Destiny of the Daleks Episode One

The one where Romana changes her body as if she's changing her clothes...

Even the opening titles of this story deserve comment. Right from the start we know that this is going to be a Dalek story, and that's quite exciting because it's the first time the Daleks have appeared in Doctor Who since Season 12's Genesis of the Daleks in April 1975 - almost four-and-a-half years ago. It's also the last story to be written by Dalek creator Terry Nation before he handed over the narrative reins to Eric Saward. Finally, it's the first story since The Green Death to have "episodes" rather than "parts", as well as the last time "episode" would ever be used (it's parts from now on).

The opening five minutes have divided fandom over the years, principally because it's taking liberties with the established way of things. In the past, the Doctor has regenerated into a seemingly random new body, certainly not one chosen by himself, but here we see Romana chopping and changing bodies as she regenerates as if she's shopping in Dorothy Perkins. She first appears as Princess Astra from the last story, then cycles through a number of ridiculous forms (including a blue midget and a Greek giantess) until settling once again on Astra's form.

The suggestion a Time Lord can pick and choose their new form during the regenerative process is a bit of a blow to those fans who cherish their canon and continuity like they would a newborn child. But while it is rather out-of-the-blue and goes against what we think we know about the regeneration process, if you take a step back it's also rather amusing, and perfectly in keeping with Romana's character. I cannot imagine her settling for just any old body, can you? Imagine if Mary Tamm had regenerated into Pat Coombs or Anna Karen. I just cannot imagine her settling for that.

It doesn't bother me as much as it probably used to. What bothers me most is the loss of Mary Tamm, who doesn't even get a final scene (to be fair, that's because she insisted she was leaving at the end of Season 16 but nobody believed her so they didn't write her an exit). I'll miss Mary, her poise, her elegance, her aloofness, her thoroughly ladylike screen presence. But now it's time for another Romana, a new version, and this one seems to like dressing up as Dr Who. I'm glad she doesn't keep the carbon copy Doctor outfit, but her pink and white version is gorgeous. Well done to the ever-reliable June Hudson for keeping the Doctor's silhouette, but feminising it and making it perfect for Lalla Ward. Looking at her here puts me in mind of another female ersatz Doctor: Sally Sparrow from Blink.

Little time is spent introducing the new Romana, it's kind of assumed she is the same woman, the same personality, but with a new (stolen) face. Leaving K-9 in the TARDIS with laryngitis (yeah, whatever), the Doctor and Romana head out onto an unknown alien world to explore. And that's pretty much what this first episode is all about, the Doctor and his companion just exploring, and that in itself is wonderfully affirming. You know you're watching "proper" Doctor Who when the TARDIS just lands and our heroes get out and start exploring, finding things out at the same time as we do (except we have the advantage of knowing the title of this adventure!).

The Doctor feels like he has been there before, and keen-eared viewers might recognise a familiar alien soundscape first heard way back in 1963 when the First Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara made their first trip to an alien world. The way Nation teases the viewer with a drip-drip-drip narrative is masterful, and although he's used this technique a few times before (The Daleks, The Dalek Invasion of Earth, Death to the Daleks, The Android Invasion), it works. We're right there with them, creeping through caves, skittering down sand dunes and peering round rocks. Nation makes the viewer the second companion as we gradually find out more about this eerie planet.

We see spooky, zombie-like mourners in a funeral procession, burying the body of a Kantrian space pilot by placing polystyrene rocks over his body. These mourners are seriously sinister, and as Romana says, look like the living dead. Is this a "planet ruled by zombies"? That'd be pretty dark for Doctor Who, especially at this point in its history, but I can imagine kids were a bit spooked by these whey-faced drudges all the same.

Like a puzzle slowly unwrapping itself, first we find evidence of civilisation (ruined buildings, manufactured concrete), then we see zombie-like inhabitants burying a man who died of exhaustion, then we experience powerful earth tremors, which all leads up to the sight of an unusually shaped spaceship flying overhead and coming in to land. Naturally, the Doctor and Romana chase after it (with some gorgeous long shots of them running across waste ground and sand dunes) and watch the ship slowly bury itself three-quarters of the way underground. It's a stunning, gorgeous and well-made model sequence, showing how far Doctor Who has come since the hub cap spaceships of The Dalek Invasion of Earth. It's the combination of the good model effect and the ingenious design of it that makes it work so well. It's a good idea, well designed and well realised.

Before they can walk the mile that Romana claims is the distance to the ship (it so isn't), the pair are assailed by a barrage of impressively inexorable explosions which, coupled with the ongoing earth tremors, cause the ruin they shelter in to partially collapse. The set of the ruined building is actually a lovely piece of work by Ken Ledsham, easily overlooked, but it has great depth and enables director Ken Grieve to shoot from various angles. It's a shame that the concrete girder which pins the Doctor to the ground is so obviously made from polystyrene, but it means that Nation can finally split our two heroes up (another classic Doctor Who narrative tool) as Romana heads back to the TARDIS to fix K-9 so that he can blast the girder off his master (a little contrived, but let's go with it).

But who's this following Romana back to the TARDIS, stalking her like a 1979 version of Alydon the Thal? The end credits identify him as Tyssan, but he does not speak, even when he really should say something as he looms up on Romana, causing her to topple backwards down a hole (several times!). He then starts rigging up a rope and pulley to seemingly follow her down there. Is he friend or foe? The ambiguity is delicious.

Meanwhile, the Doctor has been "rescued" by a bunch of dreadlocked disco dancers dressed in tight-fitting Spandex, not something you expect, but definitely something that makes you sit up and stifle a titter. It's interesting that the Movellans are almost all played by BAME actors (Suzanne Danielle aside), a conscious casting decision by Ken Grieve that demonstrates a degree of welcome diversity in a programme where most humanoids are Caucasian. Beyond the Movellans, Grieve also cast a deaf man as Tyssan and a British-Chinese actor as Veldan (who we've yet to meet).

It's commendable, but a real shame the Movellans all have silver dreadlocks (y'know, 'cos they're black people in space), but let's not quibble too much. The fact the silver dreads and the figure-hugging outfits make the Movellans look like they should be dancing on The Kenny Everett Video Show is easier to poke fun at!

I love the moment where the Doctor finds out what planet he's on. The Movellans refer to it as D-5-Gamma-Z-Alpha, which in common parlance is Skaro. The look of realisation (and dread) on Tom Baker's face is classic, those wide staring eyes momentarily playing like TV screens for all the deadly memories he has of Skaro. Tom aces that reaction.

The end of the episode is a doozy. Terry Nation's a dab hand at cracking cliffhangers, the seasoned hack that he is, and this is no exception. Romana comes round in a strange, subterranean place littered with television studio arc lights (the fact Grieve willingly allows these lights to get in shot means they're supposed to be part of the set, part of the fiction, but really they're just John Dixon's studio lights illuminating Lalla Ward in wonderfully stark ways - I can't decide whether that's really clever or really rubbish). She finds one of the walls is trembling as something on the other side gradually forces its way through until the wall finally smashes apart and a platoon of Daleks glides through.

It's breathtaking, even though we're kind of expecting Daleks at every turn. OK, so the trembling wall is made of flimsy plastic, but you can't really tell so much because Ward and Grieve sell the moment so well. Something is coming...

"Do not move! Do not move! Do not move!" instructs the Dalek. "You are our prisoner!" Nation shies away from giving us the full "Exterminate!", but Romana looks suitably terrified as the monsters of Skaro close in on her and the end titles crash in.

I was pleasantly surprised by how serious this episode was, both in the way it's written and the way Tom Baker treats it. He's quite serious throughout, not at all like his much lighter approach in Season 16, and this surprises me because you expect Season 17 to be much sillier. But no, this is actually quite grim stuff, disco dancers aside.

First broadcast: September 1st, 1979

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The Daleks smashing through the trembling wall and advancing on their prisoner. Great entrance after almost five years away!
The Bad: The disco Movellans. At no point did they look anything other than silly.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★☆

"Would you like a jelly baby?" tally: 18

NEXT TIME: Episode Two...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode Two; Episode Three; Episode 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: https://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/08/destiny-of-daleks.html

Destiny of the Daleks is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Destiny-Daleks-DVD/dp/B000VA3JLQ