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| Galaxy 4 | |
| Series: | Doctor Who - TV Stories |
| Season Number: | Season 3 |
| Story Number: | 18 |
| Doctor: | First Doctor |
| Companions: | Vicki Steven Taylor |
| Enemy: | |
| Setting: | Unknown |
| Writer: | William Emms |
| Director: | Derek Martinus Mervyn Pinfield (uncredited) |
| Broadcast: | 11th September - 2nd October 1965 |
| Format: | 4 25-minute Episodes |
| Previous Story: | The Time Meddler |
| Following Story: | Mission to the Unknown |
Galaxy 4 was the first story of the third season of Doctor Who. It was the last serial for which Verity Lambert was the credited producer. Its third episode, "Air Lock", achieved the highest ratings of any episode between the final episode of The Web Planet and the final episode of The Three Doctors.
It is the earliest non-historical story to have missing episodes, and is notable for its extreme paucity of surviving material. Although an extended scene from the first episode does exist today, no telesnaps were taken during filming. All surviving stills of the actors in costume therefore come from publicity shoots rather than the actual recording sessions.
Actor Peter Purves has been outspoken in his distaste for the serial. He has frequently opined that his character, companion Steven Taylor, was not well-served by the story, which was originally written for Ian, Barbara and Vicki. The hurried rewrite mostly transferred Barbara's lines to him, resulting in a "feminization" of Steven's character.
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The Doctor, Vicki and Steven arrive on an arid planet where they meet the occupants of two crashed spaceships: the beautiful Drahvins and the hideous Rills. The latter prove to be friendly, compassionate explorers while the former are a group of mindless cloned soldiers terrorised by a warlike matriarch, Maaga.
Both ships were damaged when the Drahvins precipitated a confrontation in space, but whereas the Rills' is almost ready to take off again (having been repaired by their robot drones, which Vicki nicknames 'Chumblies'), the Drahvins' is irreparable. When the planet is discovered to be on the point of disintegration, Maaga tries to force the time travellers to help her steal the Rills' ship. Instead, the Doctor allows the Rills to draw power from the TARDIS in order to refuel and escape, leaving the Drahvins to their fate.
The Doctor, Vicki, and Steven Taylor arrive on eerily silent planet and encounter curious small robots which Vicki names Chumblies. It is unclear whether the robots are hostile when one is disabled by a party of female cloned Drahvins, from the planet Drahva in Galaxy Four. This planet too is in Galaxy Four but is not given a name. The Drahvins are dominated by their leader, Maaga, who treats her other warriors with bullying contempt. The Drahvins are at war with the reptilian Rills, the masters of the Chumblies, and both races have crashed spaceships on this planet. However, the planet will end in 14 planetary cycles and, with the Drahvin ship irreparable, Maaga and her warriors are keen to capture the Rill ship, which they believe has been made functional again. She paints a picture of the Drahvins as victims, but the Doctor has witnessed some of the Drahvin aggression and is clearly not convinced. He also reworks the probability on the planet’s destruction and calculates it will break up in just two days time.
The Doctor tries to keep this new finding from the Drahvins, but Maaga reveals her true colours and forces the truth from him at the point of a gun.
With Steven held as hostage to ensure their co-operation, the Doctor and Vicki are sent by the Drahvins to try to seize control of the Rill ship. The Doctor works out that the Rills are a very advanced species: when he meets one he is impressed, not least by their telepathy. The ugly, horned, ammonia-breathing Rill explains that the Rills have offered to take the Drahvins away with them but Maaga has refused, preferring to maintain the state of war she caused when the Drahvins shot down the Rill craft. The Doctor tells the Rills of the true life remaining in the planet and promises to help them escape since the solar energy converters on the Rill craft have not gathered enough power to effect a lift-off.The Doctor and Vicki return to the Drahvin ship to find Steven unconscious after Maaga has tried to kill him by leaving him in a depressurised airlock.They are being watched by Drahvins.
They all the return to the Rill vessel, where the Doctor successfully develops a power converter linked to the TARDIS, which charges the Rill craft. Maaga leads the Drahvins in a final assault on the Rill craft but the Chumblies defend their ship long enough for it to power up and leave the planet. One Chumblie left behind to aid the travellers helps them get back to the TARDIS. Once the ship leaves, the planet explodes and the Drahvins die.
Safely inside the TARDIS, the Doctor pines for time to rest from his wearying adventures. On the scanner, Vicki notices a planet and wonders what could be happening there. It is the planet Kembel. Unbeknownst to the travelers, Jeff Garvey has awakened, remembering only that he "must kill" . . .
All episodes were filmed at BBC Television Centre TC4, London, UK
to be added
ST: "Planet of the Bunnoids" is implied to take place after this story, because the Doctor mentions the Chumblies. However, its failure to note Vicki's ankle problem makes it hard to definitively place "Bunnoids" anywhere — given that the ankle issue is still unresolved at the start of DW: The Myth Makers.
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