Genre – Sci Fi Drama Serial
Movie Total Runtime – 2 Hours 31 Minutes
Spoilers – Yes
Doctor Who was an iconic British Science Fiction show that ran from 1963 until 1989. Sadly, it has never returned. Worse, the British Broadcasting Company loved to set it on fire – literally. Many of the episodes went up in smoke to free up warehouse space for newer product. When the BBC realized people actually wanted to watch the old episodes again and that they could make money by selling home video copies, they were in a bit of a bind. The audio survived for every episode, but Television is kind of a visual media. It’s right there in the name. After a bit of stumbling around, they fell into the idea of an animated reconstruction. So, we have the Animated Doctor Who serial, the Power of the Daleks, featuring the Second Best Doctor, Patrick Troughton.
The show starts with the death of the First Doctor dying in the control room of the Tardis. This is not only our first visit with the Second Doctor, but his first serial ever. He inherits the First Doctor’s two companions at the time, Ben and Polly, who debate whether this new guy is even the Doctor. Since there had been no explaination of what was coming, they are unsure of the matter. The Doctor doesn’t help matters with his erratic behavior, referring to his previous incarnation in the third person and rifling about before finally just wandering outside.
They’ve landed in a mercury swamp on the planet Vulcan. No, that wasn’t stolen from a different Science Fiction series. I suspect there will be an overly warm planet given that name in the real world some day.
Anyway, after wandering around the mercury swamp for a bit, the Doctor stumbles onto someone who declares that he’s from Earth. In the middle of saying he’s the Examiner, he gets shot. The Doctor takes a cursory look around for the shooter, then steal the Examiner’s badge. The shooter, rather than just off the Doctor and be done with him (we know what would happen, but the shooter can’t) clobbers him and plants a button on the unconscious Doctor. Ben and Polly begin to suffer ill effects from the fumes of the mercury swamp as the colonists find the Doctor. All three are brought back to the colony under the impression that they are the Examiner’s team.
The Examiner’s body is missing at this point, and we’re expected to believe it’s been disposed of in the mercury swamp. Funny thing about mercury, you can’t submerge a corpse in it. Since steel will float on mercury, a mere human body isn’t going under. Still, this is just an oversight by the writers. Nobody finds the Examiner.
Since the only thing of obvious interest at the colony it a space capsule a guy named Lesterson has, they assume that’s why the Examiner showed up, bringing the Doctor there. We find out there are some rebels plotting against the governor of the colony, but their exact grievences are unclear at this time. The Governer decides that it would suit his interests more if the Examiner examined the capsule instead of digging into the rebels. Lucky for him, that’s where the Doctor’s interests lie. The capsule had been dragged out of the same mercury swamp after having sat there for centuries, predating the human colony. We know what it is, the title of the serial gave it away. Inside are Daleks, incapacitated by lack of power, though Lesterson has removed one.
Naturally, the Doctor wants the still-incapacitated Daleks destroyed, but the colonists refuse. He goes to radio Earth and convince them to order the governor to destroy them. Unfortunately, somebody has clobbered the communications engineer and sabotaged the transmitter. Obvious red herring character is found with a tool in hand claiming to have picked it up when he arrived. There is much arguing and the colonists schedule a formal inquiry in front of the governor come morning.
In the meantime, Lesterson is experimenting on his purloined Dalke, delivering power to it until it wakes up and zaps his assistant. Rebel woman cuts power then lies and claims the assistant is still alive. She hauls off the dead guy and Lesterson removes the weapon arm from the Dalek before presenting it to the governer in the middle of the inquiry into the sabotage. Realizing it needs to buy time, the Dalek proclaims “I am your servant” as the Doctor reacts in a rather agitated manner to its presence. The warnings fall on deaf ears.
The humans are more worried about their human concerns, like the chief of security and his elaporate coup plot involving egging the rebels on until he can remove the governor and take over. then he plans to wipe them out. Rebel Woman works for him. To get some leverage over the Doctor, Rebel Woman has the rebels chloroform Polly and hold her hostage. She also gives them the Dalek gun off the first active Dalek. I phrase it that way for a couple of reasons. A: We know there are more inactive Daleks in the pod. B: Lestereson isn’t the type to refraim from meddling. C: The Dalek will want reinforcements. D: The title is plural.
Towards its own ends, the Dalek bribes Lesterson with the possibility of better tech in eschange for raw materials. It also turns up the power going into the pod. The Doctor arrives to find it has revived the other two and both of them are armed. After the Doctor and Ben run, the Daleks maniacally announce their plans for conquest. Several different factions in the colony pressure the Doctor to leave the Daleks alone as Lesterson supplies them with power and materials. Lesterson extorts the Daleks’ feigned obedience by turning down the power.
After a confrontation with the security chief over the whether he killed the real examiner, it is found that there are now four Daleks running around the colony. As there were only three originally in the pod, this calls for getting past the brand new guard on Lasterson’s lab. Inside, Lesterson is starting to get worried about what the Daleks are doing with all of the materials. Rebel Woman blackmails him out of deviating from the course of supplying the Daleks. Lesterson is horrified when he finds out there are more than three Daleks roaming about, but more terrified over the leverage Rebel Woman has in the form of the dead assistant.
The Docotr deciphers the notice to colonists with information on the Rebels meeting, where they foolishly rearm a Dalek. Rebel Woman announces that they are going to take over using the Daleks as shock troopers, having put a kill switch on the gun. Ben gives away that they’re eavesdropping and gets himself captured. This leads to the Doctor’s capture but the security chief, who throws him in prison as the Dalek watches ominously. In prison, the Doctor has the opportunity to fill in the former deputy governor on the plot so far.
Spying on the Daleks, Lesterson realizes that they are conspiring and evil. Sneaking into the pod, Lesterson discovers that the Daleks have begun mass production of new Daleks. Given how big the pod facilities are, I figure it must be bigger on the inside. Otherwise it wouldn’t fit in the lab. We get the reveal that Daleks are angry brain-squids in an armored war chassis – something that hadn’t been formally shown during previous serials. The wide shot of the Dalek army assembling wouldn’t have been possible on the original TV budget, but the animated version pulled off the intent of the original effects.
Quite distraught, Lesterson cuts the power feed to the capsule. He begins ranting about wiping out the Daleks then finds out the Doctor has been imprisoned. The Daleks emerge from the pod to demand answers from Lesterson. He flees, and the Daleks do more prep for their eventual plan of action. Ranting to anyone he runs into about the Daleks makes Lesterson sound crazy, and as such nobody believes him. Besides, everybody thinks they can use the Daleks as their troops in the petty colonial conflict. Anyone not in-universe would know this is absurd. But I do wonder why there are no skeptical voices outside of the Doctor’s party. These are an unknown factor, yet everybody assumes they can be controlled.
Head of security launches his coup and murders the governor. The Doctor finds out about the additional power circuits as he and the former deputy governer rescues Polly. They flee armed Daleks. The Daleks announce their plan to strike once widespread fighting breaks out between human factions. Security Chief declares martial law and re-arrests the Doctor, Polly, and deputy governor. The Dalek offensive forces the guards to change course and take the Doctor a different route. Security Chief tells Rebel Woman to launch the uprising so he can kill off the dissidents. This is overheard by one of said Rebels who declares his intent to free the Doctor’s party.
It’s the Daleks who do that as they begin their extermination spree. Continuing to lie and spread discord, the Daleks begin clearing out the cast and extras. The Doctor makes for Lesterson’s lab as the guards find out what so many other serials have shown – guns are useless against aliens. The Daleks drop pretense and expand their extermination spree to any non-Dalek in evidence. Lesterson has gone round the bend and talks about replacement of humans by Daleks. In his office, the Security Chief frantically tries to reach anyobody still alive, but gets no answer as the view pans over corridors full of corpses and roving Daleks. He then tries to order the Daleks around. Naturally, they ignore his commands. Deputy Governor forces Security Chief at gunpoint to order a diversionary attack to buy time to disable the power supplies.
Mad as a hatter, Lesterson tries to bargain with the Daleks, and gets exterminated for his troubles. The Doctor tricks the Daleks into shooting the panel he was fiddling with, which leads to serious problems and explody Daleks all over the colony. Security Chief tries to continue his reign, but the surviving Rebel shoots him. The overload that killed the Daleks also damaged the colonial power supply, so the Doctor decides it’s time to leave. After the Tardis fade-out, one Dalek wakes up as the credits roll.
Being a TV serial, the pacing isn’t best suited for binge watching. It is six separate episodes meant to be broadcast on separate nights. My main gripe plot wise was relayed above, where there were no colonial voices skeptical of the Daleks or questining how controllable they actually were. Though the writer knew the viewers would be familiar with the aliens to know the colonists were playing with fire. Bear in mind that at this time, the Daleks were not god-tier unstoppable, which is why they played a longer game.
I was a bit disappointed that some of the characters didn’t get more development. The problem comes from how much background knowledge I had going in. I expect it would be more impactful were I more ignorant of the subject matter.
😑
I quite liked David Tennant’s Doctor (sometimes called the Tenth, but the War Doctor screwed up the numbering,) Donna Noble, and River Song.
Do I understand you correctly that they used the original audio and animated the visuals to synch with it? I WILL say that’s a pretty ingenious way to recreate the serial. 👍
I must confess that more often than not, when I’ve watched episodes of original, low-budget “classic” Who, I fall asleep. I rarely had that trouble with the revived series. Who knows? Maybe I’d be able to stay awake watching animated versions of the classic series. 🤷♀️ Is the animation higher quality than the original live visuals?
I haven’t seen this one but the animated ones I’ve seen on Pluto are fairly poorly done IMNSHO, clunky, computer animated and obviously so. Also they will mix in live footage if it exists with the animation which is a bit putting off.
On the DVD version I have they have that version too, but the option to just go with all animated, which I chose for the consistancy of visuals. You gain nothing from the hybrid.
Correct. They have all the audio and animated to match it.
lol Are you a millennial or Gen Z? Nu Who is deliberately constructed for people with short attention spans, much like most scripted material these days.
Shots fired!
I wondered the same. Plus: Did they have the scripts, theoretically giving some direction of the visuals? *The Doctor takes the Examiner’s badge and.. [explain Doctor’s physical movements, activities] or something along those lines.
If they only had the audio, that might’ve taken some imaginative structuring. I suppose they already know what Daleks look like, but Vulcan, etc? Kinda free rein. (“Free reign” also makes perfect sense. ‘Free rein OVER their reign.’)
I’ve never seen an EP in full, though I know SiL *loves* Tennant. He was fun on Top Gear, I suppose. That’s his stage name, I learned. I forget what his real one is. (Columbus?)
Sadly, it has never returned.
I see what you did there.
“ featuring the Second Best Doctor, Patrick Troughton.”
Blasphemy!
Its OK.
Reasonable people know that Tom Baker > David Tennant > Christopher Ecclestone
Wrong wrong wrong
Pertwee
T Baker
Troughten (although I’d accept switching 2 & 3)
Davison
C Baker
Hartnell
McCoy
I have no idea who those other names are.
Well… your top 4 are the right ones if in the wrong order.
https://youtu.be/-ZrrWj_y3Mc
LOL
Issue number one!
I’m rather fond of Davison but Pluto seems to have misplaced all of his stories. 🫤
Slutty Sunday T&A.
https://archive.is/Ow2XM
Wow!
Barnorama must have bought every picture The Chive ever had.
Woksterism is so poisonous to me that after they went ‘woke’ I cringe at merely hearing the title.
Speaking of…wife has been watching some medical drama series, I dont know the name of it. The episode she watched tonight had a mass shooting at a jewish musical festival. The shooter was a racist white guy. Yep.
Will I live long enough to see progressivism get what it deserves?
No.
Barely thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of ussr and the unrepentant commies are not pariahs. Instead a large chunk is actually worried about Nazis, which have been defunct since 1945.
“Will I live long enough to see progressivism get what it deserves?”
How long has Marx been dead?
1977.
There was no chance it was going to be anything else. A lesson I have learned after watching decades of American television.
You’re far more likely to live long enough to see progressivism give you what they think you deserve than the other way around.
JHTFC! It would have been better to leave the setting alone.
They call me a FIRSTHAF. A First Ass Nigga Going Hard As Fuck.
Better respect.
Be cautious with the hyphen.
First-Ass Nigga > First Ass-Nigga.
Wouldn’t that make you a FANGHAF?
“Many of the episodes went up in smoke”
My understanding was in the interests of economy they they recorded over many original episodes so they wouldn’t need to buy new tapes. But both could be true.
“planet Vulcan”
in the 19th century there was a postulated planet of that name supposedly circling the sun inside the orbit of Mercury.
“mercury swamp”
Elemental mercury isn’t that toxic, the methylated compounds are the killers. Of course its presence as a native metal in any quantity outside a few cinnabar mines is ludicrously unlikely, but then there are larger holes in the plot than a pesky ‘wetland’ made up of the stuff.
“erratic behavior”
Displayed after every reincarnation until the new actor settles on a particular persona.
“no skeptical voices outside of the Doctor’s party.”
Welcome to the Democratic Party. Or Stonewall, ANTIFA, and any other politically active leftist org out there.
“angry brain-squids ”
I believe that reveal came in the much later Tom Baker episode Genesis of the Daleks.
As for doctors I was only familiar with Pertwee, Davison, and the Bakers. They all had their plusses and minuses.
Nope, in the versions made from whatever video/still photographic images where left, the scene where they were scooping the young Daleks from the vats and loading them into the chassis was there, along with one where a loose Dalek skitters into a hiding place. It was in this serial from first broadcast.
Porcine Interstellar Guard.
That is all.
Paired with Planetary Intestinal Gourd.
When did the BBC start keeping the video? I’m wondering if it was before or after Desilu Studios figured it out.
A review of the new CW Trek that keeps it blessedly short.
TL;DR – it’s trash.
I greatly enjoy this off-kilter series. They were once on your kilter, so good to pop ’em back on.
Just got back from the 12yo’s orchestra performance at the Palladium. City-wide, so not just his school. The better kids, allowed in after audition. They had a damn Grammy-winning pianist as the concerto soloist. Why/how? “It’s Carmel,” astute (on this matter) SiL replied. And why it was $30 a ticket. This place is fucking fancy. Waaay too fancy. They played well, though, all of ’em. (12 resented being seated with some 2nd graders. He’s a talented musician and is really into it. We’ll see what direction he goes, if.)
The opulence of Carmel makes me feel out of sorts. Not the best pic, but meh: https://thecenterpresents.org/media/10796/8-choral-terrace-914×504.jpg
This is hilarious.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/ex-onlyfans-creator-advocates-against-extraordinary-ability-visas-adult-content-stars-entering-us