User Reviews

The Thals succeed in penetrating the city, and the Doctor must stop the Daleks from detonating their nuclear device.

"The Rescue" is a satisfactory ending to the story. It's directed horribly by Richard Martin, though.

The Daleks is very much a story of two halves. The first four episodes are excellent sci-fi, with Terry Nation on top form. However, the last three episodes are badly written and directed. The Daleks themselves, however, would never be as menacing as they are here.

The acting is variable. Of the guest cast, Alan Wheatley, Philip Bond and John Lee are quite good, but the rest of the Thal actors are horrendous (i.e. Virginia Wetherll and Gerald Curtis). Carole Ann Ford is rather grating at times, but Hartnell is fantastic. The screen shines when he is on screen.

The Daleks is a flawed story, but it is an important part of TV history.

The Daleks origins are a perfect example of team work, both on/off screen. From Verity Lambert's determination to use the story. Terry nations clever way of representing war, with racism, fascism, patriotism, sacrifice, heroism and teamwork by translating that into a sci-fi concept. Ray cusicks brilliant design that captivated the imagination of children and charmed adults. Peter Hawkins/David Grahams chilling emotionless voice that terrified millions. Christopher Barry/Richard Martins excellent direction to make them look menacing and their city bleak. The Dalek operators, Robert jewell, Kevin Manser, Michael Summerton & Gerald Taylor who gave them life and had the incredibly difficult job of moving the damn props. Finally our four main cast. All working together they created a success that 57 years later still stands strong. The story is a very well plotted journey of adventure/horror, every part knows what its main goal is, discovery, capture, drugs, escape, team up and final fight. We do spend 2 parts in the cliffs but it never drags as it adds to the desperation of the characters/storys journey. I also like the cowardly thal who sacrifices himself, it's gives him a nice little arc. I also love the 1st drs arc here, he starts off as a manipulative grumpy Oldman who refuses to help even Barbara in a great cliffhanger. But by the end he gets involved and excited by the defeat of the Daleks. Ian is the star of this piece he's a true caring hero and in away is everything the doctor would become years later, almost inspired by. There is also some excellent quotes/dialogue, from "if we are monsters what must they be like" it all adds to the Daleks tragically pathetic life, it's an incredible idea, a race of people who due to war became horrible mutated hate blobs trapped in machines. The story does a clever way of showing you their true nature, from blob, manipulation of trust and extermination of the thals. It's full of great action/cool scenes too, the mutant reveal, Ian inside the Dalek/escape and the final battle were the 1st dr finally stands up to them. That moment is when the dr is really the dr for the first time.

Rating: 5/5 or 8/10.

The Doctor and Susan are imprisoned by the Daleks. Ian, Barbara and the remaining Thals manage to break into the Dalek city, to perform a few is missue.

It has been an absolutely magnificent story, somehow it feels incredibly modern even now. It was incredibly well written and particularly well produced. It was obvious the Daleks were going to return to the show, they made a wonderful impact. Huge credit to all of the actors, as I've said prior i get the impression they all knew they were making something quality. Part 7 shows the Daleks as being particularly ruthless killing machines.

Part 7 is just wonderful, great end to a fantastic serial. 10/10

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

The Daleks are a race that have been overused and badly used in recent years; too often they have been the big finale or a special episode where they come on, be iconic and then get defeated within 45 minutes; so it is nice to see them here on their first appearance 50 years ago. The first thing to strike me was how little they had changed in all that time and I can only imagine the impact they must have had originally, for their manner and their images to remain frozen in this way. The 7- part storyline sees the Tardis arrive in a petrified forest with a strange metallic city in the distance and, on setting out to explore they find themselves the guests of the Daleks.

I think I have seen these episodes before – and if not the whole story then at least clips because the whole thing is very familiar to me. The episodes open in the petrified forest and this sets the rather eerie air that all of them have. The stubbornness of The Doctor yet again drives the narrative but as a character he takes a back seat again as Ian does most of the solving of problems. As with the previous story there is plenty of room for the supporting characters to make a mark, rather than just being plot devices of the day. The Daleks are quite menacing here but for me what makes them work particularly well is the cold metallic city they live in. The corridors and the sliding doors have an ominous coldness to them that matches the forest and gives the whole thing a dead feel that works well.

The plot is perhaps a bit easily resolved and a bit too tidy for what the majority of the episodes were like, but it still did the job and I found all of it very engaging. Some of the plot points are unconvincing and exist to make the story move rather than working to draw the viewer in further, but it is still pretty decent. The cast continue to be led by Russell although Hartnell is more of a presence in this collection of episodes, even if I find his Doctor quite hard to warm too since he is less a character at this point and more just a difficult old man.

Overall the design of these episodes is what made them for me with the iconic creatures hitting the mark from the start in their metal city. The story is pretty engaging even though it could easily have been a little shorter and also, ironically, not be so rushed and tidy at the very end, but I enjoyed it and the performances were mostly good.