Galaxy 4


Galaxy 4 is the first serial of the third season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by William Emms and directed by Derek Martinus, the serial was broadcast on BBC1 in four weekly parts from 11 September to 2 October 1965. In the serial, the First Doctor and his travelling companions Vicki and Steven arrive on an arid planet, where they encounter the beautiful but dangerous Drahvins and the hideous but friendly Rills, two crash-landed species in conflict with one another. Both species wish to escape as the planet is set to explode in two dawns, but the Drahvin leader Maaga wants only her people to make it out alive.
Emms, an avid Doctor Who viewer since its beginning, was commissioned to write Galaxy 4 by outgoing story editor Dennis Spooner after submitting an unsolicited story idea: show two conflicting races—one beautiful and one ugly—and flip convention by making the beautiful race evil. Spooner's successor Donald Tosh handled the bulk of the rewrites. Although Verity Lambert was credited as producer, Galaxy 4 was the first serial to be produced by her successor John Wiles. Mervyn Pinfield was originally assigned to direct the story but his failing health shortly into production prevented him from continuing, and he was replaced by Derek Martinus, a new director. Galaxy 4 was the penultimate serial of the show's second recording block but was pushed to open the third season. Filming took place at the Television Centre in July 1965.
Galaxy 4 received high viewership numbers, with an average of 9.9 million viewers across the four episodes; and the third episode became the most-viewed of the third season with 11 million viewers. Contemporary and retrospective reviews were generally positive, with praise for its concept and originality. The videotapes of the serial were wiped by the BBC in the late 1960s; the third episode was recovered in 2011, but the other three episodes remain missing. Galaxy 4 received print and audiobook adaptations, and was released on VHS and DVD with reconstructions of the missing episodes using telesnaps and off-air recordings; an animated version of the serial has also been released on DVD and Blu-ray.

Plot

The First Doctor and his companions Vicki, and Steven Taylor arrive on a silent planet and encounter short, blind, non-humanoid robots, dubbed "Chumblies" by Vicki. Before the trio decide whether the Chumblies are hostile, one of the robots is disabled by an all-female party of cloned blonde Drahvin warriors from the planet Drahva in the same galaxy as the silent planet, Galaxy 4. The Drahvins are dominated by their cruel leader, Maaga, who treats her simple-minded subordinates with bullying contempt. The Drahvins are at war with the reptilian Rills, the masters of the Chumblies, and both races have crashed spaceships on this planet. According to the Drahvins, the planet will be destroyed in 14 planetary cycles and, with their ship irreparable, Maaga and her warriors seek to capture the Rill ship, which they believe has been made functional again. Maaga describes the Drahvins as the victims of the conflict with the Rills, but the Doctor has witnessed some of the Drahvin aggression and is not convinced. Using the TARDIS, he calculates the planet will break up in just two days' time. The Doctor tries to keep this new finding from the Drahvins, but Maaga forces the truth from him at the point of a gun.
With Steven held as hostage to ensure their co-operation, the Doctor and Vicki are sent by the Drahvins to try to seize control of the Rill ship. The Doctor works out that the ammonia-breathing Rills are a very advanced species: when he meets one, he is impressed, particularly by their use of telepathy. The huge and impressive, horned warthog-like Rill explains that they have offered to take the Drahvins away with them but Maaga has refused, preferring to maintain a state of war. The Doctor tells the Rills of the true life remaining in the planet and promises to help them escape, since the solar energy converters on the Rill craft have not gathered enough power to effect a lift-off. The Doctor and Vicki return to the Drahvin ship to find Steven unconscious after Maaga has tried to kill him by leaving him in a depressurised airlock. They all return to the Rill vessel, where the Doctor successfully develops a power converter linked to the TARDIS, which charges the Rill craft. Maaga leads the Drahvins in a final assault, but the Chumblies defend their ship long enough for it to power up and leave the planet. A Chumbley helps the Doctor, Vicki, and Steven to return to the TARDIS. After they leave, the planet explodes, killing the Drahvins.
In the TARDIS, Vicki identifies a planet on the scanner. On the planet, an astronaut wakes up in an alien jungle, repeating the phrase "I must kill".

Production

Conception and writing

Schoolteacher-turned-screenwriter William Emms, a science-fiction fan and avid Doctor Who viewer since its beginning in 1963, submitted an unsolicited story idea to producer Verity Lambert and story editor Dennis Spooner in early 1965. His idea was to show two conflicting races—one beautiful and one ugly—and flip convention by making the beautiful race evil. Spooner commissioned Emms to write the serial, then named Doctor Who and the Chumblies on 1 March 1965, with a script due date set for 15 April. In mid-April, Spooner's successor Donald Tosh began working on Doctor Who, and handled the bulk of the rewrites for Emms's scripts; Spooner departed in mid-May. Emms disliked the amendments, which had included the reduction of four main cast members to three, and replacing the role of Barbara Wright—who had departed in the previous season—with Steven, which he felt made little sense as Steven was a trained astronaut and would not allow himself to become trapped in an airlock. The show's cast were also unhappy with the script; Hartnell and O'Brien felt that the dialogue and behaviour were inconsistent with their characters, and Purves felt that his dialogue was not changed enough from the original script with Barbara. According to Emms, Hartnell's role on the show was threatened if he did not follow the script.
Galaxy 4 was the penultimate serial of the show's second recording block, which had begun with the second season's The Rescue; alongside the following episode, "Mission to the Unknown", Galaxy 4 broadcast was pushed to open the show's third season. Although Lambert was credited as producer for Galaxy 4, her successor—John Wiles, who had joined the programme in early June 1965—was effectively responsible for the show during its production. Mervyn Pinfield—an experienced BBC figure who acted as the show's associate producer from its origins to January 1965—was originally assigned to direct Galaxy 4. Pinfield had most recently directed The Space Museum, but was given a larger budget for Galaxy 4; he was also assigned to direct "Mission to the Unknown", effectively combining the two stories in a single five-week production block. Soon after production commenced, Pinfield's failing health prevented him from continuing. Lambert brought on Derek Martinus to replace Pinfield. Martinus had recently completed the BBC's internal directors' course, and had no previous experience leading a television production. Having only seen a few episodes of Doctor Who, Martinus reviewed some of the previous stories with Lambert; he found them disappointing, which shocked Lambert, but stated that he wanted to aim for higher standards. Pinfield was still actively directing as Martinus began, and continued to work alongside him throughout the first week. After Pinfield's departure, Martinus prepared his own camera scripts for the studio production. Galaxy 4 was Pinfield's final work for Doctor Who and the BBC, though he remained uncredited on the broadcast version; he retired from active television production shortly thereafter.

Casting and characters

The Chumblies were named from the combination of the words "chum" and "friendly". Production designer Richard Hunt created the Chumblies. Four robots were made, each about in height and consisting of three stacked domes made of fibreglass. Various stick-like appendages could be attached to the robot between the base and second dome, and these could be moved by the performer inside. A ring of small domes in the shape of rocket engine nozzles surrounded the base of each robot, hiding the casters on which the costume moved as well as imitating the propulsion units of the mechanoid. The four warthog-like Rill costumes were made of grey-green painted fibreglass and latex. The costumes were largely immobile, although the performer inside could move the arms. To simulate the ammonia atmosphere the Rills breathed, dry ice fog was used. Anthony Paul was hired to voice the Rills, but a late scheduling conflict prevented him from doing so; he was replaced by Robert Cartland. The Drahvins were originally named Dravians, and written as a race of male soldiers; during casting, which took place in early June 1965, Lambert suggested that their gender be switched to female, in part as a nod to the emerging women's liberation movement and to better emphasise their attractiveness. Emms concurred with the change. Around this time, the Drahvin leader's name was changed from Gar to Maaga. Some of the Chumbley performers—Angelo Muscat, Jimmy Kaye, and William Shearer—were hired through a company called Lester's Midgets.

Filming

A week of filming took place at Ealing Studios on 21–25 June 1965, largely for the serial's effects, such as the opening of the first episode and conclusion of the fourth. The first day of production was focused on effects and long shots of the Chumblies on the planet. Live action shooting began the following day, requiring the Chumbley operators. A photocall for the Chumblies and Drahvins took place at Ealing on 24 June; this was also Martinus's first day on the programme, when Hartnell, O'Brien, and Purves were released from rehearsals of the third episode of the preceding serial, The Time Meddler, to film inserts. Martinus had planned for long tracking shots in the first episode to indicate the expanse of the set, but the camera crew convinced him to focus primarily on Hartnell, as viewers were mostly interested in his performance. Hartnell also wanted to offer guidance to Martinus, based on his decades of experience in the industry. The cast had troubles during the rehearsal process for the serial due to transitions within the production staff: Purves was upset following Spooner's departure as he had developed much of Steven's character, and Hartnell's relationship with Wiles began with difficulties; O'Brien helped Hartnell through his struggles with the production, and Purves began developing a friendship with him, inviting him to dinner every fortnight. Weekly recording for the serial began on 9 July 1965 in Studio 4 of the Television Centre; the final episode was recorded on 30 July. To depict the destruction of the planet in the last episode, an exploding planet prop was filmed and then shown in reverse. The serial's final scene with Jackson as astronaut Garvey was filmed alongside the following story, "Mission to the Unknown", on 6 August 1965, and inserted into Galaxy 4 during editing. Recording for the four episodes cost a total of.