72) DEATH TO THE DALEKS

In what is a darker and exceedingly more violent narrative, Death to the Daleks combines many troupes seen before: rituals, sacrifices, sword (or arrow) fights, horror overtones, gruesome deaths, grumbling aliens who worship ‘fake’ gods, all attributes that will later play a significant part when Doctor Who descends into its classic horror-renaissance era just months away. The scripts are superb, The Doctor and Sarah are literally plunged into total darkness and unprecedented danger, and became separated on a hostile alien planet that could literally kill them at any moment. Part one is incredibly strong, and almost visually told, with little to no dialogue for long periods of times. It’s a strong piece of writing, when the dialogue doesn’t have to state the obvious, and viewers can fully understand what (and why) certain things happen just by visuals alone; perhaps Terry Nation still had a soft spot for his beloved Daleks. Speaking of the Daleks……
   The Daleks really have no business being involved within the storyline, becoming an (un)interesting b-plot when the Exxilons would have served the monster role just fine. There is something uncanny about the Daleks here, without their death rays, they resort to primitive, crude human weapons to destroy and kill; which perhaps says more about the human race, rather than the genocidal pleasures the Daleks hold with high regard. The Exxilons themselves are a marvellous race of aliens; they’re a race of super beings who have gone through periods of regression/devolution becoming god-worshipping barbaric monsters, whilst their periods of empire and prosperity are long lost in the mist and dust of time. Although their history is nothing but exposition, it’s simple, and effective.
   The story however loses some credibility in part four with The Doctor solving a series of simple logic puzzles which quite frankly are a mockery of his intelligence. The Doctor doesn’t appear to be having any ‘fun’ and neither do the audience. The tight direction, and the feeling of foreboding are never far away. Blatantly dark, sinister, gruesome, and much more violent are features that, make Death to the Daleks a strong Dalek serial, after so many mediocre and down-right abysmal Dalek narratives in the last few years. Even Carey Blyton provides a better soundtrack, but it’s still not particularly good.****​