Doctor Who - Resurrection Of The Daleks (DVD)

Peter Davison’s first last, and therefore, unsurprisingly, only encounter with the Daleks is quite simply, a disappointment. Resurrection of the Daleks certainly makes a lot of noise, but that’s just to distract us hapless viewers from the fact that the plot’s a load of rubbish. Maybe the best thing that can be said about it is that the work that went into answering that ever so important question: “So how do we kill this pointless extra?” certainly ...
...coils in some imaginative ways.

Eric Saward’s (a chap who seems to like mercenaries better than the Doctor) plot is really the main culprit for this story’s problems (that and whoever approved that brilliant idea of the Thunderbirds outfits for the spaceship crew.) Our pepper pot friends have certainly been busy since they were last sighted some years ago in Destiny of the Daleks: they’ve got human clones on Earth; are working to exact ... more

Peter Davison’s first last, and therefore, unsurprisingly, only encounter with the Daleks is quite simply, a disappointment. Resurrection of the Daleks certainly makes a lot of noise, but that’s just to distract us hapless viewers from the fact that the plot’s a load of rubbish. Maybe the best thing that can be said about it is that the work that went into answering that ever so important question: “So how do we kill this pointless extra?” certainly paid off with characters managing to shuffle of their mortal coils in some imaginative ways.

Eric Saward’s (a chap who seems to like mercenaries better than the Doctor) plot is really the main culprit for this story’s problems (that and whoever approved that brilliant idea of the Thunderbirds outfits for the spaceship crew.) Our pepper pot friends have certainly been busy since they were last sighted some years ago in Destiny of the Daleks: they’ve got human clones on Earth; are working to exact revenge for their defeat in a war against these chaps known as the Movellans; have a plan to assassinate the High Council of the Time-Lords (and kill the Doctor); are releasing their creator, Davros from cryogenic suspension and they are, of course, preparing to become masters of the universe, as you do in your spare time. Add in some suicidal survivors of a Dalek massacre, a team of mercenaries, some interesting visuals and you get a story that’s cleverness lies in the fact that it’s so convoluted no-one can really follow what’s going on.

But if you’re prepared to accept the rubbish plot, there are more than a few things to like about Resurrection. Firstly, Davros has improved vastly with a chap called Terry Molloy now in the role. It still can’t compare to Michael Wisher’s original, but at least I’m now left with the feeling that there’s more to the character than a hyperactive megalomaniac rant, and an uncanny ability to wobble a lot as someone pushes you down a corridor.

Unfortunately most of the other guest characters are simply fluff: they stumble around various corridors or abandoned warehouses until their timely demises, but the regulars are all rather good (despite the Doctor’s morality being somewhat more ambiguous than usual), especially from Mark Strickson, as Turlough, a character that was always underused despite being one of the most interesting companions that they came up with. He is rather over the top at times, but it’s a good sort of over the top of the kind that is enormously entertaining and fun to watch.

The one guest star who actually proves to be a highlight in the story was Maurice Colbourne, as Lytton. And the producers obviously realised he was rather good as they brought him back the next year. The menacing nature of the character together with his exchanges with both the Supreme Dalek and Davros were probably the most entertaining parts of the story

The other point in Resurrection’s favour is that it actually looks pretty good. The fake policemen moving through London and gunning down escaping prisoners makes for a stunningly dramatic opening and the scenes of these policemen continue to be suitably chilling as innocent passers-by are shot later on. There are also moments of horror that work well – having a character’s face dissolve was one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen in the programme. The exploding Daleks weren’t too bad either, neither was the sight of seeing a Dalek smashed to pieces as it was pushed from the upper floor of a building. However, it seems that the production team ran out of money for bangs and flashes at this point and the ‘laser guns’ turn out to be colourful torches that make whiny noises.

Resurrection proves to be the Doctor’s companion Tegan’s (Janet Fielding) final story, and, thankfully, she’s given a good leaving scene. We may not care a wotsit about those extra’s deaths, but poor Tegan has clearly been traumatised by the horror of it all, thus giving her a more convincing motivation for her decision to leave the TARDIS crew than the more familiar “fall in love with an extra then leave to get married” excuse of some earlier companions, and leading to a rather dramatic exit.

The DVD itself is a super package, with plenty of extras. The episode commentary included is interesting, insightful and entertaining featuring Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Mathew Robinson, the story’s director. Despite some audio problems as Mathew seems not to hear Janet on several occasions, we are given a good mix of information from both the actors and technical side. The highlight, however, has to be the merciless mocking of Mark Strickson as he constantly looks behind him in shots so his face appears onscreen for longer.

Looking at the other extras, the documentary that is included, imaginatively entitled ‘On Location’, features interviews with Robinson, Saward and John Nathan-Turner, the producer. It’s not particularly in depth, but does have Saward giving the interesting admission that he think it’s all a bit violent and would have written it differently now. The extra and deleted scenes should be interesting, but they aren’t, and it’s blatantly obvious why they were cut. There’s also Janet Fielding and JNT on Breakfast Time - amusing if you want to compare Fielding’s real accent to the one she puts on as Tegan. Pop-up production notes give added information on, unsurprisingly, production and are informative enough. And as ever, we have the utterly pointless TARDIS cam animation and a photo gallery. Oh, and the DVD itself comes in a rather odd rubber case that has Dalek bumps on it. Make of that what you will.

So it’s not all bad, and it’s certainly worth a look, especially with the volume of extras included, but the story itself is lacking. On a repeated viewing, the glossy mess just can’t hide the fact that the Resurrection doesn’t work, and the disappointing mediocrity of the last Dalek story continues with their appearance here.
 

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