The Evil of the Daleks

"There is only one form of life that matters – Dalek life!"

Writer: David Whitaker 

Format: TV (Animation)

Released: September 2021

Season: 4.09

Featuring: Second Doctor, Jamie, Zoe

Synopsis

The TARDIS has been stolen. Marooned on Earth in the year 1966, the Doctor and Jamie set out to find the missing time-machine. Their investigations bring them to a mysterious London antiques shop, where all the antique all seem to be brand new.

Kidnapped by the antique shop's owner, the Doctor is then Brough face to face with a very old enemy – the Daleks. Working from a house in Victorian England, the Daleks have a new masterplan to conquer the universe. And in order to carry it out, they need the Doctor's help.

Verdict

The Evil of the Daleks was a fantastic animation of the sadly lost Classic series epic! It really is a fine finale and one that goes down in folklore given that only one episode of the serial still exists, but thankfully with this animation we have some sort of completeness. I was really impressed with the colour animation and whilst it remained slightly change to be watching a Season 4 story in full colour, they grasped the opportunity well in showcasing some fine directing styles when it came to the Waterfield house and also the depiction of Skaro and the Doctor pushing the fake Omega to its death below. I must admit that I didn't remember a lot of the specifics regarding this story but I was really looking forward to getting that meeting between the Doctor and the Dalek Emperor for the first time chronologically. The images that remain of the Dalek Emperor have always impressed me with the scale and design being so impressive and I thought the animation did the great figure justice. Jamie remarked on its size which was terrific and I liked how booming it was. A fitting design for the Dalek Emperor. I was surprised that so much of the story took place on Earth and I really didn't remember it taking until part six for events to shift to Skaro and that really meant an exciting and thrilling conclusion. I think too much time was spent on Earth but it was nice to have an immediate follow on from The Faceless Ones with the TARDIS being collected and then shifting things between 1966 and 1866. The Victorian antiques being brand new was good and I liked the use of time travel to make a profit from Waterfield. Maxtible was a good character to have alongside him and his desire to help the Daleks in return for transmutating metals into gold was good. He was greedy. Victoria's introduction almost goes unnoticed in this adventure and it's never really established that she joins on board which is slightly strange. It's quite the unfolding of events for her to take in during her first story but I liked that she built a relationship with Jamie and he really did care for her, and not just because she was pretty. The concept of the human factor has always intrigued me and I loved that the Doctor perfected it and named Alpha, Beta and Omega with a sensational part five cliffhanger of him playing games with the Daleks. Hearing them refer to the Doctor as their friend was chilling and I loved the dizzy Daleks sequences. Kennedy was a strong character for the first episode and a bit that he featured with his extermination shocking me and having a big impact. I loved the design of the black-headed Daleks on Skaro to differentiate from those attributed the human factor and both designs looked marvellous in animation. The twist from the Emperor in actually wanting to establish the Dalek factor was brilliant but the Doctor double crossing in the end because he'd reversed the circuitry and was actually enacting the human factor was good, and I thought there was some very intriguing conversations about the Doctor's species which was fun given the chronology. Overall, a fine animation of a lost Classic that hopefully one day is found to see in its original glory. But if that day doesn't come, this is a fine substitute.

Rating: 8/10