Death to the Daleks
Story 72, Episodes 367-370, Season 11 Episodes 11-14
Doctor: The Third Doctor
Companions: Sarah Jane Smith
Death to the Daleks features the Daleks in a supporting role as the Doctor has to figure out the mysteries of the Exxilons.
The Review
In a bizarre bit of history, this is the final Dalek story not to also feature their creator Davros until 2005. You can see why a shake-up was potentially deemed necessary by the writing staff as there really isn’t much for the Daleks to do here. On the planet Exxilon, the TARDIS crew, some future humans, and the Daleks are forced in an alliance because something on the planet killed their power. The Exxilons are a race of creatures with splotchy grey skin and hooded robes that try to sacrifice Sarah Jane for touching their city. They escape of course, and meet other Exxilons who do not subscribe to the religion of the majority but recognize the city for what it is: a hostile organism that must be destroyed. The Daleks meanwhile take over the Exxilons after some effort in order to mine Parrinium to create an intergalactic plague (the humans actually need it as an antidote).
Sarah Jane is sidelined a lot of the story, and the Doctor and the Exxilon Bellal head into the city and face an array of puzzles that they must overcome. Bellal is kind of adorable, and the Doctor shepherds him through the puzzles until they reach the city center. There, he causes a meltdown in the city, turning the power back on. The Daleks escape, but one of the humans sacrifices himself to destroy their ship. Overall, it’s a fun little story, the four episode length is always a relief after some of the lengthier classic stories. You don’t really feel for the human faction because they’re not given much time to introduce themselves. For as independent as Sarah Jane is supposed to be, she doesn’t mess around challenging the Doctor’s authority very often. The Daleks are a pretty fun component of this story as not the main cause of it, but still feel underpowered.
Overall, it’s a good story, just wish there was some more fearsome Dalek action.
8/10 Into the city!
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