The Daleks Campaign

Titan Script Books The Masters of Luxor

Author	Anthony Coburn
ISBN	1 852 86321 8
Published	1992

Synopsis: A dark and silent planet. A magnificent crystal edifice, perched on a mountainside. A legion of dormant robots, waiting for the signal to bring them back to life. The Doctor and his granddaughter Susan, and their reluctant companions, Ian and Barbara, are about to unleash forces which will threaten their very survival.

• A Review by Charles Daniels

A Review by Charles Daniels 29/3/04

So I finally sat down and read The Masters of Luxor, a story intended to be a second of the series. I wasn't really sure what to expect from the story, other than maybe a little strange as it was written before Doctor Who was established really.

I think the Doctor and Barbara are written perfectly. Susan is pretty accurate. Ian is just bizarre. I'm pretty sure all those hells and damns and Oh Gods he utters every other line wouldn't have made it on TV. Also he goes around calling Susan "kiddo" and has lines like "Let's cut the talk, Buster!" To an alien robot.

There is a religious theme to this story which would also been sort of surreal for Doctor Who. Susan and Barbara sing "Onward Christian Soldier" to ward off robots. Another character central to the plot, Toban, has converted to worshipping god after a lifetime devoted to immoral scientific research involving killing his own people. Susan has a line something like -

"Why is it you earthlings are scared of the word 'God'?"

The story itself is awesome. It would be easy to describe this story as - "A robot wants to become human." And we could assume all the classic sci-fi cliches from there. But we'd be wrong to do so. This IS NOT like Data from TNG, or 7 of 9 from Voyager, or like many other examples of that whole genre of stories. In this story the robot, The Perfect One, is obviously mentally ill. He's unstable. He's also an egotistical maniac who has been senselessly killing people in a series of fruitless and hopeless attempts to capture the human life force.

The script calls for a lot of action, and at the same time explores some fairly complex themes about the nature of life and, yes, religious belief.

Something that sticks out in my mind, is a line Ian has at the beginning of the story when the TARDIS monitor dies - "The projectionist has gone home!" - which is to illustrate that even though he's just escaped from cavemen, there's still that part of him that wants to deny or make light of his new situation.

Also you get some really cool, neat, freaky little points - The TARDIS can fly around like a helicopter, the TARDIS is solar powered, and the Doctor and Susan are clearly aliens.

I would love to see something happen with this script. Whether this could be adapted for audio, or if it could get a novelization, or maybe a wider publishing in script form. This is not a mere curiousity, interesting only as some Doctor Who story that wasn't good enough to make it to our screens. The Masters of Luxor is a compelling, fun, and highly entertaining story.

I just wish we could all see it for ourselves.