If you follow me cause you like Doctor Who, you probably recognise this fella. You may even own one of @ClaytonHickman’s lovely t-shirts.

But why on earth is an elephant VETOED? Well, the other day I think I stumbled across the answer…

But first, what are the VETOED signs in The Dalek Invasion of Earth even about? I wasn’t too sure and was surprised when I couldn’t find a clear answer online.

Throughout the story we see the VETOED signs plastered in various locations. Some seem randomly placed whilst others are on specific things. For example, on artefacts in the Civic Transport Museum and, of course, on our elephant friend.

On the DVD commentary Richard Martin provides a potential clue to the signs, on the production side of things at least.

Richard Martin: “A real sorrow to me was that you get these wonderful drawings from [the designers] with, this is where I got the censored idea from, the word “omit” stamped over all the detail because it was too expensive.”

A little in-joke between the crew then! But what about an in-universe explanation? Jenny’s character provides us our only real clue in episode three, ‘Day of Reckoning’, after she, Barbara and Dortmun make it across London to the Transport Museum.

When Barbara asks Jenny how she knows the Daleks and the rebels have already been at the Museum, she replies: “Well, look at these signs”, pointing at one she continues, “this means some of our people have moved off to the south coast.”

But how is it that these signs are evidence for both the Dalek and rebel presence at the museum? As the dialogue is a little unclear, I turned to Terrance Dicks’ 1977 novelisation to see if it could provide any further clues.

Dicks’ version doesn’t mention any VETOED signs. This is unsurprising given they never get mentioned in the scripts, the rehearsal versions of which are thought to form the basis of the novelisation. Even Jenny’s “look at these signs” is an unscripted addition from Ann Davies.

Therefore, Jenny gives a slightly different reply in the book:

“Jenny pointed to a mysterious symbol scrawled on a wall nearby. ‘There’s one of our message-signs. It means some of our people have been here and moved off towards the South Coast.’”

Earlier in the TV version’s third episode, Jenny speaks of a code system for “letting people know where headquarters are moved.” Perhaps this code system mentioned on TV is the scrawled message-sign symbols of the novelisation.

This would mean the VETOED signs aren’t, as some (*cough* TARDIS Wiki *cough*) have suggested, the rebels’ secret code.
Instead, they are of Dalek origin. Presumably as part of their subjugation of the people of earth. Which, to me at least, makes most intuitive sense.

Put together, this would mean that Jenny knew of the Daleks’ presence because of the VETOED signs and the rebels’ presence because of the message-signs/code system.

But this theory falls flat if the scrawled message-sign of the novel doesn’t actually appear on screen.

Fortunately, it does! Did you spot it?

When Jenny says ,“This means some of our people have moved off to the south coast” she specifically moves to the bicycle. Furthermore, the bike is intentionally placed in the foreground by Martin; he stipulates a long shot of Jenny through the bicycle in the camera script.

Is all this an attempt to draw our attention to something on the bike?

I think it is. But sadly this is undermined by the camera panning up during the exchange with Barbara obscuring what Jenny is actually pointing at.

However, before and after, you can just make out what appears to be a letter ‘B’ written in white between the O and the E. This, then, is the code system mentioned earlier in the episode and is also a rough match with Dicks’ description in the book.

All this shows us that the Daleks are the ones responsible for the VETOED signs, not the rebels. Clearly, they’ve banned transportation in an attempt to control the populace.

But none of this yet explains the elephant!

Of course, the elephant was never in the script either. In the draft the secret entrance is just hidden in an alcove. In the camera script the idea of a poster concealing the entrance was introduced. But instead of an elephant, the poster in this version reads…

“PUBLIC WARNING! DO NOT DRINK THE RAINWATER. ALL WATER MUST BE BOILED BEFORE CONSUMPTION. ISSUED BY EUROPEAN EMERGENCY HEALTH COMMITTEE.”

Whilst changed for television, this is almost exactly what appears on screen in the film adaption, Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. The only difference being that the ‘doorbell’ to open the underground HQ is in the ‘O’ of ‘DO’ rather than in ‘NOT’.

This is similarly how it appears in Dicks’ novelisation but with the ‘doorbell’ back to being in ‘NOT’.

The elephant, along with the VETOED markings, is therefore likely to be a creation of the story’s designer, Spencer Chapman. @TobyHadoke asked him about the signs in his brilliant Who’s Round series but sadly Chapman doesn’t provide us with an answer!

So, we’re still left asking: why an elephant? What have the Daleks got against them?

And it’s the answer to this question which I happened across whilst watching an episode of the rather wonderful @TheRepairShop.

(Seriously, give it a watch – amazing craftsmanship, heart warning stories and a whole lot of wholesomeness!)

The episode began with a pinball machine in need of restoring. It had once sat on the bar of The Royal Oak Pub in Whitfield and to illustrate this fact a picture of the pub was shown. And there on the outside wall was…

… the elephant!

And, of course, my brain went straight to Dr Who. Could it be the same one that featured in The Dalek Invasion of Earth or was it just a striking resemblance?

As you can see in the picture above, The Royal Oak was a Fremlin’s Pub. Fremlin’s was a brewery in Maidstone; at one point the largest brewery in Kent. But it was eventually bought out by Whitbread in 1967.

The Elephant on the side of pub was the Fremlin’s logo which originated from Fremlin’s historic association with the East India Company.

There were numerous variations of the emblem, some facing right, some left. Some with an apostrophe, some without. Some with the text at an angle, some with it written straight.

The closest match I found to the elephant poster in ‘World’s End’ was this variation.

Here it is again next to this zoomed in production still.

Compare the two. You can clearly make out the ‘ NT ’ of ‘Elephant’, the ‘ ‘S ’ of ‘Fremlin’s’ and the ‘ AL ’ of ‘Ale’ creeping out from behind the VETOED sticker.

A definite match!

(Of course, by this point Fremlin’s had been out of business for 200 years but I think we can excuse the production team of that particular continuity gaffe!)

So, there we have it. The Daleks are responsible for the VETOED posters that litter London; putting bans in place ensure their new subjects behave.

Cause, of course, you can’t have a good rebellion without a handful of antiquated vehicles and a decent pint!

Links:
-Clayton Hickman’s Redbubble Store: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/28328773

-The Repair Shop: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000tj8j/the-repair-shop-series-7-episode-9

-Toby Hadoke’s Who’s Round: https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/toby-hadoke-s-who-s-round-182-spencer-chapman-1569

With thanks to @JonnyMorris1973.