Remembrance of the Daleks - Part Four
The Doctor and his companions (Ace, Group Captain Gilmore, Professor Jensen, Allison) watch the Dalek shuttle craft land. They wait until the Daleks have left their ship and then infiltrate the shuttle. The Doctor disables the only Dalek left aboard, checks the ships logs. and then they leave.
Mike Smith is put under arrest for conspiring with Ratcliffe. It isn't long before Smith overpowers the man guarding him and escapes. The Imperial Daleks, sent by the Emperor Dalek, get into a fight with the Renegade Daleks. Mike goes to Ratcliffe's warehouse. He and Ratcliffe steal the time controller when the Imperial Daleks attack. Ratcliffe is killed bolts of lightning that shoot from the girl's hands but Mike escapes with the Time Controller.
The Doctor and Ace head to Ratcliffe's warehouse. They get there just in time to see the Imperial Daleks leaving with the Hand of Omega. They also spot Mike taking off with the Time Controller. The Doctor goes after the Daleks and Ace goes after Mike.
The Doctor waits until the Imperials Daleks have departed in the shuttle with the Hand of Omega. He contacts them just as they are getting ready to use it to supercharge the Dalek homeworld of Skaro. The Doctor speaks to the Emperor Dalek who is revealed to be Davros. The Doctor taunts him until he uses the Omega device, powered by the hand of Omega. It destroys Skaro and then bounces back and destroys the Imperial Dalek mothership.
Ace finds Mike. She tries to talk some sense into him but he won't listen. The little girl shows up and kills Mike with bolts of lightning. The Doctor confronts the leader of the Renegade Daleks. He tries to talk it into giving up. It self-destructs.
Thoughts
I liked the reveal that the Emperor Dalek turned out to be Davros. I wasn't expecting that. I thought he was going to turn up but I had it in my head that he would be the leader of the Renegade Daleks. I'm not sure how that would work but it didn't happen that way. I am glad that he showed up. It was the best moment in this episode.
I thought they wasted what seemed like some perfectly good supporting characters (Group Captain Gilmore, Professor Jensen, Allison Williams). It seemed like for the most part all they were allowed to do was ask silly questions of the Doctor which gave him an excuse to explain something.
I did some research and found out that Gilmore, Jensen, and Williams show up again in some audio stories. The show is called Counter-Measures. They did four series from 2012 to 2015. Each series had 4 stories.
I like Ace for the most part but it did seem like she wasn't given enough autonomy. I like how she calls the Doctor, Professor.
I watched all four episodes both with and without the commentary track. The only people on the commentary track were Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor) and Sophie Aldred (Ace). It's good but it's too bad they didn't also get the writer, director, or someone else on the commentary track who would have had more of a behind-the-camera perspective on the making of the episode.
I wanted to like this story more. It did not live up to my hopes for it. It seemed to lack a big bad for the most part, until Davros showed up in part 4. Are the Daleks anything without him? I have yet to watch any classic Doctor Who Dalek stories in which Davros did not appear. I expect to correct that oversight later this year.
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