The Power of the Daleks

I don’t really know how to feel about Power of the Daleks.

 

Ben, Polly and a renewed Doctor land on the planet Vulcan. They find that the planet contains a colony from Earth, that is surrounded by mercury swamps. Mistaken for an Earth inspection team, they get taken inside. They discover the colony has recently unearthed a giant capsule which contains unknown lifeforms. However, these lifeforms may not be as friendly as the crew thinks….

 

This story is notable for all the small, interesting pieces it contains. This story is a Dalek tale, an introduction to a new Doctor and a whodunnit at the same time. Let’s walk through each one by one.

 

First off, the Dalek story. The scientist in the colony has discovered a weird capsule in the ground. Without anyone knowing, he has opened it up and discovered Dalek casings inside. He is now trying to train them to be human servants.

 

The Dalek story is very dependent on suspense. We know what Daleks are, we know what Daleks do, but we don’t know when they will do it and what form it will take. While they take the role of servants, they slowly but surely gain trust and materials form the colony. They use this to build more and more Daleks casings for more of the blobs hidden inside the ship.

There’s definitely some fun to be had with this premise. While the Daleks play servant, you can hear the pure hatred in their monotone voices. Sometimes, they will almost start announcing their glorious supremacy, before quickly swallowing it all back in and serving a cup of tea. Realizing that it is not the right time to strike. Not yet….

 

The problem with this part of the story is that it takes a really long time for the Daleks to finally get ready. It isn’t until the last episode that they finally start to mobilize. I feel the Daleks’ plan could have taken shape a bit quicker. Or maybe the steps towards their goal could have been a bit more prominent.

 

Sure, the Daleks in the story slowly gain trust and materials, but the emphasis is on the word slow. I think steps could been bigger and more substantial. This felt too safe.

 

It’s a tradeoff. The Daleks are master planners and barely let anything slip, but this comes at the cost of there being very few moments of surprise, suspense or fear. They want to be trusted by the humans, but it comes at the cost of them not doing anything.

 

Sure, they talk and manage to get what they want this way, but it doesn’t really make for a suspenseful viewing experience. I’m not engaged with the plan, because there’s very little for me to hang on to.

 

On the other hand, if the Daleks were constantly showing their hand, the story wouldn’t land either. They wouldn’t be mastermind, but idiots. But maybe we could have gone a bit more towards the middle.

 

For example, one of the major mistakes the Daleks make is in episode 5. The Doctor and co. notice that there are suddenly four daleks instead of three. Maybe this information could have come a bit earlier in the story and make the Daleks flounder a bit. Maybe they would have to improvise or explain the sudden appearance of another Dalek. This could have led to some tensions, but not anything the Daleks couldn’t cleverly overcome.

 

Still, it’s not like what we have is bad. It just really drags in places. Maybe some of the other plot threads can fill the void and liven it up a bit. Speaking of….

 

Our second notable story element is the introduction of the new Doctor! The first time ever! And what immediately struck me is how internal the change is. The Doctor is younger now, so I expected more action, big movements, loud noises. I basically thought of that 1 shot of this Doctor running across explosions.

 

That isn’t the case at all! The Doctor is very withholding. He doesn’t explain a lot. He doesn’t say why he has changed and he doesn’t explain what Daleks are. He keeps it all inside. Combine this with his habit of keeping odds and ends in his pocket, and you quickly get a Doctor that’s hard to let out of your sight. This is a Doctor that opens a door with a glass of water. A Doctor that measures gravity by playing with a piece of string. You never know what he is doing next and, more importantly, you don’t know why he’s doing it.

Which fits with this whole “renewal” concept the show has now introduced. The viewer is not dismissive towards the new Doctor, because the intrigue is so high. From the moment he changed, this Doctor keeps you guessing! Which is fun. Even Ben, who takes the role of the audience sceptic, quickly finds himself pulled in. Overall, a great characterization which immediately sets the character apart, without dismissing what came before.

 

Which only leaves one main thread of the story: The whodunnit in the space base. When the party arrives, they come across the body of a dead inspector. But who killed him? And why? While in the base we hear several stories about rebellion, so something is definitely going on behind the scenes.

 

But this is one part the story could’ve done without in my eyes. The problem is the other people on the base. They are incredibly dry, bureaucratic and boring. I’m not invested in finding the killer because none of the potential victims/killers really interest me. They’re barely unique and bring nothing to the table. Yet they are a huge part of the episodes. And they do drag a great story down quite a bit.

 

Compare that to the previous story, “The Tenth Planet”. In that story, there was a clash between the safety of the entire planet and the safety of the commander’s son. The focus on that premise gave the characters clear, conflicting goals that caused friction. It made characters act in interesting ways. Creating new alliances or conflicts within the team.

 

The same doesn’t happen here, because the people in the base really drag on and dawdle. Their goals are never really all that pronounced, and there isn’t enough subtext to give it depth either.

 

Which is a real blemish on an overall great story. “The Power of the Daleks” really, really works if it focuses on the Daleks or the Doctor. But as soon as we’re stuck with the locals, we take a nosedive in quality. A bit more restraint, and this would’ve been a diamond. It is still good now, but it could have been more.

A fantastic opener for the Troughton era, undermined by the fact that it's completely missing. The animation was quite good, but given that Troughton was such a physical performer, it could never really capture his unique style.

Still, that's not exactly the fault of the story, which was great! Dalek stories tend to be hit-or-miss for me, and this was most definitely a hit. A large part of that is due to the fact that the Daleks aren't the main focus for a lot of the story. There's a lot of political intrigue and rebellion, a bit of scientific hubris, and Ben and Polly's uncertainty about whether or not this new Doctor is really the same man, all interwoven to form a great story... and the perfect conditions for the Daleks to conquer and destroy!

Aaand the Second Doctor's era starts off with a bang, as we get a Dalek story! I generally run kind of hot and cold on the Daleks, because I find them boring as shit in and of themselves, but when you manage to focus a story on how others are affected by them, then we start to get somewhere interesting.

This did precisely that, being a drama about a space colony where Daleks are being revived and used as servants. Every party wants to use them for their own means: to gain power, to serve the colony, etc. It becomes almost a political drama, but I found that interesting enough.

The part of the story I was most interested in, though, is the character of Dr. Lesterson. He's the one trying to revive the Daleks, and goes insane when he realizes that they're using him for their own means, despite pretending to be servants. I don't quite know what it is, but the sort of Victor Frankenstein character type really engrossed me.

The Second Doctor himself is also fun here. I think they did a really good job introducing this new character to skeptical audiences, and I found him to work well, balancing the right amount of silly and serious that would define each Doctor going forward. Honestly it's a real shame that this and so many other stories from this season are missing, because as much as they try, the puppet animation being used here just doesn't do his performance justice. I do believe that the Doctor is entertaining here, and he definitely gets his moments, but I just wish I could see more of the original character acting.