Day 98: Volcano

We resume the adventure with Daleks by, oddly enough, having the Doctor not encounter the Daleks at all. Instead, the Doctor is being pursued by another old enemy, the Meddling Monk, a character whom he encountered once before in The Time Meddler. And again, he is very much appreciated here, because he brings a sense of joyful evil to the series, through the performance by Peter Butterworth and the writing by Dennis Spooner, both of whom have been involved with comedy and know how these things work. Indeed, Spooner contributes one of the funniest moments in the show so far, when the TARDIS lands on a cricket pitch and the commentators talk about its appearance and what effect it will have on the game, the Australian commentator being reasonably pleased with this development because it lessens the chances of England making a comeback. It's funny because it's taking a straight view of the extraordinary, and treating these things as if they're part of everyday life, when we know that they're not, and so we see the flaws come forth from the misguided cricket commentators. But Spooner can also write dark stuff as well, he has the Daleks state that their allies are far too interested in power to dare to undermine the success of their plan, and the Daleks brutally exterminate one of the other delegates for reaching a bit too far beyond his reach. It's the contrast that makes this work, because on the one hand we have fun on the cricket pitch, but on the other, we have murder, further showing that the Daleks are a truly evil force.