The Dominators Episode 5

The one where the Doctor blows up the Dominators' ship...

Surprise, surprise! Rago steps in to stop Toba's bloodthirsty threats, just like almost every other cliffhanger/ resolution in this sorry tale. Did the production team really think the young viewers of 1968 were that stupid? It's the same ending every week! Why would they keep coming back for more of the same? What a lacklustre way to launch a new season!

The one positive thing about this story, and particularly the last couple of episodes, is how strongly written Jamie is. Too often he's by the Doctor's side just to ask questions and be the light relief, but The Dominators shows him to be resourceful and determined, teaming up with Cully to blow up Quarks and cause as much disruption for the Dominators as possible. He's a man of action again, and it's great to see the character shine here.

The Jamie/ Cully pairing has been quite successful, if unusual. I mean, it's two men in skirts running around a sandpit, clutching one another and trying not to let the camera see something it shouldn't, but there's a chemistry there, both between the actors and characters. Cully is inspired and fired up by Jamie's chutzpah. Jamie is basically everything Cully wishes he was, and Arthur Cox puts so much into what little he's given, and comes out of this story with much to be proud of (even if he is dressed like a curtain shop). Oh, and while I remember, Jamie gets his own back on Cully's voyeuristic peek up his kilt in episode 4 by having a quick gander up Cully's hem here!

"These Quarks are appallingly dangerous," says the Doctor, and Patrick Troughton sounds about as convinced as the viewer is. The only time the Quarks achieve anything tangible is when they blow up inanimate objects, like Cully's ship or the research centre, although they do manage to paralyse Cully's right side in this episode. Otherwise, they're pretty easy to incapacitate, whether it's by tripping them up with a bedsheet, or sitting on them. The Quarks, as in-universe fictional killing machines, are as cloddish and cumbersome as the real-world costumes, and are entirely unbelievable as a major threat. I've always found it amusing that the Doctor used a Quark as an example of one of the terrors he's faced in The War Games episode 10, and baffling why the Quarks turned up so often in the Second Doctor's comic strips!

The Dominators' plan is to drill through the thinnest section of Dulkis's crust in order to create a volcano, then drop a radioactive seed device into the magma to turn the entire planet into a "vast molten mass of radioactive material" to act as a fuel source for their fleet. Now come on, that's a pretty epic and inspired plan, and suddenly the stakes are raised a hundredfold (signs of script editor Derrick Sherwin's uncredited input into this episode?).

But the Dominators aren't the only ones with inspiration, as Jamie comes up with the perfect way to stop them. He suggests digging a tunnel at right angles from the bunker to the drop shaft, and intercepting the seed device when it's released (this flashes me back to the climax of The Dalek Invasion of Earth). "It's a brilliant idea!" exclaims the Doctor. "So simple, only you could have thought of it!" Ha-ha! Poor Jamie!

And so while the Doctor, Zoe, Teel and Kando dig, dig, dig for victory, Jamie and Cully, the Dangerous Brothers of Dulkis, use some homemade explosives to launch an assault on the Quarks. The Doctor manufactures these test tube bombs using materials from a first aid kit, but I'm not at all sure how. Perhaps it's best not to know, but one thing's sure: if you're going to make some of your own at home, you're going to need some "number 9 pills"...

And with the seed device intercepted, the Doctor (or somebody who looks vaguely like him) runs across the surface of Dulkis to deposit it inside the Dominators' ship, before it takes off and... BOOM! It explodes in mid-air. The best thing about all this is the split-second frame of Ronald Allen screaming "OBEY!" before he blows up. It's on screen for barely any time at all, but his contorted face, so different to his usual impassiveness, is startling.

The Dominators is a poor opening gambit for Doctor Who's sixth season. It looks and feels cheap, lacking all of the sophistication and atmosphere of Season 5. The acting is poor, the script is poor, and the Quarks are silly. The only people to come out of it all with any amount of dignity is Barry Newbery for his set design, Arthur Cox for his refusal to let the poor quality overwhelm his personal contribution, and Ronald Allen, for being a pretty good villain. Let's hope things improve...

First broadcast: September 7th, 1968

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Jamie's action hero resourcefulness is great, and he even uses his grey matter to come up with the winning plan!
The Bad: The Doctor cooking up explosives from the contents of a first aid kit is surely not feasible (although I don't suppose we know what's inside a Dulcian first aid kit).
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ (story average: 4 out of 10)

NEXT TIME: The Mind Robber...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode 1; Episode 2; Episode 3; Episode 4

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/the-dominators.html

The Dominators is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Dominators-Patrick-Troughton/dp/B003O85CDA.