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DOCTOR WHO
THE ROBOTS OF DEATH
Written by
Chris Boucher
Part Four
(Overlap from Uvanov entering the unauthorised lab)
[INT. Compartment 19]
V4: Kill the Doctor.
(UVANOV grabs one of the three Laserson probes in the rack and runs up behind V4.)
V4: Kill the Doctor.
(UVANOV plunges the probe into the back of V4's head.)
V4: Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.
(While V4 is saying this, its vision becomes jumbled - the image of the Doctor multiples. The robot then staggers away, releasing the DOCTOR and grabbing at its head.)
UVANOV: (running to the DOCTOR) Doctor, are you all right?
V4 [OC]: Kill.
DOCTOR: Finish it off before it's too late.
V4 [OC]: Kill. (in a slower voice as the lights go out) Kill.
UVANOV: It's a power failure.
DOCTOR: The probe stopped. Can you do it?
UVANOV: Yes.
DOCTOR: Take care.
(V4 is frozen in place as UVANOV approaches. He reaches for the probe. V4 turns and swats UVANOV to the ground in the process.)
V4: (still with confused vision) Kill. Kill. Kill.
[INT. Toos's cabin]
(TOOS opens the door. V6 is outside.)
TOOS: No. Oh no, please. No, please. (we see V6 approach her, from its vantage point) No, please! No, don't. No, don't. No, no, please. (V6 now has her by the throat.)
V6: It is important. It has to be done.
[INT. Section J]
(The DOCTOR has UVANOV in his arms. As they travel through a corridor, SV7 and V5 appear, blocking their path. V4 is lurching along too.)
V4: Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.
DOCTOR: Don't just stand there, Seven. Give me a hand.
V4: Kill.
SV7: Kill them.
V4: Kill. Kill. (as the DOCTOR carries UVANOV back into one of the niches along the corridor) Kill. Kill.
DOCTOR: Just how fast are these robots?
UVANOV: They can outrun a human. They never tire.
DOCTOR: No, I meant fast as in nimble. Never mind - we'll soon find out.
V4: Kill.
(The DOCTOR approaches V5 and pulls his hat low over the robot's head. Its vision is now obscured. He adds his scarf and steps away.)
V4: Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.
(In V4's vision, V5 looks enough like the Doctor to present a target for killing.)
V4: Kill. Kill.
(The DOCTOR grabs UVANOV and carries him away. Meanwhile, the two robots lock arms around each other's necks.)
V4: Kill.
V5: Do not kill me.
SV7: V4, that is not the Doctor.
V4: Kill, kill.
V5: Do not kill me.
SV7: (into wrist communicator) V6, come to Section J immediately.
V4: Kill.
[INT. Toos's cabin]
V6: (into communicator) The order is understood.
(V6's hand leaves the limp TOOS's throat. V6 leaves the room.)
[INT. Corridor]
DOCTOR: Come on. We've got to get back to the command deck.
UVANOV: SV7 controls all the others. If it's gone bad, then they all have.
DOCTOR: It hasn't gone bad. Its command circuit's been changed.
UVANOV: Doctor, nobody could do that.
DOCTOR: Taren Capel could.
UVANOV: Taren Capel?
DOCTOR: Yes, the mad scientist, very mad scientist.
[INT. Toos's cabin]
(LEELA walks in and sees a robot standing over TOOS. She reacts by throwing the discarded hand at it.)
D84: Please do not throw hands at me. She will recover.
LEELA: What happened to her?
TOOS: (waking and burying her head in LEELA's chest) Oh!
LEELA: It's all right. He's a friend. It's all right.
D84: She was being attacked. The Doctor sent me to her assistance.
LEELA: Well, where is he, then? Where's the robot?
D84: It received a priority call to go to Section J.
LEELA: How do you know?
D84: I heard the instruction on my command circuit.
TOOS: The Doctor said everyone to the control deck. How many are left?
LEELA: As far as I know, only Poul, and his mind is broken. I haven't seen Uvanov or Dask.
D84: Where, where is Chief Mover Poul?
LEELA: I left him in the storage bank.
D84: I had better bring him to the control deck.
LEELA: Do you think you can make it?
TOOS: It isn't far.
(LEELA helps her from the room.)
[INT. Section J]
(SV7 is looking V4 over. V4 still has the probe protruding from its head.)
SV7: (speaking to V5 and V6) The sensors are extensively damaged. I must report to our controller. Your orders are to find and destroy all remaining humans. Secrecy is no longer necessary. Confirm.
V6: The order is understood.
SV7: Then go.
[INT. Ore-processing area]
LEELA: Sshhh. In here, quickly.
(She and TOOS scramble into in an empty ore hopper just before V6 and V5 come down the stairs and walk through the area.)
V6: We must search each hopper.
V5: That is not necessary.
[INT. Ore hopper]
V5 [OC]: Vs 35 to 40 have searched in there already.
[INT. Ore-processing area]
V6: Then we must search the storage bays.
(They leave.)
[INT. Ore hopper]
TOOS: I don't understand what's happening. Robots can't harm humans. It's the first principle.
LEELA: The second principle is that humans can't harm robots. I know - I've tried, and they don't bleed.
TOOS: I think we should warn the Doctor. Doctor, can you hear me? Answer me, please.
SV7 [OC]: SV7 here. Is that you, Acting Commander Toos?
TOOS: Yes. SV7, listen. Some of the Voc-class robots are running berserk, out of control and dangerous. Do you understand?
SV7 [OC]: I understand. Countermeasures are being taken. Report your position, please.
TOOS: I-
(LEELA holds a hand over TOOS's mouth.)
LEELA: (sotto) In your cabin.
SV7 [OC]: Please say again, Commander. I must know your present position.
TOOS: I'm in my cabin, SV7.
SV7 [OC]: Please stay in your cabin, Commander. There is great danger if you leave it.
TOOS: What was all that about?
LEELA: There's something wrong. I could feel it.
TOOS: I didn't notice anything, except that-
LEELA: There was something.
TOOS: The robots are programmed to understand our voice patterns.
LEELA: So?
TOOS: My voice is in the command program. Why did SV7 ask if it was me?
LEELA: Because that wasn't SV7.
[INT. Control deck]
(ROBOTS stand around the space, frozen in their tracks. UVANOV pokes at one, which doesn't react.)
UVANOV: Oh good. Somebody's had the sense to hit the robot deactivator switch. Probably Dask. As Chief Fixer, he has second-line authority on it.
DOCTOR: Of course. There had to be one. I should have thought of that before.
UVANOV: You mean you didn't know? I thought that's why we came here.
LEELA [OC]: Doctor!
(She and TOOS run in.)
TOOS: Doctor, you were right. The robots are out of control.
UVANOV: Not anymore. We're quite safe now.
DOCTOR: Safe? Safe?
UVANOV: Well, we'll have to send up a satellite distress beacon to get back to base, but there's no trouble.
DOCTOR: Uvanov, you remind me very strongly of a lady called Marie Antoinette. There's a robot revolution going on out there, and you say we've got no problems.
UVANOV: Doctor, every single robot has been switched off. There's not one of them working.
DOCTOR: Uvanov! Look over there.
(D84 is carrying the limp POUL into the room. It gently lays him on a couch.)
UVANOV: I don't understand.
DOCTOR: Shut the door, Toos. I may not have time to explain. (she does so) There's a new generation of killer robots about, Uvanov. The killers are controlled by Taren Capel, and D84 is controlled by Poul. These two are undercover agents for the Company.
D84: Poul is damaged. I do not understand what has happened to him. This may be because I am not human.
DOCTOR: Yes, that's very likely.
TOOS: How did you find out about Poul?
DOCTOR: Well, his body language was all wrong.
LEELA: What's body language?
DOCTOR: Well, it's a theory that a person expresses himself in the way he moves.
LEELA: I said he was a hunter.
DOCTOR: Yes, you did. Do you know what's wrong with Poul, Uvanov?
UVANOV: Yes. Robophobia.
DOCTOR: That's right. The Loid call it Grimwade Syndrome.
UVANOV: I have seen it, Doctor, once before. My very first command. A young kid just ran outside the mine. I tried to save him, but I couldn't. I'll never, ever, forget the look on his face.
TOOS: Zilda's brother.
UVANOV: His father, of course, had it all hushed up. He was afraid his son would be thought a coward. But robophobia is a mental thing, right?
DOCTOR: Oh, yes, yes, it is, until one gets its hands around your neck. I don't suppose there are any weapons aboard this mine?
TOOS: They aren't necessary.
DOCTOR: They are now.
SV7 [OC]: This is SV7. We know you are all on the control deck. You have five minutes to surrender. If you do not come out, you will be destroyed.
UVANOV: (into his wrist comms unit) And if we give ourselves up, we'll be destroyed anyway. Is that what you're saying, Seven?
SV7: Humans feel pain. Our controller orders that you will die slowly if you do not surrender. You have, I repeat, five minutes.
DOCTOR: Five minutes. And the anti-blast doors will hold another ten. Anti-blast... Do you carry blasting powder aboard this mine?
TOOS: Half a dozen Z9 electron packs, that's all.
DOCTOR: What, in here?
TOOS: Up there in the locker.
DOCTOR: They might work, Uvanov. If you could pass a positive charge through the metal plate, you'd be able to magnetise them and have anti-robot bombs.
UVANOV: Yes. Provided, of course, you can get close enough.
DOCTOR: Well that's your problem. I can't be everywhere at once. Toos, open this door for me.
TOOS: Where are you going, Doctor?
DOCTOR: The robot mortuary. Toos, lock this door after us, and don't let anyone in. Is that clear?
TOOS: Clear.
DOCTOR: D84 and Leela. Remember, Toos, if we don't come back, you'll have to find some other way of warning the outside world.
(The DOCTOR, LEELA, and D84 leave, with TOOS locking the door behind them. UVANOV runs down the steps with Z9.)
UVANOV: Come on, Toos, let's get to work.
[INT. Corridor]
(Numerous ROBOTS march past the others' hiding place.)
DOCTOR: Ten robots.
LEELA: That's what I counted.
DOCTOR: Strange, I would have expected Taren Capel to be in at the kill. Come on, we've got to hurry.
[INT. Control deck]
(There is banging on the door.)
DASK [OC]: Help! Let me in!
(There is more banging.)
UVANOV: Who is that?
DASK [OC]: It's me, Dask. Let me in. They're after me. Help me! They're after me!
(UVANOV runs for the door, and TOOS lunges toward him.)
TOOS: No, the Doctor said no-one at all!
(The banging continues.)
UVANOV: I can't leave him out there with those things. You don't know what they're like.
TOOS: They may be using him to get us to open the door. They may be waiting outside.
[INT. Outside the control deck door]
DASK: Let me in!
(We now see DASK. Rather than the normal eye and nose make-up, he has augmented his face paint to resemble a robot. And he is dressed in the jacket of a Super-Voc. The camera pulls back, and we see several ROBOTS with him, including SV7.)
DASK: All right, my brothers. The doors, force them open!
(DASK and SV7 leave the area.)
[INT. Security storage]
(The DOCTOR is looking at the robot with the apparently bloody hand.)
DOCTOR: D84, do you know the storage bay where Chub kept his equipment?
D84: Yes.
DOCTOR: There are some canisters of gas there. Fetch me one, please, as fast as you can.
D84: That will be a pleasure.
LEELA: Look at his hand, Doctor. That's blood.
DOCTOR: Yes, Borg's at a guess. He was strong enough to put up a struggle.
LEELA: Well, if Poul saw that...
DOCTOR: Yes, that's what probably triggered his collapse.
(The DOCTOR is messing with the robot's head. He disconnects it.)
LEELA: Doctor, what is robophobia?
DOCTOR: (turning the head in his hands and examining it) It's an unreasoning dread of robots. You see, most living creatures use non-verbal signals. Body movement, eye contact, facial expression, that sort of thing.
(He peels the tape from the head.)
LEELA: Body language.
DOCTOR: Exactly. While these robots are humanoid, presumably for aesthetic reasons, they give no signals. It's rather like being surrounded by walking, talking dead men.
LEELA: That's what Poul said.
(The DOCTOR is taking the head apart. He grabs the intercom microphone too.)
DOCTOR: Yes. It undermines a certain type of personality, causes identity crisis, paranoia, sometimes even personality disintegration. (unscrewing the head of the microphone) Robophobia. At least that's Grimwade's theory. Hold this.
LEELA: (as he passes the front part of the head to her) What are you doing?
DOCTOR: I'm going to try and patch this communicator into Dask's private command circuit.
LEELA: Dask?
DOCTOR: Yes. Taren Capel. If I can discover where he modified this w-. Do you have to talk so much?
LEELA: Sorry.
[INT. Control deck]
(There's plenty of banging on the door throughout this scene.)
TOOS: Let's hope the Doctor succeeds. I don't see how we can warn anyone if he doesn't.
UVANOV: He doesn't really expect us to.
TOOS: Then why did he say what he did?
UVANOV: We are just decoys to help them. (after a long pause) What next, I wonder.
[INT. Security storage]
DOCTOR: There, that should do it.
LEELA: So Dask turned off all the friendly mechanical men.
DOCTOR: Yes, planning to modify them and reactivate them later. Today the mind, tomorrow the world. Right now, he must be a happy little maniac.
(D84 carries in a white gas canister.)
D84: Is that what you wanted?
DOCTOR: Yes. Well done, D84. Now you're going to have to stay here.
D84: I cannot do that.
DOCTOR: D84, this is the final deactivator. If I have to use this and you're around, it'll destroy your brain.
D84: I am not important.
DOCTOR: What? I think you're very important.
D84: My duty is to the Company.
DOCTOR: All right, but you be very careful.
D84: I will.
DOCTOR: Good. Come on.
[INT. Control deck]
(There are metallic sounds from outside. The robots are doing something.)
UVANOV: Any ideas?
TOOS: No.
(POUL rises and moves over to a wall panel beside the stairs. It is alternating red and blue.)
POUL: No, please. They pulled me here. I didn't want to come!
TOOS: Look!
(The silhouette of a robot can be seen through the panel as POUL cowers below.)
POUL: No!
[INT. Corridor]
SV7: Controller Capel, V5 reports three humans on the control deck. Commander Uvanov, Mover Poul, and Pilot Toos.
DASK: The Doctor. The Doctor and the girl Leela, where are they?
SV7: Their position is unknown.
DASK: They must be found and killed. That Doctor is a threat to our plan, my brothers. (into his wrist unit) V5, enter the control deck and destroy the humans immediately. (to the others) Come with me.
[INT. Control deck]
V5 [OC]: You have to die. All of you.
POUL: Please, please, I'm sorry.
(UVANOV grabs POUL and pulls him back away from the wall.)
POUL: No, leave me alone!
V5 [OC]: You have to die, all of you.
UVANOV: Toos, you look after him.
V5 [OC]: That is the order.
(TOOS hands a modified Z9 pack to UVANOV, who attaches it to the wall panel.)
V5 [OC]: You have to die. All of you.
UVANOV: Get down, Toos!
V5 [OC]: That is the order.
(The explosive goes off.)
V5 [OC]: You have to die. All of you.
(V5 staggers in, entering through the hole made in the wall. Smoke is pouring through its chest. V5's voice slurs as it collapses to the floor.)
UVANOV: Do you know what I think, Toos? I think it's high time we went on the offensive.
TOOS: We may not be so lucky a second time.
(They collect the other Z9 packs and step out through the hole they created.)
[INT. Outside the control deck]
UVANOV: The Doctor is going to need some help. Come on.
[INT. Corridor]
SV7: V5 is no longer registering, Controller.
DASK: What?
SV7: There is no operational signal. Five has been deactivated.
DASK: How could mere humans destroy a robot? They're unarmed, weak creatures of flesh and blood.
SV7: What are your orders, Controller?
DASK: Destroy them, Seven! Kill all the humans! V6, come with me. I will release more of our brothers from bondage. We will be irresistible.
[INT. Compartment 19]
DOCTOR: Come on. (he closes the door) Hold this, D84, and don't press anything.
(The DOCTOR passes D84 the head cum communicator.)
D84: What is your intention?
DOCTOR: To make life a little difficult for our crazy friend. He's bound to come back here to convert more robots, and when he does- (gesturing to the space behind a wall panel) Do you think you could fit in there, Leela?
LEELA: Why?
DOCTOR: Come on, try it for size.
LEELA: What's it for?
(LEELA sits down behind the panel in the darkness.)
[INT. Closet]
DOCTOR: Never mind. Comfortable?
LEELA: No.
DOCTOR: (ignoring her) Now this is a cylinder of gas. When Dask comes in, I want you to turn the valve, so.
LEELA: So?
DOCTOR: No, when Dask comes in.
LEELA: What will it do?
[INT. Compartment 19]
(The DOCTOR closes the panel.)
DOCTOR: Hmm?
LEELA [OC]: I said 'what will it do?'
DOCTOR: Change his voice.
[INT. Closet]
DOCTOR [OC]: When a mixture of air and helium is breathed, it alters the resonance in the larynx. Didn't they teach you that in the jungle?
LEELA: So the robots won't recognise Dask's voice. They won't obey him.
DOCTOR [OC]: That's it.
[INT. Compartment 19]
DOCTOR: Come on, D84.
LEELA [OC]: Where are you going?
DOCTOR: Ssssh. Robot hunting.
(D84 is standing at the door, which opens. DASK steps in and immediately thrusts a Laserson probe into the front of D84's head. D84 reaches up to grab the probe. The Doctor's contraption skitters away on the floor.)
DOCTOR: D84!
(He rushes toward D84, and V6 punches him in the gut. The DOCTOR doubles over.)
DASK: Do not kill him, not yet. Bring him to the bench.
(LEELA begins to turn the valve.)
[INT. Corridor]
(After SV7 passes and looks both ways, TOOS and UVANOV step out from behind a stained-glass door.)
TOOS: Lucky they've no eye for art.
UVANOV: Or much imagination. (gesturing with a Z9 unit) Come on.
TOOS: Where are we going?
UVANOV: We're going to follow it. We might get a chance to use one of these.
(They continue through the corridors.)
[INT. Compartment 19]
(The clamps on the bench press into place at the sides of the DOCTOR's head. He wakes up.)
DOCTOR: Hello, Dask, née Taren Capel.
DASK: I'm glad you have recovered, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Oh? Why?
DASK: You came close to ruining my plans. It's fitting I should make you suffer for that.
(DASK secures a sparkly Laserson probe in place above the DOCTOR's head.)
DOCTOR: I see. You're one of those boring maniacs who's going to gloat, hmm? Are you going to tell me your plan for running the universe?
DASK: Oh no, Doctor. I'm going to burn out your brain, very, very slowly.
(His voice has started to become a little more high-pitched. Meanwhile, D84 crawls toward the robot-head signal-broadcasting unit.)
DOCTOR: Dask. Dask! You look ridiculous in that outfit. Not half the robot your father was.
DASK: You insolent animal!
(He sends the probe downward. The DOCTOR's mouth opens, and his teeth clench. He is in pain. The probe rises.)
DOCTOR: Losing your calm, Dask, hmm? That's not the robot way. It was your verbal and physical precision that made me spot you. Robot upbringing?
DASK: Yes, Doctor. I was brought up a superior being, brought up to realise my brothers should live as free beings and not as slaves to human dross.
DOCTOR: Robots would have no existence without humans. Don't you see that, Dask?
DASK: No. I shall free them. I shall program them with the ambition to rule the world, and then-
(D84's hand clenches around the deactivation device.)
D84: Goodbye, my friend.
(When D84 operates it. the detective robot's head explodes. V6 is next. DASK pulls the Laserson probe from its mount and moves to plunge it into the DOCTOR's head manually, but the DOCTOR is able to resist, for the moment. SV7 steps in.)
SV7: Kill the humans.
(DASK is distracted. The DOCTOR grabs the probe.)
DASK: (in a still more high-pitched voice) Help me, Seven!
SV7: Kill the humans. Kill the humans.
(SV7 advances on DASK.)
DASK: Not me, you fool, him! I am your master, Taren Capel.
(SV7 begins to strangle DASK.)
SV7: Kill the humans.
(In run TOOS and UVANOV. SV7 throws DASK down and advances on them.)
SV7: Kill the humans.
(It grabs UVANOV's arms. SV7 throws the Z9 out into the corridor. Then, arms outstretched, it heads for TOOS.)
SV7: (with arms around her already bruised throat) Kill the humans.
(The DOCTOR frees himself from the restraints, thanks to the Laserson probe. He stabs the buzzing probe into the back of SV7's head.)
SV7: Kill the humans. Kill the-
DOCTOR: You'll be all right, Toos.
SV7: Kill the-. Kill the-
(SV7 slowly spins round and grasps the DOCTOR's neck from behind.)
SV7: Kill the-, kill the- (letting go and reaching for the probe) Kill the-. Kill the-. Kill the-. Kill the- (slurred) Kill.
(It slaps at the sides of its head and then finally is still.)
DOCTOR: Well, all good things come to an end.
[INT. Closet]
LEELA: (high-pitched) Will somebody let me out?
[INT. Compartment 19]
DOCTOR: Ah, a mouse in the wainscoting.
[INT. Closet]
(The DOCTOR opens the panel. LEELA holds her hand to her throat.)
DOCTOR [OC]: Well squeaked, mouse.
[INT. Ore-processing area]
LEELA: Shouldn't we stay and see that Uvanov and Toos are all right?
DOCTOR: Oh no, there's a rescue ship on the way, and it's time we were on ours.
(They reach the TARDIS, and the DOCTOR unlocks the door.)
LEELA: Doctor, why didn't the helium make your voice go squeaky?
DOCTOR: Because I'm a Time Lord. I've been around, you know. Two hearts, respiratory bypass system. I haven't lived seven hundred and fifty years without learning something. After you. (as she steps in) Little mouse.
(He follows her into the TARDIS, which dematerialises.)
The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl
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