There is only one form of life that matters......
Written: Nov 09 '04 (Updated Nov 09 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: dialogue, epic, Dalek psychology, classic good versus evil story
Cons: if only I could actually see it!
The Bottom Line: This is a fantastic Doctor Who story.
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| sadgit's Full Review: Doctor Who: Evil of the Daleks Books |
The story:
Following on from the previous adventure "The Faceless Ones", where the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and his ancient Highlander companion Jamie (Frazer Hines) battled a chamelionic race at Gatwick Airport, the Doctor's time/space craft, the TARDIS is stolen by the local mob. The Doctor's hunt leads him to Edward Waterfield (John Bailey)- a dealer in Victorian antiques.
The Doctor quickly determines that Edward Waterfield is actually a timetraveller from the Victorian era- that although his collection of antiques are genuine, they are also brand new, which means they must have been brought forward in time from Edward's era. Once they discover Edward's own time machine, they are brought back to Victorian England where they play right into the hands of the true enemy- the Daleks.
It turns out that the Daleks have been searching through time and space for the Doctor. Edward is their agent who has been coerced into co-operating because the Daleks have imprisoned his daughter Victoria (Deborah Watling). Now that the Doctor has been captured, the Daleks demand that he helps them study their own psychological strengths and weaknesses so that their forces can finally conquer humanity.
Production History:
Evil of the Daleks was first broadcast in 1967, during the peak of Dalekmania. It was a seven part episode of epic proportions- 3 hours in length in its entirety, however the film for all the episodes, apart from episode 2 was destroyed in the 70's. It is generally considered by fans to be the greatest of the lost adventures. Since the soundtrack to all episodes survive it has been recently released on Compact Disc with narration from Frazer Hines, the actor who played Jamie.
What makes it so great?:
This serial was written by the late David Whitaker, who was one of Doctor Who's best scriptwriters, and his dialogue and characterisation here is top notch- some of the best material of the series. There is a strong raw authenticity to the performances and dialogue, as though it hasn't been scripted at all. But that's only part of it. The episode runs on a superb build up of mystery and the clever dissection of clues. Unlike most Doctor Who stories, it starts quite innocently in the ordinary world of antique shops and rotating restaurants and swingers clubs (where Jamie even tries his hand at picking up a date from the local dolly girls). We feel on safe ground- we haven't landed in the middle of a battlefield or a deserted city or a petrified forest- we spend most of the serial in either the carefree 1960's Britain, or the prim and proper Victorian era. But the story is made up of several safety nets which keep falling in a spiralling descent into the nightmare, as for the first time we witness the Doctor seemingly unable to escape the Daleks and even unwilling to try, lest he provoke them to murder Victoria. And we also realise the Daleks are actually thinking far ahead of the Doctor (more on that later). As we go through this nightmare we also look at various faucets of human nature, both positive and negative: remorse, aggression, parental love, selfishness, chivalrous self-sacrifice, rebellion, thirst for knowledge and greed- it's actually very optimistic in highlighting the best qualities of human endeavour amidst dark times.
The human characters here, at the mercy of the Daleks- Edward Waterfield and his daughter Victoria, and his assistant Maxtible are characters we come to care about deeply, particularly since we acknowledge how fallible and fragile they are as helpless humans- without spoiling anything I can tell you that some of these noble characters will have died by the end of the story, and that's how it should be, the fight against evil is always costly and painful and should always be presented that way. Even Maxtible, who sells himself out to the Daleks out of greed and offers of riches still gains our respect by his scientific knowledge and endeavour to learn more, and his love of his dream, even though he sold his soul to the devil to get it. This was back in the 1960's period of Doctor Who when the series had an underlying bleakness and melancholy about it, about the loneliness of the traveller, a sadness to the mystery and uncertainty and where death not only existed, it touched our hearts as well. This was before the 70's ushered in a sense of humour and jolliness to the travels in time and space with the Doctor.
Amidst all this we also explore the Dalek nature. There's one scene which sums it all up:
Waterfield: You murdered him!
Dalek: HE WOULD HAVE BETRAYED US!
Waterfield: You don't have to kill!
Dalek: SILENCE!
Waterfield: I won't be silent! What are you dragging me into? You've destroyed a human life! Don't you understand that?
Dalek: THAT IS OF NO CONSEQUENCE!
Waterfield: No Consequence!?
Dalek: THERE IS ONLY ONE FORM OF LIFE THAT MATTERS- DALEK LIFE! OBEY YOUR ORDERS WATERFIELD!
(Waterfield is gobsmacked at the Dalek's statement, then the Dalek moves to the time machine and begins to dematerialise)
Waterfield: No Wait! Wait! What am I to do with the body?.....I can't.... I can't go on with this!
From a Victorian perspective the Daleks immediately come across as "creations of the devil" in their ruthless hatred of humans. They are also intelligent and manipulative- character traits of the Daleks that gradually became lost in the Dalek stories of the 70's and 80's where they became pretty one dimensional megalomaniacs, who boasted so much they seemed incapable of either lying or seeing the realistic big picture, here they are frighteningly adept at doing both.
The Daleks appeared as the main villains in 16 Doctor Who stories during the show's tenure and will doubtless go on to appear in many more in the coming new series (the BBC and Terry Nation's estate have successfully negotiated their use in the first season)- but most of which are just a runaround romp of Cowboys and Indians in space. I feel that none of them quite caught the spectacle of the Dalek civilisation as well as this one which depicts the Dalek city in a way reminiscent of the Roman Empire- in grand heights and architecture. Even in sound only, the echoes of the heights of the city create the images in your mind and the booming voice of the giant Emperor Dalek is a real heartstopper. So grand it makes all the domestic and neighbourhood troubles and gossip in your real life seem laughably unimportant. It feels as though despite the cruel and powerful tyranny of the Dalek empire, you still somehow want their grand civilisation and culture to endure. This is one of the few Dalek stories which really matters! In-fact had the story survived it would have been marvelous to have had it in a Video boxed set with Genesis of the Daleks.
The interesting concept of the episode is discussing what the Daleks might become if they posessed human emotions. The Doctor's experiment produces three Daleks with human emotions who immediately behave like children. The effect of the experiment causes the Daleks to suffer headaches, and they begin alliterating "Dizzy! Di-zzzy Dizzy Daleks!"- no longer in a Dalek monotone but in affectionate human tones, almost like a character from the children’s show “Rainbow” with that charming feel for how humans, particularly children find pleasures in the smallest of things.
The Doctor even goes on to describe the Dalek socialising agents- how a Dalek has self-educating systems within its machine and a sense of omnipotent superiority when outside the Dalek hierarchy. Realistically they can exist in complete isolation in a way that humans cannot- because humans are dependant on one another for company, for learning, for collectivist work and authority, for confidence and reassurance. However the true Daleks are completely incapable of accomodating the human Daleks. Unable to co-operate and compromise, unable to tolerate their questioning and disobedient nature, the Daleks exterminate them, in typical Dalek fashion, but the human Daleks, in typical human fashion don’t go down without a fight in a display of tragic heroism, even tragic anarchy doomed to perish in its own nihilism. In-fact this is an incredibly soul churning adventure full of such tragic moments.
The use of the human Daleks seem like an allegory to the social unrest of the 60's as the human rebel Daleks seem to represent the Mod Rocker youth culture of the time defiantly throwing off the constraints of outdated Victorian values and unquestioning respect for elders, and infact spitting vitriol in the face of authority. In-fact I would venture the destruction of the human Daleks as one of the most disturbing moments in Doctor Who (and Doctor Who has had many of them). Just listening to the sounds of Daleks screaming in agony and the mutant creatures bubbling and boiling as they are burned alive is horrifying, and the fact that the Doctor has created these human Daleks and given them compassion, knowing they’ll be destroyed for it highlights a dark and dodgy shade to the Doctor's character that is not seen again until the mid 80's.
Where my eyes can't see:
Sadly the grand visual feast of the episodes are gone. The original story had fantastic production values in actually constructing a fantastic and eerie model of the Dalek city on Skaro, as well as the gigantic form of the Emperor Dalek. The BBC also honed its talent for Historical Wardrobe Dramas in recreating the clothes and inner dwellings of the Victorian era flawlessly with a warm appreciation for the antiquated. Some of those scenes still survive visually in Episode 2, but to see them you would have to purchase either the old video Daleks- the Early Years (which you may have to go Car Boot hunting for) or the newly released DVD Box Set "Lost in Time". To be honest I find it a let down that this CD doesn't include a DVD of the episode.
But it makes me angry that such care and craft was taken in making this episode and someone so casually discarded it to the furnace. They destroyed a work of crafted art out of sheer ignorance, not realising how timeless it could have been if preserved. In these days when British TV has gone down the toilet with trash like Big Brother, Eastenders and Hollyoaks dominating the airwaves, this is a startling reminder of how great British TV once was, and what program makers were once capable of.
This CD book is available on order from Amazon.co.uk
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
sadgit
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Member: Tom
Location: Lancashire, United Kingdom
Reviews written: 325
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scrapped the countdown again.....
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