| Production Code: XXX
First Transmitted
The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
Crew
Plot Outline from Wikipedia The TARDIS arrives on Exxilon, a planet where an unknown force is draining electrical energy, including the reserves of the TARDIS. The Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith venture out onto the planet. The only structure in sight is a pristine city which exudes energy and light, while the rest of the rocky and barren world looks barely capable of supporting life. They meet a human expedition of Marine Space Corps, who tell him the galaxy is being swept by a plague of sorts. Their ship has been disabled too and their numbers depleted by attacks from the savage and incomprehensible Exxilons. On one such attack Sarah is captured and taken the tribal cave to be sacrificed. Meanwhile, another spaceship arrives on Exxilon. The door opens, and Daleks glide out, firing their weapons – which do not work. The Dalek weapons have been affected by the power-drain too and their ship too is trapped. It seems the Daleks are the source of the galactic plague, but despite this the Daleks, the Doctor and the group of humans form an uneasy alliance in their efforts to escape Exxilon. Shortly afterward the Exxilons attack again using bows and arrows, killing more humans and taking the remainder and the Daleks prisoner. The prisoners are taken to the Exxilon caves where Doctor interrupts his assistant's execution. Subsequently, he is given the death penalty, but he evades this with customary style and he and Sarah flee. Meanwhile, more of the Daleks that have remained hidden on their ship now decide to attack. Their use of mechanical guns to attack the cave avoids the energy drain. By brute force they take control of the remaining human prisoners and Exxilons. Having fled the caves the Doctor and Sarah encounter an enlightened native, Bellal, who is one of the more intelligent subterranean Exxilons. Bellal explains the City brought about the downfall of its own creators, the Exxilon civilisation, by consuming all their energy and resources. The Doctor figures out that the beacon over the city is the culprit of the power drain, and resolves to deactivate it. Bellal also explains that the strange robotic snake arms that exist in the caves and have attacked the Doctor and the Daleks separately is part of a defence system developed by the City, which has a degree of sentience. Separately, the Daleks too work out the beacon at the top of the City is the cause of their problems and resolve to destroy it. The Daleks determine to investigate the City further, and some scouts are sent ahead – only to end up following the Doctor, Sarah and Bellal, who have entered the City first. The Doctor defeats a series of puzzles to pass deeper and deeper into the City structure, with Dalek intelligence matching his own close behind. Eventually the Doctor succeeds in damaging the brain at the heart of the City and the structure begins to die, taking with it the two Daleks who had ventured inside. The Doctor and Bellal make their escape amid the chaos. Meanwhile, the Daleks have forced the humans to scale the exterior of the Beacon in an attempt to blow it up. It seems the Daleks are on Exxilon to gather parranium, the only cure to the space plague, and have spent time hoarding supplies on their own vessel. One of the MSC, the rebellious and ruthless Galloway, succeeds in hiding aboard the Dalek spaceship with some of the bombs. With the City destroyed, power returns to the Dalek ship and the creatures depart in their craft – only for Galloway to heroically detonate the bombs, killing himself and his foes. The other humans have managed to keep some of the parranium aside and plan to take it back to help the plague ravaged colonies. As the Exxilon city finally collapses, the Doctor sadly muses that the universe has now only 699 wonders.
Again it has to be said that this Dalek story has a lot in common with previous ones. Another planet where some marooned Humans, a hostile indigenous population and the Daleks play cat and mouse with each other while The Doctor and Sarah Jane get on with finding out what is really going on. There is a sense of sameness about all the episodes. Even the names get to sound the same. Planet of the Daleks, Day of the Daleks, Death to the Daleks. This one is distinctive perhaps for being one of the more pretentious titles. And utterly untrue. There seems no end to the Daleks. No matter how many are blown up, frozen or otherwise dealt with they keep coming back. But if we are going to have another story about Daleks on another planet, let’s have something different. Daleks forced to make a pact with the Humans because all their technology is destroyed. The Doctor remained suspicious of them, of course. He tells the Humans in no uncertain terms what to expect. “Inside each of those shells is living, bubbling lump of hate." And he is right. Once the Daleks find a way to kill despite the power drain they do so. The gloves are soon off and it becomes a fight to the finish. An added complication is the need to find the drug that would save millions of colonists. The added complication of the organic city with its own self-defences
is surplus to requirements and slightly unnecessary. It would have
made a two part story at least on its own with The Doctor and Sarah
investigating its strange history. I question the necessity for so
many complicated six part stories when a four part and a two part
on the two separate themes might have worked better. This story, unlike
the one before and the one after, does not stand out particularly
in my memory of what was, otherwise, the golden age of Doctor Who
as a top series on British television and I think this is the reason
why.
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