Production Code: 5P
First Transmitted
1 - 22/11/1980 17:40
2 - 29/11/1980 17:40
3 - 06/12/1980 17:40
4 - 13/12/1980 17:40
Plot
The Doctor, Romana, K9 and Adric - an Outler from Alzarius who has stowed away aboard the TARDIS - arrive on a planet where the native villagers live in fear of 'the Wasting' and of three Lords named Zargo, Camilla and Aukon who rule from an imposing Tower. The Lords are soon revealed to be vampire servants of the last of the Great Vampires, a race referred to in Time Lord mythology.
The Great Vampire is about to be revived from its resting place beneath the Tower - in fact the spaceship in which the Lords, in their original human forms, came to E-Space - but the Doctor launches one of the ship's three shuttle craft and it pierces the heart of the creature, killing it. The Lords, deprived of their master, crumble to dust.
Episode Endings
The Doctor and Romana are making their through the forest to the Tower when suddenly they are assailed by bats. Romana points out to the Doctor that the sky is full of the creatures.
The Doctor and Romana are exploring a cavern beneath the Tower when they encounter Aukon, who tells them that this is the 'resting place' and welcomes them to his domain.
Camilla and Zargo menace Romana and Adric, intending to drink their blood. Adric throws a knife at Zargo, and it hits him in the chest. Camilla then advances on the boy while Zargo, seizing the retreating Romana, pulls the still bloodless knife from his chest and drops it to the floor.
The time travellers depart in the TARDIS, the Doctor telling Adric that he must now be taken straight back home.
Roots
The vampire genre (K9 mentions 'the legend of Count Dracula'), especially Vampire Circus (vampires killing children), Kiss of the Vampire and the rest of Hammer vampire cycle (the castle, the villagers terrified of strangers, etc.).
Camilla's name and particular interest in Romana (and her name) suggests the lesbian undertones of J.Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 story 'Carmilla' and such films as The Vampire Lovers, Vampyres: Daughters of Darkness and the work of Jean Rollin.
The Doctor (mis)quotes Henry V ('He who outlives this day and comes safe home shall stand a tiptoe when this day is named and rouse him at the name of E-Space!') and Hamlet ('That is the question').
There is also a misquote of Pope's 'Essay on Man' ('What is, is wrong') and references to Browning's 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came'.
Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast.
Lest Darkness Fall.
Dialogue Triumphs
The Doctor : "Night must fall, Romana, even in E-Space."
Romana : "It doesn't feel natural. There's that noise again."
The Doctor : "Only bats. Quite harmless." [A bat swoops down and bites him on the neck.] "Argh! Well, in theory. That one was a bit carnivorous."
Romana : [To the Doctor] "You are incredible."
The Doctor : "Well, yes, I suppose I am. I've never given it much thought."
The Doctor : [To Romana] "Psst, you are wonderful."
Romana : "Suppose I am. I've never really thought about it."
Continuity
K9 says the planet has a day equivalent to 23.3 earth hours, a year to 350 earth days. The planet has remained unchanged for thousands of years [if the Doctor is correct about the Time Lord war with the Great Vampires taking place 'back in the misty dawn of history, when Rassilon was young', it could be millions of years: see 'The Trial of a Time Lord']. The lords protect the villagers from 'the wasting'.
The Earth ship Hydrax was en route to Beta Two in the Perugellis sector when it was drawn through the CVE into E-space by the Great Vampire, using the science officer Anthony O'Connor as a conduit.
K 9 states that there are 18348 emergency procedures in the TARDIS data core and that his memory contains vampire legends from 17 inhabited planets.
The Doctor tells Romana 'There was once an old hermit from the mountains of South Gallifrey... ' [see The Time Monster and Planet of the Spiders, as these references are generally taken to refer to K'Anpo]. The hermit used to tell the Doctor ghost stories, one of which concerned the war with the Giant Vampires ('They came out of nowhere and swarmed... all over the universe').
Romana says she used to work in the Bureau of Ancient Records and once saw a reference to 'The Record of Rassilon'. This, the Doctor discovers, is held in all type 40 TARDISes on magnetic card. It describes how Rassilon created bow ships which fired bolts of steel to kill the vampires and that all except one were destroyed. A directive states that the vampires are 'the enemy of our people, and of all living things'. Vampire cardiovascular systems are very complex and hence they can only be killed by a direct blow to the heart.
QV
Location
An unnamed planet in E-space, [c.2929].
Links
The E-Space trilogy continues ('We're marooned in the exo-space/time continuum'). Adric also refers to the events of Full Circle, noting 'One of my family's died for your lot already. I reckon one's enough.'
Trivia
This story features the largest quantities of blood ever seen in a Doctor Who story - by a considerable margin!
For the only time during his era as the Doctor, Tom Baker had to have his hair permed before filming commenced. It had lost its natural curl due to the actor being in ill health.
Myth
This story's location scenes were shot at Black Park near Iver Heath in Buckinghamshire. (They were shot at Burnham Beeches near Amersham, also in Buckinghamshire - it was Full Circle's location scenes that were shot at Black Park.)
Technobabble
A 'technacothaka' is said to be a museum.
Goofs
The Doctor says the Tower decor is rococo when actually it's late Saxon/early Romanesque.
In episode three, a rebel bursts into the Doctor's cell, catching him across the nose with the door (Tom Baker appears slightly stunned, and misses his next cue).
Why is Kalmar so concerned to get back to Earth when he and his people have never been there?
Cast & Crew
Cast
The Doctor - Tom Baker
Adric - Matthew Waterhouse
Romana - Lalla Ward
Voice of K9 - John Leeson
Aukon - Emrys James
Camilla - Rachel Davies
Habris - Ian Rattray
Ivo - Clinton Greyn
Kalmar - Arthur Hewlett
Karl - Dean Allen
Mart - Rhoda Lewis
Roga - Stuart Fell
Tarak - Thane Bettany
Veros - Stacy Davies
Zargo - William Lindsay
Zoldaz - Stuart Blake
Crew
Director - Peter Moffatt
State of Decay