Revolution of the Daleks (TV story)
Revolution of the Daleks was the 2021 New Year Special of Doctor Who. It featured the return of Jack Harkness, and marked the Thirteenth Doctor's reunion with her companions following the events of The Timeless Children.
The episode also saw the departure of Bradley Walsh as Graham O'Brien and Tosin Cole as Ryan Sinclair.
Continuing the Recon Dalek storyline begun in Resolution, a new line of Daleks were introduced, cloned from a remnant of the original recon scout. Their new design is a variant on the Recon Dalek's own casing. It also saw the return of bronze Daleks, last seen in 2017's Twice Upon a Time, leading to a battle between both factions, similar to Remembrance of the Daleks and Blood of the Daleks.
Synopsis
As the Thirteenth Doctor marks her days in prison, elsewhere in the universe the Daleks are presented on national television. They are the new Defence Drones, designed to protect the British public.
Left behind on Earth, Yaz, Graham and Ryan need their friend more than ever. Now with Daleks on the assembly line, and a familiar face behind their production... What would the Doctor do?
Plot
367 minutes after the Doctor melted the casing of the Reconnaissance scout, a lorry driver takes the empty casing from GCHQ to Depositary 23, stopping off at a kiosk for a cup of tea. Walking back to his vehicle, he starts to breathe heavily, drops his cup, and collapses.
The woman running the kiosk drags him inside the lorry with the casing and drives it away.
Jo Patterson - the technology secretary - drives to a breakfast meeting with Leo Rugazzi and Jack Robertson to see Leo’s new defence drones.
They oversee a fake riot organised by Jack, where a defence drone effectively disperses the rioters, and Leo also shows the pair how the drones are controlled by AI and solar powered. Robertson and Jo talk in private, and Jo warns him not to tell anyone that she tipped him off about advanced technology being transported from GCHQ. Jack tells her that the drones will take around a year to develop.
In a prison located inside an asteroid, the Doctor wakes up, scratches another mark on her cell wall - the marks cover two walls - says hello to the cameras and her fellow inmates, and thinks. She tries to tell herself a bedtime story, but is interrupted by knocking from the other side of a wall.
Ryan Sinclair and Graham O'Brien walk towards the TARDIS disguised as a house. They go to knock on the door, but it opens for them. Inside the TARDIS control room they find Yasmin Khan surrounded by coloured paper and post it notes covered in writing stuck to almost every surface. She's been sleeping inside the TARDIS, and is desperately trying to find the Doctor. Ryan and Graham tell her that she needs to move on she's been away for ten months, but she refuses to listen. Graham shows her footage of a prototype Defence Drone leaked from the fake riot Robertson organised. They recognise it as a Dalek, and see Robertson overseeing the riot. They believe that he is in league with the Dalek, and she agrees to help them investigate because it was what the Doctor would do.
Jo Patterson - running for the position of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom - summons Jack Robertson to a rainy forest. She tells him that she wants an immediate national rollout of his drones, and him to pay. He nervously laughs, telling her that they had only just started regional beta testing and that it was starting to sound like a 'shakedown'. She blackmails him by threatening to alert the treasury about how much tax his companies pay in the UK. He agrees to her proposal.
As Robertson gets out of his car, telling Leo that he's arrive, Yaz, Ryan, and Graham approach him. He recognises them from the encounter he had with giant spiders. They confront him about the defence drone, believing it to be a Dalek, but he has no idea what they are talking about. Suddenly, people with guns surround them and Robertson tells them that he increased his security because of them, before walking away. After getting free from Jack's bodyguards, they discuss how hard it is to 'see what's going on' without the Doctor, psychic paper, or a TARDIS.
The Doctor wakes up, scratches another mark on her cell wall, says hello to the cameras and her fellow inmates, and sees Jack Harkness in the fenced square for exercise next to her. She’s shocked to see him.
Jack then shows her a temporal-freezing gateway disinhibitor bubble which he activates, joins the Doctor, and tells her to run. They arrive at Jack's cell where he opens a little trap containing a vortex manipulator he smuggled, they then activate it to break out.
Back on Earth, Leo talks to Robertson about the drones, he is worried about the speed of the production but Robertson reassures him, telling him to "live in the worry". Leo then talks to Robertson about the model casing, he explains that by examining it, he found out organic remnants in the machine and cloned them, growing a Dalek mutant, finding it beautiful and intelligent. Robertson, horrified by this discovery, demands that Leo incinerate the creature, and tortures Leo to keep it under wraps before leaving, angrily saying that this kind of science is why nobody likes experts. Leo brings the box containing the dalek mulant to the incinerator, but when he opens it, the creature inside it grabs him and posseses him. He makes a final phone call goodbye to his family, before the Dalek completely takes control.
The Doctor and Captain Jack teleport into her TARDIS, where all the lights have been dimmed. Jack asks if she had listened to his message, and she says that she did give Ashad what it wanted, but fixed it, 'sort of'. She also tells him that she was imprisoned for evading the Judoon twice and '7000 other offences'.
More to be added here...
Cast
- The Doctor - Jodie Whittaker
- Graham O'Brien - Bradley Walsh
- Yasmin Khan - Mandip Gill
- Ryan Sinclair - Tosin Cole
- Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
- Jack Robertson - Chris Noth
- Jo Patterson - Harriet Walter
- Leo Rugazzi - Nathan Stewart-Jarrett
- Armen - Nathan Armarkwei-Laryea
- Rachel - Helen Anderson
- Voice of the Daleks - Nicholas Briggs
- Dalek Operator 1 - Barnaby Edwards
- Dalek Operator 2 - Nicholas Pegg
- Grace - Sharon D Clarke
Uncredited
- Emily Maitlis - Herself
Crew
to be added
References
Species
- The Doctor's fellow prisoners include a Weeping Angel, an Ood, a Sycorax, a Pting, a Silent, a Skithra and a Thijarian.
Popular culture
- The Doctor recites the opening line of a "classic" story to herself, mentioning "Mr and Mrs Dursley of 4 Privet Drive".
- Robertson gives an interview to Emily Maitlis on Newsnight.
Individuals
- Jack Harkness mentions catching up with Gwen Cooper.
- Jack Harkness mentions Rose Tyler.
- Ryan and Graham both have a vision of Grace O'Brien.
Technology
- Jack Harkness has a vortex manipulator.
- Jack Harkness uses a temporal-freezing gateway disinhibitor bubble to break the Doctor and himself out of prison.
- The Doctor gives Ryan and Graham each a piece of psychic paper as a parting gift.
Locations
- The prison where the Doctor is being held is 79 billion light-years away from Earth.
- Ryan reads a story online about a village in Finland that is supposedly dealing with a troll invasion.
- Graham mentions having heard a story about a quarry in Korea that has been shut down due to reports of "gravel creatures coming to life."
Story notes
- The opening title card ("A LONG TIME AGO... FAR, FAR AWAY...") is a reference to the famous Star Wars opening title, "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...".
- This was the first televised story of the parent Doctor Who series to be originally released to a streaming service, making its debut on iPlayer around 10 minutes before its BBC One broadcast, rather than shortly afterwards or live and concurrently, as is the norm. However, Series 1 of Class had previously debuted on the same service. (Perhaps coincidentally, the episodes of Class had also debuted on the iPlayer service earlier than the time that they were advertised to be released.)
- This is the first episode to have a 4K definition in the release, but only on iPlayer. Twice Upon a Time was rereleased in that quality after the airing of the episode.
- The 'Defence Drones' have voices similar to those used by the Imperial Daleks in Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story), the last televised instance of a Dalek Civil War.
Ratings
to be added
Filming locations
to be added
Myths
- Davros would return. This was proven false.
- The prison the Doctor was in would be revealed to be Shada. This is unknown as this was neither confirmed nor denied.
- Graham or Ryan would die at the end of the episode. This theory was incorrect as they would both leave the TARDIS alive at the end of the episode and given an open ending.
- David Tennant would make a cameo as the Tenth Doctor. This was proven untrue.
- The Special Weapons Dalek was to return. This was proven untrue.
- This story would be a two-parter. This was proven false.
- This story would continue the war between the Renegade Daleks and the Imperial Daleks. Although not entirely true, it does contain a similar plot element.
Production errors
to be added
Continuity
- Jack Robertson's political ambitions being ruined by a toxic waste scandal is mentioned and he remembers Team TARDIS from the incident. (TV: Arachnids in the UK)
- The Doctor is still locked in prison for evading the Judoon twice at once and 7,000 other offenses. (TV: Fugitive of the Judoon, The Timeless Children)
- Jack Harkness gets the Doctor's attention by knocking four times. (TV: Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars, The End of Time)
- Yaz has been studying the TARDIS the Doctor sent Team TARDIS back to Earth in. (TV: The Timeless Children)
- Jack Harkness travels by vortex manipulator (TV: Utopia et al.) and uses a sonic blaster. (TV: The Doctor Dances)
- Jack Harkness recalls meeting the Doctor's companions and warning them about the Lone Cyberman. (TV: Fugitive of the Judoon) He is unhappy to find out that the Doctor did give him the Cyberium, (TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati) but the Doctor claims that she resolved this, "sort of". (TV: The Timeless Children)
- The Doctor tells Ryan that Gallifrey is devoid of life after Ko Sharmus used the death particle. (TV: The Timeless Children)
- The Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller previously encountered a set of Daleks who wanted to wipe out a genetically impure Mutant Daleks created by Martez on Red Rocket Rising. (AUDIO: Blood of the Daleks)
- Jack Harkness tells the Fam how he became immortal, (TV: The Parting of the Ways) and that the person partially responsible for it is now stranded in a parallel universe. (TV: Doomsday, Journey's End)
- Ryan puts on a grey beanie, with the Doctor remembering the yellow one he was wearing when they met. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)
- A Weeping Angel, (TV: Blink) an Ood, (TV: The Impossible Planet) a Sycorax, (TV: The Christmas Invasion) a Pting, (TV: The Tsuranga Conundrum) and a Silent (TV: The Impossible Astronaut) appear as the Doctor’s fellow prisoners/inmates.
- Ryan has been reconnecting with his estranged father. (TV: Resolution)
- Graham reminds Ryan of their destruction of the Cybercarrier. (TV: The Timeless Children)
- Jack Harkness reconnects with Gwen Cooper, after spending some time apart. (AUDIO: Herald of the Dawn)
- Ryan once again tries to learn how to ride a bicycle with Graham's help. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)
- Jack Harkness calls Graham "Silver Fox". (TV: Fugitive of the Judoon)
- Ryan and Graham both see a vision of Grace O'Brien. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)
- The Doctor questions how Jack Harkness was able to smuggle his vortex manipulator into the prison. Jack responds; "You really want me to answer that?" (TV: Bad Wolf)
- Ryan reflects on taking on giant spiders, (TV: Arachnids in the UK) a sentient universe, (TV: It Takes You Away) Cybermen, (TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati, Ascension of the Cybermen, The Timeless Children) Skithra, (TV: Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror) Morax, (TV: The Witchfinders) and the "mighty Pting". (TV: The Tsuranga Conundrum)
- The Doctor once again comments on how Jack has "had work done", to which Jack replies, "You can talk." (TV: Utopia)
Home video releases
DVD releases
to be added
Blu-ray releases
to be added
Digital releases
to be added
External links
- Official Revolution of the Daleks page on the Doctor Who website
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