The resurrection of the Daleks (1984)

Review
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Review

This is a four-part serial, first broadcast (as a two-parter) between 8th - 15th February 1984. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: in a London warehouse, the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough encounter some new enemies and some old ones, and a lot of good people die.

The good bits:

• Tegan gets two good scenes: the one where she's chased by the policemen, and her farewell scene at the end
• good incidental score, especially Tegan's bitter-sweet theme
• great visuals: good sets, mostly convincing model work, good lighting and a couple of rather nice explosions
• good performances by Davison and a number of supporting characters

The not so good bits:

• neither of the companions does anything useful in this story. Tegan mostly lies in bed for no apparent reason, and Turlough mostly skulks with no apparent purpose. Come to think of it, the Doctor is pretty useless as well
• there is no soap opera scene, but there is some pretty bad dialogue
• there is also some pretty daft-looking headgear
• the loud noises and the high body-count can't hide the fact that the story makes little sense whatsoever

The puzzling bits - and I'm just picking a few at random here:

• cannon-fodder anonymous. Just who are those policemen chasing in part one?
• double trouble. Where did the replicas of Tegan and Turlough come from, and when and how did the Daleks make them?
• free will. If Stien is a replica made by the Daleks, why is he able to to rebel against them? (There's an interesting theological debate in that somewhere)

However, my biggest problem with this story is that Saward seems to be repeating himself here, and that this is basically Earthshock revisited. Let's have a closer look, shall we? (And beware, there are spoilers ahead.)

Earthshock: the Cybermen return.
The resurrection of the Daleks: the Daleks return.

Earthshock: nice, creepy opening episode with two androids killing people.
The resurrection of the Daleks: nice, creepy opening scene with three policemen killing people.

Earthshock: the androids are controlled by the Cybermen.
The resurrection of the Daleks: the policemen are controlled by the Daleks.

Earthshock: in part one the Doctor finds a bomb.
The resurrection of the Daleks: in part one the Doctor encounters objects that were initially thought to be bombs.

Earthshock: two of the people who were attacked by the androids join the Doctor and get to travel in the Tardis.
The resurrection of the Daleks: one person who was attacked by the policemen (Stien) joins the Doctor and gets to travel in the Tardis.

Earthshock: the Cybermen take over a spaceship as a small number of crew members attempt to defend it.
The resurrection of the Daleks: the Daleks take over a space station as a small number of (remaining) crew members attempt to defend it.

Earthshock: at a crucial moment, one crew member announces he's working for the Cybermen and betrays the rest of the crew.
The resurrection of the Daleks: at a crucial moment, Stien announces he's a Dalek agent and betrays the Doctor.

Earthshock: there's a confrontation between the Doctor and the Cyber Leader.
The resurrection of the Daleks: there's a confrontation between the Doctor and Davros.

Earthshock: the Doctor aims a gun at the Cyber Leader and kills him.
The resurrection of the Daleks: the Doctor aims a gun at Davros but fails to kill him.

Earthshock: Adric's attempt to break through the 'locks' that keep the spaceship on course is interrupted by a Cyberman.
The resurrection of the Daleks: Styles' attempt to break through the safeguards that keep her from destroying the space station is interrupted by the Dalek troops.

Earthshock: in the end the spaceship is destroyed, and Adric is killed while trying to save the earth.
The resurrection of the Daleks: in the end the space station is destroyed, and Stien is killed while trying to save the universe.

Earthshock: Adric dies.
The resurrection of the Daleks: Tegan leaves (and about everybody else dies).

My verdict - and this is another tough call:

A good-looking and reasonably entertaining mess.

More about Doctor Who

An introduction:
Doctor Who reviews: introduction

More "quite good, actually" Doctor Who:
Doctor Who reviews: quite good, actually

More from the Peter Davison years:
Doctor Who reviews: 1982 - 1984

Similar stories:
Doctor Who reviews: alien invasion

Original version of this review:
06/09/06

More about this serial

Episode guides:
BBC Cult

Serial reviews:
Behind the sofa
Outpost Gallifrey

DVD reviews:
Outpost Gallifrey

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