"An Unearthly Child"
Written by Anthony Coburn
Production Completed on 27 September 1963
Privately Screened on 4 October 1963
Broadcast 26 August 1991
Duration: 25 minutes 23 seconds
(A rush of swirling light and a throbbing musical pulse fills the screen. The light resolves into the title....."Doctor Who".....which fades into
the background of the screen.......)
1: EXT. LONDON, ENGLAND 1963
(It's a late, foggy night out on the old town of London. A lone beat cop in uniform walks around, carrying a flashlight through the thick haze. The light
pauses upon a sign -- "I.M. Foreman Scrap Merchant, Totter's Lane" -- and moves on.
The sign is upon a gate, which slowly opens.....revealing something that's very odd to find in a scrapyard of this era. A late 1950's police telephone box,
medium blue in colour and rather beat-up looking.
Another strange thing about this box......There's no visible lines of any kind running to it, yet....it's humming.
An
Unearthly
Child
Written
by
Anthony Coburn
The camera zooms in on the door of the Police Box:
|
POLICE TELEPHONE
FREE
FOR USE OF
PUBLIC
ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE
OBTAINABLE IMMEDIATELY
OFFICERS AND CARS
RESPOND TO
URGENT CALLS
PULL TO OPEN |
FADE TO:)
2: INT. COAL HILL SCHOOL -- LONDON, ENGLAND -- MONDAY, 1963
(The ringing of the school bell brings an end to another day at high school. The students spill out of the classrooms, chattering to each other. A
middle-aged woman, obviously a teacher, follows the students out, calling back into the classroom.)
WOMAN: Wait in here please, Susan. I won't be long.
(Two female students walk before the camera, very interested in a pamphlet they're reading. A young male student comes up, mocking their excited tones. The
girls roll their eyes. One whispers something naughty to the other, they smile and move along. After saying good night to several students, the teacher stops to
talk to one student about the class assignment. (This is hard to make out.))
WOMAN: Good night.
(Having received a book, the teacher walks up to the school lab. With a quick knock, she walks in.)
3: INT. COAL HILL SCHOOL -- LABORATORY
(Inside, a handsome 28-year old man sits at one of the tables, going through some notes. He looks up as the woman walks in.)
MAN: Ah, not gone yet?
WOMAN: (Smiles.) Obviously not.
MAN: Oh, ask a silly question...
WOMAN: Sorry.
MAN: That's all right. I'll forgive you this time.
(The woman walks in and stands at one of the tables. The man gets up and begins to collect various objects from around the room.)
WOMAN: Ohh, I've had a terrible day. I don't know what to make of it.
MAN: Oh? What's the trouble? Can I help?
WOMAN: Oh, it's one of the girls. Susan Foreman. (She walks around the table to the man.)
MAN: (Looks up with a grin.) Susan Foreman? She your problem too?
WOMAN: Yes.
MAN: And you don't know what to make of her?
WOMAN: Nope.
MAN: How old is she, Barbara?
BARBARA: 15.
MAN: 15.....she lets her knowledge out a bit at a time, so as not to embarrass me, that's what I feel about her. (Shakes his head in amazement.)
Knows more science than I'll ever know. She's a genius! (On her smile.) Is that what she's doing with history?
BARBARA: (Shares the amazed grin.) Something like that.
MAN: And that's your problem, eh? Whether to hand over the class over to her...
BARBARA: (Laughing.) No, not quite.
MAN: (Having finished collecting the objects, he leans against one of the tables.) No? What?
BARBARA: Ian, must talk to someone about this, but I don't want get the girl into trouble. And I know you're going to tell me I'm imagining things.
IAN: No...
BARBARA: Well, I told you how good she is at history. I had a talk with her, and I told her she ought to specialize. She seemed quite interested until I
said I'd be willing to work with her at her home. And, she said "that would be absolutely impossible, as her grandfather didn't like strangers".
IAN: (Gets up, walks around.) He's a doctor, isn't he? That's a bit of a lame excuse.
BARBARA: Well, I didn't take too much notice. But then, recently her homework's been so bad!
IAN: (Washes his hands.) Yes, I'll say.
BARBARA: Finally, I got so irritated at all her excuses that I decided to see this grandfather of hers and tell him to take some interest in her.
IAN: Oh, did you indeed? And what's the old boy like?
BARBARA: Well, that's just it. I got her address from the secretary -- 76 Totters Lane -- and I went along there one evening. (Ian finishes washing
his hands.) Oh Ian, do pay attention!
(He walks across the room to dry his hands.)
IAN: Sorry. You, ah, went along there...
BARBARA: There isn't anything there! It's just an old junkyard!
IAN: Well, you went to the wrong place.
BARBARA: Well, that was the address the secretary gave me.
IAN: The secretary got it wrong then --
BARBARA: No. I checked. There's a big wall on one side, houses on the other, and nothing in the middle except this junkyard! And that is No. 76 Totters
Lane!
IAN: Humm...That's a bit of mystery. Well, there must be a simple answer.
BARBARA: What?
IAN: (Grins.) Well, we'll have to find out for ourselves, won't we?
BARBARA: (Grins.) Thanks for the "we." She's waiting in one of the classrooms. I'm lending her a book on the French Revolution.
IAN: What's she going to do -- rewrite it?
(Barbara rolls her eyes, and the two teachers get up to leave.)
IAN: Oh, all right! (Grabs his coat.) What do we do? Ask her point blank?
BARBARA: No. I thought we could drive there, wait 'till she shows up and see where she goes.
IAN: (Puts his coat on.) All right.
BARBARA: That is, if you're not doing anything.
IAN: No, I'm not. (Opens the door.) After you....
4: INT. HISTORY CLASSROOM -- COAL HILL SCHOOL
(15-year old Susan Foreman, the subject of the teacher's scrutiny, is listening to a little pocket radio, putting it up to her ear. She's a slim beauty with
elfin features (unusually short for that time), black hair and brown eyes. She's grooving along to that Mersey beat, making funny movements with her right hand
and fake strumming a guitar. Ian and Barbara walk in. She's oblivious to them. Barbara seems to be caught by the door jam, but manages to free herself.)
BARBARA: Susan?
SUSAN: (Putting down the radio.) OH!! Oh, sorry, Miss Wright! I didn't hear you coming.
(Barbara smiles.)
SUSAN: Aren't they fabulous?
BARBARA: Who?
SUSAN: It's John Smith and the Common Men. They've gone from 2 to 19, 19 to 2 in the hit parade!
BARBARA: (Not understanding a bit of it, chuckles.) Not bad.
IAN: (He does, and he laughs.) "John Smith" is the stage name for the honourable Aubrey Waites. He started his career as Chris Waites
and the Carollers, didn't he, Susan?
SUSAN: You are surprising, Mr. Chesterton. I wouldn't expect you to know a thing like that.
IAN: I have an enquiring mind.... (Motions to the loud radio.) and a very sensitive ear.
SUSAN: Oh, sorry. (Turns the radio off, flustered.)
IAN: (Chuckles.) Thank you.
SUSAN: (Notices the book Barbara's holding.) I-is that the book you're lending me, Miss Wright?
BARBARA: Yes. (Hands it over.)
SUSAN: Thank you. (Looks it over with relish.) It will be interesting.....I'll return tomorrow.
BARBARA: Oh, that's not necessary. Till you've finished it.
SUSAN: (Moves to put it in her bag.) I'll have finished it.
(Ian and Barbara glance at each other in surprise -- she's a speed reader too??)
IAN: Oh, where do you live, Susan? I'm, uh, giving Miss Wright a lift home. I've got room for one more.
SUSAN: (Avoids his gaze.) No thank you, Mr. Chesterton. I rather like walking in the English fog. It's sort of mysterious.
BARBARA: You say that as if...
IAN: (Cutting Barbara off.) Then we won't deprive you of that romantic pleasure.
BARBARA: Well, hurry home Susan. And, be careful. The fog's getting thicker.
(Susan doesn't respond.)
BARBARA: Well, see you in the morning?
SUSAN: I expect so. Good night.
BARBARA: Good night.
IAN: Good night.
(Ian and Barbara leave. A slight shadow of loneliness crosses young Susan's face....but that fades as she walks over to one of the tables, humming a tune.
She picks up one of the ink quills and begins splattering ink on to a sheet of paper. Once satisfied, she folds the paper in half which spreads the ink out. She
unfolds the paper and draws a shape around the splattered ink. She then becomes nervous and crumples up the paper. (What she's drawn here looks a lot like the
TARDIS console.))
5: INT. IAN'S CAR / 76 TOTTERS LANE -- THAT NIGHT....
(Ian and Barbara are in his car, driving down the night road.)
BARBARA: Over there! Where the policeman is.
(The car comes to a stop before that old wooden gate.)
IAN: The fog's cleared. We're lucky.
BARBARA: She can't have got here yet. (Nervous pause.) Oh, I suppose we are doing the right thing?
IAN: You can't justify curiosity.
BARBARA: But her homework --
IAN: Oh, it's just an excuse, really. I've seen far worse. The truth is, we're both curious about Susan, and we won't be happy until we know some of the
answers.
BARBARA: You can't just pass it off like that! If I thought I was just being a busybody, I'd go straight home! I thought you agreed she was a bit of a
mystery!
IAN: Yes. Well, I expect there's a very simple explanation to all this.
BARBARA: Well, I don't know how you explain the fact that a fif -- that a fifteen year old girl does not know how many shillings there are in a pound.
IAN: (Blinks.) Really?
BARBARA: Really! She said she thought we were on the decimal system.
IAN: Decimal system?!?
6: INT. COAL HILL SCHOOL -- BARBARA'S CLASSROOM (FLASHBACK)
(The whole of Barbara's history class is cracking up at Susan's naiveté. A visibly stung Susan turns her back on the other students.)
SUSAN: I'm sorry, Miss Wright.
BARBARA: (O.S., cross.) Don't be silly, Susan. The United States has a decimal system. You know perfectly well that...
SUSAN: (In a shock of understanding.) Of course -- the decimal system hasn't started yet!
7: INT. IAN'S CAR / 76 TOTTERS LANE (CON'T)
(Ian rubs his chin in thought.)
IAN: Suppose she couldn't be a foreigner.....it doesn't make sense! Nothing about this girl makes sense! For instance, the other day, I was giving a
talk about chemical changes. I'd given out the litmus paper to show cause and effect --
BARBARA: -- and she knew the answer before you'd even started.
IAN: Well, not quite. The answer simply didn't....
8: INT. SCIENCE LAB -- COAL HILL SCHOOL (FLASHBACK)
(A nervous Susan addresses Ian, who's walking toward her (we're seeing her through his eyes.))
SUSAN: Yes, I can see red turns blue, Mr. Chesterton, but....that's because we're dealing with two inactive chemicals. They only act in relation to
each other!
IAN: (O.S., exasperated.) But that's the whole point of the experiment, Susan!
SUSAN: Yes, it's a bit obvious, isn't it? Well, I'm not being rude, but....couldn't we deal with two active chemicals and get on with something else?
(Her expression turns sheepish.)
SUSAN: (Quiet.) I-I'm sorry. It was just an idea.
9: INT. IAN'S CAR -- 76 TOTTERS LANE (CON'T)
IAN: She means it. These simple experiments are child's play to her.
BARBARA: You know, it's almost gotten to the stage where I deliberately want to trip her up.
IAN: Something like that happened a couple of weeks ago. I'd set the class a problem with A, B, and C as the three dimensions....
10: INT. SCIENCE LAB -- COAL HILL SCHOOL (FLASHBACK)
(Susan is almost boiling with rage.)
SUSAN: It's impossible unless you use D and E!!
IAN: (O.S.) D and E?!? Whatever for?? Do the problem that's set, Susan!
SUSAN: I CAN'T, Mr. Chesterton! You can't simply use three of the elements!
IAN: (O.S.) Three of them?? Oh. Time being the fourth dimension, I suppose. But what do you want E for? What do you make the fifth dimension?
(Susan looking up at him, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.)
SUSAN: Space......
11: INT. IAN: 'S CAR -- 76 TOTTERS LANE (CON'T)
(Both schoolteachers are completely baffled.)
BARBARA: Too many questions, and not enough answers.
IAN: Stupid? Or just doesn't know? So -- we have a fifteen year old girl who's absolutely brilliant at some things, excruciatingly bad at others and,
well, just inexplicable at the rest.
BARBARA: (Points out the window.) There she is! See her?
(And indeed she is. She's looking around, as if making sure she's not being followed. Then she ducks behind the gate.)
IAN: She looks around like somebody who's afraid she's being watched. Or, is my imagination working over time?
BARBARA: Look, can we go in now? I hate to think of her alone in that place.
IAN: If she is alone. Look, she is fifteen -- she might be meeting a boy. Did that occur to you?
BARBARA: (Grin.) I almost hope she is.
IAN: (Laughs.) You do?
BARBARA: Well, it would be so...normal.
(Both teachers laugh. But Barbara grows uncommonly somber.)
BARBARA: Isn't it silly? I feel afraid -- as if we're about to interfere in something that's best left alone......
12: INT. JUNKYARD -- 76 TOTTERS LANE
(Susan is walking through the junkyard, still checking to make sure no one is following...)
13: EXT. 76 TOTTERS LANE
(Ian opens up the car door.)
IAN: Come on, let's get it over with.
(He and Barbara get out of the car, and start toward the gate. Barbara is getting more and more uneasy, and glares at an amused Ian.)
BARBARA: Well, don't you feel it??
IAN: I take things as they come. Come on.
(With a flashlight in Ian's hand, the two teachers enter the junkyard.....)
14: INT. JUNKYARD -- 76 TOTTERS LANE
(They walk cautiously through the huge mounds of junk. There's very little in good repair here. Susan is nowhere in sight, and Ian is a bit disgusted.)
IAN: What a mess. We're certainly not looking for her under all this.
BARBARA: (Points.) Over there?
(Ian starts that way, only to stumble over a tin bucket and in the process, knocking over an old mannequin and more junk.)
IAN: Dropped it!
BARBARA: What?
IAN: The torch!
BARBARA: Well, use a match!
IAN: I haven't got one. Oh, never mind. (He picks himself back up --)
(The two teachers continue their (now dark and gloomy) trek through the junkyard.)
BARBARA: Susan?
IAN: Susan? Susan!! Mr. Chesterton and Miss Wright! (Under his breath.) She can't have got out without us hearing her.
BARBARA: Ian.....look at this!
(She's come upon that strangely humming blue police box.)
IAN: (Comes over to where Barbara is.) Well, it's a police box! What on earth's it doing here? They're always in the street --
(He pats the box's side -- and his eyes go wide. He touches it with his full hand, more firmly.)
IAN: Feel it! Feel it!!
(Barbara quickly puts her hand on and off it.)
IAN: You feel it?
BARBARA: It's a - a faint vibration.....
IAN: (Takes a step back from the box.) It's alive!
(He quickly walks across all four walls of the box.)
IAN: (Now a little nervous himself.) Not connected to anything, unless it's through the floor.
BARBARA: (Moves up from nervous to scared.) Look, I-I've had enough. Let's go and find a policeman.
IAN: Yes, all right --
(A coughing echoes through the junkyard.)
BARBARA: That her??
IAN: No, wait.
(The gate opens --)
IAN: That's not her. Quick!
(They hide behind a pile of junk. An old man walks into view. About 55, with straight, slightly long white hair (with a funny black fur hat), wearing a heavy
coat and scarf. He coughs and waves at the air. He ambles up to the box, pulling out a key and (holding a pen flashlight in the other hand) starts to jiggle it
into the lock set into the box's door --)
SUSAN'S VOICE: Oh, there you are!
BARBARA: (Whisper.) It's Susan!
IAN: (Whisper.) Shh!!
(Too late -- the old man heard them. He opens the police box door, music is heard coming out, and he quickly closes it again as Ian starts towards him.)
IAN: Excuse me....
OLD MAN: (Shining the pen at his face.) What are you doing here?
IAN: We're looking for a young girl.
OLD MAN: We?
BARBARA: (Steps into view.) Good evening.
OLD MAN: What do you want?
IAN: Um....one of our pupils, Susan Foreman, came into this yard.
OLD MAN: Really? In here? Are you sure?
BARBARA: Yes. We saw her from across the street.
OLD MAN: In this light?
IAN: Quite clearly.
OLD MAN: (Fixes Ian with a brilliant stare.) You were spying on her. Who are you?
IAN: We heard a young girl's voice call out to you....
OLD MAN: Impossible!
BARBARA: (Points at the box.) It came from in there!
OLD MAN: (A flash of fear crosses his eyes.) You must have imagined it.
BARBARA: I certainly did not imagine it!
(The old man pulls Ian aside.)
OLD MAN: Young man.....Is it reasonable to suppose that anybody would be inside a cupboard like that?
IAN: Is it therefore unreasonable to ask you to let us have a look inside?
OLD MAN: You have no right to be here! You're hiding and trespassing. I suggest you see this young child tomorrow instead of bothering me.
BARBARA: But, won't you help us? We're two of the teachers from the Coal Hill School. We saw her come in and we haven't seen her leave. Naturally, we're
worried....
OLD MAN: It's no business of mine. I suggest you leave here. (Walks back in front of the box.)
IAN: Not until we're satisfied that Susan isn't in there. And, I don't understand your attitude --
OLD MAN: Yours leaves a lot to be desired.
IAN: Will you open that door?
OLD MAN: I will not!
IAN: Why not? What are you afraid we'll find there?
OLD MAN: Go away!
IAN: Open the door!
OLD MAN: I certainly will not! Pushing your way in here...
(Ian looks at Barbara.)
IAN: Then, I think we'd better find a policeman.
OLD MAN: Very well.
IAN: And you're coming with us.
OLD MAN: Oh....am I? (Walks away.) I think not!
BARBARA: (Whisper.) We can't force him!
IAN: (Whisper.) But we can't leave him here! Doesn't it seem obvious to you that he's got her locked up in there? I mean, look at it!
(The old man is standing away from them again, a serious look on his face as Ian tests the box's door.....)
IAN: There's no handles....There's....must be a hidden lock somewhere.
BARBARA: That was Susan's voice!
IAN: But of course it was! Susan.....Susan?? (Knocks on the door.) Are you in there? It's Mr. Chesterton and Miss Wright, Susan!
OLD MAN: Don't you think you're being rather high-handed, young man? You thought you saw a young girl enter the yard. You imagined you heard music or her
voice. You believe she might be inside there. It's not very substantial, is it?
BARBARA: But why won't you help us?
OLD MAN: I'm not hindering you. You intrude here and start making accusations and implications. If you both want to make fools of yourselves, I suggest
you do what you said you'd do. (Turns to face them.) Go and fetch a policeman.
IAN: While you nip off quietly in the other direction, I suppose.
OLD MAN: (Starts toward them.) Ah, you see. More suspicions. More insults. I shall remain here! There's only one way in and out of this yard. I
shall be here when you get back. I want to see your faces when you try and explain away your behavior to a policeman!
IAN: Nevertheless, we're going to get one. Come on, Barbara.
(The two teachers turn their backs on the old man, toward the gate. They've taken only a foot when the door of the box opens--)
SUSAN'S VOICE: What you doing out there, Grandfather?
(Ian and Barbara stare at each other in disbelief.... Suddenly the old man is between the two, holding them back --)
OLD MAN: Go back inside and shut the door!!! Shut the door!!!
(The Old Man wrestles with Ian to keep him back as Barbara works her way through the box's open door --)
15: INT. ??????
(-- and into the last thing she ever expected. A stark white room, the size of a living room. The walls are covered with circular, plate-like indentions. A
hexagonal-shaped control console with a cylindrical tube inset in center with machinery visible inside. Various antiques decorating the place. A monitor set
into the upper wall. A shocked Susan. All inside a box no bigger than a closet. Ian runs in after Barbara and the Old Man calmly walks in behind him.)
OLD MAN: These two people are known to you, I believe.
SUSAN: What are you doing here?? They're two of my schoolteachers.
OLD MAN: Is that your excuse for this unwarrantable intrusion? You had no right to invite them here! I blame you for this, Susan. You would insist on
going to that ridiculous school! I warned you!
SUSAN: Grandfather --
BARBARA: Is this really where you live, Susan???
SUSAN: Yes.
OLD MAN: And what is wrong with it?
IAN: But it was just a box....
OLD MAN: Perhaps.
BARBARA: But, it can't be...
IAN: It was! You saw it!
OLD MAN: (To Susan.) You see! I knew this sort of thing would happen. You stupid child!
BARBARA: Maybe we should leave now.
IAN: Just a minute. Now we are here, I'd just like to...I know this is absurd but - but, I walked all around it!
OLD MAN: Don't expect answers from me. You wouldn't understand anyway.
IAN: But, you saw me Barbara...
BARBARA: Yes!
OLD MAN: (To Susan.) You see! I warned you! You see what you've done?!
IAN: It's an illusion! It must be!
SUSAN: (To the teachers.) You shouldn't have come here!
IAN: It's a trick!
OLD MAN: It is not a trick, young man! You both forced your way into the ship. I didn't invite you. I see no reason why I should explain anything!
IAN: Ship--?
OLD MAN: I use your own out-dated terminology for any craft which does not roll along on wheels.
BARBARA: You mean....it moves?
SUSAN: The TARDIS can go anywhere.
BARBARA: TARDIS? I don't don't know what you mean, Susan.
SUSAN: I made up TARDIS from the initials. Time And Relative Dimension In Space. I thought you'd both realize when you came in and saw the different
dimensions from the outside.
IAN: Just, let me get this right, Susan. A thing that looks like a police box, standing in a junkyard....it can go anywhere in time and space?!?
SUSAN: Yes!
IAN: Oh, Susan. Don't be ridiculous!
OLD MAN: They'll never understand, my child.
SUSAN: (Exasperated.) Why won't you believe us?
BARBARA: We just want you to tell us the truth.
OLD MAN: (Removes his cloak and scarf and throws them onto a near by chair.) You have heard the truth! We're not of this race! We're not of this
Earth! We are wanderers in the fourth dimensions of space and time. Cut off from our own planet and our own people... (Sits in the chair.) ...by eons and
universes that are far beyond the reach of your most advanced sciences!
(Susan's a little distraught as she turns to face the teachers.)
SUSAN: It's true. Every word of it's true. You don't know what you've done coming here -- !!! (Kneels in front of the old man.) Don't you
see. If they don't believe us, they can't do us any harm! I know these Earth people better than you....their minds reject things they don't understand.....
(The old man stands up.)
OLD MAN: No.
IAN: You can't keep us here!
BARBARA: Susan, why do you insist upon lying to us?
SUSAN: I'm not lying! I loved your school. I loved England in the 20'th century. The last five months have been the happiest of my life....
BARBARA: But you are one of us! You look like us, you sound like us....
SUSAN: (Tightly.) I was born in the 49th century.
IAN: What?! Now, look, Susan.... (He finally gives up, grabs Barbara's arm.) Oh come on. I've had enough of this. Let's get out of here.
(They start toward the double doors....which won't open.)
SUSAN: You can't get out!
(They grab at the door, tugging. It won't budge. A whining (forcefield) squeals from the doors. And at the other side of the room, the old man is laughing.
Ian walks up to and stares at the Old Man. He then walks over to Susan.)
SUSAN: He won't let you go.
IAN: You...pushed something when we came in here. It was over here! (He walks over to the console.) Now, which is it?! Which is the control that
opens the door?!
(The old man saunters up to him.)
OLD MAN: You still thinks this is a trick?
IAN: (Hotly.) I know that free movement in the fourth dimension of space and time is a scientific dream I didn't expect to find solved in a
junkyard!!
OLD MAN: For your science, school master! Not for ours. I tell you, before your ancestors turned the first wheel, the people of my world had reduced
movement through the farthest reaches of space to a game for children!!
IAN: Unless you open that door, let me take Susan and Mrs Wright out of here, I'll.... (He raises his fist.)
OLD MAN: Don't threaten me, young man.
SUSAN: Grandfather! He doesn't understand! Let them go now!
BARBARA: What if it is true?
IAN: (To Barbara.) But, it can't be, I tell you! (To the Old Man.) Are you going to open that door?! (Pause.) Alright! I'll have to
take a chance myself!
OLD MAN: Very well, I can't stop you.....
(The old man's hand brushes a knob just as Ian's comes down on a button --)
SUSAN: OH DON'T TOUCH IT!!! IT'S LIVE --
(The shock flings Ian to the floor.)
BARBARA: (Helps him up.) Ian. Are you alright? What do you think you're doing?!? How dare you behave like this!
SUSAN: (Hysterical.) Oh, Grandfather, let them go now!! PLEASE!!!
(The Old Man just shakes his head.)
BARBARA: But you must! You can't keep us here!
SUSAN: But, Grandfather. Let them go. Let's go somewhere else. Some other time. (Near to tears.) I won't object. I promise I won't object.
(The Old Man pulls Susan off to the side.)
OLD MAN: (Soothingly.) My dear child, you know very well we can not let them possess even one idea that such a ship as the TARDIS might be
possible.
SUSAN: But, Grandfather. Don't you see. If we let them go now, they can't....
OLD MAN: Look. See how they watch and listen as we talk? If they leave the ship now, they might come to believe at last that all of this is possible.
Think what would happened to the ancient Romans if they possessed the power of gunpowder. If Napoleon...had been given the secret of the airplane. No, my child.
We both know we cannot let our secret loose into the world of the 20th century!
SUSAN: But, you can't keep them prisoners here!
IAN: You can't keep us prisoners anywhere!
OLD MAN: I can not let you go school teacher! Whether you believe what you have been told is of no importance! You and your companion would be foot
prints in a time where you are not supposed to have wandered.
IAN: If I have to use force to get out of here, I will you know!
BARBARA: Maybe we've stumbled on something beyond our understanding?
OLD MAN: (To Susan.) You see. The first faint glimmerings....
SUSAN: (To the teachers.) Oh, why did you come here?!! Why?!!
(The old man starts to the console...)
SUSAN: GRANDFATHER, NO!!!!
(Ian grabs the Old Man.)
IAN: No you don't!
(The Old Man hits a switch in the struggle.)
SUSAN: Stop it!
OLD MAN: Let go of me sir!
(The ship starts to shake. The central column of the console begins to move up and down....)
SUSAN: Let him go!
OLD MAN: Let go of me, will you!
SUSAN: Let him go! Stop it!
OLD MAN: Let go of me! Let go of me!
(The Old Man breaks free and returns to the console, as does Susan. The Old Man flips a few switches then stops. He and Susan both look up to the monitor. On
the monitor, an overhead view of London -- that shrinks, fades.....and is replaced by a blinding vortex of light and energy....a groaning, wheezing noise fills
the air, building....)
16: EXT. LONDON, ENGLAND -- 100,000 B.C.
(A barren wasteland of rock. Very little vegetation. Almost, but not quite, a desert.)
17: INT. TARDIS
(The wasteland fills the monitor screen. The Old Man and Susan staring away from the monitor. Ian is on the floor and Barbara is in the chair. Both are
passed out.)
18: EXT. LONDON, ENGLAND -- 100,000 B.C.
(Outside, a new element has entered the rocky wastes -- the odd image of the police box, it's lantern still flashing, standing ungainly on the uneven ground.
And part of the wasteland is suddenly obscured by a shadow -- what looks like a humanoid, in furs -- which moves to cover the TARDIS.....)
(Cue DW theme. Credits play over scene, which fades to black behind credits.)
Dr. Who
WILLIAM HARTNELL
Ian Chesterton
WILLIAM RUSSELL
Barbara Wright
JAQUELINE HILL
Susan Foreman
CAROLE ANN FORD
Special effects
by the Visual Effects
Department of the BBC
Title music by
RON GRAINER
with the BBC
Radiophonic Workshop
Incidental music by
NORMAN KAY
Story Editor
DAVID WHITAKER
Designer
PETER BRACHACKI
Associate Producer
MERVYN PINFIELD
Producer
VERITY LAMBERT
Directed by
WARIS HUSSEIN
Transcribed by
Artimus "KingSpyder" Brown
With help from
Christopher G. "Nightowl" McElroy