Doctor Who: Power of the Daleks

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

So I just saw Power of the Daleks at my local theater, and it was fuckmazing! For those who don't know, there are large swathes of 60's and early 70's Doctor Who that are lost due to the BBC policy of recording over existing master tapes of that era since few people at the time were able to imagine a world where people would want to preserve television broadcasts, and instead viewed them as live, one-time events for which permanent recording technologies served only as a back-up in case something went wrong with the live broadcast. Because of this mindset, much of the first decade of Doctor Who is now lost, and exists only in the memories of those who watched it at the time, but were unable to preserve copies since this was well before the VHS era. They were, however, able to record the audio, and some did, leaving many lost episodes as audio-only experiences akin to the radio drama's of the 20's, 30's, and 40's except that these were originally television episodes meant to be viewed as well as heard.

Of the all the episodes that were lost, one that hurt the most was Power of the Daleks, a 7-part serial that saw the second encounter with the iconic enemy the Daleks in the incarnation that established them for the next 5 decades as a species that wasn't just the monster of the week, but a conniving enemy that fought against their own nature and emotions to present themselves as friendly servants until the time was right to EXTERMINATE! PotD also saw the very first regeneration of The Doctor, and brilliantly used the differing reactions of the two companions as a proxy for the audience reaction: One was willing to give the benefit of the doubt that this new person was really The Doctor, while the other said "nay" and distrusted the new interloper. To help/sabotage matters was that the new Doctor acted crazy, which we soon learned was because he knew that he was being surveilled.

The BBC recently used the fan-recorded audio and brief surviving video clips to recreate the entire 7-part episode using animation. Suffice to say, they fucking nailed it. The animation fits the 60's-era audio to a tee. The animated actors look almost exactly like their 60's-era counterparts, and the liberties they took fit the audio and the narrative much better than the original 1966 live-action performance possibly could have. The animation feels like TRON if the animators were able to work in a much higher resolution with modern computing power for animations and angles but were limited to black & white. The script and performances still hold up amazingly well. You have to make a few allowances for the fact that it was the 1960's, but far fewer than for any episode of the original Star Trek.

The story has a gradual pace, but is very tense. As the viewer, we are clued in early on that the Daleks are not to be trusted, but despite his usual ingenuity the Doctor is kept powerless by various factors involving an ongoing rebellion whose members are gradually revealed to us, along with a cast of characters who play into the hands of the Daleks for reasons that (mostly) make total sense given their perspective. It's a story of the Daleks starting out with no power or leverage at all, and ending up as an almost-unstoppable force that takes the full creativity of The Doctor to overcome, but without anyone acting in an irrational or cliche'd way to allow them to ascend. It's a subtle allegory for the rise of fascists, and one that's more relevant now than in any time in recent memory.

I cannot recommend Power of the Daleks enough, and although I do not believe there will be anymore theater showings, it will come out on DVD and various streaming services soon, and any Whovian or sci-fi fan owes it to themselves to check it out.

[Hillary]

I am extremely excited by this - as you say, of all the lost stories this is probably the one that topped the wish list of "to be founds".

As well as the lack of foresight in terms of not imagining that people would want to see these episodes again, you have to factor into the equation that the tapes were ridiculously expensive at the time as would have been storing them correctly - these were wiped in order to be used again for that reason as much as any (remember the BBC is a public body).

If the animation is anywhere near as good as that of the Invasion, I will be suitably impressed. This was one of the least likely stories to show up again, as the Troughton Dalek stories weren't sold abroad per Terry Nation's instructions - he was trying to launch his own Dalek series at the time (which is why the Cybermen were born, as a replacement monster who they COULD sell).

I hope the DVD does well - if so, it may encourage the BBC to repeat the exercise (Evil of the Daleks please).

[mr friendly guy]

I have said in the other thread, I am definitely getting the DVD when it comes out. Most probably not going to see it in the cinema though. Hopefully they do Evil of the Daleks.