfan64]

@@GeriatricFan1963 It was alluding to the incompetence of the current Govt., who try and brush off how bad theyve been managing things by Boris blaming Corbyn and going on about Brexit... while it collaborates with Fascism, in the form of Trump.

[@robertmcghintheorca49]

kiarash608 Why don't we have more burns like that?

[@SegaNintendoGuy64]

The last Dalek story of the Hartnell era.

[@thecoolgang1580]

Yes

[@scl1332]

Are we not gonna mention how we see Katrina’s corpse floating through space while eerie music plays? This story is hella dark and bleak and that’s not even mentioning the quite obvious Hiroshima parallels on Kembel at the end of the story damn damn damn

[@SegaNintendoGuy64]

David Graham who voiced the Daleks in the first three Dalek stories makes his final time doing such a thing, But it’s not the end of him on Dr Who.

[@IsaacWhittakerDakin]

I remember listening to this on audio for the first time in 2009 in full, totally worth it!

[@calumbrown9790]

The 'Mission to the Unknown' re-creation was AMAZING!!! I really hope they find 'The Dalek's Master Plan', because I want to see if director Douglas Camfield did any more incredible / imaginative camera work with the Dalek scenes...

[@MrThorfan64]

Alas, apparently one of them is the only one we can be really certain is missing, as never sold overseas. Ep 7.

[@kierenevans2521]

It's one of the harder ones as IIRC it wasn't sold abroad so not many copies were made. Also ep 7 I think was never telerecorded so when the tape was wiped it would have been lost for good.

[@peterjoyfilms]

Douglas Camfield was a legend

[@thecoolgang1580]

They can not find episode 7 it is gone for ever o r I s I t

[@Harveyc_Harveyc_]

10:44 you make your incompetence sound like an achievement BURN

[@crimsondynamo615]

You really got to love how there will be some actors in Doctor Who that get their start playing small characters, who then later get recast for really important characters. I mean just look at Nicholas Courtney, Colin Baker, and Peter Capaldi.

[@BH-98]

Crimson Dynamo & Karen Gillan

[@crimsondynamo615]

B H had a feeling i forgot someone

[@Gamer208010]

& Ian Marter

[@samuelfouch2367]

Freema Ageyman

[@mrcritical6751]

Bradley Walsh

[@Cowmoo83]

The most terrifying aspect of Mavic Chen's character is how he grips writing utensils...

[@SamyulDavis]

Just worked out that the reason I love these so much is that it’s you talking the classic series! Never realised you were so nuWho orientated, makes a great change!

[@ShamrockParticle]

And inspiration

[@DomoftheDoctor]

Props to you for working without most of the footage and making the story sound interesting, regardless of being at least four episodes too long. I’ll be intrigued to see how I feel about this one once I listen to the soundtrack recordings.

[@benw4409]

My absolute favourite Hartnell story. Overlong? It's Nation, of course it is, but unlike the previous stories the length is justified through scope and ambition. I don't think a single story in the show's history is as large scale and massive as this one. It's a masterpiece with some of the best individual episodes of the classic era. Yes, the Christmas episode is pointless. But I still love it.

[@tritonk1759]

Imagine this fully remade with today's technology.

[@dalekexterminae]

They did it with mission to the unknown

[@dragonzilla6482]

The Daleks Master Plan should have been a movie.

[@katecastreviews4639]

Wow I had no idea Nicholas Courtney was in Doctor Who before becoming the Brigadier. With how much people love the Brig and pointing out when actors reappear in Doctor Who as different characters, you'd think that'd be a more common piece of trivia. Well the more you know! 8:12 I think it was unintentional, but that Dalek's reaction was priceless! It looks so bewildered like "Did he really just do that?"

[@katsomeday1]

I love the "Feast of Steven". It's the first Christmas special and it's a panto. I also think it helps break up Master Plan into two chucks, giving us some needed levity amidst the death. Without the humor here and with the Monk, I think Sara Kingdom wouldn't have been so likable and it wouldn't have hurt so much when she died. This is one of my two favorite Dalek stories.

[@SegaNintendoGuy64]

Next time, We move to the start of the Troughton era and two sentences I have in mind.. ‘I am your servant!’ & ‘DALEKS CONQUER & DESTROY!’

[@SJ9001]

On a side note, the Target novelisation (split into two volumes) is even weirder. Volume 2 opens up with the events of Episode 7 which take up two chapters and culminate in a freakin' pie fight! Then by the end of the novel, everyone is dead. It's way more jarring than the televised version. 'The Feast of Steven' should really have been novelised as its own short story if they wanted to add it to the library.

[@crimsondynamo615]

SJ9001 a pie fight? seriously! That’s like the original ending to Doctor Strangelove where it was supposed to end with a pie fight in the war room. Obviously that was changed.

[@SJ9001]

​@@crimsondynamo615 Yep, seriously. In Chapter 3, the Doctor comes across a sad clown who tells him they don't know how to finish their movie. So the Doctor pies Steven and the studio erupts. Sara gets one in the face an' all. I will say that I do like the novelisations, and it's really refreshing to have a version of the story that can be considered complete. But the two 'Feast of Steven' chapters, and the pie fight especially, don't exactly go hand in hand with a wider story where an entire planet gets eradicated and three of the good guys die in horrible ways. Like I said, it should have been a separate short story.

[@crimsondynamo615]

SJ9001 yeah that little segment would have shot the tone down dead like a duck.

[@TyrannoNoddy]

some of the weird earth and christmas stuff in part 7 feels like the star wars holiday special this gave us a dr who rogue one AND holiday special

[@domtaylor1887]

I have an idea about how to do a animated version of this story. Divide it into two halves and release the two halves over the course of a year or a year and a half. Sort of like the Target novelization of the story or some of the DC animated movies (The Death and Rebirth of Superman, The Dark Knight Returns, The Long Halloween, etc.) Half 1: Parts 1-6 (plus Mission to the Unknown) Half 2: Parts 7-12 And then, much like those DC movies I listed, release a deluxe edition later on that has both halves in it.

[@DanTheMan2150AD]

Give Josh Snares reconstruction a watch, seriously impressive stuff.

[@Nasser851000]

*Elsa Voice* Mission to the Unknoooooooown!

[@LegoTardisArchives]

I love this story so much. It has such an interesting story both in universe and irl. I was also incredibly shocked by just how horrific it is. That ending really destroyed me

[@DeckWizard84]

I love it when Chen knocks that Dalek out of the way. You can almost see the Dalek thinking, "WTF, did he just do that?" and barely restraining himself from killing Chen right there.

[@Ahuka]

Regarding the Christmas greeting where Hartnell breaks the fourth wall, that was not an ad lib at all. The line was in the shooting script, so it was planned all along.

[@paulhammond6978]

Yes. I think that was a fan theory that did the rounds for a long time, but I was sure that I too had heard that the whole thing was actually in the script.

[@PrivatePikachu1]

I'm late to the party but while I agree with your criticisms I still think this is one of the finest Doctor Who stories ever put onto television and it's my number 1 request for an animated recreation. I think that despite all of it's flaws, the positives of how grand and ambitious the story is as well as the extremely good acting from Hartnell, Purves, and Marsh as well as the Daleks make this a feather in the cap of the great First Doctor's era. Steven is a highly underrated companion as is Sara, who I think you should've talked about in more detail considering her dramatic death at the end of the serial.

[@Cowmoo83]

Agreed. For one, although this is tied together by one epic overarching plotline, it very much feels like several separate mini adventures (To Mira, to future Earth, to Egypt, etc...) which propel the serial forward at a breakneck pace compared to most Hartnell serials. I was also surprised that the stunning conclusion didn't come up in this review. It's so well done and the Doctor's final line about all (companion) the deaths being a waste before stepping into the TARDIS is really the cherry on top of this episode. It's absolute peak 1st Doctor.

[@alexthemtaandr211weatherfa2]

8:10 did that guy just slap a dalek.

[@llewelynshingler2173]

And it seems the Dalek had no idea how to respond.

[@alexthemtaandr211weatherfa2]

@@llewelynshingler2173 lol

[@sirxanderj.williamsesq.4457]

I consider this as the very first Christmas special

[@plantainsame2049]

Not including preequals from the expanded universe Because if you did the novel time and relative would have a good contender. Since it's killer snowman a few days. Before the first episode Before The pepper pots before humanity before the doctor was even the doctor really, The month of december was still evil

[@jamesknighton4489]

I remember listening to the mission of the Unknown scared the hell out of me being 6 year old

[@dwvideosandreviewsalsothen9174]

God, I've just re-watched it recently in my marathon, it is quite a dark and scary story, also the remake is bloody excellent, guess you heard it through the CD you would've got from the newspapers?

[@zachorryy]

When I got to the Episode the Feast of Stephen it made me laugh so many times. What I thought was really interesting about that episode was when the Doctor met Charlie Chaplin or an actor portraying him. Seeing the doctor watch Chaplin in silence as he penguin walked down the hall was hilarious to me.

[@bluethumbnail9144]

The cricket scene would make a cute modern short film.

[@crimsondynamo615]

I’m surprised that no writer made a joke about Bret being played by Nicholas Courtney. Like someone saying Bret is a descendant of the Brigadier.

[@nathantew946]

Incidentally a happy Dalekcember to all of you at home. Hmm

[@Silvertardis]

8:08 I'm pretty sure that's the only time anybody has bitch-slapped a Dalek! (correct me if I'm wrong)

[@thomasstevens2746]

Wish we still had this full story What a masterpiece. And I would have loved to see Katarina death in full

[@Drengade]

I'd like to see companions from different times or planets again

[@TheCyberman1966]

One thing that I think needs stressing here it was the higher ups at the bbc who basically told them to make it a 12 parter and they had to work Around it

[@williamwebster9437]

That Dalek is a savage!

[@thecoolgang1580]

4:15 it starts

[@supergonk6485]

Real best Dalek roast was when bro said the only way cybermen are superior is at dying

[@the.obstreperous]

Hartnell's Christmas message to the audience was actually scripted.

[@SamyulDavis]

Also..could you explain the 2 months in advance thing surrounding copyright? You leave them on private for that time and they don’t get tagged?

[@timeandrelativedimen]

DAVIS Do you get hit with the same problem? Most of your retrospectives have various clips, are the Beeb coming after you too?

[@MrTARDIS]

They get hit with automated claims, so I schedule them to go live 2 months later so I can dispute the claims. The BBC like to run down the month-long clock both times.

[@The_Sober_One_LCM]

The Long and Fascinating History of 'The Daleks' Masterplan' (and the rest of Doctor Who's Third Season) - info is from memory per the 1 hour long documentary on The Gunfighters DVD - highly recommend it; the documentary, not The Gunfighters. Truth be told, this 12 part epic was one of the main issues then producer John Wiles (Season 3) had during his time on the program (The other being Hartnell). When Verity Lambert decided to leave the program after Season 2 she plotted out the front half of Season 3. (Galaxy 4, The Myth Makers, The 12 episode epic of The Daleks' Masterplan, & Mission to the Unknown (later)). She choose to commission a 12 episode serial due to the ongoing Dalek Mania (which this serial would kill in its tracks). The final Serial she oversaw was Galaxy 4, but needing to make up for the lost Planet of Giants Episode 4 (Episodes 3 + 4 were compressed into the Episode 3 we have today) she gave the main cast Week 44/44 of production off in favor of making Mission to the Unknown w/ out the main cast. The Last Act of The Original Producer would be the very undoing of Doctor Who's Second Producer. When Terry Nation came back to John Wiles with his script it wasn't finished, so Former Script Editor Dennis Spooner was brought in to write the episodes based on Terry Nations plot descriptions for episodes 6 & 8-12. The Feast of Saint Steven was a "God Send" because they knew they didn't have enough content for the entire serial, but needed to meet the requirement for fear that the entire back end of Season 3 (The Massacre, The Ark, The Celestial Toymaker, The Gunfighters, The Savages, & The War Machines) would've fallen through as those scripts weren't all yet ready yet either (I assume the entire "Back End" of Season 3 was commissioned by John Wiles (despite leaving the role of Producer after The Ark) as he wanted to avoid anything longer than a 4 episode serial after "The Daleks' Masterplan" fiasco) Innes Lloyd, one of the minds behind The Doctor regenerating and Patrick Troughton being cast as the Second Doctor, would oversee the rest of Season 3's production (Starting w/ The Celestial Toymaker), and stick around for the majority of Season 4 as well.

[@nathantew946]

The gunfighters in a box set with the awakening. Too entertain love to pair not well respected stories with fairly well respected ones.

[@The_Sober_One_LCM]

@@nathantew946 Thank you for giving this a read. I wouldn't know about that as both were released individually on my side of the pond. Honestly the Documentary alone is worth the $24 USD price of the DVD & if it comes w/ The Awakening ($10 USD) as well, all the better I guess?

[@JamesBrophy]

What? I mean really... what? I thought dracula turning up was random but the cricket pitch speech.

[@plantainsame2049]

If they ever make an animation of the scene with the cricket field they should have The fifth doctor in the background just vaguely running away so that he doesn't Create a paradox

[@scl1332]

Will u do Cyber December next year or some other time or is this project a one off thing?

[@crimsondynamo615]

The History Critic Guy i remember years ago when he did Attack of the Cybermen where he wished Cybermania was a thing. It would be really cool if he did something similar with the Cybermen it would be great. The Cybermen really do deserve equal love that the Daleks get.

[@scl1332]

Ya there actually the whole reason I even started watching Doctor Who

[@feilvei4498]

Highlight of the day

[@marquiskrystal]

Chan was Neal Delgado’s blue print for “ The Master”. A little fun fact.

[@aoxby8037]

Who's Neal?

[@barneyhall8325]

Errm terry nation didn't write all 12 eps denis spooner wrote i think the second half including the feast of Stephen

[@dalekemperor4407]

7:16 Dalek Supreme hitting table. Nice.

[@CaminoAir]

Well, you couldn't have a scary, or tense episode broadcast on Christmas Day. That's the likely reason for part 7...imo.

[@fattestboyslimmer2403]

Flamefrower what an end.

[@PedroGBSilva]

My favourite Dalek story of the Hartnell Era

[@oliverprice114]

Great review, but technically "Trial of a Timelord" is the longest Doctor Who story. Despite having four distinct parts, all 14 episodes are part of the same story, being numbered 1 to 14

[@LaytonMathieson]

I see Trial as more of a season long story arc, like The Key to Time.

[@Gamer208010]

Trial was commissioned and written as 4 separate stories. The decision to advertise it as one came pretty late in the game. Supposedly a decision by JNT so he could promote it as the longest DW story ever to draw attention away from the fact that it was the shortest ever season.

[@frazzlesreviews5379]

Do you class mission to the unknown as it’s own story or part of Masterplan?

[@werewolf_lover2063]

So after all the dalek story line are done do you plan on doing the cybermen?

[@rtex2020]

Thanks for the review... I have the novelization (novelisation) of this show, and that's what I know it from.

[@matthewjh138]

I Love this Story its not perfect but its magical Great Review Power next!

[@richardmattocks]

With it’s “creation and then kill” attitude to characters as well as an insane premise, moments of blatant fan-service and bonkers ending, it’s like Game of Thrones 50 years early 😁

[@marionbaggins]

And Fun Fact: Both Mission to the Unknown and The Daleks' Master Plan were not aired in Australia!!!

[@Gamer208010]

But copies were sent to Australia for viewing. They were probably destroyed when ABC decided not to air it. Probably..

[@marionbaggins]

@@Gamer208010 Why did the ABC not air them is a question I have to ask!!!

[@Gamer208010]

@@marionbaggins Too violent I guess. We were the country that cut a 3 second scene of a rag being soaked in chloroform from The War Machines prior to broadcast

[@marionbaggins]

@@Gamer208010 I guess so...

[@SJ9001]

In my opinion, this is Hartnell's best story. I've sat through the Loose Cannon reconstruction three times and was hooked, despite reconstructions sometimes being hard to become immersed in. Aside from Episode 7, I don't have any major pacing issues with it myself - "The Daleks" (which is still really good) and "The Web Planet" are bigger offenders in that regard. The characters, the Daleks, the scale - it's all great and I just wish the full product was in a more complete state.

[@SamyulDavis]

Have you ever heard the soundtrack reconstructions? Which one do you recommend first?

[@SJ9001]

​@@SamyulDavis I haven't listened to the soundtrack reconstructions so I can't give a full comparison. But for what it's worth, until it's animated or [bites lip] found, the LC recon is probably the best visual representation of the serial we have. Since few stills exist, the images used are edited together from existing material, with a couple of instances of CG. The Dalek models actually look pretty good. It's the original unaltered soundtrack (the quality might be a bit rough in places), with brief directional subtitles used to fill in any action which the stills can't adequately depict. Save for the actors barely moving, I'd say it does the job pretty darn well given the resources and the size of the project, and it's my favourite LC effort. It also helps that the surviving episodes are decently spaced apart, so you get a nice break where you can watch things move for a bit every now and then. Before I forget, Josh Snares created his own reconstruction on his KZbin channel. I haven't seen all of it but it's the same idea, except with what looks like more sophisticated video editing involved.

[@Cowmoo83]

I first watched the Josh Snares recon a few months back , and I found it to be much more immersive than the typical LC recons (which I also enjoy!). I can't recommend it enough.

[@DalekTheSupreme]

I actually have the Target novelization of The Daleks' Masterplan, so I have experienced it in some form. Well, I say novelization. Novelizations. With an 's'. It's split into two books. Yeah. That tells you how long the story is, particularly with the events of Mission To The Unknown added. Tell you what, I don't recall the Doctor making a racist remark about Arabs in the books, and I had no idea Mavic Chen was a white actor playing a multicultural character since there was just an illustration of him on the cover of the first book, so I was able to enjoy it a bit more. Yeesh, definitely a different time!

[@Cyberleader672]

Please at some point review the Invasion

[@john_o]

The Steven Universe of Doctor Who

[@disneyboy3030]

I have some information about it.

[@dubliam8064]

I don't know the cricket scene was pretty intense

[@tygerchase9705]

Most of the middle bits are hit or miss for me but holy shit the character deaths are really impactful. The final scene with Sarah. Then showing Stephen and the Dr looking like they have just Ben through hell, it's so good.

[@TheWeepingDalek]

Just saying. Loving this. Will. Cyberaruy be happening i hope

[@robertcooper4th259]

7:33 i watched the colorised version and it was actualy blackface that got darker each episode SOMEHOM

[@thecomiclord2206]

I think I’m tripping but what did the doctor say that “was his worst”?

[@francisbarraclough959]

I have to agree to disagree yes its padded but it's mostly all good stuff which I can forgive

[@badwolf66]

Did he say it's all full of Elephants?

[@maxeyre2024]

Arabs haha

[@costelinha1867]

I felt the monk's inclusion in this arc was so unecessary, not to mention that the latter half of the story kinda loses the sense of urgency and hopelessness of Mission to the Unknown and the earlier episodes to to some more comedic moments, and While Feast of Steven was funny, I still have no clue why they gave it this particular title. Which is why I still think Dalek Invasion of Earth is the definitive Hartnel Dalek story, even if it does have it's issues as well.

[@paulhammond6978]

"Feast of Steven" refers to Saint Stephen's day, which I think is Dec 26, referred to in the Christmas Carol "Good King Wenceslas" - "looked out, on the feast of Stephen". So since the Doctor has a friend called Steven it's a way to give this episode a Christmas themed title.

[@josephryan362]

I love mission to the unknown and the daleks master plan mission to the unknown is really the version of mission to the unknown I love the daleks master plan it is a great doctor who story story and we get to see some episode of it

[@MarkPearce-u7m]

Jean Marsh, my first schoolboy crush, wow.

[@thecoolgang1580]

0:23

[@W1sperish]

Episode 7,The Feast of Steven is also the only episode we know for sure no longer exists,it was never made into any 16mm prints,because it was never sold overseas,and the 2inch videotape was unfortunately wiped in 1967,we have the paper work to prove it.

[@BrendanJSmith]

I'm REALLY hoping we get animations for The Highlanders and The Daleks' Master Plan sometime soon. They're probably the two most important stories that haven't been given the animated treatment yet. Especially when you consider that FAR less integral and acclaimed stories like Galaxy 4 and The Macra Terror got to be animated first.

[@thecoolgang1580]

8:09

[@WSDigitalArtwork]

Honestly whenever I watch this story I just end up skipping feast of Steven because it kills the pacing, without it the serial flows much smoother

[@ShamrockParticle]

The story did consciously wrote it thst way for a holiday but there's nothing plot-significant that gets clobbered either.

[@BooneBluemel]

"Episodes could be removed entirely" I mean, that's what they did.

[@fattestboyslimmer2403]

Poor dalek

[@thevacuumofcomments2946]

I go to the University that remade Mission to the Unknown! If only I'd gotten there sooner. I'd have made an excellent Varga.

[@59rlmccormack]

#DrWho4Ever

[@fattestboyslimmer2403]

⊙⊙ umm.... okay

[@TheCrazySourdoughDude]

This shoulda honesly been called ``The Chase 2: The Daleks' Masterplan`` I mean, just look at Part 7! Would have been perfect for The Chase 2!

[@thecoolgang1580]

Good

[@thecoolgang1580]

0:00 lt goober allo allo

[@professorcurious]

I love how that Master dude B***h slaps a dalek's eyestalk. Sassiest Dr Who villain of all time.

[@or_gluzman561Peace_IL_PS]

Mission to the Unknown was recreated by a bunch of fans with the help of the original actor and post on the doctor who youtube channel The Making-Of Mission to the Unknown | Doctor Who kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJO8omt3lJuSmsU Mission to the Unknown Recreation | FULL EPISODE | Doctor Who kzbin.info/www/bejne/hIibqp5jopp8nZo

[@Averagebasementman]

8:10 the Dalek is blow away😂

[@ThanhTriet600]

The Time Destructor was basically a nuke. All the Daleks had to do was use it on one planet and bluff that they could do it again to anyone else if they failed to surrender to them. Its like what Roosevelt did with Japan after dropping the second nuke. They only had 2 nukes. The daleks could have destroyed the earth with it and then forced survivors to mine more Terrarium for them from Uranus while they threatened other planets.

[@InvadedOath]

The cricket scene is hilarious to a very narrow section of the population. I love it, but it’s out of place

[@jjjeffersonmusic8170]

Imagine if this story was remade into a movie like the Peter Cushing ones

[@dubliam8064]

You should have watched the recons not the audios especially for this and Evil are very visual heavy

[@SteamLance]

Tbh I'm not bothered about the whole it was a different time. We know... if people get offended then they can choose to ignore, I accept it and don't complain. I think nothing of it.

[@rangers199487]

Jean Marsh has got to be the only actor to be in both DW and the Twilight Zone.