“The Daleks”, also known as “The Mutants” or “The Dead Planet”, is the second adventure of the first season of “Doctor Who” classic series, which aired between december 1963 and february 1964. It follows “An Unearthly Child” and it’s a seven parts adventure written by Terry Nation and directed by Christopher Barry (parts 1, 2, 4, 5) and Richard Martin (parts 3, 6, 7). At that time the various episodes of each adventure had individual titles, in this case:

• The Dead Planet
• The Survivors
• The Escape
• The Ambush
• The Expedition
• The Ordeal
• The Rescue

The story

The Tardis brings the First Doctor (William Hartnell), Ian (William Russell), Barbara (Jacqueline Hill) and Susan (Carole Ann Ford) on another planet, materializing in a petrified forest. Exploring the area, the travelers find a city but from a distance they can see no signs of life.

Using a malfunction in the Tardis and a consequent need to find some mercury to fix it as an excuse, the Doctor leads his companions to the city but there they’ll be captured by the Daleks, the descendants of the survivors of an ancient war that reduced the planet almost lifeless.

Extras

This DVD contains a poor amount of extras because most extras are in the third DVD of the “Doctor Who: The Beginning” box set. There are typical contents such as production subtitles and a gallery of pictures from this adventure.

There are various comments in the adventure alternative audio track moderated by Gary Russell. In the second episode there are comments by producer Verity Lambert and director Christopher Barry. In the fourth episode there are comments by protagonists William Russell and Carole Anne Ford and director Christopher Barry. In the seventh episode there are comments by protagonists William Russell and Carole Anne Ford and director Richard Martin.

Creation of the Daleks. A documentary on the creation of the Daleks, from their appearance to their distinctive voice.

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“The Daleks” is simply the adventure that created the success of “Doctor Who”. It was supposed to be the fourth adventure of the series but since the beginning the show production was pretty chaotic so a few adventures were even abandoned at a more or less advanced stage of writing for a variety of problems. Thus, eventually “The Daleks” was chosen to be produced after “An Unearthly Child”.

In creating “Doctor Who”, BBC Head of Drama Sydney Newman made ​​it clear that he wanted no “bug-eyed-monsters” and to him the Daleks looked like that kind of monster so he was against their use. Producer Verity Lambert defended the choice of that adventure and Newman was convinced to approve it mainly because there were no other scripts ready to be put into production. After the success of “The Daleks”, which had its audience greatly increase episode after episode and start Dalekmania, he realized that it was the right choice.

“The Daleks” introduces the Doctor’s archenemies with their appearance that changed little in nearly fifty years – for example, the Cybermen changed at almost every new adventure and sometimes a lot! – and their distinctive voice but also with their xenophobia that makes them a metaphor for the Nazis.

If some of their features have remained unchanged, others were changed later. In this adventure the Daleks are described as mutants being born after the war on the planet Skaro but years later in the adventure “Genesis of the Daleks” it’s shown how they were created through genetic engineering. Only in this adventure the Daleks power up their “tanks” with static electricity by using the floors and need high radioactivity to live. The Daleks timeline that comes out of subsequent adventures is really full of wibley-wobley timey-wimey elements. In this adventure in fact the Daleks are a dying race, far from the threat to the entire universe that will be presented many years later. What will be maintained in the saga is the planet Skaro and the consequences of the war with the Thals.

Considering the fact that “Doctor Who” was created as a series for kids it’s amazing how in “The Daleks” various moral ambiguities are presented. The Doctor is still selfish and simulates a fault in the Tardis to have an excuse to go explore the city where he and his companions find the Daleks. After meeting the Thals, the Doctor is much more interested in their historical archives than in their future. Even Ian and Barbara are acting out of personal interest: facing the pacifism the Thals developed after the catastrophic war, they try to encourage them to fight the Daleks because doing so they’d also help the Doctor and his companions.

Eventually, however, after facing the xenophobia shown by the Daleks, the Doctor convinces himself to help the Thals too. The story that is developed is complex, so much that it was supposed to be composed of six episodes but it was decided to add a seventh one. Actually a lot of time is spent by the characters moving from the petrified forest to the Daleks city and vice versa, also passing through swamps and caves. Luckily only a few times the pace is really slow, on the other hand the initial budget of the series was really low so there was the need to use the sets as long as possible.

Despite the limitations of the production, after so many years “The Daleks” is still really a great adventure that was so successful that it was also adapted into a movie in 1965, although in that film the Doctor is an Earth scientist, in “Dr Who and The Daleks”. This film is contained in the DVD set “Doctor Who Collection”, available on Amazon UK, Amazon Canada and Amazon U.S.A..

Because this DVD is part of “Doctor Who: The Beginning” box set – available on Amazon UK, Amazon Canada and Amazon U.S.A. – a global judgement must necessarily be given only at the end of the reviews of the adventures it contains.