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| The Doctor and Thal leader Taron (Bernard Horsfall) ambush a Dalek. |
6 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 144 minutes. Written by: Terry Nation. Directed by: David Maloney. Produced by: Barry Letts.
THE PLOT:
The Doctor has thwarted the Master's plan to spark a war as a precursor to a Dalek invasion... but he's been wounded in the process. He manages to send a telepathic message to the Time Lords to pursue the Daleks before collapsing into a comatose state. He's still unconscious when the TARDIS reaches its destination. Desperate and unsure of what to do, Jo decides to leave the ship to search for help.
She encounters a group of Thals, who tell her that they have come to the planet Spiridon on an urgent mission to stop the Daleks. Jo directs them to the Doctor, but she is told to wait in their ship for their return.
The Thals find the Doctor, who is now awake. They reveal to him that the planet is inhabited, but that the native Spiridons are invisible. A token force of Daleks are experimenting on them to try to master the secret of invisibility. Taron (Bernard Horsfall), the leader of the expedition after the death of the original commander, intends to gather as much information as he can before acting. This is a source of tension with young Vaber (Prentis Hancock), who favors a direct assault, certain that their explosives are more than a match for a dozen or so Daleks.
The actual force turns out to be much larger. Spiridon is no research outpost, but a staging ground for a full-fledged invasion. Ten thousand Daleks are in suspended animation, just waiting for their activation orders!
CHARACTERS:
The Doctor: He gains the Thals' trust after saving Vaber from a malicious tentacle. It isn't long before he's adopted a co-leadership role, though he's careful to keep his presence from overpowering Taron's command. He fully agrees with the approach of cautious observation and planning, noting that recklessness helps nobody. Pertwee is in fine form throughout, and the script allows him to display the compassionate side of his Doctor, particularly in his scenes with Thal scientist Codol, who doubts his own courage. He has few moments of anger in this story - though one of these, a nonverbal glare after the Daleks appear to have killed Jo, is extremely effective.
Jo Grant: She spends the first half separated from the Doctor. She befriends a rebel Spiridon, Wester (Roy Skelton), who gives her (and us) backstory about the planet and its people. When Wester tells her that the Doctor was taken by the Daleks, she insists on attempting a rescue. This puts her in position to overhear the Dalek plans to destroy the Thals' explosives, and she acts quickly to save the bombs. Her role in the later episodes is weaker, with her mostly reduced to "generic companion" in the final parts. The less said about her would-be romance with one of the Thals, a plot development that comes out of nowhere and comes to nothing, the better.
Thals: Taron, the leader, is a naturally cautious man who likes to meticulously plan before acting. The hot-headed Vaber sees this is as a weakness, wanting to act immediately. Codal (Tim Preece), the scientific specialist, worries that he's not as courageous as the others because he is constantly frightened. Rebec (Jane How) is Taron's lover, who volunteered for a relief mission to be reunited with him. Latep (Alan Tucker), who appears to be the youngest of the group, falls for Jo after... she's, um, nice to him. None of these characters have great depth, but they are distinct enough to create the sense of a varied group.
Daleks: Though the Master's plan failed, the Daleks still plan to invade. As the Doctor observes, they have the numbers, and the Spiridons' invisibility will grant them a significant advantage in any conflict. They initially prefer to take prisoners rather than killing on sight, seeing them as resources for their experiments. Once the Doctor and the Thals escape, however, proving themselves a potential threat, they are quick to change to the Dalek default: Exterminate.
THOUGHTS:
"Be careful how you tell that story, will you? Don't glamorize it, don't make war sound like an exciting and thrilling game... Tell them about the members of your mission that will not be returning... tell them about the fear."
-the Doctor urges the Thals to remember the realities of war.
Planet of the Daleks was writer Terry Nation's first Doctor Who script since Season Three's The Daleks' Master Plan, and he borrows heavily from his earlier stories. The Dalek base might as well be the city from the original Dalek story, and the Thal expedition is pretty similar to the one in that serial. There are also slave workers and experiments, much like those glimpsed in The Dalek Invasion of Earth. It is narratively unambitious, a familiar story following a familiar structure. Oh, and it completely squanders the idea of invisible Daleks.
That said, "narratively unambitious" is not the same thing as "bad." This may just be a basic adventure story, but at least it's a thoroughly enjoyable one. David Maloney was one of Doctor Who's most reliable directors, so it's no surprise that this is well made. The planet features one of the series' better studio-bound jungles, and Maloney finds enough variety in the ways he shoots that it remains visually interesting throughout.
The story moves along nicely, fueled by multiple set pieces. One highlight sees the Doctor improvising a hot air balloon to escape up an elevator shaft. Other strong moments include a brush with an ice eruption while crawling through a cave and a sequence in which the characters hold off hungry animals while waiting for dawn, with only the predators' eyes seen in the darkness. Some bits seem to exist just to pad the serial out to length, such as a subplot involving a Dalek bio-weapon... but even that helps to add urgency, even if the whole thread ends up just being abruptly cut off.
The scripts benefit from a strong central theme about courage. Codal considers himself a coward because of his fear, though the Doctor points out that he's more courageous for feeling that fear and still doing what needs to be done. Vaber mistakes recklessness for courage, accusing Taron of lacking bravery because of his caution. Even poor, dull Latep has a good moment related to the theme, when he and Jo find a Dalek spaceship and realize that it will be possible for the expedition to return home. Jo is pleased, but Latep is happy the others aren't here to see it:
"We all thought that whatever happened, there was no way out. It was a suicide mission. That's affected everything we've done. We've faced dangers and taken risks because there was nothing to lose... Just knowing (about the ship) might mean the difference between success and failure."
None of this is exactly subtle; as a writer, Terry Nation rarely went in for subtlety. The sentiments are well expressed, though, and the theme fits with the overall story, adding an extra layer to an already entertaining work.
OVERALL:
Planet of the Daleks lacks the narrative ambition of Frontier in Space, but I actually think it's the more entertaining of the two. It's well made, and clever set pieces maintain interest despite the well-worn story elements.
It's clear that this was written as a completely separate story, with the links to Frontier mostly confined to the first episode save for a conversation between the Doctor and Jo in Episode Four. Still, those links are enough for both stories to feel complete.
Most importantly, I wasn't bored at any point. That hasn't always been true of longer stories, even a few that I consider to be better than this one.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
Previous Story: Frontier in Space
Next Story: The Green Death
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