So this is the final episode for Janet Fielding who is
bowing out of the show after 64 episodes. She is the eighth longest serving
companion and has appeared in 12 episodes more than Carole Ann Ford. After being impressed with the first episode
there was a fear on my part that it would have lost something in the concluding
part but it’s a relief to say that this isn’t the case. The Stien truth s comes
across quite good. Rodney Bewes is brilliant in this episode as during the
course of the episode he becomes the hero of the adventure. He is the one that
presses the self-destruct button. His death sort of happens thanks to the
Daleks but it’s the last action of pressing the button is a nice moment.
Turlough’s new friends start the episode in the chamber for
the self-destruct device. Turlough and Mercer seem to spend most of the time
bickering which isn’t the best thing to do considering that there isn’t the
time. In normal circumstances I would have really disliked Mercer for just
being annoying but with every going on there wasn’t the time be bothered by
him.
Tegan and Laird do a feeble attempt to pretend that Tegan is
sleeping in the bed but instead use one of the capsules. I really do think that
the character of Laird is very good and Chloe Ashcroft does a good enough job
but ultimately it’s a rather poor character. Her death is something that Tegan
finds sad but I just found her to be a bit of a redundant character and as such
her death didn’t bother me.
The Daleks are going to duplicate the Doctor, Tegan and
Turlough to go back to Gallifrey and assassinate the high council. This might
be a little bit convoluted but compared to some of their plans, this is
probably one of their best. The problem in Destiny
of the Daleks is that the Daleks don’t look in the best of condition and
the all looked tatty and tired. Whereas fast forward to this story and they
look great and the colour scheme is very much like the traditional ones. Davros
clearly doesn’t trust the Supreme Dalek 100% because he manages to get two
Daleks to work for him. There is another flashback for the Doctor as we see all
(or most) of the companions that the Doctor has travelled with including
previous incarnations. I always think
that is fun when they sort of things happen and it’s better than the one used
in Earthshock.
The scene where Tegan is running from the policemen who in
turn shoot a stranger with a metal detector on the bank of the Thames is quite
grim and I think that this is the moment when Tegan decides that she doesn’t find
travelling in the TARDIS as much fun as she use to. After being somewhat side-lined
in the previous episode, its good that Janet Fielding gets to be a bit more
active.
We have to wait until the half hour mark before the Doctor gets
to encounter Davros. There isn’t quite the chaotic feel to their scene that
there was between Tom Baker and Michael Wisher or David Gooderson. Don’t get me
wrong, it’s a good performance and both Terry Molloy and Peter Davison match
each other but there is just something different in this encounter.
The Doctor decides that he is going to kill Davros. Anybody
who has been watching this show for a long time will know that the Doctor would
never kill Davros so it’s quite a brave/silly thing to do to have the Doctor
put in this situation. The alliance between Lytton and the Daleks really starts
to unravel as the situation during the episode gets worst and the Daleks
realise that Lytton isn’t quite the mastermind they thought he was.
It’s always good when Daleks decide to blow seven lumps out
of each other. It is something that will happen in future Dalek stories but
there are a few moments in this episode where it happens and its short but
sweet.
The Daleks in the warehouse are defeated with the movellan
virus. It is perhaps not the greatest way that they would be defeated but
considering that its not the main area of action it is perhaps understandable
that the Daleks didn’t get the perfect ending. The supreme Dalek’s appearance
on the TARDIS scanner screen is quite
good but he tells the Doctor that some of his duplicates are placed in “strategic
places”. This is a rather silly thing because its clear that the plan has been
stopped. However you have to give it to the Daleks that they never throw in the
towel even when its obvious that they should.
Lytton manages to escape by simply walking out. He obviously
makes a return in a few stories time but I think that Lytton has been a good
villain. I think its funny how he just walks off into the distance with two of
his officers. Davros is stopped in his tracks by being affected by the movellan
virus. It’s implied when Stien blows up the prison ship that Davros has been
killed but obviously they wouldn’t kill him off like that. Terry Molloy has
been very good in these two episodes and its easy to see why he returned for
two further adventures.
I really liked Tegan’s departure scene. After everything
that has happened during this story it is perhaps understandable that she doesn’t
want to go on. It’s been a long time since a companion has had anything
approaching a good departure. She decides that as its stopped being fun that
she wants to leave and I think that her final words were a fitting end. “Brave
Heart Tegan, I will miss you”. Really couldn’t have ended it any better. Tegan
has been a really good character and have developed quite a lot since Logopolis.
Her finest story was Kinda and even
in Snakedance she still gave a solid
performance. It’s weird to think that it
would be 22 years before she would return to play the role for Big Finish.
Resurrection of the
Daleks is one of the strongest Dalek stories for a long time. In fact its
one of the best Peter Davison stories and it missed the top 10 and at the
moment is currently placed in 14th place and also in terms of ratings
it is better than Genesis of the Daleks
and only Mission to the Unknown rates
higher. I think that this was a great Dalek story and it does feel like the
transition period that there was during Tom Baker’s final few stories is
happening again. It’s weird to think that there are just two stories left
featuring Peter Davison.
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