Day 347: Planet of the Daleks Episode 4

One of my problems with this serial is something that I've only noticed on this watch-through. Codal, my favourite of the Thals, is an interesting character. He has strong doubts about whether he should be on the expedition, and spends most of his time being mildly frightened, yet continuing on with the mission at hand. This is all wasted by Terry Nation, the writer. After the Doctor gives Codal a quick speech about courage, Codal becomes horribly generic, wandering around with the rest of the team. It's disappointing as Nation clearly decided to flesh out the other characters, introducing romantic sub-plots, concerns about the mission going ahead and explosions, but Codal is left by the wayside. An interesting character left to rot in their own story. It's not that this decision is bad, but it is incredibly disappointing and does not bode well for the rest of the serial.