Frontier in Space may not have had the cliffhanger I thought I remembered, but it did have a cliffhanger. I’d waited 15 years to find out how Planet of the Daleks continued the story, after UK Gold had been unable to screen it. The VHS was deleted by then and eBay copies were too expensive for my pocket money, especially as it had been released in a collectable tin as a double set with Revelation of the Daleks – a story I already owned on DVD by this point.
I enjoy watching several of the actors who have played the Master, appreciating them all in different ways, but Roger Delgado’s version has grown on me more than ever in this run. It was helped partly by the Season 8 blu-ray release, which meant I was watching bits of that season again alongside Season 10. I was aching to see a bit more of this Master as I knew he wouldn’t be appearing again after this season. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that Frontier in Space was his final story. Circumstances mean it’s sadly not the fitting end he deserves and I’ll savour the Delgado Master more on future rewatches.
Since watching Blake’s 7 I’ve become more conscious of Terry Nation Bingo, though sometimes it seems more appropriate to simply term it 1970s’ Science Fiction Bingo. I’m sure someone must have designed the below version specifically for Planet of the Daleks because it fits it so perfectly.
I don’t just ‘not mind’ formulaic stories: I really like them, and it’s often specifically why I choose to watch certain programmes. They’re full of familiar elements, even if you’ve never seen them before, and that results in ‘comfort TV’ – something I clung to throughout 2020, and a fair amount of 2021, indulging more intensely at some points than others.
I’ve been conflicted over the six-part stories in this era. The Sea Devils was marvellous, but I’d have happily condensed The Mutants into four. I feel the same about Frontier in Space vs Planet of the Daleks, and I really hadn’t expected that for a Dalek story.
I liked Jo’s exploration of the planet in Episode 1, and the further plot developments once the Doctor was up and about in Episode 2, but by Episode 4 I’d lost interest. This definitely should have been a story I broke up instead of binging. However, I’d enjoyed the last few stories so much that I thought I’d be happy to do the lot in one.
I got briefly excited by a quarry in Episode 5 but it wasn’t enough – I’ve been spoiled by Blake’s 7’s top Quarry Action. The jump from studio to location has rarely felt so stark. 90% of the story is studio-based and it very much feels like that 10% with a Dalek in a quarry got tagged onto another story’s filming schedule. It just doesn’t blend well coming from the studio’s campfire clearing.
Nonetheless, I do like much of the studio work. The planet’s design, lighting and David Maloney’s directing is doing well with what they’ve got. The clearing is lit in warm reds and oranges, with the background in darkness to discourage us from looking at the join. The jungle is clearly limited by space and I can’t help but compare it to the superior Face of Evil from a few years later. Yet I like it’s red and green lighting and I actually think the condensed area works in its favour here because it feels claustrophobic.
The lethal plant life is inescapable, the characters could bump into the invisible Spirodons at any moment and no greenery provides protection from the Daleks. I love the moment when it’s revealed that the estimated Dalek population is not 10 but 10,000. The atmosphere instantly changes and I can feel the characters’ danger. As far as the plot goes, it’s a story with ups and downs of enjoyment for me, but there’s still plenty to love about it.
