Rewatching... Doctor Who: The Evil Of The Daleks - Part 7

"A Dalek questioned an order."

Saturday 1 July 1967

Colour television began today on BBC2 with the Wimbledon coverage. This is the first colour television service in Europe. According to The Times we will get a number of programmes in colour throughout the week; 40 hours of programming including The Virginian and Late Night Line-Up. They have helpfully marked all the colour programmes with a "C" in their listings. On BBC1 however we still have to make do with black and white, so that's how tonight's Doctor Who was viewed. Except by me of course; I can't see it at all, apart from a number of still images. I can hear it clearly enough however, and it sounds fab.

Last week we met the Emperor Dalek who is trying to bully the Doctor into turning Earth into a planet of the Daleks. The Doctor, Jamie and Waterfield are sent to a rather crowded cell; Victoria, Kemel and Maxtible are already imprisoned there. Luckily for everyone the Doctor still has his recorder on him so he entertains everyone with a tune. At least I didn't hear anyone complain anyway, though if I could see the picture it's entirely possible that there might be some wincing. But they're probably all relieved that Jamie's left his bagpipes behind.

Maxtible is still bleating on about the Daleks having promised him the secret of transforming metal into gold. Jamie gets a bit cross and lunges at him, then a Dalek appears and breaks it up. Yes that's right, a Dalek breaks up a fight.

There's a rare mention of the Doctor's home planet as he reassures Victoria he'll take care of her. I'm not sure I've heard him sounding so wistful about his home since the very first episode.

Elsewhere, in a laboratory, a black Dalek orders some regular worker Daleks to stop what they are doing. "Whyyyyy?" one of them says. This infuriates the black one. Apparently questioning a command is really bad... I wonder if the black one explained his reasoning the other one might have said "Oh alright then, I see now" and a major rebellion could have been avoided. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

An excited Maxtible gets his dream come true when a Dalek finally produces his alchemy machine. Or so he believes. It actually turns out to be a Dalek Factor machine and the man is tricked into becoming converted into a human Dalek. Like every school child he starts talking Dalek. Jamie helpfully tells us that Maxtible has been turned into a Dalek.

Later Maxtible uses the old Victorian swinging watch chain hypnosis routine on the Doctor who'd either been sleeping or pretending to. it seems to work as the Doctor follows Maxtible to the Dalek Factor booth. But of course he's faking it, he's not human! He does his Dalek impression and then when no-one's looking he swaps the Dalek factor vial for his human factor one. A black Dalek arrives and asks the Doctor just what exactly he thinks he's up to. The Doctor (using Dalek voice) demands to be taken to the Emperor.

In the Emperor's chamber the Doctor points out that a Dalek questioned an order and advises that all Daleks should be put through the Dalek Factor booth to turn them back into Daleks. I know what he's up to. Cunning Doctor! The Emperor thinks this is a fantastic idea and so that's what they do.

For some reason, the Doctor urges all the humans to go through the Human Factor booth. Waterfield wants to go after Maxtible, asking Jamie to look after Victoria. Oh yes I'm sure he will.

And then the Dalek civil war begins and that takes care of the rest of the episode. Probably the shortest civil war anywhere ever. Lots of noise, lots of Dalek screeching, pyrotechnics and steaming sludge everywhere... It all sounds incredibly exciting. Amongst all the exterminations, Waterfield is gunned down saving the Doctor's life. If he hadn't reacted so quickly we'd have lost our title character and that would have been the end of Doctor Who. The Doctor is basically a lucky man. The Doctor promises to take care of Waterfield's daughter. Now, the Doctor I trust.

Having just met the Emperor we now see his demise as it all falls apart around him. This seems a little rushed, but it's a great scene nevertheless as he screams powerlessly at his Daleks to stop fighting.

it's not quite over yet though as there are a couple of loose ends that need tidying up, namely Maxtible and Kemel. A rather macabre scene as Maxtible attacks the Turk chanting "kill, kill, kill" over and over. I wonder if this gets any complaints from parents. He pushes Kemel over the edge of the precipice.

The Emperor is blasted by the rebel Daleks, and it's not clear what happens to the demented Maxtible, but presumably he's a casualty when the whole city blows up.

There's a tender moment as the Doctor has to break it to Victoria that her father's dead. He tells Jamie that she's coming with them. A new companion! I didn't read about this in the papers this time. The Doctor thinks they've destroyed the Daleks forever: "the final end" indeed.

Well, what a fantastic story that was, and a superb ending to a really invigorated series. It could have done with an extra episode on Skaro to build up the rebellion more believably, and lost the episode which was basically an extended fight scene mid-way. I'd have liked to have seen more of the Emperor, who was killed off almost as soon as he was introduced. But despite all that I thoroughly enjoyed it. A truly epic tale, possibly my favourite story this series. It's hard to believe tonight's finale was part of the same series that started with a different Doctor caught up with Cornish smugglers. That seems such a long time ago! In fact the Hartnell version seems like a distant memory now.

I must say I'm enjoying the programme much more with Patrick Troughton in the role. I like the direction Doctor Who is going in and it's going to be a long wait till it returns...