The Daleks Parts 1 to 4

Why doesn't he take us back?

The Dead Planet

Ah, and now we have the first Dalek story (though, true to form, they aren't seen until the cliffhanger of the first episode, and here barely even then). I have an interesting relationship with the Daleks. I think they're rarely used well, and they aren't actually even that interesting when they are, and yet I like every single Dalek story. Up to a point, anyway. 

Hmm, although the rest of the episode titles in the Daleks are appallingly dull, this one at least is interesting. It's very evocative, and goes with the mysterious first episode. I love mysterious first episodes, where the regulars are (mostly) the only characters seen. I know they'd rarely spend more than two minutes on that these days, but I think it works well for setting an atmosphere.

The radiation thing is a bit clumsy. Surely Susan would know to wait a moment for the TARDIS to take its readings? However, it does make for some good radiation acting later on, like Barbara's headache which appears and then vanishes magically when she's given a drink by Susan. To be fair, the Doctor does say "oh yes, this stuff is very good, it should cure it," when he sees it. Nice to know Gallifreyans can cure headaches, as well as possessing time travel capabilities.

It's good that we have the scenes at the beginning with Ian and Barbara worrying about whether they'll ever get home, and realising that the Doctor can't actually get them back. It's more good character development, as Barbara calls herself an unwilling adventurer. Their vulnerability is good to see, and that particular line from Barbara is a lovely moment. As is Susan getting the flower she's so excited about crushed. Twice.

And suddenly we have a whole bundle of firsts. The first gag of the Doctor getting Ian's name wrong (Chesterfield, this time), the first monster (though it's dead), the first city, and the first Hartnell fluff. I think it's the first fluff, I didn't notice any in An Unearthly Child. Here he says the monster has "solidisolidified". Then he says it's held "in a magnetic field, erm, by a magnetic field rather". Then a bit later he says, "I hope the affects outside the ship haven't affected you too much". Don't worry, I won't make a point of writing down all his fluffs, but his first couple deserve mention. 

 

Oh bloody hell, a Susan panic attack again. What's happening IS quite scary, sure, but still, she's so irritating. Much more fun is the Doctor's awkwardness as he asks Barbara to talk to Susan for him. Hartnell plays awkwardness brilliantly. Shame we never see the food machine again. 

Another exciting close-up for each regular as we get some tapping outside the TARDIS (clearly close-ups are more common than I remember), and then we get some more bad running from Susan. What with the end of An Unearthly Child, here and running through the forest in the next part, Carole Ann Ford is really doing the bad running well.

I love the low ceilings in the city, making the regulars have to duck. I also love the random one scene where we look up at Barbara as she makes her way through the city. That works well. And of course, we get the iconic cliffhanger, made plausible entirely by Jacqueline Hill's acting.

The Dead Planet is just as good as I remember. A terrific introduction to travel on alien worlds. Spooky, atmospheric and exciting. I agree with Rob Shearman that the Doctor's ploy of disabling the TARDIS so that he can explore the city is quite funny rather than particularly nasty. After all, at this point, he doesn't know that the city is dangerous, does he? 9/10.

Ooooh, a pretty city!!

 

The Survivors

The Survivors? How uninteresting (the title, that is, not the story). I'd never really taken in that the Thals don't appear until the third part of the story. For the first two parts, the only "characters" apart from the regulars are the Daleks. It works extremely well, and not just because the Thals are a boring bunch of bland wet blankets. It wouldn't work, of course, with the Doctor and one companion format, but with the four of them, they can sustain a story for that much longer, and the build-up to the Thals being seen is certainly very good, which is possibly another reason why they're so horribly unimpressive when they do grace us with an appearance.

The random lab that the Doctor, Ian and Susan enter at the start of the episode is very convenient, as it has a geiger counter in it, so they can find out they're being poisoned. Dalek technology really is terrific, as the geiger counter has a bit of paper stuck onto it with the word "danger". It's like the fast return switch in felt tip pen in the TARDIS. It's all so advanced. I like Ian pre-empting the Security Chief from the War Games by six years as he says "you fool, you old fool!" to the Doctor. Now here is the Doctor being a git. He's fully prepared to abandon Barbara, and then Ian as well. That is probably the most callous thing he does before he becomes "the Doctor we know and love" and becomes that peaceful man who goes around blowing up the Graff Vynda-K and shooting Ogrons and the like.

Ian's ridiculously, pointlessly futile attempt to escape is extremely convenient for plot purposes. Oh, he's paralysed, so Susan has to go and fetch the radiation gloves, erm, drugs. I know it seems harsh, but I do find Ian's pratfalls quite amusing. Whilst we're on Ian, as much as William Russell is (deservedly) beyond criticism, he really overacts like mad at the end of this episode as the radiation sickness kicks in. He should have been watching Hartnell, who is happily lying down and napping away in the background.

Why do the Daleks make the Doctor stand in the light? That's never actually explained. Maybe the Daleks like things to be atmospheric? We do get some more nice close-ups in this scene. We get close-ups of Daleks in this episode as they speak! I'm not sure that happens again (not until the end of Genesis, anyway). It's quite a strange sight. 

 

Erm, why is the TARDIS key so ridiculously complicated? 21 holes, and 20 of them are not just wrong, but will make the lock melt if you try and use them? No wonder Susan is terrified! I tend to make a complete hash of unlocking normal doors. I'd destroy TARDIS locks like it's going out of fashion. It's one thing being security conscious, but I think that is a little over the top.

Overall, the plot doesn't actually advance this week. The regulars are captured, find out something we already know, and then Susan goes off to pick up some drugs. That's it. And yet it's terrific. The lack of other characters is a good thing in hindsight. The Doctor's first encounter with the Daleks and no supporting cast to detract from the momentous occasion. 8/10.

The Escape

Ah. Goodbye, quality. Now, is that due to Richard Martin appearing on the credits or the Thals making their rather lacklustre appearance? Or because nothing actually happens in this episode? Everybody will have their own opinion. I think the lack of anything happening doesn't help. The regulars spend 23 minutes here in a cell chatting. Robert Holmes would struggle with that, let alone Terry Nation, who, much as I do think he is unfairly criticised, is not exactly the strongest writer of dialogue in the world. And yet, practically nothing happened in the last episode and it was riveting, so...

The Thals bring ridiculous clothing and incredible blandness to the story. It's amazing how Susan immediately trusts Alydon because he's so "perfect". That's a good moral for the story. If somebody is beautiful, they must be a good person! Also, Susan and Alydon must have had one hell of a chat off camera. First Susan unloads a whole load of exposition that Alydon told her on the Doctor and co. in the cell, and then Alydon does exactly the same with the Thals. They must have been chatting away for hours! And all while the Doctor, Ian and Barbara were dying of radiation sickness. That is very cold of you, Susan.

The Thals were warriors (ha!) and now are farmers. They wear stupid clothes, and their leader wears a stupid hat so you know he's in charge. Why do farmers need a leader anyway? Why is Dyoni written so abysmally? "Is Antodus still afraid of the dark?" is unbelievably bad exposition, awfully setting up Antodus as "the one who is easily scared". Great characterisation there, Terry.

Barbara is extremely rude to the waiter Dalek. She takes the food without saying thank you. Shocking manners. The Daleks have a couple of good moments, though. Trying to make the regulars feel safe is cunning(ish), and their lack of understanding of Susan's name is a nice, alien touch.

Even though we've already seen exactly the same (very long) scene once before, we get to watch the regulars watching a Dalek come into the room with some food for them and then go out. Why? So they can make a plan to disable the Dalek for the next time we get to watch that long scene. That is the problem with this episode. Nothing happens!! 

Barbara quite sensibly asks if the Daleks will notice that they're pushing Ian-Dalek. The Doctor simply replies with, "no". Oh, okay. Erm, why not? It is extremely obvious. Oh, I see, because it isn't convenient to think up a reason why and we'll just forget it? Speaking of forgetting it, the cliffhanger leads absolutely nowhere, as the gooey Dalek bit is never seen again.

I've already mentioned it, but it seems apt here. Nothing happens in this episode. The regulars sit around chatting about nothing in particular, and the Thals sit around chatting about even less. Much as I hate the extreme pace of the new series, at least they wouldn't faff around for 25 minutes waiting for a convenient time in the story for the escape to be made.The shockingly bland and dull title refers to something that happens in the last 10 seconds of this episode. Awful drop in quality. 3/10.

Daleks like pretty control panels

 

The Ambush

I don't want to criticise Richard Martin too much, but with him going again, this is suddenly far more entertaining. I like Hartnell's "pretending to be captured" acting. I also like how Susan shrieks and screams to distract the Dalek. Why not play to your strengths, eh? The Dalek almost does a double take as it finds it can't open the door, which is quite amusing. The room outside the lift (at the bottom) is gigantic.

More Susan strangeness. First she touches the door for no apparent reason, and finds it's hot because the Daleks are melting it. Then, in the lift with the Doctor and Barbara when it's going up suddenly screams, "we must go back for him!" and has to be restrained. She reaches out desperately as the Doctor and Barbara hold her back. Erm, what? They're in a lift. What's she going to do, exactly? Where is she planning to go?

It's terrific that Ian-Dalek gets destroyed before we know that Ian has got out of it. That is a nice touch. Funny how we get to watch the regulars looking out a window. First from inside the room, then from outside, but we never get to see what they're looking at. Ah, extermination? What a funny word for the Daleks to use. That'll never catch on. 

After a ridiculously easy escape (where are all the Daleks supposedly chasing our regulars, exactly?), our heroes have a debate about whether to warn the Thals. Naturally the Doctor doesn't care about their fate, he's only interested in his own survival. That is a pretty arsey thing to do, I admit. But then, Ian isn't very helpful, just standing there for absolutely ages watching the Thals get further and further into the trap, and then warning them when it's far too late. Maybe he hates the Thals too? Or maybe he particularly liked Tristram Cary's superb score and wanted it to keep on a bit longer? Some Thals die, but sadly not Dyoni.

Whilst the Doctor is getting excited about star charts and the history of the Thals, "absorbing, most absorbing!", Ian is being particularly thick as he chats with the Thals, stating that the Daleks "just aren't human". Yes Ian, well done with that insightful observation! I'd never have guessed that.

And then we get that awesome cliffhanger. For me, it's by a distance the best so far, and the first top class cliffhanger. It isn't actually that special in itself, it's just timed absolutely perfectly, and pulled off brilliantly by all four of the TARDIS team. Fabulous stuff.

Much much more like it this week. This would have been so much better had Christopher Barry done the whole thing. It was even better than I remembered, actually. I'd thought the whole episode revolved around the escape and ambush, but that's dealt with in about 15 minutes, and then we have 10 minutes in the forest, with a mildly interesting discussion about pacifism, and about how the Daleks used to be called Dals. Um, clearly their historians made some mistakes? Not terrific, but absorbing. 7/10.