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DOCTOR WHO
DESTINY OF THE DALEKS

Written by
Terry Nation

Part One

[INT. TARDIS console room]

(The DOCTOR walks around the console with a component from K9, including circuit boards and connection cables.)
DOCTOR: What a brain. Oh ho, hmm, hmm, hmm. What a brain.
(K9 coughs.)
DOCTOR: Do that again - say 'Ah'.
K9: (crackly) Ah.
DOCTOR: Ah! Ah, laryngitis! How can a robot catch laryngitis? I mean, what do you need it for, hmm? Romana! Laryngitis?
VOICE [OC]: Doctor?
DOCTOR: Romana, the dog's got laryngitis.
(A young woman with elfin features enters from the back room. She looks, and is dressed, rather more like Princess Astra from the previous serial than Romana.)
DOCTOR: Sorry, I thought you were Romana. Have you seen her? (sets down the bit of K9's 'brain' and approaches her) (whispers) What are you doing here?
ROMANA: (whispers) Regenerating. (normal voice) Do you like it?
DOCTOR: Regenerating? What are you talking about, regenerating? Only Time Lords regenerate. Look, it's awfully nice to see you, Princess Astra-
ROMANA: Romana.
DOCTOR: Romana? Ah.
K9: (crackly) Ah.
DOCTOR: Shut up, K9. What are you doing in that body?
ROMANA: Regenerating. Do you like it?
DOCTOR: But you can't wear that body.
ROMANA: I thought it looked very nice on the princess.
DOCTOR: But you can't go round wearing copies of bodies.
ROMANA: Why not? We're not going back to Atrios, are we?
DOCTOR: No.
ROMANA: Well, then.
DOCTOR: Well then, go and try another one. Go on.
ROMANA: All right.
(She leaves the room, and the DOCTOR returns to K9's core.)
DOCTOR: What's the trouble here? Preoccupation with external appearances.
ROMANA: (in a blue-skinned body with silver headdress) I quite like this one but it's a bit short.
DOCTOR: Hmm? (he stands and proves her point) Well, lengthen it then. Go on. Trying to look like other people.
(She waddles off, and he returns to K9.)
DOCTOR: (mutters) Other people...
(ROMANA is now a statuesque brunette in belly-dancer gear.)
DOCTOR: It's just not important, is it, K9? (he looks up) (whispering) No, thank you. Not today. (he works with cables while ROMANA leaves again) It's what's on the inside that matters. That's what's important, isn't it, K9? Do you agree with me, K9?
(He looks up, and up.)
DOCTOR: Too tall. Take it away. (he returns to K9 but then approaches the door behind which Romana is changing) Now, listen. You listen to me in there. (knocks on the door) What you want is something warm and sensible. Something that will wear well. Something with a bit of style and, well, style. You know.
(She enters, wearing a familiar coat, a long scarf, and a hat set low on her face.)
ROMANA: How about this, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Exactly! Good heavens, that's exactly right. Ha! I never realised you had such a sense of style.
ROMANA: I thought you said external appearances weren't important.
DOCTOR: Ah, but it's nice to get them right, though, isn't it?
ROMANA: Ah, but it's what's inside that counts.
DOCTOR: Exactly.
(He removes her hat. Astra's smile fades.)
DOCTOR: Oh.
ROMANA: Don't you like it? I think it'll do very nicely. The arms are a bit long. I can always take them in.
DOCTOR: No, no, no, no. The arms are just fine. They're just fine. It's just that-. Oh, well. All right, have it your own way. But get rid of those silly clothes, eh?
ROMANA: Where are we going?
DOCTOR: I don't know. It depends on the Randomiser.
ROMANA: Let me know when we get there.
(The TARDIS materialises in the mouth of a cave.)
DOCTOR: We've arrived.
ROMANA [OC]: What?
DOCTOR: I said 'we've arrived'. We got there.
ROMANA [OC]: What's the place like?
DOCTOR: Eh? Oh, breathable atmosphere. High degree of seismic activity.
ROMANA [OC]: What?
DOCTOR: Lots of earthquakes.
ROMANA [OC]: Oh, seismic. I thought you said 'psychic'.
DOCTOR: Sidekick?
ROMANA [OC]: Like it? I haven't seen it yet.
DOCTOR: Look, if you want to talk to me, will you come in here and do it, please?
ROMANA [OC]: What?
DOCTOR: Never mind.
(She enters again, clad in a a pink trouser suit with a long pink coat and long white scarf. He is looking at the console.)
ROMANA: There, what do you think?
DOCTOR: (still looking at the console) Oh, that's fine, that's fine. Here, take a couple of those, will you?
(He hands her some pills.)
ROMANA: What are they for? (She swallows them.)
DOCTOR: Anti-radiation pills. The levels are quite high out here. Here's a bleeper that'll bleep when you need the next dose.
ROMANA: (as she takes the device) Right, let's see where we are.
(The scanner reveals the surrounding landscape)
DOCTOR: Oh look, rocks!
(The scanner's shutters close.)
ROMANA: Let's go.
DOCTOR: Good. Got to do something with K9.
(He places the component of K9 back inside the mechanical dog, whereupon K9 begins slowly spinning. He removes it.)
DOCTOR: You know the most important thing my cybernetics tutor ever taught me?
ROMANA: No, what?
DOCTOR: When replacing a brain, always make sure the arrow A is pointing to the front. Did you get that? Arrow A...
ROMANA: To the front.
DOCTOR: Absolutely right. (They leave the ship.)

[EXT. Cave outside the TARDIS]

(The TARDIS is sitting atop a small protrusion from the cave floor. There is a ledge that gives them just enough room to stand after debarking.)
ROMANA: Not the most inviting planet. (the DOCTOR casts his eyes about at the rocks; there is nothing obviously there) What is it?
DOCTOR: I don't know. A feeling I've been here before.
ROMANA: Déjà vu?
DOCTOR: Oui.
(He jumps down to ground level via other levels of rock.)
ROMANA: There's something you recognise?
DOCTOR: Nothing tangible. I just have a sensation. A pervading air of... Can you feel it too?
ROMANA: Shall we go back inside?
DOCTOR: What, and never know where I've been until the end of time? I wouldn't sleep at night. Come on.

[EXT. Rocks near the cave]

DOCTOR: Interesting.
ROMANA: Precious stones?
DOCTOR: Very precious. In a geological sense, more precious than diamonds, but I'd need a bigger bit. Aha! Ha-ha! Ha-ha! I was right.
ROMANA: How modest.
DOCTOR: Well then, see what you make of it.
(ROMANA swipes her finger across the stone the DOCTOR has picked up and tastes it.)
ROMANA: A composite material. Gravel in a binding of possibly limestone and clay.
DOCTOR: Limestone and clay making?
ROMANA: Add water? Cement.
DOCTOR: Add gravel.
ROMANA: Concrete.
DOCTOR: You know something? You've got all the makings of a first-class navvy. Concrete. Manufactured. (He drops it to the ground.)

[EXT. Ruins]

(The pair enter a scene where the remains of walls can be seen. A pipe sticks out of the rather less advanced-looking bits of wall.)
DOCTOR: Look! The ruins of a city?
(ROMANA shrugs slightly.)
DOCTOR: Come on.
ROMANA: Doctor. (the ground shakes) Those tremors.
DOCTOR: Yes?
ROMANA: Could they have destroyed it? Seems to be coming from over there.
DOCTOR: Let's go this way.
(They find more bits of metal and pipe. The sound we heard upon arrival, which could have been a steady wind, rises in pitch.)
ROMANA: I wonder what could have caused it.
DOCTOR: Don't know. Something fairly serious by the look of it.
(The noise continues to increase in pitch, and there is the sound of rocks shaking. They notice the ground shaking as the tremors build. As pebbles and bits of rock move about on the ground, they run back a way.)
DOCTOR: It seemed to be coming from right under our feet.
(The pitch falls.)
ROMANA: It sounded like drilling. What do you think it was?
DOCTOR: I don't know. Underworld dentist? Come on.

[EXT. Below the cliff]

(The DOCTOR and ROMANA hear falling stones and hide in a cave as dusty humanoids shamble into view. Several of them are carrying a body on a litter. They lower the litter at the base of the cliff.)
DOCTOR: Let's get closer.
(The GROUP remove the body from the litter. After placing it on the ground, they begin piling the cut stones on top of it. One sets about making markings on an upright slab in the pile.)
ROMANA: (standing with the DOCTOR at the cave entrance) A strange custom.
DOCTOR: Well, you try digging a hole through rock.
ROMANA: Like the living dead.
DOCTOR: What? The living dead? You mean a planet ruled by zombies? I want to know who lives on this planet. With one basic difference, the living are very much like the dead. Who was it said the living are just the dead on holiday? Never mind. You should meet one. You can always tell a genuine zombie.
ROMANA: How?
DOCTOR: Skin is cold to the touch. I want to get a closer look at that body.
ROMANA: They've gone! I'll keep watch.
(The DOCTOR starts to remove rocks from atop the body. He wipes the dust from the corpse's ID badge and returns to ROMANA. He taps her on the shoulder, and she starts.)
DOCTOR: Listen. Sorry, did I startle you?
ROMANA: Yes, you did! What did you find out?
DOCTOR: The deceased was a combat pilot serving with the Third Galactic Fleet of the planet Kantra.
ROMANA: Kantra? Kantra's a tropical paradise.
DOCTOR: Yes.
ROMANA: What's a Kantrian doing dying here?
DOCTOR: What's very odd, he died of exhaustion and malnutrition.
ROMANA: It's not surprising in a place like this.
DOCTOR: Except wouldn't you have expected him to have died of radiation first?
ROMANA: Look!
(A small silver spacecraft floats down from the skies.)
DOCTOR: Well, it's not a flying saucer. (they run out of the way as the ship comes in to land, and, as it eases its landing with repulser beams, they make their way behind a sandy hill and duck low) Recognise the type?
ROMANA: Not specifically. Judging by design and size, I'd say it had intergalactic range and time warp capability. Origin almost certainly star system 4X alpha 4.
(The ship touches down, point downward.)
DOCTOR: Well, without reference to my Jane's Spacecraft of the Universe, I wouldn't dispute that.
(The lower part of the ship begins spinning, drilling its way into the sandy ground.)
ROMANA: What's it doing now? I've never seen anything like that before.
DOCTOR: Yeah, interesting technique. Camouflage and defence.
ROMANA: For a place that looked dead, there's a lot going on.
DOCTOR: Yeah, probably hit it at the beginning of the tourist season. How far away would you say that was?
ROMANA: About a mile.
(Only the very top of the ship is visible now.)
DOCTOR: Well, that's just about the distance for a good bracing walk.
ROMANA: What, we're going down there?
DOCTOR: Yeah, well, it would be less than gracious not to welcome them. We can pretend we're couriers. Come on.
(The exposed part of the ship has a slightly sloping profile, and a hatch opens. The DOCTOR and ROMANA skitter down the sand toward it. A small explosion goes off in the sand near them. This happens again, and several more times. They head back for the ruins.)
DOCTOR: Come on, this way.
(They run past metal canisters with hoses in, into an old brick building, as the explosions get nearer.)

[INT. Building]

(Steps lead down into a dusty room containing disused equipment. It has seen better days.)
ROMANA: These explosions, where are they coming from? (They step over equipment.)
DOCTOR: I don't know. Got it. Underground drilling.
ROMANA: Why explosions?
DOCTOR: High-impact phason drills.
ROMANA: Here?
DOCTOR: Yes, someone's imported some high technology.
ROMANA: Doctor, look out!
(An explosion has affected the roof. The DOCTOR tries to stop a column falling on him but fails.)
ROMANA: Doctor!
(She removes rubble from his face, gets no response, and fails in her attempts to get the column to budge.)
DOCTOR: Can't a fellow get any sleep around here?
ROMANA: Are you all right?
DOCTOR: I don't know, I can't see all of me. My extremities seem unimpaired, but I'm being squashed. Can you take some of the weight?
ROMANA: No, I can't move it. Without this block, you'd have been flattened. You're lucky.
DOCTOR: We're not going to move this without help. K9 could do it if he was in one piece. I've got my-
ROMANA: I'll be as quick as I can.
DOCTOR: Good.
ROMANA: Will you be all right?
DOCTOR: Who knows?
ROMANA: Don't go away, will you?
DOCTOR: I'd rather hoped you'd resist the temptation to say that. Don't forget the arrow.
ROMANA [OC]: A to the front!
(We cut to her running away from the building and back through the ruins, then return to the DOCTOR. He pulls a book from his inside coat pocket and begins to read.)
DOCTOR: Origins of the Universe.
DOCTOR: Ha, ha. He got it wrong on the first line! Tut. Why didn't he ask someone who saw it happen?

[EXT. Outside the TARDIS]

(A dusty MAN with a coil of rope over his shoulder watches ROMANA and follows her. Within sight of the TARDIS, she falls on a piece of rock. Then an explosion occurs in front of her as the noise rises in pitch. More explosions throw up dust, and she coughs. When the noise has receded again and the dust has cleared, she rises to her feet and finds the path to the TARDIS covered in unpassable rubble.)
ROMANA: K9!
(Her anti-radiation pill timer begins bleeping. She pulls it out and looks at it, turning off the alarm and returning it to her pocket. She turns round, still being followed.)

[INT. Building]

(The DOCTOR's timer too begins to bleep. But he has a bottle of pills in his copious pockets.)
DOCTOR: Must remember to give Romana hers.
(He swallows a pill and returns to his reading.)
DOCTOR: 'The conditions existing on the planet Magla make it incapable of supporting any life form.' Ha. Ha. He. He obviously doesn't realise the planet Magla's an eight-thousand-mile-wide amoeba that's grown a crusty shell. I wonder what he does know.
(He closes the book. As he does so, he turns his head and sees three humanoid shapes in white quilted uniforms, which contrast against their darker skin. They wear silver belts, have high silver collars, and boast silver-coloured plaited hair. One of them also has a weapon, which is swiftly pointed at the DOCTOR. The other two weapons rise. The DOCTOR looks within the book again and closes it, then looks back at the new arrivals.)
DOCTOR: Good evening. You'll forgive me if I don't rise. It's, erm...
(We see ROMANA re-enter the building from the outside, with the dusty man still following her.)
ROMANA: (at the entrance) Doctor!
(The Doctor is gone. On the floor is his book, which she picks up. She glances at the pages to which it's open, throws it down, and starts to look around the building. As she makes her way round some old equipment, there is another explosion. When she turns toward the entrance to the room, her pursuer is there. She runs past him and backs away as he continues to approach. This causes her to fall down a metal-lined shaft. She falls to the ground, illuminated in a green glow. The man looks down the shaft and then begins tying his rope around a column.)

[INT. Ship]

(We are in a mostly white ship's interior with silver highlights. It boasts functional and uncluttered wall panels and makes quiet functional noises to itself. The DOCTOR is ushered in, and we hear the cycling of an airlock. The others set about their work in no hurry as he enters another room, where two further figures sit on padded white office chairs in front of control panels. He passes through this area and back into the space from which he'd entered. He stands beside one of his rescuers and begins to whistle, and he is paid no mind.)
DOCTOR: I must say how grateful I am to you charming people. (as he speaks, he passes a rack of six pink-tipped weapons of the sort pointed at him earlier, then approaches the figures sitting in padded office chairs and clears his throat) I repeat how grateful I am to you charming people. You lifted that column off me as though it were a matchstick. I, I can't think for the life of me where you keep your muscles.
(He has picked up an item, and it is removed from his hand by SHARREL, who, as are the others, is not of a heavy build.)
SHARREL: It is an essential qualification that all crew members are in peak condition.
DOCTOR: Oh, I see. Yes, part of their training, is it? Well, excuse me.
DOCTOR: Well now, I told you a little bit about myself. (he takes a seat on an off-white sofa while the others remain standing) What about you? What brings you to... What's this planet called, by the way?
SHARREL: You don't know?
DOCTOR: No, no. I had a little trouble with my directional equipment.
SHARREL: You made a forced landing?
DOCTOR: Yes, well, something of the sort.
SHARREL: Not a world one would visit from choice.
DOCTOR: No.
SHARREL: The planet is listed in our star catalogue as D5 Gamma Zed Alpha.
DOCTOR: Well, that's not much help. See, I'm terribly old-fashioned. I prefer names.
SHARREL: (standing in front of a viewscreen on which numbers, some of them hyphenated, flash in front of a star field) I believe the planet is called Skaro.
DOCTOR: Skaro?
SHARREL: You know it?
DOCTOR: (standing and whispering) What are you doing here?
SHARREL: The nature of our mission is secret. You'll understand, I'm sure.
DOCTOR: No, I don't understand. Why are you here on Skaro?

[INT. Building, shaft bottom]

(ROMANA comes to. She orients herself, looks up at the top of the shaft, and starts heading toward the strange sounds - moving rock and almost a quiet howling. We can see her reflection shaking in the black metal wall beside her. She soon has her hand held to the wall and has noticed this.
We return to a shot of the dusty MAN making ready his rope, before we hear a more distinct rumbling and see the metal wall in front of her shatter. The remnants of wall are pushed aside by Daleks, which glide past her as she flattens herself against a wall.)
DALEKS: Do not move! Do not move! Do not move! Do not move! Do not move! Do not move! You are our prisoner! Do not move! You are our prisoner!

The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl

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