Death to the Daleks Part Two

The one where the Daleks develop a new kind of weapon...

"Total extermination!" barks the Dalek. "Fire! Fire! Fire!" And everybody just stands still and awaits their fate with remarkably calm resignation. Nobody bolts, nobody runs, nothing. What a bunch of wimps (including Dr Who!). However, the squelchy noise the Dalek gunsticks make when they fire means something is amiss, and we soon learn that their weapons are just as powerless as the TARDIS.

With the Daleks disarmed (in more ways than one), the usual rules of the game are cast aside, and the two groups agree to team up until the power drain can be reversed. For all his formulaic trappings, writer Terry Nation has come up with a corking new twist by having the two great enemies - the Doctor and the Daleks - join sides for once, and it's fascinating watching it pan out.

It's also refreshing for Pertwee's Doctor to have proper scenes with the Daleks, something he didn't have very many of at all in his earlier two stories with them. Having said that, the Daleks are less effective the chattier they get, as they're forced into very human-like, and unDalek-like exchanges such as "Mining dome?" and "Very well". The Daleks are also very fidgety, constantly on the move, back and forth, like they've got St Vitus's Dance. Well, three of them have. The fourth Dalek remains resolutely still because there are only three Dalek operators!

As the new allies make their way across open country to the mining dome, they are stalked by Exxilon archers on the clifftops (despite the fact they are apparently rarely seen in the daytime), and their attack is relentless and genuinely dangerous. Arrows slice into the sand around them, and - rather wonderfully - bounce off the Daleks' casings! Out of nowhere, and for no real reason at all, an arrow cuts into Captain Railton, killing him outright, which is a shame, as John Abineri (a good ally of Doctor Who's) is a fine actor and deserved more.

An ill-judged high shot from the clifftop makes it obvious that the Doctor and friends are hiding in a trench specially dug for this television production, and also makes it obvious that the fourth Dalek is now missing. However, it's not long until they're another Dalek down as the Exxilons set upon one of the metal monsters and it appears to very quickly self-destruct. The Dalek's eye view is an interesting choice too. It's been done by other directors before, but this time it's highly reminiscent of the shiny time tunnel in the new opening titles. It also suggests that Daleks literally have tunnel vision.

The Dalek blows up, quite spectacularly, providing a generation of book and home media cover designers with an iconic image that's hard to ignore.

The Exxilons take the Doctor and his "space chums" back to their cavern, where Sarah is about to be sacrificed. The Doctor manages to postpone Sarah's demise by attacking the high priest, and they're all locked up in a wooden cage, Daleks too. It's in this cell that the dynamic between the varying factions establishes itself. Jill sides with the Doctor and Sarah, while Hamilton tussles with Galloway's rather questionable morality. Galloway cares nothing for the Doctor and Sarah: "We have no loyalties to them. They're not part of our mission... Our job is to get medical relief that will save the lives of millions. If some people we don't even know have to die in the process, well that's too bad." But does this make him a bad person, an evil person? Or a practical, focused soldier? It's a harsh, far from humane point of view, but Galloway is thinking of the many, not the few. Galloway isn't a baddie, he's just well written.

One of my favourite scenes in this story is when the dying Commander Stewart tells Galloway he's "not fit to command", stating that Hamilton should take charge instead. But Galloway, who Stewart deems a "glory-seeker", refuses to accept Stewart's final command, and as the life ebbs out of his superior officer, he replies: "Sorry, commander. I couldn't quite hear what you said." And as he closes Stewart's lifeless eyes, Galloway becomes the story's very best character. Great stuff from writer Terry Nation and actor Duncan Lamont.

Meanwhile, back at the Dalek ship, they have developed a way to overcome the power loss to their gunsticks, and rather wonderfully use a model police box as target practice for their new bullet-firing weapons. They test it on some hapless passing Exxilons, who die swiftly and painfully, but the Daleks only deem this as "moderately efficient"!

These newly armed Daleks stage a raid on the Exxilon base, killing many of them and gaining control. The shot where the dying Exxilon slides slowly down the cage bars in the foreground, while chaos ensues behind, is the stuff of horror films. I'm pretty sure Michael E Briant thought he was directing a Hammer film, not Doctor Who!

The Doctor and Sarah escape down into the tunnels beneath the Exxilon cavern, but soon realise that that's where they were going to be thrown as part of the sacrifice. So, what awaits them down there in the gloom? The interaction between the Doctor and Sarah here is lovely, showing just how well Sladen settled in with her leading man. Sarah has a gently mocking, teasing way with the Doctor, and never fails to say precisely what anybody would really say in these situations. She makes me laugh the way she says: "These robot things... are they locals?", and when the Doctor explains what the Daleks are ("living bubbling lumps of hate", no less), Sarah says: "I see." "Do you?" asks the Doctor. "No..." Sarah admits. Lovely!

It carries on as the duo move along the tunnel too, with the Doctor claiming that the strange roaring noise in the distance must be "some kind of subterranean wind effect". "Who are you kidding?" teases Sarah, to which the Doctor replies: "Myself, chiefly."

For some inexplicable reason, the Daleks want the Doctor and Sarah brought back "dead or alive", despite the fact they were perfectly happy to watch them get sacrificed by the Exxilons. The Daleks manage to get down into the tunnels to pursue their quarry, and glide along the surprisingly smooth corridors with ease. When the Doctor leaves Sarah alone to explore one of the tunnels, she encounters a new kind of creature in the shadows - a naked Exxilon! Fab crash-zoom too.

The cliffhanger is an odd one. The Doctor finally comes across what's been making the weird electronic roaring noise, and it appears to be a big screaming hosepipe, which rears up in front of him as the titles crash in. Not scary, but certainly not run-of-the-mill!

First broadcast: March 2nd, 1974

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The scene between Galloway and the dying Stewart is powerful stuff.
The Bad: The fidgety Daleks. The obviously empty Dalek. The slightly nauseating, and very repetitive, musical phrase of four notes followed by a descending scale that Carey Blyton uses for the Daleks.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★☆

"Now listen to me" tally: 32
Neck-rub tally: 15

NEXT TIME: Part Three...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Three; Part Four

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/06/death-to-daleks.html

Death to the Daleks is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Death-Daleks-DVD/dp/B007EAFV58/