“Death to the Daleks” is an adventure of the eleventh season of “Doctor Who” classic series, which aired in 1974. It follows “Invasion of the Dinosaurs” and it’s a four parts adventure written by Terry Nation and directed by Michael E. Briant.

The story

During a journey the Tardis suddenly suffers an energy loss and rematerializes on the planet Exxilon. The Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) get separated when they go investigate the cause of the problem and are attacked by the natives.

The Doctor is rescued by a group of space Marine arrived on the planet in search of Parrinium, a mineral abundant on Exxilon and crucial to cure a deadly disease that caused an epidemic. Sarah Jane is captured by the natives, who want to sacrifice her because she saw the Forbidden City. The situation is complicated by the arrival of the Daleks.

Extras

This DVD contains a good amount of extras. There are typical contents such as production subtitles, a gallery of pictures from this adventure, 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 by actor Julian Fox, Dalek operator Cy Town, director Michael E. Briant, floor assistant Richard Leyland, costume designer L Rowland Warne and special effects designer Dick Mills moderated by Toby Hadoke.

Beneath the City of the Exxilons. A documentary on the production of this adventure.

Studio Recording. Footage shot during the recording of this adventure. It’s in some ways a filler but luckily also shows how some special effects were produced.

Doctor Who Stories – Dalek Men. Dalek operators John Scott Martin and Nicholas Evans talk about their experience in “Doctor Who”, where both also played other monsters.

On the Set of Dr Who and the Daleks. A documentary filmed on the sets of one of the movies with Peter Cushing playing the Doctor.

There is also an “Easter egg” with a version of the title theme.

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The Daleks kept on being successful so producer Barry Letts wanted another adventure that included them. Terry Nation, their creator, tended to always use the same elements in his scripts so script editor Terrance Dicks but also Robert Holmes, who’d replace after some time, suggested some variations to prevent that story from being repetitive.

After several changes, Terry Nation produced the final script of “Death to the Daleks”, an adventure that in some ways anticipates the typical gothic horror stories of a few years later. In fact, it starts with the Doctor and Sarah Jane ending on the planet Exxilon, in a wasteland that hides many dangers.

The natives of the planet are a people fell into complete barbarism after reaching extraordinary peaks of science and technology because they used them badly until they destroyed their own civilization. Their appearance was designed to be scary together with their ceremonial chants. In the scenes set indoors, these elements create a truly grim atmosphere.

In this setting, various stories that intertwine are developed. The space Marine arrived on Exxilon to take Parrinium, a mineral needed to treat an epidemic and generally rare, but are victims of the same energy loss that forced the Tardis to land on the planet.

This mysterious phenomenon also affects the Daleks when their spaceship lands on Exxilon. This allows the introduction of an original variant to the stories with the Doctor’s arch-enemies because this time they find themselves helpless when the energy of their weapons gets drained. In fact one wonders how they can move at all but perhaps they have an emergency pedal system. 😉

All these elements allow to have an adventure in which the pace is fast by the standards of the classic “Doctor Who” series. However, there are moments in which the characters move from one place to another, but at least in these cases there is usually some tension that compensates for the pace slowdown.

From this point of view, a better quality in the last two parts would’ve been beneficial. Honestly, the maze in the Exxilons’ ancient city didn’t seem to me so difficult to overcome and some clichés typical of the kind of plot are used. In the end, the feeling of danger is given especially by the actors’ performances.

In addition to these plot flaws, in “Death to the Daleks” there are ups and downs in the cast’s performances. Some of the space Marine are honestly dull so their characters are not very interesting. On the other hand, Jon Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladen are excellent. Arnold Yarrow, who plays Bellal, in my opinion does a very good job as well having to act with his voice and with his body because the mask prevented him using facial expressions.

The special effects are average for that period. Seen today some are really unconvincing showing the limits of the old CSO (Colour separation overlay) technique. We’re talking about a low-budget serial produced over forty years ago and in the classic “Doctor Who” series I think we’ve seen much worse, even in the following years.

Because of its flaws, someone doesn’t like “Death to the Daleks” but I think its merits outweigh them. It’s not a masterpiece but overall I liked it a lot. The DVD contains good quality extras so I recommend it to any “Doctor Who” fans and to people interested in learning about the Third Doctor era.