Trivia / Doctor Who S6 E1 "The Dominators"

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• Alan Smithee: Writers Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln hated how Derrick Sherwin changed their story, so they asked for their names replaced with the pseudonym "Norman Ashby".
• Creator Backlash:
  • Haisman and Lincoln got a lot of bad blood over their story being rewritten and not even being able to give it an ending. Their attempt to make "the next Daleks" also made them get into debate over who had the merchandising rights to the Quarks. It ended with the duo never returning to write for Who and denying the use of their characters for "The Invasion", a Sequel Episode to "The Web of Fear".
  • Patrick Troughton didn't care for the story, even agreeing with a fan who found it dull. He reportedly warmed to it in his later years, to the point where he even requested that it be shown at the convention where he ultimately suffered a fatal heart attack.
• Cross-Dressing Voices: Robot child example — the Quarks are Cute Machines portrayed by little boys while being voiced by an adult woman.
• Missing Episode:
  • Was slated to be six episodes, but reduced to five because of major budget snafus on the serial.^note Originally as planned, the serial was supposed to be four episodes, and was to be a Bottle Episode to boot. However, The BBC warmed to the story and expanded it to six episodes. However, the set design and costuming departments were still originally given a Bottle Episode budget — according to the production note subtitles on the DVD, possibly as low as 450 pounds an episode, about the budget level of a period drama (which could draw from existing BBC wardrobe and stock sets, something Doctor Who usually couldn't). While Auntie Beeb later infused money into the serial to help realize the ambitious sets and the new Quark suits, there was no way to make six episodes financially viable. Haisman and Lincoln were basically told to stop writing Episode Six halfway through, which pissed them off no end, leading to the Alan Smithee situation, and to Derrick Sherwin and Terrance Dicks writing the majority of Episode Five to make it the finale after Haisman and Lincoln essentially pulled a Screw This, I'm Out of Here! due to the BBC's demands. The resulting scramble to fill the slot resulted in the Bottle Episode approach of Episode One of "The Mind Robber".
  • By the time the BBC stopped junking episodes in 1978, part three was one of many tapes that were gone from the archives. However, a telerecording was very quickly returned from the British Film Institute.
• Working Title: The Beautiful People.
• You Look Familiar: Brian Cant (Chairman Tensa) was Kert Gantry.

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