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| Editorial Reviews: | |  |  | | The Daleks (sometimes called "The Dead Planet") is the second ever Doctor Who serial, presented with all seven unedited episodes on one tape. First broadcast between December 1963 and February 1964, the story ensured the programme's success by introducing the Doctor's most iconic enemies. Five hundred years after a nuclear war has devastated the planet Skaro, the Doctor (William Hartnell), Barbara, Ian and Susan materialise in a petrified forest where the pacifist, and decidedly camp, Thals face starvation. Our heroes visit a nearby city, the home of the last remaining Daleks, terrifyingly cold-blooded mutants encased in armed, pepper-pot-like shells, and become involved in a desperate battle for survival. Given a nightmarish atmosphere by Tristram Cary's surreal electronic score, The Daleks proved the template for many a future Doctor Who adventure. Hartnell's Doctor is a surprisingly self-serving hero and the ambitious storytelling, which reflects the Cold War fears of the time, belies a tiny budget. The remastered picture sometimes looks digitised, but this story, remade for the cinema as Dr Who and the Daleks (1965) and starring Peter Cushing, is still both an effective, if at times unintentionally hilarious, entertainment and an essential piece of television history. A superior sequel, "The Dalek Invasion of Earth" was screened in late 1964. --Gary S Dalkin | |
| Custom Reviews: | |
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| | | First off, a Warning: This review contains plot spoilers, if you have not seen The Daleks, read no further. This is IT. The beginning of the most famous and recognisable, in Britian at least, villans ever to appear on the small screen. The original designs of the monsters, the original Terry Nation Who story. And yet, although this is the first time that we see the Daleks it is very different to what they became. In their debut the Daleks are not universe-conquering monsters out to chase and exterminate anything that they can see. They are people, they are a nation. Admittedly they are very suspicious and xenophobic, but only to the point of fear of what is not like them. They have clear and understandable motives. The Thals were a warrior race, the Daleks were teachers and scientists, it doesn't take a genius to work out who probably started the neutronic war. Having barely survived, the Daleks, horribly mutated, crawl into their city and prepare to let the universe get on with it. But it's not that simple. New Thals have apperared, a possible second attack. The Daleks in this story are not clones, they are not, as Davros later put it "programmed". They do not listen to a black leader or a massive emperor, they debate and discuss until an accepted course of action is agreed on. And even the neutron bomb isnt a weapon, it is the only way that the Daleks have discovered that they can survive. Far more subtle than the movie Daleks desire to "explode another neutron bomb and increase radiation to a point that not even tha Thals can survive". And perhaps most disturbing, the last living Dalek, begging the Doctor to re-start the power grid as it dies. The Daleks could have been a great society, with cultural eccentricities and class structures and people with personality. Instead they became a race of singular-minded robots. It is still excellent, however, to watch this and see what could have been.
| | The League of Gentlemen (Series 1) | |
| | | Alright black comedy isn't to everyones taste, but the League of Gentlemen portrait of Royston Vasey has to be amongst the comedy classics. Winner of many awards it introduces the viewer to many weird cult characters all played by its writters Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton and Jeremy Dyson Who play the unforgetable Tubbs and Edward Tattsyrup
Havrey and Val Denton
Taxi Driver Babara
Pauline Campbell Jones and Mikey
Hilary Briss
Vetenary These characters grow on you with their odd behaviour and you will be left wanting a second fix.(Series 2)
| | a bit disapointing and slow | |
| | I thought i wanted to know how the Daleks started out in the first season of Dr Who. I found the story a bit disappointing. Because it's 7 episodes, the story is a bit slow. also, the Daleks don't scream "Exterminate" all the time, a shame because that is what i personally always find rather interesting about them!!!! (others might disagree with this!). But the plot is quite alright , though i would have preferred to have it condensed to, say, 5 or 6 eps in stead of 7.
But it is a nice story for nostalgia-sake and for completing the Dalek-collection. I am just more of a fan of later Dr Who, i guess.
also, the remastered, digitized image is often a bit irritating, as lots of diagonals in the picture are jagged.
| | THE ORIGINAL AND BEST DALEK STORY | |
| | This is the first story featuring the daleks. One guidline for the show was that storys shouldn't include scary monsters. Two stories out of 160 in and the rule has been broken. This was the first Doctor Who story i saw, when it was transmitted for the first time. The ideas for Dalek stories are new. Unlike later eightes ones these stories are worth watching. The sixties was a great time for who and this is the second best story ever. The remasering on the tape is excellent. Buy this tape now and obey the daleks or you will be exterminated!
| | | | The Daleks' first appearance catapulted Dr Who from kids educational adventure serial into true Sci Fi. Although the show would return to historic themes throughout Hartnell's reign as the Doctor, the Daleks stamped their presence and opened the way to futuristic drama and the recurring alien monsters that define Dr Who for most people. The Daleks are riveting of course, but the story itself unfolds at a leisurely pace, introducing us to the planet Skaro, it's inhabitants and history, exploring the group and individual dynamics of the Doctor and his companions, and weaving in a few little subplots along the way. As always, the black and white filming gives a claustrophobic and atmospheric feel to the story, and the acting is first rate. Don't be put off if you've seen the extremely camp film version, this is different territory completely. The Doctor is quirky, irritable, at turns childish and imperious; the companions are not just there as window dressing either - it is Ian who has the practical ideas and leads the rearguard Thal attack on the Dalek city, Barbara who is the voice of reason and conscience, and Susan who reminds us of the true wonder an adventurer would feel visiting an alien world. The Thals themselves are impressive, exuding an air of dignity interwoven with the better human emotions and responses. The Daleks are presented in more detail, and with more thought, than they would be in the latter days of Dr Who (when they became virtual parodies of themselves, screaming, "Exterminate!" and descending to melodramatic levels at every appearance), and we get to see more of their thought processes, and to some extent, personalities, as they plot and react as events unfold. Buy the video and experience a slice of history - this is Dr Who at its best.
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