7A. The Mysterious Planet
Writer: Robert Holmes
Director: Nicholas Mallett
Designer: John Anderson
Incidental Music: Dominic Glynn
TRANSMISSION DETAILS:
640. Part One 06.09.86 5.45pm - 6.10pm 4.9M/69th/72%
641. Part Two 13.09.86 5.45pm - 6.10pm 4.9M/75th/69%
642. Part Three 20.09.86 5.45pm - 6.10pm 3.9M/98th/70%
643. Part Four 27.09.86 5.45pm - 6.10pm 3.7M/97th/72%
CAST:
THE VALEYARD: Michael Jayston; THE INQUISITOR: Lynda Bellingham; SABALOM GLITZ: Tony Selby;
KATRYCA: Joan Sims; DIBBER: Glen Murphy; MERDEEN: Tom Chadbon; VOICE OF DRATHRO: Roger Brierley;
BROKEN TOOTH: David Rodigan; BALAZAR: Adam Blackwood; GRELL: Timothy Walker; HUMKER: Billy McColl
(2-4); TANDRELL: Sion Tudor Owen (2-4). UNCREDITED: DRATHRO OPERATOR: Mike Ellis; THE JURY: David Backe,
John Buckmaster, Rodney Cardiff, James Delaney, David Eynon, Peter Gates Fleming, Gary Forecast, Leslie Fry, Bob Hargreaves,
Johnny Lee Harris, Jack Horton, Lew Hooper, Derek Hunt, Guy Matthews, Ken Pritchard, Roy Seeley, John Shereton, Kenneth Thomas,
Leslie Weeks, Geoff Whitestone, David Wild, Llewellyn Williams; TRAIN GUARDS: John Emms, Mark Kirby; WARRIORS:
Richard Aldridge, Robert Bicknell, Peter Dukes, Paul Ellison, John Emms, David Hampston, Christopher Holmes, Mark Kirkby, Payl
Lecomber, Oscar Peck, Rhett Stevens, David Wild.
STORY:
The TARDIS is drawn to a huge space station. Only the Doctor emerges, and he is unsure where he is. There is only one door to
choose from - the door to a huge courtroom where a huge jury is sat. As he watches other figures enter which are announced as
an Inquisitor and his prosecutor - the Valeyard. So begins his trial into the Doctor's interference into the affairs of other
people and planets:
The first piece of evidence in the prosecution is the Doctor and Peri's visit to Ravaolox. The Doctor comments that the planet
has almost exactly the same mass, angle of tilt, and period of rotation as Earth. But it is almost two light years from Earth,
and has been ravaged by solar flares.
A group of people had survived in an underground city ruled by a robot. It had been programmed to keep an equal and stable
society. If there are too many people present they are culled, alhough one of the guards disobeyed the orders and often allowed
them to escape to the surface which is now clear.
On the surface a very different society is emerging. The Doctor and Peri are captured by the villagers, and so are two crooks
Glitz and Dibber, who are intent on destroying the villagers' Great Totem, which they claim is a navigational beacon.
They do eventually destroy the beacon, which the Doctor finds out is Drathro's, the robot which controls the underground
dwellers, black light power source. With it destroyed the planet faces a black light explosion which could threaten the entire
universe. The Doctor manages to limit the explosion to Drathro's lair, and the robot is destroyed also.
BLOOPERS:
Episode 1: Peri pronounces "fireball" with a English accent.
Episode 1: Nicola Bryant then goes on to pronounce "sterile" with a long "i", in a most un-American way.
Episode 1: At the end of this episode, a stone hits the Doctor too soon. He was supposed to be stoned for a little
while before being hit, but one overzealous extra hit him too soon. (This was a blooper Colin Baker mentioned at a convention.)
STUDIOS:
Television Centre Studio 3, Television Centre Studio 6
LOCATIONS:
Butser Ancient Farm Project, Pidham Hill, Hants; Queen Elizabeth Country Park, Gravel Hill, Horndean, Hants
WORKING TITLES:
The Robots of Revelux, The Robots of Ravalox
NOTES:
The first episode sees the debut of a new arrangement of the theme tune (the third version), by Dominic Glynn.
Although the whole season was shown on television as one long 14 part story, there are four segments with production codes, and
the programme has been novelised in this form.
NOVELISATION:
The Mysterious Planet
Terrance Dicks
VIDEO:
The Trial of a Time Lord
