Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)

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The Daleks shall become...THE LORDS OF TIME!!!Davros

Remembrance of the Daleks was the first story of the landmark 25th season of Doctor Who. The story's setting brought the Doctor back to 76 Totter's Lane, where it all began (DW: An Unearthly Child). This was the final appearance of the Daleks and Davros in the original 1963-89 series; except for a brief reference in the 1996 TV movie the Daleks would next be seen in the 2005 episode Dalek, while Davros would not return until 2008's The Stolen Earth.

Sypnosis

The Doctor and Ace battle two Dalek factions in 1963, London, both of them seeking the Hand of Omega, a Gallifreyan Superweapon.


Plot

The Seventh Doctor and his companion Ace have landed the TARDIS in London, 1963, where the Doctor has unfinished business, The Hand of Omega, an ancient relic of the Time Lord civilization that the Doctor hid on Earth on a previous visit to 1963.

Unfortunately, the Daleks have also heard about the Hand of Omega, and are trying to find it before the Doctor does. To complicate matters, there are two groups of Daleks at work — the Daleks are currently in the midst of a civil war between those that accept and those that reject the leadership of their creator Davros, and each side wants the Hand for itself. The Imperial Daleks have set up an outpost at the Coal Hill School.

In the meantime, the alien activity around the Coal Hill area has attracted the attention of the military. Group Captain Gilmore and his unit engage a Renegade Dalek at the junkyard, destroying it with the help of the Doctor and Ace. The Doctor tries to convince Gilmore and his scientific advisor, Dr Rachel Jensen, that human weapons are no match for the Daleks and the best thing they can do is just stay out of the crossfire. The Doctor, however, is playing a deeper game — he wants the "right" Daleks to take possession of the Hand.

The Renegade Daleks enlist the help of a local fascist, Ratcliffe, in first obtaining the Hand, but they are soon attacked by the Imperial Daleks, who retrieve the Hand. Determining that the Imperial Daleks are from Skaro, the Dalek homeworld, the Doctor allows them to return to their mothership with it. The Imperial Daleks plan to use the Hand to create a power source that will give them mastery of time travel, a technology that the Daleks only have in the crudest sense.

However, when the Dalek Emperor, a much deteriorated Davros, activates the Hand, he also triggers a booby-trap that the Doctor has programmed into it. The Hand transports itself to the future which the Imperial Daleks have come from and turns Skaro's sun into a supernova, destroying the star system and Dalek homeworld, and then returns itself to Gallifrey. The resulting feedback blows up the Imperial Dalek mothership, but Davros manages to flee in an escape pod before its destruction. The Dalek Supreme, the last Renegade Dalek on Earth, destroys itself when told by the Doctor that it is the last of its kind.

Cast

Crew

References

  • The Doctor leaves the Renegade Daleks a calling card bearing a question mark and a set of symbols. At one point, when asked to sign a document, Sylvester McCoy's hand movements clearly indicate that the Doctor signs it using a question mark.
    File:Drcallingcard.jpg
    The Doctor's calling card
  • This Dalek encounter becomes known as the Shoreditch Incident.
  • Dr. Jensen makes reference to "Bernard". This is a reference to the character of Bernard Quatermass. Another reference to Quatermass occurs years later in Planet of the Dead.

Daleks

  • The Renegade Daleks have a Time Controller and Battle computer on Earth.
  • The Imperial Daleks (and Davros) use a Dalek Shuttle and Transmat to gain access to Earth.
  • The Imperial Daleks' 'base' is located within Coal Hill School.
  • At this stage, the Daleks are seen to have split into two factions - Imperial (led by Davros) and Renegade (led by the Black Dalek) Davros has augmented the Imperial Daleks with cybernetic implants, whereas the Renegade Daleks have remained 'pure'. Although not explicitly stated, it can be reasonably inferred that the Imperial Faction have control of the Dalek home planet Skaro.
  • The Daleks use a human child linked into their battle computer in order to provide a random element to their battle strategies. This tactic was developed after the stalemates of the Dalek-Movellan War.
  • The Doctor constructs a Dalek jamming device; he used / built: "something like it on Spiridon".
  • The Imperial Daleks utilise a Special Weapons Dalek.

Foods and Beverages

  • Much tea is consumed, both in the cafe by the Doctor and Ace and by the military.
  • Ace orders "four bacon sandwiches and a cup of coffee." whilst in the cafe.

Time Lords and Gallifrey

Weapons

Story Notes

  • Terry Molloy was credited by the pseudonym of "Roy Tromelly" in Part 3 to preserve the surprise of Davros' return.
  • This story had a working title of Nemesis of the Doctor.
  • This is the first instance of a Dalek levitating up a staircase on screen. However, Davros appears to have the power of flight in Revelation of the Daleks, achieved with the same special effect. In The Chase a Dalek is seen to elevate from sand and it is implied they can move between the decks of the Marie Celeste.
  • This was the first story to be broadcast in NICAM stereo sound.
  • This is the first instance of a "skeleton effect" caused by Dalek weapons.
  • The pre-credits sequence includes clips from famous speeches including those of JFK, Charles de Gaulle, the Duke of Edinburgh and Martin Luther King.
  • This is the first story showing the inside of a Dalek (an Imperial one) in a scene where it's transmatting.
  • This is the first (and only) time in the series the Doctor Who series has been (possibly) mentioned, by an announcer on a TV, saying: "This is BBC television, the time is quarter past five and Saturday viewing continues with an adventure in the new science fiction series Do-" - and then the scene changes.

Ratings

  • Part 1 - 5.5 million viewers
  • Part 2 - 5.8 million viewers
  • Part 3 - 5.1 million viewers
  • Part 4 - 5.0 million viewers

Myths

  • In part 4, when Ace is attacked by The Girl at Mike's house, she hides behind the sofa. (If anybody has evidence that this was a deliberate reference to the popular cliché, please share it with us.)
  • The episode takes place on 23rd November 1963, the day Doctor Who debuted on UK television. As noted in the Discontinuity section, below, there is nothing in the episode to confirm that it takes place around this time, and in fact the lack of winter weather would seem to suggest it takes place at another time.

Filming Locations

  • Theed Street, Southwark, London (Final confrontation with the Supreme Dalek)
  • Wootton Street, Southwark, London (Imperial & Renegade Dalek battle)
  • Braybrook Street, East Acton, London (Some of the conversation between the Doctor and Ace driving)
  • Wulfstan Street, East Acton, London (Some of the conversation between the Doctor and Ace driving)
  • TAVC, Horn Lane, Acton, London
  • Macbeth Centre, Macbeth Street, Hammersmith, London (Landing site of Imperial Dalek shuttle craft)
  • Windmill Walk, Southwark, London (Ace and the Doctor running away from Ratcliffe's yard)
  • Kew Bridge Steam Museum, Brentford, Middlesex (Foreman's Yard)
  • Old Oak Common Lane, East Acton, London
  • Willesden Lane Cemetary, Willesden, London
  • John Nodes Funeral Service, 181 Ladbroke Grove, London
  • Macbeth Street, Hammersmith, London
  • BBC Television Centre (TC8), Shepherd's Bush, London

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

  • The gates to the junkyard bear the label "I.M FORMAN", as a nod to the junkyard seen in the first ever episode (An Unearthly Child), and as a continuity link. (The Doctor also has knowledge of the geography of the junkyard). The junkyard in Unearthly Child however, is "I.M Foreman" This is due to a time blip, as explained in PDA The Algebra of Ice and elaborated on in EDA: Interference - Book Two. The sign was mispainted with a spelling error. This happens often to real life signs.
  • When the Doctor is counting ten seconds until the Nitro-9 he obtained from Ace explodes, it is clearly visible where the re-dubbed audio doesn't quite match the original footage. - This is not 'clearly visible'.
  • Various details, such as the "French Revolution" book in the science lab, match up with The Pilot Episode but not with An Unearthly Child. We never see the book leave the school in An Unearthly Child, so its presence (if it is indeed the same book) there is not inconsistent.
  • The Doctor says that the Daleks are dependent on rationality and logic, whereas Daleks are actually driven by xenophobia and race hatred (it seems an especially odd statement as one of the story's core themes is racial purity). The Doctor is most likely referring to their battle strategies, not to their psychology.
  • In part 2, during the scene in the undertaker's, Ace's baseball bat suddenly switches from the Doctor's left hand to his right. (Sophie Aldred points this out on the DVD commentary of this story.)
  • It is strongly suggested that the events of this story take place on or about 23 November, 1963, to coincide with the first broadcast of Doctor Who in real life, yet no reference occurs to the assassination of John F. Kennedy the day prior, or the subsequent death of Lee Harvey Oswald, both of which would have been dominant topics of conversation even in London. Although strongly suggested, it's not definitively stated that this takes place in November 1963; all is known is it takes place soon after the events of An Unearthly Child which could have taken place at an earlier or later date. The killing of Oswald didn't occur until the 24th, in any event.
  • Also left unmentioned is the absence of teachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright and student Susan Foreman; if this story takes place within a few days of the events of An Unearthly Child (as suggested by the presence of the "French Revolution" book), their absence should be noted by the police and the school undertaking investigations and news reports of a missing teenager and her teachers. This could all still be occurring "off screen".
  • The Doctor proclaiming himself as "President Elect of the High Council" contradicts The Five Doctors in which he was named full president and The Trial of a Time Lord in which it was stated that he was deposed. (He might have been bluffing. He is giving himself grand sounding titles, essentially to seem more impressive to the Daleks.)
  • Rachel Jensen uses the name Dalek without having heard it. - The Doctor shouts at the Dalek in the junkyard yelling among other things "Oi Dalek..." it is possible Jensen heard him along with the other characters.
  • If it is 5:15 when the TV is playing then it should be dark. In addition, the Doctor asks the others to lunch, apparently later the same day. Again, it's never stated exactly when during the year this story takes place. If it's mid-summer then it wouldn't be dark at 5:15. It could be argued that this isn't supported by Susan Foreman arriving at the junkyard after dark after going home from school (presumably late-afternoon) in An Unearthly Child but that story never indicates if she actually went straight home.
  • Ace is wearing a patch on her jacket of the Soviet sickle & hammer, and yet no one says anything, despite 1963 being the height of the Cold War.
  • The Doctor seems uncertain about what has actually happened to Skaro. After the mothership is destroyed, he says that the explosion of Skaro's sun destroyed the planet. However, he later tells the Supreme Dalek that its planet is a burnt cinder circling a dead sun, suggesting that Skaro still exists but has been devastated. He then tells the Supreme Dalek in the same conversation that its home has been disintegrated. 'He was trying to get the thing to self destruct so he was probably trying to confuse it so he does not think about the Doctors doing and cancel it out. (Skaro's sun exploded, disintegrating everything on Skaro, leaving the planet a "burnt cinder" and the sun itself effectively dead. From a practical standpoint, the world is "destroyed" even if part of it still exists. There doesn't appear to be an inconsistency.)
  • On Earth, the Doctor tells the Supreme Dalek that its home is a trillion miles away. The Milky Way galaxy is approximately 100 quadrillion miles in diameter and over 5 trillion miles thick, and it seems likely from The Daleks' Master Plan (in which the Daleks enlist the aid of civilisations in the Fifth Galaxy in order to invade the Sol system) that Skaro is not in the Milky Way. Therefore, either the Doctor is wrong, or Skaro is in the Milky Way. It is possible that the Doctor is not exactly wrong, but is being poetic - "a trillion miles away", while untrue, flows better than "a hundred quadrillion miles away". If the Doctor is in the business of being economical with the truth, it is possible that his placing of Skaro's destruction 1000 years in the past or future (i.e. around 963 or 2963) is also inaccurate. This would mean that Skaro could still exist by the time of The Daleks' Master Plan in the year 4000, as well as during any stories set after Master Plan. Of course, things change if you believe the Dalek Prime in War of the Daleks that it was in fact Antalin which was destroyed in Remembrance, as Antalin could have been destroyed in 2963 (or 963, but that date seems less likely) with Skaro surviving beyond 4000.
  • When the Doctor and Ace are driving the van, they fleetingly pass some 1980's style graffiti in the background, although the programme is set in 1963.
  • One of Radcliffe's work-crew is dark-skinned and clearly a member of an ethnic minority status - i.e. just the sort of person you would imagine Radcliffe would not what to employ, given his political views. His political views arent expanded on much only that we know is he spoke out against the war
  • In the Dalek fight on the streets, they keep missing each other? Why don't they re-aim their guns? (Since it is Daleks fighting Daleks, they know where each other is likely to fire and have developed some defences against the weaponry of the other side.)
  • Since when were Daleks so cowardly that they retreated when one Dalek gets killed?
  • Why don't the other group of Daleks follow them instead of waiting in the streets for them to return
  • How does no-one see the Dalek fight, or the Daleks themselves in broad daylight? Surely someone would have seen them or heard the shots? People have been evacuated as stated by Captain Gilmore
  • Why didn't the Imperial Daleks just take the Special Weapons Dalek with them in the first place? The novelisation states that the Special Weapons Dalek is only used in extreme situations, presumabley the Imperials thought it was an 'extreme situation' when they were losing against the renegades.
  • When asked if the disorienting device he built on Spiridon in Planet of the Daleks was effective, the Doctor replies that it did 'absolutely nothing'. But it was effective. It did disable a Dalek, though it was destroyed in the process. - Not quite, the conversation is actually about the likelihood of the device he is currently making in the scene will work.  The Doctor replies to a question about what will the device do saying that it will 'at best' disorientate and weaken the daleks, commenting that he rigged something like it on Spiridon.  Prof. Jensen then asks, "And at worst?".  To which the Doctor replies that it will do 'absolutely nothing'.
  • The Doctor deplores violence, commenting that weapons are 'useless in the end'. Yet he has no compunction about destroying an entire planet, especially considering that Skaro is not only the Dalek homeworld, but home to the Thals as well. It's possible in the time the Doctor sends the Hand of Omega to, the Daleks have completely exterminated the Thals, or maybe the Thals have left the planet. (He himself does not fire the weapon, the Daleks do. He has simply set it to be used defensively so that if they do indeed fire it, it will essentially backfire and destroy their own homeworld instead of the intended target.)
  • How could the Doctor mistake Gilmore for the Brigadier, since Lethbridge-Stewart didn't become Brigadier until the late sixties or early seventies? (The Doctor called Gilmore Brigadier because Glimore reminded him of the Brig.)
  • The first soldier to be exterminated on-screen has a gun in his left hand then it switches to his right hand when he gets exterminated.
  • If Skaro was destroyed, how come they put the Master on trial there in the TV Movie? It is never specified when these two events take place relative to each other, the destruction of Skaro could have happened after the Master's trial.
  • If Skaro was destroyed in the Earth year 1963, shouldn't that prevent the Doctor's future landings on Skaro. - This may not be not true as when the Imperial Daleks were sending the Hand of Omega to Skaro, one of the lines stated is "Entering Skaro time zone." this seems to imply that the Imperials sent the Hand of Omega to a different time period.  Another explanation for Skaro's survival is given in EDA: War of the Daleks, cited previously in this list.

Continuity

Timeline

For the Doctor

For Davros

DVD, Video, and Other Releases

DVD Releases

7h-dvd.jpg
7h-dvd2.jpg

Released as Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks, this release was the second release of 2001.

Released:

PAL - BBC DVD BBCDVD1040
NTSC - Warner Video E1183

Contents:

  • Deleted Scenes/Out-takes
  • Multi-Angle Sequences
  • Trailers
  • Music-only Option
  • Photo Gallery
  • Production Subtitles
  • Commentary: Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred

Rear Credits:

Notes: An error was made and the Region 2 DVD is missing some SFX from certain shots. The Australia/NZ release is in NTSC format, not the standard PAL format, due to an inability to clear the music and the SFX problem which had been corrected for the US DVD.

  • Second Release:

This second release was as part of the Davros box set (along with Genesis of the Daleks, Destiny of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks and Revelation of the Daleks). The SFX errors and the Multi-Angle feature in the first release were corrected, the Photo Gallery revised and expanded, and the following additions made to the DVD package:

Notes:

  • Editing for DVD release completed by Doctor Who Restoration Team.
  • A special edition re-release of the story will go on sale in late 2009.

Video Releases

7h-video.jpg
7h-video2.jpg
7h-video3.jpg

Released as Doctor Who: Rememberance of the Daleks.

Released:

  • First Release:
PAL - BBC Video BBCV5005
NTSC - Warner Video E1145

Notes: Released in a special edition Dalek Tin along with The Chase and a book entitled The Daleks. The US release featured no book or tin, both stories packaged in one box without individual artwork.

  • Second Release:
PAL - BBC Video BBCV7255

Notes: W.H. Smith exclusive as part of the The Davros Collection box set.

Novelisation

Remembrance of the daleks novel.jpg
Main article: Remembrance of the Daleks (novelisation)

External Links


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For the purposes of this list, a "Dalek story" is one in which one living, authentic Dalek plays a part within the confines of the story, outside of flashbacks to previous stories and cliffhangers that lead into the following story. For this reason, stories such as The Space Museum are not counted due to the Daleks' appearance being defined by their importance to following stories, while stories such as The Wheel in Space and The Waters of Mars are absent due to the Daleks' only contribution being references to past Dalek stories. Stories like The Wedding of River Song, Hell Bent, Once, Upon Time and The Vanquishers are also not included due to the Daleks' appearance being restricted to a single scene of no consequence to the plot of the story, while the TV movie is also absent due to the Daleks only being heard from off-screen.
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