"Victory of the Daleks"

Of all the stories broadcast under the Doctor Who banner this century, none have provoked such contradictory feelings within me as "Victory of the Daleks"- two feelings in particular. The first and most important one is that, more than any other, this is a story that should really have been a two parter. Mark Gatiss is too good a writer to produce a truly bad script and the story is brimming with great ideas and some great lines. The basic plot is very similar to The Power of the Daleks, but Gatiss manages to make this story work on its own terms. However, there is just so much crammed into 40 minutes that there is a danger of some of the plot not sticking. The most obvious example is the ‘Space Spitfire’- we are asked to believe that Professor Bracewell’s ‘musings’ could be turned into workable hardware in less than an hour. If you can keep up, this is an exciting ride, but it would have been more satisfying if the story had more time to breathe.

Another casualty of the pace is characterisation, but there are really only two characters, apart from the regulars. Despite the rush, Bracewell succeeds admirably as a character. This is due, in no small part, to the performance of Bill Paterson, an actor I’ve always admired. However, Gatiss manages to take a clichéd sci-fi situation- a man discovering he’s a robot- and manages to make it work- the simplicity of the scene where the Daleks simply state ‘No, we created you’ is very effective. We are given a situation that could be blandly generic- the Doctor and Amy talking to Bracewell to deactivate the Oblivion Continuum within him- but the fact that they use embarrassment as one of the human feelings that needs to be provoked is very refreshing. Then, we have the historical figure du jour- Winston Churchill. In truth, Ian McNeice doesn’t look that much like Churchill, but his studied performance is hugely effective, easily compensating for the fact that the pace of the script has to make him do a U-turn in his attitude to the ‘Ironsides’ without comment. The regulars are awesome- we Doctor’s attempts to goad the Daleks into revealing themselves by battering one with a giant spanner. We also see him hold them off with a Jammie Dodger- Matt Smith has total mastery of the role. Amy continues to be inventive, intuitive and just plain fantastic.

Andrew Gunn keeps up with the pace of the script with a very polished production. The ‘Space Spitfires’ might have been brought into being a bit too soon, but the sight of the most iconic aeroplane in British aviation history, dogfighting with a Dalek saucer is breathtakingly wonderful. The period detail is as wonderful as it was in Moffat’s own trip into the Blitz five years ago and the design is excellent- with one exception. I am afraid that I must join with the vocal minority who do not approve of the new Daleks. I am not against a revamp for the Daleks in principle- the original revamp for "Dalek" was absolutely perfect- keeping very close to the Raymond Cusick originals, yet adding little touches here and there. The Dalek Supreme in "The Stolen Earth"/ "Journey's End" was also a great piece of design. These new Daleks seem a bit too plastic, a bit too vacuum formed and the multi-coloured ‘paradigms’ do not help the look. The worst thing, however, is their backs- they look like Daleks who have gone to seed on port, cigars and Stilton. This is a great pity as the ‘Ironside’ Daleks look great. The scene where the Ironsides bring a new generation into being and willingly accept their own destruction by their offspring would have been a very powerful scene, were it not for the fact that what we see are some very cool Daleks being exterminated by a bunch of bootylicious wannabes. Some fans have been scathing about the design, calling it as bad as Colin Baker’s costume. This is clearly an overreaction, but the effect it has on the story and, indeed, on the Daleks as a whole, is great. Indeed, this is the only time this century that a piece of design work has ever been unsuccessful and I sincerely hope that Steven Moffat reconsiders.

There is much to enjoy in "Victory of the Daleks", but it has problems it cannot solve, despite the considerable talents of all involved. Spread out over two episodes, it could have been genuinely great good enough to counter the negative impact of a failed attempt to revamp one of the most iconic pieces of design of the modern era.

NEXT: "The Time of Angels"/"Flesh and Stone"