Mission to the Unknown (TV story)

Mission to the Unknown was the second story of Season 3. A prologue to "The Daleks' Master Plan," it was the only Doctor Who story that did not feature the character of the Doctor or the TARDIS at all. It was also the only story of the original series, aside from "The Pilot Episode," which consisted of only one episode.

Summary
On the planet Kembel three men struggle to repair their crashed spaceship in a hostile jungle. Meanwhile, the Daleks host a convention of alien powers and draw plans for their latest plot to destroy Earth and conquer the galaxy.

Plot
Jeff Garvey is lying on the ground. He wakes and sits up. He twists his face in agony and when the pain passes he stands. He starts repeating “Kill, kill.” Meanwhile Marc Corey and Gordon Lowery are attempting to repair their ship, it isn’t going very well. Lowery is wondering why Cory landed on the planet Kembel in the first place. They are also wondering where Garvey is.

Garvey is watching the two men working on the ship, still repeating “kill, kill.” He keeps behind the ship to make sure that neither of the men sees him. Garvey raises his gun to fire at Lowery, but Corey shoots Garvey first. Garvey is in a lot of pain and then lies still. Corey pulls a long Varga thorn out over Garvey from behind the ear. He says be careful to Lowery because if he stung himself on it he would have to kill him too.

Cory and Lowery go into the spaceship leaving Garvey body. Garvey’s hand begins to twitch and hair starts to grow all over his body and so do Varga thorns. He is becoming a Varga plant. Corey has a license to kill from the Space Security Service and he enlists Lowery to help him. Corey explains that the Daleks have been gaining control of many planets and that a Dalek space ship was spotted in the Solar System.

Garvey is twitching with life as spines are growing all over his body.

Corey tries to contact the rendezvous ship, but they can’t get through and now it has dawned upon Corey and Lowery that they can’t repair the ship. Corey believes the Daleks have a base on Kembel and that is why they he and Lowery are there. He also explains that the Varga plant is native to the Daleks home planet Skaro and that you become a Varga plant if you prick yourself on it. This is another reason why the Daleks could be there. There are Daleks on Kembel!

In the Dalek city on Kembel the Dalek Supreme waits to be updated on the latest developments. He is updated and told that the representatives from the seven planets will be arriving soon and there meeting can start. He also tells a normal Dalek to destroy Corey and Lowery.

Corey and Lowery are been observed by three varga plants. Lowery is making a rescue beacon. Elsewhere, in the Kembel jungle the Daleks are discussing tactics on how to exterminate the humans. Corey and Lowery however are more concerned with the Varga plants than the Daleks. Lowery continues to make the rescue beacon. A space ship flies above them and the Daleks are planning something big.

Lowery finishes the rescue beacon and just needs to record a message. Corey and Lowery notice something moving in the jungle and duck behind some bushes four Daleks glide into the landing area. They destroy Lowery’s space ship. Corey and Lowery head deeper into the jungle and Lowery discovers a Varga thorn deeply embedded in his hand, he pulls it out and franticly attempts to suck out the poison. They continue to walk deeper into the jungle.

In the Dalek city the representatives from the seven galaxies have gathered in a conference room. They are worried about the humans, they believe they are hostile, but the Daleks assure them that the humans will be dealt with. The representatives all agree with a treaty the Daleks have written and that they will conquer earth first.

Lowery is in pain and is still trying to suck the Varga poison out of his hand. He realises that Varga spines are growing all over his body and quickly covers them when he hears Corey returning. Corey heard what the Daleks said on the loud speaker and he realises that Lowery is becoming a Varga plant. He kills Lowery. Corey then picks up the rescue beacon and starts recording his message.

Elsewhere in the jungle a Dalek says that they must kill the humans. Corey is surrounded by Daleks and is exterminated; the beacon and the message, however survive. All the representatives pledge an alliance to the Dalek cause and start to repeat “Victory.”

Cast

 * The Doctor - William Hartnell (Does not appear, though listed in closing credits)
 * Marc Cory - Edward De Souza
 * Jeff Garvey - Barry Jackson
 * Gordon Lowery - Jeremy Young
 * Malpha - Robert Cartland
 * Dalek - Robert Jewell
 * Dalek - Kevin Manser
 * Dalek - John Scott Martin
 * Dalek - Gerald Taylor
 * Dalek voice - David Graham
 * Dalek voice - Peter Hawkins
 * Trantis - Ronald Rich (uncredited)
 * Sentreal - Sam Mansary (uncredited)
 * Varga plants (all uncredited) - Roy Reeves, Tony Starn, Leslie Weeks
 * Planetarians (all uncredited) - Johnny Clayton, Pat Gorman, Sam Mansary, Len Russell

Crew

 * Writer - Terry Nation
 * Director - Derek Martinus
 * Producer - Verity Lambert
 * Assistant Floor Manager - Marjorie Yorke
 * Costumes - Daphne Dare
 * Designer - Richard Hunt
 * Designer - Raymond Cusick
 * Make-Up - Sonia Markham
 * Production Assistant - Angela Gordon
 * Script Editor - Donald Tosh
 * Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
 * Studio Lighting - Ralph Walton
 * Studio Sound - George Prince
 * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer

Story Title and Production Code
Perhaps more than any other Doctor Who story, Mission to the Unknown generates confusing and debate over both the title used and the serial/production code allocated.

All Doctor Who stories from this period have no overall onscreen title, with the story referred to either by a production code or an internal title by the production team. (For example the early 1965 story featuring Nero was Serial M or The Romans.) The two were confusingly used interchangeably in many production and overseas sales documents.

Mission to the Unknown generates further confusion because some documents do not refer to it as a serial but rather as a "cutaway episode". As the story was produced alongside Galaxy 4 the two appear to have been referred to together. Several of the production codes offered are either Serial T or Serial T +, an appendage.

Early in 1965 the term Dalek Cutaway started to be used to describe the episode in the production office. The onscreen title Mission to the Unknown came later but both continued in circulation, with Dalek Cutaway seemingly being used in places as both a story title and and a production term. The abbreviation DC also appears on a few early production documents.

Design documents successively refer to the episode as Serial T/A and later Serial T Episode 5. The episode's camera script gives Dalek Cutaway as a description and a handwritten addition states Serial T Episode 4 (which is the wrong number). Later when the videotape of the episode was wiped the relevant paperwork referred to Serial Ta Episode 1/1.

When it came to offering the story for sale overseas, the synopsis sent by BBC Enterprises gave the title as Mission to the Unknown (Dalek Cutaway). The 1974 Enterprises document A Quick Guide to Doctor Who, which listed the stories produced so far for potential overseas buyers, gave the title as Dalek Cutaway (Mission to the Unknown) and did not offer any production code at all.

When fans started compiling reference books in the mid 1970s it was this latter document which formed the basis of many lists. The story was referred to alternatively as Dalek Cutaway and Mission to the Unknown on many occasions, whilst the production code went vacant until the discovery of the design documents stating T/A. In more recent years the exploration of the BBC's written archives has exposed the problems of the title and production code

Ratings

 * Mission to the Unknown - 8.3m viewers

Myths

 * The members of the alliance were named Malpha, Desmir, Stifka, Hjbuj, Pteron, Dbremen and Leemon. (These names, apart from Malpha, were made up for an Australian fan-published novelisation). In the transmitted story only Malpha and the planet Gearon are named.

Location Filming
This story was filmed at Ealing studios in London and BBC Television Centre TC3 in London

Continuity

 * This story is continued in The Daleks' Master Plan which concludes the Daleks attempts to invade the Galaxy
 * The term "the Solar System" here seems to refer to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. This may be because Humanity control the whole Galaxy and the Solar System is at the heart of this Empire.

Discontinuity

 * Why would the Daleks announce their secret plans on the loudspeaker?


 * Dialogue appears to name the Daleks as natives of Mutter's Spiral. This seems to contradict other information which places Skaro outside Earth's galaxy.

Video, DVD, and audio releases

 * Due to the lack of available footage for this story no video or DVD release has been possible. A reconstruction of this story has been made using the available images and audio by Loose Cannon Productions.