BOOK OF LISTS: TOP FIVE DALEK STORIES - NUMBER FIVE

We're into December. Which means, of course, that the Season is upon us. Not the Christmas Season, the End-of-Year BOOK OF LISTS Series That Deals With My Preferences for a Major Aspect of the Show Season. That's the one you all look forward to, right?     

Around this time last year, I was very ambitious with this little ritual of mine. Normally, I start it in December. But, in 2021. I decided to I would do two months of BOOK OF LISTS entries. Because of the extra time I was taking, I thought I would list my Top Five Favorite Master, Cybermen and Dalek stories. 

It turns out that doing 15 entries in 2 months was more work than I realized. I did get through my fave  Master and Cybermen stories but we were days away from 2022 and I was like: "Ain't no way I'm going to do the Daleks this year!". 

So, now, as 2023 approaches, I thought I would finish what I began... 

EXCEPTIONS: 

The biggest issue with a list like this is that there are a lot of Doctor Who stories that feature Daleks, but I wouldn't, necessarily, label all of them Dalek Stories. There are times when the Daleks aren't receiving adequate representation within the plot for them to be considered the true antagonists of the tale. And if they're the support rather than lead, then it's not really an adventure about them. They're involved in the conflict - but they're not at its center.  

It stands to reason, then, that there will be tales with Daleks in them that I won't even consider for this list because I don't view them to be "True Dalek Stories". So, before starting this particular list, I'll itemise the type of adventures that don't qualify:  

  

1) Cameos: This one is pretty obvious. Clearly, if the Daleks are only making a brief appearance then we can't really consider it a Proper Dalek Story. Something like The Pilot or The Wedding of River Song are great examples of this. In both of these adventures, we do see a Dalek for a small amount of time. But their presence in the plot is so slight that the story can't really make it onto this list. 

There do seem to be a lot more Dalek cameos in the New Series. But we did get them now and again in Classic Who, too. The Space Museum has a fun little time with an empty Dalek casing that's on display. The Second Doctor puts up an image of a Dalek on a thought channel he is using as he berates the Time Lords for their Non-Intervention Policy during the final episode of The War Games. So they do exist during both periods of the show.  Hell, we even get a Dalek cameo during  Doctor Who - The Movie! 

Wherever we find these cameos, however, they won't qualify as True Dalek Stories. 

2) Sharing the Spotlight: This choice will probably seem a tad self-contradictory. There are certain stories involving Daleks where they have a stronger presence than just a cameo. But the Daleks are not the "main baddie" in the plot. Essentially, they're sharing the spotlight with another recurring villain and/or monster. Army of Ghosts/Doomsday would be a great example of this. Or even the most recent Power of the Doctor. 

I do find that, for the most part, stories like these still don't really give the Daleks enough screentime. So I won't really put them up for consideration. I wouldn't, necessarily, call them bad stories - but I don't feel that most of them are particularly strong Dalek Stories. 

The reason why I say I'm contradicting myself a bit is because, if you go back to my lists from last year, you'll see that World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls made it into the rankings for both the Master and the Cybermen. Why is it that when the two of them are sharing space in a tale, I deem it acceptable but I don't do the same for the Daleks?   

There are, occasionally, stories where both villains and/or monsters can have a very strong footing in the plot even though our attention on them is divided. World Enough/Doctor Falls is definitely one of those adventures. We get a Cybermen Origins Story and a multi-Master team-up at the same time.  This one really does feel like both antagonists are getting the attention they deserve. While it doesn't sit quite as high on my list, I would actually say that Dark Water/Death in Heaven achieves a similar result. Missy and the Cybermen get equal levels of exposure in that one, too. 

Most of the time, however, there is a dominant villain/monster in a tale like this. One will get a lot of attention while the other(s) will take a bit of a back seat. Oddly enough, when this happens, it seems to be the Daleks that get neglected. 

Power of the Doctor exemplifies this well. Clearly, the real conflict is between the Master and the Doctor. He uses the Cybermen and the Daleks as a means to draw her in to his web. That's their main purpose in the whole battle. I would even say that the Cybermen are on the second tier in this one and get a decent amount of focus, too. The Daleks are definitely more in the background. Not an actual complaint about the story, of course. I really did love this episode. But it's hardly a great showcase for the Daleks. 

With those formalities out of the way, let's actually get to some listing:

NUMBER FIVE: 

If you've been reading my Season Reviews (and, really, you should - people have been giving me some very good feedback on them!), you know, already, that I have spoken quite highly of this one. I consider it to be the best Dalek Story that was made in the 60s. It's so good, though, that it actually comes in Fifth Place in my Top Five. 

The most difficult thing about being able to enjoy Power of the Daleks is the plain and simple fact that the original tapes appear to have been wiped off the Face of the Earth. In order to even know what the story is about, you have only a few options. There is the novelisation, of course. Or you might be able to find some shooting scripts knocking about somewhere on the Internet. But that only brings the story to life so much. Audio and telesnaps offer a bit more. But it's still pretty static. Most recently, the whole thing was animated. But I've never particularly enjoyed the style of these cartoons. Quite frankly, they're just a bit too low-budget for my tastes. And having to stretch that budget across an entire six episodes means that things look even cheaper than usual! 

Nonetheless, assailing these obstacles is well worth the challenge. Power of the Daleks is a great example of how amazing 60s TV can be when it sets its mind to it. Normally, when you're watching something this old, you have to view it contextually. You need to understand that it might feel quite slow in places because this form of media worked very differently back then. 

Power of the Daleks, however, holds up quite well. It really does stay engaging throughout all six of its parts. Even its first handful of minutes where we're just watching the new Doctor rummage around in a trunk ends up being very entertaining. 

Which brings me to a very important point: after going on endlessly about the importance of having a strong presence in a story, Power of the Daleks deals as much with introducing the new Doctor as it does bringing back the Daleks for another great battle. But, in no way does it feel like the Skarosian Menaces are taking any kind of a back seat in this story. Admittedly, we don't actually get a good look at them til the end of Part One (another one of those Reveal Cliffhangers that feels less thrilling because the word: "Dalek" was already in the title!). But, once they are introduced - they are definitely kept to the forefront. Though Patrick Troughton is pulling a lot of focus with his delightful antics, this still feels like a Proper Dalek Story. 

While on the topic of emphasis, it should be stressed that one of the Great Beauties of Power is all the various plot threads that start weaving in and around the Doctor and his greatest foe. The political intrigues of the Vulcan colony prove to be just as interesting as all the other stuff that's going on in the tale. Particularly as we reach the later episodes and the Daleks really start to exploit the greed of the colonists to their own end. They slowly build up their resources until they can properly strike at the colony and take it down. The sense of menace that builds up to that point is near-palpable. 

But I do love the fact that there is just so much going on in the plot. There's a freshly-regenerated Doctor. The building danger of the Daleks. A colony struggling to sustain itself as it's being torn apart by a rebellion. And even a group of villains that are taking advantage of the political strife that is going on around them. We are definitely getting a bang for our buck, here, with the story-telling. David Whitaker is really earning his pay! 

ACTUALLY SCARY

The menace of the Daleks is always a very vital ingredient in any adventure featuring them. Power definitely does a great job of instilling it. The Daleks are particularly creepy in Part Two. Even in the first few seconds of the episode, we get a disturbing image of a Kaled Mutant skulking off into the shadows. Later, there's the tests Lesterson and his crew start running to revive one. The way the eyestalk keeps following the one assistant until the gunstick finally gets enough power to kill him is another chilling sequence. And then, of course, there's that iconic ending to the episode. The famous: "I am your servant!" Such a popular line that it would get bastardised decades later in Victory of the Daleks. But what I really love about that scene is how, as the Doctor is trying to denounce these "servants", the Dalek just starts shouting over him. It's really quite haunting. Particularly since the Dalek is still just repeating the one sentence. 

Another really great creep-out factor in this tale is Lesterson's slow-but-steady mental disintegration. Right from his first scene, we can tell there's going to be some trouble in this man's life. His fanaticism to uncover the mystery of the crashed spaceship telegraphs clearly that he is, perhaps, just a tad unbalanced. As he goes through greater and greater disillusionment, we watch his psyche begin to crumble. It's a particularly nice touch when we see him starting to agree with the Doctor and want to shut the Daleks down. It actually makes us like him a bit. Which, in turn, causes us to feel more sympathy for him at the end. His complete breakdown in Episode Six has more "layers" to it because of this. There's some legitimate pathos. Much can be said about how well Lesterson is both written and performed. 

And then, at last, we reach Episode Six. The Daleks have amassed enough power to start properly attacking the Colony. There's a considerable amount of violence in this episode. Probably more than Modern-Day Family Viewing would allow. Thankfully, this is the 60s - where they can still get away with it! 

A tension was building throughout the first five parts that needed a good pay-off. The finale really does live up to the expectations. The Daleks are brutal and violent as they start sweeping through corridors and taking out everyone in sight. Alliances they'd formed when they were more helpless are completely swept aside. They're out to kill and nothing seems capable of stopping them. Which is another very effective form of menace. Even scenes where they are not present but we still hear all kinds of gunfire off-camera feel disturbing. You just know that a Dalek could burst into the room at any moment and harm some characters that we like.  The effect causes a constant sense of anxiety throughout the whole attack. 

This really is a great conclusion to the whole story. The Daleks feel genuinely dangerous, here. Which can be a tricky thing to accomplish with something that looks like a giant salt shaker and has a toilet plunger and an egg whisk sticking out of it!

WHITAKER VERSUS NATION

Again, if you've been reading my Season Reviews, you'll have noticed that I do sing some substantial praises for David Whitaker's writing. He can take a small-cast Two-Parter that was really just meant to introduce a new companion and turn it into something special. With his ability to do so much with so little, one can only imagine what he can accomplish with six episodes of Daleks and a major shift in the show's Lore! 

And he really does create something amazing. So much so, that I wish Terry Nation had been a lot less territorial with the monsters he created. The Daleks was a very solidly-put-together tale. There's no debate there. The first four episodes, in particular, still stand up quite well all these years later. But once Dalekmania kicked in, Nation does seem to get pretty lazy. In his later stories of the 60s, he tends to choose spectacle over story. This becomes especially apparent during The Chase. Easily, the most threadbare plot in the history of the show. 

Whereas Whitaker delivers the "fullest" Dalek story we've ever gotten. This might just be the best six-parter in the entire history of Doctor Who. Everything in the story is moving forward. There's none of these little runarounds or captures-and-escapes in the later episodes that I've been complaining about in my Reviews of the Pertwee era. The author literally uses every minute as effectively as possible.   

But it's not just a story with a lot going on in it. The pieces of the plot fit together beautifully so that we can reach the ultimate conclusion that we get. The Daleks use all the political dynamics that are going on within the colony to the best of their abilities. Appealing to all the different factions at different times in order to achieve their own treacherous goals. Setting up all these different agendas the way he did was some very nice world-building on Whitaker's part. This really is a very tightly-written script. Which makes it all the more shameful that the BBC junked the whole thing!   

A pox on you, BBC...

FINAL VERDICT: 

While there are a few moments that stretch credulity (you'd think the security company that designed the locks on the colony's prison cells would've anticipated their vulnerability to a well-poured glass of water!), there is so little here to complain about. I've mainly been complimenting the writing but I should say that everything else about this story is firing on all cylinders, too. The only thing really working against it, as usual, is a limited budget. 

One of its bigger charms is the fact that it doesn't really feel all that dated. Because it is meant to be a futuristic story set on a faraway world, it manages to throw out many of the 60s sensibilities that normally plague a story during this period. Janley, for instance, is not some helpless screamer in a short skirt. But, rather, a strong-willed and clever woman who is helping to lead a rebellion and using the political fireworks caused by said rebellion for her own personal gain. She's as effective as any male character in the story. In fact, some of the men in this story seem considerably weaker than her. 

Of course, the most memorable trait of all regarding Power of the Daleks is how it displays the genuine ingenuity of the Daleks. No review of the story can be written without mentioning it! 

Up until this tale, Nation was far more intent on displaying the raw power of the Daleks. He liked to show off the idea that they were creatures riding around in small tanks. Their superior firepower and near-impenetrable armor allowed them to rule by brute force. Sure, they had strategies. But they were often executed with sledgehammer tactics. Because, quite simply, they could easily hurt others but were difficult damage, themselves. Might, quite simply, made them Right. 

Suddenly, however, the Daleks are vulnerable. Knowing that, for once, they can't achieve their goals through their usual means, we discover that they are actually really sneaky bastards. Which creates a whole new dimension to them. In so doing, the Daleks become even more terrifying. Because now we know that if you strip away everything about them that makes them powerful, they are still just as deadly. 

Other stories would put the Daleks in these sort of positions from time to time. Death to the Daleks or Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks are a few tales that immediately come to mind. But Power of the Daleks did it first. 

And it did it best. 

And that's Fave Dalek Story #5! We'll see you again soon with the next story that made it into the ranking.... 

Wanna know my Fifth Favorite Master Story? Here it is: 

https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2021/11/book-of-lists-top-five-master-stories.html

And my Fifth Favorite Cybermen Story:

https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2021/12/book-of-lists-top-five-cybermen-stories.html