Season 17 of Doctor Who was not only the final season to air in the 1970's, it also brought some minor changes with it, both in front of and behind the camera. Legendary science fiction writer Douglas Adams was appointed new script editor, following his successful debut adventure The Pirate Planet in the previous season. Series star Tom Baker was joined by a new companion, played by Lalla Ward, who had previously appeared in another part in the previous serial, The Armageddon Factor. Baker and Ward were briefly married following their time together on the show.
Script editor Adams and producer Graham Williams wanted to start the new season with a bang, and the best way to do that was obviously to craft a story featuring everyone's favourite bug-eyed monsters, the Daleks. Their real-life creator Terry Nation was hired to write the script, in hopes of recreating the success of the legendary Genesis of the Daleks from Season 12. Alas, Destiny of the Daleks is nowhere near as good as its predecessor - which may be one of the reasons it was to be Nation's final contribution to the show.
Fans of the show will immediately recognize the Nation-esque element in the script - from slaves working for the Daleks to the Daleks' desperate plan to save themselves in order to become the greatest power in the universe. That concept is undoubtedly worn out by now and Terry Nation fails to deliver anything new or exciting to reinvigorate his creations. But the worst part about Destiny of the Daleks is that Nation clearly tries to copy the template he created for Genesis of the Daleks: we are back on Skaro, once again looking very different from ever before, human beings are once again pitted against the Daleks and Dalek creator Davros makes yet another appearance. Davros is brought to life for the first and only time by David Gooderson and I feel it's safe to say that he is nowhere near as good as the charismatic Michael Wisher, who played him in Genesis or the legendary Terry Molloy who has played him since 1984. In fact, Gooderson is quite bad in the part. The costume doesn't fit his body at all and he has the voice and stature of the character all wrong. Davros has never been my favourite Doctor Who villain, but in Destiny of the Daleks he is just bad and boring.
That being said, the Daleks aren't much better, either. Since Davros obviously becomes the new big baddie in most post-1974 Dalek stories, the Daleks themselves have become mindless machines repeating the same lines over and over again and acting as weak and stupid comedic sidekicks to their own creator. And in Destiny of the Daleks particularly, Nation seems to struggle to decide whether to make the Daleks serious or not. So he switches back and forth for the better part of the story, making the Daleks shout threats the one second and having them defeated by the Doctor's hat in another. And they still don't understand how the Doctor thinks and acts, which is just lazy writing.
Nation gets a couple of things right, though. The beginning of the serial, introducing us to Lalla Ward's Romana, is an interesting and memorable sequence. Nations also manages to make the final sequence of Episode 4, with the Daleks attacking the Movellan spaceship, quite exciting (even though the ending of the adventure as a whole is all too brief and hasty, like the endings seen in most stories from the 60s). That brings us to the only new creation Nation offers us; the robotic alien species called Movellans, currently at war with the Daleks. In Destiny of the Daleks the Movellans are the opponents of the Daleks, a part previously played by the Thals. The Movellans' role in the story remains ambiguous for quite a while, which I liked, and the twist involving them is the only truly interesting part in the entire story. The Movellan spaceship is also beautifully designed and I also like the fact that the Movellan crew is entirely black. That makes Doctor Who in 1979 feel like ahead of its time.
The most exciting of the episodes ies Episode 1 with its explosions, its sneaking and its tension - it's like a James Bond movie with a smaller budget. The thrillerish atmosphere of the episode feels fresh but also gets a bit worn out by the end of the episode. But for the most part the atmosphere - coupled with whining winds and earthquakes - actually feels a bit eerie. But a real sense of excitement is absent, mostly because the viewer knows the Doctor and Romana are on Skaro, which means there will be Daleks (thanks for spoiling that, story title!). The special effects and the model work on this story is quite good as well. So big shout outs to director Ken Grieve (in his only Doctor Who work, sadly) and production designer Ken Ledsham for their great work trying to make the story feel interesting, exciting and believable. After a thrilling ride in Episode 1, the second episode reverts back to good ols walking, talking and mining before once again putting up a chilly show for Episode 3. This kind of roller coaster writing can be very annoying at times and feels particularly clumsy in Destiny of the Daleks.
Lalla Ward as the new incarnation of Romana doesn't leave any lasting impressions, but she gets the job done with honour,m even if she doesn't quite match the charisma of Mary Tamm. Romana, on the other side, isnät particularly interesting in this story, which i mostly due to the fact that she is given nothing interesting to do. Most of the guest cast is quite anonymous as well, particularly Tim Barlow (from Hot Fuzz) as Tyssan and Peter Straker as the Movellan commander. It's quite rare for Doctor Who to feature such an unmemorable and mundane cast, but here we are. No stellar performances, no standouts, just plain acting.
Destiny of the Daleks is a very plain, stripped down Daleks story, showing exactly why it was good to finally let Nation go. It's unusually slow and boring for a Dalek story and there truly is a somewhat clumsy tinge to it all, even in the faster moments. The story is saved by its production values, a few good scenes between the Doctor and Davros and the witty and snappy dialogue as well as the clever humour, inserted by script editor Douglas Adams. The scene in which the Doctor reads a book called "The Origin of the Universe" while being stuck waiting for help is a nice and unusual bit of comedy. But for all that its worth, Destiny of the Daleks is a lazier and poorer recreation of Genesis of the Daleks just as Planet of the Daleks is a forgettable recreation of The Daleks.
Review by Theo KallströmVIP 6BlockedParent2018-09-07T20:25:38Z— updated 2018-09-11T08:26:59Z
Season 17 of Doctor Who was not only the final season to air in the 1970's, it also brought some minor changes with it, both in front of and behind the camera. Legendary science fiction writer Douglas Adams was appointed new script editor, following his successful debut adventure The Pirate Planet in the previous season. Series star Tom Baker was joined by a new companion, played by Lalla Ward, who had previously appeared in another part in the previous serial, The Armageddon Factor. Baker and Ward were briefly married following their time together on the show.
Script editor Adams and producer Graham Williams wanted to start the new season with a bang, and the best way to do that was obviously to craft a story featuring everyone's favourite bug-eyed monsters, the Daleks. Their real-life creator Terry Nation was hired to write the script, in hopes of recreating the success of the legendary Genesis of the Daleks from Season 12. Alas, Destiny of the Daleks is nowhere near as good as its predecessor - which may be one of the reasons it was to be Nation's final contribution to the show.
Fans of the show will immediately recognize the Nation-esque element in the script - from slaves working for the Daleks to the Daleks' desperate plan to save themselves in order to become the greatest power in the universe. That concept is undoubtedly worn out by now and Terry Nation fails to deliver anything new or exciting to reinvigorate his creations. But the worst part about Destiny of the Daleks is that Nation clearly tries to copy the template he created for Genesis of the Daleks: we are back on Skaro, once again looking very different from ever before, human beings are once again pitted against the Daleks and Dalek creator Davros makes yet another appearance. Davros is brought to life for the first and only time by David Gooderson and I feel it's safe to say that he is nowhere near as good as the charismatic Michael Wisher, who played him in Genesis or the legendary Terry Molloy who has played him since 1984. In fact, Gooderson is quite bad in the part. The costume doesn't fit his body at all and he has the voice and stature of the character all wrong. Davros has never been my favourite Doctor Who villain, but in Destiny of the Daleks he is just bad and boring.
That being said, the Daleks aren't much better, either. Since Davros obviously becomes the new big baddie in most post-1974 Dalek stories, the Daleks themselves have become mindless machines repeating the same lines over and over again and acting as weak and stupid comedic sidekicks to their own creator. And in Destiny of the Daleks particularly, Nation seems to struggle to decide whether to make the Daleks serious or not. So he switches back and forth for the better part of the story, making the Daleks shout threats the one second and having them defeated by the Doctor's hat in another. And they still don't understand how the Doctor thinks and acts, which is just lazy writing.
Nation gets a couple of things right, though. The beginning of the serial, introducing us to Lalla Ward's Romana, is an interesting and memorable sequence. Nations also manages to make the final sequence of Episode 4, with the Daleks attacking the Movellan spaceship, quite exciting (even though the ending of the adventure as a whole is all too brief and hasty, like the endings seen in most stories from the 60s). That brings us to the only new creation Nation offers us; the robotic alien species called Movellans, currently at war with the Daleks. In Destiny of the Daleks the Movellans are the opponents of the Daleks, a part previously played by the Thals. The Movellans' role in the story remains ambiguous for quite a while, which I liked, and the twist involving them is the only truly interesting part in the entire story. The Movellan spaceship is also beautifully designed and I also like the fact that the Movellan crew is entirely black. That makes Doctor Who in 1979 feel like ahead of its time.
The most exciting of the episodes ies Episode 1 with its explosions, its sneaking and its tension - it's like a James Bond movie with a smaller budget. The thrillerish atmosphere of the episode feels fresh but also gets a bit worn out by the end of the episode. But for the most part the atmosphere - coupled with whining winds and earthquakes - actually feels a bit eerie. But a real sense of excitement is absent, mostly because the viewer knows the Doctor and Romana are on Skaro, which means there will be Daleks (thanks for spoiling that, story title!). The special effects and the model work on this story is quite good as well. So big shout outs to director Ken Grieve (in his only Doctor Who work, sadly) and production designer Ken Ledsham for their great work trying to make the story feel interesting, exciting and believable. After a thrilling ride in Episode 1, the second episode reverts back to good ols walking, talking and mining before once again putting up a chilly show for Episode 3. This kind of roller coaster writing can be very annoying at times and feels particularly clumsy in Destiny of the Daleks.
Lalla Ward as the new incarnation of Romana doesn't leave any lasting impressions, but she gets the job done with honour,m even if she doesn't quite match the charisma of Mary Tamm. Romana, on the other side, isnät particularly interesting in this story, which i mostly due to the fact that she is given nothing interesting to do. Most of the guest cast is quite anonymous as well, particularly Tim Barlow (from Hot Fuzz) as Tyssan and Peter Straker as the Movellan commander. It's quite rare for Doctor Who to feature such an unmemorable and mundane cast, but here we are. No stellar performances, no standouts, just plain acting.
Destiny of the Daleks is a very plain, stripped down Daleks story, showing exactly why it was good to finally let Nation go. It's unusually slow and boring for a Dalek story and there truly is a somewhat clumsy tinge to it all, even in the faster moments. The story is saved by its production values, a few good scenes between the Doctor and Davros and the witty and snappy dialogue as well as the clever humour, inserted by script editor Douglas Adams. The scene in which the Doctor reads a book called "The Origin of the Universe" while being stuck waiting for help is a nice and unusual bit of comedy. But for all that its worth, Destiny of the Daleks is a lazier and poorer recreation of Genesis of the Daleks just as Planet of the Daleks is a forgettable recreation of The Daleks.
Rating: 6 out of 10