Hello again, first let me appologise for leaving it so long between my last post, however I fully intend to make up for that and will be posting the rest of the list before Christmas.
With that said then let's carry on from where we were.
No. 20: The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's
Familiar (2015, Twelfth Doctor)
Reason:
This, like some of the previous entries, comes down
to simple gimmick. The premise for the story isn’t overly complicated or too
simple, in so far as there really isn’t all that much story to begin with.
As I said, it comes down to gimmick, in that we are
seeing a multitude of ‘classic’ Dalek designs return, which serves it’s
function of grabbing our attention to the story. Unfortunately, the Daleks do
little in the way of the story, and anything that they do is soon undone i.e.
they kill Missy and Clara, low and behold they are still alive (although to be
fair that wasn’t going to be the biggest shock), they make a show of destroying
the TARDIS but actually its still there (again not the biggest surprise but if
you’re trying to make your villains/monsters appear powerful, don’t set them up
to immediately loose that power).
The Daleks in this story are simple servants, yes
sir, no sir, exterminate etc. In truth, this isn’t really a Dalek story, it’s a
Davors story guest staring the Daleks. They have no real flaws because they
have no real character, and then there’s the ending. Oh dear. Beaten by their
own sewers. The. Sewers.
It is sadly yet another weak outing for the Doctor’s
supposedly arch-enemies, but at least it shows they were willing to try and
think of a way to use them.
No. 19: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End (2008,
Tenth Doctor)
Reason:
Now don't get me wrong; I love this story. The first
episode is brilliant, it goes a long way to showing just how powerful and scary
the Daleks can be, especially when it looks like there’s no one around to stop
them.
Really, I feel it is only let down by how the Daleks
are dealt with.
We start off with the Dalek's making a return, a
solid return; the best at that time since Doomsday I'd say. They're back and in
force, truly showing they are the ultimate war machines and that they are truly
ruthless. It's like watching a Nazi army sweep through but in the 21st Century
(especially when you get to see Daleks speaking in German!). We also get 3 very
nice treats to go with our Daleks, the first being a new Dalek supreme; the
first proper one since the 80s (that's not a lie, look it up) and a new design
to go with him too (3 light's; why didn't anyone think of that before?). Then
we get Dalek Caan gone super-insane, which was much better than he was before
(and turning him into a proper character). And then finally, the biggest treat
of all; Davros.
20 years since we'd seen him, and boy had we missed
him.
Now while I'd have liked to seen the return of Terry
Malloy to the role (but perhaps I'm old fashioned), Julian Bleech still gives
what can only be described as a truly excellent performance. He hit's (nearly) all
the right parts that make Davros a truly compelling and fantastic villain.
As I said, for me really the only let down is how
the Daleks are dealt with; It took one Donna Noble flicking a few switches and
dials to incapacitate and humiliate the Daleks, and then one half Doctor to press
a button and destroy them all -_- it's not original, it's not terribly clever
and it diminished the story and the Daleks too. So really it felt like a cop
out after setting the Daleks up to a great new height... and then pulling the
rug out from underneath them.
No. 18: Destiny of the Daleks (1979, Fourth Doctor)
Reason:
The first Classic Era entry, and certainly I have to
say one of the worst Dalek stories EVER.
I'm not knocking the acting in it, let me state that
first. But really this whole story was in trouble from the start. I laud Terry
Nation as not just a great writer for Dalek stories, but a truly great
Science-Fiction writer in general. Destiny however is not a good example of
this. I suspect he was beginning to run out of ideas for his creations, and so
there are many parts of that feel like we've seen it before, or there are parts
that made us all go "No, that's wrong that is" such as the Daleks are
apparently now Robots -_- Now the idea of there being a species that can match
the Daleks isn't so bad (we've had the mechanoids who were pretty close
'cousins' of the Daleks) but it, like the rest of the story, is let down by a
big factor; money. They budget for the whole series at that time got severely
cut, and so the normal amount of money required to make the Daleks was simply
not there. And so we were left with some very bad looking Daleks, equally bad
effects and bad make-up aka Davros. Davros in this is another unfortunate
victim of the lack of funds; a new actor being brought in to do the part, but
not a new mask; so we're left with something that looks like it could be
Davros, if a fan had made it. For me the final thing against this is the
Daleks's voices; certainly not the best that they ever had. Why isn't it
further down on the list? Simple; it's not really the story's fault that it was
bad, it was to do with the money. A good Dalek story finds balance between
both; there's no point in spending loads of money and there being no story.
This has a story, not a great one I'll grant you, but it's only failures stem
from it being a production eye-sore, and you can't fault Doctor Who for that,
for that you blame the BBC at the time, that's why it's here. Besides; it did
have Tom Baker in it 
No. 17: The Chase (1965, First Doctor)
Reason: I know putting this one here will get me some flack so let me just say this; it has NO story, 1 good episode (2 at most) the rest are RIDICULOUS. I'm completely bananas okay? but even I can't stand the silliness of that Story. I'm not saying the idea/concept for it was bad; not at all, you've got the Doctor and his Companions being chased by the Daleks through Time & Space, a battle between Mechonoids & Daleks, Ian & Barbara's departure; these are all good ideas, and it did some of them well. Ian & Barbara leaving the TARDIS crew is very touching scene, and really I think it's what saved this story, well that and the fight between the Daleks and the Mechonoids; you've got two species who literally spark of a huge battle as soon as they see each other; it's great
. But what spoils
it all for me is the stuff like the house of horrors, the Mary Celeste, Daleks
buried in sand (although it worked with water oddly enough) ohhh and a Doctor
Robot. Now there was a good idea that just didn't really work for me. It is
important for a reason besides the changing companions though; it was the first
story to feature the neck slats on the Dalek body, something that hasn't
changed since. Most fans tend to cough and brush over this story, for the most
part. I shall join them in doing so. No. 16: Resurrection of the Daleks (1984, Fifth Doctor)
Reason: I personally like this story, though many fans do not. There are many good things in it; Terry Malloy's insane Davros, Lytton the Dalek agent, an improved Dalek design (bearing in mind that the last one we saw was Destiny [No, 5 Doctors doesn't count]) Teagan's Departure, the 5th Doctor going to kill Davros, Dalek vs Dalek violence
. This is better
return for the Daleks; they kill LOADS of people in this (Seriously; they
killed more people than the Terminator in his first film!), we got better Dalek
voices and (slightly) better effects. Davros playing the Daleks and seeking to
usurp the Supreme Dalek is a great bit of plot, and it certainly will continue
to have an effect on future Dalek stories. The real downside with this story is
rather than no plot; there's too many. You've got Davros betraying the Daleks,
the Dalek's plans to duplicate the Doctor and send it to assassinate the high
council on Gallifrey, trying to find a cure for the Movellan virus, the
duplicates of Earth's official's in place to destabilize society for the Daleks
to conquer the planet; you see what I mean. It's a balloon that got overblown
with air; the writer himself said that he'd made a mistake doing this. Despite
all that, I still enjoy it a lot, but that's just me.Part 3 will be up shortly, with last 2 parts coming next weekend. Hope you all enjoy the post!
Comments
Post a Comment