Planet of the Daleks: Episode Six A nice tight litttle resolution! Whats great about this story is that there is always one piece of action after another, but, by the time I get to this episode I presume that everyone will be getting a little bored with me telling everyone how fantastically tense it all is. But, for the most part this episode, I cant say anything else! I really do think this is one of the best Dalek stories, because it really does know how to use them well, not only are the imposing, but they know what theyre doing, theyre not just there to flank the screen, when they give chase to the Doctor, or when they are trying to break down the baricade they genuinly seem like an impending force! The real star of this episode though is the direction by David Maloney, wow, just wow. I really like how he is able to make explosions look a lot bigger than they actually are, for example, when the bomb is thrown from Latep to the two Daleks, the screen whites out and when we come back the Daleks are smashed to pieces! It really does show a broad range of methods coming together to create an effect, firstly we have the pyrotechnics, and then on top of that we have the visual effects with the white out, the sound effects of the explosion to make it seem more impressive, followed by smoke and the visual details such as the room now being splattered in charcoal black and the two Daleks being scattered there in bits! Its rather brilliant, and what this shows me that Maloney isnt a thatll do director, when he wants to do something hell bloody do it, so here, in order to make the bomb look as destructive as possible, he goes that extra mile! The same goes for the explosion of the bomb in the ravine at the end, which, even though the explosion doesnt work, we still get the rather trippy and effective flashes of white light as the explosion takes place. Maloney is also an expert at framing shots, for example, just look at the fluidity of the camera movement in the scenes with the army of the Daleks, and the camera moves between the railings, they never obscure the characters, but you can still see them, and its a wonderful framing device. It also gives the brilliant chance to have some low shots, with one of the best this episode being when the Doctor, Jo and the Thals are waiting outside the army waiting of the bomb to go off, because the shot is done very low, and it looks brilliant. The best shot of the episode though is one that pretty much sums up this whole era in a visual image, the Doctor and Jo hanging onto each other as the Dalek ship takes off at the end. Wow, its so quintissential, its so good it seems like a promotional photo, the Doctor and Jo together, watching the ship go off as smoke envelops them. Its brilliant, and it shows the two as incredibly close and with Pertwee being the mother hen type protector that he always said his Doctor was. A picture paints a thousand words, and in this case, it certainly does. Thank you David Maloney. I quite like the development of Latep here, and once again the Thal characters thrive in the quiet moments, and you would think that from the action-packed, non-stop adventure and tension that these would seem out of place, but no, they suit perfectly. The whole philosophy of not being able to work as efficiently because they know they can get home is rather a dark and grim one, and the whole idea of it being a suicide mission adds that extra layer to what these people must be going through, and, it makes perfect sense. Theyve been taking risks and doing anything they can, because they know they wont be coming back. Perhaps this adds creedence to why Vaber was so obnoxious, because he wanted to get everything right because he knew he might not have been coming back. Also perhaps this explains why Latep was straight away almost enfatuated with Jo, because you know, if your on a suicide mission you might as well make use of what you have around! But, I kid, Lateps rather strong phrasiology here about him finding something to live for would seem cheesy as hell in real life, but it shows another one of the joys of the show, because of the situations that characters can only be placed in, in Doctor Who, we are allowed to see emotions and themes presented in such an effective way. Jos response seems almost flabberghasted, she really doesnt know what to say, but then again, shes in the right. Shes just been told that she might effect the mission because Latep cares for her, much like the previous Taron/Rebec dilemma. The model shots this episode are rather brilliant, especially the Dalek ship landing, with its bright pink exhaust fumes looking fantastic! The CSO used of the opening door is also brilliant, and the Dalek Supreme coming out being flanked by his two lackies looks genuinly impressive, and Dudley Simpsons music acknowkledges this and goes all bombastic! We sort of have a little fanfare for the Supreme, and quite rightly so, it not only looks the part but its bloody dangerous! I love how we get the build up to it, and then we find out its a not a normal Dalek at all! Im suprised how different it is, we have the new head and neck rings, and its on a plinth from the Cushing movie Daleks, along with the lights! I really do think it looks great, especially with the purple lights, and yes, I do think the light on the eye-stalk is pretty nice too. The only problem here is that the lights dont flash in time at all with what he is saying, so sometimes its pretty hard to see which Dalek is speaking, but, I presume that the mad, random flashes of the Supreme were deliberate, because it seems to revel in being in complete discord to when it speaks. I also think the move where it exterminates the head of the Dalek command on Spirodon is really interesting, because we get to see how Daleks react to rank. The controller seems to be quite scared, almost begging for mercy when the Supreme is chastising him, and then he just goes and kills him! Its immedietly shows how powerful this Dalek is, he wont accept failure, and, coming from the supreme council, it really adds a sort of pompous authority to the Dalek ranks. What also shows this is at the end, where the Supreme and his two guards decide to scarper away from the ice volcano, which seems a rather uppity response for a Dalek. The Supreme seems pretty up himself! However, I really like how all the Daleks arent defeated, and we have these three survivors roaming Spirodon, because after effectively 12 episodes of there work, we cant just finish them off, because; DALEKS ARE NEVER DEFEATED!. I wonder when theyll be back next... I do like the model work of the Louis Marx Daleks too, which I think look very effective, mainly the giant army of them, with them roaming around, but, my favourite bit has to be when the ice volcano floods the chamber. It looks fantastic, very vast and impressively shot. However, I do think that using a model shot to represent blowing up the side of the gantry which weve seen the Doctor and co. on in live action, it seems a little odd, and, whilst the wall that explodes is obviously polystyrene, it doesnt detract from the feature much. I also like the idea of the bomb dropping in between the army of Daleks, and the Doctor has to climb in there almost as if hes in a bit of snakes, avoiding them all whilst clambering on top. The ending though is where this episode really shines, because it gets to sum everything up perfectly. The music once again by Dudley is almost like a little ode to war heroes, and it seems entirely appropriate. The goodbye to Codal from the Doctor seems so natural, and incredibly touching, and also when you realise that Codal has been made a braver man thanks to the Doctor. Its Pertwees speech about not glorifying war that puts this whole story into perspective, its anti-war and watching this you kind of look at all the events in a new perspective, lots of men have died, and war isnt all its cracked up to be. Its a typical stance, but its one that when re-enforced in this way seems properly touching and poignant, mainly thanks to Pertwees performance. I also feel that Jos goodbye to Latep is strangely prophetic, as he waves from the spaceship, you have to admire what a gentleman he is. But, its Jos depression in the TARDIS at the end that speaks volumes, she was never like this with King Peladon, because she was much younger, and yet here, about loosing Latep, shes much more sad and distraught. Jo Grant is growing up, shes a fully fledged woman now and is ready to go off into the world. And the ending seems triumphant, but theres also something quite sad about Jo wanting to return to Earth after all this adventuring. And with what is about to happen next story, it seems all too prophetic... But, one final note, the TARDIS is still full of the fungus from the flowers, the Doctors going to have fun getting that off before the next story! Anyway, its an all time classic, and after this re-watch, its definetly up there as one of my favourite Dalek tales. Next serial: The Green Death...
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 08:17:25 +0000
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