After the joint second longest Dalek serial ever, we have
finally reached the end. Despite it being the final episode it doesn’t exactly
start in a particularly quick fashion. In fact there is a scene where they are all
in the same cell and they are just talking/arguing. After several minutes of inane chatter, the
plot finally moves along again. After episodes of hearing about the Human
Factor we are introduced to the idea of the Dalek Factor as Maxtible is turned
into a Dalek. Maxtible’s demise was something that I was expecting in the
previous episode and it happens in a rather unexpected way.
I wasn’t quite as impressed with Troughton doing a Dalek
impression as I was expecting. It served a purpose so it wasn’t particularly terrible.
It would have been a good sight to see the Dalek Maxtible and Dalek Doctor
standing side by side. When the inevitable destruction begins it would have
been a lovely sight to see as it sounds quite fantastic on audio. The fact that
the story ends in quite an abrupt manner is quite good actually. The episode
ending in explosion instead of all peace and tranquillity is quite a different
way to end a story.
Edward Waterfield’s demise was quite well done and rather
sad. It basically gave the viewer a warning that they would be seeing more of
Victoria after this episode finished airing. I think that Edward Waterfield has
been a rather good addition to the story and it’s just a shame really that they
had to kill him off but it was needed. Maxtible has also been a good part of
the story but I wasn’t so sad about his exit which I suppose is the point. The
regulars (and I am including Victoria Waterfield) all did quite well with
Troughton doing his best.
This was suppose to be the big send off for the Daleks as
Terry Nation was going to take his creations to America to try and get their
own show but Nation realised that as much as the Daleks made Doctor Who what it
is, the Daleks have little value outside of the show but it would be five years
before they would return to the show.
Sadly the problem with this seven part serial is that its too
long and for too long there was not much happening and in a normal story its
not such a problem but in a Dalek story its simply not good enough. When the
story does get going it does make up for the lack of action but I think that
the six parters are a bit of a doomed to fail type story and as such the final
Dalek story of the 1960’s is a bit of a let down.