Planet of the Daleks

Season 10, Story 4/5: 6 x 25min episodes, 7th April to 12th May 1973, Writer: Terry Nation, Director: David Maloney, Script Editor: Terrance Dicks, Producer: Barry Letts

 

PREVIOUSLY ON DOCTOR WHO... 

Here's the recap from the last episode that was really filmed as part of this episode. Wibbly wobbly... 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke So they remounted that set for all of 20 seconds?

I guess so. Only a bit of wall flat and the TARDIS, I suppose.

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Expensive tho, with storage, time, etc

Sending a message to the Time Lords. Let's all answer his SOS... 

Don't remember those Ikea cupboards being in the TARDIS before. 

Record it in the log that has never been mentioned before EVER. 

As it's so urgent, Jo's changed her outfit. 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke This device was great for those of us who could only experience this on off-sir audio cassette. 

Crikey, look at Pertwee's dandruff. 

The Doctor's gone into one of his icy comas like in the Daemons. 

The time-Lords picked up that the Doctor was in distress so have steered the TARDIS for him. 

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin The only time the Doctor appreciates the time lords doing that for him!

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 There's gratitude for you! "Here you go Doc, we've sent you to a planet where there's 20000 Daleks!" "Bastard Time Lords!"

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Thats probably why he never trusted them again

Urgh, 'orrible plants gobbing on the scanner screen. Triffids?  Looks like the Doctor, much like most of the UK at the time, still only has a black and white telly.

Jo's gone for a walk in that noisy studio jungle, in her best flasher mac. 

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 That Gold Dalek better watch out! 

 I really like this jungle. Looks very lush. And nice bits of alien-ness. 

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin It's very bright and colourful kids'll definitely like looking at it.

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke I'm a kid! The director is composing the shots well, making it feel claustrophobic. A HUGE change on last story

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin This one's directed by David Maloney who is one of the shows best directors so that's why its shot brilliantly


Someone's doing some heavy breathing in the bushes. 

One of those nasty plastic plants has just vomited on Jo's hand. 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Jo is as bad as my son-I keep saying, use a tissue DON'T wipe your nose on the back of your hand!

Michael Bater@GreenLeftie Must been left over from the Invasion of the Nestene Consciousness in Terror of the Autons

Jo's found what seems to be an abandoned caravan.

The Doctor wakes up to find the TARDIS doors are jammed and the oxygen's running out... 

The idea of the TARDIS running out of oxygen is awful. 

I'm surprised at Nation but even more surprised at Terry Dicks. His job to weed out shonky ideas like that: that the TARDIS is a small normal spaceship with that little oxygen.

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke  Yeah, open an internal door, you got enough air for an army for a year. Wonder why the Dr doesn't 'extend the protective shield' to save his life. He did it so Amy could sightsee!?

Not installed yet, I guess...Yay, Bernard Horsfall! Damn, Prentiss Hancock! 

Taron is qualified in "space medicine". Nation, you twonk.  

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke I do like the design of the Thal spacesuits. They actually look plausible. The design on this, so far, is good. 

The Thals go for a scout around, leaving Jo on her own again. 

The invisible man's looting the Thals' caravan now. 

Nation loves his invisible monsters! 

Pertwee too stops for a costume change when he's trapped and in danger. 

Not sure about Pertwee in purple. What does anyone else think? 

DDG@dalekdudeguy It's...different.

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin It makes the story more colourful!

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Works well against the jungle.Does seem to be wearing a costume, colour coordinating, something JNT got grief for with Baker 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Nice idea, those plastic hoods. Uncharacteristically well thought out. Look at the TARDIS! When we moved here, that's what the jacket on the immersion heater looked like!  

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Wonder how many people remembered The Daleks (or whatever you want to call that run of episodes) 

Oh, it's "The Daleks", absolutely no two ways about it!! 

Hancock's wig is awful. 

Spiridon is a "nasty piece of space garbage" according to Vaber. 

Tarron makes with the space medicine, spraying a fungicide on the Doctor to prevent the plant spew engulfing his whole body... 

...which is bad news for Jo, whose hand has started to go manky. 

The Doctor has to convince the Thals that he's really William Hartnell. 

Jo's got full blown arm lurgy now thanks to the spew-plants. 

Wonder what the cliffhanger could possibly be? 

Spray painting the invisble Dalek visible is a great idea, and actually a neat effect. 

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin The Thals just happen to have spray paint with them on a suicide mission?

DDG@dalekdudeguy They're social workers- I mean thugs, innit?

The Daleks haven't mastered the invisibility though. 

The Doctor stops Codal making a fatal error. 

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin Despite the daleks trying to gain invisibility in this story we never actually SEE (no pun intended) them being invisible. 

I guess it's something intended for use elsewhere anyway, and most of the experiments go on in their underground lab. 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke I do like the eye-plants. Mind you, don't let Pertwee near those tentacles, not after Spearhead's gurning. Or is that iPlants, and in the future Apple have branched out into organic tech. Can't see the logo (squints) 

A root gets frisky with Vaber... 

...while Taron and Codal play hide and seek with a couple of Daleks. 

Jo walks out, drops the Doctor's recorder, then goes back in.

"As far as I know there's only 12 [Daleks]." That means there's millions, naturally. 

When the Spiridons stalk the Thal party, Codal leads them away, only to be thumped unconscious with a stick. 

The Doctor finds Jo's recordings, but the Daleks are hot on their heels... 

Ooh, "new" Dalek voice! Roy Skelton returns since 1st appearing in The Evil of the Daleks in 67. 

But this is the 1st time in the 70s we've had what sounds like a proper Dalek voice. 

When the Doctor leaps to her defence, they stun his legs... 

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin He doesn't regenerate and keep the same face, fortunately  

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Is that a trick the daleks only use when Nation writes them?

Think so, yeah. It's like Nation has just recently been re-reading those original scripts, this one.

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke He doesn't need to re-read, he reused it enough ;) Stands back, ducks for cover

Don't think you'll get many arguments there!  

Michael Bater@GreenLeftie Think he used the same plot device in B7! 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke If you can get away with it, why not? It was only a job to him. I'd take short cuts to make life easier  

Michael Bater@GreenLeftie Sounds like the Moff!  

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke And like Moff's latest season, there's some well dodgy science to enjoy. Icecanoes anyone? 

Naughty bit of padding as the Daleks plod the Doctor through the lifts and corridors. Pure timewasting. 

Hope he enjoyed his week off, because he's being locked up again. There he's reunited with Codal. 

Actually a lovely little character bit for Codal there, even if Nation's a bit sledgehammer about the "lesson". 

"Courage isn’t a matter of not being frightened, it’s being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway." 

The Doctor really thinks Jo is dead at this point. 

Whereas she's actually having a nap in a purple fur coat. 

She was rescued from the Thal caravan by a friendly Spiridon named Wester, who mixes up a cure for her manky arm. 

The Daleks continue their light ray experiments.

Tarron and Vaber go to recover their bombs; hot headed Vaber is still banging on about attacking with no plan. 

Their little face off is interrupted: Shake the camera and shine a red light! There's a ship landing! 

The Doctor and Codal set about thinking of a way to escape.

Invisible Zippy explains that his people have been enslaved by the Daleks; he had hoped the Thals could help.  Jo realizes the silver haired man in strange clothes that Wester saw must be the Doctor. 

The new arrivals are also Thals, and the first to make it is Rebec, who brings urgent news... 

"Somewhere on this planet there are 10,000 Daleks!"
"Probably in those ice caves."
"Oh yeah." 

I remember watching episode 3 in B&W in 93 on BBC1. Forgot for a moment the recoloured one is only on DVD. The results are astounding. The skin tones aren't *quite* there, but you do pretty much forget this has been recoloured. 

Simon Pittman@LibraryPlayer Me too! Think this is one of the first ever Doctor Who stories that I ever saw. Introduced to DW through those repeats. :-) 

 Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72  It really is an amazing piece of restoration from the RT guys

Cameron Yarde Jnr@CameronYardeJnr I think Horror Channel have shown it recently with the colourised episode. Until then I only saw Ep3 in b&w on a BBC repeat.

I think it was the colour copy on Virgin's on demand service a while back, too.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 I've been amazed at the masters used by the @horror_channel, normally repeat masters are quite poor.

Cameron Yarde Jnr@CameronYardeJnr I think they're using some remastered ones that were released on DVD.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 Yeah it seems these are the ones BBC Worldwide are now providing.

Unusually sensible approach from the beeb, that! Always used to begrudge giving good quality copies, jealous of potentially lost DVD sales, very shortsighted as it put inferior product in the 'shop window'.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 Anybody watched the recent classic repeats on @Watch_channel or Drama to see if they're remastered too?

Caught a few bits and I'm sure they were - tomb seemed to be vidfired, for instance.

Cameron Yarde Jnr@CameronYardeJnr I like the version of The Tomb of the Cybermen that looks like it's all on film. Makes it feel grander. This time back in the 90s I was watching Doctor Who repeats on Sundays on UK Gold. That was great.

Yes, very fond memories. When UKGold was worth the name. All that archive telly. Pre Top Gear & QI!

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 Gold is sadly a shadow of its former glorious 90s self these days.

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke It is bizarre what we take for granted now. I only had off air audios (mainly Davison, but odd others) and the Target books

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke I find that entrance to the Spiridon 'temple' very effective, even tho it is really simple. Great design, here. 

The Doctor and Codal tinker with a dictaphone to make a Dalek brain-scrambler. He'll rig something like it later, in the past, at Coal Hill School in 1963, though he'll have forgotten how to pronounce "Spiridon".

Tarron shows Rebec the icecano that the Daleks came here to utilize. 

Wallpaper paste! 

The Thal plan is to sneak into the city through a vent and blow up the refrigeration plant. 

The Doctor's brain scrambler is ready. All they need now is a Dalek to test it out on! 

Jo sneaks into the Dalek city by hiding in a trolley being pushed by their Spiridon slaves... 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke This looks really, REALLY cold. Great directing. The daleks have decorated that room in corrugated cardboard! It's quite insulating though.   The card does look like limestone block from distance,but the c/u ruins the effect.It's so obvious,takes me out of the story. 

Jo's made it right into the Dalek nerve centre now. 

The Doctor gets ready to give Codal scrambled Dalek brains for breakfast. 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Ooh, look, Pertwee has given the Dalek one of my off air cassettes. 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Ungrateful tin tyrant has broke it! That's a piece of fan history you philistine!! 

Why *DO* the Daleks need a refrigeration unit in an "icecano" again?

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Er, to chill the Friday Dalek's beer to *just* the right temperature?

Explanation acceptable.

Always lovely to hear the Dalek city heartbeat. 

Now the Thals are in the ice tunnels, wading through wallpaper paste. 

Weird twinkly sound FX with the Dalek guns. 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Re extermination: I once read in a story that the daleks had engineered their ray to cause maximum pain before death. Scary. Might have been in the Telos novellas? 

It's a very faithful idea, I reckon Nation would very much have approved that! 

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin  Marat's bitten the dust for no apparent reason! 

Sacrificed himself for the sake of the "speaking parts" budget. 

Unfortunately, the Thals have dropped the map showing where their bombs are hidden. 

Seems like there's only one way out... 

...and the Daleks are cutting their way in. 

This makeshift hot air balloon idea is bonkers but fun. 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke  I wonder how much of the daleks we have now are Nation's and how much are later additions? Not the ones developed from his ideas, but introduced at plot devices by new writers. So, Whittaker had devious, plotting daleks, but that really just built on what we'd seen. Better realised, but not 'new'.

You'd probably have to say the really conniving, scheming ones of more recent times owe more to David Whittaker. 

Will the Doctor's plan get off the ground in time? It's not working! 

Back to "true" colour for episode 4, as the Doctor and his Thal chums finally get a lift. 

 The Daleks are fashionably late to the cliffhanger. 

The film footage looks great. 

Not out of the woods - er jungle - yet; the Daleks have sent off for an anti-gravitational disc. 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke And a trans solar disc? Pleeeeeeeeease!!

Jo's crept after the Daleks... 

...and when they decide the local geology's a bit too iffy... 

...Jo attempts to defuse the bombs herself. 

Bad idea! 

The ascent continues, but the parachute might not make it all the way... 

Here comes a flying Dalek. Can't do stairs, eh? 

How come the Dalek anti-gravitational disc can only go the same speed as their crappy hot air parachute thing? 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke It's obviously a really low gravitation planet,so it's low to resist. We've seen loads of evidence to back the...oh. 

Jo wakes in the nick of time to rescue the Thal bombs... 

...but smartly leaves just one to take out her Dalek pursuers. 

The Doctor needs a helping hand when the parachute finally tears... 

...and the pursuing Dalek is given the shaft. 

The Daleks regroup, including the spray painted Dalek from the first cliffhanger, and turn their attention to biological weapons. 

The Doctor is reunited with Jo. 

Jo! I'm so pleased to see you're alive! Now SHUT UP! 

A bit of a breather here now they've escaped from the Dalek city. They'll be going back in soon, though. 

Crappy "Women on the battlefield distract the soldiers" guff from Nation here. 

The Daleks' virus stew is simmering away nicely. 

Jo recaps episodes 1 to 3 for us and reminds the Doctor he was supposed to be here for a reason. 

Now Latep is cracking on to Jo. 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Always amuses me how wet Latep is, as his name is an anagram of Petal 

Now they're surrounded by a jungle full of BBC Sound FX... terrifying!  

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke After the really effective jungle, we now get to the very stagey looking plateau. The bland sky doesn't help

Taron and Vaber have a playground scrap about Rebec. Whatever.

Now Vaber's naffed off with the bombs. This is getting a bit ploddy. 

Vaber is captured by the Spiridons. Purple fur wearing ones, so he doesn't even have the usual 'they're invisible' excuse.

"Take him to the Daleks!" 

Love the glowing eyes in the dark. Simple & daft but effective. Nice to imagine the jungle teeming with life. 

Tarron and Codal manage to overpower a Spiridon and nick his or her coat. 

"If they come in ones or twos we might manage to beat them off!" Steady on! 

Codal is attacked by a Spiridon, but rescued by Taron, and they disguise themselves in purple fur coats. Now *that's* ostentatious, Nige. 

MAW Holmes@MAW_H Fur coat and no...? ;-) 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Wonder what the creature looks like that those furs come from? Is it the glowy eyed ones from the last night?

Ah, last night in the story. Wondered what you'd been up to last night for a minute, then! ;-P

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Steady on! :P 

Jo is able to save her friend Wester from a beating at the stick-wielding hands of the pacifist Doctor.

Those Spiridons seem to have taken all night to "take him to the Daleks" as per the last cliffhanger... 

Tarron is powerless and can only watch... 

...as the Daleks exterminate Vaber. Thank God for that. Annoying tosser. 

"I do have a plan. You'll have to trust me." HE DOESN'T HAVE A PLAN. 

A mere stone's throw from the jungle is a quarry-surrounded bubbling ice lake filled with wallpaper paste. 

Jo and Latep are out of breath in the bushes. You know why. 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Oh, Petal, belt up! Never, EVER in a million rels 

The Daleks are right behind us, quick, let's get out of the studio and back on film! 

It's shove a Dalek in a swamp day! Spare a bob guv'nor! 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Achilleos here we go.... :D Love that cover! 

After their ice bath... 

...the Daleks are rendered harmless (They conveniently forget the distress signal Pertwee mentioned at the start of episode 2 while getting inside the Dalek), so the Doctor's plan is to scoop the mutants out... 

...and use their casings as a decoy for the old prisoner and guard trick.

Wester's plagued the Daleks. 

Now they can never leave. 

The Dalek Supreme's on his way, apparently. Ooh, the Dalek Supreme, eh? Can't wait to see him! 

"Wait, you are not Spiridons, I can see your feet and everything!" End of part 5! 

The Doctor gives the Dalek squealer a fur coat and the Thals do a runner. 

Will Codal get out in time? 

Yes. Yes he will. 

The Doctor keeps an eye on the army of Dalek popsicles. If they thaw out there'll be trouble. 

"Here-comes-the-Supreme-Dalek-everyone-look-busy!" 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke That is an ugly, brutal design for the Dalek ship. Perfect, really. 

The Supreme Dalek is crazy! Gold and black and huge with a torch for an eye and jam jar "ear" lights! Amazing. 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Torchy, the Battery Dalek

Blimey. Now the Supreme Dalek's playing SurAlan - "You're fired!" Exterminating other Daleks and everything. 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Torchy's lights are very out of synch with his speech. Can he see whilst he speaks? 

Meanwhile, the chilly Daleks are fidgeting in their sleep... 

The Doctor and Codal find the perfect place for the bomb, but one of the fidgety Daleks knocks it down... 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke "The bomb! Get down!!" Directly into the Daleks' eyeline! #facepalm 

The Doctor has to go down into the pit to retrieve it. 

Latep and Jo arrive to keep the Daleks at bay with a well slid bomb.

Codal and the Doctor are on a short fuse...

The Dalek army stirs, and their window of opportunity is fast disappearing.

Take that, new model Dalek army! Boom!

But will it set off the chain reaction they need?

The wallpaper paste volcano has erupted!

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke When you think about it, that ice cave miniature must've been huge, and the Daleks must've cost a pretty packet. 

The Supreme Dalek's lights are so bright they're flaring all over the shop as if this is directed by JJ Abrams

The Thals can use the Dalek ship to return to Skaro.

Here comes the preachy bit... 

...followed by the chump-of-the-week-proposes-to-Jo bit. 

"I've asked Jo to come back to Skaro with me, any objections?"

"Yeah, it's a shithole. Nicer quarries back on Earth." 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Petal asks the Dr if Jo can come back. Pertwee's eyes are laughing in Petal's face!

The Thals take off in the Daleks' rocket powered wedding cake, but the bling Supreme's still on the warpath. 

But Jo and the Doctor have made it back to the safety of the TARDIS. 

"We have been delayed, not defeated!" Sentiments that the Daleks will echo later in Genesis of the Daleks. 

In the safety of the TARDIS... 

"Any regrets?"
"Nah, if I'm going to shack up with someone in a quarry, I'll do it in Wales." 

"Home it is, Miss Grant!" 

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin What do you think's the stronger story? This one or Frontier In Space

Probably this one. Unoriginal, but an action-packed greatest hits package that satisfies. Frontier is an underappreciated exercise in world (universe) building, political comment & has brilliant individual elements, the Draconians in particular, but that's all at the expense of an advancing plot.

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke This one moves along faster, Frontier had more to 'say'

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin I find it infinitely more interesting than Frontier in space

Boo! Poor, unloved, Frontier in Space! 

TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... The Christmas Invasion