Six Dalek stories are finally being added to BritBox on Halloween. What exactly can we expect from these stories?
(Photo credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: BBC Press.)
After a noticeably long absence, six stories featuring the Daleks are finally being added to BritBox. But which stories should you check out? Here are our recommendations.
While it’s news that’s somehow slipped past a lot of other sites, we recently discussed how exciting it is that BritBox is finally adding some long overdue Dalek stories on Halloween. After this, the only stories left of Classic Who to add to BritBox will be stories that are either completely or partially missing and the TV movie.
In the case of the former, even missing episodes might not be a problem. Animated episodes of The Power of the Daleks and The Invasion are on there, and most of The Wheel in Space has been reconstructed. So more stories with missing episodes may be online in future.
As for the TV movie, due to both the production of the story and rights issues, while undeniably canon, it’s debatable whether it truly belongs to the Classic era. But we can certainly hope that it reaches a larger audience on streaming eventually.
Recommendations
Regardless, the six stories we are getting is, in terms of Classic Who, at least, quite a lot to watch. Because five out of six of these stories are serials, and the last one is a special extended episode, anyway. So you may be wondering which stories are worth immediately checking out.
Thankfully, we’ve got all of that covered. Whether you’re interested in epic time-travel mixed with dystopian future, wondering what happened after the end of Frontier in Space, or just want to see two armies of Daleks blowing each other up, you’ve come to the right place.
We’ve checked out every single Dalek story on-screen (not to mention many off-screen), and can tell you exactly what to expect from each one. So here’s our guide on the six Dalek stories being uploaded to BritBox, starting with…
With ghosts, time travel and Daleks, there’s a lot to enjoy with Third Doctor serial Day of the Daleks.
(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
Day of the Daleks
The first ever Dalek story in color (excluding the Peter Cushing films, of course), Day of the Daleks was a decent way of bringing the Daleks into the Seventies. It’s also a great time travel story in its own right, as it has shades of both the Terminator films and X-Men: Days of Future Past.
The story begins with a politician, Sir Reginald Styles, who’s suddenly attacked by a complete stranger, before the intruder vanishes before him like a ghost. Styles believes it was a hallucination caused by the stress of preparing for very delicate peace talks, but the Doctor’s not so sure.
This then leads us to a story of ghosts, time travel, dystopian futures and of course, Daleks!
I really enjoy this story. We’ve got quite a few interesting characters and strong performances. Anna Barry is fantastic as the strong guerrilla fighter Anat, desperately trying to change history at any cost. This story also features Aubrey Woods as the Controller, who’s clearly a very conflicted character.
High stakes, three Daleks
If there’s one thing that slightly lets this story down, at least in the original version, it would have to be the Daleks themselves. There are only three Dalek props used in this story, and it shows. There’s one crucial scene towards the end that slightly fails to impress because of it.
The Dalek voices are off, too. Now, Dalek voices have changed a lot over the years, admittedly. But in this story, they seem to be at their weakest, which is disappointing. There’s a very strong story here, and it’s a shame that the presentation of the Daleks doesn’t quite live up to it.
However, the DVD does feature a special edition that improves on this story in several ways. While some of the added CGI feels a little out of place at times, the rest of the additions made to this serial fit in perfectly.
New Dalek voices were even added by Nicholas Briggs, who voices the Daleks for both the New Series and Big Finish’s audios. It’s enough to improve the story significantly and make it far stronger. So if you like the core story of Day of the Daleks, then the special edition is definitely worth checking out.
Overall, while not the greatest Dalek story ever made, Day of the Daleks is still a strong one, and definitely worth checking out.
The Third Doctor encounters the Daleks on Spiridon in Planet of the Daleks.
(Photo credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: BBC.)
Planet of the Daleks
Continuing directly where Frontier in Space left off (which we’ll get to in a moment), the Third Doctor and Jo arrive on the planet Spiridon. It’s not long before they discover the Daleks on that world, but fortunately, they do have some help, at least.
The Doctor meets a group of Thals, a race he hasn’t seen since his first trip to Skaro in The Daleks, while Jo is helped by one of the planet’s indigenous inhabitants. But little do they know that there’s much worse to fear from the planet than just a few Daleks…
Out of all the Dalek stories missing from BritBox, this one has probably stuck out the most. Mainly because, while it is a good story on its own, at the same, it’s also only half a story.
Because Frontier in Space (which surprisingly is on BritBox) ended on a massive cliffhanger which Planet of the Daleks resolves. So this is a story where its lack of inclusion is especially noticeable.
As for the story itself, it’s decent enough. It’s not one of the best Dalek stories ever made, and does come across as a little derivative of previous serials. But it’s fun to watch, at least, and it has the Doctor making one of his best speeches yet:
"Courage isn’t just a matter of not being frightened, you know… It’s being afraid and doing what you have to do, anyway."
An important quote to remember, and one of the Third Doctor’s best.
On the whole, Planet of the Daleks is a decent enough watch, but I’d definitely recommend checking out Frontier in Space first.
As well as featuring one Dalek, The Five Doctors also features Cybermen, Yeti, the Master and of course, (almost) Five Doctors!
(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC. Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
The Five Doctors
This one isn’t a Dalek story, but it’s definitely one that a lot of fans are going to want to check out. Made specially for the twentieth anniversary, The Five Doctors is a story with a lot of ambition. A whole host of various monsters from across the decades! A return to Gallifrey! An exploration of Time Lord history! And last but not least, five Doctors!
Well, actually, that’s not quite true. Unsurprisingly, the First Doctor needed to be recast, in this case with Richard Hurndall. And Tom Baker declined to even show up at all, leaving the production team with only one solution: use partial footage from an existing but unbroadcast story before quickly writing the Fourth Doctor out. See? We still get five Doctors. (Somehow.)
Overall, the story is enjoyable enough. It’s a big celebration, and while it doesn’t exactly have the greatest of plots, it’s definitely a lot of fun to watch. The production team had quite the challenge on their hands, and honestly, it’s a wonder they were able to make it work at all.
Keep in mind that this isn’t remotely a Dalek story. A Dalek does show up early on, admittedly, but it’s only around for just one scene. Still, it’s great to see the pepper pots make a return to the show after a five year break.
Overall, The Five Doctors is enjoyable fun. Not the strongest of stories, but perhaps one that’s guaranteed to put a big smile on your face at least once.
The Fifth Doctor faces both the Daleks and Davros full-on in Resurrection of the Daleks.
(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC. Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
Resurrection of the Daleks
I’ll be honest – out of all of the stories included in this lot, Resurrection of the Daleks just might be my least favorite.
It’s not a terrible story, not completely. It has some strong points, particularly with the character of Lytton. While the character gets used better in the next season’s Attack of the Cybermen, he still comes across as a pretty cool character, and this is helped by a great performance from Maurice Colbourne.
Another strong character we get is the very no-nonsense Styles. She comes across as a strong fighter doing her best to handle a very bad situation. She’s also a fantastically snarky character, and is brilliantly played by Rula Lenska.
Terry Molloy’s first Davros story
Resurrection is also notable for featuring Terry Molloy’s first portrayal as Davros. The third actor to play the role, he’s arguably become perhaps the most iconic, playing the character in two more appearances (which we’ll cover next) as well as in various Big Finish audios. For a lot of people, he’s the first actor who springs to mind when they think of Davros.
However, this is also his first story in the role, and as such, he isn’t quite as strong here as he will become in later stories.
The rest of the story also has this rather gritty tone given to it by Eric Saward, and Resurrection of the Daleks gets shockingly violent at times. Seriously, a lot of people die in this story. I can see what Saward was going for, especially as a rather similar approach was very effective at bringing the Cybermen back in Earthshock.
But somehow, it just isn’t quite as strong. Perhaps it’s because Saward’s not too sure how to handle the Daleks at this point, and there is an arguably heavier focus on Davros in this story.
Overal, Resurrection of the Daleks is far from terrible. But considering that this was the first story that brought the Daleks back properly in five years, I can’t help but think that the story needed to be something more.
“Do you know how difficult it is to find good secretaries?” Eleanor Bron stars as Kara in Revelation of the Daleks.
(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC. Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
Revelation of the Daleks
Revelation of the Daleks, also written by Eric Saward, shares a lot in common with the previous Dalek story. It’s dark and violent throughout. There’s a larger focus on Davros than on the Daleks themselves. And a lot of characters die in this one.
However, one key difference between Resurrection and Revelation is the quality. Because Revelation is definitely the far stronger story of the two.
With Resurrection, it’s easy to pick out my favorite characters, but with Revelation, the choice is so much harder. There are just so many well-written and brilliantly performed characters in this story.
Clive Swift is wonderfully slimy as Professor Jobel, a man who has a hugely inflated sense of ego. There’s also William Gaunt as Orcini, a knight who’s just looking for one last mission, and takes his sense of honor way too seriously, at least in the world he’s dealing with. Eleanor Bron is fantastic as Kara, who’s always keen to stress how important good secretaries are.
In fact, the whole cast is brilliant in this. And there’s so much great dialogue, too. Saward wrote Revelation with a strong sense of wit that was relatively lacking in Resurrection. There are just so many moments in this story that I can easily quote.
A Doctor-lite story?
One slight downside to Revelation is the Doctor – specifically, how little he’s actually in it. While it is great that all the other characters are explored, Colin Baker’s Doctor feels secondary to this story. It’s clear that Saward didn’t have a lot of faith in Baker at the time, and this was something that became a big problem for Colin Baker’s entire era on television.
Still, that doesn’t stop Revelation of the Daleks from being absolutely brilliant. Incredibly dark but still wonderfully quotable, it’s a highly recommended story.
But there just might be one Dalek story that beats Revelation as my favorite out of these six…
Along with saving the Doctor’s first seven incarnations, you also have to fight against the Daleks, Cybermen and other enemies in the video game Destiny of the Doctors.
(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
Remembrance of the Daleks
Ah, Remembrance of the Daleks. What an absolutely brilliant serial. I’ve gone into some detail before about how much I absolutely love this story.
There’s just so much to enjoy. There’s a really strong plot involving two armies of Daleks. The Seventh Doctor starts to be fleshed out as the mysterious chess master that we know and love. There’s a wide range of themes throughout the story, particularly regarding racism.
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The Daleks themselves are presented at their very best. Genesis of the Daleks is an absolutely brilliant story, but it also had the knock-on effect that every time they would show up on television, Davros would be there to overshadow them, every single time. As such, they started to be seen more as regular heavies than as a huge threat in their own right.
Remembrance of the Daleks takes a few steps to undo this. Throughout the story, the Daleks are presented as dangerously intelligent in their own right, not to mention highly destructive. It’s great to see them return to their roots.
Out of all of the stories included in ExtermiNITE!: Night of the Killing Daleks, Remembrance definitely has to be my favorite. A Dalek story that’s absolutely action-packed, ambitious and well told. It’s also a great jumping-on point, and it’s a lot of fun to watch while also including a lot of great subtext. One of the very best Dalek stories of the Classic Series, and maybe even of all time.
Have you seen any of these stories previously? Are there any that you’re looking forward to watching? Let us know in the comments below.