Planet of the Daleks (TV story)

Planet of the Daleks
Doctor:	[[doctor::Third Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Jo Grant
Main enemy:	The Daleks
Main setting:	Spiridon; 2540?
Key crew
Writer:	Terry Nation
Director:	David Maloney
Producer:	Barry Letts
Release details
Release number:	68
Premiere broadcast:	7th April - 12th May 1973
Format:	6 25-minute Episodes
Production code:	SSS

Synopsis

The Doctor and 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

The TARDIS materialises in a hostile jungle on the planet Spiridon. Jo sets out alone to find help for the Doctor, who has fallen into a coma. She meets a party of Thals and is left in hiding aboard their crashed spaceship while they go to the Doctor's aid. The Time Lord, now recovered, learns of their mission to destroy a party of Daleks sent here to discover the native Spiridons' secret of invisibility.

Another Thal spaceship crash-lands in the jungle, and the survivors bring news that somewhere on Spiridon there is an army of ten thousand Daleks. Jo meanwhile meets a friendly Spiridon named Wester, who cures a deadly fungus disease that she has contracted.

It transpires that the Daleks' army is frozen in suspended animation in a cavern below their base. The Doctor, with the help of the Thals, explodes a bomb in the cavern wall and thereby causes one of the planet's natural ice volcanoes to erupt, entombing the army in a torrent of liquid ice.

The newly-arrived Dalek Supreme and his aides are left stranded on Spiridon as the Thals steal their ship and the Doctor and Jo depart in the TARDIS.

Cast

• The Doctor - 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

Crew

• Assistant Floor Managers - 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, Barbara and Susan in confirming he was the Doctor to visit Skaro and to be known to the Thals.
• 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

• BBC Planet of the Daleks page
• Outpost Gallifrey Planet of the Daleks page
• Planet of the Daleks detailed sypnosis at Doctor Who Reference Guide
• A Brief History of Time (Travel) Guide to Planet of the Daleks