Planet of the Daleks

Much to my ever-loving shock, faithful viewer, it appears that the erstwhile Powers That Were of Doctor Who cheated when this serial aired. By the rules of Doctor Who, a story is not over if it ends in a cliffhanger (unless your name is Steven Moffat, in which case you can do anything you like except bring the Weeping Angels back again). Since our last serial ended in a blatant cliffhanger, we’re technically looking at a serial with twelve episodes, rather than two six-episode ones. Since they were broadcast under different names (and admittedly do feature two radically-different stories), I’ll write two entries for them. But if I had my way, this would be one serial: the sequel to “The Daleks’ Master Plan.”

At any rate, this serial picks up where the previous one left off. The Doctor is severely injured and has put himself into a coma, and Jo is left to her own devices on an alien (and blatantly hostile) planet called Spiridon, where even the flora go out of their way to make her feel unwelcome. Fortunately, she soon makes contact with a party of Thals (!!!) who have landed on the planet in order to free the native population from the totalitarian rule of the Daleks. The Thals help the Doctor and Jo back to health, and in return, the Doctor and Jo help the Thals get rid of the Daleks, save the Spiridons, and get the Thals back to Skaro again.

One thing I love about the Daleks is that they’re always developing and improving. Every time we see them, they’re better in some way. In this serial, they seem to have mastered limited powers of invisibility, and their voice modulators are the best they’ve ever been. They can even manage to travel through the forests of Spiridon without mishap (despite what Eddie Izzard might say to the contrary). However, they still haven’t managed to master flight, since they had to rely on a series of strategically-placed anti-grav discs. Never mind; plenty of time yet for the Daleks to become the truly technologically marvelous killing machines that we know them to be.

I could barely contain my scream of surprise and delight when I saw the Thals in this serial, faithful viewer. I was convinced that we would never see them again, but here they are! It took me back to the very first serial with Daleks (our second adventure together); back when the Doctor still had white hair and traveled with Ian, Susan, and Barbara (oh, the nostalgia floods my heart like a caffeine rush). The last group of Thals we encountered were adamant pacifists, to the point where they put themselves at a disadvantage to every single gun-toting species in the galaxy (and were certainly ill-suited to sharing a planet with the Daleks). This group of Thals seems to have wised up as far as warfare is concerned (at least they know how to fire their weapons), but they still have difficulty determining what makes a good soldier versus a good human being. These militant Thals seem to think that any shred of, you know, emotions and love connections and things like that, is by definition a liability to the success of their mission. While it’s true that allowing your emotions to overrule your decisions certainly is a big tactical mistake, there’s a difference between doing that and acknowledging the fact that you have emotions. Emotions are only a liability if you allow them to be; the Thals need to learn that the way to stop that from happening is not to deny the fact that they have emotions. Fortunately for them, the Doctor was there to help them realize this.

You’ll remember that serial “The Curse of Peladon,” where Jo caught the eye of the dreamy King Peladon during the course of her adventure on that planet. In this serial, she once again becomes a source of romantic fascination, this time from a young Thal by the name of Latep, who asked her to come back to Skaro and live with him. I suppose Latep was nice enough: good-looking, sweet disposition. He struck me as an innocent country boy, excited to be away from home for the first time. In other words, not my first choice for a life partner (a quick fling, sure, but I wouldn’t go to live on an alien planet with him, especially not a dump like Skaro). Although, I’m a little perplexed that Jo didn’t consider his offer a bit more. Life on Skaro wouldn’t be ideal by a wide margin, but after the Doctor has been acting like such a jerk to her, I’m amazed she stays with him. He has gotten a lot better about it, but in this serial, the Doctor definitely returned to his old habits a bit. It’s getting very old, faithful viewer, and I can’t wait for him to stop.

However, the Doctor is still in my good books (fortunately for him), because of a fantastic line he told one of the Thals during a quiet moment. It’s a famous line, and I can’t think of a better way to end this entry. “Courage isn’t just a matter of not being frightened, you know. It’s being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway.”

And with that, faithful viewer, I’ll leave you. Be extraordinary, as you always are.

Stay tuned ’til next time, faithful viewer, when we hang out with some nasty bugs and bid farewell to the wonderful Jo…