Planet of the Daleks Episode Five

The one where two Daleks are pushed into an ice pool...

I must say that I'm impressed that I haven't seen a single glimpse of the actors inside the Spiridon furs, which is quite an achievement. But I've also come to realise how ridiculous the Spiridons are, walking around wrapped up in their purple pelts. They're supposed to protect them from the cold, but it only gets cold on Spiridon at night-time; in the daytime, temperatures are apparently tropical. So we end up with a bunch of invisible people, who you can't tell are invisible, walking around like heliotrope Yetis. If you'd just turned on BBC1 in the middle of an episode you'd think the production team had literally used big purple throws to double as monsters... which they kind of have!

The thistle-coloured throws are essential apparatus for our heroes in this story, used to both blind an attacking Dalek (similar to the use of the Thal cape in The Daleks) and smuggle them inside pretending to be Spiridon slaves. When Taron pulls on his fur, he looks like a blond Jon Snow doing an impersonation of Liberace!

By the way, the Spiridon slaves aren't just a subjugated species with no choice but to obey their new Dalek masters. They're actually quite savage people, willfully attempting to smash Codal's head in with a rock at one point, and at the end of episode 4 they jumped on Vaber enthusiastically, as if their lives depended on it. The Spiridons have very little to lose really, so why aren't they feeling a bit more rebellious, like good old Wester?

Ah, Wester. He comes to the Plain of Stones to warn Jo that the Daleks are planning to release their deadly bacteria. Note that he comes to warn Jo, not the Doctor, and it's rather sweet that he concentrates solely on Jo, almost totally sidelining the Doctor. When he goes to leave, Wester makes sure he says farewell to Jo. Again, not the Doctor. Maybe there's a hint of jealousy from the Spiridon? There's certainly a hint of jealousy in the Doctor when he sees how attached Latep and Jo have become, which is a lovely foreshadowing of what happens in The Green Death, and an echo of how the Doctor felt when Jo got all mushy with King Peladon in The Curse of Peladon.

The captured Vaber refuses to cooperate with the Daleks, who demand that he lead them to his allies at the Plain of Stones. I'm not sure why they need him to do that, seeing as they know where it is, and indeed they prove they don't need him because it's not long before he's dead.

Meanwhile, on location in a quarry in Surrey (the same quarry used for Frontier in Space, recorded four months before this) the Doctor and Taron discover the bubbling ice pools that they plan to destroy the pursuant Daleks with (not much evidence of the jungle, is there?). They need a Dalek casing to help them infiltrate the city, which is yet another Terry Nation favourite ticked off the checklist (this also happened in The Daleks). The scene where the Daleks are pushed into the ice pool is well done, although it would have been nice to see - or at least glimpse - one of the Dalek mutants they heave out and chuck in the cryomagma. The Doctor seems less bothered by the lifting of the Dalek lids this time, even though he knows that doing so alerts the Daleks back at base (indeed, Dalek control receives a "weak signal from the automatic distress transmitter").

The Doctor, Taron and Dalek Rebec manage to get inside the city just in time to see Wester sacrifice himself to release the bacteria in the sealed lab. While this results in his own death, it also means the Daleks cannot open the lab door because it will let the bacteria out. It is a courageous final act for Wester, who becomes visible once he's died. What I want to know though, is how the Doctor knows Wester is Wester when he sees him across the room? Surely one big purple fur is just like every other big purple fur?

The cliffhanger comes in when a Dalek spots Taron's boot visible beneath a Spiridon fur and raises the alarm. The Daleks have been pretty lax with their security to be honest. Anybody could dress up in a Spiridon coat to get into the city, and they'd already been alerted to the fact a Dalek casing had been broken into. If they'd stopped to think about things logically, they might have been ready for these eventualities...

First broadcast: May 5th, 1973

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The attack on the Daleks at the ice pool is thrilling.
The Bad: It's only when you see a lot of them that you realise just how silly the Spiridons are. Terry Nation went to the budget-saving trouble of making them invisible, but this is essentially wasted when they all dress up like Gorgon Heap from The Muppets (look him up!).
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

"Now listen to me" tally: 25
Neck-rub tally: 13

NEXT TIME: Episode Six...

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