Death to the Daleks

The Daleks appear to be having a root problem.

It is a bit of a shame that either Terry Nation or the Doctor Who brass thought that ever story that featured a Dalek had to have the name Dalek in the title. Death to the Daleks is probably one of the oddest names that could have been chosen for this story. The Daleks aren't the primary villain, nor is their death/destruction the central focus of the story. Really, this is the story that should have been called City of Death, rather than the Season 17 story. But that's a digression.

This story is a bit of a departure for Terry Nation. He still fills it with his usual tropes: dangerous plague, valuable mineral to be extracted, arrogant and direct Daleks, and the noble savage that helps the Doctor. But, the shoe is at least on the other foot in that the Doctor and his allies are forced to team up with the Daleks for mutual benefit against an outside power. That goes by the wayside towards the end of episode two, but it at least starts with an interesting dynamic.

That would actually be a good description of how this story goes overall. The initial set up is very interesting. The loss of power mystery and the creatures attacking in the dark made for a very creepy opening. Even when the Doctor met up with the Earth expedition, it kept this fearful air about it. But after the Daleks show up, it starts to slide downhill.

None of the Earth expedition crew are that interesting or sympathetic except for the Captain and he is killed early in episode two for the sake of creating tension by having Galloway take over as senior officer. This is never really utilized. Likewise, the Daleks gain the upper hand with a reversion to projectile based weapons (machine guns), but they still work with the Earth crew only now they simply dictate orders. It takes them back to the one note baddies of the past rather than the more sinister and plotting versions shown in the Second Doctor era.

There is also the matter of the effects to consider. They were trying and I'll give them credit for that, but the Dalek heads were wobbling when they would swivel and the roots of the city looked very cheap. Worse for the roots, when it emerged and attacked the Exxilons, the wires holding it up were very visible. It was actually worse than the wire holding Cyber Control in The Tomb of the Cybermen. It took what was already a less than stellar effect and just made it look bad. I know that forgiveness is necessary regarding the effects when watching the classic era, but if it looks bad by 1970's standards, then I think it's fair to ding it.

On an overall evaluation, I would have to give this one a middling grade. The idea was sound and the idea of putting the Daleks in a supporting role rather than as the principle villains was also good. But the story lost its edge as the episodes went on and again, the effects just started to look really bad after a while. It's worth seeing once, but I can't imagine I would rush back to give it a second pass.

Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5