2.1: The Power of the Daleks

In which, not for the last time, the Doctor needs the Daleks to be sure who he is.

Broadcast: November-December 1966

Watched: August 2019

Note: The video of this one is entirely missing, but in 2016 it became the first missing story to get a fully animated release; six others followed before the money ran out and the line came juddering to a halt. I imagine they’ll restart at some point, mind. 

Anyway, they updated the animation for this one in 2020. But since I watched this in 2019, and since I don’t have a TARDIS, I watched the 2016 version.

The Power of the Daleks, Episode One

I actually forgot I was watching the animation of this story last time I tried, but I think that’s more about the animation than it is about the episodes. The actual script is the first since The War Machines with half a brain.

The first Doctor’s last line is “Far from being all over”; the second’s first line is, “It’s over.” Neat.  Also the reason the Doctor mentions Saladin is because this is a Whitaker script isn’t it. [Its writer, David Whitaker, was the show’s first story editor, in charge of the creative direction of the show until The Dalek Invasion of Earth; he later wrote the script for The Crusade.]

I like the way he’s not quite settled on keeping the identity “Doctor”. Feels like this makes a lot more sense after we’ve had a Doctor who eschewed the name.

He also uses Fahrenheit, the twat.

(The examiner getting shot is hilarious on the animation in a way I’m not sure it’s meant to be. Also the animator seems to have given most of the colonists the same face. Oh wait! They have name labels. This may be connected. Also: the animator has never seen a human being walk.)

Blimey, a woman! We haven’t seen one of those since The War Machines.

Ben is quite correct that the new Doctor is, thus far, incredibly irritating.  I mean, answering with a f***ing recorder.

The thought occurs that this is the first time the revelation of the identity of the monsters is spoiled by the title. It won’t be the last.

The Power of the Daleks, Episode Two

“I ’ad a headmaster who skipped his bus fare once.”

This is the first time we get the “one Dalek could destroy an entire planet” thing that we get later in, well, Dalek. Which makes it interesting that the Doctor is so blasé when he first finds the Daleks.

Also interesting, in retrospect: the Doctor doesn’t just change his face. Troughton behaves in a way it’s hard to imagine Hartnell doing.

“Ah! Fruit!” is wonderful. In fact the entire scene with the bug is great. I know this isn’t news but Troughton is really, really good. The confrontation with the Dalek at the end is so well done: proper great cliffhanger.

The Power of the Daleks, Episode Three

“I hope you know what you’re doing.” “So do I.” Ben is much mouthier with the new Doctor than the old. The change in age difference I guess.

I like the way the Doctor’s plan to trick Lesterson is exactly the same as Lucy’s plan to get Charlie Brown to kick a football.

The hat! Thank god.

The Power of the Daleks, Episode Four

Lesterson is *such* a moron. 

So what I don’t get is how big the colony is. It seems quite small but it has a perimeter which takes a day or two to tour. I’m not sure those making it know either. I’m also not clear on the timescale this story happens over. 

I like the way the Daleks keep almost giving themselves away by bragging. I really like the way one of the tensest moments of the episode is a Dalek *not* killing Janley. And the Dalek factory bit works really well on the animation. Though I’m not clear where they’re getting more mutants from, but what do I know about where Daleks come from.

All that said, I’m not sure Whitaker watched The Chase or Master Plan if he still thinks the Daleks need static to move about.

The Power of the Daleks, Episode Five

It is strange in its way how quickly you accept Troughton as the lead. I wonder if this is because of how well this story is structured, pitching the audience and the Doctor together against everyone else; or whether it’s just because he’s always been the Doctor to me.

The scene in which everyone decides Lesterson is mad is strangely horrifying in how naturally everyone but him plays it.

When did Polly become such an expert on Daleks?

The Power of the Daleks, Episode Six

I still miss individual episode names. If we’re very lucky, Jim Cooray Smith will pop up in the comments to tell us what names Whitaker, who didn’t realise the show had abandoned them, gave these episodes. 

The animation is sadly not up to the battle scene. Although the pile of bodies is oddly affecting. The thought occurs that Dalek weapons are a great design for a kids show: big flash and then you’re dead without blood or any visible injury.

Is the Dalek at the end coming back to life in the original do we think? Or an add on for the animation? [Apparently it’s in the script, and people who saw the episode as broadcast remember seeing it.]

Bonus content! When the animated version of this story was first released, in 2016, I wrote about it, and about the missing episodes more generally, for the New Statesman.

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