Despite being missing from the BBC’s vaults since the purges of the early 1970’s, ‘The Power of the Daleks’ remains top of many a Doctor Who fan’s wishlist.
Thanks to BBC Worldwide, the story has been granted new animated visuals to accompany the lovingly recovered soundtrack and is available to purchase in the UK from BBC Store, with a DVD release and a limited edition Blu-ray steelbook on their way in November and February.
As CultBox is (of course!) far too youthful to have seen the original airing, and we were in short trousers when the novelisation appeared, we have decided to treat the story as new episodes – which to our eyes they pretty much are…
Tensions increased on the colony in this third instalment, as we started to get our heads around the political players – and the Dalek grip on Vulcan started to tighten.
Despite the Doctor’s protestations, Lesterton’s experiments continue apace. His subject, playing down on its luck, is as clever as any Dalek we have seen before – slowly reeling in the scientist with its abilities and potential.
It is not just Lesterton who sees the advantage, as Governor Hensell (Peter Bathurst), a seemingly weak leader, is easily seduced by the idea of putting this potential “manpower” to work, and he hints at tensions between Earth and the colony.
Having kept held the mystery of who summoned the Earth Examiner, whom the Doctor continues to impersonate, for two episodes, writer David Whitaker finally has Deputy Governor Quinn reveal his hand. However, Quinn still remains under suspicion of murder and is bundled away by Bragen’s security men.
The new Doctor meanwhile appears to be making plans, and his ploy to damage the Dalek was a worthwhile effort, hoodwinking Lesterson and offering the hand of friendship before trying to overload the creature. He continues to play his cards close to his chest, which his Ben (Michael Craze) seems to find maddening!
In a clever ploy the scheming Bragen (Bernard Archard), who seems just as adept at playing people as the Daleks, has managed to place himself in prime position, with the Governor appointing him as deputy. Bragen also turns out to be responsible for stirring up the rebels too, via Lesterton’s assistant Jansen, in pursuit of a coup. Giving them a Dalek weapon might be a bad move though, and worrying too as they have kidnapped the rather trusting Polly!
If Bragen is banking on using the Dalek as part of his plan he might have a shock though – behind Lesterson’s back, his test subject has reactivated his colleague and together, the three were like naughty school children, discussing their plans while teacher was out of the room, leaving us in no doubt of their plans to conquer!
Aired on Saturday 19 November 1966 on the BBC.
Buy ‘The Power of the Daleks’ on DVD on Amazon here.
Buy ‘The Power of the Daleks’ limited edition Blu-ray on Amazon here.
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