The Dominators is a Doctor Who novella written by Ian Marter. Released in 1984, it is a novelization of Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln's Doctor Who serial of the same name.
Characters[]
- Second Doctor
- Jamie McCrimmon
- Zoe Heriot
- Rago
- Toba
- Kully
- Senex
- Balan
- Kando
- Teel
- Bovem
- Tensa
- Tolata
- Etnin
- Wahed
rest to be added
Publisher's summary[]
The Doctor remembers Dulkis from a previous visit as a civilised and peaceful place. But times have changed, and his second trip is not quite the holiday he was expecting.
The Dulcians themselves are more reluctant than ever before to engage in acts of violence. The so-called Island of Death, once used as an atomic test site, has served as a dire warning to generations of Dulcians of the horrifying consequences of warfare. But an alien race prepares to take advantage of their pacifism...
The whole planet and its passive inhabitants are threatened with complete annihilation - and no one it seems, is going to lift a finger to stop the evil Dominators and their unquestioning robot slaves.
Plot[]
Chapter 1: Island of Death[]
The story begins with two vessels arriving on the Island of Death (an island irradiated in ancient nuclear testing) on Dulkis. The first is an extraterrestrial spacecraft piloted by two Dominators - the slightly conscientious Rago and the bloodthirsty Toba - and the second is a hovercraft crewed by several Dulcians seeking a (highly illegal) good time on/around the Island. After the hovercraft is marooned, its crew finds that the island has suddenly lost its radioactivity. They search for help and soon find the Dominators. Besides the hovercraft's captain (Kully), the crew is killed by the Dominators' robotic servants (the Quarks).
It is immediately after this that a third vessel arrives on the Island. It is the TARDIS. The Doctor has piloted the TARDIS to Dulkis in search of a vacation after the strenuous events of his last adventure. For his companions, the sights of the Island (a ruined building used as a sort of "war museum" by the extremely pacifistic Dulcians) aren't that convincing. As they explore the museum, they are soon found by three mysterious, hazmat-suit clothed figures.
Chapter 2: The Radiation Mystery[]
The Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe are placed into a decontamination chamber by their "captors" (a group of Dulcians studying the Island) and are almost suffocated by the decontaminating gas before being released. While conversing with the Dulcians, the Doctor discovers that Dulkis has never been visited by extraterrestrials before. It is also discovered that the once radioactive island has become completely inert.
One of the students (Teel) finds Kully while outside. Kully reveals that the Dominators have found the TARDIS and plan to destroy it. The Doctor and Jamie leave to find the TARDIS while Zoe stays behind. The duo finds the Dominator ship but are captured by its crew.
Chapter 3: The Assessment[]
Inside of the Dominator ship, the Doctor and Jamie are subjected to a series of tests by the Dominators to see if the Dulcians will serve as a workforce (as the Dominators are unaware that they have captured fellow extraterrestrials). During these tests, the Doctor plays dumb to fool the Dominators. This works.
Meanwhile, Zoe and Kully enter into a travel capsule (a small vehice which seemingly uses rocket propulsion similar to the Moon Gun from Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon) to travel to the Dulcian Capitol to warn Kully's father (a high-ranking official named Senex) about the Dominators.
Chapter 4: Heads in the Sand[]
Within the Dulcian Capitol, Zoe and Kully meet with Senex but are brushed off (with Senex believing that his son is making up everything). Zoe and Kully decide to return to the Island, sneaking off to find a capsule.
Jamie and the Doctor are brought to the war museum. While inside it, their captors force them to fire an ancient Dulcian gun to test its effectiveness. After this, the Doctor and Jamie manage to escape the Dominators.
The Dulcian students leave the confines of their building to collect soil samples. While doing this, they find the Dominator ship and are captured. After being tested, the Dominators declare that despite their lesser (to Jamie, whom they believe is a member of a nonexistant second species on Dulkis) strength, they are perfect for slave labour.
Chapter 5: Slavery[]
Zoe and Kully's capsule lands on the Island and is immediately surrounded by Quarks. They are nearly killed but this is stopped by Rago. The occupants of the capsule are instead pressed into slavery.
The Doctor and Jamie arrive in the Capitol and attempt to convince the leading Dulcians of the threat of the Dominators. Though they convince Senex and his fellows of the existence of the Dominators, they are met with indifference from the Dulcians due to their pacifism. Frustrated, Jamie and the Doctor decide to return to the Island.
As their service begins, Zoe and Kully begin discussing an escape attempt from their captors. Teel (one of the students) helps them out. As Balan (the elderly teacher of the Dulcian student group), Zoe sneaks into the ruins and tries to grab one of the weapons, but is found and surrounded by the Quarks.
Chapter 6: Fighting Back[]
The Quarks ae distracted by Kando (another student) fainting. The trio soon devises a new escape plan involving a bomb shelter. Kully, armed with the ancient Dulcian gun, crawls further inside the museum and aims it at the Quarks. Before he can fire, he is stopped by Jamie (who is separated from the Doctor).
While he is skulking around, the Doctor is found by Toba and captured. Toba then finds Jamie and Kully and, after a short battle between the escaped captives and a squadron of Quarks, destroys the museum (though Jamie and Kully escape into the bomb shelter).
This is noticed by Rago, who begins squabbling with Toba over the waste of resources. Though it gets extremely heated, it ends in a stalemate due to Toba's usefulness to the Dominator Fleet. Once his argument with Toba finishes, Rago orders the Doctor to tell him everything he knows about Dulkis.
Chapter 7: Buried Alive[]
Trapped inside the bomb shelter, Jamie and Kully try to use a periscope to see outside of it. This fails.
The Doctor gives a satisfactory (to Rago) description of Dulcian culture. During this interrogation, the Doctor tells Rago about the capsules. Rago decides to travel to the Dulcian Capitol in one and puts Toba in charge of operations while he is away.
Jamie, in a feat of adrenaline-powered strength, manages to open the hatch on the bomb shelter. He and Kully escape and begin stalking around the Island. They find that the Quarks have begun drilling and attack them, managing to destroy a few of them before a cliff collapse brings the duo out of commission.
Chapter 8: Clues[]
Rago enters into the Dulcian Capitol and tries to flex his raw power. Though at a significant disadvantage, the Dulcians attempt to resist Rago. This ends when Rago kills one of the Councillors. Before leaving, Rago tells the remaining Councillors that those who are enslaved by the Dominators are lucky, as they will survive.
Toba brings the Doctor and Zoe into the Dominator's ship. While in the ship, the Doctor discovers how the Dominators power their ships - a negative mass flux absorption system (esentially, as Zoe puts it, a "radiation vacuum cleaner".)
Toba begins interrogating the other Dulcian captives on who could have destroyed the Quarks. He tortures Teel and Kando after they "defy" him. He then has all of the captives brought into the ship and threatens them with execution if they do not tell him where Jamie is. During this, he kills Balan and seemingly begins the Doctor's execution after he truly defies him.
Chapter 9: Last Chances[]
Fleeing from the Quarks, Jamie and Kully enter back into the bomb shelter again. After a short discussion of foodstuffs available to them, Jamie finds that their hiding spot has been surrounded by Quarks.
Before he can execute the Doctor, Toba is stopped by a furious Rago. Their ensuing argument shines more light on the purpose of their drilling.
As the Quarks stand guard around the bunker, Jamie and Kully sight the other surviving captives. Jamie decides to bring the Doctor and Zoe into the bunker. To do this, Jamie sneaks out of the bunker, ties a Quark's legs together, and (as Kully attacks the Quark) brings all of the captives into the bunker. Toba tries to get the Quarks to destroy the captives but is stopped by Rago, who instead has Toba finish their drilling - which will destroy Dulkis and every living thing on it.
Inside the bunker, Jamie watches as the Dominators argue right in front of the bunker. Neither Dominator notices their captives' hiding spot as they stalk away. The Doctor then explains that the Dominators plan to make Dulkis into a massive source of radiation by firing a seeding device into Dulkis' mantle. It is Jamie that figures out how to get a hold of the seeding device before it hits the mantle - digging a tunnel and grabbing it. The Doctor sends Jamie and Kully out to sabotage Quarks while work begins on the tunnel. As the Doctor builds bombs using chemicals from a medkit, the drilling stops.
Chapter 10: Desperate Remedies[]
Jamie and Kully stalk across the cliffs armed with bombs made by the Doctor. The bombs are extremely effective on the Quarks, either destroying or incapacatating them. Toba almost sends Quarks to destroy the duo but stops himself as Rago orders him to resume drilling.
Within the bunker, its occupants work on the tunnel in shifts. After Jamie and Kully attack the rig, drilling stops. Rago still refuses to send Quarks out, instead having the rig replaced and setting out on his own to kill the duo.
Jamie and Kully are soon found by Rago (with a small group of Quarks). Due to the Quark power reserves being low, Rago has them use a devastating attack (quantised aggregate pulses) on the duo. This attack hits Kully, who is partially paralyzed. Jamie lobs a bomb at Rago, which causes the Quarks around him to scatter as they die.
As the tunnel reaches the boreshaft, Jamie and Kully return to the bomb shelter. The Doctor examines Kully, finding that the paralysis is temporary. Drilling then stops, with the tunnel completed just as the Dominators ready the seeding device. The Doctor catches the device but is unable to neutralise it. To do this, the Doctor places it inside the Dominator's ship as the Dulcians leave for the Capitol. Though the Dominators try to abort the seeding, this fails and they are killed as their ship explodes. Though the destruction of Dulkis is averted, the Island erupts with volcanic activity - with the Doctor and company still on it.
Notes[]
- This novelization is one of the few that keeps the cliffhanger ending of its original serial. The following volume (by serial order), The Mind Robber, doesn't do this - instead having the Doctor enter into the Land of Fiction due to a trip to Vesuvius.
In-universe continuity[]
- The Quarks appear in various comics published by TV Comic while the Dominators becoming a recurring force within Candy Jar's Lethbridge-Stewart series.
- During his trial in The War Games, the Doctor mentions liberating Dulkis from the Dominators.
See also[]
| Title | Author | Release date | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Krotons | Terrance Dicks | 1985 | A novella with a similar plot |
| Mutually Assured Domination | Nick Walters | 2015 | A novel featuring the Dominators |
| Attack of the Quarks | Chris Lynch and Tim Gambrell | 2021 | An anthology featuring the Quarks |
Sources[]
- TARDIS Wiki