"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Sunday, June 14, 2020

Doctor Who: Series 4, Episodes 9-14 – “The Power of the Daleks” (1966)


For whatever reason, it seems like post-regeneration stories are often just okay. I suppose it’s at least something to do with the attention poured into introducing and establishing the new Doctor – with that as the major focus, the plot can be something of an afterthought (especially if new companion(s) are being introduced as well.) I often look back on these episodes favorably, but it’s almost invariably because of the new-Doctor stuff rather than any particular narrative ingenuity. But this serial? The first post-regeneration story ever? This is one that fires on all cylinders.

The First Doctor has just regenerated into his second form, and Ben and Polly don’t know what to think or believe. Can they trust this apparent stranger who’s suddenly in the TARDIS, one who looks and acts so different from “their” Doctor? It’s a decision they have to wrestle with on the go, because it’s not the only issue they have to deal with. There’s also the small manner of landing on a sulfurous colony planet, discovering a dead body, the Doctor being mistaken for an examiner from Earth, and a colony scientist who’s made a very deadly discovery. On the latter front, the new Doctor comes face-to-face once more with an old enemy (come on, you’ve seen the title of this post – you know it’s the Daleks.)

Since One-to-Two was the show’s very first regeneration, there was more pressure on the show to get it right than probably any other time in Who history (although debuting Nine to kickstart new Who and the recent Twelve-to-Thirteen regenerations also carried especially big stakes.) No doubt everyone involved knew that, if they didn’t pull this off, the wild ride of the last three+ seasons was going to be over, and so they went for broke. A solid chunk of the first episode is spent with Ben and Polly – and Two, honestly – grappling with the ramifications of the regeneration, and it’s a recurring subject that they keep coming back to over the course of the story. Ben and Polly serve as our audience stand-ins, just as confused and unsure about this new guy as the kids at home in 1966 no doubt were.

However, we then have the Second Doctor, who I think it would be pretty difficult not to love. Even though the episodes themselves are lost and we only have audio tracks synced to animated recreations of the episodes, Two makes the force of his impish personality known quickly. I love the little details of him testing out his new body, he’s just as savvy as he ever was even though his new incarnation is prone to strategically play the fool, and he creates his own pre-screwdriver “sonic.”

Putting him up against the Daleks for his first story is a strong tactical move, one that pays off well. This is an excellent Dalek story, with a lot of creepy atmosphere, good twists and turns, and an important, messy human element that kicks the whole thing up a notch. The plot is filled with great notes of interest, and this story gave us the unnerving image of a Dalek “obediently” serving tea decades before “Victory of the Daleks” did it.

As for Ben and Polly, despite both of them disappearing for an episode (the only way actors got any vacation time during the fast pace of early Who’s shooting schedule,) they’re still used well. Having two of them allows us a chance to see two different perspectives on the regeneration, which brings some nice balance to the story, and whatever reservations they have, they still pull their weight when it counts. They investigate, they sneak around, they get captured, they escape – you know, classic companion moves.

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