The Wheel in Space
Encyclopedia
The Wheel in Space is a serial in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 science fiction television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

, which originally aired in six weekly parts from 27 April to 1 June 1968. This serial is the first appearance of Wendy Padbury
Wendy Padbury
Wendy Padbury is a British actress from Warwickshire, England. She is most famous for her involvement in various Doctor Who projects....

 as the companion
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...

 Zoe Heriot
Zoe Heriot
Zoe Heriot , or simply Zoe, is a fictional character played by Wendy Padbury in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...

.

Plot

The explosion of the mercury fluid link forces the Second Doctor
Second Doctor
The Second Doctor is the second incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by character actor Patrick Troughton....

 and Jamie McCrimmon
Jamie McCrimmon
James Robert "Jamie" McCrimmon is a fictional character played by Frazer Hines in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A piper of the Clan McLaren who lived in 18th century Scotland, he was a companion of the Second Doctor and a regular in the programme from 1966...

 to evacuate the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...

 to avoid mercury fumes, and until the mercury can be replaced, the craft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....

 is marooned. They find themselves on a space vessel, deserted apart from a Servo-Robot. The robot detects the intruders and in response redirects the rocket from aimless wandering. The shock of a course change causes the Doctor to hit his head, briefly concussing him. The robot also releases a group of egg-shaped white pods into space, and the mysterious things direct themselves toward a nearby spaceship shaped like a giant wheel, attaching themselves to its exterior by a seeming act of will. When the robot becomes aggressive, Jamie succeeds in destroying it, but the Doctor is very weak and collapses.

The Wheel is an Earth space station observing phenomena in deep space and is staffed with a small international crew. The crewmembers are concerned by the sudden drops in pressure, which, unbeknown to them, coincide with the pods attaching themselves to the exterior of the Wheel. Controller Jarvis Bennett is also worried that the Silver Carrier, a missing supply vessel eighty million miles off course, has suddenly turned up nearby and is not responding to radio contact. He decides to destroy it with the Wheel’s powerful x-ray laser.

Jarvis is only prevented from doing so when they hear a deafening burst of noise from the vessel. Jamie has managed to alert them to his presence aboard the Carrier and shortly thereafter he and the unconscious Doctor are both rescued and taken aboard the Wheel. While the resident medic, Doctor Gemma Corwyn, sees to the Doctor, Jamie is given a guided tour by the sparky young parapsychology librarian, Zoe Heriot
Zoe Heriot
Zoe Heriot , or simply Zoe, is a fictional character played by Wendy Padbury in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...

.

Gemma knows that Jamie is lying, so Bennett remains suspicious of the new arrivals, fearing they could be saboteurs opposed to the space program. He decides to use the x-ray laser on the Carrier now that the two refugees have been rescued, little realizing that the TARDIS is still on board. Jamie intervenes to sabotage the laser with quick set plastic.

Meanwhile, aboard the rocket, two pods similar to the ones, which attached themselves to the wheel, draw energy from around it. A three fingered silver hand punches it's way out of the top of one of them.

Jamie's sabotaging of the laser only further infuriates Bennett, especially as there is a potential meteor shower heading for the Wheel – and they now have no way to repel it. As a result of this Jarvis confines Jamie and the Doctor to the sickbay. When the Doctor recovers he does not approve of Jamie's action. He also remains groggy and unclear, but convinced that a major danger lurked on the Silver Carrier. Zoe has calculated that the ship did not drift to their sector but was deliberately piloted there. The Wheel’s crew, however, are more concerned with the impending meteor shower.

It turns out that the two large pods contained Cybermen, who discuss their plans with the cyber-planner (an immobile unit which is in control of the Cybermen) over a video communicator. The small pods they sent to the Wheel contained Cybermats and these have been sent to begin consuming the bernalium rods in the Wheel’s stores. The bernalium is essential to power the x-ray laser. The Cybermen have deliberately engineered the star in Messier 13
Messier 13
Messier 13 or M13 is a globular cluster of about 300,000 stars in the constellation of Hercules....

 to go nova, thus forcing the Wheel crew to look to their bernalium stores only to find them missing. When this happens the Cybermen expect the crewmen will instead come to the Silver Carrier for an alternate source of bernalium, which can then be transported into the Wheel – with a surprise inside.

Engineer Bill Duggan indeed has noted the depleted stocks and the presence of the Cybermats. His delay in reacting allows another crewman, Kemel Rudkin, to fall victim to the Cybermats. Jarvis Bennett overreacts with panic to this state of affairs, briefly stripping Duggan of his position and imposing tighter controls. The Doctor has a more practical solution – he uses the x-ray machine to scan inside a pod that has been found but cannot be opened. Jarvis sends two crewmen, Laleham and Vallance, to the Silver Carrier to look for bernalium. Once there, the Cybermen reveal themselves and take control of their minds. They then order Laleham and Vallance to take them to the Wheel and help them.

Laleham and Vallance are used to prepare the bernalium crates destined for the Wheel with two Cybermen hidden inside. This ruse works and the crates are soon aboard the Wheel. The Cybermat within the pod is easily identified, but Bennett does not accept the danger. Indeed, medic Gemma Corwyn, who has formed an alliance with the Doctor, fears for Bennett’s mental state, as he seems unable to deal with escalating events. Over time his behaviour seems to be becoming more and more bizarre and detached from reality.

Duggan and Leo Ryan are glad to have access to a new power supply for the laser, which they are slowly repairing. An engineer called Chang is killed by the emerging Cybermen when he is sent to fetch the new bernalium supply. They dispose of his body in an oven. Laleham and Vallance arrive at the laser with the bernalium supply for Duggan, who also falls victim to the same mind control process and becomes the third agent of the Cybermen. Duggan is sent to destroy communications with the Earth. He smashes the control panel and gets electrocuted in the process.

The Doctor has meanwhile deduced that the fortuitous supply of bernalium has a deeper significance. He has also reasoned that the late Duggan was being mind controlled and instructs Dr Corwyn to use a basic transistor system attached to each of the crews' necks as a means of repelling this technique. The Doctor and Jamie go to the loading bay and discover the crate's false bottom, which confirms the presence of the Cybermen aboard the Wheel. Behind them, a Cyberman is coming down the steps.

The Doctor and Jamie are undetected and the Cyberman leaves with some bernalium. However, they're ambushed by Cybermats. The crew use a sonic wave to disable all the mats aboard the Wheel. Gemma and Zoe show Jarvis a dead Cybermat, but he refuses to believe they're under attack. Gemma relieves Jarvis of his command as he's obviously unfit to be the station controller.

The death of Duggan is no obstacle to the Cybermen as another engineer, Flannigan, is found to replace him. Laleham is killed trying to subdue Flannigan when Vallance misses with a gun. A Cyberman takes control of Flannigan's mind. The Cybermen have invested time in repairing the x-ray laser, evidently needing it ready for use. Thus when the meteorites are finally due to hit they can be deflected and obliterated. The Cybermen want the Wheel intact so they can use its radio beam for their fleet to home in on. They want to invade the Earth, desperate for the planet's mineral wealth.

The human crew have managed to fully repair the x-ray laser and use it to defend against the incoming meteorites. The Doctor decides that he needs the time vector generator, which he earlier removed from the TARDIS. Jamie and Zoe are chosen for a space-walk to the rocket. Gemma shows them to the airlock, but hides in the oxygen room. She overhears Vallance and a Cyberman plotting to poison the air supply, and warns the Doctor before she is killed by a Cyberman. Meanwhile, Jamie and Zoe are caught up in the meteor shower.

Leo switches over to sectional air supply, meaning the Cybermen can't poison their air. Shocked back to consciousness by Gemma's death, the insane Jarvis Bennett is killed when he seeks revenge. Leo assumes control as the Doctor warns there is a vast Cyberman spacecraft heading for the Wheel.

The cyber-planner suspects that someone aboard knows of their methods. Vallance identifies everyone on-board, and the cyber-planner and Cybermen recognise the Doctor. The planner decides he must be killed. Jamie and Zoe tune into this conversation aboard the rocket and go back with the time vector generator to warn the Doctor.

The humans need to contact Earth, but Duggan's suicide mission made this impossible. They need spare parts. Flannigan pretends to be normal and says he will meet up with the Doctor in corridor 6 and give them to him. This is a plan by the Cybermen to ambush the Doctor and kill him. The Doctor suspects this and so goes through the air tunnels to the power room to fetch them. When the Cybermen don't find him in corridor 6 they order Flannigan to go to the control room and destroy the forcefield.

Jamie and Zoe get back, and Flannigan takes them to the control room. He is overwhelmed by Leo and Enrico Casali, the communications officer, and his conditioning is broken. The Doctor is cornered in the powerhouse by the two Cybermen and they reveal their plans to him (see episode 5 paragraph 2). When they try to destroy him he electrocutes one with a machine he wired up. A large group of Cybermen start spacewalking towards the Wheel. Jamie and Flannigan go to the loading bay and free Vallance from cyber-control. Flannigan uses quick setting plastic in a fire extinguisher to kill the last Cyberman, and he turns on the deflector shield, which deflects the Cybermen into space. The Doctor uses the time vector generator to boost the power of the x-ray laser and is successful in destroying the advancing Cybership.

With the invasion repelled, the Doctor and Jamie return to the Silver Carrier with the mercury they need to repair the TARDIS. They are accompanied by Zoe, who quietly stows away as the time vessel departs. She is determined to stay and so, to warn her of the dangers ahead, the Doctor uses a mental device to project images from his mind to the viewscreen, which tell her of his and Jamie's encounter with the Daleks in their search for the Dalek Factor.

Continuity

  • This story is the first time the Doctor uses or is referred by the pseudonym "John Smith."
  • A clip from The Evil of the Daleks
    The Evil of the Daleks
    The Evil of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in seven weekly parts from 20 May to 1 July 1967. This serial marked the debut of Deborah Watling as the Doctor's new companion, Victoria Waterfield.Evil was initially intended to...

    (1967) is used for a sequence where the Doctor shows Zoe, on the viewscreen, what she may face if she travels with him. This was used as a way to introduce a repeat of The Evil of the Daleks the week following the original broadcast of The Wheel in Space. The Doctor uses a clip from the end of Episode One of Evil, an episode which no longer exists in the archives; as a consequence, this is the only remaining footage from that episode. As things turned out, Zoe never encountered the Daleks on television; decades later, the Big Finish Productions
    Big Finish Productions
    Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...

     audio story Fear of the Daleks
    Fear of the Daleks
    Fear of the Daleks is a Big Finish Productions audiobook based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....

    would tell of an encounter between Zoe and the Daleks, set immediately after the Doctor's telepathic re-run.

Production

  • The story's working title was The Space Wheel.
  • This serial was the first time the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
    BBC Radiophonic Workshop
    The BBC Radiophonic Workshop, one of the sound effects units of the BBC, was created in 1958 to produce effects and new music for radio, and was closed in March 1998, although much of its traditional work had already been outsourced by 1995. It was based in the BBC's Maida Vale Studios in Delaware...

     were called upon to provide the backing score.
  • A brief clip from this story was later re-used in episode 10 of The War Games
    The War Games
    The War Games is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in ten weekly parts from 19 April to 21 June 1969. It was the last regular appearance of Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor, and of Wendy Padbury and Frazer Hines as companions Zoe...

    at the close of the next season.

Cast notes

  • Patrick Troughton did not appear in episode 2 as he was on holiday. Thus, a body double was used to substitute for the unconscious Doctor.
  • Deborah Watling's appearance in episode 1 was a recap from the end of the previous story Fury from the Deep
    Fury from the Deep
    Fury from the Deep is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in six weekly parts from 16 March to 20 April 1968...

    . Unusually, she received an on-screen credit for this appearance.
  • Michael Goldie previously played Craddock in The Dalek Invasion of Earth
    The Dalek Invasion of Earth
    The Dalek Invasion of Earth is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in six weekly parts from November 21 to December 26, 1964....

  • Kenneth Watson had played Craddock in the film version of, Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD
    Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD
    Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. is the second of two films based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. It was the sequel to Dr. Who and the Daleks , and starred Peter Cushing in his return to the role of the eccentric inventor and time traveller "Dr. Who". It also...

    .
  • Clare Jenkins would go on to briefly reprise her role as Tanya Lernov in the final episode of The War Games
    The War Games
    The War Games is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in ten weekly parts from 19 April to 21 June 1969. It was the last regular appearance of Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor, and of Wendy Padbury and Frazer Hines as companions Zoe...

    .
  • Donald Sumpter would go on to play Commander Ridgeway in The Sea Devils
    The Sea Devils
    The Sea Devils is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from February 26 to April 1, 1972.-Synopsis:...

    . He played Erasmus Darkening in the Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures
    The Sarah Jane Adventures
    The Sarah Jane Adventures is a British science fiction television series, produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies and starring Elisabeth Sladen...

    story The Eternity Trap
    The Eternity Trap
    The Eternity Trap is a two-part story of The Sarah Jane Adventures which was broadcast on CBBC on 5 and 6 November 2009. It is the fourth serial of the third series. The story involves the scientific investigation of a haunted castle.-Part 1:...

    .

Missing episodes

Only Episodes 3 and 6 exist in the BBC Archives. Episode 6 was transmitted from a 35 mm film print and retained in the BBC Film Library (although Episode 5 was not). A private collector obtained a copy of Episode 3 and returned it in 1983. A few other clips have been discovered as well.

In print

A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks
Terrance Dicks
Terrance Dicks is an English writer, best known for his work in television and for writing a large number of popular children's books during the 1970s and 80s.- Early career :...

, was published by Target Books
Target Books
Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well known for their highly successful range of...

 in March 1988. Only 23,000 copies of the paperback edition were circulated (reportedly due to stocks being destroyed in a warehouse fire), leading to this book becoming a rare collectible.

VHS, DVD and CD releases

  • Episodes 3 and 6 were released on VHS on Cybermen: The Early Years in July 1992
  • They were released on DVD
    DVD
    A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

     in November 2004 in the three-disc Lost in Time set.
  • All six episodes' original audio tracks were released on CD with narration by Wendy Padbury in May 2004.

External links



Reviews
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK