25x1. Remembrance of the Daleks
Writer: Ben Aaronovitch
Director: Andrew Morgan
Script Editor: Andrew Cartmel
Producer: John Nathan-Turner
Synopsis: The
Doctor and Ace return to Coal Hill School in 1963 London - where Susan
was once enrolled in school - as two Dalek factions are competing to
gain possession of the Hand of Omega, a Gallifreyan device that the
Doctor left behind and that could enable them to rival the Time Lords'
power.
Review: Fans might have been forgiven for
wondering if the Daleks were a spent force after their last few
appearances, but "Remembrance of the Daleks" finds an effective angle
by focusing on a still relatively new Doctor and how he responds to the
competing Daleks' attempts to acquire a Gallifreyan relic. While I've
voiced skepticism of taking the Doctor in a darker direction in the
past, particularly during Colin Baker's tenure, "Remembrance" finds a
way to do this that's less off-putting and feels more of a piece with
how we've seen him behave before. For starters, instead of simply being
an aggressive, overbearing blowhard, the Seventh Doctor emerges as a
more mysterious figure, playing the competing Dalek factions against
each other and using the hand as a trap to destroy Skaro and the
Imperial Dalek mothership. Another fan once commented that the Daleks
seem to bring out the worst in the Doctor, and there's something of
that in his calm intention to "finish" things with the final renegade
Dalek and the way he dismisses Davros's plea for pity when the nature
of the trap becomes clear - this isn't the same Doctor who couldn't
help but show mercy to the Master at the end of "The Time Monster."
More importantly, he does seem to realize that he's crossing a line
(something that couldn't always be said of his prior incarnation). In
the final scene, he gently dissuades Ace from following the procession
into the church for Mike's funeral, and when Ace asks him if the
two of them "did good," he replies only that "time will tell."
Meanwhile,
we get a hint that perhaps there is more to the Doctor's backstory than
he's let on before, as he makes a verbal slip in a conversation with
Ace that implies that he was an active participant in the experiments
by Rassilon and Omega that first brought time travel to Gallifrey.
While there's plenty that's been left unclear about the Doctor's
history, we were left to assume, at least from "The War Games" onward,
that he grew up in a Time Lord society where time travel was already an
established fact of life and that he wasn't anyone particularly
important before he went on the run in the TARDIS. Are we now to
believe otherwise? Is it possible that perhaps his current regeneration
somehow assimilated aspects of a different Time Lord's past altogether?
We don't know, and perhaps it's best that the original series never
actually tried to answer these questions, but in the short term, it's
an effective reintroduction of a certain mystery about the Doctor and a
way to keep the viewers guessing as to his true nature and intentions.
The
script also returns to the theme of the Daleks as a symbol of
fascism,which hadn't been emphasized as much in their other recent
appearances. Ratcliffe seems to be a Nazi sympathizer and aspires to
become a "strongman" leader of Britain by working with the renegade
Daleks, only to discover that fascism is considerably less appealing
when you're at the bottom of the authoritarian ladder: the renegades
ultimately dismiss him as a "slave" born to serve their needs. We also
see how fascism can hide behind a friendly face in the character of
Mike, who at first seems like a reliable soldier and to whom Ace is
initially attracted, but turns out to be working with Ratcliffe in a
desire to "keep the outsiders out" and whose mother runs a boarding
house with a "No Coloureds" sign in the window. The social commentary
here is perhaps rather obvious, but it's nonetheless effective in
drawing a parallel between the Daleks' malevolence and human
prejudices. I was less impressed, however, with the notion that the
renegade Daleks had to enslave a young girl because they are otherwise
too dependent on rationality and logic and therefore need the influence
of a more creative mind. This concept also surfaced in "Destiny of the
Daleks," and my objection is the same now as it was then: while the
Daleks may not display much in the way of *positive* emotion, I have
trouble reconciling their xenophobic malice with any image of
rationality and logic, especially in a serial that goes out of its way
to compare them to human political extremists.
Finally, while I, like most Doctor Who fans,
do not watch the classic series expecting first-rate special effects
and technical quality, I should mention that "Remembrance" does have
some fairly well-done action scenes, as the Daleks variously square off
with each other, with the military, and, perhaps most memorably, with
Ace, who takes them on with an electrified baseball bat. Ace certainly
earns her "Action Girl" stripes (to borrow a TV Tropes term) and builds
on her first appearance to stake out territory as one of the more
unique companions, and I'm looking forward to seeing more from her in
future serials.
Other notes:
- The Daleks really give new
meaning to the cliche of "Let Me Explain My Evil Plan Before I Kill
You" in this serial. At the end of the first and second episodes, they
have the Doctor and Ace, respectively, trapped, and yet they spend so
much time yelling "exterminate!" that their quarry escapes before they
can get around to the actual exterminating. The Doctor, in particular,
get the benefit of not only several "exterminates" but a full-on, "You
are the Doctor. You are the enemy of the Daleks. You will be
exterminated...."
Rating: *** (out of four)
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