The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: Resurrection Of The Daleks

RESURRECTION OF THE DALEKS (Part One) 08/02/2024 

That was all incredibly dramatic and possibly the grittiest the show has ever been. It was written by Script Editor, Eric Saward, so it's perhaps not surprising that it had much in common with Earthshock. In fact, it had many of the same elements but turned up to 11! We have the return of one of the Big Bads, this time with no secrecy leading up to a shock revelation of the Daleks at the cliffhanger. This, to be fair, would have been difficult since this and next week's episode are double length due to scheduling issues brought about by coverage of the Winter Olympics. It actually made it feel like a bit of an event, as well, what with it being the metal meanies' first appearance (the Five Doctors cameo aside) since their last story nearly five years ago. It's also a direct sequel to Destiny Of The Daleks seeing the return of Davros, having been tried and imprisoned following his capture in that story 90 years earlier. The Daleks lost the war with the Movellans when the android race created a virus that attacked only Daleks - something of an obvious solution, really, in hindsight given the Daleks' organic nature. Their apparent reliance on logic introduced for that one story was mentioned in passing but otherwise not apparent here. 

It seems that Daleks are thin on the ground and using mercenaries and duplicates to bolster their numbers, travelling around in a battle cruiser which they used to attack and wipe out all but four of the crew of the dilapidated prison space station where Davros is being held. You'd think they'd keep the creator of the Daleks more secure, but I suppose that since he's been captive for 90 years and his creations have been all but wiped out in a war you can understand their laxity.

They also seem to be responsible for dragging the TARDIS to the South Bank of the Thames, near Tower Bridge in 1984 (did they track the Doctor down to that year while they spent time with Tegan's granddad, then snatch his from Frontios using their time corridor when they realised he'd gone? Speaking of which, surely it's a time and space corridor since Davros is clearly not being held on Earth in the distant future?). 

Tegan has spent half the episode lying down after a Dalek smacked her in the head with its gun, but she's faired better than Turlough since she's at least had Playschool presenter Chloe Ashcroft to talk to, the presenter playing a scientist attached to a bomb disposal squad sent in to investigate some mysterious cannisters in the warehouse at the other end of the time corridor. Turlough, meanwhile, disappeared up the time corridor about fifteen minutes in and spent most of the episode wandering wordlessly round the battle cruiser until he found the exit on to the space station and was caught by the remaining crew. They're an interesting bunch. Cynical Doctor Styles (portrayed by Rula Lenska), violent new boy Mercer, Styles' assistant, and another lineless crew member. It's an effective contrast between the world-weary Styles and the impetuous Mercer, but I think they could have done more with the other two.

In the meantime, Davros has been moved to Styles' laboratory so he can develop a cure for the Movellan virus, but neither he nor the Daleks seem to trust each other and plan to double cross each other at some point whilst both intending to get their revenge on the Doctor.

I suppose I'd better mention Stein at this point. He's a prisoner and sole survivor of a group massacred at the start of the episode when they escaped down the time corridor to Earth. Looking back, it was quite clear he was a plant (a revelation saved for the cliffhanger) because he was the only person from the Dalek ship to encounter the Doctor and we learnt quite early on that the Daleks knew the Doctor was in the warehouse. Since the soldiers were replaced by duplicates toward the end of the episode, and there was no indication otherwise (unless Lytton's policemen had seen him) Stein was the only one who could have been a Dalek spy. It's an okay role, but Rodney Bewes is simply shit. He might not have been so bad had he not chosen to play the part with a very fake stammer, but he's also been given some fairly naff dialogue.

But the direction is very good, very dynamic, and there have been some very memorable sequences such as the Dalek being pushed out of a first floor warehouse door to explode in the street, the Dalek attacking one of the soldiers outside its casing - have we seen anything like this before? I think it's not since The Power Of The Daleks that we've seen a Dalek moving about by itself. Oh, except the one that strangled the Doctor in Genesis... and the snotty thing he picked up in Destiny... Nevertheless, this was memorable and well shot.

All in all, this is a pretty impressive return for the Daleks and yet another very different style which adds variety to this season which was absent last year. Despite me not being the biggest fan of Davros or the Daleks I'm feeling quite positive about this one!

RESURRECTION OF THE DALEKS (Part Two) 15/02/2024 

I don't know if it was intended to transmit this story as two double length episodes, but it's certainly made it feel like an event! I'm not sure this episode fully lived up to the set up last week, but it was all a lot darker and grittier than we've ever had before, much more violent with almost all the supporting cast being killed off, and a good contrast to the preceding stories whilst continuing this season's obsession/recurring theme of war.

Not everything entirely held together - the Daleks' decision to duplicate the Doctor and have his clone go to Gallifrey to execute the High Council gave them a convenient reason to have ensnared the TARDIS and brought the Doctor to Earth, but why do they want to do this? They haven't shown any interest in invading Gallifrey or eliminating the High Council before. Perhaps they found out the Time Lords were the ones who sent the Doctor to Skaro to prevent their creation (except it wasn't the High Council), but a line of explanation would have been nice. I also noticed Leela was absent from the list of Doctors and companions that appeared on a screen while the Doctor was having his memory duplicated - was this the Doctor protecting her because she's on Gallifrey, or just a botch job by the archive team? 

Rodney Bewes continued to be a bit naff, though, and I really do think his character was both poorly written and performed. There was a laugh out loud moment when he finally reached the Self Destruct Chamber and tried to pull off a determined stance with his hands on his hips. It was also a bit confusing with all the futuristic guns having invisible lasers - unlike the very obvious Dalek guns' rays - to the point that you only knew who'd been hit when they fell down dead, and Rodney was forced to fall over and clutch his arm to indicate he'd only received a glancing blow. It just felt like they'd not had the money or the time to put the beams in during post production!

It also looked a bit silly when the Supreme Dalek appeared on the TARDIS scanner at the end to have a chat about a plot thread which was shut down within minutes of it being introduced. And the Doctor seemed to pluck knowledge of the station and battle cruiser's destruction out of the air and draw a leapt-to conclusion that it was Stein's doing.

On the plus side, it was very shocking to see the Doctor, especially Davison's Doctor, decide to go and execute Davros, confronting him and holding a gun in his face. It seemed very uncharacteristic but showed how high the stakes were, and that he didn't go ahead with it felt right, but also made you wonder why it had happened. As for Davros, his relationship with his creations continues to be an interesting one and he got a very suitable did-he-survive open-ended fate, last seen affected by the Movellan virus but within reach of an escape pod before the station exploded. Why would Styles' laboratory have an escape pod in it, though? It did make this feel very much part of an ongoing story arc started with Genesis... and continued with Destiny... Nevertheless, I'd like the next Dalek story to be Davros-free, just for a change.

Finally, this appears to have been Tegan's last story, though we've seen her leave before. At the end, she announced she was staying on Earth - "A lot of good people died today" and travelling with the Doctor has become no fun. Her Auntie Vanessa (nice call-back) advised her that if something she was doing stopped being fun she should stop doing it (sound advice) so she's gone, leaving the Doctor and Turlough to travel alone 1/Steven, 2/Jamie and 4/Adric-style. It was quite an abrupt departure but, given the events of the other stories this season, it's at least a believable one. I have to admit that it's going to feel strange without her around as she's been part of the show for almost three years! She was never as good a companion as Nyssa, Romana or Leela, but she felt grounded and real most of the time and I think I'll miss her.

So, overall this was an okay story which pushed the envelope and contrasted with much of the Davison era so far. I think it might have worked better last series as that seriously needed something tonally different in it, and I certainly wouldn't want this kind of story every week, but it was a welcome return for the Daleks which may have tried to do too much but at least felt like Event TV.