 This story features the debut of Wendy Padbury as Zoe Heriot (whose last name is sometimes misspelled as ‘Herriot’). Zoe is The Wheel's parapsychology librarian (which means that she's received brainwashing-like training in logic and memory), an astrophysicist, an astrometricist first class, and a major in pure maths.
Patrick Troughton does not appear in the second episode as he was on holiday during the recording of this episode. During this episode The Doctor is seen only as an unconscious figure. Chris Jeffries doubles for the unconscious Doctor.
Deborah Watling's appearance, as Victoria Waterfield, at the very beginning of episode one was a recap from the end of the previous story "Fury From the Deep". Unusually, she received an on-screen credit for this appearance.
Cast member Clare Jenkins (who plays Tanya Lernov) returned for a brief cameo in the following season’s story, and the Second Doctor’s finale, "The War Games".
Michael Goldie previously played Craddock in the 1964 First Doctor story "The Dalek Invasion of Earth" while Donald Sumpter would go on to play Commander Ridgeway in the 1972 Third Doctor story "The Sea Devils".
Kenneth Watson (who plays Bill Duggan) had played the part of Craddock in the 1966 Amicus Doctor Who film Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD, staring Peter Cushing as Doctor Who.
Eric Flynn, who plays Leo Ryan in this story, was the son of Hollywood film star Errol Flynn.
The Doctor’s pseudonym ‘John Smith’ is first used in this story. Rather than The Doctor using it, it was actually first used by Jamie McCrimmon. When asked for The Doctor’s name, while being questioned about being aboard the Silver Carrier, he sees the name printed on the side of a piece of medical equipment. The Doctor would be referred to as John Smith again during the his time as the Third Doctor, the Eighth Doctor, the Ninth Doctor and the Tenth Doctor in the television show, as well as other Doctors in the various spin-off novels and audio dramas.
Reference is made to the TARDIS 'fault indicator'. The TARDIS it seems still has problems with its fluid links evaporating, and so needs more mercury (see "The Daleks").
For this story the studio recording for the show started to take place on Fridays (instead of the usual Saturday). This was to enable the programme to be recorded at the BBC's Television Centre whenever possible instead of the cramped conditions at Lime Grove. The first episode was still recorded at the show's old home at Lime Grove Studio D and the final two episodes were record at Riverside Studio 1, where Doctor Who's second and third production blocks had been taped. Unusually, both of these episodes were captured on 35mm film rather than the standard 625-line videotape. These changes of studio were caused by a scene-shifters strike at the BBC.
This story is the first to have an incidental music score and sound effects provided by the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop.
The ending for this story features a sequence where The Doctor shows Zoe what she may face travelling with him on the viewscreen. This included about twenty seconds from episode two of "The Evil of the Daleks". Griffith Davis and Robert Jewell, however, received no credit on episode six for their respective appearances as Kennedy and a Dalek in the clip from "The Evil of the Daleks" that was used. A full repeat of "The Evil of the Daleks" then followed. This was the first time a repeat of a whole story is actually incorporated into the run of the show.
As things turned out, Zoe never encountered the Daleks on television; decades later, the Big Finish Productions audio story "Fear of the Daleks" would eventually tell of an encounter between Zoe and the Daleks.
Although the recording of this story completed Season Five, the fifth production block continued with both "The Dominators" and "The Mind Robber". Both of these stories were held over to start Season Six that started in the autumn of 1968.
Unfortunately only episodes three and six currently exist in the BBC Archives. All except for episode six were lost in the BBC's stock clearance of the 1970s and so the first five episodes were reported missing from the BBC Film and Videotape Library following an audit in 1978. Strangely episode six was transmitted from a 35 mm film print and so was retained in the BBC Film Library (although for some unknown reason episode five, that was also transmitted from a 35 mm film print, was not). Then in April 1984 the third episode was returned by a private collector. In addition several short clips from episodes four and five were recovered, in October 1996, from Australian censor cuts and a brief clip from episode one also exists (it was reused in "The War Games").
The Target novelisation of this story was written by Terrance Dicks. Only 23,000 copies of the paperback edition were circulated (reportedly due to stocks being destroyed in a warehouse fire), leading to this book becoming a rare collectible.
On the 15th December 2018 an animated mini-episode based on the first episode was released as part of the 25th Anniversary event for Missing, Believed Wiped. This mini-episode was produced by Charles Norton and directed by Anne Marie Walsh.
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The Firsts:
The introduction of companion Zoe played by Wendy Padbury.
The first use of The Doctor’s pseudonym ‘John Smith’.
The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Tristan de Vere Cole.
The first story to have incidental music score and sound effects provided by the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop.
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(Position = 104 out of 159)
(Position = 156 out of 200)
(Position = 177 out of 241)
