My "cheat" continues as I explore Revolution of the Daleks under the guise that it and Resolution form a complete story...
I don't know what it is, but there's just something about a Dalek Civil War that I just love. Whenever one Dalek takes arms against another because of a clash in ideology, I find it immensely entertaining. So, when I saw that the New Year's Special for 2021 was going to be called Revolution of the Daleks, I was almost sold on it without having to watch a second!
When pictures started leaking out showing the standard bronze-liveried Daleks fighting a new type of Dalek that seemed to resemble the junkyard-chic design that we'd seen the previous year, I got even more excited. Clearly, the Recon Dalek from Resolution had, somehow, been perpetuated into an army and was taking on the "regular" Daleks. This sounded like a great conflict to behold!
More interesting news came out: Captain Jack Harkness was coming back! Fortunately, all of his stuff had gotten filmed before Cancel Culture took a swipe at him for some things he did. It would have been too hard to remove him from the story so they kept him in (also, what he had done was only "a bit bad"!), And then more news: Jack Robertson from Arachnids in the UK was also returning. His first appearance was not the most popular episode of Series 11, but his character had been interesting and merited another appearance. Hell, I'd love to actually see him a third time!
Again, I had not actually seen the episode, yet. But, already, I'm quite excited about it. However, that can work to a story's detriment. Sometimes, I've got higher hopes for the tale than the production team did! So, the Big Question is: Did Revolution of the Daleks live up to my expectations?
It more-than-did!
GETTING THE NEGATIVES OUT OF THE WAY (AGAIN):
Just as we did with Resolution, we'll deal first with the details of the story that didn't work for me. They are actually even fewer than its predecessor.
Once more, Chibnall starts the adventure in a slightly preposterous manner. Yes, the truck driver transporting the damaged Dalek casing loves his tea. But how could the assassins that took him out know, for sure, that he would stop at their food truck?! Did they just set up several of them all along the highway? Hoping that he would, eventually, stop at one so they could poison him?!
Surely, posing as police and pulling him over would have been much less contrived. They conceal a gun with a silencer in their coat and shoot the driver as they approach the truck's cab. Then they just push him over into the passenger seat and drive along. Much less conspicuous then picking a fallen body up off the ground and throwing it in the back of a truck (how many people driving down the highway must have seen this?! No one phoned it in to the police?!).
THE BEGINNING
We start the story with two very clear and distinct plot threads that only vaguely relate to each other. But both are told so well that we barely notice or care!
A bridge needs to be built between the events of Resolution and this tale. Obviously, a brief re-cap is the best way to start. And this is accomplished with great efficiency. There really are some "Previously on Doctor Who" moments in the past that have dragged on endlessly. I'm so glad this one didn't.
When you think about it, they're largely useless. Most folks have seen the past episode(s) being referenced so we really don't need to watch the montage of snippets. We know what happened and don't need to be reminded. And the small demographic of audience that missed what's being re-capped really aren't going to get all that complete of a picture of what has gone on before, anyway. Essentially, they're just going to be confused for a bit as they sort things out. Whether they get shown a rapid succession of images from the past or not!
The real point of such a sequence is to help gain a little a bit of dramatic traction and make people feel up to speed. This can be done in a matter of seconds - if it's done right. And that's exactly what's accomplished, here. Thankyou, Mister Chibnall for not giving us four minutes of images from a previous episode before getting us into a new one! (Okay, other "Previously on Doctor Who" set-ups didn't really take that long - but they felt like they did!).
The series of events with Jack Robertson, Leo and Jo Patterson all flow quite nicely. They are there to get us to a pivotal point in the new story: we need the Recon Scout resurrected so it can start building a formidable army.
Again, this is all achieved quite efficiently. Oftentimes, trying to build these sort of bridges in two stories that link together don't go that well. Movies that have sequels are usually the best example of this. Either the sequel barely acknowledges its predecessor or it indulges in its lore too deeply. It's very difficult to find a middle ground. But Chibnall nails it.
While all this is going on, we also have the Doctor stuck in Space Jail. This, very much, has a "Rescuing Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt" vibe to it. It's a leftover problem from a previous tale that this adventure has to fix. It's something else that can be very tricky to handle. You can't bust her out of prison 30 seconds into the new episode or it will all feel too cheap. But, because we need the Doctor to get involved in the Dalek army that is being built on Earth relatively quickly, you can't take too long either.
Again, there is a perfect balance, here. We have a bit of fun seeing old monsters come back and then Jack shows up and saves the day. The breakout is done in a very fun and entertaining manner, too.
Really, aside from the silliness with the truck driver, the "first reel" of this adventure is going great.
THE MIDDLE STUFF
With the Doctor back with her Fam, we can start to really get to the meat of the story. A serious sense of menace starts to build as we see how mindless defense drones are going to be used to create a whole new breed of Dalek that could, potentially, take over the world.
Once more, the Recon Dalek adopts a human host for a bit. This time, however, it's used more for plot expediency than Horror Factor. After all, it would be redundant to indulge in the terror of it, again. It was already exploited to its fullest potential in Resolution. So it would seem like a bad re-tread if they put too much emphasis on it. It is a bit terrifying, though, that the Recon Dalek kills Leo just for the Hell of it. We hadn't seen it do that before. So it makes a strong impact.
The real scares in this story occur as Yaz and Jack are investigating the clone farm. Kaled Mutants dropping on them from tanks high above definitely creeped me out a bit. They probably even could've milked the sequence a bit longer. But, really, you can only spend so much time shooting nasty squid creatures before it starts to drag a bit. Only having to take out two of them made good sense!
While this doesn't really relate to Daleks, Revolution should still be applauded for having a few really good character moments in it.
The talk Jack and Yaz have about what it's like to travel with the Doctor is quite touching. It also seems quite significant for Yaz's arc. She appears to be really coming to terms with how she feels about the Doctor.
The Doctor having a good talk with Ryan in the TARDIS also flowed well. I quite like how the companion gives the Time Lord a good pep talk as she tries to deal with the fact that her past is not what she thought it was. There's a nice vulnerability to Thirteen that we haven't really been seeing in New Who Doctors. People can lift her spirits, sometimes, when she's down. For the most part, when other incarnations are having a difficult time of things - they just sulk! This is a refreshing change. It's also a pretty crucial scene for Ryan because we can see that he really has gotten used to living on Earth, again. His departure at the end of the episode will feel very believable.
These moments also represent a nice calm before the storm because the "Third Reel" is about to kick in. And, as it does, things start getting really wild!
ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE
With all his ducks in a row, the Recon Dalek can now launch his invasion.
The build-up to this moment has been masterfully executed. Again, the balance has to be perfect. If it had taken too long to get to this point, the pay-off would have been insufficient. By the same token, if things had moved too fast - we just wouldn't find the whole scenario believable (and flying salt shakers invading the Earth is, already, pretty hard to swallow!). Getting the whole operation to take, roughly, a year to fall into place made it seem quite credible. But the fact that it was done with well-chosen edited highlights works excellently.
I must admit, I was happy to see Jo Patterson as one of the first victims of the invasion. Clearly, she was not meant to be a particularly likeable character. But the fact that she is responsible for the unlikely death of the truck driver makes her demise legitimately enjoyable. She seems so calm and collected during that whole operation. Which indicates to me that she's probably done all kinds of other horrible things in her past. So it does look a bit good on her when she gets exterminated. It's interesting, though, how her last words are actually quite courageous. There's a lot nuances to the character even though her role in the plot is fairly limited. It's one of many examples of how well Chibnall can craft things in his scripts.
And now, at last, we get to the part I've been waiting for: Daleks are going to start fighting each other!
I love the Doctor's solution to the whole problem. It presents something else new and different about the Dalek Race. They have become so hell-bent on purity that they now have a special taskforce just hovering in the Time Vortex looking for undesired deviations in the gene pool. It's a very cool concept which makes total sense for them.
Clearly, our Bronze Daleks have superior armor and firepower over these new guys. It doesn't take long to take them out. But I see enough of the slaughter to satisfy me. And I'm pleasantly surprised with what else the story has to offer as it heads towards its conclusion.
Jack Robertson attempting to create a side-deal with the Daleks doesn't go too far - but it, actually, can't. He had to be able to cover his tracks, afterwards. Had the alliance he was forming reached too advanced of a stage, it would have been impossible to achieve the desired effect. There would be too much proof that he really is a rotten SOB. Instead, he uses his treachery to advance his political career. Because he actually spent time aboard the Dalek Mothership, he becomes a hero. He just might get that shot at becoming President, after all.
Clearly, we're meant to see more of the character in future stories. That's not likely to happen, though. Which is too bad. I quite liked him.
There's much fun to be had with Harkness and Friends running around the Dalek Saucer and setting explosives. Ryan, essentially, telling Graham he's getting a bit weird was especially funny! It might have been nice to see Jack get caught by the Daleks and shot down. Only to revive a moment later after they've moved on to try to catch the other intruders. But it's fine that we didn't get that. The whole "coming back from the dead" routine has, just about, been done to death anyway (pun completely intended). Especially if you do bother to factor in all the times he did it in Torchwood.
The final trick to take out the rest of the SAS Daleks was extremely cool. A very clever way to get rid of those Daleks that weren't aboard the ship when it was destroyed. And the Doctor delivers one more good tell-off as a hologram before they all get compressed to death!
I'm almost a bit sad that there's one less TARDIS in the Universe - but it had to be done! And, at least, we know there's one more sitting around on the planet they went to during Ascension of the Cybermen. Perhaps it will get put to good use someday!
FINAL VERDICT
There are many things that make Revolution of the Daleks so damned enjoyable. But I think what works best is how amazingly well-paced it is. You've heard me say it a few times throughout the review. The time it takes to position the Recon Dalek into creating an army is just right. The action scenes go on for the proper duration and never seem to drag. Hell, even the "Previously on Doctor Who" recap is a good length!
And that's what really gets the story to stand out so well. I wouldn't even say that the plot is told very economically. There were times when we needed to dwell a bit more on something. Like, say, those character moments I described. And there were other times that required us to zip along at a breakneck speed so that we could enjoy a nice thrill ride for a few minutes! It's all done just the way it needed to be.
When it comes to timing, all the right choices get made. Which gives us an excellent Dalek Story. Each element of the adventure is, pretty much, perfect.
Worthy of making it into the Top Five. Even if it is a bit of a cheat!
Which leads us to....
AFTERWORD:
As stated previously, Resolution and Revolution work really well on their own. Both episodes show off Chibnall's ability to write the Daleks better than most authors have. I would say that the individual stories would, probably, make it into my Top Ten (or, at the very worst, Top Dozen) Favorite Dalek Stories. But, when you place these two together, they become the strongest material I've seen involving these Intergalactic Conquerors.
In my Review of Resolution, I talk about how the story does resemble Dalek, in many ways. That analogy continues in Revolution of the Daleks. It takes on some of the characteristics of the next Dalek tale we see after that episode. Which would, of course, be Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways. We go from just one Dalek to a huge number of them leading a massive attack on the Earth. I can't help but notice that when the SAS Daleks emerge from their ship, it looks very similar to a shot from Parting of the Ways as an army races towards Satellite Five. And I have to wonder if that was intentional.
But these two stories working together become more than just a parallel to some of the stuff we saw in Series One. The narrative that strings along between these two episodes evolves beautifully. We have a nice "scaled back" Dalek adventure in Resolution where the Daleks re-gain a lot of the potency they had been losing over the last few seasons. Once we remember just how dangerous a single one is, we then get an army thrown at us. And then, finally, things splinter off into a bit of a civil war. Which adds an extra dimension that we didn't get from the RTD stories they model themselves from.
Bringing in the SAS Daleks was one more way to restore their reputation. We were getting a special race of the Daleks, first, to help re-acquaint us with them. And then, at last, the "real" Daleks step in. We truly see and understand their raw power, now. Especially since they wipe out the forces built up by the Recon Dalek with little or no effort.
Over the span of these two parts, a great arc is built. The Daleks really are a force to be reckoned with, once more. And their return to power is magnificently crafted between these two tales. Which is why I do feel they should be lumped together into one. They tell a very rich tale that is only properly savored if we enjoy them as a whole.
So, yes, Fave Dalek Story #4 was a cheat. If you want to get technical, I should not be counting these two episodes as a single story. But, sometimes, you have to ignore the rules. Especially when it gives you something that portrays the Daleks this well.
Okay then, that's both parts of Number Four. Let's see if I can stop cheating for Number Three...
...Probably not!
Fave Dalek Story #5:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2022/12/book-of-lists-top-five-dalek-stories.html
Fave Dalek Story #4-A:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2022/12/book-of-lists-top-five-dalek-stories_11.html
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