Story 148, Episodes 668-671, Season 25 Episodes 1-4
Doctor: Seventh Doctor
Companions: Ace McShane
Doctor Who‘s drought of great stories finally ends with a taught, well-paced return to 1963 for one final showdown with the Daleks.
The Review
The girl and the black Dalek
It’s hard to believe this is the same show that only two stories ago gave us the silliness of Delta and the Bannermen. After a season of just being a rather generic silly guy, the Seventh Doctor snaps into focus as a sharp manipulator who carries an air of bored superiority. Several plot points seem to be missing, the Daleks have followed the Doctor back to Coal Hill School in 1963, we scarcely remember why there are two factions, and suddenly the First Doctor had this Hand of Omega thing lying around? Still, it absolutely works due to the confidence of the script, directing, and acting. The Doctor is suddenly unknowable, not just an arrogant git like the Sixth Doctor, but he’s playing a game we barely understand and don’t quite approve of. Still, the Doctor isn’t sure himself, he tells a deli clerk about the ripples decision makes, and wonders at the end of the story if he did do good.
Ace is gorgeous and beats up Daleks with bats and RPGs, what more could you want?
Ace immediately makes the best impression of a companion in years, no more being annoyed at the Doctor or terrified, Ace is bold and confident and it rules. She falls for an Agent Smith, who turns out to be fascist working with the Renegade Daleks. Setting side that she’s only 16, it’s cute until it’s heartbreaking. The simple discovery of a ‘no coloreds’ sign in Smith’s house is a dark moment. We have a tall not-Brigadier and two capable female physicists which is a delight, making a well-rounded (white) cast. Davros shows up late as the Dalek Emperor, but much more interesting is the brainwashed young girl at the heart of the Renegade faction. She has force lightning! Ultimately, the Doctor tricks the Daleks into destroying Skaro, which is a surprisingly dark. Although failed by the Daleks sometimes wobbling and bland sets, it’s a great adventure story and reminds me that, yes, the classic series can be good.
There are a few too many cheap references, and it feels like we’re missing some backstory, but Remembrance gives us a new mysterious Doctor and a young but capable companion with a smashing supporting cast. Will stories improve from here? Time will tell, it always does.
9.25/10 Seriously, the Dalek props look cool but are very unconvincing trundling along uneven roads.
Story 142, Episodes 638-639, Season 22 Episodes 11-12
Doctor: Sixth Doctor
Companions: Peri Brown
Little new ground is trod in this story featuring Davros and the Daleks yet again.
The Review
Blue, the color of mourning
Compared to Eric Saward’s previous dreadful Resurrection of the Daleks, this is a decided step up. Still, that previous tale was so awful, this one is still pretty mediocre. Both the Doctor and Peri actually don’t have much to do, spending the first 45 minutes not meeting anybody else. The Doctor insults Peri’s weight and eating habits, which is just simply rude. Davros under the moniker ‘Great Healer’ has situated himself in Tranquil Repose, a mortuary home on Necros. There, he is building an army of Daleks recycling dead bodies, though that plan doesn’t get very far. Tranquil Repose isn’t devoid of colorful characters, most notably an 80s DJ who is a fun presence and then of course gets brutally exterminated. Still, the amount of needless carnage is cut back from Resurrection, but this story does rather little to expand on Davros or the Daleks in any meaningful way.
The Glass Dalek is cool
In the station we have Jobel, one of the high-ranking scientists who is a complete creep hitting on every woman in sight until one kills him. Eleanor Bronte plays the place’s leader who hires two assassins to kill Davros. The lead assassin Orcini is from the ‘Greater Order of Oberon’, something we’re supposed to care about. He wants to kill Davros to have done something honorable in his profession, but has to settle for a suicide bomb destroying the newly generating Daleks. William Gaunt gives a great performance as Orcini, who is portrayed as an honorable knight figure. A main problem with this story is without the Doctor and Peri, everything would’ve played out essentially the same with the renegade Daleks capturing Davros. There is one amusing bit where Davros says he’s also solved famine by turning bodies into food, but says disclosing that would lead to ‘consumer resistance’. Following this story, it’s no surprise that there instead was consumer apathy.
The Sixth Doctor/Peri dynamic just sucks, the Twelfth Doctor/Clara interaction in Series 8 is an actually successful take at this but here the Doctor is just cruel.
7/10 Doing another season-ending Dalek/Davros story is a snoozer, even if it’s a step up.
Story 133, Episodes 613-614, Season 21 Episodes 11-12
Doctor: The Fifth Doctor
Companions: Tegan Jovanka, Vislor Turlough
A nearly incomprehensible episode is essentially a whole lot of nothing, and a whole lot of death for no real reason.
The Review
Davros on ice
I wonder if my constant Doctor Who watching is starting to burn me out, or this really just wasn’t interesting. I was excited for the Daleks, Davros, and the experimental switch to two forty-five minute episodes. Sadly, none of these paned out. What even is the plot of Resurrection of the Daleks? Well, if you can remember several seasons ago the Daleks were in a war with the Movellans, they lost hard and now need Davros’ intelligence and that of the Doctor’s to find a cure to this virus. To that end, they need to make a duplicate of the Doctor, so they construct this very elaborate scheme placing a time corridor in an abandoned building near Tower Bridge in 1984, drag the TARDIS there, trick the Doctor through going in, etc. I honestly think the normal four-episode structure could’ve done wonders here.
Tegan leaves after the disastrous story
There is constant gunfire and yelling and screaming, and Davros is basically unintelligible at the height of his rants. The Daleks’ plan gets nowhere so fast that outside of a whole lot of shooting, I’m not sure really anything actually happens other than loud gunfire and apoplectic yelling. The story is just an honest mess of meaningless action, that just bores me. Some people say it ‘flew by’, I say it couldn’t get on with it fast enough. If this is what is to come, it’s going to be a very rough patch. The highlight comes at the very end with Tegan’s departure, who after witnessing the carnage says it just wasn’t fun anymore. Janet Fielding will be missed immensely, but seeing a companion horrified at the bloodbath choosing to leave just makes sense.
This is one I am not looking forward to re-watching, but maybe it will make a tiny bit of sense by then. The violence is senseless, and the plot is wasteful.
6/10 Never has Daleks exterminating people been so dull
Story 198, Episodes 750 & 751, Series 4 Episodes 12 & 13
Doctor: The Tenth Doctor
Companions: Sarah Jane Smith, K9, Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith, Jackie Tyler, Captain Jack Harkness, Donna Noble, Martha Jones, Wilfred Mott
In Avengers: Infinity War a decade earlier, RTD writes the most insane, bonkers story ever that somehow gets better with every rewatch.
The Review
Elisabeth Sladen was the best of us
This story is insane. First you’ve got the Daleks, oh yeah, turns out they’re behind the stars going out. There’s the return of the Supreme Dalek. Even bigger, Davros is back for the first time in 19 years. Next up, there are NINE companions in this story, not counting Torchwood and Luke Smith. Oh, and there are two Tenth Doctors. This story is the climax of the RTD era, an era of Doctor Who that focused on characters and relationships like none other and built the most inter-connected earth since the UNIT era of the 70s. There’s so much going on it boggles the mind. As an overview, I have watched this story twice recently for the Doctor Who Lockdown event and this review, and I am struck by how RTD made sure that there was no plot point, no character relationship left untouched. The best examples are the spin-off characters, Gwen calls Rhys to tell him to stay safe, Ianto inquires about when Jack met a soldier in a bar recently, Luke says that Maria and her dad are safe as well as Clyde, every character has their moments. My favorite though is Sarah Jane’s horrified reaction when the Dalek voices come over the screen in The Stolen Earth, and her similar reaction to seeing Davros again. I miss Elisabeth Sladen terribly, and you can feel the emotion and history in her relationship with Davros. RTD doesn’t miss a thing does he? On the Capitan Jack front, he’s here, he’s funny and charming, really actually not too much to say though him kissing Gwen and Ianto after hearing the Daleks over the loudspeaker is emotionally powerful too.
Martha is a soldier now, and it feels like a unfortunate direction for her character
Let’s move on to UNIT’s Martha Jones, who has gotten a very recent promotion to Manhattan, presumably so we can show the Daleks invading New York for real this time. Martha comes very close to using the Osterhagen Key, which will destroy the Earth with a chain of nuclear warheads. In what is meant to be one of the narrative backbones of the story, the Doctor turning people into soldiers, Martha is most explicitly a soldier. Now I know Martha was originally supposed to factor into the third season of Torchwood, but Martha’s character development does end with her as a soldier, and I think I am supposed to feel bad about that. She is the only companion who briefly gets into an argument with the Doctor, and her plan to hold Earth ransom to stop the REALITY BOMB because it needs all 27 planets to function makes some sense but still feels out of character for Doctor Who. Oh, I haven’t even mentioned the plot, the Earth gets stolen by the Daleks and is hidden in the Medusa Cascade one second out of sync with the rest of the universe to power Davros’ Reality Bomb which will leave the Daleks the only race in existence. The earth literally gets pulled out from under the Doctor and Donna in the TARDIS, who visit the Shadow Proclamation and get to the Medusa Cascade because ‘the bees are disappearing’ is actually a vital plot point because some bees are aliens and leave a trail and ok that’s enough.
Series 4 Rose: we can all agree it was a miss
Now onto the big character problem with the story: Rose. Whether it’s because Billie Piper lost the energy from two years ago, or it is part of an intentional change to make her also this badass dimension hopping soldier, Rose has little of the charm we remember. At least Martha’s soldier-ification happened on screen, all this character development for Rose we never get to see. It’s hard to feel invested in the Doctor seeing Rose again, when this does not track as the Rose we remember. Rose’s pouting ‘I was there first’ when she can see but not join the subwave network Zoom call with the companions rings especially sour with Sarah Jane on call. As much fun as it is to see Jackie Tyler again, her becoming a badass doesn’t make too much sense. Jackie does get the heart wrenching scene where she apologizes to a woman before she teleports away from the Daleks disintegrating people and we see that woman die. The one soldier who makes the most sense: Mickey Smith. Thanks to excellent groundwork laid by Noel Clarke in Series 2, and that he’s done it before, Mickey as a dimension-jumping hero makes a ton of sense. Also, his decision to return to his home universe is made entirely on his own terms and shows how he has finally moved on beyond Rose and is ready to forge his own path. Good for you Mickey! So, on the Rose-centric cast, Rose actually comes off as pretty uninteresting in what should have been her reunion with the Doctor. There’s also SO MUCH going on that you stop caring about the Doctor/Rose relationship.
Visually though, Davros is a home run. Seen here remembering he left the stove on back on Skaro
Alright, let’s talk about the Daleks of it all. RTD was right, for this story (and the landmark 750th episode), something big had to happen, and it does: we actually see the Daleks invading Earth, which we didn’t in The Dalek Invasion of Earth. The shots showing the different planets in the sky and the Dalek saucers flying overhead are awesome. The menace of the Daleks is largely in the first episode, by the second there isn’t much time for them (though we do get German Daleks which is amazing and very Wolfenstein). It’s not really a surprise the bad guys are just Daleks again, but we get some of the show’s best visuals to date. Now, returning is Davros, and he has some snarky monologues with the Doctor and is behind the silly Reality Bomb. Davros’ biggest problem is that he gets lost in the absolute chaos of this story, and is hardly what people remember from it. In a story returning so many characters, Davros is new (to the new series), and there’s only so much energy the audience can spend on processing who Davros is and what he means. Honestly more notable than driving the point home of the Doctor turning his companions into soldiers is Davros’ refusal to be rescued by the Doctor as the Dalek Crucible burns, then declaring the Doctor ‘the destroyer of worlds’ with zero self-awareness. For such an epic crossover, the villains couldn’t be anyone but the Daleks, but they and Davros become victims of plot soup. There’s only so much a story can do.
Meeting of the Doctors
We’re not even close to done. It’s finally time to talk about the ostensible current companion, Donna. Throughout the story, Donna keeps being told she is special, but refuses to believe it even as she helps the Doctor to the Medusa Cascade. Catherine Tate is funny throughout, but gets lost a bit in episode two when she…ok so this is a regeneration story. A Dalek shoots the Doctor when he’s running at Rose, Jack, Rose, and Donna pull him in the TARDIS, he goes to regenerate, and…heals himself but pours energy into his hand in a jar. Donna touches the hand, and out grows the Meta-Crisis Doctor, who dons the blue suit and we learn has only one heart and has picked up some of Donna’s catchphrases and attitudes. The idea of the two Doctors is crazy, but it does allow David Tennant to be in two places at once which I appreciate. At the end of the day, the famous cliffhanger of the Doctor regenerating is exciting but of course it has to end in a cop-out. The second Doctor really is around for more Tennant/Tate banter, and as a gift to Rose to make Ten/Rose shippers happy for eternity. The Meta-Crisis Doctor decides to commit genocide on the Daleks, and as that goes against the Fourth Doctor’s established modus operandi in Genesis of the Daleks, he has to be punished. The Meta-Crisis Doctor gets to love and grow old with Rose, and the Doctor leaves her behind. While the Doctor getting over Rose should be a big emotional moment, it happens mostly silently. Anyway, this crazy new Doctor is a better fit for Series 4 Rose anyway.
Donna about to get the mind wipe
Oh, back to Donna. In the first episode, much of the driving plot is Harriet Jones (former Prime Minister) creating a big Zoom call and sacrificing herself (nobly!) for Torchwood and Mr. Smith to have every phone in existence call the Doctor to drag the TARDIS to Earth’s hiding spot. Donna gets a lot of screen time, but not as much in the second episode. After the Osterhagen Key thing, Captain Jack holding a ‘warp star’ to blow up the Crucible, and the Meta-Crisis Doctor having some backfire gun all fail in a funny twist on Davies-ex-Machina, it is Donna who has the new Doctor brain of hers awakened by Davros who stops the Reality Bomb. To see Donna, the most basic companion filled with self-doubt in full complete control, toying with the Daleks and Davros is a complete and utter joy. It represents the full potential of what Donna could be…and then it’s taken away. After the long denouement as all the companions leave, the Doctor knows he has to wipe Donna’s mind of her time with him or her brain will burn with the Time Lord consciousness in it. I think this is the most devastating companion departure, as Donna pleads to be allowed to die as the Doctor wipes her memory. I know the wipe is controversial, but I do think the Doctor makes the right decision in preserving her life. Just as hard as seeing Donna back to The Runaway Bride is Wilf’s reaction. Wilf is mainly adorable throughout the story and not an official companion yet, notably not on the giant TARDIS flight. Wilf does two important things, he tells Sylvia that Donna was better in the TARDIS (leading to the Doctor finally rebuking Sylvia), and asking the Doctor if he’ll be alright. In the end, this resolution for Donna seems cruel and it just isn’t a satisfying resolution to her arc. Ah well.
The gang flies Earth home
So where does this leave us? First off, this story is a ton of insane fun. It’s like doing a line of pure RTD. It’s hard for me to be too upset at a story that is this wild and fun, and so much of it is pretty great. K9 even shows up! The biggest problems with the story are as follows: the return of Rose brings us a character unrecognizable from when she left us in Doomsday, the motif of the Doctor turning his companions into soldiers does not have a true resolution, is this a good thing or bad thing? The story won’t say. Lastly, Donna’s arc instead of concluding with her in triumph, ends with her reduced back to what she was. Instead of the story being about the Doctor having the largest family in the universe as Sarah Jane tells him, he ends the story dejected and rain-soaked in the TARDIS: alone. It’s a daring thing to end a story jammed with characters and a celebration of the success of the return of Doctor Who with the Doctor being all alone by himself. It’s seriously sad. I’m ok with these potential downer endings, but it just wrings wrong for a story that had so much verve and life and energy. Still though, it is a very good time, and every character gets their own little moments making nobody completely forgotten in the shuffle. RTD even ties up the thread of Gwen being a descendent of Gwyneth from The Unquiet Dead. This is an essential Doctor Who story for the sugar rush it provides, but there is just too much going on for this story to have a truly impactful plot.
There is no story more insane than this one, but the insanity denies characters the time they needed to truly wrap up their arcs.
8.25/10 RTD goes ALL IN.
The most insane story ends on such a depressing note. Such a gamble!
Story 104, Episodes 506-509, Season 17 Episodes 1-4
Doctor: The Fourth Doctor
Companions: K9, Romana II
In Terry Nation’s final script for Doctor Who we return to Skaro and Davros for a story that feels sort of disposable but continues to be enjoyable.
The Review
Hanging out on the Movellan ship
The central problem of this story is that the robotic Movellans are locked into a century-long stalemate with the robotic Daleks, both too logical to make the first move and win. To solve this, the Daleks decided they should go dig up Davros, because he still is organic. Now, Terry Nation, writer of this script, created the Daleks…and has forgotten that they’re not robots? The Doctor has a brilliant display of the limits of artificial intelligence versus the randomness of organic intelligence, the final theme being that he succeeds by being quick on his feet and unpredictable. This would maybe have been a great theme to substitute in the Cybermen and their cold logic (yes they’re not robots), but the Daleks are violent passionate hateful creatures! They’re not robots! Because I’m forgiving, I still found that plot line enjoyable, but it’s a misread of who the Daleks are. You would also think the show would treat the return of Davros as a huge deal, and he’s treated like a joke. I’m fine with some Davros-joking like The Witch’s Familiar but he never really gets to snap into seriousness here. He just hangs around until the Doctor locks him up. So much for Davros!
The Doctor really tries to blow up Davros though. He also flips his hat on a Daleks’ eye-stalk to blind it which I give a pass because it’s Tom Baker as hell
The first episode is atmospheric, but if you put Daleks in the title and expect us to be shocked by the Daleks showing up as a cliffhanger, get a better cliffhanger. (Dalek Invasion of Earth gets a pass because at the time individual episodes had titles and it was a surprise in the 60s). The Movellans are pretty sweet looking designs, and I enjoyed having a foil to the Daleks. I’m here for more weird looking aliens. There’s some prisoners on Skaro, but they’re not that important. The big story is the reveal of Romana II, who we don’t get much of, but is a bit more charming and a bit less book-smart. I don’t think just deciding to change appearance is something Romana I would really do, but when Mary Tamm tried to leave they didn’t have much choice. I think the best for Lalla Ward is yet to come, but she was a pleasant performance. The story itself is really inoffensive, which makes for a fun story because I’ll always enjoy messing around with the Daleks. Again, it’s biggest problem is its inoffensiveness, in that I felt there could be a lot more going on here. You’d have to completely rewrite this episode to upgrade it up to a classic, but as it is, it’s enjoyable. I wonder when Davros will be threatening again, and not just a fun character to have hanging around.
A fun disposable romp where they could have been an epic return of the mad scientist Davros, ah well. I did love the rock-paper-scissors scene, reminded me of the CERN scene in Extremis.
8.25/10 Davros gets perma-frozen and shipped off to stand trial. I’m sure we’ll never see him again.
Story 78, Episodes 393-398, Season 12 Episodes 11-16
Doctor: The Fourth Doctor
Companions: Sarah Jane Smith, Harry Sullivan
One of the most famous Doctor Who stories ever lives up to the hype as Davros is introduced with the Doctor going back to the source of how the Dalek evil began.
The Review
Sarah with a Mutto, trying to escape
At last, I have seen Genesis of the Daleks, and it delivers on the promise of the title and the legacy it has cultivated. Skaro is depicted in a horrific thousand year war between the Kaleds and Thals. The Thals are portrayed as the lesser of the two evils, as when they believe they win the war all Kaled prisoners are freed. I doubt that the Nazi-like Kaleds would do that, especially considering the screed we hear from a young general saying the Thals will be destroyed in the name of peace. Early on, the war’s hopelessness is established, a mismatch of technologies (that will be shown so well in The Magician’s Apprentice), and the youth of the soldiers. Both cultures are holed up in bunker domes with a harsh wasteland between them. There are also the Muttos, the creations of chemical warfare who live in the middle and are harshly treated by both sides. Early on Sarah Jane gets separated again, but I think it’s because she’s a much more interesting character than Harry who I don’t think could carry a plot arc on his own.
The first Dalek in history
A Time Lord has instructed the Doctor to end the Dalek threat forever, and the way back to the TARDIS is a time ring MacGuffin. The Doctor meets Davros, who an incredible creation, exactly the man you would’ve imagined making the Daleks. His high-pitched speeches and fits of rage remind you that he is not far away from being a Dalek himself. Davros always seems in control no matter the threats facing his plans, he is determined to create an unstoppable warrior race to purge other species. His scientific streak is clear too, such as his fascination with a hypothetical from the Doctor about creating a virus instead of the Daleks. The scene where he forces the Doctor to recount the Dalek’s defeats is a great cliffhanger. Just as evil and responsible for the Daleks is the Himmler-esque Nyler, a contemptible, sour man who stands resolutely by Davros’ side. To the Kaleds’ credit, a democratic rebellion is staged, but all those involved are executed by Daleks.
People kind of forget, but the Doctor does say he has the right
Tom Baker continues to crush his debut season as the Doctor, with the ‘do I have the right?’ scene an incredible achievement. You may think: of course destroying the Daleks is right, it’ll save billions! The Doctor ends up agreeing with you, and eventually does detonate the Dalek incubator room. However, Davros’ actions keep some Daleks sealed up in the bunker, the Doctor estimating he only set back the Daleks a millennium. In a moment of true catharsis and irony, Davros is exterminated by his own creations after having been deemed inferior. Of course, this doesn’t stick, but it’s a poetic fate for him. I can think of nothing to change in this serial, so it earns a 10 from me. If I didn’t know a thing about it watching it for the first time, I think I would’ve been on the edge of my seat. The Daleks have always been scarier than they’ve had right to be, and Davros perfects their recipe.
Sure some stuff in The Daleks gets contradicted, but let’s just say history got muddled so long after the events of this story. Also the whole time wobbly-wibbly stuff.
10/10 Davros’ introduction to Doctor Who is picture perfect
Story 254, Episodes 814 and 815, Series 9 Episodes 1 and 2
Doctor: The Twelfth Doctor
Companion: Kate Stewart, Clara Oswald
After a long long wait Doctor Who is back in Series 9! Old faces meet for the first time in a spectacular two-parter story.
The Review
Davros: the deadliest person ever to live
It starts with the Doctor meeting a young child on a battlefield, and preparing to save him before realizing: it’s Davros. The Doctor leaves the child and centuries later as dying Davros sends snake-man to find him, giving us a look old friends the Shadow Proclamation and the Sisterhood of Carn. Clara is teaching when she notices that the planes in the sky have stopped. This leads her to UNIT which leads her to Missy with the news: the Doctor is dying and she has his confession. They go to the middle ages to find him.
A fourteenth-life crisis
The Doctor is rocking out with future technology, and when he hears of Davros’ summons decides to go. There the Doctor is trapped on a rejuvenated Skaro, and has to see Clara and Missy vaporized. Of course they’re fine: Missy explains how in a brilliant flashback where she shows the Doctor avoid crisis. While the Doctor temporarily steals Davros’ chair Missy takes Clara into the sewers of dead liquified Daleks and has her jump in one to get back into Skaro to track down the Doctor.
Davros rejuvenated
The Doctor is put back with Davros, and Davros emotionally convinces him to use some regeneration energy to keep him alive a bit longer. It actually works on all Daleks, but even the dead ones which vastly outnumber the living and attack them. Missy is unable to get the Doctor to kill Clara in the Dalek, and with sonic sunglasses the Doctor and Clara and back in the TARDIS. The confession dial is a secret for another time, but the Doctor survives the first meeting of the Master and Davros.
Missy works her charm on some Daleks
The pacing in this story is as good as I’ve ever seen from Doctor Who, and kept you thrilled from start to finish. The highlight again was Michelle Gomez who continues to play Missy so well I want her to appear as often as possible. Julian Bleach turned in another fined performance as Davros, and the regulars continued to impressive. This episode was Doctor Who distilled to its core: funny, thrilling, and with the charm that only Doctor Who can provide.
The Master AND Davros in the same episode! Even the 50th Anniversary didn’t have that! If Series 9 holds to this quality this will the best series ever.
10/10. I’ve never given one of these before, but I honestly cannot think of a flaw. This story is Doctor Who at it’s absolute best. And this was only the intro story!
Reviewing Doctor Who from Start to Finish 