User Reviews

As the Daleks make further plans to spread radiation, the expedition has it's problems crossing through Skaro's caves.

Possibly the best bit is the demise of poor Antodus who clearly didn't want to go on the expedition, he was terrified from start to finish, the way in which his end came was I thought quite well done.

It's the first episode in the Daleks that not a huge deal is really happening, it's still very enjoyable, but perhaps the least exciting. Lots of cave work, lots of falling and slipping. 7/10

The Daleks capture the Doctor and Susan, and begin planning to explode a nuclear bomb. Meanwhile, Ian, Barbara and the Thals face various obstacles while making their way to the city.

"The Ordeal" is easily the worst episode of The Daleks. It's basically twenty-six minutes of characters wandering around badly lit cave sets. The best bit is the excellent cliffhanger, in which the annoying Antodus finally bites the bullet. Honestly, "The Ordeal" is a bit of an ordeal to sit through.

There is an unintentionally funny scene though: after the Daleks capture the Doctor and Susan, they yell at them for destroying one of their lifts. They really don't seem to care that they destroyed a Dalek as well!

Review of all 7 episodes -

This story is what really established Doctor Who in the public consciousness with the introduction of the fantastic and iconic metal cased monsters, the Daleks. Thank goodness they did this as it lead to 50 years and counting of TV magic!

The whole story is excellent and innovative. The acting and direction are good and the story and concepts throughout capture the imagination.

Whilst certain aspects of all the old Doctor Who episodes are dated these small issues are at an absolute minimum here. The only things such as Daleks using paper printouts and pen written letters are totally forgivable in what is still an impressive and impactful production. Things such as low ceilinged corridors, perfect for Daleks rather than designed for humans show thought and add believability that the impressive Dalek City was really built by Daleks for Daleks.

Overall the whole story is brilliant. Admittedly the Thals are not nearly as interesting as the Daleks and there are occasional flaws like the explanation of Thal/Dalek history in episode 4. Episode 6 is slightly less impressive than the rest but not so much as to drop below a very high standard. The more filler like episodes towards the end are in fact very exciting and still include a lot more character development than almost any modern day TV show.

A must see TV classic!

My Ratings: Episodes 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7 - 10/10, Episode 4 - 9.5/10, Episode 6 - 9/10

Overall: 9.79/10