030 - The Power Of The Daleks

Broadcast:

5^th November - 10^th December 1966

Doctor:

Patrick Troughton

Companions:

Polly, Ben

Adversary:

Daleks

Written by:

David Whitaker, Dennis Spooner ¹

Director:

Christopher Barry

Music:

Stock

Script Editor:

Gerry Davis

Producer:

Innes Lloyd

Average Viewers:

7.8m (7.9, 7.8, 7.5, 7.8, 8.0, 7.8)

Summary: The Doctor has a new face, or is he a different person? On the human colony planet Vulcan a spacecraft made of untarnishable metal has been found in mercury swamps and contains some impressive machinery but is this alien technology really as good as the the scientists think or could it be put to bad use by a rebel group?

Among the most wished for missing stories, The Power Of The Daleks must surely rank near the top. It's a cracking story in its own right and has even been remade in recent years, but crucially, it is Patrick Troughton's real début as the Second Doctor. His face may have appeared at the end of The Tenth Planet but it wasn't until the next episode that viewers got to see him in full. The reprise begins at the start of the cross-fade in what we now refer to as the regeneration and thus William Hartnell makes as much of an appearance in this episode as Troughton did in the last (his face also appears in a mirror as the new Doctor examines himself though that was achieved with a photo). All of this, of course, is to remind viewers that the Doctor has changed, but is still the same man...

As The Power Of The Daleks commenced broadcast, 38 African states were demanding that the UK use force against the Rhodesian government and by the end, Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Rhodesian Prime minister Ian Smith began negotiations aboard HMS Tiger in the Mediterranean. In between times, the actor Ronald Reagan was elected Governor of California and would take office in January and would ultimately become the 40th President Of America 14 years later. In the Republic of Ireland, Seán Lemass retired as Taoiseach and was replaced by Jack Lynch. An attempted coup in Togo was crushed by the army and Barbados gained independence, whilst closer to home the Rootes Group launched the Hillman Hunter and unemployment took another rise of 100,000 people and passed the half-million mark.

In the cinemas were the likes of a ballet interpretation of Romeo and Juliet, a Cliff Richard musical Finders Keepers and a Hammer Horror The Witches (not to be mistaken for the Roald Dahl book adaptation of 24 years later!), while on television, a quarter of the British population would be watching the BBC's documentary-style drama "Cathy Come Home" which had a lasting effect on public attitudes to social issues relating to homelessness. The music charts saw the Four Tops complete their run at the top with "Reach Out I'll Be There" followed by two weeks of The Beach Boys "Good Vibrations" and the start of a seven week run for Tom Jones "Green, Green Grass of Home". Unbeknownst to everyone, the Beatles were about to hit 'interesting' times as they began working on their highly acclaimed, multi-award winning concept album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and John Lennon met Yoko Ono...

As for Ben and Polly, they were about to have some life changing experiences of their own as they met two surprising characters... one of whom was their friend the Doctor!

Before proceeding, there are several things worth noting about The Power Of The Daleks that don't relate to the story's narrative itself. It is the first Dalek story not to be written by Terry Nation (something that only happened three times out of eleven before he moved to LA in the 1980s) For reasons I haven't found, although credited to David Whitaker the final script was actually written or at least polished off by Dennis Spooner, perhaps because he had worked with Nation on The Daleks' Master Plan but it is also possible that Script Editor Gerry Davis was too busy writing the next story The Highlanders (more on that next time). Not only is it the first story for the Second Doctor, it is also the only one of his to not feature Jaime McCrimmon (Excluding his return for The Three Doctors which was really a Third Doctor story), the only other Doctor to have such a dedicated companion was Christopher Ecclestone's Ninth Doctor who only lasted one series (and I exclude Paul McGann's single appearance - see my Companions page for details). Since William Hartnell does not feature, other than the brief couple of seconds in the regeneration reprise, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this was the first story to not feature any original cast members, but you'd be forgetting Mission To The Unknown, the single episode 'prequel' to The Daleks' Master Plan which didn't include either the Doctor or his companions... but you could argue that, although split by The Myth Makers they were part of the same story... but Mission To The Unknown wasn't even the first episode to not feature an original cast member because the Doctor's absence for an episode of The Time Meddler pre-dates it, though a few lines of pre-recorded dialogue were played into the studio to cover it. Finally, something that has more baring on narrative, the Doctor's regeneration (though that term would not be used until 1974) was imagined by the production team to be a horrifying metaphysical change akin to the downside of hallucinogenic drug LSD, with the words "hell and dank horror"... Now lets see how the regulars dealt with that...

Although shown at the end of The Tenth Planet, it isn't clear from the opening that Ben and Polly witness to the Doctor's face change - possibly due to the telesnap reconstruction. Despite this, Ben is very sceptical, as he was when they first arrived in 17th century Cornwall, but Polly's logic leads her to be more accepting of what she has just seen - The Doctor was the only one they saw enter the TARDIS and he said before that his body was "wearing a bit thin". It's very much an accepted part of the show now, but we must remember that back in 1966 there was only one Doctor, one face, one voice, one personality and the idea of a man changing all of that was as alien as the Daleks were when they first appeared (it wasn't unheard of for actors to be replaced, but the character remained the same and it was glossed over). Ben's scepticism continues through most of the story in one form or another, helped along by the fact that the Doctor himself doesn't seem entirely sure that he is the Doctor and nearly always refers to himself in the third person. Polly's general acceptance from logic helps the viewer's perception and she gradually becomes more confident in her convictions. When he first comes around, the Doctor stumbles and fumbles, commanding something to be "not so fast" as we hear artificial sounds that resemble a rapid but slowing heartbeat. His ring falls from his now-smaller finger and his cloak falls from his shoulders. He rummages in a chest to find a mirror (which shows a reflection of Hartnell first then Troughton), he turns his pockets out, finding a dagger that reminds him of Saladin and the Crusades as well as a curious piece of metal to which he simply says "exterminate" before rummaging more to fill his pockets with new items including a recorder... something that will play its part throughout the story and provide much of the fairly minimal music (everything else is reused recordings from previous Dalek stories). At one point later in the episode he pulls out his spectacles to examine something, only to find that his new eyes don't need them! The transformation is complete. As if to remind himself of who he is, the Doctor reads his 500 Year Diary as he walks out onto the planet's surface and we see a new comical side - he manages to dodge around poisonous mercury pools without looking up from his book. He encounters a man who is almost immediately shot dead before the Doctor himself is knocked unconscious. From this point on the Doctor is misidentified as an Examiner from Earth, the man he saw killed, thus adding an extra layer of uncertainty to his identity.

We learn that a space capsule has been retrieved from one of the mercury pools, having gone under some hundred years previous, though it isn't stated how the scientists know this, especially since the metal bears no corrosion or tarnishing. When the Doctor examines a piece of it he again mutters "exterminate" as if only half remembering where he has seen it before. Ben and Polly follow him into the capsule as he finds three dead Daleks, inactive and covered with cobwebs. Only the Doctor knows the danger until Polly sees something claw-like slithering into the dark! From here, the story takes the form of the Doctor trying to persuade the scientists that they shouldn't be experimenting on the Daleks and warning them of the danger, even after they are revived and start acting subserviently and actually declare "I am your serrrvant" whilst carrying out their given duties. There's something very creepy about Daleks acting this way and it builds a real level of fear as they become stronger and the scientists get closer to their inevitable doom. There is a rebel group acting to overthrow the colony ruler and they manage to get their hands on their own Dalek and seem to have control of its gun (or at least have the ability to suppress it if their command isn't followed to their wishes), and all the while the Doctor, Ben and Polly face their own conflicts and difficulties being individually kidnapped, captured or arrested.

Surprisingly, just eight weeks into the series production Anneke Wills was given a holiday and a captured Polly is entirely absent from episode four. She was followed by Michael Craze taking the next week off so Ben isn't in episode five. However, there are so many characters and so much going on that neither of them are really missed, especially since the Doctor tends to be doing his own thing most of the time with them just tagging along. Hopefully this was deliberate as it fits in with the Doctor's recovery and newness while everyone is uncertain and still coming to terms with the change. Having said that, there are a lot of scenes that feel like padding such as the Daleks going off on a manic chant a couple of times for longer than they need to. However, one scene is probably a deliberate scripting: where the Governor is kept waiting an extra few seconds because Bragen is in the middle of writing something - as well as delaying the scene slightly, it sets up a sense of insubordination and lack of hierarchical respect that is a relevant part of the scene. But there are also several scenes with little audible action and an extended fight sequence in the final episode that is followed by nearly a minute of just music as the aftermath is shown. There is dramatic cause for these, but it did all feel longer than strictly necessary, even for the mid sixties. Finally, the whole story is wrapped up with an epilogue that really does feel like a late addition just to push the episode to a fuller length, but it still comes short of 21 minutes (excluding titles, and credits) when the average at this time was nearer 23 minutes. The only other episode to have been less than 21 minutes was the final part of The Space Museum which also comprised of a final battle. The epilogue I mentioned isn't just a case of "I'm glad that's over, where to next" or any kind of feed into the next story, it involves the Doctor playing his recorder in the background while Ben and Polly recap the main points of the story in the foreground as they make their way back to the TARDIS. It even sounds like a voice over, though that could be due to the audio recording and any clean-up that had to be done to it.

Despite it being William Hartnell who is remembered for fluffing and bumble his lines, there are several occurrences in this, the first story without him. And the first even comes from his replacement! Near the start of the second episode Troughton is heard to say "conta... compartment". Beyond that, there are a couple of slight stumbles in episode three and few more in episode four which also includes a bumpy piece of Dalek action! Thankfully, these are all minor and largely go unnoticed, sounding quite natural and there are some great lines that make up for them. In one of the Doctor's warnings he says "These lumps of metal, Daleks, I want them broken up or melted down. Up or down, I don't care which, but destroyed" a line which was echoes by the Twelfth Doctor recently in The Caretaker when he's upset about Danny and tells Clara to "Take him away. Shut him up. Shut him down. Up or down, doesn't matter to me" We also get the first of many deliveries of the Doctor's "When I say run, run... Run!" Ben gets to use a bit of cockney rhyming slang and calls Doctor his "China Plate" which gets him thinking about his time in China, to which Ben explains he means "China Plate, mate, friend" and the Doctor says Marco Polo was a friend in China!

It is the Daleks who steel the show though. Not only are they creepy as servants, but they are also being manipulative and calculating. They seem to recognise the Doctor, though this is only from how Ben sees them look at him, and when he commands one to shut itself down, it appears to do so but comes back to life as soon as he has left the room. One stops short of saying "Daleks are better than humans" and instead says "different from" so as not to rouse suspicion. We discover, though not specifically mentioned in the script, that the capsule is larger on the inside and contains a whole Dalek production line with the now classic model-shot of many Daleks on a conveyor belt, sadly with bumps that are too small and flat and grill sections that are too tall. We also see the green matter that lives inside them for the first time (though we don't see the colour of course) and we also get the first real chant of "Exterminate!" over and over (and over and over!) as well as "Exterminate all humans. Exterminate! Annihilate! Destroy!" which is followed by the more classical and eloquent "Daleks conquer and destroy!" repeated. As well as the story title referring to control, it also relates to the electrical power that the Daleks receive at the start to revive them and the 'emergency cabling' that they help install which creates a field of static power that they need to run on... this references the very first Dalek story where it was stated that they run on static electricity gathered from the metal floors of their city. The Doctor makes a comment about the colony's floors not being metal and wondering how the Daleks will run... this is all very clever, but it relates to an issue that was addressed by their second adventure The Dalek Invasion Of Earth where they had radar-like dishes on their back to receive power and then The Chase where their final modification replaced the dishes with slats that were described as solar panels (though that may have only been stated by designer Raymond Cusick and not in the narrative) and there hadn't been any issues in The Daleks' Master Plan

Ultimately, the Doctor's attempt to stop the Daleks is only successful by chance, putting a further twist of doubt over his character, but he certainly had a strong story to start him off. Public opinion was mixed of course but the show's slow decline in viewing figures was at least halted and would remain reasonably steady until Troughton's last few stories when scripting troubles would let him down. For my part, I scored The Power Of The Daleks 83% making it the second highest so far after The Time Meddler.