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"Don't you recognise your mortal enemy?"
The Daleks are back and two factions- the Imperial Daleks and the Renegade Daleks are on the hunt for the mythical Hand of Omega. But the Doctor is ready for them. Does he really know what's going on, or has he miscalculated?
What do you think of Remembrance of the Daleks?
This gets a 10 from me, no doubt whatsoever!
To my mind it's a great story that also incorporates some of the coolest Dalek ideas they ever had. Flying up stairs! The bubble-headed Emperor! Davros! The Special Weapons Dalek! Daleks fighting in a school playground in the 1960's! Daleks on cobblestones! Daleks beaten to death with a baseball bat! The Doctor's anti-Dalek scrambler! Dalek vs Bazooka (aim for the eyepiece)!
Thinking about it, it's amazing that they managed everything they did on the 80's budget. A lot of the effects wouldn't shame the New Series.
The problem I think the new series Daleks have is that they are simply too hard. In this story, they're tough but they are not the supreme invincible mega-Daleks that we ended up with. So although they were dangerous, you could still interact with them in interesting / fun ways.
Not only that, this was the story that paved the way for the New Adventures, with The Hand of Omega and the Doctor's unbelievably devious plans. How this came out of the madcap runaround of Season 24 is a bit of a mystery!
I've given this an 8.
The first episode was excellent and having recorded it, I sat there continually playing and rewinding the cliffhanger. The image of McCoy from the Dalek's point of view trapped on the inside of the cellar door is still my favourite ending today.
The other 3 epsiodes were not quite as good and I didn't like the "I think I may have mis-calculated" line delivered to the camera at the end of part three.
But, after the poor season (in my opinion) before it, this certainly re-captured my love for the show.
I've given it ten. I actually loved Time And The Rani and my younger self eventually warmed to McCoy over the following weeks.
And then this one knocked it out of the park! Alas, it wasn't to last, the new people I'd met who liked it over the course of the season, but if you'd just finished part four and been told within two years there'd be no Doctor Who on TV at all, you'd think they were mental.
Whereas if you told someone at the end of part four of Time And The Rani there'd be no Doctor Who on TV within 3 years... you'd get the "Yeah..." voice and expression at the end of the last series of "I'm Alan Partridge"!
I'd loved season 24, but even with that it was obvious that this story was a huge move forward. It's easy to look back now and pick holes in it, but at the time it was just an extraordinary slice of Who.
The video on which I recorded it off the TV got many a rewatching, to the point where I've perhaps become a bit blasé about how good it is. It's one of the greats of the classic series, and is/was justifiably praised. From the superbly evocative pre-credits scene, through to the sombre funeral postscript it's full of twists & turns & surprises & delights & thrills & spills. It's also eminently quotable, and many's the car journey I've enlivened by recounting, "The Kaleds were at war with the Thals, etc"
'Left here...' - 'When did they leave here?' has become a suitably annoying catchphrase that has echoed down the decades!
The 'Unlimited rice pudding, etc etc!' line was possibly a step too far but again, it's really well remembered years later.
We used to do a daily diary with doodles at the 4th Year in Primary School. One of the odd obsessions everyone had was drawing people and characters with 'Elvis quiffs' and 'Blocker boots', (platform shoes) the higher the better. I distinctly remember drawing the Dalek Emperor with little feet sticking out the bottom wearing massive platform boots. It's probably in an exercise book in a loft somewhere...
When I see Tim I'll let you know...Quote:
Originally Posted by SiHart
Ahem...
Even at this time, when there was a lot of experimental stuff which IMHO didn't work for whatever reason, every so often something still comes forward to surprise. Pity the series stalled when it did in a way, since here's the story that culd've kick-started the Daleks, ad started giving the series the tech that would have started making them really impressive. Ben had ideas here that gave a new dimension to the pepperpots; for that and the sheer get-up-and-go of the story alone, 9/10.
The unlimited rice pudding still makes me smile. But then I'm bonkers...
It's a good story, probably a great dalek story, because it's one of the few stories that is actually about the Daleks. I love the way it picks up the strands left by Revelation and runs with them- two Dalek factions battling it out in 60s London, with a tiny but utterly wonderful cameo from Davros at the end. Honestly that's one of the most fun scenes in the whole series- I just adore McCoy winding Davros up and up until he does what he wants him to do. Wonderful!
Back in 1988 it seemed such a huge step up from Dragonfire. Everyone seemed to be pulling together to make the show really good again, the humour was still there but toned down, as was McCoy's performance as he settled on what he wanted his Doctor to be, and Ace was just fantastic with him and in general. Even Keff didn't arse it up!
Magnificent cliffhangers, lots and red hot Dalek action, fabulous explosions, moments of quiet philosophising and a super supporting cast- top notch Doctor Who!
