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| "Daleks, conquer and destroy!" |
6 episodes. Written by: David Whitaker. Directed by: Christopher Barry. Produced by: Innes Lloyd.
THE PLOT
The Doctor has changed. As the TARDIS leaves Antarctica, Ben and Polly discover that the white-haired old eccentric has gone, leaving a dark-haired stranger (Patrick Troughton) in his place. Polly is convinced that he is still the Doctor, with a changed appearance. Ben is not so sure... and this Doctor's enigmatic behavior does little to ease his worries.
Not that there's much time for worry. The TARDIS lands on the colony world of Vulcan, a site devoted to the mining of mercury. The Doctor encounters an Earth Examiner - who is immediately murdered in front of him. Thinking fast, the Doctor assumes the identity of the Examiner and ascertains that all is not well with this colony. Hensell (Peter Bathurst), the governor, is too eager to make all seem well, to the point that he refuses to acknowledge any issues. Quinn (Nicholas Hawtry), the lieutenant governor, has concerns about rebels, but finds resistance from the security chief, Bragen (Bernard Archard) - a man with an agenda all his own.
Tensions within the colony have created a powder-keg. And the chief scientist, Lesterson (Robert James), has just made a discovery that will set it alight: A 200-year-old capsule, found in a pool of mercury, made of a metal that has not corroded in all that time. Three metal casings are within. Lesterson has discovered the Daleks - and with the colony's power supply, he is about to bring them to life!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: David Whitaker's script shrewdly plays on an audience's inherent mistrust of a recast lead, making the companions react along with the audience. The Doctor initially doesn't even refer to himself as such. In Episode One, he refers to the old Doctor as "the Doctor," and in Episode Two refers to Hartnell's Doctor as "the proper Doctor." It is only after the second episode - when a Dalek reacts to the Doctor with recognition - that the story stops questioning his identity.
From that point on, the focus is on the Doctor's efforts to stop the Daleks, with the colony's various factions standing in his way. By the end, Patrick Troughton's character has gone from stranger to trusted heroic figure, with the Second Doctor firmly cemented as the series' new lead. Quite a feat, and the series was fortunate that a writer as capable as Whitaker was available for this critical transition.
Ben: He spends the first two episodes distrusting the new Doctor. "He doesn't even act like him!" he protests, as the Second Doctor behaves in a mercurial fashion in the early TARDIS scenes. Ben grills him as to why he looks different, why his cloak and ring will no longer fit. He grumbles, as the Doctor pretends to be the Examiner, that it's "hard to accept" that he's the Doctor. Only when the Dalek recognizes him does he finally accept his identity, and even then he seems less inclined to trust his judgment than he has in the past.
Ben and Polly have always been among my favorite "overlooked" companions, and this serial is a fine example as to what I enjoy about them. They are anything but reluctant adventurers, throwing themselves in with enthusiasm. Ben, as played by Michael Craze, has a refreshing skepticism - not only of the Doctor, but of the various figures they meet. He instantly dislikes the officious Bragen, suspects Quinn because of the evidence against him, and tends to believe the worst of people. As they try to determine which person in the Colony summoned the Examiner in the first place, it is Ben who dismisses the governor as a possibility. "Governors are all alike," he says, noting that if the governor called for help, it would be like admitting he wasn't up to the job.
Polly: She immediately accepts the new Doctor for who he is (amusingly insisting, "He is the Doctor, I know he is... I think"). In contrast to Ben, she inherently believes the best in people. She insists Quinn could not possibly be guilty, saying that she can just tell that Quinn is "all right." It's a shame the animation in the official release is so limited, as one of Anneke Wills' strengths is her wonderfully expressive face. Ben and Polly have tended to be overlooked and/or dismissed as companions, due in part I suspect to how few of their stories survived the purge. I believe that view is changing, likely in no small part because of the animations making their stories more widely available to the public.
THE DALEKS
The first Dalek serial to be written with no real Terry Nation input. David Whitaker shows what I've often believed, which is that the Daleks themselves had more potential than was demonstrated by Nation's often-routine potboilers. Whitaker makes the Daleks effective by putting them into a position of weakness for the first time since their first story. There are initially only three Daleks, and they are powerless.
The Daleks size up the colony as quickly as the Doctor does, and they play on the various agendas. To Lesterson, they are a discovery that will revolutionize the colony. To Hensell, they are a potential workforce that will increase production - and make his bosses back on Earth grateful. To Bragen and the rebels, they are a weapon, to be used to subdue an enemy. The Daleks play each role as it is demanded of them, all the while insisting that they are the humans' servants. It is only as they gain power - both literally and in terms of control over the colony - that they take on a more sinister bent, waiting for the right moment in Episode Six to teach these humans "the law of the Daleks."
This ability to manipulate human nature sets Whitaker's Daleks above Terry Nation's Daleks, and makes them far more sinsiter. A Dalek whose only response to a human is to either enslave or exterminate is, ultimately, a rather one-note creation. A Dalek who can play on human ambition, can probe a man's weak spots and turn those to its advantage: That's a formidable foe. "We understand the human mind," a Dalek proudly announces. The scary thing is, based on the evidence of this story... They do!
I quite enjoy Peter Hawkins' Dalek voices. He has a deeper pitch, both more calculating and more menacing than the later Dalek voices. It's also a pitch that's well-suited to some of the surprisingly thoughtful lines given to the Daleks here. I love the genuine confusion in the Dalek's voice when it wonders, "Why do human beings kill human beings?" The Daleks don't utter their catch-phrase until late in Episode Five, when they finally have manipulated their way back into a position of strength.
THOUGHTS
What is there to say about The Power of the Daleks that hasn't been said over and over again on fan forums during the past few years? It's a splendidly-constructed story, with an initially gradual pace that tightens as it goes, until the tension can't help but explode. It sees the Daleks at their most formidable, while offering a near-perfect transition from Hartnell's Doctor to Troughton's, easing viewers into accepting a new Doctor at a time when the thought that there could be a new Doctor was rather revolutionary.
When I first watched the Loose Cannon recon of The Power of the Daleks, it was in the midst of getting back into Doctor Who after a very long time away. Power was only the second recon I watched, and I was absolutely enthralled. The story was extremely suspenseful, and the Troughton Doctor was magical - a bit of a clown, but never too much of one; keenly observant yet vaguely absent-minded; and just a slight bit sinister. The story had a wealth of tiny clips bringing it to life in its first two episodes. And by the time the clips disappeared, I was too engrossed in the narrative to care. It was clearly a cut above the videos of The Brain of Morbius and Revenge of the Cybermen that I had watched prior to that point, and I declared Troughton my favorite Doctor on the spot (he's since slipped a couple of slots, but he's still well up there).
When I went online to look up this story - which was surely the very best the series had to offer - I was stunned to discover that, by and large, Power was barely mentioned. When it was mentioned, it seemed to be dismissed as an OK-at-best serial that was far outstripped by the 7-part Evil of the Daleks, which was when fandom decreed that David Whitaker had really gotten it right.
That's why it's been such a blessing to see this story's renaissance within fandom over the past few years. As the missing serials have become more and more available, mainly thanks to the excellent BBC audio range and now thanks to animation, "Received Fan Wisdom" has receded to an extent, and I entered into fandom in time to witness a lot of stories' reputations start shifting. While Evil remains well-regarded (as it should be), I have been pleased to see Power's reputation erupt, to the point where this masterpiece of story structure is finally getting the exact level of praise it merits.
Back to the story itself, I'll sum up my views by saying that it retains the title of "Best" in several areas. It remains, in my view, the best introductory story for any Doctor; the best Dalek story; and the best Troughton story. One of the series' greats, and I'm glad that it's finally being recognized as such.
Rating: 10/10.
Power of the Daleks Missing Episode Notes
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