Planet of the Daleks Episode One

The one where the TARDIS gets squirted with deadly alien plant sap...

It's surprising to get a reprise from the end of the last story, at the start of this new one. I expected it would just follow on, but actually it all feels like one long epic story, the longest since Season 3 (but with two different titles).

After calling the Time Lords on the telepathic telephone, the Doctor collapses, and Jo activates the completely incongruous MFI sliding bed and wardrobe combo which has miraculously appeared in the control room. It's flush, clean white lines may actually be more Intergalactic Ikea than the slightly shoddier MFI, but its very presence is startling. At least in the 1960s they used to walk through a door, or onto a different set, when they showed the recreation areas. The same happens when the Doctor uses the emergency oxygen supply later in the episode - the little white cabinet on wheels just happens to be there, inches away from where he stands!

Before passing out and turning all icy (as he did in The Daemons), the Doctor tells Jo to record everything that happens in the log, which is basically a cassette tape case, and is the only thing he stores in the locker above the magic bed. Which is fortuitous. And so Jo becomes a kind of narrator, like she's reading her own Planet of the Daleks version of a Pickwick audiobook, although as the episode progresses she very much picks and chooses what she decides to record!

And then there's that face Pertwee does when his eyes flick open and he stares blankly ahead of him even though he's unconscious. Now that is bloody scary, in my view! If I were a kid watching that, I'd find it truly frightening!

Venturing outside in a Dick Barton mac, Jo discovers a very strange jungle world full of moaning wildlife, and plant-life which squirts a horrible yellow goo at her. They also squirt goo at the TARDIS, eventually managing to seal the doors from the outside and somehow cut off the oxygen supply within (despite the inside being in a different dimension to the outside, but let's not focus too much on that!).

You can tell this is a Terry Nation script, it has all the hallmarks of his style: an alien jungle planet with hostile plants and invisible creatures (with pointy shoes!). It might as well be Kembel or Mira. In fact, the last time Nation wrote for Doctor Who before this was The Daleks' Master Plan, demonstrating that he really hasn't developed as a writer since. That's not to say what he produces is poor - far from it, his early Hartnell work was among the most adventurous and imaginative of all - but he is limited in his storytelling, or at the very least lazy. Nonetheless, he writes a mean episode 1!

John Hurst's jungle set is pretty impressive, despite its studio-bound look. It looks properly wild and strange, and is helped enormously by Derek Slee's excellent verdant lighting too. And while the squirty plants may look a little mechanical, their ultimate effect is suitably yukky (and are capable of raising a few schoolboy titters).

The adventurous Jo comes across a shuttle in the jungle, inside which is a dead pilot. She's then apprehended by three blond astronauts, who she begs to help the Doctor. Luckily, Taron is qualified in "space medicine", which is another Nation trait: sticking the word "space" in front of something and making it sound exotic. Sadly, another Nation trait rears its ugly head too, that of sexism. Taron refuses to take Jo with his expedition, claiming she will only slow them down and endanger them all. Why? He doesn't say, but it's inferred it's simply because she's a girl, and it's disappointing that Jo doesn't call him out on it. She might have done in a more open-minded writer's script. I'm glad Terry Nation never wrote for Leela, because I dread to think how he'd have coped!

Back in the TARDIS the Doctor gets changed out of his smelly old green outfit which he's been wearing since Carnival of Monsters, and pulls from the magic wardrobe a new wine red ensemble, so that he can better stand out against the lush vegetation of the jungle outside! He's ultimately rescued from suffocation by Taron and his blond pals, and it's not long before we discover who they really are - Thals! Now this is really quite exciting, because we haven't seen the Thals since the very first Dalek story back in 1964. It's great when Jon Pertwee gets to name drop his old companions (Barbara, Ian and Susan), something which hardly ever happened back in the 1970s. It's also really nice that Doctor Who is starting to quietly reference its heritage in its tenth anniversary year, whether it's bringing back old Doctors, showing old monsters, or referencing old stories (this episode alone recalls The Daemons and The Daleks).

As Jo succumbs to the plant fungus growing on her arm, the Doctor learns that the planet he's on is Spiridon, which Vaber clunkily calls "one of the nastiest pieces of space garbage in the ninth system". It has animalistic plant-life, hostile wild creatures, and an inhospitable climate which goes from tropical in the daytime to sub-freezing at night. Oh, and there's the Spiridon people too. "They're invisible."

At no point does anybody mention the Daleks might be on Spiridon, which is silly because it's why they're all there. The Thals keep mentioning something patrolling the jungle, but only ever say "they", while the Doctor must know the Daleks are around somewhere because he asked the Time Lords for help to follow them. Plus, Doctor - there are Thals here. It's a pretty major clue. So why is everybody avoiding the obvious? Why doesn't the Doctor ask the Thals if they've seen any Daleks?

It's not long until they find one though. Something seems to have come to a sickened halt in the jungle, but as it's invisible they'll have to use special colour spray to see what it is. After a bit of aerosol action it becomes clear what the invisible lump is: it's a Dalek! Why so surprised, Doctor? I mean, that is why you're there in the first place! Whatever, it's a really ingenious way of using the CSO technique.

This first episode is reassuringly cosy, with the assistant exploring an alien environment alone while the Doctor goes his own way and gangs up with some rebels. The episode 1 cliffhanger is a traditional Dalek reveal, and there are some highly Nationesque creations, including the invisible Spiridons and the hostile plant-life. It's been seven years since Terry Nation wrote for Doctor Who, and his cookie-cutter style has been missed. And it's great to have the Thals back too.

First broadcast: April 7th, 1973

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: John Hurst's jungle set and Derek Slee's lighting are the real stars of the show.
The Bad: That magical MFI bed combo is just ridiculous!
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

"Now listen to me" tally: 25 - The Doctor wastes no time in mumbling "Now Jo, listen to me" as he drifts in and out of consciousness, and later he rather angrily snaps at Vaber: "Now you listen to me, young man!"
Neck-rub tally: 13

NEXT TIME: Episode Two...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode Two; Episode Three; Episode Four; Episode Five; Episode Six

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/05/planet-of-daleks.html

Planet of the Daleks is available on BBC DVD as part of the Dalek War box set. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Frontier-Planet-Daleks/dp/B002KSA3T8