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DOCTOR WHO
PLANET OF EVIL
Written by
Louis Marks
Part One
(After an establishing shot of a reddish-brown planet, we see steam rise from the floor of an alien jungle with gnarled roots, reddish lianas, and several types of knobbly plant. A modular-looking metallic structure sits in the jungle. Out of it steps a bearded man in a lightweight beige outfit with brown collar and belt. He carries a sign, which he plants a short way from the entrance of the structure, next to similar metal signs. It reads 'EGARD LUMB /DIED HERE 7.2 /IN THE YEAR 37,116'. He looks through a scope, rubs his neck, and jogs back into the structure.)
[EXT. Mine]
(Tongs are used to collect yellowish crystals one by one. When the beige-clothed young man with stubble has fillled a dish with the crystals, he empties it into a machine topped by a metal canister. He places a lid on the canister and presses a rocker switch on the side. After a short time, he flips the switch back, lifts the canister from the machine, and hands the base - which we assume contains pulverised crystals - to another grizzled-looking man, SORENSON. A radio unit makes a sound, and he answers it.)
BALDWIN: Yep?
[INT. Base]
BRAUN: Base checking. You all right out there?
BALDWIN [OC]: All quiet.
[EXT. Mine]
BRAUN [OC]: Where are you?
BALDWIN: Sector 5. We've hit a rich load.
[INT. Base]
BRAUN: Sector 5? Listen, I just took a sun shot. You have fifteen degrees to full night. You'd better get out of there fast.
[EXT. Mine]
BALDWIN: Right. Professor, that was Braun. We've got to leave.
SORENSON: What?
BALDWIN: It's fifteen degrees to night.
SORENSON: Just look at this, Baldwin. It's showing more than seventy pure.
BALDWIN: We'll never make base from here, sir, if we don't leave now.
SORENSON: The last time we hit a vein as rich as this, you know what happened?
BALDWIN: Yes. Lorenzo died. He was the first. That's when it all seemed to start.
SORENSON: We lost it. The vein vanished. This damned planet took it back. It's alive, you know, Baldwin. It watches every move we make. I won't be beaten again. Load the canisters.
BALDWIN: Professor, please. There isn't time now. We can return tomorrow.
SORENSON: It'll be gone by tomorrow. Don't you see, man? It knows. It senses what we're trying to do.
BALDWIN: I'm not trekking back through that jungle in the dark. If you don't come now, I shall have to leave you.
SORENSON: Well, then, leave. Leave.
(At the base, BRAUN checks his chronometer and pulls a hefty rifle from the wall. He heads outside. We hear crackling in the jungle and see BRAUN back away. He holds the gun up but is too paralysed to use it and cries out in fear. He then slowly falls onto his back, as if something is pressing him toward the ground. He thrashes about for a moment as if fighting something, and he fades into nothingness. The crackling sound recedes.)
[EXT. Outside the base]
(It is getting dark now and is misty. BALDWIN stumbles through a marsh-like bit of jungle and runs through an area of glowing-red hanging strands of vegetation. He falls in the swamp once more, as he picks up pace. He eventually reaches the base, whose door is ajar.)
BALDWIN: Braun? Braun?
[INT. Base]
BALDWIN: (entering) Sorenson wouldn't come. He-. Braun? Where are you?
(We hear the crackling sound again. BALDWIN turns and presses against something we cannot see. He smacks an alarm button on a console before he is pressed into a closet and to the ground. He too vanishes, crying out and struggling.)
[INT. TARDIS console room]
(The DOCTOR presses buttons on the console. SARAH has her arms crossed. She checks her watch.)
SARAH: How long have we been travelling?
DOCTOR: Hmm? What did you say?
SARAH: You promised me we'd be back in London five minutes before leaving Loch Ness.
DOCTOR: Did I?
SARAH: Oh, you're trying to wriggle out of it.
DOCTOR: Wriggle out of what?
SARAH: Your promise.
DOCTOR: Listen, we're on the edge of a time-space vortex and you're talking in minutes.
SARAH: Oh, I see. What's gone wrong this time?
DOCTOR: Nothing. Nothing at all. What makes you think something's gone wrong?
SARAH: Because you always get rude when you're trying to cover up a mistake.
DOCTOR: Nothing of consequence. Slight overshoot, easily rectified.
SARAH: Come on, where are we?
DOCTOR: We've come out of the time vortex at the wrong point, that's all. A few years too late.
SARAH: How many?
DOCTOR: Thirty thousand.
(There is a beeping.)
SARAH: That's a distress call.
DOCTOR: Someone's in trouble.
SARAH: Where?
DOCTOR: Who knows? Stand by for emergency materialisation.
[EXT. Jungle]
(The TARDIS materialises. Out steps the DOCTOR, with SARAH in the doorway. He is checking the direction against a device in his hand.)
SARAH: Which way?
DOCTOR: This way.
(They walk a short way.)
SARAH: You don't know where we are.
DOCTOR: Ah, with any luck, we're near enough to reach wherever it is.
SARAH: That is not what I meant.
DOCTOR: Before whatever it was that made them transmit the call overwhelms them. That is, if we're not too late already.
SARAH: I mean, what planet?
DOCTOR: Oh, it's a weak signal. Allowing for the fact of interference from the time warp-. Could you move any faster?
SARAH: I'm doing the best I can.
(We hear crackling. SARAH goes rigid, her fingers extending. Fear is in her eyes.)
[INT. Space probe's bridge]
(We see a white spacecraft approaching the planet. Those within are sharper men, in the same general style of clothes as the others except in mid-blue and with insignia and white puffy shoulder pads and accents.)
VISHINSKY: (an older man) There it is, Zeta Minor, the last planet of the known universe.
(At the back of the bridge are stairs to where others are working. VISHINSKY heads up the steps.)
SALAMAR: (a young man who means business) Crew deck, orbital entry imminent. Ponti and de Haan to command area. Ponti and de Haan to command area. Vishinsky, you'll lead the landing party.
VISHINSKY: Without Ponti?
SALAMAR: You are the most experienced officer.
VISHINSKY: You are going to scan first?
SALAMAR: No.
VISHINSKY: It's advised procedure before physical landing on any ex planet.
SALAMAR: Technically, Zeta Minor is not an ex planet. Professor Sorenson's party's been on the surface for months.
VISHINSKY: They might have been dead for months. They've not reported.
SALAMAR: Vishinsky, you know our fuel position. We've enough for the return journey and an emergency reserve. I cannot waste that on a low-level scan.
VISHINSKY: It's your decision, Controller. I'll get equipped for descent.
[EXT. Jungle]
(The DOCTOR looks back at SARAH, who is not moving. We no longer hear crackling.)
DOCTOR: Sarah? You all right? What's the matter?
SARAH: I don't know. Just suddenly felt so odd, as though my mind left my body.
DOCTOR: Are you all right now?
SARAH: Yes.
DOCTOR: You look all right.
SARAH: Yeah. What's that you've found?
DOCTOR: Hand tool of some kind.
(It is metal and looks like a mining implement, with a pointy bit at one end.)
SARAH: So the people who sent that signal must be humanoid. Well, if they've got hands?
[INT. Space probe's bridge]
(Two men with large guns step onto the bridge. SALAMAR goes downstairs and addresses them.)
SALAMAR: The descent chamber's ready, Ponti.
PONTI: (with a Jamaican accent) Yes, Controller.
SALAMAR: The probe will remain in free orbit in case emergency escape procedures are needed. From the time you land, maintain permanent audio contact.
DE HAAN: Understood, Controller.
SALAMAR: The descent area is the one selected for Sorenson, so you should have no difficulty locating the base.
VISHINSKY: Unless something gets in our way.
SALAMAR: You're equipped and trained to deal with all normal contingencies. The prime purpose of this mission is to locate Professor Sorenson's expedition. If hostile forces are found to be operating on Zeta Minor, we've the capacity to eliminate them.
(An alert is heard.)
SALAMAR: Right, we're in orbit. Prepare for descent.
(VISHINSKY, PONTI, and DE HAAN step through the door marked 'COMPRESSION AREA Z2 /DO NOT ENTER WITHOUT CLEARANCE'.)
[EXT. Outside the base]
(The DOCTOR and SARAH reach the grave markers. They see a corpse lying on the surface.)
SARAH: Looks like we're too late.
DOCTOR: Several months too late, by the look of him.
[INT. Base]
(There is no lighting.)
DOCTOR: Anyone about? No-one about?
SARAH: Can't we have some lights?
DOCTOR: Probably the power's run down.
SARAH: That would account for the weak signal.
DOCTOR: Yes. Ah.
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: Automatic distress button. It all adds up. May have been running for months. High-capacity power cell dependent for sunlight on charging.
SARAH: So we're still in the solar system.
DOCTOR: We're still in a solar system, but what particular star provides the light and energy? Wherever we are, we're a long way out.
SARAH: I wonder what happened here?
DOCTOR: Hmm? Well, this is clearly the base for some kind of scientific expedition, possibly geological. Something went wrong, and they sent out a distress signal.
SARAH: And died before help arrived.
DOCTOR: Yes, something like that. A lost expedition.
SARAH: So, what are we going to do?
DOCTOR: So, let's go back to the TARDIS and fetch my spectromixer, and I'll fix our position by that star. Then I'll repair this power cell and try and make contact.
SARAH: Well, you can get on with that now. I'll fetch the spectromixer.
DOCTOR: Good idea. Would you do that?
SARAH: Why not? I know the way.
DOCTOR: Good thinking. What are you waiting for?
SARAH: The key.
DOCTOR: Oh. (He hands her the key.)
SARAH: Right. See you.
(She leaves. We hear an electronic sound, which prompts the DOCTOR to open the closet. He looks down on BALDWIN's corpse.)
DOCTOR: Sarah.
[EXT. Outside the TARDIS]
(SARAH makes her way through the jungle and returns to the TARDIS. She turns her head as she opens the door. At some level, perhaps she is aware that something is watching her beside the plants, which part for an unseen reason. VISHINSKY and the other two men arrive. They see the TARDIS and point their weapons in its general direction.)
VISHINSKY: Don't touch. Keep back. It may be a trap. (into his wrist communicator) Landing party to probe.
(SARAH carries a bag from the interior of the TARDIS and, in the console room, starts to remove items from it.)
[INT. Space probe's bridge]
SALAMAR: Understood. You've acted correctly. Do not attempt entry.
VISHINSKY [OC]: Shall we apply disintegrators?
SALAMAR: On no account. It'll yield essential information on hostile forces. Your orders are transpose object to probe. Out. Prepare the quarantine berth.
[EXT. Outside the TARDIS]
(The three men attach devices to the exterior of the TARDIS as someone crouches in the underbrush nearby.
Within the TARDIS, SARAH finds the spectromixer. She puts it in the pocket of her jeans and turns the control to open the doors. Nothing happens. She tries again, and nothing. She heads to the doors to open them manually. She begins pulling.)
VISHINSKY: All right. Stand clear.
(They do so, and the space-time ship fades away.)
VISHINSKY: Movement. Over there. Approach and identify yourself.
(A man approaches them.)
VISHINSKY: Professor Sorenson!
SORENSON: I've been observing you for some time. One has to be careful on this planet. Appearances can be deceptive.
VISHINSKY: You all right, Professor?
SORENSON: Oh, yes. It's nearly dawn. The days are quite safe.
VISHINSKY: But how are you? Galactic Mission Control received no word from you. They sent us to investigate.
SORENSON: I'm well. I'm, I'm more than well. My theory about Zeta Minor has proved to be true. Only last night I made the vital discovery in Sector 5.
VISHINSKY: Where are the others?
SORENSON: Baldwin returned to the base last night. He was suffering from, from fatigue. He'll be fine now. Come, I'll show you the way.
VISHINSKY: There were eight in your expedition.
SORENSON: Yes, we've, uh, had difficulties. Conditions are hard. We've lost some, but the important thing is the mission has been a success. We found what we came to find.
VISHINSKY: How many have you lost?
SORENSON: He'll be fine now. It's just tiredness. He needs a good rest. It's not far.
[INT. Closet at the base]
(The DOCTOR is examining a microscope and slides, near the dessicated corpse on the floor. When he looks up from his work, he finds the three men at the doorway, with guns pointed at him. SORENSON enters the room.)
SORENSON: Baldwin?
DOCTOR: He's dead.
SORENSON: Yes. Murdered. Just like the others.
VISHINSKY: (when the DOCTOR starts to move) Stay where you are.
[INT. Quarantine berth]
(SARAH operates the door control once more. This time, the doors open. She picks up the tool the DOCTOR had found on the surface and ventures outside. Behind the high railing of a balcony above stand SALAMAR and a guard, MORELLI.)
SALAMAR: Stand just where you are.
SARAH: Where am I?
SALAMAR: You are in orbit around planet Zeta Minor. You're a Morestran prisoner.
SARAH: I can't breathe.
SALAMAR: An oxygen type. Could be an Earthling. Transfer oxygen to quarantine area.
MORELLI: Command deck calling you, Controller.
SALAMAR: Right. Complete the quarantine procedures, and bring the alien to me. You see what she's holding?
[INT. Base]
(There is a rack of tools on the wall in the background, missing the item Sarah is holding, as VISHINSKY reports.)
VISHINSKY: He calls himself the Doctor. He's not of our world. Claims to have landed in response to a distress call.
[INT. Space probe's bridge]
SALAMAR: Have you checked the transmitters down there?
[INT. Base]
VISHINSKY: Yes, but any signal would have been monitored by our receivers.
DOCTOR: Perhaps my receivers are better than yours.
PONTI: Shut up!
DOCTOR: My manners certainly are.
[INT. Space probe's bridge]
SALAMAR: Can't Sorenson explain?
VISHINSKY [OC]: He's too shocked. His mental state is strained.
(SARAH is dragged in.)
SALAMAR: Understandable. We arrived just in time. And the prisoner?
VISHINSKY [OC]: Just repeats the same story.
SALAMAR: Keep a careful watch on him. I may have better fortune.
(We cut to the jungle for a moment, where something is crunching and crackling its way through the jungle, approaching a black abyss.)
SALAMAR: You picked it up?
SARAH: That's what I said. We picked up a distress call and landed immediately.
SALAMAR: Do you have any idea where Zeta Minor is situated?
SARAH: No, not exactly-
SALAMAR: It's beyond Cygnus A. It's as distant again from the Ortoro galaxy as that galaxy is from the Anterades. It's on the very edge of the known universe. You just happened to be passing when you received this distress call?
SARAH: Well, no, no, no. We were on our way to London, to Earth.
SALAMAR: To Earth? You said you came from Earth.
SARAH: Yes, we do. That is, I do. You see, the Doctor said we could (the communication system bleeps) we could be back-
SALAMAR: (into the communication system) Report.
MORELLI [OC]: Landing site moving to obverse. Decision to land on planet or continue in orbit imperative.
SALAMAR: We'll go in now, before night. (to SARAH) I think you and your friend the Doctor know much more about Zeta Minor than you want us to think. Take her away. Commence landing procedure.
(Crew members take up position at their stations.)
[INT. Base]
(The probe ship has a bouncy ride through the atmosphere. A ladder lowers, and armed men leave the ship. We see that it has landed beside the graveyard, next to the base.
We return to SALAMAR, who is listening to SORENSON this time.)
SORENSON: We'd only been working a few weeks when Lorenzo went. After that, Gura and then Summers. And then, for a while, it stopped. We thought that we were safe, that whatever it was had decided to leave us in peace, but it wasn't to be.
VISHINSKY: The killings always happened at night?
SORENSON: Oh, yes. The nights are the worst.
SALAMAR: Naturally. Any force of alien infiltrators is going to operate under cover of dark. A full and immediate confession would save you great discomfort.
DOCTOR: Discomfort? You mean you're going to torture me.
SALAMAR: Interrogate you. And nobody, Doctor, withstands Morestran interrogation for very long. Put him with the other prisoner.
(The DOCTOR is led away.)
SALAMAR: We must try and contact the home planet again.
VISHINSKY: Not a chance, Controller. This far out, we're on our own.
(PONTI and DE HAAN enter.)
SALAMAR: Well?
PONTI: We've searched a wide belt of the jungle in all directions. No sign of any other life.
SALAMAR: So that seems to narrow the killer down to our two aliens. Prepare to execute them.
[INT. Crew quarters at the base]
SARAH: Let's go, shall we?
DOCTOR: How?
SARAH: Through the window.
DOCTOR: They're magnetically locked.
SARAH: But the power is low.
(The DOCTOR stands and begins pushing the pane downward.)
[EXT. Outside the base]
(We hear a foreboding crackling noise as the MAN on guard duty does his rounds, heavy weapon in hand. When the DOCTOR and SARAH emerge from the window of the base, they see the outline of a hulking creature lumber forward. It is mostly invisible and composed of glowing red curves. As they back away, SARAH falls.)
The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl
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