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.

Episode 1
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. UNIT is called in to guarantee the safety of the delegates. 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 Third 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. Three guerrillas, Anat, Boaz and Shura, arrive from the future via a tunnel. They shoot two UNIT men, then head for the house. The Doctor switches on the time machine, and a signal is sent to the Controller in the 22nd century. The guerrillas want the Doctor to switch off the machine. In the future, the Controller’s masters, the Daleks, plan to exterminate whoever is at the other end of the signal.

Episode 2
The guerrillas have Jo as a hostage, 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 deduces that the guerrillas are trying to change their past. The guerrillas bring the Doctor and Jo to answer a call from the Brigadier.

Jo grabs the time device and accidentally activates it. She is transported to the 22nd Century. The Controller treats her kindly and tells her the guerrillas are criminals. She tells him exactly where and when the Doctor is.

Ogrons arrive at the Auderly House and engage in a firefight with the guerrillas. The Doctor runs away and takes the jeep the Brigadier has just arrived in. He heads for the tunnel and sees a Dalek in it.

Episode 3
When Anat and Boaz return to their time, 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. The guerrillas meet with their leader, Monia, who knows where Jo is being held.

The Doctor is captured by Ogrons and questioned by the Interrogation guard. A work manager, who is secretly a rebel, sends everyone else away, but before he can talk with the Doctor, the Controller arrives and threatens the manager if the work quotas are not met. He brings the Doctor to Jo. They are once again imprisoned, but escape temporarily.

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

The Daleks use a mind analysis machine on the Doctor to determine if he is the Doctor they have met before. They plan to exterminate him.

Episode 4
The Controller convinces the Daleks not to kill the Doctor, as he has made contact with the rebels. The Controller questions the Doctor. The Doctor berates the Controller, calling him a "quisling." The Controller retorts that his collaborating with the Daleks has saved numerous lives. The Daleks used time travel to change Earth’s past, enslaving humanity.

The rebels attack the complex and kill the guards. When they reach the Doctor, Monia wants to kill the Controller but the Doctor won’t let him.

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 the Auderly House.

The rebels tell the Doctor that Styles blew up the peace delegation, which led to war. The Daleks came soon after. Even though their original plan failed, they want the Doctor to complete the mission for them. The Doctor deduces that the rebels themselves caused the explosion, becoming trapped in a temporal paradox.

The rebels send Jo and the Doctor back to their time but they are ambushed along the way. The Controller sacrifices himself to help them get away. The Daleks follow the Doctor back to the 20th century.

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 tries to convince Shura to leave but he needs to detonate the bomb himself. 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 efforts 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
 * Dalek Voices (DVD Special Edition) - Nicholas Briggs
 * 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.

Locations

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

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 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 as the end credits begin.
 * 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 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. 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 TV: Inferno - in which he does not appear. He would re-appear next in TV: The Sea Devils.
 * 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. Not technically an error - this was a stylistic decision against the norm by director Paul Bernard.
 * During the battle scene in episode 4 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, 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.

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. Several new scenes were filmed including the Ogrons arriving at Auderly house in Part 2 of the Special Edition. Some actor fluffs were also removed from the sound track. 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

 * Blasting the Past - the making of Day of the Daleks
 * The Making of Day of the Daleks - Special Edition - covers the restoration and upgrade of the BBC Library copy of the story