 Although the previous story "Castrovalva" was the first story, of Season Nineteen, to be aired, "Four to Doomsday" was the first story of this season to be filmed and so was the first which featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor.
Despite being mainly remembered as being rather lacklustre this story does, however, boast a strong guest cast and elaborate dance sequences choreographed by Sue Lefton, with fight arranger B.H. Barry contracted to supervise a mock battle between two Trojan warriors.
During this time John Nathan-Turner was taking an active role in the selection of guest performers as he was keen to attract as many big names to Doctor Who as possible, in order to maximise publicity.
Guest stars in this story include Stratford Johns, as Monarch, and Burt Kwouk, as Lin Futu. Stratford Johns, is best known for his starring role as Barlow in the BBC police series Z Cars and its Softly, Softly spin-offs. He also had originally been considered for the role of the Third Doctor in 1969. While Burt Kwouk later guest starred in the Big Finish Productions audio story "Loups-Garoux".
The didgeridoo music played during the Aborigine recreational period was the signature tune of a BBC programme called Quest Under Capricorn first broadcast in the early sixties.
It has been revealed that Peter Davison found the process of developing his incarnation of The Doctor’s personality frustrating as he was given little indication of how to play the new Doctor other than a strong desire, on the part of John Nathan-Turner and the BBC upper management, to draw a marked contrast from the Fourth Doctor’s incarnation. Peter Davison eventually decided to use an idea one fan had suggested, during his appearance on Pebble Mill At One, that his Doctor should be ‘Tristan Farnon, with bravery and intellect’, referring to Peter Davison’s popular character on All Creatures Great and Small. Although Peter Davison had originally dismissed this idea, it stuck with him, and he eventually decided to use it as the basis for his portrayal of the Fifth Doctor after all. Peter Davison was also determined to occasionally incorporate moments of whimsy, despite John Nathan-Turner’s insistence that jokiness be eliminated from Doctor Who.
This story was directed by John Black, who had previously helmed last season’s "The Keeper of Traken". This though was the final Doctor Who story directed by John Black, although he also worked on the spin-off story "K9 and Company: A Girl's Best Friend" later in 1981.
The opening shot of Monarch's spacecraft in flight was suggested by John Nathan-Turner, who intended it to be a homage to the start of the 1977 feature film Star Wars.
The Doctor, and his companions, discover that the three billion Urbankans, ruled by Monarch, who appoints ministers and keeps slaves, are now all stored on chip, inserted into androids when required. He destroyed their world, which orbits the star Inokshi in Galaxy RE 1489. They can shape-change technologically, and, in biological form, used to secrete a deadly poison. They can hypnotise.
Around 33000 BC the Urbankans first visited Earth. Around 6000 BC they returned to visit a civilisation that The Doctor wrongly identifies as Mayan, recognising certain pre-Mayan aspects of clothing. Around 2200 BC, during the Futu Dynasty (this is not a recognised dynasty, but unrecorded during the legendary prehistory era of the Five Sovereigns, pre-2205 BC), they came again. They were last on Earth in the Athenian era, around 500 BC.
This story takes place contemporaneously with the events of the 1981 Fourth Doctor story "Logopolis".
This story includes The Doctor first demonstration of his skill with a cricket ball and at one point he is heard to claim that he once took five wickets for New South Wales. Virgin Book’s The New Adventures novel "Human Nature" also demonstrates The Doctor's amazing abilities with a cricket ball.
Look out for the scene when The Doctor tells Tegan Jovanka ‘Who’ll believe us? We’ll be laughed at!’ when she wants to get to Earth to warn them about Monarch’s plan. The Doctor has clearly forgotten the purpose/existence of UNIT, the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, for which he was unpaid Scientific Advisor (through most of his third incarnation). He does however make use of his UNIT connections later in this season, in "Time-Flight".
In this story The Doctor demonstrates that he can survive (for a short time) the vacuum of space by putting himself into a trance which reduces the need for oxygen. He can also withstand sub-zero temperatures. The Doctor previous displayed an ability to survive exposure to a vacuum in space in the 1979 Fourth Doctor story "Nightmare of Eden".
We also discover that the molecular structure of the TARDIS is Earth like, and neither laser keys nor directional cobalt flux can open its lock. The Doctor also states that only his Professor at the Academy really understood artron energy, which powers the TARDIS.
This is the third occasion of a recurring theme where Adric 'betrays' The Doctor, or else Romana, Nyssa or Tegan, gaining the villains' trust and then later saving them. (See "State of Decay", "Castrovalva", "Kinda" and, to a lesser degree, "The Visitation" and "Black Orchid").
This story contains a number of errors. Namely: Tegan not only speaks the correct one of over 3000 Aboriginal languages, but one over 35,000 years old!; In the first episode one the doors of the TARDIS are pushed shut from behind, ostensibly by a member of the crew, as Peter Davison didn’t shut them all the way also, as Monarch tries to open the TARDIS, you can spot the head of a production person, crouching behind the equipment; Strangely Monarch seems unconcerned by the fact that at one point Tegan is leaving in the TARDIS, given that he wants to steal it; and in the fourth and final episode The Doctor and Tegan take the space pack helmets before they realise that Monarch has turned off the life support.
It had originally been decided that after "Castrovalva", The Doctor would only have two companions, Adric and Tegan. As a result, the character of Nyssa was to be written out of the show at the end of this story. However, Peter Davison strongly opposed this move because he felt that Nyssa was the companion who was ‘most suited to his vision of The Doctor’. Given this, producer John Nathan-Turner and the rest of the production team relented and Nyssa was retained. The story for the following story "Kinda" was already developed with two companions and Nyssa was not featured in that narrative as written. Rather than carry out a complete rewrite of "Kinda", to include Nyssa, it was decided that this story would end with her collapsing so that she could then remain absent during much of "Kinda" – she is said to be resting in the TARDIS.
Nyssa’s sudden fainting spell at the end of this story is also a throwback to the style of story transition often employed during the First Doctor’s era (for example, when The Doctor suddenly cries out in pain at the end of the 1966 story "The Celestial Toymaker", which leads into "The Gunfighters" in which it is revealed a toothache as the culprit). The reason for Nyssa’s sudden collapse at the end of this story is revealed at the start of "Kinda". The Big Finish Productions audio drama "Primeval" however provides an alternative explanation, beyond mere exhaustion, for Nyssa’s collapse at the end of this story.
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The Firsts:
The first Doctor Who story to be written by Terence Dudley.
Antony Root's first involvement in the show as Script Editor.
The first story of this season to be filmed and so the first which featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor.
The Doctor's first demonstration of his skill with a cricket ball.
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(Position = 139 out of 159)
(Position = 173 out of 200)
(Position = 218 out of 241)
