Day 175 — June 24th 2021
Planet of the Daleks Episodes One and Two
Planet of the Daleks — Episode One
Watching this episode I can see more clearly why I was so surprised by the amount the Daleks featured in the last episode of Frontier in Space. There was attempt in that episode to make these two stories link up, but now we’re into the second half… well, they’ve sort of abandoned all that, haven’t they? We’ve got a cliffhanger reprise at the start of this one, which surprised me, but then it very much goes off in a new direction, and there’s zero mention of anything from the previous story. Neither of our heroes wonder about the Master, neither of them even mention that they’ve come here in pursuit of the Daleks, and you could read the cliffhanger as Doctor Who being surprised to see his greatest enemy.
I say ‘could’ because that’s not what I think it’s supposed to be. He’s clearly acting surprised to see that the Dalek is invisible, having already heard that this planet is home to other invisible creatures.
I’m not sure it’s necessarily a bad thing that the two stories are pretty much entirely separate from each other — lord knows I was bored of Frontier in Space and this episode was a big jump up for me — but it does mean that the last story ends on a bit of a rubbish note. There wasn’t any resolution to the plot threads there, and based on this episode I’m not sure there’s going to be either. I think you have to make a decision; you either want to make a big 12-part epic featuring the Daleks, or you don’t. They’ve tried to go for having their cake and eating it, and I don’t think that’s worked at all.
On the subject of 12-part Dalek epics, this episode marks the first contribution to the series from Terry Nation since The Daleks’ Master Plan. It’s only been eight years but it feels like an absolute lifetime ago. He was so integral to those first three seasons of the programme, but by now it’s ancient history. I bet his return must have felt really exciting to fans watching in 1973.
When he was last writing for the series he gave us a jungle planet filled with invisible creatures, and plants that were more animal than vegetable, on which a group of freedom fighters were hunting down the Daleks to ensure they couldn’t swipe control of the galaxy having manipulated the political powers in charge. This time around we’ve got… oh.
That sounds like I’m having a moan, but genuinely it’s quite fun seeing so many nation tropes popping up again. They’d started to get a bit repetitive in the Hartnell era, but having spent so long with the programme doing different things there’s something oddly comforting about doing a ‘traditional’ Doctor Who story.
Watching through this time I’ve been noticing just how much of a nostalgia trip they had for the tenth season. Obviously we open with The Three Doctors, but then Carnival of Monsters sees a cameo from a Cyberman, Frontier in Space has even more cameos, including a Mutt and a Sea Devil plus a recounting of the trial from the end of The War Games. This story is obviously the return of the Daleks, but we also get the events of The Daleks relayed to us in the form of a legend.
There’s something rather sweet about hearing Pertwee talk about Ian, Barbara and Susan, and I love the idea that generations later the Thals have mythologised the events of that first adventure. The idea of Doctor Who as a figure of legend is something New Testament Who plays with a lot — perhaps a little too much — but at this stage it’s such a rare concept that it’s still fascinating to me. I can only think of this and The Savages as examples so far. We also get a lovely piece of dialogue in relation to Doctor Who’s revelation of his identity;
Doctor Who: ‘You still don’t trust me?’
Taron: ‘Why should I? You come here out of nowhere and then claim to be something out of a legend.’
I’d initially written down that the jungle set wasn’t the most effective alien planet the Pertwee era had given us — they’ve always been location-based to now — but the longer the episode went on the more I got caught up in events and bought into the design. Certainly there’s something fun about the plants spitting their fungus onto the TARDIS. I’m almost tempted, with all these other 1960s trappings, to switch the episode into black and white and see if that makes the studio-bound planet feel somehow more authentic…! It certainly looks pretty good on the TARDIS scanner in black and white — clearly the colour telly Doctor Who had in The Three Doctors has gone on the blink!
While I’m on the subject of the TARDIS… I still love the Season Ten design of the Control Room. That back wall is gorgeous. But oh lord doesn’t the random assortment of furniture in this episode ruin the illusion a bit? Doctor Who tells Jo he needs to lie down, so she pulls the bed out of a wardrobe which just happens to be stood three feet from the main console. Later when the emergency supply of oxygen is required the box just happens to be right there next to the door. I don’t mind sticking things in the Control Room — just yesterday I was looking at the pillars in the Draconian palace and thinking how nice it would be to get them back in the TARDIS — but the plain white IKEA-esque furniture on display here is more than a little disappointing.
I’m pleased to say that this one has grabbed me considerably better than any episode of the last story, so it’s a 7/10.
Planet of the Daleks — Episode Two
I think there’s more Dalek action in this episode than we got in the entirety of Day of the Daleks. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed that story, but this feels like a more spectacular return for the pepper pots — trundling around in the jungle, exterminating things… there’s a shot at one point where there’s seven Daleks on screen at the same time! Seven! Have we ever had that many at once before? It’s a silly thing to say but I genuinely blew my mind to see that, because it was so unexpected.
I’ve said before that I’m not a massive fan of 70s Daleks — the drab grey colour scheme does nothing for them, and I don’t like the look of the pupil on the eye stalk. That’s still true, but I’ll admit that they really work for me here, somehow. There’s a great shot of them hidden by some of the vegetation where they’re almost camouflaged in the shadows, and it’s the first time I’ve ever thought the 70s variation looked quite good.
There’s also something brilliant about how well the Dsleks are written in this episode. I think I’m right in saying that Terry Nation wasn’t overjoyed with the way they were handled in Day of the Daleks, so was keen to redress that here. By the time he’d reached the end of his association with the series in 1965 I think he’d gotten a bit bored of the creatures — I’m still haunted by that scene of Doctor Who and his friends teasing a Dalek in The Chase — but Nation has clearly come back with the mindset that he wants them to be terrifying again.
Take, for example, the sequence in which Doctor Who desperately tries to save Jo’s life. He’s under the impression that she’s hiding in the Thal spaceship, which the Daleks are powering up to destroy, so he jumps out to plead with them for her safety;
Dalek: ‘Command centre orders the craft is to be destroyed.’
Dalek 2: ‘Position to fire.’
Doctor Who: ‘Jo Grant’s inside that ship. I’ve got to do something…’
Dalek: ‘Aim.’
Doctor Who: ‘No! Wait! Wait. Somebody’s still in there.’
Dalek: ‘Save for interrogation. Disable.’
[Doctor Who is shot by a Dalek ray]
Dalek: ‘Proceed as ordered.’
Doctor Who: ‘No!’
Dalek: ‘Fire. Repeat, full power.’
[The spaceship is blown up]
It feels like a tiny moment, but it’s so effective because of how unexpected it is. I assumed the distraction would work, the Daleks would march Doctor Who off to their secret base and Jo would escape unharmed from the ship. SO when they shoot our hero down and blow the ship up anyway I was genuinely on the edge of my seat. I can’t remember the last time the Daleks were shown to be so ruthless, and they’re all the better for it.
If this is a good episode for the way the Daleks are written, it’s an even better one for the character of the Third Doctor Who. I think this episode might contain the single best scene Pertwee’s had in the role so far, when he talks to Codal about the nature of bravery;
Codal: ‘I’ve been terrified ever since I landed on this planet. It’s different for Taron and Vaber, they’re professionals. They’ve seen action before.’
Doctor Who: ‘And do you think they’re any the less brave because of that?’
Codal: ‘They know how to deal with fear. They’re used to living close to death.
I’m not. I’m a scientist, not an adventurer.’
Doctor Who: ‘Well, forgive me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you a volunteer?’
Codal: ‘Yes.’
Doctor Who: ‘Then you must have known what you were getting into?’
Codal: ‘No. None of us did. We’re not a warlike people, Doctor. We’ve only just developed space flight. No one had attempted a voyage of this length before, but every man and woman from my division volunteered. Over six hundred of them. You see, I didn’t even have the courage to be the odd man out. What are you laughing at?’
Doctor Who: ‘Ah, you, my friend. You may be a very brilliant scientist but you have very little understanding of people, particularly yourself. Courage isn’t
just a matter of not being frightened, you know.’
Codal: ‘What is it, then?’
Doctor Who: ‘It’s being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway, just
as you did.’
It’s a moment which rightly gets singled out as a great moment for Pertwee, but I think it’s still under-appreciated. It’s the closest I’ve ever seen this incarnation come to being the character of Doctor Who that I know and love. It’s beautifully written (not something I often say about Terry Nation’s dialogue, if I’m remembering correctly) and performed with so much emotion that it’s impossible not to get drawn in. It’s like the ‘daisiest daisy’ scene taken to a whole new level, and I love it. The whole episode is raised higher on the strength of this one brief scene.
Doctor Who is also used to sell the threat of the Daleks even further, when he talks about Jo being trapped in the ship;
Doctor Who: ‘She’d gone to fetch help for me. The Daleks…’
Codal: ‘Took her prisoner?’
Doctor Who: ‘No. They murdered her.’
Now here my memory is failing me. There was definitely a moment in the 1960s where someone was described as having been murdered by the aliens, and it was as powerful then as it is here. You don’t often think of the characters in Doctor Who getting murdered — it’s far too outlandish a series for that. But it’s the right wording, and it really helps to hammer home how powerful the enemy is in this situation.
Of course Jo isn’t really dead; she’s been rescued by one of the invisible Spiradons. I found myself surprised by how engaging a conversation between Jo and a bush could be, but it works surprisingly well. And it’s helped along by some absolutely flawless CSO work when the creature is preparing an antidote to Jo’s infection. It’s a tiny thing, but I’m so used to calling out bad CSO work when it comes along that I’d feel wrong to not highlight when it’s really well done, too. This is probably the best example we’ve had to date.
On finishing this episode I noticed that there’s an option for enhanced effects on the Blu-ray, and I’m tempted to switch them on for the next few episodes — in the hope that they’re more Terror of the Autons quality than Day of the Daleks — but on the strength of this episode I don’t think I’m going to be needing replacement effects too badly…!
I’m going for a 9/10 here.
