Destiny of the Daleks
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It has been suggested that Movellan be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) |
| 104 – Destiny of the Daleks | |
|---|---|
| Doctor Who serial | |
 The Doctor and Romana flee the Movellan ship |
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| Cast | |
| Doctor | Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor) |
| Companion | Lalla Ward (Romana II) |
| Production | |
| Writer | Terry Nation |
| Director | Ken Grieve |
| Script editor | Douglas Adams |
| Producer | Graham Williams |
| Executive producer(s) | None |
| Production code | 5J |
| Series | Season 17 |
| Length | 4 episodes, 25 mins each |
| Originally broadcast | September 1–September 22, 1979 |
| Chronology | |
| ← Preceded by | Followed by → |
| The Armageddon Factor | City of Death |
Destiny of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from September 1 to September 22, 1979. The story introduces Lalla Ward as the newly-regenerated Romana.
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[edit] Synopsis
The TARDIS lands the Fourth Doctor and Romana on a strangely familiar planet. There, they meet the android Movellans, who are locked in a war with the Daleks. The planet is Skaro, and in a bunker sits an enemy long thought dead — Davros, creator of the Daleks.
[edit] Plot
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The plot summary in this article or section is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the article. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. |
The Doctor, following the preceding events of The Armageddon Factor, has installed a "Randomiser" onto the TARDIS, to elude the Black Guardian, and is repairing K-9. After marvelling at K-9's impressive and complex "brain" (in fact a complicated electrical circuit), he notices that K-9 is, unusually for a robot, coughing. The Doctor establishes that K-9 has a form of laryngitis (which is, as the Doctor points out, pointless as a robot would have no use for such an affliction). He calls for Romana, and is surprised when Princess Astra from the preceding adventure emerges (in full regal regalia). However this is not Astra at all: this is Romana, and she has regenerated into a form she has modelled on the princess. The Doctor, however, is not impressed and tries to dissuade her from "going around wearing copies of bodies", but to no avail. He then urges Romana to try another body, to which she agrees and walks out of sight to do just that. When she returns she appears to be a dwarfish, purple-faced (or face-painted) female, who retains Romana's voice. Unhappy with the height, she is told by the Doctor to "lengthen it", and she leaves to try again. When she returns, she resembles a drag queen; and the Doctor (possibly slightly disturbed by this) gives a polite "No thank you, not today." Romana then tries an extremely tall, willowy and serious-looking female form, which the Doctor then dismisses as being too tall. He then advises her to wear something more sensible and stylish, and she returns in a costume resembling his own (by which he is delighted). He soon realises that she once again resembles Astra; but he gives up, realising that her mind is made up, and agrees to let her resemble Astra. The TARDIS then lands...
The TARDIS has landed on a seemingly very rocky planet which has breathable air and hospitable conditions; but has dangerously high levels of radioactivity. He gives her tablets to combat the radiation and a beeper-like device to inform her when she must take her pills. They exit the TARDIS and establish that this a rocky planet with seismic disturbances. They witness what appear to be ragged-looking natives burying one of their dead (although this deceased fellow is not all he appears: he is from the planet Kantra, a tropical paradise; so he should not have been there in theory). They come across a spaceship which half-buries itself into the ground in a valley; and just as the Doctor and Romana are about to investigate, underground explosions force them back towards the ruins. Whilst exploring the ruins, another underground explosion occurs, causing a column to fall on the Doctor. Romana attempts to lift the column on her own, but it is too heavy for her. She agrees to return to the tardis to reassemble the literally "brainless" K-9 and get him to assist in removing the debris. She sets off, but finds the TARDIS half-buried in rubble (and, unbeknownst to her, she is being followed). Realising that she cannot reach K-9, she starts to turn back.
Meanwhile, the Doctor is quite happily reading a book ("Origins of the Universe" by Oolon Colluphid), and remarking that he needs to remind Romana to take her anti-radiation pills, a troupe of silver-haired humanoids appear and point their weapons at him. He seems to try to charm them, but it does not seem to be working.
Romana returns to the ruin, to find that the Doctor has vanished. As she turns to leave, she finds the man who has been following her blocking her path. She backs away, only to fall down a rubble chute, and she loses consciousness. The man then prepares to climb down and help her, but before he can do so she recovers consciousness and hears a noise coming from one of the walls that resembles drilling. She backs away from the wall; when suddenly a pair of Daleks burst through the wall: "Do not move. Do not move. Do not move. Do not move. Do not move. Do not move. You are our prisoner - do not move. You are our prisoner!"
The Daleks threaten to exterminate Romana if she does not comply with their instructions explicitly, and then command Romana to come with them. (The man, meanwhile, has seen the whole thing.)
Meanwhile, the Doctor is thanking the Movellans (as these silver-haired humanoids are called) for helping him, and he remarks at their strength. He then asks their commander Sharrel where he is, and Sharrel replies that the planet is known as D-5-Gamma-Z-Alpha. The Doctor then states that he is rather old fashioned and enquires to its real name. He is astonished hear that they are on the planet Skaro, and that the Movellans are here to wage war against the Daleks.
Romana, meanwhile, is being interrogated by the Daleks. After they learn that she is of no threat to them, the Daleks command Romana to work at one of their drilling sites.
Back at the Movellan space craft, two Movellans enter with a new prisoner, it's the man who has been following the Doctor and Romana; he identifies himself as Starship Engineer Tyssan, who was captured by the Daleks two years ago. He collapses after revealing that the Daleks have used him during a drilling operation for a search operation. He soon comes around, and says he does not know what the Daleks are looking for. He then tells the Doctor about what has happened to Romana, and they set out to rescue her.
In the meantime Romana meets with some other workers, with whom she discusses the Daleks' hatred for humanoids, and she learns that she is getting weaker as a result of radiation sickness. She learns that the only way out is to die; when within minutes she seems to die. Her fellow workers remove her body.
The Doctor, Tyssan and the Movellans Sharrel, Lan, and Agella are shocked to find Romana's grave. As the Doctor frantically tries to dig her out, she appears and explained that she feigned death to escape, and that at school she was taught how to stop her hearts. They then head into the Dalek headquarters. Lan is left on guard outside of the Control Center, and is shot by a Dalek who is out searching for them. The Doctor establishes that the Daleks are searching for something on a level that they have yet to access. He remembers an alternative route to this area, so he, Romana, and Agella make their way to this floor while Sharrel returns to his ship. There they discover Davros, the creator and leader of the Daleks (who was seemingly exterminated at the end of Genesis of the Daleks). Something gives way up above, and part of the ceiling collapses onto Agella. Whilst the party is distracted by this, Davros starts to stir: his fingers move, his central, artificial eye lights up - and Davros lives...
The Doctor finds Davros and takes him into a blocked-off room in the old Dalek city. He lets Romana and Tyssan escape out of the window, and they return to the Movellan ship. The two geniuses talk about the Daleks' "accomplishments": whilst the Doctor comments on the countless lives the Daleks have ruined, Davros replies that this is only the beginning - the Daleks have only just begun their conquest of the cosmos. The Daleks find them both, and proceed to exterminate their prisoners until the Doctor complies. The Doctor then threatens to kill Davros with a makeshift explosive he has just concocted. He then orders the Daleks to free all their prisoners, and to let him escape. The Daleks say that these conditions are unacceptable and illogical (and therefore, to a Dalek, impossible); and that the exterminations would continue. However Davros makes them see that the Doctor's logic is "impaired by irrational sentiment". The Daleks then comply, and the Doctor attaches the explosive to Davros' chair, and tells him that it will detonate when he uses his sonic screwdriver. He then escapes. Davros frantically orders the Daleks to remove the explosive; which they do (although the Doctor detonates and the explosion seems to take a Dalek with it). Davros then vows to make the Daleks invincible, and the supreme power of the universe. (However, we notice that Agella is not dead; and that she will return and report all she has just heard to her fellow Movellans.)
Romana reaches the Movellan spaceship; but learns that the Movellans are not as altruistic as they appear; and Agella uses her weapon on her, which knocks her out. The Movellans than test out their nova device: a weapon which changes air molecules so that a planet's atmosphere becomes flammable and can be set alight - killing all lifeforms.
The Doctor meets up with Tyssan and they both find a Movellan scout. The Doctor deactivates her by removing the power pack/controlling circuit on her belt and reveals that the Movellans are, in fact, robots. He finds that the unconscious Romana has been attached to the nova device (sealed inside an airtight container). He sends Tyssan away and tries to open the container, as the timer is ticking down...
Just as the timer approaches zero, the Doctor is knocked out by one of the Movellans' weapons. However, the nova device was revealed to be a "dud" - a decoy used to lure the Doctor.
The Doctor learns that the Daleks and Movellans have been in a stalemate for over two centuries, and that both sides' battle computers have been calculating the best strategy and precise moment at which to attack - so far not a single shot has been fired. The Daleks want Davros to help them gain an advantage. The Movellans want the Doctor to do the same for them, which the Doctor refuses to do. Davros, on the other hand, is all too eager to give the Daleks the upper hand; and he orders them to make a suicide bombing attack on the Movellan craft upon realising that the Doctor might do the same thing for the Movellans. Meanwhile, Tyssan manages to gather up the prisoners and leads an attack on the Movellans, ending with them all being deactivated.
While the prisoners take control of the Movellan ship, the Doctor makes his way to the city to confront Davros. The Doctor informs Davros that the Movellans have been disabled; unfortunately Davros does not believe him and intends to destroy the Movellan ship anyway. As the Daleks approach the ship, the Doctor goes to detonate the bombs prematurely, only to discover too late that Davros didn't send all the Daleks on the suicide run when one ambushes him and holds him at gunpoint.
The slaves are no match for the Daleks, who begin exterminating them. Seeing the events, the Doctor throws his hat on the Dalek's eye-stalk, blinding it. As the Dalek fires around blindly (nearly killing Davros in the process) the Doctor attaches an explosive to it and blows it up, then activates the bomb detonator and destroys the attacking Dalek squad. He then takes Davros into the custody of the former slave workers. Davros shall be placed in cryogenic suspension and taken to Earth to stand trial for his crimes. The Doctor and Romana leave; remarking on the fact that whoever makes mistakes often wins (as the Doctor knows only too well).
[edit] Cast
- Doctor Who — Tom Baker
- Romana — Lalla Ward
- Davros — David Gooderson
- Daleks — Mike Mungarvan, Cy Town
- Dalek Voices — Roy Skelton
- Commander Sharrel — Peter Straker
- Agella — Suzanne Danielle
- Lan — Tony Osoba
- Tyssan - Tim Barlow
- Jall - Penny Casdagli
- Veldan - David Yip
- Movellan Guard - Cassandra
- Small Romana - Lee Richards
- Tall Romana - Maggie Armitage
- Buxom Romana - Yvonne Gallagher
[edit] Cast notes
Tim Barlow, who played Tyssan, was profoundly deaf at the time of filming.[1]
[edit] Continuity
- The opening scene, where Romana apparently tries on several bodies during the course of her regeneration before settling on the appearance of Princess Astra of Atrios (the character played by Ward in The Armageddon Factor) is controversial due to its light-hearted approach to the concept of regeneration, which has always been a traumatic process for the Doctor. See Romana's Regeneration.
- One of Romana's rejected bodies is a diminutive, purple-faced (or face-painted) humanoid who wears a distinctive costume. This is the same costume as Zilda wore in the 1977 story, The Robots of Death. Other reused costumes from earlier serials may be seen in the scenes involving extras playing slaves working in the Daleks' mine; these include the robes (but not the mask) of a Draconian and the uniform of a Morestran soldier from Planet of Evil.
- Several references are made to the daleks as 'robots', like the Movellans. The Doctor makes some of these. Davros does too. This is in apparent contradiction to other dalek stories, such as Genesis of the Daleks and The Daleks, where they are described as mutant humanoids in mechanical casings.(In The Daleks they are mutated Dals; in Genesis, mutated Kaleds). In Destiny Romana does say that they 'were once humanoid themselves', though under dalek interrogation by a lie detecting device she had said she knew 'nothing about daleks'. According to the information text of the DVD release the scripted line was 'I don't know anything about dalek operations'. The same text suggests that either the on-screen line was misread or Romana was capable of misleading the dalek truth detector.
- For the first time on-screen it is stated that the daleks left Skaro sometime after the events of The Daleks.
- In the story the daleks search for Davros in the ruins of the Kaled City. The doctor knows exactly where he is. But according to Genesis of the Daleks Davros was killed by the daleks in a bunker some distance from the Kaled City, and the Doctor visited the Kaled City only briefly.
- In their search for Davros, both the Doctor and the daleks assume that he will still be alive, something which is not explained on-screen. Neither is it explained why Davros revives. The script explains that Tysson collides into him, causing the revival to begin.
[edit] Production
- This was Dalek creator Terry Nation's final script for Doctor Who, as he declined several further offers. He moved to the United States in 1980 and would go on to work for various television projects in America, most famously as a writer and producer for MacGyver.
- The serial was one of the first British productions to make use of a Steadicam.
- Michael Wisher was unavailable to reprise the role of Davros, as he was on tour in Australia. David Gooderson replaced him, but unfortunately the mask was fitted for the slightly smaller Wisher, and it suffers in appearance as a result.
- K-9 only appears near the start of the story, explained in-story as due to an electronic form of laryngitis. A common misconception is that this was because a replacement for John Leeson (who voiced K-9) had not yet been cast. In fact, David Brierley had already been given the role as Leeson's replacement over three months before the serial was made. The actual reason for K-9's absence was because the prop was unsuitable for the large amount of location filming — the production team had suffered several problems using K-9 on a similar location in The Stones of Blood, and were not keen on repeating the experience.
[edit] Outside references
The Doctor reads Oolon Colluphid's book The Origins of the Universe and says he got it wrong "on the first line". Colluphid is a character from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy written by script editor Douglas Adams, who inserted the reference.[2]
[edit] In print
| Doctor Who book | |
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| Doctor Who and the Destiny of the Daleks | |
| Series | Target novelisations |
| Release number | 21 |
| Writer | Terrance Dicks |
| Publisher | Target Books |
| Cover artist | Andrew Skilleter |
| ISBN | 0 426 20096 9 |
| Release date | 20 November 1979 |
| Preceded by | Doctor Who and the War Games |
| Followed by | Doctor Who and the Ribos Operation |
A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in November 1979. A German translation of the book was published by Goldmann in 1990.
[edit] DVD Release
This story was released on 26 November 2007. It features a number of special features such as a commentary, new CGI effects and Terror Nation, a documentary about writer Terry Nation. It is available on its own and as part of the Davros Collection box set featuring Genesis of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks.
[edit] Broadcast & VHS
- This serial has its segments labelled as episodes, rather than parts - the only serial made after The Green Death to do so.
- This serial was released on VHS in July of 1994. In 2001 it was remastered and re-released as part of The Davros Collection, which consisted of VHS editions of Genesis of the Daleks, Destiny of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks.
[edit] References
- ^ Tim Barlow
- ^ Doctor Who: City of Death, Disc Two, Special Features: Paris in the Springtime [DVD]. BBC Worldwide.
[edit] External links
- Destiny of the Daleks at bbc.co.uk
- Destiny of the Daleks at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
- Destiny of the Daleks at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
[edit] Reviews
- Destiny of the Daleks reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
- Destiny of the Daleks reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
[edit] Target novelisation
- Doctor Who and the Destiny of the Daleks reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
- On Target — Doctor Who and the Destiny of the Daleks
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