Home > The Daleks

1 Synopsis

The Doctor, Barbara, Ian and Susan land on the jungle planet Skaro. They meet the two races on the planet - the beautiful, humanoid Thals, and the malicious race known as Daleks. The Daleks are mutant creatures, unable to survive without being encased in their metallic fighting machines.

The doctor convinces the Thals that the only way to survive is to abandon their deeply held pacifist principles. They launch a combined attack on the Dalek city, eventually succeeding by cutting off the power supply, which leaves the Daleks immobilised.

2 Writer

3 Main cast

• The Doctor: William Hartnell
• Susan Foreman: Carole Ann Ford
• Barbara Wright: Jacqueline Hill
• Ian Chesterton: William Russell
• Ganatus: Philip Bond
• Kristas: Jonathan Crane
• Elyon: Gerald Curtis
• Antodus: Marcus Hammond

4 Notes

1. The TARDIS can supposedly go anywhere in time and space - this episode is the first indication of its tendency to malfunction, when The Doctor has to try to fix their position by taking a reading of the stars.
2. This is also the first story when the Daleks make an appearance. Writer Terry Nation once claimed that he came up with the name after seeing a set of encyclopedias with one volume spanning the section of the alphabet from Dal - Lek. However, he later admitted that this was simply a good story for the sake of the press, and that in fact he had just made up the name.

4.1 Alternate Titles

During production the story went through a number of working titles such as The Survivors and Beyond the Sun, before settling down as The Mutants. This title was used in most BBC paperwork using titles for over a decade.

However in 1972 a later Doctor Who story called The Mutants was produced (with the same director). Some feel that referring to two stories by the same title is confusing. Others have argued that such occurrences of repeated names are by no means uncommon and that disambiguation is not hard.

Two titles emerged as alternatives. The Dead Planet emerged after a Radio TimesRadio Times is the BBC's weekly television and radio programme listings magazine. It was founded in 1923, and originally carried details of BBC radio programmes in response to a newspaper boycott of radio listings. It was at one time the magazine with the special inadvertantly called all the early stories by the title of the first episode. This title was used in many licensed guides and magazines up until 19801980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. Events January-February January 1- April 1 National steel strike in United Kingdom January 1 Changes to the Swedish Act of Succession creates Victoria of Sweden, Crown Princess over her younger brother January 5 He, when it was displaced by The Daleks, a title deriving from the story's book and film adaptations and with no basis in contemporary usage. This title has largely stuck, though some still use The Mutants, often disamiguating it by the use of the production code (B), as opposed to (NNN) for the 1972 story.

One compromise has been to not refer to the story by a title but to instead write "The first Dalek story" or "Serial B".