cheesy, but tasty morsel!

This story does an astonishing job of making a small studio set for a jungle planet (which has a studio sky and the plants are in visible pots!!) seem like it is enormous enough to run around in while Daleks chase after you. The whole production looks second rate by even the cheap standards of 70s Dr.Who and the script is just another Terry Nation recycling of his earlier stories. But it still manages to be a lot of fun and adventure, especially if watched as the second half of the epic which began with the Frontier in Space.
One thing Nation writes is great first episodes (makes me wonder how good his stories could have been if he'd left out the Daleks altogther once or twice!). This one is great (though Terrance Dicks apparently rewrote much of part one). With the Doctor out cold, Jo gets to be the lead actor for an episode, recoding her thoughts in the pocket sized recording machine that passes for the Tardis log (the prop's just an audio casset box!). Jo explores and records her thoughts and observations and gets into trouble with invisible aliens and killer plants. Katy Manning must have enjoyed this chance to use her acting skills and it is good, if a little stagey. Pertwee ultimately comes alive and strolls through the rest of the tale with customary class. There's a few dodgy bits, but plenty to enjoy. Ignore the plot about 10,000 Daleks off to conquer the Universe with one space ship, it would take an army of trillions to conquer even a small part of a galaxy, but what the hey, this is fun in a Buck Rogers sort of way, and should be enjoyed on that level.

A tribute to the first Daleks story

Planet Of The Daleks picks up where Frontier In Space ended. The Doctor has been wounded and after being helped into the TARDIS by Jo, sends a telepathic message to the Time Lords before collapsing. After landing, Jo goes out for help in a hostile jungle where bizarre plants squirt nasty spores at her.

The Time Lords have sent him to Spiridon, described as "one of the nastiest pieces of space garbage in the ninth system. The vegetation is more like animal life than plant, creatures that are hostile to everything including themselves, and a climate that changes from tropical during the day to subfreezing in the night."

That analysis was given by one of a trio of Thals who rescue the Doctor from near oxygen starvation. They initially don't trust him, but they team up to fight against Daleks planning to master invisibility, that's a potential ten thousand Daleks who will conquer the galaxy if they succeed. Of the Thals, Tarron is the cautious leader, Vaber is impatient, wanting action, Codal is scared but courageous, and Latep, has a goofy look on his face when he sees Jo and is smitten.

The Doctor plays counselor to the people he met during his first incarnation. He gives the self-doubting Codal a "tutorial on bravery." "Courage isn't just a matter of not being frightened. It's being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway." When Tarron is worried that his lover Rebec being part of the team would affect his command decisions, he is told: "The business of command is not for a machine. The moment we forget we're dealing with people, we're no better than the machines we came to destroy. If we start acting and thinking like the Daleks, the battle is lost." And to the follies of glorifying war: "Be careful how you tell that story [of war]. Don't make war sound like an exciting or thrilling game. Tell them about the fear, otherwise your people might relish the idea of war. We don't want that." No, and neither should we.

The jungle set is really well-realized, as well as the design of the exotic plants. However, the creatures' eyes on the Plane of Stones are clearly lights flicked on and off.

Bernard Horsfall (Tarron) would play Goth in The Deadly Assassin, and Prentis Hancock's Vaber is a warmup for his role as Salamar in Planet Of Evil. Roy Skelton has double duty providing Dalek voices and playing the friendly Spiridon native Wester.

This is a fond tribute to the very first Dalek story, and that's what makes this story successful. There are repeated references and themes to the first Dalek story, beginning with his mention of how he, Barbara, Ian, and Susan, helped the Thals against the Daleks. Another is the Daleks disabling their victims rather than killing, and there are many more--see how many you can find. And since Episode 3 is shown in black-and-white (guess what the BBC did with the colour original?) that's a reminder of how old William Hartnell stories were seen.

One of the best of the Pertwee Years.

I have little to add to the comprehensive reviews already recorded here.

I am in total agreement about this being one of the best Dalek adventures and as usual the realisation that there are too many episodes. That was one innovation of the Pertwee years that did not work, despite the good intentions. Stretching out the show to the equivalent of a full length movie is a good idea provide that you have the resources to back it up.

The other aspect of this is, as another reviewer has reported, the unfortunate and untimely death of Roger Delgado a.k.a 'The Master', the villain that everyone loved so much. This threw a major spanner in the works as the season in question, Pertwee's last, was essentially conceived of in it's entirety. Planet of the Daleks suffers from a continuity break due to his death and the following story, the Green Deathis conspicuous for having no continuity at all.

However, this has got pretty much everything, invisible inhabitants, Daleks, Thals, jungle, ice, monsters in the dark as in the 'Dead Planet', the works. There is of course the love interest and it is a little surprising when Joe decides to leave and return with the Doctor despite the obvious attraction she has for one of the Thal group which is clearly reciprocated.

There is one question that is not answere about Dalek mobility. It is not clear how they can travel around in the jungle or in the rocky terrain, nor is it accounted for in other stories.

Ultimately it does not detract from what is a great story and one of the best Dalek stories ever.

Originally transmitted 7 April through 12 May 1973.