Destiny of the Daleks [Review]
From
Blueshirt@blueshirt@indigo.news to
rec.arts.drwho,alt.drwho on Sat Sep 5 16:55:11 2026
From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho
Into Season 17 and "Doctor Who" had a new script editor
on board, Mr Douglas Adams... and his handiwork would
be all over this season.
The opening TARDIS scene is memorable, for the wrong reasons,
as Romana decides that for her regeneration 'outfit' she would
like to wear the outer form of Princess Astra (from the previous
story). The Doctor declares you can't wear somebody else's body,
so Romana decides to try on a variety of other forms; small, big
and (This is REALLY funny <rolls eyes> ) one that has clothes
that resemble the Fourth Doctor's trademark outfit, big hat and
scarf... the Doctor likes it, but it turns out this was Romana
in the Princes Astra body again... so, to cut a long story
short, this now becomes Romana's new form.
Also in the TARDIS, K9 is being repaired, he has laryngitis...
which was handy as John Leeson had left the show at the end of
the previous season so K9 needed a new voice. Terry Nation's
"Destiny of the Daleks" script didn't actually feature K9 at
all, so Douglas Adams added him in... and the guy that did the
Dalek voices (Roy Skelton) double-jobbed and did the croaky K9
voice for this episode.
There is a lot wrong with this story, the lack of continuity
with "Genesis of the Daleks" being the main one... for instance,
Davros was 'killed' by the Daleks in the Kaled bunker... yet
here the Daleks are searching for Davros in the ruins of the old
Kaled city. (The bunker was not in the city.)
The Fourth Doctor drawing attention to the fact that Daleks were
unable to reach the air conditioning ducts in their own city was
nice and whimsical too, but the air conditioning ducts were much
more conveniently located in the same city in Genesis (We saw
people climb through them.) which made more sense.
Then there is the implication that the Daleks were a robotic
logic-driven race, which is just bizzare... as Terry Nation was
always keen to state that the Daleks were not robots. Plus, we
saw in "Genesis of the Daleks" the jars of baby Kaled mutants
that would ultimately be placed inside the "MKIII travel
machine" and be driven by xenophobic ideology... So hardly
robots governed by a battle computer. The Doctor does briefly
acknowledge that they are not robots when he finds a Kaled
mutant outside its casing, but the plot still depends on them
behaving like logical machines. Which contradicts earlier and
later Dalek stories.
"Genesis of the Daleks" is a grim, moral heavy origin story
about genocide, fascism, and the birth of a monster [master]
race. While "Destiny of the Daleks" is much more lighter and
comedic in tone, which makes the Daleks feel less menacing and
more like plot devices. This tonal shift makes the Davros /
Doctor dynamic feel very different too. From being near equals
having a philosophically loaded debate in one story to Davros
now being a returning villain resurrected just to end a
robot-war stalemate.
Michael Wisher couldn't reprise his role as Davros, so a new
Davros was cast for this story, but Michael Wisher's mask wasn't
replaced so David Gooderson had to wear an old mask that clearly
didn't fit him properly.
On paper "Destiny of the Daleks" should be an absolute
classic... it has the Daleks, Davros, Skaro and Tom Baker at the
height of his popularity. Instead, what we get is a strange
mixture of genuinely interesting sci-fi ideas, broad comedy,
questionable production values and Daleks who, unfortunately,
aren't always particularly frightening. And yet... I can't
completely dislike it.
I am not a big fan of Romana v2.0 either... yes, Tom Baker might
have been shagging her - so they should have great chemistry on
screen - but Lalla Ward is no Mary Tamm. I never really took to
this version of Romana... and if people were paying attention
they'd have noticed that she didn't even make my 'Most Sexy
Companion' list!
Luckily for the BBC, ITV were on strike during the broadcast of
"Destiny of the Daleks" so with no competition, this story got
record ratings... with episode four getting over 14 million
viewers.
For me "Destiny of the Daleks " has a bit too much comedy in it
for my liking. Also, if you are going to do a sequel to a very
popular story, at least try and retain some sort of continuity
from it. After saying that, it was very entertaining despite its
flaws... and it did feature Daleks. So I will give "Destiny of
the Daleks" a 7/10 rating.
PS: This story was heavily retconned in later years by John Peel
for his "War of the Daleks" BBC Eighth Doctor novel where it
turns out the Movellans were actually created by the Daleks on
Skaro... a different faction led by the Dalek Prime, and the
events we've seen in "Destiny of the Daleks" didn't take place
on Skaro at all! (But if you tolerate that, then your children
will be next!)
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