The Daleks&#8217; Master Plan

Christmas, Companion Exit, New Companion Introduction

Runtime

300 minutes

Story Type

Time Travel

Past, Present, Future

Tropes (Potential Spoilers!)

Invisibility, Alien Delegates, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Companion Death, First TARDIS trip, Mistaken Identity, Prison Planet, The Doctor Falls, Travelling Serial

Story Arc (Potential Spoilers!)

The Daleks' Master Plan

Inventory (Potential Spoilers!)

Signet ring, Taranium core, The Time Destructor

Location (Potential Spoilers!)

Central City, Desperus, Earth, Egypt, England, Hollywood, Kembel, Liverpool, London, Mira, The Oval, Tigus

Synopsis

In the year 4000, the Daleks conspire to conquer the Solar System. Their scheme involves treachery at the highest levels and a weapon capable of destroying the very fabric of time. Only the Doctor and his friends can prevent catastrophe — and there is no guarantee they will escape with their lives...

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12 Episodes

The Nightmare Begins Missing

First aired

Saturday, November 13, 1965

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

9.1 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

The Doctor runs afoul of the Daleks and Special Security Agent Bret Vyon on the planet Kembel.

Day of Armageddon

First aired

Saturday, November 20, 1965

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

9.8 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

The Doctor infiltrates the Daleks' conference to try and discover their plans, leaving Steven, Katarina and Bret to find a way off the planet.

Devil’s Planet Missing

First aired

Saturday, November 27, 1965

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

10.3 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

The Doctor and his friends escape Kembel in the Spar ship but the Daleks force them down on the planet Desperus, where they are threatened by a group of convicts.

The Traitors Missing

First aired

Saturday, December 4, 1965

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

9.5 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

With Katarina being held hostage, the Doctor, Steven and Bret are in danger of having to given in to Kirksen's demands, while, on Earth, Chen has them listed as traitors.

Counter Plot

First aired

Saturday, December 11, 1965

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

9.9 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

The Doctor, Steven and Sara are accidentally transported to the planet Mira where Chen sends the Daleks after them.

Coronas of the Sun Missing

First aired

Saturday, December 18, 1965

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

9.1 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

The Doctor, Steven and Sara escape Mira in a Dalek pursuit ship but when they find the ship is returning to Kembel, they are forced to come up with a new plan to avoid the Daleks.

The Feast of Steven Missing

First aired

Saturday, December 25, 1965

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

7.9 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

The Doctor, Steven and Sara visit a Liverpool police station on Christmas Day and a Hollywood film set during the 1920s.

Volcano Missing

First aired

Saturday, January 1, 1966

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

9.6 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

The Daleks realise the Doctor has given them a fake Taranium Core while, on the planet Tigus, the Doctor encounters the Meddling Monk.

Golden Death Missing

First aired

Saturday, January 8, 1966

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

9.2 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

The Doctor, Steven and Sara travel to Ancient Egypt, pursued by both the Daleks and the Meddling Monk.

Escape Switch

First aired

Saturday, January 15, 1966

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

9.5 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

Steven, Sara and the Monk are captured by the Daleks in order to force the Doctor to hand over the Taranium Core.

The Abandoned Planet Missing

First aired

Saturday, January 22, 1966

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

9.8 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

The Doctor, Steven and Sara reach Kembel where they find the Daleks have betrayed their allies and imprisoned them.

Destruction of Time Missing

First aired

Saturday, January 29, 1966

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

8.6 million

Appreciation Index

Synopsis

With the Daleks poised to invade the solar system, the Doctor decides his only option is to activate the Time Destructor prematurely, threatening the entire planet.

Characters

First Doctor

William Hartnell

Steven Taylor

Peter Purves

How to watch The Daleks’ Master Plan:

Watch on iPlayer

DVD

Lost in Time

VHS

Daleks: The Early Years (VHS)

Vinyl

The Daleks’ Master Plan (7LP Translucent Blue Vinyl)

Vinyl

The Daleks’ Master Plan (Exclusive Splatter Vinyl)

Reviews
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13 reviews

all i want for christmas is for the rest of this to be found. Please. Please.I Need To Watch Sara Kingdom Die. I Need To Watch Steven Taylor Grieve. Please. Pl

abominablebas

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Review last edited on 29-05-25

Easily one of Hartnell's best stories and a blatant Cold War allegory that succeeds due to the fast pacing and darker nature of the serial. absolutely brutal with the character deaths and the highest stakes seen yet in a serial. whilst it can be seen as a bit messy due to the unneeded side quests such as the feast of Steven it remains compelling and one of the best serials of classic who

kawaii2234

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Review last edited on 3-05-25

A decent epic 12 parter. Recently watched this with the missing 9 episodes reconstructed using AI so I was able to enjoy the entire thing. Dark, shocking, fast paced, silly and a lot of characters.

Scottybguud

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Review last edited on 11-03-25

This review contains spoilers!

Oh boi this will be a long one. For me this places second for the Hartnell Years, only beaten slightly by the Massacre, and it’s easily one of my favorite Stories when it comes to Who in general.

It’s a great shame so much of it is missing, especially true with Episode 12, that being said while it does arguably have some flaws, I cannot stop loving it.

Having only really got myself into the Classic Series almost two Years ago, this one was, the one I heard many mixed Things about and while I usually do split up longer Stories (at least at that time), I found myself bored with nothing better to do, so I decided to give the Recon a watch. And while yes, since the Material to be used was lacking and at times the Recon can be a bit tough to watch, I still have to say this one surprised me.

As many correctly pointed out this was an ambitious Epic, one which the 60s wouldn’t beat, maybe a point could be made about the War Games, but that’s a topic for another Time. Does it really need all those Episodes? I’d argue not, especially Feast of Steven feels like a black sheep and should at this point just be counted as a weird Oddity without much else. That being said the first half is paced incredibly well, at no point did I feel like I watched 5–6 Episodes, they all went by quickly and felt very organic, while yes it is at times slow, it builds tension so very well leading to some breathtakingly good moments such as Katarina's Death.

Katarina, while I would have liked to seeing more of her, since I think Hill does give a pretty great performance, having her die here worked really well and the build up to this death feels quite intense. What the Doctor says about her afterward is just beautiful and only one of the many great Moments presented here.

Many compared this one to The Chase, rightfully so since the second half is pretty much in the same vein and while I don’t argue against it, it feels here more earned compared to the Chase. And also gives a great opportunity to have some more Stories with Sara!

And I haven’t mentioned her yet, have I? Jean Marsh is superb as Sara, even through she has only one Story under her Bell (televised at least), she does it all with the Material given to her. Makes it even more a shame that she wouldn’t survive this Story, her death feels also affective, and I am quite sad to see that we don’t have that scene in the archives anymore.

One Thing which hasn’t been mentioned here are the Daleks itself and going by their previous appearances, I’d argue they are at some of their best. They have some hilarious lines thrown here, but you always have this feeling of them being treated as a Threat not to be joked with, which the Chase utterly failed. Mavic Chen is a great Villain as well (if we look past the horrendous yellow face), the Actor gives a superb Performance and while not his best Who Performance, it’s easily one of the most memorable for a Villain in the 60s easily.

While the Monk’s Return feels maybe out of the pocket. I’d argue having Butterworth back was not only lovely, but he gets some great moments in here, while yes he gets overshadowed greatly by all the other Stuff happening, I still think he was used pretty well all things considered.

The whole World Building done here is easily my favorite of all of Who, if Nation was good at something, it was with his Ideas of different Worlds, shown pretty well here. The Council or even the Planet of Kembel itself are just superb.

Oh, there is a lot to talk about, surprisingly Hartnell and Purves himself weren’t mentioned here too much. I do say they both give some of their best in this Story. Hartnell especially has so many little wonderful moments or acting choices, makes it even more saddening knowing that his physical performance might be for the most part lost to time. Purves I feel like gets to show off how great Steven can be, while he was superb in the Time Meddler, I feel like his last two Stories used the Character pretty underwhelming (although I liked a few bits with him in Myth Makers), this one does not. I love especially his confrontational nature around the End, pointing out to the Doctor that they haven’t really won after all the Deaths.

Bret is great, I like him! What is more to say, everybody likes Bret, that’s all

The Story overall ranks very highly for me. While it’s huge, it does know how it paces itself and I’d argue even through I really didn’t care for Feast, at no Episodes did I feel bored about this Story. It builds up a lot of tension and uses it quite well in my opinion, the first half as I said is paced superb. The second half, while not as superb, still offers some fun to be had and basically does the travelling to place to place much better. The bleak Tone and the bleak ending is wonderful, and there are a lot of little Parts I adore.

I do think this Story deserves the Animation Treatment and I really hope we can that, while the likelihood of it happening is low due the scale of it all, perhaps some day they decide to do two different releases for that Story, similarly as how they have done it with the Target Novel. But who knows, only Time will tell.

Personally? Big fan if you didn’t notice it already, lots of great Stuff to love here!

RandomJoke

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Review last edited on 6-01-25

The Daleks' Master Plan is almost a rarity in Long Classic Who Serials, as in, it's one that deserves the runtime. A 12-part story would be intimidating under any circumstances, especially one where 3/4s of it is lost, but by god does this serial pretty much make it. We've got strong acting from the main cast, a solid storyline, and some delightfully silly looking aliens. We do also have yellowface, unfortunately, because this is 60s Doctor Who

greenLetterT

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Review last edited on 18-12-24