The Evil of the Daleks (TV story)
The Evil of the Daleks was the ninth and final story of Season 4 of Doctor Who and the first to feature companion Victoria Waterfield, played by Deborah Watling. It was at the time intended to be the Doctor's final battle with the Daleks. Except for a few cameos, they did not appear again in the series for five years. Only episode two remains intact; the rest of the story has been lost.
Synopsis
The Daleks draft the Second Doctor into distilling the Human Factor. Once implanted, it will make the Dalek race invincible. Jamie's faith in the Doctor is stretched to the limit as the Doctor appears to be collaborating with the Daleks. The Doctor has a few tricks up his sleeve, but then again so might the Daleks...
Plot
Episode 1
Having bidden farewell to Ben and Polly, the Doctor and Jamie discover that the TARDIS has been stolen on the back of a lorry. They pursue the thieves, encountering a less-than-helpful air mechanic (Bob Hall), who is actually working for someone named Kennedy. Kennedy himself is under the employ of an antique dealer, Edward Waterfield, a specialist in Victorian antiques and reproductions.
While Kennedy knocks out Hall and leaves clues for the Doctor to find, Waterfield explains to his assistant Perry that the police box is a special request for a particular client. When Kennedy meets Waterfield, they discuss the trap, ensuring that it is the Doctor and that they know where to find them.
He asks Perry to meet the Doctor and Jamie, and to invite them to meet Waterfield at Treacol, a coffee bar. Perry tells them that Waterfield cannot meet them, but they can come at 10 PM.
Kennedy, meanwhile, has noticed how Waterfield appears to have a secret back room in his office. He sneaks in to find a safe as well as a mysterious machine featuring a large platform. As he focuses on opening the safe, he fails to notice a Dalek materialising on the platform. The Dalek demands the terrified Kennedy identify himself.
Episode 2
Kennedy attempts to flee and is shot down by the Dalek. Waterfield is horrified at the Dalek's callous indifference to human life, but the Dalek demands that he follow orders. Despite his shattered nerves, Waterfield lays a trap for the Doctor and Jamie involving a photo of the two of them ripped in half.
The pair enter the antique shop and note the antique clocks, which are too perfect to be reproductions, but too new to be genuinely Victorian. They also find a bill dated 1866, but again it is seemingly too new to be genuine. They soon discover Kennedy's body and one half of the photo. The Doctor quickly finds the secret room, and sees the second half of the photo sticking out of a box on the teleport platform. Jamie impulsively opens the box, releasing a gas grenade that knocks them both out. Waterfield moves their prone bodies onto the platform, and the three disappear.
They awake in the country house of eccentric scientist Theodore Maxtible in the year 1866. Maxtible and Waterfield explain that they have been researching time travel through the use of static electricity and a chamber lined with mirrors. They inadvertently summoned a group of Daleks who took Waterfield's daughter Victoria prisoner and forced them to kidnap the Doctor. The Daleks threaten to destroy the TARDIS unless the Doctor assists them with an experiment. Jamie is to be subjected to a series of potentially lethal tests in order to identify the Human Factor, a theoretical group of attributes possessed by humanity that have caused so many Dalek defeats at their hands. Implanting the Human Factor into the Daleks would create an invincible race of Super-Daleks.
The test is due to start immediately, but then Jamie is nowhere to be found.
Episode 3
Jamie has been kidnapped by a ruffian, Toby, at the behest of another houseguest, Arthur Terrall (a suitor of Maxtible's daughter Ruth). Terrall is under the control of the Daleks, and his behavior vacillates wildly from calm to violent.
The Daleks prepare for the test to begin, moving Victoria to one end of the south wing of the house. A mute Turkish muscleman, Kemel, a servant of Maxtible, demonstrates his strength by bending an iron bar. He is told that Jamie is a vicious ruffian, and is instructed to guard the house from him.
Jamie is puzzled by the Doctor's behaviour, as the Doctor claims Daleks are in the house and appears to collaborate with Maxtible and Waterfield. However, Jamie succumbs to the Doctor's reverse psychology forbidding him from attempting a rescue of Victoria. He has, after all, become seemingly smitten by a painting of Victoria's late mother, who he's told resembles her daughter exactly. Jamie is soon in the south wing, and squares off against the fearsome Kemel.
Episode 4
Jamie and Kemel fight each other, but in the struggle Kemel falls through an open window and dangles from the roof. Once Jamie pulls him back in, they come to a truce. Despite Kemel's muteness, they are able to communicate with each other. They're both fond of Victoria, and they work together to avoid fatal booby traps laid by the Daleks. The Doctor, monitoring their progress, gleefully notes how Jamie's compassion, courage, and instinct have allowed him to survive. Meanwhile, Waterfield is increasingly unnerved by the Daleks' ruthlessness, and Maxtible demands that the Daleks fulfil their end of the bargain — the alchemical secret of transmuting base metals into gold.
After working together to destroy a Dalek by flinging it into a lit fireplace, Jamie and Kemel climb the balcony of the trophy room, finding Victoria in the closed room beyond. A hidden panel slides open and a Dalek advances on them.
Episode 5
Jamie and Kemel manage to propel the Dalek off the balcony, where it explodes on the floor below. They break into the room beyond to finally find Victoria.
The Doctor closes in on Terrall, correctly suspecting that he's under Dalek influence. It is evident that the strain on Terrall is worsening. Meanwhile Waterfield pleads with the Doctor to stop the experiment – surely once the Daleks have the Human Factor, they'll be invincible. The Doctor continues nonetheless, imprinting the qualities that Jamie exhibited into positronic brains that will be implanted into three test Daleks.
Terrall sneaks into Victoria's room via a secret passageway and steals her away under Jamie and Kemel's noses. They follow through the passageway to find her. They split up, and Kemel finds Victoria unconscious in the lab. A Dalek orders him to carry her into the time travel cabinet.
Terrall finally collapses under the strain of the Dalek influence. The Doctor removes the control device, and urges Ruth to take him away to recover. Jamie is furious with the Doctor for his seeming collaboration with the Daleks, and has lost his faith in the Doctor. Then the three test Daleks with the Human Factor activate; rather than invincible killing machines, they are childlike and playful.
Episode 6
The Doctor is overjoyed with the success of the experiment, watching the Daleks enjoying the individual names given to them by the Doctor (Alpha, Beta and Omega) and playing trains and roundabouts. All the Daleks, including the three humanised ones, are summoned back to Skaro now that the experiment has ended. Maxtible follows to receive his promised reward, though he is greatly aggrieved to learn that the Daleks intend to destroy the house.
Waterfield finds the bomb left behind by the Daleks. The Doctor realises that they can't deactivate it in time, so they have no choice but to also follow them to Skaro. They leave just before the bomb explodes and destroys the house.
Kemel and Victoria are in a cell in the Dalek city. Maxtible arrives to explain to them how they've been transported across the galaxy. Victoria despairs but Kemel resolves to defend her. The Daleks are furious with Maxtible for not bringing the Doctor with him to Skaro, but an alarm soon rings: the Doctor, Jamie and Waterfield are infiltrating the city via an underground passage. The Daleks force Victoria and Maxtible to scream to lure them in.
Meanwhile, the Black Dalek encounters one of the three humanised Daleks, Omega, who proudly boasts how the Doctor gave him his name.
In a tunnel, the Doctor, Jamie and Maxtible meet a Dalek claiming to be Omega, but the Doctor quickly recognises it's an imposter and pushes it over a cliff. They eventually reach a vast chamber, the throne room of the giant Emperor Dalek. The Doctor boasts to the Emperor how the humanised Daleks will soon ferment revolution on Skaro (his true goal all along), and that the Daleks are beaten. The Emperor then reveals that he too has a secret. Identifying the Human Factor has allowed the Daleks to identify the Dalek Factor, and now that they have the Doctor's TARDIS, they can then implant the Dalek Factor across the history of Earth.
Episode 7
The Doctor is appalled and refuses to comply. They are all put in the holding cell, and Victoria is reunited with her father at last. The Daleks lure Maxtible with the secret of turning lead into gold to walk through an archway that implants him with the Dalek Factor.
Later, as they sleep, Maxtible hypnotises the Doctor into walking through the arch as well. The others wake to see him, and Jamie cries out in vain for him to stop. As he passes through, the Doctor seems to also be mentally converted into a Dalek. Jamie and the others despair, and all hope seems to be lost.
Meanwhile, the Black Dalek orders a work party to stop, but is enraged when one Dalek asks, “Why?”
Maxtible and the Doctor work on creating a device that can convert humans into Daleks on a massive scale. When Maxtible leaves, however, the Doctor's demeanour changes, and he makes a quick adjustment to the conversion arch. He then sneaks back into the holding cell, urging them to walk through the arch. Jamie is still unsure if the Doctor can be trusted. A Dalek comes to bring the Doctor before the Emperor. As he leaves, the Doctor gives a subtle wink to Jamie.
The Emperor is informed about the three humanised Daleks beginning to question and defy commands. The Doctor, still pretending to be converted, suggests that all Daleks be passed through the conversion arch so that the humanised Daleks will be re-impregnated with the Dalek Factor.
As the Daleks begin moving through the arch, the Doctor urges his imprisoned colleagues to go through also. He reveals his double-cross: he switched the circuitry, and all the Daleks passing through the arch are being humanised (because the Doctor is not human himself, the initial Dalek conversion failed). They go through the archway and are unchanged.
Chaos erupts in the Dalek city. Humanised Daleks begin defying the non-processed Daleks, and are destroyed. The Doctor urges the humanised Daleks to defend themselves and to demand answers from the Emperor. Soon civil war erupts in full force. The enraged Maxtible hurls Kemel over a cliff to his death, before himself being killed in the crossfire. Waterfield sacrifices his life to save the Doctor by hurling himself in front of a Dalek energy blast. The Emperor himself is destroyed by the fighting in the throne room. The Doctor and Jamie escape the melee with the now-orphaned Victoria and watch the city burn, apparently witnesses to the final end of the Daleks. Jamie expresses concern about Victoria being left alone, to which the Doctor replies that she'll be going with them as they leave. In the midst of the rubble, one lone overtoppled Dalek is emitting a pulsing light...
Cast
- Dr. Who - Patrick Troughton
- Jamie McCrimmon - Frazer Hines
- Victoria Waterfield - Deborah Watling
- Edward Waterfield - John Bailey
- Theodore Maxtible - Marius Goring
- Bob Hall - Alec Ross
- Kennedy - Griffith Davies
- Perry - Geoffrey Colville
- Mollie Dawson - Jo Rowbottom
- Ruth Maxtible - Brigit Forsyth
- Arthur Terrall - Gary Watson
- Toby - Windsor Davies
- Kemel - Sonny Caldinez
- Daleks - Robert Jewell, Gerald Taylor, John Scott Martin, Murphy Grumbar, Ken Tyllsen
- Dalek Voices - Roy Skelton, Peter Hawkins
Crew
- Writer - David Whitaker
- Producer - Innes Lloyd
- Director - Derek Martinus
- Title Music - Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
- Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
- Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
- Dalek stories created by Terry Nation
- Fight Arranger - Peter Diamond
- Script Editors - Gerry Davis and Peter Bryant
- Costumes - Sandra Reid
- Make-Up - Gillian James
- Studio Lighting - Wally Whitmore
- Studio Sound - Bryan Forgham
- Film Cameraman - John Baker
- Film Editor - Ted Walter
- Visual Effects - Michaeljohn Harris and Peter Day
- Designer - Chris Thompson
- Dalek fight film sequence directed by Timothy Combe
- Assistant Floor Manager - David Tilley, Margaret Rushton
- Associate Producer - Peter Bryant
- Production Assistant - Timothy Combe
- Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
References
- Maxtible wishes to learn how to turn lead into gold.
- Mollie's uncle was killed in the Crimean War at the Battle of Inkerman.
- Maxtible mentions J Clerk Maxwell.
- The Doctor mentions the Charge of the Light Brigade to Jamie.
- Daleks came out of the time cabinet that Maxtible and Waterfield invented.
- This marks the second time the Doctor has visited the same alien world, specifically Skaro, a second time (the first was Kembel).
- The Dalek Emperor makes its first appearance.
- The Daleks use mirrors to time travel.
- While trapped on Skaro, the Doctor supposes he might try to take his party to another universe or to his own planet.
- Terrall tells the Doctor he seems to be a devotee of Edgar Allan Poe.
- Jamie and Terrall engage a swordfight in the trophy room.
Story notes
- Written by former Doctor Who script editor David Whitaker, The Evil of the Daleks was initially intended to be the last Dalek story on Doctor Who. Writer Terry Nation, the creator of the Daleks, was busily trying to sell the Daleks to American television at the time, to produce a spin-off series featuring them, and it was intended to give them a big send off from the series. Of course, despite the Doctor's pronouncement, this was not to be his last encounter with these most famous of his adversaries. In addition, despite the intention to "kill off" the Daleks, Lloyd was told, at the last moment before filming the final scene, not to. He did this inserting a light globe inside one of the wrecked Daleks in the Emperor Dalek's chamber. This light glowed, suggesting that something within remained alive.
- The working title of this story was The Daleks (also sometimes known as Daleks). A rumoured working title is War of the Daleks, but this does not appear on any contemporary BBC paperwork.
- This was the last story on which Gerry Davis served as story editor.
- The Evil of the Daleks was wiped from the BBC's archives in the early 1970s. Only a telerecording of episode two remains, which was returned to the archive in May 1987 after being found at a car boot sale a few years earlier. A copy of the soundtrack was released in 1992. A second version with alternative narration was released in 2003. A home movie of the filming of the Dalek battle sequence exists and is included on the DVD of The Tomb of the Cybermen.
- This was the first series-finale in Doctor Who history that featured a returning adversary, as well as the first series-finale to feature the Daleks.
- This is the first Dalek story in which William Hartnell does not feature, if recaps and images seen in The Power of the Daleks are included.
- In 1993, readers of DreamWatch Bulletin voted The Evil of the Daleks as the best ever Doctor Who story in a special poll for the series' thirtieth anniversary.
- The Beatles' "Paperback Writer" and the Seekers' "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" are used as background music on the jukebox in the coffee bar scenes in episode one.
- The theme given to the Daleks by Dudley Simpson in his incidental music was based on the series' own signature tune.
- Patrick Troughton and Deborah Watling appear only in film inserts in episode four. Both were on holiday during the week when it was recorded.
- Sound effects from The Daleks and The Daleks' Master Plan are reused for the Dalek city.
- Some Louis Marx "tricky action" toy Daleks are used in model work for the scenes of the destruction of the Dalek city.
- The first individual visual effects designer credits ever given on the series appears, for Michealjohn Harris and Peter Day. Previously, visual effects had been handled by the series' scenic designers rather than by the BBC's Visual Effects Department, although the Department as a whole did receive a credit on the first story, An Unearthly Child.
- Roy Skelton was uncredited on-screen for episode five, but credited in Radio Times.
- This story picks up where The Faceless Ones left off. The first two parts take place contemporaneously with part four of The War Machines, which may go some way to explaining why the First Doctor said at the start of the earlier story that he had the same feeling he had when Daleks were around.
- The following story, The Tomb of the Cybermen, picks up immediately after the events of this story on Skaro, with the Doctor welcoming Victoria aboard the TARDIS as its newest crewmember.
- A sequel to this story was released in DWM. It was called Children of the Revolution.
Ratings
Original broadcast only
- Episode 1 - 8.1 million viewers
- Episode 2 - 7.5 million viewers
- Episode 3 - 6.1 million viewers
- Episode 4 - 5.3 million viewers
- Episode 5 - 5.1 million viewers
- Episode 6 - 6.8 million viewers
- Episode 7 - 6.1 million viewers
Repeat transmission
- The Evil of the Daleks was the first Doctor Who serial to be repeated in its entirety. This occurred between June and August of 1968, when the serial was aired to fill the gap between seasons 5 and 6, with a two-week break between episodes three and four to accommodate the BBC's extended coverage of the Wimbledon tennis tournament. Unlike most reruns, the repeat was actually worked into the narrative of the series, by having new companion Zoe Heriot watching the events unfold via a telepathic projector hidden behind one of the roundels of the console room. For the repeats, episode one had an added voice-over by Patrick Troughton and Wendy Padbury immediately after the opening title sequence that referred back to the fact that this was being "shown" to Zoe:
- The Doctor: "Now as I remember, Zoe, it all started when Jamie and I spotted someone making off with the TARDIS."
- Zoe: "But what about those Daleks you showed me?"
- The Doctor: "We're coming to that, Zoe. Just let me show you the story from the beginning..."
- The Radio Times programme listings for the repeats of episodes one and two featured additional opening paragraphs. These were as follows:
- Episode one: "As Dr. Who and Jamie embark on another adventure today, they're in a desperate plight. With the TARDIS stolen, their base, their home, their means of escape are all gone. The TARDIS must be found at all costs — and soon!"
- Episode two: "In search of the stolen TARDIS, Dr. Who and Jamie have followed a curious trail leading to a Chelsea antique shop."
Filming locations
- The hangars on Kendal Avenue in Ealing were used for the opening scenes at Gatwick Airport.
- Grim's Dyke Mansion House at Harrow Weald, Middlesex served as the location for Theodore Maxtible's estate.
- Warehouse Lane in Shepherd's Bush was used for the scene at the railway arches.
- All other scenes, including the final scenes on Skaro, were filmed at Ealing Television Film Studios, Ealing Green, Ealing.
- Lime Grove Studios (Studio D), Lime Grove, London
Production errors
- In episode two, part of a camera appears as the Dalek questions Victoria.
- In episode two, Maxtible refers to Edward Waterfield as "Whitefield."
- In episode seven, when the "Dalekised" Doctor and Maxtible report to the Emperor, their voices are slightly but audibly "Dalekised" also. Similarly, the echo effect of the Emperor's voice affects other Daleks in the control room.
Continuity
- Jamie wonders if the Chameleons could be behind the theft of the TARDIS. (TV: The Faceless Ones)
- This story introduced the Dalek Emperor. Previously the leader of the Daleks had been either the Black Dalek (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth) or the Supreme Dalek (aka the Dalek Supreme, TV: The Daleks' Master Plan). The concept of a Dalek emperor is referenced again in TV: Remembrance of the Daleks, TV: The Parting of the Ways and GAME: City of the Daleks.
- The Daleks also use mirrors as a method of time travel in AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks, as does Donna Noble and UNIT in TV: Turn Left
- Alpha, Beta and Omega next feature in COMIC: Children of the Revolution.
- The Daleks try a similar plan to create human/Dalek hybrids in TV: Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks.
Home video and audio releases
DVD releases
- The surviving episode (Episode 2) was released on the Daleks: The Early Years video.
- It was also released on the Lost in Time DVD (January, 2004).
- Editing of the surviving episodes DVD release was completed by the Doctor Who Restoration Team.
Lost in Time Region 2 UK
Lost in Time Region 4 Australia
Lost in Time Region 1 US
Lost in Time Region 1 US (Disc 2)
Lost in Time Region 4 Australian re-release
Audio releases
- The Evil of the Daleks was released on 6 July 1992 in a 2-cassette package with linking narration by Tom Baker. The Tricolour coffee bar scenes in episode one were edited out, because the BBC at the time did not wish to have to pay the copyright holders for the use of "Paperback Writer" by the Beatles and "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" by the Seekers, which are audible in the background of the original.
- A newly mastered version with narration by Frazer Hines was released on CD on 3 November 2003, as part of the "Dalek tin" box set. In this version, while "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" was successfully cleared for commercial release, "Paperback Writer" proved impossible. As the only other options would have been to edit the whole scene out again or not release the story at all, "Paperback Writer" was digitally replaced with another 1960s track: "Hold Tight" by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich.
- The same recording was released individually on 2 August 2004. It was re-released as part of the box set Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes - Collection Four on 2 February 2012.
"Daleks" CD tin
Individual CD release
The Lost TV Episodes - Collection Four
Early audio release
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External links
- The Evil of the Daleks at the BBC's official site
- The Evil of the Daleks at BroaDWcast
- BBC - Doctor Who - Classic Series - Photonovels - The Evil of the Daleks
- The Evil of the Daleks at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Evil of the Daleks at Shannon Sullivan's A Brief History of Time (Travel)
- The Evil of the Daleks at The Locations Guide
- The Evil of the Daleks transcript
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