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*[[Alan Tucker (actor)|Alan Tucker]] – Latep
*[[Roy Skelton]] – Wester{{efn|Also provided other Spiridon voices, uncredited.}}
*[[Michael Wisher]], [[Roy Skelton]] – Dalek Voices
*[[John Scott Martin]], [[Murphy Grumbar]], [[Cy Town]] – Daleks
| director = [[David Maloney]]
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| series = [[Doctor Who (season 10)|Season 10]]
| length = 6 episodes, 25 minutes each
| date started = 7 April–12 May{{Start date|1973|4|7|df=y}}
| ended = {{End date|1973|5|12|df=y}}
| preceding = ''[[Frontier in Space]]''
| following = ''[[The Green Death]]''
}}
'''''Planet of the Daleks''''' is the fourth serial of the [[Doctor Who (season 10)|tenth season]] of the British [[science fiction television]] series ''[[Doctor Who]]'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on [[BBC One|BBC1]] from 7 April to 12 May 1973. It was the first Dalek story to be written by their creator [[Terry Nation]] since 1965’s [[The Daleks' Master Plan|''The Daleks' Master Plan'']].
 
Continuing from the events of the serial ''[[Frontier in Space]]'', the story involves a small team of [[Dalek]]s plotting to revive an army of Daleks which are being kept in [[suspended animation]] on the planet Spiridon.
 
==Plot==
The [[Third Doctor]] has been wounded after being shot by [[The Master (Doctor Who)|the Master]]. [[Jo Grant|Jo]] helps the Doctor into the [[TARDIS]], where he sends a message to the [[Time Lord]]s before he collapses then falls into a coma. JoThe dictatesTime intoLords direct the TARDIS logto thatthe sheplanet hasSpiridon, seenwhere thisJo healingleaves statethe beforeTARDIS (''[[Thein an attempt Dæmons]]'')to find help, and thatencounters thea TARDISparty isof movingThals, beingthe controlledDaleks' remotelyoldest byenemy. theThe TimeThals Lords. Whenrescue the TARDISDoctor comesfrom tothe a stopTARDIS, Jo activates the externaloutside scannersof towhich seehas somebeen plants outside block the viewerovertaken by spraying a thicklethal sap-likefungus, liquidand atexplain it. Withto the Doctor still catatonic, Jo leavesthat the shipDaleks tohave exploreset theup surroundinga jungle.research The plants spray sapbase on herthe asplanet sheto walksgain by,the andnative aSpiridons' bitpower of it gets on her handinvisibility.▼
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{{Long plot|episode|date=October 2020}}
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▲The [[Third Doctor]] has been wounded after being shot by [[The Master (Doctor Who)|the Master]]. [[Jo Grant|Jo]] helps the Doctor into the [[TARDIS]], where he sends a message to the [[Time Lord]]s before he collapses then falls into a coma. Jo dictates into the TARDIS log that she has seen this healing state before (''[[The Dæmons]]''), and that the TARDIS is moving, being controlled remotely by the Time Lords. When the TARDIS comes to a stop, Jo activates the external scanners to see some plants outside block the viewer by spraying a thick sap-like liquid at it. With the Doctor still catatonic, Jo leaves the ship to explore the surrounding jungle. The plants spray sap on her as she walks by, and a bit of it gets on her hand.
 
As Jo explores, the TARDIS is rapidly covered by plant sap, which is hardening into a shell around it. When the Doctor awakens, he finds himself sealed in and the oxygen in the TARDIS rapidly being used up. Activating the emergency oxygen supply, he discovers the tanks almost empty, and starts to suffocate from lack of air. Jo discovers a spacecraft in the jungle with a dead pilot. Shortly after, three blonde haired humanoids enter the spacecraft, identifying themselves as Taron, Vaber and Codal. They offer help but are cautious as there is an apparent danger outside.
 
Taron and his men find the TARDIS and chip the hardened sap from its doors, then drag a nearly asphyxiated Doctor out. The Doctor thanks them and notes that he finds them familiar. When the men explain that they are from the planet [[Skaro]], the Doctor recognises that they are [[Thal (Doctor Who)|Thals]] and tells them he was on Skaro many years ago with his three companions, Susan, Ian and Barbara (''[[The Daleks]]'').
 
Meanwhile, Jo has fallen unconscious as a result of the plant sap and is removed from the spacecraft by a Spiridon, an invisible apparently humanoid lifeform. Whilst en route to the Thal spacecraft the Doctor and the Thals encounter an apparently disabled [[Dalek]] that has the power of invisibility. After examining it they return to the Thal spacecraft to discover the Daleks have already found it. The Doctor, still believing that Jo is on board, reveals himself to the Daleks, only to be disabled and the spacecraft destroyed anyway.
 
The Doctor is taken to the Dalek base for interrogation and is put in the same cell as the recently captured Codal. The Doctor tries to use his [[sonic screwdriver]] to open the cell door, but to no avail. He and Codal then conceive of modifying the components of the TARDIS log to emit a radio frequency that will jam Dalek control impulses. Meanwhile, Jo is being cared for by the Spiridon who found her, Wester, who is one of a group of his people trying to fight back against the Daleks. He cures Jo 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 try to free them, even though Wester says that if the Daleks use them for their experiments, they are better off dead.
 
Meanwhile, a Thal spacecraft crashes on the planet's surface, containing a small relief force sent to warn the first group that, rather than the small scientific expedition earlier intelligence had indicated, there are, in fact, close to 10,000 Daleks in the base. Among the survivors of the crash are Rebec and Latep; Taron is romantically involved with Rebec, and had gone to some lengths to keep her off the first expedition list.
 
Having escaped their cell by using the device on one of the Daleks, the Doctor and Codal encounter Rebec and Taron, who had been mounting a rescue operation, and they flee down the corridors with the Daleks pursuing them. They make their way to a refrigeration chamber and discover the hibernating Dalek army. With the Daleks cutting their way through the door into the chamber, the Doctor improvises a hot-air balloon and the group escape up a shaft to the surface. Codal and Rebec heave a boulder down the shaft, destroying a pursuing Dalek, and they narrowly avoid a second patrol sent from the surface. They reunite with Latep and Vaber, who is keen to attack the Daleks as soon as possible, while Taron urges caution.
 
Meanwhile, the Daleks have found a map dropped by one of the Thals showing the location of their explosive stash, and they send a patrol to detonate them. Jo, having tracked them there from the base, resets the denotation timers on two of the units, but is knocked out by falling rocks while resetting the third. She comes to as a second patrol arrives, and hides with the reset units as the third destroys the patrol. Jo eventually encounters the Thals—and the Doctor, who is overjoyed to learn she wasn't killed earlier—and has an instant connection with Latep. They go to the Plain of Stones, a local landmark, to plan their next move. Codal reasons that the refrigeration chamber must be necessary to whatever plans the Daleks have on Spiridon. The impulsive Vaber urges an assault on the Dalek base to destroy the refrigeration device and confronts Taron over his cautious approach. He backs down, but then leaves the group in the middle of the night, taking the explosives with him. When Taron tells him what Vaber plans to do, the Doctor realizes this will wake the Dalek army from its hibernation.
 
Back at the base, the Dalek Section Leader has developed a colony of bacteria which, when released, will wipe out all organic life on Spiridon. All that remains is to immunise the Daleks and the Spiridon slave workers from its effects. Wester arrives at the Thal camp and tells them about the bacteria. The group devises a plan to infiltrate the base by disguising themselves as Spiridons—easy enough to do, as the otherwise-invisible Spiridons wear purple furs that cover them from head to toe. However, they'll also need a Dalek shell for the necessary escort. Having obtained a couple of furs, Taron and Codal join a Dalek patrol. Vaber, meanwhile, has been captured by the Spiridons and delivered to the patrol for interrogation. Rather than reveal the location of the remaining Thals, Vaber makes a break for it and is gunned down by the Daleks. Taron and Codal then retrieve the captured explosives and return to camp. Jo and Latep then lure two Daleks into an ambush at a lake of molten ice; the shock of the lake temperature is enough to kill the Daleks, giving the group the last piece of the plan.
 
The Doctor has devised a two-pronged assault—he, Taron, and Codal will go in the front door in the Spiridon disguises, accompanied by Rebec in the Dalek shell, and try to find their way to the cooling chamber. Meanwhile, Joe and Latep will go in through the ice tunnels and attempt to rendezvous with them. Meanwhile, Wester enters the base on the pretext of sharing information on the whereabouts of the Thals, and is shown to the control room. There, he realizes the Daleks' preparations are incomplete, and opens the bacteria chamber, which kills him instantly. The control room goes into automatic lockdown, sealing two Daleks inside forever, and foiling their plans for the bacteria.
 
The Thals take the Doctor back to their ship, but the Daleks arrive first, destroy the ship and capture the Doctor. He presumes Jo to be dead, but fortunately she had already been removed from the ship by a Spiridon named Wester, having become infected with the fungus, which Wester cures. As the Doctor is held captive in the Dalek base, another party of Thals arrives and informs the first group that their intelligence had been mistaken; there isn't just a small research team of Daleks on the planet, but an army of ten thousand, which will form a galactic invasion force.
The Doctor's ruse is exposed when a Dalek spots Taron's feet under the Spiridon furs, and they pursue the group into the base. Finally, the Doctor and the Thals get away, 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. He and Codal decide to set an explosive in the wall of the chamber containing the Dalek army, which is slowly coming to life. In the meantime, the [[Dalek variants#Dalek Supreme|Dalek Supreme]], a member of the Dalek Supreme Council, has arrived in a spaceship, to oversee the final stages of the operation, and exterminates the Section Leader for its incompetence.
 
As the Doctor and a fellow captive Thal break out of their cell, the other Thals break into the base, and the Doctor confirms the existence of the Dalek army, before the group escapes and reunites with Jo and Wester. The Doctor realises that making use of the planet's natural ice volcanos will be key to defeating the Daleks. Meanwhile, a Dalek ship commanded by a Supreme Dalek lands on the planet, and the Supreme executes the lead Dalek for failing to deal with the Doctor and the Thals.
Jo and Latep 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. 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 sneaks back into the base, where the Daleks are preparing a bacterial weapon in a laboratory chamber to destroy all life on the planet. However, Wester unleashes the weapon prematurely, ensuring he is its only casualty and creating a no-win situation for the Daleks, where those previously inoculated in the laboratory cannot leave or open the chamber, lest they infect their bretheren. The Doctor, Jo, and the Thals return to the cavern where the Dalek army is being brought out of stasis, and the Doctor sets off an explosion that floods the entire base with liquid ice, freezing the army. The Thals take the Supreme Dalek's ship to return to their home world of Skaro, while the Doctor and Jo narrowly get away in the TARDIS, though the Supreme Dalek vows that they are not defeated, and that they will someday thaw their army back out. The Doctor offers to take Jo anywhere in time and space, but after their [[Carnival of Monsters|recent]] [[Frontier in Space|adventures]], Jo is happy to go back to [[Earth]].
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 a peaceful people and he would not want that to 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.
 
==Production==
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The [[Dalek variants#Dalek Supreme|Dalek Supreme]] in this story was a modified prop from the film ''[[Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.]]'' (1966) that had been given to Terry Nation. Its eyestalk has been replaced with a conventional torch, which flashes when it speaks.<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4scrVNf2Vxl2Qc0zLHMS7v8/the-fourth-dimension|title = BBC One - Doctor Who, Season 10, Planet of the Daleks - the Fourth Dimension}}</ref>
 
For many years Episode 3 of the serial existed in the BBC Archives only as a black-and-white 16mm [[telerecording]], as the 625-line colour [[PAL]] transmission master videotape for that episode was wiped for reuse by the BBC in 1976. Episode 3 was restored to full colour in 2008, using a combination of computer colourisation by [[Legend Films]] with software developed by the Colour Recovery Working Group.<ref>http://colour-recovery.wikispaces.com Colour Recovery Working Group website{{dead link|date=December 2023}}</ref> This version was released on DVD in 2009. The colour masters for the other five episodes are still extant.<ref>
{{cite web
|url = http://www.purpleville.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rtwebsite/DalekWarDVD.htm
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Bernard Horsfall had previously appeared as [[Lemuel Gulliver]] in ''[[The Mind Robber]]'' (1968) and as the First [[Time Lord]] in ''[[The War Games]]'' (1969). He appeared once more in ''[[The Deadly Assassin]]'' (1976), as Chancellor Goth.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/deadlyassassin/detail.shtml |title = BBC - Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide - the Deadly Assassin - Details}}</ref> All these serials were directed by [[David Maloney]].
 
Prentis Hancock (Vaber) had appeared as a reporter in ''[[Spearhead from Space]]'' (1970), and returnedwould return as Salamar in ''[[Planet of Evil]]'' (1975) and as the Shrieve Captain in ''[[The Ribos Operation]]'' (1978).<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/>
 
==Broadcast and reception==
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The serial was repeated on BBC One on Friday evenings between 5 November and 17 December 1993, as part of "Doctor Who and the Daleks", celebrating 30 years of ''Doctor Who''. Each episode was preceded by a specially made 5 min vignette, which were 'Bigger on the Inside', 'The Antique Doctor Who Roadshow', 'Missing in Action', 'I Was That Monster', 'The Master' and 'U.N.I.T. Recruitment Film'. The repeat of Episode 3 of ''Planet of the Daleks'' on 19 November 1993 was shown in black and white, the only time since June 1969 that a ''Doctor Who'' episode has been broadcast in black and white on BBC One. The ratings achieved were 3.6, 4.0, 3.9, 3.3, 3.3 &and 3.5 million viewers, respectively.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://guide.doctorwhonews.net/story.php?story=PlanetoftheDaleks&detail=broadcast&page=2|title=Doctor Who Guide: broadcasting for Planet of the Daleks|last=doctorwhonews.net}}</ref>
 
[[Paul Cornell]], [[Martin Day (writer)|Martin Day]], and [[Keith Topping]] gave an unfavourable review of the serial in ''The Discontinuity Guide'' (1995), writing that it was "a typical coincidence-based Dalek story of hammy deaths and ridiculous escapes. A reworking of the themes and set pieces of ''[[The Daleks]]'', with pacifism and an anti-nuclear stance becoming weak monologues on bravery and caution."<ref name="disctoninuity">{{cite book |title=[[The Discontinuity Guide]] |last1=Cornell |first1=Paul |author-link1=Paul Cornell |last2=Day |first2=Martin |author-link2=Martin Day (writer) |last3=Topping |first3=Keith |author-link3=Keith Topping |year=1995 |publisher=[[Virgin Books]] |location=London |isbn=0-426-20442-5 |chapter=Planet of the Daleks|chapter-url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/planetofdaleks/detail.shtml }}</ref> In 2010, Mark Braxton of ''[[Radio Times]]'' awarded it three stars out of five, describing ''Planet of the Daleks'' as "an exciting story, but a tawdry spectacle" with it being "continually compromised" in production values. While he found that some elements of the story were enjoyable, he felt that it lacked emotional continuity and the Daleks did not impress.<ref name="Radio Times">{{cite web|first=Mark|last=Braxton|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2010-02-07/planet-of-the-daleks|title=Doctor Who: Planet of the Daleks|work=[[Radio Times]]|date=7 February 2010|access-date=3 March 2013}}</ref> [[DVD Talk]]'s John Sinnott found the story more enjoyable than ''[[Frontier in Space]]'', praising the way Nation "filled the plot with creative other-worldly creatures and devices and used them nicely to move the story".<ref name="DVD Talk">{{cite web|first=John|last=Sinnott|url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/40637/doctor-who-dalek-war-planet-of-the-daleks/|title=Doctor Who Dalek War: Frontier in Space & Planet of the Daleks|date=23 February 2010|access-date=3 March 2013}}</ref> In the book ''Doctor Who: The Episode Guide'', Mark Campbell also rated it as better than ''Frontier in Space'', awarding it eight out of ten, concluding "a believable jungle setting and ambitious (if unoriginal) ideas make this live-action comic strip romp breeze along in fine style."<ref>{{cite book |last=Campbell |first=Mark |title=Doctor Who: The Episode Guide |date=2010 |publisher=Pocket Essentials |isbn=978-1842433485 |edition=4th |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pe2MAgAAQBAJ&q=tim+preece+codal&pg=PT62 |access-date=26 April 2020}}</ref>
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===In print===
{{unreferenced section|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox book
|name = Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks
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===Home media===
This story, together with ''[[Revelation of the Daleks]]'' was released on [[VHS]] in a special Dalek tin set in 1999, with episode 3 in black and white. The stories were released on VHS individually in North America. It was released on DVD alongside the previous story, ''[[Frontier in Space]]'', in the box set "Dalek War"<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5CxMkbsMPZq2XCjtgmKrgNP/the-fourth-dimension |title = BBC One - Doctor Who, Season 10, Frontier in Space - the Fourth Dimension}}</ref> on 5 October 2009, with episode 3 now restored to full colour<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/> using the pioneering chroma dot recovery process and some more traditional colourisation techniques. In July 2019 the story was released for the first time on Blu-ray as part of the Season 10 boxset. It featured optional updated visual effects and 5.1 Surround Sound. In November 2020, it was released as part of the ''Time Lord Victorious: Road to the Dark Times'' blu-ray set along with ''[[Genesis of the Daleks]]'', ''[[The Deadly Assassin]]''. ''[[State of Decay (Doctor Who)|State of Decay]]'', ''[[The Curse of Fenric]]'', ''[[The Runaway Bride (Doctor Who)|The Runaway Bride]]'' and ''[[The Waters of Mars]]''.
 
==Notes==
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Daleks"