Revelation of the Daleks (1985)
Review
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Review
This is a two-part serial (in two parts of 45 minutes each) that was first broadcast between 23rd - 30th March 1985. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor and Peri visit the Tranquil Repose funeral parlour on the planet Necros to pay their respects to professor Arthur Stengos, an old friend of the Doctor's. As hinted at by the serial's title, they find that on Necros not everything is what it seems...
The good bits:
- it's weird and morbid. I like weird and morbid
- the acting. Performances range from good to excellent, helped by excellent characterisation and great dialogue
- the visuals. Except for floating Davros and some 1980s-state-of-the-art laser beams the visual effects are outstanding. The model work is great, as are the sets, the lighting and the direction
- the fantastic incidental score
- the pacing and sheer entertainment value
The not so good bits:
- I found the subplot of "ugly woman unsuccessfully pursuing marginally less unattractive man" embarrassing rather than amusing. Then again, that may have been what the writer intended
- the idea of killing someone by dropping their own tombstone on them, while excellent in theory, does not work well here
- the gimmicky "rock and roll gun"
- Orcini and the bomb. Spoiler ahead - he goes on about Davros being his last honourable kill, when it's obvious that Davros might escape the explosion while some innocent bystanders may not. This undermines the characterisation of Orcini as a master assassin with impeccable moral standards
The puzzling bits - and it's to the story's credit that these begin to bother you only with hindsight - beware, spoilers ahead:
- how did the Doctor find out about Stengos' death? Or, rather, how did Davros make sure that the Doctor would find out, in order to lure him to Necros?
- what, exactly, did Davros plan to do with the Doctor once he'd arrived on Necros - besides dropping a wobbly polystyrene statue on him?
- how did Davros know what the sixth Doctor looked like? The dialogue suggests that their last encounter was in 'Resurrection of the Daleks', which would mean that Davros had met the fifth Doctor but had never met the sixth. Yet, the statue of the Doctor in the Garden of Fond Memories looks like the sixth Doctor, and one of Davros' white Daleks recognises him while the independent grey Daleks, who have met earlier incarnations of the Doctor, do not
- where did the grey Daleks come from on such short notice?
- how would the dead bodies of the "perpetually instated" at Tranquil Repose provide enough protein to feed even the planet's own populace, let alone an entire galaxy? The same goes for any protein from those "staff of life" weed plants with the decorative blue flowers
My verdict:
A must-see serial. Don't let a few plot-holes stop you.
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Original version of this review:
06/09/20
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