Alejandro's Reviews > Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks

Entertaining reading, just nothing extraordinary.


This is a novelization of the serial of the same title.


WHO

The Doctor:

The Third Doctor

Companion:

Jo Grant


WHERE & WHEN

Planet Spiridon. Exact date is not mentioned.


WHAT

The Doctor is injured due events of the previous adventure (he was shot by The Master in Frontier in Space) and he is in a kind of coma, so the Time Lords seemed to direct the TARDIS to the planet Spiridon (why the heck sending the TARDIS to a freaking world full of Daleks instead of bringing it back to Gallifrey, I just have no clue. I think that they could have better luck if Jo just pull some control randomly and landing anywhere else) which is a world conquered by the Daleks looking for the means to become invisible which is something that indigenous race learned to do.

Since the Doctor is out of commision at first, bravely Jo looks for help, finding a group of Thals (the first native species of Skaro before the creation of the Daleks), that they went there supposedly to deal with a small advance exploratory squad of Daleks but soon enough they realize that instead it was a vast army of ten thousand Daleks.

The Doctor wakes up (it’s curious that while the injure seemed to be quite serious, he was able to heal instead of just activating a regeneration) and since he found out that Jo went alone to look for help, he went too to look for her.

The Doctor is captured by the Daleks, and Jo is able to avoid capture thanks to the helps of one of the Thals. Once both heroes eventually find each other, they join forces with the remaining Thals and a rebel force of Spiridons to find a way to stop the Daleks.

The story is entertained and while it’s not one of the finest adventures of Doctor Who, you have several good things like counting with the charm and wit of the Third Doctor, the bravery of Jo, and the fact that any story with Daleks on it, well, it will be something cool to read.