Hello and welcome to Dalekcember part 2, where we go into the mysterious, disco wonderland of the 1970s.
Now this decade is regarded as a practical gold mine for Dr Who, and it is one of its high points, though not so much with Dalek stories. Aside from one, the famous Genesis of the Daleks, most of the rest of the 70s Dalek episodes are seen as either average. And while I personally think there is some more merit to some of them, yeah this was a pretty standard decade for Dalek stories. Lets take a look in detail.

No.7: Day of the Daleks.

A peace conference taking place in a remote house is suddenly attacked by gurella fighters from the future which ravaged by wars and then conquered by the Daleks. They believe the host of the peace conference caused the war by blowing up the house with the delegates in them. But what is the real reason?

The most fascinating aspect of this story is the time travel involved. As it turns out its the gurellas themselves who caused the war when they blew up the house, creating a recursive loop. Its really the first time the series touched on the consequences of changing history. Before it was all ‘You cannot change history, not one line’ and the Doctor and co. would get away unscathed, while here you get the full effects of meddling with history and the damage it can cause.

Aside from that there’s not much else to be honest. The Daleks themselves were never supposed to be in this story, originally called ‘Years of Doom’. They were added in the last minute because of demand from the public for their return after 5 years of no Daleks. And remember this was the days before VHS and the Internet, so for younger viewers there was a lot of hype over those 5 years to finally seeing the Daleks again, some for the very first time ever. And….in that regard the Daleks are just kind of there. No big scheme really, they invaded the Earth and are now just strip mining it. Oh and they have slaves called Ogrons which are basically gorilla people. They’re also just kind of there and only serve the purpose of delaying the Dalek’s screen time until the big reveal. Also there’s a huge battle scene where the Daleks and Ogrons attack the house and its very disappointing. There are only 3 Daleks and they and the Ogrons just casually stroll into the house through blasts of morter fire. I do like the golden leader Dalek though.

Overall a pretty interesting idea that is ironically spoiled by the Daleks. Not a good story, but not the worst.

No.8: Planet of the Daleks

Following on from Frontier In Space, where the Daleks hired the Master to cause a war between humans and samurai reptiles, the Doctor and Jo track the Daleks to a planet called Spirodon. Here they are enslaving the invisible inhabitants to try and learn how to become invisible themselves. As well as that, they have a huge army in a huge fridge and there’s also a group of Thals, yeah remember them, who have pitched up to stop the Daleks.

Planet of the Daleks is a very bland story. Unlike Day of the Daleks where there was at least one good aspect, Planet of the Daleks is just a listless retread of the very first ever Dalek story; there are Thals, an elevator scene, a Dalek cuts through a door, skulking through caves, a hostile forest, unseen menaces, etc, only it lacks anything that made the first Dalek story notable. The jungle sets are ok but you can tell they’re plastic and they reused them a lot and most of the special effects are very ropey. You could read in some parallels or influences with the jungle environment and combat between Spirodon and the Vietnam War, which was still raging on when this was made in fact, but thats only really surface detail

I know I’ve skimmed through this story at a ridiculous speed but really there’s nothing much to talk about here. Its not a bad episode, it is entertaining in its own way, but is a pretty hollow experience. Its basically the first Dalek story with different clothes and in my opinion is the weakest Dalek story in the classic series.

No.9. Death to the Daleks

And from the weakest of Jon Pertwee’s Dalek stories to his strongest. Death to the Daleks sees The Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith stranded on the planet Exxilon, due to a mysterious city with a power draining beacon. Also on the planet are a group of humans looking for a cure to an epidemic and a Dalek expedition. With the Dalek’s weapons not working, both parties make an uneasy alliance and face off against hostile natives who worship the city. But secretly, the Daleks arm themselves with machine guns. The Doctor and Sarah team up with some ‘heretic’ Exxilons, who do not worship the city, and venture into the city’s innards to take it out of action. Simple? Well not really. The city itself has a computerised mind and has laid out traps and puzzles which the Doctor has to solve to get into its centre and destroy it.

If Planet of the Daleks asked ‘what would happen if the Daleks were invisible?’, Death to the Daleks asks ‘What would happen if the Daleks couldn’t use their guns’, which is a far more interesting premise since you take away the Dalek’s biggest weapon; killing people. Actually, in all aspects, Death is a better story than Planet of the Daleks and Day of the Daleks. Its one of the first steps into truly gothic horror for the series, with some wonderful atmosphere and gloomy lighting. The Pertwee era dealt with horror for sure, but most of its horror was usually gritty and grounded. Here the horror is more fantasy orientated with crazy cults, foggy scenery, zombies, a killer city and blood sacrifices. There’s also some great design work, the city invokes towering Mesopotamian ziggurats and Mayan pyramids on the outside, but inside its eerily stark and bland, it doesn’t look like a place people would live in. Its also nice to see alien looking aliens that aren’t all evil, but who aren’t complete saps, something which new Who does suffer from, since most of its good aliens are friends to the children or something like that.

That being said there are some issues. Some are merely due to low budgets, like the entrance of the human ship is basically a beaded curtain and the cliffhanger of episode 3 is a marking on the city floor. I know its an electrified area, but its just a red pattern on the floor, kind of like something you’d see at grandma’s house. Not exactly terrifying.
Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah big faults. Well, first off some of the human characters are a bit meh. Aside from one who is only interested in getting the cure to Earth, the others are just the red-shirts and the pretty guy and girl who will get together at the end. But a bigger issue is the music. Now for the most part its ok, but then there’s the theme they used for the Daleks, which sounds like a sad trombone. Its not really a theme you want to us if you’re trying to make your main threat feel. Quite the opposite, it makes them feel sad and comedic, especially when they’re in such a vulnerable state without weapons.

But in all I think Death to the Daleks raises above the faults and delivers a pretty solid, if a bit standard, adventure. Its a lot of fun and I know I’m going to watch it again many times in the future.

No.10 Genesis of the Daleks

Now we move from the Pertwee era to the Tom Baker era and boy is this a big one. If there’s any Doctor Who episodes from the Classic series you’ve seen its probably either Genesis of the Daleks or Pyramids of Mars, both considered some of the best of the best. And its easy to see why, both have amazing dark storylines and atmosphere, brilliant characters and acting and memorable villains. Of course Pyramids will have its time to shine later on, for now lets focus on Genesis.
The Time Lords bring the Doctor and his companions Sarah Jane Smith and Harry to Skaro in the far distant past during the huge war between the Thals and Kaleds [Kaldes=Daleks], who live in large cities protected by domes. Skaro has been decimated by the biological, chemical and nuclear weapons used in the war and mutations in both races are exiled into the wasteland. Each side is close to collapse; the Thals are pouring all their remaining resources into a huge missile, while the Kaleds have reduced to propping up bodies in trenches to make it seem like they have a greater force and hanging prisoners to conserve ammunition.

The Time Lords have predicted that if left unchecked, the Daleks will one day will rule the universe and send the Doctor to either destroy the Daleks, learn an inherent weakness that could be used to defeat them or alter them to become less aggressive creatures.

In the Kaled city, the scientist Davros decides to accelerate the speed of mutation in the Kaleds to form the ultimate life-form, the Dalek, while also building travel machines for them. He also betrays his own people to stop them interfering with his work by helping the Thals to destroy the Kaled dome and then sends the Daleks on a rampage through the Thal city. But Davros has also driven his Daleks too far, reducing their rationality, reason, making them more aggressive and violent and making them believe they are the supreme race. In the end, the Daleks decide they do not need Davros any more and shoot him down.

There are so many good parts to this story. The biggest is Davros, though sadly every Dalek story after this has Davros in it and diminishes the Daleks to revolving around him constantly rather than being their own devious selves, ironic given the ending this episode gives to Davros. But anyway, Davros here is probably at his best, though one of the 80s episodes comes close. He’s terrifyingly insane and yet also ruthless and highly intelligent. Coupled with Michael Wisher’s on point performance and the amazing wizened make up leads to one of the most memorable villains in any Doctor Who story, bar none. And this scene….oh this scene, it is pure gold;



He’s also accompanied by Nyder, one of the most effortlessly creepy characters who is like a Gestapo commander always hanging around Davros’ shoulder like a vulture. There are also a lot of other fascinating characters around the place, including Kaleds who don’t think Davros is the most sane person [I can’t imagine why.] and its nice to see the Thals again, this time with proper clothes on and not being all wishywashy, here they’re toughened soldiers.
The whole world of Skaro feels so gritty and nasty, surprising given there’s only about five or so major locations, as most of it is conveyed with character and dialogue. See New Who? You don’t have to be big to be brilliant. Speaking of which I love the Kaled/Thal war here, its portrayed as a brutal fight to the death with crude weapons mixed with modern ones as the resources run dry, unlike in New Who where they had hand land mines….with eyes….really? Where are the gas masks? The shells? The rifles? No? Hand land mines with eyes are apparently the ‘safe’ option….bleurgh, softer generation!

Are there problems? Yes. The Doctor and Harry enter a cave where Davros’ experiments on animals are left. Some of these turn out to be hilariously awful giant clams which I think are supposed to be scary but you can’t make clams scary unless if they’re covered in blood and bits of people. The first time they pop up they’re ok because they move around, but the second time they appear is just downright embarrassing. The cast pretend to be scared, but the clams don’t do anything at all, so it comes across as more of a pantomime.
Genesis also continues the themes of genetic purity, Nazi and WW2 symbolism and the horrors of war, which is good but in this they’re very unsubtle about it. In early Dalek stories it was all subtext, here its smacking you over the head that “THE DALEKS ARE NAZIS!”. That and some of the cliffhangers are bit naff.

But aside from that Genesis has endured as a classic for very obvious reasons. It was great then, its still great now. Its the crowning achievement of Dalek stories in the 70s and possible as a whole in Doctor Who.

No.11 Destiny of the Daleks

Oh boy. Its time for another stupid Dalek story. Yes the infamous Destiny of the Daleks….this is going to be fun.

The Doctor and a newly regenerated Romana arrive on Skaro to find the Daleks in a stalemate with a race of Egyptian space disco robots called the Movellans, both of whom are all logical based now. The Daleks are digging up their city to try and find Davros, who isn’t dead but just frozen;

Doctor: “But you’re supposed to be dead!”

Davros: “...I got better.”

The Daleks want Davros to reprogramme their computers to have a new element in them to defeat the Movellans. The Movellans want the Doctor to do the same for them. Insanity and stupidity ensues….woo.

Ok lets get this out of the way, Destiny of the Daleks is bad. Really bad, but kind of an enjoyable way. Its just so stupid and silly and yet its also very likeable in how chintzy and 70s it is. The Movellans are one of the most glamorous alien races ever in Doctor Who, I could see them stomping around a dance floor. Maybe that’s why they’re one of the more popular Doctor Who cosplays for the ladies, they do have a great look and are more iconic than dressing up as New Who’s ordinary Earth girl line up. But as the Dalek’s greatest enemies….yeah, no we’re not buying it.
Also Daleks are apparently logical now. Daleks who are based around fear, malice and hatred are extremely logical creatures of course. If they wanted to do this right, why didn’t they have the Cybermen vs the Daleks? Two of the biggest foes against each other and the Cybermen actually are logic based.
This is the start of Daleks and Davros’ violent and abusive relationship [Davros should really leave the Daleks and sue them.]. And sadly this is Davros’ worst episode. He likes the fanaticism of Genesis and instead could be any old shouty villain. Also the mask they used on the actor was far too small. Its not the actor’s fault, he’s doing all he can, but that mask really hampers his voice which is a real shame.
There’s also one big continuity issue. Now normally this isn’t too big for me, but here its a bit infuriating. The Daleks are revealed to be robots. Despite the fact they’re not, they have an organic core….and no, this wasn’t a different writer, this was written by their creator. Its like he forgot what he had created, but that wouldn’t surprise me.
Aside from that the story just looks kind of shoddy. The Dalek props are pretty battered looking and could do with some tlc. The quarry used for Skaro is also way too green for a barren wasteland. Its so odd seeing a Dalek frolicking around in wild flowers. There are one or two nice visual effects like a spaceship flying, but overall this is not a pretty episode.
The one positive I can give is that it introduced Romana’s second reincarnation, who is a very cool companion. She’s just one of the sweetest and yet also elegant companions in the entire roster.

Destiny of the Daleks does have some entertainment in its silly tacky wacky antics, but its not a good episode at all. I say its better than Planet of the Daleks though, because it is different and more enjoyable, but you don’t need to watch this.

The 1970s were an unusual time for the Daleks, yet not an interesting one. While the 60s and 80s which had lots of experimentation and the Daleks appearing usually heralded a major change, the 70s have one huge high point and the rest are mostly just average and generic. They’re by no means bad and can be fun entertainment but aside from Genesis they don’t add that much.

Next time we tackle the 80s. How did the Daleks hold up in the decade of synth music, wacky hair, yuppies and Doctor Who’s death rolls? Tune in later to find out.