Death to the Daleks (TV story)

Synopsis
The TARDIS arrives on the planet Exxilon, where all electrical energy is drained off by an unknown force. The Doctor meets a Marine Space Corps expedition from Earth who tell him that a plague is sweeping the galaxy and that the antidote, parrinium, can be found only on Exxilon. Their ship has been disabled by the energy drain, so they are unable to leave with the mineral.

Sarah meanwhile has seen a magnificent white edifice with a flashing beacon on top. She is captured by a group of savage Exxilons and taken to their cave to be sacrificed for defiling their city. The Doctor and the humans enter into an uneasy alliance with a group of Daleks who also land on the planet and whose weapons are rendered inactive by the energy drain. They too are taken prisoner by the Exxilons.

The Doctor interrupts Sarah's execution but is then sentenced to death himself. The two travellers escape into some tunnels as the cave is attacked by a second force of Daleks armed with mechanical guns. There they meet Bellal, an enlightened Exxilon, who tells them that the city was created by his own race but then brought about their downfall. The Doctor, realising that the city's beacon is causing the energy drain, resolves to put it out of action. He and Bellal enter the city and, by passing a series of potentially deadly tests, reach its centre. There the Time Lord uses his sonic screwdriver to give the controlling computer a brainstorm.

The Daleks plan to take all the parrinium but their ship is destroyed with a bomb triggered by one of the humans who has stowed away on board. Sarah then reveals that she and another of the humans had already smuggled off all the parrinium and transferred it to the Earth ship.

Plot
to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
 * Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
 * Dan Galloway - Duncan Lamont
 * Richard Railton - John Abineri
 * Commander Stewart - Neil Seiler
 * Peter Hamilton - Julian Fox
 * Jill Tarrant - Joy Harrison
 * High Priest - Mostyn Evans
 * Bellal - Arnold Yarrow
 * Gotal - Roy Heymann
 * Dalek Voices - Michael Wisher
 * Dalek Operators - John Scott Martin, Murphy Grumbar, Cy Town

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Richard Leyland
 * Costumes - L Rowland Warne
 * Designer - Colin Green
 * Fight Arranger - Terry Walsh
 * Film Cameraman - Bill Matthews
 * Film Editor - Bob Rymer
 * Incidental Music - Carey Blyton
 * Make-Up - Magdalen Gaffney, Cynthia Goodwin
 * Masks - John Friedlander
 * Music - London Saxophone Quartet
 * Producer - Barry Letts
 * Production Assistant - Chris D'Oyly-John
 * Script Editor - Terrance Dicks
 * Special Sounds - Dick Mills
 * Studio Lighting - Derek Slee
 * Studio Sound - Richard Chubb
 * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer
 * Visual Effects - Jim Ward

Story Notes

 * This story had the working titles of; The Exilons, The Exxilons
 * This story originally did not feature the Daleks, but they were included because of Barry Letts' and Terrance Dicks' desire to cash in on the Daleks' popularity.
 * This story marks the first time the Daleks' weapons do not function on screen. The Daleks are later seen to be able to modify their casings relatively quickly, replacing their energy weapons with slug-throwing rifles.
 * The Daleks in this story are destroyed in quite simple ways.
 * The Daleks target practice with miniature police boxes.
 * Many of the Dalek casings utilised for this story dated from the 1960s (due to the unsatisfactory quality of the casings produced for Planet of the Daleks).
 * The cliffhanger to Part Three - the Doctor and Bellal walking towards a patterned area on the floor, only for the Doctor to say "Stop - don't move!" - was not originally going to be the cliffhanger. The original cliffhanger was going to be at the scene where the Doctor is trying to deduce the answer to the logic test concerning symbols, when two Daleks appear. Specifically, the cliffhanger would have hinged on the zoom towards the Dalek's gun. This was changed, however, for timing reasons.

Ratings

 * Part 1 - 8.1 million viewers
 * Part 2 - 9.5 million viewers
 * Part 3 - 10.5 million viewers
 * Part 4 - 9.5 million viewers

Myths
to be added

Filming Locations

 * Hanson's Aggregates Sand Pit, Puddletown Road, Gallows Hill, Dorset
 * BBC Television Centre (Studio TC4), Shepherd's Bush, London

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * What happened to the Exxilon in the TARDIS after Sarah knocks it out?

Continuity

 * In NA: The Left-Handed Hummingbird an Exxilon craft is seen.
 * In DW: Pyramids of Mars Sarah compares the puzzles on Mars to the Exxilon city.

DVD and Video Releases
Death to the Daleks was released on VHS in 1987 in the omnibus format. It was later released in the episodic format.

Target Novelisations

 * Novelised as Death to the Daleks in 1978 by Terrance Dicks.
 * The novelisation refers to the replacement Dalek weapons as "machine guns" (i.e., fully automatic slug-throwers), despite the on-screen weapons appearing to function as semi-automatics.