In discussing The Daleks’ Master Plan recently, I neglected to include one important element related to religion. The Doctor, the meddling monk from “The Time Meddler,” and the Daleks, all find themselves in the vicinity of the great pyramids, one of which is being completed and prepared to house the treasures of the pharaoh.
There a number of striking aspects of the treatment of religion in this section. One is the discussion of whether the booming voice of the Daleks’ “voice audio” is the voice of the gods. That the Egyptian characters have names like Hyksos and Thutmose is interesting, if somewhat problematic. But perhaps most noteworthy is what the show opted not to do, which is to have the pyramids be the work of aliens and their advanced technology. That of course became a staple of sci-fi in later times, including the recent Stargate franchise. But at the time of “The Daleks’ Master Plan,” the publication of the books of Zechariah Sitchin and Erich von Daniken that would promote such ideas still lay in the future.
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