The Daleks' Master Plan was so long, that it is the only Doctor Who story where the novelization was divided into two books (Mission to the Unknown and The Mutation of Time, pictured above).
Sadly, most of the The Daleks' Master Plan is missing. Only three episodes out of the twelve still exist in BBC's archives. In order to experience this epic tale, I chose to read the novelization for the first half of the story, taking breaks to watch the still in existence episodes 2 and 5. For the second half of the story, I watched the fan-made reconstructions of episodes 7-12, and taking a break from the reconstructions to watch the still in existence episode 10.
The Daleks' Master Plan continues on from the story of Mission to the Unknown. The Tardis lands on Kembel, where The Doctor is most concerned about finding a way to treat Steven's injuries (sustained in the last adventure The Myth Makers).
Meanwhile, two Space Agents have also landed on Kembel. One of the agents is killed by the Daleks, which allows the other agent to escape. This agent, Bret Vyon, has discovered that the Guardian of the Solar System, Mavic Chen, is collaborating with the Daleks and is attempting to return to Earth and expose the plot. Bret discovers the Tardis and demands that The Doctor take him to Earth. The Doctor subdues Bret Vyon and restrains him.
The Doctor then leaves to discover what exactly the Daleks plans are. The Doctor discovers Marc Cory's recording, which he takes with him. Bret Vyon, meanwhile, is able to cure Steven's injuries with some field medicine that he's carrying. Bret, Steven, Katarina and The Doctor eventually make plans to steal Mavic Chen's ship. The Doctor, disguised as a one of the emissaries that they've recently overpowered, discovers the plot of the Daleks, which is to invade the solar system and use their new weapon, The Time Destructor. The Doctor steals the taranium core of the Time Destructor and The Doctor returns to Mavic Chen's ship.
The travelers are waylaid and end up making a detour to Desperus, a prison planet. Katarina sacrifices herself when she become trapped in an airlock with a convict holding her hostage. After this, the travelers end up on Earth. Mavic Chen has arrived before them, and has branded them as fugitives. Bret Vyon is killed by his own sister, Sara Kingdom. Sara captures The Doctor and Steven but before she can turn them over to the authorities, the three unwittingly become part of an experiment. The three are sent to the planet Mira via "molecular dissemination".
The Daleks catch up to the travelers on Mira, but The Doctor and his companions manage to outwit the Daleks and steal their ship. The ship returns to Kembel, where The Doctor hands over a "fake" taranium core to Mavic Chen and the Daleks. The Doctor, Steven and Sara escape and return to the Tardis, resuming their travels.
At this point, the story breaks off into a one-off episode called The Feast of Steven. The travelers end up on Earth, where they eventually end up in Hollywood during the heyday of silent film making. Played for laughs, and aired at Christmas, The Feast of Steven is the first ever Doctor Who Christmas show. A nice change of pace which I much appreciated.
The main story then resumes with the following episode. A brief visit to a volcanic planet results in The Doctor and his companions meeting up with the Meddling Monk from The Time Meddler. Determined to get revenge, The Meddling Monk attempts to lock The Doctor out of his Tardis, but The Doctor is able to repair the lock.
The travelers then arrive in ancient Egypt, followed by the Meddling Monk and The Daleks. The Daleks capture Steven and Sara, and The Doctor is forced to hand over the real taranium core for their release. The Doctor, however, is able to follow the Daleks by removing the directional control from the Meddling Monk's Tardis. This plan works, but is shorted out as the two Tardises are not the same model. The Meddling Monk, who had collaborated with the Daleks, is last seen on a icy planet vowing revenge against The Doctor, as he is now doomed to wander throughout time and space.
The final two episodes of the story show the Daleks turning on Mavic Chen and their other allies, which was the original plan of the Daleks to begin with. The Doctor, meanwhile, is able to activate the Time Destructor, which causes time on Kembel to accelerate. Steven and The Doctor make it back to the Tardis, but Sara (along with the Daleks) dies of the effects.
The first thing that was decided by the powers behind Doctor Who at the time was to write out the new companion Katarina. It was felt at the time that having to explain everything that's going on during the show to Katarina would slow the show down and might possibly turn off viewers. I view it as a missed opportunity, however. Having a person from the past might have proved interesting, if the writers had been willing to put forth some effort. After all, just a couple of years later, The Doctor would be traveling around with two companions from the past (granted, the not-so-distant past, but still).
Sara Kingdom (a return performance by Jean Marsh, who last appeared in The Crusade) is a bit more controversial. Sara, as a character, isn't necessarily controversial, the controversy revolves on whether she should be considered a companion or not. Many sources, including my own copy of The Doctor Who Programme Guide by Jean-Marc Lofficier list Sara Kingdom as a companion. Other sources do not. The revived series hasn't helped things much by listing one-off characters like Astrid Peth and Jackson Lake as companions. Of course, there's also the issue of the UNIT regulars from the Third and Fourth Doctor eras like The Brigadier, Sgt. Benton and Capt. Yates.
My definition of a companion has always been a character that appears in more than one story, and by that definition Sara Kingdom would not be considered a companion, just as I don't consider Astrid Peth or Jackson Lake to be full companions. But the clear fact is that Sara Kingdom actually appears in more episodes of the Daleks' Master Plan than Katarina does during her entire tenure (five episodes over two stories) and this muddies the waters a bit, as I do consider Katarina to be a companion of The Doctor, however brief her tenure on the show.
The biggest issue with the Daleks' Master Plan is, quite simply, is that it's more a series of interconnected stories rather than a single long narrative. In many ways, it similar to the much later Key to Time and Trial of a Time Lord arcs. As such, it's difficult to give a rating to the story as a whole.
I will say that I enjoyed the Meddling Monk arc quite a bit, it was nice to see his character return. Sadly, this would be the Meddling Monk's last appearance as well. When it was decided to have another Time Lord match wits with The Doctor during the Third Doctor's time, the decision was made to replace the more jovial and humorous Meddling Monk with the much more evil and sinister Master.
I didn't enjoy the Desperus arc, as it really felt like a detour to the main story, though the sacrifice of Katarina was quite moving. I did find the ending, where the Daleks become victims to their own device, very appropriate and appealed to my sense of justice.
Having experienced this story via both the Target novelization (for the first half) and the reconstructions (for the second half), I found the reconstructions a much more authentic way to enjoy the story. The same hold true for the audio sountrack method, which is how I experienced the previous story The Myth Makers. While I certainly appreciate the Target novelizations, one misses the interaction with the actors that one gets with the reconstructions and audio soundtracks. But I wouldn't hesitate to suggest reading the novelization to experience The Daleks' Master Plan, as it's such an epic story.
