THE EXECUTIONERS
Written by
TERRY NATION
1: INT. CONTROL ROOM
(A DALEK glides up to a control panel and observes the readings. It turns to a communicator.)
FIRST DALEK: Our greatest enemies have left the planet Xeros. They are once again in time and space.
SECOND DALEK: (OOV: over tannoy.) They cannot escape! Our time machine will soon follow them. They will be exterminated! Exterminated!
Exterminated!
2: VORTEX
(The TARDIS flies through the space and time vortex...)
3: INT. TARDIS. CONSOLE ROOM
(The DOCTOR fiddles with a huge machine on one side of the console room. Upright and circular in shape, it has a screen in its centre that is surrounded by a
multitude of dials and switches. VICKI stands nearby, whistling horribly out of tune.)
DOCTOR: Don’t whistle, dear, please? Hmm?
VICKI: Well, have you nearly finished Doctor?
(The DOCTOR gesticulates and answers with a component from the machine clenched between his teeth, making the reply completely undecipherable. VICKI smiles.
She holds another component - a vaguely rectangular metal plate. After a second she starts tunelessly whistling again.)
DOCTOR: (Angrily, again with his mouth full.) Stop whistling! Hmm!
VICKI: (Slamming the plate down.) Well, can I do anything to help?!
DOCTOR: (Still with his mouth full.) ____ buzz off now, hmm!
(VICKI storms out of the room, but stops to slam the metal plate down, again distracting the DOCTOR.)
4: INT. TARDIS. LIVING AREA
(IAN is reading a book called “ Monsters from outer space.” VICKI stands behind him.)
VICKI: What are you reading?
IAN: Hmm? (He shows her the cover.) Oh.
VICKI: Is it good?
IAN: Yes. A bit far-fetched.
(VICKI tries to read the book, leaning on his shoulder. IAN shrugs her off.)
VICKI: Oh! All right!
(She storms off again and turns to an open door.)
5: INT. TARDIS. GIRL’S BEDROOM
(BARBARA is within, sewing a length of material on the floor.)
VICKI: (Indignantly.) I am redundant around here!
BARBARA: Oh, nonsense. Come and sit down and talk to me.
VICKI: (Still indignant.) I am a useless person!
(She sits on the edge of the bed but it tips forward throwing her to the floor and knocking a cup and saucer and its contents over the material.)
BARBARA: (Angrily.) Oh, Vicki!
VICKI: (Upset.) Oh, what was it?
BARBARA: (Calmer.) Oh...it...was a...dress for you.
(A loud whining noise can be heard.)
6: INT. TARDIS. CONSOLE ROOM
(It comes from the machine that the DOCTOR is fiddling with. He hammers away behind it, reaching round to the front to twist a lever. The noise brings IAN
into the room.)
IAN: (Shouts.) What’s the matter? What’s the trouble?
(The DOCTOR comes round from the back of the machine.)
DOCTOR: (Shouts.) Out of the way! Out of the way!
IAN: (Shouts.) What’s the matter?
(BARBARA runs in, her fingers in her ears.)
BARBARA: (Shouts.) Doctor! Turn it off!
(The DOCTOR twists a dial and pulls the lever again. The whine dies away.)
DOCTOR: Ahh!
BARBARA: Oh, that’s better.
IAN: Are you trying to deafen us all or something?
DOCTOR: Deafen you? No, no, dear boy. It was an unfortunate juxtaposition of the sonic rectifier...with the linial amplifier.
IAN: Oh! Of course, I should have know!
(The DOCTOR takes a tool from his workbench and goes back out of sight behind the machine.)
BARBARA: Doctor, what is this machine?
DOCTOR: I’ve already told you, my dear. It’s a Time and Space Visualiser.
BARBARA: Yes, but apart from making that dreadful noise, what does it do?
DOCTOR: It converts neutrons of light energy into electrical impulses.
IAN: Oh, wonderful! I’ve always wanted one!
(VICKI has entered the room.)
DOCTOR: Do I detect a hint of sarcasm, hmm? Dear boy, hmm?
IAN: I’m sorry Doctor, but you rattle off explanations that would have baffled Einstein and you expect Barbara and I to know what you’re talking
about.
DOCTOR: Very well then, I’ll quote you____: “Mass is absorbed by light, therefore light has mass and energy” hmm?
VICKI: “The energy radiated by a light neutron is equal to the energy of the mass it absorbed.”
DOCTOR: Splendid child, splendid.
VICKI: (To BARBARA.) It’s quite simple. It just means that anything that ever happens, anywhere in the universe, is recorded in light neutrons.
DOCTOR: I couldn’t have put it better myself, child. (Laughs.)
VICKI: Doctor, you know when I left Earth? Scientists were trying to invent a machine that would convert the energy from light neutrons into electrical
impulses. (To BARBARA.) That meant that you could just tune in and see any event in history.
BARBARA: Do you mean...a sort of...”Time television”?
VICKI: Yes, like that!
DOCTOR: Yes, that’s exactly what this is.
BARBARA & VICKI: No!
(VICKI runs to the front of the machine.)
VICKI: Doctor, you’re kidding! Why didn’t you tell me? I could have fixed it for you instead of you fiddling about like that!
DOCTOR: Because I have already fixed it, my dear.
(The DOCTOR walks over to where IAN is sat, absorbed in his book again.)
DOCTOR: Oh, my dear Chesterton, do you mind if I distract you from your cowboys and indians, hmm?
IAN: Oh, all right.
DOCTOR: Now, I want to give a little demonstration.
IAN: Mmm.
DOCTOR: Will you, er, think of an event in history? Hmm?
IAN: (Thinks, then nods.) All right, I’ve thought of one.
DOCTOR: Well, first the place.
IAN: Oh, Earth, that’s easy.
DOCTOR: Now, the geographical location - date and time.
IAN: Nineteenth of November, 1863. The place - Pennsylvania, USA.
DOCTOR: Good! Don’t go away.
(The DOCTOR goes over to a number of drawers and, after searching takes out of one several metal plates, similar to the one VICKI had before. He slots this
into the front of the machine. The whining sound starts again.)
VICKI: (In pain.) Ooh!
(The DOCTOR adjusts the lever again. The sound dies down.)
DOCTOR: Hmm!
(He adjusts further controls...)
DOCTOR: Watch.
(...and a flickering image appears on the screen - a bearded man in 19th century dress. IAN runs forward excitedly as the man’s words are heard and the
picture clears.)
ABRAHAM LINCOLN: (On visualiser.) ...conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
BARBARA: Lincoln! Abraham Lincoln.
IAN: Yes, that’s what I asked for - the Gettysburg address!
ABRAHAM LINCOLN: (On visualiser.) ...civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation...
7: VISUALISER IMAGE
ABRAHAM LINCOLN: ...so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We’ve come to dedicate a portion
of it as a final resting place for those who gave their lives that that nation might live. (The image starts to flicker.) That is altogether fitting and
proper that we should do so. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate...
8: INT. TARDIS. CONSOLE ROOM
ABRAHAM LINCOLN: (On visualiser.) ...we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.
(The image grows worse, then the sounds disappears, followed by the image itself.)
BARBARA: Doctor, can I have a go?
VICKI: Can I? Can I? Please?
DOCTOR: Yes, yes, yes, yes, now, all in good time, my dear, all in good time!
(The DOCTOR takes the plate out.)
DOCTOR: Now, Barbara?
BARBARA: Yes? Now listen...
(They rush over to the drawers as IAN joins VICKI.)
IAN: Vicki, did you ever see anything like it in your life?
VICKI: No!
IAN: Well, that was Abraham Lincoln!
(BARBARA rushes back with another plate.)
BARBARA: Quiet, you lot!
VICKI: (To IAN.) I know it was!
IAN: Well, where are we?
VICKI: What is it!
DOCTOR: Put it in there. In the slot.
(BARBARA does so. The whining sound starts again.)
DOCTOR: Hmm, now.
(The DOCTOR manipulates more controls and finally resorts to hitting the machine. The interference clears and the image appears of a lady speaking to a man.
They are dressed in clothes of the late 16th century.)
QUEEN ELIZABETH I: (On visualiser.) We are well aware of what...
IAN: It’s Queen Elizabeth the first!
DOCTOR: Shh!
VICKI: Who's that man?
BARBARA: Oh, wait and see.
9: VISUALISER IMAGE
(The man, FRANCIS BACON, bows to the Queen and walks away to where another man waits beyond a curtain.)
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: (Nervously.) Is the Queen angry, sire? It was only a jest.
FRANCIS BACON: She has graciously granted you an audience.
(With BACON following, SHAKESPEARE walks up to ELIZABETH in her stone chamber and goes down on bended knee to kiss her hand.)
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Oh, oh your majesty! (He stands.)
QUEEN ELIZABETH I: (Haughtily.) Master Shakespeare, you aware of the concern your character of Falstaff has cur, caused to Sir John Oldcastle?
FRANCIS BACON: It was so obviously he!
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Ah, yes. Ah, well, erm, I can explain your majesty.
QUEEN ELIZABETH I: (Snaps.) You admit it then?!
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Er...er...yes, your majesty.
QUEEN ELIZABETH I: (Smiles.) Good! Give it no more thought. We found it very amusing!
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: (Relieved.) Oh!
QUEEN ELIZABETH I: Tell me, have any plans to write a further play on him?
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Ah, no.
QUEEN ELIZABETH I: Oh.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Ah, no, I haven’t, your majesty.
10: INT. TARDIS. CONSOLE ROOM
(The travellers continue to watch...)
QUEEN ELIZABETH I: (On visualiser.) That’s a pity. But it does not matter. We have idea which may be of service. You shall write a play of
Falstaff in love!
11: VISUALISER IMAGE
QUEEN ELIZABETH I: (Laughs.) Does that not...fire your imagination!
(FRANCIS BACON looks less convinced.)
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: (Falsely.) Oh, ah, oh, a happy idea, your majesty...yes...
QUEEN ELIZABETH I: (Happily.) Away with you, Will. To your pen.
(SHAKESPEARE bows and walks out. BACON stops him before he leaves.)
FRANCIS BACON: I also have an idea that you may wish to use: the history of Hamlet, prince of Denmark.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: I’m afraid not, sire.
FRANCIS BACON: Oh, do you know the story then?
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Er, I assure you, my lord, it would not be quite in...my style.
FRANCIS BACON: (Coldly.) Very well then.
(SHAKESPEARE walks off.)
FRANCIS BACON: Scribbler!
(But he does not see SHAKESPEARE stop in his tracks as a thought strikes him. The Visualiser picture starts to break up at this point.)
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet, prince of Denmark?
12: INT. TARDIS. CONSOLE ROOM
(The picture disappears totally.)
IAN: Well Barbara, did you find out what you wanted to know?
(In the background, VICKI takes out BARBARA’S metal plate and runs off to fetch her own.)
BARBARA: Oh I didn’t really want to know anything. I just wanted to see Elizabeth’s court. Er, did you see the way Shakespeare looked when he
thought of Hamlet?
IAN: Yes, I did! I...
(VICKI runs back with her plate. The machine starts whining again.)
IAN: Well, where are we now?
VICKI: (Helping to adjust the controls.) Shh...
(An announcement that sounds familiar to IAN and BARBARA emanates from the Visualiser.)
CONTINUITY ANNOUNCER: This is BBC1.
(The DOCTOR pushes VICKI back and adjusts the controls himself.)
CONTINUITY ANNOUNCER: The next programme is due to start in just under one minute.
BARBARA: Vicki! What year have you got on there?
VICKI: 1965.
(The DOCTOR further adjusts the controls. The image of a TELEVISION ANNOUNCER appears.)
DOCTOR: Come along, come!
IAN: You’ve got a television...
VICKI: Shh!
IAN: ...show, it...
VICKI: (Whispers.) I want to watch it!
PROGRAMME HOST: Here singing their latest number one hit...it’s the fabulous...wait for it...
(A tune starts...)
PROGRAMME HOST: It’s the fabulous...Beatles!!
(IAN and BARBARA are amazed...)
VICKI: Yes!____!
(The image of the “fab four” appears, in negative...)
13: VISUALISER IMAGE
(The negative image, produced by the television trickery of the 1960’s, dissolves to a positive image.)
BEATLES: "I think I’m gonna be sad,
I think it’s today, yeah!
The girl that’s driving me mad,
Is going away...
She’s gotta ticket to ri-ide,
She’s gotta ticket to ri-i-ide,"
(The image starts to break up...)
14: INT. TARDIS. CONSOLE ROOM
(IAN dances and sings to the song...)
BEATLES: "She’s gotta ticket to ride,
But she don’t care!
My baby don't care...!”
(The image gets worse. As the DOCTOR beats time with his screwdriver, BARBARA attempts to adjust the lever but only cuts out the image altogether...)
VICKI: Oh!
IAN: Oh, Barbara!
DOCTOR: Now you’ve squashed my favourite Beatles!
(VICKI and IAN laugh.)
IAN: But Vicki, I had no idea you knew about the Beatles?!
VICKI: Of course I know about them. I’ve been to their Memorial Theatre in Liverpool.
(IAN and BARBARA look at each other...)
BARBARA: We...well, what do you think of them, Vicki?
VICKI: Well, they’re marvellous, but...I didn’t know they played classical music!
BARBARA: (Amazed.) Classical music?!
IAN: (Coughs.) Get with it, Barbara! Get with it! Styles change, styles change!
(A beeping sound is suddenly heard.)
DOCTOR: (To VICKI.) I think you’d better turn it off, my dear. Yes, we’re about to materialise.
(The DOCTOR, IAN and BARBARA rush off towards the console. VICKI adjusts controls and runs to join them...but behind her, the Visualiser screen continues to
flicker.)
15: EXT. ARIDIUS
(The TARDIS materialises in a dry, sandy desert.)
16: INT. TARDIS. CONSOLE ROOM
(The DOCTOR checks the console...)
DOCTOR: Well, everything appears to be all right, yes. The oxygen’s high...and the gravity...is a little greater than Earth, hmm!
(He pulls a lever and the doors open. The travellers walk out.)
17: EXT. ARIDIUS
BARBARA: Ooh, it’s hot!
DOCTOR: Well, it’s no small wonder. Look up there, my dear, hmm! Look!
(He points upwards to where two hot suns are fast moving down to the horizon.)
DOCTOR: Two suns moving very quickly, hmm? I expect the days and nights are very short here, hmm?
VICKI: Are we going to explore now then?
BARBARA: I shouldn’t think there is anything to explore. Just miles and miles of sand.
(On the horizon are blackened craggy outcrops, almost like statues.)
BARBARA: Those strange things...?
(One of the crags almost looks like the shape of a man, baked solid by the heat.)
VICKI: You never know - over that sand-dune there might be a...a city or a...a space-station or anything.
DOCTOR: (Laughing, to BARBARA.) The child’s just like me, you know? Always wants to know what’s on t’other side of the hill!
VICKI: I’m gonna find out too!
(She shoots off.)
BARBARA: (Following her.) Vicki, come back!
IAN: (To the DOCTOR.) I’d better follow her.
(He starts to run off.)
DOCTOR: No, no, no, no, Chesterton, here, here.
IAN: What?
(The DOCTOR takes a small device out of his pocket.)
DOCTOR: Look here, you’d better take this TARDIS magnet with you. Watch that little green light in there.
IAN: Yeah...
DOCTOR: Don’t drop it, otherwise you’ll get lost.
BARBARA: (OOV.) Ian!
IAN: All right, I’m coming! (To the DOCTOR.) We won’t go any further than the ridge.
DOCTOR: Yes, yes, yes.
(BARBARA comes back, pointing.)
BARBARA: Look at her!
IAN: Don’t worry. I’ll look after her.
VICKI: (OOV.) Come on!
IAN: All right, Christopher Columbus! Hang on!
(IAN sets off whilst BARBARA stays with the DOCTOR.)
18: EXT. ARIDIUS
(VICKI continues up the sandy ridge, followed a little way behind by IAN. Their voices get fainter as they get further away.)
VICKI: Come on! (She slips slightly.) Oops!
IAN: Yes, over there!
(VICKI sees one of the strange craggy shapes.)
VICKI: Look at this thing.
IAN: Oh, what is it? It looks like a man, doesn’t it?
VICKI: Yes - but of frozen seaweed!
IAN: Huh!
VICKI: Funny shape...
IAN: Funny smell!
(They reach the top of the ridge and run off into the distance.)
19: EXT. ARIDIUS
(VICKI reaches the top of a rocky outcrop. She trips against something.)
VICKI: Oh!
(VICKI examines the base of her shoe, then a liquid that in on the sand and rock she is stood on.)
VICKI: Ian! Ian!
(IAN appears, examining the TARDIS magnet.)
VICKI: Come and look at this.
IAN: Hey! You know this gadget of the Doctor’s? It...it really works.
VICKI: Never mind that - look at this.
IAN: What? What is it?
VICKI: (Smelling the liquid on her hands.) I don’t know
IAN: Pooh! What an awful smell. Well, at least it’s not a pool of acid!
VICKI: (Laughing.) That makes a change! (Pointing.) Look, there’s lots...more of it.
IAN: Yeah.
VICKI: It’s a trail.
IAN: Probably blood!
VICKI: (Laughs.) Oh yes, it’s bound to be! Come on, let’s see where it leads.
IAN: All right. (Looking at the magnet.) Really is ingenious this.
(As they walk off, an Octopus-type tentacle rises out of the sand...)
20: EXT. ARIDIUS
(Outside the TARDIS, the DOCTOR and BARBARA lie relaxing in the sun. The DOCTOR wafting his Panama hat, hums a tune to himself, very badly. A whining sound
starts to rise in pitch. BARBARA sits up as she hears the sound.)
BARBARA: What’s that awful noise?
DOCTOR: I beg your pardon - “awful noise”? That’s no way to talk about my singing!
BARBARA: No Doctor, not that awful noise!
DOCTOR: Hmm?!
BARBARA: The other one, listen to it!
DOCTOR: Mmm? Oh, yes...yes, it sounds like the, er, the Visualiser. I think it’s still on. Yes, would you mind going in and switching it off for me
dear?
BARBARA: OK. I’ve had enough sun anyway.
DOCTOR: Yes, thank you!
(BARBARA gets up and goes off to the TARDIS.)
DOCTOR: Oh, humph! Awful noise indeed, huh! I can charm the nightingales out of the trees!
21: INT. TARDIS. CONSOLE ROOM
(BARBARA walks up to the Visualiser and tries various switches. She then moves to level and a familiar voice issues from the machine.)
FIRST DALEK: (OOV.) The supreme Dalek is ready to receive your report!
(BARBARA steps back slowly as an image appears on the Visualiser of several DALEKS in a control room. One, the SUPREME DALEK, has a darker casing than the
others.)
SECOND DALEK: The report is ready.
BARBARA: Doctor! Doctor, come quickly!
DOCTOR: (OOV.) Yes, all right, my dear, all right, all right. What is it now? Gracious me, can’t I even relax for five...
(The DOCTOR walks in and sees the image.)
DOCTOR: The Daleks!
22: VISUALISER IMAGE
SUPREME DALEK: Give your report.
SECOND DALEK: Our time machine has been completed.
SUPREME DALEK: The operation will proceed at once. The movement scanners have located the enemy time machine - TARDIS.
(The DALEKS glide frantically round the control room screeching out in turn.)
DALEKS: TARDIS! TARDIS! TARDIS! TARDIS! TARDIS!
23: INT. TARDIS. CONSOLE ROOM
(The DALEKS continue to screech as BARBARA turns to the DOCTOR.)
BARBARA: Doctor, he said the TARDIS - and look on their screen, that’s us!
DOCTOR: What is more important, he referred to the TARDIS as the enemy time machine.
24: VISUALISER
SUPREME DALEK: At present it lies in the Segaro desert of the planet Aridius.
FIRST DALEK: We await command.
SUPREME DALEK: The Doctor and the three humans delayed our conquest of Earth.
FIRST DALEK: Daleks cannot be defeated!
THIRD DALEK: To defy Daleks is death!
FIRST DALEK: They will pay for their crime!
SUPREME DALEK: Annihilate!
(Again, the DALEKS screech in turn.)
DALEKS: Annihilate! Annihilate! Annihilate! Annihilate! Annihilate!
SUPREME DALEK: The assassination group will embark at once in our time machine. They pursue the humans through all eternity. They must be destroyed!
Exterminate them!
(Several DALEKS start to glide into their time machine. Cylindrical in shape, the doorway is in a wedge “cut” into the machine. Like the TARDIS, it would
appear to be bigger on the inside than the outside as the number of DALEKS that enter would appear to be too normal for its outside dimensions.)
SUPREME DALEK: Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!
(When all of the taskforce has entered, the machine dematerialises with an electronic noise that reduces in pitch and echoes itself.)
25: INT. TARDIS. CONSOLE ROOM
(The DOCTOR switches the Visualiser off.)
DOCTOR: My machine can only pick up the things that happened in the past.
BARBARA: Then they’re on their way here!
DOCTOR: Or worse, already here. You heard their orders - we are to be exterminated!
BARBARA: But Doctor, can’t we get away from them?
DOCTOR: Yes, yes, yes, yes, but Ian and the child, come on, we have such little time.
(They run out.)
26: EXT. ARIDIUS
(VICKI and IAN run down a ridge in the distance. VICKI is in the lead.)
VICKI: Oh, come on, keep going!
IAN: What do you think I am? One of these____?
VICKI: Yes.
IAN: Huh...
VICKI: (Exhausted.) Oh! Ah!
IAN: Yes. Well, no space city, Vicki.
VICKI: _____, I suppose. _____.
27: EXT. ARIDIUS
(VICKI and IAN arrive on another rocky ridge. A tired VICKI falls to the ground.)
VICKI: Ah, Oh! Oh, the trail just ends.
IAN: Well, we’re a long way from the TARDIS now, Vicki.
VICKI: Yeah.
IAN: Ah, we ought to get back really, you know.
VICKI: Yeah...
IAN: They’ll be missing us.
VICKI: (Holding up her hands to the sky.) If you look at the sun through your fingers, you have twenty instead of ten.
IAN: Hmm? Yes. Oh, I could do with a drink.
VICKI: Oh yes. Ah.
(IAN sits down.)
VICKI: We should get back, you know.
IAN: Yeah, soon be dark, you know. Look at those suns. Just like the Doctor said - they move fast. Hard this ground, isn’t it?
VICKI: Yeah.
IAN: Like glass.
VICKI: Come on, Ian. Let’s go.
IAN: Yeah, all right.
(IAN starts to get up, but sees something in the sand.)
IAN: Hello? What’s this?
(He uncovers an object as the sky behind them starts to get darker.)
IAN: A ring! Ha! A ring in the sand!
(He goes to pull the ring.)
VICKI: (Panics.) No! No! The ring in the field!
(VICKI starts to laugh in embarrassment.)
IAN: What are you talking about? What’s the matter?
VICKI: Well, you see, when I was very young...
IAN: Yes?
VICKI: Near where I lived there was a field, and in this field there was a ring, just like that, sticking out of the ground.
IAN: Yes?
VICKI: You see, the point was, on the other side of the hedge, there was a castle, an enormous thing, with a drawbridge.
IAN: Hmm..?
VICKI: And...
IAN: Well, go on! Ha!
VICKI: We had this thing, that if we pulled that ring...
IAN: Yes...?
VICKI: The drawbridge would come down and something awful would come out!
IAN: Vicki! Look around you. Can you see a castle anywhere?
VICKI: No, but for heavens sake, something’s gonna happen if we pull that thing.
IAN: Well, shall I pull it or shan’t I?
(By now, it is almost dark.)
VICKI: Yes, all right, go on.
IAN: I think I’ll move it now.
(He grunts as he pulls at the ring but it does not budge.)
VICKI: Try turning it.
(He does so.)
IAN: No, won’t turn. Hold on.
(He pulls the entire ring out and falls backwards. He sits up and they look round to see what effect they have had. There seems to be none.)
IAN: Ah, Excalibur! (They laugh.) Come on, no castles, no drawbridges. (They stand and start to walk away.) Back we go.
(Behind them, with a creaking noise, a trapdoor opens in the floor of the rock. VICKI squeals with alarm, then laughs at her panic. They rush back to the
open door. VICKI jumps up on impulse and starts to climb through the trapdoor.)
IAN: Vicki, just check it, eh?
(She feels below her with her feet.)
VICKI: Steps!
28: EXT. ARIDIUS (NIGHT)
(BARBARA stands atop another ridge and shouts.)
BARBARA: Vicki! Ian! Nothing!
(She climbs down to where a shivering DOCTOR holds his Panama hat to his head.)
DOCTOR: This wretched wind has wiped out all their tracks, huh! It’s getting so cold here.
BARBARA: Yeah, come on Doctor, let’s go back to the TARD...
(She is about to go in one direction, but...)
DOCTOR: (Looking in another direction.) Ah, this way, dear.
BARBARA: No, no, no, it’s that way. I remember.
DOCTOR: I have the directional instincts of a homing Pigeon! Now come along, follow me, hmm!
29: INT. TRAPDOOR ENTRANCE
(IAN clambers down to join VICKI through the trapdoor. They are within a darkened stone chamber.)
IAN: (Calls.) Hello!
(The echo of his voice calls back...)
IAN: (Echo.) Hello!
(IAN starts to move further on but finds there is nothing beneath his feet in the direction he takes. He jumps back.)
VICKI: Oh! Oh, Ian, stay over here by this wall.
(They move on. Behind them, the tentacled arm pushes the trapdoor closed. IAN and VICKI turn round to see an Octopoid creature behind them in the passageway.
It roars...)
30: EXT. ARIDIUS (NIGHT)
(A raging sandstorm has now blown up above ground. The DOCTOR and BARBARA battle against the high winds as they struggle through the darkness. BARBARA tries
to speak to the muffled up DOCTOR. He points to indicate that they go on. However, she spots something and points in another direction.)
DOCTOR: (His words almost lost.) Oh, there it is! ____.
(They struggle on a few more paces but are soon overcome by the elements and collapse on the ground.)
31: EXT. ARIDIUS (NEXT MORNING.)
(Day quickly follows night. There is no sign of the DOCTOR and BARBARA. Suddenly a patch of sand moves and the DOCTOR and BARBARA sit up from where he has
been completely covered by the last night’s storm.)
DOCTOR: Ah!
BARBARA: (Looking round.) It’s changed!
DOCTOR: Ah, Oh...
BARBARA: The whole landscapes changed!
DOCTOR: Ah...
BARBARA: (Panics.) The TARDIS has gone, there’s no sign of it!
DOCTOR: Ah, it’s probably got buried in that sandstorm.
BARBARA: But where? All these stretches of sand look exactly alike.
DOCTOR: Yes, well, wait a minute, wait a minute. Ah, I’ve got an idea. Let’s have a look at the TARDIS magnet. (He reaches into his pocket.)
Oh, I’m sorry, I’ve just remembered. I gave it to Ian. Ha, well...come on, come on, we can’t waste time, let’s get going. (He starts to struggle up.)
That sun’ll be up in a minute and we’ve no food. and there’s no water, no shade... (Suddenly.) Get down! Get down!
(He pushes BARBARA back down.)
BARBARA: Oh! What’s the matter?
(Some distance away, another patch of ground is also disturbed. With straining, groaning noises, a buried DALEK rises up out of the sand and looks about its
surroundings...)
Next Episode
THE DEATH OF TIME
Dr. Who
WILLIAM HARTNELL
Ian Chesterton
WILLIAM RUSSELL
Barbara Wright
JACQUELINE HILL
Vicki
MAUREEN O’BRIEN
Abraham Lincoln
ROBERT MARSDEN
Francis Bacon
ROGER HAMMOND
Queen Elizabeth I
VIVIENNE BENNETT
William Shakespeare
HUGH WALTERS
Television Announcer
RICHARD COE
Dalek Voices
PETER HAWKINS
DAVID GRAHAM
Daleks
ROBERT JEWELL
KEVIN MANSER
JOHN SCOTT MARTIN
GERALD TAYLOR
Mire Beast
JACK PITT
Title music by
RON GRAINER
and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
Incidental music composed
and conducted by
DUDLEY SIMPSON
Story Editor
DENNIS SPOONER
Designers
RAYMOND CUSICK
JOHN WOOD
Producer
VERITY LAMBERT
Directed by
RICHARD MARTIN
(c) BBC tv
Transcribed By
JOHN TOMLINSON