Line #54 Recap/DoctorWhoS10E4PlanetOfTheDaleks


1	[[WMG:[[center:[-''[[Series/DoctorWho Doctor Who]]'' [[Recap/DoctorWho recap index]]\
2	'''Third Doctor Era'''\
3	'''Season 10:''' [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E1TheThreeDoctors 1]] \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E2CarnivalOfMonsters 2]] \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E3FrontierInSpace 3]] \| '''4''' \| [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E5TheGreenDeath 5]]\
4	'''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E1DayOfTheDaleks <<< Season 9]]''' \| '''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E1TheTimeWarrior Season 11 >>>]]''']]-]]]
5	!Planet of the Daleks
6	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/purple_852.jpg]]
7	[[caption-width-right:350:Using [[Series/SesameStreet Cookie Monster]] pelts as camouflage wasn't the Doctor's ''smartest'' move...]]
8	->Written by Creator/TerryNation\
9	Directed by David Maloney\
10	'''Production code:''' SSS\
11	'''Air dates:''' 7 April - 12 May 1973\
12	'''Number of episodes:''' 6
13
14	->''"You know, for a man who abhors violence, I took great satisfaction in doing that."''
15	-->-- '''The Doctor''' surveys the smoking remains of a Dalek
16
17	JustForFun/TheOneWith killer insulation foam and the invisible [[Series/SesameStreet Cookie Monsters]].
18
19	And chances are, [[RecycledScript if you pay enough attention]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks you might get déjà vu.]]
20	----
21
22	The TARDIS lands in a forbidding jungle, but with the Doctor seriously injured and slipping into a coma (thanks to being shot by the Master in the fallout of the latter's [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E3FrontierInSpace terrorism plot with the Daleks]]), Jo sets out to see if she can find help. She comes across a party of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks Thals]], and stays in hiding aboard their crashed spaceship while they go to help the Doctor. After they have treated him, they tell him that they have travelled to this planet, Spiridon, to destroy a group of Daleks who have come to try and uncover the secrets of invisibility discovered by the natives. Any relation to the aforementioned Dalek/Master conspiracy is nonexistent, other than the presence of Daleks doing Dalek things and the Doctor & Jo being caught in the mix.
23
24	Another Thal ship arrives and crashes (the Thals are evidently not great pilots) and the survivors tell of a force of ten thousand Daleks somewhere on Spiridon. The Doctor and the Thals find the Daleks in suspended animation in a cavern below the planet's surface. Using explosives, they blow up a rock wall separating the cavern from one of the planet's ice volcanoes, and the Daleks are destroyed.
25
26	The Supreme Dalek and his guards arrive on the planet, only to be stranded as the Thals steal their spaceship and the Doctor and Jo leave in the TARDIS.
27	----
28	The story got an [[GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion effects beef-up]] in the 2019 Season 10 Blu-Ray box set.
29
30	!!Tropes
31	* AlmostOutOfOxygen: The TARDIS is sealed in sap from the hostile plants outside, causing the Doctor to nearly suffocate as he never bothered to replenish the emergency oxygen supply. Never mind that the TARDIS is a spacecraft, so should have a sealed environmental system.
32	* AuthorAppeal: Plagues become a part of Creator/TerryNation's SignatureStyle in this story. They would feature in each of his subsequent stories for ''Who'': "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E3DeathToTheDaleks Death to the Daleks"]], "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks]]", and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E4TheAndroidInvasion The Android Invasion]]", as well as ''Series/{{Survivors}}''. The only one not covered by this is "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E1DestinyOfTheDaleks Destiny of the Daleks]]", though a SyntheticPlague targeting the Daleks would appear in that one's [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E4ResurrectionOfTheDaleks sequel]].
33	* AuthorTract: As discussed on a DVD extra, there is a strong criticism of the Vietnam War within the plot, with the Daleks at the Americans and the Thals as the North Vietnamese, with the plague the Daleks create to destroy the jungle being an allegory for Agent Orange.
34	* {{Balloonacy}}: The Doctor and a group of Thals escape from the lowest level of the Dalek city by making a hot air balloon from plastic sheeting and being carried up an air shaft.
35	* BigBad: The Dalek Supreme calls the shots and arrives later in the story, oddly he has no contact with The Doctor throughout the whole episode until he nearly shoots The Doctor and Jo at the end.
36	* BottomlessMagazines: Strangely averted with the Thals' energy weapons. When defending themselves from the jungle animals, every single Thal runs out of shots.
37	* CallBack:
38	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E5TheDaemons Jo mentions in the log that she had seen the Doctor recover once before after a sudden rise in temperature]].
39	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks The Doctor's legs are temporarily paralysed by a Dalek blast, just like Ian when he first encountered them. Also, Rebec disguises herself in a Dalek casing like Ian did]].
40	** Upon meeting the Thals, the Doctor mentions the events of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks "The Daleks"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E9TheEvilOfTheDaleks "The Evil of the Daleks"]]. He also mentions Susan, Ian and Barbara.
41	* ContinuityNod: The events of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks The Daleks]]" are referred back to; Taron refers to those events with the Doctor as being part of the Thals' legend, and the Doctor mentions being part of the Thal group that broke into the Dalek city and name-drops Ian, Barbara and Susan as his companions on that occasion.
42	* CowardlyLion: The Doctor urges this on Codal while they are both imprisoned not to think himself such a coward. He even assures Codal that what he did was true bravery.
43	-->'''The Doctor''': Courage isn't just a matter of not being frightened, you know.\
44	'''Codal''': What is it, then? \
45	'''The Doctor''': It's being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway, just as you did.
46	* DisneyDeath: The Doctor believes Jo has been killed when the Daleks blow up the Thal spaceship in which she was hiding. In fact, she had been rescued at the last minute by a Spiridon named Wester.
47	* DividedForPublication: This serial was written as parts 7-12 of "Frontier in Space" before the production team ultimately decided to bill it as its own, interconnected story.
48	* TheEndOrIsIt: The Dalek Supreme gives orders for his army to be [[HarmlessFreezing freed from the ice]]. "WE HAVE BEEN DELAYED BUT NOT DEFEATED. ''THE DALEKS ARE NEVER DEFEATED!''"
49	%%* GlowingEyes: The local beasts, about their campfire.
50	%%** TheDarknessGazesBack: Quite blatantly [[SpecialEffectsFailure prop lights]][[invoked]]. You can't really blame the primitive effects, it being TheSeventies and all.
51	* HarmlessFreezing: The Daleks can be thawed without issue. However, sudden freezing ''does'' kill the Dalek inside its casing. At the end of the story the Supreme Dalek is giving orders for rescue ships to be sent to [[TheEndOrIsIt free his army from the ice]].
52	%%* InvisibleMonsters: The Spiridons. The Daleks are trying to imitate them.
53	%%* KillItWithIce: Though the Daleks may not be dead.
54	%%* MadeASlave: The Spiridons.
55	* JerkassHasAPoint: Vaber is not very nice and stupid HotBlooded but he isn't wrong to point out that if they have no way back to Skaro they may as well take risks when fighting the Daleks.
56	* OffTheShelfFX:
57	** Commercially available Louis Marx Daleks were used to simulate the Dalek army, a technique previously used in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E9TheEvilOfTheDaleks The Evil of the Daleks]]".
58	** The "ears" of the supreme Dalek? Those are just two random jam jars stuck on at pretty much the last minute in order to make it look slightly more regal.
59	* PeopleOfHairColour: As was the case [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks the last time we saw them]], the Thals are all blond.
60	* PoorCommunicationKills: Two Daleks set the Thals' supply of explosives to detonate in order to deprive them of them. Apparently the message that there was going to be an explosion in the area didn't get passed on: Two more Daleks, racing to intercept the Doctor's party, end up passing the last bomb just as it goes off and getting destroyed.
61	* PragmaticVillainy: When the Daleks are preparing to release their bacterial bomb, they administer vaccine to all their forces, including their Spiridon slave workers. This is not so much out of compassion but rather that they still need a cheap labour force to do the heavy work for them.
62	* RippedFromTheHeadlines: It's been suggested that this story was inspired by UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar.
63	%%* RockBeatsLaser: It helps to have gravity on its side.
64	* SamePlotSequel: The story is notoriously a near-remake of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks the first Dalek story]]: Thals versus Daleks on a planet full of random monsters, with the Daleks planning to do something that will make it inhospitable to everyone but them.
65	* ScienceFictionWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: The Dalek's plan to conquer the galaxy with ten thousand Daleks.
66	* SeeTheInvisible: The Thals have a spray (effectively black spray paint) that can reveal invisible Daleks.
67	* SelfPlagiarism: Creator/TerryNation rehashed the plot of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks The Daleks]]": a group of Daleks in a city encountering the Thals on a ravaged planet; a deadly plague instead of a neutron bomb; someone using a Dalek shell as a disguise; the Doctor imprisoned in a cell and with paralysed legs; and the Daleks imprisoned in their city at the end of the story.
68	* SequelEpisode:
69	** This is a direct sequel to "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks The Daleks]]", showing what had happened to the Thals after the Doctor met them.
70	** It also follows directly on from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E3FrontierInSpace Frontier in Space]]", as the Dalek army is the one they were planning to use to invade the galaxy after Earth and Draconia had destroyed each other. The first episode even reprises the closing moments of "Frontier in Space" like a typical mid-serial episode. Of note is that the two stories were originally intended to be billed as one twelve-part serial (which would've tied it with [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan "The Daleks' Master Plan"]] for the position of longest story by episode count) before being DividedForPublication as two interconnected six-parters.
71	%%* SlaveRace: The Spiridons.
72	* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Aside from Jo, Rebec is the only female character in the story. Rebec was included at the insistence of Creator/BarryLetts and Creator/TerranceDicks, who wanted female characters on screen for visual variety and for the female audience members.
73	* SomebodySetUpUsTheBomb: The plan to defeat the Daleks ultimately boils down to planting a bomb behind enemy lines in such a way as to incapacitate the Dalek army.
74	* StupidSacrifice: Not only does Marat's attempted HeroicSacrifice do absolutely nothing to delay the Daleks, it very nearly screws over the Thals completely, since the Daleks find the location of the Thals' explosive charges on his body. Only Jo's quick thinking prevents disaster for the Thal expedition.
75	%%* SuicideMission: What the Thals think they face. For most of them it's right.
76	%%* SyntheticPlague: The Daleks are planning to use one to wipe out the Thal intruders on the planet.
77	%%* TechnicalPacifist: see page quote.
78	* TheresNoPlaceLikeHome: At the end of the story Jo just wants to return to Earth, rejecting romance with Latep or more adventures with the Doctor.
79	* TheXOfY: Humorously, "Planet" and "Daleks" are the most common X and Y. Really, this is the archetypical ''Doctor Who'' title!
80	* TrappedInContainment: The Daleks in the bacterial lab, again, since they are immune to the virus. Worse, [[SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere they can never leave their confinement.]]
81	** PlotHole: Note that the project leader was trapped in the lab, but an identical project leader is later in another room being exterminated by the Dalek Supreme. Either he suddenly gained magical escaping powers, or this second Dalek was the victim of a poorly-timed promotion.
82	%%* TrojanPrisoner: Used by the Doctor, Jo, the Thals and some Spiridon rebels to infiltrate the caves.
83	* {{Tuckerization}}: Rebec was named after Creator/TerryNation's daughter Rebecca.
84	* VisibleInvisibility: Spiridons move bushes, wear coats or wave objects around, so we know they're there. If they perish, however, they turn completely visible. Their intangibility is biologically generated- those biological functions stop, so does it.
85	* WhamLine: "Somewhere on this planet are ten thousand Daleks!"
86	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Despite his having played a major part in setting the stage for the Dalek invasion of the galaxy, the Master is conspicuously absent, and only briefly mentioned near the start of the story. In fact, Creator/RogerDelgado would never play the role again from this point onwards (due to his tragic death in a car crash between Seasons 10 and 11), with the Master not appearing again until just before the midway point of Creator/TomBaker's run as the Doctor.
87	%%* WorthLivingFor: Latep is afraid after he finds this in Jo and realises the arrival of the Dalek Supreme's ship gives the Thals a way off the planet.

Context Recap / DoctorWhoS10E4PlanetOfTheDaleks