 This story was inspired, somewhat, by the works of H.G. Wells. "Timelash" actually features the one and only appearance of this famous science fiction novelist (in his early life prior to him becoming a writer) and is a sequel to an untelevised story for the Third Doctor and his companion Jo Grant.
The writer chosen for "Timelash" was Glen McCoy - his first and only Doctor Who story.
Glen McCoy had written several short stories and episodes of the television series Angels when he submitted a storyline featuring the Daleks to the Doctor Who production office in early 1983. This though was rejected, but Eric Saward asked author Glen McCoy to resubmit it without them. This resulted in what would finally become "Timelash".
However, due to Glen McCoy’s limited experience in television, much of the dialogue had to be softened by Script Editor Eric Saward. Examples of some of the changes made by Eric Saward include: Maylin Tekker undergoes no change of heart in McCoy's original script and is instead murdered by the Borad in the process of shooting The Doctor. Bizarrely, Glen McCoy also had the Borad reject his earlier inclination of mating with Peri towards the end of the story (because he can now make as many clones of himself as he desires), a reference Eric Saward deleted entirely.
The director assigned to this story was Pennant Roberts, who had last worked on the 1984 Fifth Doctor story "Warriors of the Deep". Producer John Nathan-Turner had hoped that the pairing the veteran director with the novice writer would help make up for any of the shortcomings of Glen McCoy’s script, but Pennant Roberts was dismayed by what he perceived as a poor-quality offering. He therefore insisted that Eric Saward perform further rewrites which the Script Editor - then working on completing the next story into production, "Revelation of the Daleks" - agreed to undertake.
Of particular concern to Pennant Roberts was the more hostile relationship between The Doctor and Peri that was in the original scripts. Eric Saward therefore softened much of their dialogue as a result. Also the original scripts had been set over the course of several days, and Eric Saward pruned this down to a matter of hours.
Also of concern was that it was felt that the first episode would overrun while the second episode would be too short. Therefore Eric Saward attempted to rebalance both scripts to account for this. He also ensured that only one android would ever be present in a given scene, so that only one actor would have to be hired for the role.
Eric Saward also removed the explanation for the destruction of the Bandril missile - that the bendalypse was neutralised via contact with the TARDIS's time field - and replaced it with The Doctor’s vague, off-screen, assurance that he will explain it to Peri later.
Another element changed from Glen McCoy’s original script was the details of The Doctors previous visit to Karfel (the script also refers to the planet as ‘Karfelon’, and to its inhabitants as both ‘Karfelons’ and ‘Karfelites’) during his third incarnation. In the original scripts, Katz’s amulet - given to her grandfather by the Third Doctor - was to contain a reference to Gallifrey, which Peri identified as The Doctor’s home planet in order to gain Sezon’s trust. Eric Saward replaced this with a picture of Jo Grant in a locket.
The image of the Third Doctor seen in a painting behind a wall on Karfel (supposedly a legacy of The Doctor’s previous visit) was the work of American fan artist Gail Bennett and was based on an image of Jon Pertwee from the 1974 story "Invasion of the Dinosaurs", while the picture of Jo Grant was an image of Katy Manning that was a publicity still taken during the making of the 1972 story "Day of the Daleks".
It has been rumoured that in Glen McCoy’s original script that it was the First Doctor, along with Susan, Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton, who visited Karfel.
Even before recording ended, it became apparent that Eric Saward’s efforts to correct the lengths of the two episodes not been completely successful. The First episode was six minutes too long, while the second was four minutes too short. Rather than simply shifting the cliffhanger back to the Guardoliers’ attack on the rebels, inserting reaction shots to imply that Peri had been killed instead of Katz, as suggested by Pennant Roberts. Instead, it was decided to move some of the material involving Peri being taken to the Morlox cave to the second episode. Minor scene cuts would then shorten the first episode to its proper length. John Nathan-Turner also authorised a remount in order to record extensions to the two TARDIS scenes in the second episode, which were written by Eric Saward. David Chandler, who had played Herbert, was rehired and the material was taped in January 1985, at the start of the second studio block for "Revelation of the Daleks".
The main gimmick of this story was that it features a young H. G. Wells (referred to until the very end of the story simply as ‘Herbert’ to preserve the surprise). Also included are a number of references to H. G. Wells’ literature. Most obviously is "The Time Machine" (Vena is a corruption of the Eloi name Weena, the monstrous Morlocks became the Morlox, and of course the TARDIS itself owes a great debt to the H. G. Wells novel). Other concepts from H. G. Wells’ novels were used: "The Island of Dr Moreau" (the hybrid nature of the Borad), "The Invisible Man" (The Doctor becoming essentially invisible using the Kontron Crystals) and "War of the Worlds" (the Bandril/Karfel war).
Paul Darrow, familiar to millions as the anti-hero Avon, star of Blake's 7, played the part of Tekker. This is Paul Darrow’s second appearance in the show as he had previously appeared as Captain Hawkins in the 1970 Third Doctor story "Doctor Who and the Silurians".
Colin Baker had previously appeared in the Blake's 7 story "City at the End of the World" and in the same story Jeananne Crowley (who played Vena in "Timelash") also made a guest appearance as the Princess.
Actor Denis Carey, who played the face of the Borad, previously played the part of Professor Chronotis in the aborted Season Seventeen story "Shada" and The Keeper in the 1981 Fourth Doctor story, "The Keeper of Traken").
Martin Gower who played Councillor Tyheer also provided the voice of the Bandril ambassador which was represented by a hand puppet. This was essentially a cost-saving move, reducing the number of actors needed by one.
The music for this story was provided by Elizabeth Parker who had formerly contributed the special sound for Blake's 7. A selection of this music was released on the Silva Screen audio CD "30 Years at the Radiophonic Workshop".
When The Doctor tells Peri that the Kontron tunnel is a ‘time corridor in space’ she is heard to ask ‘Didn't the Daleks have one of those?. This is a clear reference to the 1984 Fifth Doctor story "Resurrection of the Daleks". However, Peri only joined the TARDIS after this adventure. Also in "Revelation of the Daleks" she doesn’t recognise a Dalek by its appearance. It is presumed that The Doctor may have told her a tiny detail of a previous adventure but neglected to describe what the main adversary actually looked like. Peri also recognises a photograph of Jo Grant but again no explanation is given as to how she knows this.
It is revealed that during the untelevised Third Doctor/Jo Grant story that The Doctor visited Karfel and saved the planet from some unspecified disaster. He then reported the scientist Magellan to the presidium for unethical experiments on the Morlox creatures. Tekker at one point also notes that the Sixth Doctor is travelling with ‘only one’ companion, suggesting that somebody else (presumably a member of UNIT - maybe Captain Mike Yates or Sergeant Benton) accompanied the Third Doctor and Jo.
This untelevised Third Doctor/Jo Grant story has yet to appear in any of the spin-off media although the Virgin Books’ The Missing Adventures novel "Speed of Flight", by Paul Leonard, mentions that the Third Doctor and his companions, Jo Grant and Mike Yates, are on their way to Karfel at the start of that particular story. Jo Grant also references this incident herself in The Sarah Jane Adventures spin-off story "Death of The Doctor".
In the first episode, The Doctor contemplates taking Peri to the constellation of Andromeda, which was last visited in the 1982 Fifth Doctor story "Castrovalva".
The line ‘To be perfectly frank, Herbert’ was Colin Baker’s nod to the Dune creator.
The android’s line ‘Yes indeed she was’ is in the same pitch as the communication music in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
At the end of this story, the Borad is thrown back in time to 12th century Scotland. The Doctor speculates that the Borad will become the Loch Ness Monster. This gives a second explanation, in Doctor Who, for this creature as in the 1975 Fourth Doctor story "Terror of the Zygons", it is revealed that the legendary creature is a cyborg weapon of the Zygons. In the BBC Books’ The Eighth Doctor Stories novel "The Taking of Planet 5", however, the Borad is revealed to have been killed by agents of the Celestis - Time Lords who cut themselves out of time to escape the Future War - shortly after his arrival in the past as part of their efforts to eliminate temporal anomalies on Earth.
This story contains an error as when Maylin Renis, whilst adjusting some control dials in the power room, is seen to pull one of them off and then hurriedly replace it.
Despite being designed as to have two 45-minute episodes this story, like many for Season Twenty Two, was sold to other countries (such as Australia, America and New Zealand) with its episodes edited into four 25-minute episodes.
This story marked Pennant Roberts’ final contribution to the show. He continued to work in television, directing episodes of a variety of series such as Juliet Bravo, Tenko and Howard’s Way.
This story is generally regarded as another of the weakest Doctor Who stories, and frequently appears near the bottom of opinion polls.
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The Firsts:
The first Doctor Who story to be written by Glen McCoy.
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(Position = 157 out of 159)
(Position = 199 out of 200)
(Position = 238 out of 241)
