We’re all on the same side…right guys?
The TARDIS suffers an energy drain and ends up on the planet of Exxilon. There the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen) learn that a power field is draining all the ships in the area. The Doctor and Sarah Jane discover that Exxilon is full of Parrinium which is being sought by a group of Marine Space Corps as a cure for a space plague. The Marine Space Corps, the Doctor, and Sarah Jane learn that the planet is inhabited by savages, and that the deadly Daleks have also been trapped on the planet in a search for the Parrinium. When Sarah and the Doctor are forced to create an uneasy alliance with the Daleks, the Daleks plan a double cross and the discovery of a mysterious city and the native Exxilons could save or destroy the mission.
Burn, Dalek, Burn! Dalek Inferno!!!
Doctor Who: Death to the Daleks aired in the eleventh season of the popular British series Doctor Who. It was a four episode serial airing from February 23, 1974 to March 16, 1974. Following Doctor Who: Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Doctor Who: Death to the Daleks has been collected in The Jon Pertwee Years as Story #72.
I wanted to like Doctor Who: Death to the Daleks a lot more than I did. It has everything you should like about Doctor Who, but seems pretty convoluted. The idea that the Marine Space Corps and the Daleks both need the Parrinium could have (and should have) been the focus of the whole series. I liked how the Daleks and the Doctor had to work together for a small amount of time and would have liked to see the uneasy partnership continue for longer in the serial.
Actually I’m one of the hottest Exxilons around
The Exxilons and the exploration of the City starts to convolute the plot and ruins the alliance with the Daleks. The City and the Exxilons seem like a decent story by themselves, but here feel crammed in with Daleks and the Doctor. I would have rather seen the series split in two and expanded to give each story its due. I guess the original plan was to only have the Exxilons and that the Daleks were added to the script because of their popularity…it shows and hurts an otherwise good story.
Doctor Who: Death to the Daleks also represents one of the instances where the story was “rediscovered”. The first episode of this series was lost, but through episodes sent to other countries the series was able to be restored…I just wish more of the earlier first and second Doctor series would magically resurface…it is a shame that they have been lost.
Doctor Who: Death to the Daleks is not one of the stronger Dalek episodes. The series is a bit of a jumble and isn’t much of a “Dalek” episode due to the changes in the script. Fans of the characters probably will like the earlier parts of this series, but like many Doctor Who serials it does run a little long. Doctor Who: Death to the Daleks is followed by Doctor Who: The Monster of Peladon.
Preceded By:
Doctor Who: Invasion of the Dinosaurs (Story #71)
Followed By:
