Planet of the Daleks - Episode 5 (The Day Before Eternity)

The Day Before Eternity is the name that Terry Nation gave this episode. In a way I wish that they would return to giving each episode a name as opposed to just ‘episode 1’ or ‘episode 2’. As we are now in the final third of the story the think that has stood out against other six part stories is how there has been the shift in direction like there was in the previous story. This is because Terry Nation has a good track record in keeping the action going and not needing to change. The episode starts off with everyone in the stones and they are being watched.

The effects of the creatures looking through the darkness does look a bit cheap but at least its better than what it would have looked like if they had gone with some bloke in a costume. So we must be thankful for small mercies.

I was surprised that they decided to kill Vaber off at this point as it would have made a much better if he had sacrificed himself in the final episode. Another interesting character that meets their maker in this episode is Wester who has been helping since the beginning and he is killed by lifting the lid on the case with the virus in it before it was ready and the last shot of him is his face.

The way that the Daleks are protected from the virus is rather basic as its just the sort of light you would see in a hospital surgery. There’s one thing about this that doesn’t quite make sense to me and that is why do they have it so close to their made control room. Surely it would have made more sense to have it a few floors down. Something else that slightly ruins the who operation is that there are several Daleks on screen but only three moving Daleks. So every time there is a group of Daleks,  50% of the Daleks are talking and moving and the other 50% are frozen on the spot.

It’s taken until episode five but we finally get a bit of location filming and it’s a nice moment. It’s quite a dramatic moment when they try and get two Daleks into the cold which kills them. This end scene does lead to another ‘nod’ to a previous Dalek story where they scoop the Dalek out of its casing and then they get Rebec to do what Ian Chesterton did and attempt to move around. This is the only time in the last five episodes that the nods have bothered me because it seems so obvious. I don’t know if its just me picking up on them more but it didn’t seem as subtle as before.

I quite like cliffhanger because it seems to come out of nowhere. It seems like it’s the fault of the Doctor and the others because the Daleks wouldn’t have spotted them otherwise and considering it was just after Wester lifting the lid it sort of feels like this was their best opportunity to get their plan done. It’s a good penultimate episode and feels like it is building towards something and it’s still holding my attention and if the final episode goes the way that I think it will (and has in the past), then this will be the second six parter in a row that has been consistently good and not something that I have wanted to end as quickly as possible.