Doctor Who/The Daleks

The Daleks
002
Airdate	December 21, 1963
Production Number	B
Written by	Terry Nation
Directed by	Christopher Barry and Richard Martin
← 001 An Unearthly Child	003 → The Edge of Destruction
Doctor Who — Season One

The Daleks is the second serial of the first season of Doctor Who, and the second serial overall.

Guest Stars: John Lee (Alydon), Philip Bond (Ganatus), Virginia Wetherell (Dyoni), Alan Wheatley (Temmosus), Gerald Curtis (Elyon), Jonathan Crane (Kristas), Marcus Hammond (Antodus), David Graham (Dalek Voices), Peter Hawkins (Dalek Voice), Kevin Manser (Dalek), Robert Jewell (Dalek), Gerald Taylor (Dalek)

Plot Overview

The Dead Planet

Now on an unknown planet, Ian and Barbara are still coming to grips with the strange turn their lives have taken. Outside the TARDIS, all plant and animal life has been charred and reduced to petrified ash.

While out exploring, the group encounters a petrified, alien lizard creature, covered in metal armor. Its alien strangeness just makes Barabra even more homesick for Earth.

Ian discovers a huge city in a nearby valley. Intrigued, the Doctor is determined to take a look, but with little daylight left the others convince him to wait until the next day. On their way back to the TARDIS Susan thinks she hears something, but no one else does; and they don't believe her.

Back in the TARDIS, Barbara is not feeling well, so Susan gives her an analgesic, which she prepares by adding a concentrate to a glass of water. Then everyone has something to eat from the TARDIS food dispenser. For Ian it's bacon and eggs ... concentrated into a solid form about the size of a candy bar.

Something outside begins tapping on the TARDIS. A fearful Susan begs her grandfather to leave, but he is as crafty as he is stubborn. Unobserved, he sabotages a crucial component (a fluid link) within the main control panel. He goes through the motions of departure. The time rotor begins to move promisingly, but the TARDIS halts with a thump, leaving them stranded right where they were.

They will need mercury to refill the leaky component. How convienient then that there is a large city a short distance away. The others (Ian at least) sees through his ruse.

The next day as they are leaving the TARDIS, they find a metal box which has been left on the ground in plain sight. It contains numerous glass vials with unknown contents. The Doctor asks Susan to put it in the TARDIS for later study.

As they reach the city they have all begun to tire. To make their search go faster, they split up, each entering a different door. Later Ian and Susan return to the Doctor having found nothing of interest. Barbara on the other hand has been "herded" onto a lift (by automatic doors). When the lift door opens, she emerges to find herself face to face with a menacing robot of some sort!

The Survivors

Ian, Susan, and the Doctor reenter the city to search for Barbara.

They find a small room with some scientific equipment, including a geiger counter. Radiation levels are extremely high -- they all have radiation sickness. They must return to the TARDIS immediately, but Ian withholds the fluid link (the part that the Doctor "sabotaged") in order to pressure the Doctor to search for Barbara.

While searching, they are captured by the same robots that captured Barbara. When Ian tries to escape, one of the robots uses a weapon to paralyze his legs. They are all reunited with Barbara in a holding cell, deep underground, where their captors, the Daleks, spy on them, suspecting them of being Thals (their enemies).

During an interrogation, the Doctor learns that the planet originally had two sentient races: the Dals and the Thals. There was a "neutronic" war 500 years ago that devastated the planet. The Daleks are the horribly mutated descendants of the Dals, kept alive only by their robotic, life-support enclosures. The Thals chose to remain on the surface and live in the forest.

The Daleks know that the Thals need drugs to fend off the harsh radiation outside. They would like the anti-radiation drugs for themselves, but they cannot venture into the forest. So they agree to allow one member of the Doctor's party to retrieve the box of vials that they found beside the TARDIS that morning, on the off chance that they might contain the drug. The Daleks don't tell the Doctor, but they do not plan to allow the humans to take the drugs.

Since Ian's legs are still paralyzed, and everyone else is too weak to walk, Susan must return alone. She runs through the dark, alien forest terrified. A storm is approaching. Once inside the TARDIS she retrieves the box, pausing a moment to savor the safety of her home. Then, steeling herself, she opens the door steps back into the lightning filled night.

The Escape

Susan starts back to the city, and immediately encounters a Thal. He doesn't look mutated, as the Daleks said they would. He even asks her not to be afraid. His name is Ayldon; and he is surprised to hear that any Daleks had survived the war.

She tells him of her mission to bring back medicine. Suspecting foul play on the part of the Daleks, he gives her a second box of medicine in case the Daleks take the first. He accompanies her only to the edge of the city.

The Daleks find both boxes of medicine, but allow her to keep one. She is able to treat herself, her grandfather, and the others. The Daleks agree to help the Thals; to give them food; and to cooperate with them. So Susan writes a note to Ayldon to give them the hopeful news. As soon as she is done writing, the Daleks shove her back into the holding cell. They have what they need from her: the letter. Now they can lure the Thals into a trap.

The Doctor and his companions, felling better but still trapped, destroy the video sensor in their cell. The sensor's destruction does not go unoticed by the Daleks. They choose to ignore it however, because there is no way out of the room.

With a bit of privacy, the Doctor and the others brainstorm ideas for getting free. They come to the conclusion that since all the floors and streets are made of metal, the Daleks need electricity supplied through the metal somehow.

When a Dalek guard brings their next meal, they blind it with mud (from Susan's shoes) and push it onto a cloak, insulating it from the metal floor. Ian and the Doctor remove the dead Dalek, so that Ian can climb inside. The plan is for Ian to impersonate a guard, but he can't figure out how to move the thing, so the others must push him.

The Ambush

Using a dead Dalek's armored, body enclosure, Ian, and the others bluff their way past a Dalek guard and into a lift. When the Daleks discover their escape, the floor is magnetized, trapping Ian in the Dalek body enclosure. He insists that the others take the lift without him.

He eventually frees himself and follows in the lift, even as the Daleks are cutting through the door. Just as the lift has almost reached the others, it is recalled, forcing Ian to clamber up onto the floor.

Through a window the Doctor and his companions can see the Thals walking into an ambush. They try to shout a warning , but the window is soundproof and unbreakable. Meanwhile the Daleks have boarded the lift, and are coming up! Ian and the others push a large sculpture into the open shaft and onto the lift far below. Then Ian and the Doctor manage to pry open a door, allowing them to get outside. Ian remains behind to warn the Thals. The others return to the TARDIS.

Some of the Thal are being cautious, but Temmosus believes that peace is at hand. The Daleks have prepared a heavily guarded room with food for the meeting. Ian shouts his warning and the Daleks attack, killing Temmosus and wounding the others. Alydon meets Ian and thanks him for the warning.

They return to the forest together, where they find the Doctor perusing Thal records. He estimates that the records are half a million years old.

The Doctor and the others make ready to leave, but they Daleks took the fluid link when they were held prisoner in the city. They will have to return to the city to get it!

The Expedition

They will need help to reenter the city, but the Thal are pacifists. Ian has an idea. He goads Alydon by threatening to trade their precious history records to the Daleks; and when that fails to elicit the desired response, he starts to lead Dyoni away, claiming that he will trade her to the Daleks for the spare part they need. Filled with sudden rage, Alydon knocks Ian down and takes her back. Ian uses Alydon's outburst to prove that some things are worth fighting for.

Meanwhile in the city, the Daleks have begun innoculations. However, it soon becomes clear that the drug causes severe halucinations, and eventually death. All Daleks in section two have died, and those in section three are showing symptoms as well.

It seems the Daleks have become conditioned to the high radiation environment. They will die without it. Realizing this, they consider using another neutron bomb to increase the radiation level. They vow not to adapt to their environment, but to adapt their environment to suit themselves.

Since the Thal face starvation without another food source, they agree to help Ian to attack the city. One group will go through the swamp, where all manner of mutated creatures dwell. The other group will create a diversion on the other side of the city.

The Ordeal

The Daleks require a minimum of 23 days to prepare a neutron bomb. That is too long. They want radiation now. So, they devise a plan to vent their reactor into the air to achieve the same effect.

The Doctor, and Susan have entered the city. The Daleks take notice when Susan and the Doctor sabotage their power supply. Susan and the Doctor are surrounded and captured.

Meanwhile searching through the underground caves, Barbara and Ganatus find a way that may lead into the city. Ganatus falls when the rope Barbara is holding slips. Ian and the other Thals arrive shortly thereafter. Ganatus survived the fall in good condition.

The entire group proceeds deeper into the cave at which point there is a cave in, preventing them from getting out the way they came in. At last, they come to a chasm. Ian takes the lead, and jumps across with a rope to help the others.

The last person across, a Thal, falls and is left dangling by a rope, screaming for someone to help him.

The Rescue

The Thal dangling over the chasm cuts the rope to save Ian and the others. Not long afterward, the remaining members of the group find a way into the Dalek city, and begin making their way to the control room.

Meanwhile the Doctor and Susan are shackled to the walls in an antechamber of the control room. The Doctor reveals that he has a space/time machine capable of travelling anywhere. He urges them to examine the fluid link they took from him as proof. A Dalek locates the crucial part, bringing it out for the Doctor to see. The Doctor offers to explain how the TARDIS works in exchange for their lives. The Daleks refuse saying they will find a way to get to the TARDIS and figure it out for themselves after everyone else is dead.

After fighting their way to the control room, the Thal battle the Daleks as the countdown nears zero. During the battle, the Dalek power supply is destroyed killing all the Daleks. They have won.

They say their goodbyes, turning down heartfelt pleas for them to stay and help rebuild. Inside the TARDIS, the time drive activates. All seems well at first, but then there is a flash and a loud boom.

THE END

Notes

• The Doctor and his companions seem to be quite hawkish on attacking the Daleks.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Ian suggests that possibly the Daleks are xenophobic.

Characters

• Ian arrives early enough to warn the Thals before Temmosus enters the room, but he allows him to say his words of peace anyway -- giving peace a chance so to speak. He only shouts his warning when the rest of the Thal group begin the enter the room.
• The Doctor refers to Ian as "Chesterman", a deliberate mangling of his name as a form of grudging repect. This is the first (but not the last) instance of this sort of thing.
• The Doctor tells Susan that he prizes her faith in him.
• Barbara and Ganatus kiss at their parting just before she leaves in the TARDIS.

Trivia

The Show

• Due to the intact nature of the buildings and the high radiation levels, the Doctor theorizes that neutron bombs were the cause.
• The Thals mutated—mutated full circle, back to "perfect" human form.

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