DOCTOR:
I found this, and I don't know whether it's revelant or not, but hold
onto it safely.
DOCTOR:
Fifty years, to be suffice.
DOCTOR:
The Daleks will stop at anything to prevent us.
(That's
nice of them!)
CHEN:
A heroic war cry to apparently peaceful ends is one of the greatest
weapons a politician has.
CHEN:
It came from Uranus. I know it did!
(Snigger)
CHEN:
You will recover this and return it to us within one Earth hour.
(One
Earth hour?)
CHEN:
Three time machines in one infinitesimal speck of space and time. Of
course, a coincidence is possible, but hardly likely.
- Mavic
Chen is the Guardian of the Solar System, yet he can go off on
holiday without anybody knowing where! Not to mention spend 50 years
mining Taranium for the sole purpose of helping the Dalek invasion.
What the hell is wrong with the media in the year 4000? Do they
simply not exist anymore? Kevin Stoney is great. Chen is not quite as
interesting a character as Tobias Vaughn (and doesn't have a comedy
sidekick, either), but Stoney plays him so well it doesn't really
matter. Stoney is always watchable, and he does seem to get a large
quota of great lines.
- Nick Courtney! It's very strange seeing him not as Lethbridge-Stewart, but he's always great value for money. Bret Vyon is a bit of an odd character, but thanks to Courtney is always watchable. That said, he seems more sensible than the Doctor. When he gets irritated by the Doctor and Steven arguing and tells them they need to warn earth, the Doctor says, "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?" Huh? That just makes the Doctor sound daft.
- The Magnetic Chair is an interesting invention. I wonder why we never see it again! I do like the Doctor's idea that use of the chair counts as brain against brawn.
- The Daleks surround the TARDIS. Somehow Bret, Katarina and an injured Steven "flee" the TARDIS to the "safety" of the jungle of Kembel past those Daleks. How?
- This
story is Billyfluff hell. It's absolutely chock-full of them! Maybe
the length of the story and the general grimness, added to the recent
loss of Maureen O'Brien, took its toll on him?
- I love the bit where the Doctor recognises Reg Pritchard as Ben Daheer from the Crusade. I also love the bit where the Monk is talking about how badly he's been hurt and how much he needs access to the Doctor's TARDIS and Steven and Sara completely ignore him while discussing what to do next. I think the Monk's inclusion is necessary. He adds a bit of fun and freshness to a story that had been lagging quite badly.
- "One Dalek is capable of exterminating all" apparently, and yet they send three Daleks to meet the Doctor when he agrees to hand over the Taranium. The way the Doctor shouts in that scene is very odd, too. He yells "I am now handing over the Taranium" to Chen even though Chen's standing right next to him!
- I like the way in episode eleven that the Council have a chat about how they're going to divide up the universe when it's conquered, even then completely oblivious to the fact the Daleks aren't even going to let them live past the beginning of the invasion, let alone the end. Petty dictators so caught up in a squabble for power they can't even see the trouble they're in. Chen's descent into madness as the situation spirals out of control is nicely done, too. The way the Daleks just sit there staring at him when he starts issuing orders is very creepy.
- Where does Karlton vanish to?
Verdict
The
Daleks Master Plan is... a good try. I appreciate the effort, and
there's no reason why a twelve episode Dalek story couldn't work.
This had so much potential, too. The first two episodes are
fantastic, and the story could easily have been strung out. Sadly,
instead we get a fairly meh continuation of the Chase. There are
plenty of good bits in the middle episodes (particularly
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