Galaxy 4
Beauty is evil, ugliness is kind on a doomed planet.
Galaxy 4 is the first serial of the third season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, broadcast in four weekly parts from 11 September to 2 October 1965. Written by William Emms and directed by Derek Martinus, the serial features the First Doctor and his companions encountering two crash-landed species on an arid planet that is about to explode. It is notable for subverting viewer expectations by making the beautiful race evil and the hideous race friendly.
Quick Facts
- Number
- 018
- Doctor
- William Hartnell – First Doctor
- Companions
- Maureen O'Brien – Vicki; Peter Purves – Steven Taylor
- Writer
- William Emms
- Script editor
- Donald Tosh
- Producer
- Verity Lambert
- Series
- Season 3
- Length
- 4 episodes, 25 minutes each
Facts from the source article.
Plot
The First Doctor, Vicki, and Steven Taylor arrive on a silent planet and encounter short, blind, non-humanoid robots that Vicki calls Chumblies. Before they can determine if the robots are hostile, one is disabled by a party of cloned blonde Drahvin warriors from the planet Drahva. The Drahvins are led by the cruel Maaga, who treats her subordinates with contempt. They are at war with the reptilian Rills, the masters of the Chumblies, and both races have crashed on the planet. The Drahvins claim the planet will be destroyed in 14 planetary cycles and want to capture the Rill ship, which they believe is functional. The Doctor calculates the planet will break up in two days. Maaga forces this truth from him at gunpoint and holds Steven hostage. The Doctor and Vicki are sent to seize the Rill ship but instead find the Rills are advanced, telepathic, and willing to take the Drahvins away. Maaga has refused. The Doctor helps the Rills gather power using the TARDIS. Maaga leads a final assault, but the Chumblies defend the Rill ship until it escapes. A Chumbley helps the TARDIS crew return to their ship, and the planet explodes, killing the Drahvins.
Production
William Emms, a schoolteacher and avid Doctor Who viewer, submitted an unsolicited story idea to producer Verity Lambert and story editor Dennis Spooner in early 1965. His concept was to show two conflicting races—one beautiful and one ugly—and make the beautiful race evil. Spooner commissioned the serial, then titled Doctor Who and the Chumblies, on 1 March 1965. Donald Tosh handled the bulk of the rewrites after Spooner's departure. Emms disliked the amendments, which reduced the main cast from four to three and replaced Barbara with Steven. The cast were unhappy with the script; William Hartnell and Maureen O'Brien felt the dialogue was inconsistent, and Peter Purves thought his dialogue was not changed enough from the original Barbara script. Mervyn Pinfield was originally assigned to direct but was replaced by Derek Martinus due to failing health. Filming took place at the Television Centre in July 1965.
Reception
Galaxy 4 averaged 9.9 million viewers across its four episodes, with the third episode becoming the most-viewed of the third season at 11 million viewers. The Appreciation Index dropped from 56 to 53 over the serial. The videotapes were wiped in the late 1960s; the third episode was recovered in 2011 from materials owned by former television engineer Terry Burnett, who had purchased it at a school fete in the 1980s. Contemporary reviews were mixed: Bill Edmund of Television Today described the characters as sluggish and the story as slow, while some young viewers on Junior Points of View called it dreadfully boring and absolutely stupid. The BBC Programme Review Board noted that television controller Huw Wheldon was satisfied with the Chumblies. The Listener remarked that the third episode's ending—the Drahvins locking Steven in an airlock—was nightmare food and could raise trouble among feminists and psychiatrists. Monica Furlong of the Daily Mail compared the ending to a similar scene in The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
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