Day of the Daleks is quite an important story. It’s the first Dalek story for Jon Pertwee and also the first Dalek story since 1967 adventure. As a result it has a certain air to it which means that as a result the story works but there are some things that don’t. This is not written by Terry Nation but by Louis Marks who had previously written the 1964 adventure ‘Planet of Giants’ which I quite liked. The story sees Sir Reginald Styles attacked by someone in army uniform before disappearing. It turns out that Styles is quite important in some peace talks and the Doctor is bought in to try and figure out why these ‘ghosts’ are appearing and from where. However as the story gives away the Daleks are involved. As I write this the special edition of this story with new effects and Dalek voices is just weeks away from release and to be honest if ever a story were in need of
The idea that there are people trying to assassinate someone from the past is nothing new but it is done quite well in this story. The idea that the story is set in a stately home with quite an important international crisis pending is something that makes the story have an extra sense of importance. However whilst the story was getting going, all I wanted was a Dalek. Just one solitaire Dalek would have done however I should be careful what I wished for because I would go on to be disappointed. When the story is at the stately home, it’s all intriguing and it was only when the story moved into the future that the story falls down. We get to meet a group of army clad figures who are determined to kill Styles and all that stuff is quite interesting but when we get into the future where the Daleks are overseeing slaves which is not done in a fresh way. The clever twist is that the bomb which is thought to cause the troubles in the future is actually caused by the people trying to kill Reginald Styles. This is the thing that gives the story some lovely sense of drama and irony because it’s because of them that they are in this situation after spending the majority of the story pretending to be the right ones when in fact they have condemned themselves.
The story starts to fall down because of the Daleks. They sound ridiculous, I’m sorry but there’s no way of getting around this. Whenever they are on screen and start talking they start to lose any sense of credibility and by the end of the story I found them about as scary as a cold. Anyone who says the ‘hiding behind the back of the sofa’ line when referring to this story cannot have been telling the truth. It must have been a disappointment for those fans at the time who hadn’t seen a Dalek story before to see this fantastic creation resorted to a silly voice.
Now there is a surprisingly good amount of action stuff and there is another opportunity for Jon Pertwee to do his James Bond thing on a quad bike with Katy Manning trying to not get thrown off. There is a good outing for the UNIT guys and I think that any story with Nicholas Courtney in it isn’t going to be 100% bad. I think that the supporting cast are all quite good but I think that this is a story that could have benefited from Roger Delgado. Ultimately this story is quite a nice story but whilst not the greatest Dalek story ever its just a relief to have the Daleks back in Doctor Who and when you watch this on DVD with its brand new effects then hopefully this story will be improved because of the changes.
The idea that there are people trying to assassinate someone from the past is nothing new but it is done quite well in this story. The idea that the story is set in a stately home with quite an important international crisis pending is something that makes the story have an extra sense of importance. However whilst the story was getting going, all I wanted was a Dalek. Just one solitaire Dalek would have done however I should be careful what I wished for because I would go on to be disappointed. When the story is at the stately home, it’s all intriguing and it was only when the story moved into the future that the story falls down. We get to meet a group of army clad figures who are determined to kill Styles and all that stuff is quite interesting but when we get into the future where the Daleks are overseeing slaves which is not done in a fresh way. The clever twist is that the bomb which is thought to cause the troubles in the future is actually caused by the people trying to kill Reginald Styles. This is the thing that gives the story some lovely sense of drama and irony because it’s because of them that they are in this situation after spending the majority of the story pretending to be the right ones when in fact they have condemned themselves.
The story starts to fall down because of the Daleks. They sound ridiculous, I’m sorry but there’s no way of getting around this. Whenever they are on screen and start talking they start to lose any sense of credibility and by the end of the story I found them about as scary as a cold. Anyone who says the ‘hiding behind the back of the sofa’ line when referring to this story cannot have been telling the truth. It must have been a disappointment for those fans at the time who hadn’t seen a Dalek story before to see this fantastic creation resorted to a silly voice.
Now there is a surprisingly good amount of action stuff and there is another opportunity for Jon Pertwee to do his James Bond thing on a quad bike with Katy Manning trying to not get thrown off. There is a good outing for the UNIT guys and I think that any story with Nicholas Courtney in it isn’t going to be 100% bad. I think that the supporting cast are all quite good but I think that this is a story that could have benefited from Roger Delgado. Ultimately this story is quite a nice story but whilst not the greatest Dalek story ever its just a relief to have the Daleks back in Doctor Who and when you watch this on DVD with its brand new effects then hopefully this story will be improved because of the changes.
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