It is the time of the Second Doctor. Sci-fi history has been made with the first regeneration of the Doctor, ensuring the longevity of the series past any one actor, where an ensemble will keep the show running for decades. It is the start of the second Doctor’s final season. He has faced countless enemies: The Daleks, and the Cybermen being the most famous of them. He has had a few companions over the course of his three seasons, and traveled from 18th century Scotland through Victorian London, then modern day earth, and on into the far future. With his companions, The Doctor has faced the Daleks numerous times. With the beginning of this season, The Doctor faces a new enemy. In this serial, “The Dominators” The Doctor faces a new race called The Dominators, and their robotic servants the Quarks.
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On the planet of Dulkis, war and violence have been outlawed for hundreds, maybe even thousands, of years. “Today” an alien craft, of the imperious and ruthless Dominators has landed on what the inhabitants call the Island of Death, the planet’s one and only atomic test site and absorbed all of the radiation present on the Island. The Dominators then send out the Quarks, their robotic servants, to prepare locations on the Island for drilling into the planet’s crust in order to turn the planet into fuel for their fleet of ships that is passing through the system. Meanwhile, elsewhere on the island, The Doctor, Zoe, and Jamie have landed in the TARDIS for a small vacation on this planet. The Doctor has been telling of the peaceful nature of he inhabitants of the planet, and how he has been looking forward to the vacation that they were planning to take, as it is cut short by the explosive destruction of a craft!
Due to this, the Doctor and his companions have taken shelter in a museum building on the island that has a display of the damage of nuclear devices, and weapons no longer in use. They are then discovered by an expedition team of Dulcians and taken back to their survey station, where the Dulcians are puzzled by the fact that the radiation on the island reads zero. Meanwhile, the Quarks are beginning work on drilling into the planets core, at the previously marked sites, but their power supply is very limited, and the commander of the Dominators ship that has landed is under orders to conserve power whenever possible. The Doctor and Jamie are then captured by the Quarks and taken to the Dominator’s ship to see if they can be used for slave labor for the work that must be done to drill into the planet’s core…
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with actors Frazier Hines, who played Jamie, Wendy Padbury, who plays Zoe, Giles Block, who plays Teel, Arthur Cox who plays Cully, and The make up designer, Sylvia James.
- “Recharge and Equalize” is the making of for this serial.
- “Tomorrow’s Times: The Second Doctor”, which consists of contemporary press coverage of this serial.
- A photo gallery of mostly unseen photos from production.
- Downloadable Radio TimesListings in PDF format.
- A subtitle option of production notes.
Overall:
Doctor Who – The Dominators is actually a lot more interesting to watch than is expected. The serials of the Second Doctor are rather well written, and surprisingly entertaining. The episodes are a bit longer than other seasons, and provide a better story line with which to enjoy. The quality of writing is better than in some other years of the run of Doctor Who, and keeps the audience watching throughout each serial with a vigorous interest in how the Doctor will “get out of this one.” The shows are in black and white, but by no means is this an indicator of lower quality shows, as they are still very well made, even better than some shows of later series and even later Doctors. The Second Doctor is not my favorite Doctor, but still is a joy to watch as he makes his way through his adventures. The acting is great quality, and highly believable, as each character is clearly defined, and there really is no one who becomes a “damsel in distress,”. Each character is smart enough to work their way out of pretty much any situation, and help the Doctor come up with a solution to his current predicament. This is truly a serial that should be seen by any Doctor Who fan, and will be thoroughly enjoyed by all.
ComicsOnline gives Doctor Who: The Dominators 4.5 Quarks out of 5.
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