The Massacre
The Doctor and Steven arrive in Paris, 1572. The Doctor is eager to visit apothecary and scientist Charles Preslin, whose early research into germs fascinates him, but doesn’t want to bring Steven along. Steven is loathe to stay in the TARDIS, and promises not to mingle with the locals, but is alarmed when he thinks he sees a man following the Doctor. Steven tries to follow, but runs afoul of the tavern keep (whom he has forgotten to pay). A man helps Steven out of his predicament and then brings him up to speed on the events into which the time travelers have emerged: the bloody fighting between Catholics and Protestants. Steven becomes very worried indeed when the Doctor vanishes, and is even more alarmed when a servant girl named Anne Chaplet bursts into the home of Admiral de Coligny, where he is staying. Anne claims to have overheard what could be a large-scale plot to rid Paris of all Protestants by any means necessary. Steven sees a man he believes to be the Doctor, but his new friends suddenly regard him coldly – they know this man as the Abbot of Amboise, one of the most fanatical Catholic crusaders in France. Not only does Steven not know whether the Doctor is safe, but he now has no backup. He’s a foreigner in a decidedly hostile situation, trapped between fanatical elements among both the Catholics and the Hugenots, and if he can’t find the Doctor, he’ll be stuck there.
written by John Lucarotti
directed by Paddy Russell
music not creditedGuest Cast: Eric Thompson (Gaston), David Weston (Nicholas), John Tillinger (Simon), Edwin Fenn (Landlord), Christopher Tranchell (Roger), Eric Chitty (Preslin), Annette Robertson (Anne Chaplet), Clive Cazes (Captain), Reginald Jessup (Servant), William Hartnell (Abbot of Amboise), Andre Morell (Tavannes), Leonard Sachs (Admiral de Coligny), Cynthia Etherington (Old Lady), Barry Justice (Charles IX), Joan Young (Catherine de Medici)
Notes: The master tapes of this episode were destroyed by the BBC in the early 1970’s, and no video copies exist.
Broadcast from February 5 through 26, 1966
LogBook entry & review by Earl Green
Guest Cast: William Hurndell (Ike Clanton), Maurice Good (Phineas Clanton), David Cole (Billy Clanton), Sheena Marshe (Kae), Shane Rimmer (Seth Harper), David Graham (Charlie), John Alderson (Wyatt Earp), Anthony Jacobs (Doc Holliday), Richard Beale (Bat Masterson), Reed de Rouen (Pa Clanton), Laurence Payne (Johnny Ringo), Martyn Huntley (Warren Earp), Victor Carin (Virgil Earp)
The TARDIS brings the Doctor, Steven and Dodo to Russia in 1812, not long before Napoleon Bonaparte’s disastrous attempt to take over the country. They stay for a while, making friends, even taking up jobs, and Steven looks forward to being the best man at a wedding for one of his new friends. But then the locals are terrified by blinding lights and the sound of thunder – not the French advance, but a spacecraft exploding moments after it ejects an escape pod, though of course only the time travelers realize this. Steven and his friend rush off to see if there are any survivors, but the unfortunate answer is yes – Steven is attacked and knocked out, and his friend, the groom-to-be, is killed and replaced by a “shape-stealer,” though it’s some time before anyone realizes this. The creature assumes numerous guises to allow it to move freely among the villagers, until finally it impersonates the Doctor and sets off to steal the TARDIS – until it spots someone in a more obvious position of power which will allow it to further its mission: Napoleon himself.