Death To The Daleks: Doctor Who: Season 11

Goldby

Grob

Long

Death to The Daleks REVIEWS



Goldby

Or "The One With The Foam City"

So Death to The Daleks is a Terry Nation by the numbers script E.G. A planet that resembles a sand quarry, some galactic expedition stranded there, a space plague, some nasty primitives and of course the famous foam city that drains everything of power…BUT it has a weird, unsettling atmosphere to it where you really aren't sure whether anyone - daleks included - are going to get out alive, plus it's the first time you ever really see a dalek blow up! So put this down to the director, Michael E Briant.Saw this when I was about 11 back in 1983 and it was scary.

The first episode has some night filming and is very effective as the Doctor and Sarah first of all lose all power in the Tardis and are forced to operate on a primitive level. The aliens are just dark, threatening shadows here and threaten to kill them from the get go. Then the Daleks turn up without power! First time they've resorted to teaming up with the Doctor to get out of somewhere alive, they get machine guns and mini tardis props to shoot at eventually. Meaning one of them popped down to a local Aussie disposals and Minotaur in Elizabeth st. to pick them up early on in Death to The Daleks. Funny the Daleks here actually seem to be on the back foot a lot in this one, maybe it was because they were tacked on?

The Exxilons don't look to good in the light of day with some headpieces flapping about and the rute with it's really bad wire supports didn't help nor did the petrol being sprayed on the city at the end to dissolve it. The supporting cast are ok too, who didn't want Galloway not to take command of the rag tag bunch of humans? Still yeah a few things let it down but maybe because it's sorta creepy with the music and sounds and everything that makes it watchable, my fav for the season. 7.1/10 Oh it's only 4 parts too!



Grob

Despite the fact Death to The Daleks is the one that got me hooked (with line and sinker) back in the seventies, I still reckon this is an okay story. Its one of those ones you can bung on and watch when you've had a long day watching porn (Grob), or upskirting on the way into work (Goldby) or debating the merits of the Colin Baker era with fellow commuters (Tim). Since it is only four parts there is enough to keep the brain occupied while Terry Nation's dull and boring script works its otherwise lack of magic on your own wasted imagination. Can you imagine what Terry's scripts would be like if there were no such things as quarries? He'd be rooted! And speaking of roots, there's a pretty nifty one under polystyrene city of Exxilon. I do like that monster, its sleak, simple and actually KILLS daleks (hence the title). Hey, there is even a dalek in here that gets itself into a right nut and closes itself down - classic!

Director Micahel E Briant (you're showing off now Tim!) does a good job here and the music composer Carey Blyton rationalizes that since the daleks don't have any power, then the music should be represented without the aid of electronics - so she opts for the London Saxaphone Quartet to do it instead. Nice. The logic games (another Terry staple) are very strange. The maze to get into the city doesn't have a start or end point so you're instantly fucked there, and the patterned floor game later on screws you instantly if you don;t have a sonic screwdriver. The humans are a very generic bunch as they always are in these Terry scripts and there is plenty of corridor action too. You gotta wonder what Terry - and later the Hancock Estate - were actually paid to DO??? Anyway, as I said its all okay if you're brain is in the off position - just like Terry's when he wrote it. 6/10



Long

I don't totally dislike Death to The Daleks... but it is kind of underwhelming. I think the thing that probably takes away from this one is The Daleks... do they have to be there? While their reveal is pretty good, for the bulk of episodes 2 and 3 it's kind of like they're tacked on. It wouldn't have been a surprise if after this one they decided to retire the Daleks for a while... luckily they gave them one more story before having a rest!

I do kind of like episode 4 though. I know it's Terry Nation by numbers, but I like the "series of tests" kind of scenario. And why wouldn't you want to complete these tests to get to a great piece of CSO like that! Yep - some of the CSO here is even worse than some of the Green Death and Inferno CSO... I guess we have to forgive it as at the time it was cutting edge... but it's pretty lame.

I really like the realisation of the Exxilions and Bellal though. It's creepy and very alien... on the other hand, the bizarre root thing is... well... odd.

So all up, it's an OK story, but the Dalek stuff was kind of not needed... and we're lucky it wasn't really the Death to the Daleks!

5.75/10

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