Doctor Who - Dalek War: Frontier in Space & Planet of the Daleks

It was rare for Doctor Who in its original TV series to do something truly epic in scale. The two stories contained in this DVD box set, Frontier In Space and Planet Of The Daleks, is an example of when that happened. While two separate stories technically, these two linked stories make up a twelve part epic linked by the involvement of the Doctor's dreaded enemies the Daleks. While these two stories are by themselves a bit of a mixed bag, they are well presented here in this box set.

First off is Frontier In Space. While it is certainly true that it suffers from some of the padding evident in most six parters but, on the flip side, we get one of the most complete portraits of the future presented in any Who story. The result is that the story ahs a real epic feeling to it (albeit an low budget one) that travels across a large part of space including future Earth, a lunar penal colony and other places along the way. There's also the Draconians as well whose society might not be quite as fleshed out as the Human's but who remain one of the best designed of original series monsters (which makes one wonder why they never made any type of return at all). There's some nice moments from Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and Katy Manning as companion Jo Grant plus Roger Delgado's final appearance as The Master as well. While a tad bit too long and with some occasionally iffy model work Frontier is still a fine Who adventure.

This epic is concluded in the six part Planet Of The Daleks. This story had been referred to elsewhere by Dalek voice actor/audio storywriter Nicholas Briggs as being akin to "the Dalek's greatest hits" and that is a fair assessment. Writer and Dalek creator Terry Nation writes a story that takes the elements of previous Dalek stories and combines them together into one story. The result is a story that is just too familiar for its own good. The result is that story is predictable to the pointing of being downright boring. This is despite the efforts of the cast and crew including some well designed sets and some fine direction from David Maloney. The result is a story with much potential but none really showing.

The special features are somewhat better then the stories themselves. The best special feature is actually the third episode of Planet Of The Daleks which has been restored to full color for the first time in over three decades. The restoration work is so good you'd never have known that the color version had been lost at some point! There are also some fine documentaries as well including making of docs for each of the two stories, a fine tribute to the career and life of actor Roger Delgado and two further installments for the Stripped For Action documentaries on the Doctor Who comics (one for the third Doctor and one for the 60's Dalek strips). Of special interest are the audio commentaries due to them ebbing the first ones released since the passing of Who producer Barry Letts late last year. The commentaries feature Letts who is still at the top of his game and it is as always interesting hearing his thoughts and memories on these two stories. The only real duds of the special features is the two-part Perfect Scenario sci-fi docu-drama which attempts to look at how the world of the early 1970's effected to and can be seen as sub-texts within the two stories. Unfortunately the drama bits are both filled with bad dialogue and bad acting but both the actors and the fictional talking heads, not to mention seemingly advocating genocide before it ends. Considering that the similarly done documentary Beneath The Surface on the Silurian's DVD back in 2008 covered much the same ground for that story in a pure documentary form so successfully, one wonders why this unsuccessful experiment was even attempted. That said, the majority of the special features are worth inclusion.

So how does the Dalek War box set rank then? Well there's the stories: Frontier In Space is a good story, though slow at times, while Planet Of The Daleks can be considered borderline boring with its over reliance on what had gone before it. The special features are overwhelmingly fine (especially the Planet Of The Daleks episode three restoration and the Delgado documentary) though the two-part Perfect Scenario is far from good. The result then is a good box set, though a bit of a mixed one to be honest.

This double adventure, which stretches to 12 episodes in all, includes the final appearance of Roger Delgado as the Master. Otherwise, though, the two linked stories are of only middling interest despite some winning features.

In "Frontier in Space," Jo and the Doctor are forced to land the TARDIS on a 26th-century cargo ship returning to Earth. The ship is raided and its cargo and the TARDIS are stolen by what appear to be Draconians, highly civilized reptilian humanoids of a rival empire. Jo and the Doctor are arrested by Earth authorities as spies for the Draconians, who deny any piracy and countercharge that the humans of Earth are raiding their ships. So who is setting the two empires at each other's throats? Well, it's hard not to give away the "secret" when the word "Dalek" features so prominently on the box, but the Master is also involved, played by Roger Delgado in his last appearance before he would be killed in a tragic auto accident in Turkey in June 1973.

"Frontier" includes primitive model work in the spacecraft scenes and relatively unimaginative sets in the studio shots. Much more interesting is the clever use of location shooting outside Royal Festival Hall, whose modernist concrete structure is used to depict a futuristic Earth prison, and at a BBC director's ultramodern private home in Highgate, which serves as the Draconian embassy. The costume design, particularly for the Draconians, is first rate, and the character acting by Michael Hawkins as General Williams and Vera Fusek as President of Earth is also top notch. The abrupt plot resolution in Episode Six, however, leaves too many loose ends (the fate of the Master, for instance) as the story transitions into "Planet of the Daleks."

In this second story, the Doctor makes telepathic contact with the Time Lords, who direct the TARDIS to Spiridon, a jungle planet where the Daleks are mustering their invasion forces. There, Jo and the Doctor join up with an expedition of Thals, the peaceful, blond-haired race from the Daleks' home planet of Skaro. Here, Doctor Who welcomes the return of veteran character actor Bernard Horsfall as the Thal leader, Taron. (Horsfall played numerous roles in Doctor Who over the years, including that of one of the Time Lords who exiles the Doctor to Earth in "The War Games.")

"Planet of the Daleks" doesn't have much else going for it, though. The story is shot almost exclusively in the studio, with the exception of scenes that were filmed in a quarry (Katy Manning remarks in the making-of documentary that she could start a tour company specializing in quarries). The sets make use of exotic living as well as artificial prop plants, and the studio lighting is effective, but the story, weighed down with Terry Nation's usual preoccupations, never quite transcends its artificial feel.

Added features make this four-disc package worth the $60 list price, but only just. The making-of shorts are competent, workmanlike productions, but the two 30-minute "Perfect Scenario" features are a waste of disc space. Don't miss the 31-minute tribute to Roger Delgado, though, which includes interviews with the actor's exquisitely named wife, Kismet, and a rich sampling of original footage from a wide-ranging BBC acting career.

The Doctor and Jo finally traveling in a proper working TARDIS (sort of) have found themselves on board a cargo ship heading towards Earth. Unknown to the Doctor and Jo ships have been attacked by Draconias. Noble warriors from the Draconia Empire that view Humans as little more then ignorant savages, with no concept of honor. Still they have been welcomed on Earth with diplomats to try and create a peace with the earth and its people's. The Draconias also claim that they have been attacked by humans and that they want retrubition for thier losses. The Doctor and Jo get tangled up in this confilct by both sides thinking they are respinable for what is going on. The Doctor thinks some else is pulling the strings. They witness Orgrans boarding a human ship. The Doctor knowns of only one race to employ them, but is shcoked to find the Master behind it. He is the one trying to start a war. The Doctor can't figure why and what purpose until after finally revealing the Master's plan both the Humans and the Draconians unite to stop him. Only to be thwarted by..the Daleks. They were the ones supplying the Master with ships, Ogrions and whatever else he needed to start a war. The Doctor manages to stop him but not without injury and makes it back with Jo before setting the control and dematerilizing the TARDIS. There they land on a strange jungle world. The Doctor has become ill and is unresposive. Jo goes out into the jungle to try and find help but stumbles upon dangerous plant life. Shortly after her encounter the Doctor awaken refreshed and wondering where Jo is. He goes out and searches for her only to discover Thals. The Kaleds hated foe before the Daleks were created. They have been sent out to find and stop the Daleks at any cost. Thier they discover the Dalkes have been trying to use the natives natural ability to become invisable to thier own ends. With the Daleks creating new weapons and perfecting the invisablity methods will the Doctor, Jo and the Thals be able to stop them? Or will the universe finally be conqured by the Daleks?

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