Doctor Who (TV Series) Death to the Daleks: Part Four (1974) User Reviews

72: Death to the Daleks

[Tom-Gentile8 · 7/10 · 27 June 2018]

"It's rather a pity, in a way. Now the Universe is down to 699 Wonders."

Rarely in the modern series do we delve deep into other alien cultures and planets. Most of the time now, if the show attempts this, the aliens look strangely alike to a human or are indeed future humans. This is why these four episodes of television interested me immensely. They present the viewer with a sense of awe and curiosity as you learn more and more about this devolved alien race, that before you know too much about them, look quite terrifying. As they become slowly humanized, with the appearance of Bellal (a fantastic character), you begin to relate with the Doctor's constant and inherent acceptance of culture's at face value throughout the entire series. This action packed story gives the Doctor's oldest foes an interesting role to play in a cosmic wonder of a story.

Part One/Two/Three/Four - June 26th

A terrific end to a marvellous story.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 20 January 2019]

I am struck by the real quality of Death to the Daleks, and the events of Exxilon end with a really high quality episode.

I love the way events unfold in this episode, great that they decided to partner up the Doctor with someone other then his companion, Bellal turns out to be an excellent short term companion.

Terrific imagery in the city, I loved the concept of the figure at the chair watching events unfold. The special effects, though limited were used to great effect here.

Very well acted, lots of action, the Daleks on good form, and of course the real character of Galloway unmasked. A cracking episode. 9/10

Bellal would have made a good companion

[pompeymeowth · 9/10 · 29 September 2014]

This last episode of Death to the Daleks was a real favourite of mine when I saw it as a young kid. They managed to pack so much into a short time, the part near the end where the monsters were slowly starting to form was very frightening, like a slower version of materialisation from Star Trek.

The rapport between The Doctor and the timid Bellal as they progress through the City with all it's traps and puzzles, was very well played out, he would have made a great companion for the Doctor, I'm surprised they didn't think about it. The City melting at the end was rather well done too.

The Soundtrack composed by Carey Blyton and played by the London Saxophone Quartet was brilliant, there were some Clarinets used to good effect too, creating the creepy tune tootling along as the Daleks approached around a corner or through a tunnel.

All in all a wonderful story for the third Doctor.

Daleks with a difference.

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 9/10 · 15 November 2014]

Review of all 4 episodes:

This adventure has the Daleks in a bit of a different kind of story to usual. The TARDIS is stranded on a planet with all its power drained. The Doctor and Sarah Jane venture out onto the planet and come under attack from natives of the planet called Exxilons. They also find a small group of humans who are similarly stranded and powerless. The end of the first episode has a great cliffhanger as another ship arrives and as The Doctor and the humans gather to meet the ship's occupants, thinking it will be a rescue party they are faced with Daleks. A pity the title gives away their presence but the cliffhanger scene is done brilliantly.

Instead of being the usual invaders or destroyers, in this story the Daleks are also stranded on the planet with their ship and all their weapons drained of power. They have to agree a truce with the humans and work together to try to find a way to overcome their power loss and escape from the planet. Of course the Daleks evil intent is ever present and they quickly try to gain the upper hand. Really great that writer Terry Nation has brought something fresh to a Dalek story.

This adventure has credible, well acted human characters, great performances from Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladen in the lead roles (with Sarah Jane again proving to be a gutsy companion instead of a damsel in distress like some companions) and interesting use of the Daleks. The Exxilons are good background characters with nice, effective costume/make up and a friendly Exxilon provides an endearing alien character with a little depth. There is plenty of action and thrills. The 'roots' of the city are an interesting idea and very well realised as robotic tentacles.

The production values are generally good and the music is mostly really nicely done. The plot is strong and the dialogue is mostly excellent. All the acting is excellent and effects are as good as anyone could expect for this era.

The final part is a little less brilliant in my opinion compared to the preceding episodes as the quest through the city does not really excite me, struggling to find imaginative puzzles/obstacles for them to face but it is still fun and has great elements with Sarah Jane's efforts to rescue the medical supplies and the climactic scenes of the city decaying. Also, after the great cliffhanger to episode 1 the 'cliffhanger' to episode 3 is pretty lame I suppose but the rest of that episode is absolutely great and thoroughly absorbing. Any flaws in this serial are minor and all in all this is an excellent Dalek story and an excellent sci-fi adventure.

My ratings: Parts 1 & 2 - 9.5/10, Part 3 - 10/10, Part 4 - 8.5/10. Overall - 9.38/10.

S11: Death to the Daleks: Fairly lack-luster serial in which the Daleks seem almost like an afterthought

[bob the moo · 6 June 2015]

The Doctor and Sarah are on their way to a beach holiday on a planet famous for its climate when, wouldn't you know it, something goes wrong with the TARDIS, and they find themselves in a quarry in England – no, sorry, on the barren planet Exxilon. Here they discover a small group of humans seeking to mine the planet for a mineral called Parrinium, which is the only known cure for a space disease threatening to wipe out tens of millions of people. They, like the TARDIS, are affected by a strange localized power disruption – which is a good thing because the Daleks show up, also seeking the mineral to fight the disease in some of their colonies, however the power cut makes their weapons useless (but not their wheels it seems). Motivated by this, the Daleks and humans form an uneasy alliance, whereby they combine to mine the mineral, both dealing with the indigenous population at the same time. Stuck in the middle between two groups seeking their own interests, the Doctor and Sarah find themselves at risk from all parties.

With The Time Warrior, and the Dinosaurs, the eleventh season had started pretty well and I assumed this trend would continue with a serial that not only offered the return of the Daleks, but also would be a 4-part serial (which often means less padding and a generally tighter delivery. There are a lot of moving parts within the story too – quite a few groups, differing motivations, moral conflicts, historical factors, and even an Indiana Jones style series of traps to be figured out and avoided. However all of these parts seem excessive considering few of them are really capitalized on, plus, being honest, the energy levels of the serial seems low – particularly when compared to the elements of fun that came with the previous two serials. Even though there is material to be explored here, usually it leads nowhere – such as the morality of "greater good" which rears its head a few times.

For all their brand recognition, the Daleks seem like an unnecessary fifth wheel here, really doing very little that could not have been done by any other random species. Okay the end of their thread does fit with them (sort of) but otherwise they always seem a little behind the action and very much a secondary concern. This feeling isn't help by the musical accompaniment they get, which is an oddly bumbling curiosity of a piece of music – and it is consistently applied for no good reason. The other supporting characters don't make much of an impression either and, considering the stakes and the risks involved in the detail and the bigger picture of the plot, it is all a bit lacking in energy in terms of how it is delivered. Pertwee is okay, although Sladen seems mostly to be in trouble, with little to really do (and her appearance in a bathing suit at the start surprised me a bit – I thought she started out not being such a companion).

All told Death to the Daleks is not a bad serial, but it certainly is not a particularly good one, and it does stand out as weaker when put after the previous two serials. The Daleks themselves may carry the serial title, but they could easily be replaced for all the specific use they have in this serial. Hopefully the next serial will pick up the tone so far, and this can be a blip in the eleventh season.

Not to be taken seriously.

[mbellfield · 5/10 · 8 August 2021]

This story is best enjoyed if you don't take it seriously and enjoy the more wacky low Budget but still giving it there all side we love about classic who. Which is alittle hard as it takes its self alittle more serious than "The chase" does. There is alot of problems with both the writting and production of the story but the main one is that it is very risky to make a creature or set piece that's either a god or enslaves people look convincing. We learn here that the Exxilons were once incredibly superior beings and created great technology and eventually this great city building with a real thinking brain. Now the problem is throughout this story it's fair to say the Exxilons are very ridiculous grunting monsters/creatures so it's very hard for us, the audience to believe that. Even more so once the Dr actually goes through the city and plays the games to get to heart of it.

While yes the budget wasnt very kind to this story so the games in the city look abit rubbish, like the maze on the wall and death square. The script is also to blame. We just get told this about the Exxilons we never see it and the imagination of Terry for the games is alittle telling. Honestly if the story had a better Budget and didn't have so many longer part stories in season 11 this could work. A story structure like "The Ark" were we spend 2 parts in the past of the colony and then 2 parts in the future allows us to see both sides of the Monoids. You could do that here, have part 1-2 with the Daleks and grunting Exxilons and then 2 parts of the Dr and bellal trying to warn and stop the Exxilons in the past from building the city, the Dr then goes back to allow Galloway to blow up the Dalek ship. Of course without the city how do you explain why they all get trapped there? Well it's doctor who do a time is slowly changing reveal.

I always say every bad story has something good in it and every good bad and this story does have some great moments, alot of them are accidentally comedic ones though. I love that the Daleks use a tardis model as target practice for there new weapons, who ever thought this is absolutely brilliant. I do love the design/colours of these Daleks alot, especially with there machine guns attached. Which is also seen the mandalorian. The Daleks here get alot if good killing and exploding moments too. Even if you can see the wire to the metal snake thing.

There's also alot of nice references to past Dalek storys such as the mentions of the crews family fighting in the Dalek wars with earth and draconia. The idea that a plauge is spreading and the Daleks wish to exploit it at the end is a great one and far better than what we got in death. This is something Nicholas Briggs would recon and expand on brilliantly in his 2nd and 3rd season of Dalek empire. Were eventually it's reveled the Daleks deliberately infect people to get them to join them for a cure. This infection has no cure and it actually transforms these people into Daleks. So I like the added canon to this story. It also kinda is alluded to that it's the virus being made in "Planet of the Daleks".

Despite the surviving crew being so typical Terry nation characters of them being nothing but a crew member, we get some great scenes between Galloway and the captain as he dies and tells him he doesn't want him to take over. It's a great seem that adds to these characters and gives us a break from the overall plot. Its a nice ending for Galloway when he scarifies himself to blow up the ship even of it's not deserved as he hasn't really seen anything to make him do it, plus hasn't he technically done what the Daleks wanted by spreading there virus?

Bellal is another over the top character that I utterly adore because of actor Arnold Yarrows performance, he says my absolute favourite line in anything doctor who. "Which way did he go?, Sarah: Well that way. *Ridiculously shocked sound* that way leads to DEATH! " Hes a great charming character. When's big finish doing the adventures of Bellal boxset?

We then get to explore the city itself which is the story most ridiculous and biggest let down. But it's incredibly funny. First the maze on the wall. How the hell did not one of these super beings discovers this ? And how is ones skeleton still standing. Review of death came up with an excellent recon that these Exxilons came into the city, got trapped and someone forgot the sandwiches but brought the chess game. Then we have the square of death which gives us one of the greatest cliffhangers ever.

This being the last Pertwee Dalek story I think it's such a shame they weren't more tightly written to connect to each other because the ideas and references are there. What id of done is following on from "The Evil of the Daleks" 3 Daleks have survived and traveled to earth and are waiting for humanitys war to weaken them so they can invade and take over. The Dr and Jo fix the timelines and the gold Dalek escapes and teams up with the master to bring the Daleks back and cause the war between humanity and drconians. They have a secret base with an army of Daleks waiting but the Dr is about to get there and stop it. He does so and the Daleks are traped and eventually are able to save a few Daleks and escape. The new Daleks are upgraded to new casings and start finishing there infection viruse from spridon and start to spread it across the universe. Making a very good Dalek trilogy for Pertwee.

All in all its not a great story and it's full of moments to laugh at but I'd still rather watch most of this than most of "The chase" because that story thinks it's being really funny but failed, but here it's accidentally funny. But this story will always have a special charm for me.

Rating 2/5 5/10.