On Spiridon, Thals Vaber (Prentis Hancock), Codal (Tim Preece) and Taron (Bernard Horsfall) come face to face with their eternal enemy… plus their legendary friend, the Doctor (Jon Pertwee).
W
hen
the Doctor first encountered the passive, pacific Thals of planet Skaro, back in the original Dalek serial (1963-64), he and his companions were obliged to bully the passivity and pacifism out of them, so they might join the struggle to overthrow the Daleks.
A decade later, during the tenth anniversary season, the Doctor re-encountered the Thals on the planet Spiridon. This time, they’d changed, having become gun-toting space travellers on the Daleks’ trail. The difference didn’t elude script editor Terrance Dicks – who, writing to returning Dalek creator Terry Nation on 1 August 1972, observed: “As I remember the original Thals tended to be mild and peace loving. They now seem to be much tougher and more military, which is good. But could we suggest that perhaps that [sic] this process, born of their fear of the Daleks, has gone a bit too far…”