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THIRD IMPRESSIONS: “DESTINY OF THE DALEKS”

Season 17 was the last season of Doctor Who in the 1970s and brought some minor changes in front of and behind the camera. Legendary science fiction writer Douglas Adams was appointed new script editor, following his successful debut adventure The Pirate Planet in the previous season. Series star Tom Baker was joined by a new companion, played by Lalla Ward, who had previously appeared in another part in the last serial, The Armageddon Factor. Baker and Ward were briefly married following their time together on the show.

Script editor Adams and producer Graham Williams wanted to start the new season with a bang, and the best way to do that was obviously to craft a story featuring everyone's favourite bug-eyed monsters, the Daleks. Their real-life creator, Terry Nation, was hired to write the script in hopes of recreating the success of the legendary Genesis of the Daleks from Season 12.

Alas, Destiny of the Daleks is nowhere near as good as its predecessor, which may be one of the reasons it was to be Nation's final contribution to the show.

Fans of the show will immediately recognise the Nation-esque element in the script—from slaves working for the Daleks to the Daleks' desperate plan to save themselves to become the greatest power in the universe. That concept is undoubtedly worn out by now, and Terry Nation fails to deliver anything new or exciting to reinvigorate his creations.

But the worst part about Destiny of the Daleks is that Nation tries to copy the template he created for Genesis of the Daleks: we are back on Skaro, once again looking very different from ever before, and human beings are once again pitted against the Daleks, and Dalek creator Davros makes yet another appearance (I like his introduction at the end of Part 2 when we see him covered in cobwebs).

Davros is brought to life for the first and only time by David Gooderson, and I feel it's safe to say that he is nowhere near as good as the charismatic Michael Wisher, who played him in Genesis, or the legendary Terry Molloy, who has played him since 1984. Gooderson is quite bad in the part. The costume doesn't fit his body at all, and he has the voice and stature of the character all wrong. Davros has never been my favourite Doctor Who villain, but in Destiny of the Daleks, he is just bad and boring. And the Doctor pushing him around like a toddler in a pram certainly doesn’t make him feel more sinister.

That being said, the Daleks aren't much better, either. Since Davros became the new big baddie in most post-1974 Dalek stories, the Daleks themselves have become mindless machines repeating the same lines over and over again and acting as weak and stupid comedic sidekicks to their creator. And in Destiny of the Daleks, particularly, Nation seems to struggle to decide whether to make the Daleks serious or not. So, he switches back and forth for the better part of the story, making the Daleks shout threats one second and having them defeated by the Doctor's hat in another. And they still don't understand how the Doctor thinks and acts, which is just lazy writing.

Nation gets a couple of things right, though. The beginning of the serial, introducing us to Lalla Ward's Romana, is an interesting and memorable sequence—because it also establishes that Time Lords can influence their physical appearance when regenerating (something that Steven Moffat expanded upon during his time running the show). Nation also manages to make the final sequence of Part 4, with the Daleks attacking the Movellan spaceship, quite exciting (even though the ending of the adventure as a whole is all too brief and hasty, like the endings seen in most stories from the 60s).

That brings us to the only new creation Nation offers us: the robotic alien species called Movellans, currently at war with the Daleks. In Destiny of the Daleks, the Movellans are the opponents of the Daleks, a part previously played by the Thals. The Movellans' role in the story remains ambiguous for quite a while, which I liked, and the twist involving them is the only truly interesting part of the entire story. The Movellan spaceship is also beautifully designed, and I also like the fact that the Movellan crew is entirely black. That makes Doctor Who in 1979 feel ahead of its time.

The most exciting of the episodes is Part 1 with its explosions, its sneaking around, and its tension—it's like a James Bond movie with a smaller budget. The thriller atmosphere of the episode feels fresh but also gets a bit worn out by the end. But for the most part, the atmosphere—coupled with whining winds and earthquakes—feels a bit eerie. But a real sense of excitement is absent, mostly because the viewer knows the Doctor and Romana are on Skaro, which means there will be Daleks (thanks for spoiling that, story title!).

The special effects and the model work on this story are quite good as well. So big shoutouts to director Ken Grieve (in his only Doctor Who work, sadly) and production designer Ken Ledsham for their great work trying to make the story feel interesting, exciting, and believable.

After a thrilling ride in Part 1, the second episode reverts to good old walking, talking, and mining before once again putting up a chilly show for Part 3. This kind of roller coaster writing can be very annoying at times and feels particularly clumsy in Destiny of the Daleks.

Lalla Ward as the new incarnation of Romana doesn't leave any lasting impressions yet, but she gets the job done with honour, even if she doesn't quite match the charisma of Mary Tamm. She hits it off with Baker right away, and the two bicker back and forth like a married couple (hehe!). Romana, on the other hand, isn’t particularly interesting in this story, which is mostly because she is given nothing interesting to do. Most of the guest cast is quite anonymous as well, particularly Tim Barlow (from Hot Fuzz) as Tyssan and Peter Straker as the Movellan commander. It's quite rare for Doctor Who to feature such an unmemorable and mundane cast, but here we are. No stellar performances, no standouts, just plain acting.

Destiny of the Daleks is a very plain, stripped-down Dalek story, showing exactly why it was good to finally let Nation go. It's unusually slow and boring for a Dalek story, and there truly is a somewhat clumsy tinge to it all, even in the faster moments. The story is saved by its production values, a few good scenes between the Doctor and Davros, and the witty and snappy dialogue as well as the clever humour, inserted by script editor Douglas Adams. The scene in which the Doctor reads a book called "The Origin of the Universe" while being stuck waiting for help is a nice and unusual bit of comedy. But for all that it is worth, Destiny of the Daleks is a lazier and poorer recreation of Genesis of the Daleks, just as Planet of the Daleks is a forgettable recreation of The Daleks.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:

• This is the one where they come up with the clever idea of giving K9 laryngitis to explain why his voice changed (the real reason being that the K9 was unsuitable for all the location filming required for the story and so was needed only for a short scene at the beginning, voiced by Dalek voice actor Roy Skelton).
• At least Nation finally decided to forego his usual “Oh my God! It’s a Dalek!” shock cliffhanger reveal at the end of Part 1 by replacing it with a much lamer version where they burst through a glass wall, shouting “DO NOT MOVE! DO NOT MOVE!”.
• The Doctor thinks it's vital to know what the Daleks are doing on Skaro. Well, it’s their home planet; what do you think? It’s like asking a human what they’re doing on Earth.
• I like how the Doctor demonstrates why the Movellans cannot win their war by playing rock, paper, and scissors with them and proving that they’re stuck in a logical impasse.