Day of the Daleks (TV story)

Day of the Daleks was the first story of Season 9 of Doctor Who. It is notable for marking the return of the Daleks as ongoing adversaries of the Doctor, after they had been effectively retired five years earlier in The Evil of the Daleks.

Both Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning, though acknowledging the story as a fan favourite, have cited Day as the nadir of their Doctor Who experience. Chief amongst their complaints was the unreality of the Dalek attack on Auderly House, which they found to be a pathetic affair. The paltry number of Daleks for the attack, which Pertwee estimated at two, could not reasonably have launched a fearsome end battle. (DOC: PanoptiCon 93) This part of the story apparently bothered 2 entertain as well, because they paid for it to be somewhat reshot and enhanced for the 2011 DVD release.

Next to The Five Doctors and Revenge of the Cybermen, it is the one serial which has enjoyed the most varied home video release, having appeared in multiple versions on VHS, DVD and Laserdisc. It's unique amongst LD releases in that it was released in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Indeed, it is the only Jon Pertwee story, aside from The Five Doctors to be made available on LD. Moreover, it's the only Pertwee story, full stop, to be made available on British LD.

Synopsis
Freedom fighters from the future attempt to thwart a Dalek invasion by coming back in time to assassinate a delegate at the second World Peace Conference.

Plot
Late at night, Sir Reginald Styles, organiser of the Second World Peace Conference at Auderly House, narrowly survives an assassination attempt by a combat-uniformed guerrilla who vanishes like a ghost. Later the guerrilla is attacked by huge, ape-like creatures called Ogrons and found unconscious by UNIT troops in the grounds of the house. The Doctor deduces that he comes from about two hundred years in the future and that a device found with him is actually a portable time machine. While Styles is away, the Doctor and Jo keep watch. The guerrillas attack again, and mistaking the Doctor for Styles, prepare to kill him. The Time Lord convinces them that he is not Styles. They take them down to the basement, and leave them bound and gagged, though the Doctor frees his mouth. The Doctor jokes he would prefer Jo to remain gagged, but she ungags herself. One of their party, Shura, is later injured by an Ogron.

Jo meanwhile accidentally activates one of the guerrillas' time machines and is transported to the 22nd Century. When the guerrillas return there, the Doctor goes with them. He learns that the Earth of this period is ruled by the Daleks with the help of the Ogrons and human collaborators, whose leader is known as the Controller. Jo and the Doctor are both taken prisoner at the Dalek base.

The Doctor berates the Controller, calling him a "quisling." The Controller retorts that his collaborating with the Daleks has saved numerous lives. Eventually he does own up to his treason, and allows the Doctor and Jo to escape at the cost of his own life.

The guerrillas explain that they are attempting to kill Styles because he caused an explosion at the peace conference, starting a series of wars that left humanity vulnerable to Dalek conquest - a history that they wish to change. The Doctor, citing the Blinovitch Limitation Effect, declares that history cannot be re-written. He then realises that the explosion was actually caused by Shura in a misguided attempt to fulfil his mission.

Returning to the 20th Century with Jo, the Doctor orders Auderley House evacuated. Daleks and Ogrons arrive in pursuit, held in check by UNIT forces. The Doctor urges the Brigadier to let the troops fall back to let the Daleks and Ogrons take the house, where they are consumed in the explosion of Shura's bomb. The conference delegates pledge to redouble their effort to negotiate peace.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
 * Jo Grant - Katy Manning
 * Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney
 * Sergeant Benton - John Levene
 * Captain Mike Yates - Richard Franklin
 * Sir Reginald Styles - Wilfred Carter
 * Shura - Jimmy Winston
 * Anat - Anna Barry
 * Boaz - Scott Fredericks
 * Controller - Aubrey Woods
 * Miss Paget - Jean McFarlane
 * Girl Technician - Deborah Brayshaw
 * UNIT Radio Operator - Gypsie Kemp
 * Guerilla - Tim Condren
 * Monia - Valentine Palmer
 * Manager - Peter Hill
 * Senior Guard - Andrew Carr
 * Guard at Work Centre - George Raistrick
 * Ogrons - Rick Lester, Maurice Bush, David Joyce, Frank Menzies, Bruce Wells, Geoffrey Todd
 * Daleks - John Scott Martin, Ricky Newby, Murphy Grumbar, Robert Jewell
 * Dalek Voices - Oliver Gilbert, Peter Messaline
 * Television Reporter - Alex MacIntosh

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Sue Hedden
 * Costumes - Mary Husband
 * Creator of the Daleks - Terry Nation
 * Designer - David Myerscough-Jones
 * Fight Arranger - Rick Lester
 * Film Cameraman - Fred Hamilton
 * Film Editor - Dan Rae
 * Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
 * Make-Up - Heather Stewart
 * Producer - Barry Letts
 * Production Assistant - Norman Stewart
 * Script Editor - Terrance Dicks
 * Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
 * Studio Lighting - Alan Horne
 * Studio Sound - Tony Millier
 * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer
 * Visual Effects - Jim Ward

Alternative timelines

 * In the alternate future, the Daleks have invented dalekanium bombs.

Daleks

 * The Daleks' servants are called Ogrons.

Foods and beverages

 * The Doctor drinks a fair bit of wine during his stay at Auderly House noting (mainly to himself): "That's a most good-humoured wine. A touch sardonic, perhaps, but not cynical. A most civilised wine, one after my own heart."

Individuals

 * The Doctor speaks of Napoleon Bonaparte as though he were a good friend, or at the least a friendly acquaintance.

Theories and concepts

 * The Blinovitch Limitation Effect is mentioned here for the first time.
 * It is this effect that prevents the guerrillas making multiple attempts to kill Styles.

Time travel

 * The Daleks use a time vortex magnetron to set a trap for the guerrillas.

Weapons

 * The guerrillas' guns contain iron mined in North Wales.

Story notes

 * This story is noted for being one of only a few actual 'time travel' stories, where the very nature of time travel is used as a main plot element.
 * This story had working titles of The Ghost Hunters, Years Of Doom, The Time Warriors, The Day Of The Daleks, and Ghosts.
 * According to the DVD production notes, Louis Marks originally wrote a version of this story without the Daleks; script editor Terrance Dicks decided to add the Daleks and a new version of the story was created.
 * The on screen title is Day of the Daleks. However on the commercial releases (Video and Laserdisc) it was listed as The Day of the Daleks.
 * A section of the closing title sequence appears in the background on the screen of the Daleks' mind analysis machine at the end of Episode Three. In addition the "Dr. Who - Jon Pertwee" credit is unusually superimposed over the scene.
 * The above sequence also features images of William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton.
 * Episode Four was originally to have featured a confrontation between the Doctor and the Daleks, in which the Daleks explain how they destroyed those of their number who were impregnated with the Human Factor in the events seen in The Evil of the Daleks and then turned their attention to conquering Earth by means of time travel. This scene was actually recorded but had to be cut at the editing stage for timing reasons.
 * This story is the first Dalek story since The Daleks in which there is no change to the main cast (if The Power of the Daleks is seen to introduce the character of the Second Doctor).
 * The Ogrons were neither named nor described in Louis Marks's scripts.
 * This is the first story in which the Doctor encounters - and actually interacts with - a second version of his current incarnation.
 * Discounting a couple of brief cameos, the Daleks had not appeared in Doctor Who since The Evil of the Daleks in 1967. With this story they returned to being semi-regular menaces of the Doctor, making annual appearances before going into hibernation again after Season 12. A new sound effect for the Dalek energy weapon is introduced (but not used since).
 * Every serial of the preceding season featured the Master; as such, this is the first serial broadcast in eighteen months - specifically, since DW: Inferno - in which he does not appear. He would re-appear next in DW: The Sea Devils.
 * In an alternative timeline in which the Doctor's exile on Earth did not begin until 1997, the numerous deaths at the peace conference significantly damaged UNIT's reputation as an effective security endeavour. (BFDWU: Sympathy for the Devil) Upon his visit to Skaro in the company of the Doctor many years later, the Brigadier mentioned that he had previously fought three Daleks in 1972. (BFDWU: Masters of War)
 * Near the end of episode 2, the Doctor shoots a ray gun at an Ogron, vaporising it. This is one of only a few occasions in franchise history that the Doctor uses deadly force with a firearm.

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 9.9 million viewers
 * Episode 2 - 10.6 million viewers
 * Episode 3 - 9.2 million viewers
 * Episode 4 - 9.5 million viewers

Myths

 * Terry Nation was not consulted in advance about the use of the Daleks in this story and, when he found out about it, it led to a row between him and the BBC. (Although Terrance Dicks recalls such a dispute, Barry Letts does not, and it is clear from contemporary BBC documentation that it is Letts who is correct. Nation was consulted in advance, and his agents, ALS Management, confirmed in a letter dated 22 April 1971, that he had no objection to the Daleks being used in a story for the 1972 season, subject to the usual negotiations.)
 * This has the distinction of being the first Daleks story not to be entirely written, or co-written, by Terry Nation. (The Power of the Daleks and The Evil of the Daleks were both written by David Whitaker.)

Filming locations

 * Dropmore House, Taplow, Buckinghamshire
 * Bull's Bridge (railway bridge), Grand Union Canal, Middlesex
 * Harvey House, Green Dragon Lane, Brentford

Production errors

 * During the scene at UNIT HQ, when the Brigadier is speaking to his female subordinate about the canteen being closed, the plainly audible sound of the alert going off can be heard for several seconds before anyone acknowledges it.
 * At the start of the interrogation scene, the yellow-screen CSO is not only being projected onto the Dalek's video screen: the Gold Dalek's dome and the Doctor's reflective restraints are also flaring.
 * For some reason each cliffhanger reprise from the week before ends with the electronic scream sound effect usually reserved for the end of the episode itself.

Continuity

 * ST: Honest Living deals with some of the after effects of this story.
 * This is the second time UNIT has provided security for a peace conference (and once more there is a problem with the Chinese). The first time occurred during DW: The Mind of Evil
 * The Daleks tell the Doctor that they have discovered time travel, something he would already know. The Daleks build a time machine in The Chase. In Remembrance of the Daleks the Doctor observes that Dalek time travel is 'crude and nasty'.
 * The Doctor tells Jo, 'I thought I'd destroyed [the Daleks] once before but I was wrong'. This could be a reference to The Daleks, The Evil of the Daleks or The Power of the Daleks. In these television stories the Doctor witnesses the apparent destruction of the Daleks.
 * This is the first time the Daleks are seen in colour in the main Doctor Who universe. They were previously seen in colour in the non-canon movies Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.

For the Doctor and Jo

 * This story occurs after CC: Find and Replace.
 * DWM: Time & Time Again takes place during this story.
 * This story occurs before DW: The Curse of Peladon.

For the Brigadier

 * This story occurs after DW: The Dæmons.
 * This story occurs before DW: The Time Monster.

VHS releases
This story was released as Doctor Who: Day of the Daleks.

Released:


 * UK July 1986 (edited movie format also released on Betamax)


 * UK February 1994 (unedited episodic format)
 * Australia January 1987 (edited movie format)
 * US March 1989 (edited movie format boxed in honour of Doctor Who's 25th anniversary)

Laserdisc releases

 * This story was released on laserdisc in the US as Doctor Who: The Day of the Daleks in January 1992.
 * It was released on laserdisc in the UK as Doctor Who: Day of the Daleks in December 1996.

DVD release

 * It was announced at the Time & Space convention in October 2010 that Day of the Daleks would be getting a 2011 DVD release, with new CGI effects and Dalek voices. It was released on 12th September 2011.

DVD special features

 * The Making of Day of the Daleks - Special Edition