The Daleks

Make no attempt to capture the prisoners. They are to be exterminated!

This is the story that really kicked things off. Whatever one thinks of An Unearthly Child now, it didn't really grab the public in ways that the BBC wanted. It was the following story that grabbed the public attention and kicked off Dalekmania. Of course, this story is also known for being heavily padded and of the First Doctor still being in his crotchety mode. But can the story as a whole rise up and still be entertaining to a modern audience?

Plot Summary

The Doctor and crew arrive on an alien planet, unaware that the radiation meter has crept up into the danger zone. They exit the TARDIS and find themselves in a petrified jungle where the trees have been turned into brittle stone. The explore a bit more and discover a city over the ridge which also seems devoid of life. The Doctor wants to explore it but cannot due to the approach of dark. The group heads back to the TARDIS. On the way, Susan is touched on the shoulder by an alien hand. She panics and lurches back to the group but both the Doctor and Ian believe that she imagined it.

Inside the TARDIS, Susan mopes a bit though Barbara telling her that she believes her comforts her some. The Doctor treats Ian and Barbara to some food but their meal is interrupted by a knocking sound outside. They turn on the scanner but find nothing there. Unnerved, the other three insist on leaving. Annoyed, the Doctor starts to take off but he loosens the fluid link below the console. The TARDIS fails to take off and he claims to just discover the fault. He also claims that they will have to refill the fluid link with mercury and the only place to find it will be the city.

In the morning they prepare to head down to the city and find a box containing glass vials filled with fluid. Susan puts them in the TARDIS and they set out. They reach the city some time later, all of them starting to suffer from radiation sickness. They split up to explore and Barbara becomes separated by a series of closing doors. She is trapped in an elevator and when it opens, she is captured by an unseen creature.

When Barbara fails to return to the rendezvous point, the other three go to look for her. In the city, they find scientific equipment monitoring the radiation levels and realize that they're suffering from radiation sickness. The Doctor also admits that the fluid link works fine but the Doctor made up the story about needing mercury because he wanted to visit the city. They leave the room but find themselves surrounded by Daleks. The Daleks order them to move but Ian tries to make a break for it. The Daleks shoot him, temporarily paralyzing him from the waist down. The Daleks make the Doctor and Susan drag Ian into a cell where Barbara had already been taken.

Believing the Doctor and his party to be Thals, their planetary enemy, the Daleks pull the Doctor out and interrogate him. The Doctor learns about the neutron war between the Daleks and the Thals while the Daleks realize that the Doctor is not actually a Thal. They also learn that he might have anti-radiation chemicals which the Daleks believe they will need if they are ever to leave the city. They tell the Doctor that one of their party may go to the TARDIS to get the chemicals while the rest stay as hostages.

Ian wants to go but the feeling in his legs has not fully come back and both the Doctor and Barbara are starting to suffer from the advanced stages of the radiation sickness. Ultimately, Susan goes and despite some frights, makes it back to the TARDIS and collects the vials. Upon leaving the TARDIS, she meets a Thal called Alydon. He tells her that he left the chemicals for them and gives her a second box upon learning that they are currently being held by the Daleks.

As Susan returns, the Daleks change their minds about letting the humans die as they might have some value. They seize one of the boxes but allow Susan to keep the second and she distributes the chemical to everyone, allowing them to return to full health. She tells the other three that the Thals have been forced to leave their settlement due to drought and are currently looking for food. They hope to sign a peace treaty with the Daleks in exchange for food. The Daleks overhear this and decide to set a trap to destroy the Thals.

Susan is pulled from her cell and told to write a letter to the Thals including promises of food and mutual cooperation. Susan realizes that the Daleks have been monitoring their conversations in the cell but believes they are sincere in their talk of a truce. However the Doctor is not so convinced and decides they must take action to escape.

The Doctor and Ian stage a fight where Susan leaps on Ian's back and while elevated, destroys the camera watching them. The Daleks suspect it was deliberate but opt to leave them alone. Free to talk, the Doctor figures out that the Daleks are drawing power via static electricity in the floor. They figure that if they can get a Dalek on to the plastic cloak Alydon gave Susan, it will kill the power to the Dalek.

When a Dalek enters to bring them food, Ian jams the door. The Dalek reenters and Barbara blinds it with mud made from dirt that adhered to Susan's shoe. Ian and the Doctor then drag the Dalek onto the cloak where it goes inert. They pull out the mutant inside and Ian climbs in the casing. He then escorts them down the hall and into the elevator as though taking them to the council.

After the main door closes, the trio tries to get Ian out but he find the latch stuck. Meanwhile a passing Dalek informed the council of the prisoners approach and learns that this was actually an escape attempt. The alarm is sounded and other Daleks come and begin to cut through the door. The trio is sent up the elevator while Ian tries to get out. Upon reaching the surface, the Doctor sends the elevator back for Ian, who just manages to get out and in the elevator before the Daleks break through and destroy his casing.

The Daleks pursue them up the elevator but Barbara and Susan send a large rock down the shaft and destroy the elevator and the pursing Dalek. They also spy a group of Thals coming to meet with the Daleks. Unable to get their attention, Ian goes to warn the Thals while the Doctor and the women make their way back to the TARDIS.

The Thal leader, Temmosus, enters the room and offers the Daleks peace. As he begins to invite the other Thals in, Ian leaps out and yells that it's a trap. The Daleks emerge from their hiding places and kill Temmosus. They shoot at Ian and the retreating Thals but only succeed in wounding a couple of them.

Back at the TARDIS, the group prepares to leave but they discover that the fluid link is still in the city as the Daleks had taken it from Ian. Knowing that they will have to fight the Daleks, they try to convince the Thals to fight with them. Alydon, who has become the new leader, refuses until Ian spurs him to anger by suggesting he could get what he needs by trading a woman Alydon fancies, Dyoni, to the Daleks. Alydon knows it's a trick but he attacks Ian anyway and realizes that fighting and dying would be better than living in meager cowardice.

Back in the Dalek city, the Daleks begin to distribute their replication of the Thal's anti-radiation drugs. However, the drug begins to kill the Daleks and they cease implementation. They counteract the drugs with more radiation exposure and most of the Daleks recover. They decide that since radiation levels on the planet are steadily dropping, they must introduce more radiation to the planet and prepare to set off a new neutron bomb.

Alydon, the Doctor, Ian, and another Thal named Ganatus devise a two part attack plan. Ganatus and a group of the Thals with Ian and Barbara will travel through the swamps at the rear of the city and sneak in through the mountains to catch the Daleks by surprise. The Doctor, Susan, Alydon and the rest of the Thals will distract and disrupt the Daleks with feinting tactics at the front of the city. After three days, they will attack the front and meet in the middle.

Gantus leads his group through the swamps where they discover pipes leading from the lake to the city. Figuring the Daleks are pumping their water from the lake, the decide to follow the pipes. However, one of the Thals is attacked and sucked under the lake while filling the water bags.

The remaining group enters the mountain caves a treks through. Ganatus' brother, Antodus, becomes increasingly fearful and wants to turn back. Ganatus tries to restrain him but a sudden cave-in causes both men to fall back. The cave-in blocks their escape and the group presses forward knowing it's their only way out.

Distracting the Dalek cameras with mirrors, the Doctor, Susan and Alydon sneak into the city, destroying antennae and cameras. They find a control box for the power and the Doctor works to short-circuit the system. He sends Alydon back to move the mirrors to a new location and then destroys the box. Pleased with himself, he fails to move quickly and he and Susan are captured by a Dalek patrol sent to investigate.

In the caves, Ganatus and Barbara find an opening that leads to an underground river. The river cuts off their path but they can see another tunnel on the far side. Ian and Ganatus leap across the chasm to investigate and find that it leads back towards the city. They then have all the others leap across with them. However, Antodus mistimes his jump and slips down the cliff face, his safety rope threatening to drag Ian down with him. Antodus then cuts the rope and falls to his death while Ganatus pull Ian back up the cliff.

The Doctor and Susan are taken into the city and held in a room just off the control room. The Daleks are diverting the radiation from their nuclear reactors into a storage device and will release that into the atmosphere rather than setting off a new neutron bomb. The Doctor offers to show the Daleks the TARDIS and how it works in exchange for not releasing the radiation and setting them free. The Daleks however decide that they will simply examine his ship without his help if necessary.

Alydon gathers up the Thals and attacks the city, using the Doctor's knock out of the detection equipment as cover. He meets up with Ganatus' group, who has just emerged from the tunnels in the water pumping area, and the separate groups all converge on the Dalek control room. The Daleks are counting down the release of the radiation but are distracted by the Thal attack. One Dalek is pushed into the power relay which both electrocutes the Dalek and also cuts the power to the rest of the Daleks throughout the city. Without the power, the Daleks simply cease to function, leaving the mutants trapped in cases that cannot support them.

The groups return to the forest with the fluid link and the equipment the Daleks used to grow food. They each say their goodbyes, with Ganatus lingering a bit with Barbara, and then leave in the TARDIS. As the TARDIS takes off, it suddenly lurches violently, throwing everyone inside to the ground.

Analysis

Because Terry Nation had a tendency to recycle various parts of his story elements, it has become a bit fashionable among fans to dismiss all of his work as just the same thing. However, there is something rather unique in the original Dalek story and when you go back and watch it with an open mind, it is actually quite good. Yes, there are elements that come up in later stories and yes it is rather padded, but it almost surprising as how well it holds up as a story and you can see how Dalekmania blossomed in it's wake.

One of the things that I think is very important to enjoying this story is understanding it's context. Unlike most of the other First Doctor stories, this one has Ian and Barbara still pretty pissed at the Doctor for abducting him as well as the Doctor being closer to his nastier self as seen in the caveman adventure (which did not get notes from Sidney Newman). Therefore, there is a natural tension that arises and Ian's attitude of either not trusting or being openly angry towards the Doctor is completely understandable.

The Doctor is better in this story than in the previous one. Yes he sabotages the ship, but not in any meaningful way and there is an inherent curiosity that is appealing in him. He also is clearly the idea man for though Ian and Susan actually carry things out, it is the Doctor that comes up with the various concepts, showing that they must think their way out of the situation rather than just use brute force.

All the companions are pretty good in this one, even Susan. I noted Ian's attitude towards the Doctor but you can see the good man and natural leader pretty much throughout the story. It is also interesting to see that Barbara, who doesn't get as much to do in this story, is already starting to become the Doctor's favorite. She is the one who sides with the Doctor against Ian in provoking the Thals, even though Ian is right. In The Edge of Destruction, it is Barbara who the Doctor specifically makes up with after the events in the TARDIS. Her little dabble with Ganatus is nice but even from this point you know she is Ian's woman. Still it provides a nice reminder that Barbara is a fairly young woman and not defaulting completely into the mom role.

Susan is more of a mixed bag in this story but it certainly is better than her previous one. I think what gets to me most about her is that Carol Ann Ford is clearly in her early twenties and should be playing a character in her mid-to-late teens. However, her dialogue and dialogue about her is more geared towards a character that is closer to ten. I could easily imagine my own daughter (who is eleven) saying these lines and acting like Susan does. She is responsible in a group but so easily hysterical when forced to do something on her own. If Susan was as stroppy a teenager as we might expect, she should have been more independent and less fearful, even with the night run to the TARDIS. I can understand why her character was reduced to a young girl in the movie version. Again her overall performance isn't bad, but the contrast in written age and actual age is just strikes a sour note here and there.

One of the things that really surprised me when I was rewatching this is how different the Daleks were compared to their usual state. I think we have gotten used to Daleks that are rant-y and near insane with hate. Here you have cold and calculating Daleks. They kill with impunity but they have a cold logic that also keeps them from killing indiscriminately. The Daleks as originally written actually are far closer to the scheming David Whitaker Daleks of Power of the Daleks and Evil of the Daleks than they are of even Terry Nation's other Dalek scripts.

My suspicion is that in this original treatment, the Daleks are just written as another alien race and given a cold, logical style. In the next appearance of the Daleks (The Dalek Invasion of Earth) Nation turned them into a Nazi parallel and I think he never went away from that, which caused the Daleks to lose some of that conniving quality that only reappeared when someone else wrote them.

I find it fascinating that the Daleks are not actually taken in by nearly any of the deceptions tried against them. They know the cameras are knocked out deliberately by the prisoners, they are aware of the infiltrations into the city and even the escape attempt they cotton on to fairly quickly. It is only their limitations to the city and their underestimating of the potential damage these things can do that really harms them.

The Thals are a little generic and a touch boring but not in an overly objectional way. Fortunately, there are very few scenes with them by themselves as those scenes just don't grab you. I should even put a caveat there as the worst offender is Dyoni. The actress seems a bit unsure of how to play the character and ends up being a bit more aloof that I think is needed. Temmosus is actually somewhat interesting given how few scenes he gets as he is the pure optimist, choosing to try peace rather than war. Alydon is more of a blend but I think that style of character was done better as Taron in Planet of the Daleks.

Since I have introduced the concept of the Thals being a bit dull, let's talk about the limitation of this story and that is its padding. Granted, your appreciation of this story is going to be far different if you actually space it out over seven weeks rather than watch it in one or two sittings as most modern fans do. That emphasizes the padding and makes it so much more noticeable. I ended watching this in two sittings and got through Episode Five before I had to stop and the only part that bothered me was Episode Two where they were in the cell. Going back the next day, even the famously drawn out crevasse jump scene in Episode Six didn't feel that bad and I'm sure would have been very tense for the kids watching.

These two instances led me to think that the padding that Terry Nation puts in is only that heavily noticeable when there is no movement. I don't think he does people sitting and talking very well the way Malcolm Hulke or Robert Holmes does. Nation is a writer that is entertaining when things are moving. So even the crevasse scene is not that bad because there is movement and you know that someone is going to fall. It gains tension even if it is too much time paid to. But having the four sit around dying of radiation poisoning while Ian tries to get his legs to work and also convince Susan that she has to go to the TARDIS just gets dull. Contrast that scene to a similar one in Episode Three where they are all working together to escape and even though it is again them confined in a room and talking, there is action in the form of a plan taking shape and stuff being done to implement that plan.

There are two other points that really bother me from a story standpoint. The first is that Alydon joins Ian's team after they emerge from the mountains. If Alydon was able to do that, it effectively means that the entire journey through the swamp and the mountains (with two deaths to beat) was totally pointless. Ian's team gained no advantage if a Thal group that came through a frontal assault was able to join and work with them. It might be argued that the Daleks became aware of Ian's team in the city and that caused them to redirect their defenses which allowed Alydon's team to get in, but that is not made clear. I think it would have worked better if we had seen Alydon's team attack the control room, grabbing the Dalek's attention and then having Ian's team attack and getting the drop on the Daleks as the plan was more originally constructed.

My other objection is the oddity of the Daleks not being aware of their need for radiation. You would think that after several hundred years, the Daleks would have come up with their own anti-radiation treatments and figured out that their physiology had adapted to the radiation long before this. It is this lack of drugs or understanding of their physiology that both drives the plot in Episode Two and then provides the added danger of the countdown (which is rather unnecessary) in Episodes Six and Seven. It's just something added that makes no real sense and don't really add anything to the overall plot of the story.

Going back to the positive side, I think the end of Episode One where an unseen Dalek except for the plunger approaching Barbara is one of the best cliffhangers in the scene. It is played very well by Jacqueline Hill and when done on top of the already disorienting cinematography of her being cut off and herded deeper in, it must have scared the kids watching immeasurably. You can also tell that it was a second go around because there is a different reaction in the recap at the start of Episode Two and it just doesn't work as well in ratcheting up the tension. But the one in Episode One is excellent.

On that note, the design and direction are quite good in this story. Even though a lot of sets are reused, they do it in such a way that it really disguises the reuse. The action flows well and you get very good performances out of nearly all the actors. I think you could show this story to a more modern audience and they would have a measure of respect for the way it looks and their objections would be restricted to story and pacing which is just so different in today's television.

Overall I would say that this is a good story, better than what is generally expected. Because there is so much repetition with Nation, I think fans feel they have the measure of this story and prejudge it based on their knowledge of other stories. They also object to the obvious padding and while that does drag the story at a few points, it is moves pretty well. I wouldn't have a problem sitting down with this one again in the near future but I also think that if you were going to expose a new fan to this, it would be better done in smaller chunks, only one or two episodes at a time to allow them to digest it. It might make the padded nature of it seem like less of a slog if they are not used to that format.

Overall personal score: 4 out of 5