The Daleks are a race that have been overused and badly used in recent years; too often they have been the big finale or a special episode where they come on, be iconic and then get defeated within 45 minutes; so it is nice to see them here on their first appearance 50 years ago. The first thing to strike me was how little they had changed in all that time and I can only imagine the impact they must have had originally, for their manner and their images to remain frozen in this way. The 7- part storyline sees the Tardis arrive in a petrified forest with a strange metallic city in the distance and, on setting out to explore they find themselves the guests of the Daleks.
I think I have seen these episodes before – and if not the whole story then at least clips because the whole thing is very familiar to me. The episodes open in the petrified forest and this sets the rather eerie air that all of them have. The stubbornness of The Doctor yet again drives the narrative but as a character he takes a back seat again as Ian does most of the solving of problems. As with the previous story there is plenty of room for the supporting characters to make a mark, rather than just being plot devices of the day. The Daleks are quite menacing here but for me what makes them work particularly well is the cold metallic city they live in. The corridors and the sliding doors have an ominous coldness to them that matches the forest and gives the whole thing a dead feel that works well.
The plot is perhaps a bit easily resolved and a bit too tidy for what the majority of the episodes were like, but it still did the job and I found all of it very engaging. Some of the plot points are unconvincing and exist to make the story move rather than working to draw the viewer in further, but it is still pretty decent. The cast continue to be led by Russell although Hartnell is more of a presence in this collection of episodes, even if I find his Doctor quite hard to warm too since he is less a character at this point and more just a difficult old man.
Overall the design of these episodes is what made them for me with the iconic creatures hitting the mark from the start in their metal city. The story is pretty engaging even though it could easily have been a little shorter and also, ironically, not be so rushed and tidy at the very end, but I enjoyed it and the performances were mostly good.