User Reviews

Having disabled a Dalek, Ian climbs inside and and escorts The Doctor, Ian and Barbara into a lift in order to escape, the Daleks stay in pursuit.

It's quite a cynical episode, The Daleks trying to lure a starving hungry people into their base just to destroy them is quite a nasty theme. This showed a wealth of imagination.

I really like the Thaal's history, the pictures, the Daals etc. It's wonderfully realised.

It's an excellent episode, Ian shows his worth, outwitting the Daleks, saving the Thaals, in these episodes it's Ian that's the hero, probably more so then the Doctor. It's Ian that tries to make the Thaals see that there is a need to fight the Daleks. 9/10

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

After their successful escape attempt, the Doctor and his companions must warn the Thals before the Thals are killed by the Daleks.

Thankfully, the Thals aren't in "The Ambush" very much, so we don't have to see very much of Virginia Wetherell's horrid acting. However, Alan Wheatley, by far the best guest actor in the story, gets killed 15 minutes in. The Doctor and company's escape attempt is very well directed, and I must comment again on Raymond Cusick's great set design.