It might not be the return the Daleks deserved, but Day of the Daleks is a rare example of Doctor Who doing something more complicated with its time-travelling premise. It has a fair share of problems but it's pretty enjoyable nonetheless.
Story: 8
The Daleks return after a five-year break in their colour debut, facing the Third Doctor for the first time. The only problem is, they barely appear throughout the four episodes and turn out to be more useless than ever before and almost ever since. Calling this a Dalek story is almost an overstatement.
What makes Day of the Daleks so special is its depiction of time travel and alternate futures, a rare occurrence on the show. We have a guerrilla group from the future travel back in time to prevent an event that will cause future mayhem and the Daleks travelling back in time in an attempt to stop the guerrillas. And of course, it's not quite as simple, and there's a rather effective twist in the final episode. It's a plot similar to The Terminator.
I like the concepts of time travel that are depicted here, I just think that the script doesn't handle it as good as it could. The story feels convoluted at times like Louis Marks didn't quite know where he wanted to go with his script. At other times, the story handles the time travelling aspect interestingly, forming a respectable sci-fi thriller.
The Daleks, reportedly a last-minute edition, don't improve the plot. Had they been used interestingly, this could have been a great story, but now it's just average.
Acting: 5
The acting isn't anything to be proud of. The regulars are all fine, but most of the guest actors put in forgettable performances. Anna Barry is downright terrible in some scenes and the same goes for Deborah Brayshaw. Aubrey Woods is pretty good as the Controller, but I wish he had done more with the character.
Since we barely see or hear from the companions it's up to Jon Pertwee to carry the story forward. Luckily, he's so good in his performance that he doesn't need a companion to keep a Doctor Who story going.
The new Dalek voice actors are terrible. They gov the Daleks an overly staccato and monotone voice, which is also significantly slower from the earlier norm.
The Doctor: 6
The Doctor bothers me in this story. He spends the first episode drinking wine, the second being tied up and the rest of the serial running around and gunning down people. Not very Doctor-y at all.
Luckily, we are also given the scheming action Doctor we all know and love, and he has some particularly great moments with the Daleks and with Jo.
The Companions: 5
This story is light in companion-action. Jo is around at the beginning and does nothing and the UNIT people are busy elsewhere.
The Monster/Villain: 5
Ogrons, the go-to henchmen of the Daleks, are introduced here. They are the stupidest and ugliest creatures I have ever seen on Doctor Who, yet the Daleks repeatedly insist on using them. They're seriously useless, even as a brute force. Here, they aren't even used that much until the invasion attempt at the end.
I do like the character arc of the Controller. He goes from an ally to the Daleks to a man sacrificing his life to put an end to the Daleks.
Production: 6
This story features some of the ugliest sets and production work I've ever seen on the show. The colours are bleak, the lighting too dark and the action scenes are pathetic.
The Dalek invasion fleet at the end is the most pathetic invasion I've ever seen. This is down to the limited budget, but the recently released Special Edition DVD improved this issue, among with many others. The new version looks a whole lot cleaner and makes the story quite a lot better.
The editing and directing aren't spot-on here, with several mistakes riddled throughout.
Pacing: 9
This is as swift as other four-parters. It doesn't feel like it drags anywhere and sufficiently gives time to sort things out before the end. Constant action scenes keep the story going until the end.
Atmosphere: 8
What this story does well is to convey the differences of the Earth in the 20th century and the Earth two centuries later. The differences are palpable and effectively separate the two realities from each other. The 22nd century feels like a time you don't want to experience and gives hope for the times we currently live in.
The story fails to convincingly depict a Dalek invasion, so that part of the story feels ridiculous.
Impact: 9
The story was effective enough to reintroduce the Daleks and keep them coming in almost every upcoming season. Day of the Daleks is also a testament of how the Jonj Pertwee era could produce serials more typical to 60s Doctor Who while utilizing the possibilities of time travel and alternate futures.
Replay Value: 8
Despite its problems, this is a pretty fun story and one I could be rewatching now and then.
Random Observations:
UNIT is once again given responsibility for the security for the Second World Peace Conference. Not that they did a very good job last time in The Mind of Evil. And it won't go down very well this time, either!
The Third Doctor enjoys his cheese and wine, despite claiming in his second incarnation that he never touches alcohol. The Eleventh Doctor dislikes wine as well, as seen in The Time of the Doctor (2013).
There it is again, the "OH MY GOD IT'S A DALEK!" cliffhanger from most past Dalek stories, only now it closes Episode 2.
Review by Theo KallströmVIP 6BlockedParent2020-06-12T12:07:16Z
It might not be the return the Daleks deserved, but Day of the Daleks is a rare example of Doctor Who doing something more complicated with its time-travelling premise. It has a fair share of problems but it's pretty enjoyable nonetheless.
Story: 8
The Daleks return after a five-year break in their colour debut, facing the Third Doctor for the first time. The only problem is, they barely appear throughout the four episodes and turn out to be more useless than ever before and almost ever since. Calling this a Dalek story is almost an overstatement.
What makes Day of the Daleks so special is its depiction of time travel and alternate futures, a rare occurrence on the show. We have a guerrilla group from the future travel back in time to prevent an event that will cause future mayhem and the Daleks travelling back in time in an attempt to stop the guerrillas. And of course, it's not quite as simple, and there's a rather effective twist in the final episode. It's a plot similar to The Terminator.
I like the concepts of time travel that are depicted here, I just think that the script doesn't handle it as good as it could. The story feels convoluted at times like Louis Marks didn't quite know where he wanted to go with his script. At other times, the story handles the time travelling aspect interestingly, forming a respectable sci-fi thriller.
The Daleks, reportedly a last-minute edition, don't improve the plot. Had they been used interestingly, this could have been a great story, but now it's just average.
Acting: 5
The acting isn't anything to be proud of. The regulars are all fine, but most of the guest actors put in forgettable performances. Anna Barry is downright terrible in some scenes and the same goes for Deborah Brayshaw. Aubrey Woods is pretty good as the Controller, but I wish he had done more with the character.
Since we barely see or hear from the companions it's up to Jon Pertwee to carry the story forward. Luckily, he's so good in his performance that he doesn't need a companion to keep a Doctor Who story going.
The new Dalek voice actors are terrible. They gov the Daleks an overly staccato and monotone voice, which is also significantly slower from the earlier norm.
The Doctor: 6
The Doctor bothers me in this story. He spends the first episode drinking wine, the second being tied up and the rest of the serial running around and gunning down people. Not very Doctor-y at all.
Luckily, we are also given the scheming action Doctor we all know and love, and he has some particularly great moments with the Daleks and with Jo.
The Companions: 5
This story is light in companion-action. Jo is around at the beginning and does nothing and the UNIT people are busy elsewhere.
The Monster/Villain: 5
Ogrons, the go-to henchmen of the Daleks, are introduced here. They are the stupidest and ugliest creatures I have ever seen on Doctor Who, yet the Daleks repeatedly insist on using them. They're seriously useless, even as a brute force. Here, they aren't even used that much until the invasion attempt at the end.
I do like the character arc of the Controller. He goes from an ally to the Daleks to a man sacrificing his life to put an end to the Daleks.
Production: 6
This story features some of the ugliest sets and production work I've ever seen on the show. The colours are bleak, the lighting too dark and the action scenes are pathetic.
The Dalek invasion fleet at the end is the most pathetic invasion I've ever seen. This is down to the limited budget, but the recently released Special Edition DVD improved this issue, among with many others. The new version looks a whole lot cleaner and makes the story quite a lot better.
The editing and directing aren't spot-on here, with several mistakes riddled throughout.
Pacing: 9
This is as swift as other four-parters. It doesn't feel like it drags anywhere and sufficiently gives time to sort things out before the end. Constant action scenes keep the story going until the end.
Atmosphere: 8
What this story does well is to convey the differences of the Earth in the 20th century and the Earth two centuries later. The differences are palpable and effectively separate the two realities from each other. The 22nd century feels like a time you don't want to experience and gives hope for the times we currently live in.
The story fails to convincingly depict a Dalek invasion, so that part of the story feels ridiculous.
Impact: 9
The story was effective enough to reintroduce the Daleks and keep them coming in almost every upcoming season. Day of the Daleks is also a testament of how the Jonj Pertwee era could produce serials more typical to 60s Doctor Who while utilizing the possibilities of time travel and alternate futures.
Replay Value: 8
Despite its problems, this is a pretty fun story and one I could be rewatching now and then.
Random Observations:
UNIT is once again given responsibility for the security for the Second World Peace Conference. Not that they did a very good job last time in The Mind of Evil. And it won't go down very well this time, either!
The Third Doctor enjoys his cheese and wine, despite claiming in his second incarnation that he never touches alcohol. The Eleventh Doctor dislikes wine as well, as seen in The Time of the Doctor (2013).
There it is again, the "OH MY GOD IT'S A DALEK!" cliffhanger from most past Dalek stories, only now it closes Episode 2.
Score: 69/120