"Planet of the Daleks"

Planet of the Daleks
Disc 3 & 4 of the Dalek War Box Set
(DVD)

 

Starring Jon Pertwee
6 Episodes
1973
140 minutes (color)
Double Disc


"Dalek War" Box Set




 

 

Production Notes
Doctor Who
Jon Pertwee

Jo Grant
Katy Manning

Written by
Terry Nation

Directed by
David Maloney
Produced by
Barry Letts

Original Airdate
April 7, 1973 - May 12, 1973

R1 DVD Release Date
March 2010

Warner Home Video
#3000024830

U.K. Box Set Cover


U.K. Individual Cover


 



Cover Blurb
The TARDIS arrives on Spiridon, an inhospitable planet where the vegetation is hungry and extremely dangerous.  The Doctor has been badly hurt, and has fallen into a coma, so it's up to his concerned assistant Jo to leave the safety of the TARDIS to find help.  She soon discovers a jungle containing invisible creatures, and that the planet is hiding a terrible secret about the Doctor's oldest enemy, the Daleks.

Since the mid-1970s, episode three of this story has only been available as a 16mm black-and-white recording, but for this DVD release it has been returned to full color!



 

 

 

DVD Features
 

Disc One
All 6 episodes from the story "Planet of the Daleks" as they were originally transmitted in 1973 plus these bonus features.

 
  • Information Text:
 Lots of trivia and tidbits of Whovian detail are provided.  The text appears intermittently along the bottom of the screen and is written by members of the Doctor Who Restoration Team.
 

 
  • Audio Options:
 Commentary is provided by Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Prentis Hancock (Vaber), Tim Preece (Codal), Terrance Dicks (script editor), and Barry Letts (producer).
 

 
  • Easter Eggs:
 None on disc one.  For a full list of known Easter Eggs and screen grabs of them click HERE.

 
 

 

 

 

Disc Two
The remaining bonus features for "Planet of the Daleks"
 
  • The Perfect Scenario - The End of Dreams:
 The second and final installment of the retrospective "The Perfect Scenario" featurette.
 

 
  • The Rumble in the Jungle - Remembering 'Planet of the Daleks':
 A sixteen minute featurette on the making of this story.  Included are Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Bernard Horsfall (Taron), Jane How (Rebec), Tim Preece (Codal), David Maloney (director) and John Hurst (designer).
 

 
  • Multi-Colorisation:
 A fascinating insight into the miraculous color restoration techniques developed and used to restore episode 3 back to color.
 

 
  • Stripped for Action - The Daleks:
 Part of an ongoing series of featurettes that highlights the world of Doctor Who comic strips (as seen in the magazine Doctor Who Monthly).  In this installment, the focus not on the Doctor, but on his single most famous adversary, the Daleks.
 

 
  • Blue Peter:
 Excerpts taken from the popular children's program from around the time of transmission.  Included is a clip involving the theft and eventual return of two BBC Daleks.
 

 
  • Photo Gallery:
 Once again we are treated to many rare production stills and quite a few behind the scenes ones as well.
 

 
  • PDF Materials:
 Accessible from any computer with a DVD drive, a PDF of some of the original Radio Times press clippings and BBC promotional materials.
 

 
  • Easter Eggs:
 There is one egg.  Scroll down further for more details.  For a full list of known Easter Eggs and screen grabs of them click HERE.

 
     

 

 

 

 
 

Easter Egg

#1. BLACK AND WHITE COMMENTARY

 

Go to the 'Special Features' menu on Disc Two.
Click on the hidden Doctor Who logo to the right of 'Mulit-Colorisation'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additional Notes
  • Although the story gets a bit silly in some places, "Planet of the Daleks" is more noteworthy because episode 3 only exists in black and white form.  The BBC (in their infinite wisdom) trashed most of the Pertwee stories in the mid to late 70's.  While all of them have been recovered, a few episodes only exist as black and white copies.  Although computer re-colorization does exist, it proved to be too costly for the amount of video sales expected, and so the story was released with 5 episodes in color and one in black and white.
     
  • The events in "Planet of the Daleks" continue from the previous Doctor Who adventure "Frontier in Space."
  • Beware of alien tropical plants trying to spray Jo Grant with their projectile fluids.  Not for the feint of heart I think. 
  • Bernard Horsfall (Commander Taron) would later return to Doctor Who in the Tom Baker story "The Deadly Assassin" as Chancellor Goth.  Prior to his "Planet" appearance he was a Timelord in "The War Games" and as Gulliver in "The Mind Robber."

  • Another familiar face is Prentis Hancock (Vaber).  He played a reporter in "Spearhead from Space," Commander Salamar in "The Planet of Evil," and the captain of the guards in "The Ribos Operation."
     

  • As with all of the DVD releases to date, the Doctor Who Restoration Team did extensive work on this story (including color restoration).  A revolutionary new technique of extracting hidden color information in a black and white recording has led the the breakthrough restoration of episode 3 of "Planet of the Daleks" to its original color format.  Hopefully this innovation will allow other black and white recordings from the Pertwee era to return to their original color condition.  More information on the restoration of this story can be read at their website HERE.