Destiny of the Daleks

Terry Nation’s final contribution to Doctor Who has a very simple premise. The Daleks are locked in a stalemate with another race, the Movellans and are looking for a way to break it- as are their enemies. To do this, they are looking for Davros, who has been in suspended animation since the events of Genesis of the Daleks. This is a good enough premise, which alone makes it more worthwhile than Planet of the Daleks. However, the problem is there is very little more to the script than its ‘high concept’ summary and it is mercilessly padded with repetition, captures and repetition. The only line of dialogue I can remember is ‘Oh look! Rocks!’ and the characterisation is practically non-existent. Douglas Adams puts in some jokes to liven the script, but they hardly raise a chuckle and sometimes work against the story- it is unwise to mock the apparent limitations of the Daleks in the script, for example. The guest performances are adequate, with the most memorable roles being the Movellans. Although they are a poorly thought out arch enemy for the Daleks (all one needs to do to immobilise one is to remove its power pack) the performers are striking to look at. Peter Straker as the Movellan commander might not be the most gifted actor, but he has incredible screen presence. It is odd that Tony Osoba is given such a minor role, however, and Suzanne Danielle has little to do except look nice (which she does extremely well, admittedly).

To compensate for this, Ken Grieve’s direction is very stylish, with Steadicam shots, long takes and interesting angles. The sets are atmospherically lit and the locations used are very evocative. The cliffhanger with Romana in a chamber with the nova device is made far better thanks to the expert camera work. The Movellens do look a bit ‘disco’, but the look is certainly memorable. In fact the only let down on the production side are the Daleks themselves, who look very shabby.

Then, of course there is Davros. David Gooderson is not exactly bad as Davros, but his performance is nothing like as good as Michael Wisher’s (as has been said by practically everyone reviewing this story). However, the fault is not entirely Gooderson’s- his voice has barely been treated with a ring modulator and he obviously has not been instructed in how to move a Dalek body- his trundling is very obvious and is quite distracting. Tom Baker is pretty much on autopilot throughout, but Lalla Ward does good work in her debut as Romana, despite the terrible regeneration scene at the beginning.

Is it worth watching? Not really, but it’s not a complete waste of time.

NEXT: City of Death