Okay, here’s the skinny. Way back in 1963, when Doctor Who was starting up, it was working out stories, taking pitches, hiring writers, etc. The first script they did was Unearthly Child, written by Anthony Coburn. It was a success, thankfully.

Coburn was a friend and associate of Sidney Newman, and he’d actually been involved in the development of Doctor Who.  I think he was the one who came up with the word ‘Tardis.’  So of course, they invited Anthony Coburn to do a second script, and slated it into the production process as the second serial. It was originally going to be the follow up episode. But there were some problems with it.  It wasn’t ready.  The producers weren’t completely happy. It got pushed back, with the Edge of Destruction being written at the last minute to give a bit of breathing room. Still not ready, the Terry Nation whipped up something in no time at all, and the Daleks took its place. The rest is history, as far as Doctor Who was concerned.

As for Anthony Coburn, the Masters of Luxor kept getting pushed back and pushed back. I think that they just didn’t want it, but were having trouble saying no. Eventually, they did say no, and Coburn chose not to be associated with the show any longer.

There, the story should have ended. But the Masters of Luxor got published in August, 1992, by Titan Books, as part of a series of Doctor Who script books, for used and unused scripts.

Now available to the public, the script floated around for another nine years, until 2001, when a group of Chicago area fans led by Frank Smialek and Andrew Sarlo decided to mount a production of it. Partially because the ambitions of the script seemed achievable.

…..

This feels so much like a Hartnell serial, it’s uncanny. The lighting, the sets, the pacing, that formal theatrical style of dramatic acting that was a staple of the first decade or so of British television, it’s all there, and masterfully done.

The production design is exemplary. That’s partly a matter of the script’s gift and the productions talent and commitment. You have a very impressive Tardis console and Tardis set. It looks very authentic to the period. The costumes, props, the sets and robots are all well done, and authentic to the period.

Of course, this period was 1963 Doctor Who, shot on black and white and broadcast on low res TV, with a BBC production budget that was pretty shoestring and a production background that was heavily theatrical. When they did crazy ambitious stuff, you got stories like the Daleks of the Web Planet, which were impressive but flawed.

Apart from the Tardis walls and console, the most impressive production design are the robots – called ‘derivatrons’ You can tell there’s a lot of duct tape and aluminum foil in their DNA. They’re not the standard ‘tin can’ variety of robots – that’s the universal default for robot and that’s always hard to carry off well. What they’ve done here is gone for a more ‘golem’ style of bot, very roughly humanoid, without facial features. They’re almost like crude clay effigies, half formed and half finished, without the bother of detailing. Visually that works.

Which, I suppose, takes us to the story itself. What’s it about? Basically, it’s about a Pinochhio’s quest to be a real boy, by dismembering other real boys and wearing their skins…

Okay, not really. Although you have to admit, that’s a humdinger of a B-movie plot. But actually, this is what it is in a nutshell, although in a deeply philosophical way. Masters of Luxor is really the story of the ‘Perfect One’ and his own oedipal longings.

Episode One (18 minutes)

Episode Two (23 minutes)

Episode Three (30 minutes)

Episode Four (24 minutes)