THE DOCTOR WHO RATINGS GUIDE: BY FANS, FOR FANS

The Chase
The Dalek Invasion of Earth
Dr. Who & The Daleks
Doctor Who in an exciting adventure with the Daleks 		BBC
The Daleks
aka. "The Mutants" and "The Dead Planet"

Episodes 7 A rehearsal shot from episode one
Story No# 2
Production Code B
Season 1
Dates Dec. 21, 1963 -
Feb. 1, 1964

William Hartnell, William Russell,
Jacqueline Hill, Carole Ann Ford.
Written by Terry Nation. Script-edited by David Whitaker.
Directed by Christopher Barry and Richard Martin.
Associate Producer: Mervyn Pinfield. Produced by Verity Lambert.

Synopsis: The Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Susan encounter the malevolent survivors of a nuclear holocaust, who are destined to become the Doctor's greatest enemy...

Back to page one (the first twenty reviews)

Reviews

A Review by Declan McKeown 25/7/08

Most people say The Daleks is one of the best Dalek stories . Yet I would have to disagree with them for a few reasons.

The first reason is because the whole thing drags after the second episode mostly because of Ian saying that he can't feel his legs, and also because of pathetic acting from the people who played the Thals.

Also the Dalek voices are terrible and the dialogue is lousy. I mean, episode six's cliffhanger is woeful and the way the Daleks themselves are dispatched is laughable. The statue thing that the Thals are carrying is portrayed by the most amateurish modelwork and the way the TARDIS crew and the Thals escape from the Dalek citadel is not even shown.

The visual effects for the time might have looked impressive but now they end up looking cheap and dated. The lake of mutations is not necessary, the cliffhanger featuring it is as you'd expect - rubbish - and half the story is spent running around corridors and the other half is spent moving around boring and dreary-looking locations. Hartnell also looks bored rigid.

When I sat down to watch this, I had my doubts but I was expecting something better than the end result. I was put off watching William Hartnell stories but I am watching them again because of true classics like The Aztecs and The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

It took me a week to watch this dreary rubbish, yet some bits of this story are good, like a creepy episode one and impressive Daleks. But ultimately this is nothing more than an exercise in padding.

2/10