Remembrance of the Daleks

[Worf2DS9]

In issue 406 of DWM, the Time Team reviews the 7th Doctor adventure "Remembrance of the Daleks," and they all pretty much liked it a lot. Their enthusiasm for the story prompted me to seek out the DVD, since I haven't seen it, and in the meantime I thought I'd see what everyone else thought. What do you think of the story? How does it stack up against previous Dalek and/or Davros stories?

 

[DWF]

I loved it, I really loved all the nods to past stories and the references to Quatermass and even the show itself. The special weapons Dalek was impressive and I liked that they kept the racial references in I know there was debate about that. It was also great to see the Dalek float up the stairs, busting that old myth that they can't go up a flight of stairs.

 

[danjamesb]

It's pants. I reckon people have fond memories of it because it was so much better than the run of stories which had come immediately before, but I really don't think it stands up when viewed in isolation.

The idea of going back and explaining why the First Doctor was on Earth in the first place is a good (if fanwanky) one, and the aforementioned race-related stuff is executed quite nicely, but it's not a good Dalek story, or even a good Davros story.

 

[Brendan Moody]

It's a well-regarded story generally, showing up in the top 20 in fan polls, not all of which can come from people recovering from the horror of season 24. But despite being a seventh Doctor fan I didn't get much out of it. It's not without its charm-- the fannish bits are fun, and Simon Williams is entertaining as Group Captain Gilmore-- but the race relations stuff is too broadly handled even for 1988, the Dalek schemes aren't as interesting as they should be, and the leads don't distinguish themselves. More an influential story than a good one to my mind.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I read that the special weapons Dalek was specially insane because the "extra" radiation produced by the "heavy" weapon. Which has me wonder how they avoided genetic mutation in these buggers that they weren't routinely put down as they began deviate off centre for the Daleks narrow definition of "normal" and how also do they gage "sanity" that these Daleks were more insane then regular Daleks and what prey tell does a Dalek Psychotherapist look like?

Are there other "classes" or "castes" of Daleks(Great shades of Minbari?)? have we only ever been seeing the Warriors all thee years when there are also medical professionals, priests, engineers and Play-Dalek centrefolds... If there is such a rich world of "(relative) diverse" Dalekness out there who only have the extermination of al other life in the universe as a secondary agenda, well I'd have to wonder if their "travel units" might not look different or al together be not necessary that surly these land boring jellyfishblobs should think about returning to the oceans of create a...

Madness.

I also wonder if Davros created the biogenetic weapons used against the Thalls to make sure their future generations would be docile and pathetic warriors? You know Skaroeese so beautifully aryan that all they want to do with their days and nights is copulate till they go blind? Not that I have any less fear about Norwegian Marines roughing me up.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

It was also great to see the Dalek float up the stairs, busting that old myth that they can't go up a flight of stairs.

Actually that wasn't a myth, the Dalek's couldn't climb stairs until that serial.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Agreed, but they did exterminate staircases and cause entire buildings to fall down when people did try to hide form them on second stories. I forget where that paraphrase is from, but it was hilarious when they acted out that classic imagery in one of the final episodes of the fourth season it gave me giggles.

 

[Brendan Moody]

It was also great to see the Dalek float up the stairs, busting that old myth that they can't go up a flight of stairs.

Actually that wasn't a myth, the Dalek's couldn't climb stairs until that serial.

Well, they weren't shown climbing stairs until "Remembrance," but they're explicitly able to hover as early as "Planet of the Daleks," and they're obviously getting around London somehow in "The Dalek Invasion of Earth."

 

[Starkers]

It was also great to see the Dalek float up the stairs, busting that old myth that they can't go up a flight of stairs.

Actually that wasn't a myth, the Dalek's couldn't climb stairs until that serial.

Well, they weren't shown climbing stairs until "Remembrance," but they're explicitly able to hover as early as "Planet of the Daleks," and they're obviously getting around London somehow in "The Dalek Invasion of Earth."

Black cabs?

Remembrance is one of those stories that has grown on me with time actually. The little girl is creepy, there's a lot of action and the special weapons dalek is fab!

 

[DWF]

It was also great to see the Dalek float up the stairs, busting that old myth that they can't go up a flight of stairs.

Actually that wasn't a myth, the Dalek's couldn't climb stairs until that serial.

Somehow they had to be able to do it in the past, they didn't have ramps everywhere.

 

[Tomalak]

It has the distinction of being the first Doctor Who story I can remember. Unfortunately, I got the wrong end of the stick, and thought the Doctor was the sinister villain (the scary wink in the titles), and the Daleks the goodies. I don't think I could quite handle the race hatred allegory at age four. It put me off Doctor Who until the Pertwee repeats circa 1992/93.

Having seen it since then, I think it's one of the best of the later Who stories, and definately a sign that things were getting better in a creative sense. On the other hand, it's got a very CBBC feel, particularly in the first part around the school. The switch from film to OB video for location scenes didn't help. The special effects are very good, and a lot of the McCoy stories show that it was getting much easier to do convincing stuff on a small budget. This, along with the improved direction the show was taking, make it a shame the series was cancelled when it was. If it had died after Trial of a Time Lord, no one could have had too many complaints, but there are enough signs in the last two seasons that the series had legs.

It's interesting now comparing the sort of stories Cartmel and his writers were doing with those of the new series. There are similarities - a cadre of young, enthusiastic writers, often fans of the show, wanting to tell ambitious stories that took themselves seriously. Remembrance could almost be an RTD story, with the element of social commentary combined with lots of affectionate nods to the past, and a shed-load of Daleks blowing things up.

 

[Lonemagpie]

It was also great to see the Dalek float up the stairs, busting that old myth that they can't go up a flight of stairs.

Actually that wasn't a myth, the Dalek's couldn't climb stairs until that serial.

Actually we'd just never seen them do it - but we had seen on different levels of a Victorian house with no elevators, on different levels of the Mary Celeste, and (in the second Cushing movie) one at the top of a fire escape attached to the wall of a demolished building.

So, it had long been implied that they could do it, but the technology - or at least the budget - was never there to make it happen on set until Remembrance.

As for the story itself- it's OK, though the cemetery chase reveals a very non-1960s London (and if it really is half past five on a November night at one point, it should be dark!)

There's a new 2-disc DVD edition, the one from the Davros box set, coming out on its own on July 20th in Region 2. The old single-disc edition has some mastering errors, which this doesn't, and of course there are more extras this time.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Well, they weren't shown climbing stairs until "Remembrance," but they're explicitly able to hover as early as "Planet of the Daleks,"

With the use of an antigrav disc. The first time we see one hover on its own (albeit so badly handled that a lot of viewers didn't realise that's what was supposed to be happening!) is in Revelation of the Daleks, in which Davros also hovers.

 

[Garth Rockett]

I like "Remembrance of the Daleks", but it didn't quite measure up to my expectations based on how popular it seems to be. A good story overall, and as far as Davros stories go I prefer it to "Revelation of the Daleks", but of course its nowhere near as good as "Genesis of the Daleks" (I've not seen "Destiny" or "Resurrection" yet). In terms of Dalek stories as a whole, I'd also rate it below the first two Dalek serials.

Still, it is enjoyable, they tried to do some interesting things with the story (although I don't know if the Hand of Omega business really holds up to scrutiny as far as I understand the Doctor's backstory if taken at face value; and if it's not taken at face value then the explanations are far too fanwanky for my taste) and I enjoy Sylvester McCoy's performance in it. I certainly don't regret purchasing it.

 

[Worf2DS9]

Okay, got the DVD on Friday and watched it over the weekend. I enjoyed it! It was cool seeing these rival Dalek factions battling each other and trundling around London. The battle Dalek was cool and it was neat seeing it wipe out a pair of rival Daleks with one shot! The 7th Doctor, with his energy, costume and rrrrolling r's usually seems a bit of an odd bird, but he showed some signs of darkness here and there. The scene in the pub where he talks to the bartender about his choices was good, and the longer version in the deleted scenes was even better. Speaking of the deleted scenes, I wonder what the Doctor meant when he told Davros he was much more than a mere Time Lord...

It was cool seeing "Admiral Ozzel" as the school headmaster, and Ace looked rather lovely when she had her hair down at the cottage. And how the heck did Ace get out of the way of the exploding Daleks at the start of Part Three? After the Doctor fires his ray gun thingy and the Daleks blow up, there's a long conversation around the decapitated Dalek, and during all this Ace is just lying off to the side. It's odd they didn't actually show us how she escaped. Or did I miss something? She mentioned something about an encounter with a window, but I don't remember anything like that. And what's with Ace's pronunciation of "Omega"?

Overall, a very enjoyable story, and I look forward to watching it again with the commentary.

 

[DWF]

The scene in the pub where he talks to the bartender about his choices was good, and the longer version in the deleted scenes was even better. Speaking of the deleted scenes, I wonder what the Doctor meant when he told Davros he was much more than a mere Time Lord...

That wasn't a pub, that was the diner you saw earlier on and the night man was played Joseph Marcell who went on to play Geoffrey on The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, he's an amazing actor.

 

[Brendan Moody]

Speaking of the deleted scenes, I wonder what the Doctor meant when he told Davros he was much more than a mere Time Lord...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartmel_Masterplan

 

[sidious618]

It's my second favorite McCoy and I love it. Lots of fun and some very intriguing ideas.

 

[Kelso]

I enjoyed it without the benefit of nostalgia. It's a fun story.

 

[Lonemagpie]

It was cool seeing "Admiral Ozzel" as the school headmaster,

He's better in Pyramids Of Mars... Has a better role. I miss him at conventions - he was always fun. But I'm biased, he was my Best Man...

She mentioned something about an encounter with a window, but I don't remember anything like that.

She jumps across some desks and through an interior window to the corridor to escape the Dalek in the science classroom - the one that destroys her ghetto blaster.