Resurrection of the Daleks (Story #134, 1984)
Viewed 19 Jul 2011
Doctor/Companion: Five, Tegan Jovanka, Vislor Turlough
Stars: Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Mark Strickson
Preceding Story: Frontios (Five, Tegan, Turlough)
Succeeding Story: Planet of Fire (Five, Turlough, Peri)
Notable Aspects:
- departure of Tegan
Having felt that I’d not yet given the Ladies a good feel for Five, I decided to trot out some Daleks (the vote was in favor of them over the Cybermen). I’m not sure I still managed to get across a good feel for his character, as evidenced by some of the general reactions (see below), but at the very least, a good time was had by all.
First impressions were that this one seemed more ’70s than ’80s (aside from costuming). It was also rather Star Trek, what with the crashing around and the doctor in battle, ready to “take the fight to them!” Someone also opined that Turlough looked like a Romulan with a red wig (also apropos because he claims to be on the side of the “good guys,” but we (the Ladies, anyway) never quite trust him…). However, it was really the Doctor and the Daleks that brought the most comments.
Our first sighting of the Daleks brought the comment that they seemed to be more tolerant than they are these days. I’m not sure that that still held true by the end of the story, but they had a lot to do. I mean seriously – a plot to assassinate the High Council of Time Lords? They got so busy with everything else, they couldn’t even remember to come back to that after its toss-off mention, so obviously they had a lot on their proverbial plates. I wonder if that’s why they can’t handle a little eyestalk impairment (“for being such badass warriors, they get so panicked,” observes jA).
Personally, having been soaking in all this (relatively speaking) for the last few years, I found some of the reactions to the Old Skool Daleks and to Davros intriguing. Said Daleks were declared less menacing because they couldn’t fly. (I had to choke back a whole explanation of The Daleks, in which the original Daleks could only move around via the use of static electricity, and of the fact that it was a big Thing among fans during pre-Hiatus Who (though no longer true after Remembrance of the Daleks) that one could simply defeat Daleks by climbing stairs.) As for Davros, I clearly need to continue the Ladies’ education, as at least one thought of this as his “beginnings”…
Echoing the as-yet-unviewed-by-this-crowd Genesis of the Daleks, the Doctor had some interesting moral dilemmas to face. In fact, he even says outright that he doesn’t intend to make the same “mistake” he made before (in Genesis). But we see him apparently wield an honest-to-goodness gun to help kill a casing-free Dalek (“he’s never actually killed anything that I’ve seen!”), and hold Davros himself at gunpoint. To me, it all kind of makes Nine and Ten’s reactions to the Daleks ring a bit truer to remember he’s been at this point more than once before.
General reactions:
- jA – Five? “meh, nothing too special”
- jE – Daleks are better in black than in designer colors
- jO – Five? “reminds me of Chevy Chase”
- mrfranklin – I just hate the way Tegan left; “not like this” indeed…
It’s Doctor-y, it’s Dalek-y, and it ends with Tegan just running away. I’ve always found that one of the saddest (in a hard-to-understand kind of way) Companion departures, perhaps in part because she’s among my favorites. My informal poll of the Ladies yielded a similar result (“I know there was a lot of death in that storyline, but really?”). There was plenty to keep us entertained, though, and it was great to be able to share a bit more Who history. Overall, a fairly positive experience.
Verdict: Thumbs up.
Looking ahead: Mark of the Rani
“Why am I so excited? This’ll be the last thing I ever do.”
“I wonder if that’s why they can’t handle a little eyestalk impairment”
To be fair, if someone shot you in the face and you couldn’t see, I can imagine it would be a little difficult to shrug off, you know… ? 🙂
I have a lot of time for this story. For the first time since Earthshock it all seems quite hard and threatening – and that’s most likely down to the fact that it’s Eric Saward writing the scripts. I’ve always liked his stories and I think he gets a lot of unfair stick (particularly from Gary Gillat, the DWM reviewer).
There are a lot of casual but quite striking deaths: Rula Lenska’s band of bombers and the ultimately futile deaths they all suffer towards the end make me quite sad because I rather liked them and they get SO close… Chloe Ashcroft’s harmless military scientist shot in the back trying to escape the Duplicate Colonel Archer. The innocent bystander with his metal detector, the real Colonel Archer shot by the fake Policemen, the old man in the doorway… The list goes on but although it seems a little bloodthirsty, it’s exactly how I would expect Daleks and their associates to behave. They’re not worried about the BBC watershed…
Tegan and Turlough are at their spiky best and Davison’s Doctor is great in this. But my favourite character is Lytton and his relationship with the Black Dalek. Devious, cunning and deadly.
“Oh, you won’t mistake it…
…The moment you find it, it’ll try to kill you.”
OK, yeah. I’d be freaked, too. The tone their reactions takes always seems a bit comical to me, though. It’s kind of all, “Danger, Will Robinson! My hooks are flailing wildly!” 😉
I agree overall, though. It feels very “classic” to me, with all the elements that are brought in. But I never quite understood Tegan’s reaction. Yes, it was awful and bloody – but to run off without really even saying goodbye to someone with whom you’ve been through so much? It just seemed like such a “break your hearts” moment.
ouch.
I’m really enjoying reading your past Old Series reviews, and commenting on a couple. I hope you won’t take what I’m about to say amiss:
To show folks new to Who this story — or, for that matter, “Remembrance,” “Revelation,” or “Destiny” (well, maybe not “Remembrance” so much) — withOUT first showing them “Genesis of the Daleks” strikes me as an error. No wonder they weren’t impressed with Davros, when by this time he’s a second-rate feeb who gets attacked with the Shaving Cream Bombs. And the Fifth Doctor/Davros confrontation in “Resurrection” is pretty much a retread of the one in “Genesis”…except not as good. Thinking of this story as Davros’ “beginning” can only sour one on the character.
I agree that Tegan’s departure is a little abrupt, though I’ve always found her delivery poignant, and even the reasoning sound. I always took her words not so much as, “a lot of people got killed in this episode” (though they did), as, “The first time I met you my aunt was murdered, and I’ve seen death after death after death ever since then, including Adric. This is it; this is my limit. I’m sick of it, and I can’t do this anymore.” (Maybe this is informed by my own experience working at an assisted living facility; after the four residents I was closest to all passed on within a few months of each other, I felt exactly the same way — it was time to find a new job.) Admittedly, a longer scene with more dialogue along these lines would’ve been appreciated; but as with most of Who in the Davison era, the talented actors were doing the best they could with what they had.
Mistakes were made
Glad you're enjoying them! (You can also get the e-book, with 3 reviews exclusive to the book, for only $1.99. *wink*)
I will admit that my choices of what to show the Ladies have not always been the most… advantageous. Remember, though, that the Ladies are all already fans of post-Hiatus Who; at the very least, they'd have seen Davros in "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End." As for showing them "Genesis," I was starting with one or two stories for each Doctor, and the Ladies had voted against more Daleks at that point. We'll almost certainly come back to it at a later point, but the Davros-damage is already done. 🙂
Obviously, your interpretation of Tegan's departure is equally valid. Maybe I was less willing to give the writers a break because I actually like Tegan a lot. ~shrug~
Perhaps as I get a more regular following, I'll start putting up polls about what to show the Ladies next. Then you can all give me your guidance so I won't make such blunders again! 🙂
Well, now…hardly a blunder
It’s always hard deciding what to show folks first, isn’t it? Someone I know has heard of Who and is mildly intrigued, but hasn’t seen an episode yet. I’ve asked myself, “What would I show her first?” My immediate impulse is “Blink,” just because it’s such a fantastic story. But then, I’d want to follow up with something like “Father’s Day,” and then you’d have to explain the whole “regeneration” and “time travel” things. So I suppose the most obvious “jumping on” point is “Rose,” though I don’t really care for the episode that much. So I totally sympathize. Your problem was compounded, of course, by Davison’s relative brevity in the role…and the comparative lack of really good stories he had for you to choose from.
I think Tegan had a lot more potential than she got to show on the screen. At Gallifrey 2011, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton did an interview together, and Janet made this great point: “Here you had a (presumably working-class and relatively uneducated) stewardess from Australia, sharing a bedroom with a technological genius and literal princess from another world…and they obviously grew to be close friends. Both were strong women, in their own ways. What did these two women talk about? How did they become friends? We never found out.”
I would buy the ebook in a heartbeat, but I don’t own a Kindle or iPad. Now, if it was out in book form, I’d get a couple. (Yes, a technologically inept Whovian. It takes all kinds, doesn’t it?)
Thank you for taking my comment in the spirit it was intended…namely, NOT nasty! 🙂
Print version
I’ll have to get on my publisher (read: husband) to finish the layout for the print version, then. 🙂 It’ll probably be another month or two. :
My experience with other Whovians has generally been that we may not entirely agree with one another, but also don’t get nasty with those whose views are different. That’s one of the things that makes this particular fandom so awesome. Looking forward to further conversation with you here!