PREVIOUS                                                                                  NEXT

Galaxy 4

11TH SEPTEMBER 1965 - 2ND OCTOBER 1965

(4 EPISODES)

  1. FOUR HUNDRED DAWNS      2. TRAP OF STEEL

3. AIR LOCK      4. THE EXPLODING PLANET

The first time I listened to “Galaxy 4” on CD (as all four episodes are missing from the BBC archives) I thought that it was one of the weakest stories of William Hartnell’s reign. The second time around I was slightly more impressed, largely because I have found that this dialogue-heavy serial is actually much more suited to audio than many of the other ‘lost’ stories recently released by the BBC Radio Collection are. Nevertheless, I am afraid that my thoughts on this serial are still far from positive.

William Emms’ story is heavily grounded in the old maxim “it is what is on the inside that counts”, and whilst this may be a noble sentiment it is one that is all too often done-to-death in science fiction. The idea that the rather horrific Rills are a race of thinkers and explorers whilst the more aesthetically pleasing Drahvins are an aggressive and warlike species is borne out well in the story, but with no telesnaps or photographs of the Rills the moral of the story falls a little flat – a tremendous shame as otherwise the story works so well in the audio medium. Obviously, this is no fault of the makers of “Galaxy 4” as they were not to know that the story would be junked, or even more surprisingly that forty years on somebody would be writing a review of it.

However, quite a substantial amount of footage from “Four Hundred Dawns” still exists, including some shots of a ‘Chumbly’. Their atrocious nickname (given to them by Vicki) is unfortunately fitting, as they are as feeble in appearance as they are in name. The Drahvins are probably the most interesting aspect of the serial; a race of militant females lead by the despicable Maaga. I am not sure if Emms was deliberately trying to write a satire about Women’s Liberation, but that is how it comes across at times which is quite amusing considering Doctor Who’s sexist reputation in the sixties and early seventies.

I also think this serial could be a possible contender for containing the most ever fluffs by the actors, and whilst that is not a damning indictment of “Galaxy 4” in itself, it serves as the proverbial icing on the cake. No, that is a lie – the icing on the cake is the TARDIS flying

past the planet Kembel whilst the Doctor and his companions cheesily say aloud “Oh, I wonder what’s happening on that planet…” dovetailing nicely into their week off…

Copyright © E.G. Wolverson 2006

E.G. Wolverson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

Unless otherwise stated, all images on this site are copyrighted to the BBC and are used solely for promotional purposes.

‘Doctor Who’ is copyright © by the BBC. No copyright infringement is intended.