Well, here we are, The Daleks' Master Plan, one of the most legendary Dalek stories, hell, to us hardcores, one of the most legendary Doctor Who stories, and given that hype, I gotta say, I'm a bit disappointed.
Now, the story is still good, well deserving of an 8, but it generally just feels a bit unambitious, just your run-of-the-mill Dalek story, without much to make it stand out, other than the immense length... and the yellowface.

The plot is basically; The Daleks have assembled powerful people from all around the galaxy (for no apparent reason) and one guy from Earth that has something that enables them to control/destroy/fast-forward time, The Doctor steals it, they play hot potato and then the machine gets destroyed.
Where it really wins back points for me is the fact that it's able to be coherent, fun and engaging for 12 straight parts, that's almost 5 hours! How many stories do you know that can keep your attention without complaint for 5 straight hours? That takes some doing, hats off to Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner, that's a damn achievement.

More points come from the good performances, The Doctor is good, Steven and Sara are great, and much as I hate to admit it, the walking hate crime puts in a good performance as well.
The silly little break in the middle in the form of The Feast of Steven really works for me as just that, and of course the "...and Incidentally, a merry Christmas to all of you at home!" is one of the most legendary moments in Classic Who.
My favourite part, however, is the final part and how it completely refuses to pull its punches, killing off Sara in a very affecting scene and seriously injuring The Doctor, leading to one of William Hartnell's best performances (he was always the best at playing gruff) as he yells for Steven to get back to the TARDIS, the only black mark on that amazing scene is how quickly The Doctor goes back to his amused little laugh, a little callous in the face of the death of a person he liked.

So, really, the reason that I was disappointed was expectations, the story is good, quite good even, it just doesn't hold a candle to something as awe-inspiring as Genesis of The Daleks or The Dalek Invasion of Earth. It is quite good, it simply fails to be great.

8/10