After a very long absence,
what were we to expect from the return of the Daleks? Unlike the modern era,
every single classic Dalek story houses a TARDIS full of merit. And Day of the
Daleks delivered a bucketload of new thrills. And this, after the Space Museum
was the first real time, we get a "timey wimey" tale from the classic
series.
The tone of this story is
very much in tune with the previous seasons. There is a slightly bleak tone to
the future where the Daleks have invaded and taken over the world again. A real
sense of fear and foreboding hangs around the desperate guerrillas who are
doing their best to struggle against the power of the Daleks.
Anna Barry is awesome as
Anat, the leader of the guerrilla group when we first meet them at least. Scott
Fredericks is wonderful and stand-offish, but this is good as one would hardly
expect humans from a broken future to act calmly or reasonably. The team are
very believable and the acting is extremely polished indeed.
But one of the real
champions of the story is the brilliant Aubrey Woods as the Controller. He
truly injects an incredible amount of feeling and pathos into his role, and
even makes you feel very sorry for his and the world's plight at the hands of
the pepperpots. His final showdown where he has betrayed the Daleks is a
brilliant and highly memorable moment, and his extermination turns into one of
the best ever. He dies knowing he has helped to save the world from the
clutches of the Daleks! He is charming, especially when dealing with the
bewildered Jo when she first gets sucked into the future by the human's time machine.
Jon Pertwee too is
absolutely at the top of his game here. One of my all-time favourite scenes is
when he confronts the rebels about just who and what started the war with the Daleks
in the future of Earth. The realisation is brilliantly delivered, and hugely
impacting. I remember my heart beating fast when Jon was letting rip at them
for their part in their future. It’s a brilliant piece of time paradox writing,
but unlike with the Moffat era it isn't confusing or protracted.
The Ogrons are truly one
of the most brilliant and fantastic alien races in the entire history of the
show. I think they look highly plausible and real in this and Frontier in
Space. They look brutish and mean, and the actors are of course on superb form
as the simian brutes. I truly would rate the Ogrons high up in the list of the
best realised monsters ever on the show.
Sir Reginald Styles comes
over as a bit of hardnosed, yet still reasonable, politician. He is not
portrayed as a bumbling oaf or an irate do-gooder either. Wilfred Carter in
fact plays him totally authentically, so that he is not a detestable political
type such as Chinn from the Claws of Axos. Indeed, his final summation of what
will happen if the peace's talks fail at the climax of the tale is excellent
and highly moral. So, just for a change here is a political type I do not
overtly despise! And Wilfred must be given the plaudits for that! You can tell
his "ghost" experience has unsettled him deeply, and yet his
contributing to the world peace talks is very very cool indeed and of more
importance to him.
The original transmitted
version did suffer from so few Daleks being readily usable for the finale. In
this respect the original ending is a little bit flat, but the final Dalek send
off by the brave Shura is absolutely superb, and an excellently performed
scene. I love the look in his eyes as he blasts his hands down on the plunger
to put an end to the Dalek future. It’s just another of the many great moments
peppered throughout the story.
The graphic feel of the
slave workers scene gives some serious food for thought. And all the extras in
this scene do look like they are half starved. Brings back rushes of the evils
of slavery throughout human history. Bleak and horrendous and utterly immoral,
and this scene is excellent in evoking a hot response from me.
Day of the Daleks may not
have the largest overuse of the Daleks ever, in fact they are more in the
background throughout this story, but they are never less than a totally evil
and wicked threat to the world. And the newly shot finale with more Daleks and
more Ogrons does benefit the finale and make it even grander. Makes the Daleks
demise even more cool in the extreme. This story starts of season 9 utterly
sublimely. It’s a Terminator-esque story, but a whole lot more enjoyable than
that film series ever was in my own opinion. Definitively a high mark from me.
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