The Daleks

THE DEAD PLANET - An early, unedited classic in two parts featuring William Hartnell as the original Doctor in his very first terrifying encounter with the Daleks--destined to become his deadliest enemies.

When the Doctor and his companions find themselves on a dead planet, a distant glimpse of a magnificent city arouses the Doctor’s ruthless curiosity and puts them all in grave danger. On inspection the city seems deserted but they make two lethal discoveries: the planet is radioactive and the subterranean corridors conceal a terrible menace…the Daleks.

Captured and suffering from radiation sickness, all seems lost. Strangely Susan is allowed to fetch essential drugs from the TARDIS, but the Daleks are using her as bait to trap the Thals, a "mutated" race living above ground. The Daleks must be stopped but the Doctor is dying and Susan has not yet returned…

THE EXPEDITION - Having escaped, the Doctor and his companions find they have left a vital TARDIS component in the underground maze. With horror they realize they must return and they finally persuade the peace-loving Thals to join forces against the murderous Daleks. Back at the city, the Doctor and Susan are recaptured and discover the Daleks, dependent on radiation for survival, plan to subject the planet to another lethal dose.

Ian, Barbara and the Thals must infiltrate the stronghold, save the Doctor and Susan, and stop the evil the evil Daleks in their relentless quest for supreme power. But first they must face the abominations that lurk in the deadly swamp...

• "The Daleks" marks the first story featuring the Daleks, and their initial success helped to propel Doctor Who's ratings for many years to come..

• Look for one of the all time classic cliffhanger scenes at the end of episode 1.

• Also look for some wonderful fluff moments including "anti-radiation gloves," styrofoam rock cliffs coming apart in the actors' hands, and Daleks colliding with consoles.

• This story was literally saved on its way to being destroyed.  While at the BBC long time fan Ian Levine came across a platform full of old film cans wrapped in plastic and marked for destruction.  These were the film cans containing all 7 episodes of this story.  At Levine's (and other fan's) insistence the BBC soon halted their junking of old episodes that occurred throughout the last half of the the 70's.

• The Doctor Who Restoration Team did extensive work on the U.K. re-release of this story by cleaning up both picture and sound quality.  Please note that this refers only to the U.K. re-release and not to the original CBS/Fox version released in North America back in 1995.    

• This story, along with "An Unearthly Child" and "The Edge of Destruction," were scheduled for a special box set release in the U.K.  Several months later the BBC decided to alter their plans and release each story individually over the course of three months.  Another change in the release plans was made by pushing "The Daleks" back to February 2001.

• It now seems clear that Warner Home Video won't be re-releasing this restored version here in North America.  The previous distributor of Who videos (CBS/Fox) had been very tentative on this issue, only re-releasing two stories as of this date. 

• There may still be hope for the restored version to surface here in North America.  Being the first Dalek story ever made, it will likely see a DVD release sooner rather than later, so there may still be hope.  Time will tell...