Galaxy 4
| 018 – Galaxy 4 | |||||
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| Doctor Who serial | |||||
The Drahvins and a Chumbley
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| Cast | |||||
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Others
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| Production | |||||
| Directed by |
Derek Martinus Mervyn Pinfield (uncredited) |
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| Written by | William Emms | ||||
| Script editor | Donald Tosh | ||||
| Produced by | Verity Lambert | ||||
| Executive producer(s) | None | ||||
| Incidental music composer | by Les Structures Sonores | ||||
| Production code | T | ||||
| Series | Season 3 | ||||
| Length | 4 episodes, 25 minutes each | ||||
| Episode(s) missing | 3 episodes (1, 2 and 4) | ||||
| Date started | 11 September 1965 | ||||
| Date ended | 2 October 1965 | ||||
| Chronology | |||||
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| Author | William Emms |
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| Cover artist | Andrew Skilleter |
| Series |
Doctor Who book: Target novelisations |
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Release number
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104 |
| Publisher | Target Books |
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Publication date
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November 1985 (hardback) 10 April 1986 (paperback) |
| ISBN | |
Galaxy 4 (alternatively spelled Galaxy Four) is the mostly missing first serial of the third season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 11 September to 2 October 1965. Only the third episode ("Air Lock"), is held in the BBC archives, and the other three remain missing.
The Doctor, Vicki, and Steven Taylor arrive on an eerily silent planet and encounter curious short and squat non-humanoid robots which resemble three domes stacked on top of each other, and Vicki decides to call the blind, beeping metre-tall machines "Chumblies" because of what she calls the "chumbley" way they move.
The TARDIS crew are still trying to decide whether the Chumblies are hostile or not when one is disabled by an all-female party of cloned blonde Drahvin warriors from the planet Drahva in Galaxy 4. It is revealed that the unknown planet they are on is also in Galaxy 4 but is not given a name. The Drahvins are dominated by their cruel leader, Maaga, who treats her simple-minded subordinates with bullying contempt. The Drahvins are at war with the reptilian Rills, the masters of the Chumblies, and both races have crashed spaceships on this planet.
The planet will be destroyed in 14 planetary cycles and, with the Drahvin ship irreparable, Maaga and her warriors are keen to capture the Rill ship, which they believe has been made functional again. Maaga paints a picture of the Drahvins as the attacked species in the scenario, but the Doctor has witnessed some of the Drahvin aggression and is clearly not convinced. He also reworks the probability on the planet’s destruction and calculates it will break up in just two days' time. The Doctor tries to keep this new finding from the Drahvins, but Maaga reveals her true colours and forces the truth from him at the point of a gun.
With Steven held as hostage to ensure their co-operation, the Doctor and Vicki are sent by the Drahvins to try to seize control of the Rill ship. The Doctor works out that the ammonia-breathing Rills are a very advanced species: when he meets one he is impressed, not least by their species' use of telepathy. The huge and impressive, horned warthog-like Rill explains that they have offered to take the Drahvins away with them but Maaga has refused, preferring to maintain the state of war she began when the Drahvins shot down the Rill craft. The Doctor tells the Rills of the true life remaining in the planet and promises to help them escape, since the solar energy converters on the Rill craft have not gathered enough power to effect a lift-off.
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Wikipedia