Written by Terry Nation, Sydney Newman, and Donald Wilson
Directed by David Maloney

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series which has been around off and on since 1963. The main character is just known as “The Doctor” and is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. This means he travels through time to various places. One of his favorite places to visit is Earth. Typically, he has a companion traveling with him, usually female, sometimes male, sometimes one of each. He travels in a time machine known as a TARDIS which is disguised as a British Police booth.   

A Time Lord can regenerate if fatally wounded, which has accounted for all the different actors who have played The Doctor throughout the years. This was the era of the third Doctor, portrayed by Jon Pertwee. He’s been pretty much confined to Earth by the Time Lords as a sort of punishment and has been working closely with UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Task Force).  To that end, his companion for this adventure is Katy Manning as Jo Grant.

Following the events of Frontier in Space, the Doctor apparently falls into a coma upon entering the TARDIS. The TARDIS takes him and Jo to a jungle planet, Spiridon.  As the Doctor heals, Jo explores the planet.  It turns out to be inhabited by Thals from the planet Skaro, which is the home planet of the Daleks.  The original inhabitants of Spiridon have been enslaved by the Daleks that the Thals were pursuing when they crashed here.  Those Daleks have crafted a giant army that they are planning to use to take over the galaxy if the Doctor and the Thals can’t stop them.

Planet of the Daleks was interesting on many levels.  For one, it was the rare Jon Pertwee story arc that didn’t take place on Earth and involved UNIT.  Second, it was six parts (about 25 minutes each) and really had a simplistic storyline that was less complicated than many of the modern stories that take place over just a one-hour time frame.  At the same time, it managed to keep the suspense going and the interest level high.  The story was written by Terry Nation, who penned many story arcs in the series and is credited with creating the Daleks.

One of the reasons this works so well is because the story has a fresh feeling to it.  With the Doctor confined to Earth for so long, a story arc that takes him off-world is like a breath of fresh air.  Add to that the return of a familiar villain in the Daleks and you have the making of a terrific story.  Katy Manning gives a great performance here, convincing the audience that the idea of being on a different, strange world is exciting to Jo as she explores her environment and has encounters on her own.

The acting here is good.  Pertwee and Manning thrive being in a different environment than UNIT headquarters.  Pertwee loved doing action shots and though there’s not a tremendous amount of it here, it’s quite obvious he’s having some fun.  The guest cast is good, fitting in quite nicely with the two of them throughout the story.

However, if there was ever a story arc that encompassed what endeared fans to the series with the cheap special effects, Planet of the Daleks would be it.  The alleged rocks on the planet are quite obviously Styrofoam and regularly bounce off of the various actors.  The Daleks themselves look as if they are having issues just making it through the story, never mind threatening the galaxy.  These are the things that have fans of the series chuckling as they watch, while at the same time, it was something we loved about the series.  The Thals look less like aliens and more like humans who made bad clothing choices.

The DVD release is loaded with special features, like all of the classic Doctor Who serials. Even the cheesiest story arcs benefit from the packaging that the BBC has done with the series, and for this one it’s terrific.  The commentary was worth watching the entire six episodes a second time just to hear.  There are a couple of featurettes and I enjoyed the look at a technique called multi-colourisation.

Planet of the Daleks was a wonderful story arc with a few short-comings.  Overall, though, it works quite well and is an enjoyable look at the classic series.  It’s great for someone who hasn’t seen the Pertwee-era Doctor Who and who isn’t familiar with the whole UNIT storyline as it has more of a feel of what fans are generally used to from the series.


SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Commentary with Producer Barry Letts, Script Editor Terrence Dicks, Tim Preece, Prentiss Hancock, Katy Manning
• The Perfect Scenario: The End of Dreams
• The Rumble in the Jungle
• Multi-Colourisation
• Stripped for Action: The Daleks
• Blue Peter
• Photo Galley
• PDF Materials