Revelation of the Daleks - Part One
The Doctor and Peri arrive on the planet Necros. They are there to see Arthur Stengos, a friend of the Doctor. The Doctor lands the TARDIS outside of Tranquil Repose, a mortuary. They have a bit of a walk to get to Tranquil Repose. They are attacked by a rough looking man. He dies before they can find out what happened to him. He warns them about the Great Healer.
Inside Tranquil Repose the staff of the mortuaty are getting ready for a visit from the President who is there to see his wife's body. Jobel, the head mortician, orders everyone around. They are all incompetent in Jobel's eyes. He is the head mortician but he is not the Great Healer, the one who runs Tranquil Repose; that is Davros and he has cameras everywhere and sees everything that is going on.
Natasha and Grigory, break into Tranquil Repose. They are there to retrieve the body of her father. He is not dead, according to Natasha, but cryogenically frozen. They find the casket where his body is supposed to be but he is not there. They keep searching unaware that they are being observed by Davros who gives orders to the employees of Tranquil Repose to find Natasha and Grigory.
Davros makes a call to Kara, his business partner. She is cordial when talking to him but once the call ends she welcomes Orsini, an assassin, and Bostock, his squire. She has hired them to kill Davros. She gives them a transmitter that they are to activate once they have entered the laboratory of Davros.
Natasha and Grigory find her father, Arthur Stengos. He is in the process of being transformed into a Dalek. She is horrified. He is losing control of his human side. He asks her to kill him which she does rather than see the transformation completed. Natasha and Grigory are captured soon after that by Takis and Lilt, two of the employees of Tranquil repose. They interrogate Natasha and Grigory but don't get much useful information out of them.
Davros promotes Tasambeker, an employee of Tranquil Repose, to be his assistant. She previously worked for Jobel who did not appreciate her abilities or her personality.
Tranquil Repose has a DJ who plays songs for and talks to the dead and those in cryogenic storage. He sees a lot that goes on but is so devoted to his job that he doesn't seem phased by any of it.
The Doctor and Peri finally make their way on to the grounds of Tranquil Repose. Peri spots a Dalek but not knowing what it is she refers to it as a machine. The Doctor does not see it but then he spots something else, a giant headstone with his likeness carved into it. It falls over on him as the episode ends.
Notes
Eleanor Bron plays the part of Kara. She was also in City of Death where she played an art gallery visitor.
Terry Molloy played the part of Davros. He also played Davros in Resurrection of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks. He played an undercover policeman in Attack of the Cybermen.
Clive Swift played the part of Jobel. He was also in an episode of Doctor Who (2005) where he played a different character.
Trevor Cooper played Takis. He was also in an episode of Doctor Who (2005) where he played a different character.
Hugh Walters played Vogel, Kara's secretary. He played the parts of Runcible in The Deadly Assassin and William Shakespeare in The Chase.
Thoughts
Favorite line: America doesn't have a monopoly on bad taste
It is pretty clear that Davros is up to no good at Tranquil Repose but all has yet to be revealed. The status of Tranquil Repose is a bit confusing. It seems to be both a mortuary and a place for people to have their bodies cryogenically frozen until a cure can be found for whatever it is that ails them. Sometimes it seems to be more one than the other.
I thought the cliffhanger was a bit silly. The giant headstone reminded me of Face of Evil minus crawling through the Doctor's nose, or was it his mouth?
It has been about 8.5 years since I last watched this story. I also taped it off TV back in the 1980s and watched it several times back then. I forgot how many different moving parts and supporting characters there are in this story. They are all great in their own ways. Collectively they outshine the Doctor and Peri. I think they do a fairly good job of layering all the different stories together.
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