Death to the Daleks (TV story)
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Synopsis
The TARDIS arrives on the planet Exxilon, where all electrical energy is drained off by an unknown force. The Doctor meets a Marine Space Corps expedition from Earth who tell him that a plague is sweeping the galaxy and that the antidote, parrinium, can be found in large quantities only on Exxilon. Their ship has been disabled by the energy drain, so they are unable to leave with the mineral.
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A Dalek is destroyed by the Exxilons
Plot
The TARDIS has a power failure and the Doctor ans Sarah are stranded on a planet. There, Sarah meets and battles the Daleks for the first time. The Daleks want to take over, but the Doctor prevents the Daleks from doing this. The City destroyed, The Doctor sadly comments that the world is down to 9000 wonders.
Cast
- The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
- Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
- Dan Galloway - Duncan Lamont
- Richard Railton - John Abineri
- Commander Stewart - Neil Seiler
- Peter Hamilton - Julian Fox
- Jill Tarrant - Joy Harrison
- High Priest - Mostyn Evans
- Bellal - Arnold Yarrow
- Gotal - Roy Heymann
- Dalek Voices - Michael Wisher
- Dalek Operators - John Scott Martin, Murphy Grumbar, Cy Town
Crew
- Assistant Floor Manager - Richard Leyland
- Costumes - L Rowland Warne
- Designer - Colin Green
- Fight Arranger - Terry Walsh
- Film Cameraman - Bill Matthews
- Film Editor - Bob Rymer
- Incidental Music - Carey Blyton
- Make-Up - Magdalen Gaffney, Cynthia Goodwin
- Masks - John Friedlander
- Music - London Saxophone Quartet
- Producer - Barry Letts
- Production Assistant - Chris D'Oyly-John
- Script Editor - Terrance Dicks
- Special Sounds - Dick Mills
- Studio Lighting - Derek Slee
- Studio Sound - Richard Chubb
- Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
- Title Music - Ron Grainer
- Visual Effects - Jim Ward
References
- The Doctor was intending to take Sarah to the planet Florana which has effervescent water.
- Parrinium is a chemical that is rare on Earth but is as common as table salt on Exxilon.
- It's also the cure for the space plague, which was caused by the Daleks' 'plague missiles'.
- The Doctor describes the Daleks to Sarah as; "They're only half robots, Sarah. Inside each of those shells is a living, bubbling lump of hate."
Story Notes
- This story had the working titles of; The Exilons, The Exxilons
- This story originally did not feature the Daleks, but they were included because of Barry Letts' and Terrance Dicks' desire to cash in on the Daleks' popularity.
- This story marks the first time the Daleks' weapons do not function on screen. The Daleks are later seen to be able to modify their casings relatively quickly, replacing their energy weapons with slug-throwing rifles.
- The Daleks in this story are destroyed in quite simple ways.
- The Daleks target practice with miniature police boxes.
- Many of the Dalek casings utilised for this story dated from the 1960s (due to the unsatisfactory quality of the casings produced for Planet of the Daleks).
- The cliffhanger to Part Three - the Doctor and Bellal walking towards a patterned area on the floor, only for the Doctor to say "Stop - don't move!" - was not originally going to be the cliffhanger. The original cliffhanger was going to be at the scene where the Doctor is trying to deduce the answer to the logic test concerning symbols, when two Daleks appear. Specifically, the cliffhanger would have hinged on the zoom towards the Dalek's gun. This was changed, however, for timing reasons.
- Episode 1 was at one point wiped from the BBC archives, but later a copy was found to restore the serial; this is the latest known episode of Doctor Who to be, for a time at least, considered lost.
Ratings
- Part 1 - 8.1 million viewers
- Part 2 - 9.5 million viewers
- Part 3 - 10.5 million viewers
- Part 4 - 9.5 million viewers
Myths
to be added
Filming Locations
- Hanson's Aggregates Sand Pit, Puddletown Road, Gallows Hill, Dorset
- BBC Television Centre (Studio TC4), Shepherd's Bush, London
Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors
- What happened to the Exxilon in the TARDIS after Sarah knocks it out?
- A Dalek is killed by the freezing lake, but it apparently has no effect on humanoid tissue.
- How did the Daleks complete the puzzles in the city, which are mostly touch based, when touching is supposedly the one thing a Dalek can't do? Daleks do come with attachments just for this situations perhaps or got one of the Exxilons to do it for them
Continuity
- In NA: The Left-Handed Hummingbird an Exxilon craft is seen.
- In DW: Pyramids of Mars Sarah compares the puzzles on Mars to the Exxilon city.
- This is Sarah Jane's first encounter with the Daleks. She would face them again in Genesis of the Daleks and, decades later, in The Stolen Earth/Journey's End.
- In this story it is established that Daleks move by telekinesis, presumably a recent development. In previous stories they relied on electricity (The Daleks, The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Power of the Daleks). That is how the Daleks can operate on Exillon. However, the fact that they cannot operate their energy weapons suggests that they are still reliant on external sources of energy. It is not known if this is still static electricity.
DVD and Video Releases
Death to the Daleks was released on VHS in 1987 in the omnibus format. It was later released in the episodic format.
Novelisation
- Main article: Death to the Daleks (novelisation)
- Novelised as Death to the Daleks in 1978 by Terrance Dicks.
- The novelisation refers to the replacement Dalek weapons as "machine guns" (i.e., fully automatic slug-throwers), despite the on-screen weapons appearing to function as semi-automatics.
External Links
- BBC Episode Guide for: Death to the Daleks
- Outpost Gallifrey Episode Guide: Death to the Daleks
- Doctor Who Reference Guide: Detailed Synopsis - Death to the Daleks
- A Brief History of Time (Travel) Guide to Death to the Daleks
- The Locations Guide to Doctor Who - Death to the Daleks
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