So, the triumphant return of the Daleks sees them heading to Earth. Only we don’t know it’s them at first, of course, other than the title of the story. And the fact that at around the time it was screened, the return of the Daleks was trailed more heavily than a heavy thing.
The opening scenes are fairly powerful. The abandoned waterside and the eerie posters. The first episode as a whole works quite nicely. It also contains one of the finest cliffhangers in Doctor Who as the submerged Dalek makes its way out of the Thames to threaten the retreating Ian and Doctor. If anyone didn’t know about the Daleks returning, that must have been a great way to find out.
But it’s all a little bit downhill from there. And this is a story where the execution of a lot of scenes does rather spoil it. The Robomen are a nice idea – human slaves controlled by the Daleks – but the performances are universally rather crap. Stilted movement and actions would make them easier to run away from than any zombie in The Walking Dead. The battle at the heliport is another nice idea but everyone just stands around a bit and then gets shot. And the wheelchair-bound Dortmund’s sacrifice in order to unburden Barbara and the other one (who’s name I can’t remember) should be incredibly moving – but ends up being very poorly produced.
That said, there are some utterly iconic shots – The ruined Battersea power station and, of course, Daleks on the South Bank opposite Parliament and over London Bridge – these are images that are recreated even today and really do stick in the mind.
Sadly, the central plank of the story is something of an absurdity. The Daleks are going to invade Earth (check), dig a big hole (check) and then remove the Earth’s core and use the earth as a massive spaceship to drive around the galaxy. Ooooookay.
I can see why they chose to make a movie of this story, if only because it contains many great ideas that could so with some serious polishing, even if the Daleks' basic plan is a bit ropey.
I’m possibly biased in favour of the storyline because I’ve always had a morbid fascination with post-apocalyptic dystopias and I do think a lot of that is well presented in this story.
There are some nice tender scenes between Susan and David and The Doctor seems to know what’s going on from the very start…
But there are equally absurd moments as Ian accidentally hides inside a bomb – the hilariously named “Penetration explosive” – and when he realizes he is being lowered down to the detonation site tries that age old, safe as houses, and recommended by the MoD trick of pulling at any wires you see around you. Genius.
There are obvious parallells again between the Daleks and the Nazis and these are nicely in the background until one Dalek pipes up about wiping out all humanity as the ”Final solution… Clean up this planet” Perhaps a touch blunt, there…
And then it all ends… It turns out the Robomen can’t tell the difference between a Dalek and The Doctor doing a crap impression of a Dalek and so they all accidentally rebel and there’s a big explosion that rather conveniently destroys the Dalek saucers that were hovering in just the wrong place at just the wrong time.
And so the conclusion of the story itself isn’t that great. But then, we get to the party getting ready to leave and Susan saying goodbye to her new found love, David. Only she doesn’t get chance. And thereby ensues probably the most emotional scene in Doctor Who’s 50 year history and one of greatest speeches the Doctor ever makes. If you’ll excuse me, I think I have something in my throat…
One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine "