Even I was a kid when the Daleks were supposed to been squished and disected. But never keep a good villain down as they say.
‘Day Of The Daleks’ employs an interesting plot line, used time and again by Doctor Who writers, going into the past to save the future. It is a time honoured sci-fi ploy.
In this episode Sir Reginald Styles (Wilfred Carter), organizer of a world peace conference, is confronted by an assassin who vanishes like a ghost. The Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney) calls in The Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and Jo (Katy Manning) to investigate by staying in Styles home (Auderley House). The assassin reappears on the grounds and is attacked by a creature and found by UNIT.
The device the soldier possesses is a time device from the future and The Doctor and Jo stake out the Style’s stately home. They are confronted by future soldiers who mistake the Doctor for Styles and hold both hostage. Of course Jo accidentally activates one of the guerrillas’ time machines and is transported to the 22nd Century.
When the guerrillas return there, the Doctor goes with them. He learns that the Earth of this period is ruled by the Daleks with the help of the ape-like Ogrons and human collaborators, whose leader is known as the Controller (Aubrey Woods). The rebels think that assassinating Styles will prevent the Dalek ruled future, but they discover that they’re mistaken.
There’s not much to be said about early 70s television production, most of the show’s problems can be laid at the doorstep of the usual Doctor Who complaint of too little time, too little cash. However, that doesn’t tell the whole story, and in among the usual rushed scenes and occasional dropped line, there were some pretty horrific errors of judgement. What was wrong with the Dalek voices here?Then there was the the jaw dropping, climactic assault on Auderley House by a combined attack force of Daleks and Ogrons… well, it’s jaw dropping for all the wrong reasons.
It’s a sad fact that the production had just three Daleks and a couple of Ogrons at their disposal, it’s one of the great missed opportunities in Who history.
Day of the Daleks is presented in fullscreen. It’s also given the two disc special edition treatment. Disc one contains the episodes along with a commentary by Anna Barry, actor Jimmy Winston, producer Barry Letts, script editor Terrence Dicks, and vision mixer Mike Catherwood, a pop-up trivia track, the 30 minute making of “Blasting the Past,”and the 20 minute “A View from the Gallery” with Letts and Catherwood about directing.,
Disc two contains a version of the episodes (in a 96 minute film version, in other words no episode breaks) with newly added scenes and special effects, there’s also a 13 minute making of this version, a 5 minute “Now and Then” look at locations, the 31 minute “The UNIT family – part 2” about the fictional group, the 9 minute “UNIT dating conundrum.”
Day of the Daleks is a great episode from the Pertwee era and is fondly remembered for the appearance of the top villain.
