The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: Planet Of The Daleks
Planet Of The Daleks: Episode One (07/04/13)
So, having sent his message, the Doctor promptly went into a freezing coma (on his fancy new pull-out Ikea bed) and told Jo to record anything important in the TARDIS Log (which seems to have been cobbled together using circuits and an empty cassette box) from the cupboard above the bed (in his fancy new Ikea unit).
The TARDIS has arrived on a Jungle Planet - Spiridon - and Jo's gone out to explore, hoping to find the Doctor a doctor. Instead, she got jizzed on by an Evil Fungus Plant and found the crashed spaceship of a band of Thals. Having persuaded them to go and help the Doctor, she hid in their ship, successfully concealing herself from one of the inquisitive, invisible natives, before discovering she had a fungal infection and passing out.
The Thals rescued the Doctor from the TARDIS (now covered in fungus jizz), whom he recognised. They, however, found it hard to believe he's the Doctor who helped them against the Daleks on Skaro as this is now just a legend. They headed off to join Jo but encountered a dying Dalek - that was invisible!!!
The jungle sets are nice with some great sound design, but I have to say - welcome back Terry Nation and his stilted, unrealistic dialogue! To be honest, it's so jarringly awful that it sort of makes it pleasingly alien! It was nice to hear Susan, Ian and Barbara mentioned again, and it's a cool idea bringing back the Thals to fight the Daleks - plus they have quite cool spacesuits - and the Dalek being invisible was a nice touch.
So I imagine this is the planet where the Daleks have their armies. And the Doctor has to stop them! With the help of Thals who have knowledge of 'Space Medicine'. Oh, Mr Nation. Really?
Nonetheless, it's a good start - not convinced about the TARDIS running out of oxygen, but it is Terry Nation - with decent production values. Oh, and finally, didn't Nation's last story feature invisible aliens and Dalek armies plotting on jungle planets? At least there's some continuity, I suppose!
Planet Of The Daleks: Episode Two (14/04/13)
Not bad again, though at one point Jo was surprised to learn there were Daleks on Spiridon. Still, she's not that bright so I can forgive her. The invisible Dalek was dead, so the Thals took the Doctor back to Jo in their spaceship. However, on the way they were approached by some invisible Spiridons and Codal, the Scientist, led them away and got caught and taken to Dalek HQ. Reaching the ship (following a Moment Of Charm with hot-headed Vaber for Mr Pertwee) the Daleks turned up and blew it up, capturing the Doctor when he tried to stop them. So now he thinks Jo is dead (not twigging she may have left when he found the TARDIS Log on the floor outside) when she'd actually been rescued by a Spiridon Freedom Fighter (also invisible) who kindly cured her fungal infection.
Locked up with Codal, the Doctor had another Moment Of Charm regarding bravery before trying to work out a way of escaping. Meanwhile, Vaber and Medic-cum-Leader Taron argued about using their secret stash of explosives and Vaber pulled a gun on his superior. However, they were interrupted by another Thal ship crashing nearby (they've only recently mastered spaceflight and clearly haven't got re-entry and landing figured out yet!). There's three survivors, one being a woman called Rebec who Taron knows and has brought news that rather than the dozen or so Daleks they thought were on Spiridon experimenting on the subjugated population to see how they are invisible, somewhere... "there are 10,000 Daleks!".
So, not bad. Had to agree with Vaber, to be honest, when he questioned why they hadn't already blown up the dozen Daleks instead of being cautious and losing over half their crew, but whatever. Oh, and the Doctor has a spare Sonic Screwdriver! Having left the other one on the Lunar Prison he pulled an identical one out of his pocket whilst banged up with Codal! Still interesting, though definitely need to see a few more Daleks!
Planet Of The Daleks: Episode Three (21/04/13)
Not too bad this week. The Doctor and Codal escaped from their cell using the Doctor's modified Log (which fried the Dalek's brain but got trashed in the process). Meanwhile, Taron, Rebec and one of the new Thal survivors attempted to access Dalek HQ via the planet's Ice Corridors - the centre of Spiridon is molten ice, apparently, and the Daleks have drilled through to the natural ice-vents to use as air conditioning or something. Also, Jo hid in a big basket the slave Spiridons were using to take the Daleks plant samples and accessed Dalek HQ that way, listened to what they were talking about and then left again.
An Ice Eruption began and the Thals managed to reach a vent in the HQ just as the Doctor and Codal were passing (conveniently), accessed the HQ and were chased by Daleks into a room holding a refrigeration unit. Thal Extra stupidly got himself exterminated and let the Daleks get their plungers on the map showing where they'd hidden their bombs (idiot!), the Doctor found a massive cave containing what was visibly very much less than 10,000 Daleks while the Thals prepared to exit via the chimney (for want of a better description), floating away on hot air using a big sheet of plastic - but the Daleks have almost cut through the locked door!
So, like I said, not bad. Jo didn't do much, and Vaber disappeared with the only other survivor of the newly crashed Thal ship, but on the whole pretty good. Nice ice passages and cool molten ice (fnar). The Daleks were a bit useless, but I've come to expect that from a Terry Nation script. Looking forward to the Doctor and the Thals floating to freedom next week.
Planet Of The Daleks: Episode Four (28/04/13)
"And then I got rescued by this bowl..."
I'd forgotten forgotten how Terry Nation's scripts so regularly plumbed the depths of inanity as far as dialogue goes. I'd like to think this was an improvised Jo-ism by Katy Manning but I'm afraid that line wan't the worst dire-logue this week!
Escaping up a chimney, the Doctor, Rebec, Taron and Codal were followed by a Dalek on an anti-grav disc. They reached the top first (the Doctor struggling when their plastic balloon ripped leaving him clinging to the laddered wall (?) in a rather fetching but impractical leather gloves. Rather than take them off, he waited for Codal to throw him a rope) and Taron and Rebec threw rocks down the shaft defeating the Dalek.
In the jungle they first bumped into Jo (cue awful dialogue) then Vaber and Latep (astonishingly lucky since, as everyone knows, Jungle is massive) and they wandered off to the Plain Of Stones to keep warm for the night. This was interspersed with dull sequences of the Daleks going on about a deadly bacteria they're cultivating which will wipe out all lif of the panet, bar themselves and their Spiridon slaves who I doubt will appreciate the decimation of their home planet and, since they're invisible sans Purple Cloaks I'm sure they'd soon have their Masters wiped out.
That said, why haven't they already?
Also, in another flash of bad scripting, Taron had a go at lover Rebec for coming to Spiridon and 'compromising' his ability to lead (like she knew he'd be in charge by the time she got there, as if that should even be a point) and she just conceded!!! I'd've smacked him one for being such a sexist and brainless twat!
Then Vaber and Taron had a fight because Vaber doesn't feel Taron should lead (don't blame him!) and he fucked off to blow the Daleks up with the last two bombs that Jo saved when the Daleks went to find them (using the map from last week) while everyone slept. The cliffhanger was him getting caught by some Spiridons.
All said not great, but despite this I feel it was better than last week. And at least the Doctor explained to Jo that the Time Lords brought the TARDIS here following the Dalek ship from the Ogron planet (oh look, a bit of continuity!).
Planet Of The Daleks: Episode Five (05/05/13)
Disappointingly slow and dull this week. Taron and Codal followed Vaber and the Spiridons who met up with a Dalek. Vaber made a run for it and was exterminated, but Taron and Codal grabbed the bombs and some fetching Purple Spiridon Cloaks and headed back to the Plain Of Stones with a Dalek Patrol in tow.
There was a lot of dull stuff back at the Stones, and Wester (Jo's Spiridon mate) turned up briefly. Jo and Latep distracted the two Patrol Daleks while the Doctor formed a plan and they ended up on location where they pushed the Daleks into a pool of sub-zero molten ice which killed them (?). Jo's hair went straight on location - obviously no hairdresser that day. Then the Doctor, Taron and Codal donned their furry Spiridon Cloaks and put Rebec in a Dalek casing and infiltrated Dalek HQ in time to see Wester (though fuck knows how the Doctor knew it was Wester) release the Dalek virus in the sealed laboratory, trapping the Daleks inside and killing himself (inexplicably becoming visible when he was dead), meaning the virus was trapped in there as well...
The episode ended with a Dalek realising there were impostors after seeing Taron'shush puppies loafers space-shoes. Can't wait for this one to finish as it's really started to drag now.
Planet Of The Daleks: Episode Six (12/05/13)
The Doctor chucked his cloak over a Dalek and they escaped.
They made their way down to the refrigeration chamber (pursued by Daleks) and waited for Jo and Latep. Then, in an exciting turn of events, a Dalek ship arrived containing a fancy new gold and black Dalek from the Supreme Council - he's got chunky ear-lights and a flashing torch for an eyestalk. Jo and Latep joined the others, they blew up a wall in the cavern and molten ice flowed in covering the waking Dalek army, then they legged it to the Supreme Dalek's ship. Jo, unsurprisingly, didn't choose to go back with Latep, the Thals all left after a Pertwee Moment Of Charm, and the Daleks chased the Doctor and Jo to the TARDIS, insisting they were only delayed.
Meanwhile, in the TARDIS, Jo stated she wanted to go home. Don't blame her after this mish-mash of a story. It started off promisingly, but got lost and a bit naff. Seems like Terry Nation has forgotten how to write for his creations. To be fair, I can't say he ever did know. Every decent Dalek story bar the Invasion of Earth was written by somebody else! And it all seemed very familiar, what with alien jungles, invisible aliens, cunning (read 'stupid') Dalek plans, Ian/Rebec hiding inside a Dalek casing, and underground bases. Considering this was the anniversary Dalek story it was rather disappointing and outclassed by the last episode of 'Frontier In Space'! And there never was a resolution to the Master's involvement!
I hope that's the last we'll see of the Daleks (a la Terry Nation, at least) but doubt I'll be that lucky. On the plus side, next week can't be any worse!
So, having sent his message, the Doctor promptly went into a freezing coma (on his fancy new pull-out Ikea bed) and told Jo to record anything important in the TARDIS Log (which seems to have been cobbled together using circuits and an empty cassette box) from the cupboard above the bed (in his fancy new Ikea unit).
The TARDIS has arrived on a Jungle Planet - Spiridon - and Jo's gone out to explore, hoping to find the Doctor a doctor. Instead, she got jizzed on by an Evil Fungus Plant and found the crashed spaceship of a band of Thals. Having persuaded them to go and help the Doctor, she hid in their ship, successfully concealing herself from one of the inquisitive, invisible natives, before discovering she had a fungal infection and passing out.
The Thals rescued the Doctor from the TARDIS (now covered in fungus jizz), whom he recognised. They, however, found it hard to believe he's the Doctor who helped them against the Daleks on Skaro as this is now just a legend. They headed off to join Jo but encountered a dying Dalek - that was invisible!!!
The jungle sets are nice with some great sound design, but I have to say - welcome back Terry Nation and his stilted, unrealistic dialogue! To be honest, it's so jarringly awful that it sort of makes it pleasingly alien! It was nice to hear Susan, Ian and Barbara mentioned again, and it's a cool idea bringing back the Thals to fight the Daleks - plus they have quite cool spacesuits - and the Dalek being invisible was a nice touch.
So I imagine this is the planet where the Daleks have their armies. And the Doctor has to stop them! With the help of Thals who have knowledge of 'Space Medicine'. Oh, Mr Nation. Really?
Nonetheless, it's a good start - not convinced about the TARDIS running out of oxygen, but it is Terry Nation - with decent production values. Oh, and finally, didn't Nation's last story feature invisible aliens and Dalek armies plotting on jungle planets? At least there's some continuity, I suppose!
Planet Of The Daleks: Episode Two (14/04/13)
Not bad again, though at one point Jo was surprised to learn there were Daleks on Spiridon. Still, she's not that bright so I can forgive her. The invisible Dalek was dead, so the Thals took the Doctor back to Jo in their spaceship. However, on the way they were approached by some invisible Spiridons and Codal, the Scientist, led them away and got caught and taken to Dalek HQ. Reaching the ship (following a Moment Of Charm with hot-headed Vaber for Mr Pertwee) the Daleks turned up and blew it up, capturing the Doctor when he tried to stop them. So now he thinks Jo is dead (not twigging she may have left when he found the TARDIS Log on the floor outside) when she'd actually been rescued by a Spiridon Freedom Fighter (also invisible) who kindly cured her fungal infection.
Locked up with Codal, the Doctor had another Moment Of Charm regarding bravery before trying to work out a way of escaping. Meanwhile, Vaber and Medic-cum-Leader Taron argued about using their secret stash of explosives and Vaber pulled a gun on his superior. However, they were interrupted by another Thal ship crashing nearby (they've only recently mastered spaceflight and clearly haven't got re-entry and landing figured out yet!). There's three survivors, one being a woman called Rebec who Taron knows and has brought news that rather than the dozen or so Daleks they thought were on Spiridon experimenting on the subjugated population to see how they are invisible, somewhere... "there are 10,000 Daleks!".
So, not bad. Had to agree with Vaber, to be honest, when he questioned why they hadn't already blown up the dozen Daleks instead of being cautious and losing over half their crew, but whatever. Oh, and the Doctor has a spare Sonic Screwdriver! Having left the other one on the Lunar Prison he pulled an identical one out of his pocket whilst banged up with Codal! Still interesting, though definitely need to see a few more Daleks!
Planet Of The Daleks: Episode Three (21/04/13)
Not too bad this week. The Doctor and Codal escaped from their cell using the Doctor's modified Log (which fried the Dalek's brain but got trashed in the process). Meanwhile, Taron, Rebec and one of the new Thal survivors attempted to access Dalek HQ via the planet's Ice Corridors - the centre of Spiridon is molten ice, apparently, and the Daleks have drilled through to the natural ice-vents to use as air conditioning or something. Also, Jo hid in a big basket the slave Spiridons were using to take the Daleks plant samples and accessed Dalek HQ that way, listened to what they were talking about and then left again.
An Ice Eruption began and the Thals managed to reach a vent in the HQ just as the Doctor and Codal were passing (conveniently), accessed the HQ and were chased by Daleks into a room holding a refrigeration unit. Thal Extra stupidly got himself exterminated and let the Daleks get their plungers on the map showing where they'd hidden their bombs (idiot!), the Doctor found a massive cave containing what was visibly very much less than 10,000 Daleks while the Thals prepared to exit via the chimney (for want of a better description), floating away on hot air using a big sheet of plastic - but the Daleks have almost cut through the locked door!
So, like I said, not bad. Jo didn't do much, and Vaber disappeared with the only other survivor of the newly crashed Thal ship, but on the whole pretty good. Nice ice passages and cool molten ice (fnar). The Daleks were a bit useless, but I've come to expect that from a Terry Nation script. Looking forward to the Doctor and the Thals floating to freedom next week.
Planet Of The Daleks: Episode Four (28/04/13)
"And then I got rescued by this bowl..."
I'd forgotten forgotten how Terry Nation's scripts so regularly plumbed the depths of inanity as far as dialogue goes. I'd like to think this was an improvised Jo-ism by Katy Manning but I'm afraid that line wan't the worst dire-logue this week!
Escaping up a chimney, the Doctor, Rebec, Taron and Codal were followed by a Dalek on an anti-grav disc. They reached the top first (the Doctor struggling when their plastic balloon ripped leaving him clinging to the laddered wall (?) in a rather fetching but impractical leather gloves. Rather than take them off, he waited for Codal to throw him a rope) and Taron and Rebec threw rocks down the shaft defeating the Dalek.
In the jungle they first bumped into Jo (cue awful dialogue) then Vaber and Latep (astonishingly lucky since, as everyone knows, Jungle is massive) and they wandered off to the Plain Of Stones to keep warm for the night. This was interspersed with dull sequences of the Daleks going on about a deadly bacteria they're cultivating which will wipe out all lif of the panet, bar themselves and their Spiridon slaves who I doubt will appreciate the decimation of their home planet and, since they're invisible sans Purple Cloaks I'm sure they'd soon have their Masters wiped out.
That said, why haven't they already?
Also, in another flash of bad scripting, Taron had a go at lover Rebec for coming to Spiridon and 'compromising' his ability to lead (like she knew he'd be in charge by the time she got there, as if that should even be a point) and she just conceded!!! I'd've smacked him one for being such a sexist and brainless twat!
Then Vaber and Taron had a fight because Vaber doesn't feel Taron should lead (don't blame him!) and he fucked off to blow the Daleks up with the last two bombs that Jo saved when the Daleks went to find them (using the map from last week) while everyone slept. The cliffhanger was him getting caught by some Spiridons.
All said not great, but despite this I feel it was better than last week. And at least the Doctor explained to Jo that the Time Lords brought the TARDIS here following the Dalek ship from the Ogron planet (oh look, a bit of continuity!).
Planet Of The Daleks: Episode Five (05/05/13)
Disappointingly slow and dull this week. Taron and Codal followed Vaber and the Spiridons who met up with a Dalek. Vaber made a run for it and was exterminated, but Taron and Codal grabbed the bombs and some fetching Purple Spiridon Cloaks and headed back to the Plain Of Stones with a Dalek Patrol in tow.
There was a lot of dull stuff back at the Stones, and Wester (Jo's Spiridon mate) turned up briefly. Jo and Latep distracted the two Patrol Daleks while the Doctor formed a plan and they ended up on location where they pushed the Daleks into a pool of sub-zero molten ice which killed them (?). Jo's hair went straight on location - obviously no hairdresser that day. Then the Doctor, Taron and Codal donned their furry Spiridon Cloaks and put Rebec in a Dalek casing and infiltrated Dalek HQ in time to see Wester (though fuck knows how the Doctor knew it was Wester) release the Dalek virus in the sealed laboratory, trapping the Daleks inside and killing himself (inexplicably becoming visible when he was dead), meaning the virus was trapped in there as well...
The episode ended with a Dalek realising there were impostors after seeing Taron's
Planet Of The Daleks: Episode Six (12/05/13)
The Doctor chucked his cloak over a Dalek and they escaped.
They made their way down to the refrigeration chamber (pursued by Daleks) and waited for Jo and Latep. Then, in an exciting turn of events, a Dalek ship arrived containing a fancy new gold and black Dalek from the Supreme Council - he's got chunky ear-lights and a flashing torch for an eyestalk. Jo and Latep joined the others, they blew up a wall in the cavern and molten ice flowed in covering the waking Dalek army, then they legged it to the Supreme Dalek's ship. Jo, unsurprisingly, didn't choose to go back with Latep, the Thals all left after a Pertwee Moment Of Charm, and the Daleks chased the Doctor and Jo to the TARDIS, insisting they were only delayed.
Meanwhile, in the TARDIS, Jo stated she wanted to go home. Don't blame her after this mish-mash of a story. It started off promisingly, but got lost and a bit naff. Seems like Terry Nation has forgotten how to write for his creations. To be fair, I can't say he ever did know. Every decent Dalek story bar the Invasion of Earth was written by somebody else! And it all seemed very familiar, what with alien jungles, invisible aliens, cunning (read 'stupid') Dalek plans, Ian/Rebec hiding inside a Dalek casing, and underground bases. Considering this was the anniversary Dalek story it was rather disappointing and outclassed by the last episode of 'Frontier In Space'! And there never was a resolution to the Master's involvement!
I hope that's the last we'll see of the Daleks (a la Terry Nation, at least) but doubt I'll be that lucky. On the plus side, next week can't be any worse!
This really is Terry Nation's laziest script, and that's a title for which there's a lot of competition. Everyone's a cipher, every situation's stock and, as you rightly point out, just about every line's dire-logue. There are some memorable set-pieces but that's not nearly enough to save the weakest story in a long time.
ReplyDeleteWith the benefit of distance, I still like this story despite its faults - it's Jon and Katy so you can't really go far wrong - but given the fact that Nation had a hissyfit about the BBC getting Louis Marks to (rather spectacularly, all said) resurrect the Daleks rather than turn to their creator (I wonder why?) he really does do a half-arsed job here. Literally everything is either generic boys-own stuff or a rehash of something from one of Nation's previous scripts. Which is basically what he made a career of, I guess, but even so! He's been commissioned to write a Dalek story for the show's 10th Anniversary Season, returning him to the series after seven years and some considerable time failing to get a Dalek TV series launched in the States; part of me wants to believe he intentionally made it a 'Daleks' Best Bits' story, but we know all too well that he was an ideas man, and those ideas all came from a very shallow well. 'Planet Of The Daleks' isn't awful. It's a colour-by-numbers Terry Nation script which is inoffensive and does what it needs to do. It will never be a Classic, it fails to deliver what was set up in 'Frontier In Space' in the same way that 'Frontier In Space' failed to develop beyond creating a believable world that the Doctor and Jo kept getting incarcerated in, and despite being visually great, it exposes the weaknesses in Nation's narration.
DeleteAt best this is a fun run-around, and at worst it's a fun run-around, which isn't a bad thing for a Doctor Who story to be.