Well. There it is.
Sarah -
There it is, indeed. Our first regeneration!
Harry -
Would the internet have survived it? Thousands of online posters screaming "I DON'T LIKE IT! CHANGE IT BACK!" which we see every time something new happens on our favourite show. I'm glad Doctor Who was allowed to grow in a simpler time. A calmer time.
Sarah -
I don't even want to try to imagine it. Everyone would be out on the ledge, waiting to be talked back in. Oh the drama!
Harry -
The post-regeneration scene is calm. Almost too calm, as if the actors didn't know what to do. There's Patrick Troughton, mucking about and behaving even more mysteriously than his predecessor. There's Ben and Polly, doing... well I'm not sure what they were doing for the most part, as the reconstruction I watched was hampered by long silences and very few screen images.
What did you think of Troughton's opening scene?
Sarah -
Every time I watch a regeneration scene, it's like meeting an old friend for the first time.
Harry -
That's kind of timey-wimey!
Sarah -
Isn't it, though? Every Doctor is so new, yet so familiar. I love Troughton's mystery, the way he refers to "The Doctor" in the third person, the 500-year diary. Ben and Polly's confusion is probably what the original viewers experienced. Who is this guy? What happened to the Doctor? What's going on?
Also, I love that the recorder appears within the first 8 minutes!
Harry -
The 500-Year Diary is one of my favourite props.
Ben is notably cranky about the whole affair, but Polly's taking it in stride -- good on her.
Sarah -
Ben is the cranky fan complaining about the good old days -- Polly's the fan who's up for anything!
Harry -
Exactly!
Sarah -
I loved this exchange between Ben and the Doctor:
Ben: "Who are we?"
Doctor: "Don't you know?"
There are wonderful little comedic moments like this throughout the story -- lines that I can't imagine Hartnell pulling off as effectively.
“I never talk nonsense. Well, hardly never.” Can you imagine our First Doctor ever saying that?
Harry -
No, but I'm glad the new Doctor got off on a positive footing, despite all the initial mystery. It's crucial for any new Doctor to get off on a good footing with the audience. We'll see many hit-and-miss examples of this in the future.
For now, we soon settle into a more comfortable place. The Doctor steps out of the TARDIS to explore a strange gurgly planet, and on cue, his companions are separated from him. Then in quick order, we get violence and murder, mistaken identities, and A Mysterious Space Capsule (delightfully curvy and shiny). Hey, it's Doctor Who again!
Sarah -
With a whole new demeanor. The first Doctor would never say, "When I say run, run like a rabbit!" Or do it, for that matter.
Harry -
And to seal the deal with any remaining skeptics out there, we have Daleks. Is everyone down from the ledge now?
Sarah -
Honestly, unless it involves Manhattan in the 1930s, you just can't go wrong with a Dalek story.
Interesting aside, this is the first Dalek story not to be written or co-written by Terry Nation -- another change! It's also the first "... of the Daleks" title, and we know there are many more to come! I'll stop being all Toby now, but I'll have more to say later.
Harry -
What immediately grabbed me about this story was how many elements from it have been echoed in the Dalek stories of the new era:
- Daleks hidden inside a mysterious capsule -- we see this again in "Army of Ghosts / Doomsday", with the Genesis Ark.
- A Dalek being brought back to life by humans -- seen again when Rose lends her DNA to one in "Dalek."
- Sneaky Daleks pretending to be docile servants -- Yup, it's "Victory of the Daleks" all over again. Er... you know what I mean. Timey-wimey.
Sarah -
This is what happens when you let the fans take over production. Isn't it brilliant?
I started to amuse myself by imagining the Daleks' staccato chants as their affirming mantras:
I AM YOUR SERVANT
WE WILL CONQUER
WE WILL GET OUR POWER
Harry -
Everyone needs a mantra, even the diabolical.
Sarah -
All that's lacking is a Dalek guru telling them to believe in themselves and they can do anything!
Harry -
Speaking of rampant self-believers, why is it that the scientists - who you'd think they'd at least try to paint in a positive light - are once again shown as blinkered, gullible and inadvertently the bringers of destruction?
Sarah -
I think it's because everyone is so intent on their own agenda, with no sense of the larger issues facing them. They only hear what they want to hear. We know that a Dalek saying, "We are your...friends." should strike fear in their hearts, but they want to believe. At least I think Lesterson wanted to believe it -- I was slightly overcome by a fit of giggles at the line.
Anywho, the same thing happened in "The Tenth Planet" -- and will happen again and again as we roll along here.
Harry -
Every time Lesterson delights in the marvels of these servile Daleks, I want to reach through the screen and smack him. Every kid in Britain must have been ready to deal him a blow to the chops.
Sarah -
I'm sure when they watched it, they were yelling at the telly as much as we were yelling at our computers. Why won't they ever listen to us?
Harry -
Who knows. I was glad that midway through the story, Ben finally warmed up to the Doctor. This Doctor. Though, it did feel a bit odd for Jamie not to be around, didn't it?
Sarah -
Yes, but let's not get ahead of ourselves!
Harry -
As our friend Rob pointed out, this six-parter makes for some delicious character development. The middle episodes have very little action, but loads of petty squabbling and conspiring among the colony crew.
The only flaw to the side story of the rebel mutiny is that we don't really get a sense for why they are rebelling. So much of the story is in the immediate, that we are given little backstory about the colony to go on. At one point, even a Dalek seems baffled as to why humans would kill one another. That was a stinging jab.
Sarah -
It is not a good sign to have one's species called out on moral grounds by a Dalek, is it?
There was a point, which I believe was enhanced by the somewhat sketchy reconstruction, when I kind of lost track of who belonged to which faction and why they were all fighting each other.
Harry -
As the Dalek menace grew, the human factions grew more confused. Maybe the rebellion was purely lust for power? Bragen certainly radiates that.
Sarah -
Ah, Bragen. When my stream of thought started wandering, I found myself wondering why he looked so familiar. A quick trip to the TARDIS Index File answered my question -- he was Marcus Scarman in "Pyramids of Mars".
Harry -
Yes! Scarman!
Sarah -
With that off my mind, I did my best to re-focus on the muddled political intrigue.
Harry -
This story is all about people pretending to be what they are not. From the Doctor to the Daleks to the conspirators. The only honest person is the ill-fated governor, who dutifully tramped out to do his tours of the perimiter while all hell broke loose back at HQ.
Sarah -
Good point. I felt badly for the governor. He didn't seem a bad bloke.
Harry -
Here's where things really kick into high gear. Lesterson observes Daleks being assembled, he realizes he's been had, the Daleks are mass producing -- and he literally snaps. I can't remember someone falling apart quite so suddenly and dramatically in Doctor Who.
Having assembled a small army, or so those cardboard cutouts would have us believe, the Daleks run riot! The mantras are now a battle cry, ready to bring destruction to the entire colony. Will those foolish humans rise above pettiness to confront the menace that has been under their noses all this time?
Sarah -
Of course they will, but only with the Doctor and his companions there to lend moral support!
I loved the multiplying Daleks. It's the kind of cheap effect that always led to derision by non-fans, but is an important part of my love of the series.
Harry -
Whimsical now. It's like something you'd see in a fan film.
Sarah -
The Daleks defeated, our heroes slip away in the TARDIS... just as a Dalek eye stalk rises to watch them go.
Harry -
Yes, we knew all along that the Doctor would be proven correct, but at a terrible cost. I can't remember another story where the Daleks go on that kind of extended rampage. Shot after shot of dead bodies, it was a bit overwhelming. But it was followed up with that fantastic Dalek destruction sequence and reasonably happy ending. What an exhausting story!
Sarah -
"The Power of the Daleks" is a wonderful start to the Troughton era.
Harry -
Yes, they really nailed it.
Sarah -
I'm so looking forward to the adventures ahead!
Harry -
Me too! Did I get through this story without mentioning Jamie? Oh, guess not.
Sarah -
I would be disappointed if you hadn't!
Best line: "We are your...friends."
Favorite moment: "Run like a Rabbit!"
Lasting image: The multiplying Daleks.
8/10
Harry -
Best line: "Exterminate! Annihilate! Destroy!"
Favourite moment: Lesterson watches in horror as new Daleks are assembled.
Lasting image: Menacing massed cardboard Daleks.
9/10
Our marathon continues with Story #30 - The Highlanders...
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