Destiny of the Daleks: Episode One

Just watched DESTINY OF THE DALEKS. This has developed a bad reputation over the years, and not without reason. All the same, it is watchable.

I wonder how much of a shock it was for audiences in England when Romana regenerated without warning at the beginning of the story? Some fans have lambasted the sequence as trivializing regeneration, or even demanding explanation for how she frivolously "wasted" several regenerations before deciding on one she liked. But that's NOT what really happened. The thing is, you'd have to watch PLANET OF THE SPIDERS to understand what she was doing-- projecting a 3D image of her future regeneration, just as Kam-Po did with Cho-Je (and just as, later, the Doctor did with "The Watcher", though unknowingly in his case, as he clearly had never quite got the hang of it as "normal" Time Lords have). The fact that John Nathan Turner was heavily involved with the show at this point suggests the way it was handled might have been HIS idea, since many things during his long run on the show were never properly explained on screen, things being taken for granted that longtime fans had already seen the old shows and thus "KNEW" what was going on. (Gee, no wonder the size of the viewership shrank over the years, that can happen when you're only catering to hard-core long-time "fans".)

I get a kick out of the way the "new" Romana chooses a variation of The Doctor's current outfit to wear. It suggests strongly that the whole thing behind her regenerating is she's come to really LIKE him, would like to get along with him more, and maybe even become more like him. I thought she got a bit too "scream-y" in the first half, but once she escaped from The Daleks (and did so in a very clever way), the "old" Romana seemed to shine thru much more. I often think the 2nd Romana, by not trying so hard to prove she was so smart, actually became smarter. But at the same time, she could also be even more "imperial" than the original, despite her cuter appearance. (And what an adorable cutey she's become!)

You know, by this point in the series, when The Daleks show up, they seem OUT-OF-PLACE to me. Like something that would have been best left in the past as a horrible memory you're trying to forget. I did like The Movellans, both the idea and the general design work, but whenever The Daleks are on screen, they keep making me think that Terry Nation only had ONE idea, and he kept doing it over and over, driving it into the ground the way the Movellan ship does when it lands on a planet. Maybe it was a real blessing when Nation went to America and STOPPED writing for DOCTOR WHO altogether.

Perhaps the worst element of the entire story was David Gooderson. He's just NOT "Davros". He's terrible! I know Michael Wisher was still around when they did this, whatever possessed them to go ahead without him??? (I mean, even if there was a schedule problem, considering the costume and the mask, good grief, they could have gotten Wisher to OVER-DUB the voice after-the-fact. (Isn't that what George Lucas did with the voice of the Emperor in the DVD version of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK?)

Legend has it that after Tom Baker made fun of The Daleks not being able to follow him up a vertical shaft, it hurt their reputation as "scary" aliens so much that JNT felt he had to go to great lengths to "restore" their credibility and scariness when they finally returned in Resurrection OF THE DALEKS. It's too bad nobody just figured out how to make them hover as they always done in the Dalek comic-strip stories. It took until REVELATION OF THE DALEKS for it to happen on the show (and then, it was so badly shot you couldn't even tell what was happening), and REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS before they finally "got it right", when one of them followed Sylvester McCoy up a flight of stairs.

Despite presenting a handful of great ideas, such as the revivification of Davros following Genesis of the Daleks, a stalemate war between two machine races, and Romana's inexplicable regeneration, Destiny of the Daleks has always been among my least favourite Dalek stories. It begins well, with the Doctor and Romana sharing an amusing rapport and K9 having laryngitis, but the execution of the rest of the story leaves a lot to be desired. It ends up feeling like a self-conscious parody, no doubt a symptom of the pop culture joke the Daleks had become by this point, opting to go for cheap gags and slapstick in place of intrigue or tension. Furthermore, the Movellans look plain ridiculous, some of the direction is laughable (the way falls to the ground in confusion is hilarious), and David Gooderson's stand-in for Michael Wisher's Davros is underwhelming at best. An interesting story, in spite of itself.

Review of all 4 episodes:

Destiny of the Daleks is solid and entertaining but falling short of a top level Dalek story in my opinion.

The start of the first episode features Romana inexplicably regenerating. I was very sad to see Mary Tamm go as she was wonderful, witty, intelligent and gutsy as Romana I. There is a fully comedic scene of Romana going through various options of new incarnations ranging from super tall to short and blue skinned. It is quite amusing but it is broad comedy, not terribly sophisticated. It would have been nice to know why Romana was regenerating and given she very soon is put in peril by radiation, rockfalls and Daleks it is a pity a dramatic death and regeneration was not used instead of the unexplained, comedy version. To be fair it is a pleasantly light hearted scene in keeping with this more comedic period of the show but I personally prefer a bit more edge and seriousness on the whole.

Lalla Ward is introduced as Romana II having previously played Princess Astra in the last story. It is actually made clear she has chosen to copy that appearance. Lalla is very good and has good chemistry with Tom but I preferred Mary Tamm to be honest in terms of her personality and the characterisation. Romana in this story is a bit more of a typical companion, screaming and needing rescue at times but she does work out her own escape from captivity at one stage so she still has some strength.

The Doctor and Romana find they are on Skaro and are caught amongst a battle between the Daleks and the Movellans. They find the Daleks are tunnelling down into the buried Kaled city to find their creator, Davros. I love the character Davros and here he is maybe a bit underused but when he is involved he is a clear strong point of the story. Davros is played by David Gooderson, replacing Michael Wisher. Gooderson is not mentioned much compared to other Davros actors and I feel that is mainly because his voice is not processed to give it the less human sound that other appearances by Davros have. It lessens his character a bit in terms of impact and Gooderson is also a more understated performer than any of the other actors in the role. That makes him fade a bit in people's memory I think but I actually quite like the quieter, more thoughtful side shown here as it adds some variation.

The Daleks themselves are menacing and threatening here and there is an interesting twist on their earlier efforts from Evil of the Daleks to achieve a free thinking element like humans in order to gain an advantage in some situations. Here they want Davros to give them that guidance which is actually a more effective way of giving them an alternative strategy without altering their 'purity'.

There are some bits that could have been better directed or had better production values of course but overall this has plenty of good stuff and is very enjoyable. Tom is in wild form and the plot itself is really good.

My ratings: Part 1 - 8/10, Part 2 - 9/10, Part 3 - 9.5/10, Part 4 - 8.5/10. Overall - 8.75/10.

The "Doctor" (Tom Baker) is fiddling about with the TARDIS when in walks "Romana" - except, well it isn't her. Or is it? Can she regenerate too? Appears so and so now Lalla Ward picks up the slack. Luckily, there's still the old quarry to set this story in as they emerge in the middle of an inter-galactic scuffle between the "Movellans" and their (and everyone else's) arch enemy - the "Daleks". "Tyssan" (Tim Barlow) represents the indigenous human population who are being used by the latter to excavate deep under the surface - but why? Well it doesn't take our time travelling duo long to realise that they are back on "Skaro" and the diggers are looking for something, or someone, that could be uniquely placed to alter the stalemate between their battle fleet and that of their opponents. It seems the "Movellans" know of this strategy too, and co-opt the pair to help them. Of course, the "Doctor" is aware that he isn't supposed to take sides - but can he stay neutral, especially when it seems that neither party is any more scrupulous that the other. Terry Nation was one of the better series writers on "Dr. Who" and coupled with a decent effort from Baker and plenty of action, this is quite a watchable drama that uses a solid story and reliable baddies to support the new arrival. Ward was never my favourite "assistant" - something just a little too preppie about her contributions for me, but she gets off to an adequate start here as the bombs go off and a battle royal looms. Not the best, but not bad.

Who knew spontaneous regeneration was a thing, that you could pick and choose your next torso, and all that it will bring, there's a perfect incarnation, to a pink flowery carnation, but the last one wasn't all that bad, I quite enjoyed her zing.