Power of the Daleks
(episode 1)
Apparently, this show renews the lead character. That’ll never catch on…
Luckily we’ve got Ben and Polly to talk us through the change. Ben is very sceptical, like a normal person. Polly is more encouraging, because the script needs someone to be, else the show will get axed. And they can’t axe the bloody thing before The Moonbase has even been broadcast!
Every episode of this story is missing but they've animated it for us.
POLLY: Well, that's who came through the doors. There was no one else outside. Ben, do you remember what he said in the tracking room? Something about 'This old body of mine is wearing a bit thin.'
BEN: So he gets himself a new one?
Well, yes.
No sooner had he dropped down dead, then this new, younger, impish Doctor leaps up and starts rumbling about the place. He looked like a Beatle, said the Daily Mirror of the day, but looking like a Beatle in the 1960s was like something curing or causing cancer in todays newspapers.
The Doctor isn't paying the blindest bit of attention to his companions. He finds a mirror and looks at William Hartnell's face in it. He talks about Daleks (premonition), refers to himself in the third person to tease Ben, and, when Ben tries to put the First Doctors ring on the new Doctors finger, and it falls off, Patrick Troughton nails this line:
DOCTOR: I'd like to see a butterfly fit into a chrysalis case after it's spread its wings.
I can't even say that slowly.
The main takeaway from this is that the Doctor could easily reassure his companions, you know, like he does every single time this happens in the future. But here, he wants to play with his companions. He enjoys teasing them. It's 4th wall breaking, encouraging you to adjust to this new actor playing the role, but it doesn't half come across like the new Doctor is a bit of a git to Ben and Polly.
He also finds a recorder and invents Dr Who lore with a few quick tunes.
All through this scene the humming of the TARDIS plays. We've become accustomed to it as fans, haven't we?
DOCTOR: I think we must have landed for sometime. I think it's time we went for a stroll.
POLLY: But you don't know where we've landed!
BEN: No, you haven't checked the oxygen or the temperature or anything!
DOCTOR: Oxygen density 172, radiation nil, temperature 86. Strong suggestion of mercury deposits. Satisfied, Ben? Now, are you two coming or are you not?
They've landed on the planet Vulcan. No sign of Mr Spock though.
It's a bubbling swamp of mercury outside, which sounds distinctly unhealth to me. The Doctor fools about for a bit, only for...
A wild EXAMINER appeared!
EXAMINER: Hello, I'm the ice cream man. Years ago I went to school with Nigel Fairservice. We used to romp in the fens and spinnies...
But then, a bullet clean took his head off.
That's the trouble with missing episodes. You want to see this stuff!
The Doctor pockets the dead mans badge, then gets thumped from behind. Meanwhile fumes overcome Ben and Polly.
Because you know, mercury swamps are unhealthy places to linger.
But I'm in so deep
You know I'm stuck in a Pool for you
You got extermination on your finger'
Do you have to let it linger?
Do you have to, do you have to, do you have to let it linger?
Ahem.
New characters save our regulars, and bemoan the lack of their proper safety precautions. Damn right.
One of those goggled men has the instantly recognisable voice of Bernard Archard.
BRAGEN: I suppose you Earth people can't wait to examine Lesterson's space capsule?
As great an exposition line as that is, fading directly into introducing Lesterson and his ill fated capsule is inspired editing.
Lesterson talks about assistant Janley's pressure group like she writes a few petitions.
JANLEY: Can we still use the old rocket room?
LESTERSON: Yes, I suppose so. But I do wish you wouldn't get mixed up with these pressure groups, Janley.
JANLEY: Well, somebody has to do something. The colony's running down and you know it.
LESTERSON: I'm too busy.
JANLEY: But if we ran things, you'd have better facilities, more money. I wish you'd take an interest.
LESTERSON: Now look, I don't mind letting you have the use of one of my rooms now and again, Janley, but don't try to involve me. This is what I find important. Two hundred years in a mercury swamp and this piece of metal that dropped from it? Look, a couple of minutes polishing and it's as good as new.
JANLEY: Wonderful.
LESTERSON: Rain, damp, heat, mercury. Nothing touches this metal. No corrosion, Janley. Think of that.
So, keep in mind that Lesterson is giving Janley's group resources and locations to do their plotting, because he's so occupied with his own work he hasn't stopped to think about repercussions elsewhere.
Governor Hensell asks the Doctor why he's there, and the Doctor pretends to be the Examiner. and examines everything.
The Doctor is told about the capsule and isn't that interested for now.
The Doctor frustrates Ben with his recorder.
BEN: Oh, how did he get that thing back again. That was a bit of a cheek, wasn't it, seeing if the Governor was the guy you got the button off?
POLLY: Doctor? When he was talking to you, you were staring at the other man.
DOCTOR: Yes, very rude of me, wasn't it. Terrible manners. To tell you the truth, I was studying his reaction, seeing if he agreed with the story.
And his conspirator whisper here is the first time the new Doctor takes Ben and Polly under his confidence.
The Doctor meets Lesterson and see his piece of metal, and instantly recognises it as Dalek material, and his voice drops instantly. All the previous joviality is gone.
The group enter the space capsule but the Doctor orders them to stop investigating for the night.
Later, the Doctor goes to the capsule to investigate on his own. Ben and Polly follow him. He knows they would.
DOCTOR: Polly, Ben, come in and meet the Daleks.
Inanimate Daleks sit among cobwebs. But the cobwebs show there were three Daleks in that room, and now there are only two.
Polly sees something on the floor and screams.
This new Doctor Who lark might just work. But now its taken as read, on with the plot next time...
Power of the Daleks
(episode 2)
The Doctor is aware that there were three Daleks in the enclave, but one is missing.
Ben goes to look for a torch.
The Doctor points out that the Daleks could be switched on with power, and then Patrick Troughton gets to be all properly Doctor Who for the first time:
BEN: Do you mean these things just need power?
DOCTOR: Now, Lesterson's fanatic. The Governor's jealous of his own position. What does that suggest to you? Don't know. Haven't thought about it. But all is not well with this colony. Add to that one Dalek.
BEN: Oh, blimey, you don't half make mountains, don't you? One Dalek?
DOCTOR: Yes! All that is needed to wipe out this entire colony.
Chilling!
Also, Tristram Cary's doom-laden score adds to the atmosphere wonderfully.
Quinn and Bragen have an argument over the whereabouts of the Doctor.
Polly tries to say "Lesterson Listen". Lesterson himself shows up, a bit unhappy that the Doctor and friends are pissing about in his laboratory.
LESTERSON: Who gave you permission?
DOCTOR: Read this. Aloud!
LESTERSON: Accord every access.
DOCTOR: Exactly! It doesn't say 'except your laboratory' anywhere does it? Unless it's in micro-print.
LESTERSON: I should have been asked first.
Bragen shows up, and all of the Doctors coolness vanishes as he starts demanding they destroy the capsule and the Daleks immediately.
DOCTOR: These lumps of metal, Daleks, I want them broken up, or melted down. Up or down, I don't care which, but destroyed!
And, look, we know that the Doctors right, the Daleks are dangerous, but if you didn't know that, he looks like a nutter here.
The Daleks aren't even talking to anyone yet and they're already setting everyone against each other.
As soon as the Doctor is told to sod off and Lesterson is alone, he wheels out a Dalek and announces his plan to return it to life, now the Doctors told everyone they're alive. Good job, Doctor.
Bragen warns the Doctor against upsetting the apple cart, and offers him fruit. Then as he leaves, there is an amusing scene where Ben rallies on the Doctors lack of Doctor-ishness, all the while the Doctor plays with the bowl of fruit till he reveals a listening device!
BEN: Yes, so that's why you were messing about and talking nonsense.
DOCTOR: I never talk nonsense.
Hah!
We do however get the moment the Doctor refuses to leave Vulcan while he can:
BEN: Oh, well, I vote we go back to the Tardis. I've had enough of this dump.
DOCTOR: Have you? What about the Daleks?
BEN: Well, they're dead.
POLLY: Well, what about that thing we saw in the capsule? That was alive all right.
BEN: Yeah, I can't explain that.
DOCTOR: I can. And that's why we have to stay.
Go on, Doctor.
Meanwhile, there's a Brexit debate going on at Lestersons lab...
RESNO: What's he want to muck about with them for? Leave well alone, that's what I say.
JANLEY: You're a fine one to be a research assistant. Leave well alone. There'll be no progress on this planet with people like you around.
RESNO: We're doing all right as we are. Or we were until your lot came along stirring things up. You won't get away with it, you know. The Governor knows all about you rebels. He'll smash the lot of you when he's ready.
Lesterson tells off his lab assistants for bickering about politics when they have a murder machine to bring to life.
Lesterson is speeding up his work because he fears the Doctor will shut him down.
The Governor refuses to see the Doctor so the Doctor plans to go radio Earth for help.
Lesterson and Resno give the power to the Dalek and slowly it starts to show signs of life.
LESTERSON: It's all right. Don't be alarmed. We've only introduced temporary power. We shall have to be able to open it up before we could find how it works permanently.
JANLEY: It's a bit frightening.
LESTERSON: Yes. Now, I cannot think what this short stubby arm is for.
Every child in the country could tell you, mate. As a piece of dramatic irony, delicious.
Resno instantly realises there's an eyestalk watching them, which signs his death warrant.
The Doctor, and then Bragen find the radio operator out cold, the radio smashed and Quinn at the scene. It looks bad for Quinn, though he protests his innocence as he is arrested.
LESTERSON: It seems to be interested in you, Resno. What's the matter with you, man?
RESNO: I tell you it's intelligent. It's watching me, Lesterson, weighing me up. I can sense it.
LESTERSON: Don't be a fool.
RESNO: I don't like it, I tell you. I don't know what these things can do.
The Dalek has followed Resno around the room, in what seems, from the little we have, like an eerie scene. Without saying a word, it recognises Lesterson's lab partner is the smartest person in the room, and is already working things out. So it gets rid of a danger, and exterminates him on the spot..
Lesterson freaks out, but Janley pretends Resno is still alive and sends Lesterson to get help. You can see she has plans for this unexpected energy weapon already.
In the morning she tells Lesterson that Resno is alive and well in the hospital. The liar! Lesterson prepares for a demonstration.
At the investigation into Quinn, the Governor apologises for not meeting the Doctor before. They discuss Quinn's motivations for attacking folk, all while he claims innocence. But this is interrupted by Lesterson.
HENSELL: Lesterson, this is a special enquiry. Now please.
LESTERSON: This won't wait. You won't be disappointed.
HENSELL: You heard what I said, Lesterson.
LESTERSON: Governor, I've just completed an experiment which could revolutionise the whole colony. Bear with me.
DOCTOR: Lesterson, what have you done? What have you done?
It's the terror in Patrick Troughton's voice that sells it. When Dad recently watched this era on Britbox, he said that Power of the Daleks was clearly gripping TV even from the animation alone. He was correct.
Lesterson wheels in a Dalek to the Doctors horror.
It focuses on the Doctor long enough for Ben to twig the Dalek recognised who the Doctor was. And in the background of the scene, Ben acknowledges that he was wrong, this is the Doctor after all, but its lost to this Dalek wandering around the room.
The Dalek moves a chair.
LESTERSON: Stop. You see? Well, just think what this could do for our mining program, our processing, packaging. Dozens of labour jobs, Governor. It may even supply the end to all this Colony's problems.
DOCTOR: Yes, it will end the colony's problems, because it will end the colony.
But the Doctors warnings are drowned out, because at that moment, the Dalek decides to speak for the first time.
DALEK: I am your servant.
LESTERSON: It, it spoke! Janley, did you hear it? It can actually talk.
DOCTOR: It can do many things, Lesterson. But the thing it does most efficiently is exterminate human beings. It destroys them, without mercy, without conscience. It destroys them. Utterly. Completely. It destroys them.
But no one can hear the Doctor over the loud grating sound of the Dalek yelling I AM YOUR SERVANT over and over again, to the point you could almost swear the metal sods could smirk.
Sometimes I think this is the greatest of all Dr Who cliffhangers. It's certainly right up there. Doctor Who may have changed his face, but Doctor Who the show looks healthier than ever.
Power of the Daleks
(part 3)
So the Dalek claimed to be everyone's servant, and the colony powers that be took the word of the creature over that of the so called Earth Examiner.
While the humans talk about how great the Dalek is, the Doctor tells the Dalek he will stop it. The sort of thing you wish you could see.
The Doctor orders the Dalek to immobilise itself as his servant, and it does, only to rise back up when the Doctor leaves the room. Lesterson is confused, and the Dalek tells him it was an incorrect order.
LESTERSON: Why did you stop obeying? You were given an order.
DALEK: He has gone.
LESTERSON: Then you obey only..
DALEK: His order was wrong. I cannot serve human beings if I am immobilised. You gave me power. Your orders are right. I serve you.
HENSELL: Lesterson. Lesterson, it reasons. Just how limited is its intelligence?
LESTERSON: Now, there is no cause for concern, Governor.
The Governor is a bit worried already, but luckily for the Daleks, for plot reasons he's about to go on holiday for a few episodes.
Lesterson is given full approval to continue his experiments in giving extensive power to the Daleks.
Quinn is under scrutiny again by Bragen and Hensell but points out he can't have attacked the Doctor as:
BRAGEN: And the button grabbed by the Examiner was missing from your suit.
HENSELL: Yes, if you've got anything to add to that, you'd better say it now.
QUINN: I didn't attack the man. I had no reason to. I was the one that sent for him.
HENSELL: You sent for him?
QUINN: It was necessary. Under the circumstances, I'd hardly be likely to sabotage the radio communications.
HENSELL: But, but why Quinn? Why?
QUINN: Because of the rebels!
BRAGEN: The rebels. They're nothing more than one or two fanatics.
QUINN: You know as well as I do that they
BRAGEN: Unless you're trying to create trouble here to undermine the Governor's position.
Note Bragen immediately shoots down any talk about the rebels. Suspicious. And he's one of the only talking characters left who could have attacked the Doctor. Suspicious. And he's played by notorious villain playing actor Bernard Archard. Suspicious!
Hensell continues to prove how inept he is as a base under siege leader by accepting this hearsay and jailing Quinn, giving Bragen all of The Mighty Quinn's powers in the colony.
The Doctor smashes a bit of equipment with a chair and then plays around with the bits. He mutters to himself about how dangerous the Daleks are, how much he respects Lesterson as a scientist and builds a gizmo all while Ben and Polly try to offer advice. I like Ben's "lets get rid of Lesterson = no Daleks" solution for being so utterly Ben.
Polly wants to free Quinn, but the Doctor thinks otherwise:
DOCTOR: Now, this is a case where a little injustice is better than wholesale slaughter.
Lesterson is amazed that the Dalek knows a lot of basic chemistry. He still thinks its a robot. The Doctor walks into the room and pretends to have a chat with Lesterson, all the while getting close to the Dalek, when he switches on his gizmo. The Dalek goes nuts, but Lesterson saves it, and as the Doctor escapes, the Dalek tries to fire its non-existent gun.
DOCTOR: Stop you? No, of course not. We got off on the wrong foot, Lesterson, but I'm a reasonable man, and I've been thinking perhaps I was hasty.
LESTERSON: Well, if you really want to call a truce.
DOCTOR: A truce? My dear fellow, I'd like to be friends.
Janley sneaks off mysteriously too.
Patrick Troughton and Robert James sound like they are having a ball of a time together too. Shame we can't see it.
JANLEY: We could take over the colony now.
BRAGEN: No. No, it has to be absolutely right. I don't want to take over a colony full of rebels do I, Janley?
JANLEY: I don't know. You're making me help them.
BRAGEN: Only to stir them up to create enough trouble to get rid of Hensell, and then, then we crush them. The whole colony will be grateful, and I'll be Governor.
So Bragen wants the rebels to overthrow Hensell, at which point he'll crush them, and despite being big with the rebels, Janley is actually a double agent, neither of them on the side of the colony's current leadership.
Janley tells Bragen that Resno is dead. And thinks they can blackmail Lesterson over it to keep the Dalek project going because that will help them get power.
Janley and unrequited love interest Valmar kidnap Polly for the hell of it.
Janley wants to use the Dalek weapons to take over the colony for herself.
The Doctor refuses to believe Polly has been kidnapped, because he only wants to think about Daleks.
LESTERSON: You know, it's amazing. You have an almost human interest and curiosity.
DALEK: A Dalek is bet... is not the same as a human.
Hahahaha
Lesterson completely missed this obvious give away.
So he tells the Dalek how to use the power complex to give power to hypothetical Daleks. It then seduces Lesterson by appealing to his ego:
DALEK: Daleks can build computers with one hundred percent accuracy.
LESTERSON: One hundred percent?
DALEK: If you provide materials and our own power unit, a computer will be built.
LESTERSON: A hundred percent? But that would be an enormous saving for the for the colony.
DALEK: Then you will get the materials?
LESTERSON: I'll go and speak to the Governor at once.
DALEK: I will be ready to dictate the blueprint when you return.
Quick question. Do you think the Dalek needs equipment and energy to
A) help Lesterson here.
B) fixed their renewable energy crisis.
C) EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE
Answers on a postcard, thanks.
The Doctor and Ben see Lesterson in the corridor so dash into his lab to find the Dalek. The unarmed Dalek is in a foul mood about this, but the Doctor goes to disconnect the power, only for two armed Daleks to glide into the room.
The Doctor and Ben do what normal people would do in such a situation, and scarper swiftly.
The Daleks laugh to themselves about how gullible Lesterson is.
Bragen is put in full charge of the colony as Hensell is off on a jolly, err, a tour of the other colonies.
With Hensell out of the way, Bragen immediately stakes his claim on the Doctor:
BRAGEN: Examiner, some of my men have found a body in the mercury swamp. It was the body of a middle-aged man.
DOCTOR: What is that to do with me?
BRAGEN: You're the Examiner. Or maybe you're not.
DOCTOR: Just exactly what do you mean by that?
BRAGEN: Who are you? Quinn's friends come to stir up rebellion?
DOCTOR: There's only one possible way that you could know I'm not the Examiner.
BEN: Yeah, by knowing what the real Examiner looked like.
DOCTOR: Exactly, Ben. Exactly! Only two people knew of his arrival on this planet. Myself and his murderer.
BRAGEN: That's enough!
BEN: Is it? Doctor, we've got to tell the Governor.
BRAGEN: Do you think he'll believe you? I'll soon convince him that you murdered the man yourself. You stole the Examiner's badge.
DOCTOR: Then why don't you arrest us? Because there's a doubt isn't there? Because it might, it just might, go against you.
BRAGEN: All right, all right, so neither of us wants to make a move. But you leave Lesterson alone. And the Daleks!
I know, the one guy who could have been the killer IS, and it was played by notorious bad guy actor Bernard Archard, you must be shocked.
Another person trying to blackmail others from doing the right thing, so they can use the Daleks for their own selfish reasons.
Although Bragens position is more powerful than they claim here. If the real Examiner is found dead, who are authorities going to believe? The guy in charge of security, or the total stranger pretending to be the Examiner? Fortunately for the Doctor, the humans in charge of this colony are a bit thick. Fortunately for the Daleks too. It's just the working classes and normal people who are going suffer through mass exterminations through incompetent government policy.
Man, everything is always topical.
Meanwhile the Daleks chant to themselves about getting power, only this time Lesterson is in the room watching them go nuts and starts to get worried about all of this. Especially as he didn't power up the other two Daleks in the first place...
Power of the Daleks
(episode 4)
Rhythm is a dancer
Daleks are a chancer
You can see them everywhere
Lift your eyestalks and voices
Free your guns and join us
You can feel death in the air
The thing about these Daleks is THEY'VE GOT THE POWER!
Anyhow, the Daleks were scaring Lesterson so he cuts the power and scolds them. As this is only Episode 4 of 6, he gets away with this for now.
DALEK: Turn back the power supply.
LESTERSON: I will, I will. But I want you to remember that I control you.
DALEK: We are your servants.
LESTERSON: I know. Remember it. I gave you each a special charge to bring you back to life. Any further power you need must come from this generator, and I control it. Is that clear?
DALEK: You are so totally getting exterminated, bastard.
Or "we obey" but you know what the monster meant.
Like a tin pot dictator, Bragen has changed his uniform to show his new power grab. His plotting is interrupted by the Doctor, who tells him that
a) the Doctor would like a hat like this
b) that Polly has been horribly kidnapped
In that order.
Bragen tries to sound shocked by the news that an event he may have had an hand in has actually happened.
The new tea lady (Ms Dalek) appears with a tea tray.
DALEK - WOULD ANYONE LIKE A NICE CUP OF TEA? GO ON.
DOCTOR - No.
DALEK - Ah go on. Go on go on go on go on go go on exterminate go on go on go on. Ah bugger he's run away.
The Doctor lifting up a chair as if thats going to protect him from a good old Extermination amuses. He also points out that the Daleks will struggle on the non-metal floors without power. Because they still use static electricity at this point, I think.
Hensell phones in on a video phone to check if everything is OK. Despite Bragen being played by Bernard Archard, Hensell is so half-assed on his vacation he just gives Bragen more time in office so he can extend his "jolly".
Doctor confirms the Daleks need static electricity to move.
Three Daleks drive by the Doctor and Ben.
DOCTOR: It's madness!
BEN: What is?
DOCTOR: Letting them run around like this.
BEN: Hey, wait a minute. Bragen had one acting as a servant, and we've just left him.
DOCTOR: One Dalek in Bragen's office. Three Daleks just gone down the corridors. That makes four.
BEN: Where did the fourth one come from?
Uhoh, the Doctor has seen four when he wanted to see THREEEE. (That jokes hilarious if you've seen Horns of Nimon. To be reviewed at the going rate around 2341 AD.)
Lesterson has given the Daleks a bunch of material as they are making stuff for him in their capsule. He tells Janley about this. Jeez I wonder what they could be making in their capsule!
But then Lesterson says he wants to end the Dalek experiment, because he's actually learning from the evidence put towards him. Only for Janley to plot bombshell him:
LESTERSON: Look, Janley, say what you like, but I'm beginning to believe that the Examiner is right about the Daleks. Their original thinking terrifies me. If we can control them, fine. But if not
JANLEY: Yes?
LESTERSON: Then I shall have them destroyed. It's too dangerous. The Examiner knows something about them that we don't. I'm going to ask his advice.
JANLEY: I wouldn't bring the Examiner into it if I were you.
LESTERSON: And why not?
JANLEY: You want him to find out about Resno?
LESTERSON: Oh, a little accident. How is he? Is he better?
JANLEY: He's dead.
Lesterson is shocked by this revelation, and you can hear the horror and panic in Robert James's voice.
JANLEY: The experiments on the Daleks were more important.
LESTERSON: More important than human life? No, no, I won't accept that.
JANLEY: You will. You must. Your carelessness was the cause of Resno's death. You murdered him. It's only your word against mine.
LESTERSON: I won't be blackmailed by you.
But he swiftly is. Those with the courage in this colony are the idiots.
And then the Doctor shows up to say they've seen four Daleks, and that the Daleks are brilliant engineers who can reverse engineer everything, and you can hear the penny drop in Lesterson's voice and I can only imagine you could in his face too.
DOCTOR: There's only one explanation. The Daleks are reproducing themselves.
JANLEY: These things are machines. How could they reproduce?
DOCTOR: Machines? What makes you think they're just machines? The Daleks are brilliant engineers. Nothing is beyond them given the right materials.
LESTERSON: What?
DOCTOR: I said nothing is beyond them given the right materials.
LESTERSON: Oh.
DOCTOR: Lesterson, what's the matter?
LESTERSON: Oh.
There's been some recent script writers who struggle to give us realistic character reactions with entire monologues on their feelings. David Whitaker (or Dennis Spooner who edited this episode) has just revealed a lot about Lesterson's thought process with a two letter word repeated.
Janley chases the Doctor and Ben away, because she's just twigged what Lesterson has twigged too.
But then she drugs him into a quick sleep so that he can't stop her plans for the Daleks. And then she and her good good friend Valmar plot some insurrection.
The Doctor asks Ben if he can crack a message in code on the bulletin board.
BEN: Oh, I can't do crosswords.
I have great sympathy for Ben.
A Dalek passes and the animation chooses to show both the Doctor and Dalek stopping as if to try and show the other they're not up to anything suspicious, which got a laugh from me.
Ben and the Doctor go to the rebel meeting and hide. Janley shows everyone a Dalek, and says the Dalek obeys her. She tests this by arming it and showing them all how it doesn't exterminate her. This proves one of them is much smarter than the other, but unfortunately for Janley, she assumes it was her. Then Ben gets captured.
Must be Michael Craze's time for a week off.
Then Bragen shows up and reveals he's the mastermind of the rebellion.
I know, stop being shocked by this shocking revelation.
This does allow Bernard Archard and Patrick Troughton, two fine actors, to have a nice scene together about who holds the better cards in this game of chance.
BRAGEN: The Governor will hardly listen to an impostor.
DOCTOR: An impostor? How do you propose to prove that?
BRAGEN: My guards are now going to produce the body of the real Examiner from the mercury swamp.
DOCTOR: The one you murdered.
BRAGEN: The one you pretended to be.
DOCTOR: Murder's a far worse crime than impersonation.
BRAGEN: Yes, but you can't prove I'm a murderer, while I can prove that you're an impostor.
Game and set, Bragen. But not quite match. Bragen announces to Janley his list of People To Bump Off After the Revolution, which is Hensell, Quinn and the Doctor. He's too smart to announce that Janley is also on that list.
Many of these people are quite good at their court intrigues. They are badly prepared for a SF survival game, like the one that started as soon as the Daleks showed up.
Quinn and the Doctor reunite in the jail cell, which the Doctor tries to escape out of. Quinn knew Bragen was the murderer but not in charge of the rebellion. Quinn shares my view of Hensell's leadership qualities, and comes out with this absolute zinger:
QUINN: Hensell's trouble is he thinks he can run this colony on his personality alone.
... remind you of anyone?
Lesterson wakes to see four Daleks plotting in his laboratory. He realises now that the Daleks have got the power!
So Lesterson sneaks into the capsule, and, finds out the truth. The Daleks have their own Dalek Creation machine, and a rolling line from the Generation Game of new Dalek, new Dalek, Cuddly Toy, new Dalek, new Dalek and so on. Very soon there'll be more Daleks than speaking actors.
And Lesterson can only watch in horror, in full Oppenheimer "I am destroyer of worlds" mode, as the masters of death grow in numbers by the second....
Power of the Daleks
(part 5)
Daleks are being made en masse because they've got the power.
Lesterson rushes out of the capsule in a panic and finds Janley, who tries to block his attempts to destroy the capsule. He then tries to phone for the Doctor's help, only to find out he's in prison now.
Janley plots to defeat Lesterson who is now an obstacle for her.
Meanwhile the Daleks plot.
DALEK: We are not ready yet to teach these human beings the law of the Daleks.
Nice bit of the Tristram Cary doom score there.
Janley brings a tied up Polly into the lab.
DALEK: No. Why is this human restricted?
JANLEY: She's against the Daleks. Afraid, are you? Nothing's going to happen to you if you behave.
POLLY: The Daleks? Of course I'm afraid, and so should you be.
JANLEY: The Daleks are going to help us.
POLLY: Us being the rebels, I suppose.
JANLEY: If you like.
POLLY: And when you've won, the Daleks will just go back to being servants again? You're bigger fools than I thought.
DALEK: We are your servants.
POLLY: While it suits you.
So Polly knows the Daleks plans, the Dalek knows Polly knows their plans, and Janley think she holds all the cards.
Janley plans to give the Daleks a permanent source of power. She really is too thick to live at this point.
Even Lesterson twigged immediately the implications of Resno being killed by the creatures!
The Doctor explains the Dalek plan, but Quinn decides that the science is rubbish and refuses to listen. And he's the Only Sane Man. Lesterson appears, he's dragged off by guards but not before he warns the Doctor that the Daleks are duplicating.
Lesterson might be going nuts and he started all this, but he's the only non-TARDIS crew member trying to actually stop the Daleks at this point.
Lesterson tries to get Bragen to listen to reason, because he doesn't know he can't trust Bragen. Bragen tells the Daleks to complete their task and ignore Lesterson.
LESTERSON: Where is the Governor?!
BRAGEN: At the perimeter. Why?
LESTERSON: Call him. Get him back here as quickly as possible. We're all in terrible danger! The Examiner was right! Right all the time!
Janley then shows up and she and Bragen plot to move Lesterson to the hospital for mental health reasons, and then Lesterson twigs he's being set up by his friends as well as the Daleks.
It's not been a great day for Lesterson so far.
Polly is with Valmar and Kebble, and Valmar starts to listen to her.
POLLY: He isn't the Examiner. We're just travellers, landed here by accident. The Doctor, that's the man you think is the Examiner, found the real Examiner dead and picked up his papers.
VALMAR: This Doctor of yours. He knows something about the Daleks?
POLLY: He's tried to warn everyone. It's the only reason we stayed here.
Hensell shows up again after his jolly and asks what's going on, but the guards say they only listen to Bragen. Which is a red flag even to our feckless leader.
The Doctor and Quinn escape.
Hensell questions Bragen.
BRAGEN: As far as I am concerned, there's nothing more to be said. So if there's nothing further
HENSELL: Nothing further? Who the devil do you think you're talking to? Stand up when you're speaking to me, man!
BRAGEN: I prefer to remain seated.
HENSELL: Do you now? We'll soon see about that. Guards! Take this man out of my office. Did you hear what I said? That's an order!
BRAGEN: You forget, my dear Hensell. They're not your guards, they're mine.
HENSELL: I am the Governor.
BRAGEN: No. Not now. I am.
Hensell twigs a bit too late that he's been set up. Bragen offers to make Hensell a figurehead after the revolution but Hensell, for the first time in the show, spots a trap ahead of time, and refuses. Unfortunately for him it was a Yes you die, No you die sort of trap.
Bragen gets a Dalek to enter the room, and orders it to kill the Governor.
And so the second Hensell even has a shred of wherewithal, he gets exterminated.
DALEK: Why do human beings kill human beings?
I don't know Dalek Philosopher, I don't know.
BRAGEN: Get on with your work.
DALEK: Yes, master. I obey.
BRAGEN: Yes, obey me! From now on, I'll have complete obedience from everyone!
He's brought a false sense of security to an energy gun fight.
Bernard Archard sounds like he's nailing the role though.
Meanwhile the Doctor and Quinn save Polly. Quinn punches Kebble.
Then a Dalek shows up so the heroes scarper.
The Daleks plan to watch the revolution then kill everyone.
Quinn and the Doctor find the dead body of the former Governor.
QUINN: The one man who could have saved us.
DOCTOR: Don't worry. The people will follow you, too.
QUINN: Maybe. But there wasn't any maybe about Hensell. He was old-fashioned, single-minded, yes, but he's done a lot of wonderful work for this colony. Events turned out against him, that's all.
Feckless but loved by the working class voters. I'm trying not to be political here, it's the show!
Meanwhile, the Daleks are ready to rumble.
ALL DALEKS: Daleks conquer and destroy! Daleks conquer and destroy! Daleks conquer and destroy! Daleks conquer and destroy! Daleks conquer and destroy! Daleks conquer and destroy! Daleks conquer and destroy!
Never mind Rhythm is a Dancer and The Power, the Daleks preferred another Snap song:
Power of the Daleks
(episode 6)
Usually you can judge my views on a story by how fast or slow I get through it. The 6 months on Power of the Daleks here is not a critique of its quality. Far from it, for drama, its one of the best stories so far. The thing is, that since Aunt Marion died, I struggled to get my head around sitting down to write about the show. Which feels selfish, talking about a woman who lived a very long and healthy life when others never get that, but so it goes.
Where were we?
Oh yeah, Daleks are about to attack.
They want to Exterminate All Human Beings!
Well, that's the Doctor safe for now. Ahem.
The Daleks set out of the lab in their swarms to deal with the humans. I'm sure this would have freaked out the kids.
The Doctor sees a Dalek which is armed and this freaks him out. He, Polly and Quinn are arrested by the Daleks.
Janley announces the revolution has won. To her chagrin, Bragen is already plotting what happens next:
BRAGEN: Do you think I can ever be secure in that chair while that rabble are still loose? They rebelled against Hensell yesterday. Tomorrow it'll be my turn. Well, let them rebel. Tell them the guards have taken control. Let them attack, and then we can crush them utterly.
JANLEY: You say we.
BRAGEN: Yes. We've come a long way together, you and I. Are you going to back down now?
JANLEY: Couldn't you just arrest them?
BRAGEN: Everyone must be killed.
JANLEY: Must they all be slaughtered?
BRAGEN: All of them.
Unfortunately for them, Valmar was right outside the door to hear all this, and so will now do a quick face turn.
Not sure why Terry Nation was so upset with these scripts, that moment was 100% Nation.
Nastily, Bragen had his hand on his gun all the while in case Janley turned him down. He still think he's in control. Like Hammond at Jurassic Park, he hasn't even been counting the Daleks...
Valmar immediately goes to free Ben, who has a great line in political theory for the unrequited love lorn rebel.
VALMAR: Bragen. The colony's become too small for him. He wants us out of the way now.
BEN: Yeah, well, it often happens that way, mate, when you follow blokes like him.
The Doctor and co escape.
Bragen announces to the colony that Hensell is dead and he plans to kill the murderers.
The Doctor and Polly and Quinn find Ben without Valmar, so the Doctor goes to find Valmar and tells Quinn to keep Ben and Polly safe.
Daleks get their extermination orders again.
The Doctor bumps into Kebble and warns him to duck just as the exterminations start. It doesn't help the guard who was about take one of them into arrest, as he's dead on the spot.
Valmar is reanimating the original three Daleks. Because he's an idiot. Janley finds him and tells him she was always on his side, and because he's in love, he believes her. Because they are both idiots, they believe the three Daleks who say they are absolutely on Janley and Valmar's side.
DALEK 3: Take us to the centre of your group.
VALMAR: Can we trust them?
JANLEY: We must! The guards have orders to wipe us out. We must use the Daleks. Come on.
Janley is so blinkered and terrible at leadership she could do well on Rise and Fall. That's a really solid joke no one is going to get, because no one watches Rise and Fall. (NOTE - Rise and Fall was cancelled this week. Sometimes jokes age brilliantly, even if no one gets them!)
Kebble stands up when he was safe, just so he can be exterminated. They ran out of money to pay that guy.
Off screen there are hundreds of Daleks killing everyone, and the Doctor jumps out of a window before they can get him.
A guard tells Bragen that their guns don't work against Daleks and Bragen tells them to fight harder. An expert, telling him an idea is fatally flawed, but its pursued anyhow. Remind you of anything?
To Janley's shock the Daleks exterminate the guards and the rebels.
Janley realises the Daleks can switch their own gun power back on. Right as the Daleks confirm for her:
DALEK: Your usefulness is over.
Dalek totally owning Janley there, as the kids never said.
This is partly her massacre. She covered up Resno's murder. She drugged Lesterson so the Daleks had a way of expanding their plans. She got Bragen to agree to their use. She armed the bloody things.
Janley and Valmar run for it.
The Doctor, Ben and Polly make a break for Lestersons laboratory and the capsule, where they find Daleks, and the hidden Lesterson. The man who was the smartest person in the colony, which created his own problem, is now raving mad. He became destroyer of worlds.
LESTERSON: You must be absolutely quiet. They know everything that's going on. Everything! They even know what you're thinking.
BEN: Where do they get their power from, Lesterson?
LESTERSON: Ah, I tried to turn the power off, but they were miles ahead of me. Marvellous creatures. You have to admire them.
BEN: But we've got to stop them!
LESTERSON: Oh, it's too late for that. They're the new species, you see, taking over from homo sapiens. Man's had his day. Finished now.
Poor Lesterson. He does daft things in this story, and brings about the Daleks, but he's also one of the only guest characters to learn from evidence, only to find himself one lone voice against the system, the only one whose entire actions were in the spirit of trying to help other people. His experiments were to fix the colony energy crisis, after all. In another story, he might have become a crucial ally for the Doctor.
Quinn saves Valmar but Janley refuses to trust him and that character flaw, of thinking everyone is the worst possible people, dooms her as the Daleks show up a second later. She tries to gun one down.
Exit Janley, exterminated by a Dalek.
Also let's note, an interesting and complex female villain in an era not known for them.
BEN: You've done all this. Why'd you give them power in the first place?
LESTERSON: Well, I could control it, you see. And then Janley got one of her men, Valmar, I think it was, yes, and he rigged up a secret cable. It's carrying power directly from the colony's supply.
DOCTOR: Where? Where is it, Lesterson?
LESTERSON: Valmar's the only one who can answer that. Or the Daleks of course. They know everything. Yes, you should ask the Daleks.
Troughton's delivery of "where is it Lesterson" is amazing. Panicked, hurried, still trying to be caring.
Imagine if he did just ask the Daleks though. That'd be incredible. And end the series.
Daleks exterminate more red shirt guards.
The Doctor finds Valmar crying over Janley's corpse. And asks him to help the Doctor defeat the Daleks.
Then the Doctor says they can get a diversion by sacrificing Bragen's guards to the Daleks. Bloody hell, Doctor.
Meanwhile Bragen can't reach any of his guards because everyone is dead.
BRAGEN [OC]: This is Bragen speaking. I'm speaking to the Daleks. Daleks, listen to me. I am the Governor. You must work for me. Do not trust the rebels. I will give you whatever you want, but immobilise your guns. This is the Governor speaking.
It's not going to work.
Ben and Polly hide in a cupboard.
Quinn convinces a grumpy Bragen, via a gun, to bring his guards to the capital to take on the Daleks.
The Doctor sets up a huge power surge that will KO the Daleks. However, the Daleks appear, but just when all looks lost, up pops Lesterson.
DALEK: What were you doing in there?
LESTERSON: I want to help you.
DALEK: Why?
LESTERSON: I am your servant.
DALEK: We do not need humans now.
LESTERSON: Ah, but you wouldn't kill me. I gave you life.
DALEK: Yes, you gave us life.
And they kill him ruthlessly.
This distraction is what the Doctor needs to force a power surge which blows up the Daleks. You know, there's a steely calmness to Robert James final line. You could easily see his final actions as a deliberate sacrifice, atoning for his errors by giving his life to save everyone else. On paper, Lesterson always looked quite one dimensional, your typical mad scientist, but Robert James steadfast refused to portray him as such. He's always processing everything, even when his mind is gone, there's still enough of the original man. In a story where nearly all of the humans believe in individualistic selfish need, the day is saved solely because one person acts against that type.
Poor Lesterson. He just found himself in the wrong Doctor Who story.
Anyhow, Daleks explode. A lot.
A Dalek explodes in the Governors Office and Bragen immediately relaxes.
BRAGEN: Now I shall restore law and order on this planet.
QUINN: Not your law, Bragen. That's finished for good.
BRAGEN: You'll obey me, or
QUINN: Your day is over, Bragen. No one will obey you now.
BRAGEN: I'm still the Governor, and you will.
He orders Valmar, who appears, to shoot. So Valmar shoots Bragen. Don't think he saw that one coming.
The survivors really do not appreciate what the Doctor has done.
VALMAR: You used the power from the colony's electric supply, overfed it and blew up their temporary static circuit. Well, didn't you?
DOCTOR: Did I do all that?
VALMAR: You may have stopped the Daleks, but have you any idea of the damage you've done to the colony?
DOCTOR: Oh. There was a blow back, was there?
VALMAR: A blow back? Our power supply has been destroyed! It'll be months before we can get things back to normal.
QUINN: Valmar!
DOCTOR: Oh, that is unfortunate.
VALMAR: But did it have to be this way?
So the Doctor, Ben and Polly ¤¤¤¤ off back to the TARDIS and leave. That was a bit rude, and the colony would be ¤¤¤¤ed if any of those Daleks survived.
As the TARDIS dematerialises, a Dalek eye stalk lifts to watch it go.
Like I said, that colony is ¤¤¤¤ed.
Power of the Daleks ia great introduction to the Second Doctor, and arguably the Daleks have never been better written than they are in this six part story. If only we didn't have to rely on the animation.
NB Yours truly wrote a sequel to Power of the Daleks in a recent charity anthology you can find here. Not only will you be raising money for Shelter, you can read three flash fictions by myself. As well as the Power of the Daleks story, there's an obituary for Harold Chorley (Web of Fear) and a small piece about the government cover up following The Curse of Fenric. There's also three great short stories by my colleague, Mr Jon Arnold, as well as writers like Kara Dennison, Simon Brett and the wonderful Jenny Shirt.
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