By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea! Oh, wait, this is Doctor Who and we never really get to take that beach holiday we’ve been promised, do we?
Harry -
Alas, Sarah Jane was all suited up and raring to go. At least she's about to be initiated into the society of quarry scamperers.
It can't be a good sign when I find myself crawling through episode one of "Death to the Daleks" thinking: jeez how many more Terry Nation stories do we still have to slog through?
Sarah -
Don’t make me count. For the present, we seem to not be on Florana, something has sapped the TARDIS’s energy, the Doctor has vanished, creepy aliens have gotten themselves into the TARDIS, and poor Sarah Jane finds herself alone, only to be captured by Exxilon religious fanatics. Having typed that, it seems like the story should be much more interesting.
Harry -
I know! I took down so many notes, but upon review I was just writing down pointless plot-related notes like "this happened", then "that happened." Despite all those notes, this story took forever to get going.
It was interesting enough when the TARDIS "died" and the Doctor had to use the manual door opener, but he and Sarah spent almost the entire episode exploring that quarry.
To be fair, that quarry was a veritable canyon of mystery. Hills, valleys, strange mists, petrified statues and scary sand people; it's the quarry to end all quarries.
Sarah -
The quarry was epic. The folks in the quarry, not so much.
Is it just me, or are the Marine Space Corps expedition members among the most boring characters we’ve ever met? The thought of the fate of the galaxy being in the hands of these saps is just a little more than I can handle.
Harry -
I was put off by how colourless the production was. Everything was a washed out tan-grey colour. The locals wore drab rags. The Doctor and Sarah wore subdued hues. My hopes spiked when the Earth crew appeared in their bright blue spacesuits. Too bad they were mostly terrible actors. The only decent one of the bunch - John Abineri - got killed off halfway through the story. I may just go and count the number of Nation stories left.
Sarah -
Three more, it seems, but one is "Genesis of the Daleks", so there's something to which we can look forward!
Speaking of Terry Nation, you know what this story could use? Some Daleks to liven things up!
Harry -
Yes! Daleks! That would liven things up, and give the story title so much more meaning.
Sarah -
Unfortunately, they just manage to make things more tedious.
Harry -
It was fun to watch the Daleks get their metal arses kicked in this story, but it got old real quick.
Sarah -
The Dalek ship and their extermination abilities are impacted by the same force that disabled the TARDIS, so there goes the whole extermination plan.
Harry -
Just one example of how poor this production was: the part one cliffhanger has the Daleks starting to exterminate everyone - only it's clear that their weapons aren't working. Some cliffhanger!
Sarah -
It was hard not to laugh.
Turns out the Daleks are after the same parrinium – the only known antidote to the plague sweeping the galaxy – as the Space Corps and an uneasy alliance is formed. This is about the point when I started nodding off…
Harry -
Me too. Can I just say the music was shite? There, I said it. As we learned in "The Silurians," woodwind instruments just don't belong in Doctor Who. That jaunty clarinet music was killing me.
Sarah -
Though it did help keep me awake.
Harry -
Once we got a closer look at the Exxilons, they were a bit more interesting. The skull-faced, goggle-eyed creatures would have fascinated me as a kid, and I would have loved to poke around their temple. With all that smoke and chanting, the temple was cool.
Sarah -
Bellal had a certain charm. One could almost imagine him hopping into the TARDIS at the story's end.
Harry -
Unfortunately, there was little else to recommend this story. The sets were dull, the cliffhangers were simplistic, the actors were sleepwalking through the performance, and the story was Nation by Numbers - which is fine if you like Terry Nation stories, I guess.
Sarah -
Fortunately, Sarah Jane is on hand to bring all kids of awesomeness to this story. Not only does she go from beach wear to day wear in the blink of an eye, but she gets to be the one to save the day! Huzzah! Sarah’s clever plan to swap the bags of parrinium with bags of sand was a huge success and the day is saved. Huzzah!
Harry -
It's so evident why Sarah Jane is the best companion. She may scream when frightened, but she doesn't keel over and wait to be rescued. She takes action - be it bludgeoning someone with the TARDIS door opener handle, or devising a plan to save the day. All her actions make it seem as if the only thing the Doctor did in this story was get confronted and run away from things.
Sarah -
Sarah was really doing the heaving lifting, wasn't she?
Oh well, it's time to bid farewell to Exxilon and return to a planet we've visited before. Next stop Peladon!
Harry -
At the end, the melting city on a hill was a cool effect, but by then I just wanted this story to be over with. The weakest Dalek story we've seen so far, I reckon.
After this dud, I'm really looking forward to a return to Peladon!
Sarah -
Best Line: The Dalek losing it had the best line of the story: "Human prisoner has escaped. I have failed. Self Destruct!"
Favorite Moment: Sarah telling the Doctor that the parrinium is safely stowed on the Earth ship.
Lasting Image: The Exxilon sacrifice ritual.
6/10
Harry -
Best Line: "A hit! A most palpable hit!"
Favourite Moment: the temple scenes.
Lasting Image: Daleks getting blown up.
5/10
Our marathon continues with Story #73 - The Monster of Peladon...
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