Difference between revisions of "The Daleks' Master Plan"

Revision as of 23:16, 5 February 2012

Story Code: V / Season 3	UK Airdate: 13 Nov 1965 to 29 Jan 1966	Doctor: William Hartnell
First airings by location	UK Repeats / Foreign Cable and Satellite	Previous Story / Next Story

.

The serial was planned as a 12-parter. However, from the stage directions in the rehearsal and camera scripts for parts six and seven, particularly with regards to the "NEXT EPISODE" captions, it would seem that by the time the serial was made, it was being treated as an 11-parter (as it would be sold to foreign broadcasters), but with an additional episode to be screened at Christmas, but only for consumption in the UK. In other words, The Daleks' Master Plan should really be regarded as an 11-parter with an episode added for the UK, rather than as a 12-parter, with an episode removed for foreign sales.

The 11-part serial was offered to Australia in March 1966, along with other serials, such as The Time Meddler, Galaxy 4 and The Myth Makers. (Only parts one to six, and eight to twelve were offered.)

It was viewed by the censors on 13 September 1966 - and rated with a mixture of "G" and "A" classifications. No attempt was made to edit the films; the ABC did not purchase the rights to screen it, therefore it did not make any clearance payments to the BBC.

Accordingly, the other countries that were buying the series at this time - Barbados, Zambia, New Zealand, Sierra Leone and Singapore - were not able to purchase the serial, as they relied on Australia to cover all the rights clearance costs.

Chances are even if the serial had been accepted and broadcast in Australia, the other five countries might have been denied broadcast rights anyway, because the BBC had withdrawn the sale of all Dalek serials during late 1966 and all of 1967 as part of their agreement with Terry Nation.

By the time the moratorium had been lifted, two of the six countries had moved on to screening Troughton stories, and would not have been interested in buying an 'older' serial.

However, the other four could have been in a position to purchase the serial, as they did not air season three until 1968, which was well after the period of withdrawal had been lifted...

It is not known what happened to the prints that had been offered to the ABC. It is possible that parts five and ten, that were recovered in 1983, are two of these prints. (See The Celestial Toymaker CONSPIRACY THEORY # 2 for more on this.)

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 *The serial was planned as a 12-parter. However, from the stage directions in the rehearsal and camera scripts for parts six and seven, particularly with regards to the "NEXT EPISODE" captions, it would seem that by the time the serial was '''made''', it was being treated as an 11-parter (as it would be sold to foreign broadcasters), but with an additional episode to be screened at Christmas, but only for consumption in the UK. In other words, '''The Daleks' Master Plan''' should really be regarded as an 11-parter with an episode '''added''' for the UK, rather than as a 12-parter, with an episode '''removed''' for foreign sales.
-* The 11-part serial was offered to [[Australia]] along with other serials, such as [[The Time Meddler]], [[Galaxy 4]] and [[The Myth Makers]]. (Only parts one to six, and eight to twelve were offered.)
+* The 11-part serial was offered to [[Australia]] in March 1966, along with other serials, such as [[The Time Meddler]], [[Galaxy 4]] and [[The Myth Makers]]. (Only parts one to six, and eight to twelve were offered.)
 * It was viewed by the censors on '''13 September 1966''' - and rated with a mixture of "G" and "A" classifications. No attempt was made to edit the films; the ABC did not purchase the rights to screen it, therefore it did not make any clearance payments to the BBC.