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 effectively been retired five years earlier, in The Evil of the Daleks. Also seen here is the first appearance of the Ogrons, ape-like humanoids used as guards by the Daleks.

Both Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning, although acknowledging the story as a fan favourite, 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 special edition release containing remastered audio and video quality, with CGI special effects, and other touched-up effects. The voices of the Daleks were redubbed by the revival-era voice actor of most Daleks, Nicholas Briggs. Having refined his portrayal of the Daleks to a degree of high confidence with his performance, his renditions of their voices are much smoother, harsher, and pronounced than the somewhat stiff, awkward and sometimes even uncomfortably nervous-sounding lines delivered by the original voice actors, Oliver Gilbert and Peter Messaline. As this was the first episode in several years to feature the Daleks, they were new to the role of voices for the Daleks and had difficulty cementing their portrayals. Later in Pertwee's tenure, Roy Skelton would become their main voice actor.

Next to The Five Doctors and Revenge of the Cybermen, it is the serial which has had the most varied home video releases, 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 new Dalek invasion of Earth, by going back in time to assassinate a delegate to the second World Peace Conference, whose actions their history blames for the subsequent Dalek conquest.

Episode 1
Working late at night at Auderly House, a government-owned country house outside London, Sir Reginald Styles, organiser of the Second World Peace Conference, narrowly survives an assassination attempt by a combat-uniformed guerrilla, who afterwards vanishes like a ghost. UNIT is called in to guarantee the safety of the Conference. When the guerrilla subsequently tries again, he is attacked by huge, ape-like creatures called Ogrons, and found unconscious in the grounds by UNIT troops. The Third Doctor deduces from the guerilla's equipment that he comes from two hundred years in the future, and recognises a device found on him as a primitive time machine.

While Styles is away, the Doctor and Jo keep watch at the house. Three more guerrillas, Anat, Boaz and Shura, arrive from the future, materialising in a disused railway tunnel nearby. They shoot two UNIT sentries and break into the house. The Doctor overcomes Boaz, then continues tinkering with the captured time transmitter, unaware that the signal it emits is being monitored in the 22nd century. The guerrilla warns the Doctor to switch it off. But in the 22nd century time zone, the Daleks order the zone's Controller to exterminate whoever is transmitting the signal.

Episode 2
The guerillas take Jo hostage, and, mistaking the Doctor for Styles, prepare to kill him. The Time Lord convinces them he is not Styles; so he and Jo are bound and gagged, then concealled in the cellars beneath the house. The Doctor can free only his mouth. He deduces that the guerillas are trying to change their own past. The guerillas subsequently release them to answer a routine telephone call from the Brigadier. Although the Doctor appears to say everything is fine, he covertly slips in a coded warning ("Tell it to the marines!"), and the Brigadier immediately sets out in force for Auderly House.

Jo grabs the malfunctioning time transmitter and accidentally activates it. She is transported to the 22nd century, and captured by the Daleks - who can use their Time Vortex Magnatron to intercept transports made on a monitored frequency. The Controller tells her the guerillas are criminals, who plan to harm the Doctor, and so deceives her into telling him exactly where and when they are.

Ogrons arrive at Auderly House and engage in a firefight with the guerillas. The Doctor, borrowing the Brigadier's jeep, trails Anat and Boaz as they flee. He catches up to them in the disused railway tunnel, just as a Dalek materialises behind them.

Episode 3
Fleeing the Dalek, the Doctor is caught up in the dematerialisation field as Anat and Boaz return to their own time. There he reveals to them that the Daleks are his enemies of old, and that he has come along intentionally in order to find Jo Grant. But before he can learn anything useful a Dalek patrol arrives, forcing the trio to scatter. The Doctor evades the Daleks, then makes his way to the surface.

At their headquarters, the Daleks criticise the Controller for failing to capture the rebels. The Controller protests that the Ogrons are too stupid, and are unsuited to fighting the highly intelligent guerillas. He proposes using humans instead. The Daleks refuse, as humans are treacherous and unreliable - despite the Controller pointing out that he, himself, has served the Daleks loyally all his life. The Controller informs the Daleks of the Doctor's presence in this time zone. The Daleks recognise the name, declaring that the Doctor is an enemy of the Daleks and must be exterminated.

The Doctor finds a world in ruins, with surviving buildings limited to occasional factories amid a sea of rubble. The factories are run like concentration camps, with the workers starving and worked at a killing pace. He infiltrates the nearest, but his presence is detected by a security camera and the Daleks make preparations for his arrest. Meanwhile, the Daleks are demanding that the Controller increase factory output by ten percent. The Controller protests that the workers will die if they are pushed any harder, but the Daleks declare that only the weak will die. The Controller reluctantly agrees.

Meanwhile, the guerillas are meeting with their leader, Monia, who knows where Jo is being held. They argue about what to do next.

At the factory termed "Work Camp 117", the Doctor is grabbed by the Ogrons, and handed over to a human for interrogation. The works manager, who is secretly a rebel, sends the interrogator away; but before he can brief the Doctor, the Controller arrives. He threatens the manager with reprisals if the new work quotas are not met. The Controller then apologises to the Doctor for his treatment, and takes him away. After they leave, the manager contacts the rebels and notifies them of the Doctor's capture. However, before he can say much more, he is detected and killed by an Ogron.

The Doctor is brought to Central Control, where he is reunited with Jo. The Controller tries to convince him that the rebels are the real enemy, and that life on Earth in this time period is good. The Doctor, however, aware that the Daleks are really in control, angrily questions the use of work camps and the mistreatment of prisoners, and the use of the brutal Ogrons as guards. Unable to persuade the Doctor, the Controller departs. The Doctor then informs a confused Jo about the Dalek occupation of Earth.

The Daleks realise that the Doctor's appearance does not match their records of him, and speculate that he has changed his appearance again. They decide to use their mind analysis machine to determine whether this really is the Doctor. Meanwhile the Doctor and Jo overcome their Ogron guard, and attempt an escape on a motorized tricycle; but they are quickly recaptured.

At the guerillas' hideout, Monia decides the Doctor must be rescued, as he is the sworn enemy of the Daleks.

The Daleks use the mind analysis machine on the Doctor, to determine whether he actually is their old nemesis. The Doctor resists to the point of death, but on the monitor the Daleks see images of the First and Second Doctors. They declare that this is truly the Doctor - an enemy of the Daleks - and that he shall be exterminated.

Episode 4
As the Daleks prepare to execute the Doctor, the Controller interrupts, insisting that the prisoner is more valuable alive: pointing out that the Doctor was in contact with the traitorous manager of Work Camp 117, and must have valuable information about the guerillas. The Daleks initially propose extracting this information using the Mind Analysis Machine, but reluctantly conceed that this will probably simply kill the Doctor, without their learning anything further. The Controller convinces the Daleks that he can persuade the Doctor to talk, by threatening the life of the girl.

As the rebels finalise their plan to rescue the Doctor, the Controller tries to convince him to inform on them. The Doctor insists he knows nothing about them, and instead berates the Controller, calling him a "quisling", a traitor to the human race. The Controller retorts that the Doctor doesn't understand the situation. He explains that in the late 20th century, the world was devastated by a series of terrible wars that wiped out most of the population. When the Daleks arrived, they easily conquered the few survivors and enslaved them. While most humans were set to work in the mines and factories, a few were given positions of power in exchange for serving the Daleks. He is proud that his family has served the Daleks for many generations, and that by collaborating with the Daleks he has been able to save lives. The Doctor tells him he could have saved more lives by fighting the Daleks instead; but the Controller insists that the Daleks can't be defeated.

At the same time, the rebels, led by Monia, Anat, and Boaz, attack the complex and kill the guards. Boaz sacrifices himself to destroy a Dalek. When the others reach the Doctor, Monia wants to kill the Controller but the Doctor will not let him. The Doctor, Jo, and the rebels then escape, leaving the Controller unharmed.

Back in the 20th century, UNIT prepares for the arrival of the delegates. The rebel who remained behind, Shura, hides a bomb in the basement of Auderly House.

In the future, the rebels tell the Doctor that Styles blew up the peace delegation, which led to war. The Daleks came soon after and easily conquered the ruined planet. Even though their original plan failed, the rebels want the Doctor to complete the mission for them. The Doctor, however, remains convinced that Styles is innocent, and that someone else is responsible for the explosion. After learning that the rebels brought explosives with them to the 20th century, he realises the truth: The rebels themselves - specifically their missing operative Shura - caused the explosion that started the wars, becoming trapped in a temporal paradox.

Back at Dalek HQ, the furious Daleks demand that the Controller find and destroy the Doctor. They threaten him with death if he fails. The Controller promises to find the Doctor. He then speaks with the Lead Guard and arranges an ambush in the tunnels.

The rebels give Jo and the Doctor a time machine and lead them back to the underground tunnels. Inside the tunnels, the Doctor and Jo are ambushed by the Controller and the Ogrons. The Doctor, however, tells the Controller that he can prevent the war and stop the Daleks from ever invading. Finally convinced that the Daleks can be beaten, the Controller orders the Ogrons to leave, then allows the Doctor and Jo to escape. Unknown to him, the Lead Guard witnesses all this.

Upon returning to Dalek HQ, the Controller tries to blame the Ogrons for the Doctor's escape. However, the Daleks are already aware of his betrayal, having been informed by the Lead Guard. The Daleks declare the Controller to be a traitor and that he must be exterminated. The Controller retorts that he may have helped to exterminate them. The Daleks execute him moments later, and appoint the Lead Guard as the new Controller. The Daleks then decide to follow the Doctor to the 20th century to ensure the Dalek conquest of Earth is not reversed.

Returning to the 20th century with Jo, the Doctor orders Auderly House to be evacuated, despite Styles' protests. Daleks and Ogrons arrive in pursuit, intent on destroying both the Doctor and the peace conference. UNIT forces try to stop them, but can do little more than slow their advance. Back at the house, the Brigadier forces Styles and the other delegates to leave. In the basement, the Doctor finds Shura with a Dalekanium bomb. He warns the guerrilla that the Daleks are coming. Shura tells the Doctor to leave the Daleks to him, as only Dalekanium can kill the Daleks.

The Doctor tells the Brigadier to have his remaining troops fall back and let the Daleks and Ogrons enter the house. Everyone but Shura flees the house, and the Daleks enter. Shura then detonates his bomb, sacrificing himself to destroy the Daleks. The Doctor informs Styles that his peace conference has been saved, and now it's up to him and the other delegates to make sure it succeeds. Styles assures him he knows what will happen if they fail. The Doctor and Jo agree, saying that they've seen it already.

Cast

 * Dr. Who - Jon Pertwee
 * Jo Grant - Katy Manning
 * Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney (also appears uncredited in reprise of episode three)
 * 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
 * Dalek Voices - Oliver Gilbert, Peter Messaline
 * Dalek Voices (DVD Special Edition) - Nicholas Briggs
 * Television Reporter - Alex MacIntosh

Uncredited cast

 * Girl Technician -Alison Daumler (DWM 301)

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 alternative future, the 22nd century time zone, the guerillas have invented dalekanium bombs - a special explosive that is particularly effective against the Daleks. Presumably named as such because it can penetrate the dalekanium metal from which the Daleks' casings are manufactured.

alIeN RACEs

 * The Daleks' brutish, ape-like servants are called Ogrons. They subsequently reappear, still as servants to the Daleks, in Frontier in Space.

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.

Locations

 * Sir Reginald Styles and the other delegates are due to meet at RAF Manston.

Politics

 * China and the Soviet Union are the main belligerents who are threatening war: troops mass on their borders. China has pulled out of the peace conference before the story opens, and Styles has to fly to Peking to persuade them to return. (In the novelisation it's a three-way quarrel, involving also the USA).
 * Fighting has already broken out in "many regions" of South America and southern Asia before the summit begins.
 * Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is taking orders from an unspecified government minister in London at the start of episode one. When the emergency broadcast reaches UNIT HQ later in the serial, "all UNIT bases" are placed on alert - the Brigadier's orders are then coming direct from the UN, rather than from the British government.

REAL WORLD REFERENCES

 * The Doctor calls the Controller in the 22nd century a Quisling. This is a reference to a Norweigan politician in World War Two who betrayed his own people to the Nazis, leading to Norway's defeat in 1940 and subsequent occupation by Germany.

Theories and concepts

 * The Blinovitch Limitation Effect is mentioned for the first time. It is this which prevents the guerillas from simply going back to yesterday again, to the scene of the unsuccessful original assassination, and making multiple attempts to kill Styles then. In The Paradise of Death the Doctor explains that the limitation effect prevents someone from travelling back into his own past (i.e. prevents him from existing at a specific point in time more than once).

Time travel

 * It was established in The Chase (1965) and The Daleks Master Plan (1965/66) that the Daleks have developed their own time machine. Day of the Daleks (1972) sees them make use of that technology to overturn their defeat in The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964).
 * The guerillas have stolen the design for their time transmitters, and the components used to build them, from the Daleks.
 * The Daleks have a machine termed the time vortex magnetron which can intercept a transport made using one of their time transmitters. If the frequency being used is known (they continually scan the time vortex to try to detect any frequency in use), the magnetron can divert the person(s) being transfered, so that they rematerialise at Dalek central control instead of at their intended destination.

Weapons

 * The guerillas' guns are manufactured using iron mined in North Wales.

Story notes

 * This story is noted for being one of only a few stories where the very nature of time travel is used as a main plot element.
 * This story had working titles of The Ghost Hunters (also sometimes referred to as 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. The title The Day of the Daleks is also given in Radio Times for all four episodes, and for the 90-minute compilation repeat as broadcast Monday 3 September 1973 (BBC One Cymru, Wales: Thursday 6 September).
 * 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 as the end credits begin.
 * The above sequence also features the first images of William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton since they both left the show.
 * 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 infused 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. However, this had to be edited out due to the episode overrunning.
 * Bringer of Darkness, in 1993, would have the Second Doctor encounter the Daleks after Evil and learn the Humanized Daleks had been destroyed.
 * 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 original scripts, being indicated instead by the term 'Monster'.
 * Nicholas Courtney is credited as 'The Brigadier' in Radio Times for episode two.
 * Tim Condren (Guerilla) is credited in Radio Times as 'Guerrilla' — the alternative spelling, with two 'r's.
 * John Scott Martin (Dalek) is credited as 'Chief Dalek' in Radio Times, whilst Ricky Newby and Murphy Grumbar are both credited on-screen but not in Radio Times.
 * Rick Lester (Ogron) is credited in Radio Times, while Maurice Bush, David Joyce, Franks Menzies, Bruce Wells and Geoffrey Todd are credited on-screen but not in Radio Times.
 * George Raistrick (Guard at Work Centre) is credited as 'Guard' in Radio Times.
 * This is the first story in which the Doctor encounters — and actually interacts with — a second version of his current incarnation.
 * In episode two, when the Controller tells Jo that she has already told him the year and goes on to ask where and when the Doctor is, she gives the date as "September the thirteenth" — an in-joke reference to the first of the four-day location filming period for the story, which took place from Monday 13 to Thursday 16 September 1971.
 * Although Miss Paget is seen to accompany Sir Reginald Styles to his car during the pre-filmed location sequence in episode four where Auderly House is evacuated and the delegates leave, Jean McFarlane was unavailable for the studio recording as she had been taken ill. Her lines were instead given to Styles's aide, played by Desmond Verini who, despite having a speaking part, remained uncredited both on-screen and in Radio Times.
 * Steve Kelly was originally supposed to play an Ogron, but was injured in a car accident, being replaced by Frank Menzies. (DWM 301)
 * 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 ; as such, this is the first serial broadcast in eighteen months - specifically, since TV: Inferno - in which he does not appear. He would re-appear next in TV: The Sea Devils.
 * Near the end of episode two, 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.
 * In the special edition DVD, the Doctor kills another Ogron inside the house with the disintegrator pistol.
 * This is the first time the Daleks are seen in colour in the Doctor Who universe. They were previously seen in colour in the movies Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D..
 * In the novelisation of the story, the Gold Dalek is replaced with a Black Dalek. However, the Gold Dalek still makes an appearance, acting as the Black Dalek's superior.
 * At the end of the novelisation, the Doctor and Jo meet their past selves inside the TARDIS, mirroring their encounter at the start — only this time their positions are reversed, i.e. they become their future selves.

Ratings

 * Episode one - 9.9 million viewers
 * Episode two - 10.6 million viewers
 * Episode three - 9.2 million viewers
 * Episode four - 9.5 million viewers

Myths

 * Terry Nation was allegedly 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. There are also problems with the alignment of the CSO on the monitor showing past incarnations of the Doctor, as the upper right-hand section of the effect is flared. These issues are corrected on the 2011 DVD special edition, which features touch-ups and updates the CSO effect on the monitor with computer-generated effects.
 * 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. Not technically an error - this was a stylistic decision against the norm by director Paul Bernard.
 * During the battle scene in episode four when the Daleks and Ogrons are advancing on the house, the feet of the Gold Dalek's operator can be seen.

Continuity

 * PROSE: Missing in Action and PROSE: Honest Living deal 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 TV: The Mind of Evil.
 * The Daleks tell the Doctor that they have discovered time travel, which he (perhaps unbeknownst to them) has already encountered. The Daleks built a time machine in The Chase. Later, 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 is likely a reference to The Evil of the Daleks (and/or possibly The Daleks), wherein the Doctor witnesses the apparent end of the Daleks.
 * Images of the Doctor's first and second incarnations appear on the screen as the Daleks interrogate him.
 * Following the murder of the Doctor's former companion Dodo Chaplet, her fiancé, the journalist James Stevens saw a television report which mentions that UNIT is providing security for the Second World Peace Conference at Auderly House. Entering the grounds of the manor house clandestinely, he was saved from death at the hands of an ape creature by the Doctor. The Brigadier later showed him its body, which finally convinced him that the various outlandish stories which he had heard about aliens visiting and/or the invading the Earth were entirely true. (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy)

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 edited movie format in the US as Doctor Who: The Day of the Daleks in January 1992.
 * It was released on laserdisc in unedited episodic format 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 new Dalek voices. It was released on 12th September 2011. Several new scenes were filmed including the Ogrons arriving at Auderly House in episode two of the Special Edition. Some actor fluffs were also removed from the story's soundtrack. A scene in the original version where the Doctor backs away from an Ogron while he is holding a gun was re-edited to make it look as if he shoots the Ogron while stepping backwards.

DVD special features
Disc One:
 * Day of the Daleks Original four-part TV version
 * Commentary by actors Anna Barry and Jimmy Winston, producer Barry Letts, script editor Terrance Dicks and vision mixer Mike Catherwood.
 * Blasting the Past Cast and crew look back on the making of this story
 * A View from the Gallery
 * Nationwide
 * Blue Peter
 * Photo Gallery
 * Production Subtitles
 * DVD-Rom Only: Radio Times Billings
 * Coming Soon trailer

Disc Two:
 * Day of the Daleks: Special Edition. A new version with specially shot sequences, brand-new effects and new Dalek voices, exclusive to this DVD
 * The Making of Day of the Daleks - Special Edition
 * The UNIT Family- Part Two Covers the history of UNIT in the
 * Now and Then
 * The UNIT Dating Conundrum
 * The Cheating Memory
 * Teaser trailer

DVD Production errors
In episode one (at 0:11:10), when the Doctor tests the future weapon on the target in his lab, debris is scattered on the firing range (in accordance with the new effect for this weapon). However, when the POV returns to the firing range (at 0:12:05), the debris has vanished.