Victory of the Daleks

This one got a bit of a panning at the time, partly because expectations were high, and partly because nobody seemed to like the redesigned Daleks. The criticism went that they were too bright, too fat, and had more than a whiff of a revenue-generating merchandise opportunity about them. Since this first appearance they have shown up only very fleetingly and seem to have been gently pushed to one side.

I think this is a terrible shame. I really rather liked them and never understood why they provoked such an outcry. The size of them is simply terrifying and the colours make me think not so much of iPhones as of the Technicolour retro-futurism of the Sixties Dalek movies, or TV21 comic strips.  Also, the new colours give a sense of hierarchy and roles, and this allows the possibility of characterisation, something the Daleks often lack and desperately need in order to talk amongst themselves in an intelligible way.  

My problem with this episode is that these smashing new Daleks aren't in it enough. The Ironsides' cover version of Power of the Daleks is pleasing enough ("WOULD YOU CARE FOR SOME TEEEEEEA?") and when the New Paradigm trundle from the smoke it feels like something amazing is going to happen - but it turns out that instead we spend a long time watching the Doctor and Amy find a way to talk a robot out of exploding. It's unsatisfying and, worse, doesn't ring true (the Daleks invented Bracewell, didn't they? In which case, his lovely memories of the Paisley girl are a fiction too?). After Dickens and Christie, Churchill is not much more than a caricature, but perhaps this is the only version of the man that's appropriate for a Saturday tea time.

"Weird how the Daleks magically escaped last time," says the ever-cynical William. "But at least they properly get away here. I like the new Daleks too, but isn't it funny how the most evil beings in the Universe come in yellow, orange and other collectible colours? They do scheme though, using the Doctor's weakness against him."

"I feel sad for the red one," says Chris. "He must think he's invisible because Dalek's can't see red, but he's not."

Never mind that, how did Jast ever spell his own name?


NEXT TIME...