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Death to

the Daleks

23RD FEBRUARY 1974 - 16TH MARCH 1974

(4 EPISODES)

After a Dalek drought in the late sixties and early seventies, “Death to the Daleks” saw Terry Nation’s revered creations make their the third appearance in as many years. This four-parter was once again scripted by Nation and, much like “Planet of the Daleks” the year before, it relied heavily on old and recycled ideas. However, whereas fans often look at “Planet of the Daleks” quite fondly as a sort-of ‘best of’ compilation, “Death to the Daleks” is… well… the ‘rest of’.

I never thought I would say this, but the Daleks ruin this story. Their appearance not only detracts from the much more interesting plot surrounding the Exxilons and their city, but it also serves as a complete debasement of their status as the Doctor’s oldest and deadliest enemies. The Daleks in this serial are so unterrifying it is incredible. What may have been a decent cliffhanger at the end of Part One is utterly destroyed by Carey Blyton and the

London Saxophone Quartet’s playful, jocular music. From there, we see the Daleks lose their ability to kill – something that, despite being plagiarised from “The Power of the Daleks”, could have worked well had it lasted longer than about fifteen minutes! One Dalek goes on

to get bashed to death by some primitive Exxilons, another is easily destroyed by a dodgy lamp on a coil, and a third just gives up and tops itself! ‘Rubbish’ does not even begin to cover it…

The story’s non-Dalek components are not quite as awful, but they certainly are not great

either. Nation’s story is traditional to a fault; it is nothing more than textbook, formulaic Doctor Who. The Doctor and Sarah split up. The Doctor meets some space marines

looking for a plague cure and decides to help them out. Sarah is captured by some unfriendly natives who want to sacrifice her. She escapes and befriends a sympathetic native…blah blah blah.

The only elements in “Death to the Daleks” that I actually think work quite well are the Exxilons themselves and the quite impressive human character, Dan Galloway (Duncan Lamont). Believe it or not, the Exxilons actually seem to have been realised quite well – perhaps something to do with them being shot in shadow most of the time – and the distinctive chanting and incidental music that underscores most of their scenes is very difficult to forget. They also have a rich and vibrant history that much later on Doctor Who novelists like Kate Orman would expand upon. Their city is not realised quite as well as the Exxilons themselves though – when it melts at the end it looks a bit like a cake.

As for Galloway, I found him fascinating because at the start of the story he is the complete antithesis of the Doctor in may ways – an ‘ends justifies the means’ kind of guy – but by the end, the Doctor’s influence has had a profound effect on him and he comes good,

sacrificing himself to destroy the Daleks.

In the end though, despite some vigorous performances from Jon Pertwee and Elizabeth Sladen, this serial is without doubt the worst serial ever made with the word ‘Dalek’ in the title (or the name Terry Nation on the writer’s credit for that matter). Perhaps Nation was trying to tell us something with the title. If it were not for the magnificent “Genesis of the Daleks” soon afterwards, then this serial may well have proven death to the Daleks!

Copyright © E.G. Wolverson 2008

E.G. Wolverson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

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