Death to the Daleks

Death to the Daleks
by Terry Nation
Originally Broadcasted: February 23rd-March 16th, 1974

The Doctor and Sarah Jane are on their way the beach planet of Florana for a well deserved vacation, when the TARDIS looses its power. They instead land on Exxilon, where Sarah comes across the ancient Exxilon race who prepare to sacrifice her. Further complicating things, the Daleks land on Exxilon, but they too have no power. But are the Daleks really weaponless? Or will they come up with a dirty old trick?

Everyone loves a good old Dalek story. Some of the more popular Dalek stories include the epic Genesis of the Daleks, which tells story of the creation of the Daleks, and Revelation of the Daleks, a beautifully written and rather creepy tale of turning humans into Daleks. While being almost nothing similar in tone to those two stories, Death to the Daleks, which I just viewed for the first time, ranks pretty high for me in the hierarchy of Dalek stories. This was the last time during the classic series that the Daleks appeared without their creator, Davros. We'd have to wait all the way until 2005's Dalek to see a lone Dalek again. Written by the creator of the Daleks, Terry Nation, this story has a very unique take on these screaming pepper-pots from Skaro. Their guns are taken away, and so they have to temporarily ally themselves with the humans. This presented the Daleks in a way I've never seen them before, and that was exciting to me. But always having a trick up their sleeves, the Daleks soon have good old fashioned machine guns installed, now able to dominate the humans and the Exxilons. Speaking of the Exxilions, what marvelously creepy aliens they are. They're actually rather scary to look at, with their dominating height and creepy faces. Add to that their ominous chanting and you get quite a creepy race! In fact, for a moment I almost forgot this was a Dalek story! And then you have the good Exxilon, Bellal, who turns out to be quite a lovable character. It would have actually been fun if he'd hopped aboard the TARDIS for an story or two. I would have loved to have seen more of the chemistry between Bellal and the Doctor. I must mention what is probably the worst cliffhanger in Doctor Who history. The Doctor and Bellal come across an odd pattern on the floor, the Doctor hastily says "Stop don't move" and the episode ends. Wow. What a cliffhanger! Death to the Daleks is well known for its innovative musical score. Most Doctor Who stories around this time were scored by Dudley Simpson, and while he provided some fantastic scores (my personal favorite being City of Death), his music was a bit repetitive. So it's nice to hear the more experimental soundtrack provided by Carey Blyton (who had previously scored Doctor Who and the Silurians). Death to the Daleks is an overlooked, yet surprisingly fun and exciting Doctor Who story. Well worth a peek from the old eyestalk!

Luke's Rating: 8/10