Original air dates May and June of 1971. Five episodes in the serial. It was a dark and stormy night…
The village of Devil’s End is going to trigger a curse by letting BBC in to the Devil’s Hump. They’re opening the Hump on Beltane. The Doctor finds this odd and rushes off to stop them. A local witch is trying to stop things, and goes to the local Vicar – who turns out to be the Master. Whoops.
The Master whammies her or tries, and the local witch storms off in a huff.
The Doctor and Jo are on the way but lost. They get directions, and someone warns the Master the Doctor is coming. The Master is running some sort of ceremony in the cave. Roger Delgado can really pull off leader of a cult!
The Doctor literally runs up the hill shouting, “Stop that dig! Stop!” The stone comes out and all hell breaks loose with wind, and shaking, and dirt falling. Meanwhile, the Master’s ceremony hits its peak and wakes some thing in the gargoyle. Credits roll.
The Professor is dead, and the Doctor is frozen. The local doctor finds both hearts, and the Doctor may pull through.
The dig is closed up and a local policeman stands guard. Red eyes watch him from the dig.
UNIT arrives in the helicopter as soon as it’s light. They find enormous hoof prints burned into the grass, going into a wood. They leave off following them for going to Jo and the Doctor. Doctor is still out cold. Jo has a bad feeling.
The gargoyle follows them into the dig just as the Doctor was going to explain. Credits roll.
The Master’s trying to get the gargoyle to attack, it won’t, it runs from the Doctor’s Venusian.
The Master whammies the local Squire. Gets his help, he’s utterly convinced.
Brigadier’s trying to get in, there’s a mile high dome forming a ten mile circle around the village church.
The Doctor recognizes these as Daemons from the planet Daemos.
The Squire gets the village together, and lets the Master talk, and he gives quite the talk. Quite the con man.
The Brigadier has a Bad Plan to blow his way in, and the Doctor is changing it to some technobabble solution.
Now the Master’s thugs have stolen the Brigader’s helicopter, and no one will be happy.
Thug chases Doctor towards the heat barrier; Jo is thrown from the car. The Doctor takes the motorcycle to talk to the Brigadier, while the seargent takes Jo back to the pub for medical attention.
The Master is doing a ceremony thing to talk to the Daemons, and it arrives with earthquakes and devastation. The Master cowers before it, and the credits roll.
The Master wants knowledge and power to rule the primitives and impelement their plan. The last of the Daemons will destroy it if the Earth is a failure. The Master realizes he needs his coven’s power to control the Daemon.
Jo is out on her own trying to get to the cavern, and is stopped by the heat explosion of the daemon changing size.
One of the UNIT chaps is looking for her, finds her in the cavern. The Doctor is on his way back via motorcycle. Someone tries to snipe him. He flees.
The villagers celebrate May Day with Morris Dancers, who nobble the Doctor. They tie him to their maypole, and threaten to burn him as a witch. The villagers are way into it. The local white witch who’s a nice lady comes and talks them out of it. Her magic “proof” is Sgt. Benton with a silencer.
The Master summons the Daemon again, and we get to watch it appear over the credits. The effects aren’t bad for 1971 television. Jo tries to interrupt.
Jo is bundled off to be an addition to the sabot – a sacrifice, it does not say – and the Doctor is trying to get the crowd’s help, talks them into it.
Oh, yes, a sacrifice. She’s not best pleased with this.
UNIT gets through the heat barrier, but the machine is destroyed. Without it, the Doctor cannot use his plan. He goes in by himself. He has nothing to lose and says so. The Master demands power, and the Daemon gives it to … the Doctor! Who refuses it, which makes no sense to the Daemon, who leaves in a fit of confusion.
Everyone flees in terror. The cavern – under the local church – explodes.
The Master is caught and taken away under UNIT guard.
The village has its mayday dance and celebration, with goodness returned to the world. Credits roll over happiness.
Tags: doctorwho