| 067 – Frontier in Space | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor Who serial | |||
| Cast | |||
Others
| |||
| Production | |||
| Directed by | Paul Bernard | ||
| Written by | Malcolm Hulke | ||
| Script editor | Terrance Dicks | ||
| Produced by | Barry Letts | ||
| Executive producer | None | ||
| Music by | Dudley Simpson | ||
| Production code | QQQ | ||
| Series | Season 10 | ||
| Running time | 6 episodes, 25 minutes each | ||
| First broadcast | 24 February 1973 (1973-02-24) | ||
| Last broadcast | 31 March 1973 (1973-03-31) | ||
| Chronology | |||
| |||
| List of episodes (1963–1989) | |||
Frontier in Space is the third serial of thetenth season of the Britishscience fiction television seriesDoctor Who. The serial was first broadcast in six weekly parts onBBC1 from 24 February to 31 March 1973. It was the last serial to featureRoger Delgado asthe Master.
The serial is set on theEarth, theMoon, Draconia, and the home planet of theOgrons in the 26th century. In the serial, theDaleks employ the Master to provoke a war between the human and Draconian galactic empires.
 | This article's plot summarymay betoo long or excessively detailed. Pleasehelp improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise.(May 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
TheThird Doctor andJo arrive on anEarth cargo ship in the 26th century after a near hyperspace collision. In this time the Empire of Earth is on the verge of war with the Draconian Empire, after cargo ships on both sides claim that the other side is raiding said cargo ships. After a piercing noise in the air the crew of the cargo ship are indeed attacked, but while the crew envisions the Draconian forces, they are actually being attacked by theOgrons, who were previously under the employ of theDaleks. They gut the ship of all cargo and steal theTARDIS.
The Doctor and Jo are blamed by the crew of the cargo ship, and are taken into custody. They undergo Interrogation through the mind probe and various escape and rescue attempts by the Draconians at first and then the Ogrons themselves, that all fail. Soon afterwards the Doctor is sent to a prison on the Moon without Jo.
Diplomatic relations break down, and the Draconian Ambassador is ordered back to Draconia to report to his father the Emperor. Meanwhile a representative of an Earth dominion arrives to take Jo into custody with a full criminal record for her and the Doctor, this officer of the law is actuallythe Master who is the one behind the Ogron attacks with a device that amplifies the fear centers of the mind.
After an unsuccessful attempt by himself to escape the prison, the Doctor is also transferred to the "custody" of the Master, who intends to escort the Doctor and Jo to the Ogron planet, but before this is accomplished, they are intercepted by a real Draconian ship that diverts their course to Draconia and their Emperor, where the Master's plot has been exposed due to a failed attempt by the Ogrons to rescue both Time Lords. An Ogron is left behind.
With the assistance of the Draconian Ambassador, they intend to reveal the Ogron to the President of Earth to reveal the Truth, but the Master intercepts them, rescues the Ogron, and abducts Jo after an Earth ship arrests the Doctor and the Ambassador. Brought before the President of Earth, who is not disposed to the idea of an all out war, they, along with one General Williams (who is responsible for a previous conflict), regrettably decide to mount an expedition to the Ogron planet.
Resisting the control of the Master through hypnosis and the fear device, Jo sends a distress signal that the Doctor and the expedition follow to the Ogron planet. It is revealed that the Ogrons along with the Master are under the employ of the Daleks who are pushing for the war between the two empires before launching an invasion force they've been preparing. The Doctor helps General Willams and the Draconian Ambassador escape the Orgon planet to inform their respective empires of the truth.
Jo leads the Doctor to where the Master has kept the TARDIS, but he, along with the Ogrons, holds them at gunpoint. The Doctor uses the fear device and a dangerous clash of guns between the Master and Ogrons to cause an escape plan, though the Doctor is injured in the scuffle.
The Doctor, barely conscious, asks Jo to help him into the TARDIS. He staggers over to the console, de-materialising the ship then using thetelepathic circuits, sends a message to theTime Lords, in an effort to follow the Daleks.
The titles forFrontier in Space were prepared, alongside the previous serial,Carnival of Monsters, with a new arrangement of thetheme music performed by Paddy Kingsland on a synthesiser. Known as the "Delaware" arrangement (theBBC Radiophonic Workshop was based on Delaware Road in west London), it proved unpopular with BBC executives, so the originalDelia Derbyshire theme was restored, although an early edit of episode 5 still contains the "Delaware" music and was used for the VHS release. This early edit of episode 5 with the Delaware theme featured a longer reprise at the beginning of the episode compared to the broadcast version of episode 5.
The 3 Daleks which appear in the final episode were the same props which had been used in Day of the Daleks.[1]
The final sequence in the Master's headquarters was intended to contain the giant Ogron-eating monster, but directorPaul Bernard did not like the costume and omitted it, leaving the scene with just frightened Ogrons running away from something unseen. ProducerBarry Letts and script editorTerrance Dicks felt the sequence lacked impact and a new ending was filmed in the TARDIS as part of the first production block of the following story,Planet of the Daleks.Frontier in Space was Paul Bernard's lastDoctor Who work.
Jon Pertwee considered the Draconians to be his favourite monster as the rubber and latex masks used allowed the actors playing them to employ a full range of facial expressions.[2] Recalling the production of this story he noted that filming near theHayward Gallery at theSouth Bank was made difficult due to a number of "homeless people and drunks" lying around the area. According to Pertwee, Paul Bernard asked the stuntmen and actors who were on location in costume as Ogrons to ask these people to move to allow filming to proceed.[3]
When the wiping of episodes ended in 1978 it was discovered that episodes 1, 2, 3 & 6 had only survived as black and white telerecordings for overseas sales. In 1983,PAL copies were returned fromABC Television in Australia.[4]
This would be the last appearance of Roger Delgado as the Master, his final scene being the confusion outside the TARDIS with his shooting the Doctor, perhaps accidentally, then disappearing with the panicking Ogrons. Roger Delgado was killed in a car crash in Turkey less than three months after this episode's UK broadcast.[5]
John Woodnutt had previously played Hibbert inSpearhead from Space (1970) and would later play the dual roles of Broton and the Duke of Forgill inTerror of the Zygons (1975) as well as Seron inThe Keeper of Traken (1981). Luan Peters had previously appeared inThe Macra Terror (1967) under her stage name Karol Keyes. Caroline Hunt previously appeared inThe Reign of Terror (1964). Louis Mahoney later appeared as Ponti inPlanet of Evil (1975) and as Billy Shipton inBlink (2007).
Harold Goldblatt had previously appeared with Jon Pertwee in a 1938 radio production in Belfast entitledLillibullero, which was one of Pertwee's earliest radio performances.[3]
| Episode | Title | Run time | Original release date | UK viewers (millions) [7] | Archive [6] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Episode One" | 23:27 | 24 February 1973 (1973-02-24) | 9.1 | PAL 2" colour videotape |
| 2 | "Episode Two" | 24:10 | 3 March 1973 (1973-03-03) | 7.8 | PAL 2" colour videotape |
| 3 | "Episode Three" | 24:00 | 10 March 1973 (1973-03-10) | 7.5 | PAL 2" colour videotape |
| 4 | "Episode Four" | 23:35 | 17 March 1973 (1973-03-17) | 7.1 | PAL 2" colour videotape |
| 5 | "Episode Five" | 23:57 | 24 March 1973 (1973-03-24) | 7.7 | PAL 2" colour videotape |
| 6 | "Episode Six" | 24:44 | 31 March 1973 (1973-03-31) | 8.9 | PAL 2" colour videotape |
According to the BBC's Audience Research Report,Frontier in Space was well received by viewers at the time of broadcast.[8]Paul Cornell,Martin Day, andKeith Topping wrote of the serial inThe Discontinuity Guide (1995), "Worthy, very well directed and designed to the hilt with a solid costuming policy for both empires. However, it's obviously padded in parts."[9] InThe Television Companion (1998),David J. Howe andStephen James Walker stated that the story worked "brilliantly", with the production design "[putting] the whole thing on a suitably grand scale".[8]
In 2010, Patrick Mulkern ofRadio Times awarded it four stars out of five and recalled that it was "surprising and exciting" on first viewing, though in retrospect it seemed to be "a lumbering wannabe-epic with screeds of padding, duff cliffhangers and endless scenes of the Doctor and Jo banged up". He praised the Draconians and Ogrons, but felt that "the fact that the heroes spend perhaps two-thirds of the story locked up is tiresome and cannot be overlooked".[10]DVD Talk's John Sinnott noted that the story was "talky" and had a lot of padding, but that it got "much better" when the Master was revealed.[11] In the bookDoctor Who: The Episode Guide, Mark Campbell awarded it four out of ten, describing it as "an overlong and uninterestingspace opera—a genreDoctor Who has never done well. Delgado's exit is particularly badly handled."[12]
Peter Capaldi, who played theTwelfth Doctor, has said it is one of his favourite serials of the classic seasons.[13]
 | |
| Author | Malcolm Hulke |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Chris Achilleos[14] |
| Series | Doctor Who book: Target novelisations |
Release number | 57 |
| Publisher | Target Books |
Publication date | 23 September 1976 |
| ISBN | 0-426-11033-1 |
A novelisation of this serial, written byMalcolm Hulke, was published byTarget Books in September 1976 under the titleDoctor Who and the Space War. This was the last time Target would give a novelisation a substantially different title than that of the serial on which it was based. The novel abandons the cliffhanger ending of the televised program and has the Doctor simply leaving the Master on the Ogron world to pursue the Daleks. An unabridged reading of the novelisation by actorGeoffrey Beevers was released on CD in February 2008 by BBC Audiobooks.
The story was released onVHS in August 1995. Episode 5 uses the "Delaware" music mentioned above. The final episode of this story was also issued onThe Pertwee Years VHS release, along with the final episodes of bothInferno (1970) andThe Dæmons (1971). The serial was released on DVD on 5 October 2009 as part of the box set "Dalek War", alongsidePlanet of the Daleks.[15] It was released on Blu-ray as part of "The Collection - Season 10" boxed set in July 2019.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)[permanent dead link]
Doctor Who episodes | |
|---|---|
| Season 10 | |
