Power of the Daleks

Power of the Daleks was one of the second wave of missing episode soundtracks released by the BBC Radio Collection. Unlike the first two, these were narrated by Tom Baker in character. It was more than a little odd to hear him say “I” did this and "I" did that when it was a Troughton story not part of the curly haired canon. I thought at the time that this version of the story let the listener down somewhat because I was utterly confused by the end. The Dalek ship was a little pod at the start and by the end it is this massive industrial complex with conveyor belts and secret wings and all sorts of chambers. Having now heard the “proper” CD release I realise it isn’t the narration which lets us down, it is the lack of pictures. Maybe on screen this all made sense. I’ve got the recon which I suppose I could watch but I never do. My curiosity has its limits. The only actual memory I’ve got of listening to this is running the whole thing one Saturday afternoon and coming away thinking it was fine. Nothing special and nothing terrible. Now that I think about it I was also channel hopping one morning with nothing better to do and I suddenly found a clip of Power of the Daleks on an entirely unconnected and unexpected show. “That’s Power of the Daleks” I said to myself because it was first thing in the morning and I was therefore obviously alone. “Yes it is” I replied because loneliness can get to you after a while.

The Highlanders

Similarly, the only time I’ve ever tried to listen to the Highlanders was in bed on a Saturday morning. To my credit I got two episodes into it without falling asleep and I’ve dozed through some of the finest work ever produced. Actually, this journey through Doctor Who has made me realise just how many stories I have which I’ve never bothered to properly listen to. I can clearly remember being driven to own every single episode of Doctor Who – and succeeding. At no point do I ever seem to have been driven to watch or listen to every single episode of Doctor Who. That’s a bit worrying actually. That’s almost Brentian. I’m not happy and motivated any more.

The Underwater Menace

The Underwater Menace passed me by entirely until I decided to do my own photonovel of the story. I don’t even remember watching the lone surviving episode on the Troughton Years tape. Ah ha – research had told me why – it wasn’t on the Troughton Years tape. We had to wait until the Ice Warriors boxed set to get it. I don’t remember watching it then either. So apart from the clip of Zaroff which was in “Resistance is Useless” and the strangely evocative fish people scenes from (I think) the same documentary, my version of the Underwater Menace is the one I think of not the original.

Postscript – when I had my eyes lasered I had to wear goggles for sleeping in for the week after surgery. The first time I saw myself in the mirror I thought “I look like a fish person”. That became a nightly ritual. I may even have mimed a little bit of balletic swimming one night.

Imagine the lamp shade wearing lipstick and you're virtually there

The Moonbase

I got the Cybermen The Early Years video from either Southport or Llandudno. And from either WH Smith or Woolworths. It was a straight choice between CTEY or the equally titled Daleks The Early Years. My decision was made based on two things – firstly I was still a bit scared of Daleks thanks to the Invasion of Earth book cover and secondly, the Cybermen tape had an extra episode on it for no extra cost. Four vs three, happy vs scary. The Cybermen won. What I remember most about the Moonbase is the contrast between the two existing episodes. In episode two we have Jamie scared by his own shadow, sweating like an Italian and babbling about phantom pipers. By episode four he is completely recovered and a productive member of society again. How I longed to know what happened in episode three to bring about such a change.

My first exposure to the Moonbase – though I knew it only as “Doctor Who and the Cybermen” – was the novelisation which I would occasionally be brave enough to pick up at our local library. The scene usually went something like this – I was little, probably four or five – and I had an enormous Paddington Bear. I remember him being as big as me but he probably wasn’t by then. But he was still huge. Much too huge to carry around a library. But every so often I’d forget he was too big and refuse to be parted from my big friend. I’d lug him round and eventually find this book. The back cover was enough to scare little me. The front cover was quite friendly – a green Cybermen almost smiling. One of the nicer monsters in the universe. But the blurb went like this –

One by one, their limbs became diseased - they were replaced by plastic and steel!

Little by little, their brains tired - computers worked just as well!

With metal limbs, they had the strength of ten men. They could live in the airless vacuum of space. They had no heart, no feelings, no emotions, and only one goal - power!

That was enough to make me shove the book back on the shelf, pick Paddington up and run away. Maybe I’m confusing two different times – understanding the gist of that blurb and lugging an enormous teddy bear round don’t seem to go together. But maybe they did. It’s what I think of when I think of Doctor Who and the Cybermen at the Moonbase anyway.