REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS
by Ben Aaronovitch
PART THREE
Ace continues to flee the Daleks but pauses as she nearly runs over the
dead bodies of exterminated soldiers. Next to one is an rocket launcher
and rocket which she picks up and starts to load. Her pursuer Dalek
catches up with her before she can get it ready and she takes off again.
She runs into an open area with no cover and again tries to load the
launcher, when three Daleks enter and come right up to her completely
surrounding her and screaming their deathly battle-cry:
"Exterminate! ExTERminate!! EXTERMINATE!!!!"
Suddenly, the Doctor and the RAF personnel run in from outside, and
the Doctor raises and activates his new Confuser device. The air between
him and the Daleks becomes thick with speckled light and the Daleks
suddenly cease to function properly. They scream meaningless words and
sway around as if slightly drunk. Mike and some soldiers run into their midst,
helping Ace get clear and also attaching plastic explosives to each of the
Dalek's casings. They set the fuses and the Doctor switches off the Confuser,
amazed that it works. Mike calls out a quick countdown and the explosives
go off destroying the top sections of all three Daleks.
The Doctor expresses a little regret about the living beings inside the
casings that are now no more, then hands the Confuser to Mike so that
he and some other soldiers can sweep the building and destroy any others.
Rachel, Allison, and the Doctor go to examine the dissected casings,
and Rachel finds one with a still-active mutant. The Doctor bends down
for a closer look and a hideous clamp-like claw reaches up from inside
and puts a strangle-hold on him. Allison picks up Ace's discarded
charged baseball bat off the ground and clubs the thing with the blunt
thick end of the bat, killing it and then some. Once it's dead, the
Doctor points out to them how this mutant is different from the one they
saw in the blue casing at Totter's Lane. This one has functional
appendages and a mechanical prosthesis grafted into its very body.
Rachel feels sick, and they hear explosions from other parts of the
building making the Doctor think Mike found some more Daleks.
Ace, feeling like a spare part, says "Don't anyone give me a hand"
and Allison goes over to check her ankle. The Doctor comes over too
and then asks both Rachel and Allison to check the cellar while he
looks over (and has a chat with) Ace. R & A leave.
As the Doctor plays some kink-tricks with Ace's ankle to untwist the
muscles, he chastizes her for coming to the school. She explains she
only came to get her tape deck. He asks where it is now and she tells
him it's in little bits. She is angry when he says that's good and
he goes on to explain what a dangerous anachronism that tape deck was.
"If somebody had found it and discovered the principles of its funcion,
the whole microchip revolution would take place now, twenty years too
early. With uncalculable damage to the time-line." Ace wonders what
the big deal about that is and the Doctor tells her what a big deal it
is by pointing out how the Daleks could easily vaporize the entire area,
but even they, as ruthless as they are, think twice about making such
radical alterations to the timeline.
On the Dalek mother ship bridge (a large, dark, multi-levelled high-
technology control centre), the Dalek Operations Manager sits plugged
into the bridge control systems. It reports that the mother ship
will maintain Earth geostationary orbit and that all systems are fully
operational. It then orders Attack Squad Delta to prepare to enter the
transmat.
In the school cellar, Rachel and Allison discuss the transmat and its
apparent function of matter transmission and how impossible it is.
Rachel says after this is over she's going to retire and raise begonias.
The Doctor comes down the stairs with Ace's baseball bat on his shoulder.
Allison asks how the transmat works, ans he replies, "It's a link with
the Daleks allowing them to beam death squads onto Earth without anybody
knowing. And I don't want them hear, just , yet..." and he proceeds
to completely smash the transmat exterior and innards with Ace's charged
bat. At the final hit, the bat breaks in two. The Doctor observes
ruefully, "Weapons. Always useless in the end." He turns around to
see Rachel and Allison just staring at him with their mouths agape.
"Ah," he says, "You look hungry. How about lunch?" He closes their
mouths with his hand and beckons them upstairs.
Ratcliffe walks through the cemetery, looking around for something, and
then he finds what he's after, a freshly-buried grave with a black
tombstone bearing the Greek letter Omega.
Ace, the Doctor, and the RAF are having lunch at harry's cafe.
The Doctor is just staring off into the distance so Ace goes to sit down
and eat with Mike and some of his friends.
Ratcliffe nicks a long metal rod off another gravesite and forces it into
the soft Earth of the new grave. He hits something solid, and something
solid hits back as the rod blasts him away with a blue energy that throbs
and dances around the metal. He stares in disbelief.
The Operations Manager detects a new power source on the planet surface
and calls Full Alert. Other Dalek crew members enter the bridge and
analyze the data. One declares that it is the Hand of Omega. The
Bridge Commander orders that the Emperor Dalek be informed.
Rachel and Gilmore get into an argument, as Gilmore is frustrated about
how he wishes they were doing something and that Rachel didn't seem to
have any suggestions. Rachel explodes at him, "For your information
Group Captain, I was not hired, I was drafted. And for another, do you
think I enjoy some space vagrant coming along and telling me that the
painstaking research I've devoted my life to has been superceded by a
bunch of tin-plated pepperpots? ... You dragged me down from Cambridge,
you quote the Peacetime Emergency Powers Act at me, and THEN you expect
me to advise on something outside the realm of human experience!
Bluntly, Group Captain, we're reliant on the Doctor, because ONLY the
Doctor knows what is going on!" And the Doctor continues to stare into
nothing at all.
Ratcliffe is ordering his men around as they dig up the Hand of Omega
coffin. He says he wants it back at the warehouse as soon as possible.
He turns, and sees the little blonde schoolgirl again, watching them.
He asks her what she's staring at, and she looks high up into the sky...
"Emperor on the bridge." A lift hoists the Emperor Dalek onto the Dalek
mother ship bridge. Like the other Imperials, it has a cream and gold
colour scheme, a normal-looking base, but its entire top section is a
large sphere with a single white slit of a sensor glowing behind a
translucent hexagonal shield. It orders the crew to report. One says
that the transmat is no longer operational. Another reports how they
have established the position of the Omega device. The Emperor orders
the preparation af an assault shuttle, and one of the crew cautions that
Renegade Dalek agents are in the area. "They will surrender the Hand of
Omega!" promises the Emperor.
Ratcliffe asks the little girl to leave, but she just continues to stare
at the work-men, now lifting the casket out of the grave. He turns to
tell his men to speed up again, and when he turns again, the little girl
has vanished...
The Doctor looks up from his contemplation at the cafe and asks Gilmore
to set up a base at the school. Gilmore agrees and immediately orders
preparations to be made. The entire RAF clientele evacuates the cafe,
Rachel and Allison being the last to leave. Allison says how she
wishes Bernard was here and Rachel tells her the British Rocket Group
has its own problems. Ace asks the Doctor what's so important about
the school, and the Doctor says absolutely nothing now that the transmat
is dead. He explains that as long as the Renegade Daleks have got the Hand,
then the Imperial Daleks will be entirely focussed on that.
The truck carrying the Hand of Omega, Ratcliffe, and his men arrives back
at his warehouse. Ratcliffe climbs out, goes inside, and tells the
Dalek-thing-in-the-chair that they have the Hand of Omega out in the yard.
He then telephones his "man" who actually found it for him to let him
know too.
At the school, Allison tells Mike he has a phone call in the Headmaster's
office. He goes to answer it.
Ace and the Doctor go into the school, Ace demanding explanations as to
why they are where they are if its so out of the action. He takes her
up the staircase a little ways, where things are a little private,
and they sit down on the stairs, and the Doctor explains:
"A long time ago, on my home planet of Gallifrey, there lived a stellar
engineer called Omega... It was Omega who created the supernova that
was the initial power source for Gallifreyan time travel experiments.
He left behind him the basis on which Rassilon founded Time Lord society,
and he left behind, the Hand of Omega...The hand of Omega is a mythical
name for Omega's remote stellar manipulator. A device he used to
customize stars with, and didn't we have trouble with the prototype..."
Ace realizes that the Daleks want it to recreate the time travel experiments,
but is puzzled about this snce both factions can already travel in time.
The Doctor explains that they have time corridor technology, but that's
rather crude and nasty. What they want is the power that Time Lords have,
and they'll get that with the Hand of Omega, "or so they think..."
The problem now is keeping Gilmore's troops from getting diced in the crossfire
so all this base set-up going on at the school is a massive deception,
to let the Daleks grab the Hand of Omega and go and not let anyone get
hurt. There is an additional problem in that the Doctor wasn't expecting
two Dalek factions, and now he has to make sure that thw rong ones don't
get their grubby little protuberances on it.
They get up, and the Doctor tells her they're going Dalek hunting.
Ratcliffe's Association Men unload the Hand of Omega from the truck
and place it on a large table in the garage. From behind another door,
a squad of Renegade Daleks led by a larger black-cased Supreme Dalek
first observe them unloading and then asdvance on the men, ordering
the men to stay where they are.
Inside the warehouse, Ratcliffe sits down and starts to relax, telling
the Dalek-person-in-the-chair how people really do like a strong leader,
someone who knows when to be lenient and when to be harsh.
On the word "harsh," he hears Dalek gun-fire from outside, and screams
from his men. He runs to the door and looks out, seeing them all
being exterminated. He turns back to the Dalek-Chair asking it
what it's doing to those men, since they're on their side.
It says, "You are a slave, Ratcliffe!" and with an electronic sound,
the chair slowly swivells round to face Ratcliffe. The persion in the
chair raises two small arms and lifts the helmet off its head.
The face underneath is that of........the little blonde schoolgirl,
and she speaks, her voice changing from Dalek to her own as she says,
"You were born to serve the Daleks!"
Ratcliffe (and 99.899% of the audience watching the show) stares at
her in utter disbelief, as the wall behind him slides open, admitting
the Renegade Dalek squad. The Supreme Dalek orders its squad to
patrol the area until the Time Controller is operational. It enters
the control area and orders at Ratcliffe, "You will obey the Daleks,
or you will be exterminated!!!" It then orders the little girl to
activate the Time Controller. She goes to Ratcliffe's desk, opens a
drawer and takes out a device controlled by a plasma globe. the globe's
interior comes afire and she runs her fingers over the surface,
reporting to the Supreme Dalek that the Time Controller was activated and
was calculating co-ordinates. the Supreme Dalek orders Ratcliffe to come
with them, and all three leave the room.
The Doctor and Ace spot Renegade Daleks coming from Ratcliffe's warehouse,
hide as they pass, and then attempt to sneak in to the warehouse.
Mike returns from a search of the school under Gilmore's orders, having
turned up nothing on the whereabouts of Ace or the Doctor. Gilmore
orders troops to search the area and find him and bring him back
immediately. He then orders Rachel and Allison to come with him,,
and they click their heels in Hitler-style salute as they leave.
The Doctor and Ace sneak into the garage, and the Doctor shows her the
hand's casket. She asks if he's sure he wants the Daleks to have it,
and he says absolutely. It bleeps to his presence, and he asks it if
it knows what it has to do, and he answers his own question by saying
"Of course you do." They further sneak into the control room and
Ace asks about the chair the little girl sat in. The Doctor explains
it is a battle computer. "The Daleks' major drawback is their
dependence on rationality and logic. The solution: get a human,
preferably young, imaginative, plug the child into the system, and
their imaginativity and creativity are slaved to the battle computer."
Next, he turns his attention to the Time Controller. He presses his fingers
on the globe himself and with a little push, the fire inside flits out.
Ace asks if he's busted it, and he says he's merely put it out-of-phase
to slow them down. He then conjures a calling card out of the sky
places it on the Controller, and then they hide as they hear Ratcliffe's
voice outside. As Ratcliffe, the Supreme Dalek, and the girl come inside,
the Doctor and Ace sneak out behind them. The girl finds the dead Time
controller and the calling card. She informs the Supreme Dalek that
the Time Controller has been disabled. It orders her to tell all Daleks
to seek and destroy the intruder. She shows it the card, a small white
card with a golden question mark emblazoned on a Gallifreyan seal and
alien script. The Supreme Dalek explodes, "Exterminate the Doctor!
Crush all resistance!!!" The girl seats herself again in the battle
computer and she sends out instructions.
the Doctor and Ace run, hide, and generally try to evade the swarms
of Renegade Daleks out looking for them. As they do, Ace asks why
they just don't give the Hand to the Imperials. The Doctor says with
a bit of luck, the Imperials will wipe out the Renegades this way,
and also that it would make the Imperials suspicious if he just gave it
to them. Ace begins to ask what they'd be suspicious of, and then
another Dalek nearly finds them. they hide again, the Doctor nearly
giving them away with a sneeze, but as soon as the Dalek is out of sight,
they run for it.
Mike and a small group of RAF troops start looking for Ace and the Doctor.
Ace and the Doctor run back towards the school, passing the TARDIS on
the way. Ace asks why they just don't get inside, but the Doctor tells her
they have work to do first, and in any case, here comes the military,
as Mike and the troops find them. The Doctor asks if Gilmore is still in
the school, Mike says yes, and the Doctor runs inside the school.
Mike and Ace are alone for a second and Mike asks Ace if she'd like to
see a picture when all this is over. her answer is a little in the
affirmative, but she doesn't care what movie it is since she's probably
already seen it on television. Mike smiles at her and then frowns
at two Renegade Daleks coming up the street. They run for it and get
behind the school wall as the leading Dalek takes a shot, hitting the wall.
Gilmore is a little peeved at the Doctor's little jaunt, and the Doctor
explains that it was successful but he seems to have brought back some
Daleks with them. Mike enters and wonders out loud why they don't just leave
since they already have the hand of Omega. The Doctor asks how Mike
knew that, Mike says Ace told him, and Ace says he's a toerag, a lying
dirty scumbag. "We're finished," she says. "He's a grass, a dirty
stinking grass; he's selling us out to the Daleks!" The Doctor yanks
her up the stairs, and Gilmore demands to know what they were talking
about to Mike. Mike says he didn't know it was the Daleks, Gilmore
isn't happy, but as they are under attack, he lets it slide until later.
Troops outside the school hide behind sandbags firing machine guns at
three advancing Daleks. The bullets have no effecet whatsoever, and
the Daleks destroy the defenses and some of the soldiers.
High above the planet, a shuttlecraft descends to the Earth below....
The girl/battle computer at Ratcliffe's warehouse informs the Supreme
Dalek that an Imperial Dalek shuttlecraft is entering the atmosphere.
The Supreme Dalek orders back all Dalek units to defend the Hand of
Omega.
Outside the school, the Renegade Daleks are about to enter when they
receive the orders from the battle computer to return to base. They
reverse course and head away.
From the lab classroom window, Ace looks down on the retreating Daleks
and calls them "Wimps!" Gilmore, Allison, and the Doctor are also in
the room as Rachel enters carrying a teletext report. She says
they've had a report of a radar contact on a re-entry curve from low
orbit. The Doctor says that'll be the Imperial Dalek shuttlecraft.
Gilmore is worried about them landing a spaceship here but the Doctor
says they won't, since the school is much too far from the main action.
They hear a roar outside and Rachel asks sarcastically if he's sure.
Ace is looking out the window at a large, descending dull orange
shuttle with four rockets nearing the Earth.
The Doctor yells for Ace to get away from the window, and so she runs
across lab tables to the other end of the room with the others.
He yells for everyone to get down, for as the Dalek shuttle lands,
the exhaust gases blow out the windows on the other side of the room
and smashes glassware all across the lab.
As the Doctor crouches on the floor, he looks up and mutters,
"I think I may have miscalculated."
END PART THREE
The Doctor
SYLVESTER McCOY
Ace
SOPHIE ALDRED
Gilmore Mike
SIMON WILLIAMS DURSLEY McLINDEN
Rachel Allison
PAMELA SALEM KAREN GLEDHILL
Ratcliffe Harry
GEORGE SEWELL HARRY FOWLER
The Girl Embery
JASMINE BREAKS PETER HAMILTON DYER
Emperor Dalek Supreme Dalek Operator
ROY TROMELLY HUGH SPIGHT
Dalek Operators
JOHN SCOTT MARTIN
CY TOWN
TONY STARR
DAVID HARRISON
NORMAN BACON
NIGEL WILD
Voices
ROY SKELTON
ROYCE MILLS
BRIAN MILLER
JOHN LEESON
Stunt Arranger and Stuntman
TIP TIPPING
Association Men
MATTHEW KING TOMMY CHARLTON ALEC GIFFORD STEVE LITTLE
RAF Men
ROBERT TERSON JACK TALBOT NORMAN WARREN IAN BODENHAM
STUART SMITH IAN JOHNS DEREK VAN WEENAN RICHARD HADDON
BILL MALIN TONY ASPIN ROSS MURRAY DAVID SKINNER
LEE RYAN CHARLES HUNTER
Title Music Composed by
RON GRAINER
Incidental Music and Theme Arrangement
KEFF McCULLOCH
Special Sound
DICK MILLS
Production Managers Production Assistant
IAN FRASER ROSEMARY PARSONS
MICHAEL McDERMOTT
Assistant Floor Managers OB Lighting
VAL McCRIMMON IAN DOW
LYNN GRANT
OB Sound OB Cameramen
DOUG WHITTAKER ROBIN SUTHERLAND
LES MOWBRAY BARRY CHASTON
Vision Mixers Technical Co-Ordinator
SHIRLEY COWARD RICHARD WILSON
FRED LAW
Studio Camera Supervisor Properties Buyer
ALEC WHEAL CHRIS FERRIDAY
Studio Lighting Studio Sound
HENRY BARBER SCOTT TALBOTT
Film Cameraman (Model Work) Design Assistant
WILLIAM DUDMAN BRIAN SYKES
Costume Assistant
ANDREW DUCKETT
Dressers
DEBBIE ROBERTS PIPPA ROWLANDSON MICHAEL JOHNSON
DAVID HUGHES DAVID BAILEY
Make-Up Assistants Floor Assistant
JANE COLE LOUISE PERCIVAL
LESLIE ALTRINGHAM
Production Operatives
LES RUNHAM DAVID DIBDEN JOHN WHELTON
MARK EARLES BILLY MULLAN
Armourer The Show is Over
DOUG NEEDHAM GO DO YOUR HOMEWORK
Production Associate Finance Assistant
JUNE COLLINS HILARY BARRATT
Producer's Secretaries
KATE EASTEAL LORRAINE GODDING
Graphic Designer Computer Animation
OLIVER ELMES CAL VIDEO
Video Effects Video-tape Editor
DAVE CHAPMAN HUGH PARSON
Visual Effects Designer
STUART BRISDON
Make-Up Designer Costume Designer
CHRISTINE GREENWOOD KEN TREW
Script Editor
ANDREW CARTMEL
Designer
MARTIN COLLINS
Producer
JOHN NATHAN-TURNER
Director
ANDREW MORGAN
episode copyright, BBC Tv MCMLXXXVIII
this synopsis by Steven Manfred
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Move on to the Next
Episode