N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!
With The Daleks’ Master Plan, from the outset it really feels as though you’ve landed in the middle of something truly epic.
Following the events of The Myth Makers Steven is injured and new companion Katarina is unusual insomuch that she genuinely elevates the Doctor to god-like status – not something we’ve seen before (or quite so explicitly since). In tone, The Nightmare Begins picks up where Mission to the Unknown left off, with supporting characters Bret Vyon and later Sara Kingdom a little tougher than the usual guests. These contribute to a noticeably grimmer and grittier atmosphere, which in the early part of the serial climaxes with Katarina’s shocking death as she sacrifices herself to save the Doctor, Steven and Bret.
It’s only in its third quarter (especially, for me, in Volcano and Golden Death), that the serial drags a little – where it starts to feel like a re-run of The Chase, albeit a re-run with the welcome distraction of the Meddling Monk. Indeed, it’s a shame we don’t see the Monk again in Doctor Who after Escape Switch – he’s one of my favourite characters ever in the show.
Perhaps more than any other serial it’s a pity that episodes of The Daleks’ Master Plan are missing; perhaps more than any other serial it’s remarkable that we have anything left at all given it was never shown anywhere else in the world. But with only three episodes extant – Day of Armageddon, Counter Plot and Escape Switch – it almost feels as though you’re dipping in and out of the action. These episodes, along with the other surviving clips, do at least allow you to have some visual frame of reference for the rest of the action (even if overall does makes for that same slightly disjointed experience I first had with The Crusade).
“Well, I suppose you might say that I am a citizen of the universe, and a gentleman to boot. “
The Doctor, The Feast of Steven
Of the 97 currently missing Doctor Who episodes The Feast of Steven is the one I’d most like to see. Admittedly, apart from a brief mention of Daleks and Taranium, it bears no relation to the six episodes preceding it nor the five that follow. And yes, it is a Christmas panto; yes, there is an awful lot of shouting and from the sound of it, a lot of running around, but the fact that it was the only 20th century episode to be broadcast on Christmas Day, that we get to see the Doctor break the fourth wall at the end and, of course, that it is so damned unlikely ever to turn up – more unlikely than any other episode if the paperwork is to be believed – gives it the edge for me in the ‘If you could only have one episode back, which would it be?’ game.
“What a waste. What a terrible waste.”
The Doctor, Destruction of Time
That said, final episode Destruction of Time would be another strong contender. The effects of the Time Destructor are so visual, it’s a shame we can no longer see them. Still, there is real horror to be heard in the manner of Sara Kingdom’s demise and the deaths of Bret Vyon and Katarina are not forgotten in a downbeat conclusion to what has become a genuine epic tale. You’re left wondering how The Doctor and Steven can possibly recover from this.
But amongst all of the carnage (and cricket) my favourite moment in the whole serial has to be the Dalek Supreme’s disparaging assessment of Mavic Chen’s efforts. It’s something a cynic might comment could be said to the vast majority of all the politicians the world has ever seen: “You make your incompetence sound like an achievement.” It’s a relatively minor moment in the story as a whole but for me it might just be the best line of Dalek dialogue ever.
