Harry -
This story is one of those ones that I don't often think about, but it's always great on a rewatch.
Sarah -
So great that I may even suspend my criticism of Eric Saward for our discussion of "Revelation of the Daleks", which was the last Doctor Who story he wrote.
Harry -
Well, he went out on a high. Admittedly, I just watched the "making of" DVD featurette and everyone they interviewed was bubbling with enthusiasm, especially director Graeme Harper. He must have been fun to work with.
Sarah -
It seems that directing from the floor, rather than from a distant control room, can only improve the relationship between director and cast. It's always reassuring to see Graeme Harper's name in the credits -- in any era of Doctor Who. "Revelation of the Daleks" would be his last Doctor Who story until 2006's "Rise of the Cybermen" and he's just as competent 21 years later.
Along with this being the last story written by Saward and last directed by Harper, it was nearly the last episode of Doctor Who ever. While "Revelation of the Daleks" is probably my favorite story of the Colin Baker era, it would have been heartbreaking to have ended here.
Harry -
The show was very much "in distress" behind the scenes, but you wouldn't know it from this production. Moody location shooting, lush studio sets, and a huge cast of great performers.
Sarah -
Season twenty-two has faced its challenges, but it goes out on a very high note.
Harry -
It looks and feels epic as we delve into the goings on at Tranquil Repose, a mausoleum on the planet Necros that specializes in preserving the bodies of the affluent and influential in suspended animation.
Inspired by Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One, Saward crafted a story that involved multiple pairings of characters. The first ones we meet are:
- Mr. Jobel, the head mortician and Tasambeker, a lovestruck enbalming assistant
- Takis and Lilt, two senior staffers at Tranquil Repose
- Natasha and Grigory, two bodysnatchers who sneak down to the catacombs in search of Professor Arthur Stengos, her father
Sarah -
So many double acts -- and more to come. I love the moment later in the story when Bostock (half of yet another double act) comments of Kara and Vogel, "They're like a double act."
Harry -
The Doctor and Peri barely figure in the first half of the story, which may not have been a bad thing as Saward suddenly decided that what their friendship needed was a round of fat jokes. Seriously, fat jokes? They put Nicola in a winter coat and suddenly she's fat? At least they got this sour note out of the way early so we could enjoy the rest of the story.
Sarah -
I have to admit that I found myself thinking that the coat was doing her no favors. I was irritated by the bickering at first, but realized that they were both giving it as good as they took it. Maybe the bickering is just the way they communicate. Peri's "Watch it, Porky" comment to the Doctor made me laugh so hard I had to pause the video.
Harry -
So bizarre.
The Doctor has been lured to Necros to find Stengos. First, he and Peri have a brief, fatal encounter with a mutant who tells them he was a failed experiment by the so-called Great Healer. After Peri clubs him to death (oh my!), she and the Doctor spend the rest of part one trying to find the entrance.
Sarah -
The Doctor was quite consoling of Peri in her grief. It's an especially touching moment for this TARDIS team.
Harry -
Inside, a brash, jibbering DJ spins tunes, conveys messages from loved ones, and wiles away the hours informing and entertaining the residents of Tranquil Repose. It's none other than Alexei Sayle, one of the faces of British comedy in the 80s. The DJ is one of the few non-double acts in the story, until he joins up with Peri later on to blast some Daleks.
Sarah -
Imagine, if you will, teenage Sarah, rabid Young Ones fan, watching this for the first time in 1986. I nearly lost my mind when Alexei Sayle showed up! To be honest, he was almost all I remembered about this story before this rewatch.
Harry -
Daleks! As the title of the story implies. They are lurking in the catacombs with Davros. Davros! He escaped the exploding space station in "Resurrection of the Daleks", and has spurred on the Dalek civil war by creating a flashy new model of Dalek: white and gold and unquestioningly loyal. He also appears to have lost his chair and the rest of his body below the neck. All we see of him is his head, as he pivots around inside a large self-contained apparatus. I loved his angry spinning!
Sarah -
Davros instantly makes any Dalek story more interesting. I love that the story picks up from "Resurrection of the Daleks", with the Supreme Dalek's forces searching for Davros, who has created his own Dalek army.
Harry -
Since escaping from the Fifth Doctor, Davros has been hard at work, experimenting on a new breed of Dalek, some kind of mutant Dalek-human hybrid monstrosity which seems weird since Daleks are so rigid about racial purity. Then again, it's Davros, and he explains himself to no one.
Sarah -
It's a reminder that Davros is, in fact, not a Dalek -- even after all these years!
Harry -
Not only is Davros up against his original creations, but another pair of double acts are manoeuvring against him. Hey look, it's Eleanor Bron, last seen admiring the TARDIS with John Cleese in a Parisian art gallery. Here, she plays Kara, a powerful businesswoman who has grown rich on the food products that Davros has produced for her.
Sarah -
I love Love LOVE Eleanor Bron's performance as Kara. Her scenes with Davros -- when they're both being obsequiously deceptive and know the other is doing the same thing -- are amazing. Bron and Molloy both hit exactly the right notes.
Harry -
She and her EA (who may be more than just an EA), Vogel, plot to overthrow Davros and control food production in the whole galaxy. They hire an old knight and his squire, Orcini and Bostock, to assassinate Davros. To complete the array of doublecrossings, Kara has also planted a bomb with Orcini, hoping he will blow up any lasting evidence of the deed, including himself.
Sarah -
William Gaunt's Orcini is the perfect anti-hero. A temporarily excommunicated Knight of the Grand Order of Oberon, he now works as a mercenary who donates his fees to charity to cleanse his soul. Inspired by Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, Orcini and Bostock round out our list of double acts.
Harry -
While all that has been going on, the Doctor and Peri finally found the entrance to Tranquil Repose -- only to discover a huge funerary monument bearing a carving of the Doctor. Shocked, the Doctor ponders the possibility that he has arrived after his own death. Luckily for him, a gust of wind topples the thing and it turns out to be a total ruse.
Sarah -
Beware the tumbling tower of styrofoam!
Harry -
But who would do such a thing? Before they can ask, Jobel slithers out of nowhere and tries to put his charms on Peri. What a scuzzball.
Sarah -
Clive Swift (aka Richard Bucket -- pronounced Bouquet, of course -- of Keeping up Appearances) is absolutely brilliant as Jobel. He's the king of his tiny domain of embalmers, so sure of himself and with an epic sense of entitlement. He's especially confident about his prowess with women and he tries repeatedly to put the movies on Peri -- who counters him every time.
So, I think this is the point where I have to call out Eric Saward on his treatment of the Doctor. I'm pretty sure the reason I'm swooning over the guest performers -- Terry Molloy's Davros, Eleanor Bron's Kara, William Gaunt's Orcini, and Clive Swift's Jobel -- is not only because they're talented actors, but because they're given all the best bits of the story. Saward is on record as not having been a fan of Colin Baker's Doctor and he's used this story to sideline the Doctor and make him little more than an observer for much of the story.
I wouldn't call "Revelation of the Daleks" a Doctor-lite story as some have, but the Doctor is definitely not the hero of this story.
Harry -
It's really an ensemble story. Saward crammed so many characters into it that no one could hold the spotlight for too long.
Sarah -
I don't think it's that simple. We've had wonderful ensemble stories in the past without the Doctor being pushed to the sidelines. This story feels different, as much as I enjoy it.
Harry -
Once everyone finally gets inside -- the Doctor and Peri through the front, Orcini and Bostock through the back -- Davros and his Daleks seize events by the throat. Echoing a scene from "Timelash", the Doctor encourages Peri to go with Jobel to meet the DJ while he has a look around.
Sarah -
You mean the dee-JAY? If anyone was still under the impression that Nicola Bryant was American, her pronunciation of DJ should have put an end to that.
Harry -
There was even that peculiar moment when the DJ asked Peri if her accent was real. Perhaps another bit of snide writing by Saward?
Sarah -
Meanwhile, Jobel is all over Peri again -- and she smacks him down before making her escape:
Jobel: Those rose red ruby lips were made for kissing.
Peri: But not by you.
Jobel: I love a woman who plays hard to get.
Peri: Then you'll love me to death.
Harry -
Almost immediately, the Doctor gets caught by Daleks and thrown downstairs with the bodysnatchers. Natasha had just experienced the horror of finding her father trapped inside a glass Dalek shell, being mutated into one of Davros' insane hybrids.
Sarah -
The Dalek-hybrid image was so disturbing.
Harry -
This is not the only manipulation Davros got up to. Having taken Tasambeker under his, er, disembodied wing, he starts filling her mind with his sick thoughts, offering her immortality as a Dalek. It was heartbreaking to watch as her heart got broken. First, Davros shows her closed circuit footage of Jobel plotting a rebellion with Takis and Lilt. Later, when she herself goes to Jobel to warn him, Jobel treats her with utter contempt, mocking her and calling her a little creep. Twisted by Davros and fuelled by heartbreak, Tasambeker spirals into a murderous rage and she stabs Jobel with a syringe of enbalming fluid. He collapses in a heap, his ego and vanity deflated and his silly toupé sliding off his head. The Daleks then immediately exterminate Tasambeker. It was a stunning sequence.
Sarah -
Apparently, JN-T made them tone down the syringe scene, but it's still disturbing. The toupé falling to the ground is an effective bit of pathos.
Jenny Tomasin comes in for a lot of criticism for her portrayal of Tasambeker, but it worked for me. She's such a pathetic character who has been treated badly by everyone with whom she interacts. I have no problem believing that someone like her could be so deftly manipulated by Davros. [On a side note, Tomasin portrayed Ruby the kitchen maid on my beloved Upstairs Downstairs. When she and Clive Swift appear for the first time in the story, Mr. Smith excitedly said, "It's Richard Bucket and Ruby!"]
Harry -
I thought Tasambeker's unravelling was brilliantly portrayed. The anguish with which she yelled "I hate you!" at Jobel was powerful.
Sarah -
It was!
Harry -
And with that, the massacre begins.
Sarah -
Well, it is an Eric Saward story.
Harry -
After the pathetic demises of Jobel and Tasambeker, we cut to Orcini and Bostock creeping into Davros' lair. They attack and destroy the head of Davros, only to realize it was a decoy Davros (another double act!). I loved the low camera angle when the real megalomaniac emerged in his black outfit and familiar chair. He's never looked more menacing.
Sarah -
I love that moment! Clever Davros, outwitting everyone once again.
Harry -
Davros' Daleks leap or rather roll into action as Orcini and Bostock are zapped. Over in the laboratory, the bodysnatchers are killed. Kara is brought before Davros, and she reveals her assassination-bomb plot before Orcini stabs her to death. Saward unchained! Cut to the DJ's studio, where he has rigged up a sonic blaster to take out a few Daleks before he too is killed.
Sarah -
Poor DJ. I really like Alexei Sayle's performance. His on-air stuff is really over the top, which I thought was appropriate. It when he drops the DJ character that he really shines. He's positively starstruck to meet an American and acts like a nervous fan boy. He even gets to be a hero by helping alert the President's approaching ship about the danger facing him on Necros. It's really sad when he dies.
Harry -
And you're right about the Doctor's lack of participation, Sarah. While the bloodbath is going on in all corners of Tranquil Repose, we find him wandering around downstairs by himself. Eventually, he arrives at Davros' lair, where his old enemy reveals all. He has been using the "residents" of the mausoleum not just for his hybrid experiments, but also to create the food product that Kara has been distributing across the galaxy. I was half expecting Colin to do his best Charlton Heston and start yelling "It's people! IT'S PEOPLE!"
Sarah -
That would have been the best thing ever!
I always enjoy a good Doctor-Davros face-off and I'm happy Colin Baker got one.
Harry -
I liked the silent interaction between the Doctor and Orcini. Just when it seems Davros and his white Daleks have everyone cornered, a troop of original Daleks arrives and they arrest him. I liked the simplicity of it all, Davros being rolled away as a prisoner, raging against it all the way. Quel dommage, Davros!
Sarah -
And the Doctor is left behind because the Daleks don't recognize his current incarnation!
Harry -
Holding fast to his honour and his code as a knight, Orcini chooses to destroy all remnants of Davros' lab with the bomb. He detonates it after giving the survivors a head start. Tranquil Repose caves in, but the Doctor offers a new line of work to Takis, Lilt and the others in the form of the protein-enhanced flowers he and Peri had picked earlier. So instead of everyone getting slaughtered wholesale, Saward was nice enough to let a few people start their lives anew.
Sarah -
I guess it counts as hopeful-ish ending.
Harry -
This was a great finish to a very uneven season. I said at the beginning that I don't often think about "Revelation of the Daleks", but it's always a treat to watch. The performances, the sets and the dark humour are all fantastic.
Sarah -
It feels like a bold statement to say "Revelation of the Daleks" is my favorite story of season twenty-two. "The Two Doctors" has emotion on its side, but Revelation still tops my list.
Harry -
Peri still wants a holiday, so the Doctor turns to the camera and announces that he'll take her to B-----. Seriously, if that was how the series ended, it would have been the cruelest thing ever.
Sarah -
I can't even think about that possibility without getting upset.
Harry -
Fortunately the show would return, but TV viewers would be forever left with that dangling "B". The first story of the planned next season was set in Blackpool, where the Doctor would have encountered The Celestial Toymaker. Oh, what could have been...
Best Line:
Vogel: Be seated, gentlemen.
Orcini: We prefer to stand.
Kara: Of course. How foolish. As men of action, you must be like coiled springs - alert, ready to pounce.
Orcini: Nothing so romantic. I have an artificial leg with a faulty hydraulic valve. When seated the valve is inclined to jam.
Favourite Moment: when the real Davros reveals himself to Orcini and Bostock.
Lasting Image: So many to choose from! The Doctor and Peri in their mourning blues always sticks in my mind.
7/10
Sarah -
Best Line:
Jobel: You know, if the statue actually had been made of stone, I doubt if it'd have killed you.
Doctor: Really?
Jobel: No, it would take a mountain to crush an ego like yours.
In a story filled with zippy comebacks, this was my favorite
Favorite Moment: Kara and Davros out-flattering each other, while sharpening their knives!
Lasting Image: It really is hard to choose just one, but the DJ in his hippy garb was the image I most remembered going into this story.
8/10
Our marathon will continue with: The Trial of a Timelord...
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