The Dominators

"An unintelligent enemy is far less dangerous than an intelligent one, Jamie. Just act stupid, do you think you can manage that?

Writer: Norman Ashby

Format: TV

Broadcast: 10th August - 7th September 1968

Season: 6.01

Featuring: Second Doctor, Jamie, Zoe

Synopsis

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe arrive on the pacifist planet of Dulkis for a nice holiday. But that's far from what they'll get as the Dominators have also landed, and are planning on blowing up the planet! 

Verdict  

The Dominators was a fantastic story to kick off the sixth season of Doctor Who. Before I get into my thoughts about the details of each episode I would like to say that Derrick Sherwin absolutely got the story right by reducing the episode down to five episodes. I think it could have performed equally as well as a four part serial but despite the oddity, the five part format was absolutely fine. Six parts I think would have dragged things out. Thankfully that was not the case. The episode started off well with the Dominators arriving in their ship and immediately soaking up the radiation on the island on Dulkis that had been there for the previous 172 years after atomic testing. I thought the Dulcians were an excellent species and I loved how once they saw or heard things, for the most part, they just accepted it as fact. Imagine if we as the human race did that! Oh I think there would be disastrous consequences. The tabloids would be having a ball! The Dominators were great villains but I must admit I didn't quite by into their name. Domination is a powerful word and for them to call themselves Dominators based on the fact they conquered a few galaxies I found a little silly as it seemed the Quarks were doing most of the aggressive work and I guess that's why it was they who returned on numerous occasions in the TV Comic comic strip adventures. How I would love to get my hands on some copies of them! The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe's arrival on Dulkis was very comical. After showing Zoe the events of The Evil of the Daleks at the end of The Wheel in Space, the Doctor wanted a nice little break and holiday so he took the TARDIS to Dulkis, a planet of pacifists. Upon arrival, a giant explosion was heard and death had occurred. Not quite what the Doctor was hoping for. Zoe did tremendously well in her first serial as companion. I think it really helped that we got to know a lot about her in the season five finale and she seems to have settled almost immediately which is a stark contrast to Victoria. Her performance in The Tomb of the Cybermen was far different from Zoe's confident portrayal here. I wasn't too fond of the Dulcian clothing but I could live with it. The war museum was good and I liked how it was prone to clumsiness from the likes of Jamie. I was quite surprised and baffled though that artefacts on display were still functioning. The dissension between the two Dominators was excellent as it provided stalling for their ultimate goal, power drainage on the Quarks and the threat of an internal conflict between the Dominators. Toba's thirst for destruction and domination was magnificent and that signified a decent enemy but I liked Roga even more. He still had that desire for domination but wanted to achieve it through sufficient and sensible means which meant preserving resources. Cally was a good character and I liked how he was known for conjuring up balderdash situations but this time it was true! His father wasn't so sure and eventually became a slave of the Dominators. Jamie was brilliant in this story and I liked how well he got on with Cally, destroying a few Quarks along the way. I understand that the writers (Norman Ashby is of course a pseudonym) were unhappy with the result of the Quarks appearance but I just love them! It's simple and they don't appear evil which is a frightening quality to have. The Doctor's working out of the Dominator intention to blow up the planet creating a nice radiation fuel soak up for them was tremendous. I liked how they simply caught the bomb and sneaked it onto the Dominator ship, but I didn't buy that the deposit was only twelve feet away from the hiding spot. Still, the humour that came with it was good. I wasn't overly struck on the yet to be resolved ending but overall, an excellent story to open the season. 

Rating: 8/10