Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

(For those unfamiliar with the Doctor Who television series, please consult my Doctor Who Primer )

In this story The Doctor and newly reincarnated Timelord companion Romana arrive at random on the planet Skaro. They shortly become separated and whilst Romana is captured by the deadly cybernetic Daleks, the Doctor encounters their robotic foes, the Movellans. The Daleks are on Skaro hunting for their humanoid creator Davros whom they abandoned there in a dormant state long ago. They are in need of Davros genius to break a war deadlock with the Movellans which has tied them up for a long time. The Movellans are present on Skaro to figure out what the Daleks are doing there. When the Movellans discover who and what the Doctor represents as an adversary to Davros and the Daleks they are determined to have him win the war for them, as their slave and captive if necessary. The Doctor and Romana, the Daleks and Davros and the Movellans all play a huge game of cat and mouse each trying to outwit the other two to their own advantage.

Will Davros destroy the Timelords and the Movellans?
Will the Movellans destroy the Timelords and the Daleks?
Will the Timelords make both the Daleks and the Movellans into better races?

The answers to these questions will make your head spin when you watch “Destiny of the Daleks!”

And I am afraid that is pretty much the whole plot. A classic case of a cat and mouse run around with the entire plot and all the cast chasing their own tails, this is not particularly good Who.

From the beginning of the story we start out poorly. This being the inaugural story for the reincarnation of Romana, Lalla Ward, the first task that had to be accomplished was to have her transform. This was carried out in pantomime fashion, heavy on the tongue in cheek humor. From such light entertainment roots, the directing was going to have to work hard to pull the cast and the audience back into a mood for tension.

Alas, it never happens.

The Daleks and their leader Davros, seen previously some five years before in The Genesis of The Daleks have suffered some hard knocks. Michael Wisher, who had so effectively played Davros in Genesis was no longer available and budgetary restrictions allowed only for his chair and prosthetic mask to be touched up, not replaced. To make matters worse, no new Daleks could be constructed on the available budget and so old models were touched up, and left over bits were used to make stationary dummy Daleks. It did not work well. Davros II did not fit into Wisher’s chair or costume, resulting in a Davros who sways and bobs like a nodding dog on a car dashboard. The Daleks are reminiscent of cars on the lot of a run down second hand car lot. Most sad. Why would the Movellans fight these creatures? Given their current state, a few years left to their own devices and the Daleks would rust out of existence.

The acting from Tom Baker as the Doctor, and Lalla Ward is very much up to a high standard, but they seem let down by the director more than anything else. This was director Ken Grieve’s first Who story, and it was mercifully to be his last. Tom Baker does his best to elevate the tension, but this is confounded by wafer thin plot and inconsistencies in the logic of the story, and breaks in the continuity of the established Dalek history.

The sets for this story are classic Who…fairly cheap sci-fi-esque interiors of facilities and spacecraft, and outdoor shots recorded in quarries and on rocky escarpments. All of this is greatly familiar to Who fans, and perfectly acceptable but without flair of any kind. I found it funny that upon stepping out of the TARDIS onto Skaro in the first episode the Doctor proclaims that the surroundings look familiar and he feels he had been there before. It is a rock quarry. I can count at least twenty occasions when he had been there before!

The plot devices in this story were also too stupid to swallow whole. Take for example the Movellans, who, without giving away too much detail were vulnerable to immobilization by the most mind bogglingly simple means, and yet we are to suppose this race to be one of the most deadly in the galaxy? Give me a break!

Appearing rushed, the on-screen action lacks elegance also. Daleks crash clumsily into set walls which shudder, the seams on the Daleks are so crappy that in one scene one can see the actor inside adjusting the carapace for a better fit. This is all funny to watch, but whereas normally the quality of the story or the action will make up for it, here it is all just a little too second rate for my tastes.

CAST

Tom Baker The Doctor
Tim Barlow Tyssan
Penny Casdagli Jall
Cassandra Movellan Guard
Suzanne Danielle Agella
David Gooderson Davros
Roy Skelton Dalek Voice
Peter Straker Commander Sharrel
Cy Town Dalek Operator
Lalla Ward Romana
David Yip Veldan

CREW
Ken Grieve Director
Terry Nation Writer
Douglas Adams Script Editor
Graham Williams Producer
John Nathan-Turner Production Unit Manager
Ken Ledsham Designer
June Hudson Costumes
Peter Logan Visual Effects

My Reviews of Doctor Who:
Logopolis
The Brain of Morbius
The Pyramids of Mars
The armageddon Factor
The Ark in Space
The Ribos Operation
The Revenge of The Cybermen
The Stones of Blood
The Sontaran Experiment
The Genesis of The Daleks
The Destiny of the Daleks
The Pirate Planet
The City of Death
The Androids of Tara
The Talons of Weng Chiang
The Robots of Death
The Power of Kroll
The Leisure Hive
Terror of the Zygons
The Horror of Fang Rock
The Invasion of Time
The Seeds of Doom
Full Circle



Recommended: No

Viewing Format: VHS
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older