During his first two seasons, Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor was confined to Planet Earth (for reasons too complicated to set out here), but by the tenth season he was free to go gallivanting around the galaxy in his TARDIS once again and to reacquaint himself with some old friends and old enemies. And no enemies of the Doctor could be older than the Daleks, whom he meets here on the jungle planet Spiridon. Terry Nation, the creator of the Daleks and the author of this serial, once said that he intended his creations as a Nazi analogue, and the analogy is continued here. The Daleks have invaded Spiridon, which they intend to use as a base for further conquests. The natives of the planet, who are invisible, have mostly been enslaved, although a few are waging a war of resistance against their conquerors. The old friends are a party of Thals, the race from Skaro featured in "The Daleks", who still preserve treasured memories of the Doctor's visit to their planet.
"Planet of the Daleks" was the first of the Third Doctor's two extraterrestrial encounters with the Daleks, the other being "Death to the Daleks" from the following season. *He had already met them on Earth in "Day of the Daleks"). Neither, in fact, ranks among Pertwee's best serials. Planet of the Daleks" suffers from being too long and drawn- out, trying to extend to six episodes a story which could have been told in four or five. The series' notoriously low budget was another drawback here; we never really believe that the Doctor's adventures are taking place on a jungle world; at most Spiridon resembles an outsize greenhouse. In this case, however, as well as with "Death to the Daleks", the main problem is lack of originality, because both stories are really little more than a rehash of "The Daleks". Nation was later to breathe fresh life into the Dalek concept in the excellent Fourth Doctor story "Genesis of the Daleks", so it is a pity he could not have done something similar here. Some of Pertwee's earlier earth-bound adventures such as "The Silurians", "Inferno" and "The Dæmons" were much more original.
"Planet of the Daleks" was the first of the Third Doctor's two extraterrestrial encounters with the Daleks, the other being "Death to the Daleks" from the following season. *He had already met them on Earth in "Day of the Daleks"). Neither, in fact, ranks among Pertwee's best serials. Planet of the Daleks" suffers from being too long and drawn- out, trying to extend to six episodes a story which could have been told in four or five. The series' notoriously low budget was another drawback here; we never really believe that the Doctor's adventures are taking place on a jungle world; at most Spiridon resembles an outsize greenhouse. In this case, however, as well as with "Death to the Daleks", the main problem is lack of originality, because both stories are really little more than a rehash of "The Daleks". Nation was later to breathe fresh life into the Dalek concept in the excellent Fourth Doctor story "Genesis of the Daleks", so it is a pity he could not have done something similar here. Some of Pertwee's earlier earth-bound adventures such as "The Silurians", "Inferno" and "The Dæmons" were much more original.