Production Code: J
First Transmitted
Planet of Giants - 31/10/1964 17:15
Dangerous Journey - 07/11/1964 17:15
Crisis - 14/11/1964 17:15
Plot
The main doors of the TARDIS open of their own accord just before it materialises, causing it to run out of control. On emerging, the travellers discover that the ship has been reduced in size and they are now only about an inch tall.
In this miniaturised state, they stumble across a plot by a ruthless businessman, Forester, and his misguided scientist colleague, Smithers, to launch a new insecticide named DN6 - a product so destructive that it would kill not only those insects harmful to agriculture but also those vital to it.
Forester is even willing to commit murder to ensure the success of his business, as civil servant Arnold Farrow discovers to his cost.
The criminals are eventually brought to justice when the Doctor and his friends - hampered by the fact that Barbara has herself been made ill by the insecticide - tamper with the telephone in Smithers' laboratory, thus fuelling the suspicions of the local exchange operator, Hilda Rowse, who sends her police constable husband Bert to investigate.
Episode Endings
Farrow has been shot by Forester and the miniaturised time travellers investigate the body. Suddenly Susan realises that they are being intently watched by a giant black cat.
Smithers goes into the laboratory to wash his hands, unaware that the Doctor and Susan are hiding in the water outlet from the sink. As a helpless Ian and Barbara watch, he fills the sink with water, washes, and then pulls out the plug.
With everything returned to normal, the Doctor checks the newly repaired scanner screen for their next destination. It shows only interference. The ship starts to materialise and the Doctor hopes to discover its latest arrival point.
Roots
Gulliver's Travels.
The Incredible Shrinking Man.
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (the ecological menace of insecticide).
Dixon of Dock Green (the murder sub-plot).
Dialogue Triumphs
Forester : "Do you know why I'm a success, Mr Farrow? Because I've never allowed the word "can't" to exist."
Continuity
Susan again says 'TARDIS' as opposed to 'the TARDIS'. The machine's fault locator (The Daleks, The Edge of Destruction) is seen again. The Doctor has never been to Africa.
QV
Location
England, post World War II.
Untelevised
Susan and the Doctor were present during a Zeppelin air raid [in World War I].
Trivia
There is no noise either inside or outside the TARDIS as it arrives at the start of the story and leaves at the end.
This is the first instance of Dudley Simpson providing incidental music for the series. Simpson would continue to work on Doctor Who periodically until the end of the seventeenth season in 1979.
Fred Ferris, who played policeman Bert Rowse, was a popular Liverpudlian comedian.
Technobabble
The TARDIS doors open in flight which has the effect of miniaturising the occupants, the Doctor explaining 'the space pressure was far too great'.
Goofs
At the end of episode two, when the sink is emptied, the plug is placed on the bench. In the reprise for episode three, the plug is put back in the sink (thus enabling the miniature travellers to escape).
Cast & Crew
Cast
The Doctor - William Hartnell
Barbara Wright - Jacqueline Hill
Ian Chesterton - William Russell
Susan Foreman - Carole Ann Ford
Bert Rowse - Fred Ferris
Farrow - Frank Crawshaw
Forester - Alan Tilvern
Hilda Rowse - Rosemary Johnson
Smithers - Reginald Barratt
Crew
Director - Mervyn Pinfield
Director - Douglas Camfield
Planet of Giants