The Second Doctors first adventure. The Power of the Daleks not only reinvented the character of the Doctor, but also his mortal enemies.

Written by David Whitaker who had helped to create Doctor Who itself, though it is sadly missing from the archives, Power of the Daleks remains one of the most acclaimed and influential Doctor Who stories of all time.

Plot

The Doctor regenerates into his second incarnation before a confused Ben and Polly. Neither are sure what to make of this strange new man who has seemingly appeared in the Doctors place and who neither conforms nor denies that he is the Doctor.

Polly thinks it is the Doctor, but Ben is confused as this stranger doesn’t even act like the Doctor they knew.

The TARDIS takes the three time travellers to the planet Vulcan in the far future. The Doctor witnesses a murder of a man sent from Earth to check the human colony located on the planet, and discovers a badge on the man’s corpse that he uses to bluff his way into the colony by pretending to be the examiner, with Ben and Polly as his team.

The examiner was summoned by the deputy governor of the colony Quinn to deal with a group of rebels, though despite this the governor does not consider the rebels to be that dangerous.

Lesterson the colony’s leading scientist meanwhile discovers a crashed space capsule within the Mercury swamps of the planet. The following night the Doctor discovers much to his horror that it contains two deactivated Daleks with a third one missing.

Lesterson soon finds the time travellers in his lab and demands to know what they are doing here. The Doctor says that his badge (the examiners badge) allows him to go anywhere on the colony. The Doctor deduces that Lesterson is hiding the third Dalek and believes that he might be trying to reactivate it.

Sure enough Lesterson after the Doctor leaves manages to successfully reactivate the third Dalek with the help of his two assistants Resno and Janley. Unfortunately the Dalek instantly shoots Resno dead. Janley assures Lesterson that Resno will be fine, but Lesterson, still afraid removes the monsters gun stick.

Quinn meanwhile after being accused of sabotaging the communication console and summoning the examiner is replaced by Bragen in his role as deputy governor by the Governor himself. Little does he know Bragen is in fact in league with the rebels to take control of the colony. It was also Bragen who not only smashed the communication console but also killed the real examiner too.

Quinn is put on trial and the Doctor, Ben and Polly attend his trial. There they are confronted by the Dalek that Lesterson has reactivated. The Dalek claims to be the colony’s servant. The Dalek subsequently proves its worth to the colonists by creating a computer that can detect metiorites. The Doctor of course knows the truth, and when he confronts the Dalek it instantly recognizes him which finally convinces Ben who he is.

Lesterson subsequently reactivates the other two Daleks, though he also removes their guns too. The Doctor soon notices that there are more than 3 Daleks and warns everyone that they are breeding. This is met with ridicule by the colonists who believe the Daleks to be machines.

Janley who is also in league with the rebels and Bragen believes that they can use the Daleks to help stage a takeover of the colony. The Doctor, Ben and Polly’s cover is also broken, but the three are nevertheless able to escape from prison.

Lesterson later comes to realize that not only are the Daleks reproducing by themselves but that they are evil and begins to have a mental breakdown. The Daleks manage to create a production line that creates hundreds of Daleks.

These Daleks  begin to slaughter everyone in sight including Janley and Lesterson. Bragen meanwhile is killed by Valmaar whilst attempting to kill Quinn who is made Governor.

Before the Daleks can exterminate everyone on the colony the Doctor is able to destroy the Daleks by giving them a power overload.

With the Dalek army destroyed the Doctor, Ben and Polly slip away in the TARDIS, unaware that one of the Daleks has survived.

Quotes

Dalek/ Why do human beings kill other human beings?

Dalek/ We understand the human mind.

Dalek/ We are to wait here until the human beings fight among themselves.

Dalek 1/ Exterminate all humans.

Dalek 2/ Exterminate all humans

Dalek 1/ Exterminate! Annihilate! Destroy! Daleks conquer and destroy, Daleks conquer and destroy!

All Daleks in Unison as they leave their ship one after another/  DALEKS CONQUER AND DESTROY, DALEKS CONQUER AND DESTROY, DALEKS CONQUER AND DESTROY, DALEKS CONQUER AND DESTROY, DALEKS CONQUER AND DESTROY, DALEKS CONQUER AND DESTROY, DALEKS CONQUER AND DESTROY!!!!

Dalek/ We are not ready yet to teach these human beings the law of the Daleks!

The Doctor/ Ben, Polly come in and meet the Daleks

Polly/ Who?

The Doctor/ The Daleks.

The Doctor/ But the thing it does most effectively is kill human beings.

Dalek/ (shouting over the Doctor) I AM YOUR SERVANT! I AM YOUR SERVANT! I AM YOUR SERVANT! I AM YOUR SERVANT!

Lesterson/ It will be the end of the Colony’s problems

The Doctor/ Yes it will be the end of the Colony’s problems because it will be the end of the colony.

Review

The Power of the Daleks is easily one of the greatest Dalek stories ever made.

Sadly as all of its episodes are missing its impossible for me as a modern viewer to truly appreciate its value. Neither recons nor audios can give you a full appreciation of the story sadly.

Still even with that I would nevertheless rank Power as one of the all time classic Doctor Who stories. Even as a Recon and at 6 episodes long, Power of the Daleks never drags for even a second.

There is so much going on in this story from the mystery surrounding the examiners murder, to the problems with the rebels on the colony, to Quinn’s trial and that’s before we get to the Doctor and the Daleks both of whom are completely reinvented for this story.

I think this adventure really benefits from having strong guest characters such as Lesterson who in contrast to the likes of Bragen and Mavic Chen from the previous Dalek story actually believes he can harness their power for good and pays a heavy price for it.

Lesterson’s death at the Daleks hands is a classic Frankenstein being destroyed by his own creation moment as Lesterson in his madness reminds the Daleks that he brought them back to life which they acknowledge only to gun him down instantly. This scene more than any other save their murder of their own creator Davros in Genesis of the Daleks years later demonstrates how utterly beyond reason and compassion the Daleks truly are. In many ways this scene could be seen as a precursor to Davros’s death as both involve someone who was completely unaware of what they have unleashed in creating/bringing the Daleks back coming to the awful realization just seconds before they too are exterminated.

Janley also serves as quite an interesting antagonist as she is presented in a much more sympathetic light than Bragen, but is still nevertheless shown to be willing to cover up a murder and even blackmail Lesterson for her own ends.

Bragen on the other hand is presented as totally villainous character. Indeed he is arguably presented as being more evil than the Daleks themselves.

In one scene a Dalek genuinely questions why human beings kill other human beings after Bragen murders a fellow colonist in cold blood. Its quite a nice twist to show how in some ways human beings can actually be more evil than the Daleks as the humans of this story like Bragen slaughter each other for their own ends, whilst the Daleks all work together for the good of their race.

Whilst the story benefits from having strong supporting characters what makes it truly stand out is the way it manages to reinvent the Time Lord and his greatest enemies and indeed the show itself.

Everybody bangs on about wanting to find The Tenth Planet episode 4 and I don’t know why. Well obviously I want to find all the missing Doctor Who’s, but in terms of wanting to find an episode that deals with the first regeneration then Power of the Daleks episode 1 should be the most sought after episode.

The Tenth Planet episode 4 simply has the Doctor change at the end, but its here we get to see how the changeover from Hartnell to Troughton is handled.

Interestingly enough the story does not try and reassure people that Troughton is still the Doctor right away. In fact it could be argued it does the reverse as Troughton regularly refers to the Doctor in the third person and acts nothing like Hartnell, something which is at one point commented on by Polly.

This might seem a bit of an odd thing to do, but in hindsight you can see that it was actually a very clever way of letting people know that Troughton’s Doctor wouldn’t just look different, but would have a completely different personality to Hartnell as well which ultimately is what allowed the show to survive, as this allowed Troughton as well as all his successors to stamp their own interpretation on the character and reinvent him for new audiences.

Later in the story the audience is assured that despite the vast differences in the way he acts that Troughton is the same man when the Daleks recognize the Doctor. The inclusion of the Daleks in this story was a very smart move as the Daleks were the most iconic thing about the series and having them basically say this is still the Doctor would have instantly eased all doubts.

Simply by including the Daleks the writers were able to have their cake and eat it too. They were able to make viewers wonder if this is the Doctor and then say yes it is simply by having the Doctors oldest enemies recognize him.

Troughton is on top form here. He is instantly able to inject his trademark humour into the character of the Doctor yet he is also able to add a more mysterious edge to the character than Hartnell was. In this story the Second Doctor is a very secretive character who is two steps ahead of everyone and never lets anyone even his companions in on what he is planning. At times his somewhat more light hearted Doctor can seem ironically somewhat more sinister than the cantankerous Hartnell ever did such as when he is casually playing his recorder whilst Ben screams at him that a man has just been murdered.

As for the Daleks, it could be argued change just as much as the Doctor himself!

This story is written by David Whitaker who keeps up their hatred for other life forms which is their defining trait as well as their ruthlessness, but changes them in other drastic ways.

Nation always made a point of demonstrating how alien the Daleks were. His Daleks were shown to be unable to understand human concepts and referred to our children as our descendants. The Daleks in Power meanwhile are shown to be able to manipulate human beings with spectacular ease. They play on both our strengths like Lestersons desire to help his fellow colonists and our weaknesses like Bragen’s greed and desire for power, and even manage to pit the humans against one another all the while getting what they want from both sides.

At one point a Dalek even comments on how they know exactly how the human mind works which is about as far away from Nations Daleks who didn’t even know what our children were as you can get.

The fact that the Daleks are now much more manipulative makes them the perfect adversaries for the more manipulative Second Doctor. I have always said that the Second Doctor worked the best against the Daleks as here the Daleks actually seem like more of a match for the Doctor than ever before. Both are beings of immense power who are pretending to be something they are not, the Doctor, the hapless examiner, the Daleks, friendly sweet little robots and are playing everyone around them including the Doctors own companions like pieces on a chest board against each other, trying to stay ahead of the other and expose the others lies.

Nations Daleks though effective villains for how alien they were, and the perfect villain for Hartnell to get outraged at, would not have worked in this story as well against Troughton’s Doctor.

Nation’s Daleks were also depicted as being more weaker physically. In their first story they cannot even leave their own city whilst in the Dalek Invasion of Earth they have to launch plague missiles hidden in metiorites before they can invade the earth and even then they are only able to rule a devastated earth through Robomen slaves. Nations Daleks were still a threat because of how advanced they were, but in terms of actual physical power they were quite weak and Nation did this on purpose as it was a wonderful irony that these ridiculous looking, frail creatures despised others for being supposedly inferior.

The Daleks in this story meanwhile are shown to be truly formidable creatures. The Second Doctor at one point warns that one Dalek is capable of destroying the entire earth colony of Vulcan by itself. At the end when the Daleks begin slaughtering the people of the colony its like a scene from the new series where the Daleks are more like a force of nature just destroying everything in their path.

I actually think that this story was very influential on how the new series would portray the Daleks as the new series would tend to portray the Daleks as being more manipulative and more powerful like in this story.

Dalek features the Dalek playing on Rose’s compassion and tricking her like the Daleks do to Lesterson in this story, whilst The Parting of the Ways features the monsters manipulating all of human society from behind the scenes and Victory of the Daleks similarly features docile Daleks who pretend to be our servants in order to get what they want At the same time the likes of Dalek and Doomsday also show us how much damage one or a few Daleks can inflict.

Overall the Power of the Daleks is one of the greatest Doctor Who stories ever made. Its such a shame that I will most likely never be able to watch it in all its glory, but still even as just a recon it holds up and I would encourage all Whovians to give it a go as it is arguably the most important serial in the shows history after the first Dalek story itself and is fantastic, atmospheric adventure in its own right.

Final Rating

5 out of 5 stars

Notes and Trivia

• In his first draft of this story David Whitaker revealed that the Doctor was the last of his kind who had all been wiped out by the Daleks in an intergalactic war. He also revealed that William Hartnell had not been the first Doctor with the Doctor removing certain trinkets and pieces of clothing from his previous incarnations. These were ultimately cut from the final drafts by Dennis Spooner though it is still somewhat hinted that the Daleks destroyed the Doctors home planet within the story itself. Whitaker was very unhappy with these changes though its interesting to note that all of these ideas would emerge in later stories by different writers. In The Brain of Morbius it is revealed that there were 8 Doctors before William Hartnell. It would later be established that Hartnell was the original Doctor however, but still the idea of an unseen Doctor before the first was played with in the revival in some way with the War Doctor an unseen Doctor who came before the first of the revival Doctors, the Ninth Doctor. Finally the idea of the Doctor being the last of his kind who had been destroyed in a war with the Daleks would be used as the Doctors backstory in the 2005 revival too.
• Dennis Spooner wrote the final drafts of this story but was uncredited.
• This was the first Dalek story not to be written or co-written by Terry Nation. Apparently Nation disliked how the Daleks were used in this story though he said that he did not think that it was a bad story at all.
• According to the trailer, this story is set in 2020.
• Ben later mentions the Daleks in another story hoping he doesn’t meet them again.

The Daleks and the Cybermen are the Doctors two most iconic enemies.

Though the Doctor has had many colourful and imaginative rogues over the years. None have even come close to matching the recognition and overall iconic status of the Daleks and the Cybermen.

Its even more impressive when you consider how old they both are. The Cybermen were introduced in 1966 in the first Doctors last ever story “The Tenth Planet”, whilst the Daleks were introduced in the second ever Doctor Who story “The Mutants”.

So why is it that these two in some ways ridiculous looking, clunky, 60’s monsters continue to reign supreme? Both terrifying and captivating children in the 2010’s just as much as they did in the 1960’s?

Well I think its because the Daleks and the Cybermen despite their larger than life qualities appeal to a very real fear unlike other monsters.

The Daleks represent man’s inhumanity to man. They capture all of the very worst aspects of human nature. They despise others simply for being different. They have a total disregard for their environment to the point where they believe they can destroy it or shape it to any way they wish. They unleash devastating weapons that can erase an entire civilisation in the blink of an eye.

The actions of the Daleks in certain stories incredibly enough can even be seen to parallel those of actual people. The Daleks plan to exterminate the thals by poisoning the environment with radiation is similar to the British’s attempts to use agent Orange to destroy communist insurgents crops during the Malayan Emergency in the 50’s. Their attitude towards the Thals meanwhile, viewing them as nothing more than insects that need to be stamped out evoke the horrifying views of some of the most evil men throughout human history, including Herman Goerring and General Chivington.

Finally the images of the Daleks rounding people off the streets and herding them together like animals are also reminiscent of images that we see from the second world war of the Nazi’s rounding people out of their houses and into death camps and ghetto’s.

Whilst they may look like just silly robots on the surface underneath the Daleks are a powerful metaphor for race hatred, the threat of nuclear power and genocide.

The Cybermen meanwhile play on our fears that technology that was once supposed to help mankind will eventually turn in on us.

Now this is a common trope of sci fi. One of the most prominent examples being The Terminator film series. However I would argue that the Cybermen are a much more effective example of this trope than even The Terminator. The Terminator shows us humanity being overrun by intelligent machine’s. The Cybermen meanwhile show us humanity actually becoming those ruthless machine creatures. Thus the future with them in it is more bleak.

In The Terminator version of the future there is always a chance, and even if we do eventually lose to Skynet, we still die as human beings. With the Cybermen however not only is their no hope, as we have transformed ourselves into machines, but we also completely lose our humanity too.

The Cybermen also play on an age old fear of being turned into a monster. This idea has terrified human beings since practically the beginning of recorded history. Vampires, Zombies, Werewolves, Ghosts they are monsters who all start out as human just like the Cybermen. The Cybermen are merely this idea brought into a science fiction environment.

The idea of losing our humanity, our personalities, memories, everything we believe in and becoming just a member of a faceless hive mind, and being forced to do things that we would normally find abhorrent, including even harming our loved ones. Is an idea that will always terrify human beings whether it is with the Cybermen or Zombies.

Thus it is for these reasons that I feel that the Daleks and the Cybermen still stand head and plunger above all of the Doctors other many wonderful enemies.

However which of these two sci fi icons is better?

Well I can’t answer that for sure obviously as it is entirely a subjective question. Still however I am going to look at both monsters side by side and try and judge who has had the better stories, who has done more harm to our dear old doc, who has more impressive weapons and who has beaten who more times etc.

As always all opinions here are only my own and let me know who you prefer in the comments below.

1/ Who Has Done More To The Doctor

Now both the Daleks and the Cybermen have been responsible for quite a number of tragedies in the Doctors life throughout the years which has also helped to contribute to their status as the Doctors main enemies.

However who has done more?

Well its undoubtedly the Daleks.

The Cybermen were responsible for the death of the First Doctor. They didn’t kill him directly, but they were the final straw. They wore him down. They also were responsible for the death of his companion Adric, whom they actually killed directly. They also were partly responsible for him losing Rose and they also turned both Danny Pink, the man Clara loved, and the Brig his oldest and dearest friend into Cybermen. Though both were ultimately able to fight their control.

The Daleks however have been responsible for the deaths of 4 Doctors. The 8th Doctor whose ship crashed in the time war, the War Doctor who was worn down by fighting them for so long, the 9th Doctor who had to absorb the time vortex from Rose who had only absorbed it to stop them. And finally the 11th Doctor who was also worn down in their war on Trenzalore.

In addition to this they caused him to lose another regeneration during the Stolen Earth with Handy. They also were responsible for the deaths of two companions, Sara Kingdom and Katirina in the classic era. In the new who meanwhile the Daleks destroyed his home planet and caused him to lose Rose and Donna. Though the destruction of his home planet was later undone, its still lost because of them.

Thus the Daleks have ultimately down more to the Doctor over the years. The Cybermen have caused him an awful lot of shit, but the Daleks really have to win this round

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2/ Who Has Better Stories

Now this is the most subjective. Personally I think the Daleks have far better stories overall than the Cybermen. I think there are only 3 Dalek stories that are not either all time classics or minor classics at least. Planet of the Daleks, Destiny of the Daleks and Daleks in Manhatten/ Evolution of the Daleks, and even then I wouldn’t call any of them poor.

However the Cybermen I think have only four major classic stories. Tomb of the Cybermen, The Invasion, Earthshock and Rise of the Cybermen/Age of steel. There are a few other Cybermen stories I would rank as minor classics, and no truly terrible stories except for Dark Water/Death in Heaven.

However that is just my opinion of course.

Still I think the vast majority of Who fans and even mainstream viewers if you were to ask them would say that the Daleks have better stories.

The Dalek stories have always been a bigger hit with viewers. Genesis of the Daleks is the most repeated story of the Classic era. Journey’s End meanwhile marked the first time that Doctor Who had managed to reach number 1 in the viewing figures.

Genesis has also often been voted as the greatest Doctor Who story of all time and is usually in the top ten, if not top five at least. Both Power of the Daleks and the Evil of the Daleks have been voted the greatest Doctor Who story ever made as well on different occasions.  No Cyberman story has ever been voted the best story ever made in any major poll. To be honest the only Cyberman story that usually makes the fans top ten lists is Tomb of the Cybermen and it is normally ranked below Genesis, which normally isn’t the only Dalek story to crack the top ten. Rememberance of the Daleks and Dalek are normally in the top 10 as well.

Thus whilst I can’t speak for everyone, overall I think its safe to say the Daleks stories are at the very least more celebrated than the Cybermen’s.

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3/ Who Has Done More To The Companions

Strangely enough I am going to have to give this one to the Cybermen. The Cybermen haven’t met anywhere near as many companions as the Daleks. In the Classic era the Daleks only didn’t meet 6 companions. Dodo, Zoe, Liz, Leela, Adric and Mel. Even out of those they only haven’t met Adric and Liz in spin off material. They have met every companion in the revival meanwhile.

The Cybermen on the other hand only met 15 companions in Classic Who, whilst they also sadly never got a chance to meet either Martha Jones or Donna Noble or River Song.

Still the Cybermen have managed to inflict more pain on the Doctors loved ones than the Daleks.

The Daleks caused Victoria to lose her father, Jack to become a cursed immortal, Rose to be trapped in a parallel universe, and Donna to lose her memory of the Doctor as well as the deaths of Sara Kingdom and Katirina.

The Cybermen however first of all caused the death of Adric. Unlike either Sara or Katirina, they actually killed him directly. Also they caused the death of Martha’s cousin, and Danny Pink the man Clara loved to come back as a monster, and Rose to be trapped in an alternate universe, and if you count the Brigadier as a companion they also brought him back as a Cyberman too. They also caused Rose to see her own mother get turned into a Cyberman. Though it was in an alternate universe its still a pretty horrible thing to happen.

Overall I’d rank this as being much worse than what the Daleks have done to the Doctors loved ones. Unlike with Katarina and Sara Adric was killed directly by the Cybermen. It wasn’t just on an adventure with the Cybermen that he died. They made him stay on a crashing space ship and the Doctor was unable to save him.

Also whilst Donna did lose her memories she still had a happy life. She got married and won the lottery! Similarly Rose eventually got her own Doctor too. The Brig however is still a Cyberman, flying through space on his own as a machine, Clara still has the memory of Danny’s rotting corpse brought back as a Cyberman.

Actually the Daleks have done a lot of nice things for the Doctors companions ironically. After all it was because of them that Susan met David the man she loves, Ian and Barbara found a way back to their own time, Mickey found an alternate reality where his grandmother still lived (as they were the ones who tore down the barriers between realities) and though they may have ripped Rose screaming from the Doctor. They also are the ones who caused her to get her Doctor clone too. They shot the Doctor creating the whole meta crisis in the first place, and they broke the barriers between realities down allowing Rose to enter our world, this also allowed Mickey to cross over into our reality where he met his wife Martha Jones! Even Captain Jack becoming an immortal has at various times been both a good and a bad thing for him.

So yeah by and large the Daleks have unintentionally done a few nice things for the Doctors companions over the years. They’ve helped them get home, get superpowers and even find love.

With the Cybermen however its all been nothing but misery so they definitely win this round.

Daleks 2 Cybermen 1

4/ Who Is Scarier

I am going to also have to give this to the Cybermen. Now again this is also purely subjective, but still I think most people, at least those that I have spoken to find the Cybermen more unnerving.

Look at it this way all the Daleks can do is kill you. Well okay they can also force you to work in a Dalek camp or turn you into a roboman. Still the Cybermen slowly remove every single part of your body and replace it with a mechanical component, transforming you into a cold, unfeeling machine. You’re awake throughout all of it and you have to watch as chunks are ripped out of your flesh and your humanity is removed in every respect.

Thus the Cybermen are scarier in that the way they kill you is just so much more fucking horrible.

Also I think its true what Neil Gamian said that the Cybermen were always scarier because in the 60’s at least they hardly ever said anything. They were just silent, you had no idea what was going on in their heads, as they also obviously had no facial expressions either. The Daleks however were bombastic and loud and aggressive always shouting at the top of their voices how angry and at times scared they were.

Nicholas Briggs the voice of the Daleks and the Cybermen in the new Who has said that he always found the Cybermen to be much scarier.

Now Nicholas Briggs is the biggest Dalek fan on the planet! Nobody loves or I think understands them as well as old Nick, but even he has to admit that the Cybermen are more frightening. Like Gaiman he said that they were scarier because they were so quiet. The Daleks he said he found fascinating, but the Cybermen genuinely terrified him.

Many actors who worked with both monsters have often said that they found the Cybermen far more frightening than the Daleks. Nicola Bryant who played Peri, Sophie Aldred who played Ace and Andrew Hayden Smith who played Jake Simmons have all said that the Cybermen scared them more on set than the Daleks.

I had a recurring dream as a child that I think was inspired by the scene in the Colin Baker Cyberman story Attack of the Cybermen where Lytton is captured. I was climbing up a ladder like Lytton and then a Cyberman grabbed my foot and pulled me down. I remember struggling so hard, but the Cyberman’s strength just was just virtually limitless so it pulled me down right away. I can also remember being so scared at being cornered by the Cyberman as you just know there is nothing you can do. You can’t fight it. Its not like a Zombie where you can shove it off, a Cyberman is a big towering, mountain of steel, and there is no way you can reason with it either. After they caught me they then dragged me away to their conversion chambers and I remember not only being placed in them, but also seeing other people beside me in them too.

Some of them were half way there into being Cybermen, but still had enough humanity left to have a look on their face of unimaginable horror. Others who had only just begun the process were screaming to be let out and the Cybermen only responded with an emotionless stare. I can also remember looking down at my hands which had now become metal and unfeeling.

Needles to say this dream always disturbed me and even made me afraid to go to sleep! I can’t imagine the Daleks ever inspiring that same kind of fear in someone. Like I said all the Daleks can really do to you is just shoot you like a lot of villains, with the Cybermen its much worse than that, so yes the Cybermen win this round for me.

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5/ Who Has Caused More Destruction To The Universe

This one has to go to the Daleks. The Daleks have destroyed billions of worlds across the entire universe. They have in fact threatened every universe and in their second ever appearance they managed to conquer the earth and drive humanity to the very brink of extinction.

The Cybermen aren’t in the same league as the Daleks when it comes to blowing things up. To start with until Nightmare in Silver in 2013 they were never able to convert non humans and thus were only ever a threat to humanity. On top of that they never ever actually managed to conquer the earth too. The Daleks did that in their second ever appearance and have done so many times since. Day of the Daleks, Bad Wolf/ The Parting of the Ways (where humanity numbers 98 billion) and The Stolen Earth/Journeys End.

The Cyberman’s track record for causing pain and death is quite frankly embarrassing compared to the Daleks. Daleks definitely win this round.

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6/ Best Weapon Of Mass Destruction

For the Daleks this is the Reality Bomb a weapon that can destroy ever single universe and is powered by stolen planets! For the Cybermen its the Cyberking a Godzilla sized robot that can convert billions of people into Cybermen in a second.

Both of these superweapons were devised by the twisted genius of Russell T Davies, but which is better?

Well again i am going have to say the Daleks here. I love the Cyberking. It is so badass its not true. However you can’t really top the reality bomb. I mean it can destroy everything literally. Hence its name the Reality Bomb, plus the fact that it is powered by stolen planets its also just too badass for it not to take the lead.

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7/ Best Pets/Servants

For the Cybermen this is the Cybermats, the Daleks it is the Ogrons. Now the Cybermats are probably more iconic than the Ogrons. However I am sorry I have never found the Cybermats remotely scary. In fact I thought they were quite cute. The Ogrons however were intimidating. That bit where the soldier turns around in Day of the Daleks and just sees one standing over him before it clobbers him is a very effective and frightening moment.

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8/ Best Leader

The Cybermen take this one for me. The Cyber leader played by David Banks in the 80’s had much more of a personality (ironically enough) than any of the Dalek supremes except for Dalek Sec of course. Still even then David Banks gloriously hammy and evil Cyber Leader will always have a special place in my Whovian heart.

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9/ Best Overlord

Now this is a hard one as I do love both the Cybercontroller and the Emperor of the Dalek. However I am going to have to give this to the Daleks. The Emperor is much more of a character. His comeback in the Eccelston era was also much, much better than the Cybercontroller’s comeback in the Colin Baker era. Plus the Emperor actually caused the death of a Doctor too. Emperor definitely takes this.

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10/ Best Creator

The Daleks definitely win this. John Lumic the creator of the Cybermen was entertaining, but Davros is one of the greatest villains of all time. He is a true Who icon and has been the star of some of the greatest Doctor Who stories ever made. Plus he is far more bat shit mental too.

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11/ Best Home

Now I am going to give this to the Cybermen. The Dalek city is obviously a very impressive set, however the Cyber tombs on Telos are a truly iconic set piece and something that really sticks in your head.  I don’t think there’s any Whovain who will really forget the image of the Cyberman emerging from their tombs to the classic music.

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12/ Best Surprise Cliffhanger

This one I am going to have to give to the Cybermen too. The Daleks best surprise return was in Army of Ghosts when we think its the Cybermen who are going to emerge from the Sphere only to be greeted with 4 Daleks. The Cybermen’s meanwhile is in Earthshock when we discover who is behind the mysterious androids and it zooms out to reveal the Cybermen. Now both are classic Doctor Who moments, but the Dalek one was somewhat spoiled by the next time trailer which revealed a Dalek gun shooting someone leading to widespread speculation that they would return before the episode aired. The Cyberman one however was kept completely under wraps by JNT. Also the Cybermen hadn’t appeared for 7 years at that point. I sadly don’t think the Daleks could ever have a cliff hanger as amazing as Earthshock as they are used so frequently. At this rate it would be a huge shock if they didn’t pop up in at least one story per year.

Daleks 7 Cybermen 5

13/ Best Good Guy Member Of Each Race

Now there have actually been a few good guy members of both races. However the one I am going to choose for the Cybermen is Kroton a character who only appeared in comic books and was briefly a companion of the 8th Doctor and for the Daleks, Rusty.  Now as for who I think is better well I am going to have to give this to the Cybermen. I love Rusty and I think he has potential to be a great recurring character, but Kroton was a brilliant character. I think its a shame he has never crossed over into television, but he is still one of my fave Whoniverse, spin off characters. He helped save the entire mutliverse from the Master, all Rusty did in Into the Dalek was zap a few Daleks.

Daleks 7 Cybermen 6

14/ Best Killing Of A Main Character

In The Stolen Earth the Daleks murder Harriet Jones in cold blood. In Earthshock the Cybermen forced Adric to remain on a spaceship as it crashes into the earth and the 5th Doctor is unable to save him in time.

Both are powerful, poignant moments, but again I am going to have to go with the Cybermen here.

Harriet dies a heroes death. She defies them to the end and dies getting the Doctor there which ends up saving every universe.

Adric’s death is much more horrible as his death is utterly meaningless. He dies trying to save humanity from the Cybermen unaware that if he actually succeeds in stopping he ship from crashing he will wipe humanity from existence. He also dies thinking he failed to saved earth the home planet of one of his best friends and stands there alone, knowing that he failed to save billions of innocent people and worse that the Doctor failed to save him.

Compare their last words to see the difference.

“Oh you know nothing of any human and that will be your downfall”

“Now I’ll never know if I was right”.

The Cybermen definitely gave a main character a much more horrible death, so they win this round.

Daleks 7 Cybermen 7

15/ Who Is More Powerful

Okay for the finale round lets take a look at which of these two abominations is the strongest. Now I could debate for hours about it by bringing up all of the badass things they have done and comparing them side by side, but there is a much easier way.

Instead I am going to look at all of the times they have actually fought and measure up who has had more victories against the other.

Lets get stared shall we.

Round 1/ The Ultimate Adventure

The first time the Daleks and the Cybermen ever met was in the stage show, Doctor Who the Ultimate Adventure which starred Jon Pertwee and later Colin Baker. The version starring Colin Baker was later re made by Big Finish Productions.

In this play the Daleks work with the Cybermen to destroy the earth. However the Doctor later reveals to the Cybermen that the Daleks are planning to frame the Cybermen for the destruction of earth to the Time Lords, leading to an all out battle between the two races on Skaro.

Sadly we don’t know who the winner is however as the Doctor flees Skaro before we see who wins, so we will have to call this a draw.

Round 2/ The Battle of Canary Wharf

The Daleks and the Cybermen met for the first time on screen in the two part season two finale of the revival. Army of Ghosts/Doomsday. It was the battle Who fans had been waiting for for 40 years.

However sadly it couldn’t really be called a battle as the Daleks completely fucking thrashed the Cybermen. The Cybermen meanwhile weren’t able to scratch the paint on the casing on one of the Daleks.

It gets worse when you consider that for most of the fight the Daleks have only 4 members, whilst the Cybermen have 5 million.

Also the Cybermen end up working with the Doctor himself who gives them advanced weaponry that can hurt the Daleks and even with this the Daleks still fucking thrash them, and they don’t even manage to hurt one Dalek. Eventually once the Dalek army is unleashed they begin slaughtering Cybermen all over the world and the Cybermen become so desperate they try to flee to their own universe!

Its one thing to flee a planet from an enemy or even to the end of this universe as the Master did when he faced the Daleks in the Time War, but to flee this plane of existence itself is really fucking embarrassing. Ultimately before the Daleks can completely wipe the Dalek race from existence the Doctor manages to pull both armies into the void.

However I think that we can still give this to the Daleks. Poor Cybermen were really outclassed in every way here.

According to spin off material the Cybermen did manage to kill one lowly Dalek drone by luring it onto the ground and ripping its head off. However that’s one Dalek compared to the millions of Cybermen that the Daleks killed.

Yeah this is definitely a Dalek victory.

Score/ Daleks 1 Cybermen 0

Round 3/ Daleks vs Cybermen GAME

This on line game is set in an alternate universe to the main Doctor Who universe. It features an alternate version of the events of Doomsday. Here the Cybermen are more of a match for the Daleks and in the game you play as the Cybermen fighting the Daleks. Once you kill the black Dalek the Daleks are defeated and the Cybermen claim the earth as their own.

I suppose technically you could also count this as a Dalek victory, depending on how good a player you are. If you lose then obviously the Daleks win and the Cyber race is exterminated. However the proper story of the game see’s the Cybermen win which means this is a Cyber victory.

Score/ Daleks 1 Cybermen 1

Round 4/ Doctor Who Live

The two races met again in another Doctor Who live tour, starring Matt Smith in special pre recorded scenes. At the end of the story the 11th Doctor releases the Cybermen with the sole purpose of destroying the Daleks who have cornered him. The Daleks have the upper hand at first but the Cybermen eventually thrash them. Its a total reverse of the Battle of Canary Wharf as here the Daleks are utterly humiliated as they retreat into their OWN weapon that they had hoped to trap the Doctor in to escape the Cybermen. The Cybermen finally get back at Dalek Sec for telling them they are better at dying, not that Cybermen care about revenge, a petty human emotion anyway.

Score/ Daleks 1 Cybermen 2

Round 5/ The Doctor and the Dalek

The two races would clash again in the most recent online game The Doctor and the Dalek featuring the 12th Doctor, with Peter Capaldi even reprising his role. The premise sees the Doctor work alongside a good guy Dalek named Lumpy to try and stop the Daleks, Cybermen and the Sontarans from obtaining pieces of a time lord weapon that will allow them to rule the universe. You play as Lumpy and battle Daleks, Cybermen and Sontarans. Now Lumpy is able at one point in the game to defeat several Cybermen by himself on their home planet of Telos even when his power is low. The Doctor doesn’t trust him to have full power so Lumpy is only able to stun the Cybermen. Still he manages to beat them. So the Cybermen lose to a half functioning good guy Dalek on their home turf. Pretty humiliating defeat, though at least Lumpy doesn’t rub it in like Sec did

Score/ Daleks 2 Cybermen 2

Round 5/ Siege at Trenzalore

All of the Doctors worst enemies gather for a big royal rumble at Trenzalore. Daleks, Weeping Angels, Cybermen, Slitheen, Tereliptiles, Zygons, Sontarans, Silence, Ice Warriors, Silurians and even the Mara. In the end however only the Daleks remain. All the others either “burn or flee” though the Daleks are eventually defeated by the 11th Doctor, they still last a lot longer than the Cybermen making this yet another victory for the Daleks making the final score

Score/ Daleks 3 Cybermen 2

This also makes the finale score overall

Daleks 8 Cybermen 7

Therefore the Daleks are the winners overall

It was very close but ultimately I find the Daleks to be the better villains. The Daleks were always my fave villains as a child. They were the reason I got into Doctor Who as a child in the first place. So yes I guess it makes sense that they will always be my faves.

The Daleks are the Doctors most recurring foes and the only one of his many enemies to date who has battled every single incarnation of the Doctor on screen.

Whilst the Daleks have always remained effective villains of the Time Lord, it is true that certain incarnations of the Doctor have played off of the monsters much better than others.

This can be for a number of reasons. Some Doctors just aren’t as well suited to the villains, others meanwhile don’t get a chance to interact with them as much.

In this article I will be looking at which Doctors were the best Dalek Doctors. This does not reflect which Doctors were the best overall or even which Doctors had the best Dalek stories. Just simply which Doctors suited the pepperpots from Skaro the best.

We will also be looking at what each actor who played the Doctor thought of the Daleks.

1st Doctor and the Daleks

The first Doctor I felt was one of the best matched for the Daleks. Its just as well considering, depending on how you count them he had more Dalek stories than any other Doctor to date. Though if you count two parters of the revival as two separate stories then both the Tenth and the Eleventh Doctors have more Dalek stories. Either way the 1st Doctor has the most amount of Dalek episodes however.

In fact there are almost as many episodes with the Daleks in the first Doctors era as there are with the Tenth Doctor and the 11th Doctor in total. The 10th Doctor is in 47 episodes, whilst the 11th Doctor is in 44 episodes. Hartnell meanwhile has 42 Dalek episodes. He also has as many Dalek episodes as the 7th Doctor has in total in the series, whilst the first Doctor is in more episodes with the Daleks than the 6th Doctor is in total and finally there are over three times as many Hartnell episodes with the Daleks as 9th Doctor episodes in total..

So yes its just as well the 1st Doctor was a good fit for the monsters.

The great thing about the first Doctor’s interactions with the Daleks is that they really help to define who the first Doctor, and by extension all subsequent Doctors really are.

When we first meet Hartnell’s Doctor he couldn’t be more different from his successors. He is ruthless, selfish, cowardly even murderous. He doesn’t care about the affairs of other life forms, he even looks down on them, calling human beings “primitives” and “savages”.

His morality at first doesn’t seem too different to the Daleks, as he considers himself and Susan above Ian and Barbara because they are human.

However it is when he confronts the Daleks that we first see the changes in his character.

In the first Dalek story “The Daleks”, the Doctor to start with is callous and selfish, perfectly prepared to leave the thals who have been lured into the Daleks city to their fate, and at one point even Barbara too!

However by the end of the story when he sees how the Daleks are willing to destroy an entire culture, even an entire species in the blink of an eye it horrifies him.

Prior to this the Doctor clearly looked on the Dalek/Thal conflict as being no different to the conflict between the cavemen in the previous story. To him its just more silly primitives he considers beneath him fighting with one another and therefore its none of his business. The Daleks however quickly show themselves to be beyond that. They aren’t just having a war with the Thals over land or influence. They hate the Thals with the very core of their being and want to erase them from existence.

The Doctor for the first time is actually morally outraged at what he is seeing and actually takes a more active role in trying to stop the Daleks than he ever thought he would. At one point he is willing to give up the secrets of the TARDIS itself to the Daleks to try and save the Thals.

Within the one story we can see a huge change in the Doctors character due to his dealings with the Daleks. The evil of the Daleks shows him that there are some things in this universe worth fighting against.

Of course the Doctor doesn’t become the hero we all know and love by the end of the first Dalek story. It could be argued that he was only willing to give up the secrets of the TARDIS to save his own life. Also its a long while after the first Dalek story before the Doctor becomes the central heroic character.

Still you can see a very noticable change in his character from this point on. He is certainly no longer as callous, or ruthless as he was before. The Daleks showed him what true evil is and their revolting attitude of considering all non Dalek life forms lesser than them also perhaps made him look at himself more and how he had treated the humans around him whom he considered to be lesser than he was.

Though he and Ian and Barbara do clash again in the following story “The Edge of Destruction” it is worth noting that the Doctor at the start of that story was trying to get them back to earth, something which he was not willing to do before hand.

In the next story “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” we see the Doctor take on a central heroic role for the first time in the series.

Once again he becomes so outraged at what he sees he actually doesn’t rest until he has stopped the Daleks. The Daleks have blitzed an entire planet, slaughtered billions of innocent men, women and children, destroyed an entire culture and society and plan to do the same to billions of other worlds by turning the earth into a spaceship that will make them unbeatable.

In “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” the Doctor is finally recognizable as the character we have come to know and love. He is the hero helping the under dog in any way he can, who never gives up even when everyone else around him wants to.

David/ They dare to tamper with the forces of creation.

The Doctor/ Yes they dare. And we have got to dare to stop them!

After “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” we see the Doctor become involved almost all of the time. After having got involved in stopping the Daleks he finds that he can no longer sit back in any situation. He has discovered who he truly is in his dealings with the Daleks and seemingly what his role is in the universe to help those in need like the Thals and the humans of the 22nd century from monsters like the Daleks.

The Daleks therefore really help to define who the Doctor is as a character during the first Doctors era and that’s what makes his interactions with them so interesting.

Of course I am not saying that all of the first Doctors development from a self serving character to a hero is because of the Daleks, but certainly a large part of it is and I think you can see his development more clearly across his 4 stories with the Daleks than with any of his other stories.

By his final Dalek story “The Daleks Masterplan” the First Doctor is now someone who is willing to sacrifice his own life to stop the Daleks and thinks nothing of it. A far cry from the selfish, callous individual who was willing to let the Thals walk into a trap in the first Dalek story.

The Daleks

The Doctor/ Well, lets get back to the ship.

Susan/ No, I must warn the Thals.

The Doctor/ Susan!

Susan/ We can’t just let them walk into a trap.

The Doctor/ The Thals are no concern of ours. We cannot jeopardize our lives getting involved in an affair that is none of our business.

The Daleks Masterplan

The Doctor/ I want you to give me enough time to get to that meeting and find out exactly what is going on. Then I will head back to Chen’s ship.

Bret/ And how long will that take?

The Doctor/ Well I must leave that to your own judgement. If, of course you hear any kind of uproar, well then you’ll have to get into the spaceship and go off without me.

Bret/ Doctor we can’t leave you.

The Doctor/ Oh nonsense, nonsense. Earth must be warned about the Daleks and Chen.

Bret/ You are a very brave man.

The Doctor/ Rubbish, rubbish my boy. I’m only doing what must be done.

I wouldn’t say the first Doctor’s interactions with the Daleks are the best of any Doctor, but they are definitely among the best. In his time the Daleks do help to shape the Doctor. They show him that he can’t just keep travelling and never get involved in anything around him. The Daleks ironically create the Doctor who never gives up, and always fights against injustice.

Clearly I am not the only one to have this interpretation of the First Doctor’s relationship with the Daleks. In “Into the Dalek” the most recent Dalek story, the 12th Doctor states to the Dalek, Rusty

“I was just running, I called myself the Doctor, but it was just a name. And then I went to Skaro. And then I met you lot and I understood who I was. The Doctor was not the Daleks.”

That to me perfectly sums up the first Doctors relationship with the monsters.

William Hartnell apparently loved the Daleks. He stated in an interview taken between the first and second seasons of the show that he was delighted they would return in the new series. His wife Heather Hartnell would later say how much he loved them in an interview for the 20th anniversary.

“Bill used to really enjoy the Daleks, because they were something for him to hate. In a way they were the real black monsters of the time, because, then, we hadn’t had bad Time Lords brought in. So they were the worst enemy he ever came across and he really enjoyed fighting them and he knew the kids loved the Dalek series.

Despite this however Hartnell later mentioned that he found the Daleks somewhat tricky to work with, as he said it was hard for him acting against an inanimate object. He also apparently didn’t like them being overused stating “I hope we don’t overuse them. I was very clear on that with producers. I told them we must not let the series descend into constant Dalek battles. They must be used sparingly.”

2nd Doctor and the Daleks

For me the Second Doctor could very well be the best Dalek Doctor of them all. Even though he only got two Dalek stories, I still honestly can’t think of a Doctor better suited for his archenemies than the Second Doctor.

The second Doctor’s Dalek stories were written by David Whitaker. Now Whitaker as I have explored gave us an entirely new interpretation of the Daleks. His Daleks were manipulative, physically powerful, able to understand humans and less alien than Nations.

All of this made them the perfect match for the second Doctor.

The Second Doctor was quite a manipulative character. On the surface he seemed like a silly, bumbling oaf, who resorted to a state of childlike panic whenever anything went wrong. However underneath he was arguably one of the most cunning and wiley Doctors of them all.

He often used his clown like facade to throw his enemies like the Cybermen and the Ice Warriors all of whom greatly underestimated him off.

The Daleks in Troughton’s time similarly often manipulated their opponents. In “The Power of the Daleks” the Daleks dupe the human colonists into thinking that they are peaceful and everyone on the colony has no idea what they are dealing with. Only the Doctor knows just how dangerous they are of course.

At the same time however his usual tactics of “oh my giddy aunt” pretending to be a moron and a fool does not dupe them. They know him too and they know how powerful he truly is.

That’s what makes the second Doctors interactions with the Daleks so fascinating. We see these two incredibly powerful creatures, The Doctor and the Daleks, make everyone else around them think they are harmless.

We also see how they use everyone around them including even the Doctors own companions like pieces on a chess board such as when the Doctor goes as far as to risk Jamie’s life in trying manipulate the Daleks in “The Evil of the Daleks”.

This really helped to reinforce the idea of the Daleks being the worst of the Doctors many enemies. All of his usual tactics could work on the Cybermen, but with the Daleks he had to go that extra mile. He was pushed to his very limits in trying to get one over on them, which is why he risks Jamie’s life.

In “Evil of the Daleks” both the Doctor and the Daleks constantly manage to get one over on the Doctor until the Doctor finally beats them. To begin with the Daleks get one over on the Doctor by stealing his TARDIS and luring him across time itself. Then when they force him to isolate the human factor, he tricks them by making the humanized Daleks friendly. The Daleks however manage to trick him again by revealing that the technology he has given them will allow them to isolate the Dalek factor and use it to destroy humanity. They then make him their servant, but he is able to trick them one last time by pretending that they have enslaved him and infecting them with the human factor.

Patrick Troughton generally tends to underplay it when facing the Daleks, a sign that he is genuinely afraid this time unlike with his usual hysterical reactions.

I am not sure how Patrick Troughton’s Doctor would have worked with another take on the Daleks. He really lucked out in that Whitaker’s Daleks were such a perfect fit for his Doctor. For the first time the Daleks actually mirrored the Doctor somewhat, as they both used the same tactics as one another, they were both deceitful, but one obviously used these tactics for good, the other for evil.

Sadly modern generations can’t enjoy the second Doctors interactions with the Daleks properly as only episode 2 of “The Evil of the Daleks” survives with all other episodes having been junked.

Still you should check out the recons on Youtube or the surviving audio tapes to get a glimpse of what are in my opinion the greatest Doctor/Dalek interactions.

Patrick Troughton was very fond of the Daleks too just like Hartnell was. Apparently he even counted “The Evil of the Daleks” among his favorites and near the end of his life offered to remake the serial to the BBC who sadly turned him down.

3rd Doctor and the Daleks

The Third Doctor I feel was not only a very effective Dalek Doctor, but also a very influential one too. He was I think the first Doctor who really demonstrated a hatred for them. The previous two Doctors had obviously been willing to destroy the Daleks, but you never got the impression that they despised them.

With the third Doctor however there were hints that he did despise them. It wasn’t as pronounced as say the 9th Doctor, but still you could see little moments between 3 and the Daleks that were precursors to the likes of 9 and 11’s interactions with the monsters.

The third Doctor is actually shown to take pleasure in destroying the Daleks or watching them be destroyed. In “Planet of the Daleks” after destroying a Dalek he remarks that “for a man who abhors violence I took an immense satisfaction in that”. Then there is the scene in “Death to the Daleks” where he happily watches an electric root destroy a Dalek and actually cheers it on!

Its hard to imagine the third Doctor actually take pleasure in another life form’s destruction. The third Doctor was one of the most virtuous Doctors of them all, so once again this was a perfect way to show how the Daleks were the Doctor’s worst enemies that they could provoke this type of reaction from him, that even the Master couldn’t.

Interestingly enough Jon Pertwee hated the Daleks. He said he found them to be laughable and boring villains. However I think he was actually able to work that into his performance quite well, as Pertwee’s own real life contempt for the Daleks was reflected in the third Doctors hatred of them.

4th Doctor and the Daleks

Now I think that Tom Baker has the single greatest Dalek story of all time “Genesis of the Daleks” and is obviously one of the best Doctors of all time. However sadly I don’t think he was a good Dalek Doctor at all. In both of his two stories to start with he actually has very little interaction with the monsters. Its really Davros he interacts with instead. In “Genesis” he must share the screen for all of two minutes with the monsters. However worse than that I just don’t think Tom’s Doctor was really a good fit for the Daleks as Tom’s Doctor is usually depicted as a man without fear.

That’s often one of the best things about his Doctors is the fact that he never shows even the slightest bit of worry even when faced with the worst villains in the universe such as Magnus Creel and Morbius. Sadly however this is not good for the Daleks, who as the Doctors oldest enemies should fill him with utter horror and dread. Look at the third Doctors reaction a lone Dalek in “Day of the Daleks” compared to the 4th Doctor being cornered by them in “Destiny of the Daleks” where he practically laughs at them.

Obviously having the Doctor not take them seriously and even point out their then inability to climb stairs greatly undermines their menace.

“If you’re supposed to be the superior creatures of the universe, why don’t you try climbing after us? BYE BYE.”

Thus even though he has the best Dalek story and probably the best Dalek related moment with the “have I the right” speech, I’d say the 4th Doctor was probably the worst fit for the Daleks of all the Doctors, and its probably just as well they didn’t use them that often during his tenure.

Tom Baker has always said that the Daleks were his favorite monsters because they were the children’s favorites.

The 80’s Doctors and the Daleks

Now I love all 3 80’s Doctors, but sadly I can’t really devote any time to their interactions with the Daleks. The reason is that none of them really had any memorable interactions with the monsters. Again that’s not to say that their Dalek stories were bad, far from it, but much like with the 4th Doctor, the Daleks don’t really get to interact with the Doctor much in their time as Davros takes centre stage, and therefore most of the Doctors interactions are with Davros instead. Added to this each of these Doctors only had one Dalek story on television and each story was not part of a major story arc or a major point in the development of the Doctors character.

That’s not to say there aren’t some great Doctor Dalek moments. The 7th Doctor being cornered by a Dalek flying up the stair after him for the first time is surely one of the most iconic moments in Who history.

I also felt there was a lot of potential for for all 3 80’s Doctors to be good Dalek Doctors. The 5th Doctor being a much more vulnerable character would have worked well as we could have seen how affected he was by the evil they caused and how, if anything they managed to push him too far. The 6th Doctor would have made an excellent Dalek Doctor due to his darker nature, you can imagine him getting angry and wanting to destroy every single last one of them. The 7th Doctor meanwhile due to his more manipulative nature I think would have been a good match for David Whitaker type of Daleks, more manipulative and sly villains.

Sadly however none of this potential was ever really realized on screen. The 80’s Doctors would go on to encounter the Daleks many more times in the Big Finish Audio stories, free of Davros. Of all of them I’d say the 6th Doctor is the best Dalek Doctor. I think that the 6th Doctors interactions with the Daleks are actually among the most interesting in the Big Finish Audio’s.

However since we are only looking at their television encounters with the Daleks, then sadly I have to conclude that all 3 80’s Doctors never got to establish a relationship with any of the 80’s Doctors and the Daleks the way the first 3 did.

For this same reason I will also be overlooking the 8th Doctor’s interactions with the Daleks, as again he only encountered them once on tv, via archive footage in “The Day of the Doctor” .  Finally I will also be skipping the War Doctor who also only encountered them in one scene.

All of the 80’s Doctors loved the Daleks, Colin Baker said they were his favorite monsters whilst Sylvester McCoy has said that he didn’t feel like the true Doctor until he fought the Daleks, which didn’t happen until the first story of his second series.

9th Doctor and the Daleks

Now the 9th Doctors interactions with the Daleks are probably the most celebrated and its not hard to see why.

Christopher Eccelston really captured the hatred the Doctor had for the villains, which had only been made worse by the Time War.

Its actually quite incredible just how much emotion Eccelston was able to project when acting alongside a totally inanimate object.

In many ways the 9th Doctors interactions with the monsters captured all of the very best elements of the first three Doctors interactions with them.

Like the 1st Doctor, the 9th Doctors character is really shaped by his dealings with the Daleks. It is the Daleks who after all made him into a much darker, more bitter and hateful character at the start of the series due to the time war. Eventually his darker qualities are fully brought to the fore in “Dalek” where he ends up pointing a gun at Rose to murder the Dalek that is now defenceless. Here he realizes just how far he has come, and with Rose’s help he is able to put his hatred behind him and move on and become a much better person.

We finally see how much the 9th Doctor has changed in the two part season finale “Bad Wolf/ The Parting of the Ways” where he refuses to sacrifice the earth to stop the Daleks. Unlike before where he (seemingly) slaughtered billions of innocent people in the time war to stop them, now he proudly declares that he would happily be “a coward” rather than a killer any day, and once again much like with the first Doctor we see what type of man he truly is through his dealings with the Daleks.

Like the Second Doctor we also see some rather interesting parallels between the Doctor and the Daleks during his time too. We see how both of them lost everything during the war and have become mere shadows of their former selves. Its not just a question of the both lost their entire worlds, but everything they believed in and even represented went up in flames at the end of the time war. The Doctor believed himself to be a good man “never cowardly nor cruel” yet he had now butchered billions of innocent men, women and children.

The Daleks meanwhile believed themselves to be destined to be the masters of the universe, but had now been virtually wiped out. They were for all intents and purposes a dead race, a thing of the past, with the few survivors living in the shadows and filth of other races like human beings. Thus both of them when we see them are mere shells of their former selves. The Daleks are mad or half human hybrids, the Doctor is angry, bitter and vengeful and even somewhat inept as a hero.

When the 9th Doctor says to the Dalek that “everything you stood for is gone” he is talking to himself just as much as he is to the Dalek. However at the same time whilst we see this rather interesting similarity between the Doctor and the Daleks, we also see how the Doctor is ultimately stronger. Both the Doctor and the Daleks are consumed by hatred after what happened in the time war, but Rose is able to help the Doctor overcome it and become the man he once was. The coward rather than the killer, but the Daleks who never knew anything but hatred are unable to move on further degenerate into caricatures of themselves as seen in the season finale with the mad human Daleks and the insane Emperor.

Finally the 9th Doctor obviously took 3’s hatred of them to a whole other level with the 9th Doctor at one point promising to exterminate the entire Dalek race at the end of “The Parting of the Ways” and trying to murder a helpless Dalek out of no reason other than vengeance in “Dalek”.

Of course a lot of credit for the 9th Doctors wonderful interactions with the Daleks has to go to Russell T Davies too. He was an excellent writer for the Daleks and really not only beefed them up as villains overall, but also their relationship with the Doctor too.

Christopher Eccelston though claiming to have never been that much of a Doctor Who fan growing up had stated that he nevertheless always enjoyed watching Dalek stories as he found it fascinating that a creature like a Dalek could be so evil and so pathetic at the same time. He also said he always wanted to see what the creature inside looked like.

10th Doctor and the Daleks

Now originally I didn’t think much of the Tenth Doctors interactions with the Daleks. After the way 9 played off of them, 10 seemed a bit tame in comparison. Now however I think that was actually the right thing to do as it made sense that that would be how the Doctor would react to them at this point in his life. The Tenth Doctor was a much more benevolent figure than 9 was. After having reached the absolute low point of his life as 9, 10 obviously was trying to control his darker impulses instead and become more like the hero he had been centuries earlier.

However we could see that that dark side in the 9th Doctor was still there lurking under the surface in 10 and would occasionally be let out such as against the Racnoss.

Thus when faced with the Daleks whom he knows can bring out the worst in him, just with their very existence. 10 has to hold it together every second. You can tell though at various points he wants to lose it and destroy them completely such as in “Daleks in Manhatten/ Evolution of the Daleks”.

Here he is genuinely devastated that they have survived yet again “they always survive while I lose everything”. And we see this with 10’s clone who acts in the way 10 would very much like to and finally wipes the Daleks out and makes them pay for all they have done to him.

10’s interactions with the Daleks also paved the way for 11’s, as with 9 we see a Doctor who embraces his hatred of the monsters and is taken to a very dark place, where he ends up pointing a gun at Rose in order to destroy the Metaltron. As a result 10 tries to hold that hatred in check and even tries to show compassion to the Daleks. However this results in great catastrophe for him.

For instance the compassion he showed to Dalek Caan at the end of “Evolution of the Daleks” was directly responsible for the deaths of all the millions of people the Daleks slaughtered when they stole the earth (including Harriet Jones) and also Donna losing her memory, as had he just destroyed Dalek Caan there and then the Daleks would have been finished, but his compassion allowed Caan to escape.

Naturally after this 11 has a renewed hatred and even stronger desire to finish them forever.

Whilst his interactions may not have been quite as tense as 9’s were, I still think 10 had quite an interesting dynamic with the Daleks, and served as the perfect bridge between the 9th and the 11th Doctors, both of whom utterly despised the Daleks.

David Tennant having been a life long Doctor Who fan absolutely adored the Daleks. His favorite ever story is in fact “Genesis of the Daleks” and he has said that it was actually this story that got him interested in Doctor Who in the first place.

11th Doctor and the Daleks

Now not many people think that the 11th Doctor was that well suited to the Daleks. Personally however I’d rank as one of the Doctors who played off of them the best. The 11th Doctor much like the 9th and the 3rd had a passionate hatred of the monsters. He reacted with violence towards them and was even shown again much like both the 3rd and 9th Doctors to take a delight in destroying them.

In some ways I actually found this to be more effective than the 9th Doctors interactions with them. The thing about Matt’s Doctor is again much like Jon Pertwee he is the last Doctor you’d expect to do something like that. You’d expect it from Chris who is a darker, more volatile Doctor, but Matt’s sweet, funny. painfully uncool Doctor is the last incarnation you’d expect to see casually tear open a Dalek.

What’s even more disturbing is how calm he is in doing it as well. Unlike the 9th Doctor he doesn’t shout and scream, showing that by this point its just become natural to him. His hatred of the Daleks now is a part of him as much as his heroic qualities.

I also as I said before think that 11’s hatred of them made perfect sense after the way 10 played off of them. 10 as we saw tried to show mercy to them, which turned out badly for him and his friends like Harriet Jones and Donna Noble.

11 unlike 10 who tried to hide his hatred for them, embraces it.

In real life Matt Smith absolutely loved the Daleks and even remarked that he found it difficult to hate them on screen as he loved them so much.

12th Doctor and the Daleks

Now I am not going to go into to much detail here as the 12th Doctor’s era has only begun and he has only had one story against the Daleks so far.

Still he has shown promise to have an interesting dynamic with them. Much like 3, 9 and 11 he is shown to have a deep hatred of them. Obviously Capaldi can do anger very well and is also brilliant at capturing the Doctors dark side.

However again its still too early to say how 12’s relationship will develop with them, but the character of Rusty a benevolent Dalek, or rather a Dalek that just hates its own kind certainly looks like it could offer up a fresh dynamic between the Doctor and his oldest and deadliest enemies.

Conclusion

As you can see the Doctors relationship with the Daleks has changed over the years, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worst, but its still always been a very complex and interesting relationship none the less.

Personally I’d say the best Dalek Doctors on screen are 2, 9, 1, 11, 3 and 10 in that order.

The final Hartnell era Dalek story. The Daleks Masterplan is a 12 episode epic and really marked the absolute height of Dalekmania in the United Kingdom. Spanning 3 months, it was somewhat darker and bleaker than previous Dalek stories.

Plot

The Doctor, Katarina and an injured Steven land on the planet Kembel. The Doctor ventures out to explore the planet in the hopes of finding help for Steven. Meanwhile the rescue mission that is sent to find Marc Cory is wiped out by Daleks and Vaarga plants except for the team leader Bret Vyon.

Bret soon finds the Doctor and tries to force him to take him back to his ship, hoping to use it to escape back to earth, the Doctor however knocks Bret out and ties him up in the TARDIS. The Doctor then ventures out into the jungle again and soon discovers that the Daleks are on Kembel.

Bret meanwhile is able to help Steven by giving Katarina a pill in his pocket which heals Steven’s flesh wound. Bret warns Steven and Katarina of the Daleks and not knowing how to pilot the TARDIS convinces them to leave it telling them that it isn’t safe in there (unaware that the TARDIS is indestructable).  The three meet up with the Doctor who tells them that they should have stayed in the TARDIS . However sadly they are unable to return as the Daleks find the TARDIS first.

Now knowing their mortal enemy is on Kembel the Daleks burn the jungle to the ground to smoke him out. The foursome are able to escape however and make their way to the Daleks city.

They discover that Mavic Chen is working with the Daleks. Mavic Chen is the guardian of the earth solar system, the heart of the earth empire. Despite wielding considerable power, Chen still yearns for more and is betraying his own kind to the Daleks.

The Doctor is able to knock out one of the delegates Zephon and goes in disguise as him whilst Vyon, Steven and Katarina head to Chen’s ship and take it over.

The Doctor attends the Daleks meeting with their allies including Chen and discovers what it is the Daleks are planning on Kembel.

The Daleks are hoping to create a new super weapon called the Time Destructor. The Time Destructor is capable of ageing entire worlds to nothing but dust and will allow the Daleks to destroy the earth empire and billions of other worlds across the entire universe.

The Daleks however are only able to build the weapon with the help of all of their various allies, with Chen supplying them with the most vital component, the tarranium core. The core can only be found in earth’s solar system and it has taken decades to get the small amount Chen has. Without the core the Time Destructor is useless, thus Chen is the real linchpin in the entire plan.

Zephon meanwhile soon awakens and sounds the alarm. As the delegates and the Daleks panic the Doctor is able to swipe the Tarranium core and make his way back to Chens ship, moments before Bret Vyon was about to leave.

The Daleks exterminate Zephon for allowing this to happen as well as his arrogance. Unable to shoot Chen’s ship down without damaging the Tarranium, the Daleks instead attack its engine’s causing it to crash on a nearby planet called Desperus where the worst convicts and criminals of the earth empire are left to rot.

They then send a squad of Daleks to find and retrieve it, but the Doctor is able to repair the ship before they arrive, causing the black Dalek to exterminate them for their failure. After the Doctor, Bret, Steven and Katarina escape back into space Katarina is soon jumped by Kirksen a criminal from Desperus who stowed away on board the ship.

Kirksen threatens to kill Katarina unless they take him back to Kembel. Kirksen does not wish to go back to Desperus or Earth as he is wanted back there, but wishes to go back to Kembel instead, being unaware of the danger of the Daleks.

Katarina in order to prevent them from having to go back to Kembel opens the airlock her and Kirksen are both trapped in, causing them both to be sucked out into space.

The Doctor, Bret and Steven manage to make their way back to earth, but once they get there they discover Chen has got there first and has framed them as traitors. Bret is killed by another Special Space Security agent Sara Kingdom. The Doctor and Steven are pursued by Kingdom into an experimental teleportation room where all three are accidentally teleported to a far away alien planet populated by invisible alien creatures.

There the Doctor and Steven are able to convince Sara that they are not traitors and Sara is overwhelmed with guilt at having murdered Bret not only because he is innocent, but because he was her brother!

The Daleks soon track them down and take them prisoner. However before they can take them back to Kembel the Daleks are attacked by the invisible inhabitants of the planet. The Doctor, Steven and Sara manage to escape in the Daleks own spaceship. They head back to Kembel and make their way to the TARDIS, though along the way they create a fake Tarranium Core which they hand over to the Daleks, barely managing to escape extermination.

The Doctor, Steven and Sara go on to travel for a long while together having many adventures including one at Christmas in the 1960’s where the Doctor is arrested for trying to get into the TARDIS.

The three soon end up in the set of an old silent film, before going off on other adventures The Daleks however quickly realize that the core is a fake when they use one of their delegates Trantis as a test subject.

The Daleks dispatch another time machine to follow the Doctor throughout time and space. The Doctor meanwhile is also being pursued by another old enemy the Meddling Monk a renegade time lord whom he had faced in the past.

After foiling the Monks attempts at revenge all 3 time machine’s end up in ancient Egypt. Here the Daleks who are aided by Mavic Chen manage to capture The Meddling Monk, Steven and Sara.

They threaten to kill them unless the Doctor hands over the real core. Out of options the Doctor is forced to hand the core over to the Daleks. The Doctor however is able to steal the directional UNIT from the Monks TARDIS which allows the Doctor, Steven and Sara to pursue the Daleks back to Kembel.

Here the Daleks imprison their allies including Chen,  but Steven and Sara however free them and tell them all to unite against the Daleks.

Chen however still believes he can reason with the Daleks and captures Steven and Sara and takes them to the Dalek base beneath Kemble where their army and the time destructor are ready to begin their war across the rest of the universe.

The Daleks refuse Chen’s offer of an alliance and exterminate him. Whilst they are busy killing Chen the Doctor who has snuck into their base steals the Time Destructor. Realizing that the Daleks let Chen run out of the room before exterminating him means that the Daleks can’t risk firing on the time destructor, the Doctor uses it as a shield to allow himself and Steven and Sara escape. The Doctor then tells them to get back to the TARDIS. Whilst Steven agree’s, Sara sadly stays behind thinking she can help the Doctor and when the Doctor uses the time destructor on the surface of the planet Sara is aged to death along with the Daleks. The Doctor only survives long enough to get back into the TARDIS due to his time lord life span.

The time destructor goes on to destroy the entire surface of Kembel and all of the Daleks and Vaarga’s, before burning itself out.

With the Time Destructor destroyed and the vast army of Daleks dead, the universe is saved, but at a terrible cost, the deaths of Katarina, Bret and Sara.

Quotes

Dalek Supreme/ No power in the universe can stop the Daleks!

Dalek Supreme: You make your incompetence sound like an achievement

The Doctor/ [yelling at Steven] These are Daleks! Now you listen to me, young man, I am in charge of this  situation…

Bret Vyon/ Sir! Will you shut up? At least that’s stopped you arguing.

The Doctor/ Well, upon my soul.

Bret Vyon/ Now look here, I don’t care what happens to you, but I’ve got to warn Earth!

The Doctor/ Yes, and you will have to do far more than that! If the Daleks are doing something drastic, then we    have to stop the Daleks! Now will you shut up!!! sir? Hmm?

Review

At 12 episodes long, The Daleks Masterplan is the single longest story in the shows 50 plus year history (unless you count Trial of a Time Lord as one rather than three stories). Naturally as a result of this its probably a bit too much to watch in one sitting.

Still make no mistake this is a classic adventure. Its got so much going on in it that despite its incredible length, there was never a moment I felt bored (apart from the novelty Christmas episode which really is as bad as its reputation. Comedy I don’t think was ever Terry Nation’s strong point.) Still for the most part both Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner fill the story with so much excitement and action that it actually managed to hold my attention throughout its 5 and a half hour run.

It takes us through so many different and exotic locations across all of time and space, from the jungle’s of Kembel, to the desolate prison planet Desperarus, to the Pyramids of Egypt and its also laced with plenty of shocking and tragic moments. This story marked the first time that a companion actually died in the series.

Both Katarina and Sara who also technically counts as a companion die horrible, violent and arguably in Katarina and certainly in Sara’s case pointless deaths.

Whilst this would not seem like a big deal nowadays where main characters always die horribly, in 1960’s television it would have been unheard of. Especially in a family show.

Terry Nation would of course repeat the idea of main characters being killed off suddenly and pointlessly in his later series “Blake’s 7”.

Terry Nation was always pushing the boundaries and “The Daleks Master Plan” is definitely one of his darkest stories.

The Daleks themselves are brilliant here. After their mishandling in their last full length story “The Chase” Nation really makes them seem like a force to be reckoned with by not only having arguably two companions die, but also other supporting characters too such as Bret Vyon.

Also for the first time we get to see what one of their super weapons can actually do when the Time Destructor is set off on Kembel. The fact that it is the Doctor that sets off this weapon that we are told can destroy time itself is also a nice touch.

Nation also adds a more manipulative and sneaky snide to the Daleks characters, showing how they are able to fool corrupt human beings such as Chen as well as other life forms into helping them.

Though Nation would not take us quite into the manipulative side of the Daleks as much as Whitaker later would, he does still succeed at showing the Daleks as more restrained villains than the hysterical kill machines of previous stories.

Nation had shown us glimpses of the Daleks more manipulative side in “Mission to the Unknown”, but here he really takes it to a whole new level through the character of Mavic Chen.

Mavic Chen marks the beginning of a trend in classic era stories of devious human or humanoid characters who believe they can reason with or trust or even manipulate the Daleks for their own reasons. Other characters like this include Bragen in “The Power of the Daleks”,  Maxtible in “The Evil of the Daleks”, The Controller in “Day of the Daleks”, Galloway in “Death to the Daleks”, Lytton in “Resurrection of the Daleks” and Mr Radcliff in “Rememberance of the Daleks”. Even Davros to some extent fills this role in most of his appearances, especially in “Genesis of the Daleks” his debut. Sadly the new series hasn’t continued with this trend. The only new who story that has is “Daleks in Manhatten/Evolution of the Daleks” which featured the scheming Mr Diagoras as the Chen type of character.

Mavic Chen is definitely one of the shows most memorable villains. Its brilliant watching his own lust for power gradually push him over the edge. By the end of the serial he actually thinks he is above the Daleks and its hilarious when he finally snaps after realizing he will never control them, and actually deludes himself into thinking he is their master. I love watching him give orders to the Daleks who are almost bemused at first, before they finally have enough and just exterminate him.

Kevin Stoney is absolutely excellent as Chen. He really brings the character to life and its not hard to see why they brought the actor back to play the similarly treacherous Tobais Vaughan many years later.

All of the performances in this story are excellent. Jean Marsh is great as Sara Kingdom, though sadly she isn’t given much to do after her initial few episodes. Nicholas Courtney makes a very strong debut as Bret Vyon. Again much like with Kevin Stoney its not hard to see why they asked him back as he is every inch the perfect hero here. Dashing, handsome, likable and charismatic. He had to land a leading role sooner or later in his career. Peter Butterworth also gives a good performance as the Monk too. He brings much needed humor to the story. Unlike the humor of “The Chase” or “The Feast of Steven” the Monks humor does not turn the show into a parody, but still helps to eleviate the darker tones overall of the story from becoming too overbearing.

William Hartnell and Peter Purves are on top form as usual too. We can see just how far the Doctor’s come from the first Dalek story where he was a self serving coward, happy to leave the Thals and even Barbara in the clutches of the monsters just to save his own neck. Here he is unquestionably the hero just like he is in later incarnations.

His companions are two steps behind him throughout it and he is the one who single handedly destroys the Daleks at the end. Even in “The Dalek Invasion of Earth”  the Doctor was still not quite the central heroic figure he is here.

The scene where the Doctor tells Bret to leave him if he is not back soon and Bret tells him he is very brave, to which the Doctor responds that he is only doing what needs to be done is worlds away from the character in the first Dalek story who was happy to let the Thals wander into a trap, or even the character in “The Keys of Marinus” another early Nation story where the Doctor had to be forced into helping someone. Here he not only risks his life and thinks nothing of it, but he also actively seeks out the danger at the end of the story when he steals the directional unit from the Monks TARDIS.

This just goes to show how well developed and interesting a character the first Doctor was.

One of the greatest things about this story that modern audiences sadly are unable to enjoy is Douglas Camfield’s excellent direction. As of the writing of this article only 3 episodes of this 12 part epic exist. Douglas Camfield has always been my favourite Doctor Who director and even in these three episodes we get glimpses of his extraordinary talent, such as in the scene where we see the sunlight focus in on a Dalek dome. Its just such a shame that modern audiences will most likely never get to see how he tackled the big scenes like Kembels destruction and Sara’s death.

Overall whilst it might be a bit too long, The Daleks Master plan is still an all time classic for me and the perfect final Dalek story for Hartnell’s Doctor.

Final Rating

5 out 5 stars

Notes and Trivia

This was originally intended to be the final appearance of the Daleks in Doctor Who.

Terry Nation later stated that he regretted making the story so long, as he felt that 3 months of anything would be too much for people. Despite this however viewing figures remained strong throughout its run.

This is the first Dalek story not written entirely by Terry Nation. He wrote episodes 1-5 and episode 7, whilst Dennis Spooner wrote episode 6 and episodes 8-12.

Episode 7 is the first ever Christmas episode of Doctor Who. It was also the only Christmas episode of the original series run. It is also finally the only Doctor Who episode to be lost forever as it was never sold abroad having been made as a throwaway episode.

The famous scene where William Hartnell says to the audience “and a merry Christmas to all of you at home” was not ad libbed, but was the custom of BBC series at that time for the cast to wish the audience Merry Christmas. This marks the only time a character breaks the fourth wall in Doctor Who’s long history.

This is Ian Levine’s favourite Doctor Who story. Levine is a noted Doctor Who fan who discovered many 60’s episodes and saved others from destruction including the first Dalek story.

The first Dalek story to be missing from the archives. Mission to the Unknown is also the only adventure not to feature the Doctor. Instead it revolves around the Space Security Service agents battling the Daleks. Terry Nation apparently intended this episode to be a set up for a Daleks spin off series that was sadly never made. Still I think this episode offers a fascinating insight into what might have been.

Plot

The Daleks are forging an alliance with many other races for unknown reasons on the planet Kembel. The Special Space Security Service sends in its agent Marc Cory to investigate after spotting a Dalek ship near Kembel. Unfortunately Cory’s team are soon attacked by the Daleks new servants the Varga Plants. The Varga’s infect Cory’s team causing them to mutate into Varga’s themselves, and Cory is forced to kill them. The Daleks are also able to destroy Cory’s spaceship leaving him stranded on Kembel. Though Cory tries to send a message back to earth warning them of what the Daleks are planning, the Daleks are able to find and exterminate him before he can do so. The story ends with the Daleks and their allies plotting to conquer the galaxy and reduce its planets to dust. The first planet they plan to destroy is earth!

Quotes

Malpha/ Now all is ready. We at this table pledge our allegiance to the Dalek cause. Our armies will reduce the galaxies to ashes. Their people to dust. And Earth we will conquer first. Victory! Victory!

Review

The shortest story of the original Doctor Who series. “Mission to the Unknown” or “Dalek Cutaway” as it is also known is just one episode long. At 25 minutes it is in fact the shortest story not counting children in need specials in the entire history of Doctor Who.

As you can expect its not the most nuanced or deep story. Its really more of a trailer for the much, much longer “The Daleks Masterplan”.

However despite this “Mission to the Unknown” is still a cracking story. It’s just a fun, action packed adventure full of terrifying monsters, great thrills and tons of excitement.

The Varga’s are very memorable monsters and continue a tradition in Terry Nation 60’s Dalek stories where the monsters have a servant race of monsters, such as the lake creatures in the first Dalek story and the Slyther and Robomen in the The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

The Varga’s combine the best qualities of all the previous examples. Like the Slyther and the lake mutants they are absolutely disgusting to look at, large, physically imposing, and eats their victims too. However at the same time much like the Robomen they have the power to turn people into members of its own kind which evokes the fate worse than death aspect of the Robomen.

The Daleks are also in top form here too. Terry Nation makes up for treating them like doofuses in “The Chase” by not only showing them as scheming, crafty creatures who are clearly from the beginning manipulating their allies, but he also actually has them win at the end.

Of course as this story is continued in “The Daleks Masterplan” we know they don’t win for real. Still if you were to watch this on its own it would appear that way, and its still quite a bleak story, with Cory and his team not at any point having the better of the Daleks, and suffering violent and painful deaths.

The Daleks many allies are very memorable and colorful creatures too. Though sadly there is only one picture of them that survives, you can still see even from this that they were a very strange and varied group of creatures.

Overall this is not the greatest Dalek story, but its still great fun none the less.

Final Rating

5 stars (may not be the best, but for what it sets out to do its perfect.)

Trivia

• The Doctor, Steven Taylor and Vicki do not appear, but they are still credited.
• This is producer Verity Lambert’s last story.
• The Special Space Security Service that Nation invented for this story were to have originally appeared in Terry Nations Dalek spin off series.
• This story is sadly missing from the archives, however not only does its sound track still survive, but it was animated by Ian Levine. This animated version is available on Youtube.

The Chase is probably in all fairness one of the least popular Dalek stories in the entire history of Doctor Who. Often lambasted for its more comedic elements, The Chase is nevertheless one of the most important stories in the history of the show as it really helps to expand on the characters of the Daleks.

Plot

The Daleks plot revenge against the Doctor for foiling their invasion of earth. They create a time machine, bigger on the inside than the outside that can travel to any planet at any point in its history. This machine which they call the “DARDIS” is able to track the TARDIS throughout all of time and space wherever it goes.

The Daleks first pursue the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki to the planet Aridius where the Daleks force the native life forms, many of whom they slaughter, the Aridians to help them try and capture The Doctor and friends. The Doctor Ian, Barbara and Vicki manage to escape however, but the Daleks follow them.

The first place they escape to is the Empire State building which the Doctor quickly leaves so as to avoid innocent people being hurt in the crossfire.

The next place they arrive at is the Mary Celeste where the Daleks cause all of the passengers to flee the boat and thus become responsible for the famous mystery.

The Daleks and the Doctor next arrive in a seemingly haunted house where they battle Dracula, Frankenstein and a Ghost lady. It later turns out that this is merely an amusement park with the Dracula, Frankenstein and Ghost simply being life size robot replica’s.

Unfortunately in his haste the Doctor accidentally leaves Vicki behind. Vicki manages to stow away on board the Daleks time machine however where she discovers their plan to build a life size replica of the Doctor whose job is to infiltrate and kill the team.

The two time machines next land on the planet Mechanus, a jungle planet which is seemingly uninhabited except for by hostile vegetation.

The Daleks robot very nearly infiltrates the team, but fortunately Vicki is able to warn them in time and the Doctor is able to destroy it.

The Daleks however soon corner the four time travellers in a cave, but they are rescued at the last moment by a mysterious robot, a Mechanoid.

The Mechanoid takes The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki to its city above the jungle where it locks them in a cell with a young astronaut named Steven Taylor.

Steven explains that humanity built several cities on many different worlds with service robots, the Mechanoids, but unfortunately before anyone could inhabit these colonies earth became involved in an interplanetary war.

The Mechanoids were programmed to obey only a select group of colonists who never arrived due to the war. Anyone who isn’t one of the colonists they imprison.

The Daleks soon make their way into the city and declare war on the Mechanoids for in their minds harboring the time travellers.

The Daleks and the Mechanoids who are armed with flame throwers battle it out.

Whilst the they are fighting the Doctor, Steven, Ian, Vicki and Barbara escape into the jungle below, though the Doctor leaves a bomb first, which completely destroys the city eliminating both the Daleks and the Mechanoids. The Doctor then uses the Daleks time machine to get Ian and Barbara home to their own time after which on the Doctors instructions they destroy the machine. The Doctor and Vicki using the time space visualizer are able to make sure that they are able to get home safely.

Though the Doctor is saddened to see them go he is happy that they made it home and departs with Vicki and Steven, whom he is unaware has stowed away on board the TARDIS, having assumed that he perished earlier.

Quotes

Dalek/ To defy Daleks is death.

Dalek/ Advance and Attack, Attack and Destroy, Destroy and Rejoice!

Barbara/ We’re not idiots! We want to go home!

Ian/ Yes! Home! I want to sit in a pub and drink a pint of beer again! I want to walk in a park, and watch a cricket match. And above all, I want to belong somewhere, and do something! Instead of this aimless drifting around in space!

The Doctor/ AIMLESS?! I tried for two years to get you both home!

Ian/ Well you haven’t been successful, have you?

Review

The Chase is sadly in all fairness probably the worst Dalek story not just of the Hartnell era, but of the entire 1960s.

Its hard to know where to begin listing the faults with this adventure. To start with this marks one of the only times they tried to inject humour into the Daleks, which is something that should never be attempted.

The Daleks are at their best when they are taken seriously. I don’t think its a good idea to ever inject overt humour into something like Doctor Who. Doctor Who is a very over the top, larger than life idea, and I think in order for it to work it needs to be taken seriously. If you draw attention to how silly it is then it all just falls apart and seems like a parody of Doctor Who rather than Doctor Who.

Sadly that’s what The Chase feels like.

We have Daleks stumbling over their words, behaving like morons, and worst of all getting beaten up by fun fair robots. Episode 4 of the Chase is one of the worst single episodes of Doctor Who ever made. It completely undermines the Daleks credibility as villains.

I mean really how the hell are fun fair robots able to beat them up? One wonders why we never used those robots one of whom ripped a Dalek in half during the Dalek invasion of earth?

The Chase is also very shoddily made too. There are many glaring mistakes throughout it too. For instance there is one scene where an old Dalek prop has been left behind and is visible in the background whilst Ian and The Doctor are talking. The Daleks at that point have not meant to have arrived! Then there is also the scene where Barbara misses her cues when she is supposed to stumble into a trap.

Worst of all however is the way the Doctor’s double is handled. Its one thing to have a scene where there are two versions of the same character side by side and for it to look a bit naff, such as in “Star Trek” where there are the two versions of Captain Kirk, and we can see the line down the screen. In The Chase however for some reason when we see the Doctors double on his own you can still tell its a fake. Why they didn’t use Hartnell for these scenes I don’t know, but they dub his voice over the robot double and it looks terrible.

Still despite its many shortcomings The Chase still manages to not only entertain, but actually be a very important story overall in the history of Doctor Who.

That’s the great thing about the 60s Dalek stories, because the monsters are so fresh at this point, then every story brings something new to them.

The Chase to start with introduces the idea of the Daleks and the Doctor actually having a feud with one another. Prior to this the Daleks had no idea who the Doctor was. Indeed the Daleks were just monsters that the Doctor ran into from time to time.

Here however we see the Daleks now actually know who he is and take the fight to him. This marks a total shift in their interactions with one another and really paves the way for later stories that focus on their feud with one another such as “Dalek”.

At the same time this story also introduces the idea of the Daleks having the ability to time travel as well. This again will go onto become a very important plot point in later stories and in the new series as well.

Ironically even though this story does undermine their menace somewhat at the same time it also unquestionably makes them the Doctors main enemies, as it shows how they unlike the other monsters he has fought know who he is and can even beat him at his own game.

The Daleks time machine works far more efficiently than the Doctors and in quite a nice irony, its the Daleks time machine that manages to do what the Doctor failed to do many times and get Ian and Barbara home.

Finally this story also introduces the idea of the Daleks having rivals, The Mechanoids. Now Terry Nation who wrote this story had originally intended for The Mechanoids to be another huge success like the Daleks. Sadly however they never really caught on and indeed The Chase marks their only appearance to date in televised Doctor Who (though they have gone on to appear in numerous pieces of spin off material and made a tiny cameo in “Dalek” in Henry Van Statten’s fault.)

Its not hard to see why they didn’t catch on as their design, though unique was very cumbersome and would have been even more difficult to use than the Daleks. Still the idea of giving the Daleks other mechanical foes who could be a match for them is a truly inspired idea and one which would again pop up in future Dalek stories such as with the Movellans.

Thus whilst the Chase may have its flaws, its simply too important a story in the development of the Daleks to completely flat out dismiss.

Another highlight of the Chase is Ian and Barbara’s departure. Now their goodbye is not quite as moving as Susan’s, but its still very sad nonetheless to see them go and William Hartnell once again is on top form. He is able to show a softer, more affectionate side to his version of the Doctor in the way he doesn’t want Ian and Barbara to leave.

We don’t believe for a second the Doctor’s warnings about using the Dalek time machine being too dangerous. We all know that he just simply doesn’t want Ian and Barbara to leave as he has grown too attached to them, but he is too proud to admit it. In the end though he does the right thing, and its only after they go that he admits how he feels when he says quietly “I shall miss them”. Its nice to see how far the Doctor’s relationship with Ian and Barbara has come since the first story where the Doctor was almost happy to leave Barbara to die!

The departure of Ian and Barbara also I think marks another turning point in the shows history as it see’s the Doctor unquestionably become the main character. Prior to this the Doctor had obviously been the title character, but the show was really more of an ensemble piece with Ian and Barbara if anything taking on the more heroic roles in certain stories.

Overall whilst the Chase has not aged well its still an enjoyable romp nonetheless and a very important story in the history of the characters of both the Daleks and the Doctor himself.

Final Rating

3 and a half stars

Trivia

• Originally this story was to have featured the Daleks pursuing the Doctor to ancient Egypt. Though this idea was abandoned it would later be revisited in Terry Nations next Dalek script “The Daleks Masterplan”
• The Daleks time machine is called the “DARDIS”, though it is never referred to as such on screen.
• The Beatles were originally to have appeared in this story. The band were fans of Doctor Who and were to have originally appeared in a sequence that would depict them as old men. Their manager Brian Epstein vetoed this however. Considering the fates that were to befall both John Lennon and George Harrison this was for the best. A clip of the Beatles performing “Ticket to Ride” still appears in the episode and is ironically the only surviving footage from that performance.
• This was the third Dalek story in Doctor Who, but it was the fourth appearance of the monsters as they had previously made a cameo in “The Space Museum” the preceding story.

After the massive success of the first Dalek story requests for the monsters return flooded the BBC and so naturally they were brought back, not just one, but two encore appearances in season 2.

The Dalek Invasion of Earth not only upped the scales from the first Dalek story, but also brought the monsters into everyday surroundings, marking the first ever invasion earth story in Doctor Who’s long history.

Plot

The TARDIS takes the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan to Earth in the 22nd Century. They discover London in ruins with a strange sign that says “It is forbidden to dump dead bodies in the river”.

They soon spot a flying saucer flying over London, but before they can investigate Barbara and Susan are captured by a group of strange men who tell them its not safe on the streets of London. The Doctor and Ian meanwhile are ambushed by mysterious foot soldiers before being cornered by a Dalek that emerges from the Thames.

They discover much to their horror that the Daleks have not only invaded but conquered the earth. The Daleks take the Doctor and Ian back to their saucer where they learn from a fellow prisoner how the Daleks invaded the earth, as do Barbara and Susan from the rebels.

The Daleks apparently invaded the earth by launching plague missiles hidden in asteroids. The resulting plague killed billions and split the earth up later allowing a full Dalek invasion force to conquer the planet easily. They destroyed entire continents of people and enslaved the few unlucky survivors. Most were hearded into work camps, whilst a few were experimented on and transformed into slaves of the Daleks, the Robomen.

The Daleks transform people into Robomen by wiping their minds and cutting pieces of their brains out and replacing them with metallic components.

The rebels who are led by a wheelchaired man named Dortmun launch an attack on the Dalek saucer, but unfortunately Dortmun’s weaponry is of no use and the rebels are massacred. Nevertheless they are able to save the Doctor from being robotized.

The Doctor escapes into the sewers with Susan and a man named David who Susan begins to develop feelings for.

Barbara meanwhile escapes with a young woman named Jenny and Dortmun through the Dalek occupied London. Dortmun believing he is holding them back sacrifices himself to the Daleks. Barbara and Jenny are later captured by the Daleks when a Dalek collaborator sells them out. Ian meanwhile having stowed away on board the Dalek saucer makes his way to the main Dalek camps.

Ian later after making his way past the Dalek’s mutant, flesh eating pet the Slither is able to make his way to the Dalek base where he discovers their plan. The Daleks wish to remove the magnetic core of the earth and replace it with a giant motor effectively allowing them to turn the planet into a giant spaceship.

Barbara is able to escape the Dalek camps by tricking the Daleks, telling them she knows of a planned rebellion against them and uses Dortmun’s old plans as proof. After being taken to meet the black Dalek she finds out that the Daleks control all of the Robomen through only one device. Though she attempts to take control of it, the Daleks stop her, but The Doctor soon rescues her and together they use the device to give the Robomen new orders to turn on the Daleks leading to a worldwide rebellion. The Doctor also with Susan and David’s help shuts off the Daleks power leaving them trapped in their machines. Finally Ian also blocks their bomb which they intended to drop down a shaft into the earth’s crust higher up the shaft, resulting in it destroying the Daleks main base instead.

With Earth now freed the Doctor heads off to allow humanity to rebuild, but Susan decides to stay behind having fallen in love with David.

Quotes

Dalek Supreme/ Rebels of London! This is our last warning! Our final offer! Show yourselves in the open streets. You will be fed and watered, but work is needed from you. The Daleks offer you life! Rebel against us and the Daleks shall destroy London completely. Rebels of London, come out of your hiding places. The Daleks offer you life!

David/ They dare to tamper with the forces of creation.

The Doctor/ Yes they dare and we have got to dare to stop them.

The Doctor/ During all the years I’ve been taking care of you, you in return have been taking care of me. You are still my grandchild and always will be. But now, you’re a woman too. I want you to belong somewhere, to have roots of your own. With David you will be able to find those roots and live normally like any woman should do. Believe me, my dear, your future lies with David and not with a silly old buffer like me. One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine. Goodbye, Susan. Goodbye, my dear.

Review

The Dalek Invasion of Earth is not as strong as the first Dalek story in my opinion.

Its purely let down by the production values. Normally of course Classic Doctor Who of all things is something that you can’t let be spoiled by its production values, however The Dalek Invasion of Earth I think is a special case. Its meant to be a big, extravagant story, full of action and excitement and sadly it just doesn’t deliver as the action sequences are restricted by the budget.

It also feels more padded in places than the first Dalek story too, even with its shorter length. The direction is also somewhat more inconsistent than the first story as well.

The action sequences are quite sloppy and underwhelming. I don’t think action sequences were ever Richard Martin’s strong point to be honest.

That said the sequences of Barbara, Jenny and Dortmun fleeing through the Dalek infested streets of London are very well shot. Not only do the Daleks seem large and imposing, but its a genius idea having them march down so many familiar London landmarks as it really gets across the idea that these monsters have completely conquered humanity.

I think Richard Martin’s strength as a director was always in the more atmospheric, low key moments.

Arguably the scene that suffers the most from the poor budget is the Slythers attack. I think the Slyther was a truly terrifying idea, and its presence is built up effectively. Also Ashton’s death is probably one of the most horrible in all of 60’s Who as he is dragged away by the creature and eaten alive!

Sadly however the Slyther in contrast to the mutants from the first Dalek story is just too crummy looking.

Despite these short comings however I still would rate this story as a classic nonetheless.

To begin with the Daleks are on top form here. Terry Nation really does his best to make them seem not only powerful but utterly pitiless too.

In their first story whilst they were menacing, its true that they were greatly limited by not being able to leave the city. Here however we get to see them hunt down people in the streets, feed them to giant mutants, torture and brutalize them in their camps and perform horrific experiments on them.

The Robomen are a truly chilling concept. They play on the old idea of being turned into a monster, body horror, as well as a man being transformed into a machine a good few years before the more famous Cybermen would.

I always remember being scared of this story more than many other Dalek adventures because here it wasn’t just a simple case of the Daleks would zap me. The Daleks capture people, strap them to tables, and cut out bits of their brain, before turning them into living dead men, who would then violently kill themselves a few weeks later!

The parallels with the Nazi’s are strong in this story too with the Daleks marching down familiar London landmarks waving their sucker cups in the Nazi salute evoking the fear many had during the war of a full scale German invasion.

Whilst the message of the previous Dalek story was to make a stand against people who hate you just for who you simply are, this story is more about never giving up even after all seems lost.

As a result this story tends to draw on later periods of the Second World War, such as the Nazi occupation of France with the Dalek resistance fighters having clearly been based on Le Resistance.

This adventure is somewhat darker, and more pessimistic than the first Dalek serial. The first Dalek story saw all of the Thals unite to fight the Daleks, but here we see many humans such as Ashton who are only in it for themselves, others who simply give up, and even some who work with the Daleks and betray their fellow humans, such as the mother and daughter who sell Barbara and Jennie out to the Daleks. These people can be seen as metaphors for real life Nazi collaborators like Quisling.

Many have criticised the idea of the Daleks turning the earth into a spaceship, but personally I don’t mind that plan. I admit it is a bit far fetched, but I think it ties quite nicely into the idea of the Daleks trying to mess around with nature that we saw in the first story.

However the most important thing about this story is how the Doctor is handled. Here I think we see the beginning of the character we come to know and love in the later years. The hero who never gives up and always finds a way round even the most impossible problems.

This marks the first story where we see the Doctor actually save the earth. Unlike the first Dalek story he actually takes an active role in stopping the Daleks and risks his own life many times to save others.

I think its fair to say that this could very well be Hartnells best performance as the Doctor. The finale scene where he says goodbye to Susan is definitely one of the most beautiful and poignant moments in Who history.

Once again Terry Nation also makes sure that all of the other regulars get plenty to do in this story as well. Susan and David’s romance is well handled. Unlike Leela’s romance with a time lord that comes out of nowhere, here they build it up quite nicely and the two have great chemistry with one another.

Barbara meanwhile gets many of her best moments here too such as when she smashes the Daleks in with a truck. On top of that she able to escape the Dalek camps herself and figure out their main weakness and come up with the plan that stops their invasion!

I’d say along with The Keys of Marinus (another Terry Nation story) this is probably Barbara’s best story in Classic Who

Overall whilst it may not be my favourite Dalek story and it may not have aged as well as some other examples of 60s Who, its still a classic none the less.

Final Rating

4 and a half stars

Legacy

The Dalek Invasion of Earth marked the first time we saw aliens invade the earth in Doctor Who and therefore served as something of a template for many future invasion earth stories across both old and new who.

The idea of monsters marching down familiar London landmarks as seen in this story with the Daleks marching down Westminster Bridge would be something many more 60s stories would later use, such as the Invasion with the Cybermen marching down St Paul’s, The Web of Fear and the Yetis in the London Underground.

Elements of this story would also resurface in many subsequent Dalek adventures too. Day of the Daleks features an alternate version of the events of this story where the Daleks invasion of earth was never repelled, whilst the 2008 adventure The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End was inspired by this adventure and even featured a similar plot of the Daleks moving the earth through space.

Notes

• This was story editor David Whitaker’s last adventure as story editor, though he would continue to write for the series until Jon Pertwee’s first season. He wrote the famous “one day I shall come back” speech at the end of the story not Nation.
• This story served as an influence on Futurama the game where the villain Mum turns the earth into a space ship to conquer the universe.
• Having originally written a tale of the Indian mutiny for the show, Nation still had the country on his mind when writing this story. The mutiny is mentioned in “Flashpoint” and the original script had a fourteen-year-old Indian girl named Saida (played by Pamela Franklin) stow away aboard the TARDIS. Saida eventually became Jenny and the importance of the role decreased.
•  This story was inspired by the Dan Dare comic “The Reign of the Robots”. The Reign of the Robots sees Dan and his companions return to earth after a 10 year absence only to discover that his archenemy the Mekon has conquered the earth in his absence and enslaved humanity. The Mekon rules the human race with his robot servants that he controls with a speaker in his chair. At the end of the story Dan and his friends are able to take control of the speaker and give the robots new orders to turn on each other, bringing about the end of their invasion.

The first Dalek story. Its no exaggeration to say that without this serial Doctor Who probably would not have lasted more than 13 weeks, never mind 50 plus years. A massive success and cultural phenomenon when it first aired. The Daleks still holds up 5 decades on as one of of the greatest sci fi stories of all time.

Plot

The TARDIS takes the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan to a seemingly dead planet. They discover both a petrified jungle (as well as the remains of petrified animals) and an apparently abandoned city. The Doctor wishes to explore the city, but the other three time travellers want to leave. Later that night as they hear a tapping on the TARDIS door (with Susan having spotted something moving in the distance earlier.) Susan, Ian and Barbara become scared and demand to leave right away, but the Doctor, still desperate to explore, pretends that something has gone wrong with the TARDIS.

He claims the fluid link’s top has come undone and that the mercury has poured out. The Doctor tells his companions that the only chance they have of finding any mercury to replace it is in the city.

The foursome explore the city the next morning, but they quickly become separated and Barbara is taken by mysterious and hostile metallic creatures.

The Doctor, Susan and Ian meanwhile discover a giga counter that reveals the air of this planet is polluted with radiation. With all of them having been poisoned by the radiation, the Doctor reveals his bluff to a furious Ian and Susan. The Doctor is all set to leave Barbara, but Ian forces him to stay by stealing the fluid link.

The Doctor, Ian and Susan are captured by the same mysterious metallic creatures who took Barbara. The Doctor is then questioned by the creatures who reveal that they are called the Daleks and that they were originally humanoids.

The Daleks also shared their world with another race of humanoids called the Thals. Both species waged a nuclear war with each other which eventually destroyed the surface of their planet (Skaro.) Both species where horribly mutated as a result of the war, and the Daleks now house themselves inside robotic shells as a form of protection from the polluted air.

The Thals meanwhile managed to create a drug that allowed them to survive the polluted air. The Doctor realizes that the box that was left outside the TARDIS earlier is a sample of the Thals anti radiation drugs. He makes a deal with the Daleks that one of them will go outside the city and retrieve it. The Doctor promises that they will split the drug with the Daleks. The Daleks who want the drug so that they can leave their machines agree. Of course they really have no intention of allowing their prisoners to have any of it.

The Daleks are unable to leave their own city, as their machines that keep them alive are powered by the metal floors of the city.

Susan is sent outside, as being the youngest she is the least affected (Ian was also shot by a Dalek whilst trying to escape earlier, which left his legs temporarily paralysed.) Outside in the jungle Susan retrieves the box, but is cornered by a Thal. She discovers that the Thals mutation cycle has come full circle and that they have evolved back into their original forms, blonde haired humanoids.

The Thals have become pacifists as well and want to make peace with the Daleks, however they still don’t entirely trust their aged old adversaries, and so they give Susan a second supply of anti radiation drugs. The Thals had left the first supply earlier specifically for the Doctor and his friends.

When Susan reaches the city the Daleks discover the second supply, but allow her to keep it because they want to use her to help set a trap for the Thals; after having discovered that she made contact with them.

The Daleks get Susan to write a note to the Thals, saying that the Daleks want to make peace with them and that they are to collect food from their city tomorrow. However the Daleks actually intend to exterminate the Thals as soon as they enter the city.

The Doctor and his friends are able to escape by killing the Dalek guarding them, by pulling it over a cloak, separating it from the metal floors. The Doctor is once again happy to leave the Thals to their fate, but Ian remains behind and warns the Thals, though not before the Daleks manage to kill the leader of Thals in cold blood.

The rest of the Thals escape to the jungle. They foolishly believe that they can make peace with the Daleks, but Ian warns the Thals that the Daleks will not rest until they have destroyed their entire race, as the Daleks fundamentally hate the Thals, simply for being different.

After failing to convince the Thals to stand up for themselves the Doctor and his companions prepare to leave, but ironically the Doctor discovers that the Daleks took the fluid link from Ian whilst they were in the city.

The Thals agree to help the Doctor and his friends retrieve their fluid link after some persuasion from Ian

Meanwhile the Daleks discover that the anti radiation drugs are like a poison to them. The Daleks have in fact evolved to become dependant on radiation and the reason they can’t survive outside of their metal casings, is because there isn’t enough radiation in the air to sustain them.

The Daleks decide to explode another neutron bomb that will pollute the air, not only to the extent that they will be able to survive on their own, but also to the point where the Thals will not be able to survive, even with their anti radiation drugs.

The Thals meanwhile split off into two groups to attack the Dalek city. One side led by Ian and Barbara attack the back of the city making their way past the lake of mutations and through a treacherous cave system, where several of Thals are killed along the way. The other team led by The Doctor and Susan meanwhile attack from the front, though the Daleks are able to capture the Doctor and Susan. Eventually all of the Thals launch an all out attack on the city.

The Daleks have the upper hand at first, but the Thals are able to get the better of the metal monsters by knocking out the power source to their machines. With their power source shut off the Daleks die and their bomb does not go off. Having retrieved their fluid link the Doctor and friends soon set off for new adventures leaving the Thals to rebuild their world.

Hopefully that’s the last The Doctor will see of those metal bastards.

Quotes

Dalek / We do not have to change to suit the environment, we will change the environment to suit us.

Dalek / The only interest we have in the Thals is their total extermination.

The Doctor/ You wanted advice you said. I never give it. Never. But I might just say this to you. Always search for truth. My truth is in the stars and yours is here.

Alydon/ There is no indignity in being afraid to die, but there is a terrible shame in being afraid to live.

Alydon/ If only I knew why the Daleks hated us. If I knew that, I, I could alter our approach to them, perhaps. 
Ian/ Your leader, Temmosus. 
Alydon/ Yes? 
Ian/ Well, he appealed very sensibly to them. Any reasonable human beings would have responded to him. The Daleks didn’t. They obviously think and act and feel in an entirely different way. They just aren’t human. 
Ganatus/ Yes, but why destroy without any apparent thought or reason? That’s what I don’t understand. 
Ian/ Oh, there’s a reason. Explanation might be better. It’s stupid and ridiculous, but it’s the only one that fits. 
Alydon/ What? 
Ian/ A dislike for the unlike. 
Alydon/ I don’t follow you. 
Ian/  They’re afraid of you because you’re different from them. So whatever you do, it doesn’t matter. 
Dyoni/ What would you have us do? Fight against them? 
Ian/ I didn’t say that. But you must teach them to respect you. Show them some strength. 

Review

The first Dalek story was a truly groundbreaking piece of television when it was first broadcast in 1963 that still holds up, by and large, to modern audiences.

On the surface its a fun, rip roaring, boys own adventure, filled with evil robots, a journey through a perilous cave system, lake monsters; and even a a bit of romance between Barbara and one of the Thals.

Underneath however its a very deep story that tackles issues such as race hatred, xenophobia, the threat of nuclear power, and standing up for yourself.

The Daleks were very clearly based on the Nazi’s. They are consumed with race hatred for the Thals (who in quite a nice touch are all portrayed as Aryans, the Nazi’s idea of the perfect human being). At one point in the story the Daleks even perform the Nazi salute!

The Doctor and friends meanwhile serve as quite a good parallel for Winston Churchill’s role in the Second World War. In both cases we have a fascist xenophobic society that is a threat, but both Britain and the Thals refuse to do anything about it due to the memories of a previous conflict. In Britain’s case it was the first world war, whilst in the Thals case it was a global conflict with the Daleks. Both conflicts were pointless and have caused both sides to never even consider the possibility of war again. However now ironically a war is the only choice they have. The enemy they are facing is beyond reason as it has a “dislike for the unlike” and therefore cannot possibly be appeased.

The Doctor and his friends meanwhile much like Winston Churchill have to convince the war weary society to abandon their policy of appeasement against the enemy and fight them.

The story does not glorify war however. It shows many of the Thals die horrible, pointless deaths, and it even manages to make us show some sympathy for the Daleks too in the final moment where the Thals stare round bitterly at the dead Daleks and comment. “If only there had been another way”.

Whilst the Daleks primarily serve as a metaphor for the Nazis, I feel they can also be seen as representing many of histories other greatest monsters. Perhaps unintentionally.

I have compared the beliefs of the Daleks in this story to those of General Chivington’s many times in the past and I still say there are valid comparisons. The Daleks don’t even look on the Thals as their enemies in this story. The Daleks much like how Chivington looked on the Native American’s he slaughtered during the Sand Creek Massacre, view the Thals as nothing more than pests to be stamped out.

“It was also reported that following the massacre, some members of Congress had confronted Chivington and the Governor, before members of the public at the Denver Opera House. At one point it was asked whether it would be better to civilize or exterminate the Indians. In a letter from one of the senators to a friend, he wrote that “there suddenly arose such a shout as is never heard unless upon some battlefield—a shout almost loud enough to raise the roof of the opera house—’EXTERMINATE THEM! EXTERMINATE THEM!”

You can see how the Daleks are every bit as similar to monsters like Chivington as they are to the Nazis. I always thought it would have been brilliant if they had done a historical story set during the time of the Sand Creek massacre and had the Doctor witness this event. Viewers ironically would probably think the producers were making it up when everybody started chanting like Daleks, but it would be completely true.

The Daleks also plays on contemporary cold war fears too. The barren, dead irradiated world of the Daleks not only represents what our world could have become had the cold war led to a third world war; but the Daleks planning to poison the air of Skaro just to eradicate the Thals is comparable to the British’s use of agent orange to destroy the crops, bushes and trees of communist insurgents in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency and later the American’s attempts to bomb Vietnam “back to the stone age” during the Vietnam war. In all three cases we have people who are willing to destroy their enemies entire environment in order to make sure that there is no chance they can survive afterwards.

In much the same way as Skaro’s environment was still polluted centuries after the war, then certain areas of Vietnam are still polluted after the Vietnam war 4 decades on.

Agent Orange Still Ravaging Vietnam Today

I think the reason The Daleks works just as well as a metaphor for the likes of Chivington is because Nation whilst drawing inspiration from the Nazis and World War 2, ultimately made the Daleks into more than just a metaphor for Nazis. The Daleks in this story (as well as many others penned by Nation) represent race hatred and man’s inhumanity to man in general. This has in turn also allowed this story to remain relevant in the decades since. For today’s audiences the Daleks can be seen to represent ISIS for instance just as much as the Nazis.

When you look at this article which explains why ISIS wants to destroy the west, its not too dissimilar to Ian’s explanation to the Thals as to why the Daleks hate them.

ISIS We Will NEVER Stop Hating You

Whilst Terry Nation wrote a fantastic story, credit must also go to Raymond Cusick who designed both the Daleks and their city.

The Dalek design is really a work of art. It works on just so many levels. On the one hand its the only genuinely alien looking creature in almost all of sci fi. There is absolutely nothing even remotely human about it. It has no legs, no arms, no face. Its also not like anything else we can really relate to either. Its not just a giant reptile, insect or animal of any kind. Its really not like anything on earth.

At the same time there is a certain attractive aspect to the Daleks design. Its so striking and unusual that you can’t help but be drawn to it.

It cannot be denied that there is a certain ridiculous aspect to the Dalek design too, with their sink plunger arms, egg whisk guns etc. Still I think that actually works in their favour.

The thing about the Daleks is that they are meant to be pathetic creatures, essentially a crippled race who despise others like the Thals because they are scared of them. A Thal can kill a Dalek by pushing it over a rug! With this in mind you can see why they would be scared even with all of their technology that the Thals could kill them. Of course its a brilliant example of a self fulfilling prophecy, as if the Daleks hadn’t been so desperate to destroy the Thals, then the Thals would never have harmed them.

The designs for the jungles of Skaro and the Daleks city are also spectacular. The jungles are suitably dark and gloomy and the creatures that inhabit them are utterly repulsive. We only get fleeting glimpses of these mutations, but it gives you an idea of the horrors that lurking in these petrified woods, and you really feel Susan’s terror when she is forced to go through them alone.

The city’s design meanwhile much like the Daleks themselves is attractive in some respects the way its so futuristic and advanced looking. It evokes the classic Metropolis look from the outside, yet on the inside its actually quite claustrophobic and smothering. Everything looks so cramped and barren and sterile, and there are all of these tiny little corridors that almost look like never ending caves, where the Daleks can emerge from at any moment.

Finally the voices of the Daleks are also superb in this story too. David Graham and Peter Hawkins, two of the most acclaimed voice actors from the 60’s, voice the Daleks in this adventure (and would go on to for the rest of the 60’s). The two actors from the start don’t just make them sound like robots, but add a real hysterical quality to the monsters, giving the impression right away that there is something trapped in there, almost like a disembodied spirit wanting to get out.

Its not just the Daleks however that make this story so great. It also features a very important development in the character of the Doctor too. At the start of the adventure the Doctor could not be a more unsympathetic character. He tricks his friends into exploring the city (risking all of their lives in the process), and he is also shown to be prepared to leave the Thals and even Barbara to die just to save his own life.

However by the end of the story the Doctor is shown to take a more moral stance against the Daleks. We even see him at one point be willing to give up the TARDIS to the Daleks to spare the Thals.

I often thought it was this battle against the Daleks that helped change the Doctor. Up until now the Doctor had never bothered to interfere in the affairs of other life forms. The battle between the Daleks and the Thals at first might seem no different to the fight between the two cavemen tribes in the preceding story to the Doctor. Its just more primitives squabbling, but he soon comes to see that the Daleks are actually willing wipe out an entire race just for existing. This finally makes the time lord realize that there are times he needs to get involved, and really begins to shape the hero we know and love from the later stories.

The Doctors companions Ian, Barbara and Susan are always all used very well here. I think Terry Nation was always able to find something for all of the companions to do unlike a lot of other writers for the show. Indeed often the Doctor would be limited to only having 1 companion because most writers struggled to think of anything to do with more than two main characters.

Ian gets many strong moments from standing up to the Doctor when he discovers his deception, to forcing the Doctor to face the consequences of his actions and save Barbara, to arguably the characters defining moment when he manages to convince the Thals to fight against the Daleks.

At the same time Barbara isn’t wasted either. She’s shown to be every bit as strong as Ian or any of the men around her are as she ventures through the treacherous caves and battles Daleks head on. It does annoy me when people go on about how the female companions in Classic Who always just being useless screaming damsels. Barbara the first ever female companion alone disproves this cliche in this adventure.

Susan meanwhile sadly was often a more useless companion. There was certainly potential for her to be interesting, but it was often squandered. In this story however we get to see a more courageous side to Susan, when she has to venture out into the hostile jungles of Skaro on her own. I like the way we see her scared, but she ultimately manages to overcome her fear and do the right thing. She is also the one who is able to make contact with the Thals first, and therefore plays one of the key roles in the story too.

I don’t mind the fact that the Doctor doesn’t play as heroic a role in this story compared to Ian, Barbara and even Susan. Unlike with the later Doctors the character is not meant to be a hero here. He is meant to be a more morally grey, almost villainous character. He is still by far and away the smartest member of the team, its just that at first he is only in it for himself.

The Daleks is also very well directed too. Not many fans have time for Richard Martin, who directed some of the episodes of this story, but I think the Daleks is his best work on the series. One of my favourite moments is when the Daleks slowly advance on the Thal leader as he is trying to plead with them.

This scene always creeped me out as a child. Richard Martin makes use of the fact that the Daleks are almost able to blend in with their surroundings, to make it appear as though they are emerging from nowhere.

I also loved the effect when the Dalek blasts the wall too. The production values all around for this story are brilliant, with the sequence involving the mutant pulling the Thal into the lake holding up even by today’s standards.

Of course this is not to say that the first Dalek story is perfect. It definitely drags a bit after the Doctor and his companions escape the city. Originally this story was to have been just 6 episodes, but it was extended at the last minute to 7 and it definitely shows in the final product.

Still other than this there really is very little to fault with this adventure, and I’d not only rate it as one of the best Doctor Who stories from the 60’s, but one of the best stories in Doctor Who’s long history.

Final Rating

5 stars

Legacy

The Daleks is arguably one of the most influential pieces of British television ever made. It was this story that really made Doctor Who a national phenomenon. Prior to this, though the reaction to the first serial, “An Unearthly Child” had been mostly positive, it had not been a big ratings success. By the end of this serial however Doctor Who was pulling in viewers of over 10 million.

The main reason for this was the Daleks themselves who were an instant hit with viewers (particularly children.) They were unlike anything seen on tv before or since. Totally inhuman monsters with no redeeming features whatsoever, instantly imitable, and with a striking and totally unique look.

For the next few years Britain would be gripped in what has become known as Dalekmania.

Not only would the monsters be brought back to Doctor Who 6 times over the next three years ( including in a 12 episode serial, The Daleks Masterplan.) There were also Dalek toys, comic books, water pistols, films, and even a song released to cash in on their fame.

Examples of Dalekmania.

Dalekmania was more than just a fad. It not only ensured Doctor Who’s success for decades to come, but it also helped to make science fiction mainstream in the United Kingdom for the first time.

Prior to Doctor Who there were a few successful mainstream Science Fiction series such as Quatermass and the comic book series Dan Dare. Neither of these had quite the reach that Doctor Who did during Dalekmania.

Dan Dare’s sales for instance at the absolute height of its popularity were over 3 million. For a comic book this was absolutely exceptional (and dwarfed those of any of its rivals, including even Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.) However thanks to the Daleks, Doctor Who was seen by almost 5 times as many people through the 60s.

At one point in the United Kingdom the Daleks actually exceeded the Beatles in terms of popularity.

“They were so hot at that time, you couldn’t avoid The Beatles. I remember with great pride that the commercial channel was running the Beatles when they were really at their peak, at the same time as a ‘Doctor Who’ episode with the Daleks, and ‘Doctor Who’ got the ratings. I was pretty pleased with that.”

-Terry Nation creator of the Daleks.

Naturally as a result of this Sci Fi was no longer seen as niche in the United Kingdom and for the next 20 years there would be many more mainstream Science Fiction series.

These included the various Gerry Anderson series such as Thunderbirds and Sting Ray, as well as Moonbase 3, Doomwatch, Adam Adamant Lives, The Prisoner,  Space 1999, Blake’s 7, UFO and The Survivors.

People like to act as though its only in the last 10 or so years that Science Fiction has become mainstream, but that is certainly not the case. Throughout the 60s, 70s and even 80s many of the most popular television series in the United Kingdom were genre shows. Though its true that this did come to an end in the 90s (thanks in no small part to the then heads of the BBC’s dislike for genre series.)

Still the 60s- 80s definitely represents a golden age for sci fi and fantasy in the United Kingdom and it was definitely Doctor Who that kick started it all off, with the Daleks in turn being what led to Doctor Who’s massive success in the first place.

In addition to its important place in Doctor Who history, The Daleks would also later be remade as a film, set outside of the tv series continuity titled “Doctor Who and the Daleks” starring Peter Cushing as Doctor Who, a human scientist who had built a time machine in his back yard.

The movie proved to be tremendously successful, so much so that a sequel was made Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD.

Elements of this story would also be reused in the third Doctor story Planet of the Daleks as well.

Finally scenes from this story including the Doctors first historic meeting with the Daleks would later be remade for the 2013 drama An Adventure in Time and Space.

Influences

The Daleks as we have seen drew from real life historical events with the monsters being based on the Nazis.

However in terms of creative influences there are really two major sources. HG Wells The Time Machine and Dan Dare.

Wells Time Machine revolves around two splinter groups of humanity. The Morlocks, deformed, but more advanced humanoids, and peaceful, beautiful, but placid Eloi. The Daleks similarly revolves around one more advanced, but withered race persecuting a more physically beautiful, but weak race.

Other than the following the same very basic premise, there are not that many similarities between the two stories. The Daleks and the Thals are not after all from the same race like the Morloks and the Eloi. Furthermore I feel The Time Machine is more about class struggles and society, where as the Daleks explores race hatred instead.

Of the two them I’d say Dan Dare is the bigger influence. I think people tend to over look the massive influence Dan Dare had on Doctor Who in comparison to other things like H.G Wells, because Dan Dare is sadly completely overlooked today. Also Dan Dare being a comic book is somewhat looked down on too.

The first Dan Dare story Voyage to Venus sees Dan and his friends encounter two races on the planet Venus.The evil, cold and logical Treens, and the blonde haired, peaceful and beautiful Therons.

The Treens are commanded by The Mekon, and live in a cold sterile city, surrounded by a lake of hideous monsters.

Many centuries ago the Therons interfered in the development of the Treens in an effort to help them which instead results in the Treens becoming more powerful to the point where they conquered the earth and destroyed Atlantis.

The Therons vowed to never interfere in the affairs of other life forms again, and at first refuse to help Dan fight against the Treens until Dan shames them into doing so.

As you can see there are a lot of strong similarities between the two stories, and furthermore both also tackle the same themes of race hatred, fascism and standing up for yourself too.

The Treens much like the Daleks were based on the Nazis, but much like the Daleks they can also be used as a metaphor for other evil men throughout history.  Voyage to Venus for instance has often been seen as a metaphor for the Apartheid regime in South Africa as much as it is for the Nazis, with the Treens living in a society that is segregated from the brown skinned Therons, whilst also at the same time keeping a race of similar life forms, the Atlantines as their slaves.

The Treens were really the Daleks predecessors in British popular culture. A race of utterly pitiless xenophobes who managed to capture the very worst aspects of humanity in general. Its worth noting that their leader, The Mekon even inspired the creator of the Daleks, Davros in both personality and appearance.

In many ways the Daleks and Davros really replaced the Mekon and the Treens in popular culture.

Trivia

• Originally Ridley Scott the director of “Alien” who worked on this story was to have designed the Daleks.
• Ironically Sydney Newman the creator of Doctor Who hated the Daleks. He wanted there to be no bug eyed monsters in Doctor Who. The only reason the story was made was on the insistence of then producer Verity Lambert and story editor David Whitaker.
• This story was saved from being wiped by Ian Levine in the late 70’s. Levine said that if he had arrived at the BBC just a few hours later he would have been too late to save this adventure.
• Originally this story was to have revealed that the war between the Daleks and the Thals had been started by a third alien race who would have shown up at the end and taken responsibility for the conflict, before bringing peace between the two races. Though this idea was abandoned, it would later be revisited in the Doctor Who Unbound story “Masters of War” set in an alternate universe where the third Doctor is played by David Warner. This story sees the Doctor discover that a race known as the Quatch started the war between the Kaleds and the Thals. However unlike the unnamed aliens in Nations original draft, the Quatch are anything but friendly, and try to conquer both the Daleks and the Thals with Davros’ help.

• It is not clear when this story is set. It is stated by the first Doctor in “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” that this story took place a million years into the future. However this is contradicted in “Planet of the Daleks”, when we discover the Thals refer to the events of this story as a legend, with “Planet of the Daleks” being set only a few hundred years in the future.

Originally I didn’t intend to do an article on how Eric Saward tackled the Daleks. I felt there were only really 4 writers who brought anything new to the Daleks on television, Terry Nation, David Whitaker, Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat, as well as one writer who brought something new to them on audio, Nicholas Briggs.

However having watched every Dalek story again recently, I now think that Saward also brought his own unique take on the villains too.

Saward by his own admission didn’t much care for the Daleks. He said he found them to be boring and dull. If given the choice, he said he would much rather not have written for them.

In his stories he often pushed the Daleks to the side in favour of Davros and other characters such as Lytton. That’s not to say that his stories were bad. “Revelation of the Daleks” is a classic story whilst “Resurrection of the Daleks” in my opinion is an underrated minor classic.

However I never thought much of how the Daleks themselves were handled in them. I enjoyed Revelation because it was a dark, intriguing story overall and Terry Molloy gave a truly captivating performance as Davros. The Daleks however I felt were nothing more than just grunts in the story.

However having given Saward’s Dalek stories a second look I now think that Saward not only brought more to them than I previously thought, but that his take on the Daleks was also quite influential on the new series too.

Saward generally tended to write the Daleks as being more down on their luck and desperate creatures.

We never see Saward’s Daleks launch big invasions of planets like earth, Spirodon or wage war on other life forms. In Sawards two stories their empire has been virtually destroyed by the Movellans and indeed their species has been virtually wiped out too. They are in no position to threaten anyone. They even need Lytton’s help to re capture Davros from a small earth ship, something which Davros himself comments on bitterly.

They spend far more time fighting among themselves than conquering other planets.

It was quite a bold and daring thing to do, to make what had always been the Doctors most frightening enemies into weaker creatures, but I think it fleshed them out quite well.

It added a new dimension to their characters seeing them now merely struggle just to survive.

That’s not to say that Saward removed all of their menace by making them so vulnerable. As the Tenth Doctor himself said, when the Daleks are vulnerable they’re even more dangerous. In Saward’s stories we saw the Daleks sink to new lows in order to rebuild their fallen empire. His first Dalek story “Resurrection of the Daleks” has one of the highest body counts of any Doctor Who story. It apparently has a higher body count than “The Terminator” and “Die Hard” combined.

The idea of the Daleks being vulnerable also hark back to the very first Dalek story, where we saw the monsters desperately try and find a way to live outside of their casings. However Saward would explore it in more depth than in the first Dalek story, showing us how they were still not only trying to merely survive, but still conquer and destroy even in their most desperate times.

The idea of the Daleks being more desperate would also be revisited in the Davies era when the creatures were once again just like in Saward’s time nearing extinction, though RTD portrayed them as being more like long lost gods, where as with Saward they were more like former Nazi war criminals in hiding after the war.

Another idea that Saward would use that would pop up in the new series was the idea of Daleks turning people into human beings. This is explored in Saward’s “Revelation of the Daleks” where we see Davros transform people into Daleks. Its a truly horrifying moment when we see a man halfway between being a Dalek and a human being. This scene makes use of a favourite trope of Saward’s, body horror. The idea of being transformed into a monster was also a lot stronger theme throughout the 6th Doctors era as well such as in “Vengeance on Varos” when Peri is transformed into mutation, or in “The Two Doctors” where the 2nd Doctor is transformed into an “Androgum”, or in “Attack of the Cyberman” where we see the gruesome Cyber conversion process in considerably more detail.

I actually think that Saward wrote the Daleks as being more like the Cybermen in some respects. Throughout the 60’s the Cybermen had also been the desperate race who were struggling to survive, and whose power base had been completely destroyed. Obviously the idea of body horror and becoming a monster were strong themes, if not the main themes throughout Cybermen stories too.

Saward however managed to bring these themes into the Daleks as well and they have since been used by other writers to great effect, with the idea of human beings being turned into Daleks being featured in “The Parting of the Ways” with the Emperor Daleks new human army, and obviously in “Asylum of the Daleks” with the Oswin Dalek.

Personally I think Saward handled the idea of human beings becoming Daleks better than other writers, as he actually showed us someone who was half way between being a human and Dalek, not just physically, but emotionally too.

Stengos screams about Dalek supremacy, whilst at the same time still shows a love for his daughter. We can actually see his humanity slowly slip away.

This is not to say that there were no problems with Saward’s Dalek stories. He did push them to the side in favour of Davros, and he also unlike a lot of other writers, didn’t really give them any notable interactions with the Doctor either.

Still I think Saward is quite underrated and overlooked as a Dalek writer.. Even though he did not particularly like them, he nevertheless came up with many interesting ideas for the Daleks that other writers would use to great effect too. Its also worth mentioning that despite his disdain for the Daleks, he does still consider Revelation of the Daleks to be his best story.

Best Dalek Moment/ Arthur Stengos becomes a Dalek/ Revelation of the Daleks

Like I said before this is one of the most horrifying moments in Doctor Who history. Its a truly disgusting idea and the effects are very realistic too. This is probably the most effective moment during Saward’s entire time as script editor alongside Lytton’s transformation into a Cyberman.

Worst Dalek Moment/ Dalek gets estroyed by concentrated blast of pure Rock N Roll/ Revelation of the Daleks

I don’t know what he was thinking with this moment. To be honest I don’t know what he was thinking with the character of the DJ overall. This moment makes the Daleks look like doofuses as they just wander in and get zapped. The only redeeming feature is that the annoying DJ gets exterminated eventually.

For years I wasn’t too happy with how Steven Moffat tackled Skaro’s finest. After Davies had built them up into the ultimate Doctor Who villain, it felt a little bit underwhelming seeing them just go back to being ordinary alien conquerors again in the Moffat era.

However having looked at the 11th Doctors Dalek stories again I not only think they hold up a lot better than before, but I can also see that Moffat actually did manage to come up with a fairly new and interesting take on the Daleks.

I would still rank Moffat as the weakest of the main 4 Dalek writers on television however. In all fairness though he has actually only written one Dalek story by himself so far.

Still despite this he did develop their characters somewhat, and also managed I think to take a deeper look at their relationship with the Doctor than anyone else before him.

I don’t blame Moffat any more for making the Daleks less powerful than Davies did.

Like I said at first for obvious reasons it did seem like they were now lesser foes in Moffat’s era. They went from catapulting planets through time and space, to needing the Doctors help to take care of a few insane Daleks. They went from being the main villains of whole seasons like seasons 1, 2 and 4 of the Davies era, to not being the main focus of most of the stories they appeared in during 11’s era, such as “The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang” and “The Time of the Doctor”.

However when you actually look at the position Moffat was in he needed to make the Daleks less powerful if they were to ever appear in the series again.

Davies’s Daleks had come to a natural end. Throughout his era he had only shown us glimpses of the Daleks power. Even in stories like “The Parting of the Ways” and “Doomsday” we only see an army of Daleks which cannot even begin to represent the full power of a Dalek Empire. However in “Journey’s End” we finally saw what a full empire could do. It took the full force of Russell T Davies’s entire Doctor Who universe to stop them, all of his main Doctor Who cast, Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures.

Now that we had seen what a full empire could do, we couldn’t exactly go back to having Dalek stories that hinted at what a full empire could do.

Added to that making the Daleks so powerful did somewhat limit the types of stories they could appear in. Every story had to be the fate of the entire universe or multiple universes. Notice how all but two Dalek stories in the Davies era are the season finale’s. That’s because Davies era Daleks are such huge and powerful characters they kind of have to be in the biggest story around. That in itself becomes a problem as people who love the Daleks like me, only get the one type of story where millions of Daleks attack the earth and the Doctor has to make a big sacrifice to stop them, whilst people who can’t stand the Daleks have to see them in every season finale.

As much as I love the Davies era Dalek stories and how he wrote them overall, it is true that they were getting a bit samey by the end of his tenure.

For instance 9’s plan to use the Delta Wave to destroy the Daleks that will also sacrifice the earth at the same time, is very similar to Martha’s plan to use the Osterhagen key to destroy the earth in order to foil their plan in “Journey’s End”.

Rose getting god like powers to defeat them in “The Parting of the Ways” is similar to Donna getting the Doctors power to stop them in “Journey’s End”. Both occasions feature a companion getting a power that allows them to thrash and humble the Daleks. There is even a bit where the Dalek unafraid and ignorant of how powerful Rose has become zaps her only for Rose to block it with her new powers, that is replicated in “Journey’s End when a Dalek tries to zap Donna only for her to shut its power off.

The power in both instances is something that the Doctor has to deal with every day, but a human being is unable to cope with it.

“I can see everything. All that is, all that was, all that ever could be.

“That’s what I see. All the time. And doesn’t it drive you mad?

“She took my mind into her head. But that’s a Timelord consciousness. All that knowledge, it was killing her.”

Both Donna and Rose even get twinkly golden eyes.

Also both “Doomsday” and “Journey’s End” feature tragic departures of companions who do go on to still live normal and happy lives, but unfortunately the Doctor is unable to see them ever again. Both “Doomsday” and “Journey’s End” also revolve around multiple universes being threatened too.

Davies’ Daleks were really beginning to run their course as effective as they may have been in the beginning.

Restoring the Daleks to just being normal space conquerors again rather than long lost gods opened up the potential to do more with the Daleks. Now they could be featured in more low key stories like “Asylum of the Daleks” which is just a problem with Daleks on a far away planet, rather than the fate of all of creation itself.

Not every Dalek story in the classic era had to involve the fate of the entire universe. Many were actually quite low key like “The Daleks”, “Power of the Daleks”, “Death to the Daleks”, “Revelation of the Daleks” and “Resurrection of the Daleks”. Power in particular is very low key. It simply involves a few Daleks on a far flung earth colony.

Of course as to why Moffat era Daleks were so much less powerful than Davies’s Daleks in universe I have no idea. My head canon was that the Progenitor Daleks were weaker because they were created from the old Dalek empire before the Time War, during the events of the classic era. Even though they were purer they were more primitive. I quite like the idea that the last of the RTD era Daleks could have given the Paradigm Daleks all of their advanced technology like the reality bomb, but they lost it all in their desire to remain pure.

Finally another problem with Davies era Daleks is that because they were meant to be a near extinct race, every story had to feature yet another group of Daleks who somehow survived the war that had supposedly killed them all. I was beginning to wonder if any Daleks had actually died in the Time War so many of them had survived!

With “Victory of the Daleks” Moffat and Mark Gatiss (who actually wrote the story) both ensured that the next time we saw the Daleks we didn’t need to spend ten minutes explaining why they had survived.

I think having the Daleks escape at the end of “Victory of the Daleks” also got round making them a threat after “Journey’s End” quite nicely too. It would always be difficult to make them seem menacing after “Journey’s End” as it showed them threatening every universe. Where do you go from there? Anything is going to seem like a come down after that. Also in “Journey’s End” they actually managed to kill a recurring character, Harriet Jones, and it took the combined might of the main cast of three different series to stop them.

“Victory of the Daleks” however gets round that by having the Daleks win for the first time in the revival against the Doctor. The Daleks completely win in that story. They manipulate the Doctor and trick him into creating the new Dalek race, and they manage to escape. Though the Doctor prevents them from destroying the earth, that was of secondary importance to them. Their main plan this time actually worked. They played on both the Doctors hatred of them and his compassion. No matter how hard he tried to stop them, they always had another little trick up their metaphorical sleeves. When he tried exposing their true identities to the humans, it turned out that was what they wanted. When he threatened them, thinking they were powerless, they were able to manipulate the human beings into almost killing one another. When he thought he had finally beaten them he discovered that they had placed a bomb in Bracewell.

At no point in that entire story does the Doctor have the better of them. Its a great way of making them still seem powerful after “Journey’s End” and at the same time having the Daleks escape, so we don’t need to have any more last of the Daleks stories. It kills two birds with one stone.

The idea of the Daleks winning against the Doctor would be revisited again somewhat in the Moffat penned “Asylum of the Daleks” where the Daleks manage to capture the Doctor (not believing he died at lake Silenco unlike the Silence) and force him to destroy the asylum. It is only with the aid of Clara that the Doctor is able to escape and though he is able to wipe their memory of him, the Daleks main plan which is to use the Doctor to destroy the asylum is undoubtedly a success.

Even in “The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang” they do actually manage to trap the Doctor who is only saved because all of reality crumbles. On top of that they manage to shoot the Doctor too.

Even in “The Time of the Doctor” whilst their invasion force is destroyed they still cause the death of the 11th Doctor.

Overall Moffat’s Daleks have a much better track record than any other for actually beating the Doctor.

I think Moffat took a leaf out of David Whitaker’s Daleks and made his much more manipulative and cunning.

His Daleks despite being less powerful than Davies win because they are much craftier and use their wits against him rather than sheer power.

Even their cameo in “The Wedding of River Song” showed how they were somewhat more crafty than the Doctor, as they were shown to have knowledge of the Silence before anyone else including even the Doctor himself.

Again this was another good way to get round these Daleks being less powerful than the ones in Davies’s era, make them smarter.

I feel that you can recognise quite a lot of Moffat’s usual tropes in how he wrote for the Daleks, though that is true of all the major Dalek writers to some extent. For instance Russell T Davies’ Daleks embodied the theme that ran through all of his stories of characters being terrified of deathm, and doing their best to try and avoid it.

Still you can learn a lot about Moffat era Who just by looking at either of the Dalek stories he wrote, or even just the Dalek stories produced in his era.

Moffat often has the Daleks not just simply kill their enemies, but inflict much worse fates on their victims.

This is a recurring trope of Moffat’s. His monsters never just simply kill people. The Weeping Angels zap people back into the past and make them live out the rest of their lives there. Whilst some see that as preferable to just getting zapped, in some ways it could be seen as worse.

Imagine getting transported to a horrible period in earth’s history like the middle ages. Even if it wasn’t a horrible period it would still be worse to be forced to live out the rest of your life in a completely unfamiliar period in human history, permanently separated from the people you love, none of whom would ever know what happened to you.

Then there is the horrible fate they try to inflict on Rory Williams in “Angels Take Manhatten”. Locked in a tiny little room, kept alive for decades without any human company. I’d take getting shot by a Dalek and it all being over in a second over that any day.

Then there are also the gas mask zombies in Moffat’s first ever Doctor Who story. Again they don’t just simply kill you, they slowly and painfully transform you into a living corpse who will go on to infect others.

Even outside of Who in “Sherlock” Moriarty doesn’t just simply want to kill Sherlock Holmes. He wants to completely ruin him, destroy his entire reputation and legacy, even to his closest friends.

Then of course there was the latest finale which revealed that after we die our minds still remain aware trapped in our bodies experiencing the pain of being cremated, or eaten by worms as our bodies slowly rot.

The idea of death not being the end and your torment going on and on is an idea that clearly fascinates Moffat, and is one he has used to terrific effect throughout a lot of his work.

I must admit though I did think he went a little too far in “Dark Water”, but still by and large Moffat has been able to create very effective, horrifying scenario’s that make us long for monsters that just used to shoot us instead.

“Don’t cremate me, don’t cremate me, don’t cremate me”.

Now getting back to the point Moffat’s Daleks similarly never just zap you. This was something that angered a lot of fans as at first it appeared that the Daleks in Moffat’s time never killed anyone. They actually kill just two people on screen in 3 seasons.

However what the Moffat era Daleks actually do to you is actually more horrific.

In Moffat’s era the Daleks turn people into their puppets. The Dalek puppets are absolutely horrific. They kill you, then revive your corpse and use it as a servant, and what’s worse is that they can bring you back to life for a few minutes at a time.

In “Asylum of the Daleks” they bring the woman they actually use to capture the Doctor back to life for a few moments. As the Doctor himself tells her she is a trap and she doesn’t even know it. She still thinks her daughter is alive in the Dalek camps. Her daughter most likely died years, even decades ago, but she still thinks there is a chance for her daughter. Then however when she is told the horrifying truth, she has a few seconds to realise and regain her memories, before she dies and becomes their servant yet again.

She will die over and over and over for decades more to come. Each time she will realise just before she dies the horrible cycle she is trapped in, only to forget it when she is brought back the next time, and then realise it again just before she dies yet again.

Like I said before I’d rather they just shoot me.

The Dalek puppets embody other a few other prominent Moffat tropes. The idea of a persons corpse being revived and used by an enemy in some way is an old Moffat trope that has been featured in a number of his stories, including when the Vashta Nerada revive the astronauts corpses after devouring their flesh, or when the Weeping Angels use Bob’s consciousness to communicate with the Doctor.

Also the body horror aspect is another favourite trope of Moffats. Again gas masks bursting out from under people’s faces, the Vashta Nerada eating people’s faces off, and even Amy’s hand turning to stone are all classic examples of the body horror aspect in Moffat’s Who.

Then there is the fate the Daleks inflict on Tasha Lem. They break their way into the Papal Mainframe and capture Tasha. They need information from her. They could have just extracted the information from her mind (which they later do after she has died,) but first they decide to torture her to death many times ,and then revive her corpse so that they can torture her to death again.

“She would have died before telling you”

“I did several times, I died screaming your name”

They decided to torture her instead for no reason other than sadistic cruelty.

This adds a whole new dimension to the Daleks. Before though they were evil, they never actually enjoyed inflicting pain on their victims. It was hinted at in “Destiny of the Daleks” that they enjoyed persecuting humanoids, but by and large they were not sadists. They killed only because they felt they had to. They were seemingly incapable of taking pleasure in it.

Moffat era Daleks however enjoy extending their victims pain for as long as they possibly can. Just imagine being at the mercy of a Moffat era Dalek. Its a truly frightening thought. Even if you killed yourself to avoid capture, they could just bring you back to life like they did to Tasha Lem. There would be no escape from their cruelty even in death.

One of the most horrible fates they inflict on their victims however is in “Asylum of the Daleks” where they transform Oswin into a Dalek. This transformation is even more horrible than being turned into a Cyberman. She is turned into a freak who is rejected by both Daleks and humans alike. She wont be able to live as a human, but she wont be able to live even among Daleks either as she is too human and therefore impure. Instead they keep her locked up in the Asylum, in solitary confinement with the knowledge of what she has become, which she eventually blocks out because it is too horrifying.

At the very least when you are turned into a Cyberman they accept you, you become part of their race. In their own way they believe they are helping you, by removing your emotions which they see as a weakness and source of pain.

With the Daleks however they remove your humanity, but still reject you as you are still not truly one of them. They’ll lock you up in their asylum, all alone, and leave you there until they need to make use of your intelligence.

Terry Nation’s Daleks may have been the most alien, David Whitaker’s may have been the most cunning, Russell T Davies’s may have been the most powerful, but Steven Moffat’s were definitely the most sadistic.

I quite liked the idea that initially the Daleks were incapable of taking pleasure in the chaos they caused. They couldn’t feel anything but hatred, therefore they could not take pleasure in anything. However now after all of these years they have learned other emotions, but they are still linked to hate. They can now feel pleasure and joy, but it is in causing pain to those they despise. They also now in the Moffat era have a concept of beauty too, but again it is linked to their hate. They think hatred itself is beautiful and even consider it offensive to destroy hatred.

In this respect Moffat era Daleks were by far the most frightening. There was a sickness that had developed in them that had nothing to do with Davros altering their minds.

Another trope of Moffat’s that is present in the way he writes the Daleks is his obsession with showing us the impact the Doctor has had on those around him.

There are a few Steven Moffat penned episodes that end with the Doctor being able to make enemies literally retreat at the mere mention of his name his reputation has become so great.

Amy Ponds story arc in series 5 meanwhile revolves about the effect the Doctor has had on her life and how she has become somewhat obsessed with her “raggedy man”.

Series 6’s story arc is all about the effect the Doctor has on other life forms both good and positive, with the Silence striking out in fear of him.

Even the latest story arc about Clara and how she is becoming more like the Doctor is obviously once again about the effect the Doctor is having on her.

In “Asylum of the Daleks”  we are taken deep into the relationship between the Doctor and his greatest enemies.

We see how the Doctor has actually made them stronger, ironically in his many battles between them. Davros removed all emotions from them except hatred, but the Doctor taught them how to fear.

A lot of people said it was out of character for the Daleks to show fear, but I don’t think so.

The Daleks have been shown to fear the Doctor for many years. A very important plot point of “Day of the Daleks”  is the Daleks fear of the Doctor. The character of the controller serves the Daleks because he believes that there is no way anyone can stop them. Thus he serves them as he thinks that way he can make things easier for the people they have enslaved. He thinks that the human rebels who fight the Daleks are simply making things worse by angering them in a futile battle which they will inevitably lose. However when he see’s how the Daleks react just to the Doctors name, it is the first time he has seen the monsters genuinely terrified and it is for this reason that he later allows the Doctor to go and is exterminated as a result for his treachery.

Unlike with the rebels the controller genuinely believes that the Doctor can stop the Daleks.

The idea of the Daleks being scared of the Doctor has its roots way back in the Classic era and so I don’t think its out of character at all for them to show fear in the Moffat era.

In “Asylum  of the Daleks” it is said that The Daleks fear of the Doctor caused them to up their game, it kept them on their toes, metaphorically speaking of course as Daleks don’t have toes.

A prime example of this is in “The Chase” the third Dalek story. Here the monsters actually discover the secret of time travel solely with the purpose of hunting the Doctor down. Had it not been for their feud with the Doctor they may never have even believed in time travel. The fact that they, from the very beginning were facing an enemy who could tamper with their history, even wipe them from existence obviously caused them to advance much more quickly than if they had been facing the Thals, who were mere farmers or even the human race itself.

It also hinted in Moffat’s stories that not only did the Doctor teach the Daleks to fear which became a useful tool for them to survive, but he also taught them how to hate in a different way. It was through him that the Daleks learned to take pleasure in their victims suffering. It was through him after all that their hatred became more personal. Prior to their dealings with the Doctor they had always hated whole species and life forms, but there was never a single figure they despised. They grew to despise the Doctor in a totally different way to Davros’s conditioning. They wanted to make him pay for all the defeats he had inflicted on him.

At the same time however Moffat’s stories also show us how the Daleks have affected the Doctor too. Just as the Doctor taught the Daleks fear, the Daleks have taught the Doctor hatred.

Davies was the first to show us that the Doctor hated the Daleks. Moffat meanwhile continued that idea and showed us how the Daleks were able to manipulate that hatred for their own good. In “Victory of the Daleks” it is ironically the Doctors hatred for the Daleks that allows them to survive ironically. In “Asylum of the Daleks” they are able to use his hatred of them to destroy their Asylum.

The 11th Doctors interactions with the Daleks where arguably among the most tense. A lot of people have said they don’t think the 11th Doctor was as well suited to the Daleks as other Doctors such as “Who Addicts Reviews”. However I disagree, I think his interactions with them where very memorable. There was one scene in “Victory of the Daleks” in particular where the 11th Doctor reacted with violence towards a Dalek, striking it with a wrench that I think perfectly demonstrated the Doctors hatred for the Daleks.

I remember even “Who Addicts Reviews” had to admit that this scene was brilliant, because 11 was the last Doctor they would have expected to react this way. 11’s intense hatred for the Daleks was slightly more unexpected than 9’s. 9 was a darker Doctor so naturally his interactions with the monsters would be darker where as 11 really is the last Doctor you would expect to take pleasure in destroying another life form, as seen in “The Wedding of River Song”.

The relationship between the Doctor and the Daleks is a hateful, poisonous relationship so it makes sense that the Daleks, creatures of hate would get stronger as a result of it, whilst the Doctor a good man would be almost destroyed by it.

At the end of “Asylum of the Daleks” we see the Doctor finally break this hateful cycle when he has Oswin erase him from the Daleks memory.

It was a shame that Moffat never really followed this story up, having the Daleks simply gain information from Tasha Lem in their next appearance about the Doctor.

I think it could have been interesting to show us how the Daleks had become weaker and even stagnated without that fear of the Doctor, which had helped drive them forward almost as much as their hatred for other life forms.

Moffat much like Russell T Davies also went to great lengths to show how the Daleks were the Doctors archenemies too, albeit in a different way to Davies.

With Davies he had the Daleks right in our face all of the time and made them behind everything major that happened to the Doctor, as well as showing their superiority to his other foes by having them thrash enemies like the Cybermen and the Master.

Moffat on the other hand was somewhat more subtle. He still made them a major presence in the Doctors life, yet he was able to push them into the background too, which was the right thing to do. The Daleks had been used so frequently and so prominently in Davies time, that we could not possibly have still had them be used the same way in the 11th Doctors time.

Moffat in complete contrast to Davies had the Daleks appear alongside other enemies of the Doctor as nothing special at first. In “The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang” and “The Time of the Doctor” they don’t seem to be more powerful or dangerous than any of the others. Not like they were in Davies’s time. However we see what makes them stand out is because they hate him the most. In “The Big Bang” all of his other enemies are wiped from existence, except for the Daleks. Even when all of reality itself has been virtually erased, the Daleks still pursue the time lord.

Similarly in “The Time of the Doctor” they outlast all of his other enemies old and new. Cybermen, Weeping Angels, Sontarans, Silurians, Ice Warriors and Zygons.

The Daleks beat them all not because they are the most powerful, just because they hate him the most. Whilst all of the others flee and eventually give up, the Daleks hatred is too great and they remain until the bitter end.

“The Time of the Doctor” also reveals that the Daleks were responsible for all of the major story arcs in 11’s time too. Throughout 11’s era we were lead to believe that other enemies had in many ways replaced the Daleks. The Weeping Angels for instance had been responsible for the greatest tragedy in 11’s life, whilst the Silence had been his most persistent foes.

In “Time of the Doctor” however we saw that it was the Daleks that caused the siege at Trenzalore, which in turn caused the Silence to go back in time and try to murder the Doctor in order to prevent it. It is also because of their actions, that the Silence try to kill 11, River Song is created, and the Tardis explodes.

It is also the Daleks who in the original timeline killed the Doctor on Trenzalore which allowed the Great Intelligence to enter his timeline. No Daleks, no Great Intelligence messing with the Doctor, no Clara.

It was also the Daleks that caused the Doctors to send Gallifrey into the other universe which begun the siege in the first place.

Finally in addition to this it was also the Daleks who remained there until the very end, and wore the 11th Doctor down, effectively killing him.

Whilst stories like “The Big Bang” and “The Time of the Doctor” may not be Dalek stories per se, I still feel that they do a great job of showing us why the Daleks are his arch enemies.

“The Day of the Doctor” is another story that isn’t really a Dalek story, but still does a good job of showing how they were his greatest enemies. It features the Doctors defining moment. We see the Doctor having seemingly sunk so low he is now prepared to slaughter billions of innocent people to stop the Daleks. He has even changed himself into a warrior to do so. However we soon see that the Doctor would never be capable of doing that. No matter what the situation the Doctor will always find a way to defeat the villains, and it will always be in a completely unpredictable way that eludes everyone else, even his fellow time lords.

That’s why we love the Doctor, he is someone who doesn’t play by the rules, who is a total maverick and who always manages to come through in the end.

The fact however that its the Daleks however that all of the Doctors have to unite to defeat is perfect as it shows how they as his greatest enemies help to define who he really is underneath all of his different faces better than any other villain could.

Overall whilst Moffat may not have done as much with the Daleks as Nation, Whitaker and Davies. By and large I still think he was able to provide a very interesting and fresh take on them, by making them far more sadistic and needlesly cruel than ever before, as well as providing some truly fascinating insights into their relationship with the Doctor.

Always remember that if you want to write a Dalek story in the style of Terry Nation write them as allegories for the Nazi’s, and the threat of nuclear power. Also always write them as totally inhuman and alien, and make them physically weak too. Show the great irony of these creatures who consider all other races inferior yet are very frail, and even quite delicate themselves. Show them as large armies. Make it seem like it doesn’t matter if you kill one, there will always be another 500 behind it. Also make it fast paced with plenty of action

If you want to write a Dalek story in the style of David Whitaker, make the Daleks cunning, and manipulative against a more manipulative Doctor, make them more powerful, and do stories where the Daleks are infected with humanity in some way. Also show us how much damage one Dalek can do. Make it much more slower paced too and really build up the human characters they interact with and manipulate. Show the Daleks manipulate a whole host of different people, not just evil villains.

If you want to do a Dalek story in the style of Russell T Davies, write them as incredibly powerful creatures, the most powerful enemies in the entire Whoniverse, yet portray them as nearing extinction and the stuff of legend. Show how they are trying to rebuild their fallen empire and portray them despite their power as mere shells of their former selves. Also make the body count huge. Also make the Daleks responsible for some horrible tragedy in the Doctors life.

Finally if you want to write a Moffat style Dalek story, make the Daleks take pleasure in hurting people and don’t have them just shoot people. Have them inflict really nasty and gruesome fates on people that will make the viewers wish they did shoot their victims again. Also show the Daleks as being slightly more sly and maybe even have them winning against the Time Lord in some way if not completely.

I have often thought that in Dalek society it goes a little something like this. Nations Daleks are the leaders, as they are the most inhuman and ruthless and thus seen as an inspiration to the other Daleks, what they should be. Whitaker’s Daleks who are the most cunning and best understand humanity are the strategists. Davies’s Daleks who are the most powerful are the soldiers, whilst Moffats are the ones in charge of the death camps. The real sadists of Dalek society.

Best Dalek Moment/ “I Am Not Dalek I Am Human”/ Asylum Of The Daleks

A truly chilling moment, and a great twist that I did not see coming. Clara’s fate is genuinely horrifying and the acting from Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman and Nicholas Briggs is top notch. Watching Clara in her Dalek form mumble pitifully ” I am human” is both disturbing and heartbreaking. This is a perfect example of how the fates Moffat’s Daleks victims inflict on their enemies are often far worse.

Worst Dalek Moment/ The New Dalek Pardigm Emerges/ Victory Of The Daleks

Okay I know he didn’t write this bit, but still he did approve of the new Dalek design. The new design isn’t actually that bad, its just the colours are too bright, which makes the monsters seem almost cuddly. Its a shame as the scene itself the way its written is very good, but the execution is just terrible and for many this is the moment the Daleks ceased to be scary.

Quotes

Actually I can just show you some videos instead.