The Power of the Daleks
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| 030 – The Power of the Daleks | |
|---|---|
| Doctor Who serial | |
 Two Daleks plot against the humans on Vulcan |
|
| Cast | |
| Doctor | Patrick Troughton (Second Doctor) |
| Companions | Anneke Wills (Polly) |
| Michael Craze (Ben Jackson) | |
| Production | |
| Writer | David Whitaker Dennis Spooner (uncredited) |
| Director | Christopher Barry |
| Script editor | Gerry Davis |
| Producer | Innes Lloyd |
| Executive producer(s) | None |
| Production code | EE |
| Series | Season 4 |
| Length | 6 episodes, 25 mins each |
| Episode(s) missing | All 6 episodes |
| Originally broadcast | November 5–December 10, 1966 |
| Chronology | |
| ← Preceded by | Followed by → |
| The Tenth Planet | The Highlanders |
The Power of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from November 5 to December 10, 1966. It is Patrick Troughton's first full story as the Doctor.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Ben and Polly are suspicious of the newly regenerated Doctor, who brings the TARDIS to the colony of Vulcan. There, the Doctor learns, to his horror, that a scientist has recovered three inert Dalek bodies from a crash and has reactivated them to serve the colony.
[edit] Plot
Ben and Polly have just watched the First Doctor collapse to the floor of the TARDIS and have witnessed him change from one person to another. Polly is convinced that the man is the Doctor, but Ben believes the man is an impostor. The TARDIS brings the newly regenerated Doctor, Ben and Polly to the planet Vulcan where, on arrival, the Doctor witnesses the murder of the examiner, the man sent from Earth to check on the human colony located on the planet. After checking the body the Doctor discovers a badge that gives him access all the areas of the human colony, no questions asked.
A security team lead by Bragen escorts the Doctor, Ben and Polly back to the colony. The examiner was summoned by Quinn, deputy governor to investigate the group of rebels. The governor regards the problem with the rebels as insignificant.
Meanwhile, Lesterson, the colony’s scientist has discovered a crashed Dalek space capsule. The Doctor goes to investigate the capsule and after having a quick look inside he says that’s enough for one night and goes off to bed.
Later that night, Ben and Polly see the Doctor heading towards Lesterson’s laboratory and go inside the Dalek capsule. They follow, and he opens an inner compartment to find two Daleks inside. He deduces that the third Dalek is missing from the capsule. Polly, who, along with Ben, had joined the Doctor in the capsule, spots a small mutant crawling across the floor which disappears into a small opening. Polly screams.
The Doctor, Ben and Polly leave the capsule to find Lesterson, who immediately starts questioning them on why they are in his lab. The Doctor says that his badge (the examiner’s badge) says that he can go anywhere in the colony. The Doctor questions Lesterson on where he has put the third Dalek. He is afraid that Lesterson might be trying to reactivate it.
Once the Doctor, Ben and Polly have left, Lesterson opens a secret compartment were he has hidden the third Dalek. He gets his helpers Resno and Janley to help try and reactivate the Dalek. He is successful, but in the process the Dalek shoots Resno dead. Janley assures Lesterson that Resno will be fine, although she knows he is dead. At that point Lesterson removes the gun stick from the Dalek.
Meanwhile, Quinn has been accused of sabotaging the communication console and summoning the examiner. Quinn is put on trial and the governor has given Bragen Quinn’s old job. The Doctor, Ben and Polly attend Quinn’s trial, during which Lesterson arrives with the reactivated Dalek, who claims to be the colony’s servant. The Dalek recognises the Doctor and from that point on Ben believes he really is the Doctor.
Lesterson also reactivates the other two Daleks and removes the gun sticks from them. They also claim to be the colony’s servants
The Doctor notices that there are more than three Daleks in the colony and warns that they are breeding. When told that machines can't breed the Doctor answers that Daleks are not machines.
The Doctor, Polly and Ben are imprisoned. The Doctor is seen rolling pieces of fruit along the floor causing Polly to state that this is the sort of behaviour that makes them wonder if he really is the Doctor. It turns out that the Doctor is checking if the fruit contains a bugging device. They manage to escape when the doctor generates the correct tone to open the prison cell by making a partly filled wine glass chime.
One night Lesterson goes inside the Dalek capsule and discovers that Daleks are being manufactured there. He sees an inert mutant being placed on a stand then suddenly coming to life. It is then lifted off the stand by a Dalek and placed into a Dalek base and the top fitted to the base.
After a long fight between the humans and the Daleks, during which Governor Hensell is killed by Bragen, The Doctor destroys the Daleks by turning their own power source against them. It turns out that Bragen sabotaged the communication console and killed the real examiner. Quinn has the charges against him dropped and Bragen is shot by Valmar after attempting to kill Quinn. Quinn is made governor and the Doctor, Ben and Polly return to the TARDIS. An inert Dalek stands next to the TARDIS. Ben kicks it and exclaims that they won't be having any trouble with Daleks from now on. The TARDIS then sets off on another adventure. As the TARDIS dematerialises the eye stalk of a nearby Dalek corpse rises upwards...
[edit] Cast
- Dr. Who — Patrick Troughton
- Polly — Anneke Wills
- Ben — Michael Craze
- Bragen — Bernard Archard
- Hensell — Peter Bathurst
- Lesterson — Robert James
- Quinn — Nicholas Hawtrey
- Janley — Pamela Ann Davy
- The Examiner — Martin King
- Resno — Edward Kelsey
- Valmar — Richard Kane
- Kebble — Steven Scott
- Guards — Peter Forbes-Robertson, Robert Russell, Robert Luckham
- Daleks — Gerald Taylor, Kevin Manser, Robert Jewell, John Scott Martin
- Dalek Voices — Peter Hawkins
[edit] Cast notes
- Bernard Archard returned to Doctor Who in 1975, playing Marcus Scarman in Pyramids of Mars.
[edit] Continuity
- The concept of regeneration is not named in this serial. It was attributed after the fact by fans of the series and subsequently by the production team of Planet of the Spiders.
- Polly and Ben were the first companions to witness and/or serve as transitional aides during the regeneration from one Doctor to the next. Other companions who have served a similar transitional function in the Doctor's later regenerations include: Sarah Jane Smith, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan Jovanka, Peri Brown, Melanie Bush, and Rose Tyler.
- The planet Vulcan was theorised to be located within the Solar System, closer to the sun than Mercury. This theory suffered a renewed burst of popularity in the 1960s. David Whitaker first listed it as a planet of the Solar System in the 1964 spin-off The Dalek Book. In 1966 Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry gave the name of Mr. Spock's homeworld and race as Vulcan (but placed it in another star system, later claiming coincidence and denying knowledge of the real-world theorizing). Some fictional tie-ins, including Lance Parkin's A History of the Universe timeline, speculate that Vulcan is a rogue planet that entered the Solar System, so as to reconcile this story with others that do not mention the planet as existing.
[edit] Production
- Anneke Wills was on holiday and therefore absent from episode four. Similarly, Michael Craze was absent for episode five.
- Working titles for this story included The Destiny of Doctor Who and Servants of Masters.
[edit] Missing episodes
All six episodes were wiped from the BBC's archives in the early 1970s. A number of clips survive in various other programmes, mainly focusing upon the Dalek. In addition some footage filmed off-air with a cine camera exists, showing brief moments of the new Doctor's first moves in the TARDIS.
[edit] In print
A novelisation of this serial, written by John Peel, was published by Virgin Books in July 1993. Although still published under the Target Books banner, this was the first novelisation to be published under the new format introduced by Virgin for the Virgin New Adventures/Virgin Missing Adventures series. The most notable difference is the increased page count.
[edit] Broadcast, cassette, CD and DVD releases
- The audio soundtrack survives and has been released three times commercially by the BBC: first, on cassette release with narration by Tom Baker; second, on CD with narration by Anneke Wills; third, on MP3-CD, again narrated by Anneke Wills for the 'Doctor Who: Reconstructed' range. This release also included a bonus slideshow for PC users, merging the soundtrack with John Cura's Tele-snaps. See List of Doctor Who audio releases.
- The Anneke Wills-narrated soundtrack to The Power of the Daleks was also released in a collector's tin called Doctor Who: Daleks which also included the soundtrack to The Evil of the Daleks and a bonus disc with My Life as a Dalek, a story presented by Mark Gatiss discussing the history of the Daleks.
- All clips known to survive in 2004 were released on the Lost in Time DVD.
- Following the release of the DVD, two further short clips from the story — along with a higher-quality version of one of the extant scenes — were discovered in an episode of the BBC science series Tomorrow's World from 1966. The clips only came to light when the relevant section of the Tomorrow's World episode was broadcast as part of an edition of the clip-based nostalgia show Sunday Past Times on BBC Two on September 11, 2005. These were subsequently included on the documentary "The Dalek Tapes", which was a special feature in the Genesis of the Daleks DVD release.
[edit] External links
- The Power of the Daleks at bbc.co.uk
- Photonovel of The Power of the Daleks on the BBC website
- The Power of the Daleks at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
- The Power of the Daleks at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
[edit] Reviews
- The Power of the Daleks reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
- The Power of the Daleks reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
[edit] Target novelisation
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