Doctor Who (1963) 14.03 Extras

The Matrix Revisited (2009)

29 minutes

This documentary about the making of the Deadly Assassin focuses on a number of different topics.

• the departure of Sarah Jane Smith
• the history of the Time Lords
• the influence of the Manchurian Candidate
• the design of the Panopticon
• the robes of the Time Lords
• the selection of the villain
• the reactions of fans - look of the Time Lords, far too human
• the level of violence in the fight between the Doctor and Chancellor Goth

Two actors were interviewed for this documentary:

Tom Baker who played The Doctor and Bernard Horsfall who played Chancellor Goth. Horsfall also played some of the masked opponents that the Doctor faces in the Matrix including the samurai, the pilot, and the clown.

Director David Maloney, producer Philip Hinchcliffe, and designer 

Roger Murray-Leach were also interviewed. They even interviewed two people who had nothing to do with the making of The Deadly Assassin: Jan Vincent-Rudzki President of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society (1976) and Mary Whitehouse of National Viewers & Listeners Association

Doctor Who (1963) 14.03.04

The Deadly Assassin - Part 4

Goth is unable to finish off the Doctor. The Master berates Goth for his failure and forces him back into the matrix. The Doctor comes under attack but escapes from the matrix just in time. Castellan Spandrell and Coordinator Engin help the Doctor search for the Master's control room. They find it deep beneath Gallifrey.

The Master is dead when they find him. Goth is near death. The Doctor questions Goth who reveals that he hoped the Master would help him gain power in Gallifrey. Goth dies.

Spandrell reports to Cardinal Borusa what they found. The Cardinal insists that they will have to change the story so that Chancellor Goth died a hero. They need to keep up appearances.

Spandell sends some of the guards down to retrieve the bodies of the Master and Goth which are then moved to another room. The Master comes back to life. He wasn't dead at all. The Doctor, Spandrell, and Engin find the Master. He shoots the Doctor and Spandrell, knocking them out. Engin is forced at gun point to help the Master get the Sash of Rassilon.

Doctor Who (1963) 14.03.03

The Deadly Assassin - Part 3

The Master sends first an airplane and then a man after the Doctor while he is still in the Matrix. The Doctor attempts to deny the reality of the Matrix but he is on the Master's turf. He has no choice. The man is armed with a rifle. He takes multiple shots at the Doctor.

The Master gets impatient. He sends one of Chancellor Goth's personal guards, whom he has hypnotized, to kill the Doctor's body. The guard tells Castellan Spandrell and Coordinator Engin that he is there to take the Doctor to Chancellor Goth. They tell him he will have to wait. The guard attempts to mess with the controls of the machine to which the Doctor is connected. The Castellan tells the guard to get back and when the guard does not the Castellan shoots him.

The Doctor draws fist blood. He injures the man with a grenade. The Doctor makes a blow gun and injures the man again, this time with a poison tipped thorn. The man, who is wearing a mask eventually catches up to the Doctor. It is Chancellor Goth. The two men fight They are in a swampy area. Goth gets the upper hand and starts to drown the Doctor by holding him under the water.

Doctor Who (1963) 14.03.02

The Deadly Assassin - Part 2

The President is dead. The Doctor tries to escape but he is captured by the guards. Chancellor Goth orders that a trial be held right away. He wants the Doctor to be tried, convicted, and executed before the election for a new president can be held. One of his peers, Cardinal Borusa objects but Chancellor Goth gets his way.

The Doctor is locked up until the trial begins. He tries to convince Castellan Spandrell that he didn't do it. He tells Spandrell about the premonition he had that the President was going to get killed. Spandrell doesn't believe him. Spandrell talks to Engin about the matrix which contains the memories of all deceased Time Lords.

The trial of the Doctor begins. Lots of evidence is presented. The Doctor finally gets a chance to speak. He invokes Article 17 and declares himself to be a candidate for the office of President. Chancellor Goth doesn't like it but the trial has to be suspended until the election is over. Cardinal Borusa insists on it and this time he gets his way.

The Doctor works with the Castellan to try and figure out who killed the President. The Castellan doesn't fully believe the Doctor. He starts to change his mind as the Doctor shows him that the rifle doesn't shoot straight.

Doctor Who (1963) 14.03.01

The Deadly Assassin - Part 1

The Doctor heads to Gallifrey after he has a vision. He sees himself taking aim at the President of the High Council of Gallifrey and shooting him. He arrives just outside of Gallifrey. Some guards try to arrest him but the Doctor evades them. Hilred, the leader of the guards reports into his Castellan Spandrell, his boss, letting him know what happened. The Castellan is not happy but he immediately starts to investigate the TARDIS that has arrived and its owner.

A skeletal figure in dark robes sees the Doctor escape the guards. He shoots a guard who tries to stop the Doctor from feeling the scene. The skeletal looking man later meets with another man who also wears a dark robe. 

Spandrell gets some help from Engin, a tech, in researching the Doctor. Spandrell reports his findings to Chancellor Goth, who hails from the same order as the Doctor, the Prydonians. Goth doesn't seem too concerned about the findings even though they seem to indicate that the Doctor may be an agent of the Celestial Intervention Agency.

The Doctor makes his way to the Panopticon where the President of the High Council is about to announce his successor. The Doctor sees something high above the floor of the Panopticon. He goes up to the level where a camera man is filming everything that is going on. The Doctor doesn't find the camera man but he does find a rifle. He points it at the President and shoots him.