Ah, Evil of the Daleks. Who doesn’t love Evil of the Daleks?

Well, me, as it turns out. A fact that gives me no pleasure.

I went into this story expecting something great. This is a story that has been mythologised a fair amount by the fandom at large, but moreso by myself. I expected a fantastic Dalek story in league with DMP and Power of the Daleks, exploring the horror in how great their evil can be in a larger capacity than before, exploring their home planet and ruling systems with the presence of the Dalek emperor. Instead I got a story where Jamie goes through an obstacle course for 3 parts and a forgettable hypnotism mystery plays out in the other 4.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad story. Most everything here is actually very good and well written. Part 1 is especially fun, following on directly from the previous story and not using the TARDIS as a framing device, something which is (thankfully) becoming more common as the show goes on. The central mystery of part 1 is very good, although slightly predictable. And of course the part 1 cliffhanger is brilliant, as always with Dalek stories.

Then, in part 2, we are introduced to the setting we will be trapped in for the next 5 parts. The Edwardian house itself is fine. The story here, again, is good. All the characters are well written and memorable, reminiscent in some ways of the strong supporting cast of Power of the Daleks. Waterfield is very well done, a man who has unwittingly released forces beyond his comprehension that are starting to tear his life apart. He’s very similar to Lesterson. And Maxtible, who acts as the major antagonist for a lot of the serial, is very well acted by Marius Goring.

Again, it’s not…bad. It’s just not as good as it could’ve been. The idea of humanised daleks, as well the daleks weaponizing the concept in reverse, is very interesting. As is the concept of the Dalek Emperor, the giant prop somehow meets any impossible expectations for a ruler of the daleks. The problem is these ideas are trapped in the last part, leaving only 25 minutes to explore them. The rest of the serial is spent in Maxtible’s house and is more interested in Jamie having some action-y scenes than anything else. The fact that the episode is missing doesn’t help this, but what remaining footage does survive of this sequence is not massively engaging.

Again, it’s not bad, just…not as good as it could’ve been. Trying to find positives in what we have, there’s a fairly interesting character dynamic in the doctor outright manipulating Jamie to support the daleks. The problem is it isn’t really explored at all. It just kinda happens, and when Jamie finds out he’s upset for about five minutes then it’s off to Skaro for the big finale. And since classic who doesn’t know what character work is by the start of the next story Jamie’s forgotten entirely.

Idk, I feel I’m too hard on this story. It’s not bad, and looking at other peoples thoughts on it I can’t help but feel I might be missing something. But every time I think about this story I just get little disappointed at the loss of what could’ve been.