Doctor Who (1963) s22e04 Episode Script

- No sign of life, sir.
- Dead as death! - How long should I hold? - And cut it now! You animals! What have you done to the Doctor? Show her! No, I don't believe it! He can't be dead! I'm afraid he is.
You did it! You killed him! Not really.
He had the hallucination that he was lost in a desert.
His mind thought he was dying of thirst.
His body agreed, so die they did.
- What is that thing? - Show some respect! Tell me, the dead intruder was called "The Doctor"? So who are you? Answer.
Answer.
ANSWER! Why do they keep showing that stiff? They know what they're doing.
Huh? What? He moved! - Reflex! - Maybe he isn't fully dead! He soon will be.
Here comes the acid bath! Ooh! I hate this bit! They always do that.
It's to show the acid's highly corrosive.
Shut up! - Who are you? - You wouldn't believe me.
You agents of Amorb are! I don't know what that is or even what he says.
Sil's language transposer has an eccentric communication circuit.
Don't tell him, it's my only amusement! Don't upset the Galatron delegate, please.
We need that agreement to sell the Zeiton-7 to his company.
- At the starvation rates he offers us? - Who else will buy our only asset? Why not find other mining companies who will refine Zeiton ore on better terms, who will pay the seven credits per unit I ask? Why not Amorb? - NEVER! - The people of Varos voted to accept Sil's final terms.
You must impose their will or suffer death by default.
After I extract the truth about this girl and her companion, the Doctor.
Come.
I've had the most peculiar dream! You'll forgive me if I don't join you! What's the matter? Oh, you grieve for his death.
I forget that people do.
You don't? I did once.
But now death is my only friend my constant and loving companion.
Can you feel his cold presence? I don't want to, thanks! You should.
Your life is even more at risk than mine.
The Doctor, he's escaped! - How? He's dead.
- Not dead, he was just pretending to be.
- He's alive? - And running! - Good! - Good? Recapture him and we bargain this girl's life for information from our Doctor friend.
I thought you were better than these other brutes! I'm sorry.
I thought you were my mirror image, until I realised I wasn't holding a gun! - Who are you? - A student of science! Much interested in primitive nuclear technology.
The mask, remove it! I've seen you on the screens! You've returned from the dead.
A waste of effort.
I assume there will be something novel by way of spectacle to mark my return to that state? I should think something might be arranged.
Let's have a word with the executioners.
They're always looking for fresh material.
- After you! - I don't think so! Why is she on Varos? She won't say.
Are you employed agent of other mining companies? You and that man who was dead? - No.
- LIAR! You belong to Amorb! You lying liar! Why should she belong to Amorb? Well? I'm from another time, another century Nearly three centuries before you were born, I lived in another world.
- I had an idea you wouldn't believe me! - You were right! Give her to the rehabilitators.
A disturbance of her molecular structure will bring out the truth.
Put her into the reshapement chamber.
Watch her change into beast or bird.
No! Why are you here, Peri? - Tell me, please.
- All right! Our Tardis, that box-thing outside, is, if you like, a ship of time, a sort of spacecraft.
Well, I don't understand the technical stuff.
The Doctor said we must have this special metal, to fix the bearings or something.
So we had to come here.
That's just what we did! She's laughing at us, all over the face! - It's the truth! - No matter! Once again, we have captured the Doctor.
Quillam came across him at Prison Control.
- He'd have liked that, sir.
- Yes.
How long is it since we rigged a primitive execution, Chief? Not since after the Outer Dome sabotage trial.
I think it's time we staged another.
They're always most enjoyable, aren't they, sir? What kind of people are you?! What are you doing? My viewer's report.
I'm not on it, am I? I was tired.
Reports, spying.
Working men should be Yes? Yes? Go on.
not taken seriously for the rubbish they may have spoken earlier on.
- Hello! - Your appeal has been turned down, I'm sorry.
So would I have been, if I'd asked for one.
Do you always get the priest parts? We are gathered here today in the sight of the Great Video to ask forgiveness and make atonement for three amongst us who have transgressed the laws of Varos.
Doctor, I'm sorry! I've tried everything, but they just won't believe the truth.
Truth? It's a very flexible commodity here on Varos, Peri.
As long as things APPEAR truthful, that's all that matters! Enlighten us as to the truth about your visit, please, Doctor.
Why, to help Varos realise the wealth of its potential, what else? How, by eating rocks? Kill him! Execute them! He must have listened to the rebel Jondar, believed his lies.
Yes, yes.
What is the staging plan, Chief? The men to hang, the women to be given to reshapement and cell mutation experiment.
The results to be exhibited as a warning to women who support their men in violating the regulations of Varos.
I'm sorry you'll be denied the sight of the ladies turning into who knows what.
A serpent? A griffin? A new admixture of fish and fowl? Anything to add, Doctor? Anything which might persuade me to halt the sequence of events? - One request.
- One last request? - Yes? - Well? Who is he? Why is he here? What interest can my presence matter? The delegate from the Galatron Mining Corporation is here to negotiate our yearly review of market price for the ore of Varos.
- Zeiton ore? Zeiton-7? - Yes.
I see.
Thank you.
Is that all you wish to know? For the moment.
That's all you have, Doctor! Take the women away.
Oh, Doctor, do something! Jondar! Jondar! In the name of the Great Video and of Varos who gave his name to our planet, accept the lives of these humble deviants in recompense for their sins.
We pray that you will continue to look benignly down upon your devoted servants.
Anything to say, Doctor? Anything which may yet save your lives? Sorry? So am I.
All right.
Wait! I knew it! Hold on broadcast.
No sound or vision.
My death will prevent Varos from ever progressing out of the reach of extortion by such as the Galatron Mining Company.
Our deaths will send any hope for this planet back into the pit of fear and misery which has for so long been the lot of its people.
Pull the lever! Stretch them out of this life! Wait! I came to this planet because I needed a new source of energy supply.
My Tardis depends for its function upon a rare and precious mineral of Varos.
Zeiton-7! I can show you new prosperity! DESTROY THEM NOW! I will give the order for execution! KILL, KILL, KILL! I trust you are unharmed, Doctor? Do you often employ the noose trick? As a means of eliciting true information, it has often been successful.
- You suspected our bluff? - I noticed your cameras weren't broadcasting.
A real execution would have been broadcast.
Ah, yes What I have to discover is the truth of your statements made at the scaffold.
I will discuss nothing, reveal nothing, until I have proof that Peri and Areta have been released unharmed from the cell mutation experiment.
He has nothing to reveal, he is lying! An Amorb agent who wishes only to usurp our worthy Galatron contracts by rashful promises! Until I hear what each of you has to say or offer, the matter rests without decision.
Should the Doctor be lying, he will find the next noose will sever his head.
Should he be accurate in his appraisal of the potential worth of our Zeiton ore, I shall want to know, Sil, why you and your company have been duping Varos these many generations.
How dare I be spoken to like this! I will reject all offers! That releases me from my people's decision to accept them, thank you! How long will the process last? I heard them say it was a matter for initial experiment.
Anything could happen to us just for their amusement.
Oh! Something's happening to my arms! Mine feel strange, too! My skin Oh, no! Intolerable all of this Doctor being allowed to live! The Governor likes and may believe him! Zeiton-7 has brought your company great wealth.
You have miscalculated events.
For the sake of a few miserable extra credits, you may have lost the source of all our wealth and power.
Listen to me! I have plans to take charge of this planet of Varos.
I have put in a request for a Galatron occupation force to speed to this sector.
A little time is all we need, Chief.
The Doctor will tell him the true value of Zeiton! Only if his women are released unharmed! Have you done that? Not yet.
Then, let us observe the experiment of the tissue transmogrifier.
I am interested in science.
I do not wish to impede its progress.
Doctor's friend is feathered.
The other one, she is almost attractive now.
How long before permanent result ensues? I'm not exactly certain.
Not too long, I would think.
Perhaps I'll keep them in my dome as pretty-pretty pets! - It is too advanced! - Well, where are they? - There's a problem.
- What? Something called a "transmogrifier" was at too advanced a stage.
We were unable to reverse the transmutation of your lovely ladies.
There was time to halt the experiment.
I gave orders that the process be halted.
Too late, sorry! I'll kill him! Who controls the transmutation experiment? Mr Quillam, our technical director and principal devisor of programmes.
And controller of all that happens in the People's Dome of punishment and correction.
Areta! Do something! - It's probably too late.
- Only "probably"? It is an unstable process.
Even I am not certain how it works exactly.
That beam that radiates, where is it derived from? The nuclear bombardment releases all the power latent in the recipient's mind.
If the changelings see themselves as unworthy, they can become serpentine or reptilian.
She, for instance, must wish to fly away from trouble as would a bird.
It's an offshoot of our mining technology.
Miners began growing fur and claws, the better to dig with.
- How can the process be reversed? - Who knows? We don't require such findings here! And you call yourself a research scientist? Certainly, which is why this trial must continue.
An experiment like this has never been so advanced or so successful before.
Turn off the machine! They might still be restored to normality! - Mr Quillam, I make formal request.
- I am Section Controller - a permanent position.
No one orders me! Certainly not a transient Governor in the twilight of his reign.
Who decides the authority of command? Regulations hand it to the Officer Guard, by long tradition.
- But it can be changed? - Not by him! You have held your position too long, Mr Quillam, that becomes ever more obvious.
No one has the nerve or the will to wrest it from me Mr Governor, sir Do you still experiment on your own person? No any more, why? But in the past you exposed yourself to much danger, I think.
Yes.
Why do you ask? How do you know? Your mask! Hold it! Gun! Thank you! Turn off the transmutation process! Take your choice! There must be a hundred switches to choose from, if it's a switch that controls the bombardment beams.
Doctor, can you decide which? No time! You, out! That won't be necessary! Keys.
Thank you! Out! We must have stopped the process before the final transformation was complete! Without the final phase bombardment, their bodily metabolism is reasserting itself.
The guards must return soon.
There's an escape exit? The other side of the dome, but from here it's impossible! Not now! The odds are unpredictable.
With the Control Centre damaged, we may have a chance.
- We must move on! - What, leave them here? No, take them with us.
Peri, can you hear me? - Areta! Areta! - Can you move, Peri? Try! You are Peri! Peri! - Peri? - I am the Doctor and you are Peri! - Perpugilliam Brown! - Peri? It's a question of re-imprinting their identities, establishing again who they are.
Wake up, Areta, come on! Can you walk, Peri? Try! I thought I could fly! Walking is all that's required for now.
Walk! There's no control.
All maintenance reports confirm the attack damaged a large number of operating circuits.
The effects are impossible to control! Why not shut off all the power? And allow every prisoner to escape, including this Doctor? Oh, no, I want them delivered to me.
The screens are still showing scenes from the Punishment Dome.
And they'll continue to do so.
It's the only way of assessing the damage done.
This Doctor must be eliminated! He smells the truth of things! The dome will take care of him.
DOCTOR? Cover me, I'll get the girls! Areta! Where's Peri? Where's Peri, Areta? Quick, Jondar! That's more like it! I thought he was dead! No, pay attention! My insulted person can stand no more! Either you sign the newly agreed price for the Zeiton ore, or I will leave you and the Varosian people to starve on this miserablest of planets, with nothing to eat except unsold Zeitony! You are in no position to threaten me now! Found wandering near Prison Control.
I brought her here to display as evidence before the people.
I will decide when and if I broadcast.
Not any more! The regulations have a clause for just the situation that we are in now.
At the end of every Governor's term there comes a time of disapproval, where the people tire of his incompetence - the wish to vote him down.
The wish to see all the cells of his body destroyed.
When the final vote is avoided, the Chief Officer is empowered to insist on a final vote.
You must accept full responsibility for failing to quell the prison rebellion led by this woman and her companion, the Doctor.
Prepare for your final broadcast Governor - We must find Peri! - She could be anywhere.
Here we will die, as have so many Governors.
The Chief will broadcast first.
Anything I say after that will seem like bluster and lies.
Can I speak, can I say what I know? The ramblings of someone deranged by the transmogrification process.
But I'm fine now! We have no hope.
How long? As soon as the Chief assembles the Officer Guard.
The regulations insist that the 12 most senior officers place their names in hazard.
The Chief draws a name, and the unlucky winner is brought in here and forced to govern.
In fear of suffering the same death Yes, the theory being that a man scared for his life will find solutions to this planet's problems, except the poor unfortunate will discover there are no popular solutions to the difficulties he will find waiting for him here.
It's crazy, cruel! It's Varos.
- Maldak, isn't it? - Yes, sir.
Put your gun down, I have no intention of escaping.
Can't do that, sir.
Weren't you elected to the Officer Guard when my name was drawn as Governor? Correct, sir.
Might I ask one favour - let the girl go free? I can't do that, sir.
You know that soon I will be destroyed? Soon a new Governor will be elected.
That is the custom, sir.
What if the name drawn is yours? You've witnessed how impossible the situation is.
You're an intelligent man.
The regulations are archaic, distorted, unworkable.
Even if you're not chosen, an enquiry will be called.
New Governors always have enquiries.
It was you who showed the Doctor and Jondar where the women were held captive.
- I couldn't help that, sir.
- They'll say you should have resisted.
What is it that you want? For you to turn your back, let us go, find the Doctor, who has words and perhaps knowledge which might bring salvation to everyone, - except the Chief and his cronies.
- No, sir, I can't do that.
- And Peri? - No, sir, I'm sorry.
At least, when the vote goes against me, and the human cell disintegrator beams pour down, kill Peri, please.
Spare her from the rehabilitators.
I tried.
We will die together.
It's no good! - Where are we? - I don't know.
Why have we been allowed to travel this far without apprehension? This place is cracking up! The guards are as confused as us.
We're at the "Endgame".
Not many trialists reach this stage.
- Is that where the exit is? - Presumably.
What are we waiting for? I must be cautious.
From now on the mind games and jolly tricks are over.
What we're entering now could be the area of most dangerous ordeal.
This is a forced vote.
I have explained my actions, the Governor must now explain his, and then you, my fellow Varosians, must use your vote and decide.
I have addressed you many times, and you have seen other Governors approach the ultimate crisis point of their regime.
The time of forced vote now is upon me.
I am not afraid to die.
Good! HEY! Your system is wrong! We sell ourselves cheaply for nothing to such as Sil and his like.
I see my words mean nothing, that you all wish the harsh system of Varos to continue.
So be it! - Isn't there anything I can do? - No! NO! You messed up the whole system! They'll be coming round for you! Voting twice and using someone else's voting box? Both criminal offences! We must find the Doctor! - He's in the end zone.
- He must be seeking the safe exit.
- Let's go, then! - Not that way! There has to be another route.
There is, the ventilation ducting! There's an outlet here! I once spent eight days there searching for escaped prisoners.
- I know it only too well.
- Come on, then.
NO! Begone! You are shadows, insubstantial ghosts! We are real, you are not! I think we should try another route.
Where is Governor?! Why is he still at life and liberty? Why is everything no longer as it was? We are still the power! Why not you both prove it? - What did he die from? - I don't know.
His neck's swollen as if to burst.
Poison, perhaps.
- Taken or been given? - Perhaps neither.
Doctor! - Fellow prisoners! - No time for speeches, Jondar! - What shall we do? - Run! Stop, Areta! If you value your lives, don't touch those tendrils! In, but don't allow one touch! What do they want? Why do they want us? I noticed a pile of bones.
I think we were on their dinner menu! Sh! Patrol car! We're trapped! - What do we do? - The best we can! Could you attach this string to that clump of vines without killing yourself? I see you have a keen interest in the flora of Varos, Doctor.
Just a passing fancy! - It'll pass faster than you think.
Kill them! - Wait! This man has insulted me.
He must suffer for my humiliation.
This is no time for revenge.
Kill them quickly! And deprive Varos of an example of how traitors are dealt with? The cameras are still functioning.
Let the show begin! I want to hear them scream until I'm deaf with pleasure.
To see their limbs twist in excruciating agony! Ultimately their blood must gush and flow along the gutters of Varos! The whole planet must delight in their torture and death! An excellent scenario.
Not mad about the part! PROCEED! NOW! Let's get away from here.
Stay where you are! Don't move! - What is it? - Poison! One touch and whoo! - Poison ivy? - Something like that! It'd give you a very nasty rash! Oh, Doctor! Plenipotentiary Sil to Galatron Occupation Force Commander.
Urgent need for instant invasion of Planet Varos to consolidate our interest.
React immediately! Water me.
I must look my best to assume the emperorship of this primitive planet.
Gently, gently! Take extreme care with my person if you wish to retain your skins! That's better! Mirror, mirror! Come on, mirror, MIRROR! Oh, yes, I will wear the mantle of power so, so handsomely! Ah! There you are! I called you here to inform you that a force of invasion is about to land.
Really? From where? My home planet, from Thoros Beta.
You had innumerable chances to settle with me, Governor.
Now, your people will work for me.
I will be Governor of Governors! I will be Viceroy of Varos! The confirmation of my colonisation force! "Report of Zeiton-7 traces found on asteroid Bio Sculptor.
"Invasion of Varos cancelled.
" Aargh! The ways of the ruler are fraught with uncertainty, are they not, Sil? Certainly certainly! There's more.
"New supplies of Zeiton-7 required urgently.
"Start shipments immediately.
"Pay any price asked by Varosians.
" Well, shall we commence negotiations from a reasonable base? Of what? Of what? I think he needs more than water, Peri, eh? Like cyanide! Come, Peri, where's your sense of justice? What about that transmogrifier thing he put me in? I think we'll leave the Varosians to work out their own idea of justice, Peri.
I'm very grateful, Doctor.
Varos is grateful.
Is there nothing we can offer you in return? Well, er a little Zeiton-7 would be quite useful not to say essential! You shall have as much as you need.
Maldak will arrange it.
Thank you.
Goodbye! Ah, goodbye.
- Goodbye.
- Goodbye.
You you can't leave me here! Now you see me! Aagh! And that, fellow citizens of Varos, is my vowed intention.
For without justice, peace and tolerance, we have no future.
I know you will all work as hard as I shall for a glorious tomorrow.
Thank you for allowing me into your homes.
Thank you.
No more executions, torture, nothing! It's all changed.
We're free! - Are we? - Yes! What shall we do? Dunno!