Destiny of the Daleks: Episode One

This 1979 Doctor Who four part serial is one of the best Dalek stories from the 1970's.

It has got a tense feeling within the plot of the story, which is back up by good dialog and excellent acting.

The pace and the setting is very good, and the director Ken Grieve did an excellent job of getting a good performance from the actors, who stared in this Dalek serial. He also did a wonderful job of getting some excellent camera shots, on location and in the studio.

Winspit Quarry in Dorset was a ideal location to use for the Dalek planet Skaro.

This story is nicely written and it is an excellent sequel to the 1975 classic Genesis Of The Daleks.

On the acting side Tom Baker as usual is excellent as Doctor Who. The interplay between him and his leading costar Lalla Ward is a superb double act in this long running television series.

Tim Barlow gives a good performance as the hero Tyssan.

While Peter Straker is excellent as the villain Commander Sharrel. These two actors are supporter well by David Gooderson who plays Davros.

The only bad side to this television serial is the awful performance of Suzanne Danielle as Sharrel's second in command. She moves gracefully, but her acting is wooden.

I recommend this Doctor Who serial, it is worth watching if you have nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon.

Who knew spontaneous regeneration was a thing, that you could pick and choose your next torso, and all that it will bring, there's a perfect incarnation, to a pink flowery carnation, but the last one wasn't all that bad, I quite enjoyed her zing.

The "Doctor" (Tom Baker) is fiddling about with the TARDIS when in walks "Romana" - except, well it isn't her. Or is it? Can she regenerate too? Appears so and so now Lalla Ward picks up the slack. Luckily, there's still the old quarry to set this story in as they emerge in the middle of an inter-galactic scuffle between the "Movellans" and their (and everyone else's) arch enemy - the "Daleks". "Tyssan" (Tim Barlow) represents the indigenous human population who are being used by the latter to excavate deep under the surface - but why? Well it doesn't take our time travelling duo long to realise that they are back on "Skaro" and the diggers are looking for something, or someone, that could be uniquely placed to alter the stalemate between their battle fleet and that of their opponents. It seems the "Movellans" know of this strategy too, and co-opt the pair to help them. Of course, the "Doctor" is aware that he isn't supposed to take sides - but can he stay neutral, especially when it seems that neither party is any more scrupulous that the other. Terry Nation was one of the better series writers on "Dr. Who" and coupled with a decent effort from Baker and plenty of action, this is quite a watchable drama that uses a solid story and reliable baddies to support the new arrival. Ward was never my favourite "assistant" - something just a little too preppie about her contributions for me, but she gets off to an adequate start here as the bombs go off and a battle royal looms. Not the best, but not bad.

Despite presenting a handful of great ideas, such as the revivification of Davros following Genesis of the Daleks, a stalemate war between two machine races, and Romana's inexplicable regeneration, Destiny of the Daleks has always been among my least favourite Dalek stories. It begins well, with the Doctor and Romana sharing an amusing rapport and K9 having laryngitis, but the execution of the rest of the story leaves a lot to be desired. It ends up feeling like a self-conscious parody, no doubt a symptom of the pop culture joke the Daleks had become by this point, opting to go for cheap gags and slapstick in place of intrigue or tension. Furthermore, the Movellans look plain ridiculous, some of the direction is laughable (the way falls to the ground in confusion is hilarious), and David Gooderson's stand-in for Michael Wisher's Davros is underwhelming at best. An interesting story, in spite of itself.

Review of all 4 episodes:

Destiny of the Daleks is solid and entertaining but falling short of a top level Dalek story in my opinion.

The start of the first episode features Romana inexplicably regenerating. I was very sad to see Mary Tamm go as she was wonderful, witty, intelligent and gutsy as Romana I. There is a fully comedic scene of Romana going through various options of new incarnations ranging from super tall to short and blue skinned. It is quite amusing but it is broad comedy, not terribly sophisticated. It would have been nice to know why Romana was regenerating and given she very soon is put in peril by radiation, rockfalls and Daleks it is a pity a dramatic death and regeneration was not used instead of the unexplained, comedy version. To be fair it is a pleasantly light hearted scene in keeping with this more comedic period of the show but I personally prefer a bit more edge and seriousness on the whole.

Lalla Ward is introduced as Romana II having previously played Princess Astra in the last story. It is actually made clear she has chosen to copy that appearance. Lalla is very good and has good chemistry with Tom but I preferred Mary Tamm to be honest in terms of her personality and the characterisation. Romana in this story is a bit more of a typical companion, screaming and needing rescue at times but she does work out her own escape from captivity at one stage so she still has some strength.

The Doctor and Romana find they are on Skaro and are caught amongst a battle between the Daleks and the Movellans. They find the Daleks are tunnelling down into the buried Kaled city to find their creator, Davros. I love the character Davros and here he is maybe a bit underused but when he is involved he is a clear strong point of the story. Davros is played by David Gooderson, replacing Michael Wisher. Gooderson is not mentioned much compared to other Davros actors and I feel that is mainly because his voice is not processed to give it the less human sound that other appearances by Davros have. It lessens his character a bit in terms of impact and Gooderson is also a more understated performer than any of the other actors in the role. That makes him fade a bit in people's memory I think but I actually quite like the quieter, more thoughtful side shown here as it adds some variation.

The Daleks themselves are menacing and threatening here and there is an interesting twist on their earlier efforts from Evil of the Daleks to achieve a free thinking element like humans in order to gain an advantage in some situations. Here they want Davros to give them that guidance which is actually a more effective way of giving them an alternative strategy without altering their 'purity'.

There are some bits that could have been better directed or had better production values of course but overall this has plenty of good stuff and is very enjoyable. Tom is in wild form and the plot itself is really good.

My ratings: Part 1 - 8/10, Part 2 - 9/10, Part 3 - 9.5/10, Part 4 - 8.5/10. Overall - 8.75/10.