"When we start acting and thinking like the Daleks [...] the battle is lost."
Of all things, the first thing that it occurred to me to note is that "Spiridon" might be the series' most mispronounced word at this point, as it's rendered as "SPEE-ri-don" by both Sylvester McCoy and Jenna Coleman later on. It's not that hard, surely? Are we poor beleaguered fans the only ones who care?!
Histrionics aside, this story gets a lot of stick from some for hewing so close to the original serial, The Daleks, from 1963-64. True enough, the usual Terry-isms are most assuredly present - a character named Taron, a jungle with killer plants, invisible aliens - but as has been pointed out in this thread previously, all writers have their own idiosyncrasies, and Nation's are hardly the worst. Far from it, I was actually delighted to have this familiarity here, given that this is the show's tenth season, and it is consciously trying to be an anniversary year. Besides, there is a type of story that Nation is definitively the best at, namely a classic adventure romp with a few dark elements, which is precisely what this is.
This serial starts off at its best, with the Doctor knackered in the TARDIS and Jo left to fend for herself. I positively adore the scenes of her exploring the jungle of Spiridon while nervously recording her experiences in the tape log. To be honest, I almost wish the story had continued in that vein and let it be Jo's show, giving Jon Pertwee a bit of a holiday. I guess that's what Companion Chronicles are there for. As it is, it's a strikingly good introduction to what quickly becomes a less remarkable, but still good, story.
We're reintroduced to the Thals for the first time since the original Dalek serial. Since this takes hundreds of years later, it begs the question of how they've coexisted with the Daleks on Skaro for so long without one of them exterminating the other. This matter is mostly shrugged off, and it's nice enough to hear that they still remember the visit of the Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Susan after so long. Our Thals are somewhat more memorable than most of the original lot, though the decision to give them all the same sort of hair made my efforts to keep track of them all a bit difficult. Although they're more or less human (and even seemingly themselves refer to some of their tendencies as "human", puzzlingly enough) there are a few moments to remind us that they're from another planet, such as when Latep is confused by Jo's offer of a handshake.
The Doctor's reaction when Jo is seemingly blown up by Daleks is just heartbreaking, and the look on his face as he listens to her tape log in the cell later is even more so. His conversation with Codal about bravery in that cell is justifiably lauded by many, as it's quite good.
Latep experiences the most perfunctory romantic brush-off from a companion so far. It kind of echoes Barbara and Ganatus, but perhaps a little less subtle. Poor fellow, he's hardly asked her to return to Skaro with him before she's shaking her head no, kisses him on the cheek, and is off. Nevertheless, we latter-day viewers know that it's not long before Jo will be faced with this same decision again and give a different answer. At the same time, a slightly more edifying moment comes when the Doctor gravely warns Taron not to make war sound like an adventure when he returns home, and to prioritize the memory of those they lost. It's a nice message, echoing and contrasting Ian extolling the Thals to fight in The Daleks, which we recall that Nation had some regrets about writing. It's nice that he takes the chance to subvert it here.
This story fails to pick up on the threads left over by Frontier in Space, as the Dalek invasion preparations described here don't seem to have a credible link to the previous story and could easily be standalone. Still, I can't exactly fault Planet of the Daleks for not being a proper sequel; I'd be more inclined to blame Frontier for failing to wrap its own threads up. It's to be expected when the two stories are written by different writers in an age before proper series arcs.
All in all, as is expected, we get another solid and dependable, but not extraordinary, script from Mr. Nation. I can find no particular fault with this one.
Before concluding the season, we'll be taking another audio adventure next, with Ghost in the Machine.
(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 7 April 2021.)
No comments:
Post a Comment