Doctor Who speculation: Could The Evil of the Daleks be animated soon?

We know that The Faceless Ones is the next Doctor Who story to be animated. But, following that story, could we expect The Evil of the Daleks to get the same treatment shortly after?

On Tuesday, we had the surprise announcement that the classic Second Doctor serial The Faceless Ones will be the next Doctor Who story with missing episodes to get the animated treatment. It’s a pretty key story in some ways, especially since it’s Ben and Polly’s final story.

It’s also a very natural choice to follow on from the last animated release, The Macra Terror. After all, The Faceless Ones also followed Macra on its original broadcast.

Which is enough to make you wonder: could the story that followed The Faceless Ones be animated in the near future? Namely, The Evil of the Daleks?

The Power of the Daleks was completely animated just a couple of years ago. Could the same happen to Patrick Troughton’s other Dalek story?

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

A natural fit

I must admit, this is definitely extremely hopeful thinking on my part. But it would make a logical choice. I’m not saying that animating the lost stories will be done in strictly chronological order, especially as there are so many episodes from before The Macra Terror that have yet to be animated.

But, with The Faceless Ones following The Macra Terror so easily, it would be natural for one of the strongest Dalek stories ever to be handled next. It would also fill one of the little gaps in many fans’ DVD and Blu-ray collections, as the story following Evil is another classic, The Tomb of the Cybermen – which does survive intact, and has been released on DVD a couple of times.

The Evil of the Daleks is a pretty major story, too. It introduced us to Victoria Waterfield, as played by Debora Watling. Victoria went on to become a key companion for most of season five, eventually departing in Fury from the Deep.

As well as Victoria’s introduction, The Evil of the Daleks also introduced us to the Emperor of the Daleks. In fact, it was the character’s only appearance in Doctor Who until his return in Ninth Doctor episode The Parting of the Ways in 2005.

One of the best Dalek stories

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But if these weren’t enough incentives to animate this classic story, then the fact that it’s quite possibly one of the best Dalek stories ever should be. The Evil of the Daleks features a great balance between the psychological edge seen in The Power of the Daleks, with the epic scale seen in stories such as The Daleks’ Master Plan.

The only small problem is that The Evil of the Daleks is, at seven episodes, a little longer than your average story. However, one of the episodes survives, and considering we saw the release of The Power of the Daleks just a couple of years ago, it wouldn’t be the first time that six whole episodes had been animated.

This is of course pure speculation at this point. No, not even that – it’s honestly just wishful thinking. But after listening to the surviving soundtrack of Evil, I honestly think this is important enough to be given a visual representation once more, so that more fans can see for themselves just how fantastic this story is. And it would make such a perfect fit after the releases of The Macra Terror and The Faceless Ones, too. There are many great lost Doctor Who stories that need to be animated, but I’m definitely keeping my fingers crossed for this one in particular.

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What do you think? Do you think it’s likely that we’ll one day see The Evil of the Daleks in animated form? Or are you hoping for a different story after The Faceless Ones? Let us know in the comments below.

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