Rewatching... Doctor Who: The Evil Of The Daleks - Part 6

"ALL DALEKS RETURN TO SKARO!"

Saturday 24 June 1967

Things are hotting up. The story began as a sort of urban thriller starting at Gatwick and taking in warehouses, alleyways, antique shops and trendy coffee bars. Then it moved both time and location to a Victorian manor house, with servants, a wealthy philanthropist, ticking clocks, creaking wood-panelled corridors. Now in the third and final act, we get yet another location: Skaro! This has turned out to be quite an epic.

The Doctor has planted a device in three Dalek brains and it seems to have turned them into toddlers. The Doctor gives them names which he marks onto their bases. Hearing these Daleks speaking the way they do, and saying "frieeeend" is quite creepy! In fact, the voices in this story are excellent throughout, they've got that modulation perfected here.

One of these baby Daleks spookily mentions that all Daleks have been ordered to return to Skaro, and with that, they enter the time cabinet (which must surely also be a space cabinet if they're leaving Earth).

The Doctor and Jamie go to look for Victoria, and Maxtible has an awkward conversation with Waterfield and seems unaware that Ruth, Molly, and Terrall have left the building but pretends that he does know. After Waterfield has gone a Dalek comes in and tells Maxtible off for messing about with some equipment controls. When the Dalek leaves Waterfield returns and now it's his turn to give Maxtible a hard time. Maxtible tells him the Daleks have promised him the secret of turning any metal into gold but Waterfield is naturally more concerned about his daughter's whereabouts. They have a tussle and then another Dalek emerges from the cabinet and informs them that they are about to destroy the house. Drastic but tidy I suppose. I like a baddy that tidies up after itself.

So, in the end, everyone ends up on Skaro. It's quite rare that we get this sort of continuity reference, especially to a story from so many years ago. This is the Doctor's first return to Skaro since his very first visit in the second Doctor Who story back in 1963. They seem to have kept the same sound effects of both the exterior and the city interior (haven't I got a good memory?!). It's a great move, having a third location, keeping the story constantly fresh, as well as being tremendously exciting that the Doctor is back on the Daleks' home planet. Perhaps in the 21st century, you're calling them "Skarosian Daleks".

Victoria and Kemel have gone ahead and are already on the planet. There's a sweet moment where the mute Turk explains in mime that he wants to fight the Daleks, and Victoria tells him she'll protect him. It's as odd seeing Victorians on Skaro as it was seeing Daleks gliding around the manor house. The juxtaposition works very effectively in both cases. Like seeing a Tooting Bec toilet in a Yeti cave.

To Jamie's surprise, the Doctor uncovers a secret entrance into a tunnel leading beneath the city. I really like how the Doctor doesn't actually mention that he's been here before, so we as viewers are in on it without a dreary explanation. It's sort of odd seeing another version of the Doctor on a planet he visited in a different body. Skaro feels like the old Doctor's territory. I wonder if they'll meet the Thals. Hope not.

Maxtible isn't having a good day and is now being shouted at by the black Dalek, then knocked to the ground and about to be exterminated. Daleks are surprisingly strong! He gets a last second reprieve as an alarm sounds and all the Daleks mysteriously and silently file from the room, ushering Maxtible along. I should mention that the black Dalek is very shouty and very scary in this story! I'd just do as he says...

A Dalek stops the Doctor and friends in a corridor and does a very good impression of one of the friendly toddler ones. The Doctor's not fooled though as it doesn't have its name inscribed on its base. He pushes it over the edge of the precipice they're standing on. I like these cunning Daleks, who remind me of the ones in their last story. They have definitely improved since we've had a new Doctor. "They're up to all sorts of tricks," remarks Jamie helpfully.

They continue through the city until they reach a darkened chamber. "I don't like the look of this," says the Doctor ominously, terrifying a nation of young children. The chamber slowly lights up, the black Dalek glides toward them, ordering them to follow. It leads them to an enormous thing with a Dalek eyestalk and pipes spidering outwards from itself into the chamber. This is the Emperor Dalek. The Doctor knows of him. He's kept that quiet because I definitely never heard him mention him before. "We meet at last," he says. He boasts to the emperor that he's won, having started a rebellion, but the big Dalek doesn't seem bothered. He reveals the TARDIS. He tells the Doctor that by isolating the 'human factor' it's enabled them to see the 'Dalek factor', and he orders the Doctor to use his TARDIS to spread the Dalek factor throughout the entire history of Earth! Crumbs...