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| And here I thought they'd be revealed as the Yeti... |
PLOT
The TARDIS lands on Spiridon, near a Dalek base where the eponymous monsters concoct a plan to build the greatest Dalek force ever assembled(until the Time War, when they magically got billions of them). The Doctor and Jo team up with a Thal fighting force to stop them.
Although it's fairly innovative for a Dalek story - I liked the use of ice as a weapon, the development of the Thals and the Dalek Supreme, it's still pretty padded, just like the story it pays tribute to(and yes, I know it was written by the same man, but it doesn't feel like a rip-off).
CHARACTERS
Jon Pertwee has some really great moments here, like the scene where he teaches Thal Sidekick about the nature of courage and where he asks Thal Doctor not to promote war back on Skaro.
And yes, I couldn't remember their names. All of the names in this story were terrible.
Whoever operated the Daleks in this story should have been fired. The plungers, fire-arms and eyepieces are constantly fixed in random positions, sometimes laughably(for example, a Dalek is looking at the ceiling whilst talking in one scene). They shake around ridiculously whilst talking and hit the wall at least once. The worst of all is the Dalek Supreme, who has a pretty cool design, but ruins it by flashing his lights as if he was intentionally trying to miss the dialogue.
And why do they all have irises in their eyepieces now? It looks daft. Also, the black makeover makes them look terrible. Daleks should always be golden.
Most of the Thal bunch were forgettable, other than for the always-reliable Bernard Horsfall, whose performance was mostly really strong and understated, except when he starts blaming his wife/girlfriend for distracting him whilst he tries to blow up the Daleks. But that's just the writing.
NOTES
*It seems that I must revise my Dalek Timeline again. First Genesis Of The Daleks, then all the other stories, then The Evil Of The Daleks, then The Daleks and now Planet Of The Daleks. I have no idea how the Daleks can even exist in this story, given that the Thals wiped them out last time, but hey ho. Maybe some of them survived elsewhere. The implication seemed to be that they were gone from Skaro.
*The claustrophobic studio jungle is very reminiscent of Skaro, I must admit.
*Before Jo left the TARDIS, I was convinced that the ship had landed on Skaro and we were going to see a monochrome frozen jungle, like in the original story with black oil being squired around because of the acid lakes and stuff. It looked terrific on the monitor screen. Plus, it would've been both sensical and a great callback to the 1960s era. Shame.
*Oh yeah: why is it called Planet Of The Daleks if the TARDIS never even lands on Skaro?
*It's nice that the Doctor can actually control his flight through time and space now, properly I mean. Not that tumbling about that the First and Second Doctors were stuck with.
*The Dalek army looked fantastic. And scary.
*The Dalek Supreme's ship was gigantic, so how come there were only three Daleks in it?
*Why did the Doctor change costumes whilst suffocating inside the TARDIS? Also, since when does the TARDIS lack in oxygen? What about all those visits to Mars and the moon and planets that don't have oxygen?
*Having the Doctor contact the Time Lords for directions felt wrong.
*Considering that the Thal Romantic Lead only showed up in Episode 6, it seemed quite a leap for him to already ask Jo to come back to Skaro with him.
*It also seemed quite a leap for the Doctor to be OK with it, given how long he and Jo have been together.
*That semi-liquid ice can't really exist, can it? I'm just asking because I've never heard of squishy-jelly ice like that.
BEST QUOTE
"... and then I was rescued by a bowl!"
CONCLUSIONS
It just didn't hold my attention.
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