Mission to the Unknown

Mission To The Unknown is a self contained one episode story although it is a prequel to a story a little later in the season (The Dalek Master Plan). Interestingly, and bravely, it does not feature the Doctor or his companions. This is the only episode to not feature ANY of the regular characters. This fact is even more surprising given that fans at the time had no warning or explanation of this at all. The only way to discern this is a Doctor Who story is that it features the Daleks.

The Daleks themselves are presented well with an evil scheme taking shape to conquer the Solar System amongst other systems. The other races of aliens are also presented well and are very interesting. The human characters are decent and the story is absorbing so all in all this is a very good sci-fi adventure and an excellent introduction to the later Dalek story. It also deserves points for sheer bravery at screening an adventure with none of the TARDIS crew appearing. Another notable aspect is that this is the last episode produced by the show's original producer Verity Lambert who had served 'Doctor Who' so well.

9/10

I really like mission to the unknown. It serves as a great warm up to the Daleks' Master plan while being an enjoyable story in it's own right. It is the shortest TV story in the shows history, clocking in at about 25 minutes (1 part of classic who). This means it wastes no time and the tension is up throughout. The varga plants impose a great threat and are a brilliant concept. Though we don't spend all that much time with the characters, I still feel sorry for them when they reach their eventual demise. The daleks are superb in this and completely juxtapose their previous appearance in the chase. They begin setting up the world of the Daleks' master plan before the story begins and I feel this story adds to it significantly, providing the foundations. The doctor and co are not present what so ever, the first time this had ever been done. This means that in the Daleks' master plan we know roughly what's going on and the characters don't creating dramatic irony. Overall, I give this story an 8 / 10 and I feel like it is necessary to watch / listen to it before the Daleks' master plan as it definitely got me raring to go. I would highly recommend watching the animation on youtube as it is just great, better than some of the official animations on the DVD's

A one part Doctor Who story without the Doctor, Mission to the Unknown is a teaser for, "The Dalek's Master Plan." The Varga Plants add a great horror element to the story, and after the comic antics of, "The Chase," this story makes clear that the Daleks are a major threat and this time, they have friends.

It was regrettable that this was aired five weeks before the Dalek's Master plan which lessened its impact. It's certainly not a must-see or hear episode, but there are some good moments that lay the groundwork for what it is to come in Doctor Who's longest serial ever.