The Daleks

The Daleks (also known as The Mutants and The Dead Planet) is the second serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in seven weekly parts from 21 December 1963 to 1 February 1964. It is the first serial to be entirely set on an alien planet. It was written by Terry Nation and directed by Christopher Barry and Richard Martin. This story marks the first appearance of the Doctor's greatest extraterrestrial enemies, the Daleks, and is also the first to feature recurring Skaro people, the Thals.

In the serial, the First Doctor (William Hartnell), his granddaughter Susan (Carole Ann Ford), and her teachers Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) land in an alien jungle and are captured by the Daleks, a race of mutated creatures who are surviving off the radiation that remains in the atmosphere after a nuclear war they waged with their enemies.

Plot

This story introduces two plotlines in Doctor Who, that of the TARDIS' navigational circuits malfunctioning and that of the supposed destruction of the Dalek race. In this case, instead of bringing its crew back to Earth, the TARDIS lands in a petrified jungle, and the Doctor has to try to fix their position by taking a reading of the stars. The Doctor insists they explore a futuristic city they spot beyond the forest but Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright are not convinced. In the forest someone touches Susan's shoulder, but the Doctor doesn't believe her. Later a box of vials is found outside the TARDIS. The Doctor claims the fluid link of the TARDIS is running low on mercury (a ruse he later admits to), forcing the crew to travel to the city in search of more mercury.