The Tiger Who Came To Tea: The Dominators

Season 6, Story 1/7: 5 x 25min episodes, 10th August to 7th September 1968, Writer: "Norman Ashby" (Mervyn Haisman & Henry Lincoln, Episode 5 rewritten by Derrick Sherwin), Script Editor: Derrick Sherwin, Director: Morris Barry, Producer: Peter Bryant

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Woohoo! Season 6! Bet they're kicking off with a real humdinger premier story...

As a squadron of flying saucers approaches the planet Dulkis, one breaks formation...

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Already better than Star Wars.

The craft, looking a bit like a Smash alien's head, lands on the planet below, a world named Dulkis...

Mark@Th3DarkMark do you think The Dominators are big fans of dehydrated potato products?

Paul Cooke@paulvcooke Smash robot head!!!! Why have I never noticed that before!!!! For mash get Smash 🎼 :-)

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly It is pretty cool that they got Ed Wood to direct.

Some lovely, intricate, model work here.

Once the ship has guzzled up all the radiation on the island where they've landed, two Dominators, Rago and Toba, step out.

Rago is cold and calculating, Toba a bloodthirsty hothead.

They have a bit of a sulk and then call for a DS9 barman. Must be thirsty work, all that dominating.

James Cooray Smith@thejimsmith Good opening shot & model work. There's also something magnificent about the Dominators' costumes.

Yes, the whole costume is very unique and so effectively alien whilst looking decently robust.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Oh what excellent symbolism. They've both got the hump. D'ya reckon their actual shoulders are that high? I hope so.

Meanwhile a bunch of 40 year old "kids" are riding a lemon squeezer to the atomic island of death.

A group of (ahem) "young" thrill-seekers, Wahed, Etnin, and Tolata, have chartered a not-so-legit tour guide, Cully, to take them to the fabled "Island of Death".

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly On Dulkis you're born middle aged. Cully is what passes for a "bad boy" on Dulkis. Their serial killers are just people who say "f*ck" in polite company.

Wahed leads the whinging, as the trio of passengers complain that this is not the adventure they signed up for.

Cully points out they're steaming into a restricted area, so the thrill of the illegal should be a start, at least.

But cocky Cully has taken his eye off the road whilst batting away the bored objections of his passengers...

...and the pod crashes into a bank.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Still impressive it manages to travel across water, considering it's a giant chef's hat.

Cully can't quite explain it when the atomic island of death seems completely radiation free...

Seeing as there's no radiation, the shower-curtain wearing tourists go running off to look for Godzilla, much against Cully's advice.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly I love these "we're young, smug, stupid and gagging to be shot down dead as soon as possible" characters.

Dominator Toba is ordering the still as yet unseen Quarks to prepare a drilling site...

...when the tourists catch sight of the ship, and begin to run towards it despite Cully's desperate pleas.

Cully watches, powerless, as Toba has the over-enthusiastic sightseers blasted by the wibbly sounding Quarks. He didn't even get paid.

Tolata just boils away in the face of their devastating firepower.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly A genuinely impressive moment. Less of that, please, this is 'The Dominators' for crying out loud.

The senior Dominator, Rago, is displeased, calling the killings "unnecessary".

Cully stumbles away in a state of shock, just as a familiar blue box arrives in the wasteland.

The Doctor, now in his second incarnation, is a short dark-haired little man, in grubby checked trousers, a kind of frayed frock-coat, a threadbare and none too clean shirt, a bowtie, and scuffed, down-at-heel shoes. He ambles out, yawning and sleepily rubbing his eyes, his manner carefree and unassuming. Stretching, he looks keenly around with dark humorous eyes, sniffing at the air expectantly.

His two companions are Jamie McCrimmon, a tough-looking young lad dressed in a kilt complete with sporran, sleeveless furry jacket and knee-length socks with heavy boots, and Zoe Herriot, a lively teenage girl with a round face and short black hair, dressed in the futuristic style worn by all the crew of the space station known as "the Wheel".

As they step out to survey their new destination, the Doctor refers back to that repeat of The Evil of the Daleks he's just shown to Zoe. *weeps bitterly*.

Paul Cooke@paulvcooke oh just imagine if the (rumour that shall not be named) was true! :-(

Indeed. So long ago now we had our hopes raised :-(

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly "Now there won't be anything as well written, acted or directed here, will there?" "No, my dear, not for five weeks."

The Doctor's a bit cream crackered after mentally projecting seven whole episodes for Zoe, so they've come for a bit of a holiday.

The Doctor assures them that Dulkis was a peaceful planet the last time he visited, but Jamie has heard that one before.

It's been a while since the Doctor was last away from Earth (or the moon).

James Cooray Smith@thejimsmith This is the first story not set on Earth or in its' orbit since Tomb of the Cybermen (& only the fourth Troughton overall). It's also the first story where none of the guest characters are from Earth since The Savages.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Favourite TARDIS crew. (I may have mentioned this before). Good to see them on another planet. Even if it is Dulkis. I s'pose. Just.

The hapless Cully is lucky not to have made it back to his hovercraft any sooner, because it's right in Toba's sights.

Toba gives the order and those shy Quarks blow the hovercraft to smithereens.

Cully hides till Toba has strutted off, but now he's no chance of escaping the island...

The travellers find a wrecked war museum (just as long as it isn't a Space Museum!)...

...and the sound of the nearby explosion raises doubts about the Doctor's assessment that the Dulcians are a peaceful people.

Hence their entrance to the museum is a bit more tentative than it otherwise might have been.

Jamie is keen to get his hands on a massive weapon.

The Doctor soon takes charge. Not a good idea to let Jamie be waving his shooter about.

Zoe is startled by a couple of seated figures that had till now gone unnoticed...

...but are thankfully just dummies, even though they are in fact dummies played by actors!

50dw50@50dw50 they must have been thrilled to put this job on their CV.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly It's a good make-up job too. Shame they didn't take advantage of it.

As the Doctor tries to remember if he left the TARDIS oven on...

...Zoe pipes up that this place reminds her of "the old atom-test islands on Earth."

The Doctor remains convinced there must be another explanation as the Dulcians outlawed war...

...but no sooner has he said as much than the party are confronted by a trio of radiation-suited strangers!

In a research outpost on top of a hill, we meet the three Dulcians: Educator Balan and his two students, Teel and Kando, who reports that the newcomers were radiation-free even before they went into quarantine.

The Doctor flaps his way out of the sterilization chamber. I'd give it a minute if I were you.

Balan and the students are there to take the annual radiation readings and are surprised to find the Doctor's party didn't know that the island has been radioactive for 172 years.

Not for the first time, the Doctor hurriedly interrupts when it seems that Jamie is about to blab all about the TARDIS. You think he'd've learned by now.

At the Doctor's slightly more coy admission that they "come from a different world, from a different time.", Balan's rather blase reaction is just that "I must note that in my daily report."

Balan confirms that the manufacture of weapons was banned under the second council, under Director Olin, and has Kando pick up the story, with some judicious prompting: "The Seventh Council under Director Malos initiated research which led to the development of atomic energy. The destructive capabilities of this were immediately apparent, and this island was used to test an explosive device, the results of which can be seen today. Thereafter all further research into this type of energy was prohibited, and the island was kept as both a museum and warning for future generations."

Students are brought to the island to test the radiation level and observe the effect on the vegetation...

But this time round, there isn't any radiation...

The Dominators clearly don't see eye to eye; Rago berates the "probationer", Toba for allowing his "instinct for destruction" to interfere with his primary task of assessing potential drilling sites.

James ❄ Gent@jamesgentwrites I love their banter, they're like a bitchy married couple.

James Cooray Smith@thejimsmith They properly hate each other. It's a breath of fresh air after the motiveless invaders of previous year.

They remind me of Roald Dahl’s Twits in the way they moan and bitch at one another.

Cully, the shower-curtain wearing tour guide, retraces his steps as far as the TARDIS, and notes an odd, star-like mark left by the Dominators. He soon has to scurry away to hide when the aliens stomp into view.

Toba continues to get up Rago's nose.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Break-ups can be rough when you still have to work together.

Cully makes it to the wrecked museum, where he encounters the radiation-suited Teel, and the pair leave for the research outpost...

...just as the Dominators arrive.

Toba wastes no time in testing the laser gun.

50dw50@50dw50 congratulations to the dummy extra for not flinching at that rather big explosion!

Rago supposes that as these weapons are old, the Dulcians must have more advanced weapons by now.

But the contrary is true; having tested the bomb, they have completely turned their backs on the horrors of war.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Idiots. Pfft. Pacifists, eh? This story is rich in themes and subtext.

When Cully arrives, Balan jumps to the conclusion that the time travellers are part of a hoax perpetrated by him.

"Young" Cully is a known troublemaker it seems and Balan intends to squeal to Cully's dad, the Director of the Council.

Cully says the aliens have "some sort of robots". Will it be those Daleks that the Doctor was showing Zoe?

At the news that the Dominators have marked the TARDIS for destruction, the Doctor and Jamie determine to get a closer look at their ship.

Balan tells Zoe they're wasting their time on account of Cully's such a big purveyor of porkie pies.

Back at the Dominators' ship, Rago orders Toba to bore like never before.

Balan's still intent on squealing to Cully's auld fella, "The Great Senex", who typifies an older generation that Cully describes as "Vegetables, the lot of you! You don't live, you exist!"

Relieved to find the TARDIS is still in one piece, the Doctor and Jamie follow some very flat footprints to the Dominators' space craft.

The Doctor is most impressed. "Obviously an interstellar spaceship of considerably advanced design."

Unfortunately, they're immediately spotted by Toba and his Quarks.

Lovely bit of design work, the Quarks.

"Shall we destroy?" they burble cutely.

50dw50@50dw50 the voices are a brave attempt to try something new but they are hard to understand.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Love that they felt the reveal of the Quarks was a big deal. They're great if you don't see them move and don't hear them speak. I hope the comics used them a lot.

EPISODE TWO

Instead of destroying them, the Quarks bundle them into the Dominator ship, where Toba is joined by his superior.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly The Dominators' ship interior is marvellously designed.

Definitely. That's almost a TARDIS console in the centre... (think it's the drilling rig?)

When Jamie declines to be dominated...

...the Quarks molecularly bond them to the wall.

The wall section flips up like an operating table so the Quarks can look up Jamie's skirt.

Rago imparts that he intends to "probe your physiological make up." Oo-er!

Rago puts on a silly visor, his "Transmatter focus probe."

"Vulnerable; only one heart," notes Rago on examining Jamie.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly This story really picks up when Doc and Jamie get captured. Doesn't change the fact there's 3 eps worth of plot max.

Although Jamie has a "simple brain" he also shows signs of "recent rapid learning."

Rago thinks the local lifeform may make a more energy efficient workforce, and wants the Doctor tested first...

Cully tries to skype his dad but the signal's too crappy, so Senex demands they come to the Capital for a chinwag.

Cully tells Balan that Zoe's enquiring mind proves she isn't a Dulcian.

Cully reckons stirring things up at the Capital probably is their best bet, but Kando warns Zoe not to get too carried away with Cully's far-fetched ways.

They're ushered to a small travel capsule, seemingly the default public transport of Dulkis.

The two person travel capsule looks rather like the rockets of the Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon serials of the 30s. Simple, but quite stylish.

50dw50@50dw50 it does look like it should have a sparkler sticking out of the back.

Cully explains the whole thing's on automatic, so they can only go to the Capital and nowhere else. Probably for the best considering his driving at the start of episode 1.

Back on the Dominators' ship, the Doctor and Jamie start to worry about the tests that the aliens are devising for them.

Rago instructs Toba that the qualities he looks for in a good slave are "Obedience, strength, sufficient intelligence to make them of use, but not so much as to make them dangerous."

The Dominators are going to find out how clever they are... or how stupid...

"Are we there yet?"

The councillors are written as dusty and indecisive; their raison d'être to debate, and avoid action at all costs.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly It's a very mean spirited and shallow premise for a story. Plus, old white guys in power are usually the most pro-war.

It's a reactionary portrayal of pacifism that seems quite at odds with most people's perception of Doctor Who, but chimes with the 1st Dalek story.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly That serial has an equally appalling track record for dressing men in shower curtains with worryingly high hemlines.

Cully's dad's Director of the Council, and ticks him off for dragging Zoe into his japes.

Director Senex knows all about "Cully's Adventures Unlimited" and reckons his son just likes being treated like a clown.

Cully loses his patience: "Three people have been killed, a spacecraft has landed, radioactivity has disappeared, and there are robots on that island. Now I may have a pretty inventive mind, but I wouldn't have dreamt up that lot, now would I?"

But when called on to back him up, Zoe has to admit that she hasn't actually seen the Dominators, or their Quarks, for herself.

The Doctor clocks that the Dominators are setting up an intelligence test, and soon he and Jamie are freed from the wall to take part.

The test is to assemble a geometric shape by feel alone; taking too long results in an electric shock.

Jamie can't believe the Doctor cocked up such a simple test.

Of course it's the Doctor's tried and tested 'act too stupid to be seen as a threat' tactic: "Just act stupid. Do you think you can manage that?"

"Oh aye, it's easy."

Next Toba electrifies the floor to keep them on their toes.

Rago returns to transmit his assessment of Dulkis to the Fleet Leader: "Materials readily accessible. Fleet proceed to refuel. Investigating potential slave labour."

Rago brings the test to an end by showing the Doctor and Jamie the escape route.

The Doctor pretends not to understand electricity: "Elec? Elec?" Rago doesn't buy it though. "You have intelligent eyes."

Kando begins to worry that the Doctor and Jamie have been gone so long, but Balan thinks this is simply because the spaceship they're looking for is just a figment of Cully's imagination.

Balan isn't even that interested in finding out why the radiation levels have reduced so suddenly. "I dare say our atomic experts could provide a reason, but it seems pointless to spend time searching for reasons to prove facts. A fact is a truth."

The Dominators have hauled the Doctor and Jamie to the museum...

...where the Doctor claims (a) to be a Dulcian, (b) not to understand guns, and (c) the guns were invented by "the clever ones".

He does get a bit hot under the collar when Jamie plays along rather too enthusiastically, and ends up waving the gun his way.

Rago is happy enough to give him a demonstration...

The Doctor's plan has worked: The Dominators turn them loose deciding they're no threat.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly If this is how Dominators test intelligence, it does suggest they're quite dim themselves. Which leads to my Big Theory: The Dominators nicked all their tech, including the stupid uniforms, and are going around pretending to be conquerors.

With the aliens gone, the Doctor begins to ponder what "materials" they're after. Jamie just wants to get back to Zoe.

Having gotten nowhere with his da, Cully decides to return to the island, but won't let Zoe come with until she's dressed up like a Dulcian. Whatever floats your boat, mate.

No sooner have the Doctor and Jamie made it back to the outpost than Balan and the team are packing them off to the city in search of Cully and Zoe.

Kando and Teel have been swayed by how certain the Doctor and Jamie were that they'd seen the invaders and their robots, and Balan finally agrees to go and have a look for himself.

Zoe changes into a Dulcian dress (red apparently); Cully says she looks "more like a girl". (Definitely seems reds and pinks were the colours they stuck with for Zoe, doesn't it? Pink in The Wheel in Space, Red in The Invasion and here.)

So far, pacifism = cowardly indolent debate, now women shouldn't wear trousers. Can we leave Dulkis now, please?

James Cooray Smith@thejimsmith The Web of Fear is similarly reactionary; the army is inherently honourable, everyone hates the David Frost character, for being a representative of a younger, questioning generation. And so on.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly It's flat out dumb. Proper knuckle-dragging dumb.

It's all very at odds with that more anarchic spirit of season 4 Trout, the Macra Terror etc. From this to Mac Hulke's Silurians & Ambassadors and Don Houghton's Inferno; how's that for a contrast between seasons!

Toba again wants to blast things, Rago again turns him down on the grounds of needing to save energy.You can tell which of the two Dominators pays the bills, can't you?

The nosey Dulcians are soon captured by the Quarks.

Rago wants to give them a good visoring...

...and discovers they have two hearts.

Gareth Kavanagh@Garethothevworp Nowadays, this would be retconned as a lost Timelord colony or some such.

Now you mention it, the two-hearted, no-intervention, Dulcians foreshadow another race popping up at the end of this series...

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Oh, well spotted. No wonder the Doctor legged it.

Cully chuckles at the thought that they're probably missing the doctor and Jamie going the other way. That's no joke, mate, it's padding.

Having decided that the two hearted Dulcians are perhaps a threat after all, the Dominators decide to search the island.

The Quarks charge up to their full destructive capabilities.

This is bad news for Cully and Zoe, as Toba clocks them arriving back at the now deserted Survey Unit.

Zoe and Cully are trapped in the Dulcian survey unit as Toba gives the order for the Quarks to destroy it...

EPISODE THREE (not that you'd know it as there's no episode caption).

Love the way the Quarks just have to flap their arms about a bit to recharge.

Brad Wolfe@bigbradwolf I do that.

Toba is about to give the order to polish them off, when Rago interrupts and demands to know what he's playing at.

Cully is a bit chuffed that the attack at least proves what he's said about robots but Zoe points out she still hasn't actually seen one.

She has now.

Arriving at the council chamber, the Doctor and Jamie have difficulty getting a straight answer as to Zoe's whereabouts...

...but the Doctor is sure the Dulcians don't have it in them to have harmed her.

Whilst it still hasn't sunk in for Balan that the Dominators might not have the best interests of his world at heart...

...Rago decides the Dulcians can be put to work on the drilling rig as slave labour.

Like Zoe and Cully before them, the Doctor and Jamie get nowhere with the indolent council of elders.

At least the council start to believe that Cully was right about the Dominators, although of course they propose to do absolutely nothing about them.

The Doctor & Jamie begin to realize they're in this debate for the long haul.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Seriously, who cares? I like to think the Dominator fleet returns later and kills 'em all anyway. Can you imagine writing this? *types* *elderly pacifist explains they are useless* *Dominator blows up building* *arguing*

Derrick Sherwin: "Needs more Yeti, lads."

Mark@Th3DarkMark and we're only halfway through. Struggling to not nod off!

50dw50@50dw50 you can tell why they hacked an episode out of it

Mark@Th3DarkMark should have hacked another!

Still no sign of Godzilla on this atomic island, disappointingly. Sadly no giant chickens or moths either. :-(

Zoe decides it's time to take action.

The Dominators' put the captured Dulcians to work clearing rubble from their proposed drill site.

To add insult to injury they have to decipher what the Quarks are saying.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly "We need these three polystyrene rocks shifted. You have three weeks."

Toba warns Rago to oversee the work and not to stick his oar in.

Senex wants to know why they should fear the Dominators. "They're alien, from another world." is the Doctor's reply. Er...

"Haste is not in the Dulcian tradition." Oh, you've got that right, mate.

Senex finally agrees to Skype the island and see what Balan has to say about this.

Getting sight of a Quark at the island research base, the Doctor and Jamie take off to find Zoe without the help of the Dullards.

Of course, this does mean that when they arrive there'll be a Quark waiting for them, so maybe going through the front door isn't the smartest idea they've ever had.

Toba tells his new workforce they're "working for their lives"...

...so Zoe starts up a union.

The Doctor fiddles with the wiring to make Flash Gordon's rocket go where he wants.

Preferred it when he didn't know where he was going to land next, to be honest.

Rago orders that the slaves be worked to exhaustion and notes with interest that it's Zoe, not Teel, that's holding up best.

Zoe makes plans to pinch the laser gun.

She uses the distraction of Balan's collapse to get inside the museum...

...but there's a Quark waiting for her so she has to turn back.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Only these two could get away with arsing about in a tiny set with some wires. In fact, that's kind of their thing.

The Dullards have tried nothing and are all out of ideas.

Even Brian Cant can't persuade them to pull their collective finger out.

It's a bumpy landing for the Doctor and Jamie, but no bones broken.

Although Zoe hasn't got her mitts on the laser yet, she knows they'll need somewhere to lie low once they have it, and Teel knows just the bomb shelter.

The Doctor and Jamie soon spot Zoe and the Dullards.

Zoe dives for a penalty so Cully can nip inside for the laser.

Cully takes aim at the Quarks...

...but is interrupted by the arrival of Jamie, who's sneaked round the back way, and loses his moment.

Bumping into Toba again, the Doctor claims whenever he sees a Quark he goes away.

Don't blame him.

Jamie decides on a rash attack, alerting Toba to their location.

Although Jamie's able to take out one of the Quarks...

...another episode ends with Toba ordering the Quarks to blast the museum. He's a right anti-intellectual.

This time it's Jamie and Cully in the firing line, but Cully's bad luck, plain and simple.

Mark@Th3DarkMark next time I get insomnia I'm going to put this on.

Trout & the other regulars are great as always, the Quarks are memorable, if too cutesy, and the Dominators themselves are easily the highlight with their rowing, flaring tempers, costume design & performances but every one of the Dulcians are insipid & forgettable & the plot is downright tedious in places with some very incongruously reactionary politics going on in the writers' intent.

EPISODE FOUR

Toba's feeling pretty pleased with himself as the Quarks report to Toba that the museum, and Cully, have been destroyed.

Rago warns Toba that his probationary period isn't going well. He's beginning to wonder if Rago has "the qualities of intelligence and detachment necessary in a Dominator."

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Ronald Allen is very good, isn't he? Keep forgetting we see him again next season.

Absolutely - completely different turns, a rare thing. See also Michael Wisher (Genesis of the Daleks & Planet of Evil), and - within this same season (6) Philip Madoc in The Krotons then The War Games.

Toba backchats him. He's not really getting this whole probation thing, is he?

"It is not unknown for a mutinous subordinate to be executed!"

The Doctor and Zoe clock there's trouble in paradise, but luckily for Rago still has need of Toba, to supervise the drilling.

As Teel and Kando continue clearing the drill site, they wonder if Cully has survived.

Of course he has, those ruddy Quarks couldn't swat a fly. Jamie's view is still obscured by rubble.

JAMIE: Have you noticed how stuffy it's getting in here?
CULLY: Sorry about that.

50dw50@50dw50 he was too busy looking up Jamies kilt to notice.

Back on the Dominator ship, Rago quizzes the Doctor about Senex and the other Dullards.

To encourage compliance he has the Quarks stick Zoe to the wall.

Rago plans a trip to the Capital. Wouldn't bother, mate.

The Doctor advises that one of the Dullard rockets could only really accommodate a Quark if Rago strips out the seats.

The Doctor fills Zoe in on his plan - while Rago's off in the rocket, they can investigate the ship's power unit.

At the drilling site, Toba sets the Dullards to work.

No sooner has the device activated...

...than the Quarks receive word that Rago's recalled him.

Rago reluctantly leaves Toba in charge while he goes to the Capital with a trusty Quark, insisting that "I expect to find the same number of alien specimens on my return!"

The Doctor and Zoe hope that Jamie may be safe underground in the bunker.

It's third time lucky for Cully and Jamie as they finally shift the rubble trapping them beneath ground, and get some fresh air at last.

The coast isn't entirely clear, though; the place is still swarming with Quarks.

"First thing to do is estimate the strength of the enemy..."

The pair note that the Quarks are drilling in four different locations.

As Toba prepares to report to the fleet leader, the Doctor and Zoe need a diversion in order to figure out what the Dominators are drilling for.

"Take this, you wee tin kettle!" shouts Jamie, bunging a rock at a Quark.

The metal meanies give chase...

...but he's led them into an ambush.

The Doctor rather leaps to the conclusion that Jamie's responsible for the Quarks going on the blink, but he's right, of course.

He takes the opportunity to check out the Dominators' energy storage unit, dangling a Geiger counter on a string inside the central column.

Sure enough the island's missing radioactive material is down there. But why the drilling, then?

Toba demands Balan tell him who's responsible for knackering his Quarks, but the old man goes all Jon Snow on him.

Just for a change, the Dullards are busy boring each other to death...

...when Rago shows up to spoil their slumber party.

Mind you, he's not much better, as he stomps in to demand some statistics.

Tensa protests. Big mistake.

Rago has his Quark make an example of Tensa.

"Let it serve to teach you that a Dominator must be obeyed without question." I could have stood a dry Connery style "Meeting adjourned!" there.

Next he's demanding slaves, and telling them that those who are selected for transportation to the Dominators' homeworld are fortunate, as they will be "saved."

Senex wonders what they're being saved from but Rago demands obedience and reminds him "you can be crushed as simply as that if you do not cooperate."

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly I've been thinking, cos this story ain't holding my attention. Imagine if Invasion of Time P4 ended with Quarks instead. Amazing to think this is followed by 'The Mind Robber' and 'The Invasion'. S6 really is all over the place. I like it.

Toba interrogates Kando and Teel but they don't know who's responsible for the smashing his Quarks either.

The penny finally drops that Cully survived the destruction of the museum, along with "the other stupid one, the boy."

Balan is sure that Cully and Jamie are the ones out and about polishing off Quarks.

He also explains that the planet's crust is much thinner here, which explains why the Dominators are drilling here: it's the planet's molten core that they're after.

The Doctor starts to see the pattern in the Dominators' drilling operation...

So after four episodes of arsing about, the Dominators' start their plan - to drill a shaft they can drop a bomb down to turn the planet into an atomic power source for their fleet.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Luckily Dulkis doesn't have green monster making ooze like in 'Inferno'. Pity, actually.

Toba storms in, threatening to kill them one by one until they give up Jamie's location.

Balan is the most expendable member of the cast.

Toba just wants another peek up Jamie's skirt. Just to make sure, like. Totally for scientific purposes, you understand.

EPISODE FIVE

Luckily for the rest of them, Rago's back, and quickly spots that contrary to his orders, there's one less Dullard about the place.

Rago is pissed off that after four episodes the drilling hasn't even begun. Tell us about it, mate.

Rago orders all Quarks recalled. Manufacturing error or something I guess.

The Quarks are hot on the heels of Jamie and Cully, who beat a retreat back to the bunker.

Once there, they check the aircon's working and tuck into some "food".

They use the bunker's periscope to check out how many Quarks are up top.

Jamie has a brainwave and starts stripping the sheets off the nearby bunk. What the heck's he up to now!

Five Episodes in, the drilling actually begins.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Dear Lord, the production office must have been close to meltdown to let this wheezing wreck into production.

The Doctor begins to theorize that the Dominators are not looking to take anything out of the ground, but to put something in it...

Enter Jamie with his new secret weapon: a twisted bedsheet tripwire-wotsit.

It doesn't exactly go to plan when one of the little buggers stomps on his hand.

Luckily the Doctor manages to distract it long enough for Jamie to tip the robot over.

Detecting one of the Quarks being attacked, Toba orders its' pals to pause the drilling.

The Doctor and Zoe escape down to the bunker, thanks to Jamie's bedsheet rescue.

Toba mistakes a Quark for a Jukebox and asks for the Stooges' "Search and Destroy". He's out of luck, the production team won't have it for another 5 years.

Rago is determined to get this story over the finish line and orders that the drilling be completed post haste.

The Doctor & co. can only listen as Rago confirms that Dominator High Command has decreed that the Dullards will die with their planet.

The chums regroup and catch up underground, with Teel breaking the news of Balan's death to Jamie and Cully.

Zoe can't figure out what the Dominators are mining for if there are no radioactive minerals on the island, and their reactor-less ship relies on atomic power.

The Dominators are going to fire the rockets through the crust, through the magma, and into the molten core, turning the whole planet into one vast molten mass of radioactive material - the fuel store for their fleet.

Trout gives the half time talk and lays out the tactics for rescuing the match.

"Doctor, I've just had an idea."

"Shush a minute Jamie, I'm trying to think."

Jamie suggests intercepting the bomb on the wing, while the Doctor drops Episode 6 from the team altogether.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Damn stupid plan. Imagine if it was Hartnell who had to catch the bomb?

Although... isn't this basically Ian's plan from The Dalek Invasion of Earth?

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Ha, yeah. Ian's was smarter. He devised a way to hault the bomb without just sticking his hands out and hoping to catch it.

"Jamie, it's a brilliant idea! It's so simple only you could have thought of it."

They need to dig a tunnel from where they are to the borehole...

...so the Doctor uses that spiffy new sonic screwdriver thing to burn through the wall.

(This is only the screwdriver's second appearance, and the first time it's used as anything other than an actual screwdriver.)

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly People who moan about the sonic's uses in New Who. He's got a bloody acetylene torch app here.

It's full steam ahead for the Dominators' drilling operation.

Always hoping for a peaceful solution, the Doctor knocks up some chemical grenades.

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly I love what they do with the Doctor's character in S7, but I also get a kick out of how carefree violent he is in S6.

So Jamie and Cully progress from chucking rocks to the Doctor's homemade grenades.

One lucky shot takes out three Quarks in one go.

Rago is alarmed to see the Quarks' lights flicker out one by one.

Toba seethes at the distant sound of exploding Quarks, but the drilling must go on.

The Doctor and Zoe grow concerned that even though the Quarks are being polished off, the drilling isn't stopping, and Teel and Kando haven't got much further with their tunnel.