Chapter Four: The Chase - The Dalek Master Plan

1965 saw the Daleks leap from the small screen and onto the big one, as "Doctor Who and the Daleks," starring Peter Cushing premiered in London theaters. The film, loosely based on the first Dalek story, follows the adventures of Earth scientist Dr. Who (who invented the TARDIS in his back yard), and his granddaughters Susan and Barbara as they, and Barbara's boyfriend Ian, travel in the TARDIS to the un-named planet of the Daleks. For the production new larger versions of the TV originals were constructed, and these were quickly "borrowed" by the BBC to fill the ranks of their television counter-parts. On the small screen The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara were about to encounter the Daleks for the third time. "The Chase," is an ambitious production, taking the time travelers all over time and space in an attempt to escape from the Daleks' own time machine. Several "locations" were used to represent the different times and places, including the TARDIS' first arrival in America, via the top of the Empire State Building in New York City. For the production four new Dalek props were constructed, all featuring the standard shoulder-slats around the mid section which have become the norm ever since. It was Ray Cusick, the original designer of the Daleks, who came up with the "static/solar collectors" as a means of replacing the rather poorly looking radar dish which had been used in "Dalek Invasion of Earth" as a way to explain the Daleks' increased mobility (Cusick was not the designer for that serial). "The Chase" also featured the introduction of the Mechonoids, large robot creatures which would eventually become the Daleks' main nemesis in the "TV 21" comics. Put into the script, as late producer Dennis Spooner explained it, because "Terry...hoped he'd make few quick quid out of them," the overall size of the props proved impossible to work with within the confines of the BBC studios, and so all future plans for them to return were dropped.
"The Chase" would be followed the next year with the overly ambitious 12 part serial "Dalek Master Plan." Commissioned because "the Director of BBC Drama's mother loved the Daleks," or so the story goes, this twelve part episode was written by both Terry Nation (episodes 1 - 5 & 7) and Dennis Spooner (episodes 6, 8 - 12) and featured not only the Daleks as the main antagonist, but the Meddling Monk, a renegade from the Doctor's home planet (at this point in the series history both the Doctor's past, as well as the race name of TimeLords had yet to be created). Unfortunately only two of the twelve episodes survived the BBC's purging of their archives in the early 1970s. As the story no longer exists in complete video form, it was necessary to rely on the four available sources from which to re-constructed events. The first is the recently released CD of the audio soundtrack, the second being the novelization by John Peel. This was followed by the existing footage presented on “Daleks-The Early Years," finally drawing on certain aspects in reconstructing its history from both “The Programme Guide” by Jean-Marc Lofficier and “The Daleks: A History from BBC Video” book, which accompanied the video release of “The Chase/Remembrance of the Daleks.” Finally it was necessary to make one minor change in regards to “Master Plan’s” overall story, and that relates to the date of the episode being set in the year A.D. 4000. With the release of the audio version of "The Dalek Master Plan" a very interesting situation has come up. In the one-part episode "Mission to the Unknown" (the prequel to "Master Plan"), Marc Cory asks Gordon Lowery if he had ever heard of the Daleks. Gordon responds, "the Daleks invaded Earth a thousand years ago." Therefore we now have two conflicting dates, 3164 (1,000 years after the invasion of 2164), as established in "Mission to the Unknown," and 4000 as established in "Master Plan." Assuming that the Space Special Security Service would not wait 826 years to investigate Cory's disappearance, and given that 826 years is more than enough time for the Daleks to complete the Time Destructor, it became necessary to overlook the dates in both episodes and place the events "several hundred years" after the invasion of 2164. This has, however, cased some concern in fan circles, but just as the Daleks are synonymous with Doctor Who, so are continuity problems (The Doctor in the same episode mentions that the Dalek invasion of Earth was defeated in 2157, seven years before it began!). Whichever date one wishes to use however, it is the intention to show that Dalek stories take place one after the other in broadcast order.

        With the Thals driven off the planet, the surviving Daleks began rebuilding their civilization. Of the original Daleks sealed in the Bunker thousands of years before, a pecking order, or chain of command was set up, not unlike the command structure that had been established before the Morok invasion. But where the Daleks of old were rued by a Dalek Supreme and a governing council, the new Dalek society was highly structured. At the top, was the Dalek Prime, descended from one of the original top advisors of the old Dal government. Under him was the Supreme Council, followed by the science and technological divisions. Commander Daleks, encased in black travel machines, were given the tasks of overseeing all off world operations. At the very bottom of the social structure were the worker units. Their only purpose was to serve the Dalek race.
        Building on their own, as well as left over Morok technology, the Daleks quickly rebuilt their cities, and began the reconstruction of their space fleet. They were soon ready to blazed a path of glory across an unsuspecting galaxy. One after another, smaller planetary systems (already weaken by the Morok invasion), fell to the Dalek ever expanding empire. Skaro became the seat of a mighty empire, and the Dalek Prime sat at it's head.
        But all was not well within Dalek society, and the future plans of the Dalek Empire were threatened by one thing, The Doctor. Despite this “humans” interference on two occasions, and while he had not been detected during any of their current expansion activities, the Dalek Prime feared that this “Doc-tor” could return at any time to put a stop to their plans. He had to be stopped, and this time the Daleks would be ready for him. In addition to their expansion out into the universe, the Daleks had continued to experiment on temporal engineering and time distortion. Thanks in part to the information left by the Moroks (as well as their own special abilities), Dalek experiments into time travel soon paid off. The Daleks had unlocked the secrets of time. But not without great cost.
        Experiments using static drives created instabilities within the vortex, resulting in an entire Dalek work-unit being accelerated in time to the point of decay. It was therefore obvious that static power, the heart of Dalek technology, could not be used. Several other power sources tested also resulted in similar, if not near fatal failure. When an entire Dalek experimental block was vaporized, or to be more precise, pull into the vortex, the Supreme Council realized that time travel was not possible. But then the Daleks discovered Taranium, an off-shoot material produced from their invasion of Earth. This stabilized the vortex, and Dalek time experiments took a great leap forward. Taranium however, was in limited supply on Skaro, but the Supreme Council knew where they could get an unlimited amount; the Earth's solar system!
        A re-invasion of Earth was out of the question. Since their invasion in the 22nd century, Earth had grown into a vast empire, and the Daleks were not in any position to stand against it. But the Dalek Prime knew human nature, and understood the concept of greed. It was surprising to the Daleks at the number of humanoid species that inhabited the planets throughout the galaxy. Sure they themselves had been human once, but the Dalek people saw themselves as having evolved into a purer state of being. In dealing with their conquered opponents, they quickly learned that certain humans, when the conditions were right, would do anything to get out of the pain and suffering the Daleks caused. Anything, even to the point of betraying their own kind. With this in mind the Dalek Prime realized that the Earth threatened several smaller empires, which stood to lose a lot of their own influence if the Federation expanded, and that by playing on these fears, as well as the fear of being conquered by the Daleks, he could manipulate them into an alliance. But how to take advantage of this was the Dalek problem.
        As their fleets spread across the galaxy, it was easy to persuade the leaders of the other empires to form an alliance with them against Earth. But even with these alliances, the Earth Federation was still too powerful to attack, and the Dalek plan to eliminate Earth was doomed to fail unless some way of weakening the Earth's defenses could be found. The answer presented itself, of all places, from within the Earth Federation itself. The Earth Federation had broadcast the recent events concerning the choosing of a new leader for the Federation Council. Constantly monitoring these transmissions, the Daleks soon noticed the attention a human named Mavic Chen had been receiving during his campaign to become this elected head of the Earth Federation. While the concept of elections were deemed unnecessary to the Daleks, they had no need for a President, the drive and ambition which pushed a human to obtain such a position was something knew they could exploit. Judging by the zealous nature in which Chen had pursued his election, the Dalek Prime knew they had found a human they could strike a deal with. Catering towards the lust for power humans possessed, the Daleks secured a deal with this Mavic Chen. As the first stages of their Master Plan were going into effect, monitoring stations set up to explore the time vortex reported that they had located the TARDIS. The Daleks were about to deal with the Doctor.
        Mustering as much Taranium as they themselves could mine, Dalek scientists completed construction on the first Dalek Time Capsule. Ranger Scope equipment indicated that the Doctor’s time machine, “TARDIS” was located on the planet Xeros. Fitting, the Dalek Prime though to itself, that the destruction of their greatest enemy would occur on one of the last surviving planets of their old invaders, the Moroks. With their orders given, the Dalek task force set off after The Doctor. Content with the knowledge that the Task Force would soon capture and kill The Doctor, the Supreme Council continued to organize it's plans to defeat the Earth Federation.

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As the Doctor fiddles with a Time/Space Visualizer the time travelers picked-up from the space museum on Xeros, the TARDIS slowly makes it way through the vortex. As the Doctor gets the Visualizer to work, each of his companions take a turn looking in on events of the past. Ian picks Abraham Lincoln's speech at Gettysburg while Barbara is interested in seeing Shakespeare at Queen Elisabeth's court. Vicki, the TARDIS' newest traveling companion (Susan, the Doctor's granddaughter, having stayed in 22nd century London with David), picks a 1965 performance of The Beatles. Soon however, the TARDIS lands on the desert planet of Aridius, where the explores decide to stay for a while. As Ian and Vicki explore, Barbara and the Doctor take in the sun. Soon they realize that the Doctor had forgotten to turn off the Visualizer, and as Barbara adjusts the controls in the hopes of shutting down the machine, the dreaded sounds of the Daleks come screeching out of the speaker. It appears that Barbara had tuned the Visualizer into Skaro, and the Doctor and her witness the Daleks depart in their time machine to hunt them down.

Meanwhile Ian and Vicki have stumbled into the city of the Aridians, aquatic people whose planet had been drying up. Attacked by a Mire Beast, a carnivorous life form which had invaded the city in search of food, the pair are caught in an explosion designed to trapped the Mire Beasts in the parts of the city they already inhabit. Ian is knocked out, and Vicki goes in search of help. On the surface, the Doctor and Barbara are caught in a sand storm, and loose the location of the TARDIS. As the sand storm ends, the Doctor is horrified to see that the Daleks are already on Aridius. The Dalek attack squad uncovers the TARDIS, but it proves impervious to Dalek attack. The Daleks then give the people of Aridius an ultimatum; turn over the time travelers or be exterminated. The Aridians agree, and are about to hand over the Doctor and Barbara (who had stumbled upon two Aridians outside the entrance to the city), when Vicki appears seeking help for Ian. At that moment a Mire Beast breaks through a closed off doorway, causing the Aridians to flee in panic.
In the tunnels leading to the surface Ian has recovered and discovered the TARDIS being guarded by a Dalek. Setting a trap, he is joined by the others, who help lure the Dalek over the edge and down into the tunnels. As the remaining members of the Dalek attack squad arrive, the time travelers dash into the TARDIS and dematerialize. The Daleks depart Aridius in their time machine to follow the Doctor.

In the council room the Doctor discovers that the Dalek time machine is following the TARDIS. A frantic chase through the Cosmos begins. After a brief encounter on the 86st floor of the Empire State Building, the TARDIS materializes on the deck of the Marie Celeste. Taken for a stowaway, Barbara escapes back into the TARDIS just moments before the Dalek time machine arrives on the ship (the crew leap into the sea at the sight of the Daleks). The TARDIS then lands in what appears to be a Gothic castle. Exploring the travelers encounter a ghost, a witch, Frankenstein and Dracula. Convinced that they have arrived in a dimension of the human mind, the Doctor is convinced that the Daleks could not follow them. The TARDIS has in reality, landed in an amusement park house of Dracula and Frankenstein. The Daleks arrive and attack both the time travelers as well as the automated amusement props. This shorts out the computer of the Frankenstein prop, which begins to attack the Daleks. Ian, Barbara and the Doctor escape in the TARDIS but Vicki is forgotten in the confusion. She stows away on board the Dalek and sees the Daleks create a robot double of the Doctor.

Back in the TARDIS the Doctor is finishing his work on a device which will short out the Daleks' static power supplies, when they realize that they've left Vicki behind. Realizing that when they next land they will have to fight it out, the time travelers prepare for battle. The TARDIS finally lands on the planet Mechanus, with the Dalek time machine a few moments behind. Vicki manages to sneak out of the Dalek ship in time to warn Ian about the robot Doctor. Mimicking the voice of the Daleks, the Doctor confuses the robot and then destroys it. Setting themselves up in a cave for protection, the travelers are taken prisoner by the Mechanoids (forgotten robots sent to the planet to get it ready for colonization). In the Mechanoid city they meet Steven Taylor, an astronaut from Earth who crashed on Mechanus years before. The Daleks follow the time travelers into the city, where the Doctor sets off the static control device, which overloads the Dalek's power circuits. The remaining Daleks and Mechanoids fight and destroy each other as The Doctor and his party escape. Finding the Dalek Time Capsule in the forest not far from the TARDIS, Ian and Barbara use it to get back to their own time.

Editor's Note: It is in "The Chase" that we first see the Daleks ability to creature realistic looking humanoid robots. This technology would later be refined and reused in "Resurrection of the Daleks," in the form of the Dalek duplicates. Several of the Aaru Daleks built for the film were lent to the BBC for use in the episode. As the film version were slightly larger than their TV counterparts, the bases were removed, leaving them totally static. While this did bring the Aaru Daleks down to the proper height, there still were several noticeable differences, especially as the domes for the Aaru Daleks were colored a medium blue (which looked almost black in B&W), featured the larger head bulbs, and the mid sections did not feature the new shoulder slats (the first film featuring Daleks with the original shoulder bands). For the Dalek time machine the set was constructed to suggest a two level ship. However the poor construction, the over use of blowup photograph cut-outs, and the rather poorly painted swirl used on the ship's walls, all combined to give the interior of the Dalek time machine a rather silly look. In addition other slight problems plague the production, including a Dalek prop clearly visible in Frankenstein's lab (before the Daleks even arrived), and cameras sitting on the jungle set (see upper right hand section of the photograph above).

        Back on Skaro the Dalek Prime's plans were proceeding as scheduled. Ever since the invasion of 2164 AD, Earth has been on constant vigil against Dalek activities. With the help of its off world colonies, Earth reached out into the heavens, establishing alliances with most of it's galactic neighbors to rebuild itself. However, in the hundred of years since the invasion, Earth has become content in the knowledge that their off world alliances were strong, and that the Federation fleet was unbeatable. The Dalek problem would take second seat to an advancing Earth empire, interested in the exploration and exploitation of the universe. Negotiations with Chen were intense, as the Federation leader, pompously given the title “Guardian of the Solar System,” needed strong convincing. Why should he form an alliance with the Daleks when Earth's empire was so vast? But the Dalek Council, promising great power and wealth, convinced Chen that the expansion is only weakening the alliances Earth had, and that he himself, held no real power within the Federation. Ambition, and a conceited belief that he himself could control the Daleks, convinced Chen to betray the alliance. Armed with a new supply of taranium provided to them by Chen, the Daleks began construction on their greatest weapon, The Time Destructor.
         However, word soon reached Skaro that the Dalek Task Force dispatched to destroy the Doctor had been eliminated on the planet Mechanus. The Dalek Time Capsule is traced back to 20th century England, where it is soon destroyed. Unable to understand the defeat of it's units, the Supreme Council orders a task force to investigate Mechanus. But of more concern to the Dalek Prime is the fact that The Doctor, the Dalek's greatest enemy, was still alive. It was now important to accelerate their plans with Chen. Choosing the planet Kembel as the point from which to launch their invasion, the Daleks began constructing several bases for the housing of a Dalek army. In addition, Dalek biotechnology was employed to insure the security of the planet until the task force was at full strength. Mutating the DNA of some of the plant life on Skaro, the Daleks created the Varga plant. Mobil, these plants seek out animal life forms, infecting them with their own DNA. The results were that the infected life form slowly mutates into a Varga.
        With Kembel protected from intrusion by the Vargas, the Daleks began amassing the greatest invasion force ever assembled. With the Taranium core to power it, and the Time Destructor almost complete, the Daleks were poised to eliminate the Earth Federation, and over run the galaxy. As Dalek scientist continued to work on the invasion force, word leaked back to Earth's Space Security Service of the Dalek's activities. Still considered a minor menace by the Earth Federation, a small exploration force, lead by Marc Cory, was dispatched by the SSS to investigate. Unfortunately Cory's crew were infected by the Varga plants as they try to infiltrate the Kembel establishments, and Cory himself was exterminated while trying to get a message back to his superiors.
        Back on Earth, the sudden loss of Cory concerned the heads of Space Security, who immediately sent a request for advanced forces to investigate the planet Kembel. Unfortunately the report fell on the deaf ears of Federation President Mavic Chen. With Federation forces delayed, everything was proceeding to the Dalek Prime's satisfaction. But then word reaches Skaro that the Kembel base had been infiltrated, that the Taranium core had been stolen, and that the Doctor was the one responsible.

Many months after the death of Cory, the Doctor, Steven and Katarina, the Doctor's current traveling companions, land on Kembel to find a new expedition from Earth led by Space Security Agent Bret Vyon. Avoiding the Varga plants, the Doctor finds Cory's tape and he and Vyon decide to warn Earth of the impending Dalek invasion. Breaking into the Dalek base, the Doctor steals the taranium core, but the time travelers are unable to alert Earth, as Chen has had them branded as traitors. Escaping in Chen's space craft, the fugitives land on the prison planet of Desperus, where Kirksen, a prisoner, breaks into the ship and takes Katarina hostage.

Kirksen wants Vyon to return to Kembel, and the Doctor and Steven see no other choice. Katarina however, knows that to return to Kembel is a death sentence, and so sacrifices herself, by opening the airlock, to save the others. Arriving on Earth Vyon is killed by his sister Sara Kingdom, who believes Chen's stories that her brother was working for the Daleks. Pursuing the Doctor and Steven, the three stumble into a TransMat experiment, and are accidentally transported to the planet Mira, home of the invisible Visians. The Doctor convinces Sara that it was Chen who betrayed the Earth Alliance, and Sara agrees to help the Doctor and Steven, just as the Daleks land a ship on Mira to retake the core. However unable to fire at the time travelers for fear of damaging the core, Steven and Sara manage to hijack the ship, and the three begin to return to Earth. The Daleks however force the ship to land on Kembel, where the Doctor is forced to turn over the core before escaping into the TARDIS. Or at least the Daleks think it's the core, the Doctor having made up a fake one while on the Dalek ship.
Desperate to regain the taranium core, the Black Dalek radios to Skaro for a Dalek Time Capsule to be sent to Kembel. Once again the Daleks pursue the Doctor through time and space, landing in England of 1965, and then Hollywood of the 1920s, where Steven and Sara are asked to star in pictures.

Meanwhile, a renegade from the Doctor's own planet, know only as The Monk, lures the Doctor to the volcanic planet Tigus, where he hopes to strand the time travelers. The Doctor foils his plan, and soon the Doctor, followed by The Monk, and the Daleks, arrive on Earth during the construction of the Great Pyramids. Capturing Sara, Steven and The Monk, the Doctor is forced to turn over the real core to Chen. The Daleks return to Kembel, where they plan to activate the Time Destructor. They imprison their allies and exterminate Chen. Arriving in the TARDIS, Steven and Sara free the prisoners, while the Doctor breaks into Dalek Control and activates the Time Destructor...

Special thanks to Robert Moore for providing the video captures from "The Chase," and "The Dalek Master Plan." "The Chase" and "Dalek Master Plan" summaries adapted from "The Programme Guide" by Jean-Marc Lofficier, Target Books, 1989.