The Ambassadors of Death
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| 053 - The Ambassadors of Death | |
|---|---|
| Doctor | Jon Pertwee (Third Doctor) |
| Writer | David Whitaker Trevor Ray (episode 1, uncredited) Malcolm Hulke (episodes 2-7, uncredited) |
| Director | Michael Ferguson |
| Script editor | Terrance Dicks |
| Producer | Barry Letts |
| Executive producer(s) | None |
| Production code | CCC |
| Series | Season 7 |
| Length | 7 episodes, 25 mins each |
| Transmission date | March 21–May 2, 1970 |
| Preceded by | Doctor Who and the Silurians |
| Followed by | Inferno |
The Ambassadors of Death is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in seven weekly parts from March 21 to May 2, 1970.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Two manned astronaut missions to Mars have gone awry and the Third Doctor becomes suspicious. It seems that nothing is simple: in a world of double-cross and triple-cross, the Doctor, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Liz must work out who to trust as they attempt to piece together the mystery surrounding mankind's contact with an alien species. When one of the space probes return to Earth, the chase is on to locate the occupants and work out what has happened to the European astronauts...
[edit] Plot
With the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce providing security, the British Space Programme under Professor Ralph Cornish oversees the launch of the Recovery Seven probe. This has been sent to Mars to make contact with the missing Mars Probe Seven and its three astronauts, who lost contact with Earth eight months earlier. The pilot of Recovery Seven, Van Lyden, makes contact with the Probe but is then silenced by a piercing unearthly sound. The noise troubles the Doctor who travels with his assistant Liz Shaw to the Space Centre to investigate the situation, offering insights into the origin and meaning of the sound, which he interprets as coded messages. He also identifies a reply message sent from Earth and this is pinpointed to be coming from a warehouse seven miles away. Led by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, UNIT troops attack the warehouse and engage in a gun battle with troops organised by General Carrington.
Meanwhile Recovery Seven has returned to Earth and while UNIT is transporting it more of Carrington’s troops stage an ambush and steal the vessel. The Doctor relocates it, by which time it is empty. Carrington has ensured the contents – three space suited astronauts – are detained elsewhere, feeding them radiation to keep them alive. Carrington is now introduced to the Doctor by Sir James Quinlan, the Minister for Technology, who explains that he is head of the newly formed Space Security Department, and that his actions were to protect the astronauts as they had been infected with contagious radiation. Quinlan states that they did not want the public to become panic-stricken and so Carrington had been acting with authority in his actions.
By the time Carrington takes the Doctor and his friends to meet the astronauts the situation has changed again. A criminal named Reegan has organised their abduction, killing the soldiers and scientists protecting them. When the Doctor and Liz examine the situation they work out that human tissue could not have withstood the degree of radiation emitted to the astronauts, who are still in orbit, meaning the three space suits contain alien beings instead. Reegan now engineers the kidnapping of Liz Shaw to aid his own scientist, Lennox, a disgraced Cambridge professor, in maintaining the alien beings while they are incarcerated. Together they build a device to communicate with and control the aliens, who are sent on a killer rampage at the Space Centre, killing Quinlan and others. Liz later helps Lennox escape, but his bid for freedom is cut short by Reegan’s merciless revenge.
Despite the obstruction of the authorities, Ralph Cornish is determined to organise another space flight to Mars to investigate the situation. With Quinlan dead, the Doctor now decides to pilot the Recovery Seven probe ship himself. As he prepares to blast off Reegan tries to sabotage the probe by increasing the feed of M3 variant, but the Doctor survives the attempt on his life and succeeds in piloting the probe so that it connects with an enormous space craft orbiting Mars. Aboard the spaceship the Doctor discovers the three original astronauts are unharmed but mentally deluded into believing they are in quarantine. An alien being now reveals itself to the Doctor and explains the humans are being held aboard the craft pending the safe return of the Alien Ambassadors. They had been sent to Earth following a Treaty between the race and mankind, but the terms of this agreement have now been broken because of the detention of the Ambassadors. The Doctor offers his personal guarantee to help return the Ambassadors to their mother ship and resolve the conflict before a state of war is declared, and is permitted to leave the alien craft and return to Earth.
When the Doctor touches down he is gassed and kidnapped by Reegan, who takes him to Liz. Reegan’s real paymaster and the real organiser of the situation is revealed to them: General Carrington. The General reveals his actions have been prompted by xenophobia driven by his own encounter with the alien beings when he piloted Mars Probe Six some years earlier. His co-pilot, Jim Daniels, was killed on contact with the aliens and the General signed the treaty with the aliens to lure three of their number to Earth, where he hoped he could unveil their real agenda of alien invasion. The use of the ambassadors to kill people was similarly done to arouse public opinion against them. The next phase of his plan is to force the Ambassadors to confess their plot on public television. Leaving the Doctor and Liz working on a new and improved communication device to translate the aliens, Carrington departs for the Space Centre, where he aims to unmask the alien Ambassador before the eyes of the world – and then call on the powers of the Earth to blast the spaceship from the skies.
UNIT soldiers raid the secret base and rescue the Doctor and Liz, apprehending Reegan and his thugs. The Doctor races to the Space Centre and he and the Brigadier apprehend Carrington before he can make his broadcast. Sadly, he is taken away, protesting he was only following his moral duty. The Doctor arranges for Cornish and Liz to send the Ambassadors back to their own people, after which the three human astronauts will be returned.
[edit] Cast
- Doctor Who — Jon Pertwee
- Liz Shaw — Caroline John
- Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart — Nicholas Courtney
- Sergeant Benton — John Levene
- General Carrington — John Abineri
- Ralph Cornish — Ronald Allen
- Bruno Taltalian — Robert Cawdron
- Miss Rutherford — Cheryl Molineaux
- Collinson — Robert Robertson
- Grey — Ray Armstrong
- Sir James Quinlan — Dallas Cavell
- John Wakefield — Michael Wisher
- Reegan — William Dysart
- Lennox — Cyril Shaps
- Dobson — Juan Moreno
- Van Heldorf — Gordon Sterne
- Masters — John Lord
- Flynn — Tony Harwood
- Technician — Roy Scammell
- Control Room Assistants — Bernard Martin, Joanna Ross, Carl Conway
- UNIT Sergeant — Derek Ware
- Corporal Champion — James Haswell
- Private Parker — James Clayton
- Private Johnson — Geoffrey Beevers
- UNIT Soldier — Max Faulkner
- Alien Voices — Peter Halliday
- Alien Space Captain — Peter Noel Cook
- Van Lyden / Alien Ambassador — Ric Felgate
- Lefee / Alien Ambassador — Steve Peters
- Michaels / Alien Ambassador — Neville Simons
[edit] Cast notes
- Features a guest appearance by Ronald Allen. See also Celebrity appearances in Doctor Who.
[edit] Production
- Working titles for this story included The Invaders from Mars (later the title of a Big Finish Productions audio drama, Invaders from Mars) and The Carriers of Death.
- An unusual title sequence was used for this serial, with the opening titles cutting off after the show's logo, repeating the previous week's cliffhanger, then returning to the titles for the serial's name, writer and episode number.
- This is the last Doctor Who serial to have been written by original script editor David Whittaker.
[edit] Outside references
- The plot of this story resembles that of The Quatermass Experiment, where an astronaut who has apparently returned to Earth has in fact been replaced by an alien life form.
- The Mars Probe space program appeared in two of Virgin's Doctor Who novels. Who Killed Kennedy revealed that the shuttles were developed from technology taken from International Electromatics. In The Dying Days, the program was abandoned when Mars Probe 13 accidentally encountered the Ice Warriors and it was agreed that Earth would stay away from their territory; however, a 1997 Mars Probe mission precipitates a Martian invasion and takeover.
[edit] In print
A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in May 1987 and was the final Third Doctor serial to be adapted. The Third Doctor's era was, as a result, the first to be completely adapted by Target Books, to be followed over the next few years by the First, Seventh, and Second Doctor eras, plus the single televised Eighth Doctor story, in that order. (Due to licensing difficulties involving several serials, the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Doctor eras remain incomplete, while no plans exist for novelisations based upon the Ninth or Tenth Doctor stories.)
[edit] Broadcast and VHS release
- Although the entire story was made on colour videotape, only the first episode is retained in this format; in fact, it is the earliest episode that survives in the series' original videotaped format, either in colour or B&W. It is not, however, the first to exist in colour: Spearhead From Space, the first serial of that season, was (uniquely for the series) produced on 16mm colour film and survives in that format. The remaining six episodes survive only as black and white film recordings and poor-quality domestic colour recordings made from a US transmission in the 1970s. This recording is severely affected by a rainbow-coloured pattern of interference that at times overtakes the entire picture.
- In 2002, a restoration project for the story's VHS release, in May of that year, combined the usable colour information from the domestic recordings with the black and white picture from the film prints, creating a high-quality colour picture. In total, more than half of the serial's running time is presented in colour on the VHS release, including all of Episodes 1 and 5, and sections from 2, 3, 6 and 7. The remaining footage, including all of Episode 4, was not deemed suitable for colour restoration, and so remains in black and white.
[edit] External links
- Preview of 'The Ambassadors of Death' Episode 4 (restored to colour).
- The Ambassadors of Death episode guide on the BBC website
- The Ambassadors of Death at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
- The Ambassadors of Death at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- Doctor Who Locations - The Ambassadors of Death
[edit] Reviews
- The Ambassadors of Death reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
- The Ambassadors of Death reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
[edit] Target novelisation
| UNIT television stories | |
|---|---|
| Second Doctor: | (The Web of Fear) • The Invasion |
| Third Doctor: | Spearhead from Space • Doctor Who and the Silurians • The Ambassadors of Death • Inferno • Terror of the Autons • The Mind of Evil • The Claws of Axos • The Dæmons • Day of the Daleks • The Time Monster • The Three Doctors • The Green Death • Invasion of the Dinosaurs • Planet of the Spiders |
| Fourth Doctor: | Robot • Terror of the Zygons • The Android Invasion |
| Seventh Doctor: | Battlefield |
| Tenth Doctor: | The Christmas Invasion |
| Minor appearances: | The Time Warrior • The Seeds of Doom • The Five Doctors • Aliens of London/World War Three |
| See also: | UNIT dating controversy |
