The Power of the Daleks

"Life depends on change and renewal."

Writer: David Whitaker
Format: TV (Animation)
Broadcast: 5th November - 10th December 1966
Season: 4.03

Featuring: Second Doctor, Polly, Ben

Synopsis

Following his first ever regeneration, the Doctor, along with his companions Polly and Ben, does battle with an old foe on the mysterious planet Vulcan. How will Polly and Ben cope with a new Doctor? How will the Doctor take to his new body? And how will they overcome the power of the Daleks?

Verdict

The Power of the Daleks was an excellent serial that was wonderfully recreated through animation! It's really quite brilliant that we get to visualise this story like never before and it was the perfect choice for the first full-length animation as it is such a vital story in the history of Doctor Who. It introduces Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor in a fantastic way and I loved how ambiguous the whole concept of the renewal was. It was quickly shaken off as just being a feature of the TARDIS and why would anybody question that? I thought that was really nice. The opening scene in the TARDIS with Polly and Ben just basically watching the Doctor adapt to his new body was sublime and one of the best scenes ever in Doctor Who in my opinion. I'd love to have been a viewer watching this for the first time without knowing the concept of regeneration. Polly firmly believing that this new man was still the Doctor was nice and I loved the contrast of Ben thinking he was some sort of imposter. The Doctor talking about his previous incarnation in the third person was absolutely delightful. I was really impressed with the pace of the adventure and the slow rebuilding of the Daleks to full power was superb. I really liked how the Daleks tricked their 'masters' into providing them with the materials required to reproduce more Daleks but the prospect of them being servants was just unbelievable. We knew it wouldn't last but to see them willingly give up their exterminators was incredible. It was also rather scary as it showed how confident they were in succeeding. The guest cast in this story were really good with Valmar, Janley and Bragen particularly standing out. The latter assuming command at the expense of the Governor was quite the coup and his inability to believe that his power over the Daleks would end was something that would become typical. Lesterson experimenting on and reviving the Daleks was terrific and I liked how his intentions were purely scientific so he continued despite the Doctor's warning. The Vulcan setting was really good and I liked the divide that came with the rebels. The story being about literal Dalek power was brilliant and I loved how as the adventure went on, they gained more and more of it. Of course, the Doctor would see that they were overfed and it led to a quite spectacular end scene with the Daleks pretty much obliterated. Prior to that though, the culling of a lot of the cast was an incredibly powerful scene and it perfectly showed you just how evil and ruthless the Daleks were. The animation itself was a bit shaky but a project of this magnitude must be incredibly difficult and I'm just so grateful that it occurred in the first place. I thought Ben's acceptance of the Doctor's identity could have been a little more cohesive and there needed to be some clarity in certain areas of the story concerning the rebels, but as a whole this was a truly great adventure!

Rating: 9/10