The Three Doctors: Episode Three

EPISODE: The Three Doctors: Episode Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 332
STORY NUMBER: 065 TRANSMITTED: Saturday 13 January 1973
FIVE FACES OF DOCTOR WHO REPEAT: Wednesday 25 November 1981
WRITER: Bob Baker & Dave Martin
DIRECTOR: Lennie Mayne
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 8.8 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who Revisitations 3: The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Three Doctors & The Robots of Death
EPISODE FORMAT: 625 video

"Those who oppose the will of Omega shall not live! Destroy him!"

The Third Doctor, Jo & Doctor Tyler are taken to see the ruler of this world, Omega, a Time Lord who the Doctor thought destroyed. He was the solar engineer that gave the Time Lords' Time Travel by detonating a star as a Supernova. He feels he was abandoned but the Doctor protests that they thought he had died. He survived in the anti-matter Universe by force of will and controls it by his mind. Omega detects more visitors as the UNIT HQ carrying the Tardis, Second Doctor, Brigadier & Sergeant Benton arrives. The Brigadier believes the Doctor has transported UNIT HQ to Cromer. He goes to find a phone, pursued by the Doctor, who still wants his recorder, and Benton. The Brigadier locates the missing game warden Ollis who's been stuck in the wasteland for a while and sighted The Third Doctor, Jo & Doctor Tyler being taken off by the Gell Guards who have now captured the Second Doctor & Benton. They are taken to Omega where they and the Third Doctor are imprisoned. The Brigadier plans to attack Omega's palace. Jo gets the Doctors to use their will to form a door in their cell allowing their escape. The Doctors find their way to chamber where Omega controls the Black Hole's singularity but Omega is angered that they are free. They fight the dark side of Omega's mind in a psychic battlefield as Jo, Benton & Tyler escape meeting the Brigadier & Ollis on their way out. The First Doctor is summoned by the Time Lords, who are desperately low on energy. They send him through the black hole to aid his other two selves as the Third Doctor is overcome by Omega.

It would be fair to say that the Brigadier does not take his first journey in The Tardis very well, even if it is one under the control of an external force!

SECOND DOCTOR: Well, we appear to have arrived.
BRIGADIER: Corporal Palmer. Come in, Palmer.
SECOND DOCTOR: I don't think you'll get through with that thing.
BRIGADIER: Why not?
SECOND DOCTOR: It hasn't quite got the range.
BRIGADIER: What are you talking about, Doctor? They're only just outside the building.
SECOND DOCTOR: Brigadier
BRIGADIER: Corporal Palmer, do you read me?
SECOND DOCTOR: I think you should prepare yourself for a bit of a shock.
BENTON: Can we take a look outside, Doc?
SECOND DOCTOR: We can try..... Well, I never.
BENTON: It seems to have gone, sir.
BRIGADIER: Yes, well, it looks quiet enough. Right, Doctor, if you'll just open that door, I'll see what's going on.
SECOND DOCTOR: I really wouldn't advise it.
BRIGADIER: Oh, come along now, Doctor.
SECOND DOCTOR: Oh, all right. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, I do wish you'd listen to me. Come along, we'd better follow him..... That's extraordinary. That stuff must have found the Tardis a bit indigestible even without the force field on, so it swallowed a bit of the surrounding matter as well. Hmm. Rather like taking a pill with a swig of water.
BRIGADIER: Well, we seem to have got rid of it. Benton, you stay here.
BENTON: So you think we've moved, is that it, Doctor?
SECOND DOCTOR: Oh, I'm quite sure we have.
BENTON: Well, where do you reckon we are?
SECOND DOCTOR: Not where he thinks we are.

Confronted with UNIT's HQ sitting in a different location he Brigadier once again goes into complete denial:

BRIGADIER: Now see here, Doctor, You have finally gone too far.
SECOND DOCTOR: I rather think we all have. What's it like out there?
BRIGADIER: There's, well, there's sand everywhere!
SECOND DOCTOR: Oh, splendid. Who's for a swim?
BRIGADIER: Do you realise what you've done? You've stolen the whole of UNIT HQ. Now what am I going to tell Geneva? That the whole blessed building has been picked up and put down on some deserted beach? We're probably miles from London!

SECOND DOCTOR: I'm afraid we're a little bit further than that, Brigadier.
BRIGADIER: You mean we're not even in the same country? There'll be international repercussions. This could be construed as an invasion.
BENTON: It's not just a matter of the same country, sir. If the Doctor's right, we're not even in the same universe.
BRIGADIER: What? Oh, nonsense, Benton. I tell you that's a beach out there. It's probably Norfolk or somewhere like that.
DOCTOR: Oh, please, if you'd only listen to me.
BRIGADIER: Right, now I'll tell you what we'll do. You two stay here. See that nobody wanders in. We can't have the place overrun with holiday makers. I'll nip out, find a phone and tell the authorities exactly where we are. I'm fairly sure that's Cromer. Back in a jiff!

There's less of Second Doctor Patrick Troughton in this episode than the last one which is a shame but he does get to deliver a crucial line, still hunting for his missing recorder.

SECOND DOCTOR: Just a minute. I think I'll have another look for my recorder.
BENTON: Doctor, when are you going to face the facts? You've lost your recorder and that's that.
SECOND DOCTOR: Oh, no, I'm sure it's in the Tardis somewhere. I shan't be a minute.
BENTON: Doctor! Look.
SECOND DOCTOR: Oh my giddy aunt!

To a first time viewer this could be viewed as narrow minded and silly but it's actually keeping the missing instrument in mind so that when it plays a crucial role in the plot next episode it's not been plucked out of thin air, so a good albeit repetitive use if Chekov's Gun.

And of course we get Stephen Thorne at his mad, shouty best as Omega, who reveals for the first time some of the history of the Time Lords:

DOCTOR: Yes, most impressive, I must admit that.
TYLER: Almost worth the trip just to see this place.
JO: Yes, but who brought us here, and why?
OMEGA: I did. I am the one who brought you here.
DOCTOR: Who are you?
OMEGA: In the legends of your people I am called Omega.
DOCTOR: Omega? But that's impossible. Omega was destroyed.
OMEGA: No, brother Time Lord, I was not destroyed, as you can see. Take the man and the girl.
DOCTOR: Where are you taking them?
OMEGA: They will not be harmed, Doctor. They have no part in my revenge.
OMEGA: I have been grievously wronged, Doctor, and now it is time for my vengeance!

OMEGA: Without me, there would be no time travel. You and our fellow Time Lords would still be locked in your own time, as puny as those creatures you now so graciously protect.
DOCTOR: You knew your mission was dangerous.
OMEGA: Dangerous, yes, but I completed it, and I did not expect to be abandoned. Many thousands of years ago, when I left our planet, all this was then a star until I arranged its detonation.
DOCTOR: You were the solar engineer. It was your duty.
OMEGA: It was an honour, or so I thought then. I was to be the one to find and create the power source that would give us mastery over time itself.
DOCTOR: Well, you succeeded, and are revered for it.
OMEGA: Revered? Here? I was abandoned.
DOCTOR: The histories say that you were lost in the supernova.
OMEGA: I was sacrificed to that supernova. I generated those forces, and for what? To be blown out of existence into this black hole of antimatter? My brothers became Time Lords, but I was abandoned and forgotten!
DOCTOR: No, not forgotten. All my life I've known of you and honoured you as our greatest hero.
OMEGA: A hero? I should have been a god!

DOCTOR: Well, theoretically, of course, all this is quite impossible.
OMEGA: Here, Doctor, everything is possible. Be seated.
DOCTOR: Thank you. Tell me, how did you manage to survive?
OMEGA: How does anyone survive? Force of will. Mind, you might say, over antimatter.
DOCTOR: And this organism stuff that you sent to bring us here?
OMEGA: Created from the raw stuff of matter. An organism that can exist in your world and mine. It brought you here and imbued you with its properties so that you too could exist in both worlds.
DOCTOR: But how do I fit into this picture?
OMEGA: There are some things that even I cannot do, not alone, and at this point in my plans I need the help of a brother Time Lord.
DOCTOR: Oh, I see.
OMEGA: And it pleases me to use you against them.
DOCTOR: And if I give you my help, do you really think you can defeat the Time Lords? All of them?
OMEGA: But I am defeating them, Doctor. All of their power is insufficient to prevent the cosmic energy drain which I have caused.
DOCTOR: And if I refuse to cooperate?
OMEGA: Then you will face the wrath of Omega, you and those miserable humans who accompany you.
(A communications device beeps. Omega goes over to it and hears a message made up of high pitched beeps.)
OMEGA: Investigate immediately but do not harm them.
DOCTOR: Them?
OMEGA: Well, Doctor, it seems that we have more company.

BENTON: Well, who is this Omega, anyway?
DOCTOR: A Time Lord. One of the greatest of all my race.
DOCTOR 2: Our race.
DOCTOR: Our race. Yes, sorry.
DOCTOR 2: Long, long ago, we learnt the secret of time travel, but in order to make it a reality we had to have a colossal source of energy.
DOCTOR: Omega provided that energy by a fantastic feat of solar engineering. We thought he was destroyed, instead of which he finished up here.
DOCTOR 2: Yes, it seems that his imprisonment was the price of our freedom to travel in time.
JO: Even so, you can't let him smash everything up. Well, look, he's not all-powerful, you know, or else why did he need to bring you here?
DOCTOR: Yes, that's true.

Stephen Thorne, here playing Omega, we previously saw as Azal in The Dæmons, and he had recently played, but not yet been seen on screen as, an Ogron in Frontier in Space. He returns as Eldrad in The Hand of Fear. More on this story in a bit... He'd also voiced Aslan in The Animated The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Treebeard in in the acclaimed Radio 4 adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. He became a great friend of Nicholas Courtney and would sign Courtney's nomination for the Equity council every year. You can hear him interviewed in Toby Hadoke's Who Round #191.

OMEGA: You dare threaten to destroy me? You wish to fight the will of Omega?
DOCTOR: Yes, if I must.
OMEGA: Then you shall, but you will fight the dark side of my mind. The dark side of my mind.

Regular stuntman Alan Chuntz plays the version of Omega that fights the Doctor. He was previously a UNIT Soldier in The Invasion, Technician Harvey & a Security Guard in The Seeds of Death, one of Collinson’s Men & a UNIT Soldier in the Ambassadors of Death, a Technician, UNIT solider and RSF Soldier in Inferno, during which he was injured when Jon Pertwee ran him over in Bessie, an Auton in Terror of the Autons, a Prisoner in Mind of Evil and a Sea Devil & Sailor in The Sea Devils. He returns as a Security Guard in The Green Death, a Guard in Planet of Spiders, a soldier in Genesis of the Daleks, a Vogan in Revenge of the Cybermen, the Doctor's stunt double in Planet of Evil, the Chauffeur in Seeds of Doom, a Horda Pit Guard in Face of Evil, a Coolie in Talons of Weng-Chiang, a guard in State of Decay and a Masked Villager in The Visitation. He also did stunt work on the Sean Connery James Bond film You Only Live Twice and on The Italian Job.

For the more physical elements of this sequence Jon Pertwee was doubled, as he frequently was, by Terry Walsh, another series regular. He was a Militiaman in The Smugglers, a Soldier in The Web of Fear, a UNIT Soldier in The Invasion, The Ambassadors of Death & Inferno, in the last of which he also played a Technician and an RSF Soldier, an Auton Policeman & Unit Soldier in Terror of the Autons, a UNIT Motorcyclist in The Mind of Evil, a Primitive, Colonist & IMC Guard Rogers in Colony in Space, Castle Guard Barclay & a Sea Devil in The Sea Devils, an Overlord Guard in The Mutants and the Window Cleaner in The Time Monster. He returns as a Guard in The Green Death, a Warehouse Looter in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Jack, an Exillon & a Zombie in Death to the Daleks, The Guard Captain & a Guard in The Monster of Peladon, the Man with Boat in Planet of the Spiders, a Bouncer in Robot, Zake in The Sontaran Experiment, a Thal Soldier, Muto and Kaled Scientist in Genesis of the Daleks, a Vogan in Revenge of the Cybermen, a Crew Member in Planet of Evil, the Executioner in The Masque of Mandragora, a Horda Pit Guard in The Face of Evil, Mensch in The Power of Kroll and Doran in The Creature from the Pit.

Walsh stunt doubled for the Doctor in Inferno, Terror of the Autons, Day of the Daleks, Curse of Peladon, The Sea Devils, Carnival of Monsters, Frontier in Space, The Green Death, The Time Warrior, Death to the Daleks, Monster of Peladon, Planet of the Spiders, The Sontaran Experiment, Revenge of the Cybermen, Planet of Evil, The Android Invasion, The Seeds of Doom, The Deadly Assassin, The Face of Evil, The Androids of Tara, The Creature from the Pit. He was also the double for The Master in The Sea Devils, the Minotaur in the Time Monster, Mike Yates in The Green Death & Planet of the Spiders, Harry Sulivan in The Sontaran Experiment, Sorenson in Planet of Evil, Chancellor Goth in The Deadly Assassin, Count Grendel in The Androids of Tara and a Stuntman on Power of Kroll. He was Fight Aarranger for The Sea Devils, The Mutants, The Green Death, Death to the Daleks, Monster of Peladon, Planet of the Spiders, The Sontaran Experiment, The Android Invasion, The Seeds of Doom, The Deadly Assassin, The Face of Evil, The Androids of Tara & The Creature from the Pit. He also doubled for The Doctor in the Children In Need Spoof The Dimensions in Time and played the Duelling Guard and a Mercenary in The Ultimate Adventure where he also staged the fights.

He was also in the Adam Adamant Lives! episode - D for Destruction as Watts, which we like because it has Patrick Troughton and a load of control panels in it! In Space: 1999 he was Clan Guard in Journey to Where, the Rescue Eagle Pilot in The Mark of Archanon, a Technician in Space Warp and a Security Guard in The Seance Spectre. He was in Superman II as a KFC Man / French Officer and An American Werewolf in London as the Taxi Driver Who Crashes His Cab. He did stunt work on The Italian Job, the Roger Moore James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, Superman, Superman III & Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Douglas Camfield & Robert Holmes' The Nightmare Man, the aforementioned An American Werewolf in London, Krull and Robin of Sherwood.

The Gell Guards are populated from the ranks of recent Daleks operators, although one hasn't been seen on screen in that roll yet!

Regular Dalek Operator John Scott Martin made his Doctor Who début in The Web Planet as a Zarbi graduating to Dalek Operator in The Chase three stories later a role he'd repeated in Mission to the Unknown, The Dalek Masterplan,Power of the Daleks, Evil of the Daleks & Day of the Daleks. He'll return as a Dalek in Frontier in Space, Planet of the Daleks, Death to the Daleks, Genesis of the Daleks, The Five Doctors, Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks. He also plays a Mechanoid in The Chase, the Robot in Colony in Space, Charlie & a Coven Member in the Dæmons, a Mutant in the Mutants, a mutant in Frontier in Space, Hughes in The Green Death, a Ministry of Defence Guard in Robot, Kriz in Brain of Morbius, the Virus Nucleus in Invisible Enemy. His distinctive hair makes him a familiar figure amongst bit part actors in many television roles: he was in Quatermass and the Pit as a T.V. Technician in The Wild Hunt and A for Andromeda as a Lab Assistant / Man in Pub in The Message. He appears in the missing Out of the Unknown episode The Naked Sun as a robot but misses out when The Daleks turn up in Get Off My Cloud. In Doomwatch he's a Man in The Islanders and e appears in the first episode of The Tripods as the Schoolmaster. Away from science fiction he was in I, Claudius as Julia's Lover in Waiting in the Wings and a Slave in Some Justice and appears on the big screen in Pink Floyd - The Wall as a Dancing Teacher.

Alongside him is his frequent colleague Murphy Grumbar. He was first a Dalek, credited as Peter Murphy, in The Daleks & The Dalek Invasion of Earth, then as Murphy Grumber he's Dalek in The Space Museum, Mechanoid in The Chase and a Dalek in The Evil of the Daleks. He returns as Arcturus in The Curse of Peladon, a Gell Guard in The Three Doctors, a functionary in Carnival of Monsters, a Dalek in Frontier in Space, Planet of the Daleks and, as Murphy Grunbar, in Death to the Daleks.

Cy Town made his debut as a Dalek Operator in Frontier in Space, filmed immediately before this story but shown two stories after! He fulfils the same role in the remaining Daleks stories appearing in Planet of the Daleks, Death to the Daleks, Genesis of the Daleks, Destiny of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks. He was also an Auton in Spearhead from Space returning as a Technician in Doctor Who and the Silurians, a technician in Inferno, a Prisoner, Audience Member & Medical Orderly in The Mind of Evil, a Soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, a Vogan in Revenge of the Cybermen part one, an Android Villager in Android Invasion, a Brother in The Masque of Mandragora, an Bi-Al member in The Invisible Enemy, a Guard in The Sun Makers, a Castrovalvan Warrior in Castrovalva, a Guest Gambler in Enlightenment, a Passerby in Attack of the Cybermen, Execution Victim Harold L/drone in The Happiness Patrol and a Haemovore in The Curse of Fenric. Outside of Doctor Who appears in the Monty Python's Flying Circus episodes Spam as a Surfer and - The Money Programme as a Trumpeter plus the film Monty Python's The Meaning of Life as a Restaurant Diner. In Doomwatch he's a Man in Flood, he's a Technician in all six episodes of Moonbase 3, a Security Guard in The Sweeney Golden Boy, in Quadrophenia he's a hairdresser, in Blake's 7 he's a Rebel Technician / Federation Trooper in Blake, he's a Coach Passenger in Miss Marple: Nemesis and in Jeeves and Wooster he's the Vicar in Wooster with a Wife (or, Jeeves the Matchmaker). And if you want to know what he looks like outside of his Dalek shell then there's some screencaps of him on his Aveleyman page.

Ricky Newby was a Dalek Operator in Day of The Daleks and a Mutant in the Mutants. There's a lot of comedy on his CV including an appearance in The Young Ones: Cash.

The exterior scenes on Omega's world are filmed at Springwell Quarry, situated in Rickmansworth near the story's other locations. The Doctor Who team will return here for 1982's Earthshock, 1984's The Twin Dilemma & 1987's Delta & the Bannermen. Four appearances may make it the most used quarry, and indeed exterior location, in Doctor Who!

This is Director Lennie Mayne's second directorial assignment after The Curse of Peladon and it's the third story written by Bob Baker & Dave Martin, after Claws of Axos and The Mutants. Writers and Director will combine again in a few years for the Hand of Fear which features Stephen Thorne as Eldrad, who plays Omega here, and Rex Robinson, playing Doctor Tyler here, as Dr. Carter.