[ Index for this Doctor ]
[ Index for this story ]

The Earth hangs in space. As we listen, the words of famous speeches from the year 1963 crackle via radio waves, Doctor Martin Luther King Jr's voice can be heard from the "I have a dream" speech, as well as President Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech and his last public address to a college's gradutation..... Slowly, a dull metallic yellow thing, a large, mean spaceship moves towards the planet, and takes up a hovering position, and it waits....

REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS
by Ben Aaronovitch

PART ONE

A professional-looking woman walks down a London street towards a van and gets in the back. The van is parked in front of a school, and the students are leaving for the day. A sign indicates the school's name is Coal Hill School. Down another street, we see the Doctor and Ace walk from the direction of the parked TARDIS towards the school. Ace has a ghetto blaster tape deck slung on her shoulder blaring out a heavy metal track. A small blonde girl in school uniform near the school stares at Ace and Ace stares back. The Doctor notes the staring is most likely due to Ace's clothing and her boom box, which he shuts off. The Doctor becomes interested in the van and wants to investigate, but Ace is complaining of hunger pangs. He tells her there is a cafe down the road, and he gives her 1963 currency. He also gazes at her asking if she's carrying any nitro-nine explosives in her rucksack, and she replies, a little worriedly, "No." She leaves, but as she does so, the little girl returns and continues to observe the Doctor

Ace enters a cafe, where Beatles music is playing on a jukebox. A young, blonde, blue-eyed man reading a newspaper notices her entry and is a bit incredulous at both her clothing and the boom box she places on a table. Ace goes to examine the jukebox.

The Doctor stands on the van, examining and measuring its aerial device which continues to pan around. The girl continues to watch him, as he realises from the panning motions that the antenna is tuning into something coming from the school.

Ace is having trouble getting service, when the young man comes to her aid by bellowing parade-ground style, "Oi! Harry, customer!" Harry, the cafe owner, responds, and when he comes out, he calls the young man Mike. Ace orders four bacon sandwiches and a coffee and pours out her money bag, to find the currency system to be totally unfamiliar.

The Doctor has moved on into the school playground, where the little girl is playing hopscotch. The hopscotch board is surrounded by four dark blue patches of a clayish substance which the Doctor bends down to examine, and as he does so, the girl runs away. He pulls out his abacus, does some calculations on the hopscotch board, laughs and turns away. As he leaves the playground for the street, the girl watches him again, and sings a schoolgirl's song, with these words..."Five, six, seven, eight, it's a Doctor at the gate....."

The Doctor suddenly runs back to the van, opens the back door, and climbs in. Inside is a wide array of electronic radio equipment and tracking devices, and the professional-looking woman is operating them. She at first assumes the Doctor to be someone she is expecting and tells him to get on the radio to tell the Group Captain that she thinks she's discovered the...."source of magnetic fluctuation perhaps?" completes the Doctor. The woman turns and sees who it is. They at first discuss the nature of the fluctuations, and both concur they are artificial in origin. The woman then asks who the Doctor is and he says he's the Doctor. She says her name is Professor Rachel Jensen. Suddenly, a voice calls from her headset, and she listens. She says she's on her way to the voice on the other end.

Ace and Mike are walking together down the street, Mike attempting to explain the monetary system to Ace. Ace finally gets it and Mike asks her where she's from. She says Perivale. She asks a little more about the money, when Rachel calls from down the street, "Sergeant!" Mike runs up to her and Rachel tells him that the Group Captain is under attack and that they have to get moving. The two take to the front of the van, and the Doctor calls out to Ace from the back and bundles her in with him. As Mike starts the engine, Rachel says that someone called Matthews is hurt, and that the Group Captain is at the secondary source on Totter's Lane.

In a large, half-empty junkyard, an RAF Group Captain with dark hair and a clipped moustache looks worried and confused as he studies the dead body of a soldier lying on the ground. He hears a van pulling close and he looks up. Mike drives the van through a crowd of onlookers and shows his military I.D. to policemen guarding the gate to the scrapyard, the sign on the door identifying the yard to belong to "I.M. Forman" and the address is 76 Totter's Lane.

Once inside and parked, the Doctor and Ace immediately climb out, the Doctor leading all four to the Group Captain. He asks the Group Captain what the situation is. The Group Captain first asks who the devil the Doctor is, and the Doctor introduces himself and Ace, and then remarks that the Group Captin must be with the military. The Group Captain demands to know how the Doctor knew that and the Doctor sarcastically replies that he's just very perceptive (the uniform gives him away just a bit!). The Group Captain asks Rachel if the Doctor's with her and she says yes. The Group Captain orders Mike to set up a position by another van and that he take Ace with him. He then leads Rachel and the Doctor to the body for them to examine.

The Doctor finds no evidence of tissue damage but identifies massive internal displacement to the dead man's organs. Rachel speculates that the cause was the blast, but the Doctor says it's the result of a projected energy weapon. First Rachel, and then the Group Captain query this death ray theory, and then the Doctor asks if there are reinforcements coming. The Group Captain says there are, and the Doctor doesn't look happy about it. The Doctor crouches behind some junk and peers at a lean-to structure across from him, and remarks to himself how disgustingly predictable the Group Captain's responses are.

Mike has armed himself with a machine gun, and he and Ace reach the van Mike calls inside for a Allison Williams and he asks if Blue One is responding. Allison, a young, long-haired blonde woman climbs out from the back, taking off a radio headset and says that yes they have responded. She also asks how Matthews is and Mike says he's dead. she asks if he's sure and Mike nods.

The Doctor returns to the Group Captain and points and the lean-to shed saying that whatever fired that weapon was trapped in the shed, with no other way out. The Group Captain asks how he's sure and the Doctor says it's because he's been here before.

Another van drives in, and a squad of about another dozen soldiers climbs out under a Sergeant's orders. The Group Captain addresses them and says they have an armed hostile pegged up in the shed, that he wants the squad to cover the entrance, and that there is to be no firing unless he gives the command. He warns them to keep under cover. He tells the Sergeant to take two men and clear away the civilian onlookers, which they do. He then orders Mike to take two men and get Matthew's body out of the way. The Doctor comes up to the Group Captain and warns that he doesn't realize what he's dealing with here. The Group Captain doesn't think so, and assures the Doctor that these hand-picked men can deal with the problem, providing they can see it. He orders them to take up positions.

Mike covers the two soldiers who go to get the body. They take his arms and begin moving him back.

From inside the hut, some thing observes the soldiers. Alien script scrolls across the bottom and sides of a telescopic blue targeting screen. The crosshairs of the targeter focus on the right-hand soldier...

A fat, bright blue blast of energy sears through the air, impacting the right soldier in the chest throwing him into the air and back at least ten feet into a large chunk of sheet metal leaning against the brick wall, the light so bright that the man's skeleton is visible. He falls limp and dead to the ground.

The Doctor tells Ace to keep down, and the Group Captain orders covering fire. The entire squad pelts the shed with machine gun fire for about ten seconds, and then the Group Captain orders them to cease fire. Rachel risks running across the yard to the Doctor and the Group Captain and asks what that blast was. The Doctor says it was her death ray, but she protests that the ability to transmit focussed energy at that level is beyond the realm of current technology. The Group Captain asks the Doctor what is going on, and the Doctor tells him he must pull his men back now. The Group Captain says that's impossible and orders the Sergeant to fire a rocket grenade spread at the shed on his command. The Doctor accidentally calls the Group Captain "Brigadier," and he replies that his name is Group Captain Gilmore. The Doctor insists that Gilmore possesses nothing that will be effective against what's in the shed. The Sergeant informs them that the grenades are ready, and he orders them to be fired. The Doctor swears, "Humans!" under his breath.

Three grenades his the shed and it bursts into flame. Gilmore orders Mike to call on the radio for more men and an ambulance. Mike heads for the radio van. Ace remarks that she is impressed by the weapons fire. The Doctor insists again that no matter how many men get there, it won't make any difference. Gilmore insists that since he just had three high-explosive grenades put into a confined area, nothing remotely human could have survived. The Doctor says that's the point. "It isn't even remotely human."

Mike reaches the van and begins calling up the reinforcements. As he speaks on the radio, the telescopic sight begins to focus on him again, although this time the truck is somewhat shielding his form. A second bolt of blue bursts through the air, Mike hears it and ducks, and the shot flies straight through the open doors of the truck, blowing up a stack of barrels beside the wall.

Deciding not to wait for orders this time, the entire squad again opens fire on the shed. They pour it on until Gilmore orders them to wait for a target. They stop.

From out the burning structure, a squat, dull grey-blue pepper-pot shape glides across the ground into full view, and its eye-stalk scope surveys the entire scene.

Gilmore orders the squad to fire on it. Their shots simply ricochet off its casing, whilst the Dalek returns fire.

The Doctor cries out to the squad to aim for its eyepiece, but his voice is lost in the maylay. He turns to Ace and demands she give him some of the nitro-nine she isn't carrying. She hands him two deodorant cans saying they're her only two cans. he asks how long the fuse is and she says ten seconds. He runs behind the squad and stops behind a ruined brick wall, probably once part of a structure.

He shouts out to it, "Oi! Dalek!" and tells it it's him, the Doctor. His taunts eventually have an effect, as the Dalek turns away from the RAF squad and glides towards him. Gilmore orders the squad to cease fire. The Doctor places the nitro-nine cans at the base of the brick wall and pulls the caps off, starting the fuses. He counts and runs as the Dalek starts to round the corner. When he gets to eight, and the Dalek is next to the wall, the cans explode, and the wall falls.

When the smoke clears, the Dalek's casing's top-half has been destroyed by the falling bricks. The Doctor stumbles to his feet, Ace helping him up. he complains that it wasn;t ten seconds before the cans went off. Gilmore orders a guard to be placed on the Dalek casing, and that Command HQ be informed they'll be returning at once. He also orders a weapon's team armed with ATR's to proceed to the Coal Hill School.

The Doctor bundles Ace into the driver's seat of the nearest van, and as he brushes himself off, he explains that the thing attacking them was a Dalek, and that he's disappointed that it was the wrong Dalek. Ace is having trouble starting the engine, until the Doctor pulls the choke. Mike runs over and asks them what they think they're doing, and the Doctor says that they're borrowing his van. Ace steps on the gas, and barrels out the junkyard, knocking over some barrels on the way. Mike smiles.

As she drives, Ace asks where these Daleks are from. The Doctor says they're originally from Skaro, the mutated remains of a species called the Kaleds. At this point, Ace misses a turn, to the Doctor' annoyance, and as soon as they emerge from a short tunnel, Ace is in the passenger's seat and the Doctor is driving, to Ace's surprise. The Doctor explains that the Kaleds were at war with the Thals, and that the resulting mutations from the nuclear war were accelerated by the Kaled's chief scientist, Davros, and he placed his creation into a metal war machine. Ace asks for clarification that the metal machine had a creature inside controlling it, and the Doctor says she's exactly right. he goes on to say that all through their history, the Daleks have wanted to conquer as much of the Universe as they could, and Ace asks if they are now out to conquer the Earth. The Doctor says no, since they did that in the 22nd century. Now they're after the Hand of Omega. Ace asks what that is and he says, "One thing at a time" because they have arrived at the school.

Gilmore and Mike are entering their HQ, but they stop at the entrance as Mike introduces Gilmore to a Mister Ratcliffe, a shortish man probably in his Fifties. Mike says Ratcliffe has brought some of his men and that they might be of some use to the RAF. Ratcliffe seems very eager to please, and introduces himself with a military clip of his heels In the HQ radio room, Rachel asks Allison what she thinks they should do. Allison says that since Rachel is the Chief Scientific Adviser, it's her decision. Rachel says she wants to catch up with the Doctor before she makes any decisions.

the Doctor and Ace enter the schoolyard, the little blonde girl watching them again.

Inside, the school Headmaster is pinning up a bulletin on a bulletin board. He initially mistakes the Doctor for someone applying for the job of School Caretaker, but the Doctor corrects him, and asks if he can have a quick look round the school. The headmaster says it's out of the question. The Doctor says it's because he thinks there's a great evil at work somewhere in the school, and the Headmaster initially hedges again, then suddenly a new look comes across his face. He raises his hand to his left ear and then suggests that perhaps it would be alright if they did indeed have a quick look around.

Back at the HQ, Gilmore asks if the anti-tank rockets are being issued. Mike says yes, they are, and that an additional consignment is on its way to the school. Gilmore asks if there's any news on the Doctor's whereabouts, and Mike says their van has been seen in the Coal Hill Area. Rachel asks what's happening to the Dalek casing, and Mike says it's under guard and safe.

Two men lift the remains of the Dalek casing onto the back of a truck under Ratcliffe's supervision. They pull a canvas cover on top of it and pull away, to reveal the two guards lying either dead or unconscious on the ground.

Ace and the Doctor enter a science lab classroom in the school, and Ace lies her boom box on a table. She asks if he was expecting these Daleks and he says yes, because they're following him. She pauses to look at a book about the French Revolution on the table, then sets it down as the Doctor calls her over to a window. From this second-story window, he tells her to look at the playground and at the four burn-marks forming the corners of a square around the hopscotch board. She says that they're the landing pattern of some kind of spacecraft. She then asks why in her time she hadn't heard about it, and he asks why she didn't hear about the Yetis invasion of the Underground or the Zygon's attack with the Loch Ness Monster. Ace asks what the Daleks are after if they're following him, and he says that when he was in this place before, he left something behind. She asks if it's the Hand of Omega and he says yes. She asks again what the Hand is, and he simply replies it is something very dangerous.

Ratcliffe pulls the canvas covering off the lower half of the dead Dalek, and a Dalek voice orders him to report. He moves into the adjacent room, where a black-helmeted humanoid figure sits in the base of a Dalek, turned toward an advanced set-up of computers and viewscreens. We cannot see its face. Ratcliffe tells it that they've recovered the machine and that the Doctor is helping the military. The Dalek-thing replies with slightly humanistic tones to its voice that it was expecting thism and that is must be informed of his movements. Ratcliffe says he'll have him followed. Ratcliffe asks what that Dalek machine is, and the person in the Dalek chair says it is merely a tool and nothing more.

The Doctor and Ace continue to explore and find the door to the cellar. The Doctor suggests they look down there, and also says that the marks in the playground were from a spaceship carrying more Daleks.

They creep together into the cellar, Ace wishing she had some more nitro-nine. She pulls an aluminum baseball bat from her rucksack for a weapon. At the bottom of the stairs, they find a raised dias backed up by two large, moderately tall consoles with plug-in interfaces rather than controls. lights on both consoles flash quitely to the throb of sound emanating from the apparatus. Ace remarks that this is some severe technology, and the Doctor tells her that this is a matter transmitter, transmat for short. He opens one of the consoles and begins to explore the circuitry inside. He is attempting to locate the source of the other end of transmission when Ace notices that something is activating the transmat, and indeed, the lights are flashing more brightly, and something is beginning to fade into existence on the dais. At first, it appears to be a large mutant-like creature, but then the exterior begins to solidify and they see that it is another full Dalek, this one being colored differently than the one at the scrap yard, in gold and cream. The Doctor says this is excellent and Ace asks if this one will be friendly. As the Doctor says no it won't, he beging to fiddle with the circuits and makes an adjustment to the transmitter. The nearly-corporeal Dalek suddenly glows bright yellow, suffers a kind of energy explosion, and vanishes into oblivion. Ace asks what the Doctor did to it, and as he examines the now defunct transmat, he explains he triggered a de-phase. "I persuaded one half of the Dalek to materialise where its other half was materialising, and the two halves tried to coexist in the same point. The resulting reaction destroyed it. Dangerous things transmats."

Ace asks if this means no more Daleks can be transported through here, but the Doctor responds that it'll only slow them down a bit until the operator can repair the systems.

Ace asks, "the operator?"

The Doctor responds, "Yes, the Daleks usually leave an operator on station in case of any malfunctions."

And Ace worriedly looks at her Professor asking, "and that would be another Dalek?"

The Doctor also looks up worriedly now, saying "Yes."

Suddenly, a cream and gold Dalek cruises in from the right, screaming, "Stay where you are! Do not move!!"

The Doctor tells Ace to run for the stairs. She runs all the way, but he trips on one of the lower ones. Once up, Ace bumps into the Headmaster. He knees her in the stomach, and then deadbolts the door to the cellar.

The Doctor reaches the top of the stairs and shouts at Ace to open the door, but Ace lies still on the floor. He looks behind him and gapes....as the Dalek, with its base glowing a livid rocket-red, jets its way UP THE STAIRS. And it screams, and it yells, and it promises the age-old Dalek battlecries: "YOU ARE THE DOCTOR. "YOU ARE THE ENEMY OF THE DALEKS! "YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED! "EXTERMINATE!! "EXTERMINATE!!! "EXTERMINATE!!!!" And its telescopic scope-eye focusses on the face of the Doctor....

END PART ONE

The Doctor
SYLVESTER McCOY
Ace
SOPHIE ALDRED
Rachel Gilmore
PAMELA SALEM SIMON WILLIAMS
Mike Allison
DURSLEY McLINDEN KAREN GLEDHILL
Ratcliffe Harry
GEORGE SEWELL HARRY FOWLER
The Girl Headmaster
JASMINE BREAKS MICHAEL SHEARD
Embery
PETER HAMILTON DYER
Dalek Operators
JOHN SCOTT MARTIN
CY TOWN
HUGH SPIGHT
TONY STARR
DAVID HARRISON
NORMAN BACON
NIGEL WILD
Voices
ROY SKELTON
ROYCE MILLS
BRIAN MILLER
JOHN LEESON
Stunt Arranger and Stuntman
TIP TIPPING

Teleprinter Operator Typists Dead RAF Man
SIMON HARBORO FRANCES TANNER NEIL LYNDON JOHNSON
REBECCA KNIGHT
Association Men
MATTHEW KING
TOMMY CHARLTON
ALEC GIFFORD
STEVE LITTLE
RAF Truck Driver School Teacher Police Constables
PAUL VAUGHAN RAY MARTIN PETER GATES FLEMING
CHRIS ANDREWS
RAF Men
ROBERT TERSON
JACK TALBOT
NORMAN WARREN
IAN BODENHAM
STUART SMITH
IAN JOHNS
DEREK VAN WEENAN
RICHARD HADDON
BILL MALIN
TONY ASPIN
ROSS MURRAY
DAVID SKINNER
LEE RYAN
CHARLES HUNTER
Female Onlookers
LINDA KENT
TINA SCARSFIELD AND CHILD
KELLY MURRAY AND CHILD
JUDY COLLINS AND CHILD
INA CLARE
AVERIL DEAN
ALISON McGUIRE
WYN McLEOD
SELINA GILBERT
PAM WARDELL
Male Onlookers
LEE TOWSEY
FRANK NOVAK
PETER WHITAKER
JUDD SOLO
RONNIE ALDEN
ALFRED ROGERS
TOM GANDL
Girls
ZOE MORGAN
TAMSIN BREAKS
ZOE BARRY-HUGHES
ANNA STEVENSON
HERO TREW

Title Music Composed by
RON GRAINER
Incidental Music and Theme Arrangement
KEFF McCULLOCH
Special Sound
DICK MILLS
Production Managers Production Assistant
IAN FRASER ROSEMARY PARSONS
MICHAEL McDERMOTT
Assistant Floor Managers
VAL McCRIMMON
LYNN GRANT
OB Lighting OB Sound
IAN DOW DOUG WHITTAKER
LES MOWBRAY
Ob Cameramen Vision Mixers
ROBIN SUTHERLAND SHIRLEY COWARD
BARRY CHASTON FRED LAW
Technical Co-Ordinator Studio Camera Supervisor
RICHARD WILSON ALEC WHEAL
Properties Buyer Studio Lighting
CHRIS FERRIDAY HENRY BARBER
Studio Sound Film Cameraman (model shots)
SCOTT TALBOTT WILLIAM DUDMAN
Design Assistant Costume Assistant
BRIAN SYKES ANDREW DUCKETT
Dressers
DEBBIE ROBERTS
PIPPA ROWLANDSON
MICHAEL JOHNSON
DAVID HUGHES
DAVID BAILEY
Make-Up Assistants Floor Assistant
JANE COLE LOUISE PERCIVAL
LESLIE ALTRINGHAM
CARMEL JACKSON
Production Operatives
LES RUNHAM
DAVID DIBDEN
JOHN WHELTON
MARK EARLES
BILLY MULLAN
Armourer
DOUG NEEDHAM

Visual Effects Designer
STUART BRISDON
Make-Up Designer
CHRISTINE GREENWOOD
Costume Designer
KEN TREW
Video Effects
DAVE CHAPMAN
Video-Tape Editor
HUGH PARSON
Graphic Designer
OLIVER ELMES
Computer Animation
CAL VIDEO
Finacne Assistant Producer's Secretaries
HILARY BARRATT KATE EASTEAL
LORRAINE GODDING
Production Associate
JUNE COLLINS

Script Editor
ANDREW CARTMEL
Designer
MARTIN COLLINS
Producer
JOHN NATHAN-TURNER
Director
ANDREW MORGAN

episode copyright BBC-Tv MCMLXXXVIII

this synopsis by Steven Manfred

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Move on to the Next Episode

[ Previous ] [ Home ] [ Up ] [ Next ]