Doctor Who: Summary: The Dead Planet

After escaping the Stone Age in “The Firemaker”, the TARDIS lands in a petrified forest on an unknown planet. The landscape is eerie and still — everything looks like stone, even the plants. The Doctor is fascinated by a gleaming metal city visible in the distance and insists on exploring it, over Barbara’s objections. Inside the TARDIS, the travelers discover that the radiation meter is climbing, suggesting the environment isn’t safe.

The group treks through the forest and enters the city, which is silent and apparently deserted. The atmosphere is unsettling, with long corridors and strange technology. While investigating, Barbara gets separated from the others and is menaced by a suction cup attached to a metallic arm — our first glimpse of a Dalek, though we don’t see the creature itself yet. The episode ends on a cliffhanger with Barbara trapped and the rest of the crew realizing something hostile is in the city with them.