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Remembrance of the Daleks - A Review

by Andrew Hunter

London, 1963. Where it all began. The Doctor and Ace are on the trail of the Daleks, who want to get their “grubby little protuberances” on a mysterious artifact that the Doctor left behind many years ago. But there is more than one faction of Daleks – why are they fighting among themselves? What is the artifact? And why does the Doctor appear to know a lot more than he is letting on?

Remembrance of the Daleks is the final outing for the Daleks in “Doctor Who”, and is also one of the best Dalek stories in the show's history. The opening scene – one of the series' rare pre-title sequences, in which we see the Dalek mothership heading towards the Earth to the accompaniment of a contemporary soundtrack of speeches including JFK and Martin Luther King – immediately sets the scene: we know the Daleks may wreak havoc on our planet… so what's the Doctor going to do about it?

Above all, Remembrance of the Daleks is pure nostalgia. Not only is it a faithful reproduction of the 1960s (if you can ignore the odd shot of a modern building or the fact that it was daylight at 5:15pm on a November evening!) but it is also homage to the series' – and the Doctor's – past. Throughout the story, there are links to the first Doctor Who story, 100,000BC: the story is set around Coal Hill School, the school Susan once attended; we see Susan's book on the French Revolution, and there are references to the first incarnation of the Doctor, with one character wondering why this Doctor is not “an old geezer with white hair.” But while it looks back at the series' mythology, it also looks forward to the new mythology that would be picked up by Virgin's New Adventures, with the suggestion that, somehow, the Doctor was a contemporary of Omega and Rassilon – a suggestion that would culminate in the concept of “the Other.” This was the beginning of the so-called “Cartmel masterplan” that would resurface time and again over the series' final two seasons. It also features one of the programme's few examples of self-referentiality, as the TV set announces the debut of a new science fiction series called “D…”.

Apart from the continuity –forwards, backwards and sideways – Remembrance of the Daleks is probably most fondly remembered because it grabs our attention from the very start. There is no slow build-up: within ten minutes, a man is dead and the Doctor – and the viewer – are in the thick of the action. A Dalek is in Totter's Lane (more continuity) and soldiers (allowing us to fondly remember UNIT) are under attack. This pace is almost relentless throughout all four episodes: necessary scenes of exposition are, on the whole, kept short, feeding both the fanboy and the casual viewer with quintessential “Doctor Who”: Daleks, explosions, extermination… but tempered with a strong narrative and some very deep (for the series) exploration of both racism – not just the mock racism of the Daleks, but the true racism of Mike's Mum (the “No Coloureds” sign”) and of Ratcliffe and his Association – and of consequences: the scene in the café between the Doctor and John – where the Doctor appears to consider what the effects of his interference might mean – shows an introspection that is rare from our hero.

The pace is helped by some wonderful episode endings. Part one ends by finally putting to rest the old joke about Daleks and stairs, as a Dalek follows an incredulous Doctor up a staircase. Part two has Ace trapped in a no-win situation, surrounding by screeching Daleks, while part three makes us wonder whether the Doctor really has screwed up when the Dalek shuttle lands. Even the end of the story is extremely effective: as the doors close on the church, the Doctor and Ace share one of the defining pieces of dialogue in the series' entire history:

Ace: “We did good, didn't we?”

Doctor: “Time will tell. It always does.”

However, a cynical reviewer might say that the real reason for the story's popularity is that it marked the series' first attempt at “real” special effects – and spectacularly so. In 1988, we were still a long way from the CGI work of Buffy et al, but we were also used to seeing wobbly space ships and the odd touch of Quantel in “Doctor Who”. Remembrance of the Daleks features impressive spaceships, magnificent explosions, convincing Daleks (especially the Special Weapons Dalek!) and some amazing visual effects, notably the early extermination of the soldier (the late Tip Tipping with another of his brilliant stunts) where the old “negative” effect is replaced by a phosphorescent green highlighting the soldier's skeleton (although the energy bolt is missing from the DVD release). And let us not forget the first Dalek transmat materialization either. Almost all of the effects in the story still stand up to close scrutiny today, and there aren't many “Doctor Who” stories you can say that about. Remembrance of the Daleks also boasts some of the most convincing sets in the series. The bridge of the Dalek mothership has still not dated, and the 60s sets are utterly convincing – then again, period is one of the BBC's greatest strengths.

This is not to say that the story is faultless. There are some glaring holes in the plot (some, admittedly, caused by editing), and the Doctor's talking the Dalek Supreme to death is quite frankly embarrassing. But most people are more than willing to overlook these for the sake of a “Doctor Who” story that both recaptures the series' past and forges a new (but sadly short-lived) future as a programme that could hold its head up high.

If there is one story that will get someone unfamiliar with “Doctor Who” interested, Remembrance of the Daleks is that story. Explosions, special effects, spaceships, and Daleks – what more do you want?

As if a top-class story isn't enough for one DVD, we are also treated to lots of interesting extra features. The outtake scenes are funny, watching the great Sylvester McCoy mess up a few lines! The photo gallery contains a large selection of photos. There are two trailers. One is a BBC1 trailer for Episode One. This is a brilliant trailer. Each scene flows smoothly into the next. The second trailer, for Episode Two, is not as interesting and is much slower.

Overall, this DVD is absolutely brilliant.