History Recap / DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan

-->'''The Doctor:''' What awaste... What a terrible waste.

-->'''The Doctor:''' The waste... What a terrible waste.

-->'''The Doctor:''' The waste...What a terrible waste.

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: The Daleks activate a time-altering superweapon which almost kills the Doctor, and ages Sara from a beautiful young woman into an old woman, then into a mummified corpse, a skeleton, and then to dust. Steven then puts the weapon into reverse, which causes the Daleks to de-age into foetuses, which eject from their cases, flop about, and die. The Doctor even picks up one of these foetuses and laughs about how great it is that he's wiped out every Dalek on the planet, leading to a well-deserved WhatTheHellHero moment from Steven.

-->''"[[BreakingTheFourthWall And incidentally, a very Happy Christmas to all of you at home!]]"''

It holds several records: longest Classic serial ever[[note]]Except for "The Trial of a Time Lord", though that's technically a season-long arc despite being labelled on-screen as one serial -- each individual story had a separate production code, internal title, and director. In terms of total running time, "Master Plan" was surpassed in 2021 by the 6-part epic "Flux", which clocks in at 5 hours and 24 minutes. Even then, some argue that "Master Plan" is really a ''seventeen''-episode serial, starting with "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E2MissiontotheUnknown Mission To The Unknown]]" and with [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E3TheMythMakers "The Myth Makers"]] as a BreatherEpisode for the longer arc. In those days, remember, every episode was individually titled and serial titles were purely internal production affairs. For viewers in the Sixties the show was just a single running serial called ''Doctor Who'', so this is more true to how they would have seen it. Some even consider [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E5TheMassacre "The Massacre"]] as the final part or epilogue of a season-long MythArc about the Doctor and Steven being faced with constant loss and bittersweet victories.[[/note]], the first almost-companion with Bret Vyon, the first appearance of series regular Nicholas Courtney as part of the cast (long before his casting as the more iconic Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), the first, second and third (if you count Bret) TARDIS companion deaths, and others.

JustForFun/{{The one w|ith}}here the Doctor completely demolishes the fourth wall.

%%* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Desperus.

The one where the Doctor completely demolishes the fourth wall.

** Kevin Stoney in the last episode Chen appears.

* CanOnlyMoveTheEyes: Steven gets locked in a forcefield. How much movement he had is unclear without surviving footage, but the Doctor uses him to hand off a fake plot device to the Daleks, who naturally tried to exterminate him. It turns out a direct hit from a Dalek DeathRay was [[IncrediblyLamePun just what the Doctor ordered]] to break the forcefield and free him.

* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Desperus.
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: The Doctor realises that Daxtar is allied with Chen when he mentions the taranium before anyone else does.

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: The Doctor realizes that Daxtar is a traitor because he knows that the Daleks' doomsday device requires a core of taranium even though the Doctor never mentioned it.

* AsideGlance: A ''Dalek'' manages to do this - Mavic Chen is spiralling into a VillainousBreakdown and a Daleks confronts him about his incompetence. Chen rants impotently at it and then [[ArmorPiercingSlap slaps the Dalek in the eyestalk]]. The Dalek flails around in confusion for a second, briefly fixing the camera with its eyestalk as if to ask "Can you believe he did that?" It's a real testament to the skills of the Dalek operators that they could pull this off.

Only Episodes 2, 5 and 10 remain (alongside a couple of short clips from Episodes 1, 3, and 4), and the Christmas episode in particular is almost certainly the one and only ''irretrievably'' lost episode, as no copy was ever made of it - the episode was designed to be an interlude that was incidental to the rest of the story, as it was felt nobody would be watching on Christmas Day, and the story was offered for sales overseas as an 11-parter.

It holds several records: longest Classic serial ever[[note]]Except for "The Trial of a Time Lord", though that's technically a season-long arc despite being labelled on-screen as one serial - each individual story had a separate production code, internal title, and director. In terms of total running time, "Master Plan" was surpassed in 2021 by the 6-part epic "Flux", which clocks in at 5 hours and 24 minutes. Even then, some argue that "Master Plan" is really a ''seventeen''-episode serial, starting with "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E2MissiontotheUnknown Mission To The Unknown]]" and with [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E3TheMythMakers "The Myth Makers"]] as a BreatherEpisode for the longer arc. In those days, remember, every episode was individually titled and serial titles were purely internal production affairs. For viewers in the Sixties the show was just a single running serial called ''Doctor Who'', so this is more true to how they would have seen it. Some even consider [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E5TheMassacre "The Massacre"]] as the final part or epilogue of a season-long MythArc about the Doctor and Steven being faced with constant loss and bittersweet victories.[[/note]], the first almost-companion with Bret Vyon, the first appearance of series regular Nicholas Courtney as part of the cast (long before his casting as the more iconic Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), the first, second and third (if you count Bret) TARDIS companion deaths, and others.

* CrazyEnoughToWork: When the Steven, Sara and the Monk get ambushed by Chen and the Daleks -- leaving all three in a sticky spot, but the Monk worst of all, as he had promised to retrieve the taranium core -- the Monk hastily claims that he brought Steven and Sara as hostages. While Chen is clearly dubious about this claim, he decides that it's worth a try. The trope then gets turned UpToEleven, as this hasty suggestion from the Monk actually ends up being what ends up getting the core back, as the Doctor ends up having to hand it over to save the lives of his companions.

Written by Creator/TerryNation and Dennis Spooner. This twelve-episode serial first aired from November 13, 1965 to January 29, 1966.

* AnyoneCanDie: Sara, Katarina and Bret [[KillEmAll along with most of the minor characters.]]

* KilledOffForReal: Although the characters of Katarina and Sara were only with the series for a handful of episodes each, they are nonetheless considered officially companions of the Doctor. Both die during the course of this story, making them the first companions to be killed on the show - and the last until Adric dies in the 1980s.
* KillEmAll: Most of the principal guest cast bite it - including two companions!

It holds several records: longest Classic serial ever[[note]]Except for "The Trial of a Time Lord", though that's technically a season-long arc despite being labelled on-screen as one serial. Each individual story had a separate production code, internal title, and director. In terms of total running time, "Master Plan" was surpassed in 2021 by the 6-part epic "Flux", which clocks in at 5 hours and 24 minutes. And even then, some argue that "Master Plan" is really a ''seventeen''-episode serial, starting with "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E2MissiontotheUnknown Mission To The Unknown]]" and with [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E3TheMythMakers "The Myth Makers"]] as a BreatherEpisode for the longer arc. In those days, serial titles were purely internal production affairs, and for viewers in the Sixties the show was just a single running serial called ''Doctor Who'', so this is more true to how it would have been perceived at the time. Some even consider [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E5TheMassacre "The Massacre"]] as the final part or epilogue of a season-long MythArc about the Doctor and Steven being faced with constant loss and bittersweet victories.[[/note]], the first almost-companion with Bret Vyon, the first appearance of series regular Nicholas Courtney as part of the cast (long before his casting as the more iconic Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), the first, second and third (if you count Bret) TARDIS companion deaths, and others.

* {{Corpsing}}: During "The Feast of Steven", it sounds as though Creator/PeterPurves is laughing in the background as Creator/WilliamHartnell has to do a really silly and uncharacteristic line where the Doctor [[BreakingTheFourthWall addresses the at-home audience and wishes them a "Happy Christmas"]].

* MistakenForSpecialGuest: During the Hollywood interlude in "The Feast of Steven", Steven is mistaken for one of the KeystoneKops and the Doctor is mistaken for Professor Webster, an expert on Arabian culture.

Written by Creator/TerryNation and Dennis Spooner. This serial first aired November 13, 1965-January 29, 1966.

* KarmaHoudini: Mavic Chen's advisor, Karlton. He conspired with Chen to betray humanity to the Daleks, but nothing happens to him. With not only Chen dead, but also every human from this time period who knew about Chen's treachery, it's even possible [[FridgeHorror Karlton succeeds Chen as Guardian of the Solar System.]] (The novelisation fixes this in a particularly satisfying way, as the tape recorded by Marc Corey way back in "Mission to the Unknown" is recovered from the body of Bret Vyon, exposing the plot and ensuring Karlton's arrest).

Written by Creator/TerryNation and Dennis Spooner. This serial first aired November 13, 1965.

A 12-episode monster (and the longest story ever at ''five hours long''), which begins with the TARDIS arriving on the planet Kembel and meeting Bret Vyon of the Space Security Service. Vyon is looking for Marc Cory, one of the men killed in the teaser "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E2MissionToTheUnknown Mission to the Unknown]]". Together, they discover that the Daleks plan to use the "Time Destructor" to conquer the Solar System.

A 12-episode monster (and the second longest story ever at ''five hours long''), which begins with the TARDIS arriving on the planet Kembel and meeting Bret Vyon of the Space Security Service. Vyon is looking for Marc Cory, one of the men killed in the teaser "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E2MissionToTheUnknown Mission to the Unknown]]". Together, they discover that the Daleks plan to use the "Time Destructor" to conquer the Solar System.