What do you think?
Rate this book
Doctor Who: Macra Terror
When the Doctor, Polly and Ben visit a human colony that appears to be one big holiday camp, they think they have come across a truly happy place. But a shadowy presence soon makes them realise that the surface contentment is carefully controlled. The colony's inhabitants have been brainwashed by giant crab-like creatures - the Macra. Insidious propaganda, broadcast by the Controller, forces the humans to mine a gas that is essential for the Macra to survie - but fatal for them. The colony must be saved - but how? The Doctor and his team are up against it, particularly when Ben falls under the influence of the Macra. Can he be rescued from their evil clutches? Can the gas pumping be destroyed, getting rid of the Macra for good? The soundtrack to this popular adventure, which was first broadcast in 1967, has been digitally remastered to recreate a very popular story from the Troughton era.
2 CDs. 1 hr 35 mins.
2 CDs. 1 hr 35 mins.
2 pages, Audio CD
First published July 6, 1992
About the author
Ian Stuart Black
31 books5 followersIan Stuart Black was a novelist, playwright and screenwriter. Both his 1959 novel In the Wake of a Stranger and his 1962 novel about the Cyprus emergency The High Bright Sun were made into films, Black writing the screenplays in each case.
He also wrote scripts for several British television programmes from the 1950s to the 1970s, including The Invisible Man and Sir Francis Drake (for which he was also story editor), as well as Danger Man (on which he served as associate producer) and Star Maidens.
In addition, he wrote three stories for Doctor Who in 1965 and 1966. These stories were The Savages and The War Machines (with Kit Pedler and Pat Dunlop) for William Hartnell's Doctor; and The Macra Terror for Patrick Troughton. He novelised all three stories for Target Books.
His final credit was for a half-hour supernatural drama called House of Glass, which was made by Television South in 1991.
He was the father of actress Isobel Black.
He also wrote scripts for several British television programmes from the 1950s to the 1970s, including The Invisible Man and Sir Francis Drake (for which he was also story editor), as well as Danger Man (on which he served as associate producer) and Star Maidens.
In addition, he wrote three stories for Doctor Who in 1965 and 1966. These stories were The Savages and The War Machines (with Kit Pedler and Pat Dunlop) for William Hartnell's Doctor; and The Macra Terror for Patrick Troughton. He novelised all three stories for Target Books.
His final credit was for a half-hour supernatural drama called House of Glass, which was made by Television South in 1991.
He was the father of actress Isobel Black.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 2, 2023
Listened to this whilst doing housework and it was entertaining at that. It's like a really camp dystopia with big crabs, might listen to more soon.
January 11, 2022
The Macra Terror is by turns intriguing and cliched. On the one hand, the society that is just too happy to be true is interesting in itself. Clearly, brainwashing of some sort has to happen, and that Ben gets brainwashed into it provides some good drama. The bad part is that all of this is down to some paranoid crabs. Pushing off the responsibility for faults in human society by saying it is caused by an outside influence simply ducks the writer's responsibility to investigate the main idea. While it might not be "Doctor Who" enough without a demonstrable baddy, in this case the story probably would have improved without one.
August 17, 2011
The TARDIS lands on an unnamed planet in the future. Here, a human colony is policed by the Pilot, but is really led by the Controller - a 'Big Brother' figure, with a tannoy-voice akin to the loudspeaker addresses in Quatermass II (actually provided by Nigel Kneale). He is only ever seen (via monitors) as an imposing man, given the disembodied voice. The true masters however, are huge crab-like creatures, the Macra.
The colony's holiday camp image (complete with cheerleaders, public-announcements, and jingles) belies the truth - the brain-washed colonists are closely watched, and kept in a state of complacent contentment (21 years before The Happiness Patrol). They're forced to mine gas, lethal to humans but vital to the Macra's survival.
Ben succumbs to Control's conditioning, and he betrays his friends. When he recovers, Ben destroys the gas pumping equipment, thereby killing the Macra and restoring the colony's freedom. The travellers depart before the Doctor can be appointed the new Pilot!
The Macra Terror has obvious Orwellian parallels, and Ian Stuart Black's scripts address themes of propoganda and conformity, at a time when the electorates of the West were increasingly disillusioned with government and the establishment. In the wake of political scandals and assassinations, people were questioning their obedience to authority in the 1960's. The age of deference was over. This idea is best illustrated by the Doctor's comment to Polly: "... you've been given orders while you've been asleep... Don't just be obedient. Always make up your own mind" (echoes of 1984, The Manchurian Candidate, and A Clockwork Orange). Similarly, the story's funniest scene has the Doctor rebelling against this ordered regime. When his unkempt appearance is questioned, the Doctor's clothes and hair are styled by a grooming machine. In dismay, the Doctor uses a toning device to get messed-up again: "But who wants to see their face in a pair of suede shoes?"
True, the story is let down by the Macra themselves, but this can be overlooked because their scenes are kept to a minimum, and the suspense is only heightened in the audio version.
* A History of the Universe (Parkin, 1996) sets the action in the year 2366.
* This is the first story to feature the Doctor's face in the title sequence.
* Screened in 1967, non of the 4 episodes exist in the BBC archives. Colin Baker provides the linking narration on the CD release.
* The Macra made a surprise return 40 years later to menace New New York in Gridlock.
* The story was placed at No. 137 in the DWM Mighty 200 Poll (Issue 413, September 2009)
The colony's holiday camp image (complete with cheerleaders, public-announcements, and jingles) belies the truth - the brain-washed colonists are closely watched, and kept in a state of complacent contentment (21 years before The Happiness Patrol). They're forced to mine gas, lethal to humans but vital to the Macra's survival.
Ben succumbs to Control's conditioning, and he betrays his friends. When he recovers, Ben destroys the gas pumping equipment, thereby killing the Macra and restoring the colony's freedom. The travellers depart before the Doctor can be appointed the new Pilot!
The Macra Terror has obvious Orwellian parallels, and Ian Stuart Black's scripts address themes of propoganda and conformity, at a time when the electorates of the West were increasingly disillusioned with government and the establishment. In the wake of political scandals and assassinations, people were questioning their obedience to authority in the 1960's. The age of deference was over. This idea is best illustrated by the Doctor's comment to Polly: "... you've been given orders while you've been asleep... Don't just be obedient. Always make up your own mind" (echoes of 1984, The Manchurian Candidate, and A Clockwork Orange). Similarly, the story's funniest scene has the Doctor rebelling against this ordered regime. When his unkempt appearance is questioned, the Doctor's clothes and hair are styled by a grooming machine. In dismay, the Doctor uses a toning device to get messed-up again: "But who wants to see their face in a pair of suede shoes?"
True, the story is let down by the Macra themselves, but this can be overlooked because their scenes are kept to a minimum, and the suspense is only heightened in the audio version.
* A History of the Universe (Parkin, 1996) sets the action in the year 2366.
* This is the first story to feature the Doctor's face in the title sequence.
* Screened in 1967, non of the 4 episodes exist in the BBC archives. Colin Baker provides the linking narration on the CD release.
* The Macra made a surprise return 40 years later to menace New New York in Gridlock.
* The story was placed at No. 137 in the DWM Mighty 200 Poll (Issue 413, September 2009)
June 17, 2016
I knew very little of the first two doctors. I heard more and more about them in the intervening years but the re-appearance of the Macra piqued my interest as it is not one I recalled being mentioned. The Ice Warriors, the Yeti most often, but not this intriguing character.
When the second series mentioned them, I wanted to read/see this episode to see how they were originally portrayed.
The message I take most clearly from this is to be critical of what one is told, investigate, and challenge. Conformity isn't the way to a 'perfect society'. The use of subliminal techniques to brain wash the colonist makes it very clear they were numbing the truth for the pretense of being happy. From that, also comes the accusations and social pressure to conform, as briefly did Ben, the Doctor's companion seek to have the others arrested for resisting the indoctrination.
Ever the rebel, the Doctor is my hero!
When the second series mentioned them, I wanted to read/see this episode to see how they were originally portrayed.
The message I take most clearly from this is to be critical of what one is told, investigate, and challenge. Conformity isn't the way to a 'perfect society'. The use of subliminal techniques to brain wash the colonist makes it very clear they were numbing the truth for the pretense of being happy. From that, also comes the accusations and social pressure to conform, as briefly did Ben, the Doctor's companion seek to have the others arrested for resisting the indoctrination.
Ever the rebel, the Doctor is my hero!
July 8, 2016
I was quite keen on the idea of an earlier macra story but my fellow listener and I would both have preferred them to be more unequivocally crustacean rather than have the frequent references to 'insects'. The Second Doctor starts to show better here but Jamie still seems far too unbewildered to be out of his century and Polly seems terribly wet.
Not a bad tale in itself and the motivational jingles and brainwashed happiness and compliance of the colony residents set the teeth suitably on edge.
Not a bad tale in itself and the motivational jingles and brainwashed happiness and compliance of the colony residents set the teeth suitably on edge.
May 1, 2019
The doctor, polly, ben and jamie land on a planet inhabited by strange creatures called macra.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews