Review of Death to the Daleks (#72)
DVD Release Date: 10 Jul 12
Original Air Date: 23 Feb – 16 Mar 1974
Doctor/Companion: Three, Sarah Jane Smith
Stars: Jon Pertwee, Elisabeth Sladen
Preceding Story: Invasion of the Dinosaurs (Three, Sarah Jane)
Succeeding Story: The Monster of Peladon (Three, Sarah Jane)

Although based on some of the comments from the extras, Death to the Daleks has a rather special place in some fans’ hearts, I’m afraid it hasn’t acquired such a position for me. And reviews I’ve read elsewhere suggest I’m not alone.

It’s not that it’s a bad story – it certainly doesn’t rate a Stinker status – but it’s just kind of pedestrian. I simply couldn’t get excited about watching it. (Granted, the fact that Real Life has been rather stressing me out lately may have had something to do with it, but still – a good Who story can snap me out of most any funk.) Maybe there were too many bits I’d seen elsewhere before (like an electrified floor, which put me in mind of the yet-to-come Five Doctors; and how many times has poor Sarah Jane been sent up as a potential sacrifice?!), or maybe I couldn’t stand the “look out: Daleks” theme music.

On the other hand, I have to think the opening episode would’ve freaked out the kids at the time. It’s always ominous when the TARDIS goes dark, and the fact that every attempt at backup power failed would probably have seemed quite alarming. Better yet, we get to hear Sarah Jane refer to the Daleks as “those robot things”! I’ve been following her in random sequence for so long, having started from the other end of her timeline, that I was a bit stunned to realize that this is her first Dalek encounter: “wait, since when does Sarah Jane not know about Daleks?!”

So Death has some saving graces, but it’s much more fun to lampoon. The cliffhangers are pretty rubbish, the Daleks show some mental weakness (e.g., their flawed logic in declaring that regenerative architecture “suggests city is indestructible” and the emotional fragility of the Dalek who “failed” its mission and self-destructed), and the “assault on [two characters’] sanity” was more like a visual assault on epileptic viewers.  The bit that just took the cake for me, though, was the Doctor’s assertion that aliens had helped human civilizations build their most impressive monuments (in this case, a temple in Peru). I know it was supposed to be a clever little tie-in between a mystery of the time and the Whoniverse, but my own background makes it hard for me to see such a dismissal of real, human ingenuity as anything but insulting.

I could go on about deeper themes here, too – Galloway’s disregard for the “personhood,” if you will, of the Exxilons is a little disturbing – but those are more secondary, “explore on subsequent viewings” kinds of ideas. And, frankly, I don’t really intend to have a subsequent viewing any time soon.

DVD Extras (highlights)

Beneath the City of the Exxilons

To differentiate itself from all the other “making of” documentaries, “Beneath” uses a Dalek voiceover for its interstitial narration. Perhaps I’m just Dalek’d out, but it grated on me after a while. There were, however, some interesting tidbits about effects issues, archery, out-of-control Daleks, creature design, and the unusual (for the time) recording schedule. They even pointed out both some of my own peeves about the story and a few others to boot.

Studio Recording

Some rare behind-the-scenes footage from the middle block of recording on 04 Dec 1973 is presented here with explanatory captions from time to time. It’s nice for buffs of that type of how-it’s-done history, but a bit less interesting way to spend 23 minutes for the rest of us.

Doctor Who Stories – Dalek Men

This is a piece just like the one on The Krotons DVD (also released this month) which featured Fraser Hines. In contrast here, we get an inside look at what it was like to be a Dalek operator back in the day.

Though it’s neither exciting nor incredibly well executed, I don’t think Death is the worst Dalek story ever. It’s got some of that low-production-value ’70s charm, and you just can’t go wrong with a tender moment between Sarah Jane and the Doctor (like the one near the end of Episode 3). So I wouldn’t call it a must-have, don’t shy away from it, either.