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

A Dalek story from Terry Nation? Hmmm, we could be in for a great story or a really bumpy ride here.

First, a quick primer: from 1963 to 1989 (and a couple of false starts thereafter) the BBC ran an immensely popular family program called Doctor Who. The main character is called The Doctor, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. He travels the universe in the TARDIS, a wondrous spaceship that can go anywhere in time and space - provided that the Doctor can steer it correctly. During his adventures, he and his companion (usually a young human female with weak ankles and good lungs) combat evil and injustice wherever they find it. Key to the longevity of the series - Doctor Who can do what the James Bond movies have done several times. When fatally injured, a Time Lord has the ability to regenerate, totally changing their faces and personalities, allowing the ability to swap out the lead roll when the actor wants to leave the series. So there have been several Doctors with different faces (ten, so far), but all of them the same character.

Oh, and the name of the show is Doctor Who. The main character is simply called The Doctor.

The Doctor (the one with the scarf) and Romana land on a rocky planet with ruined cities and dangerously high levels of radioactivity (gosh, I wonder where they could be?). After exploring a bit, the pair encounter a group of slaves working a mine operation (I wonder who could be behind that?) and a spaceship that lands nearby. The spaceship, as it turns out, is full of Movellans - a "race" of perfectly logical, emotionless robots. They are here hunting their mortal enemies - the Daleks!

It seems that a logical stalemate has arisen in an interplanetary war between the Daleks and the Movellans, and the Daleks are returning to their ancestral home to find their creator: Davros, in hopes that he will give the Daleks the edge they need for victory. Realizing the edge that Davros could give the Daleks, the Movellans want the Doctor to do the same for them - introduce intuition into their thought processes, allowing them final victory in their war. . . .

Oh, Terry Nation does do love his symbolism. You couldn’t go 45 seconds in Genesis of the Daleks without stumbling over some kind of Daleks = Nazi reference, and now in Destiny of the Daleks, Terry draws upon the cold war for themes. Referring to the Daleks as purely logical, emotionless robots pretty much contradicts everything we know about them up to this point, but consider the timeframe the episode comes from - 1979. Both the USSR and the United States were embroiled in a war of ideology and became mired in M.A.D. (Mutually Assured Destruction: one side attacks, the other retaliates and everyone is exterminated), both sides patiently waiting for a moment of maximum advantage, a moment that will never come.

While that may have been a good idea in the planning stages, ultimately Destiny winds up a half hearted and very pedestrian story that's betrayed by inappropriate humor and shoddy production. We'll get this out of the way right off the bat: the Daleks look dreadful. Chipped paint, broken slats, and ill fitting upper sections really undermine their status as the series ultimate bad guys.

Then there's the opening scene aboard the TARDIS between the just regenerated Romana and the Doctor. Douglas Adams may have moments of brilliance and wit - but this is not one of them. The whole thing falls flat and smacks of last moment desperation to cover Mary Tamm's sudden departure from the roll. Fortunately once out of the TARDIS, Lala and Tom settle into some nice chemistry.

Sadly the rest of the production falls short.

For starters - this kind of scenic, reasonably sunny, grassy place with the odd sand pit is Skaro? What happened to the nightmarish swamps filled with ravenous mutant creatures, depressing war torn landscape and impersonal, monolithic Dalek fortresses? And of course there's the high levels of radiation that everyone seems to conveniently forget about half way through episode two.

Ah, but the problems go deeper than that - and they start with Davros. While a good character when written correctly (see the I, Davros Big Finish productions for a text book example on good writing) Davros simply overshadows the Daleks whenever he appears. The formerly cunning and resourceful Daleks are reduced to helpless goons that do his bidding. In short, the Daleks aren’t nearly as threatening or useful as they were in the pre-Genesis appearances.

That of course is putting aside that Davros was not nearly as well-written or as subtle as he was in Genesis of the Daleks, or that David Gooderson is no Michael Wisher. Although to be fair, there isn't an actor alive that could have rescued this train wreck. Even the mask looked dreadful (apparently the mask had just about fallen apart in the 5 years between Genesis and Destiny).

Of course the decision to turn the Daleks into emotionless, logical Vulcan-wannabes is another colossal blunder. Gone are the resourceful and ruthless xenophobic sociopaths driven by a burning hatred for all other life forms. "Exterminate" goes from a cry of jihad to a statement of intent, and suddenly we're left with low rent Cybermen with toilet plungers for hands.

As far as plotting goes - episode one is pretty much the exact same one that Nation has written a dozen times before: the Doctor and companion wander about a desolate and hostile landscape before one of the companions (in this case, the Doctor himself) is incapacitated somehow, forcing the other to return to the TARDIS for help/tools - only to find the ship inaccessible before they encounter one of the local inhabitants and the inevitable appearance of the Daleks at Episode One's climax. Ya know, Terry - if you're going to put the word "Dalek" in the title, you can probably dispense with the 'shocking dramatic revelation' at the end of episode one and just get on with the bloody story.

When we last saw Davros in Genesis, wasn’t he in a bunker beyond the domed city, not inside it? Since the Daleks know they killed Davros, why are they looking for him now? During the standoff at the very end, why doesn't Davros get the Dalek to exterminate the Doctor?

*sigh*

I guess if you turn your brain off (or an eight year old looking for some visceral Dalek action), Destiny of the Daleks is an adequate offering. It's an idea with potential, but is undercut by poor production choices and poor execution.

THE DVD -
According to the Restoration Team, this was a pretty straightforward re-mastering job - no unusual problems discovered with the broadcast masters. And, as always - the job looks great. Top marks, even if the story aint all that great.

In addition to the standard wonderful job that the Restoration Team lays on us, we get another round of CGI enhancements - seventeen brand new effects shots replacing the original sequences. All optional, of course.

THE EXTRAS -
An average set of extras for an average story. Featured in the commentary this time are Lalla Ward, David Gooderson, and director Ken Grieve - pity no Tom this time around, since he's always a blast to listen to (even if he does wander off topic sometimes). Then we get a half hour documentary about writer Terry Nation and his work on Doctor Who wih interviews from producers Barry Letts and Philip Hinchcliffe, script editor Terrance Dicks, director Richard Martin, and current Dalek voice artist Nicholas Briggs.

After that there's a short feature with director Ken Grieve recalls his time on this story, some trailers and continuity announcements from BBC1, a photo gallery, some computer advertisements from the early eighties (perhaps the late seventies) starring the Doctor and Romana, a trailer for the forthcoming Beneath The Surface release, some Radio Times PDF material, and the subtitle Production Notes.

THE BOTTOM LINE -
A mediocre script with low rent production values = 'taint very good!

OTHER DOCTOR WHO EPISODES ON DVD:

DOCTOR ONE -
* The Beginning * Doctor Who and the Daleks * The Aztecs * The Dalek Invasion of Earth * The Web Planet * The Lost in Time Collection *
DOCTOR TWO -
* Tomb of the Cybermen * The Seeds of Death * The Mind Robber * The Invasion *
DOCTOR THREE -
* Spearhead From Space * The Sea Devils * The Three Doctors * Carnival of Monsters*
DOCTOR FOUR -
* The Ark in Space * Genesis of the Daleks * The Pyramids of Mars * The Robots of Death * The Talons of Weng-Chiang *
Destiny of the Daleks *
DOCTOR FIVE -
* Earthshock * The Five Doctors * Warriors of the Deep * Resurrection of the Daleks * The Caves of Androzani*
DOCTOR SIX -
* Vengeance on Varos * Timelash * Revelation of the Daleks *
DOCTOR SEVEN -
* Rememberance of the Daleks * The Television Movie*
THE NEW SERIES -
* Doctor Who - Series One * Doctor Who - Series Two * Torchwood - Series One * Doctor Who - Series Three * The Infinite Quest*



Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8