Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks by: Terrance Dicks

 

Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks was written by Terrance Dicks, based on the television story Planet of the Daleks by Terry Nation.  It was the 26^th story to be novelized by Target Books.

 

Terry Nation is a writer who has a very specific formula which can easily be seen in The Daleks.  Mysterious planet, two factions of Daleks and enemies, forest setting, capture early on, escape, ambush, harrowing sequence near the end, and a finale.  This is especially apparent in longer serials by nation with the most infamous being Planet of the Daleks.  Planet of the Daleks is the Pertwee Dalek story that is perhaps most well remembered by fans, however, in an age where you can watch any episode of Doctor Who at any time it becomes very apparent that it is a retread of The Daleks beat by beat.  Nation even lampshades this by mentioning the events of the Daleks early on.  It is actually the novelization which I’m looking at today that helped contribute to this perception simply through the fact that Terrance Dicks makes it a breeze.  The page count and audiobook length is short, even for a Target novelization, only coming to about three hours read out and approximately 120 pages.  Split into twelve chapters, every two chapters equals an episode and scenes just fly by because Terrance Dicks’ prose is endlessly readable.  There are plenty of phrases which find their way here such as the wheezing, groaning noise and descriptions of the Doctor’s nose.  There is also a genuine attempt to make the Dalek forces terrifying and moving through a serial with ease.  The six episodes condensed down cuts out a lot of the Terry Nation padding to a bare minimum and the descriptions make the planet of Spiradon feel even more dangerous.  There are some pieces of old-fashioned writing, especially with how Jo is described, it is made up for in explanations about how Jo wanted to enter UNIT and pulled strings to do so while the Doctor’s travels have put her in danger.  Because this was released after Doctor Who and the Green Death I can’t imagine Dicks not drawing on Jo’s exit being the next story chronologically.  A lot of her backstory is actually explained here and expanded upon from Terror of the Autons putting a lot of the ideas of her uncle pulling strings to get her with UNIT and the development of the Doctor and Jo’s relationship.  Even some of the Thal’s get a few moments in the spotlight to expand upon Thal society and the idea of the scientist being the only scientist hits more in the novel because Dicks’ prose makes it intimate.

 

Overall, Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks manages to improve on the television story, even if it is a bit out of date and doesn’t necessarily do enough to rectify the fact that the story is a retread of The Daleks.  Dicks is brilliant as a writer and it’s clear this is the version of the story that is in people’s minds when they think about it. 7/10.