Planet of the Daleks
Encyclopedia
Planet of the Daleks is a serial in the British
science fiction television series Doctor Who
, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from April 7 to May 12, 1973.
brings the TARDIS
to the planet Spiridon, which hides deadly secrets: carnivorous plants, a planetary core of molten ice, invisible inhabitants, and most frightening of all, an army of Dalek
s, ready to sweep across the galaxy.
, the Doctor has been gravely wounded after being shot by the Master
. Jo Grant
manages to help the Doctor into the TARDIS
, where he uses the telepathic
circuits to send a message to the Time Lord
s before he collapses. Delirious, he tells Jo that he may be asleep for a while, and falls into a coma, his body temperature dipping so low that frost appears on his skin and both his hearts only beat once every ten seconds. Jo dictates into the TARDIS log, a portable recording device, that she has seen this healing state before (The Dæmons
), and also that the TARDIS is moving, apparently being controlled remotely by the Time Lords. When the TARDIS comes to a stop, Jo activates the external scanners, only to see some plants outside block the viewer by spraying a thick sap-like liquid at it. With the Doctor still catatonic, Jo leaves the ship to explore the surrounding jungle. The plants spray sap on her as she walks by, and a bit of it gets on her exposed hand.
As Jo explores, the TARDIS is rapidly being covered by plant sap, which is hardening into a shell around it. When the Doctor awakens, he finds himself sealed in and the oxygen in the TARDIS cabin rapidly being used up. Activating the emergency oxygen supply, he discovers the tanks almost empty, and starts to suffocate from lack of air. Jo, in the meantime, discovers a spacecraft in the jungle with a dead pilot. She is found by two others in the same uniform — Taron, who appears to be the leader, and Vaber, who has a surly disposition. Taron is intrigued when Jo tells him about the TARDIS. The trio are joined by another crewmember, Codal, who warns them that a patrol is approaching. Taron tells Jo to hide in the spacecraft while he and the others find her friend. Jo hides in a storage cupboard while an invisible entity enters and searches the craft. She escapes discovery, but a fungoid growth has appeared on her hand and is starting to spread.
Taron and his men find the TARDIS and chip the hardened sap from its doors, managing to drag a nearly asphyxiated Doctor out into the open air. The Doctor thanks them and notes that he finds them familiar. When the men explain that they are from the planet Skaro
, the Doctor recognises that they are Thals
and tells them he was on Skaro many years ago (The Daleks
). The Thals are skeptical when he claims to be the famous Doctor of Thal legend, but he gives them enough details that mollify them for the moment. Taron tells the Doctor that he has been infected by a fungus carried by the sap, and treats him with a spray. It would have engulfed and killed him if Taron had not treated the affected area. They are on Spiridon, a planet where the plant life is more animal than vegetable, with creatures hostile to everyone, including themselves, and extremes of day and night temperature. The Thals are the only survivors of a military expedition that was sent here. Taron orders a halt of their progress through the jungle as they hear a sound of something breaking down, but nothing is seen except a circular depression in the ground. Giving the Doctor another spray can, Taron tells him that he will see what they are up against. The Doctor sprays the seemingly empty air before him, and it reveals the outlines of a Dalek
.
The Dalek, as shown in the picture, is inactive, dead from what the Thals call "light wave sickness". The Spiridons, the dominant species on the planet, have the ability to generate an "anti-reflecting light wave" which the Daleks are trying to duplicate. However, it takes a tremendous amount of power and cannot be sustained for long. The Spiridons have been subjugated by the Daleks, and forced to act as their slaves, but there are no more than twelve Daleks on the planet. Back in the spaceship, Jo has passed out as the fungus spreads across her forearm. An invisible Spiridon enters the spacecraft and takes her away.
A Spiridon patrol comes across the Thals and the Doctor. Codal leads them away from the others, but is captured. When they make it back to the craft and find the TARDIS log on the ground, the others find two Daleks about to destroy the ship. Believing Jo is still inside, the Doctor steps forward and begs the Daleks to stop, but the patrol shoots him with a stun ray. The Doctor watches helplessly as the spacecraft is blasted to pieces. Taron and Vaber manage to remain hidden, and go off to retrieve the supplies for their mission on Spiridon.
The Doctor is taken to the Dalek base for interrogation and put in the same cell as Codal. The Doctor tries to use his sonic screwdriver
to open the cell door, but to no avail. He and Codal then conceive of modifying the components of the TARDIS log to emit a radio frequency that will jam Dalek control impulses. Meanwhile, Jo is being cared for by the Spiridon who found her. His name is Wester, and he is one of a group of his people who are trying to fight back against the Daleks. He cures her of her fungal infection with a salve, and tells Jo that the Doctor and Codal have been captured and taken to the Dalek base. Jo is determined to try to free them, even though Wester says that if the Daleks use them for their experiments, they are better off dead.
Vaber and Taron find the explosives that they hid earlier. Vaber wants to attack the Daleks now, and accuses Taron of being overcautious and cowardly when Taron refuses. Vaber draws his gun and threatens to shoot Taron if he does not hand over the explosives, but before things can get out of hand the heat and roar of another spacecraft rushes over their heads. It is another Thal vessel, but the entry angle was too steep, and their weapons were lost in the crash that followed. Only three Thals have survived — two men, Latep and Marat, and a woman, Rebec. Taron is not happy to see Rebec here, as she happens to be his lover. Rebec tells him that they intercepted a message to Dalek Supreme Command, saying that the Dalek army on Spiridon was now complete: a force of not a dozen, but ten thousand Daleks.
Jo and Wester see fur-wearing Spiridons entering the Dalek base, carrying crates of vegetation. The Daleks are experimenting with a plant-destroying bacterium. Jo hides herself on one of the crates and smuggles herself into the base. Taron shows Rebec another feature of Spiridon — a liquid allotrope
of ice that exists in the core of the planet and erupts to the surface like lava
. It is used by the Daleks as a cooling system, with ice tunnels that lead into the base. Taron plans to use them to infiltrate and cause a distraction while Vaber and Latep wait by the entrance with the explosives. A Dalek is sent to interrogate the Doctor and Codal, who use the improvised jamming device on it successfully, but the device is destroyed in the process. Making their way through the corridors, they find the three Thals, who are struggling to get out of the tunnels before a molten ice eruption floods them. Jamming the shaft doors open and getting them out, all run as a Dalek patrol enters the corridor, and is covered by the molten ice rushing out of the cooling tunnel.
The rest stumble into a chamber while Marat, weakened from the cold, covers their retreat. He is exterminated by the Daleks, who find a map on his body showing where the explosives are hidden. The Doctor seals the doors with his sonic screwdriver. The Dalek Section Leader sends a patrol to find and destroy the explosives, while others are sent to get cutting equipment. Jo overhears the orders and follows the Dalek patrol out of the city. Trapped in the chamber, the Thals and the Doctor find a huge refrigeration unit, pumping excess heat up through a ventilation shaft that leads to the surface. The Doctor also discovers the Dalek army stored in an adjoining chamber, sleeping in suspended animation
. Improvising a hot-air balloon from plastic sheeting, the four rise up the shaft as the Daleks break through.
A gravitational disk is sent for so that a Dalek can follow them up the shaft while another patrol is sent to the shaft's exit point on the surface. The Dalek patrol sent to find the explosives activates the timed detonators and leaves. Jo sneaks up to try and deactivate the timers, but only manages two before being knocked out by a stone from the crumbling cliff-face the explosives were hidden against. She awakens barely in time to grab the deactivated bombs and take cover before the third detonates, conveniently destroying the Dalek patrol that was sent to intercept the Thals. Meanwhile, the Thals and the Doctor reach the top of the shaft and drop a rock on the pursuing Dalek, sending it plummeting to the bottom. Making their way away from the shaft, they meet Jo, who the Doctor is overjoyed to see again, since he thought she had been killed when the Thal ship was destroyed. The Doctor explains to Jo that his telepathic signal was to tell the Time Lords the location of this planet — he had learned that there was a Dalek invasion force here while on the planet of the Ogron
s. The Time Lords then steered the TARDIS here. Latep and Vaber also rejoin the group. They had thought the others were killed in the ice eruption, and were about to assault the city when they found one of their bombs was a dud and the others destroyed by the Daleks. Jo shows them the two bombs she managed to rescue.
The group decide to hide in the Plain of Stones, an area of Spiridon with rocks that absorb heat from the sun by day and discharge it at night. They manage to avoid a combined Dalek/Spiridon patrol as night falls and the temperature drops, and the Doctor notices the Daleks seem to be moving slower than usual. In the Dalek base, a Dalek reports to the Section Leader that the bacteria will destroy all plant life within a day, and unimmunised life forms within an hour. It will be ready in half a Spiridon day. At the Plain of Stones, Vaber and Taron come to blows again about when to take action. During the night, Vaber steals the two bombs and sneaks away from the camp site. Taron and Codal go in pursuit as the others huddle around the campfire, surrounded by animal forms with eyes glowing in the darkness. Vaber is caught by the Spiridons, whose leader orders him to be taken to the Daleks.
At the Plain of Stones, the Doctor is able to keep the creatures with glowing eyes at bay using fire until daybreak. When the Daleks try and force Vaber to lead them to the Thals, Vaber breaks away and is exterminated. Taron and Codal, disguised in Spiridon furs, use this distraction to grab the two bombs and vanish into the forest. The Daleks, in the meantime, have developed an immunisation process against the bacteria, and orders are sent out for all Daleks and Spiridon slaves to return to the base for immunisation before the bacteria is released. On the Plain of Stones, Wester shows up to tell Jo that the Daleks have developed the deadly bacteria, and that he is going to try to enter the base and stop its release. The Doctor devises a plan using nearby pools of molten ice. Deducing that the ice slows and even stops the Daleks from functioning, the group lure a Dalek patrol to them, and manage to push the two Daleks into the pools, the sudden drop in temperature killing them. Taron, Codal and the Doctor dress up in Spiridon furs while Rebec sits in the emptied Dalek casing so they can enter the base unmolested with one of the bombs. Latep and Jo will enter the city via the ventilation shaft with the other bomb, in a two-pronged attack. As the first group enters the city, they see Wester entering the bacteria preparation chamber under the pretence of delivering a report. Wester releases the bacteria into the sealed room, sacrificing himself but ensuring that the room cannot be unsealed without killing the other Daleks. The group try to move deeper into the base, but one of the Thal's boots is spotted by a Dalek, who sounds the alert.
The group flees down the corridors, making their way back to the cooling chamber. Once there, the Doctor asks Rebec and Taron to barricade the entrance while he finds a way to keep the Dalek army from reviving. He and Codal decide to set an explosive in the wall of the chamber containing the Dalek army, which is slowly coming to life. In the meantime, the Dalek Supreme, a member of the Dalek Supreme Council, has arrived in a spaceship, to oversee the final stages of the operation, and exterminates the Section Leader for its incompetence. Jo and Latep finally arrive at the cooling chamber, and use their bomb to destroy a squad of Daleks before joining the others. As another patrol comes through, the bomb set in the wall of the chamber explodes, causing molten ice to rush out and flood the chamber, freezing the Dalek army for centuries to come. The group escapes through a ramp that leads to the surface while the rest of the Daleks abandon the base, which is filling with molten ice.
The group makes its way to the Dalek Supreme's spacecraft. The Doctor asks Taron not to glorify the story of what happened here and make war sound like an adventure. The Thals were a peaceful people and he would hate to see them become otherwise. Taron and Rebec promise, and the Thals enter the spacecraft and leave for Skaro. The Doctor and Jo run back to the TARDIS, pursued by the Dalek Supreme and the other Daleks, and dematerialise just as they open fire. The Dalek Supreme orders that operations begin to recover the invasion force and to contact the Dalek High Council for a rescue ship. The Daleks have been delayed, but will never be defeated...
, was published by Target Books
in October 1976. the novelisation opens with the cliffhanger from Frontier in Space of a comatose Doctor pursuing the Daleks through space, even though this was removed from the Space War novelisation. A German translation
was published in 1980.
In 1995 the novel was also issued by BBC Audio as an audio book
, read by Jon Pertwee.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from April 7 to May 12, 1973.
Synopsis
The Third DoctorThird Doctor
The Third Doctor is the third incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee....
brings the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
to the planet Spiridon, which hides deadly secrets: carnivorous plants, a planetary core of molten ice, invisible inhabitants, and most frightening of all, an army of Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...
s, ready to sweep across the galaxy.
Plot
Immediately from the ending of Frontier in SpaceFrontier in Space
Frontier in Space is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from February 24 to March 31, 1973...
, the Doctor has been gravely wounded after being shot by the Master
Master (Doctor Who)
The Master is a recurring character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is a renegade Time Lord and the archenemy of the Doctor....
. Jo Grant
Jo Grant
Josephine "Jo" Grant is a fictional character played by Katy Manning in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
manages to help the Doctor into the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
, where he uses the telepathic
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
circuits to send a message to the Time Lord
Time Lord
The Time Lords are an ancient extraterrestrial race and civilization of humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' eponymous protagonist, the Doctor, is a member...
s before he collapses. Delirious, he tells Jo that he may be asleep for a while, and falls into a coma, his body temperature dipping so low that frost appears on his skin and both his hearts only beat once every ten seconds. Jo dictates into the TARDIS log, a portable recording device, that she has seen this healing state before (The Dæmons
The Dæmons
The Dæmons is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in five weekly parts from May 22 to June 19, 1971.-Plot:...
), and also that the TARDIS is moving, apparently being controlled remotely by the Time Lords. When the TARDIS comes to a stop, Jo activates the external scanners, only to see some plants outside block the viewer by spraying a thick sap-like liquid at it. With the Doctor still catatonic, Jo leaves the ship to explore the surrounding jungle. The plants spray sap on her as she walks by, and a bit of it gets on her exposed hand.
As Jo explores, the TARDIS is rapidly being covered by plant sap, which is hardening into a shell around it. When the Doctor awakens, he finds himself sealed in and the oxygen in the TARDIS cabin rapidly being used up. Activating the emergency oxygen supply, he discovers the tanks almost empty, and starts to suffocate from lack of air. Jo, in the meantime, discovers a spacecraft in the jungle with a dead pilot. She is found by two others in the same uniform — Taron, who appears to be the leader, and Vaber, who has a surly disposition. Taron is intrigued when Jo tells him about the TARDIS. The trio are joined by another crewmember, Codal, who warns them that a patrol is approaching. Taron tells Jo to hide in the spacecraft while he and the others find her friend. Jo hides in a storage cupboard while an invisible entity enters and searches the craft. She escapes discovery, but a fungoid growth has appeared on her hand and is starting to spread.
Taron and his men find the TARDIS and chip the hardened sap from its doors, managing to drag a nearly asphyxiated Doctor out into the open air. The Doctor thanks them and notes that he finds them familiar. When the men explain that they are from the planet Skaro
Skaro
Skaro is a fictional planet from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who created by the writer Terry Nation as the home planet of the Daleks and, at times, the centre of the Dalek Empire....
, the Doctor recognises that they are Thals
Thal (Doctor Who)
The Thals are a fictional race of humanoid aliens from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, originating on the planet Skaro.-History within the show:...
and tells them he was on Skaro many years ago (The Daleks
The Daleks
The Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in seven weekly parts from 21 December 1963 to 1 February 1964...
). The Thals are skeptical when he claims to be the famous Doctor of Thal legend, but he gives them enough details that mollify them for the moment. Taron tells the Doctor that he has been infected by a fungus carried by the sap, and treats him with a spray. It would have engulfed and killed him if Taron had not treated the affected area. They are on Spiridon, a planet where the plant life is more animal than vegetable, with creatures hostile to everyone, including themselves, and extremes of day and night temperature. The Thals are the only survivors of a military expedition that was sent here. Taron orders a halt of their progress through the jungle as they hear a sound of something breaking down, but nothing is seen except a circular depression in the ground. Giving the Doctor another spray can, Taron tells him that he will see what they are up against. The Doctor sprays the seemingly empty air before him, and it reveals the outlines of a Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...
.
The Dalek, as shown in the picture, is inactive, dead from what the Thals call "light wave sickness". The Spiridons, the dominant species on the planet, have the ability to generate an "anti-reflecting light wave" which the Daleks are trying to duplicate. However, it takes a tremendous amount of power and cannot be sustained for long. The Spiridons have been subjugated by the Daleks, and forced to act as their slaves, but there are no more than twelve Daleks on the planet. Back in the spaceship, Jo has passed out as the fungus spreads across her forearm. An invisible Spiridon enters the spacecraft and takes her away.
A Spiridon patrol comes across the Thals and the Doctor. Codal leads them away from the others, but is captured. When they make it back to the craft and find the TARDIS log on the ground, the others find two Daleks about to destroy the ship. Believing Jo is still inside, the Doctor steps forward and begs the Daleks to stop, but the patrol shoots him with a stun ray. The Doctor watches helplessly as the spacecraft is blasted to pieces. Taron and Vaber manage to remain hidden, and go off to retrieve the supplies for their mission on Spiridon.
The Doctor is taken to the Dalek base for interrogation and put in the same cell as Codal. The Doctor tries to use his sonic screwdriver
Sonic screwdriver
The sonic screwdriver is a fictional tool in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its spinoffs. It is a multifunctional tool used by The Doctor. Its most common function is that of a lockpick, but can be used to perform other operations such as performing medical scans,...
to open the cell door, but to no avail. He and Codal then conceive of modifying the components of the TARDIS log to emit a radio frequency that will jam Dalek control impulses. Meanwhile, Jo is being cared for by the Spiridon who found her. His name is Wester, and he is one of a group of his people who are trying to fight back against the Daleks. He cures her of her fungal infection with a salve, and tells Jo that the Doctor and Codal have been captured and taken to the Dalek base. Jo is determined to try to free them, even though Wester says that if the Daleks use them for their experiments, they are better off dead.
Vaber and Taron find the explosives that they hid earlier. Vaber wants to attack the Daleks now, and accuses Taron of being overcautious and cowardly when Taron refuses. Vaber draws his gun and threatens to shoot Taron if he does not hand over the explosives, but before things can get out of hand the heat and roar of another spacecraft rushes over their heads. It is another Thal vessel, but the entry angle was too steep, and their weapons were lost in the crash that followed. Only three Thals have survived — two men, Latep and Marat, and a woman, Rebec. Taron is not happy to see Rebec here, as she happens to be his lover. Rebec tells him that they intercepted a message to Dalek Supreme Command, saying that the Dalek army on Spiridon was now complete: a force of not a dozen, but ten thousand Daleks.
Jo and Wester see fur-wearing Spiridons entering the Dalek base, carrying crates of vegetation. The Daleks are experimenting with a plant-destroying bacterium. Jo hides herself on one of the crates and smuggles herself into the base. Taron shows Rebec another feature of Spiridon — a liquid allotrope
Allotropy
Allotropy or allotropism is the property of some chemical elements to exist in two or more different forms, known as allotropes of these elements...
of ice that exists in the core of the planet and erupts to the surface like lava
Lava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
. It is used by the Daleks as a cooling system, with ice tunnels that lead into the base. Taron plans to use them to infiltrate and cause a distraction while Vaber and Latep wait by the entrance with the explosives. A Dalek is sent to interrogate the Doctor and Codal, who use the improvised jamming device on it successfully, but the device is destroyed in the process. Making their way through the corridors, they find the three Thals, who are struggling to get out of the tunnels before a molten ice eruption floods them. Jamming the shaft doors open and getting them out, all run as a Dalek patrol enters the corridor, and is covered by the molten ice rushing out of the cooling tunnel.
The rest stumble into a chamber while Marat, weakened from the cold, covers their retreat. He is exterminated by the Daleks, who find a map on his body showing where the explosives are hidden. The Doctor seals the doors with his sonic screwdriver. The Dalek Section Leader sends a patrol to find and destroy the explosives, while others are sent to get cutting equipment. Jo overhears the orders and follows the Dalek patrol out of the city. Trapped in the chamber, the Thals and the Doctor find a huge refrigeration unit, pumping excess heat up through a ventilation shaft that leads to the surface. The Doctor also discovers the Dalek army stored in an adjoining chamber, sleeping in suspended animation
Suspended animation
Suspended animation is the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can only be detected by artificial means. Extreme cold can be used to precipitate the slowing of an individual's functions; use...
. Improvising a hot-air balloon from plastic sheeting, the four rise up the shaft as the Daleks break through.
A gravitational disk is sent for so that a Dalek can follow them up the shaft while another patrol is sent to the shaft's exit point on the surface. The Dalek patrol sent to find the explosives activates the timed detonators and leaves. Jo sneaks up to try and deactivate the timers, but only manages two before being knocked out by a stone from the crumbling cliff-face the explosives were hidden against. She awakens barely in time to grab the deactivated bombs and take cover before the third detonates, conveniently destroying the Dalek patrol that was sent to intercept the Thals. Meanwhile, the Thals and the Doctor reach the top of the shaft and drop a rock on the pursuing Dalek, sending it plummeting to the bottom. Making their way away from the shaft, they meet Jo, who the Doctor is overjoyed to see again, since he thought she had been killed when the Thal ship was destroyed. The Doctor explains to Jo that his telepathic signal was to tell the Time Lords the location of this planet — he had learned that there was a Dalek invasion force here while on the planet of the Ogron
Ogron
Ogrons are a fictional extraterrestrial race from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The name may be derived from the mythological ogres....
s. The Time Lords then steered the TARDIS here. Latep and Vaber also rejoin the group. They had thought the others were killed in the ice eruption, and were about to assault the city when they found one of their bombs was a dud and the others destroyed by the Daleks. Jo shows them the two bombs she managed to rescue.
The group decide to hide in the Plain of Stones, an area of Spiridon with rocks that absorb heat from the sun by day and discharge it at night. They manage to avoid a combined Dalek/Spiridon patrol as night falls and the temperature drops, and the Doctor notices the Daleks seem to be moving slower than usual. In the Dalek base, a Dalek reports to the Section Leader that the bacteria will destroy all plant life within a day, and unimmunised life forms within an hour. It will be ready in half a Spiridon day. At the Plain of Stones, Vaber and Taron come to blows again about when to take action. During the night, Vaber steals the two bombs and sneaks away from the camp site. Taron and Codal go in pursuit as the others huddle around the campfire, surrounded by animal forms with eyes glowing in the darkness. Vaber is caught by the Spiridons, whose leader orders him to be taken to the Daleks.
At the Plain of Stones, the Doctor is able to keep the creatures with glowing eyes at bay using fire until daybreak. When the Daleks try and force Vaber to lead them to the Thals, Vaber breaks away and is exterminated. Taron and Codal, disguised in Spiridon furs, use this distraction to grab the two bombs and vanish into the forest. The Daleks, in the meantime, have developed an immunisation process against the bacteria, and orders are sent out for all Daleks and Spiridon slaves to return to the base for immunisation before the bacteria is released. On the Plain of Stones, Wester shows up to tell Jo that the Daleks have developed the deadly bacteria, and that he is going to try to enter the base and stop its release. The Doctor devises a plan using nearby pools of molten ice. Deducing that the ice slows and even stops the Daleks from functioning, the group lure a Dalek patrol to them, and manage to push the two Daleks into the pools, the sudden drop in temperature killing them. Taron, Codal and the Doctor dress up in Spiridon furs while Rebec sits in the emptied Dalek casing so they can enter the base unmolested with one of the bombs. Latep and Jo will enter the city via the ventilation shaft with the other bomb, in a two-pronged attack. As the first group enters the city, they see Wester entering the bacteria preparation chamber under the pretence of delivering a report. Wester releases the bacteria into the sealed room, sacrificing himself but ensuring that the room cannot be unsealed without killing the other Daleks. The group try to move deeper into the base, but one of the Thal's boots is spotted by a Dalek, who sounds the alert.
The group flees down the corridors, making their way back to the cooling chamber. Once there, the Doctor asks Rebec and Taron to barricade the entrance while he finds a way to keep the Dalek army from reviving. He and Codal decide to set an explosive in the wall of the chamber containing the Dalek army, which is slowly coming to life. In the meantime, the Dalek Supreme, a member of the Dalek Supreme Council, has arrived in a spaceship, to oversee the final stages of the operation, and exterminates the Section Leader for its incompetence. Jo and Latep finally arrive at the cooling chamber, and use their bomb to destroy a squad of Daleks before joining the others. As another patrol comes through, the bomb set in the wall of the chamber explodes, causing molten ice to rush out and flood the chamber, freezing the Dalek army for centuries to come. The group escapes through a ramp that leads to the surface while the rest of the Daleks abandon the base, which is filling with molten ice.
The group makes its way to the Dalek Supreme's spacecraft. The Doctor asks Taron not to glorify the story of what happened here and make war sound like an adventure. The Thals were a peaceful people and he would hate to see them become otherwise. Taron and Rebec promise, and the Thals enter the spacecraft and leave for Skaro. The Doctor and Jo run back to the TARDIS, pursued by the Dalek Supreme and the other Daleks, and dematerialise just as they open fire. The Dalek Supreme orders that operations begin to recover the invasion force and to contact the Dalek High Council for a rescue ship. The Daleks have been delayed, but will never be defeated...
Continuity
- This serial follows directly on from Frontier in SpaceFrontier in SpaceFrontier in Space is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from February 24 to March 31, 1973...
, forming a twelve-part epic. - The ThalThal (Doctor Who)The Thals are a fictional race of humanoid aliens from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, originating on the planet Skaro.-History within the show:...
race returns for the first time since The DaleksThe DaleksThe Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in seven weekly parts from 21 December 1963 to 1 February 1964...
. They would next be seen in Genesis of the DaleksGenesis of the DaleksGenesis of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that was originally broadcast in six weekly parts from 8 March to 12 April 1975. It marks the first appearance of Davros, the creator of the Daleks.-Plot:...
. - In the Seventh DoctorSeventh DoctorThe Seventh Doctor is the seventh incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Sylvester McCoy....
serial Remembrance of the DaleksRemembrance of the DaleksRemembrance of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 5 October to 26 October 1988....
, the Doctor improvises a Dalek-disabling device and adds, "I made something like it on Spiridon", in reference to the converted TARDIS recorder. - In the Seventh Doctor Doctor Who MagazineDoctor Who MagazineDoctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
comic strip story Emperor of the DaleksEmperor of the DaleksEmperor of the Daleks was a black-and-white comic strip based on the television series Doctor Who. It ran primarily in the pages of Doctor Who Magazine, written by John Freeman and novelist and future television series writer Paul Cornell...
(DWM #197-#202), DavrosDavrosDavros is a character from the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Davros is an archenemy of the Doctor and is the creator of the Doctor's deadliest enemies, the Daleks...
reconditions the survivors of the Dalek army on Spiridon to be loyal to him, using them to conquer SkaroSkaroSkaro is a fictional planet from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who created by the writer Terry Nation as the home planet of the Daleks and, at times, the centre of the Dalek Empire....
and set himself up as Emperor, leading into the events of Remembrance of the DaleksRemembrance of the DaleksRemembrance of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 5 October to 26 October 1988....
. The audio drama Return of the DaleksReturn of the DaleksReturn of the Daleks is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Synopsis:...
has the Daleks attempting to awaken their army on Spiridon to assist their war effort and master the secret of invisibility- although the Seventh DoctorSeventh DoctorThe Seventh Doctor is the seventh incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Sylvester McCoy....
manages to thwart their plans by infecting the Daleks with light wave sickness-, contradicting the strip. The canonicity of both the audios and strips is open to interpretation.
Production
- The story was originally commissioned as Planet of the Daleks, but during production it briefly changed to Destination: Daleks.
- Episodes 2 & 4 do not feature a reprise of the previous episode's cliffhanger ending, while the reprise in Episode 3 is a re-performance. Though this latter technique was commonplace in 1960s episodes, by this time in the programme's history it was an approach almost never used.
- The Dalek Supreme in this story was a modified prop from the film Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 ADDaleks - Invasion Earth 2150 ADDaleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. is the second of two films based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. It was the sequel to Dr. Who and the Daleks , and starred Peter Cushing in his return to the role of the eccentric inventor and time traveller "Dr. Who". It also...
that had been given to Terry Nation. Its eye stalk has been replaced with a conventional torch, which flashes when it speaks. - For many years, Episode 3 of the serial existed in the BBC Archives only as a black-and-white 16mm telerecording, as the 625-line colour PALPALPAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
transmission master videotape for that episode was wiped for reuse by the BBC in 1976. Episode 3 was restored to full colour in 2008, using a combination of computer colourisation by Legend FilmsLegend FilmsLegend Films, a San Diego-based company, was founded in August 2001. The company specializes in the conversion of feature films, both new release and catalog titles, and commercials from their native 2D format into 3-D film format utilizing proprietary technology and software...
, and software developed by the Colour Recovery Working Group. This version was released on DVD in 2009. The colour masters for the other five episodes are still extant.
Cast notes
- Bernard Horsfall had previously appeared as Lemuel GulliverLemuel GulliverLemuel Gulliver is the protagonist and narrator of Gulliver's Travels, a novel written by Jonathan Swift, first published in 1726.-In Gulliver's Travels:...
in The Mind RobberThe Mind RobberThe Mind Robber is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in five weekly parts from September 14 to October 12, 1968...
and as "First Time LordTime LordThe Time Lords are an ancient extraterrestrial race and civilization of humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' eponymous protagonist, the Doctor, is a member...
" in The War GamesThe War GamesThe War Games is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in ten weekly parts from 19 April to 21 June 1969. It was the last regular appearance of Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor, and of Wendy Padbury and Frazer Hines as companions Zoe...
. He appeared once more in The Deadly AssassinThe Deadly AssassinThe Deadly Assassin is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 30 October to 20 November 1976...
, as Chancellor Goth. - Prentis Hancock (Vaber) had appeared as a reporter in Spearhead from SpaceSpearhead from SpaceSpearhead from Space is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 3 January to 24 January 1970. The serial opened Series 7 of the show and was the first to be produced in colour. The serial introduced Jon Pertwee as the...
and would return as Salamar in Planet of EvilPlanet of EvilThe plot was deliberately conceived by Philip Hinchcliffe, Robert Holmes and Louis Marks as a mixture of the film Forbidden Planet and the novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. In addition, Marks had been reading science magazine articles about antimatter, and decided to write a...
and as a guard in The Ribos OperationThe Ribos OperationThe Ribos Operation is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from September 2 to September 23, 1978. This serial introduces Mary Tamm as the companion Romana. After finishing his first year as producer of Doctor Who,...
.
In print
A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance DicksTerrance Dicks
Terrance Dicks is an English writer, best known for his work in television and for writing a large number of popular children's books during the 1970s and 80s.- Early career :...
, was published by Target Books
Target Books
Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well known for their highly successful range of...
in October 1976. the novelisation opens with the cliffhanger from Frontier in Space of a comatose Doctor pursuing the Daleks through space, even though this was removed from the Space War novelisation. A German translation
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
was published in 1980.
In 1995 the novel was also issued by BBC Audio as an audio book
Doctor Who audio releases
There have been many official and unofficial Doctor Who and related spin-offs released on audio, as LPs, audio cassettes, audio CDs and MP3 CDs. Recordings here are listed by their original release date.-Television soundtracks:...
, read by Jon Pertwee.
Broadcast, VHS and DVD release
- The serial was repeated on BBC One in 1993 as part of "Doctor Who and the Daleks",celebrating 30 years of Doctor Who, each episode was preceded by a specially made 5 min vignette, such as 'The Antique Dr Who Roadshow'/'Missing in Action'/'U.N.I.T. recruiting film' and 3 others.
- This story, together with Revelation of the DaleksRevelation of the DaleksRevelation of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts on 23 March and 30 March 1985...
was released on VHSVHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in a special Dalek tin set in 1999. The stories were released on VHS individually in North America. - This story was released on DVD alongside the previous story, "Frontier in Space" in the box set "Dalek War" on the 5 of October 2009.