The Dominators
The Dominators
This Story: Season 6, Story 1. Production Code TT
Overall: Story 44, Episodes 210-214
Airdates: 10 Aug 1968 to 7 Sep 1968
Written by Norman Ashby. Directed by Morris Barry.
Notes
- This story was originally six episodes long, but had one cut off and tacked on to the start of the next story, “The Mind Robber”
- The author Norman Ashby is a pseudonym for Meryn Haisman & Henry Lincoln, who were upset about the use of the Quarks and script edits. They refused to have their names on the script, and never were involved in the show again after this. The pair had previously written The Abominable Snowmen & The Web of Fear. Lincoln died in Mar 2022, and until his death, he retained ownership of the character of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, originally created for Web of Fear.
- On all tweets for this story I had this listed as “Story 45”, when it really should have been 44. That was an error I didn’t pick up until starting the following story, “The Mind Robber”.
- The dates on the tweets for Episode 5 were incorrect. I neglected to update the date from Episode 4 to Episode 5. They should have been 7 Sep 1968.
Links
[ Wikipedia | Tardis Data Core | SPS Historium | Amazon US DVD | Amazon UK DVD ]#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 210 - The Dominators 1/5 (Serial TT, Story 45) - 10 Aug 1968. #DoctorWho 1/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) March 15, 2022
This story always had a bad reputation, but I never had a problem with it. It's not the best, but not nearly as bad as most say it is. The Quarks were an attempt to create a new pic.twitter.com/klXbXTp4LS
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 210 - The Dominators 1/5 (Serial TT, Story 45) - 10 Aug 1968. #DoctorWho 2/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) March 15, 2022
regular enemy to rival the Daleks, and it failed big time. The story references the last ep where the Doctor projected mental images to Zoe. Always like that kind of stuff. pic.twitter.com/EA52voscex
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 211 - The Dominators 2/5 (Serial TT, Story 45) - 17 Aug 1968. #DoctorWho 1/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) March 17, 2022
Jamie & The Doctor are captured by the Dominators who test them for their usefulness as slaves. We run into the usual red tape in these societies - that nobody wants to believe the pic.twitter.com/cW0LXytFit
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 211 - The Dominators 2/5 (Serial TT, Story 45) - 17 Aug 1968. #DoctorWho 2/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) March 17, 2022
truth of what is going on. Some of the Dulcians begin to explore the planet on their own. I always loved the look of this story, but the plot isn't probably the most action packed. pic.twitter.com/Qkmkit6CQY
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 212 - The Dominators 3/5 (Serial TT, Story 45) - 24 Aug 1968. #DoctorWho 1/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) March 18, 2022
I always liked the look of this story in general, but the Dominators themselves have a really odd looking outfits, kind of like "vertical turtles". The Doctor & Jamie keep missing pic.twitter.com/DYWzmkcdJE
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 212 - The Dominators 3/5 (Serial TT, Story 45) - 24 Aug 1968. #DoctorWho 2/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) March 18, 2022
Zoe going back and forth from city to island. This story was cut from 6 episodes to 5, I submit it could have been cut to 4. Lot of back and forth in this. #YouStupidTinBox pic.twitter.com/mEeXlKYgn6
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 213 - The Dominators 4/5 (Serial TT, Story 45) - 31 Aug 1968. #DoctorWho 1/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) March 19, 2022
Thought of something else I don't like about the Quarks. They're really hard to understand - their speech is a way high register, and I needed subtitles in places! The Dominators pic.twitter.com/H4G9tUPQaQ
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 213 - The Dominators 4/5 (Serial TT, Story 45) - 31 Aug 1968. #DoctorWho 2/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) March 19, 2022
commence their drilling, continuing to use the Dulcians as slaves. Jamie leads a rebellion against the Quarks. The vertical turtles stomp around and act tough for most of this ep. pic.twitter.com/Z6vGm4mAfI
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 214 - The Dominators 5/5 (Serial TT, Story 45) - 31 Aug 1968. #DoctorWho 1/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) March 19, 2022
As much as I came down on this story in my tweets, I really don't hate it. The problem is there's a lot that I do like, but just slightly more that's boring or bad. It really isn't pic.twitter.com/zQH26RXinR
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 214 - The Dominators 5/5 (Serial TT, Story 45) - 31 Aug 1968. #DoctorWho 22
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) March 19, 2022
THAT awful, but just kind of "there". In the end, the Doctor puts the Dominators own bomb on their ship, so they blow themselves up. The Tardis crew escapes after the explosion. pic.twitter.com/JSLJNmlkcA