Dodo Chaplet (Jackie Lane) joined the Doctor and Steven in the next serial, The Massacre. There were no changes in the primary cast until Steven's departure in the penultimate story, The Savages. In the final story The War Machines, Dodo also departs, and the Doctor was joined by Polly (Anneke Wills) and Ben (Michael Craze). Like the previous season, the cast of companions had changed from start to finish.
Guest stars
Peter Butterworth makes his second and final appearance as the Meddling Monk in the serial The Daleks' Master Plan, though his presence in the story is limited to three parts only; "Volcano", "Golden Death", and "Escape Switch".
The practice of giving each individual episode a different title was abandoned after The Gunfighters, near the end of the season. This season was notable for the longest serial to date, The Daleks' Master Plan, which contained 12 episodes. The record of The Daleks' Master Plan as the longest serial was eventually taken by the 14-part The Trial of a Time Lord, which spanned the whole of Season 23. The single-episode prequel to this story, "Mission to the Unknown", was not only the shortest story, but was notable for the absence of the entire regular cast. The episode came about when Planet of Giants, the opening serial of Season 2, was reduced from four to three episodes, leaving a single episode held over in the production schedule. Rather than attempt to create a single-episode story, or add an episode to an already commissioned story, it was decided to use this one episode as a trailer to set up the upcoming 12-part Dalek story.[citation needed]
Four of the stories from Season 3 ("Mission to the Unknown", The Myth Makers, The Massacre, and The Savages) are completely missing from the BBC archive, with no surviving episodes. Further, "Mission to the Unknown" and The Massacre are two of only three stories from the entire run of Doctor Who with no surviving footage from any sources (the other being Marco Polo from Season 1). Only three of this season's stories (The Ark, The Gunfighters and The War Machines) are complete. "Mission to the Unknown", however, is unique in that it is the only missing episode of Doctor Who to be fully recreated in live-action, with the student-made project having its production quality on par with that of 1960s television.
Season 3 holds the distinction of being the longest-running season of Doctor Who to date, having produced 45 episodes in 10 serials. Season 6 produced just one episode less in 7 serials.
The Massacre was the first serial that saw the lead actor cast in a dual role; William Hartnell not only plays the Doctor, but also the Abbot of Amboise. This would be repeated by Patrick Troughton in Season 5'sThe Enemy of the World.
Two ships have crashed after a space battle, but the planet they have landed on is about to be destroyed. The beautiful female Drahvins seem friendly, but in fact it is the ugly Rills that are more tolerant and forgiving.
Space agent Marc Cory is investigating the sighting of a Dalek ship and discovers they have a base on Kembel. But his crew are infected by Varga plants, imported from Skaro, and start to mutate into Vargas.
The TARDIS lands outside Troy during the siege. The Doctor is captured by the Greeks and given two days to devise a plan for taking the city. Steven and Vicki are captured by the Trojans, and given two days to devise a means of banishing the Greeks.
Some six months after the events of "Mission to the Unknown", the TARDIS arrives on the planet Kembel, and the Doctor leaves the TARDIS to try to find medical aid for the wounded Steven Taylor leaving him with the Trojan girl Katarina. On doing so, he becomes embroiled in a Dalek scheme to design the ultimate weapon.
The arrival of the TARDIS in Paris in 1572 places its occupants, the Doctor and Steven in a dangerous situation. Tensions between Protestants and Catholics are at fever pitch in the city.
At least ten million years into the future, the TARDIS materialises on a vast spacecraft Dodo names "the Ark" where the whole human race is bound for a new world.
The TARDIS lands in the domain of the Toymaker, who forces the Doctor, Dodo and Steven to play a series of childish games, with deadly consequences if they lose.
The Doctor gets his tooth pulled by Doc Holliday in Tombstone while Dodo and Steven literally sing for their lives. The travellers are caught up in the events leading up to the famous "Gunfight at the OK Corral".
The TARDIS materialises on a distant planet in the far future. The TARDIS crew find the planet inhabited by both the Elders and bands of roaming savages.
Ainsworth, John, ed. (2019). "Shada, Dimensions in Time, The Curse of Fatal Death and Time Crash". Doctor Who: The Complete History. 90 (90). London: Panini Comics, Hachette Partworks. ISSN2057-6048.
Smith, Paul (2014). The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium. United Kingdom: Wonderful Books. ISBN978-0-9576062-2-7.
Smith, Paul MC (July 2021). Based on the Popular BBC Television Serial. Wonderful Books.