Planet of the Daleks (TV story)

Synopsis
The Doctor and Jo team up with a guerilla group of Thals, seeking to knock out an army of 10,000 Daleks in hibernation on planet Spiridon.

Plot
Episode 1

Jo helps the Doctor into the TARDIS. He sends a telepathic message via the telepathic circuits at the console. He is trying to send a message to the Time Lords. He must tell them something but he collapses. Jo takes him to a place in the TARDIS with a wall of white cabinets. She presses a button and one of the lowest cabinets is a large bed which slides out. Next to the cabinets is a large flat wall built into one of the columns and the wall doesn't touch the floor, a kind of grid like sectioned semi see through squares. The Doctor tells Jo he is liable to sleep for some time. If anything happens, she is to record it in the log and he directs her to it.

The TARDIS spins in space. In a delirium, the Doctor tosses and turns and calls Jo, then passes out. Jo, in a new outfit, listens to his hearts. He is so cold, she notices. She makes a log, "Shortly after entering the TARDIS, the Doctor feel into a deep coma. His respiration was very shallow, his skin icy to the touch. I could find no trace of pulse or heartbeat. His breathing apparently ceased. But I've seen the Doctor in this condition once before and he recovered after a sudden rise in temperature. The TARDIS seems to have landed. I suppose the Time Lords are working it by remote control again. I've no idea what the Doctor said to them in his message or where we are. I just hope that they've brought us somewhere where I can find some help for the Doctor."

The TARDIS does land and in a sick dematerialisation sound... like it was struggling to appear. Ice appears on the Doctor's face and his eyes open, but are unstaring and blank. Both his hearts are beating once every ten seconds, body temp somewhere below zero. Jo will go outside to try to find some help. She finds the scanner and turns it on. It is a tiny TV monitor near the ceiling. It has a black and white picture! Strange splotches squirt out onto the screen, near some plants which may be shooting fluid out. Jo gets a yellow jacket and goes out, telling the prone Doctor this.

Jo ventures out into a thick but lush forest. She has some red gloves on. Plants squirt out green-yellow fluid and some gets on her. She moves past hanging vines to a large stone object, alien ruins of some kind. The jungle comes alive with more sounds than before and a pig seems to squeal. She passes some giant webs and rests, sitting down. Over the horizon, she sees a glow that seems to light up the entire area.

Jo has the log recorder with her. "Things growing in this jungle seem like animal and plant life. The light is changing. It seems like daybreak. There's a sudden rise in temperature. I haven't seen any form of intelligent life except, except there are, bits of, bits of statue by the TARDIS."

Jo takes off her jacket and finds that there are green-black marks where the liquid hit her on the back. She tosses it down and passes by what seem to be drum shaped plants. But the plants monitor her movement and fronds seem to follow her -- as if they are cameras. As Jo proceeds, something invisible moves bushes near her and there is a heavy breathing.

The Doctor, in the TARDIS, wakes up and calls for Jo.

Jo takes off her gloves and her hand is hit by some more spray from yet another plant stalk!

In TARDIS, the Doctor hears some odd clickings. Outside is breathable and the auto oxygen supply is on.

Jo finds a structure in the jungle. It is a spaceship that appears to have crashed but seems intact. She calls to anyone inside. She works her way around the side and sees insignia. The door in the back seems to be the way in. Jo opens the door and goes inside. In a seat is a helmeted man with webs on him and his eyes open, staring. Jo touches him and he falls over, already dead.

The Doctor cannot get the TARDIS doors open. The scanner reads that the oxygen supply is exhausted. The Doctor pulls a portable emergency supply over and hits a switch on the large rectangular white cabinet. A door slides upward to reveal three canisters of air. The Doctor turns them all on but seems unhappy that these do not help.

Jo hides in a corner inside the spaceship main room as booted feet seem to stalk her. A gun comes near her face, a ray gun of some kind attached to a man's belt, and a blond man Taron, who seems nice to her and a stern faced blond man named Vaber find her. They take her into the slightly larger area to sit and question her. Vaber tells her Earth does not exist, it is just a name in their legends. Jo mentions the TARDIS which interests Taron. Taron tells her he is qualified in space medicine and will help when Vaber tells her this is not a hospital service. Taron tells her she should be glad they THEY didn't find her. Another blond man comes in named Codal. Jo tells them where the TARDIS is, near bits of statue (Reference 7 Vaber says). There are three or four headed this way Codal tells them. Jo will stay hidden in the securer room which can close the doors. Taron tells Jo the three will help her friend and lose THEM in the jungle. The three men leave the spacecraft. In the small closet like room, Jo feels a rocking of the ship and some invisible force enters, exploring the devices in the ship and breathing heavily. It also goes through storage closets. Jo watches from a small grid-window.

Taron returns to Codal and a nervous Vaber. The scouts are moving only on the main trail. They go off to find the girl's friend.

The force gets close to Jo's door as it examines more areas of the ship, opening closets. Finally it leaves, making Jo relax. Footsteps appear in the dirt around the spacecraft, pointed footprints.

The TARDIS scanner reads Oabia Atmosphere unable to sustain life. The Doctor has on a red jacket and top now and different pants! He is under the console trying to fix it. The circuits are in order. The door is held from the outside. He passes out near the door.

Outside the TARDIS, Vaber and Taron, in protective head gear of plastic and glass, pull the fungus like gunk off the TARDIS doors. Codal stands watch as plants spray in the forest. The doors open and they pull the Doctor out. The Doctor's eyes are crossed as he is in some kind shock which he quickly comes out of. They sit him down on a rock. He thanks them. He asks if the girl is all right. Taron sends Codal to check the area, see if there is any activity. The Doctor was staring at Vaber -- he says he thought he knew him. Vaber is not impressed. The men come from a planet many systems from here... Skaro the Doctor guesses, "Yes of course, you're Thals!" The Doctor explains he was on Skaro, many years ago during the Dalek War, generation ago. Vaber doesn't believe him but he tells them he travels through the barriers of time and was with the Thals when they broke into the Dalek city. Taron recalls a figure from legend, a figure from another planet who came to Skaro when the Thals were in their greatest peril in something called a TARDIS. Taron mentions that this figure had three companions. The Doctor says, "That's right, Barbara, Ian, and Susan." They ask who their leader was and he answers the Doctor and tells them he is the Doctor. The Doctor tells Vaber not to subject him to an inquisition.

Taron tells the Doctor he has been infected by a deadly fungus. They spread their spores in that liquid they discharge and the fungus spreads. Taron asks Vaber for the healing spray that stops the fungus. The Doctor seems to think it would take an hour to spread all over his body even though Taron doesn't tell him this. Taron explains the fungus would have engulfed him. The Doctor says, "That's nice."

Jo takes off her suit jacket in the spaceship and finds fungus on her hand.

Vaber tells the Doctor that this planet is Spiridon of the 9th System, a piece of garbage planet. Vegetation that is more like animal life than plant, creatures hostile to everything including themselves, and a climate from tropical in the day to sub freezing in the night. Spiridons are invisible intelligent life. The Doctor says, "I wish I could see one of them. I mean I wish I could come into contact with one of them." Vaber panics -- he feels they are on a suicide mission. No one made Vaber come...it was his choice. There were seven of them but their commander was killed on touchdown and they lost three others since they landed. The Doctor offers help. Taron doesn't trust him and wonders why he should. He comes here out of no where and then claims to be something out of legend. They will take him to his friend. After that he is on his own. If the Doctor sees him signal, he is to dive for cover and not make a sound.

Jo has passed out on the floor of the room she is in and the fungus has spread up her arm.

The three Thal men and the Doctor get down. They hear something grinding. It sounds like it is in trouble. Ray exhaustion? Light wave sickness -- that is what the others had. It might be deactivated. A circular mark in the dirt heralds something. The Thals give the Doctor a liquid colour spray. He, Vaber, and Taron spray the object. The Doctor is closest to it -- the almost fully seen shape of a Dalek! The Doctor gasps in a raspy voice, "Daleks!" The Dalek is in view now.

Episode 2

The Dalek becomes fully visible and is dead from light wave sickness. The Doctor notices the sensor plates are not functioning. This one is something new. Vaber tells the Doctor the Daleks haven't mastered invisibility completely. Codal, the scientist, explains how the Daleks found out how to do it by studying the Spiridons -- its an anti reflecting light wave but to create the energy required they need to generate fantastic power but cannot sustain it. Codal wants to lift the top off the Dalek but the Doctor warns him not to: most Daleks have an automatic distress call, even after they die it can be activated. Taron thanks him and calls him Doctor, proving he believes him now that this is the Doctor.

In the spaceship, Jo wakes up to find her hand engulfed in the fungus. She covers it with her jacket top. "My hand... my hand and my arm are infected by... by something I can't describe, spreading rapidly, my hand is... already quite numb..." she logs into the recorder.

Codal and Taron scout ahead. The Doctor sits down in the jungle. Vaber thinks Taron is too cautious. He thinks things would be different if Mayrell -- the expedition commander -- was still alive. He was killed when they landed. The Doctor tells him he is sorry and asks who Taron is. Expedition doctor is who Taron is. Vaber thinks they should use the explosives they have and wipe out the Daleks and use their lab. He thinks there are no more than twelve Daleks, just a scientific group. The Doctor wants to know more about the Spiridons, asking if they are working with the Daleks. As Vaber and the Doctor talk, something resembling a snake moves up on them. Vaber thinks the Spiridons have been totally subjugated by now as is the usual Dalek way. The Doctor knows this: mass extermination followed by absolute suppression of the survivors -- mass terror.

Three Daleks pass Taron and Codal, probably going out to retrieve the dead one.

The Doctor examines the Eye Plants that Jo passed before. They get very agitated whenever an invisible Spiridon comes near them. With his back turned, the Doctor doesn't see the long snake which wraps around Vaber. The Doctor gets Vaber's knife and cuts it off. Some sort of tentacle. Codal and Taron arrive back. Vaber thanks the Doctor. Vaber wants to die for a reason, not as food for a flesh eating tentacle. The Doctor denotes continued caution is needed which makes Vaber angry: he's been here longer and knows this. The Eye Plants move and give them alert to invisible Spiridons moving up on them.

Jo walks out of the spaceship but passes out onto the ground, dropping the recorder. She manages to get back up and go inside again as something in front of her is breathing... and invisible. She passes out inside the entrance. The invisible thing moves into the spacecraft, opening the door.

Bushes move at the Doctor and the Thal men. Codal tries to lead them off and does. But one grabs him from behind, invisible. A stick floats in the air and hits his head from behind. He passes out unconscious.

The Doctor and the other two Thal men get to the spacecraft but hide on the other side of the bushes as two Daleks come out from the other side of the clearing. Dalek Patrol 2 calls command centre and tells it they have found the craft. It is to be destroyed. The two Daleks get in position to fire. Before they can destroy it, the Doctor emerges and tells them to wait, someone is still inside. The Daleks fire a stun ray at him, to save him for further questioning. He turns negative and falls but is able to watch as the Daleks fire on the spacecraft. With more power and at full they blow the spaceship up. "Jo," the Doctor says. The Daleks make the Doctor stand and walk off. He has found the recorder Jo was using on the ground and puts it in his pocket. He looks back at the flames of the ship. Vaber wants to help the Doctor.

The Doctor is taken to the Dalek base and brought into an elevator which closes on him and one Dalek. It descends as the Doctor stares at the Dalek in hatred. It makes him walk out even as it seems to hit the door as it glides out. It brings him to a Dalek guarded cell. He is put inside where Codal is. A bright light is in the room. The Daleks will interrogate them. The Doctor thinks Codal was very courageous. Codal thinks he just didn't have enough time to think. The Doctor thinks he is doing himself an injustice -- they give medals for things like that: it's called bravery. Codal tells him he has been afraid ever since he first landed. Vaber and Taron, Codal tells the Doctor, they are professionals who have seen action before. They know how to deal with fear. Codal is a scientist, not an adventurer. The Thals are not a war like people, they only developed space flight and never went on a flight of this length. Every man and woman from Codal's division volunteered.. over 600. Codal didn't even have the courage to be the odd one out. The Doctor laughs at his misunderstanding of people, mostly Codal's own evaluation of himself. Courage is being afraid but doing what you have to do anyway, the Doctor says, ending his tutorial on bravery as he calls it. He tells Codal to empty out his pockets to see if there is anything useful they can use. The Doctor does the same: a hankey and the sonic screwdriver. He also takes out the recorder of Jo's voice which he found on the grass. He plays some of her log. Codal asks about the girl. The Doctor tells him the Daleks murdered her. The Doctor just stares.

In the jungle, Jo lies in warm furs. Bowls float in the air and a voice tells her that he wants to help her. A Spiridon who is making something to clear the fungoid infection. He pours some on her arm, which is covered almost up to her elbow now. The Spiridon explains to her what has happened to the machine of the Thals and that Daleks are here. The invisible man tells her to rest. Jo lays back and sleeps.

In the cell, the Doctor finds the sonic screwdriver won't open the door. One thing Daleks are good at making are locks. The Doctor and Codal sit down again to find something they can use.

A Dalek returns to a command centre area where five other Daleks are and a head Dalek. Section 3 wants to transfer prisoners, after interrogation, to their lab for experiments of light ray emissions on living tissue. This Dalek reports the other two Thals are to be captured very soon.

Vaber and Taron are examining the hidden explosives. Vaber notes there is enough explosives here to blow up 50 Daleks, not just 12. If they can make it down the first tunnel, they can blow the base in on the Daleks, bring it down on them. Vaber argues that they need to take some risks. Taron tells him they will make a move when they have a chance at succeeding. He puts the explosives back into hiding. Vaber pulls his gun out and tells him to get the explosives back out or he will kill him if he has to. Just as he seems about to, a great light comes out of the sky and a spaceship crashlands in the jungle. It is burning up.

The Doctor talks to himself: a tiny motor with an electric power source, dismantle the circuitry, reverse the polarity, and convert to a low power transmitter with a positive feedback -- the Daleks' guidance systems function by means of high frequency radio impulses. Using the TARDIS log recorder that Jo dropped, they can jam these Dalek guidance system radio impulses. It will give the Daleks quite a brainstorm. The Doctor asks for a screwdriver.

The fungoid infection is gone from Jo's arm. The Spiridon tells her it will be sore. He explains to her that before the Daleks invaded they bombarded the planet with bacteria. Only a handful of his people survived. Those left were forced to cooperate with the Daleks. A few do what they can to fight back. The Daleks want to master invisibility. The Spiridon explains that one with silver hair in strange clothes was taken to the Dalek city... the Doctor. She wants to find a way of helping him escape. The Spiridon tells her he would be better off dead than to be used in the Dalek experiments.

Taron finds a female Thal named Rebec escaping the wreck of the downed spaceship. She explains that Marat and Latep are also survivors. Vaber rushes to help them. The equipment and explosives are all gone in the crash. Rebec goes on to say that communications intercepted another Dalek space signal, "Do you know the strength of the Dalek force here?" The signal was to Dalek Supreme Command and stated that the Dalek army here was complete. This message also gave the number of Daleks on Spiridon. Rebec explains, "Well, somewhere on this planet, there are ten thousand Daleks!" Taron looks at her in horror...

Episode 3

Vaber helps Latep and Marat to Taron and Rebec. Latep says, "We're just shaken. We came down with a bang." They move out.

Jo and the Spiridon spy on the only way into the city. Fur wearing Spiridons are being brought in past Dalek guards. Jo wants to get inside the city somehow. Sample of vegetation are being brought in. The Daleks are experimenting with plant destroying bacteria. Jo wants to hide in one of the bundles. Jo is told the Doctor must be imprisoned deep down in the city.

The Doctor tells Codal their jamming device has to be operated close to a Dalek and it will only be temporary. If it works.

Rebec is with Taron and Marat at a natural ice duct. Rebec finds freezing liquid, an anatrope of ice -- a form of ice that never gets hard. The core is some kind of ice metal which when it erupts flows molten ice instead of lava. Ice covers the forest for miles. When the city was built they used the natural ducts to the city they used the volcano as a cooling system. They drove south out to meet the natural fissures. If the ice erupts when they are in there, or if the shaft is too small to crawl through, and they don't know where the shafts come out... Vaber and Latep return -- the rest of the explosives are in a safe hiding place and Vaber marked it. Vaber and Latep are to take positions at the main entrance to the city. If the other three cause a diversion, they are to attack. Out of ear range of the others, Vaber apologizes to Taron, who tells him to forget it.

The Doctor finishes his jamming device -- they need only have a Dalek to try it on.

The invisible alien helps Jo get in a cart which the fur covered Spiridon slaves take into the city entrance.

Rebec, Marat, and Taron crawl through a duct of ice. They have their suits' heat units turned up to maximum but it is still very cold for them. They hear blasts but keep moving. Marat thinks it is an eruption. They have to strike into one of the shafts to survive. They have no time to go back.

Slave workers leave a cart with Jo in it in a control room with Daleks all over it. Jo ducks to avoid being seen. A Dalek orders the prisoners to be taken for interrogation.

A Dalek comes to the Doctor and Codal. Hearing it, the Doctor tells him to get in close so the Dalek cannot use its blaster. The Doctor puts the jamming device on the Dalek as Codal grabs it. It turns and they fly off of it onto the floor. The jamming device makes it spin and yell. "You know for a man who abhors violence, I took great satisfaction in doing that," the Doctor says. The pair leave and the Doctor instructs Codal to get his gun.

At a tense moment, Jo slips out of the cart and hides at a wall as another Dalek comes in. All cooling ducts are to be shut by the Daleks. An ice eruption is imminent. Ice falls behind the three Thals in the duct. They have to avoid the forward shaft as well as ice moves the stone and rock in front of them toward them in a rush. They find a side shaft and get into it.

The Doctor and Codal duck out of a hall as a Dalek spots them and fires. A maximum security search is set out for the prisoners to be located and destroyed. Jo hides back at the cart. The Doctor and Codal take an elevator but getting out of it, a Dalek moves toward them. The lift will not go up though. The Doctor thinks the Daleks are operating it by remote control. He tries to make it go down but when it does and the doors open... another Dalek. They have to take the lift to an even lower level. Codal wants to go out first and the Doctor thanks him. Codal at least has a gun.

Liquid ice drops on the three Thals in the shaft and they crawl through it. More approaches but they finally find a shaft into the city and call out through a grid netting which they cannot get off. They see the Doctor and Codal. These two help them get the grill off.

Jo sneaks past a Dalek as all cooling ducts are being closed down. A door tries closing over the grill but the Doctor and Codal hold it open long enough for Rebec, Taron, and a weakened Marat to crawl and jump out. They see the shadow of an approaching Dalek! "Outta here quick! Out!" As Daleks try to fire at them, ice comes through the open doorway hatch where the grill was and covers the Daleks.

Jo, having watched the Dalek operate the communications console, goes to it once the Dalek there leaves. She hears the prisoners are on level zero. All assent areas are sealed off.

Marat stays behind to get the Doctor and the other four Thals into a room with a sliding door. He shoots at Daleks but one shoots him and he turns negative and falls dead. Rebec calls to him but Taron pulls her away from the door. Using the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor seals the door, "Now cover your eyes!"

The Daleks find the map of the hidden explosives on Marat's body. The Daleks are ordered by their leader to find the explosives and destroy. The Daleks will bring equipment to open the door.

Codal thinks the Daleks will not get through the door quickly. "Never underestimate the Daleks, Codal," the Doctor states. Rebec tells the Doctor all of Marat's courage may have been for nothing -- it seems there is no other door. Taron calls the Doctor to a giant refrigeration unit. They wonder why. Hot gases from the unit are carried out via a huge uncovered shaft that leads out to the surface... directly up! Codal hears the Daleks outside the door, trying to drill in. The Doctor tells Taron that when faced with the inevitable, don't waste precious time fighting it. What?

Jo sneaks down behind a counter as Daleks, one with the map on its sucker, reports to another Dalek and enlists it to help it find the explosives to destroy the bombs. Jo overhears this and follows them.

Daleks are cutting through the door at an alarming rate.

The Thals and the Doctor are cutting up a plastic sheet. If they can turn the refrigeration up to maximum the updraft will be even more powerful. Using the sheet, they might be able to rise up through the ventilator chimney with the draft.

Jo has found her way out of the city and follows the Daleks, unseen.

The Doctor is turning the refrigeration up. The plastic sheet will capture the warm gases and using ropes tied to the plastic sheet, the Thals and the Doctor will hold on and ride it up. The Thals call as the Daleks are almost through the door...and the Doctor is looking in stunned silence at something through a small window door as the Daleks combine to start knocking the drilled door inward. Finally the Doctor joins them but their combined weight will not allow it to rise. The Doctor tells them to give it time. Rebec yells, "It's not going to work! Doctor, it's not going to work!" The Doctor looks upward...

Episode 4

Daleks break in and think the prisoners are hiding but the balloon has worked and is lifting the Doctor and the Thals upward. Rebec looks down and then is sorry she did. She closes her eyes. She tells the Doctor she cannot stand heights. The Doctor notes they are out of range. The Daleks cannot kill them by firing up. The Daleks order an anti gravitational disc brought to the area.

Jo slips out of the trees and hides again but in bushes this time as Daleks find the hidden explosives and detonating mechanisms. The Dalek with the map almost finds Jo, hearing something. The two Daleks set the bombs to detonate and leave for the city. Some debris from above falls on them but they go. Jo sneaks out and turns the detonation levers on two of the bombs. Debris from above comes down on her and one is a large rock which knocks her unconscious. She has only stopped two of the bombs. One still ticks away... ready to blow up...

As the others ride up, the Doctor tells the Thals he finds this most exhilarating and that he should really take up hot air ballooning. Rebec wants a rocket to take her off this planet. The Doctor tells her, "Cheer up, my dear," and tells her they are perfectly safe. A Dalek on a flying disc begins to follow the group up the shaft. Three Daleks move through the undergrowth toward the top of the shaft.

Jo wakes up to see the bomb about to blow up. She grabs the two deactivated bombs and runs as the other bomb goes off and destroys two Daleks that have come to the area.

Taron notices the Dalek coming after them. Rebec notices a tear in the balloon and warns the Doctor just as his part of the balloon rips. The Doctor shouts at them not to waste time, to keep going. He falls and hangs onto the side of a wall. The Thals get up to the top. Taron sends down his rope to the Doctor. He cannot reach it so Codal sends him his rope. They pull the Doctor up; then the Doctor climbs a bit. As the Dalek comes up just after him, Rebec and Codal drop rocks onto it and send it to the bottom of the shaft, destroying it. The Doctor tells the Thals to postpone the celebration until they are in a safer area. They run.

The Daleks in the city declare a full state of emergency. Spiridon slave workers will cooperate in a full level search, "The aliens must be located and destroyed." Jo hides as someone arrives in the jungle -- Taro, the Doctor and the other two. The Doctor and Jo rejoice in finding each other alive and well. Then Jo starts to nervously talk to the Doctor and ask him loads of questions. The Doctor has to hold her mouth closed to stop her. The Doctor excuses himself as he and his friend have to catch up.

Rebec and Taron talk. Taron asks why she came. Taron made sure Rebec stayed out of his crew. Taron eats. Codal takes the first watch on guard. Taron tells Rebec she shouldn't have come. Rebec will not leave and doesn't regret it. Taron declares he loves her and cannot convert her into a cypher. He will not take the correct risks now because he is will worry about her -- her being here might be the very reason the Daleks win. Rebec didn't see it that way but does now.

Supreme Command of the Daleks has declared that bacteriological culture be released to destroy all alien life. Daleks and slave workers will be given immunity to the disease. The green glop in a clear box will kill all living things, "All will be exterminated!"

The Doctor tells Jo they would have been safe in the TARDIS. Jo explains about his state and that she had no choice. The Doctor apologizes to Jo, stating he wasn't himself. The Doctor sees Rebec upset and tells Jo that perhaps a female shoulder to cry on will help. He goes and talks to Taron about his leadership. Taron is questioning himself about his ability to lead. Taron thought he was like a machine. The Doctor tells him that is good that he is not. If they start thinking like machines then they are no better than the Daleks. Codal returns with Latep and Vaber, who found they had a faulty bomb and assumed the others were killed in the ice eruption. When they thought the others were dead, they were going to raid the Dalek city but found their bomb was faulty. Jo explains she managed to save two of the other bombs before the Daleks blew up with the other. They have to find shelter from the cold night. Taron thinks the plain of stones -- an area of huge boulders which absorb the heat of the sun and then discharge the heat at night will be a good hiding place. The Doctor tells them this planet never ceases to amaze him. All the animal life from the jungle goes there as well. Latep helps Jo with the bombs and they meet formally. Jo explains the handshake to him -- it means they are good friends and are pleased to meet one another. The Doctor and Codal watch fur covered Spiridons and at first, the Doctor thinks they are animals. The Daleks are not functioning properly and the Doctor seems to know the reason or wants to.

After the Daleks and Spiridons leave the area, the Thals, Jo, and the Doctor take cover at the Plain of Stones. A huge dark shape flies behind in the sky. Animal sounds fill the night air. Something larger flies overhead, roaring... the Thal men have heard these before. Latep takes a corner to guard. Vaber continues to want to attack. Taron thinks any attempt that fails is worth nothing. He asks Codal about the neutron powered refrigeration unit. Codal thinks if they destroy the refrigeration unit, the Daleks will be destroyed. Vaber wants to attack now, tossing a bomb down the shaft. Taron wants to wait and plan. Vaber tells Taron he is afraid, compares him to their first commander, and tells him that their first leader wouldn't have had Rebec hanging around their necks. Taron fights with Vaber physically. Vaber takes out his gun but Codal grabs Taron from behind and stops the fight. Latep, called by Codal, holds Vaber. Taron tells Vaber that he won't hesitate to kill him if he doesn't obey his orders. All begin to rest.

The Dalek bacteria is multiplying. In one Spiridon day, all plant life will die in one day and unimmunized animal life will die in one hour of inhaling the contaminated air. The most virulent form will be ready in half a Spiridon day. Spiridon slaves have reported to Daleks that the aliens are hiding at the Plain of Stones. The Dalek orders all search units into that area.

Taron is next to a sleeping Rebec but he finds Vaber and the bombs gone. Taron alerts Latep and the Doctor and wakes up Codal. The note from Vaber explains he will do what he wants. Taron takes Codal with him to stop him as the Doctor tells them Vaber hasn't a chance. Taron asks the Doctor to stay here. After Codal and Taron leave, he tells Rebec to keep her gun handy. All around them, in the darkness are bright eyes of somethings...

Vaber stalks out of the jungle in a part that looks like day is already at...and stumbles right into Spiridon furs. The fur wearing slaves surround him and hold him roughly. One says, gruffly, "Take him to the Daleks..."

Episode 5

Taron and Codal see Vaber's capture. They must get the bombs back.

Rebec tries a shot at the creatures with glowing orange eyes. They go but return. When she shoots at the darkness, the last of her charges is used up. Latep has two more left.

Codal grabs a Spiridon in fur while Taron hits the alien over the head with a club. Taron gets the fur of the alien and uses it to get closer.

Latep's ray gun attached to his belt is out of power. The Doctor uses a torch to scare some of the animals. He tells the others to get the torches to ward off the animals. They have to keep that fire going at all costs and hope it last until morning.

Codal goes to a fur covered Spiridon, thinking it is Taron but when he checks the face, he doesn't see anything. The thing grabs him and chokes him down. Taron clubs it over the head and helps Codal up. He takes the purple-ish fur of the Spiridon and gives it to Codal. Codal is to make a lot of noise so Taron can get in to free Vaber.

It seems almost day. Jo is shivering as the Doctor thinks about Vaber rushing off as he did. The plan, Rebec tells the Doctor is to blow up the refrigeration unit. If this is done, the Daleks will come to life. No aging process, no regeneration. If the freezing unit is destroyed, the Dalek army will be revived. Wester, the Spiridon that helped Jo shows up. Jo stops the Doctor from clubbing the Spiridon, explaining that Wester helped her. The Doctor apologizes to Mister Wester. Wester will find a way back into the Dalek city to stop the bacteria bomb. Jo bids him goodbye. Wester leaves. Jo tells him to take care as he does. If the others are not back by light, he and the other two Thals and Jo will move out. The Doctor tells Jo they have to stop the bacteria bomb, put a stop to the army here from reviving and third, stop Daleks from launching an invasion of other planets. Jo asks how they are going to do all that. "I haven't the faintest idea," the Doctor states.

Vaber is brought before Daleks, who question him. They bid him to answer or they will exterminate him. They want him to lead them to the others. Vaber agrees to do this but pushes two Spiridons and runs. The Dalek exterminates him even as he gets almost gets far away. A Spiridon also seems to be shot down. Grabbing the bombs from the Spiridons, Codal and Taron run, discarding their furs. The Dalek orders, "Pursue! Pursue!"

Daleks confer in the city control unit. The antidote is prepared and ready to be administered. This is demonstrated. Elements provide immunity on contact. All Dalek workers and Spiridon slaves will report to this room to be immunized. All units are ordered to report.

Latep hears Codal and Taron return with the bombs and the furs that they "persuaded a couple of Spiridons to part with" along with them. The Doctor tells them they cannot keep running forever. He wants to stop for a moment and use their intelligence. They have to get inside the city. He asks the Thals to trust him. The Doctor wants someone to show themselves and lead a Dalek patrol back here. Latep will go and Jo volunteers to go with him, "I'm tired of being hunted too." The Doctor allows her.

The Doctor asks Codal about the molten ice pools, a natural spring on this planet. Hyper cold, sub zero temperatures and semi liquid. The Daleks are vulnerable to low temperatures and hardly function at all at sub zero temperatures. It is a good feeling, the Doctor says, "When the hunted become the hunters."

Wester gets into the Dalek city. Slave workers are to proceed to Level Four for treatment. Dalek Patrol 7 is unaccounted for. This patrol is in pursuit of aliens and given permission to keep going after the aliens. No prisoners are to be taken. They are to be exterminated.

Jo and Latep stop running. He tells her it is time to start back to the others. They see the Daleks and show themselves so the Patrol pursues them, yelling for them to surrender. Jo and Latep return to the others, Daleks right behind them. The Doctor draws two off away from the group. He moves past the ice pools and hides. He runs to a rock and the Dalek fires. Taron comes out of hiding and tries pushing the Dalek. He needs the Doctor to come out and help him turn it. "Resist! Resist!" Jo attacks another Dalek at the Plains of Stones and grabs it but it makes her fall. Codal and Latep help attack the Dalek and cover it with a fur. "Cannot see! Vision impaired!"

Taron finds himself on the ground and facing a Dalek gun but the Doctor pushes the Dalek into the lava ice pool. The others push their Dalek into the frosting ice lake. The Doctor tells them to keep out of the range of fire, they might still be dangerous. Taron opens one and finds it dead. The shock of the cold killed them right away. Latep, switching on his thermalite opens the other one. With the Daleks dead, the Doctor wants the unit up onto the bank. The creatures inside, dead, are thrown into the lake.

Patrol 7 has vanished, the Daleks find. Auto distress signal is weak and there is now dead silence. The Daleks will wait no longer. Wester arrives to the Daleks and is to give the Section Leader a message. The Leader is busy so Wester is brought in to wait. He sees the Daleks ready to release the bacteria.

Rebec is inside the Dalek casing. The Doctor will not let Jo come with him. She and Latep must descend into the shaft of the refrigeration unit. It must be a two pronged attack. The refrigeration unit must keep functioning. Taron and Codal return with more furs. The Doctor gets into one and asks if he will do. Jo tells him in a pinch and kisses him goodbye. Rebec is in a Dalek casing escorting the Doctor, Taron, and Codal in Spiridon furs. They get to see the bacteria being prepared. The Doctor somehow recognizes Wester as the Spiridon inside the tank with the Daleks and the bacteria. Wester opens the bacteria tank but all Daleks have not yet been treated. Wester dies from the bacteria which has been released. The room is hermetically sealed and cannot be opened now. Wester's face appears, bumps on his forehead and an old man face with two gaps in his teeth. The two Daleks in the room claim they can never leave it. The Doctor and the other two saw Wester's sacrifice. A Dalek stops them though and tells them to report to level 4. The Dalek spots Taron's booted foot under the furs and realizes they are not Spiridons. It calls, "Emergency! Emergency!" Alarms sound off as the Dalek continues yelling, "Emergency!"

Episode 6

The Doctor tosses his fur over the Dalek and he and the Thal men push Rebec (who is in their Dalek) toward the lower level, running from yet another pair of Daleks. Daleks alert maximum security. Daleks continue to pursue the Doctor's group. The Doctor's group descends to level 8. The Daleks plan to chase them to the lowest levels. Two Daleks blast the Dalek shell, Rebec having already gotten out. She, Taron, and Codal run to an elevator with the Doctor. They get in and go down to the arsenal. They get out and sneak through the halls. The Doctor instructs the men to find something in the cooling chamber to block the hallway. The Doctor shows Rebec the frozen thousands of Daleks in the chamber.

The Daleks report to each other that Dalek Command has identified the leading alien: the Doctor the greatest enemy of the Daleks. The Dalek Supreme is on its way to the planet.

Latep and Jo, in the jungle hide as a huge double cylinder shaped spaceship lands. A Gold and Black Dalek exits via a ramp, followed by silvery grey ones. Jo has never seen a Dalek like that before, one of the Supreme Council. Latep admires how the Daleks build a spacecraft. Jo gets an idea: the Thals can escape in the Dalek ship to get home to Skaro. Latep tells the others are better off not being here: just knowing it is no longer a suicide mission might mean failure. Latep has found a reason for not wanting to die, a reason for staying alive: Jo. Jo tells him they have more work to do.

The Doctor finds there is no way to lock the refrigeration unit into the on position, "Oh blast." If it is tampered with, the Daleks will revive immediately. Daleks try to get through the barrier the Thal men built. Rebec warns the Doctor, who thinks the blockade should hold them for awhile.

The Gold Dalek arrives in the city and finds Daleks can achieve total invisibility for as long as two work cycles. It also gives many orders. The Supreme Council has ordered the army revived and the invasion of all solar planets to begin today. He orders the arsenal heating on and the close down of refrigeration unit. This is done and Taron calls the Doctor to tell him the temperature is starting to rise. The Dalek Supreme orders the spacecraft to assemble. It also argues with the Dalek Leader and yells that it has failed. The Gold Dalek shoots it and kills it in a bombardment of negative ray.

Jo and Latep (Latep going first) will climb down to the Refrigeration Unit.

Taron finds a passage blocked by rocks which could be a way out if cleared. Taron and Rebec find no power left to operate a door that could further block the Daleks that are almost through the barricade. To make matters worse, Codal points out that the Dalek Army has started to revive and several Daleks are moving within the main area. The Doctor thinks the hole is wide enough to get through. The catwalks lead to a sort of loading area on the surface, the Doctor thinks and asks Rebec and Taron to check that out. A Dalek sucker moves the bomb and it falls, making Codal and the Doctor duck. It doesn't go off so the Doctor walks through reviving Daleks to retrieve it. The timing mechanism is not functioning. Codal will need a minute or two to fix it. The power ramp Taron found goes up to surface ground level--it is a way out. The bomb put in the right place can weaken the walls and the pressure of the ice flows in the area will come in and put the Daleks in suspended animation: this will not kill them but it will take centuries to revive them then. Latep and Jo climb into the unit and see Daleks trying to break into the main area. Latep throws a bomb. A Dalek shoots at him but misses. The bomb blows up these Daleks. Latep and Jo find them blasted and make their way to find the Doctor. A Dalek follows them in. Jo and Latep join the Doctor and his party. Codal and the Doctor wait to set the bomb: 30 seconds to detonate while the other already start to climb up. The Doctor puts it in to the rock wall as Codal urges him to hurry. The Doctor makes him go and follows him. Daleks pursuing him and Codal get blasted when the bomb does go off. The Doctor thinks it has failed and urges everyone to get out of here. Just as he thinks they have failed, the ice volcano sends a rage of ice water into the Dalek army. "Out everybody out!" The Doctor yells but he stays to watch the Daleks sink into the ice sea. Molten ice rises through all sections. Total loss of contact with units occurs. Power source fails. Ice flow races up. The Gold Dalek wants a report sent to Supreme Council. He wants to abandon the place and he gets out with some other Daleks.

The Thals, Jo, and the Doctor find the Dalek ship. Codal needs to look over the controls. "So... you've done a lot for me, Doctor. Thank you, thank you," Codal leaves. Taron wishes there were some way of thanking the Doctor. The Doctor tells Taron and Rebec not to glamorise their story of winning against the Daleks...don't make it a hero story, don't let the Thals home relish the prospect of war, remind them of the men who have been lost and the fear that happened. Latep has asked Jo to come back to Skaro with him. He asks the Doctor is he has any objections. The Doctor tells him not if Jo wants to go back with him. Latep asks Jo again but she turns him down. She is fond of him but she has her own world and her own life to go back to. Latep thanks the Doctor and waves to them. The Doctor thanked him.

The Thals take off in the Dalek spacecraft watched by Jo and the Doctor. The Doctor asks if they should go and find the TARDIS. Jo gasps as the Dalek Supreme and his two aides come from the jungle. The Daleks chase them through the jungle, Jo and the Doctor must pass the deadly spore plants, Jo ducking. They get to the TARDIS and the doors still open, the Daleks fire at it. They close the doors. The Gold Dalek wants his aide to send a message to the Supreme Dalek force to send a rescue ship. He claims they have been delayed not defeated. The Daleks are never defeated.

The time rotor is moving up and down again. Jo stares without looking. The Doctor switches images of the galaxies to find Skaro. He calls Jo's attention to it. He asks if Jo has any regrets. She sadly tells him not really. He tells her that Skaro is only one little world, there are so many hundreds of others to see. Jo tells him there is only one little world she wants to see right now: she puts on Earth on the screen. "That's right, Doctor, home," Jo states. "Home it is, Miss Grant..." the Doctor turns the controls...

Cast

 * The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
 * Jo Grant - Katy Manning
 * Taron - Bernard Horsfall
 * Vaber - Prentis HancockEpisode 1-5
 * Codal - Tim Preece
 * Rebec - Jane HowEpisode 2-6
 * Wester - Roy SkeltonEpisode 2,3,5
 * Dalek Voices - Michael Wisher, Roy SkeltonEpisode 2-6
 * Dalek Operators - John Scott Martin, Murphy Grumbar, Cy TownEpisode 2-6
 * Marat - Hilary MinsterEpisode 3
 * Latep - Alan TuckerEpisode 3-6

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Managers - Sue Hedden, Graeme Harper, John Cook
 * Costumes - Hazel Pethig
 * Designer - John Hurst
 * Film Cameraman - Elmer Cossey
 * Film Editor - Dave Thomas
 * Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
 * Make-Up - Jean McMillan
 * Producer - Barry Letts
 * Production Assistant - George Gallaccio
 * Script Editor - Terrance Dicks
 * Special Sounds - Dick Mills
 * Studio Lighting - Derek Slee
 * Studio Sound - Tony Millier
 * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer
 * Visual Effects - Clifford Culley

Story Notes

 * This story had a working title of: Destination Daleks.

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 11.0 million viewers
 * Episode 2 - 10.7 million viewers
 * Episode 3 - 10.1 million viewers
 * Episode 4 - 8.3 million viewers
 * Episode 5 - 9.7 million viewers
 * Episode 6 - 8.5 million viewers

Myths
to be added

Filming Locations

 * Beachfields Quarry, Redhill, Surrey

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * The Doctor seems to have forgotten that he was following the Daleks to their base of operations in episode one.
 * The Daleks seem to have forgotten their plot to try and start a war between the empires of Earth and Draconia. (DW: Frontier in Space).
 * If the lake that the Daleks are pushed into is so cold, then why does it not affect the thals standing in it?

Continuity

 * Spiridon is revisited in BFA: Return of the Daleks.

DVD, Video and Other Releases
to be added

Target Novelisations

 * Novelised as Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks by Terrance Dicks in 1976.