Destiny of the Daleks (1979)

Destiny of the Daleks is a very sorry story. It’s the first story since the truly classic Genesis of the Daleks four years earlier. Sadly the second story to feature Davros isn’t the story it should have been. This is the first story after the Key to Time series and Mary Tamm is replaced by Lalla Ward. There is a sequence where Romana goes through several different appearances to decide on what she should now look like. No reason is ever given as to why she does this, though there is one given in the 2005 Big Finish play Gallifrey: Lies. This moment seems to have irritated a lot of people because it implies she goes through several regenerations in quick succession but I don’t buy this. True, it’s a stupid and unnecessary scene but it’s a means to explain the change in actress. The story is set on Skaro but it’s not the same that we saw in 1975, there are more buildings than we saw last time and there is also greener. In this story we meet the Movellans who are a race of Robots who have been fighting with the Daleks and it’s an interesting idea that they are both in stalemate.

The story itself is perfectly sound It’s not the greatest Dalek story but its good that the Daleks have someone else to have a war with apart from the Thals who I find a bit dull. Unfortunately the dress sense of the Movellans leave a lot to be desired as do their guns which look like they’ve been nicked from Heathrow Airport. The fact that the Movellans are robots is a secret that kept well hidden for quite a while so that when I first watched this story I was genuinely surprised that they didn’t have blood and guts.

However despite of what I thought of the plot, it’s the production side of things that I had a major problem with. The state of the Daleks is so depressing to see. It’s understandable that the Daleks take a bit of a knock when they are not being used but you would think at the beginning of the series, there would be enough money to have some work done to them. The first appearance of the Daleks is hardly the greatest in Dalek history. Repeatedly telling Romana to not move several times when her back is against a wall and she couldnt move even if she wanted to. There is a particular shot which shows what is wrong with this story. It’s clear that some of them are being moved by the Dalek operator walking. Another problem is Davros, it’s unfair to blame it on David Gooderson because he does an adequate impression of Michael Wisher who as a superb Davros was always going to be a hard act to follow. No the problem is number one with the mask because it seems to be Wisher’s mask and obviously Gooderson’s face is not the same so the mouth doesn’t quite move properly when he talks.

For her second outing, Lalla Ward does a better job than as Princess Astrid. I don’t know whether her outfit was quite the right choice but I thought that she did a good job and out of the two Romana’s, she is the best one. Tom Baker’s performance starts to border on the comedic side and not in a good way. I think there are moments where clearly Tom should have been rained in and told to still to a more dramatic area of the character. The best line in the story comes from Tom Baker when he tells the Daleks to ‘Spack off’. The supporting cast do an ok job with no single performance really standing out. I think that David Gooderson is perhaps the best purely because of the role he plays. As I mentioned earlier, it was always going to be difficult to top the superb performance by Michael Wisher but Gooderson wasn’t given the tools to do a good job. Had he been given a better mask and perhaps even a new chair to suit him then his performance would have been better.

Destiny of the Daleks is the weakest Dalek story ever. The story is a disapinting start to the series and it’s a sad way for the Daleks to come back. The next time we see them thankfully they will be restored to their former glory but on this occasion they show why they are the most popular monsters in Doctor Who.