1. "Attacked by the deadly fungus disease,
Jo grows steadily weaker -
but unexpectedly she finds help.Copy !req
2. "The Doctor and the Thals
continue their search for her
and run into a Dalek ambush.Copy !req
3. "New arrivals from Skaro
bring shattering news." (Radio Times)Copy !req
4. This episode was first shown
on 14 April, 1973
and was seen by 10.7 million viewers.Copy !req
5. Terry Nation's draft title
for this episode was:Copy !req
6. MISSION SURVIVALCopy !req
7. The spraying sequence
didn't work on the first attempt
and had to be remounted on 19 February
in the final studio session.Copy !req
8. It was shot out of doors, against
two nine-metre yellow CSO screens
set up in the inner ring road
of Television Centre.Copy !req
9. A camera was wheeled out, with its cable
snaking back into Studio 1
where the main recording
was taking place.Copy !req
10. The BBC's Vision Manager was concerned
that the camera might be damaged
by stray particles of paint,Copy !req
11. so it was fitted with a lens hood
and took the shots
through a sheet of glass.Copy !req
12. The cameraman was also
under instructions to keep well back!Copy !req
13. The Doctor is less uncertain
in the script:
The transmitter does keep functioning
after deactivation.Copy !req
14. Jo is repelled by the growth on her
arm," says the script,
"and she puts the jacket over it,
as though to hide it from herself.Copy !req
15. "Her attempt to remain factual
and unemotional is too great a strain,"
says the script.Copy !req
16. Vaber is played by Glaswegian actor
Prentis Hancock (born 1942).Copy !req
17. He made 'Planet of the Daleks'
between the 1972 and 1973 series
of Spy Trap, in which he played
an ex-naval field agent.Copy !req
18. David Maloney had worked with him before
in The Last of the Mohicans (1971).Copy !req
19. Maloney cast him
as another fanatical militarist,
Controller Salamar, in the
Doctor Who serial, 'Planet of Evil'.Copy !req
20. At around the same time,
he was a regular character,
Controller Paul Morrow, in the first
series of Space. ; 1999 (1975-6).Copy !req
21. In 2008, he adapted Voltaire's Candide
as a one-man show
at the Edinburgh festival fringe.Copy !req
22. "He is aggressive
and apparently cold-blooded,"
says the script, "courageous
to the point of foolhardiness.Copy !req
23. "However, much of this
is to conceal his own terrors
and fear of the planet Spiridon."Copy !req
24. Originally, the Spiridons
were to be completely invisible
only as a defence mechanism.Copy !req
25. Ordinarily, they would appear
as a "blurred and fuzzy" outline,
neither fully visible nor invisible.Copy !req
26. The production team had worked out
a way of achieving the effect,Copy !req
27. but, in the end,
it was decided that full invisibility
would be less of a hassle in the studio,Copy !req
28. The second Dalek bumps into an obstacle
at the edge of the pathway
and is momentarily knocked off course.Copy !req
29. Vaber adds in the script
that it was Codal
who first noticed the phenomenon.Copy !req
30. Four eye plants were supplied,
at a cost of £200.Copy !req
31. The script specifies
that the tentacle is "snake-like".Copy !req
32. This not only continues the motif of
plant life with animal characteristics,
but also evokes
another common human phobia.Copy !req
33. Fear is a central theme
in Terry Nation's writing.Copy !req
34. He often put his characters
into phobia-inducing situations,
requiring them to conquer their fears
or die.Copy !req
35. He was interested
in the way courage would manifest itself
in a crisis, despite all terror.Copy !req
36. In the script, Jo starts the next scene
by telling her tape recorder
that she has given up
hoping the Thals will come back.Copy !req
37. Katy Manning
suffers from extreme short-sightedness.Copy !req
38. Before each scene,
she would check out the set,
then remove her glasses for the take.Copy !req
39. She did the moves from memory -
but she did bash into the furniture
from time to time.Copy !req
40. The specs were entrusted to
whoever was available in the studio,Copy !req
41. who would stand at the edge of the set,
ready to hand them back
as soon as Katy had finished acting.Copy !req
42. There's about to be a curious mismatch
between the script
and Dudley Simpson's score.Copy !req
43. With the next cut,
we'll be starting a new scene
with an establishing shot,Copy !req
44. but the music continues unbroken,Copy !req
45. then it changes to a new cue
with the second shot of the scene!Copy !req
46. "What are you going to use for a target
if you can't see them?"
Asks the Doctor in the script.Copy !req
47. The plant is manually agitated
from beneath the frame.Copy !req
48. This effect was achieved entirely
by a sophisticated technique
known as acting.Copy !req
49. The floating branch,
however, is animated
by another yellow-clad stage hand,
keyed out with CSO.Copy !req
50. The plan was to show
the unconscious Codal being
bodily carried away by his assailants.Copy !req
51. This proved impossible to achieve
with CSO: Bits of Codal vanished
whenever the "Spiridon"
put his yellow hands on them.Copy !req
52. The CSO system used a specific,
golden shade of yellow -
otherwise Codal's entire spacesuit
would have disappeared!Copy !req
53. A complete Dalek performance
combines the work of two actors:
One moving the prop
and the other doing the voice.Copy !req
54. This line is performed by Michael Wisher
(1935-95), who went on to play Davros
in 'Genesis of the Daleks'.Copy !req
55. This one is Roy Skelton (born 1932),
who turned down the part of Davros
before it was offered to Wisher.Copy !req
56. Skelton also plays Wester
in this serial.Copy !req
57. Both actors had voiced Daleks
once before, Skelton in
'The Evil of the Daleks' (1967) and
Wisher in 'Frontier in Space' (1973).Copy !req
58. Disabling a character's legs was one of
the first things the Daleks ever did
in Doctor Who,
in 'The Survivors' (1963).Copy !req
59. The "negative" effect
was achieved electronically
in the director's control gallery
at the time of recording.Copy !req
60. Jon Pertwee suffered from severe,
long-term spinal problems.Copy !req
61. He was in constant pain
during the latter part of his stint
on Doctor Who.Copy !req
62. The script calls for the Doctor
to show agony, dignity, and "a resolve
that bodes ill for the Daleks".Copy !req
63. The script suggests that the corridors
in the Daleks' base should look as if
they have been carved from solid rock.Copy !req
64. Only one all-purpose corridor set
was built, but the lighting was changed
to suggest different underground levels.Copy !req
65. This was done at the flick of a switch:
The Doctor and the Dalek are in the lift
for just 37 seconds,Copy !req
66. but when the door opens again,
the corridor will be differently lit,
without any need for a recording break
to reset anything.Copy !req
67. The back-lit panels and sound effects
create the illusion
that the lift is going down.Copy !req
68. The camera movement
also disguises the fact
that Jon Pertwee is stock still
on a solid, motionless studio floor.Copy !req
69. Here's some more
imperfect Dalek steering.Copy !req
70. It may be relevant
that one of the operators, Cy Town,
had only been inside a Dalek
once before.Copy !req
71. The Doctor and his friends
also saw the inside of a Dalek cell
in 'The Survivors'.Copy !req
72. This episode was discussed
by BBC executives at their 18 April
programme review meeting.Copy !req
73. Huw Wheldon
(Managing Director of Television) and
Ronald Marsh (Head of Serials) agreed
that the adventure was going well.Copy !req
74. Codal is played by Tim Preece
(born 1938).Copy !req
75. Early in his career, in 1958 and 1960,
he played leading roles at Stratford,
including Truewit
in Ben Jonson's Epicoene,Copy !req
76. in a series of open-air productions
organised by
the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre.Copy !req
77. David Maloney had previously cast him
as the usurping Prince John
in Ivanhoe (1970).Copy !req
78. Codal is an early instance of the kind
of "earnest" or "professorial" role
with which he was later
strongly associated.Copy !req
79. He became best known
as the priggish son-in-law
in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
(1976-7).Copy !req
80. His appearance in the 1982 film version
of Dennis Potter's Brimstone and Treacle
inaugurated a run of vicars,Copy !req
81. notably in Waiting for God (1992-4)
And Just William (1995).Copy !req
82. He also played the Victorian naturalist
Alfred Russel Wallace, the leading role
in The Forgotten Voyage (1982),Copy !req
83. which was the first full-length drama
produced by the BBC's
Natural History Unit.Copy !req
84. Jon Pertwee liked scenes such as this,
which enabled the Doctor to have
what he called his "moment of charm".Copy !req
85. Terry Nation was encouraged
to write in more such moments
in future episodes.Copy !req
86. Nation was interested in heroism
not as an attribute
of improbably fearless supermen,Copy !req
87. but as something
which ordinary people achieve
by rising above their human fears,
failings and limitations.Copy !req
88. His scripts typically isolate
his characters from outside help, like
the Doctor and Codal in the cell here,
or Jo in last week's episode,Copy !req
89. so that they are forced
to draw on their own inner reserves
of intelligence and inventiveness,Copy !req
90. and to make creative use
of whatever they happen to have on them
or can find around them.Copy !req
91. Nation later used this
as the basis of an American series
he helped to develop,
MacGyver (1985-92).Copy !req
92. Jo's voice was pre-recorded
during rehearsals, on 19 January.Copy !req
93. Before working with him on this serial,
David Maloney knew Jon Pertwee
principally as a light comedian,Copy !req
94. so he was struck
by the actor's seriousness
and attention to detail
in approaching his role.Copy !req
95. In the script, the juice is squeezed
out of an alien fruit.Copy !req
96. The two bowls
are matted into the picture
with Colour Separation Overlay.Copy !req
97. In rehearsals, Katy Manning realised
that this was going to be a problem
for her.Copy !req
98. With the floating bowls
on the other side of the studio,
she'd have nothing to give her
an eyeline when she looks at them.Copy !req
99. That's why this is not a CSO shot.Copy !req
100. It was carefully framed
to cut out the dainty fingers
of a floor assistant,Copy !req
101. who nevertheless
casts an all too visible shadow
to the right of the screen.Copy !req
102. Terry Nation had used the name
Fungoids before, in 'The Chase' (1965),Copy !req
103. for a species of giant mushrooms
which live in the jungles
of the planet Mechanus.Copy !req
104. 'Planet of the Daleks' came about
because of a minor misunderstandingCopy !req
105. which surfaced during pre-production
of the previous full-scale
Dalek adventure, 'Day of the Daleks'.Copy !req
106. Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks
had wanted something
to spice up a time paradox storyline
by Louis Marks,Copy !req
107. so they decided to bring back the Daleks
as the villains of the piece.Copy !req
108. But they neglected
to check the copyright situation until
the serial had gone into production.Copy !req
109. Terry Nation
held the rights to the Daleks,
so his permission was required
before the creatures could be used.Copy !req
110. An amicable agreement was struck
which whereby Nation
would write the next Dalek serial,
if he was free,Copy !req
111. and would have first refusal
on any further Dalek adventures
which might be planned thereafter.Copy !req
112. In early 1972,
Nation was between projects,
so 'Planet of the Daleks'
filled the gap.Copy !req
113. He had been working
as associate producer of the ITC
adventure series The Persuaders!
(1971-2),Copy !req
114. but production had ceased,
and the programme
was not renewed for a second series.Copy !req
115. He was also waiting to hear
whether his BBC pilot,
The Incredible Robert Baldick,
would become a full series. (It didn't.)Copy !req
116. At this time, Doctor Who serials
were mainly recorded
as back-to-back pairs of episodes.Copy !req
117. However, a number of scenes
in this serial
were recorded in the studio sessions
for the "wrong" episodes.Copy !req
118. This scene, for instance,
was shot in the session
mainly devoted to Parts 3 and 4.Copy !req
119. The reason was practical and logistical:Copy !req
120. It's this episode's only scene
in the Dalek control room set,
which features more heavily
in the next pair of episodes.Copy !req
121. So by April 1972, it had been agreed
that Terry Nation would be writing
the next Dalek serial.Copy !req
122. He was commissioned
to prepare an outline
for a delivery date of 1 May.Copy !req
123. At that stage,
the serial was to be entitled
'Return of the Daleks'.Copy !req
124. Little else had been decided: It would
probably feature "strange aliens
and/or monsters", and be set
on a "bleak alien planet".Copy !req
125. At first it was mooted
that this should be Skaro -
the planet of the Daleks.Copy !req
126. On 11 May,
Nation was formally commissioned
to write the scripts,
for delivery by 1 August.Copy !req
127. Nation asked to deliver them
all together, a batch of six,
but Terrance Dicks asked him instead
to "drip-feed" them one by one.Copy !req
128. This would enable Dicks to check
that it was progressing as agreed,
fine-tuning during the writing process.Copy !req
129. After each script came in,
he would write back to Nation
with suggestions and requests
for the story's future development.Copy !req
130. In the script, Vaber thinks
the explosion was made by an asteroid.Copy !req
131. In the first Dalek serial,
the Doctor and company also escape
from their cell by immobilising a Dalek.Copy !req
132. They did it by interfering
with its power source
rather than its guidance system.Copy !req
133. Roy Skelton also voiced the characters
of Zippy and George the Hippo
in the pre-school series
Rainbow (1973-92).Copy !req
134. No eyeline problem here:
Katy and the yellow bowl-holder
are both on the same CSO set.Copy !req
135. The Daleks used the very same tactics
against humanity in
'The Dalek Invasion of Earth' (1964).Copy !req
136. Terry Nation was especially interested
in the prospect
of making the Daleks invisible.Copy !req
137. He was so keen on the idea that,
a few years later, he used it again
in the 1976 Dalek Annual.Copy !req
138. One of the many fantastic Dalek facts
documented in the book
concerns an amazing Dalek discovery.Copy !req
139. Just as there are certain sounds
beyond the range of the human ear,Copy !req
140. likewise there is a colour
which is invisible to the human eye.Copy !req
141. By painting themselves grenium,
the Daleks
could make themselves invisible.Copy !req
142. But the "Grenium Invisibility System"
had an inherent flaw: A dusty Dalek
became a visible Dalek once again!Copy !req
143. When he got the draft script
for the first episode, Terrance Dicks
was concerned at how very male
all the Thals were.Copy !req
144. Here is Terry Nation's response.Copy !req
145. But Dicks had a problem
with the character
when she was introduced.
As he put it:Copy !req
146. "What has she got to offer us, apart,
of course, from the big boobs?"Copy !req
147. We'll find out what he suggested...
in the next episode!Copy !req
148. - No.
- Get them out!Copy !req
149. I mean it, Taron.
I'll kill you if I have to!Copy !req
150. That's the only way you'll get them.Copy !req
151. I mean it!Copy !req
152. What's that?Copy !req
153. A spaceship coming in too fast.
Burning up.Copy !req
154. A tiny motor
with an electric power source.Copy !req
155. (SNAPPING FINGERS) That's it.Copy !req
156. Yes...Copy !req
157. Yes, I'll dismantle the circuitry,
reverse the polarityCopy !req
158. and convert to a low-power receiver
transmitter with a positive feedback.Copy !req
159. That's right!
The Dalek's guidance systemCopy !req
160. functions by means of
high-frequency radio impulses.Copy !req
161. - Correct. And if we can jam them...
- It should give them quite a headache.Copy !req
162. It should give them quite a brainstorm.
Give me your screwdriver.Copy !req
163. All trace
of the infection has gone.Copy !req
164. Your arm will be sore for a few days,
but that's all.Copy !req
165. Thank you. I'm very grateful to you.Copy !req
166. Tell me some more about your planet.Copy !req
167. Before the Daleks invaded,
they bombarded the planet with bacteria.Copy !req
168. Only a handful of my people survived.Copy !req
169. When the Daleks landed,
we could offer no resistance.Copy !req
170. Those that were left were forced
to cooperate with the Daleks.Copy !req
171. - But you don't?
- No.Copy !req
172. There are a few of us, not many,Copy !req
173. who do what we can to fight back
and that's little enough.Copy !req
174. Why did the Daleks invade you?
What did they want?Copy !req
175. To master our techniques of invisibilityCopy !req
176. and they seem very close to doing it.Copy !req
177. - JO: Is there no way of stopping them?
They're too powerful.Copy !req
178. I had hoped the aliens
from the spacecraft might help us,Copy !req
179. but there are so few of them.Copy !req
180. Two more were captured today.Copy !req
181. You've seen them?Copy !req
182. When they were taken
to the city,Copy !req
183. a tall fair-haired man,
and later, one with silver hair,Copy !req
184. also tall, wearing strange clothes...Copy !req
185. The Doctor! Oh!Copy !req
186. - Where is he?
- You know him?Copy !req
187. - Well, yes! And I thought...
- He's imprisoned in the city.Copy !req
188. Well then we must find a way
of helping him, get him out!Copy !req
189. There is no way.Copy !req
190. The Daleks will interrogate him
and then use him in theirCopy !req
191. experiments.Copy !req
192. He'd be better off dead.Copy !req
193. Something moving.Copy !req
194. Rebec! Rebec!Copy !req
195. Rebec,Copy !req
196. - are you all right?
- I think so.Copy !req
197. Our flight angle was too steep
and we came in too fast.Copy !req
198. We were lucky to get out alive.Copy !req
199. All the equipment, the explosives,
everything gone.Copy !req
200. Are you the only survivor?Copy !req
201. No, Maret and Latep, they're following.Copy !req
202. But why did you come?Copy !req
203. Communications intercepted
another Dalek space signal.Copy !req
204. - We had to warn you.
- Warn us? What about?Copy !req
205. Do you know the strength
of the Dalek force here?Copy !req
206. Well, it's no more than a dozen.Copy !req
207. The signal we intercepted
was to Dalek Supreme Command.Copy !req
208. It stated that the force assembled
on Spiridon was now complete.Copy !req
209. It gave their numbers.Copy !req
210. Well, somewhere on this planet
there are 10,000 Daleks!Copy !req