Destiny of the Daleks - Episode 4

The ending of the previous episode was a good one because it was a companion in peril but done in quite a clever way. Once the episode starts it turns out that one of the Movellans hand not set the bomb to go off which seems to be a bit of a cop out. Something struck me as I was watching this episode and it was a DVD that was on my shelf that’s above my computer, another thing that struck me was the relationship between the Daleks and Davros. Considering how the Daleks treated Davros, its funny how there hasn’t been anything said between the two. I know there wasn’t a Jeremy Kyle or a Jerry Springer Show in 1979 but I wonder what was said to get Davros to forgive and forget.

There is a bit where David Gooderson is giving a speech to his Daleks and I thought that this was the first time that he has really shone in the role. He gives a slightly more human performance than Michael Wisher did as there was a different tone in his voice. Sadly the mask is still a problem because during his scene with the Doctor you can see Gooderson’s skin through the mouthpiece. Also there is a bit of that wobbling that was seen in a previous episode and these two things are what I remember when I think about Gooderson’s performance as Davros. I haven’t really wanted to compare his performance with Wisher’s but I think that as the first person to play the role, Wisher is always going to be the person to beat.

We get another scene between the Doctor and Davros which is better than their first encounter. It ends with a certain amount of comedy and it’s the first time since the opening episode that comedy has been noticeable. The Doctor uses Davros’ own hand to set off the Daleks with the bombs on and that is the way that the Daleks and Davros are defeated. It’s not the greatest end to their involvement in a story but I suppose it was an effective way and that is what the story needed. It’s weird to think that it will be another couple of years before the Daleks return. Nowadays we are use to Daleks appearing every series but the Daleks wouldn’t appear until 1984 and that must have felt like an eternity to people watching in 1979.

Todays episode has been a strange one because it hasn’t felt like a final episode should but it wasn’t a disappointment. I enjoyed it and yet I don’t really know why. It’s fair to say that Destiny is not as good as Genesis. The story worked but it wasn’t at the sort of level that I would expect a Dalek story would. It’s also fair to say that Terry Nation was working on auto pilot when writing this story as it doesn’t have any of the energy that his previous offerings have had.

Destiny of the Daleks - Episode 3

Todays episode is where Davros get involved in the story after seemingly being killed by the Daleks. There is a problem from the get go because of the style that David Gooderson is talking. I would have thought that he would try and mimic Michael Wisher but no, also they could have done something to make Gooderson’s voice sound different because they could have hidden his normal voice. Also the mask he is wearing seems to be the one the Michael Wisher wore and as a result it doesn’t look right. The mouth is the only active part of Davros’ face and it barely moves when he’s talking. Also when Gooderson moves he wobbles from side to side which just looks silly.

It’s quite funny that the Doctor effectively kidnaps Davros and the period of the episode where they are alone. It’s not quite as good as the scenes they had in ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ but it still fits in with this story. There is a funny moment when the Doctor tells the Daleks to ‘spack off’. Clearly he was just trying to say back off but its funny they kept it in. I don’t quite get why the Doctor goes to the trouble taking Davros if he’s just going to hand him back to the Daleks.

Seeing Daleks walk around on Skaro is a huge development because in the very first Dalek story they couldn’t even leave their city but now they are walking around (albit with some strategically place cameras). The quarry stuff is quite good and even though I know that it’s a quarry, I can believe (via the sound effects) that this is a cold and miserable planet and also that we are on Skaro.

After being quite good in the previous episode, its sad that Romana doesn’t get to do very much in this episode. It seems she just leaves the Doctor and ends up in a tube that has a bomb in it and that forms the cliffhanger. It’s a good cliffhanger but I wish that she could have done something interesting as opposed to what she ended up doing. I think this shows that the second incarnation of Romana isn’t going to be any different than the previous incarnation. This was another good episode but there are things that happen that just take the shine off it. It’s not the greatest Terry Nation script that he has ever produced for the show but its an interesting one and one that is slightly let down by production values. If this weren’t a Dalek story then I would probably be more positive or negative than I am being but when it’s a Dalek story then I expect something slightly more engaging than what is on at the moment.

Destiny of the Daleks - Episode 2

If you tell someone not to move then chances are they wont move and so you don’t need to repeat saying that phrase. It still bothers me that the Daleks feel the need to repeat. Clearly Terry Nation thought that it would be a great way to end the previous episode but I think that it just didn’t work. This is the episode where the Daleks really get into the story and their first piece of action is to interrogate Romana. They are quite cross which is presumably why they are repeating things. Sadly something that is quite obvious as well as their mood is the state of them. Sadly the Daleks here have seen better days and look in relatively bad condition with scuff marks and bits missing.

After she is interrogated by the Daleks, Romana becomes quite active and is the one that is trying to escape from the Daleks. She even goes to the trouble of pretending that she’s dead to fool the Daleks and be buried before surfacing and putting the rocks just before the Doctor finds her ‘grave’.

The Daleks have a plan and its revealed in this episode, they are drilling for something and its not to mine the core of the planet and use it as a giant spaceship. They are after Davros who was last seen in ‘Genesis of the Daleks’. Sadly its not Michael Wisher playing the role but instead David Gooderson. Things start off well with Davros’ return but problems will surface in next episode. The idea of using him moving his hand as the cliffhanger is a great one.

Tyssan is the one that made Romana fall down the hole in the previous episode. He is played by Tim Barlow who is profoundly deaf but it doesn’t show. His performance in this episode is quite good. There is something about him that makes him seem quite a solid character and yet he seems like he would fall over if there were a gust of wind. The Movellan’s are a bit rubbish if I am being honest (and I have no reason not to). I just think that its hard to believe that they could pose any kind of threat. It’s hard to fathom whether it’s due to their attire or just the performances that make me think this and I know that they are robots but still it is possible to have charismatic robots, I mean Kryten is a good example and ok this story was shown about a decade before Kryten would appear on Red Dwarf but you get the point.

There is a moment I have seen a thousand times and its when the Doctor is talking down to a Dalek trying to get it to come and get him and its used to highlight the fact that Daleks had trouble going up stairs or going up different levels. Obviously any Doctor Who fan with half a brain would know that they have always been able to go up stairs and it seems odd that the Daleks creator would show up such a flaw. Its made even worse when the flaw isn’t really a flaw but something that wasn’t possibly due to the technology of the period.

This is a much stronger episode than the first one. I think the performances are better and more importantly the humour has been reigned back a lot and it meant that the story could take centre stage and the performances from Tom Baker and Lalla Ward and the other supporting characters meant that I enjoyed it and I am feeling much better about this season as a result. Whether this continues remains to be seen.

Destiny of the Daleks - Episode 1

The seventeenth season of Doctor Who is one of change because out goes Anthony Read as the Script Editor and in comes Douglas Adams. Considering that I wasn’t a huge fan of ‘The Pirate Planet’, I am somewhat concerned that this season of Doctor Who isn’t going to be as good as previous seasons. This episode also sees Lalla Ward debut as Romana. After spending six episodes playing Princess Astra, its now time for Ward to try and be a new version of Mary Tamm. I am surprised that Tamm didn’t get to do a regeneration scene. This story also sees the Daleks and Davros return for the first time since ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ which was way back in Tom Baker’s first season. Terry Nation also returns to writing duties for the first time since ‘The Android Invasion’ back in December 1975.

The DVD for this story allows me to watch it with CGI effects which is always a good thing. The first bit of CGI comes when the Movellans ship arrives and drills its way into the ground. Speaking of the Movellans they look quite striking but I can’t make my mind up about them and I am sure that something will stand out in future episodes but at the moment my opinion is up in the air.

The opening scene is the regeneration scene where we see several versions of Romana which leads to some people to whinge that she’s wasted several regenerations which isn’t necessarily the truth but it does show what the tone will be in future stories. I have always assumed that Graham Williams’ tenure was more comedic than past producers but watching this opening episode I realise that the fault for the humour should go to Douglas Adams who didn’t seem too bothered that there was too much humour.

When the Doctor and Romana land on Skaro (obviously they don’t know that they are on Skaro at this point) It’s quite different to the one we saw in Genesis. There is a lot more green grass around and its not as foggy as it was then. I am guessing that this story was filmed during the summer because the sunny weather does make the quarry scenes seem a lot nicer than perhaps was intended.

Lalla Ward doesn’t get one episode before she is put in peril as she falls backwards. Here falling down leads us to what I think is one of the best cliffhangers for a while. The sight of Daleks breaking through  a glass wall telling Romana not to move. They repeat the phrase “Do Not Move” about half a dozen times yet Ward stays firmly on the spot so its perhaps not the best opening return for the greatest baddies in Doctor Who. That said I thought that this was quite a good opening episode and despite the rather unnecessary comedy moments I thought that things were set up nicely and the lack of supporting character makes it seem like a claustrophobic episode (even though there is more than a brief moment outside).

The Android Invasion - Episode 4

Maybe, just maybe I will find something in this final episode that will completely get rid of what I have written about this story in the previous two episodes. Maybe I wasn’t giving episodes two and three the chance that they deserved and that the Kraal’s plot isn’t as convoluted as I previously though. Well as I start to watch the final episode of this story I am reminded that the cliffhanger didn’t really get a mention. At the end of the previous episode, the Doctor and Sarah are about to get on the rocket that is going to earth and they don’t get in the cases before it lifts off and they are affected by the G-Force. The close up on Elisabeth Sladen is great because according to the info text on the DVD, it allows Sladen to pull at the sides of her face to give the impression of the G-Force. This is actually quite a sad episode because it’s the last time that John Levene and Ian Marter will appear in this show. At least they appear as their normal versions as opposed to the android versions.

After the reprise is over and the Doctor and Sarah are back awake its quickly shown that there is an android version of the Doctor. The action actually moves to earth with Crayford arriving back and getting in contact with space command. It’s revealed towards the end that Crayford has been wearing the eye patch unnecessarily. Quite how he didn’t figure out to check out his eye at any point during his time with the Kraal’s. It’s another problem with Terry Nation’s writing that is slowly becoming outdated to Doctor Who.

The CSO shot of the capsules landing was terrible. Letts’ fondness for CSO has always been a problem when he was producer but as director he could have done something else and had he been producer and someone else tried that then he would have put his foot down. Sadly this didn’t happen and its one of the few disappointing moments in this episode. The Doctor encountering his android self is quite a nice scene although I think that its made a bit silly when the real Doctor jumps through a window. Thankfully there is a second scene between the two Doctors and it’s a very well directed scene and Letts’ redeems himself slightly here but I should say he’s still a solid director and has directed this story well overall.

John Levene’s last word is “Yes” and his last scene is when he is knocked out of the floor and his android version is standing over him. Ian Marter’s final scene is just as bad because he is tied up with General Finch and being untied by Sarah. That’s it, there is no goodbye scene like he got in ‘Terror of the Zygons’. It’s a shame that after 62 episodes and 31 episodes respectively that they two characters weren’t treated with a bit more respect. I know that I haven’t been very positive about Harry during his time on the show, he is at least entitled to a better send off than what we got here.

The problem with this serial is that it is largely unsatisfying. There are some positives in this serial but on the whole I think that the problems such as a convoluted plot and disregard for certain characters is what has slightly devalued this serial since I watched it in the past. I suspect that if I watched it again in one sitting in the future then I might think a bit more positively about it but I cant deny that I have been disappointed with what I have seen. Not the worst story of the season but not the greatest.

The Android invasion - EPisode 3

The penultimate episode of story spends the first seven minutes or so dealing with a bomb going off. At one moment it’s said that there is nine minutes before the bomb goes off. It’s the longest nine minutes that I have felt for some time. Despite their being a short amount of time it doesn’t feel like there is much of a build-up.

The one few bits of comfort come in the form of Crayford. There is a bit of an explanation about why Crayford is working for the Kraal’s. Crayford believes that he is going to return to earth and the Kraal’s are going to help him. Crayford’s return to Earth has been prepared and so his return (arranged by the Kraal’s) won’t be so much of a shock. It’s one of the few things that the Kraal’s do that actually makes sense. Of course it’s going to go wrong at some point but at least that moment will come along and it’s something to enjoy.

The Doctor’s best moment comes when he is tied up with the bomb right in front of him. It’s a nice little scene. Sarah is quite inventive in this episode. It only really happens when she electrocutes the android guard but it’s still a great little moment. This is another episode where Harry appears and again he makes more of a contribution to the story than he did in the later stages of his time on the show.

It really doesn’t make sense as to why they are going to the trouble of recreating one English village when they plan to bombard the planet with some bacteria. Surely they wouldn’t have to bother with any of that and instead just perfect the bacteria and use that instead. Oh well it just gives Terry Nation the opportunity to cruise in writing terms and despite Barry Letts’ best efforts there is little to find exciting.

This has to be the first story that I have watched for quite some time that is worse than I previously thought. I think that when it’s watched in one sitting then it’s easy to overlook things and thus enjoy it a bit more and so as a result this is the one story of the season that I have become disappointed with. I think that the problem with the story is that it’s a convoluted plot and I just cant get beyond that. It’s a plot that also doesn’t have the mileage to go four episodes. In terms of plot development, it doesn’t really achieve anything, its not until the very end that it seems to be moving towards something. Its definelty the weakest Terry Nation script.

The Android Invasion - Episode 2

After the rather intriguing reprise there is an unusually slow start. After Sarah rescues the Doctor they spend a bit of time running and then they have a sit down. There is a bit of explanation about Guy Crayford and the idea that people on earth think he is dead. This is quite an important moment in the story and will become relevant in later episodes.

The ugly looking face that was shown at the end of the previous episode is called a Kraal and as a mask it’s quite good and the Kraal’s are quite well realised. Sadly the problem comes from the fact that their whole plan is rather convoluted. Convoluted to the point that it could have been thought up by the Master. Even the information text on the DVD seem to be taking a dig at this point.

Despite the weird goings on, Sarah and the Doctor still think that they are on earth and when they encounter Benton they think that he’s the real Benton. It’s great the John Levene is back in the show especially as he’s not the usual Benton. Ian Marter is another person that appears as a different version of a character we’ve previously met. For viewers watching, its only been nine weeks since Harry left the series. He’s been more useful in this episode than he was in most of the episodes that he appeared in.

There’s a slightly frustrating thing where Sarah hurts her ankle. It’s a terribly clichéd thing that happens but I shouldn’t really be surprised about this. But what started out as a clichéd thing turns into an surprising turn of events for Sarah. I think that Elisabeth Sladen and Tom Baker give fine performances in this episode but it doesn’t happen until they have their scene in the shop. Sadly Terry Nation seems to have taken his foot of the accelerator in terms of mystery and excitement. It’s only down to Barry Letts that this wasn’t a total dud.

It doesn’t happen until the very end of this episode but the Doctor finally twigs what’s going on just before the big reveal. It’s an odd thing that it takes until the final moments of the second episode before it’s all put together. Normally it wouldn’t take this long for the Doctor to put two and two together.

The cliffhanger is fantastic. There is no other word for it. I love the fact that it sort of comes out of nowhere as its never really implied that the Sarah that the Doctor is talking to is an android. The last shot is of an android Sarah with her face off. The first time that I ever saw this I was completely surprised with what I saw. It was a great ending to what was an ok episode. I won’t say that I was bored by what I was watching but I just think that it seemed to lack something. Can’t quite put my finger on it but its far from the worst story ever but I am surprised with how underwhelmed I have felt about this episode.

The Android Invasion - Episode 1

I watch todays episode at the end of a very warm day and it looks like this episode could have been filmed today. The story is written by Terry Nation and its weird that there isn’t a Dalek in sight. The only other time he has contributed to the show where a Dalek didn’t feature was the 1964 adventure ‘The Keys of Marinus’ and so it does show that can he write a good solid story without his famous creations involved. The episode starts with quite a shocking opening. Someone who appears to be a UNIT soldier is staggering through the woods. After a few minute it appears that he jumps to his death. It’s this sort of thing that got Mary Whitehouse all annoyed. As much as I enjoy the fact that she got annoyed, I do wonder quite why it was there. Surely there was another method for him to be killed. Of course the beauty of this story is that he’s back to his usual self just a few minutes later.

This is the only story that the Doctor shows a fondness for Ginger Pop. There is a brief mention at the beginning of this episode and its something that’s fairly common in tv and film where if something or someone gets mentioned then it will crop up again at some point in the story.

The story has a weird intrigue about it because it starts with the UNIT soldier jumping to his death and coming back alive and then it continues with the Doctor and Sarah arriving at the pub just as people walk in acting like zombies and at the turn of the hour start acting normal. There are a good number of close ups in the pub scenes which would have been ok if not for the fact that some of the locals do look like they have just come off the set of ‘The Wicker Man’. Barry Letts is the director for this story which explains why there are some very good moments in this episode.

It doesn’t take long for it to become apparent that Robots are behind things and are the one dressed in white shooting at the Doctor and Sarah. The title has androids in it so at some point it was going to feature in the episode at some point. Nation has gone to the trouble of only featuring it briefly.

Crayford is the first human that we encounter who doesn’t seem to be a robot He does however have an eye patch which means that he is a baddie. He’s sitting in the Brigadier’s office. It’s a shame that we don’t see the Brigadier in this story as I think it would have made this story even better.

The cliffhanger is a good one because we finally see an alien face though its through a small hole in the wall. It’s been an interesting opening episode with a lot of action to keep me entertained and intrigued enough to watch the next episode.

Genesis of the Daleks - Episode 6

The cliffhanger from the previous cliffhanger works just as well at the beginning of this episode. At the beginning of the episode comes one of the most famous speeches and moments in Doctor Who. Its fair to say that there have been several such moments in this serial but this is perhaps this much more important because it sees the Doctor give a philosophical speech about whether you would stop a child if you knew that they would grow up evil and then the Doctor continues with saying that some worlds are better and are united because of their fear of the Daleks. This is a valid point and I would be surprised if people haven’t written a paper on this topic and cited this scene as an example. It’s a great scene because Tom Baker makes it work really well and is supported by Elisabeth Sladen, sadly Ian Marter is a bit of a spare part in this scene and doesn’t say a word until Gharman appears.

Another solid scene comes when Davros is trying to put his case to everyone which is clearly designed to stall things and one thing that he manages to achieve beforehand is to show that those opposing him don’t have the stomach for combat really. This ends quite grimly with all the Kaled scientists and members of the military being killed by the Daleks. The sight of all the dead bodies was quite a shocking thing to see on teatime telly.

Davros’ demise was a great one and one that people couldn’t have seen coming. It’s not an original thing that a creature has been destroyed/killed by its creation. The idea that the Daleks have already discovered that they don’t allow to think of anyone greater than the Daleks means that Davros’ use has come to an end. Michael Wisher has been a fantastic Davros is arguably the best of the actors to have played the role. Sadly no story that he features in will be quite as good as this one.

I was quite sad that Nyder met his death in this episode because I thought that it would have been nice for the character to pop up in a future story (perhaps even with Davros). The fact that you don’t actually see Davros’ death on screen allows the character to come back (and he does obviously). Peter Miles has been a very good supporting actor to Michael Wisher and did his job brilliantly.

At the beginning of the episode the Doctor nearly killed the incubation chamber but doesn’t do it. It’s quite apt that a Dalek does it for him. It means that the chamber is destroyed but the Doctor hasn’t committed genocide so it means that the character hasn’t done a truly appalling thing.

If there is one thing that I would have taken out is the stuff with the Thals and the mutos which just got in the way of things and with the Time Ring and Davros plot lines the story doesn’t really lend itself to much else. Even their goodbye at this episode is rather quick and short which suggest that they weren’t that important. The episode ends with the regulars swinging around with the time ring and the Doctor giving a speech which I always seem to miss because I am so amused by what they are doing.

I’m back to the stats thing and would like to point out that this is the 48^th episode that Terry Nation has written and it takes him 1 past Malcolm Hulke and becomes the most prolific writer in the shows history. This is David Maloney’s 31^st episode which puts him 10 behind Douglas Camfield and 4 behind Christopher Barry. Elisabeth Sladen has appeared in 42 episodes and it puts her 4 episodes behind Peter Purves and 6 behind Wendy Padbury.

As an episode I thought that it did what it needed to do and used every minute to do it. I thought that as a story it managed to erase the awful memory of ‘Death to the Daleks’ and now every time that there is a Dalek story in the classic era, there will be Davros in the middle of it. I think that it was one of the strongest stories that Terry Nation has written since the very first Dalek story. There has certainly been some critiscm of Nation’s quality in recent adventures but I think that this would have silenced those critics. This was one of the best stories of the season and some would argue the best but that is in the past now and tomorrow sees the return of a classic monster that hasn’t been seen in over 200 episodes and over 2,000 days (not in marathon days obviously).

Genesis of the Daleks - Episode 5

The penultimate episode of this serial is where the course of the story has changed when a new issue is introduced. Not only does the Doctor have to try and complete his mission for the timelords but there is the rebellion to Davros’ leadership and the main issue is the tape that the Doctor reveals the Dalek loses. I like how there is a fade over to indicate a passing of time which isn’t something that the show does very often. There is a great scene between Davros and the Doctor and was the highlight of the episode. I wish there were more of these scenes because it would have made this story one of the best stories ever. There is one thing about Davros’ chair design because I don’t quite know why he put a button on it where anyone could press it and it would affect Davros’ life support system. Why put it in such a place and why even have the button in the first place? That’s the only thing that I am not keen on about the character design of Davros.

I like the moment when Nyder seems to disagree with Davros and not in a way that is designed to con anyone considering that there wasn’t anyone in the room at the time. It felt at this time that his 100% loyalty had taken a dip a little but it went back to 100% after this. Peter Miles has really been a solid piece of casting in this story and has worked well with Michael Wisher.

The Doctor’s story in this episode is building up to one of the most iconic cliffhangers in the shows history. He has only one option left to him that the timelord at the beginning of the episode gives and that is to commit genocide. The idea that the Doctor would commit genocide is such a horrible idea and yet it could be argued that he has done this before in the show but this time has knowingly done it.

There is a scene in this episode which deserves mention and praise for David Maloney. The shot of the Daleks walking over the top of the bunker with the dark background is a fantastic. It’s easy to overlook his achievements in this story but one of the consistent things about the five episodes so far is that it has flowed well even though the story hasn’t moved along a great deal. The cliffhanger is quite a horrific one and is one of those that must have had people wondering just how the Doctor was going to get out of this one. As the penultimate episode of the story, it does a good job in ratcheting things up to give us a great final episode. It has been a problem in some six parters that they haven’t been able to make me feel the final episode was going to be the big pay off but in this case there is enough to feel like the final episode is going to compliment the rest of the story very well.

Genesis of the Daleks - Episode 4

As I approach the quatercentenary of Doctor Who episodes, today sees the whole of the country watching England lose (probably) to Italy at the World Cup in Brazil but I have decided to choose this moment to what the fourth episode of this Dalek renaissance. The episode doesn’t waste time in getting back into the action and within the first 90 seconds of the episode the dome is being attacked and the Doctor tries to stop the rocket. As the viewer knows that it was Davros that did the treachery it’s fun to see him blame Ronson. There is no time for a trial or any lasting speech but Daleks come in and do what they are famous for doing.

The death of Ronson is quite an important and interesting one. Chronologically speaking he the first person to be killed by a Dalek and also its quite interesting that its taken until part four before a Dalek kills someone. On another note its taken until episode four before we get another female character. Harriet Philpin plays Bettan and her first scene with the Doctor is quite a calm and controlled one. Someone that never gives a calm or controlled performance is Michael Wisher who continues to screech at anyone who can hear.

After what felt like a fast paced opening to the episode, the plot then seems to take a leisurely pace again. At least the story seems to be moving around a bit more. Apart from the opening reprise, there isn’t another scene in the rocket silo and that’s a good thing. It had some good moments but it has served its purpose and this episode needs to do what the story needs to do at this stage and that’s shift focus to keep the story going for another couple of episodes and Terry Nation seems to do it in a more subtle way that most writers have done in the past. The plot to try and overthrow Davros is what seems to take centre stage with Nyder being particularly impressive in this respect because he overhears a plot and then tries to pretend that he has turned against Davros when really he is trying to find out the exact names of people plotting against him. Nyder is strangely convincing of this. I think that Gharman (Dennis Chinnery) is a very good character and is played well.

The final five minutes of this episode makes this episode as far as I am concerned. From the moment that the Doctor is tied up it sets up a great scene between the Doctor and Davros. Davros is determined to find out how the Daleks lose their battles and forces the Doctor to try and tell him. If there is one thing that will make the Doctor cooperate it is the potential harm of his companions. It sets up a cliffhanger which matches episode two’s in terms of drama. It’s just Davros screeching and for me that’s a perfectly fine way to end. The thing about this episode is that it starts and finishes in quite a good way but it’s the middle part that doesn’t quite match it. It’s not terrible by any means and Terry Nation manages to make padding seem interesting but compared to the first and final acts of the episode its doesn’t quite stand up.

Genesis of the Daleks - Episode 3

Right so it’s clear the freeze framing the last shot is a great way of ending an episode. It won’t work every time but on this occasion it works. The fact that she doesn’t fall very far might seem like a cop out to many but I think that it was perhaps the best way that they could got around it.

It’s nearly five minutes before the Doctor and Harry enter the episode and it shows that Terry Nation saw Sarah’s plight far more dramatic than that of the Doctor and Harry. Harry’s first big thing in this episode is to be almost eaten by a clam which shows that Nation doesn’t really like to write for Harry and would much rather get back to Sarah and Davros. Sarah continues to be working on the rocket. She really did draw the short straw in this story when it came to job. Despite a spirited attempt at escaping she doesn’t really get to do a great deal. She even seems to have become somewhat dimmer during the previous episodes when she doesn’t realise until long after that they will die when the rocket launches. Considering she was suppose to be an intelligent person, she did seem a little bit dim.

I like the partnership (if you can call it that) of Davros and Nyder. They work well together and there is one moment when Nyder has a look on his face that seems like he is doubting what Davros is saying. I think that Davros shows why he’s such a good villain when he goes to the Thals and gives them a way of attacking the Kaled dome. I think that Michael Wisher owns this episode as Davros is really strong as he tries to show that his plans aren’t as sinister as they seem to be.

I haven’t commented on it for a couple of episodes but I think that Tom Baker has been superb since ‘Robot’ finished. When he’s given some good stuff to do then he shows that he’s just as good as the actors who have played the Doctor before him. I’m not saying that he’s better than William Hartnell but the stories have worked really well. I think that despite the occasional iffy episode, Elisabeth Sladen is still a very good companion and whilst I don’t like the fact that the character has been watered down, Sladen’s performance allows her to be more than the writing sometimes allows. Sadly Ian Marter is never going to be one of the greatest companions and I think he is a bit of a spare part and the calamity that befalls him at the beginning of the episode is just one example of this.

The cliffhanger occurs at the rocket and it’s the second episode in a row that this happens which pretty much sums up the problems with this episode. All the progression has happened has done so with Davros and the supporting characters. The Doctor and Harry just seem to have circled around a bit with Sarah staying where started. I am hoping that the next episode will be more active because I could do with a bit more running around corridors.

Genesis of the Daleks - Episode 2

As the second episode starts I thought that it was odd that we don’t get a reprise in this episode but it just carries on. This immediately puts the viewers on the back foot because they would have been expecting to be reminded what happened in the previous episode. The first thing that strikes me is that the bleakness continues and in fact at times it seems to get worse.

The Kaleds are much better in this episode.

The scene where Davros enters the room after his brief first appearance at the beginning of the episode is the one which I thought was his first appearance. It’s such an iconic scene in the show because it brings a Mark 3 travel machine in and it looks like it’s going to kill the Doctor before Ronson intervenes. Ronson starts the episode as being just like one of the other Kaleds but very quickly becomes someone that the Doctor and Harry can trust and as a result the viewer can trust.

Michael Wisher is fantastic in this episode. The scene where he is yelling at Ronson for interfering in the experiment is a great moment and is perhaps the most animated character in the entire serial. Quite ironic considering how restricted he is in movement.

The model of the rocket that we see from Sarah’s POV is quite an impressive model and does a good job in making us believe that this is actually what Sarah is seeing. I was thinking that maybe Sarah was being left out of the action in this story but after what could be considered a rather light involvement in proceedings, this was improved in this episode. Whilst I wish that Harry was the one that was separated from the Doctor instead of Sarah, I think that Harry would have benefited from being the one forced to work on the rocket.

There is a great shot when we see Harry and the Doctor looking through into a lab which has the most marvellous noises coming out of it. It’s a great bit of directing from David Maloney because it leaves the viewer with the responsibility as to what they saw. Maloney is one of the best directors that Doctor Who has ever had and one of the longest serving directors on the show. I think his best work is yet to come but does well in maintaining the drama and increasing the bleakness.

The final few minutes are the best of this episode because not only are the Doctor and Harry in a relative amount of peril, it is Sarah that gets the cliffhanger which shows that Terry Nation hasn’t forgotten about her. It’s something that I didn’t realise until I saw this bit was that at this moment in time, there aren’t any other female characters apart from Sarah. I suppose by 2014 standards it would seem wrong now to just have one female speaking part but I would hazard a guess that even in 1975 this wouldn’t have been ideal. The decision to end the episode with a freeze frame is something that had never happened before on the show and whilst it might become more common in future stories, it’s a great way to end an episode and they’ve used it in a good way. This is another great episode and the good form of the twelfth season continues.

Genesis of the Daleks - Episode 1

If I am being honest, this is the story that I have been waiting for since the Tom Baker era started. I enjoyed ‘The Ark in Space’ obviously and there was something to enjoy about ‘The Sontaran Experiment’ but this is the one that I think not only cemented the Daleks’ popularity again but also Tom Baker’s stature as one of (if not the) best Doctors. This is the first Dalek story since the rather dreadful ‘Death to the Daleks’. That story did a pretty good job of making the Daleks look boring and dated. What this story does is freshen them up and also set them on a new journey in the shows history. From the opening moments, this story looks like it’s going to be different to anything we have seen before in Doctor Who. Not being filmed in a quarry but the ‘Apocalypse Now’ inspired slow-mo of soldiers being shot down and walking into the mist. The first scene between the Doctor and the Timelord effectively sets up the entire serial and gives us something to worry about in later episodes.

The thing that is clear in this episode is just how dark it is. It doesn’t have any of the warmth of ‘Robot’ or even ‘The Ark in Space’. This is highlighted when the Doctor and Harry are told that they will be hung and not shot like normal. The Doctor is threatened with being killed all the time but somehow due to the rather bleak setting, this seems to carry more weight and menace. The bleakness continues when Nyder (Peter Miles) makes his first appearance. If he were any colder then he would have frost on him. This is the story where Miles really shows us how much of a swine he could be (acting wise of course). Sadly we don’t get a great deal of him in this episode but what we do get is still fun to watch. The rest of the Kaleds that the Doctor and Harry meet aren’t particularly memorable and seem to be more like the humans that we meet in the previous story.

Davros gets mentioned in this episode and it’s a teaser for his appearance later on in the episode. For some reason, I always thought that his first appearance came later on in the episode when he walks into the lab not being outside. It’s a rather understated debut and leads to a great cliffhanger with Davros saying that they can now begin before the camera zooms in on the Dalek. Despite this cliffhanger not giving us much in drama or tension but despite this I still thought that it was a great cliffhanger and one that shows that ‘Death to the Daleks’ was a distant memory

Death to the Daleks - Episode 4

As I started to write this I noticed that they had put episode two of this story on the Horror Channel. If only I had started this marathon two days later then I could have watched it whilst it aired on TV. Chances of this happening again are remote but that all depends on Horror. I was less than excited to go through the previous episodes cliffhanger where the Doctor simply says “Don’t Move”. Now everytime I watch this episode I hope that somehow the reveal would be better but sadly this isn’t the case. The problem with this episode is that it starts off very slowly. Despite the Daleks following the Doctor and Bellal, there seems to be no really sense of urgency. There are a few moments which do cause a bit of interest when Bellal turns against the Doctor and when two figures appear and try to stop the Doctor from destroying the city. The parts of the episode with the Doctor were very dull and I found nothing exiting about it.

It’s weird that the Sarah Jane part of the story is more interesting but sort of damning with faint praise really because even the stuff with Sarah Jane isn’t particularly exciting. The only good thing about her portion of the episode is that she is involved with swapping the Parrinium with sand. That’s quite inventive for a companion but shows that Sarah Jane isn’t your dumb companion.

Another thing about this story is that you could have taken the Daleks out and replaced it with any monster. There is nothing special about the Daleks in this story and we get nothing new from them. The Dalek over reacting when he notices that Jill has escaped is sort of the problem with their involvement in this story. The Daleks decide not to kill the Doctor, Sarah and the earth people which makes no sense. Why wait to fire a plague bomb when they could just kill the Doctor there and then? This is one of those things that comes up in every Dalek story or even when the Cybermen and the Master are in a story.

The idea of Galloway sacrificing himself to destroy the Dalek ship is perhaps the only good thing that is done in the entire story. Galloway had always seemed to be on the outside but soon showed why he had been put into the story. I thought that throughout the four episode Duncan Lamont has played Galloway really well and has been the strongest of the supporting characters. Sadly the rest of the supporting characters are quite bland and don’t really stand out and I never found myself wanting them to get of the planet and when I don’t really care about the good guys then I know that the story isn’t working.

It’s not a very good episode but then again the whole story has been something of a disappointment. This is by far the weakest Dalek story that there has ever been and I really think that this season is going to be a disappointment and after the previous season that’s really disappointing. The only good thing to say about this story is that was four episodes instead of six.

Death to the Daleks - Episode 3

The episode of this rather tiresome story starts with the Doctor being attacked by some weird creature that looks like a giant worm. Sarah Jane is stuck with Bellal who is played by Arnold Yarrell and the costume he wears is quite good. He becomes a sort of companion to the Doctor when he decides he doesn’t want Sarah Jane following him into the city.

I haven’t mentioned this but the voices are perhaps the only good thing about the Daleks. Ok the look of them is good but is made even better with the addition of fire. After a while of thinking that this episode was going to be a boring collection of scenes in a corridor so changes when it seems like it’s going to be a chase but that doesn’t last long with the Dalek is defeated by a gap in the wall being thinner that it is.

Just when I have given up on this story (and I’m still not convinced that I won’t), it takes a turn towards something interesting. This is because the story moves properly to the Exillon city which is the cause of the power loss and the moment that the Doctor and Sarah Jane see it (via CSO), it’s a impressive model and the CSO works quite well. There is a lovely moment shortly after which shows the Doctor and Sarah Jane being closer than I had noticed before and it shows how well they have gelled since Elisabeth Sladen joined the show.

When the story moves into the city and they have to follow puzzles I found this to be thoroughly enjoyable. Ok so it’s not the most exciting television that there has ever been but I have been waiting for something entertaining to happen and welcome anything that maintains my interest. They through in a bit of drama with the Daleks just behind Bellal and the Doctor. The bit where they have to follow the maze on the wall is fine for the Doctor but not quite sure how the Daleks can really get away with it considering they only have a sink plunger.

The Dalek that falls into the ‘lake’ after being attacked by the tentacle thing is rather well done. It’s always good when a Dalek is set on fire as it’s a great visual.

The cliffhanger is ridiculous. There is no other way of putting it. If you want people to tune in the following week then you need to give them an incentive to tune it. Why would anyone want to tune in to see how the Doctor and Bellal overcome a pattern on the floor? I know that there were issues concerning the running time but I could think of 1000 ways of ending this episode better. Anyway for the first time since I started watching this episode, I am seeing some positives in this adventure. I only have one episode left and the final Dalek story of the Pertwee era is almost over. Its sad to say that I cant wait.

Death to the Daleks - Episode 2

Anyone watching the previous episode would have wanted the following Saturday to arrive so they could see how the Doctor was going to survive. The truth is rather dull and its that they are affected by the power loss that affected the TARDIS. The Daleks shoot and there is no death which is instantly an interesting idea but sadly any hopes that the story will pick up lasted less than three minutes when the story moves to Sarah Jane and the Exillons.

The scene where the Daleks are talking amongst themselves where they talk about not wanting to reveal their true intentions is a nice moment. There is a moment when they are being attacked by the Exillons and I was thinking why are they screeching when arrows cant hurt them and they could just run away. The shot of one of the Daleks on fire is quite an iconic one and is perhaps the highlight of the entire episode.

The humans that the Doctor encounter are mildly interesting but lost a bit of sparkle when John Abineri got killed by the Exillons. Now they are just a group of rather weary individuals that are trying to pretty much stab the Doctor in the back to get what they need to and get off the planet. That’s pretty much all that is accomplished in this episode.

This is a thoroughly dull episode. It is the first time for quite a while that I have felt so downbeat about a story. I am just greatful that this is a four part adventure could I don’t think that I could have dealt with six episodes of this. At four episodes the plot is stretched a bit and I cant wait to get past this story and that’s a terrible thing to say about a Dalek story. This has to be one of the worst Jon Pertwee’s stories that I have seen and that’s pretty much all I can say about this story so far. I am still holding out a bit of hope that this story will pick up but I’m not holding my breath.

Death to the Daleks - Episode 1

1 year ago today I decided to start my Doctor Who marathon with An Unearthly Child. What a difference a year makes. There has been a whole range of stories and some have been good and some have been bad. We have had reunions and the birth of some classic monsters and villains. Sadly year two starts off with Death to the Daleks which is one of my least favourite Dalek stories. This story is written by Terry Nation and directed by Michael Briant who previously directed ‘The Sea Devils’, so it’s a surprise as to why this story suffers in the way that it does.

It starts off well enough with Jon Pertwee’s stunt double Terry Walsh being killed by a mysterious arrow and then the TARDIS is forced to land after its power source is drained and considering the power that it has its surprising that this has happened. Sadly the moment that the Doctor and Sarah Jane leave the TARDIS the story falls apart. There’s a brief moment when Sarah Jane returns to the TARDIS with one the exillons inside. After this not much happens and its fifteen minutes before we meet any of the supporting characters. One of those is John Abineri who we last saw as General Carrington in ‘The Ambassadors of Death’.

It seems that all the good work that was done with Sarah Jane because from the very beginning of the episode it seems that they have decided to ditch that feistiness and stick her in a bathing suit. Then all she does is shriek and then run around for a bit, get caught and then find herself in trouble. This is the sort of thing that would have been done to Katy Manning and does show that Terry Nation didn’t get the memo about the new companion and how she was suppose to be different to other companions.

The story does start to pick up when Sarah Jane is about to be sacrificed towards the final stages of the episode but it’s the Doctor that gets the cliffhanger when a ship arrives and with the humans thinking that it comes from Earth, they are somewhat shocked to find that it’s Daleks. The last shot is of them shooting at the Doctor and that’s quite a good way to end and episode that hasn’t quite worked in the entertaining department. I don’t know why but I am finding this story rather dull and that’s a weird thing to write in a Dalek and Terry Nation story. I don’t quite know why the story doesn’t work but it just feels like Terry Nation is going through the motions. Whereas people were quite quick to critisce Nation for ‘Planet of the Daleks’ but I think that this has many more issues in that the previous Dalek story. Never mind, things can only get better. Can’t they?

Planet of the Daleks - Episode 6 (Victory)

The final episode of this six/twelve part story seems to have out of nowhere which might sound like a silly thing to say but it shows how much I have been involved in the story to be surprised. I think that taking it as a twelve parter would make it even better because the episodes have been so consistently strong. It’s fair to say there is a lot riding on this episode because it needs to wrap things up in a satisfactory way. This episode would have been called ‘Victory’ by Terry Nation which I think is a great title. It just makes me want them to return to single episode names. This episode sees the appearance of the Supreme Dalek and its disappointing somewhat that they haven’t appeared until now. The disappointment continues when the ship lands and it does look like two dog bowls glued to each other. The first look of the supreme Dalek is amazing. It’s nice to see a Dalek with a bit of colour but sadly it goes wrong the moment it starts talking because the person inside the Daleks messed up the light synching and so it looked off which is a shame really.

The episode is heading towards the blowing up of the bomb to stop the 10,000 daleks from being activated. The journey is perfectly paced and there is a nice amount of delaying things until the right possible moment. Of course it was never going to be that simple and it was the case here as the bomb fell in between a dozen of daleks and the timer then stops working and Codal has to work very quickly to sort it out. The shot of the bomb exploding as two Daleks walk by followed by the ice flowing is one of the highlights of this serial and looked impressive which shows how good things can be achieved on a miniscule BBC budget.

I think its good how there is a nice farewell scene involving everyone. Despite my concerns that there were too many thals in this story, I am glad that they did survive. I really love the speech the Doctor gave Taron about telling him not to glamorise war and tell people of the lives lost and the fear felt. This shows the Doctor at his most passive and it shows that despite all the blustering and humour the Doctor shows, he can be serious when he needs to be.

There is a scene at the where Latep asks Jo to go abck to Skaro and this is designed to put in the viewers mind that she would not be around for long and of course she leaves in the next serial. I often wonder what things would have been like for Jo if she had gone with him instead of the soppy welsh scientist. Over the six recent episodes, I think that both Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning have been just as strong as each other. Even the supporting cast have been on the same level at times with Prentis Hancock and Bernard Horsfall being the highlights.

I thought that the whole story has worked well and the issues that people have with this story being a rehash of Nation’s previous stories whilst valid really help to enrich the story as far as I am concerned. If you had written the quality of stories that Nation had written since the show started then you would indulge yourself. Unlike ‘Day of the Daleks’, the Daleks are used well here, the voices are a lot better and this is one of the strongest Dalek stories for many years.

Planet of the Daleks - Episode 5 (The Day Before Eternity)

The Day Before Eternity is the name that Terry Nation gave this episode. In a way I wish that they would return to giving each episode a name as opposed to just ‘episode 1’ or ‘episode 2’. As we are now in the final third of the story the think that has stood out against other six part stories is how there has been the shift in direction like there was in the previous story. This is because Terry Nation has a good track record in keeping the action going and not needing to change. The episode starts off with everyone in the stones and they are being watched.

The effects of the creatures looking through the darkness does look a bit cheap but at least its better than what it would have looked like if they had gone with some bloke in a costume. So we must be thankful for small mercies.

I was surprised that they decided to kill Vaber off at this point as it would have made a much better if he had sacrificed himself in the final episode. Another interesting character that meets their maker in this episode is Wester who has been helping since the beginning and he is killed by lifting the lid on the case with the virus in it before it was ready and the last shot of him is his face.

The way that the Daleks are protected from the virus is rather basic as its just the sort of light you would see in a hospital surgery. There’s one thing about this that doesn’t quite make sense to me and that is why do they have it so close to their made control room. Surely it would have made more sense to have it a few floors down. Something else that slightly ruins the who operation is that there are several Daleks on screen but only three moving Daleks. So every time there is a group of Daleks,  50% of the Daleks are talking and moving and the other 50% are frozen on the spot.

It’s taken until episode five but we finally get a bit of location filming and it’s a nice moment. It’s quite a dramatic moment when they try and get two Daleks into the cold which kills them. This end scene does lead to another ‘nod’ to a previous Dalek story where they scoop the Dalek out of its casing and then they get Rebec to do what Ian Chesterton did and attempt to move around. This is the only time in the last five episodes that the nods have bothered me because it seems so obvious. I don’t know if its just me picking up on them more but it didn’t seem as subtle as before.

I quite like cliffhanger because it seems to come out of nowhere. It seems like it’s the fault of the Doctor and the others because the Daleks wouldn’t have spotted them otherwise and considering it was just after Wester lifting the lid it sort of feels like this was their best opportunity to get their plan done. It’s a good penultimate episode and feels like it is building towards something and it’s still holding my attention and if the final episode goes the way that I think it will (and has in the past), then this will be the second six parter in a row that has been consistently good and not something that I have wanted to end as quickly as possible.