Story 002 - The Daleks

This story has 7 episodes in it which aired from 21 December 1963–1 February 1964

The Daleks was the second serial of season 1 of Doctor Who. Initially titled The Mutants, its most obvious contribution to the Doctor Who mythos was the introduction of the Daleks, along with the Thals and the planet Skaro. It also continued and deepened the antagonistic relationship between the First Doctor and his new human companions, Ian and Barbara, which would come to a head in the next story.

The serial was writer Terry Nation's first for the programme. Its reception led to his recommissioning for The Keys of Marinus later in the season, as well as the return of the Daleks every season until season 5. It also was the proximate cause for Nation's financial success, since his agent had cunningly negotiated Nation's co-ownership of the Daleks.

Official Synopsis:

The TARDIS has brought the travellers to the planet Skaro where they meet two indigenous races — the Daleks, malicious mutant creatures encased in armoured travel machines, and the Thals, beautiful humanoids with pacifist principles. They convince the Thals of the need to fight for their own survival.


Joining forces with them and braving Skaro's many dangers, they launch a two-pronged attack on the Dalek city. The Daleks are all killed when, during the course of the fighting, their power supply is cut off.

My Opinion:

Really good Sci-Fi story which also has Horror elements to it.  This has a really effective closed in claustrophobic quality to the camera work, especially in the lead up to the meeting with the Daleks. The Doctor shows he always gets what he wants when he pretends he needs a part from the City to fix the TARDIS, when there was nothing wrong with it. The others didn't want to go, so he manipulated them into doing what he wanted. Ian in particular is against going to the City and is mad when he discovers what the Doctor did to get them to go.

They remade this episode into a big budget film, the same year; Doctor Who & The Daleks – starred Peter Cushing as the Doctor. It used almost exactly the same script and setup as the television episode but none of the TV actors.

Overall though, the simple and claustrophobic appeal of The Daleks is left intact because it takes it’s time to build to a slow and suspenseful conclusion. If you like Daleks and want to witness their evolution from small beginnings, then this is for you.

My Rating:

I'm gonna go 9/10 I really enjoyed most of this story.