7 episodes
Aired between 21st December 1963 and 1st February 1964
Written by Terry Nation
Produced by Verity Lambert
Directed by Christopher Barry and Richard Martin
Synopsis
The Doctor, his granddaughter, Ian and Barbara explore a strange jungle that they've landed in, There's a thin mist in the air and gentle breeze, but none of the leaves sway. The group soon realise that it's a petrified forest, where everything is ash and rock.
It's not long before Barbara see's something that she thinks is like it's carved out of a sculptors nightmare...I'll let you make up your own minds:
Barbara becomes morose at the fact that they're not on Earth, so Ian asks her to believe they will, stopping just short of asking her to repeat "there's no place like home".
As the group explore, they find a 60's version of a futuristic city that looks like something the Mysterons would live in. The Doctor is adamant that he wants to explore it. Ian forbids it and they go back to the TARDIS. On the way, "someone touched" Susan and she freaks out. Nobody believes her, since she's seemingly always hysterical at the slightest thing.
As the group explore, they find a 60's version of a futuristic city that looks like something the Mysterons would live in. The Doctor is adamant that he wants to explore it. Ian forbids it and they go back to the TARDIS. On the way, "someone touched" Susan and she freaks out. Nobody believes her, since she's seemingly always hysterical at the slightest thing.
Whilst inside they all have a bacon and egg biscuit and someone knocks at the TARDIS door, but the scanner can't pick up who it is so they ignore it.
Ian, Barbara and Susan insist on going back to Earth so the Doctor hesitantly sets off . All is good, except that the TARDIS fault locator says it's the fluid link that's drained. Barely containing a smirk, the Doctor says that it's a simple matter of refilling it with Mercury which they will surely find in the mysterious city.
The next morning the group find a metal box containing glass phials outside the ship. Everyone begrudgingly apologise's to Susan for not believing her, and the Doctor puts them in the ship for analysis later.
Once at the city everyone is feeling unwell and the Doctor needs a rest. Ian has the brilliant idea of splitting up and searching to meet back outside in ten minutes. Barbara gets inside the city and goes through the corridors of mirror card where camera's follow her and doors lock her in. Ian gets worried that his plan has backfired and the rest go after her.
As her fear is growing in the deserted corridors, Barbara is suddenly assaulted by a sink plunger.
The group are captured by robotic pepper pots called "Daleks" and placed in a cell.
The Doctor is soon retrieved and interrogated by the Daleks, as they believe he is a Thal.
He learns far more from them than they of him. including the fact that they are in a city-sized fall out shelter, built for a neutronic war that took place 500 years ago, and that the Thals are still their enemies, living outside the city thanks to the use of anti-radiation gloves...erm I mean drugs.
The group realise that they are all sick from radiation and want to live, and the Daleks want to synthesize the drugs, so they allow one of the group to go and retrieve the phials.
Barbara and the Doctor are too sick to go, Ian is still paralised from his heroic attempt to escape so Susan steps up and goes forth into the petrified jungle amidst a thunderstorm. She's followed by a bloke in a hexagonal cloak, but she gets to the TARDIS without incident. She remembers Ian's words not to dawdle and fearfully sets back off into the jungle with the drugs.
As Susan exits the TARDIS, she comes across the bloke in the hexagonal cloak. He's called Alydon and he's a Thal. He explains that the Thals were old enemies of the Daleks, but that was generations ago, and the Thals are now pacifistic. He convinces her that he's a good guy and gives her more drugs to take for her friends. Together they come up with a plan to ask the Daleks to help them by exchanging drugs for food and science.
.jpg)
The Daleks allow Susan to heal the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and herself and spy on her, overhearing her plan via the use of a security camera and decide to hatch a plot themselves to kill all the Thals. They get Susan to write a letter agreeing to the terms and place it outside the city where the Thals pick it up. Once she's signed the letter, the Daleks aren't bothered about being civil anymore and throw her back in the cell.
Whilst in prison, the group discover that the Daleks are powered from the floor by static electricity and after disabling the security camera, they come up with an escape plan. When the Dalek comes to give them food, they disable it by throwing mud over the lens of its eyestalk; rolling it onto the Thal cloak Susan was given. The cloak acts as an insulator, shutting the Dalek down.
.jpg)
Ian and the Doctor drag the (presumably dying) Dalek creature from its casing and Ian takes its place. The companions tentatively make their way out of their cell using the disguise of the Dalek machine as a cover story, managing to bluff their way to the upper levels of the city. They are eventually discovered, and destroy the Dalek pursuing them up the lift shaft with a polystyrene brick.
The group escape just in time to see the Thals arriving at the Dalek city to trade for food. Ian goes back to warn them and is polite enough to wait until they are all in the jaws of the trap before telling them to look out.
.jpg)
Most of the Thals are massacred, but those who do escape take Ian and the rest of the group back to their camp.
At the Thal camp, the group realise that the Daleks took the fluid link off them and so they need to go back and get it. There's a lot of talking about how the Thals are pacifists until Ian rials Alydon into giving him a clout by bluffing to trade his girlfriend. Ian triumphantly announces that they "will fight for something."
Whilst all this is going on, the Daleks find out that the anti-radiation drugs are having the opposite effect by killing Daleks. It turns out that they need the radiation to survive. With this revelation in hand, the Daleks decide to flood the planet with radiation, thus allowing them to move outside the city once more.
Back at the Thal camp, the Thals agree to send a small party with Ian and Barbara to the terrifying swamps, and enter the city through the back door whilst the Doctor, Susan, Alydon and the rest of the tribe reflect the sun at the city's external cameras to confuse the Daleks.
The backdoor group manage to get through the swamp, loosing only one man to the dweller in the deep that guards the entrance to Moria... erm, I mean the Dalek city.
They eventually find a series of pipes that carry the water to the Dalek city and follow them. The Thal leader of the backdoor group called Ganatus takes a shine to Barbara and engages in a bit of cock-blocking against Ian before having a fight with his brother who's scared of the dark.
The Doctor meanwhile engages in a bit of vandalism and uses Susan's TARDIS key to destroy the cameras looking outside the Dalek city. He and Susan are captured and taken before the Daleks for a good telling off and a gloat that the Daleks have a plan to vent the radiation from their reactors.
The backdoor group manage to pull themselves together and carry on until they come to a ledge, which the scared Thal manages to fall off, almost dragging Ian down into the huge chasm with him. After failing to lift him up, the Thal takes his own life by cutting the rope and plummeting to his death. Shortly afterwards, the group manage to find their way into the Dalek city.
Outside the city, the remaining Thals realise that the Doctor and Susan have been captured, and decide that they do need to fight. and thus invade the city.
The Daleks begin their countdown to vent the radiation from their reactors and get assaulted by the Thals as well as the backdoor group, who successfully release the Doctor and Susan. With seconds left, the group manage to destroy the control panel that manages the static electricity for the city. The Daleks all loose power (and presumably die) and the threat is ended.
The Thals use the Daleks food and technology for themselves, and after Barbara kisses Ganatus goodbye, they leave in the TARDIS. Shortly into the flight however, something goes really wrong...
The group are captured by robotic pepper pots called "Daleks" and placed in a cell.
The Doctor is soon retrieved and interrogated by the Daleks, as they believe he is a Thal.
He learns far more from them than they of him. including the fact that they are in a city-sized fall out shelter, built for a neutronic war that took place 500 years ago, and that the Thals are still their enemies, living outside the city thanks to the use of anti-radiation gloves...erm I mean drugs.
The group realise that they are all sick from radiation and want to live, and the Daleks want to synthesize the drugs, so they allow one of the group to go and retrieve the phials.
Barbara and the Doctor are too sick to go, Ian is still paralised from his heroic attempt to escape so Susan steps up and goes forth into the petrified jungle amidst a thunderstorm. She's followed by a bloke in a hexagonal cloak, but she gets to the TARDIS without incident. She remembers Ian's words not to dawdle and fearfully sets back off into the jungle with the drugs.
As Susan exits the TARDIS, she comes across the bloke in the hexagonal cloak. He's called Alydon and he's a Thal. He explains that the Thals were old enemies of the Daleks, but that was generations ago, and the Thals are now pacifistic. He convinces her that he's a good guy and gives her more drugs to take for her friends. Together they come up with a plan to ask the Daleks to help them by exchanging drugs for food and science.
The Daleks allow Susan to heal the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and herself and spy on her, overhearing her plan via the use of a security camera and decide to hatch a plot themselves to kill all the Thals. They get Susan to write a letter agreeing to the terms and place it outside the city where the Thals pick it up. Once she's signed the letter, the Daleks aren't bothered about being civil anymore and throw her back in the cell.
Whilst in prison, the group discover that the Daleks are powered from the floor by static electricity and after disabling the security camera, they come up with an escape plan. When the Dalek comes to give them food, they disable it by throwing mud over the lens of its eyestalk; rolling it onto the Thal cloak Susan was given. The cloak acts as an insulator, shutting the Dalek down.
Ian and the Doctor drag the (presumably dying) Dalek creature from its casing and Ian takes its place. The companions tentatively make their way out of their cell using the disguise of the Dalek machine as a cover story, managing to bluff their way to the upper levels of the city. They are eventually discovered, and destroy the Dalek pursuing them up the lift shaft with a polystyrene brick.
The group escape just in time to see the Thals arriving at the Dalek city to trade for food. Ian goes back to warn them and is polite enough to wait until they are all in the jaws of the trap before telling them to look out.
Most of the Thals are massacred, but those who do escape take Ian and the rest of the group back to their camp.
At the Thal camp, the group realise that the Daleks took the fluid link off them and so they need to go back and get it. There's a lot of talking about how the Thals are pacifists until Ian rials Alydon into giving him a clout by bluffing to trade his girlfriend. Ian triumphantly announces that they "will fight for something."
Whilst all this is going on, the Daleks find out that the anti-radiation drugs are having the opposite effect by killing Daleks. It turns out that they need the radiation to survive. With this revelation in hand, the Daleks decide to flood the planet with radiation, thus allowing them to move outside the city once more.
Back at the Thal camp, the Thals agree to send a small party with Ian and Barbara to the terrifying swamps, and enter the city through the back door whilst the Doctor, Susan, Alydon and the rest of the tribe reflect the sun at the city's external cameras to confuse the Daleks.
The backdoor group manage to get through the swamp, loosing only one man to the dweller in the deep that guards the entrance to Moria... erm, I mean the Dalek city.
They eventually find a series of pipes that carry the water to the Dalek city and follow them. The Thal leader of the backdoor group called Ganatus takes a shine to Barbara and engages in a bit of cock-blocking against Ian before having a fight with his brother who's scared of the dark.
The Doctor meanwhile engages in a bit of vandalism and uses Susan's TARDIS key to destroy the cameras looking outside the Dalek city. He and Susan are captured and taken before the Daleks for a good telling off and a gloat that the Daleks have a plan to vent the radiation from their reactors.
The backdoor group manage to pull themselves together and carry on until they come to a ledge, which the scared Thal manages to fall off, almost dragging Ian down into the huge chasm with him. After failing to lift him up, the Thal takes his own life by cutting the rope and plummeting to his death. Shortly afterwards, the group manage to find their way into the Dalek city.
Outside the city, the remaining Thals realise that the Doctor and Susan have been captured, and decide that they do need to fight. and thus invade the city.
The Daleks begin their countdown to vent the radiation from their reactors and get assaulted by the Thals as well as the backdoor group, who successfully release the Doctor and Susan. With seconds left, the group manage to destroy the control panel that manages the static electricity for the city. The Daleks all loose power (and presumably die) and the threat is ended.
The Thals use the Daleks food and technology for themselves, and after Barbara kisses Ganatus goodbye, they leave in the TARDIS. Shortly into the flight however, something goes really wrong...
Trivia
- Terry Nation (only) came up with the concept of the Daleks. Apart from a couple of specification, the actual pepper pot design was the work of Ray Cussick. He was eventually given a small ex gratia payment, but it was nothing compared to the revenue and fame that Dalekmania brought to Terry Nation.
- Sydney Newman (Director of Drama for the BBC and near as dammit creator of Doctor Who) felt strongly that the show should concentrate on historical events and be more based around science, He was famously quoted as saying that he wanted absolutely no "B.E,M's" that's bug eyed monsters to you and me. Well, when the Daleks showed up he was absolutely furious and was ready to cancel the show, but for the insistence of Verity Lambert to give it a shot. He took a risk and it paid out a million times over. As soon as the story was shown, school kids all over Britain were mimicking the Daleks and it wouldn't be too long before the merchandise would start rolling off the production lines.
What worked
- The long reveal of the Daleks works well here. Considering what I said in An Unearthly Child, watching this in ignorance of all that came after gives you a brilliant sense of wonderment to the petrified forest, and the strange city, as well as the mysterious visitor to the TARDIS.
- The production team could have totally ignored Sydney Newman and gave the nation an alien jungle that James Cameron would be envious of, but they didn't. And in doing so, they played it very, very right. As the characters were given good motivations in the previous story, the rich background history of Skaro that unfolds here gives you a real sense that something terrible has happened here and you are on anywhere but Earth. Well... oh alright, I'll give you the exception of the petrified Magnadon creature.
- Ian usefully asks all the questions that we want answers to (with the exception of if the Doctor is styling his hairdo on Mozart). We get answers such as how the ship is navigated, and what the crew eat between journeys. At the expense of slowing down the story for a couple of minutes, we get information that makes it all just a little bit more grounded and allows you to suspend your disbelief, and dammit, also makes you want to be part of the crew and have bacon and egg biscuits all round!
What didn't work
- William Hartnell's line fluffs include calling Ian Chesterton, "Chesterfield", and he says to Susan "I hope the effects outside the ship haven't affected you too much". What effects? We could forgive him if they actually knew they were slowly getting radiation poisoning, but the way the lines are delivered sound like he's stumbling through them. Another dialogue triumph was the immortal line "it's possible that they may be anti-radiation gloves...drugs".
- You can see the shadow of a boom mike on the door to the city when Ian is saying he's worried about Barbara
- The Daleks know that the Thals exist but yet haven't any idea what they look like? That seems odd, especially when they have manacles perfectly made for holding humanoid people.
- Why does Barbara even theorise that the Daleks might be more than just robots?
- It's a bit cold out there in the petrified jungle isn't it? With the Thal's exposing so much flesh, it's a wonder they haven't all died off!
Overall Feelings
The Daleks takes the concept of an alien planet and does the opposite of what's expected of it. Instead of vibrant alien jungles and strange creatures, we get a war torn desolate landscape. This isn't by accident. In October of 1962, the world came as close as it ever has to nuclear annihilation at the hands of the superpowers. The Cuban missile crisis was the height of the Cold War, and something that in 1963, people were living with every day. This story shows every viewer out there what could happen if we don't learn to get along. If that's not good enough for you, it was probably a decision to shoot it in ashen gray anyway due to the fact that it will be filmed in Monochrome. If this was the case, then it's more of a happy accident.
The Daleks are revealed in all their glory. The first time we hear them speak they use authoritative words in a strange robotic voice that we've never heard before (well, most of us). The effect is quite chilling, coupled with their willingness to shoot without hesitation, and the tense atmosphere from the radiation sickness. It gives a good, high stakes opening act.
One of the only things that lets the story down is the rushed ending. With so many episodes here, you would have thought that the defeat of the Daleks would have been something more elaborate than just pushing one of them into one console and boom, Daleks killed.
One of the only things that lets the story down is the rushed ending. With so many episodes here, you would have thought that the defeat of the Daleks would have been something more elaborate than just pushing one of them into one console and boom, Daleks killed.
Rating
8 out of 10
The atmospheric music is more fitting to Stingray than this, but it's designed to have a sense of the alien and strange, which it does in spectacular 60's fashion.
The acting is quite good too, especially the disagreements between the Doctor and Ian. Some of it is cheesy, but it's easily forgivable.
The acting is quite good too, especially the disagreements between the Doctor and Ian. Some of it is cheesy, but it's easily forgivable.
Rewatchability factor
6 out of 10
The story is good, yes. But in my opinion, it's 3 episodes too long. The only real filler episode is ep 6, but even so, it's a bit of a trawl to get through when you know what's coming up, in the same way that (get ready for the blasphemy), Star Wars Episode 4 gets laborious to watch once the team have made it out of the Death Star.
I would watch it again, but some time needs to pass between viewings.
Watch this if you liked...
- The 1965 movie: "Doctor Who and the Daleks" (hint, it's the same story but with a family of Who's, and multi-coloured Daleks)
- Genesis of the Daleks
- Destiny of the Daleks
Consulting the matrix
"What were your earliest memories of the Daleks? Did they scare you? Were you one of the millions that hid behind the sofa?"
No comments:
Post a Comment