Quotes
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Cornish: There's been no contact for seven months.Van Lyden: [on screen]: How do we know they're still alive?
Cornish: They took off from Mars manually. They must have been alive then.
Van Lyden [on screen]: Something took off from Mars.
The 3rd Doctor: Good gracious. Lethbridge Stewart. What on Earth's he doing at Space Control?
Liz: Well, something's happened to the Mars Probe.
The 3rd Doctor: Oh, and the Brigadier thinks it's his business. Oh well, I suppose he's got to do something to occupy his mind now that he's blown up the Silurians.
The 3rd Doctor: Now you listen to me. That sound was some kind of a message, and it's going to be repeated.
Cornish: Will you please get this man out of here? We're trying to save the lives of three astronauts.
The 3rd Doctor: Nonsense, man. You're doing nothing of the sort. There's nothing you can possibly do...
Cornish: How did you know that sound was going to be repeated?
The 3rd Doctor: By exercising my intelligence. Now, since we didn't reply, the message would obviously be repeated. Now, we've got to break down that code and answer them.
Cornish: Answer who?
The 3rd Doctor: The man's a fool! How can I possibly tell who the message is from until I know what it says?
"No, that was simply transmigration of object. There's a great deal of difference between that and pure science, you know." ~ The Third Doctor
The 3rd Doctor: Stand to attention when you're talking to me and call me sir!
Collinson: [Leaping to his feet] Sir!
The 3rd Doctor: Just as I thought. Sergeant, aren't you?
Brigadier: A soldier. Are you a deserter?
The 3rd Doctor: No, he's acting under orders.
Liz: It says two and two make five.
The 3rd Doctor: Oh, it's typical. I never did trust those stupid things.
(The Doctor flicks the 'Anti Theft' switch on the dashboard. Grey and Carrington's hands are stuck to Bessie.)
The 3rd Doctor: Thank you very much! Don't worry, it'll switch itself off. Eventually.
The 3rd Doctor: Well, there you are then. A bogus patrol turns up, clears the area, and removes the astronauts at their leisure.
Cornish: Who would want to kidnap three astronauts?
The 3rd Doctor: Yes, perhaps the same people who replied to that message.
Carrington: The radiation which affects these men is something totally new to us. To survive it, they have become dependent on it.
Heldorf: What you're saying is contrary to everything that's understood about radioactivity.
Carrington: You must feed them radiation, otherwise they will die.
The 3rd Doctor: You mean you're going to tell us the truth?
Quinlan: No.
The 3rd Doctor: Oh.
The 3rd Doctor: Oh, thanks. You know, it's the most extraordinary thing. Those astronauts were emitting radiation like walking reactors.
Liz: But radiation destroys human tissue.
The 3rd Doctor: Yes. I know.
"No, you saw three spacesuits. I don't know what came down in Recovery 7, but it certainly wasn't human." ~ The Third Doctor
The 3rd Doctor: It's the most extraordinary thing. The radioactive contamination has almost vanished. If you can't get Recovery 8 ready in time, you can use this capsule.
Cornish: Provided we can get the three thousand tons of rockets to go underneath it.
"General, how many times must I tell you, your astronauts are still in orbit. My objective is to find out what these aliens are trying to say to us." ~ The Third Doctor
"Well, first they try keeping us in the dark altogether and when that didn't work, they fall back on some prepared cover story. Contagious radiation, indeed." ~ The Third Doctor
CornishH: All? What good's a rocket without a pilot?
The 3rd Doctor: I'll take the rocket up for you myself.
Cornish: Thank you, Doctor, but I don't think you realise just what's necessary.
The 3rd Doctor: My dear man, I've spent more time in space than any astronaut on your staff. Not, I'll admit, in the rather primitive contraptions that you use, but I'll manage.
"This Doctor fellow must have nine lives." ~ Reegan
Cornish: Oh, this is your medical report, Doctor.
The 3rd Doctor: Yes, well, don't let's bother about that for the time being.
Cornish: Oh, this is incredible. According to this, you...
The 3rd Doctor: Yes. Yes, I know. I told you everything would be all right.
Reegan: One touch from him and down they go.
Liz: No one resisted?
Reegan: They tried. Bullets just bounce off them. With these three you can do anything. Walk into Fort Knox and help yourself.
Liz: Oh, that's what you're going to do with them, is it?
Reegan: I might.
Cornish: We can't hurry the M3 variant. It's highly volatile.
The 3rd Doctor: Well, I still think you could add a higher proportion of M3. And remember, the extra G-force wouldn't worry me.
Cornish: It would worry you if the rocket blew up on lift off.
The 3rd Doctor: Ah.
Alien: Why have you not returned our ambassadors?
The 3rd Doctor: Ambassadors?
Alien: An agreement was made. You have betrayed us. Unless our ambassadors are returned, we shall destroy your world.
Carrington: It's quite obviously an alien spacecraft. We must attack and destroy it.
Brigadier: What about the Doctor? If that is a spacecraft, he may be on board.
Carrington: He must be dead by now. We could use missiles with atomic warheads.
Cornish: Until we know for certain that
Carrington: We do know.
"It's no good, Cornish. He won't talk until he wants to." ~ Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart (about the Doctor)
Reegan: [on Phone] Oh, it's you, sir. Doctor's on his way down, is he? I did my best to stop him going up. You're sure you want him dead? He could be useful to us. All right, I'll see to him. [To Liz] Your friend the Doctor's on his way back from a little journey. I'm going to be his reception committee.
Carrington: Did it occur to you that all these troubles only started when this Doctor came on the scene?
Brigadier: With respect, sir, that is simply not true.
Brigadier: I think the General's a bit overwrought.
Cornish: I think he's insane.
"Come on, Liz, let's get on with it. We haven't got much time, you know. " ~ The Third Doctor
Brigadier: Aliens have raided an isotope factory. Several deaths.
Carrington: You see? They've already landed. These creatures need radiation to live and they're prepared to rob and murder to get it.
Alien: Why are we kept prisoners? Why do you make us kill?
Reegan: You'll obey my orders. If you don't, we'll let you die.
Alien: We are ambassadors and came in peace.
Brigadier: Well, there must be some kind of transport?
Benton: Sir, there is the Doctor's car.
Carrington: I had to do what I did. It was my moral duty. You do understand, don't you?
The 3rd Doctor: Yes, General. I understand.
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Trivia
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The story was made entirely on colour videotape. However up until 2011, the tapes were lost and the story only available in black and white. Countless restoration attempts failed until the Restoration Team re-colourised the story using the technique they used on Planet of the Daleks Episode 3. Some of the episodes posted on DailyMotion.com are in B&W.
The plot of this story resembles that of The Quatermass Experiment, in which an astronaut who has apparently returned to Earth has been replaced by an alien lifeform.
The production text on the Ambassadors of Death DVD revealed that Reegan and his gang were originally Irish, and suggests it was changed after the troubles started: “All in all, it might not have been the best moment to show Irish hoodlums planning to deploy a powerful new weapon.”
This serial marked the final contribution of long-time writer and script-editor David Whitaker to Doctor Who. It was also his least favourite script, possibly due to the heavy re-writes by Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke.
This serial was originally written with The Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe in mind.
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Links (Watch on DailyMotion.com)
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Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Availalble on DVD from Amazon.com
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