The Space Museum
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| 015 - The Space Museum | |
| Doctor | William Hartnell (First Doctor) |
|---|---|
| Writer | Glyn Jones |
| Director | Mervyn Pinfield |
| Script Editor | Dennis Spooner |
| Producer | Verity Lambert |
| Executive producer(s) | None |
| Production code | Q |
| Series | Season 2 |
| Length | 4 episodes, 25 mins each |
| Transmission date | April 24–May 15, 1965 |
| Preceded by | The Crusade |
| Followed by | The Chase |
| IMDb profile | |
The Space Museum is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from April 24 to May 15, 1965. The story is set on the planet Xeros, a subjugated planet in the Morok Empire, now home to a vast museum and a young, rebellious population.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
The Doctor and his companions experience something strange after they land on the planet Xeros. Shattered glass mends itself, footprints fail to materialize in the sand, and everything is silent. And then, inside a gigantic museum, they find something even more alarming: themselves.
[edit] Plot
The TARDIS arrives near a vast Space Museum on the planet Xeros, but has jumped a time-track. The First Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright and Vicki have a series of bizarre experiences as they venture outside and into the Museum – not least that they see but cannot be seen by the militaristic Moroks who run the museum, or the servile indigenous Xerons who work for them. The museum contains fascinating exhibits, including a Dalek shell, but the most worrying is the four travellers themselves encased and on display. Quite soon afterward the time track slips back and, though the exhibits of the TARDIS and the four travellers vanish, they still find themselves inside the Museum.
The head of the Moroks, Lobos, is a bored and desperate museum administrator and colony governor, who reflects sourly that the glories of the Morok empire are past. Like Rome, the Empire became decadent and declined. The Moroks have found the TARDIS and now start tracking down the occupants who have, as usual, become separated. The Doctor is the first to be found, but evades their interrogation tactics.
Vicki has meanwhile made contact with the Xerons and, hearing of their enslavement, aids them in their plans to stage a revolution. They attack the Morok armoury and Vicki outwits its controlling computer. With their new weapons the Xerons are able to begin a revolution which slowly takes hold.
Ian has meanwhile freed the Doctor from Lobos, who had begun the process of freezing him and turning him into an exhibit. Ian and the Doctor are quickly recaptured by the Morok guards, and Barbara and Vicki are captured shortly thereafter. With all four held prisoner in the Museum, it looks like the time track prediction of their future as museum exhibits will soon be realised after all.
Help comes from the Xeron revolutionaries, who kill Lobos and the other Morok captors. The Xerons then go about destroying the hated Museum as the TARDIS crew slips away. They take with them a time/space visualiser as a souvenir. On the planet Skaro, their departure is noted by the Daleks….
[edit] Cast
- Dr. Who — William Hartnell
- Ian Chesterton — William Russell
- Barbara Wright — Jacqueline Hill
- Vicki — Maureen O'Brien
- Lobos — Richard Shaw
- Morok Commander — Ivor Salter
- Morok Messenger — Salvin Stewart
- Morok Technician — Peter Diamond
- Moroks — Lawrence Dean, Ken Norris, Salvin Stewart, Peter Diamond, Billy Cornelius
- Sita — Peter Sanders
- Dako — Peter Craze
- Tor — Jeremy Bulloch
- Third Xeron — Bill Starkey
- Xerons — Michael Gordon, Edward Granville, Bill Starkey, David Walliscroft
- Dalek voice — Peter Hawkins
- Dalek Operator — Murphy Grumbar
[edit] Cast notes
- William Hartnell was on holiday during the recording of episode 3. His only appearance is in the reprise of episode 2.
- Features a guest appearance by Jeremy Bulloch - see also Celebrity appearances in Doctor Who.
- Richard Shaw, who spoke with a Cockney accent, was cast as Governor Lobos, but was asked to deliver his lines with a BBC accent. His accent slips only once, when he bellows at an underling use "maximum securi'ee!" He later appeared as Cross in Frontier in Space with his own accent.
[edit] Trivia
- The four episodes of the serial had individual titles. They were, respectively, "The Space Museum", "The Dimensions of Time", "The Search", "The Final Phase".
- Of all the William Hartnell stories with individual episode titles, this is the only one for which only one overall story title has ever been used. See also Doctor Who story title controversy.
- Episode 1 begins with a brief reprise of The Crusade episode 4, which is currently the only surviving film footage of that episode.
- Writer Glyn Jones appears as Krans in The Sontaran Experiment (1975) starring Tom Baker. A novelisation of this serial, written by Jones, was published by Target Books in January 1987.
- This story was released alongside the surviving episodes of The Crusade on VHS in 1999.
[edit] External links
- The Space Museum episode guide on the BBC website
- The Space Museum at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
- The Space Museum at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
[edit] Reviews
- The Space Museum reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
- The Space Museum reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
