The Daleks

Daft quotes

IAN: My bacon's a bit salty.

DALEK: TARDIS? He is becoming delirious. I do not understand his words.

DALEK: Our prisoners could bring the Thals to us.

DALEK: Precisely that.

("Precisely that"? Seriously?)

SUSAN: Look, there's no need to be frightened of them. They're very friendly people. All they want is food.

FIFTH DOCTOR GANATUS: If only there'd been some other way. 
 

The bad

• I think seven episodes is one of the most appropriate lengths to tell a Doctor Who story in, but this is possibly the worst example of the lot. I have always felt that episodes five and six could easily be cut down to one episode. In episode six especially they're not really doing anything except playing for time to get us to the final episode. Even then the two merged would still form a relatively dull episode, but it would make the overall story a much tighter six parter. It would still have pace issues, just a bit less so.
• The TARDIS lock has twenty-one different holes and only one is right. And if you try one of the wrong ones the whole lock melts? Isn't that taking safety a little TOO far? Considering the state the Doctor is in half the time it's amazing he's never accidentally gone for the wrong one. It's also amazing the whole host of people who unlock the TARDIS throughout the 70s and beyond don't melt the lock. Perhaps the Doctor got a new one fitted. 
• They're very friendly Daleks by the standards we're used to. Ian tries to flee and they give him a fleeting paralysis... and won't even kill him if he tries to run away again! They're also keen to give the TARDIS crew a "false sense of security" by letting them have a good night's rest and a hearty breakfast! Bizarre. The worst part, though, is in the final hectic fight scene, one of the Thals gets shot by a Dalek and pretty much just ignores it and carries on attacking the Dalek!
• Let's give a round of applause to Virginia Wetherell for the first rubbish acting performance in Doctor Who. That is quite an honour, I'd say. To be fair to Wetherell, she's given absolutely nothing to work with ("it would have been better if you had given it to a man instead of a girl"), but it's impressive that she doesn't even bother to try. Alan Wheatley's not really much better as Temmosus the gullible, but at least he gives it a bit of a go.
• One of the things I love most about the first three seasons of Doctor Who is having individual episode titles. It's always a shame when the writer hasn't come up with particularly exciting titles, although I suppose Nation could argue that the titles in this story match.
• Ganatus says "we'll follow one of the customs of your planet... ladies first!" Now, the only possible way he could know about that is if Barbara taught him during one of the nights they spent together. I'm not sure I want to speculate on what brought it up... that interesting double act also have a fun moment where Barbara strains to try and hear some deafening splashing water in the background. I think she needs to visit the otolaryngologist. Still, she makes up for it by throwing a rock at a Dalek. That is a great moment!

 

The good

• One of the advantages of the longer running time is a greater chance to live with the characters and get to know them. And to watch them eat. Not that eating is especially dramatic and funny in itself, but facilities for eating in the TARDIS are so rarely mentioned. The food machine feels like one of those future-eating things you often get in sci-fi shows which are efficient but really quite dull. For sustenance and to keep you alive while you are living in the TARDIS it's fine, but I would hate to have to live only eating those taste-enhanced chunks and drinking water. 
• I like that the Daleks have Dalek wallpaper. Looks very stylish. Exceptionally bizarre, especially for a race not exactly noted for their interest in art and decoration, but stylish nonetheless. 

 

Verdict

  Important story it may well be. Classic story it certainly ain't. As with An Unearthly Child, it's very much middle of the road average. It has some great moments, such as the first cliffhanger (and the fourth, where they realise they've left the fluid link behind), but the pacing really is way way off. So much time is spent dawdling around and then the conclusion is almost over before it begins. This is one of the hardest stories to really view in the context of the marathon, knowing what it began, but really just evaluating the story and nothing else: it's not one of the better efforts. Doctor Who begins with promise, but two par stories. Will it be three?