Death to the Daleks

 It’s rather a pity, in a way…now the universe is down to 699 wonders.

The Third Doctor

Synopsis

When an energy drain traps the Doctor and Sarah Jane on the planet of Exxilon, they are forced into making an alliance with the Marine Space Corps and a squadron of Daleks to get themselves free.

Review

There is a story that Terrance Dicks, script editor during the Third Doctor era, was fond of telling about Death to the Daleks which may be apocryphal. On receiving the script, Dicks apparently thanked Terry Nation for the submission, but states that he commented that he noted that the story appeared to be the same as the one that he had submitted for the previous season. It is probably true that Nation recycled his ideas – which is certainly not always a negative, as writers like Douglas Adams were often the same. Death to the Daleks is not a great Doctor Who or Dalek story, despite the high esteem that Nicholas Briggs may hold it in, but it is not amongst the dregs either, having interesting concepts and a sense of dread about when the true motives of the Daleks will be revealed.

There are certainly elements that Terry Nation enjoys reusing, albeit giving a slightly different twist on them. For instance, both this story and Planet of the Daleks start with one of the show’s key elements being incapacitated – in Planet of the Daleks, it is the Doctor, whilst in Death to the Daleks, it is the TARDIS – leading to the respective companion to end up in peril and get into scrapes. Whilst this nostalgia is fine if the story uses it to do something new, it does feel as though Nation is spinning his wheels and is not sure what new ideas he can bring to his creations. The idea of the Daleks not being able to use their weaponry as a result of the Exxilon city’s impact on technology is a good one as the ability to exterminate is one that is at the core of the Daleks’ essence. It is one that the Daleks are able to overcome with relative ease, however, and it does not feel as though the story really knows what to do beyond this and devolves into Terry Nation’s favourite tropes. The puzzles at the heart of the Exxilon’s city are staggeringly simple, which perhaps may be down to both the writing or production, or perhaps a combination of the two. The simplicity of solving these puzzles does neither the Doctor nor the Daleks any favours, and combined with the interesting score, it feels as though no-one really knows what they should do with the Daleks anymore. When Daleks start suffering crises of confidence and self-destructing when prisoners escape, you know that the story might be in trouble.

Human female has escaped. I have failed! Female prisoner has escaped! I have failed! I have failed! Self destruct! I have failed! Destruct! I have failed! Destruct! Failed! Failed! Failed! I, I, I, I, I.

Dalek

One of the shining lights of this story are two members of the guest cast. The first of these is Galloway, played by Duncan Lamont, whilst the other is Arnold Yarrow as Bellal. Galloway is a character who is more morally dubious than any other character in this story, demonstrated by his willingness to go along with the Daleks subjugating the Exxilons in order to get the parrinium to cure the space plague. He is clearly not trusted by his fellow Marines, as following the death of the Captain, the unwell Commander states that he is passing command to Lieutenant Hamilton instead, something which does not take place as he tells Galloway in private. Whilst Galloway is a bit of anti-hero who goes someway to redeeming himself in the story’s final moments, Bellal is much more straightforward but is one of the more memorable parts of this story and a likeable introduction to this story.

In preparing for this review, I have read other bloggers’ reviews which mostly seem to mention that Jon Pertwee is phoning in his performance and attributing this to the fact that he had decided to leave and that he did not like the Daleks. This is not something that I can say that I found whilst watching Death to the Daleks. Whilst it is not one of his best performances, I never found him to seem as though he wasn’t committed to playing the part to the best of his ability. The scene where he tells the Marine Space Corps about the dangers of doing deals with the Daleks does not feel as though Pertwee’s heart isn’t in his performance, at least for me, and this is one of a number of scenes in this story where I did not feel that this label was fair.

Sarah Jane Smith is rather sidelined here in a story that marks a number of firsts for her character, representing her first meeting with the Daleks as well as her first visit to an alien planet. Sladen does do a lot with what she is given, although a lot of her scenes are with Jill Tarrant, who is not well written and unfortunately Joy Harrison does not help with this. Sarah is resourceful and does ultimately help the Marine Space Corp to ensure that the parrinium gets to the plague victims who need it. Sarah also gets some nice scenes with the Doctor, especially when they are attempting to convince themselves that the noises that they are hearing are just a wind machine.

Verdict: Death to the Daleks feels as though the show may have run out of ideas of things to do with the Daleks, or perhaps their creator has. 3/10

Cast: Jon Pertwee (The Doctor), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Duncan Lamont (Dan Galloway), John Abineri (Richard Railton), Neil Seiler (Commander Stewart), Julian Fox (Peter Hamilton), Joy Harrison (Jill Tarrant), Moystyn Evans (High Priest), Arnold Yarrow (Bellal), Roy Heymann (Gotal), Michael Wisher (Dalek Voices) & John Scott Martin, Murphy Grumbar and Cy Town (Dalek Operators).

Writer: Terry Nation

Director: Michael Briant

Producer: Barry Letts

Composer: Carey Blyton

Parts: 4

Original Broadcast Dates: 23rd February – 16th March 1974

Behind the Scenes

• This is the last story to feature the Daleks without also featuring their creator Davros until Dalek, which means that it is also the last story written by Terry Nation not to feature him.
• Death to the Daleks is the final story in the Pertwee era to feature the TARDIS console room, which would not appear again until Planet of Evil.
• The cliffhanger to Part 3 was cut due to time, but was originally to end on the Doctor attempting to deduce the solution to the logic test when two Daleks emerge.
• This story did not originally feature Daleks, however, was changed to do so by Terrance Dicks and Barry Letts.
• Paddy Russell was originally asked to direct this story, however, she turned it down due to having no interest in directing a Dalek story, or any story featuring any “tin can robots”. Russell agreed instead to direct Invasion of the Dinosaurs.
• This is the first story that Robert Holmes oversaw, as he was shadowing Terrance Dicks in preparation to take over the role of script editor.
• The Daleks featured in this story were three surviving cases from the 1960s and three lesser-quality Daleks created for Planet of the Daleks. Michael E Briant repainted them silver and black, in homage to how they would have appeared in the 1960s.

Cast Notes

• John Abineri had previously appeared in Fury from the Deep and The Ambassadors of Death. He would go on to appear in The Power of Kroll.
• Neil Seiler had previously appeared as a radio operator in The Sea Devils.
• Moyston Evans had previously appeared in The Green Death.
• Roy Heymann had previously appeared in Colony in Space.

Best Moment

It’s probably for all the wrong reasons, but it has to be the cliffhanger at the end of Part 3. Getting to that milestone does liven up a story that does seem to lapse into monotony.

Best Quote

Next time you get an idea, keep it to yourself, will you?

Sarah Jane Smith

Previous Third Doctor review: Invasion of the Dinosaurs

For more Third Doctor reviews, click here.