DOCTOR WHO, SEASON 3 EPISODE #5: (BONUS!)

MISSION TO THE UNKNOWN (DALEK CUTAWAY)

Doctor: First (William Hartnell)

Companions: Vicki, Steven

Starring MARC CORY of the SPACE SECURITY SERVICE

May 2023

Screencap from Mission to the Unknown (Remake) showing Marco Simioni as Marc Cory, a dashing young man with short dark hair in a jumpsuit. He wears a nametag labeled 'CORY' with a Union Jack. He sits in a forest, looking up at two Daleks around him. Next to him is some sort of small rocket.

This is probably the weirdest episode of Doctor Who. Let’s talk about Mission to the Unknown.

So, Mission to the Unknown was created (I believe) when Planet of Giants was cut down from a 4-episode story to a 3-episode story and uh oh! Suddenly you need to fit in an extra episode somewhere! The way they did this was by putting it in the next season, and...not putting the Doctor or any companions in it. They aren’t mentioned, even. Instead, Mission sets up this whole alien world and problem for the Doctor & co (Vicki & Steven, yeah?) to come solve in the next parts!

Which they also don’t do!

Immediately after this, we go straight to the Doctor and companions...arriving in Homeric Troy instead. That’s the setting of the next story: The Myth Makers. We don’t return to the alien world of Kembel and the Daleks’ plan to conquer Earth (oh yeah there are Daleks) for another four parts...but when we get there, we’ll stay there for a while: in fact, we’ll stay there for the longest uncontested story in Doctor Who’s entire history: the 12-part The Daleks’ Master Plan.

But we’re not there yet! So, why am I even talking about this? Why doesn’t this website say “review” at the top of it and says “bonus” instead? Well, that’s because it’s not a story on its own. Read the last three paragraphs again.

But I want to talk about Mission to the Unknown on its own because it, like many of these episodes in Season 3, is entirely missing from the archives. And while its audio remains, it doesn’t even have any clips or telesnaps (on-air photographs) to work from for an animated recreation. No...instead, we get something much better. Well, sort of. Mission to the Unknown is the only missing story to be recreated by a full live-action cast, with costumes, sets, and 1960s production values: by the University of Central Lancashire in England. And it rules! It’s like a Doctor Who episode or something! Because it’s so hard to judge a full story based on the values of one episode that needs to spend basically half its time getting us caught up to speed on what’s going on in this sci-fi world, I’d like to talk a little about the recreation on its own merits instead.

And hey—it’s pretty good. Like, it’s pretty good. I like it. I’d go so far as to say this is the definitive way to watch this episode—maybe that isn’t a hot take, but it’s true. The whole thing is here, warts and all: weird aliens who we’ll probably never see again who talk in cartoonishly exaggerated voices, people turning into giant plants (via a 2-frame transformation) and over-the-top music cues. It’s fun! It’s a fun time!

Screencap from Mission to the Unknown (Original): a wide open conference room shows 6 characters and 3 Daleks (as well as one black Dalek) around a round table with some sort of star map on it, viewed from above. The alien characters are (from left to right): a person wearing some sort of diving helmet with an antenna on top; a short person with icicle-type appendages dangling from their face; an immensely tall person dressed in all black whose neck is ruffled and whose face only shows two angry white eyes; a man in a white radiation-type suit with his hand outstretched towards the camera; a bald man in a jumpsuit whose face is covered with dots, and who points a laser gun towards the camera; and someone wearing a wide helmet (or false head) that tapers up towards the back.

The story that’s on display here isn’t bad either: it’s nothing revolutionary, and in fact it hits all the more or less generic 60s Doctor Who beats (giant evil plants, Daleks, extreme drama), but it fulfills its purpose perfectly adequately. Obviously, I can’t say much about it here, because I really have no clue where it’s going to go in the next 12 episodes (or...16?), but I am excited to find out! And that’s not worth nothing! Is it essential...? Well. I guess I also don’t know that yet. But it is extremely cool to see an episode recreated so lovingly by so many people who obviously are huge fans of the series. It’s a lovely little time! Also, we get to see six weird freak aliens, and I love the one who's just a big black tower of a person with angry eyes they are my favorite Doctor Who character now.

Overall Thoughts:

Mission to the Unknown (Dalek Cutaway) is weird, but it’s cool. I like it. I enjoyed it, and I can see myself coming back to it, oddly enough: it’s almost standalone, but leads into (potentially) cool bigger plot beats later on. More than that, though, it’s a labor of love, and it shows: it correctly showcases the best (and the more dubious aspects, such as the guy talking at the Dalek meeting) of the 60s show. I like it! Watch it if you want a nice little encapsulation of this show, and a sufficiently exciting lead-in to a story that I am very afraid will be padded and feel very slow (thanks, Loose Cannon photo reconstructions! It’s...better than nothing!). I watched it with my family and had a great time. Actually, why not watch it? It's on Youtube for free! Here!

Next time, we’ll be leaning hard into the Loose Cannon reconstructions—and Vicki will be leaving, oh no!!!—in The Myth Makers, where we don’t follow up on anything here but do meet a new companion. I’m excited!