What could of been the very last appearance of the Daleks the product team really did go all out on this one, it's very similar to how a big end of the finale stories are often played in new who, especially cliffhanger 6 with the iconic "look at the size of that thing Dr!". From the brilliant writing, great actors, beautiful sets and some awesome explosions it makes me incredibly sad to see how much of that incredible work is still missing. I read in the book "now on the big screen" that Patrick Troughton loved the story so much he was interested in making a film adaptation, sadly due to his passing it never went anywhere but I can absolutely see how this story would work as a film. Great set up, good strong characters that reflect the baddie, action and fights scenes and a big war at the end.
Whereas power Is a more self contained space/story with limited characters and more Daleks, showing you how miniupltive and clever they are at faking for humans to get what they want. Evil is a much bigger scale but with some excellent new ideas for the Daleks. What if the Daleks were good ? And its the first time the Daleks seek out and force the Dr to do there work. Cementing the relationship between them.
The Daleks miniuplte everyone here but due to David Whitaker's clever way of writing he makes at least every character have a minuplutive arc. The Daleks want to minuplute the Dr to create the human factor and then spread the Dalek factor through earth. The Daleks force Terrall to have the Dalek Emperors mind linked to his to watch the house, they also minuplutie professor Maxtible to trick an use Victoria as bait for the Dr all with a promise to make gold for him. Professor Maxtible miniupltes Waterfield and his daughter and later Kemel to protect victoria from Jamie. The Dr miniupltes Jamie by deliberately making him angry to save Victoria on his own. Waterfield miniupltes the Dr to his house by stealing the tardis. Even side characters like Toby tries to manipulate Terrral for fear of spread fake stories for more money.
It's just a very clever constant corruption and manipulation for people. But you still have your innocent good Characters too, such as Jamie, Victoria, kemel, Molly and the lady of the house. Kemel is a character that might not sit well with todays audiences however this character actually has both good and bad with it. It's more a stereotype than blatant racism. For the time period of this story they would still have black people in wealthy people's homes, not as slaves but more as either servants like Molly or just in the house as a novelty/brag. Like look how exotic we are. While the way Maxtible calls him stupid works for his character it is a bit much however David Whitaker has at least tried to make this character less of a stereotype and more an actual Character that moves away from that. He teams up with Jamie to save Victoria because shes one of the only people who didn't really care about his skin colour, however even towards the end most of the characters themself don't care. It also revealed he was brought to the house for the sole purpose of the Daleks experiment, considering what the Daleks represented it does work. Having him not being able to speak and die in the end by an old man is where it becomes annoying for me.
Evil is definitely a much slower story than power and it's only until the final 3 stories the Daleks really shine, but that's not to say the previous parts of the story are nothing, there very important as it makes this story work so well. It takes its time to show how the Daleks and humanity are very similar in some ways. Something David Whitaker is excellent at. Alot of fans say that the episode in which Jamie and kemel try and find Victoria and escape deadly traps is pointless, well far from it. The Dr/Daleks makes this as a test for Jamie's humanity for the whole experiment, cut that out and we get a lazy told but never shown story of how we get there. Although as a kid I found this a little boring until the Daleks show up. Today as an actor I can see how good the arcs and themes are here.
The Dr is absolutely brilliant here too, all down to Patrick Troughtons absolutely brilliant performance. There are times when the Dr really does seem scared by the Daleks and worried about being forced to work for them. There's a lovely moment in the skaro cells which he refuses to take the opportunity to risk everyones life for the whole of earth. Which is tragic when all but Victoria die in the end. Patrick also gets the chance to really be a good stand strong dr here too, I loved seeing him stand up to the emperor and refuse to work for him. For such a small actor Troughton nails that strongest man in the room that the dr should always have. But this Dr still has the wonderous curiosity about the Daleks being good.
I also really loved the final arc for Waterfield, towards the final few episodes he's Character very similar to Lesterson has a descent to madness almost about how he's done and will cause with the Daleks taking over earth, all because of his experiments. On skaro he jumps in front of the Dr to save his life and we get a very lovely powerful scene between the two characters, Waterfield remarks how he was a good man/life to save. In a unspoken way he's apologising to Earth and the Dr and I thinks it's incredibly sweet how the Dr kept his promise with Victoria.
Jamie is also great here. He's a much stronger companion and arc to the story than Polly and Ben was in power. Jamie is very much like the Dr here, which is a nice close to his first season and shows the impact the Dr has had on him so far. He believes that they must save Victoria and for the first time he doesn't feel the need to get revenge on someone, he saves kemel and even confronts the Dr in absolutely brilliant scene. People have died here and the Dr to Jamie doesn't seem to have really realised that yet and so in a way Jamie is like the moral good angel and the drs shoulder here.
The Daleks are absolutely fantastic here, it's an idea that has been constantly used today but here for the first is done so creepy and brilliantly it still holds up so well. Considering this was after Dalek mania David Whitaker in just two stories has come with a completely new angle and added a new horror to them. I like Terry Nations works but his stories are very similar. The idea of good Daleks originated in David Whitakers work for the Dalek chronicles in which it also shows a Dalek with care and friendship, such as the emperor not wanting the black Dalek to die and others such as a good Dalek loving flowers and starting to question. It's nice to see the ideas be fully explored more.
There's a ton of great Dalek moments here too, seeing the good Daleks want to play trains with the Dr, sing and then save each other towards the end is so creepy and yet really cool/exciting to see. Having that creepy voice saying things like" Dr jamie friends" is so well done. I also really loved how somehow the Daleks try to trick the Dr by replacing a name he gave one on the skirt of a good Dalek. Although alpha would return in "Children of the revolution" were he started a good Dalek colony, I wish big finish had brought them back with the Dr during the time war. An idea I really wanted to see as a kid. Especially when we got the war Dr.
It's also revealed here that the Daleks have also created a new better Dalek factor through the human factor and start creating human Daleks. It's another thing we've seen many times such as the voices in people's heads which is also the first time we see it here. I do wish we got more time with the good Daleks/the human Daleks as this story is more the journey to it then the idea itself although I still really enjoyed it. The final moments see the Dr trick the Daleks to be filed with the human factor and a war breaks out between the two Daleks in an incredibly awesome action explosion piece. With the Dr saying that this is the final end. Thankfully it wasn't but it was a beautiful and brilliant end to the 60s era daleks, an era that in my opinion will always be the Daleks TV best.
David Whitaker is probably my favourite classic writer, I just love his ideas, Characters and themes and it makes me incredibly mad he never went on to more great TV stories after ambassadors of death. I like and respect Derek Sherwin on the show but reading more into it he could be quite nasty to writers and rewrites as shown with why Haisman and Lincoln (yeti writers) vowed never to write on the show again after how much changes was made to the dominators. Wanting there names of the script, years later they wanted money from the quarks and the BBC refused them. Ambassadors of death has some great stuff and Characters in it that eventually becomes a messy story because of Derek Sherwins for good or for worse re-writes , which is why that story hurts to watch. I can see how good it could of been, if people had just let him get on with it.
Rating 4/5 8/10.
Whereas power Is a more self contained space/story with limited characters and more Daleks, showing you how miniupltive and clever they are at faking for humans to get what they want. Evil is a much bigger scale but with some excellent new ideas for the Daleks. What if the Daleks were good ? And its the first time the Daleks seek out and force the Dr to do there work. Cementing the relationship between them.
The Daleks miniuplte everyone here but due to David Whitaker's clever way of writing he makes at least every character have a minuplutive arc. The Daleks want to minuplute the Dr to create the human factor and then spread the Dalek factor through earth. The Daleks force Terrall to have the Dalek Emperors mind linked to his to watch the house, they also minuplutie professor Maxtible to trick an use Victoria as bait for the Dr all with a promise to make gold for him. Professor Maxtible miniupltes Waterfield and his daughter and later Kemel to protect victoria from Jamie. The Dr miniupltes Jamie by deliberately making him angry to save Victoria on his own. Waterfield miniupltes the Dr to his house by stealing the tardis. Even side characters like Toby tries to manipulate Terrral for fear of spread fake stories for more money.
It's just a very clever constant corruption and manipulation for people. But you still have your innocent good Characters too, such as Jamie, Victoria, kemel, Molly and the lady of the house. Kemel is a character that might not sit well with todays audiences however this character actually has both good and bad with it. It's more a stereotype than blatant racism. For the time period of this story they would still have black people in wealthy people's homes, not as slaves but more as either servants like Molly or just in the house as a novelty/brag. Like look how exotic we are. While the way Maxtible calls him stupid works for his character it is a bit much however David Whitaker has at least tried to make this character less of a stereotype and more an actual Character that moves away from that. He teams up with Jamie to save Victoria because shes one of the only people who didn't really care about his skin colour, however even towards the end most of the characters themself don't care. It also revealed he was brought to the house for the sole purpose of the Daleks experiment, considering what the Daleks represented it does work. Having him not being able to speak and die in the end by an old man is where it becomes annoying for me.
Evil is definitely a much slower story than power and it's only until the final 3 stories the Daleks really shine, but that's not to say the previous parts of the story are nothing, there very important as it makes this story work so well. It takes its time to show how the Daleks and humanity are very similar in some ways. Something David Whitaker is excellent at. Alot of fans say that the episode in which Jamie and kemel try and find Victoria and escape deadly traps is pointless, well far from it. The Dr/Daleks makes this as a test for Jamie's humanity for the whole experiment, cut that out and we get a lazy told but never shown story of how we get there. Although as a kid I found this a little boring until the Daleks show up. Today as an actor I can see how good the arcs and themes are here.
The Dr is absolutely brilliant here too, all down to Patrick Troughtons absolutely brilliant performance. There are times when the Dr really does seem scared by the Daleks and worried about being forced to work for them. There's a lovely moment in the skaro cells which he refuses to take the opportunity to risk everyones life for the whole of earth. Which is tragic when all but Victoria die in the end. Patrick also gets the chance to really be a good stand strong dr here too, I loved seeing him stand up to the emperor and refuse to work for him. For such a small actor Troughton nails that strongest man in the room that the dr should always have. But this Dr still has the wonderous curiosity about the Daleks being good.
I also really loved the final arc for Waterfield, towards the final few episodes he's Character very similar to Lesterson has a descent to madness almost about how he's done and will cause with the Daleks taking over earth, all because of his experiments. On skaro he jumps in front of the Dr to save his life and we get a very lovely powerful scene between the two characters, Waterfield remarks how he was a good man/life to save. In a unspoken way he's apologising to Earth and the Dr and I thinks it's incredibly sweet how the Dr kept his promise with Victoria.
Jamie is also great here. He's a much stronger companion and arc to the story than Polly and Ben was in power. Jamie is very much like the Dr here, which is a nice close to his first season and shows the impact the Dr has had on him so far. He believes that they must save Victoria and for the first time he doesn't feel the need to get revenge on someone, he saves kemel and even confronts the Dr in absolutely brilliant scene. People have died here and the Dr to Jamie doesn't seem to have really realised that yet and so in a way Jamie is like the moral good angel and the drs shoulder here.
The Daleks are absolutely fantastic here, it's an idea that has been constantly used today but here for the first is done so creepy and brilliantly it still holds up so well. Considering this was after Dalek mania David Whitaker in just two stories has come with a completely new angle and added a new horror to them. I like Terry Nations works but his stories are very similar. The idea of good Daleks originated in David Whitakers work for the Dalek chronicles in which it also shows a Dalek with care and friendship, such as the emperor not wanting the black Dalek to die and others such as a good Dalek loving flowers and starting to question. It's nice to see the ideas be fully explored more.
There's a ton of great Dalek moments here too, seeing the good Daleks want to play trains with the Dr, sing and then save each other towards the end is so creepy and yet really cool/exciting to see. Having that creepy voice saying things like" Dr jamie friends" is so well done. I also really loved how somehow the Daleks try to trick the Dr by replacing a name he gave one on the skirt of a good Dalek. Although alpha would return in "Children of the revolution" were he started a good Dalek colony, I wish big finish had brought them back with the Dr during the time war. An idea I really wanted to see as a kid. Especially when we got the war Dr.
It's also revealed here that the Daleks have also created a new better Dalek factor through the human factor and start creating human Daleks. It's another thing we've seen many times such as the voices in people's heads which is also the first time we see it here. I do wish we got more time with the good Daleks/the human Daleks as this story is more the journey to it then the idea itself although I still really enjoyed it. The final moments see the Dr trick the Daleks to be filed with the human factor and a war breaks out between the two Daleks in an incredibly awesome action explosion piece. With the Dr saying that this is the final end. Thankfully it wasn't but it was a beautiful and brilliant end to the 60s era daleks, an era that in my opinion will always be the Daleks TV best.
David Whitaker is probably my favourite classic writer, I just love his ideas, Characters and themes and it makes me incredibly mad he never went on to more great TV stories after ambassadors of death. I like and respect Derek Sherwin on the show but reading more into it he could be quite nasty to writers and rewrites as shown with why Haisman and Lincoln (yeti writers) vowed never to write on the show again after how much changes was made to the dominators. Wanting there names of the script, years later they wanted money from the quarks and the BBC refused them. Ambassadors of death has some great stuff and Characters in it that eventually becomes a messy story because of Derek Sherwins for good or for worse re-writes , which is why that story hurts to watch. I can see how good it could of been, if people had just let him get on with it.
Rating 4/5 8/10.
