| 044 –The Dominators | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor Who serial | |||
| Cast | |||
Others
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| Production | |||
| Directed by | Morris Barry | ||
| Written by | "Norman Ashby" (Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln) | ||
| Script editor | Derrick Sherwin | ||
| Produced by | Peter Bryant | ||
| Executive producer(s) | None | ||
| Music by | Special sounds by Brian Hodgson at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop [1] | ||
| Production code | TT | ||
| Series | Season 6 | ||
| Running time | 5 episodes, 25 minutes each | ||
| First broadcast | 10 August 1968 | ||
| Last broadcast | 7 September 1968 | ||
| Chronology | |||
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The Dominators is the first serial of the sixth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who , which originally aired in five weekly parts from 10 August to 7 September 1968. The Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and his travelling companions Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) and Zoe Heriot (Wendy Padbury) work with the Dulcians of the planet Dulkis to prevent the alien Dominators from blowing up Dulkis and using its irradiated remains as spaceship fuel.
An alien craft bearing the ruthless Dominators arrives on the peaceful planet of Dulkis. The robotic Quarks are sent out by the Dominators to prepare boreholes into the planet’s crust to convert the planet into rocket fuel.
One of the locals, Cully, along with The Doctor and Jamie, travel to the capital city but has trouble convincing the Council of the Dominators' threat. The Doctor and Jamie take control of a travel pod and return to the Island of Death. Jamie links up with Cully at the museum, while the Doctor is captured by Quarks and taken with the slave force back to the Dominator ship.
The dig proceeds with the Doctor and the other slaves making progress but Jamie and Cully disable another Quark and free their friends. The Doctor has worked out the Dominator scheme, a nuclear fission seed will be dropped down the borehole, converting the planet into a radioactive mass to power the Dominator fleet. They begin digging a tunnel to the central borehole to steal the device before it can detonate. Jamie and Cully help by destroying Quarks with homemade bombs.
The Doctor intercepts the seed during its descent but tells his friends that it cannot be defused. The Doctor runs to the Dominator ship and smuggles the seed on board before the craft lifts off. It departs and the Dominators’ last vision is of the seed device rolling on the floor toward them. The Doctor watches the Dominator ship being destroyed and then heads back to the TARDIS.
Episode 3 had no on-screen episode number caption. [2] This serial was originally composed of six episodes but it was deemed too short of content and reduced to five at the last minute. Producer Peter Bryant ordered Haisman and Lincoln to abandon writing the sixth episode and script editor Derrick Sherwin rewrote the fifth episode to provide a conclusion. [3] Wrotham Quarry in Addington, Kent doubles as the planet surface of Dulkis. [4] Patrick Troughton was absent from all of the location filming sessions. A double plays the role of the Doctor in all the location footage, his face being clearly visible in some shots. [5]
Ronald Allen later played Ralph Cornish in The Ambassadors of Death (1970). [6] Arthur Cox went on to play Mr Henderson in the 2010 episode "The Eleventh Hour". Brian Cant had previously played Kert Gantry in the story The Daleks' Master Plan (1965–66). [7] Malcolm Terris later appeared in The Horns of Nimon (1979–80). [8] Philip Voss had previously played Acomat in Marco Polo (1964).
| Episode | Title | Run time | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) [9] | Archive [10] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Episode 1" | 24:25 | 10 August 1968 | 6.1 | 16mm t/r |
| 2 | "Episode 2" | 24:07 | 17 August 1968 | 5.9 | 16mm t/r |
| 3 | "Episode 3" | 24:06 | 24 August 1968 | 5.4 | 35mm film |
| 4 | "Episode 4" | 23:54 | 31 August 1968 | 7.5 | 16mm t/r |
| 5 | "Episode 5" | 24:19 | 7 September 1968 | 5.9 | 16mm t/r |
The BBC Audience Research Report for The Dominators showed that much of the sample dismissed the serial as unsurprising as it followed a known pattern, though a third felt that it was still inventive. [11]
In The Discontinuity Guide (1995), Paul Cornell, Martin Day, and Keith Topping wrote that the serial treated the issues of the time—like hippies and unilateralism—with "disdain", and the story was also "very dull". [12] In The Television Companion (1998), David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker called the serial "a disappointingly lacklustre start to the sixth season". They found it hard for the viewer to care about the Dulcians but said the Dominators were "hardly amongst the best of the series' alien creations, [but] at least quite well realised on screen". [11] In 2009, Mark Braxton of Radio Times described the serial as lazy in production with "hopeless" cliffhangers and a lack of audience identification. He wrote that the few small "saving graces" were the appearance of the Quarks and the pyrotechnics. [13] Reviewing the serial for SFX , Ian Berriman gave The Dominators a rating of two out of five stars. He wrote that the plot did not have much and was "push-button and pedestrian", with the best thing being Troughton. [14] DVD Talk's John Sinnott was more positive, giving the story three out of five stars. He criticised the "talky beginning" and non-frightening Quarks but felt that it was a "wonderful romp" due to the TARDIS crew. [15]
 | |
| Author | Ian Marter |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Andrew Skilleter |
| Series | Doctor Who book: Target novelisations |
Release number | 86 |
| Publisher | Target Books |
Publication date | 19 July 1984 |
| ISBN | 0-426-19553-1 |
A novelisation of this serial, written by Ian Marter, was published by Target Books in April 1984.
The Dominators was released on VHS in 1990. It was released on CD on 7 May 2007 and as a DVD in the UK on 12 July 2010 and in the USA and Canada on 11 January 2011.
The Seeds of Death is the fifth serial of the sixth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by Brian Hayles and an uncredited Terrance Dicks and directed by Michael Ferguson, it originally aired in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 25 January to 1 March 1969. It sees the return of the Ice Warriors, previously introduced by Hayles in the 1967 serial The Ice Warriors.
The Mutants is the fourth serial of the ninth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 8 April to 13 May 1972.
The War Games is the seventh and final serial of the sixth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in ten weekly parts from 19 April to 21 June 1969.
The Evil of the Daleks is the mostly-missing ninth and final serial of the fourth season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in seven weekly parts from 20 May to 1 July 1967.
Terror of the Autons is the first serial of the eighth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 2 to 23 January 1971.
The Two Doctors is the fourth serial of the 22nd season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in three weekly parts on BBC1 from 16 February to 2 March 1985.
Planet of the Spiders is the fifth and final serial of the 11th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 4 May to 8 June 1974. It was Jon Pertwee's final regular appearance as the Third Doctor, the last regular appearance of Mike Yates, and marks the first, uncredited appearance of Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. This serial introduces the term "regenerate" to explain the Doctor's transformation into another appearance. It also contains the first mention in the series of future companion Harry Sullivan.
Planet of Giants is the first serial of the second season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by Louis Marks and directed by Mervyn Pinfield and Douglas Camfield, the serial was first broadcast on BBC1 in three weekly parts from 31 October to 14 November 1964. In the serial, the First Doctor, his granddaughter Susan Foreman, and her teachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright are shrunk to the size of an inch after the Doctor's time machine the TARDIS arrives in contemporary England.
Revenge of the Cybermen is the fifth and final serial of the 12th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 19 April to 10 May 1975. It was the first to feature the Cybermen since The Invasion (1968) and the last until Earthshock (1982).
Image of the Fendahl is the third serial of the 15th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 29 October to 19 November 1977.
The Ark is the sixth serial of the third season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 5 to 26 March 1966.
Death to the Daleks is the third serial of the 11th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 23 February to 16 March 1974.
Colony in Space is the fourth serial of the eighth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 10 April to 15 May 1971.
The Creature from the Pit is the third serial of the 17th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 27 October to 17 November 1979. It was the first serial to feature David Brierley as the voice of K9.
The Horns of Nimon is the fifth and final broadcast serial of the 17th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 22 December 1979 to 12 January 1980. It is the last broadcast of David Brierley's voice as K9.
Kinda is the third serial of the 19th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts on BBC1 from 1 to 9 February 1982.
The Invasion is the partly missing third serial of the sixth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in eight weekly parts from 2 November to 21 December 1968.
The Ambassadors of Death is the third serial of the seventh season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in seven weekly parts on BBC1 from 21 March to 2 May 1970. Written by Trevor Ray, Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke, the serial was directed by Michael Ferguson.
The Ice Warriors is the partly missing third serial of the fifth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 11 November to 16 December 1967.
The Enemy of the World is the fourth serial of the fifth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in six weekly parts from 23 December 1967 to 27 January 1968.
