Day of the Daleks is a serial that is incredibly well remembered for Terrance Dicks’ novelization more than the actual serial itself.  It’s the first appearance of the Daleks in five years and as a script it actually injects them into Louis Marks’ The Ghost Hunters to become Day of the Daleks.  Directed by first time director Paul Bernard as a season opener it’s a bit odd in places, Bernard shoots it well but the climax is infamous for having only three Daleks invading present day Earth with several Ogrons instead of Marks’ wish for 20.  The climax is on paper great, but in practice it is underwhelming, though there is a special edition with updated effects, new Dalek voices (Oliver Gilbert and Peter Messaline are notoriously bad), and a reshot climax  that improves things.  I watched the transmitted version.

It’s actually quite surprising that despite a lot holding it back and the memory of older fans cheating, this is a good little story.  Sure Jo is served poorly as Louis Marks makes her a little too dumb but Katy Manning is a delight.  The use of UNIT in the first half is also a great example of building tension.  The guerrilla characters coming back in time to assassinate a diplomat are surprisingly humanized as true freedom fighters throughout the story, which does a lot to help the story work as well as it does.  Jon Pertwee, while not quite working as well against the Daleks does get to match performance with Aubrey Woods playing the Controller, the future collaborator with the Daleks, plus the few scenes with Styles keeps the Doctor as the anti-authoritarian (and specifically anti-fascist in this story especially).  The Daleks only becoming active in the back half does mean there’s a lot waiting and the initial reveal in the first episode just kind of happens, but it’s very much a good time.  Certainly better than all the other 1970s Dalek stories bar one.