“Resurrection of the Daleks” is an adventure of the twentyfirst season of “Doctor Who” classic series, which aired in 1984. It follows “Frontios” and it’s a two parts adventure written by Eric Saward and directed by Matthew Robinson.
The story
The Tardis has been caught in a time vortex that brings the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison), Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Turlough (Mark Strickson) in the London docklands in 1984. The travelers stumble upon a man in a daze and, investigating the corridor of time, find a warehouse where a group of soldiers are doing checks after being called there following a bomb alert.
Across the time vortex, a prison space station is attacked by the Daleks along with their human accomplices. Their purpose is to free Davros, kept in a cryogenic suspension. When the Daleks discover that the Doctor arrived in London in 1984, they send one of them to capture him.
Extras
The original edition contains a fair amount of extras while the Special Edition is rich in extras. In both editions there are typical contents such as production subtitles and a gallery of pictures from this adventure. The Special Edition also contains the Radio Times Listings and a promo of the “Doctor Who” DVDs soon to be published.
There are various comments in the adventure alternative audio track of both editions by protagonists Peter Davison and Janet Fielding and director Matthew Robinson. The Special Edition has an alternative audio track in the broadcast two-part version with comments by actor Terry Molloy, writer Eric Saward and special effects creator Peter Wragg moderated by Nicholas Pegg.
The original edition contains:
On Location. A documentary about 18 minutes long in which the protagonists of the production of this adventure go back to Shad Thames, London, to talk about how the scenes in that area were filmed.
Breakfast Time. Actress Janet Fielding and producer John Nathan-Turner in an old television appearance where Brian Hodgson and Malcolm Clarke showed how music was used to create atmosphere for the story.
Extended and Deleted Scenes. Some scenes cut in part or completely from this adventure.
BBC trailer. The original BBC trailer for the first part of this adventure.
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound Mix. The option to turn on the sound in Dolby 5.1 Surround mix created for the DVD. In the Special Edition it can be activated for both the two-part and the four-part versions.
Isolated Score. The option to watch this adventure with the complete score by Malcolm Clarke in an isolated audio track. In the Special Edition it can be activated for both the two-part and the four-part versions.
TARDIS-Cam No.4. One of the animations for the BBC website that show the potential of CGI effects.
The Special Edition also contains:
Casting Far and Wide. Toby Hadoke interviews five actors who worked in this adventure.
The Last Dalek. A clip showing the production of one of the most important scenes of the adventure “The Evil of the Daleks”. It’s also included on the “Lost in Time” box set and in the original edition of “The Seeds of Death”.
Come in Number Five. A retrospective of about 56 minutes about the Fifth Doctor’s era. A great documentary in which the protagonists of that era also speak of the production problems.
Tomorrow’s Times: The Fifth Doctor. Actor Frazer Hines presents several comments from that period to the Fifth Doctor’s adventures.
Walrus. From the archives of the BBC, a woman who finds herself face to face with a Dalek.
Both editions contain an “Easter egg” that shows a clean version of the opening and ending titles. The original edition has also another one containing a countdown.
According to schedule, the twentieth season of “Doctor Who” was supposed to end with an adventure that included the Daleks. Terry Nation, which held the rights on them having created them, made some demands about the new story and script editor Eric Saward, who had decided to write the screenplay himself, complied and obtained permission.
Unfortunately, in the autumn 1982 a long strike of electricians hit the BBC causing among other things delays in the production of “Doctor Who” that forced producer John Nathan-Turner to cancel the Daleks story. In the twenty-first season, it was decided to recover it changing its ending to include Tegan’s departure and so finally “Resurrection of the Daleks” could be filmed.
The last problem concerned the transmission, since the normal time-slot coincided with that of the 1984 Winter Olympics. For this reason, “Resurrection of the Daleks” was re-edited in a two 45-minute episodes broadcast on Wednesday instead of Thursday and Friday.
The beginning of “Resurrection of the Daleks” is very strong, with a scene that’s become one of the iconic moments of the ’80s “Doctor Who” and then goes on with a very fast pace for the classic series. The Doctor and his companions are literally drawn into the story and initially need to understand what’s happening. For a good part of this adventure they’re forced to react to events and only in the second half they manage to have a role at least partially active.
The main problem with “Resurrection of the Daleks” is in the development of its plot. New elements are added all the time in the course of this adventure, making it more and more complicated. The complexity in the plots was often required in the classic “Doctor Who” series to fill various episodes, in this case it becomes too much for the four episodes of the original editing.
In the ’60s, in particular, the Doctor and his companions were separated in order to have some subplots to develop but those adventures were composed of six or even more episodes. In “Resurrection of the Daleks”, Tegan and Turlough have to face various dangers at the two ends of the time corridor but I think their subplots end up preventing an optimal development of the most important parts of the story.
The Doctor is forced to confront Davros once again. Their face-to-face is in some ways a continuation of what happened in “Genesis of the Daleks“. Once again the Doctor moral dilemmas come out but also the Fifth Doctor’s weaknesses. I think the result would’ve been more powerful if the story had been better developed with to reach that point with a greater strength.
As it is, “Resurrection of the Daleks” ends up being remembered especially as a carnage in which there are many characters but the vast majority die in the course of the story. Among them, Stien is well developed while others generally survive too little to have an adequate development. Davros obviously has the advantage of being already appeared in two previous adventures. Michael Wisher, who had played him in his first appearance, wasn’t available and Terry Molloy had the part.
At the end of “Resurrection of the Daleks” Tegan leaves the Doctor. The violence seen in this adventure was too much so she can’t take any more of it. I never liked her bad temper but at least she had a nice goodbye scene though the Doctor should’ve been happy instead of sad.
Overall, “Resurrection of the Daleks” is a good adventure if you just get carried away by the events but if you think about the plot it shows all its flaws. The original edition of the DVD was basically a product for “Doctor Who” fans, the Special Edition has some more extras including the broadcast 2-episode editing and above all the retrospective is really interesting making this double DVD a must-have for anyone interested in the Fifth Doctor.
In Region 2 nations, the Special Edition is part of the “Revisitations 2” box set, available on Amazon UK
Permalink
Permalink