NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/rec/arts/drwho/7968

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-18 | 27.3 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!sun-barr!ames!saimiri.primate.wisc.edu!zazen!uwrf.edu!ph9991_manfr
From: [e-mail]
Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho
Subject: "The Tenth Planet" plot synopsis EPISODE 2 !SPOILERS*!
Message-ID: <1992Nov18.181010.355@rivers>
Date: 18 Nov 92 18:10:09 -0600
Organization: University of Wisconsin - River Falls
Lines: 559


I'm afraid I'm not getting nearly as much time at this "Tenth Planet"
synopsis as I wanted, but I'll keep at it.  I doubt, however, that episode
four will be ready by the promised date of the 29th Anniversary....
Additionally, you will notice this is not as elaborate nor as stylistic
a synopsis as I have done in the past, and that is a result of my semester
turning into high gear as we near it's conclusion.

Regular readers of my synopses may notice a trick I use where I smetimes
will directly quote passages of dialog and indent it from the rest of the
synopsis for emphasis.  I usually only do this at the story's climax or
at cliffhangers, but there is some very historic dialog in this story and
thus I have offset that.

Sad to hear that "blank tape" news, so perhaps many of you will now
ignore the spoiler warnings and keep reading this.

One note about credits....
Some of the opening and closing credits on this story contained spelling
errors.  I have preserved those errors for this synopsis.
Another note about the credits....
On "The Tenth Planet," the usual way of displaying the credits was not used.
This time, each new set of words would appear in white captial type against
a black background, and then be absorbed and taken away by a scrambled code
of certain letters of the alphabet, which then stops and reveals the next
credit.

SPOILERS!  for "Tenth Planet" ahead







FINAL WARNING!  SPOILERS!




DOCTOR WHO


The giant not in a parka silently regards the corpse at his feet, and
bends down to pull the man over on to his back.
As the giant straightens up, we see his face in terrible detail for the
first time...
...his face is blank...with no nose...a dark hole for a mouth.......
...a lantern-like lamp permanantly attached to the crown of its head....
...two hoses leading to the lamp from where ears should be......
...and completely blank eyes that aren't eyes at all...just dark holes...

...and he stares blankly into our eyes.....


THE TENTH PLANET

BY KIT PEDLER

EPISODE 2


Cutler is telling the Doctor that this is the most fantastic story he's
ever heard.   The Doctor can only repeat what he's already told the General,
that they can expect visitors from that other planet.
Cutler dismissed this as nonsense and steps out into the capsule tracking
control room.

Cutler asks for and receives an update on the capsule's position and course.
He then calls Zeus Four himself and assures the astronauts that everything's
under control and that they'll get them down as sure as God made little
apples.  He signs off and rebukes Barclay for moving a little slowly.
Barclay kneads his forehead as though he has a headache and Cutler asks
if he's alright, to which Barclay replies yes.

Outside in the snow, the three white "men" dress themselves in the parkas
of the dead soldiers, covering themselves sufficiently to at least create
some confusion in anyone who sees them.  Now clothed, they stride to the
doors to the base set in the snow-covered ground....

In Geneva, Secretary Wigner asks his staff to get him the Polar Base.
His secretary/technician informs him that they're having trouble there.
Wigner tells her to keep trying, and she acknowledges the order.
Wigner turns slightly worriedly to a television sitting on his desk,
and turns on the current news bulletins.  An American anchorman is telling
the world about the discovery of the new planet from the South Pole base,
and that its existence is being confirmed by observatories all over the
world.  A stagehand hands the man a bulletin on paper and he tells the
audience that now they have their first picture of their new neighbor
on space (courtesy of Mt. Palomar).
A still image of the new planet appears on the broadcast as the newscaster
goes on to say how some people have noticed its landmasses resemble those
of Earth, but that this is being hotly disputed in astronomical circles,
and that no general agreement has been reached yet.
The newscaster makes a special point to calm the audience with the fact
that Jodrell Bank is predicting the planet isn't on a collision course,
and that there is no danger whatsoever from this new planet.
Wigner turns off his set and hopes aloud that the newsman is right.
He asks his secretary about the Polar Base again and she tells him they
still can't get through, as there is some sort of interference.
Wigner asks what sort and the secretary says they don't know, but that
it seems to be coming _from_ the base.
Wigner again says that they *must* get in touch with the base.

Dr Barclay is telling the control staff to listen carefully, as the final
orbit is due to start in four minutes and ten seconds.  This is going
to be a very difficult job, and if the capsule's power falls too low,
he wants to take control from the base and for that he'll need the entire
team behind him.  "Base Reference One commencing now."

The Doctor looks up from a notebad scribbled with calculations and says
that the team must bring the capsule down _now_ and storms out of the room,
responding to Polly's "Why?" with the fact that the capsule can't last
another orbit.

The Doctor storms out of the observation room with his calculations in
hand, heading for Dr Barclay.  He looks at three men in parkas stepping
into the room in alarm and changes course for General Cutler.
He grabs the General on the shoulder and demands the General's attention.
Cutler just tells him, "Get away old man!" and orders who he thinks
is the Sergeant stepping into the room to take the Doctor away whilst
the Doctor turns to Barclay.
The parka-covered man pays the General no attention, and the General
leaps out of his chair barking his orders again at the insubordinate
Sergeant.
The man turns round to face the General, and pulls off his hood....to
reveal the non-human robotic head underneath....
Polly screams as the other two men remove their parkas as well.
Technicians leap out of their chairs in alarm until the General orders
everyone back to their places.
A soldier storms at the tallest of the three men, but is stopped in his
tracks when the man takes hold of a large lantern-like affair attached
to the base of an integrated chest apparatus.  The device glows brightly
in the soldier's direction accompanied by a high-pitched sound, and
the soldier falls dead to the ground.
Polly cries, "Oh no," as the Doctor herds both her and Ben back toward the
door to the observation room.
General Cutler seems to have been attempting some subterfuge of his own
as the tall man is threatening Cutler with the back of his arm.
Cutler resigns and the man lowers his arm, and Cutler tells him he
doesn't know who they are or what they are, but they have two men in
space and if they don't act now they won't get them back alive.
    "They will not return," says the man.
The man's voice is very odd, medium-pitched with each new syllable at a
new pitch and speed as though each sound was recorded at a different
directory in a speech dictionary.  The man's slit-mouth opens completely
wide when he speaks, stretching the man's flexible cloth-like face
with each sentence.
Cutler asks why the men won't return, and the tallest responds,
    "It is unimportant now."
Cutler protests that they simply must get them back.
    "They could never reach Earth now," replies the silver giant.
    "Don't you care?" asks Polly.
    "Care?" queries the man, "No, why should I care?" as though
    he doesn't understand Polly's question.
    "Because they're people, and they're going to die!" cries Polly.
    "I do not understand you," he answers, "There are people dying
    all over your world yet you do not care about them."
Polly begins to protest again, but the man ignores her and begins striding
the room as though he owned it, from the control platform down to the
technician's level, and he speaks again in his uneven timbre....
    "You will be wondering what has happened.
    "Your astronomers will have discovered a new planet, is
    that not so?"
Barclay confirms that it is so.
    "That is where we come from.  It is called Mondas."
"Mondas?" asks Barclay, "isn't that one of the ancient names for the Earth?"
    "Yes," replies the man, "Aeons ago the planets were twins, and
    we drifted away from you on a journey to the edge of space.
    "Now we have returned."
Ben tells the Doctor that he was right after all.
Barclay asks who they are, and what they are.
    "We are called Cybermen."
    "Cybermen?" asks Barclay.
    "Yes, Cybermen," he replies, "We were exactly like you once,
    but scientists realised that our race was getting weak.
    "Weak?" asks Barclay, "How?"
    "Our lifespan was getting shorter," answers the Cyberman,
    "so our scientists and doctors devised spare parts for our
    bodies until we could be almost completely replaced."
    "That means you're not like us!" cries Polly, "You're robots!"
    "Our brains are just like yours," defends the Cyberman,
    "except that certain weaknesses have been removed."
    "Weaknesses?" asks Barclay, "What weaknesses?"
        "You call them emotions, do you not?"
    "That's terrible!" exclaims Polly, "You wouldn't care about
    someone in pain?"
    "There would be no need," explains the Cyberman,
    "we do not feel pain."
Polly begins to protest that we do, but Cutler cuts her off by leaping
for the control for the radio link to Geneva.  He looks up triumphantly
at the Cyberman and tells him Geneva will now know there is an emergency.
    "That was really most unfortunate," says the Cyberman,
    "You should not have done that."

In Geneva, Wigner is conferring with his staff, and he sums up the situation.
"1) a new planet appears.  2) the Earth is losing its energy, 3) As the
planet gets nearer, the energy loss gets worse.  This in my mind connects
the two, exactly how I don't know."
Suddenly one of his secretaries interrupts and says there's an emergency
signal from the Pole.  Wigner asks what it said, and she says there was
nothing, that the signal went out again.  Wigner tells him to get them
on the emergency microlink.

Wigner's signal is being received in the base, and the leading Cyberman
orders Cutler to answer it and say that nothing has happened and that all
is well at the base.  Cutler refuses, and the Cyberman tells him that it's
an order.  "Go take a jump," spits Cutler.
The Cyberman raps out an order to one of its fellows, and the underling
steps forward to the General.  He presses his fingers into the skull of
the General, and the General slips into unconsciousness.
Members of the team move to assist the General but the leading Cyberman
tells them to all stay where they are.  Polly protests that they've
killed the General, but the Cyberman tells her that he will recover.
He points out that someone must still answer their commander in Europe.
The Cyberman looks at Barclay, and Barclay also refuses to obey.
The Cyberman now turns around and points at Dyson, asking which set of
equipment is the communication controls. Dyson nervously points them out,
to Barclay's dismay.
The Cyberman disconnects its lantern-weapon and raises it free of his body
and takes aim on the controls Dyson indicated.
Barclay hurriedly asks what he intends to do, and the Cyberman only says,
"You will see."
Barclay protests that if they destroy the controls, they won't be able
to contact the space capsule.  The Cyberman provides the alternative to
this when he reminds Barclay that their commander is still waiting for an
answer.  Dyson adds his voice and tells Barclay to do it, or else the place
may be destroyed.
Barclay agrees to their demands and opens the radio channel.  Instantly
Wigner comes on demanding to know what is going on.  Barclay assures him
it was all just a fault that they're working on now.
Wigner asks where all the interference is coming from, and that he can
hardly hear Barclay even on this band.  Barclay lies that they had the
moderator rods out of their nuclear reactor for a little while earlier
and that's what's causing the interference.
Wigner says he sees and instructs Barclay to radio as soon as they have
any further reports.  Barclay signs off.
Barclay looks incredibly guilty, but Dyson consoles him, telling him that
this way the space capsule will have a chance.
Barclay steps down to the technical deck and approaches the Cyberman,
telling him that they must let them try to get through to their astronauts.
The Cyberman turns to him and tells them again that it is impossible for
the capsule to get back now, as the pull of Mondas is too long.
Barclay asks him to let them try, and the Cyberman replies that this is
a foregone conclusion and they are wasting time, but if they do wish to
contact the capsule, he has no objection.
The technicians race into a flurry at their controls whilst the Cyberman
leader tells his soldiers that the crew may use their controls, but if
there is any attempt at deceipt they are to be killed at once.
He also orders the corpse of the unfortunate soldier to be removed whilst
he carries on detail.
As the Cybermen obey their orders and Barclay tries to contact the capsule,
Ben suggests to the Doctor that they make a break for it now for the TARDIS.
The Doctor sarcastically asks how they will do that, and Ben goes for
the dead man's discarded machine gun on the floor.
Ben picks it up but before he can bring it to bear, the Cyberman leader
shouts for him to stop.  Ben stops. The Cyberman orders him to "come here."
Ben steps to the Cyberman as told.
"You do not seem to take us seriously," says the leader, and he motions
for his soldier to confiscate the weapon.
Not only does he take the gun from Ben, but he bends the weapon to a ninety
degree angle.  All Ben can say is "Blimey."
The Cyberman orders his soldier to take Ben out and look after him.
As the soldier escorts Ben out of the room, the leader speaks to everyone
in the control room:
            "It is useless to resist us.
    "We are stronger and more efficient than your Earth people.
                  "We are to be obeyed."

The Cyberman escort opens a door and throws Ben into a small white-walled
room, where he trips over something sitting near the doorway and lands on
the floor to the sound of clattering metal.  Ben gets to his feet and
looks to see where he's been put, and it appears to be the base's theatre's
projection room as a film projector and numerous film cans litter the
place.

On board the Zeus Four space capsule, the tired and distraught astronauts
are given a final time to reentry by Barclay at the Polar Base.
Williams says they'll need a forward correction of seven degrees, and
so they fire their retro rockets to reorient the capsule slightly.
The new orientation checks out and Snowcap tells them to fire their retro
rockets to land in precisely twenty seconds.  Williams signals they're
ready and they begin a countdown to firing.
On time, Schultz fires the retro-rockets and both men are thrown against
their seat belts as the capsule rapidly changes direction.  The acceleration
stops with the end of the rocket firing and Williams tells Schultz to check
their velocity.  Schults looks at his instruments and says, worriedly,
that they're not down to re-entry velocity.  They're at 145 and they should
be down to 112.  Williams is almost panicked now and he tells Schultz
to fire the retros again, and quick.  Schultz pulls the lever and the
rockets begin to fire, when suddenly the cut out......
"Fuel's gone!"  says Schultz, and Williams manically calls down to Snowcap
and tells them their fuel's gone, and frantically asks if they have any
ideas.  As the capsule begins to pick up even more velocity, Schultz and
Williams struggle to put on their space helmets....

Dyson looks in concern at the base's radar screen and reports that the
capsule is accelerating.  Polly asks Barclay if there's anything they can
do and Barclay hopelessly shakes his head and says no, because the capsule's
retro fuel is completely gone.
Dyson reports that the capsule is heading out of orbit now with an enormous
acceleration.  It passes escape velocity, and all watch the figures of
the astronauts on the video monitors being squeezed by tremendous forces
of accleration.  Dyson begins to say, "They can't possibly...."
...when the monitors cut out.
The base crew slowly turn away from the screens with the silence of
empathisized tragedy.....
Polly asks the crew what happened, but no one answers her.
The Doctor steps to her side, places a hand on her shoulder, and tells
her gently, "I'm afraid the spaceship...exploded, my dear."
"You mean they're dead?" asks Polly.
The Cyberman Leader speaks up again, and says "Now perhaps you can see
that your planet is in great and imminent danger."
He strides across to the still-stunned Dr. Barclay and says, "In order to
save you we shall require information to be transferred to Mondas."
The Cyberman holds out a device to Barclay's face resembling a microphone
as the Doctor repeats his words, "Save us?"  and as Polly asks "What about
those poor men?"  The Cyberman responds to the Doctor's question and says,
"If you will co-operate."  To Polly he says, "Mondas drew the ship away.
It was unavoidable."
Barclay seems to come out of his daze now, and asks "Why? What is happenning?"
The Cyberman steps down to Dyson's control area and points his microphone
in Dyson's face.  "I will require your name," he says.
Barclay cries at him, "Tell us!"
The Cyberman turns almost reluctantly to face Barclay and he replies,
"The energy of Mondas is nearly exhausted and now returns to it's twin and
will gather energy from Earth."
"Gather energy?!?"  demands the Doctor.
Barclay asks for how long, whilst Dyson finally answers the question posed
to him and speaks his name and position into the microphone.
"Until it is all gone," says the Cyberman off-handedly and then he asks
for Dyson's age.
Dyson just looks at the Cyberman and says, "But that means that the Earth
will, will die!"
"Yes, everything on the Earth will stop," says the Cyberman dispassionately.
"You can't calmly stand there and tell us we're all going to die!" shouts
Barclay.
    "You are not going to die," says the Cyberman.
"How are you going to stop this draining of energy to Mondas?!?" demands the
Doctor.
"We cannot, it is beyond our power," answers the Cyberman Leader.
"How are we going to survive?!?" thunders the Doctor.
    "By coming with us," answers the Cyberman.
The Cyberman has now stepped to Barclay's side and asks for his name and age.
All Barclay can say is "With you?"
    "Yes, we are going to take you all to Mondas," says the Cyberman,
    "Age, please....."

Ben contemplates the metal screwdriver in his hand and imagines how ludicrous
it would be to attack "one of them geezers" with one.  He looks around the
room again for something to use on his captor, and finds the film projector.
He comes up with a plan.  He hopes to blind his guard by turning the
projector on the door.  Satisfies of a reasonable chance of success, Ben
douses the room's main lights and turns on the projector.   A Western
shines up on the door and surrounding wall that Ben recognizes, since he
saw it thirty years ago.
Ben steps to the side of the door and knocks on it hardly, shouting "Hey,
come in here!" repeatedly.  His Cyberman guard opens the door quickly and
immediately puts his hand to his eyes to shield against the bright light.
When he does this, Ben reaches over and grabs the Cyberman's lantern-weapon
from the base of his chest unit and says, "Now then Fred!"
The Cyberman recovers his vision and strides dangerously towards Ben.
Ben circles behind a small chair and the Cyberman flings the chair out of
the way with one swoop of his arm.  "Do not resist, give me that weapon,"
he orders.  "Sorry mate, I'm giving the orders now!" insists Ben.
The Cyberman continues to approach rather quickly even though Ben has the
gun trained directly on the Cyberman's chest.  Ben is almost pressed
against the wall now and he warns the Cyberman worriedly to get back.
The Cyberman ignores him and in fact readies a chopping blow to Ben's neck
when Ben fires the gun.
The Cyberman is bathed in light, and it falls dead to the floor.
Ben looks down sadly at the man's body, and almost weeps "You didn't give
me any alternative!"

Barclay is protesting the Cyberman leader's death sentence for the planet.
He notes that he hasn't seen any scientific evidence that Earth is now a
dying planet.  Dyson tells the Cyberman that they all prefer to take their
chances here.
        "You must come with us," states the Cyberman.
Polly tells him that they cannot go with them as they're so different from
them. "You've got no feelings!"
    "Feelings?" asks the Cyberman, "I do not understand that word."
    "The emotions!" shouts the Doctor, "Love, pride, hate, fear!
            "Have you no emotions then?"
"Come to Mondas and you will have no need of emotion," says the Cyberman,
            "You will become like us."
             "Like you?" Polly almost screams.
    "We have freedom from disease.  Protection against heat and cold.
          "True mastery!  Do you prefer to die in misery?"
"Surely it's possible for us not to die if we remain here," protests Polly.
As she says this, the form of General Cutler begins to stir on the floor.
              "It is inevitable," says the Cyberman.
                 "You don't mind if we all die then?" asks Polly.
             "Mind?" queries the Cyberman, "No, why should I mind?"
    The Doctor jumps to his feet, and *roars* "Mind?!?,  MIND?!?!?!"
    "Millions of people will suffer and die horribly!" cries Polly.
        "We shall not be affected," states the Cyberman.
   "Don't you think of anything except yourself?" asks an incredulous Polly.
    "We are equipped to survive.  We are only interested in survival.
            "Anything else is unimportant."
            "Your deaths will not affect us."
At this moment, Ben creeps into the room up on the entryway on his hands and
feet, carrying the Cyberman's weapon.  General Cutler sees him and crawls
closer to Ben, reaching up to Ben and motioning for him to hand him the
weapon, and Ben begins to.
    "I can't make you understand!" shouts Polly, "You're condemning us
            all to die!  Have you no heart?"
   "No," replies the Cyberman, "It is one of the weaknesses we have removed."
Cutler grasps the weapon firmly and swings it round on the leader, shining
its death-glow straight on him.  The Cyberman raises his hands and falls to
the floor.  Cutler quickly swings it round and fires and hits the second
Cyberman, and it too collapses dead to the floor.
With both Cybermen dead, Cutler seeks to regain control of his base again
and orders someone, anyone, to get him Geneva quick.  He also orders one
of his soldiers to get rid of the bodies of these things.
The Doctor looks down in slight disapproval at one of the bodies and he
tells the General he doesn't think he should have done that as they could
still have learned a very great deal.
Cutler tells him they may also have lost a very great deal, their lives.
He then asks if Zeus Four is down yet, and Barclay tells him they lost them.
Cutler's call to Geneva is ready and he speaks directly to Wigner.
Wigner tells him they observed the tragedy of Zeus Four from there.
Cutler tells Wigner they've had some problems, they've had more visitors:
part-men and part-robot that come from the tenth planet.  He tells Wigner
that three of them broke into the base and overpowered them.
Wigner asks what's happened to them now and Cutler says they overwhelmed them,
but that there will be more on their way.
Wigner immediately turns away from his phone and orders that all military
bases all over the world be placed on immediate alert.  He then turns back
to Cutler's voice and asks if he can handle another attack with his limited
resources.  Cutler says they can.
Wigner now changes the subject and says that they in Geneva sent up a single
astronaut in another capsule to help Schultz and Williams down.
Cutler asks if they want Snowcap to handle the tracking, and Wigner says yes,
but also that since this was a dangerous mission, they wanted volunteers.
Cutler's son volunteered.
Cutler looks as though someone has just walked over his grave, and tells
Wigner, "You've sent my son to his death, you realize that I hope."
Wigner tells him they can bring him down, and that this capsule has double
the energy reserves of Zeus Four.  Cutler says that he's going to need it.
Wigner asks him good luck and hangs up his hone.  He looks around his
staff and tells them, "If Cutler's right, we are about to fight the first
interplanetary war."

Military bases around the world go onto immediate alert and radars and
radio telescopes all turn on to Mondas and wait and watch for signs of
the ships from the Tenth Planet...

Cutler finishes updating his staff with the new information and tells them
all to get cracking.  He first gives technical instruction on the capsule
tracking and then contacts the security divisions, telling them to
double the guard on the main entrance, to set a trap outside using the
captured weapons, and to place guards on the fuel tanks.
He then contacts the base;s missile control and orders that all Cobra
anti-missiles be readied for launch.
Polly watches the cavalier and bullying manner with which Cutler gives
his orders and tells Ben she thinks he's a terrible man.
Ben agrees with her and tells her he wouldn't want him on the bridge.
Cutler steps over to the three and tells them they'll soon have this base
sealed up like a bottle.  The Doctor quietly doubts the General and
says, "I think you underestimate the Cybermen, General."
"That's what you reckon is it old man?" grumbles the General, "Well,
you're entitled to your opinions, so long as you keep them to yourself."
He then turns to Ben as if to make up for what he's just said and tells
him, "You did wll boy, killing that soldier."  Ben shrugs and morosely
says he had no choice.  "Well don't apologize!" shouts the General,
"He's dead isn't he?"  The General begins to turn and walk away when
Polly whispers to Ben, "He seems to be enjoying all this."
Cutler hears her and he turns and asks, "What's that?  What's that you said?"
Polly repeats what she said, and then Cutler cuts into her saying,
"Look missey, I've got a personal stake in this emergency.  That's my
son up in that capsule, and you know what happened to the last one."
Polly reconsiders now and says meekly, "I'm sorry."
Suddenly a technician across the room shouts "Sir!  General Cutler Sir!"
Cutler turns and looks at the radar technician, asking "What is it?"
"Early warning sir.  Unidentified!" he reports.
"Well identify it man!" orders the General.
The technician retunes his screen a little and speaks with a noticeable
quaver in his voice..."There's hundreds of them sir!"
"Hundreds of what man?" demands the General.
"Spaceships sir!  In formation!"  cries the technician....
..and on his screen...dozens and dozens of small white dots approach the
base and the entire Earth.....

END EPISODE 2

DR.WHO
WILLIAM HARTNELL

BARCLAY
DAVID DODIMEAD

DYSON
DUDLEY JONES

GENERAL CUTLER
ROBERT BEATTY

RADAR TECHNICIAN
CHRISTOPHER MATTHEWS

KRAIL
REG WHITEHEAD

TALON
HARRY BROOKS

SHAV
GREGG PALMER

BEN
MICHAEL CRAZE

POLLY
ANNEKE WILLS

WIGNER
STEVE PLYTAS

GENEVA TECHNICIAN
ELLEN CULLEN

T.V. ANNOUNCER
GLENN BECK

WILLIAMS
EARL CAMERON

SCHULTZ
ALAN WHITE

CYBERMAN VOICE
ROY SKELTON


TITLE MUSIC BY
RON GRAINER AND THE
BBC RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP

STORY EDITOR
GERRY DAVIS

DESIGNER
PETER KINDRED

PRODUCER
INNES LLOYD

DIRECTED BY
DEREK MARTINUS
BBCtv


(first transmitted 15th October 1966, no copyright date or notice on screen)


this synopsis by [e-mail]