The Dominators (TV story)

The Dominators was the first story of Season 6 of Doctor Who.

Synopsis
When two rogue Dominators and their robotic servant Quarks land on the peaceful planet Dulkis, planning to drop a radioactive seed into the planet's core of the planet to refuel their spaceship, the Doctor, Jamie & Zoe must attempt to inspire the non-aggressive Dulcians to resist.

Episode 1
A Dominator spacecraft lands on an island in the planet Dulkis, having just separated from its fleet. It absorbs the radiation of the island into its power reserves. The two Dominators, Navigator Rago and Probationer Toba, step out of the craft with their robot servants, the Quarks, in search of more fuel for their craft and their fleet. Rago is intent on establishing an energy source by drilling through the planetary crust, which is at its thinnest in this part of the planet. Toba is more concerned about the possible aggression of the natives, appearing willing to eliminate them should they resist. Rago wants to use the natives for slave labour instead. Meanwhile, a Dulcian seacraft arrives at the island for an unauthorised trip. It is piloted by Cully, the son of Director Senex, a high-ranked member of the Dulcian council. The passengers include three Dulcians who think Cully has conned them when they find out that there is no radiation on the island. They step out and are soon killed by the Quarks as ordered by Toba. Cully is not seen by them and thus he survives.

The Tardis crew lands and the Doctor assumes they're in for a nice holiday, having been at 'peaceful' Dulkis before. Meanwhile, the Quarks destroy Cully's craft. The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find a war museum with old laser guns. They meet Educator Balan and his two students, Kando and Teel, who take the Tardis crew to a survey unit for decontamination, finding to their surprise that the strangers are not radioactive at all. Kando tells them that the only nuclear blast on the island was an experiment conducted 172 years ago, after which all the weapons were banned on Dulkis and the island kept as an observation area for researches and students. Cully, having observed the Dominators near the Tardis, finds his way to the shelter and warns people there of these warlike newcomers. The Doctor and Jamie leave immediately to check the situation, but soon find themselves at the Dominators' spacecraft, threatened by Toba and the Quarks.

Episode 2
The Doctor and Jamie are taken prisoner on the Dominators' ship, where they are forced to take part in tests. They are taken as representative of the Dulcians by Rago and found unsuitable for slave labour - their bone structure is apparently too brittle and they fail (intentionally) at every test of intelligence. Cully and Zoe set off for the capital of Dulkis in Balan's travel capsule. There they attempt to make the council and Director Senex understand the threat posed by the Dominators. This falls on dead ears, as Cully is a known con artist. It seems that the council is more intent on debating the matter endlessly rather than actually doing something which might be misjudged.

At the war museum, the Dominators test the Doctor and Jamie with their reactions to the weapons in there. The Doctor states that there are two different types of Dulcians, "the clever ones" who built the now-outlawed weapons and the likes of him and Jamie. This satisfies Rago and they are set free. Cully and Zoe return back to the island in order to find proof to Cully's story, only to have the Doctor and Jamie simultaneously head to the capital in another travel capsule. Teel and Kando have now had verification of Cully's story from the Doctor and Jamie, and leave with Balan to witness this themselves in a very non-Dulcian manner. They are captured by the Dominators, examined and found to be "the clever ones", suitable for slave labour. The Dominators set out to search for more slaves. Zoe and Cully arrive at the survey unit, just in time for the Quarks to start their destruction of the place as ordered by Toba.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
 * Jamie McCrimmon - Frazer Hines
 * Zoe Heriot - Wendy Padbury
 * Rago - Ronald Allen
 * Toba - Kenneth Ives
 * Cully - Arthur Cox
 * Wahed - Philip Voss
 * Etnin - Malcolm Terris
 * Tolata - Nicolette Pendrell
 * Kando - Felicity Gibson
 * Teel - Giles Block
 * Balan - Johnson Bayly
 * Quark - John Hicks
 * Quark - Gary Smith
 * Quark - Freddie Wilson
 * Quark Voices - Sheila Grant
 * Senex - Walter Fitzgerald
 * Council Member - John Cross
 * Council Member - Ronald Mansell
 * Bovem - Alan Gerrard
 * Tensa - Brian Cant

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Barbara Stuart
 * Costumes - Martin Baugh
 * Designer - Barry Newbury
 * Film Cameraman - Peter Hamilton
 * Film Editor - Chris Hayden
 * Make-Up - Sylvia James
 * Producer - Peter Bryant
 * Production Assistant - John Bruce
 * Script Editor - Derrick Sherwin
 * Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
 * Studio Lighting - Sam Neeter
 * Studio Sound - Richard Chubb
 * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer
 * Visual Effects - Ron Oates
 * Writer - Norman Ashby

Story notes

 * This story had the working title of; The Beautiful People
 * Originally a six-part story, The Dominators was edited at the script stage down to five episodes by script editor Derrick Sherwin.
 * The writer is credited as Norman Ashby; this was a pseudonym for Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln. Script editor Derrick Sherwin also made a significant input to the writing of Episode 5.
 * Episode 3 was not identified by any caption.
 * Chris Jeffries doubles for Patrick Troughton in all location-shot scenes featuring the Doctor.
 * This was one of the stories chosen to be shown as part of BSB's Doctor Who Weekend in September 1990.

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 6.1 million viewers
 * Episode 2 - 5.9 million viewers
 * Episode 3 - 5.4 million viewers
 * Episode 4 - 7.5 million viewers
 * Episode 5 - 5.9 million viewers

Myths

 * The location scenes of this story were shot on colour film as a test exercise. (They weren't. Despite persistent rumours to the contrary, the BBC did no colour filming or recording on any of the sixties Doctor Who stories.)

Filming locations

 * Gerrards Cross Quarry, Buckinghamshire
 * Olley Sand Pit in Trottiscliffe, Kent
 * Ealing Television Film Studios, Ealing Green, Ealing
 * Model Shooting: BBC Television Centre Puppet Theatre

Production errors

 * The rubble over a hatch in episode four vanishes.


 * A boom mike shadow drops into shot in the first War Museum scene in episode 1.


 * When Teel shows the radiation graph spanning 172 years in episode 2, the decline at the end is far too gradual for such a sudden disappearance of radiation.


 * The zip at the back of Zoe's skirt causes her problems on numerous occasions, being open in episodes two, three and five.


 * On certain scenes (especially when the Quarks are recharging) the operators' hands are visible using the Quark arms.


 * When Rago is testing the supposedly self-charging laser gun, a power lead can be seen attached to it.


 * When the Doctor is running with the seed device to the Dominators' ship in episode 5, the camera gets too close to the stunt double and we see Chris Jeffries' face instead of Troughton's.

Continuity

 * The end of this story leads into DW: The Mind Robber
 * The Dominators reappear in DWM: The Fires Down Below.
 * Quarks frequently appeared in the run of the Second Doctor in TV Comic, beginning on the very day that Episode 4 of this serial initially aired. Notably, they were the proximate cause for the departure of John and Gillian from the TARDIS. The Second Doctor judged the Quarks too dangerous for John and Gillian, and enrolled them in Zebadee University rather than subjecting them to an encounter with the robots. (TVC: Invasion of the Quarks)
 * The implication of the comic seems to be that Quarks are more powerful than Trods, Daleks, or Cybermen, since John and Gillian had encountered these species on various occasions.


 * Of the six TVC stories in which Jamie appeared, the Quarks were the enemy in four. Indeed, Quarks were the dominant recurring enemy of the comic Second Doctor's era. However, the Dominators, portrayed as the "masters" of the Quarks in this serial, never appeared in TVC.

Timeline

 * This story occurs after CC: Fear of the Daleks
 * This story occurs before DW: The Mind Robber

DVD releases

 * This story was first released on DVD in the UK on 12th July 2010. The one disc set includes a restored version of the story, as well as the following special features:
 * Commentary by Wendy Padbury (Zoë), Frazer Hines (Jamie), Giles Block (Teel), Arthur Cox (Cully) and Sylvia James (Make-Up Designer).
 * Recharge And Equalise
 * Tomorrow’s Times – The Second Doctor
 * Coming Soon Trailer
 * Radio Times Billings
 * Production Subtitles
 * Photo Gallery
 * Easter Egg by Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre (Catalogue Doctor Who)


 * Editing for DVD release completed by Doctor Who Restoration Team.


 * Censor clips from episodes 4 and 5 have been restored for the DVD as part of the episodes themselves. They were first found in 1996 and therefore did not make it to the VHS release in 1990.

VHS releases
The Dominators was issued to VHS in 1990 in episodic format.

Novelisation and its audiobook

 * Main article: The Dominators (novelisation)


 * Novelised as The Dominators by Ian Marter in 1984.