Doctor Who review: Remembrance of the Daleks is a rich and action-packed story

Filled with great characters, rich themes and a lot of action, Remembrance of the Daleks is arguably one of the best Dalek stories in Doctor Who history.

If you need proof that the BBC canceled Doctor Who at exactly the wrong time, make sure to watch Remembrance of the Daleks. Not only is it the final Dalek story of the Classic Series, but Remembrance also stands out as one of the very best. Don’t get me wrong, Revelation of the Daleks was certainly a great story in its own right. But Remembrance is an extremely impressive follow-up, for several reasons.

First of all, it’s incredibly action-packed. Every time I watch this story, I’m constantly amazed at the scale and ambition of it all. Featuring two armies of Daleks battling each other, plenty of battle scenes, and a lot of explosions, Remembrance of the Daleks is the kind of story that makes you ask: “Where did they even find the budget for this?!?”

What’s even more impressive is that this is Ben Aaronovitch’s debut script for the series, so it’s incredible to see just how bold his storytelling is from day one. It could have easily backfired, but thankfully, it’s brought to life brilliantly by both strong direction from Andrew Morgan and a surprisingly decent budget. (Too decent, as it turned out – the serial went over-budget by  £13,000, something I’m not really surprised about, to be honest.)

Remembrance of the Daleks was a story that defined the Seventh Doctor in a clear way.

Image Courtesy BBC Studios, BritBox

Counter-Measures

Of course, it’s not just epic battles and explosions that makes Remembrance of the Daleks so greatly loved by fans. It’s also filled with many great characters. Three in particular that stand out are Group Captain Gilmore, Professor Rachel Jensen, and Allison Williams. All of them feel real and fleshed out, and are played brilliantly by Simon Williams, Pamela Salem, and Karen Gledhill, respectively.

Looking back, it’s not surprising that Big Finish decided to make an entire spin-off series based on these characters. It’s also not surprising that, like Jago & Litefoot and Gallifrey, Counter-Measures became a successful audio series in its own right. The core of that series was the great team of characters created in this story by Ben Aaronovitch.

It’s not just the good guys that are well-handled, either. While we don’t find out too much about Ratcliffe, we learn enough to get a clear impression of what kind of man he is. George Sewell’s performance also adds a lot to the character.

Doctor defined

Even the Doctor is considerably fleshed out in this serial. Sylvester McCoy’s incarnation is much better defined in this story compared to his first season. Coming across less as a colorful fool playing with his spoons, he’s now a mysterious figure with grand schemes of his own. They may not always go according to plan, but he is much more in control here than he was in previous stories.

There are also many rich themes explored in this story, too. Racism and xenophobia are especially important aspects. Not just with the Daleks, but with several of the characters, too. It adds a lot more to the story, but at the same time, it never feels overstated, at least.

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Davros

Now, if you’ve never seen Remembrance of the Daleks before, there’s one question you’ll probably ask while watching it: where’s Davros? How does he fit into this story? To be honest, he doesn’t feature too much. This is actually refreshing – in his previous TV stories, he had often overshadowed the Daleks, slightly reducing their threat as a result. So it’s nice to see the pepper pots themselves in the spotlight a lot more in this one.

I will say that Ben Aaronovitch is very clever in how he builds up to Davros’s appearance in this story. The audience is expecting it, and he knows that. So he’s able to throw in some red herrings along the way, making Davros’s eventual reveal an effective one.

Full of great characters, rich themes, and a lot of explosions, Remembrance of the Daleks still stands out as one of the Classic Series’s strongest Dalek stories. An incredibly impressive piece of work, and a bittersweet reminder of how strong Doctor Who was really becoming again at this point – just a little over a year before they canceled it.

Are you a fan of Remembrance of the Daleks? Is it one of your favorite Dalek stories? Let us know in the comments below.