Mission to the Unknown is the second serial of the third season of Doctor Who. It was written by Terry Nation and directed by Derek Martinus. However, it did not feature William Hartnell as the First Doctor, Maureen O'Brien as Vicki Pallister or Peter Purves as Steven Taylor.
Overview[]
To be added
Synopsis[]
A crew of Special Space Security agents are sent to the hostile jungle planet of Kembel, in the belief that they will discover the truth behind the rumour of a Dalek presence on that planet.
Following the strange deaths of his crew, Marc Cory is forced to work alone and discovers not only the Daleks but a group of Alien Delegates from all over the galaxy who have teamed up with the Daleks as part of their Master Plan to destroy their enemies and take control of the Universe.
However, can Marc Cory get this information back to Earth before the Daleks find him?
Plot[]
In a jungle on the planet Kembel, beneath a large line of trees a man, Jeff Garvey, wakes up, confused and disoriented. He utters to himself the only thing he remembers, that he must kill someone.
Elsewhere in the jungle, Marc Cory and Gordon Lowery argue while making repairs to their ship, the UN Deep Space Force Group 1. Cory wonders why Lowery decided to land on Kembel in the first place and the two remain hostile toward one another when Cory wonders where Garvey has vanished to. Watching them from the bushes, Garvey approaches the rocket, brandishing his firearm and still uttering 'kill' to himself. He then emerges from hiding, raising his gun to kill Lowery before Cory comes in and kills him instead.
Lowery is angry and distressed by Cory's actions, but Cory finds the thorn of a Varga plant stuck in him. Taking Garvey's personal effect, he and Lowery return to the ship. After they leave, Garvey's body starts twitching and his hand moves to reveal it to be changing into a Varga plant.
On board the ship, Cory reveals to Lowery his true agenda; he's an agent of the Space Security Service and that he's on a mission to investigate the Daleks, having been spotted by he SSS in the Solar System, despite having been inactive since their invasion of Earth thousands of years prior. Outside the ship, Garvey's body has severely transformed into a Varga plant and is capable of walking. Cory and Lowery try to use the ship's instruments to contact the SSS, but to no avail.
Cory suspects that the Daleks are at work on Kembel, proved by the presence of Varga plants. Outside, another Varga joins the one that used to be Garvey. Elsewhere, in the Dalek control centre, the Black Dalek takes reports from the others that emissaries from several planets are approaching Kembel for a meeting and orders that the Cory's ship, which they had previously detected on the planet be destroyed and it's occupants exterminated.
Outside the ship, Lowery jury rigs a distress beacon and a recording devices to send a message to the Space Security Service to tell them of possible Dalek activity. The Daleks, meanwhile, approach the ship from multiple directions. Finish the beacon, Cory and Lowery see a spacecraft land close by, carrying one of the emissaries the Daleks were expecting. Cory and Lowery take the beacon as soon as the Daleks arrive at the ship and destroy it; they take the opportunity to hurry away from them when Lowery impales his hand on a Varga plant.
The Daleks report the ship's destruction to the Black Dalek and head off to seek out and exterminate the crew. The Black Dalek meets with a number of different alien emissaries, who are worried by the presence of the crew of the stray spacecraft. While Cory prepares to send the message, the alien emissaries, all high-ranked powers from several planets of the outer galaxies, concur and agree to an alliance with the Daleks. The plan for conquest is laid out in order of planets, going with Mars, Venus, Jupiter, the Moon colonies but the Daleks plan to begin their reign of conquest with Earth.
While Cory works on the message, Lowery starts to transform into a Varga plant; when Cory sees it, he kills Lowery. Cory records his message to the Space Security Service, detailing the Daleks' plan for conquest of the Solar System when the Daleks finally detect him. Before he can finish, the Daleks arrive and exterminate him. After the Daleks leave Cory's body to return to the city, believing the information he discovered to have died with him, they fail to notice the tape recording he made before death completely unscathed. The alliance declare their plan a success and all proclaim 'Victory!'
Cast[]
- Dr. Who - William Hartnell
- Marc Cory - Edward de Souza
- Jeff Garvey - Barry Jackson
- Gordon Lowery - Jeremy Young
- Malpha - Robert Cartland
- Dalek Operators - Robert Jewell, Kevin Manser, John Scott Martin, Gerald Taylor
- Dalek voices - David Graham, Peter Hawkins
Crew[]
- Writer - Terry Nation
- Director - Derek Martinus
- Producer - Verity Lambert
- Assistant Floor Manager - Marjorie Yorke
- Costumes - Daphne Dare
- Designer - Richard Hunt
- Designer - Raymond Cusick
- Make-Up - Sonia Markham
- Production Assistant - Angela Gordon
- Script Editor - Donald Tosh
- Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
- Studio Lighting - Ralph Walton
- Studio Sound - George Prince
- Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
- Title Music - Ron Grainer
References[]
To be added
Story notes[]
To be added
Continuity[]
To be added
Home video and audio releases[]
To be added
External Links[]
- Official Mission to the Unknown page on Doctor Who Website