‘Remembrance of the Daleks’ is a turning point in Doctor
Who. The first serial of the programme's twenty-fifth season, it introduces
several elements that script editor Andrew Cartmel hoped would reintroduce a
mysterious element about the Doctor.
The seventh Doctor and Ace land in 1963, near the location of the first serial, ‘An Unearthly Child’ due to unfinished business regarding a Gallifreyan super weapon, The Hand of Omega. The story deals with the inevitable amount of old Doctor Who references much better than the heavy handed continuity of ‘Attack of the Cybermen’. Here they encounter a group of Daleks, as well as a group of soldiers lead by Group Captain Gilmore.
As if one set of Daleks wasn't bad enough, a civil war
breaks out between the Renegade Daleks under the control of the Black Dalek Supreme and
the Imperial Daleks under the control of the Emperor. Lots of explosions ensue,
to the point where the fire services were called in during the production of
the story, mistakenly believing that the exploding Dalek casings were an IRA
bomb. As well as this, a full sized Dalek spaceship lands next to a school, one
of the best executed special effects of the 1980’s from which a new 'special weapons' Dalek emerges.
But the story is not all explosions. A scene where the Doctor
sits in a café and talks to the owner about the implications of choices is one
of the best scenes during McCoy’s tenure in my opinion.
Several of the characters from this story would reprise
their roles in a Big Finish box set of audio plays released earlier this year.
In summary, this story has everything; Daleks, creepy
children, and great performances from the entire cast. We will be watching ‘Remembrance
of the Daleks’ on Wednesday. The Bar now opens at 10.30pm and we press play at 10.45pm GMT.
Hope to see you there.
Hope to see you there.
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