The Macra Terror (TV story)

"Who wants to see their face in a pair of suede shoes?"

- The Doctor

The Macra Terror was the seventh story of Season 4 of Doctor Who. It was the first Doctor Who story to feature the lead actor's face in the opening title sequence.

Synopsis
When the Doctor, Polly and Ben visit a human colony that appears to be one big holiday camp, they think they have come across a truly happy place. But a shadowy presence soon makes them realise that the surface contentment is carefully controlled.

The colony's inhabitants have been brainwashed by giant crab-like creatures - the Macra. Insidious propaganda, broadcast by the Controller, forces the humans to mine a gas that is essential for the Macra to survive - but fatal to them.

The colony must be saved - but how? The Doctor and his team are up against it, particularly when Ben falls under the influence of the Macra. Can he be rescued from their evil clutches? Can the gas pumping equipment be destroyed, getting rid of the Macra for good?

Plot
To be added.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
 * Ben Jackson - Michael Craze
 * Polly - Anneke Wills
 * Jamie McCrimmon - Frazer Hines
 * Pilot - Peter Jeffrey
 * Medok - Terence Lodge
 * Ola - Gertan Klauber
 * Barney - Graham Armitage
 * Questa - Ian Fairbairn
 * Sunaa - Jane Enshawe
 * Chicki - Sandra Bryant (Episode 1) & Karol Keyes (Episode 4)
 * Drum Majorette - Maureen Lane
 * Controller - Graham Leaman
 * Alvis - Anthony Gardner
 * Control Voice - Denis Goacher
 * Broadcast and Propaganda Voice - Richard Beale
 * Macra Operator - Robert Jewell
 * Officia - John Harvey
 * Guards - John Caesar, Steve Emerson, Danny Rae
 * Cheerleaders - Roger Jerome, Terry Wright, Ralph Carrigan

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Anne Faggetter
 * Costumes - Daphne Dare, Vanessa Clark
 * Designer - Kenneth Sharp
 * Film Cameraman - Peter Hamilton
 * Film Editor - Eddie Wallstab
 * Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
 * Make-Up - Gillian James, Jeanne Richmond
 * Producer - Innes Lloyd
 * Production Assistant - Chris D'Oyly John
 * Script Editor - Gerry Davis
 * Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
 * Studio Lighting - Frank Cresswell
 * Studio Sound - Hugh Barker, Gordon Mackie
 * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer

Story Notes

 * This story is the first to use a new title sequence incorporating an image of Patrick Troughton's face, designed by Bernard Lodge and realised by Ben Palmer. The series' theme music was also rearranged slightly at this point by Delia Derbyshire, with assistance from Dick Mills. This arrangement remains in use (with some variations) until 1980.
 * This story had the working titles; The Spidermen, The Insect-Men, The Macra.
 * Sandra Bryant, who played Chicki in Episode 1, asked to be released from her contract so that she could accept another, more attractive offer of work. This was agreed to by Innes Lloyd, and so – in an unusual move – the role was recast for Episode 4 (the only other episode in which Chicki appears), going instead to Karol Keyes.
 * Richard Beale is credited as Broadcast Voice for Episodes 1 and 3. For Episode 2, he is billed as Broadcast and Propaganda Voice on-screen and as Broadcast and Propaganda Voices in Radio Times.
 * John Harvey (Officia) is erroneously credited as Official in Radio Times for Episode 4.
 * The Macra seen to be in charge in the last episode is white rather than black, a scene for which the sole Macra prop had to be repainted.
 * All four episodes are missing, though some clips survive.

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 8.0 million viewers
 * Episode 2 - 7.9 million viewers
 * Episode 3 - 8.5 million viewers
 * Episode 4 - 8.4 million viewers

Myths

 * The image of the Controller seen on the screen in the Pilot's office was a photograph of story editor Gerry Davis. (It was a photograph of Graham Leaman, who played the Controller.)

Filming Locations

 * Associated Portland Cement Company Quarry, Houghton Road, Dunstable
 * Ealing Television Film Studios, Ealing Green, Ealing
 * Lime Grove Studios (Studio D)

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * The Macra's top claw is longer than the bottom, but when it grabs the controller, they are the same size
 * When Medok is called to provide the Doctor's alibi, the Doctor tells the Pilot not to believe everything that Medok is going to say. Perhaps because he expects Medok to lie and try and get the Doctor into trouble.
 * How the atmospherically challenged Macra could take control (even with the charming voice one seems to possess) is never explained.
 * Scenes such as the Macra standing around the old Pilot, threatening him and pushing a microphone in his face, are hard to imagine.

Continuity

 * The Macra returned to Doctor Who 40 years later in DW: Gridlock. To date, this marks the longest interval between appearances by a character or alien race in franchise history.

Timeline

 * This story occurs after The Moonbase
 * This story occurs before The Slave War

DVD, Video and Other Releases

 * The full soundtrack was released with linking naration by Colin Baker
 * surviving clips were release on the lost in time dvd boxset

Novelisation

 * Main article: The Macra Terror (novelisation)


 * Novelised as The Macra Terror by Ian Stuart Black in 1987.