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{{Infobox TV|
{{title dab away}}
story name= Planet of the Daleks |
{{real world}}
image=[[Image:Planetofthedaleks_title.jpg|250px]] |
{{ImageLinkTV}}
series=[[Doctor Who]] -<br/>[[TV stories|TV Stories]] |
{{Infobox Story SMW
number= 68 |
|image                 = Invisible Dalek.jpg
doctor=[[Third Doctor]]|
|series                 = [[Doctor Who television stories|''Doctor Who'' television stories]]
companions= [[Jo Grant]]|
|season number          = Season 10 (Doctor Who 1963)|
enemy= [[Dalek|The Daleks]] |
|season serial number  = 4
year= [[Spiridon]]; [[2540]]?|
|story number           = 68
writer= [[Terry Nation]] |
|doctor                 = Third Doctor
director= [[David Maloney]] |
|companions             = [[Jo Grant|Jo]]
producer= [[Barry Letts]] |
|enemy                 = [[Dalek Section Leader (Planet of the Daleks)|Dalek Section Leader]]
broadcast date= [[7th April]] - [[12th May]] [[1973]] |
|setting                = [[Spiridon]], [[2540]] AD
format= 6 25-minute Episodes |
|writer                 = Terry Nation
production code= [[List of production codes|SSS]]|
|director               = [[David Maloney]]  
previous story= [[Frontier in Space]]|
|producer               = [[Barry Letts]]  
next story= [[The Green Death]] }}
|music                  = [[Dudley Simpson]]
|novelisation          = Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks
|epcount                = 6
|broadcast date         = 7 April - 12 May 1973
|network                = BBC1
|format                 = 6x25-minute episodes
|serial production code = [[List of production codes|SSS]]
|prev                  = Frontier in Space (TV story)
|next                  = The Green Death (TV story)
|made prev              = The Three Doctors (TV story)
|made next              = The Green Death (TV story)
}}{{you may|The Planet of the Daleks (comic story)|n1=the comic story}}
'''''Planet of the Daleks''''' was the fourth and penultimate serial of [[season 10 (Doctor Who 1963)|season 10]] of ''[[Doctor Who]]''. It was the conclusion of a loose, dual-serial storyline begun in ''[[Frontier in Space (TV story)|Frontier in Space]]''. It was also a direct sequel to the very first Dalek serial, showing what had happened to the [[Thal]]s after the [[First Doctor]] met them in ''[[The Daleks (TV story)|The Daleks]]'' and the heroic legacy the Doctor left on their culture. With its connection to ''Frontier'', ''Planet'' also helped set the stage for later stories about the [[Second Dalek War]], although the conflict was never thereafter revisited by the TV series.


Behind the scenes, it was [[writer]] [[Terry Nation]]'s first ''Doctor Who'' commission since the [[1965 (releases)|1965]] [[Christmas]] episode, "[[The Daleks' Master Plan (TV story)|The Feast of Steven]]", the seventh instalment of the epic twelve-parter ''[[The Daleks' Master Plan (TV story)|The Daleks' Master Plan]]'', and [[Director (crew)|director]] [[David Maloney]]'s first story since ''[[The War Games (TV story)|The War Games]]''.


==Synopsis==
On [[15 June (releases)|15 June]] [[2019 (releases)|2019]], [[BFI Southbank]] arranged a special event-screening of the episode with updated visual effects and a new 5.1 sound mix, along with a Q&A interview with [[Katy Manning]].<ref>https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?doWork%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle=Load&BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Aarticle_id=F2F67FC3-9159-455B-8391-99E719C68C6B&BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Acontext_id=47671D02-6BD8-4FE0-814D-E4DB3F65EFD1</ref> In [[2020]], ''Planet of the Daleks'' became part of the ''[[Time Lord Victorious (series)|Time Lord Victorious]]'' multimedia event. [[James Goss]] explained this was because it was used as a prelude for ''[[The Sentinel of the Fifth Galaxy (webcast)|The Sentinel of the Fifth Galaxy]]''.<ref>[https://twitter.com/gossjam/status/1313444749534261258 James Goss tweet]</ref>
[[Third Doctor|The Doctor]] and [[Jo Grant|Jo]] team up with a guerilla group of [[Thals]], seeking to knock out an army of 10,000 [[Daleks]] in hibernation on planet [[Spiridon]].


==Plot==
== Synopsis ==
Episode 1
Arriving on [[Spiridon]], the [[Third Doctor]] and [[Jo Grant|Jo]] encounter a [[Thal]] group. But the [[Dalek]]s are here... and this time, they're [[Invisibility|invisible]].


Jo helps the Doctor into the TARDIS. He sends a telepathic message via the telepathic circuits at the console. He is trying to send a message to the Time Lords. He must tell them something but he collapses. Jo takes him to a place in the TARDIS with a wall of white cabinets. She presses a button and one of the lowest cabinets is a large bed which slides out. Next to the cabinets is a large flat wall built into one of the columns and the wall doesn't touch the floor, a kind of grid like sectioned semi see through squares. The Doctor tells Jo he is liable to sleep for some time. If anything happens, she is to record it in the log and he directs her to it.  
== Plot ==
=== Episode one ===
The [[Third Doctor]] has been shot and gravely wounded by {{Delgado}}. Jo helps him into [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]], where he uses the [[telepathic circuits]] to send a message to the [[Time Lord]]s before he collapses.


The TARDIS spins in space. In a delirium, the Doctor tosses and turns and calls Jo, then passes out. Jo, in a new outfit, listens to his hearts. He is so cold, she notices. She makes a log, "Shortly after entering the TARDIS, the Doctor feel into a deep coma. His respiration was very shallow, his skin icy to the touch. I could find no trace of pulse or heartbeat. His breathing apparently ceased. But I've seen the Doctor in this condition once before and he recovered after a sudden rise in temperature. The TARDIS seems to have landed. I suppose the Time Lords are working it by remote control again. I've no idea what the Doctor said to them in his message or where we are. I just hope that they've brought us somewhere where I can find some help for the Doctor."
Delirious, he tells Jo that he may be asleep for a while. He falls into a [[coma]], his body temperature dipping so low that frost appears on his skin and both his [[heart]]s beat only once every ten seconds.


The TARDIS does land and in a sick dematerialisation sound... like it was struggling to appear. Ice appears on the Doctor's face and his eyes open, but are unstaring and blank. Both his hearts are beating once every ten seconds, body temp somewhere below zero. Jo will go outside to try to find some help. She finds the scanner and turns it on. It is a tiny TV monitor near the ceiling. It has a black and white picture! Strange splotches squirt out onto the screen, near some plants which may be shooting fluid out. Jo gets a yellow jacket and goes out, telling the prone Doctor this.  
Jo dictates into the [[TARDIS log]], a portable recording device, that she has seen this healing state before. She states that the TARDIS is moving, apparently being controlled remotely by the Time Lords. When it halts, Jo activates the external scanners, only to see [[Sponge-plant|plants]] outside. They block the viewer by spraying a thick, sap-like liquid at it. With the Doctor [[catatonia|catatonic]], Jo leaves the ship to explore the surrounding [[jungle]]. The plants spray sap on her as she walks by. Some of it gets on her exposed hand.


Jo ventures out into a thick but lush forest. She has some red gloves on. Plants squirt out green-yellow fluid and some gets on her. She moves past hanging vines to a large stone object, alien ruins of some kind. The jungle comes alive with more sounds than before and a pig seems to squeal. She passes some giant webs and rests, sitting down. Over the horizon, she sees a glow that seems to light up the entire area.  
As Jo explores, the TARDIS is rapidly covered by plant sap, hardening into a shell around it. When the Doctor awakens, he finds himself sealed in. The [[oxygen]] in the TARDIS cabin is rapidly being used up. He activates the emergency oxygen supply and finds the tanks almost empty. He starts to suffocate. 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. They are joined by another crewmember, Codal, who warns them 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 avoids discovery, but a fungoid growth has appeared on her hand and is starting to spread.


Jo has the log recorder with her. "Things growing in this jungle seem like animal and plant life. The light is changing. It seems like daybreak. There's a sudden rise in temperature. I haven't seen any form of intelligent life except, except there are, bits of, bits of statue by the TARDIS."
Taron and his men find the TARDIS and chip the hardened sap from its doors, dragging the nearly asphyxiated Doctor outside. The Doctor thanks them and notes he finds them familiar. When the men say they are from the planet [[Skaro]], the Doctor recognises them as [[Thal]]s and tells them he was on Skaro many years ago. The Thals are sceptical when he claims to be the famous Doctor of Thal legend, but he gives them enough details to satisfy them. Taron tells the Doctor that he has been infected by a fungus carried by the sap and treats him with a spray; the fungus would have engulfed and killed him had Taron not done so.


Jo takes off her jacket and finds that there are green-black marks where the liquid hit her on the back. She tosses it down and passes by what seem to be drum shaped plants. But the plants monitor her movement and fronds seem to follow her -- as if they are cameras. As Jo proceeds, something invisible moves bushes near her and there is a heavy breathing.  
They are on [[Spiridon]], a planet where the plant life is more animal than vegetable. There are creatures hostile to everyone, including themselves, and extremes of day and night temperature. These Thals are the only survivors of a military expedition. Taron orders a halt to their progress through the jungle when they hear something in the process of breaking down. Nothing is seen except a circular depression in the ground. Giving the Doctor a spray can of paint, Taron tells him that he will see what they are up against. The Doctor sprays the seemingly empty air before him, and the outline of a [[Dalek]] is revealed...


The Doctor, in the TARDIS, wakes up and calls for Jo.  
=== Episode two ===
[[File:Fungoid infection.jpg|thumb|left|[[Wester]] cures [[Jo Grant|Jo]].]]
The Dalek is inactive, dead from what the Thals call "[[light wave sickness]]". The Spiridons, the dominant species on the planet, can generate an "anti-reflecting light wave", which the Daleks are trying to duplicate. However, it takes a tremendous amount of power and cannot be long sustained. The Spiridons have been subjugated and enslaved by the Daleks, 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.


Jo takes off her gloves and her hand is hit by some more spray from yet another plant stalk!
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, they find the TARDIS log on the ground and two Daleks about to destroy the ship. Believing Jo still inside, the Doctor steps forward and begs the Daleks to stop, but the patrol shoots him with a stun ray. He watches helplessly as the spacecraft is blasted to pieces. Taron and Vaber remain hidden and go off to retrieve the supplies for their mission on Spiridon.
[[File:Doctor_and_codal.jpg|thumb|The Doctor and Codal discuss what bravery means.]]
The Doctor is taken to the Dalek base for interrogation and put in the same cell as Codal, whom he tries to cheer up. The Doctor tries to open the cell door with [[The Doctor's sonic screwdriver|his sonic screwdriver]], but to no avail. Codal and he decide to modify the components of the TARDIS log to emit a radio frequency to 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 free them, even though Wester says that if the Daleks use them for their experiments, they are better off dead.


In TARDIS, the Doctor hears some odd clickings. Outside is breathable and the auto oxygen supply is on.  
Vaber and Taron find the explosives that they hid earlier. Vaber wants to attack the Daleks now. He 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 rush over their heads. It is another Thal vessel, but the entry angle is too steep, and their weapons are lost in the crash that follows. Only three Thals have survived the crash — two men, Latep and Marat, and a woman, Rebec. Taron is unhappy to see Rebec. 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 finds a structure in the jungle. It is a spaceship that appears to have crashed but seems intact. She calls to anyone inside. She works her way around the side and sees insignia. The door in the back seems to be the way in. Jo opens the door and goes inside. In a seat is a helmeted man with webs on him and his eyes open, staring. Jo touches him and he falls over, already dead.  
=== Episode three ===
[[File:Carted in.jpg|left|thumb|Jo smuggles herself into the [[Dalek]] base.]]
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 in 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]]. The Daleks use it 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 Doctor cannot get the TARDIS doors open. The scanner reads that the oxygen supply is exhausted. The Doctor pulls a portable emergency supply over and hits a switch on the large rectangular white cabinet. A door slides upward to reveal three canisters of air. The Doctor turns them all on but seems unhappy that these do not help.  
The rest stumble into a chamber while Marat, weakened from the cold, holds back to cover their retreat. He is exterminated by the Daleks, who find a map on him showing where the explosives are hidden. The Doctor seals the doors with his sonic screwdriver. The [[Dalek Section Leader (Planet of the Daleks)|Dalek Section Leader]] sends a patrol to find and destroy the explosives, while others are sent for 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]]. The four improvise a hot-air [[balloon]] from [[plastic]] sheeting but there doesn't seem to be enough lift to carry all of them, and the Daleks have nearly cut through the door...


Jo hides in a corner inside the spaceship main room as booted feet seem to stalk her. A gun comes near her face, a ray gun of some kind attached to a man's belt, and a blond man Taron, who seems nice to her and a stern faced blond man named Vaber find her. They take her into the slightly larger area to sit and question her. Vaber tells her Earth does not exist, it is just a name in their legends. Jo mentions the TARDIS which interests Taron. Taron tells her he is qualified in space medicine and will help when Vaber tells her this is not a hospital service. Taron tells her she should be glad they THEY didn't find her. Another blond man comes in named Codal. Jo tells them where the TARDIS is, near bits of statue (Reference 7 Vaber says). There are three or four headed this way Codal tells them. Jo will stay hidden in the securer room which can close the doors. Taron tells Jo the three will help her friend and lose THEM in the jungle. The three men leave the spacecraft. In the small closet like room, Jo feels a rocking of the ship and some invisible force enters, exploring the devices in the ship and breathing heavily. It also goes through storage closets. Jo watches from a small grid-window.  
=== Episode four ===
[[File:Gravity strikes back.jpg|right|thumb|A Dalek pursuer plummets to its death.]]
There is finally enough lift for the improvised hot air balloon to carry the Doctor and the Thals up the shaft. They rise up out of the room just as the Daleks break through the door. 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 on the surface. The Dalek patrol sent for the explosives activates the timed detonators and leaves. Jo sneaks up to try to 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 goes off, conveniently destroying the Dalek patrol sent to intercept the Thals.


Taron returns to Codal and a nervous Vaber. The scouts are moving only on the main trail. They go off to find the girl's friend.  
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 which destroys it. Making their way away from the shaft, they meet Jo, whom the Doctor is overjoyed to see again; he thought her killed when the Thal ship was destroyed. The Doctor explains 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 Ogrons. The Time Lords 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 rescued.


The force gets close to Jo's door as it examines more areas of the ship, opening closets. Finally it leaves, making Jo relax. Footsteps appear in the dirt around the spacecraft, pointed footprints.  
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 avoid a combined Dalek/Spiridon patrol as night falls and the temperature drops. The Doctor notices the Daleks seem to be moving slower than usual. In the Dalek base, one 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. Taron and Codal go in pursuit as the others huddle around the campfire, surrounded by animals with eyes glowing in the darkness. The Doctor uses fire to scare the creatures away. Vaber is caught by the Spiridons, and the leader tells them to take him to the Daleks...


The TARDIS scanner reads Oabia Atmosphere unable to sustain life. The Doctor has on a red jacket and top now and different pants! He is under the console trying to fix it. The circuits are in order. The door is held from the outside. He passes out near the door.  
=== Episode five ===
[[File:Boys and their toys.jpg|left|thumb|The Daleks admire their bioweapon.]]
Taron and Codal disguise themselves as Sprirdons and get into the group. They arrive and meet with a Dalek. The Dalek tries to force Vaber to lead them to the Thals. Vaber pretends to cooperate, but he breaks away and is exterminated. Taron and Codal use this distraction to grab the two bombs and vanish into the forest.


Outside the TARDIS, Vaber and Taron, in protective head gear of plastic and glass, pull the fungus like gunk off the TARDIS doors. Codal stands watch as plants spray in the forest. The doors open and they pull the Doctor out. The Doctor's eyes are crossed as he is in some kind shock which he quickly comes out of. They sit him down on a rock. He thanks them. He asks if the girl is all right. Taron sends Codal to check the area, see if there is any activity. The Doctor was staring at Vaber -- he says he thought he knew him. Vaber is not impressed. The men come from a planet many systems from here... Skaro the Doctor guesses, "Yes of course, you're Thals!" The Doctor explains he was on Skaro, many years ago during the Dalek War, generation ago. Vaber doesn't believe him but he tells them he travels through the barriers of time and was with the Thals when they broke into the Dalek city. Taron recalls a figure from legend, a figure from another planet who came to Skaro when the Thals were in their greatest peril in something called a TARDIS. Taron mentions that this figure had three companions. The Doctor says, "That's right, Barbara, Ian, and Susan." They ask who their leader was and he answers the Doctor and tells them he is the Doctor. The Doctor tells Vaber not to subject him to an inquisition.  
The Daleks have developed an immunisation process against the bacteria. 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 he is going to try to enter the base and stop its release. The Doctor devises a plan using nearby [[Molten ice pool|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 push the two Daleks into the pools. The sudden drop in temperature kills the Dalek creatures inside, and their bodies are thrown into the pools. Taron, Codal and the Doctor dress in Spiridon furs while Rebec gets inside one of the empty Dalek casings so they can enter the base undetected 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.


Taron tells the Doctor he has been infected by a deadly fungus. They spread their spores in that liquid they discharge and the fungus spreads. Taron asks Vaber for the healing spray that stops the fungus. The Doctor seems to think it would take an hour to spread all over his body even though Taron doesn't tell him this. Taron explains the fungus would have engulfed him. The Doctor says, "That's nice."
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; those already in the preparation chamber are trapped forever. The group try to move deeper into the base, but one of the Thals' boots is spotted by a Dalek, who sounds the alert...


Jo takes off her suit jacket in the spaceship and finds fungus on her hand.  
=== Episode six ===
[[File:Fronzen Daleks.jpg|right|thumb|The Daleks are hit by a wave of ice.]]
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. Codal and he decide to set an explosive in the wall of the chamber holding the Dalek army, which are slowly coming to life. In the meantime, the [[Dalek Supreme (Planet of the Daleks)|Dalek Supreme]], a member of the [[Dalek Council|Dalek High Council]], has arrived in a spaceship to oversee the final stages of the operation. He exterminates the Section Leader for 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 chamber wall explodes. Molten ice rushes out to flood the chamber, freezing the Dalek army for centuries to come. The group escapes over a ramp that leads to the surface, while the rest of the Daleks abandon the base, which is filling with molten ice.


Vaber tells the Doctor that this planet is Spiridon of the 9th System, a piece of garbage planet. Vegetation that is more like animal life than plant, creatures hostile to everything including themselves, and a climate from tropical in the day to sub freezing in the night. Spiridons are invisible intelligent life. The Doctor says, "I wish I could see one of them. I mean I wish I could come into contact with one of them." Vaber panics -- he feels they are on a suicide mission. No one made Vaber come...it was his choice. There were seven of them but their commander was killed on touchdown and they lost three others since they landed. The Doctor offers help. Taron doesn't trust him and wonders why he should. He comes here out of no where and then claims to be something out of legend. They will take him to his friend. After that he is on his own. If the Doctor sees him signal, he is to dive for cover and not make a sound.  
The group makes its way to the Dalek Supreme's spacecraft. The Doctor asks Taron not to glorify what has happened, nor make war sound like an adventure. The Thals were always a peaceful people, and he would hate to see them change. 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. They dematerialise just as the Daleks open fire. The Dalek Supreme orders operations to recover the invasion force and contact the Dalek High Council for a rescue ship. The Daleks have been delayed, but will never be defeated...


Jo has passed out on the floor of the room she is in and the fungus has spread up her arm.  
Aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor switches through images of the galaxies on the scanner screen to find Skaro. He shows it to Jo, who says she doesn't really regret turning down Latep's earlier invitation to go back to Skaro with him. The Doctor tells Jo there are many hundreds of other worlds to see, but she puts an image of Earth on the screen, saying that's the only world she wants to see right now. The Doctor understands — Jo wants to go home. He sets the controls for Earth...


The three Thal men and the Doctor get down. They hear something grinding. It sounds like it is in trouble. Ray exhaustion? Light wave sickness -- that is what the others had. It might be deactivated. A circular mark in the dirt heralds something. The Thals give the Doctor a liquid colour spray. He, Vaber, and Taron spray the object. The Doctor is closest to it -- the almost fully seen shape of a Dalek! The Doctor gasps in a raspy voice, "Daleks!" The Dalek is in view now.
== Cast ==
* [[Third Doctor|Dr. Who]] - [[Jon Pertwee]]
* [[Jo Grant]] - [[Katy Manning]]
* [[Taron]] - [[Bernard Horsfall]]
* [[Vaber]] - [[Prentis Hancock]]
* [[Codal]] - [[Tim Preece]]
* [[Rebec]] - [[Jane How]]
* [[Wester]] - [[Roy Skelton]]
* Dalek Voices - [[Michael Wisher]], [[Roy Skelton]]
* Dalek Operators - [[John Scott Martin]], [[Murphy Grumbar]], [[Cy Town]]
* [[Marat]] - [[Hilary Minster]]
* [[Latep]] - [[Alan Tucker]]


Episode 2
=== Uncredited cast ===
* [[Miro]] - [[Alan Calsey]] ([[DWM 202]])
* Dalek Operator - [[Tony Starr]] (credited in ''Radio Times'' for episode six) ([[DWM 202]])
* Spiridons - [[David Billa]], [[Ronald Gough]], [[Kevin Moran]], [[Geoffrey Witherick]], [[Terence Denville]], [[Kelly Varney]], [[Gary Dean]] ([[DWM 202]])


The Dalek becomes fully visible and is dead from light wave sickness. The Doctor notices the sensor plates are not functioning. This one is something new. Vaber tells the Doctor the Daleks haven't mastered invisibility completely. Codal, the scientist, explains how the Daleks found out how to do it by studying the Spiridons -- its an anti reflecting light wave but to create the energy required they need to generate fantastic power but cannot sustain it. Codal wants to lift the top off the Dalek but the Doctor warns him not to: most Daleks have an automatic distress call, even after they die it can be activated. Taron thanks him and calls him Doctor, proving he believes him now that this is the Doctor.
== Crew ==
* [[Assistant Floor Manager]] - [[John Cook]]
* [[Costumes]] - [[Hazel Pethig]]
* [[Designer (crew)|Designer]] - [[John Hurst]]
* [[Film Cameraman]] - [[Elmer Cossey]]
* [[Film Editor]] - [[Dave Thomas]]
* [[Incidental Music]] - [[Dudley Simpson]]
* [[Make-up|Make-Up]] - [[Jean McMillan]]
* [[Producer]] - [[Barry Letts]]
* [[Production Assistant]] - [[George Gallaccio]]
* [[Script Editor]] - [[Terrance Dicks]]
* [[Special Sounds]] - [[Dick Mills]]
* [[Studio Lighting]] - [[Derek Slee]]
* [[Studio Sound]] - [[Tony Millier]]
* [[Theme Arrangement]] - [[Delia Derbyshire]]
* [[Doctor Who theme|Title Music]] - [[Ron Grainer]]
* [[Visual Effects]] - [[Clifford Culley]]


In the spaceship, Jo wakes up to find her hand engulfed in the fungus. She covers it with her jacket top. "My hand... my hand and my arm are infected by... by something I can't describe, spreading rapidly, my hand is... already quite numb..." she logs into the recorder.
=== Uncredited crew ===
* [[Grams operator|Grams]] - [[Gerry Borrows|Gerry Burrows]] ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')
* [[Music copyist|Music Copyist]] - [[George Bayton]] ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')
* [[Make-up assistant|Make-Up Assistant]] - [[Scota Raquesen]] ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')
* [[Floor assistant|Floor Assistant]] - [[Ken Dodds]] ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')
* [[Assistant floor manager|Assistant Floor Managers]] - [[Sue Hedden]], [[Graeme Harper]] ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')
* [[Vision mixer|Vision Mixer]] - [[Mike Turner|Michael Turner]] ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')
* [[Props buyer|Props Buyer]] - [[Bill Bonner]] ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')
* [[Production secretary|Production Secretary]] - [[Sarah Newman]] ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')
* [[Director's assistant|Director's Assistant]] - [[Carole Bisset]] ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')
* [[Grip]] - [[Tex Childs]] ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')
* [[Production assistant|Production Assistant]] - [[George Gallaccio]] ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')
* Film Grip - [[Stan Swetman]] ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')
* [[Film sound assistant|Film Sound Assistant]] - [[Frank Brown]] ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')
* [[Film cameraman|Film Cameraman]] - [[Elmer Cossey]] ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')
* [[Film editor|Film Editor]] - [[Dave Thomas]] ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')
* [[Film sound|Film Sound]] - [[Ian Sansam]] ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')
* [[Visual effects assistant|Effects Assistants]] - [[Charlie Morgan]], [[Arthur Beavis]], [[Martin Gutteridge]], [[Charlie Stoneham]] ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')


Codal and Taron scout ahead. The Doctor sits down in the jungle. Vaber thinks Taron is too cautious. He thinks things would be different if Mayrell -- the expedition commander -- was still alive. He was killed when they landed. The Doctor tells him he is sorry and asks who Taron is. Expedition doctor is who Taron is. Vaber thinks they should use the explosives they have and wipe out the Daleks and use their lab. He thinks there are no more than twelve Daleks, just a scientific group. The Doctor wants to know more about the Spiridons, asking if they are working with the Daleks. As Vaber and the Doctor talk, something resembling a snake moves up on them. Vaber thinks the Spiridons have been totally subjugated by now as is the usual Dalek way. The Doctor knows this: mass extermination followed by absolute suppression of the survivors -- mass terror.  
== Worldbuilding ==
=== Daleks ===
* Most Daleks emit an automatic [[distress call]] if their casings are tampered with.
* There exists a [[Dalek Supreme Council]] composed of [[Supreme Dalek]]s.
* The Daleks are vulnerable to subzero temperatures. If they're shocked by cold they die instantly.
* The Doctor observes that a Dalek's [[sensor plate]]s are not functioning.


Three Daleks pass Taron and Codal, probably going out to retrieve the dead one.  
=== TARDIS ===
* The TARDIS is vulnerable to [[sponge-plant]] sap.


The Doctor examines the Eye Plants that Jo passed before. They get very agitated whenever an invisible Spiridon comes near them. With his back turned, the Doctor doesn't see the long snake which wraps around Vaber. The Doctor gets Vaber's knife and cuts it off. Some sort of tentacle. Codal and Taron arrive back. Vaber thanks the Doctor. Vaber wants to die for a reason, not as food for a flesh eating tentacle. The Doctor denotes continued caution is needed which makes Vaber angry: he's been here longer and knows this. The Eye Plants move and give them alert to invisible Spiridons moving up on them.  
=== Thals ===
* The Thals know of [[Earth]] but believe it to be a myth.
* The Doctor is a mythical figure in Thal legends.


Jo walks out of the spaceship but passes out onto the ground, dropping the recorder. She manages to get back up and go inside again as something in front of her is breathing... and invisible. She passes out inside the entrance. The invisible thing moves into the spacecraft, opening the door.  
== Story notes ==
* At one point in development, this story had a working title of ''Destination: Daleks''. ([[REF]]: ''[[The Third Doctor Handbook]]'')
* The story has been recognised as a reworking of the first Dalek story, ''[[The Daleks (TV story)|The Daleks]]'', containing some of the same plot devices, including a group of Daleks in a city encountering the Thals on a ravaged planet; a deadly plague instead of a neutron bomb; someone using a Dalek shell as a disguise; the Doctor imprisoned in a cell and with paralysed legs; and the Daleks imprisoned in their city at the end of the story.
* Because [[Terry Nation]] had not written for the show since 1965, he initially believed individual episode titles were still being used — a practice which had actually been dropped after ''[[The Gunfighters (TV story)|The Gunfighters]]''. His scripts were thus titled "Destinus" (Nation's original name for Spiridon), "Mission Survival", "Pursued", "Escape or Die", "The Day Before Eternity" and "Victory". ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')
* [[Katy Manning]] is credited as "Jo" in ''[[Radio Times]]'' for episode four.
* [[Tony Starr]] (Dalek Operator) is uncredited on-screen for episode six, but credited in ''Radio Times''.
* Commercially available Louis Marx Daleks were used to simulate the Dalek army, a technique previously used in ''[[The Evil of the Daleks (TV story)|The Evil of the Daleks]]''.
* Given the requirements of this story, the three remaining Dalek props from the sixties were deemed insufficient and seven wooden extras were built for this story. They looked pretty impressive, but were completely static (which may explain why some of the Daleks in this story do not seem to notice intruders at close range). For the next fifteen years, these were used as large parts bins to hold up the decaying remains of the original props from the sixties (which by this story were ten years old); by ''[[Resurrection of the Daleks (TV story)|Resurrection of the Daleks]]'', the four props used were nearly all wood. It wasn't until ''[[Revelation of the Daleks (TV story)|Revelation of the Daleks]]'' (1985) that new, fully working props were made. Curiously, brand new props were also made for ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]''.
* At least one other Dalek prop was also used: one of four Daleks privately owned by [[Terry Nation]] was loaned and allowed to be modified for use as the Supreme Dalek. He was given four Dalek props after filming ''[[Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (theatrical film)|Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.]]'', and the Supreme was recycled out of the [[Gold Dalek]] from the film. (This can be told because they both have widely spaced rivets on the slats.)
* In the DVD feature ''The Perfect Scenario'' it's stated that the character of Rebec was included at the insistence of [[Barry Letts]] and [[Terrance Dicks]], who wanted female characters on screen for visual variety and for the female audience members.
* Originally, episode four was to end with all of the Thal characters massacred by the Daleks. [[Terrance Dicks]], however, asked that [[Terry Nation]] not include this plot point, as the series was beginning to be criticised for its violent content.
* Although not generally recognised, ''Planet of the Daleks'' continues the storyline begun in ''Frontier in Space'', essentially making this the second half of a single twelve-episode story arc.
* A new, almost musical sound effect is introduced for the Dalek energy weapon. This is the only televised adventure in which it is used, although a sample of it would later be used in the special edition of ''[[Day of the Daleks (TV story)|Day of the Daleks]]''. In the next Dalek story, ''[[Death to the Daleks (TV story)|Death to the Daleks]]'', their energy weapons are not used at all. The Daleks story after that, ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis of the Daleks]]'' introduced what remains the standard Dalek weapon sound effect to this day.
* In ''The Perfect Scenario'', cast members [[Katy Manning]] and [[Bernard Horsfall]] express the opinion that the jungle fighting was a deliberate nod to the contemporary [[Vietnam War]]. In the same feature, [[Terrance Dicks]] and [[Barry Letts]] state they don't believe [[Terry Nation]] would have done this deliberately but might have been unconsciously influenced by the war.
* According to the [[DVD]] [[info text]], it was decided at one point that ''all'' on-screen actors had to wear makeup, including the Dalek operators, who (it was feared) could conceivably be seen through the mesh of the props. The operators, in protest, one day dressed up their Daleks as women, and [[Michael Wisher]] and [[Roy Skelton]], playing along with the joke, provided suitably "camp" voices for the dolled-up Daleks.
* The original 625 line PAL colour videotape of episode three was either erased for reuse or junked around 1976. A 16mm black-and-white film telerecording of episode three made for overseas sales still exists, and was restored to colour by use of the chromadot colourisation recovery technique for the DVD box set ''Dalek War''.
* The Supreme Dalek in this story is the first one in the series proper to feature large headlamps instead of bulbs. Headlamps would become the standard for the revival era Daleks, from the [[Last Great Time War]] soldier models onward.
* During production of this serial, British rock singer [[David Bowie]] and his band at the time, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spiders_from_Mars The Spiders from Mars], visited the [[BBC Television Centre]] and mingled with the cast; a passerby jokingly asked if Bowie and co. would be playing aliens in the programme. Coincidentally, Bowie would later be offered the role of [[Sharaz Jek]] in [[TV]]: ''[[The Caves of Androzani (TV story)|The Caves of Androzani]]'', only to decline due to the production dates conflicting with his [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serious_Moonlight_Tour Serious Moonlight tour].
* [[Allister Bowtell]] provided the furs worn by the [[Spiridon (species)|Spiridons]]. ([[INFO]]: ''Planet of the Daleks'')
* Latep was originally named Petal. This was changed to avoid confusion with [[Patel (Frontier in Space)|Patel]] from ''[[Frontier in Space]]''.
* [[Barry Letts]] makes clear on the [[DVD]] commentary that he was really unhappy with the model Dalek army shown in this story. He also wasn't too happy with the sets used for the interior of the Dalek city, though conceded that there probably wasn't the money in the budget to do both the city and the jungle justice.
* [[Terry Nation]] had been unsure how many Dalek casings would be available to the production team. As a result, the limited number imposed some changes on the scripts — such as by having only Rebec masquerading as a Dalek in episodes five and six, for example. Nation had envisaged Codal doing likewise, rather than concealing himself within Spiridon furs.
* Seven new Dalek casings were constructed by [[Pinewood Studios|Pinewood]]-based Westbury Design and Optical, run by visual effects designer [[Clifford Culley]]. [[David Maloney]] was disappointed to discover that these were of generally inferior workmanship, however, having been predominantly made from wood rather than fibreglass. As such, these so-called “goon” Daleks would be kept in the background as much as possible.
* [[Terry Nation]] named Rebec after his daughter Rebecca.
* Originally, only Codal was supposed to disguise himself as a Dalek.
* Spiridon was originally named Destinus.
* [[Terry Nation]] introduced the Supreme Dalek as a response to the [[Dalek Emperor]], whom [[David Whitaker]] introduced in [[The Evil of the Daleks (TV story)|''The Evil of the Daleks'']], which Nation disliked.
* [[Terrance Dicks]] made several changes to episode one to bring it in line with the revised ending of [[Frontier in Space (TV story)|''Frontier in Space'']], in which the Doctor was shot by [[the Master]].
* Footage of the Dalek army had to remounted when it was realised that the hand of an effects assistant was visible in some shots.
* [[Mark Gatiss]] owns the red smoking jacket that [[Jon Pertwee]] wore in this serial. He shared a photo of [[Peter Capaldi]] wearing it.
* This is one of two Dalek stories of the classic era of the show to have the exact same regular cast members as the previous Dalek story, along with [[The Dalek Invasion of Earth (TV story)|''The Dalek Invasion of Earth'']]. The next time this occurred was [[The Magician's Apprentice (TV story)|''The Magician's Apprentice'']].


Bushes move at the Doctor and the Thal men. Codal tries to lead them off and does. But one grabs him from behind, invisible. A stick floats in the air and hits his head from behind. He passes out unconscious.  
=== Ratings ===
* Episode one - 11.0 million viewers
* Episode two - 10.7 million viewers
* Episode three - 10.1 million viewers
* Episode four - 8.3 million viewers
* Episode five - 9.7 million viewers
* Episode six - 8.5 million viewers


The Doctor and the other two Thal men get to the spacecraft but hide on the other side of the bushes as two Daleks come out from the other side of the clearing. Dalek Patrol 2 calls command centre and tells it they have found the craft. It is to be destroyed. The two Daleks get in position to fire. Before they can destroy it, the Doctor emerges and tells them to wait, someone is still inside. The Daleks fire a stun ray at him, to save him for further questioning. He turns negative and falls but is able to watch as the Daleks fire on the spacecraft. With more power and at full they blow the spaceship up. "Jo," the Doctor says. The Daleks make the Doctor stand and walk off. He has found the recorder Jo was using on the ground and puts it in his pocket. He looks back at the flames of the ship. Vaber wants to help the Doctor.  
=== Myths ===
* The Dalek Supreme was operated in this story by Tony Starr. (''Starr could not have operated the Dalek Supreme in the scenes set in the Spiridon jungle, as he was not present when they were recorded. According to the DVD commentary subtitles for ''Planet of the Daleks'', Starr did indeed play the Supreme Dalek in all but the jungle inserts towards the end of the episode, when he was not available''.) <ref>[[David J. Howe|Howe, David J.]], [[Stephen James Walker|Walker, Stephan James]], ''[[The Television Companion]]'', BBC Worldwide Ltd, 1998. pg.245</ref>


The Doctor is taken to the Dalek base and brought into an elevator which closes on him and one Dalek. It descends as the Doctor stares at the Dalek in hatred. It makes him walk out even as it seems to hit the door as it glides out. It brings him to a Dalek guarded cell. He is put inside where Codal is. A bright light is in the room. The Daleks will interrogate them. The Doctor thinks Codal was very courageous. Codal thinks he just didn't have enough time to think. The Doctor thinks he is doing himself an injustice -- they give medals for things like that: it's called bravery. Codal tells him he has been afraid ever since he first landed. Vaber and Taron, Codal tells the Doctor, they are professionals who have seen action before. They know how to deal with fear. Codal is a scientist, not an adventurer. The Thals are not a war like people, they only developed space flight and never went on a flight of this length. Every man and woman from Codal's division volunteered.. over 600. Codal didn't even have the courage to be the odd one out. The Doctor laughs at his misunderstanding of people, mostly Codal's own evaluation of himself. Courage is being afraid but doing what you have to do anyway, the Doctor says, ending his tutorial on bravery as he calls it. He tells Codal to empty out his pockets to see if there is anything useful they can use. The Doctor does the same: a hankey and the sonic screwdriver. He also takes out the recorder of Jo's voice which he found on the grass. He plays some of her log. Codal asks about the girl. The Doctor tells him the Daleks murdered her. The Doctor just stares.
=== Filming locations ===
* Beachfields Quarry, Redhill, Surrey
* [[Ealing Television Film Studios]], Ealing Green, Ealing
* [[BBC Television Centre]] (Studios 1, 4 & 6), Shepherd's Bush, [[London]]


In the jungle, Jo lies in warm furs. Bowls float in the air and a voice tells her that he wants to help her. A Spiridon who is making something to clear the fungoid infection. He pours some on her arm, which is covered almost up to her elbow now. The Spiridon explains to her what has happened to the machine of the Thals and that Daleks are here. The invisible man tells her to rest. Jo lays back and sleeps.  
=== Production errors ===
{{discontinuity}}
* During episode two, as the Doctor is being escorted to the Dalek command centre for interrogation, the Dalek escorting him (very audibly) runs into the side of a door as they exit the elevator.
* Throughout the serial, the camera points to the opposite Daleks that are talking and the Dalek Section Leader's voice changes from Roy Skelton to Michael Wisher randomly.
* When the Thals take cover on the plain of stones in episode four a huge, dark shape appears behind the sky.
* The second Dalek, pursuing Jo and Latep in episode five, knocks into a polystyrene "rock" and moves it out of position.
* The strings that operate the doors of the Dalek ship are visible
* The Dalek Supreme's lights are especially out of sync with his dialogue. His dome also wobbles when it turns too quickly, and his midsection slats appear to be crooked.
* When one Dalek fails to stop, it knocks another backwards.
* In episode six, when Latep slides a bomb at an advancing Dalek, he slides the bomb on its side. However, in the following shot, the bomb is in an upright position.
* After Taron knocks out the Spiridon about to attack Codal in episode five, you can spot a BBC camera, the cameraman and one of the Spiridon actors with his fur off standing in the foliage.
* When the Dalek levitates up the shaft to get the Doctor and the Thals, the harness used to levitate it is visible.
* When the Doctor and Codal attack the Dalek in the prison cell, the midsection of the Dalek is seen to move off its base.
* In episode four, [[Katy Manning]] very obviously prepares for a blow to the head before a fake boulder falls on top of her.
* In episode three, during one shot in the Dalek's laboratory, the Dalek on the left has its whole eyestalk painted black, yet in the next shot, it has the Daleks' usual white ring.
* When Jo is trying to evade the Daleks in the control room, she quite visibly steps into the eye sight of a Dalek for more than a second — but it does not move or take action.
* [[Katy Manning]]'s hair is shorter in the studio sessions than it is in [[location filming|location]] footage. Manning had her hair cut between the two lots of recording. ([[REF]]: ''[[The Third Doctor Handbook]]'')
* In episode three, a Dalek holding a map to the Thals' explosives is no longer holding it after passing behind another Dalek. In its next scene, it is holding the map again.
* In one jungle scene where Jo is hiding behind a plant, you can briefly see the plant pot containing it.
* In episode five, during the second close up on Wester's face after he is killed by the bacteria, his eyelids can be seen moving.


In the cell, the Doctor finds the sonic screwdriver won't open the door. One thing Daleks are good at making are locks. The Doctor and Codal sit down again to find something they can use.  
== Continuity ==
* Spiridon is revisited in [[COMIC]]: ''[[Emperor of the Daleks! (comic story)|Emperor of the Daleks!]]'' and [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Return of the Daleks (audio story)|Return of the Daleks]]''.
* The [[Seventh Doctor]] constructs a device to disorient a Dalek, saying, "I rigged something like it on Spiridon." ([[TV]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'')
* The Doctor's legs are temporarily paralysed by a Dalek blast. He is later shot by a Dalek on two other occasions (though he is shot ''at'' on numerous occasions): in his [[Tenth Doctor|tenth incarnation]], when the blast initiates a [[regeneration]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The Stolen Earth (TV story)|The Stolen Earth]]'' / ''[[Journey's End (TV story)|Journey's End]]'') and in his [[Eleventh Doctor|eleventh incarnation]] by the [[Stone Dalek]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Big Bang (TV story)|The Big Bang]]'') On their first meeting with the Daleks, the legs of [[Ian Chesterton]] were likewise paralysed. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Daleks (TV story)|The Daleks]]'')
* The Doctor encounters the [[Thal]]s again, for the first time since his original visit to [[Skaro]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Daleks (TV story)|The Daleks]]'')
* Ian Chesterton also used a Dalek casing as a disguise, the mutant having been removed. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Daleks (TV story)|The Daleks]]'') The [[First Doctor]] also hid in a Dalek casing briefly while in the [[Space Museum]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Space Museum (TV story)|The Space Museum]]'')
* The Doctor says he'd like to take up flying a hot-air balloon. He briefly pilots one in his [[Tenth Doctor|tenth incarnation]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Next Doctor (TV story)|The Next Doctor]]'')
* The conquest of Spiridon follows the same tactics — viral warfare to weaken the Spiridons, followed by subjugation of the survivors — that was also used for the conquest of [[Earth]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Dalek Invasion of Earth (TV story)|The Dalek Invasion of Earth]]'') Terrible diseases are elements of many Dalek tactics:
** The Daleks threaten to wipe out life on [[Exxilon]] with plague missiles. ([[TV]]: ''[[Death to the Daleks (TV story)|Death to the Daleks]]'')
** They attack an Earth prison ship with a disease, at the same time they are themselves threatened by a plague created by the [[Movellan]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[Resurrection of the Daleks (TV story)|Resurrection of the Daleks]]'')
** In conversation with the [[Fourth Doctor]], [[Davros]], the Daleks' creator, contemplates a virus that would destroy all life, ([[TV]]: ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis of the Daleks]]'') and in [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Terror Firma (audio story)|Terror Firma]]'' he actually creates it to decimate humankind. In [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Lucie Miller (audio story)|Lucie Miller]]'', the [[Dalek Time Controller]] repeats the same plan used for the [[2150s Dalek invasion of Earth]] with the Amethyst virus and succeeds, then plots to spread the virus across time and space in [[AUDIO]]: ''[[To the Death (audio story)|To the Death]]''.
* The Doctor mentions that, during the Dalek War on Skaro, he was with three companions: [[Susan Foreman|Susan]], Ian and [[Barbara Wright|Barbara]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Daleks (TV story)|The Daleks]]'')
* Daleks who survived this skirmish with the Doctor were imprisoned in the Intensive Care Ward of the [[Dalek Asylum]], where the [[Eleventh Doctor]] later encountered them. ([[TV]]: ''[[Asylum of the Daleks (TV story)|Asylum of the Daleks]]'')
* Jo mentions in the log that she had seen the Doctor recover once before after a sudden rise in temperature. This happened after he was frozen at the dig site of Devil's hump and thawed out by a heat barrier formed as {{Delgado}} summoned [[Azal]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Dæmons (TV story)|The Dæmons]]'')
* A Dalek Supreme punishes his subordinates' failure with extermination. Previously, the Supreme Dalek destroyed an entire ship of Daleks who failed to recapture the fugitives on [[Desperus]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Daleks' Master Plan (TV story)|The Daleks' Master Plan]]'')
* The Daleks' refusal to acknowledge defeat is later reflected in the motives of the Dalek Time Controller, who went as far as to re-orchestrate old plans by the Daleks which had failed and overcome the flaws that led to their initial defeat, resulting in victory. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[To the Death (audio story)|To the Death]]'') Furthermore, the [[New Dalek Paradigm]] was the only enemy of the Eleventh Doctor that refused to abandon the [[Siege of Trenzalore]], outlasting all his other enemies and persecuting the Doctor for so long that his incarnation began to die from old age. The stalemate only ended when the Doctor was gifted with a new [[regeneration cycle]] after exhausting his previous one, and used its massive energy release to destroy the fleet. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]]'')


A Dalek returns to a command centre area where five other Daleks are and a head Dalek. Section 3 wants to transfer prisoners, after interrogation, to their lab for experiments of light ray emissions on living tissue. This Dalek reports the other two Thals are to be captured very soon.  
== Home video and audio releases ==
=== DVD releases ===
This story was released on [[5 October (releases)|5 October]] [[2009 (releases)|2009]] with the previous story, ''[[Frontier in Space (TV story)|Frontier in Space]],'' in a boxed set called ''Dalek War''. It features a re-colourised episode three, commentary and numerous special features.
* Commentary by [[Katy Manning]] ([[Jo Grant]]), [[Prentis Hancock]] ([[Vaber]]), [[Tim Preece]] ([[Codal]]), [[Barry Letts]] (Producer) and [[Terrance Dicks]] (Script Editor)
* ''[[The Perfect Scenario|Perfect Scenario: The End of Dreams]]'' - Continuing his search for inspiration, Zed resumes his studies of ''[[Doctor Who]]''. Including interviews with [[Jane How]] ([[Rebec]]), [[Janet Fielding]] ([[Tegan Jovanka|Tegan]]), and [[Bernard Horsfall]] ([[Taron]])
* ''[[The Rumble in the Jungle (documentary)|The Rumble in the Jungle]]'' - Cast and crew look back at the making of the story
* ''[[Multi-colourisation (documentary)|Multi-colourisation]]'' - A documentary about the colour restoration of episode three
* ''[[Stripped for Action: The Daleks (documentary)|Stripped for Action - The Daleks]]'' - The ongoing series looking at the Doctor's comic book adventures focuses on his deadliest foes
* ''[[Blue Peter (series)|Blue Peter]]'' - Two items from on the long-running children's programme featuring an appeal for information on the theft of two [[Daleks]] from the BBC (in black-and-white) and news of their subsequent recovery (in colour)
* ''[[Radio Times]]'' Billings (DVD-ROM - PC/Mac)
* Production Design Documents (DVD-ROM - PC/Mac)
* Production Information Subtitles
* Photo Gallery
* [[Easter Egg]]s:
** Continuity announcement for episode one of ''[[The Green Death (TV story)|The Green Death]]'' and advertisement for vinyl record release of the [[Doctor Who theme|''Doctor Who'' theme]]. To access this hidden feature, select Play All from Disc One's Main Menu, at which point the feature will play following the end credits of episode six.
** Partial alternate commentary track for the black-and-white version of episode three. To access this hidden feature, press right at ''Multi-colourisation'' on Disc Two to reveal a hidden ''Doctor Who'' logo.


Vaber and Taron are examining the hidden explosives. Vaber notes there is enough explosives here to blow up 50 Daleks, not just 12. If they can make it down the first tunnel, they can blow the base in on the Daleks, bring it down on them. Vaber argues that they need to take some risks. Taron tells him they will make a move when they have a chance at succeeding. He puts the explosives back into hiding. Vaber pulls his gun out and tells him to get the explosives back out or he will kill him if he has to. Just as he seems about to, a great light comes out of the sky and a spaceship crashlands in the jungle. It is burning up.  
<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true">
File:Planet of the daleks us dvd.jpg|Region 1 cover
File:Planet of the Daleks.png|Region 4 cover
File:Bbcdvd-planetofthedaleks.jpg|Region 2 UK cover
</gallery>


The Doctor talks to himself: a tiny motor with an electric power source, dismantle the circuitry, reverse the polarity, and convert to a low power transmitter with a positive feedback -- the Daleks' guidance systems function by means of high frequency radio impulses. Using the TARDIS log recorder that Jo dropped, they can jam these Dalek guidance system radio impulses. It will give the Daleks quite a brainstorm. The Doctor asks for a screwdriver.  
==== Dalek War ====
<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true">
File:Dalek War DVD US box set cover.jpg|Region 1 US Dalek War cover
File:Dalek War UK DVD box set side view cover.jpg|Region 2 Dalek War cover
File:Dalek War DVD box set Australian cover.jpg|Region 4 Australian Dalek War cover
</gallery>


The fungoid infection is gone from Jo's arm. The Spiridon tells her it will be sore. He explains to her that before the Daleks invaded they bombarded the planet with bacteria. Only a handful of his people survived. Those left were forced to cooperate with the Daleks. A few do what they can to fight back. The Daleks want to master invisibility. The Spiridon explains that one with silver hair in strange clothes was taken to the Dalek city... the Doctor. She wants to find a way of helping him escape. The Spiridon tells her he would be better off dead than to be used in the Dalek experiments.  
=== Blu-ray releases ===
* This story was made available on the Blu-ray ''Time Lord Victorious: Road to the Dark Times'' on [[9 November (releases)|9 November]] [[2020 (releases)|2020]].


Taron finds a female Thal named Rebec escaping the wreck of the downed spaceship. She explains that Marat and Latep are also survivors. Vaber rushes to help them. The equipment and explosives are all gone in the crash. Rebec goes on to say that communications intercepted another Dalek space signal, "Do you know the strength of the Dalek force here?" The signal was to Dalek Supreme Command and stated that the Dalek army here was complete. This message also gave the number of Daleks on Spiridon. Rebec explains, "Well, somewhere on this planet, there are ten thousand Daleks!" Taron looks at her in horror...
<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true">
File:Road To The Dark Times UK.jpg|thumb|Time Lord Victorious: Road To The Dark Times box-set
</gallery>


Episode 3
=== Video releases ===
* This story was released in [[November (releases)|November]] [[1999 (releases)|1999]] as part of the second Dalek Tin set, alongside ''[[Revelation of the Daleks (TV story)|Revelation of the Daleks]]'' in the UK. Episode three was presented in its then sole surviving black-and-white format.
<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true">
Planet of the daleks vhs (2).jpg|UK cover
</gallery>


Vaber helps Latep and Marat to Taron and Rebec. Latep says, "We're just shaken. We came down with a bang." They move out.  
=== Audio release ===
The story was also recorded and released in audio format.
<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true">
file:Bbcaudio8.jpg|Cassette cover
file:Bbcaudio43.jpg|CD cover
</gallery>


Jo and the Spiridon spy on the only way into the city. Fur wearing Spiridons are being brought in past Dalek guards. Jo wants to get inside the city somehow. Sample of vegetation are being brought in. The Daleks are experimenting with plant destroying bacteria. Jo wants to hide in one of the bundles. Jo is told the Doctor must be imprisoned deep down in the city.
== External links ==
* {{bbcepguideclassic|planetofdaleks/|Planet of the Daleks}}
* {{radiotimes|2010-02-06/planet-of-the-daleks|Planet of the Daleks}}
{{dwcast}}
{{dwrefguide|who_3s.htm|Planet of the Daleks}}
* {{briefhistory|serials/sss.html|Planet of the Daleks}}
* {{locguide|planetofthedaleks|Planet of the Daleks}}


The Doctor tells Codal their jamming device has to be operated close to a Dalek and it will only be temporary. If it works.
== Footnotes ==
{{reflist}}
{{DWTV}}
{{Dalek stories}}
{{TLV}}
{{TitleSort}}


Rebec is with Taron and Marat at a natural ice duct. Rebec finds freezing liquid, an anatrope of ice -- a form of ice that never gets hard. The core is some kind of ice metal which when it erupts flows molten ice instead of lava. Ice covers the forest for miles. When the city was built they used the natural ducts to the city they used the volcano as a cooling system. They drove south out to meet the natural fissures. If the ice erupts when they are in there, or if the shaft is too small to crawl through, and they don't know where the shafts come out... Vaber and Latep return -- the rest of the explosives are in a safe hiding place and Vaber marked it. Vaber and Latep are to take positions at the main entrance to the city. If the other three cause a diversion, they are to attack. Out of ear range of the others, Vaber apologizes to Taron, who tells him to forget it.
[[Category:Doctor Who (1963) television stories]]
[[Category:Dalek television stories]]
[[Category:Season 10 stories]]
[[Category:Thal television stories]]
[[Category:Stories set in the 26th century]]
[[Category:Six part serials]]


The Doctor finishes his jamming device -- they need only have a Dalek to try it on.
[[es:Planet of the Daleks]]
 
[[fr:Planet of the Daleks]]
The invisible alien helps Jo get in a cart which the fur covered Spiridon slaves take into the city entrance.
[[ru:Планета далеков]]
 
Rebec, Marat, and Taron crawl through a duct of ice. They have their suits' heat units turned up to maximum but it is still very cold for them. They hear blasts but keep moving. Marat thinks it is an eruption. They have to strike into one of the shafts to survive. They have no time to go back.
 
Slave workers leave a cart with Jo in it in a control room with Daleks all over it. Jo ducks to avoid being seen. A Dalek orders the prisoners to be taken for interrogation.
 
A Dalek comes to the Doctor and Codal. Hearing it, the Doctor tells him to get in close so the Dalek cannot use its blaster. The Doctor puts the jamming device on the Dalek as Codal grabs it. It turns and they fly off of it onto the floor. The jamming device makes it spin and yell. "You know for a man who abhors violence, I took great satisfaction in doing that," the Doctor says. The pair leave and the Doctor instructs Codal to get his gun.
 
At a tense moment, Jo slips out of the cart and hides at a wall as another Dalek comes in. All cooling ducts are to be shut by the Daleks. An ice eruption is imminent. Ice falls behind the three Thals in the duct. They have to avoid the forward shaft as well as ice moves the stone and rock in front of them toward them in a rush. They find a side shaft and get into it.
 
The Doctor and Codal duck out of a hall as a Dalek spots them and fires. A maximum security search is set out for the prisoners to be located and destroyed. Jo hides back at the cart. The Doctor and Codal take an elevator but getting out of it, a Dalek moves toward them. The lift will not go up though. The Doctor thinks the Daleks are operating it by remote control. He tries to make it go down but when it does and the doors open... another Dalek. They have to take the lift to an even lower level. Codal wants to go out first and the Doctor thanks him. Codal at least has a gun.
 
Liquid ice drops on the three Thals in the shaft and they crawl through it. More approaches but they finally find a shaft into the city and call out through a grid netting which they cannot get off. They see the Doctor and Codal. These two help them get the grill off.
 
Jo sneaks past a Dalek as all cooling ducts are being closed down. A door tries closing over the grill but the Doctor and Codal hold it open long enough for Rebec, Taron, and a weakened Marat to crawl and jump out. They see the shadow of an approaching Dalek! "Outta here quick! Out!" As Daleks try to fire at them, ice comes through the open doorway hatch where the grill was and covers the Daleks.
 
Jo, having watched the Dalek operate the communications console, goes to it once the Dalek there leaves. She hears the prisoners are on level zero. All assent areas are sealed off.
 
Marat stays behind to get the Doctor and the other four Thals into a room with a sliding door. He shoots at Daleks but one shoots him and he turns negative and falls dead. Rebec calls to him but Taron pulls her away from the door. Using the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor seals the door, "Now cover your eyes!"
 
The Daleks find the map of the hidden explosives on Marat's body. The Daleks are ordered by their leader to find the explosives and destroy. The Daleks will bring equipment to open the door.
 
Codal thinks the Daleks will not get through the door quickly. "Never underestimate the Daleks, Codal," the Doctor states. Rebec tells the Doctor all of Marat's courage may have been for nothing -- it seems there is no other door. Taron calls the Doctor to a giant refrigeration unit. They wonder why. Hot gases from the unit are carried out via a huge uncovered shaft that leads out to the surface... directly up! Codal hears the Daleks outside the door, trying to drill in. The Doctor tells Taron that when faced with the inevitable, don't waste precious time fighting it. What?
 
Jo sneaks down behind a counter as Daleks, one with the map on its sucker, reports to another Dalek and enlists it to help it find the explosives to destroy the bombs. Jo overhears this and follows them.
 
Daleks are cutting through the door at an alarming rate.
 
The Thals and the Doctor are cutting up a plastic sheet. If they can turn the refrigeration up to maximum the updraft will be even more powerful. Using the sheet, they might be able to rise up through the ventilator chimney with the draft.
 
Jo has found her way out of the city and follows the Daleks, unseen.
 
The Doctor is turning the refrigeration up. The plastic sheet will capture the warm gases and using ropes tied to the plastic sheet, the Thals and the Doctor will hold on and ride it up. The Thals call as the Daleks are almost through the door...and the Doctor is looking in stunned silence at something through a small window door as the Daleks combine to start knocking the drilled door inward. Finally the Doctor joins them but their combined weight will not allow it to rise. The Doctor tells them to give it time. Rebec yells, "It's not going to work! Doctor, it's not going to work!" The Doctor looks upward...
 
Episode 4
 
Daleks break in and think the prisoners are hiding but the balloon has worked and is lifting the Doctor and the Thals upward. Rebec looks down and then is sorry she did. She closes her eyes. She tells the Doctor she cannot stand heights. The Doctor notes they are out of range. The Daleks cannot kill them by firing up. The Daleks order an anti gravitational disc brought to the area.
 
Jo slips out of the trees and hides again but in bushes this time as Daleks find the hidden explosives and detonating mechanisms. The Dalek with the map almost finds Jo, hearing something. The two Daleks set the bombs to detonate and leave for the city. Some debris from above falls on them but they go. Jo sneaks out and turns the detonation levers on two of the bombs. Debris from above comes down on her and one is a large rock which knocks her unconscious. She has only stopped two of the bombs. One still ticks away... ready to blow up...
 
As the others ride up, the Doctor tells the Thals he finds this most exhilarating and that he should really take up hot air ballooning. Rebec wants a rocket to take her off this planet. The Doctor tells her, "Cheer up, my dear," and tells her they are perfectly safe. A Dalek on a flying disc begins to follow the group up the shaft. Three Daleks move through the undergrowth toward the top of the shaft.
 
Jo wakes up to see the bomb about to blow up. She grabs the two deactivated bombs and runs as the other bomb goes off and destroys two Daleks that have come to the area.
 
Taron notices the Dalek coming after them. Rebec notices a tear in the balloon and warns the Doctor just as his part of the balloon rips. The Doctor shouts at them not to waste time, to keep going. He falls and hangs onto the side of a wall. The Thals get up to the top. Taron sends down his rope to the Doctor. He cannot reach it so Codal sends him his rope. They pull the Doctor up; then the Doctor climbs a bit. As the Dalek comes up just after him, Rebec and Codal drop rocks onto it and send it to the bottom of the shaft, destroying it. The Doctor tells the Thals to postpone the celebration until they are in a safer area. They run.
 
The Daleks in the city declare a full state of emergency. Spiridon slave workers will cooperate in a full level search, "The aliens must be located and destroyed." Jo hides as someone arrives in the jungle -- Taro, the Doctor and the other two. The Doctor and Jo rejoice in finding each other alive and well. Then Jo starts to nervously talk to the Doctor and ask him loads of questions. The Doctor has to hold her mouth closed to stop her. The Doctor excuses himself as he and his friend have to catch up.
 
Rebec and Taron talk. Taron asks why she came. Taron made sure Rebec stayed out of his crew. Taron eats. Codal takes the first watch on guard. Taron tells Rebec she shouldn't have come. Rebec will not leave and doesn't regret it. Taron declares he loves her and cannot convert her into a cypher. He will not take the correct risks now because he is will worry about her -- her being here might be the very reason the Daleks win. Rebec didn't see it that way but does now.
 
Supreme Command of the Daleks has declared that bacteriological culture be released to destroy all alien life. Daleks and slave workers will be given immunity to the disease. The green glop in a clear box will kill all living things, "All will be exterminated!"
 
The Doctor tells Jo they would have been safe in the TARDIS. Jo explains about his state and that she had no choice. The Doctor apologizes to Jo, stating he wasn't himself. The Doctor sees Rebec upset and tells Jo that perhaps a female shoulder to cry on will help. He goes and talks to Taron about his leadership. Taron is questioning himself about his ability to lead. Taron thought he was like a machine. The Doctor tells him that is good that he is not. If they start thinking like machines then they are no better than the Daleks. Codal returns with Latep and Vaber, who found they had a faulty bomb and assumed the others were killed in the ice eruption. When they thought the others were dead, they were going to raid the Dalek city but found their bomb was faulty. Jo explains she managed to save two of the other bombs before the Daleks blew up with the other. They have to find shelter from the cold night. Taron thinks the plain of stones -- an area of huge boulders which absorb the heat of the sun and then discharge the heat at night will be a good hiding place. The Doctor tells them this planet never ceases to amaze him. All the animal life from the jungle goes there as well. Latep helps Jo with the bombs and they meet formally. Jo explains the handshake to him -- it means they are good friends and are pleased to meet one another. The Doctor and Codal watch fur covered Spiridons and at first, the Doctor thinks they are animals. The Daleks are not functioning properly and the Doctor seems to know the reason or wants to.
 
After the Daleks and Spiridons leave the area, the Thals, Jo, and the Doctor take cover at the Plain of Stones. A huge dark shape flies behind in the sky. Animal sounds fill the night air. Something larger flies overhead, roaring... the Thal men have heard these before. Latep takes a corner to guard. Vaber continues to want to attack. Taron thinks any attempt that fails is worth nothing. He asks Codal about the neutron powered refrigeration unit. Codal thinks if they destroy the refrigeration unit, the Daleks will be destroyed. Vaber wants to attack now, tossing a bomb down the shaft. Taron wants to wait and plan. Vaber tells Taron he is afraid, compares him to their first commander, and tells him that their first leader wouldn't have had Rebec hanging around their necks. Taron fights with Vaber physically. Vaber takes out his gun but Codal grabs Taron from behind and stops the fight. Latep, called by Codal, holds Vaber. Taron tells Vaber that he won't hesitate to kill him if he doesn't obey his orders. All begin to rest.
 
The Dalek bacteria is multiplying. In one Spiridon day, all plant life will die in one day and unimmunized animal life will die in one hour of inhaling the contaminated air. The most virulent form will be ready in half a Spiridon day. Spiridon slaves have reported to Daleks that the aliens are hiding at the Plain of Stones. The Dalek orders all search units into that area.
 
Taron is next to a sleeping Rebec but he finds Vaber and the bombs gone. Taron alerts Latep and the Doctor and wakes up Codal. The note from Vaber explains he will do what he wants. Taron takes Codal with him to stop him as the Doctor tells them Vaber hasn't a chance. Taron asks the Doctor to stay here. After Codal and Taron leave, he tells Rebec to keep her gun handy. All around them, in the darkness are bright eyes of somethings...
 
Vaber stalks out of the jungle in a part that looks like day is already at...and stumbles right into Spiridon furs. The fur wearing slaves surround him and hold him roughly. One says, gruffly, "Take him to the Daleks..."
 
Episode 5
 
Taron and Codal see Vaber's capture. They must get the bombs back.
 
Rebec tries a shot at the creatures with glowing orange eyes. They go but return. When she shoots at the darkness, the last of her charges is used up. Latep has two more left.
 
Codal grabs a Spiridon in fur while Taron hits the alien over the head with a club. Taron gets the fur of the alien and uses it to get closer.
 
Latep's ray gun attached to his belt is out of power. The Doctor uses a torch to scare some of the animals. He tells the others to get the torches to ward off the animals. They have to keep that fire going at all costs and hope it last until morning.
 
Codal goes to a fur covered Spiridon, thinking it is Taron but when he checks the face, he doesn't see anything. The thing grabs him and chokes him down. Taron clubs it over the head and helps Codal up. He takes the purple-ish fur of the Spiridon and gives it to Codal. Codal is to make a lot of noise so Taron can get in to free Vaber.
 
It seems almost day. Jo is shivering as the Doctor thinks about Vaber rushing off as he did. The plan, Rebec tells the Doctor is to blow up the refrigeration unit. If this is done, the Daleks will come to life. No aging process, no regeneration. If the freezing unit is destroyed, the Dalek army will be revived. Wester, the Spiridon that helped Jo shows up. Jo stops the Doctor from clubbing the Spiridon, explaining that Wester helped her. The Doctor apologizes to Mister Wester. Wester will find a way back into the Dalek city to stop the bacteria bomb. Jo bids him goodbye. Wester leaves. Jo tells him to take care as he does. If the others are not back by light, he and the other two Thals and Jo will move out. The Doctor tells Jo they have to stop the bacteria bomb, put a stop to the army here from reviving and third, stop Daleks from launching an invasion of other planets. Jo asks how they are going to do all that. "I haven't the faintest idea," the Doctor states.
 
Vaber is brought before Daleks, who question him. They bid him to answer or they will exterminate him. They want him to lead them to the others. Vaber agrees to do this but pushes two Spiridons and runs. The Dalek exterminates him even as he gets almost gets far away. A Spiridon also seems to be shot down. Grabbing the bombs from the Spiridons, Codal and Taron run, discarding their furs. The Dalek orders, "Pursue! Pursue!"
 
Daleks confer in the city control unit. The antidote is prepared and ready to be administered. This is demonstrated. Elements provide immunity on contact. All Dalek workers and Spiridon slaves will report to this room to be immunized. All units are ordered to report.
 
Latep hears Codal and Taron return with the bombs and the furs that they "persuaded a couple of Spiridons to part with" along with them. The Doctor tells them they cannot keep running forever. He wants to stop for a moment and use their intelligence. They have to get inside the city. He asks the Thals to trust him. The Doctor wants someone to show themselves and lead a Dalek patrol back here. Latep will go and Jo volunteers to go with him, "I'm tired of being hunted too." The Doctor allows her.
 
The Doctor asks Codal about the molten ice pools, a natural spring on this planet. Hyper cold, sub zero temperatures and semi liquid. The Daleks are vulnerable to low temperatures and hardly function at all at sub zero temperatures. It is a good feeling, the Doctor says, "When the hunted become the hunters."
 
Wester gets into the Dalek city. Slave workers are to proceed to Level Four for treatment. Dalek Patrol 7 is unaccounted for. This patrol is in pursuit of aliens and given permission to keep going after the aliens. No prisoners are to be taken. They are to be exterminated.
 
Jo and Latep stop running. He tells her it is time to start back to the others. They see the Daleks and show themselves so the Patrol pursues them, yelling for them to surrender. Jo and Latep return to the others, Daleks right behind them. The Doctor draws two off away from the group. He moves past the ice pools and hides. He runs to a rock and the Dalek fires. Taron comes out of hiding and tries pushing the Dalek. He needs the Doctor to come out and help him turn it. "Resist! Resist!" Jo attacks another Dalek at the Plains of Stones and grabs it but it makes her fall. Codal and Latep help attack the Dalek and cover it with a fur. "Cannot see! Vision impaired!"
 
Taron finds himself on the ground and facing a Dalek gun but the Doctor pushes the Dalek into the lava ice pool. The others push their Dalek into the frosting ice lake. The Doctor tells them to keep out of the range of fire, they might still be dangerous. Taron opens one and finds it dead. The shock of the cold killed them right away. Latep, switching on his thermalite opens the other one. With the Daleks dead, the Doctor wants the unit up onto the bank. The creatures inside, dead, are thrown into the lake.
 
Patrol 7 has vanished, the Daleks find. Auto distress signal is weak and there is now dead silence. The Daleks will wait no longer. Wester arrives to the Daleks and is to give the Section Leader a message. The Leader is busy so Wester is brought in to wait. He sees the Daleks ready to release the bacteria.
 
Rebec is inside the Dalek casing. The Doctor will not let Jo come with him. She and Latep must descend into the shaft of the refrigeration unit. It must be a two pronged attack. The refrigeration unit must keep functioning. Taron and Codal return with more furs. The Doctor gets into one and asks if he will do. Jo tells him in a pinch and kisses him goodbye. Rebec is in a Dalek casing escorting the Doctor, Taron, and Codal in Spiridon furs. They get to see the bacteria being prepared. The Doctor somehow recognizes Wester as the Spiridon inside the tank with the Daleks and the bacteria. Wester opens the bacteria tank but all Daleks have not yet been treated. Wester dies from the bacteria which has been released. The room is hermetically sealed and cannot be opened now. Wester's face appears, bumps on his forehead and an old man face with two gaps in his teeth. The two Daleks in the room claim they can never leave it. The Doctor and the other two saw Wester's sacrifice. A Dalek stops them though and tells them to report to level 4. The Dalek spots Taron's booted foot under the furs and realizes they are not Spiridons. It calls, "Emergency! Emergency!" Alarms sound off as the Dalek continues yelling, "Emergency!"
 
Episode 6
 
The Doctor tosses his fur over the Dalek and he and the Thal men push Rebec (who is in their Dalek) toward the lower level, running from yet another pair of Daleks. Daleks alert maximum security. Daleks continue to pursue the Doctor's group. The Doctor's group descends to level 8. The Daleks plan to chase them to the lowest levels. Two Daleks blast the Dalek shell, Rebec having already gotten out. She, Taron, and Codal run to an elevator with the Doctor. They get in and go down to the arsenal. They get out and sneak through the halls. The Doctor instructs the men to find something in the cooling chamber to block the hallway. The Doctor shows Rebec the frozen thousands of Daleks in the chamber.
 
The Daleks report to each other that Dalek Command has identified the leading alien: the Doctor the greatest enemy of the Daleks. The Dalek Supreme is on its way to the planet.
 
Latep and Jo, in the jungle hide as a huge double cylinder shaped spaceship lands. A Gold and Black Dalek exits via a ramp, followed by silvery grey ones. Jo has never seen a Dalek like that before, one of the Supreme Council. Latep admires how the Daleks build a spacecraft. Jo gets an idea: the Thals can escape in the Dalek ship to get home to Skaro. Latep tells the others are better off not being here: just knowing it is no longer a suicide mission might mean failure. Latep has found a reason for not wanting to die, a reason for staying alive: Jo. Jo tells him they have more work to do.
 
The Doctor finds there is no way to lock the refrigeration unit into the on position, "Oh blast." If it is tampered with, the Daleks will revive immediately. Daleks try to get through the barrier the Thal men built. Rebec warns the Doctor, who thinks the blockade should hold them for awhile.
 
The Gold Dalek arrives in the city and finds Daleks can achieve total invisibility for as long as two work cycles. It also gives many orders. The Supreme Council has ordered the army revived and the invasion of all solar planets to begin today. He orders the arsenal heating on and the close down of refrigeration unit. This is done and Taron calls the Doctor to tell him the temperature is starting to rise. The Dalek Supreme orders the spacecraft to assemble. It also argues with the Dalek Leader and yells that it has failed. The Gold Dalek shoots it and kills it in a bombardment of negative ray.
 
Jo and Latep (Latep going first) will climb down to the Refrigeration Unit.
 
Taron finds a passage blocked by rocks which could be a way out if cleared. Taron and Rebec find no power left to operate a door that could further block the Daleks that are almost through the barricade. To make matters worse, Codal points out that the Dalek Army has started to revive and several Daleks are moving within the main area. The Doctor thinks the hole is wide enough to get through. The catwalks lead to a sort of loading area on the surface, the Doctor thinks and asks Rebec and Taron to check that out. A Dalek sucker moves the bomb and it falls, making Codal and the Doctor duck. It doesn't go off so the Doctor walks through reviving Daleks to retrieve it. The timing mechanism is not functioning. Codal will need a minute or two to fix it. The power ramp Taron found goes up to surface ground level--it is a way out. The bomb put in the right place can weaken the walls and the pressure of the ice flows in the area will come in and put the Daleks in suspended animation: this will not kill them but it will take centuries to revive them then. Latep and Jo climb into the unit and see Daleks trying to break into the main area. Latep throws a bomb. A Dalek shoots at him but misses. The bomb blows up these Daleks. Latep and Jo find them blasted and make their way to find the Doctor. A Dalek follows them in. Jo and Latep join the Doctor and his party. Codal and the Doctor wait to set the bomb: 30 seconds to detonate while the other already start to climb up. The Doctor puts it in to the rock wall as Codal urges him to hurry. The Doctor makes him go and follows him. Daleks pursuing him and Codal get blasted when the bomb does go off. The Doctor thinks it has failed and urges everyone to get out of here. Just as he thinks they have failed, the ice volcano sends a rage of ice water into the Dalek army. "Out everybody out!" The Doctor yells but he stays to watch the Daleks sink into the ice sea. Molten ice rises through all sections. Total loss of contact with units occurs. Power source fails. Ice flow races up. The Gold Dalek wants a report sent to Supreme Council. He wants to abandon the place and he gets out with some other Daleks.
 
The Thals, Jo, and the Doctor find the Dalek ship. Codal needs to look over the controls. "So... you've done a lot for me, Doctor. Thank you, thank you," Codal leaves. Taron wishes there were some way of thanking the Doctor. The Doctor tells Taron and Rebec not to glamorise their story of winning against the Daleks...don't make it a hero story, don't let the Thals home relish the prospect of war, remind them of the men who have been lost and the fear that happened. Latep has asked Jo to come back to Skaro with him. He asks the Doctor is he has any objections. The Doctor tells him not if Jo wants to go back with him. Latep asks Jo again but she turns him down. She is fond of him but she has her own world and her own life to go back to. Latep thanks the Doctor and waves to them. The Doctor thanked him.
 
The Thals take off in the Dalek spacecraft watched by Jo and the Doctor. The Doctor asks if they should go and find the TARDIS. Jo gasps as the Dalek Supreme and his two aides come from the jungle. The Daleks chase them through the jungle, Jo and the Doctor must pass the deadly spore plants, Jo ducking. They get to the TARDIS and the doors still open, the Daleks fire at it. They close the doors. The Gold Dalek wants his aide to send a message to the Supreme Dalek force to send a rescue ship. He claims they have been delayed not defeated. The Daleks are never defeated.
 
The time rotor is moving up and down again. Jo stares without looking. The Doctor switches images of the galaxies to find Skaro. He calls Jo's attention to it. He asks if Jo has any regrets. She sadly tells him not really. He tells her that Skaro is only one little world, there are so many hundreds of others to see. Jo tells him there is only one little world she wants to see right now: she puts on Earth on the screen. "That's right, Doctor, home," Jo states. "Home it is, Miss Grant..." the Doctor turns the controls...
 
==Cast==
*[[Third Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[Jon Pertwee]]
*[[Jo Grant]] - [[Katy Manning]]
*[[Taron]] - [[Bernard Horsfall]]
*[[Vaber]] - [[Prentis Hancock]]Episode 1-5
*[[Codal]] - [[Tim Preece]]
*[[Rebec]] - [[Jane How]]Episode 2-6
*[[Wester]] - [[Roy Skelton]]Episode 2,3,5
*Dalek Voices - [[Michael Wisher]], [[Roy Skelton]]Episode 2-6
*Dalek Operators - [[John Scott Martin]], [[Murphy Grumbar]], [[Cy Town]]Episode 2-6
*[[Marat]] - [[Hilary Minster]]Episode 3
*[[Latep]] - [[Alan Tucker]]Episode 3-6
 
==Crew==
*[[Assistant Floor Manager]]s - [[Sue Hedden]], [[Graeme Harper]], [[John Cook]]
*[[Costumes]] - [[Hazel Pethig]]
*[[Designer]] - [[John Hurst]]
*[[Film Cameraman]] - [[Elmer Cossey]]
*[[Film Editor]] - [[Dave Thomas]]
*[[Incidental Music]] - [[Dudley Simpson]]
*[[Make-Up]] - [[Jean McMillan]]
*[[Producer]] - [[Barry Letts]]
*[[Production Assistant]] - [[George Gallaccio]]
*[[Script Editor]] - [[Terrance Dicks]]
*[[Special Sounds]] - [[Dick Mills]]
*[[Studio Lighting]] - [[Derek Slee]]
*[[Studio Sound]] - [[Tony Millier]]
*[[Theme Arrangement]] - [[Delia Derbyshire]]
*[[Title Music]] - [[Ron Grainer]]
*[[Visual Effects]] - [[Clifford Culley]]
 
==References==
* The [[Dalek Supreme]] makes an appearance.
*The Doctor mentions [[Ian Chesterton|Ian]], [[Barbara Wright|Barbara]] and [[Susan]] in confirming he was the Doctor to visit [[Skaro]] and to be known to the [[Thal]]s.
*The Daleks have stored their greatest ever invasion force, about 10,000 strong, on [[Spiridon]].
 
==Story Notes==
*This story had a working title of: '''Destination Daleks'''.
 
===Ratings===
*Episode 1 - 11.0 million viewers
*Episode 2 - 10.7 million viewers
*Episode 3 - 10.1 million viewers
*Episode 4 - 8.3 million viewers
*Episode 5 - 9.7 million viewers
*Episode 6 - 8.5 million viewers
 
===Myths===
''to be added''
 
===Filming Locations===
*Beachfields Quarry, Redhill, Surrey
 
===Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors===
* The Doctor seems to have forgotten that he was following the [[Daleks]] to their base of operations in episode one.
* The Daleks seem to have forgotten their plot to try and start a war between the empires of [[Earth]] and [[Draconia]]. ([[DW]]: [[Frontier in Space]]).
*If the lake that the Daleks are pushed into is so cold, then why does it not affect the thals standing in it?
 
==Continuity==
*Spiridon is revisited in ''[[BFA]]:'' [[Return of the Daleks]].
 
==DVD, Video and Other Releases==
''to be added''
 
==Target Novelisations==
*Novelised as ''[[Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks]]'' by [[Terrance Dicks]] in [[1976]].
 
==See also==
''to be added''
 
==External Links==
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/planetofdaleks/ BBC '''Planet of the Daleks''' page]
*[http://www.gallifreyone.com/episode.php?id=3s Outpost Gallifrey '''Planet of the Daleks''' page]
*[http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_3s.htm '''Planet of the Daleks''' detailed sypnosis at Doctor Who Reference Guide]
* [http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/sss.html A Brief History of Time (Travel) Guide to '''Planet of the Daleks''']
 
{{TV stub}}
 
[[Category:Third Doctor episodes]]
[[Category:Dalek episodes]]
[[Category:1973 television stories]]

Latest revision as of 11:39, 3 August 2024

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You may be looking for the comic story.

Planet of the Daleks was the fourth and penultimate serial of season 10 of Doctor Who. It was the conclusion of a loose, dual-serial storyline begun in Frontier in Space. It was also a direct sequel to the very first Dalek serial, showing what had happened to the Thals after the First Doctor met them in The Daleks and the heroic legacy the Doctor left on their culture. With its connection to Frontier, Planet also helped set the stage for later stories about the Second Dalek War, although the conflict was never thereafter revisited by the TV series.

Behind the scenes, it was writer Terry Nation's first Doctor Who commission since the 1965 Christmas episode, "The Feast of Steven", the seventh instalment of the epic twelve-parter The Daleks' Master Plan, and director David Maloney's first story since The War Games.

On 15 June 2019, BFI Southbank arranged a special event-screening of the episode with updated visual effects and a new 5.1 sound mix, along with a Q&A interview with Katy Manning.[1] In 2020, Planet of the Daleks became part of the Time Lord Victorious multimedia event. James Goss explained this was because it was used as a prelude for The Sentinel of the Fifth Galaxy.[2]

Synopsis[[edit] | [edit source]]

Arriving on Spiridon, the Third Doctor and Jo encounter a Thal group. But the Daleks are here... and this time, they're invisible.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Episode one[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Third Doctor has been shot and gravely wounded by the Master. Jo helps him into the TARDIS, where he uses the telepathic circuits to send a message to the Time Lords before he collapses.

Delirious, he tells Jo that he may be asleep for a while. He falls into a coma, his body temperature dipping so low that frost appears on his skin and both his hearts beat only once every ten seconds.

Jo dictates into the TARDIS log, a portable recording device, that she has seen this healing state before. She states that the TARDIS is moving, apparently being controlled remotely by the Time Lords. When it halts, Jo activates the external scanners, only to see plants outside. They block the viewer by spraying a thick, sap-like liquid at it. With the Doctor catatonic, Jo leaves the ship to explore the surrounding jungle. The plants spray sap on her as she walks by. Some of it gets on her exposed hand.

As Jo explores, the TARDIS is rapidly covered by plant sap, hardening into a shell around it. When the Doctor awakens, he finds himself sealed in. The oxygen in the TARDIS cabin is rapidly being used up. He activates the emergency oxygen supply and finds the tanks almost empty. He starts to suffocate. 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. They are joined by another crewmember, Codal, who warns them 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 avoids 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, dragging the nearly asphyxiated Doctor outside. The Doctor thanks them and notes he finds them familiar. When the men say they are from the planet Skaro, the Doctor recognises them as Thals and tells them he was on Skaro many years ago. The Thals are sceptical when he claims to be the famous Doctor of Thal legend, but he gives them enough details to satisfy them. Taron tells the Doctor that he has been infected by a fungus carried by the sap and treats him with a spray; the fungus would have engulfed and killed him had Taron not done so.

They are on Spiridon, a planet where the plant life is more animal than vegetable. There are creatures hostile to everyone, including themselves, and extremes of day and night temperature. These Thals are the only survivors of a military expedition. Taron orders a halt to their progress through the jungle when they hear something in the process of breaking down. Nothing is seen except a circular depression in the ground. Giving the Doctor a spray can of paint, Taron tells him that he will see what they are up against. The Doctor sprays the seemingly empty air before him, and the outline of a Dalek is revealed...

Episode two[[edit] | [edit source]]

Wester cures Jo.

The Dalek is inactive, dead from what the Thals call "light wave sickness". The Spiridons, the dominant species on the planet, can generate an "anti-reflecting light wave", which the Daleks are trying to duplicate. However, it takes a tremendous amount of power and cannot be long sustained. The Spiridons have been subjugated and enslaved by the Daleks, 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, they find the TARDIS log on the ground and two Daleks about to destroy the ship. Believing Jo still inside, the Doctor steps forward and begs the Daleks to stop, but the patrol shoots him with a stun ray. He watches helplessly as the spacecraft is blasted to pieces. Taron and Vaber remain hidden and go off to retrieve the supplies for their mission on Spiridon.

The Doctor and Codal discuss what bravery means.

The Doctor is taken to the Dalek base for interrogation and put in the same cell as Codal, whom he tries to cheer up. The Doctor tries to open the cell door with his sonic screwdriver, but to no avail. Codal and he decide to modify the components of the TARDIS log to emit a radio frequency to 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 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. He 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 rush over their heads. It is another Thal vessel, but the entry angle is too steep, and their weapons are lost in the crash that follows. Only three Thals have survived the crash — two men, Latep and Marat, and a woman, Rebec. Taron is unhappy to see Rebec. 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.

Episode three[[edit] | [edit source]]

Jo smuggles herself into the Dalek base.

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 in 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. The Daleks use it 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, holds back to cover their retreat. He is exterminated by the Daleks, who find a map on him 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 for 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. The four improvise a hot-air balloon from plastic sheeting but there doesn't seem to be enough lift to carry all of them, and the Daleks have nearly cut through the door...

Episode four[[edit] | [edit source]]

A Dalek pursuer plummets to its death.

There is finally enough lift for the improvised hot air balloon to carry the Doctor and the Thals up the shaft. They rise up out of the room just as the Daleks break through the door. 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 on the surface. The Dalek patrol sent for the explosives activates the timed detonators and leaves. Jo sneaks up to try to 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 goes off, conveniently destroying the Dalek patrol 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 which destroys it. Making their way away from the shaft, they meet Jo, whom the Doctor is overjoyed to see again; he thought her killed when the Thal ship was destroyed. The Doctor explains 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 Ogrons. The Time Lords 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 rescued.

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 avoid a combined Dalek/Spiridon patrol as night falls and the temperature drops. The Doctor notices the Daleks seem to be moving slower than usual. In the Dalek base, one 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. Taron and Codal go in pursuit as the others huddle around the campfire, surrounded by animals with eyes glowing in the darkness. The Doctor uses fire to scare the creatures away. Vaber is caught by the Spiridons, and the leader tells them to take him to the Daleks...

Episode five[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Daleks admire their bioweapon.

Taron and Codal disguise themselves as Sprirdons and get into the group. They arrive and meet with a Dalek. The Dalek tries to force Vaber to lead them to the Thals. Vaber pretends to cooperate, but he breaks away and is exterminated. Taron and Codal use this distraction to grab the two bombs and vanish into the forest.

The Daleks have developed an immunisation process against the bacteria. 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 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 push the two Daleks into the pools. The sudden drop in temperature kills the Dalek creatures inside, and their bodies are thrown into the pools. Taron, Codal and the Doctor dress in Spiridon furs while Rebec gets inside one of the empty Dalek casings so they can enter the base undetected 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; those already in the preparation chamber are trapped forever. The group try to move deeper into the base, but one of the Thals' boots is spotted by a Dalek, who sounds the alert...

Episode six[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Daleks are hit by a wave of ice.

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. Codal and he decide to set an explosive in the wall of the chamber holding the Dalek army, which are slowly coming to life. In the meantime, the Dalek Supreme, a member of the Dalek High Council, has arrived in a spaceship to oversee the final stages of the operation. He exterminates the Section Leader for 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 chamber wall explodes. Molten ice rushes out to flood the chamber, freezing the Dalek army for centuries to come. The group escapes over 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 what has happened, nor make war sound like an adventure. The Thals were always a peaceful people, and he would hate to see them change. 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. They dematerialise just as the Daleks open fire. The Dalek Supreme orders operations to recover the invasion force and contact the Dalek High Council for a rescue ship. The Daleks have been delayed, but will never be defeated...

Aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor switches through images of the galaxies on the scanner screen to find Skaro. He shows it to Jo, who says she doesn't really regret turning down Latep's earlier invitation to go back to Skaro with him. The Doctor tells Jo there are many hundreds of other worlds to see, but she puts an image of Earth on the screen, saying that's the only world she wants to see right now. The Doctor understands — Jo wants to go home. He sets the controls for Earth...

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Uncredited cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Uncredited crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Daleks[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Most Daleks emit an automatic distress call if their casings are tampered with.
  • There exists a Dalek Supreme Council composed of Supreme Daleks.
  • The Daleks are vulnerable to subzero temperatures. If they're shocked by cold they die instantly.
  • The Doctor observes that a Dalek's sensor plates are not functioning.

TARDIS[[edit] | [edit source]]

Thals[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Thals know of Earth but believe it to be a myth.
  • The Doctor is a mythical figure in Thal legends.

Story notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • At one point in development, this story had a working title of Destination: Daleks. (REF: The Third Doctor Handbook)
  • The story has been recognised as a reworking of the first Dalek story, The Daleks, containing some of the same plot devices, including a group of Daleks in a city encountering the Thals on a ravaged planet; a deadly plague instead of a neutron bomb; someone using a Dalek shell as a disguise; the Doctor imprisoned in a cell and with paralysed legs; and the Daleks imprisoned in their city at the end of the story.
  • Because Terry Nation had not written for the show since 1965, he initially believed individual episode titles were still being used — a practice which had actually been dropped after The Gunfighters. His scripts were thus titled "Destinus" (Nation's original name for Spiridon), "Mission Survival", "Pursued", "Escape or Die", "The Day Before Eternity" and "Victory". (INFO: Planet of the Daleks)
  • Katy Manning is credited as "Jo" in Radio Times for episode four.
  • Tony Starr (Dalek Operator) is uncredited on-screen for episode six, but credited in Radio Times.
  • Commercially available Louis Marx Daleks were used to simulate the Dalek army, a technique previously used in The Evil of the Daleks.
  • Given the requirements of this story, the three remaining Dalek props from the sixties were deemed insufficient and seven wooden extras were built for this story. They looked pretty impressive, but were completely static (which may explain why some of the Daleks in this story do not seem to notice intruders at close range). For the next fifteen years, these were used as large parts bins to hold up the decaying remains of the original props from the sixties (which by this story were ten years old); by Resurrection of the Daleks, the four props used were nearly all wood. It wasn't until Revelation of the Daleks (1985) that new, fully working props were made. Curiously, brand new props were also made for Remembrance of the Daleks.
  • At least one other Dalek prop was also used: one of four Daleks privately owned by Terry Nation was loaned and allowed to be modified for use as the Supreme Dalek. He was given four Dalek props after filming Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., and the Supreme was recycled out of the Gold Dalek from the film. (This can be told because they both have widely spaced rivets on the slats.)
  • In the DVD feature The Perfect Scenario it's stated that the character of Rebec was included at the insistence of Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks, who wanted female characters on screen for visual variety and for the female audience members.
  • Originally, episode four was to end with all of the Thal characters massacred by the Daleks. Terrance Dicks, however, asked that Terry Nation not include this plot point, as the series was beginning to be criticised for its violent content.
  • Although not generally recognised, Planet of the Daleks continues the storyline begun in Frontier in Space, essentially making this the second half of a single twelve-episode story arc.
  • A new, almost musical sound effect is introduced for the Dalek energy weapon. This is the only televised adventure in which it is used, although a sample of it would later be used in the special edition of Day of the Daleks. In the next Dalek story, Death to the Daleks, their energy weapons are not used at all. The Daleks story after that, Genesis of the Daleks introduced what remains the standard Dalek weapon sound effect to this day.
  • In The Perfect Scenario, cast members Katy Manning and Bernard Horsfall express the opinion that the jungle fighting was a deliberate nod to the contemporary Vietnam War. In the same feature, Terrance Dicks and Barry Letts state they don't believe Terry Nation would have done this deliberately but might have been unconsciously influenced by the war.
  • According to the DVD info text, it was decided at one point that all on-screen actors had to wear makeup, including the Dalek operators, who (it was feared) could conceivably be seen through the mesh of the props. The operators, in protest, one day dressed up their Daleks as women, and Michael Wisher and Roy Skelton, playing along with the joke, provided suitably "camp" voices for the dolled-up Daleks.
  • The original 625 line PAL colour videotape of episode three was either erased for reuse or junked around 1976. A 16mm black-and-white film telerecording of episode three made for overseas sales still exists, and was restored to colour by use of the chromadot colourisation recovery technique for the DVD box set Dalek War.
  • The Supreme Dalek in this story is the first one in the series proper to feature large headlamps instead of bulbs. Headlamps would become the standard for the revival era Daleks, from the Last Great Time War soldier models onward.
  • During production of this serial, British rock singer David Bowie and his band at the time, The Spiders from Mars, visited the BBC Television Centre and mingled with the cast; a passerby jokingly asked if Bowie and co. would be playing aliens in the programme. Coincidentally, Bowie would later be offered the role of Sharaz Jek in TV: The Caves of Androzani, only to decline due to the production dates conflicting with his Serious Moonlight tour.
  • Allister Bowtell provided the furs worn by the Spiridons. (INFO: Planet of the Daleks)
  • Latep was originally named Petal. This was changed to avoid confusion with Patel from Frontier in Space.
  • Barry Letts makes clear on the DVD commentary that he was really unhappy with the model Dalek army shown in this story. He also wasn't too happy with the sets used for the interior of the Dalek city, though conceded that there probably wasn't the money in the budget to do both the city and the jungle justice.
  • Terry Nation had been unsure how many Dalek casings would be available to the production team. As a result, the limited number imposed some changes on the scripts — such as by having only Rebec masquerading as a Dalek in episodes five and six, for example. Nation had envisaged Codal doing likewise, rather than concealing himself within Spiridon furs.
  • Seven new Dalek casings were constructed by Pinewood-based Westbury Design and Optical, run by visual effects designer Clifford Culley. David Maloney was disappointed to discover that these were of generally inferior workmanship, however, having been predominantly made from wood rather than fibreglass. As such, these so-called “goon” Daleks would be kept in the background as much as possible.
  • Terry Nation named Rebec after his daughter Rebecca.
  • Originally, only Codal was supposed to disguise himself as a Dalek.
  • Spiridon was originally named Destinus.
  • Terry Nation introduced the Supreme Dalek as a response to the Dalek Emperor, whom David Whitaker introduced in The Evil of the Daleks, which Nation disliked.
  • Terrance Dicks made several changes to episode one to bring it in line with the revised ending of Frontier in Space, in which the Doctor was shot by the Master.
  • Footage of the Dalek army had to remounted when it was realised that the hand of an effects assistant was visible in some shots.
  • Mark Gatiss owns the red smoking jacket that Jon Pertwee wore in this serial. He shared a photo of Peter Capaldi wearing it.
  • This is one of two Dalek stories of the classic era of the show to have the exact same regular cast members as the previous Dalek story, along with The Dalek Invasion of Earth. The next time this occurred was The Magician's Apprentice.

Ratings[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Episode one - 11.0 million viewers
  • Episode two - 10.7 million viewers
  • Episode three - 10.1 million viewers
  • Episode four - 8.3 million viewers
  • Episode five - 9.7 million viewers
  • Episode six - 8.5 million viewers

Myths[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Dalek Supreme was operated in this story by Tony Starr. (Starr could not have operated the Dalek Supreme in the scenes set in the Spiridon jungle, as he was not present when they were recorded. According to the DVD commentary subtitles for Planet of the Daleks, Starr did indeed play the Supreme Dalek in all but the jungle inserts towards the end of the episode, when he was not available.) [3]

Filming locations[[edit] | [edit source]]

Production errors[[edit] | [edit source]]

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
  • During episode two, as the Doctor is being escorted to the Dalek command centre for interrogation, the Dalek escorting him (very audibly) runs into the side of a door as they exit the elevator.
  • Throughout the serial, the camera points to the opposite Daleks that are talking and the Dalek Section Leader's voice changes from Roy Skelton to Michael Wisher randomly.
  • When the Thals take cover on the plain of stones in episode four a huge, dark shape appears behind the sky.
  • The second Dalek, pursuing Jo and Latep in episode five, knocks into a polystyrene "rock" and moves it out of position.
  • The strings that operate the doors of the Dalek ship are visible
  • The Dalek Supreme's lights are especially out of sync with his dialogue. His dome also wobbles when it turns too quickly, and his midsection slats appear to be crooked.
  • When one Dalek fails to stop, it knocks another backwards.
  • In episode six, when Latep slides a bomb at an advancing Dalek, he slides the bomb on its side. However, in the following shot, the bomb is in an upright position.
  • After Taron knocks out the Spiridon about to attack Codal in episode five, you can spot a BBC camera, the cameraman and one of the Spiridon actors with his fur off standing in the foliage.
  • When the Dalek levitates up the shaft to get the Doctor and the Thals, the harness used to levitate it is visible.
  • When the Doctor and Codal attack the Dalek in the prison cell, the midsection of the Dalek is seen to move off its base.
  • In episode four, Katy Manning very obviously prepares for a blow to the head before a fake boulder falls on top of her.
  • In episode three, during one shot in the Dalek's laboratory, the Dalek on the left has its whole eyestalk painted black, yet in the next shot, it has the Daleks' usual white ring.
  • When Jo is trying to evade the Daleks in the control room, she quite visibly steps into the eye sight of a Dalek for more than a second — but it does not move or take action.
  • Katy Manning's hair is shorter in the studio sessions than it is in location footage. Manning had her hair cut between the two lots of recording. (REF: The Third Doctor Handbook)
  • In episode three, a Dalek holding a map to the Thals' explosives is no longer holding it after passing behind another Dalek. In its next scene, it is holding the map again.
  • In one jungle scene where Jo is hiding behind a plant, you can briefly see the plant pot containing it.
  • In episode five, during the second close up on Wester's face after he is killed by the bacteria, his eyelids can be seen moving.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Home video and audio releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

DVD releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

This story was released on 5 October 2009 with the previous story, Frontier in Space, in a boxed set called Dalek War. It features a re-colourised episode three, commentary and numerous special features.

  • Region 1 cover

    Region 1 cover

  • Region 4 cover

    Region 4 cover

  • Region 2 UK cover

    Region 2 UK cover

Dalek War[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Region 1 US Dalek War cover

    Region 1 US Dalek War cover

  • Region 2 Dalek War cover

    Region 2 Dalek War cover

  • Region 4 Australian Dalek War cover

    Region 4 Australian Dalek War cover

Blu-ray releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • This story was made available on the Blu-ray Time Lord Victorious: Road to the Dark Times on 9 November 2020.
  • Time Lord Victorious: Road To The Dark Times box-set

    Time Lord Victorious: Road To The Dark Times box-set

Video releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • This story was released in November 1999 as part of the second Dalek Tin set, alongside Revelation of the Daleks in the UK. Episode three was presented in its then sole surviving black-and-white format.
  • UK cover

    UK cover

Audio release[[edit] | [edit source]]

The story was also recorded and released in audio format.

  • Cassette cover

    Cassette cover

  • CD cover

    CD cover

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?doWork%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle=Load&BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Aarticle_id=F2F67FC3-9159-455B-8391-99E719C68C6B&BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Acontext_id=47671D02-6BD8-4FE0-814D-E4DB3F65EFD1
  2. ↑ James Goss tweet
  3. ↑ Howe, David J., Walker, Stephan James, The Television Companion, BBC Worldwide Ltd, 1998. pg.245
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For the purposes of this list, a "Dalek story" is one in which one living, authentic Dalek plays a part within the confines of the story, outside of flashbacks to previous stories and cliffhangers that lead into the following story. For this reason, stories such as The Space Museum are not counted due to the Daleks' appearance being defined by their importance to following stories, while stories such as The Wheel in Space and The Waters of Mars are absent due to the Daleks' only contribution being references to past Dalek stories. Stories like The Wedding of River Song, Hell Bent, Once, Upon Time and The Vanquishers are also not included due to the Daleks' appearance being restricted to a single scene of no consequence to the plot of the story, while the TV movie is also absent due to the Daleks only being heard from off-screen.
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