Today's viewing of the middle part of Planet of the Daleks involved quite a bit of time spent in either A/C cooling ducts or else powerplant ventilation ducts. Which made me think of this little gem:

Anyway, let's talk about that.

Planet of the Daleks - Episodes 3 & 4

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

Episode three has Jo spending time with her invisible Spirodon rescuer, briefly infiltrating the Dalek base through he front door, and then running away. Meanwhile a group of Thals find a different way to infiltrate the base by climbing in through some cooling shafts fed from an ice volcano. No, really, apparently instead of the planet having a core of super-heated molten magma, it has a core of super cooled (but still fluid) magma. The Daleks have tapped into the volcano to use it for cooling their main generator, and the Thals climb right down the shaft and stumble into the Doctor who is in the process of escaping. Unfortunately there is an ice-volcanic eruption, so the shafts can't be used for egress, which leads them all to be trapped in the generator room as the Daleks are cutting their way through the door.

Episode four has the Doctor and his Thal friends escaping by creating a sort of hot-air balloon to lift themselves straight up an exhaust shaft. There is a legitimately thrilling chase scene involving the Doctor and three Thals clinging to the ropes from their rising balloon while a levitating Dalek gives chase. Meanwhile, Jo manages to stumble across the Thal cache of explosives and rescues two out of the three units before the last one detonates. Shortly thereafter she is reunited with the Doctor.  Also meanwhile, the Daleks are growing a bacterial plague that will be ready in half a day and will wipe out all plant and animal life on Spirodon. Seriously no bueno.

I joke about the amount of time spent in ventilation ducts, but it really was a great couple of episodes. Terry Nation continues to build out a very weird and alien world which has its own set of threats to our heroes completely distinct from the Daleks themselves. There is also some stuff there about the true nature of courage and leadership, as well has honor and sacrifice. This truly is Doctor Who at its finest, tackling huge issues at a human scale. I always like it when the writers treat the companions as more than just screaming plot devices, and Jo Grant really gets some opportunities to shine here.

Tomorrow comes the big finish to the Dalek war, and I am truly looking forward to seeing how it all ends. There were thousands of Daleks briefly glimpsed in a chamber beneath that powerplant, and I am sure that tomorrow they will come into play.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Third
Companion(s): Jo Grant
Episode(s): Planet of the Daleks - Episodes 3 & 4
Steps Walked: 7,123 today, 1,192,911 total
Distance Walked: 3.66 miles today, 588.79 miles total
Weight: 263.86 lbs (five day moving average), net change -43.74 lbs