Death to the Daleks stays true to its name and completely undermines the once so creepy tin-can killers while presenting very little new stuff for viewers to enjoy.
Story: 4
Considering all the reusing of old ideas Terry Nation is notorious for, this serial feels fresh and mostly original. He still writes the Daleks as pretty boring and not merely as evil as David Whitaker, but at least he has created an interesting setting with interesting natives. He also struggles to write good material fro Sarah.
There isn't very much to this story, to be honest. It's pretty straightforward and simple and lacks much of the detailing Nation includes in his linger serials. The Daleks don't even really need to be present and somehow Nation manages to fill even a four-parter with padding. I mean, why do they want the Tarranium?
A story that lacks real focus, real soul and a real point isn't very good. This is a major misfire on Nation's part.
Acting: 6
Duncan Lamont and John Abineri (from Fury from the Deep and The Ambassadors of Death) are the only supporting actors who manage to stand out. I particularly like Lamont's treacherous Galloway.
Arnold Yarrow, who plays the native Bellal, is a different affair. I know a lot of people dislike him but I adore his performance and his character. Bellal is by far my favourite supporting character in the series up to this point.
The Doctor: 5
Jon Pertwee seems pretty tired with this story since he doesn't put his usual energy into his performance, not even when meeting the Daleks. It's a shame really since it's usually against the Daleks when the Doctor is at his fiercest.
The Companions: 7
Sarah Jane Smith had a great start to her travels with the Doctor, but here she isn't given very much to do and she's far from the strong and independent journalist she was in her first two adventures.
Bellal becomes the companion for pretty much the entire second half of the story, and he awesome. He's like a little child needing support with everything and looking like Gollum. He should have joined the Doctor and Sarah in their travels!
The Monster/Villain: 2
The Daleks of this serial are pretty useless. They are being defeated by the Exxilons, the Doctor and the astronauts like they were made of paper. This story is one of their weaker appearances, and they could just as well have been replaced with pretty much anything else. In that sense, this is truly a death blow to the Daleks.
Production: 5
I like the dark and foggy landscape of Exxilon, the dunes and the temple. They look very alien to my eyes. I also love the incidental music to this story, it's perfectly mysterious and intense.
The directing, editing and cinematography throughout this serial is pretty nice, to begin with giving a sort of tense and exciting feel to the opening of Episode One. Then it all kind of loses grip and focus once the wretched Daleks appear!
This story has some terrible cliffhangers. They're closeups if something and a rapid cut to the credit before we even gave time to take in what that's something is. The worst one is the one in Episode 3, which curs to a shot of the floor. Wonderful stuff!
Pacing: 6
The serial has a great start and things are perfectly interesting before the Daleks arrive, after which it kind of loses focus and reaches a stalemate. It's as if Nation didn't know what to write and decided to fill the gaps in his script with all kinds of more or less unrelated events. That makes the remaining two and a half episodes less interesting to watch.
Atmosphere: 6
Death to the Daleks isn't quite as exciting as I remember it being, particularly after the quite amazing first episode. It's pretty slow, the Daleks are pretty useless and it just feels like its devoid of a point. It's never scary, but particularly exciting or funny.
While the second half of Episode 5 and the first half of Episode 6 form a unique experience in Doctor Who, it's not very exciting to see the Doctor and Bellal traverse a temple solving half baked tests.
Impact: 4
Nation yet again made the Daleks a joke until his following story, Genesis of the Daleks changed everything forever.
Replay Value: 4
This isn't a story that warrants any rewatches.
Random Observations:
I don't know what Terry Nation intended with his Marine Space Corps, but I can't just figure out how that is supposed to work out.
Review by Theo KallströmVIP 6BlockedParent2020-06-22T06:08:46Z
Death to the Daleks stays true to its name and completely undermines the once so creepy tin-can killers while presenting very little new stuff for viewers to enjoy.
Story: 4
Considering all the reusing of old ideas Terry Nation is notorious for, this serial feels fresh and mostly original. He still writes the Daleks as pretty boring and not merely as evil as David Whitaker, but at least he has created an interesting setting with interesting natives. He also struggles to write good material fro Sarah.
There isn't very much to this story, to be honest. It's pretty straightforward and simple and lacks much of the detailing Nation includes in his linger serials. The Daleks don't even really need to be present and somehow Nation manages to fill even a four-parter with padding. I mean, why do they want the Tarranium?
A story that lacks real focus, real soul and a real point isn't very good. This is a major misfire on Nation's part.
Acting: 6
Duncan Lamont and John Abineri (from Fury from the Deep and The Ambassadors of Death) are the only supporting actors who manage to stand out. I particularly like Lamont's treacherous Galloway.
Arnold Yarrow, who plays the native Bellal, is a different affair. I know a lot of people dislike him but I adore his performance and his character. Bellal is by far my favourite supporting character in the series up to this point.
The Doctor: 5
Jon Pertwee seems pretty tired with this story since he doesn't put his usual energy into his performance, not even when meeting the Daleks. It's a shame really since it's usually against the Daleks when the Doctor is at his fiercest.
The Companions: 7
Sarah Jane Smith had a great start to her travels with the Doctor, but here she isn't given very much to do and she's far from the strong and independent journalist she was in her first two adventures.
Bellal becomes the companion for pretty much the entire second half of the story, and he awesome. He's like a little child needing support with everything and looking like Gollum. He should have joined the Doctor and Sarah in their travels!
The Monster/Villain: 2
The Daleks of this serial are pretty useless. They are being defeated by the Exxilons, the Doctor and the astronauts like they were made of paper. This story is one of their weaker appearances, and they could just as well have been replaced with pretty much anything else. In that sense, this is truly a death blow to the Daleks.
Production: 5
I like the dark and foggy landscape of Exxilon, the dunes and the temple. They look very alien to my eyes. I also love the incidental music to this story, it's perfectly mysterious and intense.
The directing, editing and cinematography throughout this serial is pretty nice, to begin with giving a sort of tense and exciting feel to the opening of Episode One. Then it all kind of loses grip and focus once the wretched Daleks appear!
This story has some terrible cliffhangers. They're closeups if something and a rapid cut to the credit before we even gave time to take in what that's something is. The worst one is the one in Episode 3, which curs to a shot of the floor. Wonderful stuff!
Pacing: 6
The serial has a great start and things are perfectly interesting before the Daleks arrive, after which it kind of loses focus and reaches a stalemate. It's as if Nation didn't know what to write and decided to fill the gaps in his script with all kinds of more or less unrelated events. That makes the remaining two and a half episodes less interesting to watch.
Atmosphere: 6
Death to the Daleks isn't quite as exciting as I remember it being, particularly after the quite amazing first episode. It's pretty slow, the Daleks are pretty useless and it just feels like its devoid of a point. It's never scary, but particularly exciting or funny.
While the second half of Episode 5 and the first half of Episode 6 form a unique experience in Doctor Who, it's not very exciting to see the Doctor and Bellal traverse a temple solving half baked tests.
Impact: 4
Nation yet again made the Daleks a joke until his following story, Genesis of the Daleks changed everything forever.
Replay Value: 4
This isn't a story that warrants any rewatches.
Random Observations:
I don't know what Terry Nation intended with his Marine Space Corps, but I can't just figure out how that is supposed to work out.
Score: 49/120