The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: Day Of The Daleks
Day Of The Daleks: Episode One (01/01/12)
Happy New Year! The Daleks are back after an age away! I have to say it's been a refreshing break and their return is actually quite exciting. They didn't appear much, but it was only Episode One.
Anyhow, there's another World Conference, like in The Mind Of Evil, and the Chinese are playing up again. Sir Reginald Styles is on the case, but he's been targeted by a group of Guerrillas, seemingly from the future, where it seems the Daleks and some great big ape men are working with a shiny-faced man and his beautiful shiny-faced assistants (I wonder if they're Autons - if so it's a bit overkill!).
UNIT has been called in by Styles' aide, Miss Paget, and they've discovered the unconscious assailant (twatted by the ape guys and left for dead) and his Time Machine - a handheld box stashed under a railway bridge by a canal. The Doctor, however, activated it and it sent the Guerrilla back to the future before Benton's very eyes. So while Styles went off to sort out the Chinese, the Doctor dragged Jo, Yates and Benton along to Auderly House (where the action is) to have a cheese and wine party and wait for more Ghost Guerrillas from the Future. Cannily, though, on arrival, they decided to wait 'til dawn, at which point they vaporised two UNIT extras investigating the canal bridge then went after the Doctor, attacking him in Styles' stylish study!
Meanwhile, in the future, the Daleks decided all their enemies must be exterminated!!! Cue cliffhanger.
Really quite good, rather exciting with plenty of stuff for the Doctor, Jo and the Brigadier plus a bit of Rank humour for Yates and Benton, and a weird bit about the oddities of Time Travel with the Doctor and Jo meeting the Doctor and Jo in the lab at the start.
The Guerrillas have a mini dematerialisation circuit like the Doctor's, too. I wonder if they nicked it off the Daleks, they having nicked it off the Time Lords? It's the only explanation I have for the similarities. And is this what happened after the Dalek invasion of Earth? All very cool. Lots of questions. Looking forward to next week!
Day Of The Daleks: Episode Two (08/01/12)
Pretty good again this week, though there's not been enough of the Daleks. Almost five years off the air and their return has so far amounted to three of them (one Gold!) skulking about in a couple of rooms 20 years in the future!
Anyhow, looking for the vaporised soldiers, Yates and Benton checked the house resulting in Anat (the Guerrilla leader) and her soldiers tying the Doctor and Jo up and taking them down to the cellar. Yates proved himself to be deaf by not hearing Jo's muffled cry. So they rang the Brigadier, who's been having trouble with the Minister of Defence, but it seems Styles has managed to persuade the Chinese to attend the conference... at his house.
Yates and Benton returned to HQ and the Brigadier decided to check the house himself by ringing the Doctor in Styles' stylish study. Anat brought the Doctor and Jo up to answer the phone and the Doctor made it blindingly obvious there was something wrong. How Anat didn't twig and shoot his face off is anyone's guess!
Meanwhile, Jo got free of her bonds, grabbed the spare Time Machine the Doctor had been looking at earlier, and got zapped into the future because the Daleks had set up an intercept. Once there, the shiny-faced Controller, who is definitely under the Daleks' thumb, tried and succeeded to persuade her that the Guerrillas are bad and not, as it seems, freedom fighters trying to change the future so that the Daleks don't rule. This includes killing Styles.
Anyhow, the Controller found out from Jo where the Guerrillas were and sent some monkey men (Ogrons) to attack the house. Anat and Boaz legged it, Shura already having gone to get something from the canal tunnel, the Doctor vaporised an Ogron (!) and the Brigadier arrived. The Doctor got him to take him to the tunnel where he was confronted by a Dalek!!!
Quite interesting. Weird bit at the reprise of the cliffhanger, though, where we got a reprise of the musical sting that led into last week's end credits! Odd. Hopefully, next week will give us more Daleks!
Day Of The Daleks: Episode Three (15/01/12)
So, the Doctor chased Anat and Boaz through the tunnels and was caught up in the field of their Time Machine and taken to the future where they were pursued by a lot of loping Ogrons and a Dalek. Needless-to-say they all escaped, albeit after splitting up. The Doctor went above ground (cool wasteland!) and gained access to a factory where Humans were being used as slaves. Then he got caught by the Ogrons and interrogated.
Meanwhile, the Controller bickered with the Daleks some more, told them Jo's friend was called the Doctor (that was quite cool) and that he was in the 22nd Century, so the Daleks got him to bring the Doctor to join Jo in the Hospitality Suite. Turns out the head of the factory is in cahoots with the Guerrillas, or was, because just after the Controller took the Doctor away an Ogron caught him informing the Guerrillas via a walkie talkie of the Doctor's whereabouts and (probably) killed him!
The Controller fed the Doctor and Jo more food and wine while the Doctor made rude accusations, at which point, on being asked who was really in control, the Controller excused himself and sent back to ask the Daleks what to do. Meanwhile, the Doctor explained to Jo that the real rulers of Earth were the most evil creatures in the cosmos (Spine-tingly bit! Who'd've thought!!!) and mounted an escape attempt.
Apparently, Ogrons are immune to blows on the back of the head and karate, but not to blows on the back of the head if a futuristic bottle of wine is used. Cue extended, if silly, runaround with Ogrons running very slowly after the Doctor and Jo on a trike! One can only assume that this took place solely because Mr Pertwee fancied a go on the balloon-wheeled, motorised device!
Once caught, the Doctor was taken away for interrogation by the Daleks themselves (YAY!) who strapped a Mister Kipling to his forehead and showed pictures of Misters Hartnell and Troughton!!! (YAY!!!) - cue very stylish fade to credits with the Daleks' screen projecting the title sequence and Pertwee's credit over the cliffhanger.
Oh, and the Guerrillas had nicked their time technology off the Daleks. Really good!
Day Of The Daleks: Episode Four (22/01/12)
Okay. That wasn't bad, although the ending did seem a little abrupt. The Controller intervened and got the Daleks to put off killing the Doctor by saying he could use/persuade the Doctor to give him information about the Guerrillas. However, the Guerrillas were already on their way and stormed the HQ, rescuing the Doctor and Jo conveniently following a chat about Earth's future history and how the Controller had helped keep conditions in the labour camps from being too horrific. The Doctor stopped Monia from killing the Controller and they went back to the sewers for another history lesson where Monia and Anat tried to get the Doctor to go back and kill Styles since, in their history, he blew Auderly House up with all the delegates in.
However, the Doctor figured out it was actually Shura, left behind in the '70s with Dalekenium (!) bombs! The Doctor decided to go back and stop him but the Controller had set an ambush in the sewers. Learning that the Doctor was going back to change history so that the Daleks never invaded, he let the Doctor and Jo go and thus, later, was exterminated by the Daleks.
Meanwhile, in the '70s, Shura infiltrated Audrely House and set up shop in the cellar with his bombs. At the same time, Styles and the delegates arrived, heralded by another cool news reporter scene like in 'The Dæmons', and the Doctor and Jo legged it from the canal to the House with the Daleks and some Ogrons close behind.
This is where it fell down a bit, with long shots of three Daleks and a handful of Ogrons moving very slowly across the lawn. Occasionally, a plodding Ogron would sink to the ground, but the soundscape of a pitched battle just didn't go anywhere to convince.
The Doctor found Shura and told him the delegates were leaving and the Daleks were coming, and he chose to blow up the house with the Daleks inside. Everyone was evacuated and Shura blew everything up (by now the Daleks were searching the house), and the Doctor and Styles chatted about making the conference a success.
This story had some really nice touches and interesting characters, but by Episode Four I was wondering how only three Daleks managed to take over the world. That aside, a promising return, though I hope they don't get over-used like in the 60s!
Happy New Year! The Daleks are back after an age away! I have to say it's been a refreshing break and their return is actually quite exciting. They didn't appear much, but it was only Episode One.
Anyhow, there's another World Conference, like in The Mind Of Evil, and the Chinese are playing up again. Sir Reginald Styles is on the case, but he's been targeted by a group of Guerrillas, seemingly from the future, where it seems the Daleks and some great big ape men are working with a shiny-faced man and his beautiful shiny-faced assistants (I wonder if they're Autons - if so it's a bit overkill!).
UNIT has been called in by Styles' aide, Miss Paget, and they've discovered the unconscious assailant (twatted by the ape guys and left for dead) and his Time Machine - a handheld box stashed under a railway bridge by a canal. The Doctor, however, activated it and it sent the Guerrilla back to the future before Benton's very eyes. So while Styles went off to sort out the Chinese, the Doctor dragged Jo, Yates and Benton along to Auderly House (where the action is) to have a cheese and wine party and wait for more Ghost Guerrillas from the Future. Cannily, though, on arrival, they decided to wait 'til dawn, at which point they vaporised two UNIT extras investigating the canal bridge then went after the Doctor, attacking him in Styles' stylish study!
Meanwhile, in the future, the Daleks decided all their enemies must be exterminated!!! Cue cliffhanger.
Really quite good, rather exciting with plenty of stuff for the Doctor, Jo and the Brigadier plus a bit of Rank humour for Yates and Benton, and a weird bit about the oddities of Time Travel with the Doctor and Jo meeting the Doctor and Jo in the lab at the start.
The Guerrillas have a mini dematerialisation circuit like the Doctor's, too. I wonder if they nicked it off the Daleks, they having nicked it off the Time Lords? It's the only explanation I have for the similarities. And is this what happened after the Dalek invasion of Earth? All very cool. Lots of questions. Looking forward to next week!
Day Of The Daleks: Episode Two (08/01/12)
Pretty good again this week, though there's not been enough of the Daleks. Almost five years off the air and their return has so far amounted to three of them (one Gold!) skulking about in a couple of rooms 20 years in the future!
Anyhow, looking for the vaporised soldiers, Yates and Benton checked the house resulting in Anat (the Guerrilla leader) and her soldiers tying the Doctor and Jo up and taking them down to the cellar. Yates proved himself to be deaf by not hearing Jo's muffled cry. So they rang the Brigadier, who's been having trouble with the Minister of Defence, but it seems Styles has managed to persuade the Chinese to attend the conference... at his house.
Yates and Benton returned to HQ and the Brigadier decided to check the house himself by ringing the Doctor in Styles' stylish study. Anat brought the Doctor and Jo up to answer the phone and the Doctor made it blindingly obvious there was something wrong. How Anat didn't twig and shoot his face off is anyone's guess!
Meanwhile, Jo got free of her bonds, grabbed the spare Time Machine the Doctor had been looking at earlier, and got zapped into the future because the Daleks had set up an intercept. Once there, the shiny-faced Controller, who is definitely under the Daleks' thumb, tried and succeeded to persuade her that the Guerrillas are bad and not, as it seems, freedom fighters trying to change the future so that the Daleks don't rule. This includes killing Styles.
Anyhow, the Controller found out from Jo where the Guerrillas were and sent some monkey men (Ogrons) to attack the house. Anat and Boaz legged it, Shura already having gone to get something from the canal tunnel, the Doctor vaporised an Ogron (!) and the Brigadier arrived. The Doctor got him to take him to the tunnel where he was confronted by a Dalek!!!
Quite interesting. Weird bit at the reprise of the cliffhanger, though, where we got a reprise of the musical sting that led into last week's end credits! Odd. Hopefully, next week will give us more Daleks!
Day Of The Daleks: Episode Three (15/01/12)
So, the Doctor chased Anat and Boaz through the tunnels and was caught up in the field of their Time Machine and taken to the future where they were pursued by a lot of loping Ogrons and a Dalek. Needless-to-say they all escaped, albeit after splitting up. The Doctor went above ground (cool wasteland!) and gained access to a factory where Humans were being used as slaves. Then he got caught by the Ogrons and interrogated.
Meanwhile, the Controller bickered with the Daleks some more, told them Jo's friend was called the Doctor (that was quite cool) and that he was in the 22nd Century, so the Daleks got him to bring the Doctor to join Jo in the Hospitality Suite. Turns out the head of the factory is in cahoots with the Guerrillas, or was, because just after the Controller took the Doctor away an Ogron caught him informing the Guerrillas via a walkie talkie of the Doctor's whereabouts and (probably) killed him!
The Controller fed the Doctor and Jo more food and wine while the Doctor made rude accusations, at which point, on being asked who was really in control, the Controller excused himself and sent back to ask the Daleks what to do. Meanwhile, the Doctor explained to Jo that the real rulers of Earth were the most evil creatures in the cosmos (Spine-tingly bit! Who'd've thought!!!) and mounted an escape attempt.
Apparently, Ogrons are immune to blows on the back of the head and karate, but not to blows on the back of the head if a futuristic bottle of wine is used. Cue extended, if silly, runaround with Ogrons running very slowly after the Doctor and Jo on a trike! One can only assume that this took place solely because Mr Pertwee fancied a go on the balloon-wheeled, motorised device!
Once caught, the Doctor was taken away for interrogation by the Daleks themselves (YAY!) who strapped a Mister Kipling to his forehead and showed pictures of Misters Hartnell and Troughton!!! (YAY!!!) - cue very stylish fade to credits with the Daleks' screen projecting the title sequence and Pertwee's credit over the cliffhanger.
Oh, and the Guerrillas had nicked their time technology off the Daleks. Really good!
Day Of The Daleks: Episode Four (22/01/12)
Okay. That wasn't bad, although the ending did seem a little abrupt. The Controller intervened and got the Daleks to put off killing the Doctor by saying he could use/persuade the Doctor to give him information about the Guerrillas. However, the Guerrillas were already on their way and stormed the HQ, rescuing the Doctor and Jo conveniently following a chat about Earth's future history and how the Controller had helped keep conditions in the labour camps from being too horrific. The Doctor stopped Monia from killing the Controller and they went back to the sewers for another history lesson where Monia and Anat tried to get the Doctor to go back and kill Styles since, in their history, he blew Auderly House up with all the delegates in.
However, the Doctor figured out it was actually Shura, left behind in the '70s with Dalekenium (!) bombs! The Doctor decided to go back and stop him but the Controller had set an ambush in the sewers. Learning that the Doctor was going back to change history so that the Daleks never invaded, he let the Doctor and Jo go and thus, later, was exterminated by the Daleks.
Meanwhile, in the '70s, Shura infiltrated Audrely House and set up shop in the cellar with his bombs. At the same time, Styles and the delegates arrived, heralded by another cool news reporter scene like in 'The Dæmons', and the Doctor and Jo legged it from the canal to the House with the Daleks and some Ogrons close behind.
This is where it fell down a bit, with long shots of three Daleks and a handful of Ogrons moving very slowly across the lawn. Occasionally, a plodding Ogron would sink to the ground, but the soundscape of a pitched battle just didn't go anywhere to convince.
The Doctor found Shura and told him the delegates were leaving and the Daleks were coming, and he chose to blow up the house with the Daleks inside. Everyone was evacuated and Shura blew everything up (by now the Daleks were searching the house), and the Doctor and Styles chatted about making the conference a success.
This story had some really nice touches and interesting characters, but by Episode Four I was wondering how only three Daleks managed to take over the world. That aside, a promising return, though I hope they don't get over-used like in the 60s!
The Daleks are almost incidental characters in their own much-vaunted comeback, oddly, but that doesn't really undermine the story. (Except in the climactic scenes, as you point out, with the threadbare 'pitched battle' just looking slow and daft. This is one of few cases where the 'new effects' version on the DVD actually works well and finally gives the story the vision the writer presumably had.) They also look and sound rather odd, but that's the fault of the script and direction. (This also being addressed in the new version on the DVD to good effect.)
ReplyDeleteThe story itself, while not watertight, is still impressive for being the first in the series to really tackle the time travel paradox, and do so pretty convincingly. It's also a good UNIT story and has plenty of nice character moments for the regulars. Some of the direction and design choices are a bit odd, but this lends the story a unique look and feel.
Overall, a good start to the season.
This is one of the very few stories where I'll admit that the updated version actually improves the story rather than just making it look fancier. Given the small amount of screentime they're given, I can fully understand Terry Nation demanding he be charged with future Dalek serials (alongside the fact that they're his creation) despite the fact he fails to do anything much with them until Robert Holmes got hold of him.
DeleteRegardless, the story is about more than just the Daleks and uses them more as an already established HUGE threat - without the Daleks being those who have conquered Earth I don't think the stakes would have felt as high. This allows the script to focus on Anat and her rebels and highlights the Controllers own subjugation without having to spend time establishing how powerful and dangerous his overlords are. It's the Daleks, we know how bad they are, so when the Doctor describes them as the most evil beings in the cosmos this is only news to Jo.
This is certainly the first noticeable Big Season Opener after the scene-setting Spearhead From Space and rebooting Terror Of The Autons. I think RTD was watching the Letts era very carefully when he developed his formula for the 2005 return, and it's certainly a good era to use as a template for successful family drama.
While I'm not one to clamour for sequels or continuity references, I think the new series actually missed a trick not doing a Brexit satire by returning to Peladon. I wonder if it was ever given any consideration or just seemed too on-the-nose.
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